The Southland Times editorial this morning, “A glaring need for answers” begins,
“The Government needs to order a full investigation into a New Zealand led raid on two tiny villages in Afghanistan in 2010”, and later adds, “Prime Minister Bill English should order a proper inquiry”.
“The soldier told the Herald the two people found shot dead were killed by NZSAS marksmen who believed they were acting under “Rules of Engagement” governing their actions on the battlefield.”
woahs… “The soldier said it was not the only situation in which there had been civilian casualties from a NZSAS operation and which the soldiers blamed on faulty US-sourced intelligence.”
yes it totally seems like a coverup, the last sentence in the Herald article is very telling.
“He said (the SAS soldier) he did not know why the civilians casualties had not been made public. “Whatever decision was made to suppress that was made higher.”
Personally I am so sick and tired of the lies from those in positions of power in our country.
Imagine you are a deal-making Prime Minister intent on currying favour with a powerful “ally”, and it was looking likely that any independent inquiry would result in substantial criticism of said ally, plus you just committed a war crime?
What would you not do, as this deal-making Prime Minister?
Good to hear, bravo Deborah Manning, Rodney Harrison QC and Richard McLeod.
“The law firm says it has asked Attorney General Chris Finlayson and Prime Minister Bill English to clarify what happened as they say that “every day there’s a different version” of events.”
I wonder what excuse we will hear from the outgoing PM today. Apparently he is waiting for his morbidly obese Minister of Defence to return. How bigger hole can they dig for themselves?
They are gutless if they can’t stand up to the Defence Force, if I were them I would immediately engage in an independent inquiry, maybe even going so far as to put a few of the big boys on leave until it is cleared up. Maybe even suspend all of Keys ‘benefits’ as well until it’s sorted.
At the very least the outgoing government needs to stop denying the collateral damage.
“Let us test, says oil industry” – Front page, The Southland Times.
They only want to test, so Southlanders should relax; dolphins won’t be harmed, . Judith Collins “reiterated the Government’s commitment to the dolphins”.
“it’s often a 70 to 75 % chance of finding nothing”, says Big Oil.
Don’t worry, Southland; jobs, home heating.
I refuse to believe that down the bottom they will fall for this bullshit – times are always tough down there – the jobs line is really pathetic and weak. Come on Murihiku.
Do the links prevent you from addressing the content?
Your comments indicate a belief in monsanto and GMO as ‘science’…moreover,you endorse it
As an aside, being that you capacity for thought is limited, illustrated by your own words…it is no surprise the best you can offer is to slate Asleepwhilewalking, personally while ignoring the content in the links…
I’m pointing it out because you’re scared so you project….evolve or don’t, that’s your choice
Glyphosate has been used so widely and in such volumes for decades, that i am confident that any significant link to cancer would have emerged regularly on sites more credible than this. Things like the Lancet, BMJ, NEJM, JAMA
The conversation is wider than one constituent part
Confidence tricks have existed since early times…
Many have fortified the ability to understand when their confidence is a false sense of security…then ego prevents them from admitting it and moving on in a meaningful way
OK, let’s address the content the nutbar activist site links to. It consists of a couple of cancer sufferers who were convinced that glyphosate gave them cancer, and some evidence of dodgy dealings by Monsanto of the kind that for-profit organisations tend to be noted for.
Against that, we have the fact that glyphosate is one of the most-tested chemicals ever to be sold and every major regulator has come to the conclusion that it’s safe when used as directed (at which point we should note that water and all other chemicals are likewise only safe “when used as directed”).
Which of these is more persuasive? Well, it depends on the extent to which your capacity for rational thought has been debilitated by exposure to nutbar activist web sites, but for the record it’s the second one.
Vision is not a strong suit for too many people, including yourself…
The wider and indisputable problem is the merging of so called government agencies, with corporations. Essentially they are one and the same thing, having been enabled using various tecniques like ‘revolving door’ and ‘lobbying’
Bias (among other flaws) hinders your ability to observe at levels required to evaluate the core issues, you turn to insults…because that is your default level..
So, you’re proposing a massive conspiracy that involves many of the world’s scientists and regulatory agencies, and my skepticism that such a conspiracy exists is an artifact of bias and a lack of vision. I think we’re done here.
That is precisely the response (interpretation) I expected…because it is how you self protect…
…by ignoring what is an obvious and decades long exposė of corporate and state collusion in some of the most ethically and morally bankrupt activities carried out against humanity and all living beings…
Such exposė is readily searchable on ‘mainstream’ establishment vehicles…
Look into it…or don’t it’s your own stunted existence which others get to tolerate…
Yes excellent book j’Accuse……..but in yesterday’s events it appears a lone nutter with no terrorist links ran 3 people over then stabbed a policeman. It’s hardly Twin Towers stuff. Talk about media hype.
nope. It suggests that the powers of arrest in terrorist investigations are pretty bloody extreme.
See how many charges come out of it. Then how many convictions, and for what. After the Boston Bombing most, if any, were related to panicking after the event that they didn’t know would happen. Not to mention the ones arrested for being in the vicinity while Arab.
Hey, the seven arrested this time might have helped him plan the attack, buy a knife, and so on. But equally, the most any of them knew could be that the dude kept mouthing off about doing “something” and they just thought he was a blowhard.
Or they happened to be in the wrong place at the time.
Agreed McFlock and Psycho. The wave of arrests perpetuates the terrorist hype. Nothing I’ve heard suggests these 7 people were part of some massive conspiracy; just people the guy associated with.
As a consequence I suspect that I’m going to have to deal up with the usual gormless anti-immigrant bigots today who are appear to be too stupid to look past those selective headline ‘facts’.
It’s neither gormless nor bigoted to draw conclusions from this about the wisdom of allowing large-scale Muslim immigration into western democracies. This particular Muslim was born in Britain – all that says to me is that the British were mugs to create the situation in which that occurred. As an ethnic Brit myself, it annoys the fuck out of me to see the Guardian or BBC reporting that a “Briton” has been killed fighting for Da’esh in Syria – those guys are about as “British” as a taco.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I don’t see the distinction. It simply doesn’t make any frigging difference if the problem is east-end crime in the 1950s, incompetent ‘mercenaries’ in the 1970s, drug dealing gangs, or various actions by the children of immigrants in post war years.
FFS: I can easily find exactly the same stupid ill-informed and ignorant bullshit you are sprouting when I read the commentary about Huguenots or Dutch refugees in previous centuries.
The problem is groups who don’t feel connected for one reason or another to the society they are inside, and who attack it for their own benefits and reasons for some manner or another.
I’d also point out that you appear to know fuckall about Islam – and like you I’m not going to be bothered explaining my assumptions about why.
I know plenty about Islam, you just dislike the conclusions I’ve drawn from that knowledge.
And I don’t recall reading about Huguenots mounting terrorist attacks because they were ideologically opposed to the country they’d settled in – the fact is that there is a distinction.
I’d take a bet that I can take any argument that you use for Islam, and apply EXACTLY the same argument for Christianity of some branch or another doing the same things somewhere in the world and history.
There were a lot of complaints about the Huguenots trying to get England involved in a internal religious battle in another country. Many of those activities involved what was defined as terrorism by both the government of the time in both countries. There were some pretty authoritarian actions by the british government of the time trying to stop them doing it. Your definition of the citizens of Britian going and fighting for ISIL is EXACTLY the same. Is it just that you are comfortable with Christians doing that, or you really need to read (and understand) some more history.
I’d point out that I’m quite irreligious. I have a great respect for the odd people I run across who can have faith and live within the precepts of those faiths. But generally I treat all religions as being inherently dangerous when they are used as an excuse by dangerous bigots, populists or the dispossessed of society.
Consequently I can’t see any difference between the morons professing an allegiance to Islam and Christianity, or oft times with you as well.
An intelligent person can take any position and argue for it, that’s what debating’s all about. But fuck history – this isn’t the 17th Century, or even the 1930s, the religion that is a serious threat to enlightenment values in the present day is Islam, not Christianity or any other variant of religious superstition. And it’s all the more dangerous because it’s fundamentally illiberal out-of-the-box – no distortions or additions are required to make it toxic to liberal democracy. People who won’t face that are naive, wilfully ignorant or deliberately disingenuous.
…the religion that is a serious threat to enlightenment values in the present day is Islam, not Christianity or any other variant of religious superstition.
Obviously not the case just on the face of it. They simply don’t have the capabilities. Just think about what is required to take out any civilization or ethos. It only happens with crushing defeat and destruction or an partisan internal civil war of some kind or an argument that changes the paradigms of society. For instance in my lifetime on the latter – the role of women, homosexuality, and the lessons of the NZ civil war started in the 1860s come to mind.
