Technically Customs doesn't deal with biosecurity, that's MPI's job. Customs check for illegal imports and collect taxes and duties on legal imports along with checks and clearance of exports.
Two seperate agencies that work together, but with quite different responsibilities.
Unfortunately having less Customs staff won't improve the border entry experience of Fred and Sue National Voter coming back from their tri annual overseas jaunt.
The ICJ report about lack of Israeli compliance with aid delivery is going to be withering (and it was one of two areas where the Israeli judge voted with the majority).
Yes. The situation is beyond dire. There is no attempt by the IDF or the government to hide the depravity of the soldiers behaviour. The Israeli minister of defence Yoav Gallant, did tell his soldiers at the beginning of the operation that all constraints were released. The rampant posting of war crimes by individual soldiers on tik tok can only be viewed as the result of these kinds of directives coming from the very top. Disturbingly, polling shows the vast majority of Israeli citizens are in favour of these types of actions. Looting of Palestinian property has become a commonplace soldierly activity as has the careful placement of explosives to bring down all the structures of a civil society that survived the bombing. This includes Universities and Mosques.
The IDF includes those those shell or use helicopter drones to fire "nails" at civilians waiting for a truck delivering aid – to associate receiving aid from UNRWA with risk of death. These continuing events are going to impact on the ICJ follow up report.
Israel would want to end UNRWA, even if it was full of pacifists who reported to Israel what they knew about Hamas (because they see continuing refugee claim status as inimical to their own political goals).
“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.
Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
it's empire that is killing the planet. We are most definitely fighting empire.
'We' is all the people that are choosing life.
What Roy is pointing to is the necessity of having a story that gives hope and shows a way through the current mess. The stories of how bad things are were necessary to wake people up, now we need stories of how things can work out.
I'm deeply skeptical of anyone that tries to couch modern political discourse as some kind of titanic moral struggle between good and evil. It's basically warmed over dialectic theory leavened with a dash of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations.
However, I do think the quote Robert's provided points to a real problem we (as in, the wider left) have in an increasingly divided world: the lack of a clear, coherent, consistent message that's backed up with actual political action that resonates with voters.
Good and evil? I don't see them mentioned. I see the Empire as the super-set and "we" as a subset; one wishing to make change from within; none of us are outside of the empire but each of us has the ability and opportunity to transform the medium we have co-created. As weka wrote, and I blather on about regularly, story is the technology we can each access and apply in order to dissolve what pretends to be the-only-world-that-can-be.
Maybe let's start with do you accept there is a climate ecological crisis that have the potential to collapse human civilisation?
Absolutely! I just think the propensity to philosophise about the crises (because there is definitely more than one) we are facing is getting in the way of actually building a coherent, saleable policy programme to face them.
The sound of her breathing is what these orcs seek to drown out with their petty cancelling; the more we despair and lose heart, the more they prosper.
You have to tune your ears to hear her, over the clamour and glamour.
It feels like references to the empire is others- farmers, the Chinese/Americans/Nact voters.
Not those (well, maybe the Americans). Empire wasn't my word, but my reference to it was patriarchal, neoliberal capitalism. It's the system we use to run society. And yes, we all have varying degrees of choice within that. Voting is one that most people can utilise. Some people have lots of consumer choices, some have very little. Our choices give the system its strength and agency.
Personal choice is necessary: to vote in central and local governments that will act for life, and all the other myriad ways in which we can have influence.
It's not sufficient. Power relations exist and some people have a lot more power than others and are abusing it. Yes, they are the other, the ones who will kill us if they can. They have to be stopped.
Funny how these conversations can cause a bit of mental chewing gum that lasts all week.
I've re-read your comment as I was under the illusion that voting was a way to defeat the empire. I've got it now.
It occurred to me while stacking this seasons firewood away that we can't vote neo liberalism out of office. Sure tinker, as I did this election – Party Vote for Te Maori Party. It will be defeated by lots of little paper cuts, each of us not giving the system our attention/money/time, in whatever wee ways we can.
"Yes, they are the other, the ones who will kill us if they can. They have to be stopped."
I'm not so sure I want to spend too much energy stopping folk, I would rather be building what is needed when turning away from/fleeing The Empire. (Capital letters, that escalated quickly).
It was pointed out to me here, I've forgotten who but I was a bit bemused with a chum who was boots 'n all at the Wellies occupation. It was suggested to me some of us are of the disposition to pull down, highlight the deficienciesd of the system while others are more likely to be building the alternative structires/systems.
We are allies, just sometimes ego and politics get in the way.
I jest. Good question; where do we draw the line? Discretion is the challenge for every person. The Empire seems entirely unable to moderate itself; only individuals can do that (some of us do it poorly 🙂
Despite having lauded bicycles since I was a boy and ridden them most of my life, I would wave them goodbye, in return for the kind of world I am envisaging 🙂
Likewise, for me it would be the internet I would give up in exchange for the world I imagine. Being able to imagine such a society stops one from going mad and it enables us to work for change even though we may not get the exact vision we have in mind. It's a big challenge for many, the idea of sacrifice and something better.
I think I would be ok with a handmade toy bike though.
