"The cabbage white’s white wings reflect ultraviolet light, which we can’t see but the butterflies can. To our eyes the butterflies seem plain, drab, vanilla—but to each other, females are a gentle lavender and males shine with a deep royal purple. "
Hello all, long time, no comment. You might have seen me on interest.co.nz fighting the good fight in the comments section there, though.
Anyway, I have gone through a profound maturation this year, and have been doing a hell of a lot of thinking about the world in general. I came across a twitter thread this morning, which consolidates and elaborates on everything I've been thinking about over the past 3 weeks, and I thought it was worth sharing here as this seems like the best audience:
This just explains where we are in history so well, I think.
I also think that Jacinda is a Teal leader, and that NZ is poised to be a leader in global Teal thinking this century, given our unique geographic location in the world, resource limitations and ecosystem, coupled with the indigenous culture that is an embodiment of resilience. Other indigenous cultures around the world also embody resilience, but in most other countries they've been much more repressed and marginalized than Maori have been in NZ (and we're actively trying to undo our harm – more Teal attitudes).
The only thing that is going to get humanity through this century is everyone working together, and diversity of human creativity, thought and expression.
Lanthanides are silvery white soft metals. I am in agreement with what you have posted, Lanthanide. I believe it reflects, curiously enough, the first post of the day 🙂
I was annoyed that your comment beat me – in the time it took me to get out of bed (where my phone told me 0 comments) and get to my computer to write it.
Yes change is the one constant of life – and that last sentence you wrote above is resonates well with me.
Keep in mind however that hopefully in another decade or so, you will look back on what you believe today – and there will likely be a few more 'duh' moments.
Welcome. Yes I have read you on interest.co.nz. Thanks for a hopeful start to the day, We do have troglodytes marching in three cities today, and your post is a hopeful antidote.
The Standard really should get with the times and have the possibility of a Thumbs Up reply to comments. It's pretty Standard (pun intended) everywhere else on the internet.
I know that Lynn tried it once before already years ago – in fact I was the very person who suggested it that time, too. Go back and check Lynn if you don't believe me. The problem with the add-on you installed is that it allowed downvotes as well as upvotes, so people could troll etc. Just get a plugin or configure it to only allow upvoting. That problem is solved.
It is easy enough to do. However I have a few other things that tend to be more important.
The Standard got a brain transplant last night. Its currently booting off a USB. But it has a Ryzen 5700G upgrading the Ryzen 1700X.
The actual problem at the time was the way that the votes were stored. It did nasty things to the amount of data access and slowing down putting up comments.
From today's Otago Daily Times. I had my say near the end of the article 🙂
New inclusive campaign guidelines for local body elections have been called an "abomination" threatening free speech, but many candidates in the South have endorsed the call for respectful debate.
The guide encourages candidates to consider how they can respect and uphold the Treaty of Waitangi, value te reo Maori, reframe debates to avoid racism and race-baiting, avoid perpetuating stereotypes and identify actions they would take in office to support diversity and "build belonging".
It refers directly to debates about Three Waters and Maori wards, "which have, at times, become derogatory to Maori".
Michael Laws
The guidance was developed by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), written in partnership with the Human Rights Commission, and included comment from race relations commissioner Meng Foon.
Otago regional councillor Michael Laws called the guide an abomination – it was a "biased attempt to stop freedom of speech and thought around Three Waters, around Maori wards, around co-governance, around the Government’s so-called reform agenda".
"It seeks to dissuade those who dissent from this woke nonsense from standing for office," Cr Laws said.
His colleagues were divided.
Cr Gary Kelliher said it was an attempt by LGNZ to "tailor their perfect council candidate" and Cr Hilary Calvert said "this smells of staff of the relevant organisations becoming involved in political matters".
However, Cr Gretchen Robertson said running a campaign that put other people down was weak and "an attempt to deflect attention from your own inadequacies".
Cr Alexa Forbes said: "I’m sorry that we have to be reminded of our obligations and I look forward to the day that we don’t have to be."
Cr Michael Deaker said some people might call the guidelines woke.
"I see them as respectful and well designed for New Zealand in 2022".
LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said a sometimes-toxic environment had built up over time and "shifting what’s acceptable – and what is not – will take more than one election cycle".
Candidates could debate important issues robustly while upholding the dignity of fellow candidates, she said.
Aaron Hawkins
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins said making elections safer for a broader range of candidates should be encouraged.
"Sadly, we are seeing an increase in the uglier elements of public debate, including racism.
"Those of us who aren’t the target of that have an obligation to help shut it down."
Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis said the campaigning advice was a patronising, bicultural straitjacket that claimed diversity, but which pushed Maori speech and sensitivity agendas.
He noted it did not dwell on such things as value for money, debt and rates, "which are of interest to voters and should be the real focus of elected representatives".
Fellow councillor Sophie Barker said the document reflected how troubling some behaviour had become, especially online.
She did not recall racist rhetoric during her 2019 campaign, but did encounter sexism.
"On my first night campaigning, while I was looking for a seat on stage, one of the candidates said I could sit on his knee any time," Cr Barker said.
Cr Rachel Elder said the guidelines were great.
"If we demean, belittle, label and personally attack people or people groups, we are not upholding the idea of democracy," Cr Elder said.
Cr Steve Walker said supporting diversity and inclusion should be the default position of any worthy candidate.
Cr Jules Radich said he was comfortable with the guidance.
The Team Dunedin ticket he was leading had "asked for interaction with mana whenua".
Dunedin mayoralty candidate Mandy Mayhem-Bullock said she wanted to see people from all walks of life on the council.
Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton said he felt Mr Foon had been proactive in alerting candidates to the activities of pressure groups, especially those opposed to Three Waters reform.
"A great deal of the commentary around the claims made by these groups is certainly racist in nature," Cr Guyton said.
At a glance
Tips for fostering inclusion
• Take time to engage with the Treaty of Waitangi by learning your local iwi history
• Have a look at examples of partnership with manawhenua and Maori in local government
• Attend cultural, ethnic and diverse public events
• Use multilingual greetings
• Attend community meetings in diverse settings, including marae, mosques, churches and migrant centres
• Monitor your social media
• Be an "upstander" against racist and discriminatory comments
For those who think naming unevidenced medical treatment for minors as "affirming healthcare" makes everything hunky-dory, a well-written Substack article explains why not.
They read: “The NBHW deems that the risks of puberty suppressing treatment with GnRH-analogues and gender-affirming hormonal treatment currently outweigh the possible benefits, and that the treatments should be offered only in exceptional cases.”
Finland’s Council for Choices in Health Care (COHERE) came to almost the exact same conclusion a year earlier, noting, through a translation: “The first-line intervention for gender variance during childhood and adolescent years is psychosocial support and, as necessary, gender-explorative therapy and treatment for comorbid psychiatric disorders.” And: “In light of available evidence, gender reassignment of minors is an experimental practice.” Gender reassignment medical interventions “must be done with a great deal of caution, and no irreversible treatment should be initiated,” COHERE wrote.
These guidelines were in contrast to those proffered by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), an advocacy group made up of activists, academics, lawyers, medical and mental health care providers, which creates “standards of care” that many providers elect to follow. WPATH, which will soon issue its 8th iteration of its SOC, is lowering recommended ages for blockers, hormones and surgeries, and adding chapters on medicine for those with gender identities like non-binary or eunuch. (WPATH did not respond to a request for comment.)
Yes, there's a lot of areas of concern in New Zealand at the moment.
The guidelines of the newly created (2020) Relationships and Sex Education curriculum is one. Exacerbated by the provision of resources from external organisations reducing scrutiny and transparency.
The position those who are seeking to raise awareness are in, is the one that apparently excuses various forms of abuse and considered by NZ media to be occupied by conspiracy theorists.
The last time NZ could be considered (arguably) a sustainable society would have been pre colonisation….there were no imports required (that we know of, if there were they were minimal) and everything needed to support society was provided domestically…(even so there were extinctions and environmental damage)….the population of NZ pre colonisation is estimated to have been around 100,000.
The first wave of Maori settlement is thought to have occurred around 1100 AD. If we estimate that the first wave comprised around 1000 souls (over a period of voyages) then what rate of population growth occurred?