So Pakistan has a couple of nukes. Not exactly a threat on the death and destruction side (maybe worth considering if you are in India). At least not compared to the thought of some idiot fundamentalist protestant in the US or a fundamentalist Russian orthodox or Donald Trump getting unrestricted access to the stockpiles of nukes in the US or Russia.
Offhand I can’t think of any partisan civil war triggered by immigrants with inferior technology. Even the recent historic invasions of here, the Americas required the immigrants to have far superior technology.
What historical analogy are you considering? The Mongols? The Huns?
And if a society isn’t capable of defending its ideas or assimilating external ideas, then you’d have to ask exactly how well it was founded.
Or are you simply being a simple bigot throwing up clash of civilisations idea with no fucking basis for it having happened in the recent past. Which is kind of where I suspect you are.
In NZ, I have heard the exact type of simple-minded alarmist nonsense in my life-time with Paheka, Irish, Dutch, Polynesians, South Africans, Chinese and bloody Poms. In fact it is hard to enumerate the number of times I’ve heard your EXACT argument expressed both in past history, recent history, or my lifetime with absolutely no basis behind it apart from the simple bigotry of the human tribal hardwiring for being scared of the stranger. Hell I’ve heard it expressed about geeks like me.
You don’t count anything that isn’t an existential threat as a threat? The fact that it’s a threat we can deal with easily if enough people decide secular liberalism is worth defending doesn’t make it a non-threat.
What historical analogy are you considering?
Too many to count, mostly involving Christianity, because that was the chief opponent of enlightenment values until recently. These days it’s a trivial opponent, but that wasn’t true historically. Now, having finally dealt with that opponent after centuries of conflict, we’re inviting in an even tougher one – it’s moronic and we shouldn’t be doing it.
Or are you simply being a simple bigot throwing up clash of civilisations idea with no fucking basis for it having happened in the recent past. Which is kind of where I suspect you are.
Assuming someone must be an arsehole because they disagree with you isn’t a good way either of testing or of improving your own opinions.
As a pretty enthusiastic atheist, I will take Muslim immigrants over Christian ones any day of the week, especially the ones not already from liberal democracies, as they actually understand the alternative to secularism and don’t want a bar of it. They might have some culture shocks getting used to the exact nature of society here, or not knowing all of the rights they’re getting, but that’s the same for anyone changing regime types, it’s not particular to Muslims, and there are actually similar shocks for those immigrating from the UK and USA, as their laws are getting increasingly draconian.
Anyone who’s cool with secular democracy, liberalism, and non-discrimination should be allowed in, I don’t care WHERE they’re from. And there’s no good evidence that Muslims are any worse than any other group- in fact, if we want to be wary of regressive religious views, we should be looking at restricting immigration for all religious conservatives, but good luck selling that to the National Party.
You don’t seem to get that the opponent isn’t the people who genuinely want in to more liberal democracies, it’s the people who are getting bombed overseas. We don’t need to touch immigration policy to deal with that, we need to not participate in US wars of aggression, and we need to use leverage to advocate for innocent civilians.
Plenty of muslims in Auckland from quite a lot of locations, Like every other group, I work with them (I’m in IT – we have everyone), occasionally argue with them, and have a vast level of amusement when they discuss their preconceptions with others.
You haven’t seen anything until you see a cross purposes discussion between a strong muslim and a fundamentalist christian who has a short creationist timeframe.
Personally I don’t notice much difference between any immigrants based on their religions or usually from their countries of origin. For instance a muslim pakistani who migrated here will usually seem more rational to me than many of the English from the UK with their rather strange expectations about how NZ should be.
But I’m a native Aucklander – I’m used to immigrants. I see more real differences when I hit provincial NZ and suddenly find those strange inherited class structures. Those differences always appeared more startling to me because of the strange twist of assumptions in people who were raised here as well.
Most of the Muslims I’ve met (and yes, plenty – more than you for sure) have been pleasant enough people too. It would be nice if that were in some way relevant to the discussion.
In europe, it seems it’s generally not the immigrant generation that gets radicalised. It’s the next generation, growing up in slums staring at a crap future, that seem to be the more common radicals.
Which points to the importance of maintaining a welcoming society. High levels of immigration that stretches our infrastructure and plausibly contributes to other problems like low wages and exploitation of workers is likely to test our ability to continue to make immigrants feel a welcome and valued part of society.
You’re absolutely right that we should stick to our actual capacity to take in new migrants. That’s sensible policy no matter your attitude on migration.
That said, I would point out that the phenomenon of radicalisation of the children of immigrants (or subsequent generations) is likely down to a confluence of factors. As you say, poverty could play a role, but so could structural racism, and so could foreign policy that looks insufficiently compassionate to people like them, in either race or religion, especially if it extends to actual wars.
So basically, the problem is never the immigration, as radicals are far more likely to be home-grown than actual immigrants, so you need to look at other policy areas to prevent radicalisation, and in the meantime, use good enforcement policies that hold the line between preventing attacks and not trampling on people’s liberties.
We also need to keep terrorism in perspective. There were accidents that killed more people than the London incident. It’s news, sure, but it’s a footnote. We’ve been panicking over terrorism for way too long for something that’s not fucking new anymore.
Assuming someone must be an arsehole because they disagree with you isn’t a good way either of testing or of improving your own opinions.
That is because you haven’t said anything about the source of your (to me) quite irrational fears.
I assume that anyone doing that and being unable to articulate the source of their assertions is hiding a nefarious reason. If you can’t articulate your assumptions then people can’t respond to them, and point out the mistakes that they think you are making.
The overwhelmingly most common reason I have run across for that kind of hidden motive assertion based behaviour in the past has been cases of simple bigotry. So I tend to start with that as the likely explanation until I find a reason to change my mind.
As a strategy, this usually works. It also certainly saves me considerable time trying to be nice as I weasel the real reasons out of people.
Besides, I really don’t like being nice. I think it is against my personal belief systems.
That is because you haven’t said anything about the source of your (to me) quite irrational fears.
What fears? A few weeks back there was a discussion here about the need to be vigilant against right-wing extremism, triggered by an event so trivial as to be ridiculous (a student group at UoA with a dodgy slogan). No-one wittered on about the people demanding vigilance being bigots or being afraid, because they weren’t – they just didn’t like extremist political groups getting mainstream acceptance. I don’t either, and people like Mr Mansoor give much better reasons for that dislike than some crackpot starting up a student group.
I assume that anyone doing that and being unable to articulate the source of their assertions is hiding a nefarious reason.
In what sense unable? Seeing as you immediately declared I must be ignorant of Islam, I assumed you must know a bit about it yourself and I therefore didn’t need to explain to you why it’s a problem. If you do need it explained, let me know. But the precis is that totalitarian ideologies tend to produce people you don’t want to have around, so encouraging adherents of that ideology to move to your country is a bad idea.
Posted similar a little while back. Radical Islamic terrorism is a threat. You have to be up front about that.
It’s just a vastly overblown threat that is used as a rationale by governments to do impressively world-scale dumb things, many of which undermine any superiority of virtue to Enlightenment ideals.
“As an ethnic Brit myself, it annoys the fuck out of me to see the Guardian or BBC reporting that a “Briton” has been killed fighting for Da’esh in Syria – those guys are about as “British” as a taco.”
that is such bullshit and so selectivly bigotted – ethnic brit ffs what a plonker
When does the melting pot actually melt? My father was English, loved being English from Bournemouth, very proud. When did the invasions and influences down there stop being them and instead became us. Is it generations, where you are born, die, grow, have kids, what you look like, what you believe? When?
It happened for your kin when are you going to allow other people the same privedge?
I recall one of those british crime dramas (morse/frost/whatever) where they asked the grieving widow if there was someone who could sit with her, like a neighbour. The response was “no, we’ve only lived here for three years”.
Ethnicity isn’t about being born somewhere – if it was there’d be upwards of 4 million “Maori” in Aotearoa. For my money, if some prick considers himself a member of the umma first, a Pakistani second, and British a distant third, if at all, there’s no point in me pretending he’s wrong.
English – stick to the point – so religion is one of the things you think is English and not English. Is it also that loyalty to the English group is lower than loyalty to some belief systems?
See? Your whole argument is bullshit mixed with bigotry. It’s okay many feel the same that’s why this world is fucked up.
Being a member of the umma is not the same as believing in a religion. Lip-service-only Muslims have no problem being British, but true believers have basically ruled it out.
Still, it’s good to know my kids can call themselves Maori because they were born here, I’m sure it will come in handy one day.