There has to be a limit – would you give your child a model battleship? A waka made from a craddy stick though, sure 🙂
The Chinese built single-large-wheeled barrows and should have declared those the pinnacle of wheeled vehicles; had they done that, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now 🙂
"Are you perpetuating the Empire by giving your young one such a model?"
I don't think so. Or at least the empire is a tad weaker when you have made the toy. Opens up the possibility of the skills needed to acheive said whittling (material selection, knife sharp, imagination engaged, resilience, patience ), to be passed on.
Money, or at least the need and certainly the love of it, is what keeps us bound to the empire/machine. I've never been happier at around day 8/9/10 of family and friends camping trip. When lots of those sacrifices noticed in the first few days are gone and forgotten. We are reliant on the food staples and what ever we can catch, swap or forage.
Surely a wheeled vehicle is ok if, say. horse powered.
No GTA for me. (Abe’s Oddesey was more my cup of tea.)
In a similar vein, I have chosen to depower the empire by not watching the 6pm news (occasionally see it when I have tea with Mum, and despair), no FB, X, or any other social media (apart from rare questions on the Motobrick site), sharing as often as I can – eg eggs and green tomato chutney.
Independence and resilience of my water and electricity. Working on gas supply (Bio digester in a 1000 litre IBC then gas filtered and pumped into a queen size air bed).
I get yr point about getting back to basics, we are all going to have preferred ways of getting there. TBF, most would prefer not to have to 'get there'.
Or the wheels inside of a clock 🙂 Nothing wrong with keeping the time, is there? That's the sound of the Empire, measuring your days 🙂
Second hand books are great for children, right? The Little Engine That Could, The Little Golden Book of Cars and Trucks, Little Toot, Tootle, etc. etc. All propaganda for the Empire.
Back on track, anyone?
Don't get me started on Old MacDonald, who as we ALL know, had a farm 🙂 Many of the earliest books children hear and see, feature cows, sheep, pigs, horse, chickens. Phil (see below) might have something to say about indoctrination such as that 🙂
Why should what I say 'alienate otherwise friends'..?
I am just speaking the truth..and yes..the truth can be confronting..(I am sure that anyone (with a pulse) reading about the forever plastics in butter/pigs… won't be able to look at either without thinking 'forever plastics'..and if I have helped open their eyes to the realities/dangers of what they eat/feed their children…this is a good thing..surely..?
Tell me how it isn't..
And 'the point' is to point out these realities..of the widespread addiction to eating flesh/fat…
To maybe help people to think about these issues..
(Where else are they gonna get it..?…the denial is widespread/institutional..)
And yes robert..I am 'right' in my presentation of these arguments…
Nothing to do with ego…just dealing with the facts of the matter..
Facts that not many (otherwise self-regarding as ' good guys' face up to..eh..?..)
weka – as someone who objected to the use of the word, "strident" on TS because it inflames some readers here, you seem curiously relaxed about the use of "flesh addicts", which surely must offend many, many more.
I'm not saying Phil is wrong in his proposal.
I'm saying his use of that term is significantly counter-productive to the aims he professes to have.
I'm not personally upset by the term Phil uses. I just think others will be 🙂
Regarding Phil and your conversation here, I completely agree that the term flesh addict is going to put people off becoming vegan or moving towards becoming vegan. I thought you explained this clearly and well (I understood). Phil is a zealot and imo prefers his zealotry to real politik. This is what I meant when I said he is an ally to people like me. He’s more like to drive people to keep eating meat than the opposite.
Regarding TS and language, your fundamental mistake in these conversations about language is that you appear to think the issue is primarily one of people being offended. It’s not. People say offensive things on TS all the time, including one of the two trustees that owns the site. If I moderated on what offended me personally, a big chunk of comments would go, lol. It’s not about offending people, it’s about two things: class politics, and flaming the commentariat.
Regarding flaming, if Phil started calling specific people here flesh addicts, I expect most people (like me) would roll our eyes and focus on the politics. Some might respond by being offensive back eg talking about much they loved their BLT for breakfast this morning. Where that tips over into flaming (people being intentionally rude, mean or offensive with the goal of winding other people up and this being heated and likely to get out of control and absent any actual political discussion), mods would step in. But if politics are still being discussed that’s going to be more important than offence per se. Mods vary in where the line is on this. We currently moderate more tightly on offence intended to inflame than say 5 or 10 years ago.
Regarding class politics, this related to what might put people off from commenting or reading here. For instance, racism against Māori would put Māori people from being here. Not simply because it is personally offensive, but because racism is endemic in NZ and affects a whole class of people and has serious political and social consequences. I don’t consider omnivores to be akin to that.
Robert…do you not think compulsions to/inability to stop (even if riddled with forever plastics)…are markers of addiction..?
And if you can see they are…what moniker would you prefer I use..?
And I find any claims my words/arguments will stop people breaking those addictions..and becoming vegan..as laughable..
And I write in a calm manner/state…I am not agitated as I write these words…all I am doing is drawing attention to (uncomfortable to many) facts..
And irrefutable facts can help to focus/change the mind of the reader..
And that is what I am doing here… trying to focus/change minds..
And to bring it down to the personal level…I am bloody old…older than I thought I would ever reach..