Around 0.66% per annum
If that growth rate had continued until today what would NZs population be now (realising that it is not necessarily sustainable)
"That’s why I argue that Fortress Aotearoa is simply a matter of when not if.
The current political spectrum in New Zealand can not radically adapt fast enough to adopt the changes we must make if we are to survive the climate crisis. It will require a radical Political Movement that elects a Party to implement Fortress Aotearoa…
Move away from intensive farming and look to become domestically self sustainable in terms of food.
Immediately ban all water exports.
Empower local communities to make local decisions and set up resilience programs.
5 year Parliamentary term so Governments can actually plan for change.
Upper and Lower House (Upper House 50-50 split between Māori & Pakeha that can hold up legislation if unhappy about Treaty issues)
Massive investment into R&D from Government with the understanding research is to benefit NZ first before sold offshore.
Large scale increase in Navy, Army & Airforce.
Mass limiting of tourism numbers with huge increased tourist taxes.
Only citizens can vote.
Sustainable immigration and an end to exploitative migrant workers.
Resettlement Programms for all pacific island neighbours.
Increase refugee in take to 10 000 per year
Fully funded public services focused on real welfare of people.
Mass Green housing rebuild.
100% renewable energy for entire country.
Massive tree planting across previous farming land.
Wholesale re-write of state services act to end commercial values.
Investment into basic pharmaceutical production.
Financial transaction tax
Wealth tax
Multinational tax
Inheritance tax
Capitalist monopolies in energy, transport and finance have to be brought into public ownership and control. They should be subject to democratic plans drawn up by the whole community. Workers should have much stronger decision making powers within them.
All economic sectors to be made take steps needed to decarbonise the economy as much as is needed to reach zero net emissions by 2030.
Free and frequent public transport on electric buses and/or trains in all main cities.
Health care and education for life should be free and universally accessible.
Welfare, pensions, child allowances, should be universal wherever possible.
Public housing at fixed and affordable rents should be a right of all not just the desperately poor.
All workers should have a right to a job and the workweek reduced with no loss of pay to make that possible.
Local communes should be supported for control and delivery of as many functions of the centralised state as possible – including housing, education, health care.
Local communes to support cooperative forms of production of food, solar and wind energy, electric transport, and media.
On a rapidly warming planet, NZ will increasingly be the life boat for Earth and the tyranny of our distance will become our blessing.
Pretending that we can ‘stop’ the climate crisis cascade is sophistry, we require radical reform and adaptation now."
he probably shouldn't have been undermining the Greens all these years, eh.
Pretending that we can ‘stop’ the climate crisis cascade is sophistry, we require radical reform and adaptation now.
Not sure what he means there tbh. There is huge benefit in averting the worst of climate change. Runaway CC won't be survivable in NZ even if we were a fortress. I agree about radical change, and mitigation and adaptation are still two sides of the same regen coin.
Agreed about Bomber's attacks on the Greens Weka. I think he is attacking the personnel and not the policies when he makes these attacks which is really dumb.
I still don't get why it's so hard to see the Greens as pathway to better politics. Once they get meaningful power in government, it opens the door for other parties on the left to get in.
The timing is correct. This was signaled when they passed the co-leader requirement for one female and one of any other gender amendment some months back.
Until then they could not get rid of Shaw because there were literally no other credible male candidates. Now they can purge the party of all but a few token white males altogether.
Yes but what are we going to do after breakfast Bomber?
"immediately ban all water exports"….the Clutha alone puts out roughly 300,000 litres a second (it varies between 200 and 600) or a million litres every three seconds.
We have oodles of H2O….providing it is not exported in plastic bottles what is the problem?
at a guess, impact on the ground water, river and river bank ecologies, and the coastal ecologies around the outlet (extending for quite some way). We already interrupt much of that via hydro.
I'm not averse to NZ shipping water globally for aid reasons. Can't see how it can be done for profit reasons without becoming yet another problem of capitalism.
is this a manufacturing dilemma? If you make a product that lasts 40 years, and within five years everyone has one, how do you keep the business going?
Yes and no.The older manufacturing model,had service (repairs and maintenance) where after warranty replacement parts etc,would be an income stream for the dealers.Now it is cheaper in some instances to replace either the whole appliance,or a substantive component.
Also now people seem inclined to buy and looks rather then function.
You change your company to produce items with a 30 year or lifetime warranty. You supply full technical diagrams for how to make all replacement parts, including 3d printing and metal fabrication instructions.
You look at what Red Hat does – they sell support for open source Linux. Linux is literally free, but Red Hat still makes money because using technology is hard.
I see some "freedom and rights" people are back out protesting today. I wondered what covid restrictions they are complaining about now. Maybe the recommendation to wear masks inside public spaces or get a covid booster. Pretty much nothing there to continue their muddled thinking against. But no, instead they are protesting violence, cost of living and a stretched health system.
So what exactly is impinging on their 'freedoms' and their 'rights' amongst that list. Nowt I can see. Another set of scatter gun issues which have little to do with freedom and rights, another catch all get some publicity stunt for Brian Tamaki maybe. If they want to protest against violence, fine, go and protest outside gang pads and make it clear to them. If they want to protest against cost of living, go and protest outside the Russian embassy. If they want to protest against a stretched health system, go and protest outside the homes and workplaces where people refuse to wear masks or have an issue getting covid or influenza vaccinations.
Are Ngai Tahu also marching on motorways in order to stop the evil Jacinda Ardern?
It must be excruciating for the political right in New Zealand to see their desires mirrored perfectly by one Bishop Brian Tamaki.
I heard Heather Supidity-Allan try to distance the opposition and their supporters from the protests today but the truth is they are one and the same ideologically.
And hopefully a few other enterprises taking advantage of their charitable status to avoid paying tax. Although WorkSafe and Employment Court might deal to Gloriavale long before IRD gets a go.
What if Standardistas decided to get together and dance around on a motorway. The whole damn lot of us would be dragged away and arrested before you could say Jack Robinson. So why should these nit-wits be allowed to.
A reporter interviewed one of the protesters on TV1 this evening. She said she was there because she doesn't understand what the government is doing. Sheesh…
Oh I thought they were protesting against democracy. RNZ News said the idiot was calling on all parliamentary parties to step aside, presumably so he can step in and be our dictator.
His bikie gang mates must be supplying him with their finest brain-rot poison.
You don't appear that interested in living in a democratic and free society, otherwise you would be generally supportive of Tamaki's groups actions, love him or hate him.
I see the "marchers" of today from Destiny Church and the Coalition wanted to create mayhem, but not violence. Get a dictionary. About 1800 people all up in three centres
Yes. He laid it out so that anyone with half a brain could understand. Why oh why aren't these people given maximum opportunities to inform the public.
I will predict that come this time next week Shaw will still be leader, the Green party will have spent a week being excoriated in the media and the party will drop below 5% in the next poll. Typical Greens internecine politics – posturing tactics without a wider strategy.
Minor tests of integrity build resilience and inner strength.
Just because other parties hide/avoid/refuse to engage in the natural selection process, doesn't mean The Greens have to follow suite.
In any case, the Right despise the type of thinking that has interrupted the leader's BAU and when James turns them out, the blueies will unconsciously cheer him on!
The public show of disunity has damaged the party regardless whether Shaw re runs and is reselected or not…..and I’d add I would not be surprised at all if he didnt rerun .
True, that. The only 2 political parties that are in this enjoyable position, which is a shame because it has a disproportionate influence on NZ politics.
As there was with National….and a series previously with Labour…and in all instances they were detrimental to party support following.
Except in both those cases Nat and Lab were in actual disarray. The GP isn't, this is more about strategy as far as I can tell, rather than the Greens not having a good co leader.
However as you and Robert see no issue then you have nothing to worry about….obviously others disagree, myself included.
the biggest concern I have is the degree to which lefties are freaking out and/or dissing the GP as we speak, and how much hay the MSM will make with that. As for the rest, I find dissent healthy (depending on how it is done. the dissenting MPs at the 2017 election handled it very badly).
It's a media beat up. Stuff said Shaw was "ashen faced" after the vote!!!