Well, what do you want? You call me a plonker for fondly imagining I have an ethnicity and people who don’t share it shouldn’t be pretended to share it, accuse me of bullshit and bigotry, and now claim the fact I gave you a snide answer says something about me. Actually, it does; a less-patient commenter would have told you to get fucked.
Ethnic brit makes more sense because English depends on political boundaries – enjoy debating with scots and welsh about the validity of modern boundaries. Ethnic brit says your biological heritage is primarily anglosaxon/northern European / norse/Anglo Norman/celtic/ Briton, with a pinch of Roman perhaps.
Whereas Maori can include Tariana Turia, Christian Cullen and Tony Brown.
Data on British population genetics suggest he could be <50% Anglo-Saxon.
"The majority of eastern, central and southern England is made up of a single, relatively homogeneous, genetic group with a significant DNA contribution from Anglo-Saxon migrations (10-40% of total ancestry). This settles a historical controversy in showing that the Anglo-Saxons intermarried with, rather than replaced, the existing populations."
So they are going to get rid of 26 mermaids, truckies will love that, those guys have the biggest safety impact of all but aren’t actually sworn police because of their specialist skill set. But the moves of a dying National government, damn the consequences, let’s look after our mates and keep those donations coming in.
Also big ups to the union, the Police Association, for calling them out on this.
Whenever a National government goes into a death spiral, they ram through as much nasty, self-serving crap as they can in the short time they have left. This is business as usual for them, given the circumstances.
Yeah, it’s sad, but also pleasing in a way that they have come to this stage.
Let’s see our loyal opposition call them out on this and get talking about how the problem should be solved, and that’s by resourcing the Police properly. And all the other services that are falling to bits.
In some respects yes, since A.C.T. and United Future, literally only exist in Parliament because Messrs Seymour (with no small amount of help from National) and Dunne won seats.
They barely got anything outside of these two electorates. Certainly not enough to get in on the Party vote.
Because of said absence of support – less than 1% combined, 47 + 1 = 48%, which last time I looked was not a majority.
“Whenever a National government goes into a death spiral, they ram through as much nasty, self-serving crap as they can in the short time they have left. This is business as usual for them, given the circumstances.”
Classic national, not only fiddle while she burns but chuck some fuel on in between tunes.
Heard of a commercial bus driver the other week struggling with the steering as it was obviously pulling…….he thanked the passenger who was going to report it as he’s had no luck getting it sorted in the brighter future.
Following logging trucks lately that weave about the road like drunken sailors.
“Bill English went to see Adele last night-Rumour has it, Adele buying exclusive Queenstown property and has citizenship sewn into the deal”
I liked the guy on Morning Report this AM who flew from Hawaii for the concert. Also I think they said 40 people flew from one of the pacific islands for the show.
This is very weird. This project would have been structured in the minutest detail to be released on time. Sure, sometimes projects run over but this one was visibly ahead of schedule. I drive past it several times a week and the structures around the tunnel were completed months ago. Pre-publicity stories about the tunnel also appeared months ago.
The Herald reported earlier this month that the new motorway was set to open in April, most likely the weekend of April 8 and 9.
I’ve got two theories: One, initial testing was completed at the designated time but the tunnel, on/off ramps, or traffic engineering model failed and they are now setting about either fixing what failed or getting another opinion that ensures it won’t fail, in true John Key style.
Two, the Nats have ordered the delay of the project so that it can be opened closer to the election thereby ensuring many thousands of temporarily happy Aucklanders vote for the status quo believing their transport woes have been addressed.
Number two is my preferred option.
A stonking big gridlock on election day to remind the average Aucklander why its a bad idea to drive to work, and a reminder of how ill served they are by their elected officials, local and Government.
“NZTA has released a written statement about the project, but a spokeswoman for the organisation refused a request for an interview to answer further questions.
No, I don’t buy that and I addressed it in my comment.
Delays do happen but not at this stage they are quite clearly visible from months or years out. Something has gone wrong with the engineering plan as a result of shortcuts taken earlier. Physically the whole thing is ready to go and for them to delay just two weeks out from opening a $1.4 Billion project smells like shit to me.
It is politics in that it’s know cheap Chinese steel was used and if this is an indicator then other similar concessions will have been made in the name of cutting costs.
I knew absolutely nothing about it at all – had never heard it mentioned. Yet from your link it sounds like a very big deal.
“New corporate structures and corporate management, and rules making it easier to partition land, will make it easier for Maori land to be lost to foreigners.
“And changes to current legislation will allow people with no whakapapa connection to make decisions over the land, allow a minority of owners to make decisions without telling the rest of the owners, and allow Maori land to be sold to foreigners without the approval of its owners.
You any idea where various political parties and others stand on it?
I don’t read the herald, that aside. You have posted a local rag, all well and good – but if you speaking out about somthing, do it nationally. Hone did it on a national scale, and he is not even an MP.
It has nothing to do with Māori news/issues it has to do with methodology. I get Meka has spoken out, but not well, particularly on a national scale. And putting in the cheap shot in the Waatea piece, was bloody pointless.
If you haven’t been aware of this bill it is your responsibility – it is not because Meka was unable to get her press releases taken up by a form of media that you read. There has been plenty of discussion about this bill in the past year within Māori circles – I am Pākehā and I have known about it for quite some time.
Hone is a candidate in the upcoming election and he has signed an agreement with the Māori Party, so his opposition to a bill promoted by Te Ururoa Flavell is bound to attract media attention. My question would be why didn’t Hone bring it up with Te Ururoa during their negotiations?
I do agree that Meka’s critcism of Hone in the Waatea piece was unnecessary.
Perhaps they did discuss it and agreed to disagree – I don’t know but if that is the case I would have thought there would be some reference to their discussions in this press statement.
This bill is one that Te Ururoa has been backing enthusiastically for some time – I don’t think he will be happy to read this from Hone. Then again, the MP/Mana agreement does allow for criticism of each other’s policies so he can’t do much about it.
Labour and the Greens both oppose it. Meka Whaitiri has been pointing out its flaws for quite some time now, as have a number of the people who have submitted against it, yet it is being railroaded through the parliament without any attempt to address the many concerns. This is typical of many of the objections:
I see some guy who looks like the offspring of Phil Spector and Roger Stone has lawyered up. He can afford a much better wig than Phillip Smith, but it looks a bit odd on…
Just visited the NZ Herald site. Pics of Grant Robertson and James Shaw with the caption, “Would you trust them with your money?” Not exactly impartial, Granny H!
It’s the most coverage Grant Robertson has ever got in the NZHerald, including his leadership tilt. NZHerald did well giving them uninterrupted 2 whole pages.
Handing out jobs for the girls. Got to look out for one another.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/327400/govt-rejects-nz-first-'shoulder-tap'-claim
Maggie Barry sepent her time as a mouthpiece on RadioNZ learning all the cliches about government behaviour such as saying it was a ‘conspiracy theory’ of NZ First’s Winston Peters when he criticised over-spending and jobs for the birls (women who have learned to behave like males) .
Documents obtained by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters show that in May last year Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Maggie Barry wrote to Dame Jenny asking her to accept the role.
In November, a Cabinet committee considered a long-list of potential candidates before Dame Jenny was officially selected. Mr Peters said that was clearly unfair.
“It’s totally unfair on the rest of the candidates – they think they’re involved in a fair process.
“They’re going through the whole steps and rigmarole of the process only to find out it’s been determined before they even started. Now, that is disgraceful,” Mr Peters said.
Ms Barry said New Zealand First’s assertion that it was not above board was nothing more than a conspiracy theory, and due process had been followed
That rocky outcrop in the article is amazing.
The government has put up $3.5 million to celebrate finding NZ and will get a replica of Endeavour and others to sail right around to prove that we are still here. However we haven’t yet become civilised, being still prone to land grabs wherever people can get away with it, and trying to chop down the trees of Eden to make the country over into a paradise for social climbers.
I suggest we put that $3.5 million into teaching civics, how democracies work to define what policies will be best for the present and the future to enhance life, enjoyable community and the environment, and how to learn methods for getting on with others to create a society to be proud of in the 21st century. This is the one where the flower of human intelligence should be awe-inspiring in its creativity and humanity cutting through harmful short-term thinking.
Instead we are regressing back to nostalgia for our historic folk tales that are projected onto our ignorance so that the total exceeds the sum of the parts.
Someone that should be commemorated, as we think of Endeavour’s voyage, is Sydney Parkinson who did the painting depicted on the announcement of the remembrance voyage of Cook’s Endeavour to NZ.