I am fit/healthy..on no meds of any sort..I awake with a skip in my step..
And the only difference between me..and others my age in really fucked conditions..with weekly pill-boxes..is I don't use alcohol… haven't eaten flesh/fat for over 40 years…
And I look back to my 40's..when I met a handful of old vegans…men and women..then in their 70's…
And all of them fit/healthy..and glowing with like..
They are the role models I followed ..
And am so grateful to have arrived at a place similar to what they had/enjoyed ..
I know what I know robert..
And I would contend my arguments are pretty much irrefutable ..
Asking you not to name-shame your audience has opened your floodgates, Phil.
I was (note) only focused on that one matter. Your broader argument, I have no great issue with and feel no great need to engage with, and consequently, won't.
That happened in the 19th C. Dickens exposing the nature of working class life at the home of empire (and a Queens foreign husband shocked by London's third world infrastructure).
Some see the word as it is and say why and others see the way the world could be and say why not.
Yep, he is a neo Blairist hold out. Time for Chippy to move on.
It is almost 40 years now of Roger ‘n’ Ruth, 1984–2024. The neo liberal state, contracting out, SOEs, State Sector Act, Reserve Bank Act, Refining NZ, market rents, two tier health system, and all the other travesties visited on the people’s infrastructure, services and resources.
Greens and Te Pāti Māori are leading the way at the moment, NZ Labour can make a comeback and participate in the next Govt. if their Caucus drops Cap‘n’s calls and reverts to democracy of ordinary members. A grovelling apology to working class people would not go amiss.
Each boomer funeral changes the landscape, the Three Amigos in office at the moment is hopefully their last gasp–how ridiculous, two Deputy PMs!
"It is almost 40 years now of Roger ‘n’ Ruth, 1984–2024."
I take the decline of democracy back further to 50 years when Muldoon took power. It was his reign of terror which led to the birth of Roger 'n' Ruth. Had Muldoon not introduced his failed 'think big' policies and his otherwise austere handling of the country's finances, Douglas would not have had much of a leg to stand on. He had been captured by extreme right economic thinking 5 decades ago, which we now know evolved into the global libertarian umbrella called the Atlas network.
Muldoon was also responsible for introducing 'dirty politics' to NZ which had hitherto been largely absent from our political scene. It continued to flourish after he had gone and culminated in Nicky Hager's book "Dirty Politics". There are still untold stories dating back to those times which have been buried in layers of bureaucracy so they may never see the light of day.
I take yr wider point about Muldoon and the finances and D.P.
Surely Think Big was anything but a failure, the Hydro has stood us in great stead today, Marsden Point held it's own (till sold transferred to the private sector by Labour then ignored by Labour so it could be decommissioned).
I do think we need to shift a little towards the way of doing some things the way we did pre '84 Labour. Like a lot of youth, as a nation, we lack resilience.
A rag tag collection of pirates can lob rockets at ships and we have major shocks and delays in crucial supplies – pharmaceuticals for example.
If we had a MoW, we could be building the two ports needed for the ferry upgrade and not be subject to Nicotine Willis conflating ferry cost with the port building.
Neo-liberalism doesn't serve us (citizenry), it serves the 1%.
We have to be laser focused on dealing with the political reality that exists here and now. Anything other than that is wasted time, energy, and intellect.
The past is the past, and bad stuff happened there as various commissions of inquiry into state institutions demonstrate. Rape in marriage was only finally legislated against in 1986.
My point is a call to action–Rogernomics has had more than its chance and failed miserably, whole generations of kids have student loans and live in rented dumps. Time for new gens to step up and do it differently.
if there is any pining…it was fun driving down the Desert Road in a Ford Custom 300 V8 at sunrise en route to Wellington for a weekend trip–on a car plant workers wage–when there was just over 2 mill population…
Rogernomes will pine too when they finally get retired…
I believe that the only Ministry Parker resigned from was the minor position of being Revenue Minister.
That was the job that both Labour and National gave to Peter Dunne. It wasn't in Cabinet but gave Peter all the perks, and salary, of a Minister.
Parker may have resigned the Revenue job but he retained the more significant positions and his job in Cabinet. If he had really quit on principle he would have resigned all his Ministerial positions and reverted to the back bench. I don't think that that was ever on the cards as it would have meant the loss of half his salary and all the perks of a Minister.
That is a slur Alwyn-probably because you hate the fact that Parker supports a wealth tax.
Parker may well be hoping for a change of leadership that will green light a WT. He might stay at parliament under those circumstances. After all this looks very much like a one-term government.
9000 New Zealand nurses have registered to work in Australia in the past 10 months.
Appearing on AM's political panel on Friday, Jackson said the country needs to come up with new ideas to fix its nursing shortage.
He said both Labour and National should look at a free education strategy for nurses that bonds them to New Zealand.
1.nurses do not pay any TD while working in New Zealand – the government writes off half of the amount liable and the rest is added onto the interest free debt
After 20 years work here, write any left off.
nursing students are required to do 1100 hours of free, unpaid placements in a clinical setting.
2.that's 6 months FT and is serious time during the course. Apprentices get 80% of the MW. About $20,000 for 1100 hours.
sure does. Two things have happened since the 80s. One is that to become a registered nurse you have to do a 3 year full time degree or to become an enrolled nurse it's 1.5 years full time. The other is that to train at a tertiary institution you have to pay for it.