Come off it. 70% of the delegates backed him. Just 32 people didn't. He will be massively backed by the members and will be leader at the next election.
But some would be happier with a National/ACT government, so they could have the righteous purity of protest. Cost of self-indulgence: one planet.
that's not it. It's that some people understand the urgency of climate change and think the current strategy is the wrong one. This is a legitimate position.
While the planet burns and drowns a faction of the Greens thinks it is so clever to play gender or sex politics because it is so much more important. Marama Davidson gets a free pass when she has done bugger all, but James Shaw (who doesn't thrill me) doesn't, even though he hasn't been allowed to do enough but has done more than bugger all.
I'm not some rightwing concern troll. I have genuinely voted left my entire life starting with Values. I have been involved in the Greens as a member, a network convenor and a branch co-convener.
But I have lost faith in the Greens. While I could see that climate collapse was the No 1 issue because it was about survival of the species and the opportunity to worry about a whole heap of other things, Marama Davidson wanted to reclaim the C word.
I voted Red/Green last time because in my electorate I thought that was the most effective use of my vote, despite feeling the Greens had dropped the ball long ago.
A party that thinks it crucial to have co-leaders who are female and other is no longer my party.
So long and thanks for the fish.
Now back to the work in my local community trying to help make it more resilient in the existential crisis we're neck deep in.
I think you misunderstand the situation. The Greens embrace and test non-ordinary ideas. There is no-one better, in all of NZ politics, to weather this challenge to orthodox behaviour. James will rise to the challenge, regain his position and go from strength to strength. Had to happen. Will be a success. Most won't be able to understand what has happened.
Brian Tamaki is talking about a new party … yet again:
From RNZ:
Tamaki told RNZ he will soon make an announcement regarding three minor parties forming a coalition. Tamaki said three minor parties have made the commitment to operate under a new umbrella.
"I'm in talks with others. So it looks like there's going to be a new party on the block."
Reminder: Tamaki's party (then called Vision NZ) got 0.15% of the vote at the election.
Still, Luxon being asked if he rules them out would be entertaining.
he hasn't been kicked out. They voted to reopen nominations which means he will face a leadership challenge. Like he did last year. It's just a bit different because they didn't get the nomination in on time I think.
Perhaps he will stay as leader, but that's not really the point.
There have always been tensions, in any deal between 2+ parties, between those who say "get a better deal" and those who say "this is the best we can get". A story as old as coalitions, anywhere. Fine.
But that is irrelevant here. It's not 2017-2020. It's not "Bargain harder than Winston Peters". It's a majority Labour government. Shaw gets as much or as little from Ardern as she wants. Leverage: nil.
So what is it that the anti-Shaw people want him to do?
speak out more is one thing that comes up consistently. That applies to the whole party but particularly the leadership.
There's also the idea that Shaw compromised too much and could have taken a better plan to Labour. I don't know where the truth lies with that, but anyone who thinks our current climate response is adequate is ill informed.
I guess one can yell and grandstand and look good and get nowhere, or you can get in the backrooms out of sight and get those from opposing sides to the table. Idealists dont belong in government.
don't particularly disagree with that, but it fails when considering climate change and that we are running out of time. We need radical change, and I don't think taking another decade to build power alongside Labour is the way to do it.
Probably the most important thing that could happen now would be a strong voice on climate, esp holding Labour to account. Inside or outside of parliament, doesn't have to be the Greens. But it has to be someone.
From the point of view of someone like you weka, with your understanding of climate change, there is no government anywhere, acting with as much immediacy and effort as is needed, am I right?
To expect that James Shaw, leading a party with restricted influence, as The Greens are, to create radical change, is … admirable.
From what I've heard from "sources within Parliament", James Shaw is head and shoulders above any other player in that game, be they red, blue, green, whatever political/ideological colour you choose.
Given the circumstances (the reality of our situation) there is no one better than James.
He will retain/regain his position. He will not throw in the towel. Well-intentioned people will continue to criticise him for "not doing enough".
I think we need both. We need the hard grafters and pragmatists like Shaw who can make inroads into the mainstream. And we need more radical voices to shift the narrative. Best thing would be something akin to the shift XR achieved five years ago, but that opened up the proactive pathways for change, giving people clear vision of where we can go so that things work out. I don't know if the Greens can do that in NZ at this time or not.
Yes, NZ is doing well relative to many other countries. But it may not be enough. The issue is whether the risk now in leadership change is worth it. I don't know this either.
I wasn't talking about you. I was pointing out that the MSM issues would be less of a problem if the Greens weren't also being attacked and undermined by the left.
I suppose there is a connection in that white men tend to be more centrist. But if Shaw wasn't centrist this wouldn't be an issue (centrist relative to his party, not relative to the current Overton Window in NZ).
I doubt James Shaw is "centrist".
Not from what I’ve seen.
He knows how to work within the system and the limitations he has, to make progress. His achievements if you look are many, despite having little real power in Government with Labour's majority vote.
I'm dissapointed that a proportion of Greens want to remove him, for someone more "shouty".
But re-affirming the leadership is an example of robust Democratic process, that is sadly lacking in our other political parties.
but yeah, it's kind of not really that meaningful because most people will translate that into trad left/centrist/right frames and miss that the Greens are orthogonal to that line.
My impression is that with every major weather event, nationally or globally, and with every day passing with lack of action on CC, real or perceived, Shaw was becoming a bigger target. Had he done and achieved more he would have been a big target for some and had he done less he would have been a big target for others.
I find it slightly ironic that the most democratic, transparent, and accountable political party in Aotearoa-New Zealand tends to get such a raw deal from the media and the public. It begs the question whether Kiwis are ready for empowerment and agency or whether they’d rather stick with the authoritarian status quo of National, ACT, and Labour.
Makes sense, people are scared, some will want a radical response, others a conservative one. Next year's election will be bloody interesting.
If I thought the challenge was well planned and they had a good replacement, I'd probably be keen for Shaw to step aside and be Climate Minister* and bring in a more dynamic outspoken co-leader who will change the narrative. But I haven't seen anything yet to suggest it is well planned and that there is a good replacement.
(*not lease because Climate Minister is a big job).
The ABS (Anything But Shaw) failed and the wheels blocked up.
I’d love to see stronger narrative coming from both the Greens and Labour. Ardern does do really good speeches and there’s an underlying narrative, a sub-text, but even she doesn’t articulate the (?) vision as clear and compelling as I’d wish. My own (and only) conclusion is that the ‘vision’ and associated strategy is slowly crystallising and therefore cannot be framed yet as such (aka a work in progress).
I don't understand why the Greens don't speak out more. Maybe we will see this next year? I hope it's not because they're truly being incrementalists.
My own (and only) conclusion is that the ‘vision’ and associated strategy is slowly crystallising and therefore cannot be framed yet as such (aka a work in progress).
Very good. I liked what Delahunty said about it not being about who might replace Shaw but who has a vision that can lead.
really feel the stories we can tell are crucial right now.
I find it slightly ironic that the most democratic, transparent, and accountable political party in Aotearoa-New Zealand tends to get such a raw deal from the media and the public. It begs the question whether Kiwis are ready for empowerment and agency or whether they’d rather stick with the authoritarian status quo of National, ACT, and Labour.
I think most voters don't get the GP particularly well. And for sure they choose the status quo each year.
I think most voters don't get the GP particularly well.
Admittedly the media often negatively filter the Greens to the wider electorate but despite that I think a lot of voters get the Greens perfectly well.
What some Green activists think is important (and it isn’t climate collapse) doesn’t resonate with most voters.
Green activists don't think climate collapse is the most important?
People can still like what they see in the Greens and vote for them, without getting how the party works. As evidenced by the number of GP voters dismayed at what is going on, whereas many people who get the Greens are relatively unfazed and see it as normal democratic process.
Otoh, it may be a split along the lines of climate action has to step up now vs people ok with taking more time.
Green activists don't think climate collapse is the most important?
I did say some. And from experience I believe some Greens are more interested in issues to with gender, sex, sexual orientation etc and not saving a dying planet.
I think some people do get the Greens but don't like what they see. It's not about not getting a democratic process.
Otoh, it may be a split along the lines of climate action has to step up now vs people ok with taking more time.
