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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TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
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 ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, Australian National University Richard P J Lambert/flickr, CC BY The future belongs to the analogue loyalists. Fuck digital. As a tsunami of CDs, DAT tapes and samplers swept the recording industry in the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Strong, Associate professor, Music Industry, RMIT University This week American rapper Macklemore released a new track, Hind’s Hall, which has gained a lot of attention because of its explicitly political nature. The track is unapologetically pro-Palestine. It declares the artist’s ...
Explainer - The government from 2025 is mandating how state schools teach children to read. But what is structured literacy and how does it compare to other teaching methods? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Danica Jenkins, Lecturer in European Studies, University of Sydney On a freezing spring night in March, Georgia’s national soccer team beat Greece in a nail-biter penalty shootout to qualify for the Euro 2024 championships. The atmosphere on the streets of the capital ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam G. Arian, Lecturer (Accounting & Finance), Australian Catholic University Loic Manegarium/Pexels Imagine every ton of carbon dioxide a company emits is slowly inflating its costs — not just in terms of potential fines or fees but in the capital it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Somwrita Sarkar, Senior Lecturer in Design and Computation, University of Sydney The “latte line” is the infamous, invisible boundary that divides Sydney between the more affluent north-east and the south-west. Historically, people north of the line enjoy better access to jobs and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dowdy, Principal Research Scientist in Extreme Weather, The University of Melbourne Nomad_Soul/Shutterstock In media articles about unprecedented flooding, you’ll often come across the statement that for every 1°C of warming, the atmosphere can hold about 7% more moisture. This ...
RNZ Pacific Former Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has been sentenced to one year in prison, Fiji media are reporting. Bainimarama, alongside suspended Fiji Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho appeared in the High Court in Suva today for their sentencing hearing for a case involving their roles in blocking a police ...
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Saunoamaali’i Dr Karanina Sumeo says, “Addressing violence and abuse remains New Zealand’s most significant human rights issue affecting women. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Symons, Macquarie School of Social Sciences, Macquarie University Michael Schiffer / Unsplash Life has transformed our world over billions of years, turning a dead rock into the lush, fertile planet we know today. But human activity is currently transforming Earth ...
One woman’s quest to watch Challengers without ruining her body clock. Every Saturday morning, I wake up with a screaming demon inside my head urging me to “Do. Something. This. Weekend.” I run through the possibilities in my head in a defensive mental crouch, reminiscent of that one time I ...
The PSA is alarmed that ACC is proposing to shed 309 jobs including 29 dedicated injury prevention jobs at a time when the number and cost of injuries is rising. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tom Baker, Associate Professor in Human Geography, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images As local and regional councils struggle with inadequate infrastructure and unsustainable costs, New Zealand will be hearing a lot more about the potential solution offered by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gary Sacks, Professor of Public Health Policy, Deakin University Drazen Zigic/Shutterstock In recent years, there’s been increasinghype about the potential health risks associated with so-called “ultra-processed” foods. But new evidence published this week found not all “ultra-processed” foods are linked ...
Fears that New Zealand is relying too heavily on low-cost forests to absorb its carbon dioxide emissions have been reignited by a report from the OECD. ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed the total dollar savings target from public sector cuts has been met, but the reductions have not been felt evenly across public agencies. Government departments were told to make savings set at 6.5 percent or 7.5 percent where headcount had grown by more than ...
She doesn’t have a single kind word for me and it’s getting under my skin.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,I have two amazing friends that I absolutely adore. Grace (all names have been changed) and I lived together across 2023 and Olivia moved in with us this ...
Can Western science and Māori science work together to support our well-being? The Te Ohu Mō Papatūānuku (TOMP) Trials Project was a landmark case for healing the land and people with the guidance of Māori science and leadership. This is what happened when Papatūānuku (Earth) was contaminated by toxic discharge, ...
The District Plan is a blueprint for a bigger, better Wellington, through tens of thousands of new apartments and townhouses and a new approach to urban growth. Joel MacManus lays out the vision. The process of putting together Wellington’s new District Plan has been long and excruciating. As a city, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
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.