Plus factor in the cost of housing, and the stress of working in a chronically underfunded and understaffed health system
All of that stems from neoliberalism
No brainer really as to why we have a nursing shortage.
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In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
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Once again a National government poses a risk to our bio-security.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350189692/nzs-gatekeepers-governments-public-service-chopping-block
Labour's world first effort to eliminate mbovis (this arose during a National administration in 2017).
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/mbovis-eradication-makes-gains-three-years-detection
National in the 1990's – white clover leaf weevil, varrua jacobsini beemite and didymo.
Technically Customs doesn't deal with biosecurity, that's MPI's job. Customs check for illegal imports and collect taxes and duties on legal imports along with checks and clearance of exports.
Two seperate agencies that work together, but with quite different responsibilities.
Unfortunately having less Customs staff won't improve the border entry experience of Fred and Sue National Voter coming back from their tri annual overseas jaunt.
Fair point, but customs will deal with people who bring in undeclared stuff – and if overworked and with queues and don't check ….
There are plenty of Aussie visitors we definitely don't want to sneak in, such as cane toads. If we get those, our wildlife is stuffed.
Mind you, it wouldn't matter to Tourism NZ. As far as that body is concerned, this country has no pollution, no child abuse and no criminal gangs.
It's Paradise on Earth with the ability to accommodate any number of overseas visitors.
A cynic might suggest that NZ's drug problems have always served the nats well.
Maybe reducing the capacity to prevent trafficking and to also allow sale of a product used to make meth is part of a competitive market policy …
This in a world where one Mexican gang has been identified lacing cocaine and meth with fentanyl to ensure their consumers are totally addicted.
The ICJ report about lack of Israeli compliance with aid delivery is going to be withering (and it was one of two areas where the Israeli judge voted with the majority).
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350189708/children-starting-die-malnutrition-northern-gaza-food-crisis-worsens
Background
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/02/israeli-forces-opened-fire-on-food-aid-truck-un-documents-and-satellite-analysis-reveals.html
The UK uses Jordan Air Force Hercules to drop pallets with aid in north Gaza.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68360902
Yes. The situation is beyond dire. There is no attempt by the IDF or the government to hide the depravity of the soldiers behaviour. The Israeli minister of defence Yoav Gallant, did tell his soldiers at the beginning of the operation that all constraints were released. The rampant posting of war crimes by individual soldiers on tik tok can only be viewed as the result of these kinds of directives coming from the very top. Disturbingly, polling shows the vast majority of Israeli citizens are in favour of these types of actions. Looting of Palestinian property has become a commonplace soldierly activity as has the careful placement of explosives to bring down all the structures of a civil society that survived the bombing. This includes Universities and Mosques.
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/02/20/exp-israel-soldiers-jeremy-diamond-pkg-022009aseg1-cnni-world.cnn
https://www.972mag.com/israeli-soldiers-looting-gaza/
Remember when the world lost it's shit over the Taliban and Islamic State destroying sites of religious, archeological and cultural significance.
But not a sausage about the IDF reducing hundreds of Byzantine, Phoenician and Ottoman sites to rubble.
https://www.channel4.com/news/over-200-heritage-sites-in-gaza-destroyed-says-culture-ministry
The Israelis do seem to have major beef with UNRWA, what with a number of employees turning out to be massacre participants.
11 of them I recall – out of a staff of 30,000 employees in the area. Are the other 29,989 also to be tarred with the same brush?
The IDF includes those those shell or use helicopter drones to fire "nails" at civilians waiting for a truck delivering aid – to associate receiving aid from UNRWA with risk of death. These continuing events are going to impact on the ICJ follow up report.
Israel would want to end UNRWA, even if it was full of pacifists who reported to Israel what they knew about Hamas (because they see continuing refugee claim status as inimical to their own political goals).
Cameras on fishing boats might have to go, regretfully, as a necessary cost-cutting measure, mind; just trimming the sails of state!
"In 2017, Jones received a candidate donation of $10,000 from fishing company Talley's.
The minister acknowledged previous involvement within the industry, but said industry interests would not influence policy."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/509580/rollout-of-cameras-on-fishing-boats-under-review
that deserves a post.
Yes a post and a tui billboard.
I wonder what our esteemed Minister of Fisheries has to say about this – the article states quite clearly that there had been two commercial fishers in the area. https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350189945/never-seen-anything-it-hundreds-dead-fish-wash-beaches
As the old saying goes: Shane Jones is as crooked as a dog's hind leg.
But the difference now is that he no longer cares to hide it.
Brighten up, everyone!
“Our strategy should be not only to confront empire, but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen. To shame it. To mock it. With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness – and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we’re being brainwashed to believe.
The corporate revolution will collapse if we refuse to buy what they are selling – their ideas, their version of history, their wars, their weapons, their notion of inevitability.
Remember this: We be many and they be few. They need us more than we need them.
Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”
Arundhati Roy
We are not fighting ghosts, empires, autocrats, demons, kings, spells, or alien lizard people.
We're not even a "we".