I think this could well be part of it. One of the reasons I pulled out of my then local branch only a few years ago was that many members didn't seem to see climate collapse as such an urgent issue as I did.
I switched to Extinction Rebellion and found that also had its own issues.
I now concentrate on community development and trying to help build resilience and sustainability.
I will likely party vote Green again because there is no alternative that comes close for me. But the party continually disappoints me and I've made my choice about where to put my energy.
That sounds wise Grey Area. I'm not actively involved in the party either, feeling that my energies are best placed elsewhere. Completely agree about the need for community development. At some point I hope this will meet parliamentary politics and then we might see real change.
I feel much as you do (Grey Area & weka) and have acted similarly however I believe there is a role for people like us to champion The Greens at times of stress, rather than taking a swing at them whenever a challenging issue emerges. I guess I am a loyalist. Can't see much gain in eroding the foundations of my own house 🙂
Hopefully the Greens will have learned that having a leader commit political suicide just before an election is a really, really bad idea. I would not bet on it however.
Well, they didn't learn that it was a bad idea when Meteria Turei did it just before the 2017 election so why should they do so now?
At least in 2017 they had Shaw to get them over the line to get back into Parliament. Without him I think they will be dead. They are starting to behave like the McGillicuddy Serious Party aren't they? That lot realised they were behaving like idiots though.
Well, they didn't learn that it was a bad idea when Meteria Turei did it just before the 2017 election so why should they do so now?
It's pretty clear to those paying attention in the past five years that much of what the GP do now is because of what happened in 2017, they learned a lot from that.
The co-leader thing seems superfluous. What is the point? Reckon the sharp end of the Greens relationship with the public would be a lot more sharp with one leader.
Affirmative action. I have since done a bit of reading. A good policy, but should it extend to leadership/co-leadership where it is a lot harder to satisfy the requirements in the selection of just one or two people?
If there are mandates for a percentage of positions to be filled by people with certain attributes (affirmative action, which is fine) then it's easier to do with a larger number of positions. When you get down to two positions, or one, it becomes quite difficult to fulfil with those parameters.
That's my theory, anyway.
And the Greens are still modifying the requirements which is possibly making it even more difficult.
That would be my take too – if they need Maori and rainbow representation, then a third role might make that possible without tears. Dumping straight males altogether may cost them up to 40% of their vote – not something to do lightly.
One question I wonder about. If Shaw survives, that might be very problematic for the Greens. I think James replacement is Chloe and if she doesn’t replace him, there will be a lot of unhappy youth, very left people in the party, who hate that a Cis white male” who wears a suit and doesn’t shout out his pro nouns is leader.
Yes weka. And the prime minister has publicly supported his work by announcing he will remain the Minister for Climate Change. Just because he doesn't make a lot of noise about it doesn't mean he is not a 'hard working' and effective minister. He is.
James Shaw will survive and thrive as a result of this development. Those who are uncomfortable with who he is and how he operates, will be chastised and their mission thwarted. James' supporters will be encouraged and emboldened, as will James. The media, the nay-sayers, pfffttt, they'll rattle about the way they always do.
The Greens have not lost anything over this minor, internal development. In fact, middle-of-the-road voters considering The Greens will be encouraged when it transpires that James has seen off the flakey challenge and strengthened his status as a non-flake (approximating their framing there 🙂
I see more votes for The Greens and a stronger position in Government.
weka's responses were pretty good. I find, what-if questions to be loaded and best avoided. What if The Greens get 20% t the next election, Alwyn 🙂
In any case, 2 female co-leaders? I'd be comfortable with that. James would probably be irked, continue on as Climate minister for a while, then move on.
I'd distance myself further from the party, seeing a behaviour I don't like, or rather, doesn't help the cause I believe The Greens are designed to fight for.
All that said, I believe none of this will happen. James will reclaim his position, the disrupting-factor will be dismissed, having failed in its mission.
On your second point, a repeat of what has happened, I'd do what I've done this time, predict eventual success, but be pretty annoyed at the so-called 25% for their lack of foresight.
I can't imagine that there is, in fact, someone willing to "challenge James" as their name would become mud 🙂
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
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Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
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A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
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"The cabbage white’s white wings reflect ultraviolet light, which we can’t see but the butterflies can. To our eyes the butterflies seem plain, drab, vanilla—but to each other, females are a gentle lavender and males shine with a deep royal purple. "
https://baynature.org/article/plain-cabbage-white-butterflies-are-anything-but-ordinary/
Hello all, long time, no comment. You might have seen me on interest.co.nz fighting the good fight in the comments section there, though.
Anyway, I have gone through a profound maturation this year, and have been doing a hell of a lot of thinking about the world in general. I came across a twitter thread this morning, which consolidates and elaborates on everything I've been thinking about over the past 3 weeks, and I thought it was worth sharing here as this seems like the best audience:
https://twitter.com/RobbSmith/status/1224023377020477440
This just explains where we are in history so well, I think.
I also think that Jacinda is a Teal leader, and that NZ is poised to be a leader in global Teal thinking this century, given our unique geographic location in the world, resource limitations and ecosystem, coupled with the indigenous culture that is an embodiment of resilience. Other indigenous cultures around the world also embody resilience, but in most other countries they've been much more repressed and marginalized than Maori have been in NZ (and we're actively trying to undo our harm – more Teal attitudes).
The only thing that is going to get humanity through this century is everyone working together, and diversity of human creativity, thought and expression.
Lanthanides are silvery white soft metals. I am in agreement with what you have posted, Lanthanide. I believe it reflects, curiously enough, the first post of the day 🙂
I was annoyed that your comment beat me – in the time it took me to get out of bed (where my phone told me 0 comments) and get to my computer to write it.
But now all is forgiven 🙂
Welcome back Lanth.
Yes change is the one constant of life – and that last sentence you wrote above is resonates well with me.
Keep in mind however that hopefully in another decade or so, you will look back on what you believe today – and there will likely be a few more 'duh' moments.![wink wink](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png?x42494)
You'll be expanding upon the proposal that "we have never had it so good, yet feel so bad about it", yes?
https://integrallife.com/never-better-never-felt-worse-inside-rise-integral-global-operating-system-21st-century/
That's not my website, I am not Robb Smith. Although very flattered anyone would think I am.
Welcome. Yes I have read you on interest.co.nz. Thanks for a hopeful start to the day, We do have troglodytes marching in three cities today, and your post is a hopeful antidote.![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
The Standard really should get with the times and have the possibility of a Thumbs Up reply to comments. It's pretty Standard (pun intended) everywhere else on the internet.
I know that Lynn tried it once before already years ago – in fact I was the very person who suggested it that time, too. Go back and check Lynn if you don't believe me. The problem with the add-on you installed is that it allowed downvotes as well as upvotes, so people could troll etc. Just get a plugin or configure it to only allow upvoting. That problem is solved.
In the mean time:![yes yes](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/thumbs_up.png?x42494)
It is easy enough to do. However I have a few other things that tend to be more important.
The Standard got a brain transplant last night. Its currently booting off a USB. But it has a Ryzen 5700G upgrading the Ryzen 1700X.
The actual problem at the time was the way that the votes were stored. It did nasty things to the amount of data access and slowing down putting up comments.
But I’ll have a look at it.
I'm quite ok without the dumbing down feature.
I'm ok with the dumbing down feature – provided nobody does it to me 😮
fixing the mobile commenting bug is the priority imo.
According to Stuff there are 1000 trogs in Akl with hundreds in CHCH and Wellywood…..not exactly a revolution.
From today's Otago Daily Times. I had my say near the end of the article 🙂
New inclusive campaign guidelines for local body elections have been called an "abomination" threatening free speech, but many candidates in the South have endorsed the call for respectful debate.
The guide encourages candidates to consider how they can respect and uphold the Treaty of Waitangi, value te reo Maori, reframe debates to avoid racism and race-baiting, avoid perpetuating stereotypes and identify actions they would take in office to support diversity and "build belonging".
It refers directly to debates about Three Waters and Maori wards, "which have, at times, become derogatory to Maori".
Michael Laws
The guidance was developed by Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), written in partnership with the Human Rights Commission, and included comment from race relations commissioner Meng Foon.