Wikipedia:
Parkinson was employed by Joseph Banks to travel with him on James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific in 1768,[1] in HMS Endeavour. Parkinson made nearly a thousand drawings of plants and animals collected by Banks and Daniel Solander on the voyage.
He had to work in difficult conditions, living and working in a small cabin surrounded by hundreds of specimens. In Tahiti he was plagued by swarms of flies which ate the paint as he worked. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Parkinson
This young bloke died of dysentery on the voyage, at the age of only 26. Ther is more details about his life and work, which is poorly recorded and only in the 1980s was his work recorded. http://www.botanicalartandartists.com/sydney-parkinson.html
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by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...
I am not making this up.First few lines of the Dail Mail write up:Boris Johnson's exasperated media minder swore on live TV today as the PM refused to speak to Good Morning Britain before trotting into a fridge as he started an early milkround in Yorkshire. Piers Morgan was visibly ...
In previous elections pollsters have bemoaned the 'shy Tory' - the respondent who is so fearful of being judged as a cruel and heartless bastard by an anonymous pollster, or their spouses, workmates and friends, that they lie about their intention of voting Conservative, skewing the poll figures in Labour's ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzI was in Switzerland recently and discovered that they haven’t ...
So, You Gov's MRP poll - the weird one that tries to reflect what will happen at a constituency level and which pretty much nailed the hung parliament in 2017 - is not looking too good for Labour:
We've known about climate change for over forty years now,and it has been a major political issue for twenty. And yet fossil fuel companies have kept polluting with impunity, while government have looked the other way and twiddled their thumbs and refused to do anything because "the economy", or just ...
Sheer Loopiness: Many of those expressing bemusement at the antics of these #turnardern effacers, were convinced that they were yet another expression of the National Party’s increasingly spiteful anti-government propaganda campaign. They marvelled at the oddness of the perpetrators’ mindset and questioned the common-sense of allowing the rest of New Zealand ...
Brad Scott, GNS Science VolcanologistThis post was originally published by GeoNet.Following the 9 December devastating eruption at Whakaari/White Island we have put together some information about the island. New Zealand’s most active volcano Whakaari/White Island is currently New Zealand’s most active volcano, it has been since an eruptive episode ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on its Inquiry into the 2017 General Election and 2016 Local Elections, with a host of recommendations about how to improve our electoral systems. Some of their recommendations are already incorporate din the Electoral Amendment Bill currently before Parliament, but there's also a recommendation ...
Back in 2017, in order to make themselves "electable" in the eyes of rich people who oppose everything they stand for, the Greens signed up for NeoLiberalism, adopting a restrictive set of "Budget Responsibility Rules" which basicly prevented them from using government to make things better. Now, they're finally abandoning ...
Since invading in 2001, the US has consistently claimed that their war in Afghanistan has been going well, even when it continued year after year after year. Of course, they were lying, and thanks to the Washington Post and the US Freedom of Information Act, we get to see just ...
How should we think about artificial intelligence and the implications that it has for our work and leisure? There are many articles on artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on jobs, and the ethics of applications. These are important topics, but I want to focus on some less discussed aspects, ...
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ...
The other big story concerning Leeds Hospital is Boris Johnson's bizzare behaviour at Leeds Hospital, where he was confronted by a journalist and challenged about a four year old boy with suspected pneumonia who was left sleeping on the floor, rather than getting abed like a sick kid would in ...
So, for a brief period of history, it was alleged that a protester had punched Matt Hancock's SPAD (not a euphemism; special adviser) when Hancock visited Leeds Hospital.This was reported by the likes of Robert Peston and Laura Keunssberg, as well as the less credible Guido Fawkes. It also quickly ...
by Daphna Whitmore Last week France passed a law that equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is based on a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel such as: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist ...
Over the past year we've seen major bus problems in Hamilton and Wellington, as drivers have sought better wages and an end to the bullshit of split shifts, which basicly see them "married to the job". And now its Auckland's turn. When NZBus's drivers planned low-level strike action of not ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. But those targets are insufficient. Meanwhile, Denmark is showing us how its done:Denmark’s parliament adopted a new climate law on Friday, committing to reach 70% below its 1990 emissions in ...
Another day, another piece of legislation with a secrecy clause. This time its the innocuous-seeming Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill, which (after establishing a new body and making it subject to the OIA in three different ways) includes the rapidly-becoming-standard clauses enabling it to request information from other public ...
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...
On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...
Michael SchulsonWhen Shane Burcaw flies on an airplane, he brings along a customized gel cushion, a car seat, and about 10 pieces of memory foam. The whole arsenal costs around $1,000, but for Burcaw it’s a necessity. The 27-year-old author and speaker — who, alongside his fiancée, Hannah ...
We are very pleased to publish this submission is from Lucinda Stoan. She is a social justice activist, mother, and educator, based in Washington State in the US. This detailed and comprehensive source-linked overview of trans issues and what is at stake will be useful for many people, especially in ...
New Zealand's Underarm Banker: It bears recalling that the “independence” of the Reserve Bank Governor was for decades held up by neoliberal capitalists as the most compelling justification for passing the Reserve Bank Act. Interesting, is it not, how the ruling class’s support for the Bank’s independence lasted no longer than ...
Rubbish In, Rubbish Out: Put all this together, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that anyone who responds positively to a pollster’s request to “answer a few questions” is just ever-so-slightly weird. Desperately lonely? Some sort of psephological train-spotter? Political party member primed to skew the poll for or against ...
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...
Samuel Becher, Victoria University of Wellington and Jessica C Lai, Victoria University of WellingtonEarlier this year, the New Zealand-based pizza chain Hell Pizza offered a limited-edition “Burger Pizza”. Its customers weren’t told that the “meat” was plant-based. Some customers complained to the Commerce Commission, which enforces consumer law in ...
Some people seem to want to close down any critical discussion of the current research into the relationship between water fluoride and child IQ. They appear to argue that claims made by researchers should not be open to critical review and that the claims be accepted without proper consideration ...
The government has been congratulating itself over the passage of the Zero Carbon Act, which sets out long-term emissions targets. Meanwhile, Climate Action Tracker has the shameful reality: those targets are insufficient:While New Zealand is showing leadership by having passed the world’s second-ever Zero Carbon Act in November 2019, under ...
The government introduced a Racing Industry Bill today. As an urban who horse racing as pointless-to-cruel, and gambling as a tax on stupidity and/or hope, this isn't normally a bill which would interest me in the slightest, beyond grumpiness at more government money for a dying industry. But there is ...
Check. Check. One, two, three, four. Is this thing ON? Hello readers, I logged in last night (yeah, it’s been a while) to mark THE END of the landmark legal case, Jordan Williams v Colin Craig, which (gulp) reached The Supreme Court, in which New Zealand’s most-defamed man was suing the politician he ...
Before The Birth: Israel’s most fervent supporters set their clocks ticking in Biblical times. They cite the kingdoms of David and Solomon as proof that, in the words of the Exodus movie’s theme-song: “This land is mine.” The majority of Israel’s backers, however, start their clocks in 1933 – the year Adolf ...
In an unreliable, strange and confusing world, Public Address is proud to present a measure of comfort and stability by annually asking everyone what words or phrases sum up the year that's been – and then giving some of them consumer goods as prizes for being clever or simply lucky.Well, ...
Both my parents are pretty handy – and they seem to have the right tools for most jobs in the garage and they know how to fix practically anything. A similar story could be told about their generation’s experience in the workforce – being a generalist was not unusual and ...
When it was revealed that NZ First had tried to enrich itself from public office via the Provoncial Growth Fund, the Prime Minister assured us that everything was OK as Shane Jones, the Minister responsible for the fund, had recused himself. Except it seems that that recusal came very late ...
Today is a Member's Day, and probably the last one of the year. After the marathon of the End of Life Choice Act, most of the bills up for debate today are uncontentious. First up is the second reading of Chlöe Swarbrick's Election Access Fund Bill. This will be followed ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has reported back on the government's odious and tyrannical control orders bill. As expected, the fraudulent select committee process has made no significant changes (partly because they couldn't agree, but mostly because it was a stitch-up from the start, with no intention of ...
Yesterday, the government released its draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which will be put to a non-binding referendum at the next election. I'm not a drug policy expert, but Russell Brown is, and he thinks its pretty good. And pretty obviously, it will be a massive improvement on the ...
As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
So, there have been a bunch of bad polls out for Labour, and even the Leftie's friend, Survation, have recently given the Conservatives a rip-snorting 11% lead. You Gov's much vaunted MRP poll - which pretty much nailed the result in 2015 - is currently predicting a comfortable majority for ...