Arundhati is doing a spooky and honestly it's not helpful.
it's empire that is killing the planet. We are most definitely fighting empire.
'We' is all the people that are choosing life.
What Roy is pointing to is the necessity of having a story that gives hope and shows a way through the current mess. The stories of how bad things are were necessary to wake people up, now we need stories of how things can work out.
I'm deeply skeptical of anyone that tries to couch modern political discourse as some kind of titanic moral struggle between good and evil. It's basically warmed over dialectic theory leavened with a dash of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilisations.
However, I do think the quote Robert's provided points to a real problem we (as in, the wider left) have in an increasingly divided world: the lack of a clear, coherent, consistent message that's backed up with actual political action that resonates with voters.
Good and evil? I don't see them mentioned. I see the Empire as the super-set and "we" as a subset; one wishing to make change from within; none of us are outside of the empire but each of us has the ability and opportunity to transform the medium we have co-created. As weka wrote, and I blather on about regularly, story is the technology we can each access and apply in order to dissolve what pretends to be the-only-world-that-can-be.
That's nice, but what does it have to do with my comment?
Maybe let's start with do you accept there is a climate ecological crisis that have the potential to collapse human civilisation?
Absolutely! I just think the propensity to philosophise about the crises (because there is definitely more than one) we are facing is getting in the way of actually building a coherent, saleable policy programme to face them.
thanks for clarifying!
The sound of her breathing is what these orcs seek to drown out with their petty cancelling; the more we despair and lose heart, the more they prosper.
You have to tune your ears to hear her, over the clamour and glamour.
I am gonna beat an old drum here.
It feels like references to the empire is others- farmers, the Chinese/Americans/Nact voters.
Truth is we are the empire or at least give the empire its strength.
Be it supermarket users, fossil fuel addicts, google customers, Trade Me traders. It's our decisions that keep giving the empire its power.
Every dollar we spend is a political decision.
Not those (well, maybe the Americans). Empire wasn't my word, but my reference to it was patriarchal, neoliberal capitalism. It's the system we use to run society. And yes, we all have varying degrees of choice within that. Voting is one that most people can utilise. Some people have lots of consumer choices, some have very little. Our choices give the system its strength and agency.
Personal choice is necessary: to vote in central and local governments that will act for life, and all the other myriad ways in which we can have influence.
It's not sufficient. Power relations exist and some people have a lot more power than others and are abusing it. Yes, they are the other, the ones who will kill us if they can. They have to be stopped.
Funny how these conversations can cause a bit of mental chewing gum that lasts all week.
I've re-read your comment as I was under the illusion that voting was a way to defeat the empire. I've got it now.
It occurred to me while stacking this seasons firewood away that we can't vote neo liberalism out of office. Sure tinker, as I did this election – Party Vote for Te Maori Party. It will be defeated by lots of little paper cuts, each of us not giving the system our attention/money/time, in whatever wee ways we can.
"Yes, they are the other, the ones who will kill us if they can. They have to be stopped."
I'm not so sure I want to spend too much energy stopping folk, I would rather be building what is needed when turning away from/fleeing The Empire. (Capital letters, that escalated quickly).
It was pointed out to me here, I've forgotten who but I was a bit bemused with a chum who was boots 'n all at the Wellies occupation. It was suggested to me some of us are of the disposition to pull down, highlight the deficienciesd of the system while others are more likely to be building the alternative structires/systems.
We are allies, just sometimes ego and politics get in the way.
It's not just about money; imagine you whittled a wooden toy for your child; cleverly articulated with wheels that turn!
Are you perpetuating the Empire by giving your young one such a model?
I say, yes.
If not a truck, a sheep then, a cow, a fishing boat…
what if the wooden toy was a bike?
Ha! You answered my question with a question 🙂
I jest. Good question; where do we draw the line? Discretion is the challenge for every person. The Empire seems entirely unable to moderate itself; only individuals can do that (some of us do it poorly 🙂
Despite having lauded bicycles since I was a boy and ridden them most of my life, I would wave them goodbye, in return for the kind of world I am envisaging 🙂
Likewise, for me it would be the internet I would give up in exchange for the world I imagine. Being able to imagine such a society stops one from going mad and it enables us to work for change even though we may not get the exact vision we have in mind. It's a big challenge for many, the idea of sacrifice and something better.
I think I would be ok with a handmade toy bike though.
Wee clogs, perhaps 🙂
There has to be a limit – would you give your child a model battleship? A waka made from a craddy stick though, sure 🙂
The Chinese built single-large-wheeled barrows and should have declared those the pinnacle of wheeled vehicles; had they done that, we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now 🙂
"Are you perpetuating the Empire by giving your young one such a model?"
I don't think so. Or at least the empire is a tad weaker when you have made the toy. Opens up the possibility of the skills needed to acheive said whittling (material selection, knife sharp, imagination engaged, resilience, patience ), to be passed on.
Money, or at least the need and certainly the love of it, is what keeps us bound to the empire/machine. I've never been happier at around day 8/9/10 of family and friends camping trip. When lots of those sacrifices noticed in the first few days are gone and forgotten. We are reliant on the food staples and what ever we can catch, swap or forage.