Otago regional councillor Michael Laws called the guide an abomination – it was a "biased attempt to stop freedom of speech and thought around Three Waters, around Maori wards, around co-governance, around the Government’s so-called reform agenda".
"It seeks to dissuade those who dissent from this woke nonsense from standing for office," Cr Laws said.
His colleagues were divided.
Cr Gary Kelliher said it was an attempt by LGNZ to "tailor their perfect council candidate" and Cr Hilary Calvert said "this smells of staff of the relevant organisations becoming involved in political matters".
However, Cr Gretchen Robertson said running a campaign that put other people down was weak and "an attempt to deflect attention from your own inadequacies".
Cr Alexa Forbes said: "I’m sorry that we have to be reminded of our obligations and I look forward to the day that we don’t have to be."
Cr Michael Deaker said some people might call the guidelines woke.
"I see them as respectful and well designed for New Zealand in 2022".
LGNZ chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said a sometimes-toxic environment had built up over time and "shifting what’s acceptable – and what is not – will take more than one election cycle".
Candidates could debate important issues robustly while upholding the dignity of fellow candidates, she said.
Aaron Hawkins
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins said making elections safer for a broader range of candidates should be encouraged.
"Sadly, we are seeing an increase in the uglier elements of public debate, including racism.
"Those of us who aren’t the target of that have an obligation to help shut it down."
Dunedin city councillor Lee Vandervis said the campaigning advice was a patronising, bicultural straitjacket that claimed diversity, but which pushed Maori speech and sensitivity agendas.
He noted it did not dwell on such things as value for money, debt and rates, "which are of interest to voters and should be the real focus of elected representatives".
Fellow councillor Sophie Barker said the document reflected how troubling some behaviour had become, especially online.
She did not recall racist rhetoric during her 2019 campaign, but did encounter sexism.
"On my first night campaigning, while I was looking for a seat on stage, one of the candidates said I could sit on his knee any time," Cr Barker said.
Cr Rachel Elder said the guidelines were great.
"If we demean, belittle, label and personally attack people or people groups, we are not upholding the idea of democracy," Cr Elder said.
Cr Steve Walker said supporting diversity and inclusion should be the default position of any worthy candidate.
Cr Jules Radich said he was comfortable with the guidance.
The Team Dunedin ticket he was leading had "asked for interaction with mana whenua".
Dunedin mayoralty candidate Mandy Mayhem-Bullock said she wanted to see people from all walks of life on the council.
Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton said he felt Mr Foon had been proactive in alerting candidates to the activities of pressure groups, especially those opposed to Three Waters reform.
"A great deal of the commentary around the claims made by these groups is certainly racist in nature," Cr Guyton said.
At a glance
Tips for fostering inclusion
• Take time to engage with the Treaty of Waitangi by learning your local iwi history
• Have a look at examples of partnership with manawhenua and Maori in local government
• Attend cultural, ethnic and diverse public events
• Use multilingual greetings
• Attend community meetings in diverse settings, including marae, mosques, churches and migrant centres
• Monitor your social media
• Be an "upstander" against racist and discriminatory comments
• Use inclusive language and avoid stereotyping
– Source: Local Government New Zealand
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/new-campaign-guidelines-out
If Laws, Calvert and Vandervis hate the new candidate guidelines they must be spot on
In a nut(shell).
For those who think naming unevidenced medical treatment for minors as "affirming healthcare" makes everything hunky-dory, a well-written Substack article explains why not.
https://lisaselindavis.substack.com/p/letter-from-finland-and-sweden
This group is doing the right things to keep kids safe from indoctrination.
https://www.resistgendereducation.nz/?fbclid=IwAR1a33udKGejuzZ4nhP1oFv8fATrJKKkcl0DG7EyQdWqC6GXx9jAGeWGCEY
Yes, there's a lot of areas of concern in New Zealand at the moment.
The guidelines of the newly created (2020) Relationships and Sex Education curriculum is one. Exacerbated by the provision of resources from external organisations reducing scrutiny and transparency.
We used to understand that culturally driven sexual mutilations like clitorectomy was an abomination. Now we are not even in a position to argue that.
The position those who are seeking to raise awareness are in, is the one that apparently excuses various forms of abuse and considered by NZ media to be occupied by conspiracy theorists.
(See Alison's story in this article: https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/04/04/misinformation-down-the-rabbit-hole-and-back/)
Even the most objective layperson would have reasonable questions about the impact to mind and body when puberty is avoided.
But those questions not answered with abuse, are often answered instead with exhortations (never hard evidence)… Be Kind.
Be kind … of inexcusably negligent in determining quality evidenced healthcare for transgender minors is what is meant.
And that’s a charitable interpretation.
Facts – not ideology. Such a shame to see the levers of the State used to favourite and promote a homophobic and misogynistic ideology.
https://www.speakupforwomen.nz/post/teach-kids-facts-not-wishful-thinking?fbclid=IwAR05VANQnxG5ItZvRaLFgCtiDRWuERidHTDKJmPu0UQ7_DY8n_1go8Ud_9U
Playing with some numbers.
The last time NZ could be considered (arguably) a sustainable society would have been pre colonisation….there were no imports required (that we know of, if there were they were minimal) and everything needed to support society was provided domestically…(even so there were extinctions and environmental damage)….the population of NZ pre colonisation is estimated to have been around 100,000.
The first wave of Maori settlement is thought to have occurred around 1100 AD. If we estimate that the first wave comprised around 1000 souls (over a period of voyages) then what rate of population growth occurred?
Around 0.66% per annum
If that growth rate had continued until today what would NZs population be now (realising that it is not necessarily sustainable)
Around 300,000
We are 5.1 million.
are you meaning economically sustainable?
No….environmentally and societally sustainable.
Ultimately economics is simply a measure of the above.
I should clarify…it depends upon whether you take economically viable to mean financially viable…..they are two seperate things.
Hardly a sustainable society when life expectancy was 28-30 years – similar to France and Spain at the time. It was barely survival.
"The swan species lived between 16 and 19 million years ago on Lake Manuherikia, a massive ancient lake which covered most of modern Central Otago."
Central Otago was a "massive ancient lake"?
Cool.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/471464/ancient-swan-fossil-discovered-at-otago-dig-site
I think you would love a local text book. It is very thin for a text book, but is packed with amazing information about NZ.
Biology Aotearoa – Unique flora, fauna and fungi. Parsons et al.
The title's wee description doesn't give it justice. Loads of history/geology and just amazing facts about our beautiful country.
A tiny tome – can that be a thing? A book of weight, but not physically weighty.
On the search…
oh yeah, incredible landscape and history.
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/deep-secrets/
"Placing a teaspoon of processed sediment on a tray and peering at it through a microscope engenders a huge sense of excitement and anticipation."
Ridiculous/amazing – yin/yan, right there 🙂
Dream Time …
Land of birds and snails …
Frogs and geckoes…
Bats, eels and seals…
Eden before us
btw, just watched this, was thinking you might enjoy if you haven't seen it already.
"Cloth made that way…must be magical …somehow.. it's going to protect you … "
wasn't that amazing. Look forward to the full film.
I grow those nettles. I plan to ret some 🙂
Everyone needs a swan fren.
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1550213964767928322
Martyn Bradbury goes ape on it:
"That’s why I argue that Fortress Aotearoa is simply a matter of when not if.
The current political spectrum in New Zealand can not radically adapt fast enough to adopt the changes we must make if we are to survive the climate crisis. It will require a radical Political Movement that elects a Party to implement Fortress Aotearoa…
On a rapidly warming planet, NZ will increasingly be the life boat for Earth and the tyranny of our distance will become our blessing.
Pretending that we can ‘stop’ the climate crisis cascade is sophistry, we require radical reform and adaptation now."
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2022/07/21/the-apocalyptic-heat-wave-in-europe-is-a-climate-warming-hoax-that-will-never-impact-us/
he probably shouldn't have been undermining the Greens all these years, eh.
Not sure what he means there tbh. There is huge benefit in averting the worst of climate change. Runaway CC won't be survivable in NZ even if we were a fortress. I agree about radical change, and mitigation and adaptation are still two sides of the same regen coin.