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to declare a climate emergency:The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed ...
Pure Fear: Worse than Heroin, this drug’s addictive power was terrifying. People under its influence didn’t drift off to Elysium. Nor did it persuade inadequate individuals that they could conquer the world. No, this drug – pure crystal methamphetamine, “P” for short – unlocked the gates of Hell itself. It ...
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have ...
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters gave his final interview for 2019 on The Country to tell farmers they have never had it better under the current coalition Government. “Here you've got these record returns [for farmers]. These returns would be nothing like a record if the currency under the ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of DefenceTērā te haeata takiri ana mai i runga o Pukaha!Ara tai uru, whai uru, whai uru!Ara whai ato, whai ato, whai ato!Ara rā tini, ara rā tini, ara ri!The rays of the morning sun strike a new dawn upon Pukaha ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today the appointment of diplomat Sarah Lee as New Zealand’s High Commissioner to South Africa. She will be the first female Head of Mission to represent New Zealand in Africa. “New Zealand’s relationship with South ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...
A Bill that prevents terrorism and supports the de-radicalisation of New Zealanders returning from overseas has passed its third reading, Justice Minister Andrew Little says. The Terrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill is a carefully targeted response to manage the risk posed by a small number of New Zealanders who have ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Samoa on Friday, where New Zealand medical teams are helping Samoa respond to an outbreak of measles. “New Zealand has been working closely with the Government of Samoa and offering our assistance from the ...
The Government has changed the law to improve student safety and welfare in university halls of residence and other student accommodation. The Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Bill passed its third reading this afternoon and details of an interim Code of Practice setting out the Government’s expectations of tertiary providers have also been released. ...
A new tool to help councils fund and finance infrastructure could mean some housing developments happen a decade earlier than currently planned, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said today. “This new tool, developed by the Government in partnership with industry and high-growth councils, will allow councils to access private debt ...
Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the release of a bold new vision for the country’s vital food and fibre sector. “I’m delighted that New Zealand’s major farmer and grower organisations are today supporting the Primary Sector Council’s vision – Fit for a Better World,” he said. “The international consumers ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has congratulated the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government for completing a well-conducted referendum on the future political status of Bougainville. “New Zealand supported the referendum process by providing technical advice through the New Zealand Electoral Commission and leading a Regional Police ...
In light of Cabinet’s position that freight operations on prime land in downtown Auckland are no longer viable, the Government will now embark on a short work programme to enable decision-making in the first half of next year, Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones is today releasing the ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter has received the report back from a surgical mesh restorative justice process undertaken by Victoria University. The process heard stories, either in person or online submission, from more than 600 people affected by surgical mesh. “The report made for heart-breaking and confronting reading,” says ...
The Water Services Regulator Bill – Taumata Arowai , introduced to Parliament today, is a milestone for drinking water safety in New Zealand and will help improve environmental outcomes for urban waterways, rivers and lakes. “This is a breakthrough for New Zealanders in terms of providing safe drinking water throughout ...
Kia ora koutouE ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā matā wakaTēnā koutou katoaHaere ngā, moe maiKoutou ma ngā Rangatira Ko Anaru ahauKo au te Minita mo ngā TureHe Honore tino nui kei roto I ahau No reira tena koutou katoa Today, we are releasing two reports that are the ...
The Government is looking to turn around the long-term challenges of criminal justice by taking a new approach to break the cycle of offending to ensure there are fewer victims of crime. Justice Minister Andrew Little released two reports today, Turuki! Turuki! from Te Uepū Hāpai I te Ora, and ...
New Zealand firms expanding beyond the start-up phase are set for more support after today’s passage of the Venture Capital Fund Bill, Associate Finance Minister David Parker said. The Bill, which establishes a $300 million Venture Capital Fund, puts in place a key initiative of the Wellbeing Budget’s economic package. ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā iwi, e ngā rau rangatira mā. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Señora Presidenta, Excellencies, Delegates. International action A common thread that runs through the Paris Agreement is the commitment we have made to each other to do what we can to ...
The Government is lifting capital investment to the highest level in more than 20 years as it takes the next step to future-proof New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has announced $12 billion of new investment, with $8 billion for specific capital projects and $4 billion to be added to ...
The Government is forecast to run $12 billion worth of surpluses across the four years to 2023/24 as the economy continues to grow. The surpluses will help fund day-to-day capital requirements each year. These include fixing leaky hospitals, building new classrooms to cover population growth and take pressure off class ...
Budget 2020 will continue the Coalition Government’s focus on tackling the long-term challenges facing New Zealand while also investing to future-proof the economy. When the Government took office in 2017 it was left with crumbling infrastructure, severe underinvestment in public services, degraded rivers and lakes, a housing crisis and rising ...
The Minister responsible for the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 (te Takutai Moana Act 2011), Andrew Little has welcomed the launch of an online geospatial tool that provides data-rich, dynamic coastline maps that will significantly boost research and evidence-gathering under the Act. Te Kete Kōrero a Te ...
The Chief Victims Advisor to Government Dr Kim McGregor, QSO, has been reappointed in her role for a further two years. Dr McGregor has held the role since it was established in November 2015. She provides independent advice to government on how to improve the criminal justice system for victims. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare have today announced the deployment of a network of DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) buoys. “New Zealand and the Pacific region are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. It is vital we have adequate warning systems in place,” ...
DART Buoys Announcement Aotea Wharf, 9.30am 11 December 2019 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements to Minister for Civil Defence Hon Peeni Henare also here today. White Island It is with regret that this event shadows the tragic natural disaster two days ago. The volcanic eruptions on White Island have claimed 5 lives, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Racing Industry Bill in parliament today. This is the second of two Bills that have been introduced this year to revitalise New Zealand’s racing industry. “Our domestic racing industry has been in serious decline. The Government is committed to ...
Minister for Disability Issues, Carmel Sepuloni, is pleased to announce that $291,321 is to be awarded to national and local community initiatives to maintain and promote the use of New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL). “New Zealand is one of the few countries in the world where Sign Language is an ...
Minister for Veterans Ron Mark has announced today the Coalition Government’s initial response to work completed by the independent statutory body, the Veterans’ Advisory Board. “When Professor Ron Paterson completed his review of the Veterans’ Support Act in 2018, he made a number of recommendations, including one which I referred ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
I want to talk about one of the most pressing issues in our national life: the housing crisis and the poor performance of our cities. The argument I want to make to you is that generations of urban land use policy have lacked a decent grounding in economics. The consequences ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new appointments to DHBs represent a significant changing of the guard, with 13 new chairs including four Māori chairs. Today 76 appointments have been announced to complement elected board members, as well as eight elected members appointed as either chair or deputy chair. Four ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison is picking up that Australia’s devastating, prolonged fires are producing a soured, anti-government mood among many in the community. It may not be entirely rational for people to turn on politicians in such ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katharine Kemp, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, UNSW, and Co-Leader, ‘Data as a Source of Market Power’ Research Stream of The Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW Today, the federal government responded to the recommendations of the Australian Competition and ...
Winston Peters hopes mergers of NZME and Stuff and RNZ and TVNZ will save local journalism. Bernard Hickey argues they are more likely to again prove costly diversions. ...
The foreign affairs minister Winston Peters will be travelling to Samoa tomorrow to visit hospitals and medical teams dealing with the ongoing measles outbreak. ...
Andrew Little says the justice system is “taking wrecked lives and wrecking them just a little bit more”, but will the Govt cough up with what's needed for transformative change? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lidia Morawska, Professor, Science and Engineering Faculty; Director, International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (WHO CC for Air Quality and Health); Director – Australia, Australia – China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management (ACC-AQSM), Queensland University of Technology Bushfire smoke ...
Winston Peters is bemoaning how long a decision on Northport is taking, saying if you're faced with inevitability, you should act. But Cabinet ministers have put off making a call until next year. ...
A review of the ANZ Bank New Zealand's missteps over the past year has found complacency at the most senior level, leading to the departure of its long serving chief executive. ...
Dr Bryce Edwards.In his big-spending infrastructure announcement yesterday, Grant Robertson reinforced what many political commentators say about him – he’s electorally smart, but way too conservative to be a genuine leftwing minister of finance. Robertson does what is right for winning votes, but not necessarily what is in the ...
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the announcement today of three changes to the Arms Bill should be the start of a large-scale rewrite, or even eventual abandonment. ...
The failure of high-growth councils to supply enough infrastructure to support housing development has led to some serious social and economic problems, the NZ Productivity Commission states in a local government funding and financing report released today. ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that while the Budget Policy Statement 2020 promises to extend Budget 2019’s 'Wellbeing' framework and states "reducing child poverty and improving child wellbeing" as a priority, spending plans don’t ...