I read what you say, but I don't accept your view 🙂
Come on, a miniature truck is a hook for the child to normalise and accept the beasts of the Empire: fossil-fuel-powered, wheeled vehicles.
Next, you'll be promoting Grand Theft Auto as a nice enough sort of a gift 🙂
Surely a wheeled vehicle is ok if, say. horse powered.
No GTA for me. (Abe’s Oddesey was more my cup of tea.)
In a similar vein, I have chosen to depower the empire by not watching the 6pm news (occasionally see it when I have tea with Mum, and despair), no FB, X, or any other social media (apart from rare questions on the Motobrick site), sharing as often as I can – eg eggs and green tomato chutney.
Independence and resilience of my water and electricity. Working on gas supply (Bio digester in a 1000 litre IBC then gas filtered and pumped into a queen size air bed).
I get yr point about getting back to basics, we are all going to have preferred ways of getting there. TBF, most would prefer not to have to 'get there'.
Or the wheels inside of a clock 🙂 Nothing wrong with keeping the time, is there? That's the sound of the Empire, measuring your days 🙂
Second hand books are great for children, right? The Little Engine That Could, The Little Golden Book of Cars and Trucks, Little Toot, Tootle, etc. etc. All propaganda for the Empire.
Back on track, anyone?
Don't get me started on Old MacDonald, who as we ALL know, had a farm 🙂 Many of the earliest books children hear and see, feature cows, sheep, pigs, horse, chickens. Phil (see below) might have something to say about indoctrination such as that 🙂
@ gsays…
You left out flesh-addicts…
Flesh-addiction is often factored out…largely by flesh-addicts..
True.
I am surprised you didn't pick up on that when you went into bat for EVs a day or two ago.
Yes..I noted that about myself..told myself to do better next time..
Hence this one..
Yep, you go boyfriend. Get stuck in.
"Flesh-addicts" is an othering that upsets at gut-level – a visceral pain for all readers who eat meat.
I suggest it's unfair of you to use the term as part of your mindful approach to turning omnivores here toward a more restricted diet.
Um..no…I am describing what it is..
It is an addiction….an addiction to eating the flesh and fat of animals…
And if some addicts find that revelation (?) to be discomfiting…?…
So be it…I would note it is far more discomfiting for the animals they kill/dismember..and then eat..
And after lives of suffering/misery…
Addicts hate being confronted with the realities of their addiction…
Denial is part of the addict package..
Not to mention the list of diseases..the fucking over of the environment…
And just the other day the guardian had an article on forever plastics…(which also cause a raft of disease…)..
And the main vehicle for their journey into humans is..(drumroll..!)..butter…
And red meat…especially pork…
So that great kiwi breakfast involving bacon and butter…must be like mainlining forever plastics..
Digest that one the next time you tuck into some poor pig…(creatures smarter than dogs..say many..)
So..y'know..!…all that up against some flesh-addicts shifting uneasily in their seats..?
No match….flesh addicts it is..
(Pray tell me how it isn't..)
You are, but in doing so, you're alienating otherwise-friends.
What's the point?
To demonstrate that you are right?
Why should what I say 'alienate otherwise friends'..?
I am just speaking the truth..and yes..the truth can be confronting..(I am sure that anyone (with a pulse) reading about the forever plastics in butter/pigs… won't be able to look at either without thinking 'forever plastics'..and if I have helped open their eyes to the realities/dangers of what they eat/feed their children…this is a good thing..surely..?
Tell me how it isn't..
And 'the point' is to point out these realities..of the widespread addiction to eating flesh/fat…
To maybe help people to think about these issues..
(Where else are they gonna get it..?…the denial is widespread/institutional..)
And yes robert..I am 'right' in my presentation of these arguments…
Nothing to do with ego…just dealing with the facts of the matter..
Facts that not many (otherwise self-regarding as ' good guys' face up to..eh..?..)
Doubling-down, eh!
And with righteous indignation; how could you not bring those-who-are-wrong on-board!
for those of us who think eating food from animals is both ethical and a necessity (within a sustainable context), Phil is an ally.
Care to explain just how eating animals is both 'ethical'..and a 'necessity'..?
On the surface your claim just seems an exercise in self-justication…for your current carnivorous practises..
I would be interested to see if there are any other 'facts' behind/about it..
As far as I see it..you either chow down on animals..or you don't…and I am yet to hear any 'ethical' justifications for the former..
And how is eating animal flesh in any way 'sustainable'..?
Especially for the eaten animal..
@ robert..
No..just answering your response..
And just think how many people now know that butter/pig-flesh are riddled with forever plastics…
Gross..eh..?
And I would contend far more disturbing than the use of the term 'flesh-addict'…eh..?
That bacon butty will never again be the same..eh..?
weka – as someone who objected to the use of the word, "strident" on TS because it inflames some readers here, you seem curiously relaxed about the use of "flesh addicts", which surely must offend many, many more.
I'm not saying Phil is wrong in his proposal.
I'm saying his use of that term is significantly counter-productive to the aims he professes to have.
I'm not personally upset by the term Phil uses. I just think others will be 🙂
Morena Robert.