Bradbury is a loose cannon. He's basically describing Soviet Russia.
Not sure I'd want to meet a tight cannon…
Agreed about Bomber's attacks on the Greens Weka. I think he is attacking the personnel and not the policies when he makes these attacks which is really dumb.
I still don't get why it's so hard to see the Greens as pathway to better politics. Once they get meaningful power in government, it opens the door for other parties on the left to get in.
Own goal from the leftie dudes.
Because they are idiots, that us why. Look at this nonsense with Shaw. Factions of a faction bickering about factions.
The timing is correct. This was signaled when they passed the co-leader requirement for one female and one of any other gender amendment some months back.
Until then they could not get rid of Shaw because there were literally no other credible male candidates. Now they can purge the party of all but a few token white males altogether.
Theres no hope for the greens ,back to fringe loonies
It will not happen. James will be voted for en masse. Testing the system is healthy.
Seems, James still has majority support within the Greens.
It is a 25% vote to re-open nominations,, not a majority.
And I don't see another viable candidate.
If you look at the Twitter thread I posted earlier, the Greens are literally stuck on Green thinking.
We need Teal thinking for this century.
They're close and better than the alternative parties, but not quite right.
Jacinda is a Teal leader of an Amber party. I'd say Maori Party are Green-Teal but they aren't a mainstream party, yet.
Only five tweets in and this is very good. A big missing piece of the political puzzle too.
https://twitter.com/RobbSmith/status/1224023388466769921
Yes but what are we going to do after breakfast Bomber?
"immediately ban all water exports"….the Clutha alone puts out roughly 300,000 litres a second (it varies between 200 and 600) or a million litres every three seconds.
We have oodles of H2O….providing it is not exported in plastic bottles what is the problem?
at a guess, impact on the ground water, river and river bank ecologies, and the coastal ecologies around the outlet (extending for quite some way). We already interrupt much of that via hydro.
I'm not averse to NZ shipping water globally for aid reasons. Can't see how it can be done for profit reasons without becoming yet another problem of capitalism.
and no way should we be shipping water commercially to countries that are engaged in practices that fuck with their own water supply.
This century, we will trade water for oil.
The good old days (function not form)
https://mobile.twitter.com/lostinhist0ry/status/1550420291452809223
holy shit that's good.
Had me at the lift out vege conditioner.
Thought that was innovative.
From a time before bean counters ran the world.
Planned obsolesence.
is this a manufacturing dilemma? If you make a product that lasts 40 years, and within five years everyone has one, how do you keep the business going?
Yes and no.The older manufacturing model,had service (repairs and maintenance) where after warranty replacement parts etc,would be an income stream for the dealers.Now it is cheaper in some instances to replace either the whole appliance,or a substantive component.
Also now people seem inclined to buy and looks rather then function.
You change your company to produce items with a 30 year or lifetime warranty. You supply full technical diagrams for how to make all replacement parts, including 3d printing and metal fabrication instructions.
You look at what Red Hat does – they sell support for open source Linux. Linux is literally free, but Red Hat still makes money because using technology is hard.
CFC-free?
Lovelock did not sail on the Shackelton for another decade,and a further decade for Molina to understand the chemical reactions.
20 years previous at the Yalta conference,Churchill (and others) had to be sprayed down with DDT to rid them of bedbugs.
what was keeping the fridge cool?
Halo carbons most probably.Powering them was interesting though,we got a new fridge in the 60's and had no electricity (it ran on kerosene)
My money's on the pissed Russian squadies.
https://twitter.com/iaeaorg/status/1550492520592949248
Mentions of Russian battalions being surrounded beginning to look like they may be true.
https://twitter.com/EuromaidanPR/status/1550586379859640320
They need prisoners to trade for the return of Ukrainians in Russian
filtration campsgulags.I see some "freedom and rights" people are back out protesting today. I wondered what covid restrictions they are complaining about now. Maybe the recommendation to wear masks inside public spaces or get a covid booster. Pretty much nothing there to continue their muddled thinking against. But no, instead they are protesting violence, cost of living and a stretched health system.
So what exactly is impinging on their 'freedoms' and their 'rights' amongst that list. Nowt I can see. Another set of scatter gun issues which have little to do with freedom and rights, another catch all get some publicity stunt for Brian Tamaki maybe. If they want to protest against violence, fine, go and protest outside gang pads and make it clear to them. If they want to protest against cost of living, go and protest outside the Russian embassy. If they want to protest against a stretched health system, go and protest outside the homes and workplaces where people refuse to wear masks or have an issue getting covid or influenza vaccinations.
Recently announced review of the Charities Act maybe?
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/charities-act-changes-benefit-nz-communities
Well overdue.
Are Ngai Tahu also marching on motorways in order to stop the evil Jacinda Ardern?
It must be excruciating for the political right in New Zealand to see their desires mirrored perfectly by one Bishop Brian Tamaki.
I heard Heather Supidity-Allan try to distance the opposition and their supporters from the protests today but the truth is they are one and the same ideologically.
The wolf is at the door of the bish?
(Here's hoping)
And hopefully a few other enterprises taking advantage of their charitable status to avoid paying tax. Although WorkSafe and Employment Court might deal to Gloriavale long before IRD gets a go.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/brian-tamakis-anti-government-protest-projectiles-thrown-by-furious-motorists-police-consider-charges-against-protesters/RZ5MDLRQWV6VIEV3TH5JNTS3JE/
If I was 40 years younger I would have picked up a couple of friends and a large box of rotten tomatoes and delivered our own form of justice.![angry angry](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/angry_smile.png?x42494)
Was delivering child #1 to Newmarket at the time, just managed to get off at Market Rd when the three traffic control trucks were rolling to a stop.
Got back on at St Mark's Rd to an empty motorway all the way home. Didn't see any nutcases.
He is calling for a Sri Lanka solution. What?? He is mad imo.
They are totally deluded.
What if Standardistas decided to get together and dance around on a motorway. The whole damn lot of us would be dragged away and arrested before you could say Jack Robinson. So why should these nit-wits be allowed to.
A reporter interviewed one of the protesters on TV1 this evening. She said she was there because she doesn't understand what the government is doing. Sheesh…
Oh I thought they were protesting against democracy. RNZ News said the idiot was calling on all parliamentary parties to step aside, presumably so he can step in and be our dictator.
His bikie gang mates must be supplying him with their finest brain-rot poison.
You don't appear that interested in living in a democratic and free society, otherwise you would be generally supportive of Tamaki's groups actions, love him or hate him.
A question for you.
"How much should we tolerate, the intolerant".
I see the "marchers" of today from Destiny Church and the Coalition wanted to create mayhem, but not violence. Get a dictionary. About 1800 people all up in three centres
A brilliant interview with Dr. Rod Carr of the Climate Commission:
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/07/climate-change-commissioner-rod-carr-calls-for-emissions-reduction-plan-to-be-accelerated.html
Yes. He laid it out so that anyone with half a brain could understand. Why oh why aren't these people given maximum opportunities to inform the public.
Thought provoking (and well researched) piece by Brendon Harre on NZ housing and economy.
https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/116867/brendon-harre-assesses-work-and-thinking-henry-george-19th-century-progressive
What a bunch of chumps the Green party is.
Seems exceptionally daft to cut James Shaw off at the knees at this point… it's going to create an absolute media circus if it ends up a contest…
I will predict that come this time next week Shaw will still be leader, the Green party will have spent a week being excoriated in the media and the party will drop below 5% in the next poll. Typical Greens internecine politics – posturing tactics without a wider strategy.
Self destruction
the 16 year old's don't like James, so there you go.
Dismissing the views of young people, Alan?
Colour me surprised!!!!
Does this even faintly, vaguely, slightly equate with the shamozzle that was the National Party's revolving leader experience?
No.
Not a patch on it.
Minor ripple, yet DESTRUCTION!!
self-destruction
/ˌsɛlfdɪˈstrʌkʃ(ə)n/
noun
"problem gamblers on a path to self-destruction"
Minor tests of integrity build resilience and inner strength.
Just because other parties hide/avoid/refuse to engage in the natural selection process, doesn't mean The Greens have to follow suite.