The National Party's new health platform includes $50 million a year for cancer drugs, a boost to Pharmac funding and the reintroduction of National Health Targets. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is lamenting the lack of courage shown in the Productivity Commission’s Local Government Funding Report, saying that while it makes many worthy recommendations, its play-it-safe-approach relegates the report ...
Wellington 12 December 2019: The Government’s announcement to future-proof New Zealand with a $12billion investment in infrastructure is a positive sign for the country’s future. ...
19-year-old Benee’s track ‘Glitter’ is climbing international charts thanks to being given a TikTok dance. How does that work? Josie Adams explains what a TikTok dance is, and how this social media app is the new MTV.Who is Benee?Benee has had a huge 2019, with the Aucklander riding sparkling pop ...
Newsroom has asked the district court to end a defamation action by business site NBR over a news story discussing NBR and ex National MP Steven Joyce. ...
Today, at a meeting of Auckland Council’s Governing Body, councillors voted unanimously for a series of resolutions that will require greater direct involvement in resolving the ongoing dispute between unions and NZ Bus from Auckland Transport and the Minister ...
“Important policy and legislative developments have landed today which could enable a bolder, more streamlined way of delivering new infrastructure for the benefit all New Zealanders,” says Infrastructure New Zealand CEO Paul Blair. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the announcement of a new strategic direction for the justice system, but says union members want to be properly included in designing the system they will eventually implement. ...
The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they’re worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer.It’s the time of year for awards assemblies and prize-givings, for clubs and teams handing out certificates and trophies. It’s traditional, as we approach Christmas and the ...
Millions of dollars worth of New Zealand fruit and grapes were at risk of rotting on the branch due to a shortage of local pickers. So a visionary group of Central Otago growers. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katherine Gibney, NHMRC early career fellow, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity The pacific island nation of Samoa has been making headlines over the past month due to a significant measles outbreak. At last count, 4,995 measles cases had been ...
Two newspaper reports illustrate the contrasting involvements of science and spiritual beliefs in the aftermath of the White Island eruption. Meanwhile several iwi have placed rāhui over their customary coastal areas. This effectively represents a customary prohibition on all maritime activities for the whole of the Eastern Bay of Plenty ...
From Middle Earth to outer space, New Zealand business has covered a lot of ground in the last 10 years. Business editor Maria Slade looks back.As the world emerged blinking from the chaos of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, New Zealand began the 2010s in relatively good shape. We’d recovered ...
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. This episode, Toby is the guest of Sir Michael Hill… Jeweller.To close out the season, and potentially the series, Toby boards the super yacht of jeweller, entrepreneur, rich lister and, now, cartoonist, Michael ...
Today's release of Turuki Turuki will be welcome news for people in prison and all those working in the criminal justice system. But its most important message is that all sides need to come together. Turuki Turuki is a call for political ...
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the coalition Government agrees RNZ and TVNZ need protecting at a time when media industry is in dire straights. ...
When Barbara Cox joined a football team in 1973, she was one of the first women in the country to do so. She’s still fighting for women in the sport to get the respect they deserve. Auckland women didn’t play football in 1972. Auckland women cooked and cleaned and looked after ...
Richard MacManus meets Aimee – the digital assistant with a human touch. For years we’ve been worried about robots taking our jobs, but in fact it’s “digital humans” that are increasingly joining the workforce. At least, that seems to be the case in customer service. Southern Cross Health Society, New Zealand’s ...
Election rallies ain’t what they used to be. Boris’s election eve shindig was an invitation-only event for party faithful. The location (at a smallish venue in the London Olympic park) was disclosed to attendees only on the day (presumably to head off the risk of protest).The set-up is for ...
New Zealanders waiting for hip and knee surgery and other medical procedures, and families struggling to put food on the table will be funding increased profits for banks and corporate investors following Finance Minister Grant Robertson's $12 billion ...
Business is Boring is a podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Campbell Ellison from Callaghan Innovation and Alexandra Allan, CEO of Food Bowl.One of the ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has published the 2019 ‘Public Sector CEO Rich List’ at www.taxpayers.org.nz/ceo_rich_list Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “This year taxpayers will pay $62 million in salaries for just 140 people. ...
The first step in making things fairer, for those that have experienced a miscarriage or stillbirth, got closer with the passing of the first reading of Labour MP Ginny Anderson’s Holidays Act (Bereavement Leave for Miscarriage) Amendment Bill on Tuesday. ...
All over the world, driver error and risk-taking is a leading cause of road crashes [1]. For many employees, driving is the riskiest activity they undertake at work. Organisations looking to encourage and manage safe driving behaviours will benefit ...
The greatest show to ever air on New Zealand TV screens, and arguably any screens ever, had a tenure of just three tragically short years.It was on air from March 1997 to September 1999. It had an ensemble of impossibly jazzy New Zealand children and a live studio audience. It ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Government infrastructure spending, fiscal policy Chris Trotter: Grant Robertson Spends Up Large – On The Establishment Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Politics and economics ...
Thursday, 12 December: Great South has today released a profile of Southland’s emission sources for the 2018 calendar year. It shows that agricultural-related emissions were identified to be the largest emission source for Southland, representing 69% ...
Britain votes today in an election brought on by the ongoing failure of the House of Commons to approve any of the Brexit deals put before it over the last couple of years by successive Prime Ministers, Theresa May and now Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson ...
The case for a complete relocation of Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour freight port is far from established. Nevertheless, Auckland will grow over the long term, and the freight operations need to move away from the area close to the downtown Ferry Terminal. This area should become like Sydney’s Circular Quay. The ...
Climate change crisis; - “transport emissions are a major culprit causing horrendous weather events.” At CEAC; we will watch with interest of how the transport funds will be used to improve our transport infrastructure and lower our climate change ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveiled a $12 billion infrastructure spending boost that was at the top end of most short-term political expectations. ...
From unpaid teachers to match fixing to sex in a toilet, these are the news stories that outraged New Zealand in the 2010s.Paul HenryThe decade in NZ scandal started out strong thanks to TV and radio host Paul Henry (for the edification of younger readers, he was like Mike Hosking, ...
The Minister for the Environment, Hon David Parker, has this evening launched EDS’s final report on its Resource Management Law Reform Project at a function in Wellington. The project took a first-principles look at how New Zealand’s resource management ...
The power of government to order users and companies to decrypt encrypted data and devices needs stronger privacy protections and additional safeguards, according to a study published by researchers at the University of Waikato. ...
The final Cabinet meeting of the year is on Monday, but an announcement on the future of public broadcasting may not be made until next year given there's only be two of after that. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Manwaring, Senior Lecturer, Politics and Public Policy, Flinders University The cost of running the 2017 UK general election was estimated at £140 million (A$270 million). It’s likely to be higher this time. In 2017, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats ...
National Leader Simon Bridges is accusing the Government of "screwing up the economy," after new Treasury figures revealed the books would be going into deficit next year. ...
Government unveils $12b infrastructure boost, much of it focused on roads and rail; and much awaited report on combatting foreign interference in elections delivered. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Brumm, ARC Future Fellow, Griffith University Our team has discovered a cave painting in Indonesia that is at least 44,000 years old and which may cast new light on the beginnings of modern religious culture. This ancient painting from the island ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Sweller, Emeritus Professor, UNSW This is the first of two essays exploring key theories – cognitive load theory and constructivism – underlying teaching methods used today. Explicit guidance and feedback from teachers is more effective in teaching students new content and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Hartley, Research Fellow (Housing and Homelessness) at the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW A private member’s bill, moved by Labor MP Josh Burns, recently called on the Australian government “to help build more affordable homes” in response to the growing homelessness ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salvatore Ferraro, PhD candidate, RMIT University The board of Australia’s second-biggest bank is in for some stick at its annual general meeting today, as Westpac shareholders vent their displeasure at the scandal involving breaches of anti-money-laundering rules. But though it will be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ayesha Scott, Senior Lecturer – Finance, Auckland University of Technology In the 12 years since New Zealand introduced the retirement fund KiwiSaver, nearly three million New Zealanders have enrolled and 30 KiwiSaver providers are now collectively managing NZ$57 billion in investments. But ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanya Dalziell, Associate Professor, English and Literary Studies, University of Western Australia Nick Broomfield’s latest documentary, Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love tells the story of the fabled relationship between Leonard Cohen and Marianne Ihlen, which unfolded after they met on the ...