Regarding Phil and your conversation here, I completely agree that the term flesh addict is going to put people off becoming vegan or moving towards becoming vegan. I thought you explained this clearly and well (I understood). Phil is a zealot and imo prefers his zealotry to real politik. This is what I meant when I said he is an ally to people like me. He’s more like to drive people to keep eating meat than the opposite.
Regarding TS and language, your fundamental mistake in these conversations about language is that you appear to think the issue is primarily one of people being offended. It’s not. People say offensive things on TS all the time, including one of the two trustees that owns the site. If I moderated on what offended me personally, a big chunk of comments would go, lol. It’s not about offending people, it’s about two things: class politics, and flaming the commentariat.
Regarding flaming, if Phil started calling specific people here flesh addicts, I expect most people (like me) would roll our eyes and focus on the politics. Some might respond by being offensive back eg talking about much they loved their BLT for breakfast this morning. Where that tips over into flaming (people being intentionally rude, mean or offensive with the goal of winding other people up and this being heated and likely to get out of control and absent any actual political discussion), mods would step in. But if politics are still being discussed that’s going to be more important than offence per se. Mods vary in where the line is on this. We currently moderate more tightly on offence intended to inflame than say 5 or 10 years ago.
Regarding class politics, this related to what might put people off from commenting or reading here. For instance, racism against Māori would put Māori people from being here. Not simply because it is personally offensive, but because racism is endemic in NZ and affects a whole class of people and has serious political and social consequences. I don’t consider omnivores to be akin to that.
Morena weka.
"This is what I meant when I said he is an ally to people like me."
I misunderstood your comment. Thanks for making that clear 🙂
Thanks also, for your fulsome explanation of language.
Robert…do you not think compulsions to/inability to stop (even if riddled with forever plastics)…are markers of addiction..?
And if you can see they are…what moniker would you prefer I use..?
And I find any claims my words/arguments will stop people breaking those addictions..and becoming vegan..as laughable..
And I write in a calm manner/state…I am not agitated as I write these words…all I am doing is drawing attention to (uncomfortable to many) facts..
And irrefutable facts can help to focus/change the mind of the reader..
And that is what I am doing here… trying to focus/change minds..
And to bring it down to the personal level…I am bloody old…older than I thought I would ever reach..
I am fit/healthy..on no meds of any sort..I awake with a skip in my step..
And the only difference between me..and others my age in really fucked conditions..with weekly pill-boxes..is I don't use alcohol… haven't eaten flesh/fat for over 40 years…
And I look back to my 40's..when I met a handful of old vegans…men and women..then in their 70's…
And all of them fit/healthy..and glowing with like..
They are the role models I followed ..
And am so grateful to have arrived at a place similar to what they had/enjoyed ..
I know what I know robert..
And I would contend my arguments are pretty much irrefutable ..
Asking you not to name-shame your audience has opened your floodgates, Phil.
I was (note) only focused on that one matter. Your broader argument, I have no great issue with and feel no great need to engage with, and consequently, won't.
Make sure you take your ball with you…
And thank you for being my foil on this..
Ball? Pig-skin, or plastic?
And foil?
I read your comment on addictive substances.
Roy's language will seem foreign to some.
Pretty familiar language to Jews, Muslims, Christians of all stripes, Zoroastrians etc
They each have their valid side.
That happened in the 19th C. Dickens exposing the nature of working class life at the home of empire (and a Queens foreign husband shocked by London's third world infrastructure).
Some see the word as it is and say why and others see the way the world could be and say why not.
Beautiful quote from a beautiful and intelligent woman Robert hardly needs to be " interpreted " by anyone in my view.
How can the latest child poverty stats not be a searing indictment of the bankrupt incrementalism dogma that clark/ardern/hipkins clung to..?
And their collective failure to put right what shipley/richardson had wrought..
It's all coming home to roost… isn't it..?
And surely it is why labour must ditch that incrementalism that has plauged the party since the days of douglas..
And reinvent itself as an effective social democrat party..with policies to match..
Surely they won't just deliver more of the same..?
The short term answer was a rent freeze, longer term FPA/Industry Awards.
Over-reacting to pressure for more migrant workers did not help.
That won't happen under Hipkins, Phillip.
Yep, he is a neo Blairist hold out. Time for Chippy to move on.
It is almost 40 years now of Roger ‘n’ Ruth, 1984–2024. The neo liberal state, contracting out, SOEs, State Sector Act, Reserve Bank Act, Refining NZ, market rents, two tier health system, and all the other travesties visited on the people’s infrastructure, services and resources.
Greens and Te Pāti Māori are leading the way at the moment, NZ Labour can make a comeback and participate in the next Govt. if their Caucus drops Cap‘n’s calls and reverts to democracy of ordinary members. A grovelling apology to working class people would not go amiss.
Each boomer funeral changes the landscape, the Three Amigos in office at the moment is hopefully their last gasp–how ridiculous, two Deputy PMs!
"It is almost 40 years now of Roger ‘n’ Ruth, 1984–2024."
I take the decline of democracy back further to 50 years when Muldoon took power. It was his reign of terror which led to the birth of Roger 'n' Ruth. Had Muldoon not introduced his failed 'think big' policies and his otherwise austere handling of the country's finances, Douglas would not have had much of a leg to stand on. He had been captured by extreme right economic thinking 5 decades ago, which we now know evolved into the global libertarian umbrella called the Atlas network.