In any case, the Right despise the type of thinking that has interrupted the leader's BAU and when James turns them out, the blueies will unconsciously cheer him on!
Win-win.
The public show of disunity has damaged the party regardless whether Shaw re runs and is reselected or not…..and I’d add I would not be surprised at all if he didnt rerun .
Disunity?
You mean, The Greens should have presented a National Party-like pretence at unity?
Not the sort of politics I support.
Why? There was a leadership challenge last year too.
Yes there was. Creating a healthy challenge, easily met, by James.
Rinse and repeat.
As there was with National….and a series previously with Labour…and in all instances they were detrimental to party support following.
However as you and Robert see no issue then you have nothing to worry about….obviously others disagree, myself included.
National seems to be doing ok in the polls though …
That's correct, pat, I am not worried. At all.
@ Incognito
…eventually. The difference being National (or Labour) have base support significantly above the 5% threshold.
True, that. The only 2 political parties that are in this enjoyable position, which is a shame because it has a disproportionate influence on NZ politics.
Except in both those cases Nat and Lab were in actual disarray. The GP isn't, this is more about strategy as far as I can tell, rather than the Greens not having a good co leader.
the biggest concern I have is the degree to which lefties are freaking out and/or dissing the GP as we speak, and how much hay the MSM will make with that. As for the rest, I find dissent healthy (depending on how it is done. the dissenting MPs at the 2017 election handled it very badly).
It's a media beat up. Stuff said Shaw was "ashen faced" after the vote!!!
Come off it. 70% of the delegates backed him. Just 32 people didn't. He will be massively backed by the members and will be leader at the next election.
You are correct, BeardedG!
All else is churn.
Only a minority within the party, but I get your point.
2023 could deliver a Labour/Green government. I hope so.
But some would be happier with a National/ACT government, so they could have the righteous purity of protest. Cost of self-indulgence: one planet.
that's not it. It's that some people understand the urgency of climate change and think the current strategy is the wrong one. This is a legitimate position.
I think the only person that could beat James Shaw in a leadership challenge would be Chloe. But does she want to be leader yet?
What a bunch of chumps the Green party is.
Yes.
While the planet burns and drowns a faction of the Greens thinks it is so clever to play gender or sex politics because it is so much more important. Marama Davidson gets a free pass when she has done bugger all, but James Shaw (who doesn't thrill me) doesn't, even though he hasn't been allowed to do enough but has done more than bugger all.
I'm not some rightwing concern troll. I have genuinely voted left my entire life starting with Values. I have been involved in the Greens as a member, a network convenor and a branch co-convener.
But I have lost faith in the Greens. While I could see that climate collapse was the No 1 issue because it was about survival of the species and the opportunity to worry about a whole heap of other things, Marama Davidson wanted to reclaim the C word.
I voted Red/Green last time because in my electorate I thought that was the most effective use of my vote, despite feeling the Greens had dropped the ball long ago.
A party that thinks it crucial to have co-leaders who are female and other is no longer my party.
So long and thanks for the fish.
Now back to the work in my local community trying to help make it more resilient in the existential crisis we're neck deep in.
You and I suspect Gareth Hughes.
Loosing your political moorings like this sucks.
I think you misunderstand the situation. The Greens embrace and test non-ordinary ideas. There is no-one better, in all of NZ politics, to weather this challenge to orthodox behaviour. James will rise to the challenge, regain his position and go from strength to strength. Had to happen. Will be a success. Most won't be able to understand what has happened.
Imo.
Looking at their current line-up the Greens seem to have a serious diversity problem. You should stand – you'd be perfect as the token white guy.![devil devil](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/devil_smile.png?x42494)
In what way is James not perfect for that role?
I wouldn't dream of challenging 🙂
He'll fly in, unharmed.
Annealed, sure, and tempered, so that's all good.
No I don't think I misunderstand the situation Robert. I think you are gilding the lily. You are giving the Greens far too much credit.
imo
I prefer to give them credit, rather than stick, Grey Area; better to gee-up your ride, than apply the whip, imo.
As I said Robert I've tried. I've been involved on the inside not just criticising from the sidelines.
I'm loath to use the horse racing analogy but I feel like the horse died under me.
Oh well, off to the knacker's yard then, for The Greens.
That leaves you with just, I'm guessing, Shanks's pony.
Is that the Bish's new party?
His sounds like shanks.
Brian Tamaki is talking about a new party … yet again:
From RNZ:
Tamaki told RNZ he will soon make an announcement regarding three minor parties forming a coalition. Tamaki said three minor parties have made the commitment to operate under a new umbrella.
"I'm in talks with others. So it looks like there's going to be a new party on the block."
Reminder: Tamaki's party (then called Vision NZ) got 0.15% of the vote at the election.
Still, Luxon being asked if he rules them out would be entertaining.
Wtf green party, kicking James Shaw out.
He has to contest his position.
He will fly in.
he hasn't been kicked out. They voted to reopen nominations which means he will face a leadership challenge. Like he did last year. It's just a bit different because they didn't get the nomination in on time I think.
That's right, weka. Another cool head. Thank Gaia 🙂
Perhaps he will stay as leader, but that's not really the point.
There have always been tensions, in any deal between 2+ parties, between those who say "get a better deal" and those who say "this is the best we can get". A story as old as coalitions, anywhere. Fine.
But that is irrelevant here. It's not 2017-2020. It's not "Bargain harder than Winston Peters". It's a majority Labour government. Shaw gets as much or as little from Ardern as she wants. Leverage: nil.
So what is it that the anti-Shaw people want him to do?
speak out more is one thing that comes up consistently. That applies to the whole party but particularly the leadership.
There's also the idea that Shaw compromised too much and could have taken a better plan to Labour. I don't know where the truth lies with that, but anyone who thinks our current climate response is adequate is ill informed.
I guess one can yell and grandstand and look good and get nowhere, or you can get in the backrooms out of sight and get those from opposing sides to the table. Idealists dont belong in government.
don't particularly disagree with that, but it fails when considering climate change and that we are running out of time. We need radical change, and I don't think taking another decade to build power alongside Labour is the way to do it.
Probably the most important thing that could happen now would be a strong voice on climate, esp holding Labour to account. Inside or outside of parliament, doesn't have to be the Greens. But it has to be someone.
From the point of view of someone like you weka, with your understanding of climate change, there is no government anywhere, acting with as much immediacy and effort as is needed, am I right?
To expect that James Shaw, leading a party with restricted influence, as The Greens are, to create radical change, is … admirable.
From what I've heard from "sources within Parliament", James Shaw is head and shoulders above any other player in that game, be they red, blue, green, whatever political/ideological colour you choose.
Given the circumstances (the reality of our situation) there is no one better than James.
He will retain/regain his position. He will not throw in the towel. Well-intentioned people will continue to criticise him for "not doing enough".
It's an age old problem.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16
I don't dispute his work ethic, but I had more confidence in Russel & Matt.
Scrapping the male co-leadership requirement was risky and probably unsound in the long term, however appropriate it may be to find a place for Chloe.
An ignorant and hostile press won't make any transition easy.
which would be less of an issue if a chunk of the left stopped slagging of the greens every chance they get.
I think we need both. We need the hard grafters and pragmatists like Shaw who can make inroads into the mainstream. And we need more radical voices to shift the narrative. Best thing would be something akin to the shift XR achieved five years ago, but that opened up the proactive pathways for change, giving people clear vision of where we can go so that things work out. I don't know if the Greens can do that in NZ at this time or not.
Yes, NZ is doing well relative to many other countries. But it may not be enough. The issue is whether the risk now in leadership change is worth it. I don't know this either.
I have a post up that addresses some of this,
https://thestandard.org.nz/james-shaw-and-the-green-party-co-leadership/
if a chunk of the left stopped slagging of the greens every chance they get
Trust me, if I were doing that, you'd know.
I wasn't talking about you. I was pointing out that the MSM issues would be less of a problem if the Greens weren't also being attacked and undermined by the left.
I'll probably regret this but why is it the white cis male who has faced multiple leadership challenges?
Should he be immune?
No.
But that's not the point.
It's not. It's the person who is the more centrist in the party.
The more centrist co-leader who just happens to be a white cis male. Bad combo.