Two more victims of the Whakaari-White Island eruption have died overnight, taking the death toll to eight, with eight others believed dead on the island. ...
Two new reports both recommend fresh approaches to the way criminal justice is approached. Today, changes to the system will come into effect immediately. ...
Open Mike 24/03/2017 
If you want to study propagandist techniques, you are typically told to study Dictatorships. Not unfair, but what’s always been more interesting to me is so-called “democratic” countries and their broader information systems. Why? Because people opt for it, even as they decry “totalitarian regimes!”.. It’s quite an eye ...8 hours ago
Introducing legislation which shits on the public's right to know seems to have become a daily occurrence for this government. Today's example is the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Bill. The bill establishes a framework for the establishment of "special purpose vehicles" (SPVs) to hide debt from local government balance sheets ...10 hours ago
Below is the longlist of words and phrases generated in the korero phase of Public Address Word of the Year 2019, with some editorial moderation. Now it's time to vote. As you'll doubtless be able to see, you get three ranked choices. Use your power wisely. Or frivolously, whatever.As usual, ...11 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore This week 800 unionised bus drivers in Auckland were suspended from work after they refused to collect fares as part of a campaign of industrial action. Drivers working for Auckland’s largest bus company NZ Bus are asking for more pay and better working conditions after being offered ...15 hours ago
As details emerge about what unfolded on Whakaari / White Island two days ago, my thoughts go out to all the families affected by this terrible event. My thoughts are also with the first responders who worked in perilous circumstances to assist and protect those affected. Both local and ...15 hours ago
BMG research have unleashed their final poll of the 2019 campaign:Westminster voting intention: CON: 41% (-)LAB: 32% (-)LDEM: 14% (-)GRN: 4% (-)BREX: 3% (-1)via @BMGResearch , 06 - 11 Dec Chgs. w/ 06 Dec That's a bit of a "Dunno why we bothered" sort of poll. "Phillip, I'm afraid I've been a ...17 hours ago
Grant Keeps On Trucking: Out of the $12 billion Robertson has announced for infrastructure investment, $8 billion will be allocated to specific projects, with the balance of $4 billion held in reserve. What does it say about this Government's "transformational" ambitions that 85 percent of that $8 billion is to ...18 hours ago
I love data. It’s amazing the sort of “discoveries” I can make given a data set and computer statistical package. It’s just so easy to search for relationships and test their statistical significance. Maybe relationships which ... 3 days ago
The state of the United Kingdom is fractured, torn up, shredded. The Empire is gone, it died a long time ago. And yet, the country is still tracking with a lead in favour of the ones who play to the ingrained, class-bound division for political gain. It is a disgrace ...5 days ago
It should be obvious by now but let’s be clear: The same folk who regularly traffic in disinformation, misinformation and “fake news” are also those who most strongly claim that their freedom of expression rights are being violated when moves are made to curb hate speech (as opposed to protected ...5 days ago
“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.” ― Martin Luther King Jr. A long and bitter court feud between former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and Jordan Williams has been settled, with an apology and compensation from Williams. On Tuesday, Craig sent out ...1 week ago
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...1 week ago
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...2 weeks ago
Image credit: The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ... 2 weeks ago
New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball’s bill introducing a six-month minimum sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its first reading in Parliament. Mr Ball said the new offence of "injuring a first responder or prison officer with intent" would target people who attacked paramedics, police, firefighters, and corrections ...1 day ago
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...1 week ago
The days of vulnerable consumers falling victim to loan sharks, truck shops and other predatory lenders are numbered, following the Credit Contracts Legislation Amendment Bill passing its third reading tonight. “Too many Kiwis are being given loans that are unaffordable and unsuitable, trapping them in debt and leaving their families ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison is picking up that Australia’s devastating, prolonged fires are producing a soured, anti-government mood among many in the community. It may not be entirely rational for people to turn on politicians in such ...1 hour ago
Winston Peters hopes mergers of NZME and Stuff and RNZ and TVNZ will save local journalism. Bernard Hickey argues they are more likely to again prove costly diversions. ...2 hours ago
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters is travelling to Samoa tomorrow to visit hospitals and medical teams dealing with the measles outbreak. ...4 hours ago
Andrew Little says the justice system is “taking wrecked lives and wrecking them just a little bit more”, but will the Govt cough up with what's needed for transformative change? ...5 hours ago
Light rail along Dominion Rd is further behind than many might have thought. ...5 hours ago
The Environmental Defence Society has launched an insightful, bold and practical roadmap for reforming our resource management system. ...7 hours ago
A review of the ANZ Bank New Zealand's missteps over the past year has found complacency at the most senior level, leading to the departure of its long serving chief executive. ...7 hours ago
Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO) says the announcement today of three changes to the Arms Bill should be the start of a large-scale rewrite, or even eventual abandonment. ...8 hours ago
The National Party's new health platform includes $50 million a year for cancer drugs, a boost to Pharmac funding and the reintroduction of National Health Targets. ...8 hours ago
Newsroom has asked the district court to end a defamation action by business site NBR over a news story discussing NBR and ex National MP Steven Joyce. ...9 hours ago
The success stories of people with extra struggles may not get awards and trophies, but they’re worth celebrating all the same, says Jai Breitnauer.It’s the time of year for awards assemblies and prize-givings, for clubs and teams handing out certificates and trophies. It’s traditional, as we approach Christmas and the ...10 hours ago
A building developer is asking the Christchurch City Council to cordon off his defective multi-storey block in the main shopping zone. ...10 hours ago
Millions of dollars worth of New Zealand fruit and grapes were at risk of rotting on the branch due to a shortage of local pickers. So a visionary group of Central Otago growers. ...10 hours ago
Two newspaper reports illustrate the contrasting involvements of science and spiritual beliefs in the aftermath of the White Island eruption. Meanwhile several iwi have placed rāhui over their customary coastal areas. This effectively represents a customary prohibition on all maritime activities for the whole of the Eastern Bay of Plenty ...10 hours ago
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the coalition Government agrees RNZ and TVNZ need protecting at a time when media industry is in dire straights. ...12 hours ago
Election rallies ain’t what they used to be. Boris’s election eve shindig was an invitation-only event for party faithful. The location (at a smallish venue in the London Olympic park) was disclosed to attendees only on the day (presumably to head off the risk of protest). The set-up is for ...12 hours ago
NZ's media industry has found a surprising ally - of sorts - in the NZ First leader. ...14 hours ago
Finance Minister Grant Robertson unveiled a $12 billion infrastructure spending boost that was at the top end of most short-term political expectations. ...16 hours ago
The Finance Minister says reducing carbon emissions is one of the focus of a $12 billion boost to infrastructure. ...16 hours ago
National Leader Simon Bridges is accusing the Government of "screwing up the economy," after new Treasury figures revealed the books would be going into deficit next year. ...17 hours ago
Government unveils $12b infrastructure boost, much of it focused on roads and rail; and much awaited report on combatting foreign interference in elections delivered. ...17 hours ago
Two more victims of the Whakaari-White Island eruption have died overnight, taking the death toll to eight, with eight others believed dead on the island. ...17 hours ago
The Southland Times editorial this morning, “A glaring need for answers” begins,
“The Government needs to order a full investigation into a New Zealand led raid on two tiny villages in Afghanistan in 2010”, and later adds, “Prime Minister Bill English should order a proper inquiry”.
And in the Herald this morning Robert… check this out..
“A NZ Special Air Service soldier has confirmed civilians were killed in a 2010 raid carried out by the unit and says the truth is widely known among the elite military group.”
“The soldier told the Herald the two people found shot dead were killed by NZSAS marksmen who believed they were acting under “Rules of Engagement” governing their actions on the battlefield.”
woahs… “The soldier said it was not the only situation in which there had been civilian casualties from a NZSAS operation and which the soldiers blamed on faulty US-sourced intelligence.”
Did they give this evidence at the time? If so, how was it covered up and by whom?
Edit: from the Herald article the answer to the first question looks like “yes”.
yes it totally seems like a coverup, the last sentence in the Herald article is very telling.
“He said (the SAS soldier) he did not know why the civilians casualties had not been made public. “Whatever decision was made to suppress that was made higher.”
Personally I am so sick and tired of the lies from those in positions of power in our country.
Imagine you are a deal-making Prime Minister intent on currying favour with a powerful “ally”, and it was looking likely that any independent inquiry would result in substantial criticism of said ally, plus you just committed a war crime?
What would you not do, as this deal-making Prime Minister?
“What would you not do, as this deal-making Prime Minister?”
I would not open the door
“shit”, “meet fan” (latest breaking “hit and run”)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824691&ref=NZH_Tw
Good to hear, bravo Deborah Manning, Rodney Harrison QC and Richard McLeod.