Muldoon was also responsible for introducing 'dirty politics' to NZ which had hitherto been largely absent from our political scene. It continued to flourish after he had gone and culminated in Nicky Hager's book "Dirty Politics". There are still untold stories dating back to those times which have been buried in layers of bureaucracy so they may never see the light of day.
The Atlas network is the velvet glove… the IMF, CIA and direct warfare are more assertive means of Empire-building
(international monetary fund, not the impossible missions force)
"The Atlas network is the velvet glove"
QFT
I take yr wider point about Muldoon and the finances and D.P.
Surely Think Big was anything but a failure, the Hydro has stood us in great stead today, Marsden Point held it's own (till
soldtransferred to the private sector by Labour then ignored by Labour so it could be decommissioned).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsden_Point_Oil_Refinery
Interestingly NZ First as part of the coalition agreement has an investigation to look at re-opening the refinery.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/02/08/nz-firsts-doomed-deal-to-reopen-marsden-point-refinery/
I do think we need to shift a little towards the way of doing some things the way we did pre '84 Labour. Like a lot of youth, as a nation, we lack resilience.
A rag tag collection of pirates can lob rockets at ships and we have major shocks and delays in crucial supplies – pharmaceuticals for example.
If we had a MoW, we could be building the two ports needed for the ferry upgrade and not be subject to Nicotine Willis conflating ferry cost with the port building.
Neo-liberalism doesn't serve us (citizenry), it serves the 1%.
No point pining for pre-1984 New Zealand.
Exactly!
We have to be laser focused on dealing with the political reality that exists here and now. Anything other than that is wasted time, energy, and intellect.
The past is the past, and bad stuff happened there as various commissions of inquiry into state institutions demonstrate. Rape in marriage was only finally legislated against in 1986.
My point is a call to action–Rogernomics has had more than its chance and failed miserably, whole generations of kids have student loans and live in rented dumps. Time for new gens to step up and do it differently.
if there is any pining…it was fun driving down the Desert Road in a Ford Custom 300 V8 at sunrise en route to Wellington for a weekend trip–on a car plant workers wage–when there was just over 2 mill population…
Rogernomes will pine too when they finally get retired…
It was 2.6M in 1964, silent one.
I agree it won't happen under hipkins..
Given parker resigned his ministry on a matter of principle after hipkins ditched all his work on wealth taxes..he would have to be a contender..?
I believe that the only Ministry Parker resigned from was the minor position of being Revenue Minister.
That was the job that both Labour and National gave to Peter Dunne. It wasn't in Cabinet but gave Peter all the perks, and salary, of a Minister.
Parker may have resigned the Revenue job but he retained the more significant positions and his job in Cabinet. If he had really quit on principle he would have resigned all his Ministerial positions and reverted to the back bench. I don't think that that was ever on the cards as it would have meant the loss of half his salary and all the perks of a Minister.
Well said alwyn. Until the Greens and/or Te Pati Maori can attract and maintain a significant voting block it is unlikely we will see any real change.
Or Labour manages to find something resembling moral courage. Preferably before they piss away the entire left's credibility.
That is a slur Alwyn-probably because you hate the fact that Parker supports a wealth tax.
Parker may well be hoping for a change of leadership that will green light a WT. He might stay at parliament under those circumstances. After all this looks very much like a one-term government.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-68349490
First one of the 3 private groups on a NASA contract to have a go.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-67962397
Odysseus drunk on arrival:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350191122/moon-lander-its-side-after-tipping-over-touchdown
1.nurses do not pay any TD while working in New Zealand – the government writes off half of the amount liable and the rest is added onto the interest free debt
After 20 years work here, write any left off.
2.that's 6 months FT and is serious time during the course. Apprentices get 80% of the MW. About $20,000 for 1100 hours.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2024/02/willie-jackson-suggests-labour-national-work-together-on-free-education-bonding-scheme-to-keep-new-zealand-nurses.html
In a conversation, I think on RNZ, with a statistician, he came up with a wee fact.
Over half the nurses that got registration in Aotearoa this year are from overseas.
A lot of them will move on, but we can incentivise more locals to train and to stay.
Absolutely, I agree.
Our nursing staff should reflect the population it serves.
It's wrong for many reasons to 'sub-contract' the training of nurses.
Another reason neo-liberalism needs to be taken to the back paddock and shot.
sure does. Two things have happened since the 80s. One is that to become a registered nurse you have to do a 3 year full time degree or to become an enrolled nurse it's 1.5 years full time. The other is that to train at a tertiary institution you have to pay for it.
Plus factor in the cost of housing, and the stress of working in a chronically underfunded and understaffed health system
All of that stems from neoliberalism
No brainer really as to why we have a nursing shortage.
Given how understaffed some places are, it is a surprise how few enrolled nurses we have to support registered nurses.
https://www.tewhatuora.govt.nz/assets/Whats-happening/Work-underway/Taskforces/Nursing-Pipeline-Programme/Enrolled-Nurse-Recommendations-Paper-Dec-2021.pdf
what is TD?
Tertiary (loan) Debt.