I suppose there is a connection in that white men tend to be more centrist. But if Shaw wasn't centrist this wouldn't be an issue (centrist relative to his party, not relative to the current Overton Window in NZ).
I doubt James Shaw is "centrist".
Not from what I’ve seen.
He knows how to work within the system and the limitations he has, to make progress. His achievements if you look are many, despite having little real power in Government with Labour's majority vote.
I'm dissapointed that a proportion of Greens want to remove him, for someone more "shouty".
But re-affirming the leadership is an example of robust Democratic process, that is sadly lacking in our other political parties.
I said he's centrist within the party. There are plenty of people to the left of him politically, and more radical than him.
I said he's not centrist in NZ overton window terms. He's still to the left of the Labour party for instance.
but yeah, it's kind of not really that meaningful because most people will translate that into trad left/centrist/right frames and miss that the Greens are orthogonal to that line.
My impression is that with every major weather event, nationally or globally, and with every day passing with lack of action on CC, real or perceived, Shaw was becoming a bigger target. Had he done and achieved more he would have been a big target for some and had he done less he would have been a big target for others.
I find it slightly ironic that the most democratic, transparent, and accountable political party in Aotearoa-New Zealand tends to get such a raw deal from the media and the public. It begs the question whether Kiwis are ready for empowerment and agency or whether they’d rather stick with the authoritarian status quo of National, ACT, and Labour.
Makes sense, people are scared, some will want a radical response, others a conservative one. Next year's election will be bloody interesting.
If I thought the challenge was well planned and they had a good replacement, I'd probably be keen for Shaw to step aside and be Climate Minister* and bring in a more dynamic outspoken co-leader who will change the narrative. But I haven't seen anything yet to suggest it is well planned and that there is a good replacement.
(*not lease because Climate Minister is a big job).
The ABS (Anything But Shaw) failed and the wheels blocked up.
I’d love to see stronger narrative coming from both the Greens and Labour. Ardern does do really good speeches and there’s an underlying narrative, a sub-text, but even she doesn’t articulate the (?) vision as clear and compelling as I’d wish. My own (and only) conclusion is that the ‘vision’ and associated strategy is slowly crystallising and therefore cannot be framed yet as such (aka a work in progress).
I don't understand why the Greens don't speak out more. Maybe we will see this next year? I hope it's not because they're truly being incrementalists.
Very good. I liked what Delahunty said about it not being about who might replace Shaw but who has a vision that can lead.
really feel the stories we can tell are crucial right now.
I think most voters don't get the GP particularly well. And for sure they choose the status quo each year.
I think most voters don't get the GP particularly well.
Admittedly the media often negatively filter the Greens to the wider electorate but despite that I think a lot of voters get the Greens perfectly well.
What some Green activists think is important (and it isn’t climate collapse) doesn’t resonate with most voters.
Green activists don't think climate collapse is the most important?
People can still like what they see in the Greens and vote for them, without getting how the party works. As evidenced by the number of GP voters dismayed at what is going on, whereas many people who get the Greens are relatively unfazed and see it as normal democratic process.
Otoh, it may be a split along the lines of climate action has to step up now vs people ok with taking more time.
Green activists don't think climate collapse is the most important?
I did say some. And from experience I believe some Greens are more interested in issues to with gender, sex, sexual orientation etc and not saving a dying planet.
I think some people do get the Greens but don't like what they see. It's not about not getting a democratic process.
Otoh, it may be a split along the lines of climate action has to step up now vs people ok with taking more time.
I think this could well be part of it. One of the reasons I pulled out of my then local branch only a few years ago was that many members didn't seem to see climate collapse as such an urgent issue as I did.
I switched to Extinction Rebellion and found that also had its own issues.
I now concentrate on community development and trying to help build resilience and sustainability.
I will likely party vote Green again because there is no alternative that comes close for me. But the party continually disappoints me and I've made my choice about where to put my energy.
That sounds wise Grey Area. I'm not actively involved in the party either, feeling that my energies are best placed elsewhere. Completely agree about the need for community development. At some point I hope this will meet parliamentary politics and then we might see real change.
I feel much as you do (Grey Area & weka) and have acted similarly however I believe there is a role for people like us to champion The Greens at times of stress, rather than taking a swing at them whenever a challenging issue emerges. I guess I am a loyalist. Can't see much gain in eroding the foundations of my own house 🙂
I saw that clip but he did not sound happy on TV1 news tonight.
Hopefully the Greens will have learned that having a leader commit political suicide just before an election is a really, really bad idea. I would not bet on it however.
Well, they didn't learn that it was a bad idea when Meteria Turei did it just before the 2017 election so why should they do so now?
At least in 2017 they had Shaw to get them over the line to get back into Parliament. Without him I think they will be dead. They are starting to behave like the McGillicuddy Serious Party aren't they? That lot realised they were behaving like idiots though.
It's pretty clear to those paying attention in the past five years that much of what the GP do now is because of what happened in 2017, they learned a lot from that.
The co-leader thing seems superfluous. What is the point? Reckon the sharp end of the Greens relationship with the public would be a lot more sharp with one leader.
Green kaupapa, maybe learn how that works.
Affirmative action. I have since done a bit of reading. A good policy, but should it extend to leadership/co-leadership where it is a lot harder to satisfy the requirements in the selection of just one or two people?
how do you mean?
If there are mandates for a percentage of positions to be filled by people with certain attributes (affirmative action, which is fine) then it's easier to do with a larger number of positions. When you get down to two positions, or one, it becomes quite difficult to fulfil with those parameters.
That's my theory, anyway.
And the Greens are still modifying the requirements which is possibly making it even more difficult.
That would be my take too – if they need Maori and rainbow representation, then a third role might make that possible without tears. Dumping straight males altogether may cost them up to 40% of their vote – not something to do lightly.
One question I wonder about. If Shaw survives, that might be very problematic for the Greens. I think James replacement is Chloe and if she doesn’t replace him, there will be a lot of unhappy youth, very left people in the party, who hate that a Cis white male” who wears a suit and doesn’t shout out his pro nouns is leader.
I could be wrong about this though
one potential scenario,
https://twitter.com/Comrade__Nick/status/1550753057784602624
Yes weka. And the prime minister has publicly supported his work by announcing he will remain the Minister for Climate Change. Just because he doesn't make a lot of noise about it doesn't mean he is not a 'hard working' and effective minister. He is.
didn't really understand why people though his Ministerial post would even be in question. It's not tied to him being co-leader is it?
James Shaw will survive and thrive as a result of this development. Those who are uncomfortable with who he is and how he operates, will be chastised and their mission thwarted. James' supporters will be encouraged and emboldened, as will James. The media, the nay-sayers, pfffttt, they'll rattle about the way they always do.
The Greens just went from being highly likely to secure a strong position after next election, to struggling to be part of the next government at all.
The Greens have not lost anything over this minor, internal development. In fact, middle-of-the-road voters considering The Greens will be encouraged when it transpires that James has seen off the flakey challenge and strengthened his status as a non-flake (approximating their framing there 🙂
I see more votes for The Greens and a stronger position in Government.
What is your prediction if either of the following occurs Robert?
1. Shaw get rolled and a second woman becomes the co-leader?
2. No alternative leader is nominated but there are still 25+% who vote to re-re-open the nominations again?
2. very unlikely to happen unless they have someone in mind and didn't get organised in time.
"the GP will have two female coleaders"
You really should be giving lessons to politicians. Never say more in an answer than you have to.
weka's responses were pretty good. I find, what-if questions to be loaded and best avoided. What if The Greens get 20% t the next election, Alwyn 🙂
In any case, 2 female co-leaders? I'd be comfortable with that. James would probably be irked, continue on as Climate minister for a while, then move on.
I'd distance myself further from the party, seeing a behaviour I don't like, or rather, doesn't help the cause I believe The Greens are designed to fight for.
All that said, I believe none of this will happen. James will reclaim his position, the disrupting-factor will be dismissed, having failed in its mission.
On your second point, a repeat of what has happened, I'd do what I've done this time, predict eventual success, but be pretty annoyed at the so-called 25% for their lack of foresight.
I can't imagine that there is, in fact, someone willing to "challenge James" as their name would become mud 🙂