“The law firm says it has asked Attorney General Chris Finlayson and Prime Minister Bill English to clarify what happened as they say that “every day there’s a different version” of events.”
I wonder what excuse we will hear from the outgoing PM today. Apparently he is waiting for his morbidly obese Minister of Defence to return. How bigger hole can they dig for themselves?
They are gutless if they can’t stand up to the Defence Force, if I were them I would immediately engage in an independent inquiry, maybe even going so far as to put a few of the big boys on leave until it is cleared up. Maybe even suspend all of Keys ‘benefits’ as well until it’s sorted.
At the very least the outgoing government needs to stop denying the collateral damage.
“Let us test, says oil industry” – Front page, The Southland Times.
They only want to test, so Southlanders should relax; dolphins won’t be harmed, . Judith Collins “reiterated the Government’s commitment to the dolphins”.
“it’s often a 70 to 75 % chance of finding nothing”, says Big Oil.
Don’t worry, Southland; jobs, home heating.
I refuse to believe that down the bottom they will fall for this bullshit – times are always tough down there – the jobs line is really pathetic and weak. Come on Murihiku.
We always knew they were the face of evil – emails between EPA and Monsanto released.
https://www.organicconsumers.org/essays/congress-must-investigate-collusion-between-monsanto-and-epa-now
Glyphospate is carcinogenic.
http://foodbabe.com/2017/03/21/emails-epa-monsanto-now-revealed-contents-sickening/
I recommend spending less time on nutbar activist sites – it’s very bad for your brain.
Do the links prevent you from addressing the content?
Your comments indicate a belief in monsanto and GMO as ‘science’…moreover,you endorse it
As an aside, being that you capacity for thought is limited, illustrated by your own words…it is no surprise the best you can offer is to slate Asleepwhilewalking, personally while ignoring the content in the links…
I’m pointing it out because you’re scared so you project….evolve or don’t, that’s your choice
Self reflection is a cyclical process…
Try it sometime. ..
Glyphosate has been used so widely and in such volumes for decades, that i am confident that any significant link to cancer would have emerged regularly on sites more credible than this. Things like the Lancet, BMJ, NEJM, JAMA
The conversation is wider than one constituent part
Confidence tricks have existed since early times…
Many have fortified the ability to understand when their confidence is a false sense of security…then ego prevents them from admitting it and moving on in a meaningful way
So many words, so little coherence.
OK, let’s address the content the nutbar activist site links to. It consists of a couple of cancer sufferers who were convinced that glyphosate gave them cancer, and some evidence of dodgy dealings by Monsanto of the kind that for-profit organisations tend to be noted for.
Against that, we have the fact that glyphosate is one of the most-tested chemicals ever to be sold and every major regulator has come to the conclusion that it’s safe when used as directed (at which point we should note that water and all other chemicals are likewise only safe “when used as directed”).
Which of these is more persuasive? Well, it depends on the extent to which your capacity for rational thought has been debilitated by exposure to nutbar activist web sites, but for the record it’s the second one.
Vision is not a strong suit for too many people, including yourself…
The wider and indisputable problem is the merging of so called government agencies, with corporations. Essentially they are one and the same thing, having been enabled using various tecniques like ‘revolving door’ and ‘lobbying’
Bias (among other flaws) hinders your ability to observe at levels required to evaluate the core issues, you turn to insults…because that is your default level..
So, you’re proposing a massive conspiracy that involves many of the world’s scientists and regulatory agencies, and my skepticism that such a conspiracy exists is an artifact of bias and a lack of vision. I think we’re done here.
That is precisely the response (interpretation) I expected…because it is how you self protect…
…by ignoring what is an obvious and decades long exposė of corporate and state collusion in some of the most ethically and morally bankrupt activities carried out against humanity and all living beings…
Such exposė is readily searchable on ‘mainstream’ establishment vehicles…
Look into it…or don’t it’s your own stunted existence which others get to tolerate…
If you wish to understand what is happening in London read ‘The Secret Agent’ by Joseph Conrad.
Brexit is suddenly less prominent in the media.
Why don’t you give a quick precis to give us the relevance of your reference.
Long time since I did Stage 1 English Lit.
You think Masood was an agent provocateur in the pay of the Russians? I must admit to finding that somewhat unlikely.
Yes excellent book j’Accuse……..but in yesterday’s events it appears a lone nutter with no terrorist links ran 3 people over then stabbed a policeman. It’s hardly Twin Towers stuff. Talk about media hype.
Not sure how lone wolf he was.
The English Police have arrested 7 other people in relation to their enquiry into the attack.
That suggests that there was some kind of support cell behind him.
nope. It suggests that the powers of arrest in terrorist investigations are pretty bloody extreme.
See how many charges come out of it. Then how many convictions, and for what. After the Boston Bombing most, if any, were related to panicking after the event that they didn’t know would happen. Not to mention the ones arrested for being in the vicinity while Arab.
Hey, the seven arrested this time might have helped him plan the attack, buy a knife, and so on. But equally, the most any of them knew could be that the dude kept mouthing off about doing “something” and they just thought he was a blowhard.
Or they happened to be in the wrong place at the time.
That suggests that there was some kind of support cell behind him.
It suggests he knew at least seven people – whether there’s any more to it than that remains to be seen.
Agreed McFlock and Psycho. The wave of arrests perpetuates the terrorist hype. Nothing I’ve heard suggests these 7 people were part of some massive conspiracy; just people the guy associated with.
This is what I mean by my post above
https://twitter.com/hashtag/westminster?src=hash
As a consequence I suspect that I’m going to have to deal up with the usual gormless anti-immigrant bigots today who are appear to be too stupid to look past those selective headline ‘facts’.
It’s neither gormless nor bigoted to draw conclusions from this about the wisdom of allowing large-scale Muslim immigration into western democracies. This particular Muslim was born in Britain – all that says to me is that the British were mugs to create the situation in which that occurred. As an ethnic Brit myself, it annoys the fuck out of me to see the Guardian or BBC reporting that a “Briton” has been killed fighting for Da’esh in Syria – those guys are about as “British” as a taco.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I don’t see the distinction. It simply doesn’t make any frigging difference if the problem is east-end crime in the 1950s, incompetent ‘mercenaries’ in the 1970s, drug dealing gangs, or various actions by the children of immigrants in post war years.
FFS: I can easily find exactly the same stupid ill-informed and ignorant bullshit you are sprouting when I read the commentary about Huguenots or Dutch refugees in previous centuries.
The problem is groups who don’t feel connected for one reason or another to the society they are inside, and who attack it for their own benefits and reasons for some manner or another.
I’d also point out that you appear to know fuckall about Islam – and like you I’m not going to be bothered explaining my assumptions about why.
I know plenty about Islam, you just dislike the conclusions I’ve drawn from that knowledge.
And I don’t recall reading about Huguenots mounting terrorist attacks because they were ideologically opposed to the country they’d settled in – the fact is that there is a distinction.
Does the Boer war count?
I’d take a bet that I can take any argument that you use for Islam, and apply EXACTLY the same argument for Christianity of some branch or another doing the same things somewhere in the world and history.
There were a lot of complaints about the Huguenots trying to get England involved in a internal religious battle in another country. Many of those activities involved what was defined as terrorism by both the government of the time in both countries. There were some pretty authoritarian actions by the british government of the time trying to stop them doing it. Your definition of the citizens of Britian going and fighting for ISIL is EXACTLY the same. Is it just that you are comfortable with Christians doing that, or you really need to read (and understand) some more history.
I’d point out that I’m quite irreligious. I have a great respect for the odd people I run across who can have faith and live within the precepts of those faiths. But generally I treat all religions as being inherently dangerous when they are used as an excuse by dangerous bigots, populists or the dispossessed of society.
Consequently I can’t see any difference between the morons professing an allegiance to Islam and Christianity, or oft times with you as well.
An intelligent person can take any position and argue for it, that’s what debating’s all about. But fuck history – this isn’t the 17th Century, or even the 1930s, the religion that is a serious threat to enlightenment values in the present day is Islam, not Christianity or any other variant of religious superstition. And it’s all the more dangerous because it’s fundamentally illiberal out-of-the-box – no distortions or additions are required to make it toxic to liberal democracy. People who won’t face that are naive, wilfully ignorant or deliberately disingenuous.
Obviously not the case just on the face of it. They simply don’t have the capabilities. Just think about what is required to take out any civilization or ethos. It only happens with crushing defeat and destruction or an partisan internal civil war of some kind or an argument that changes the paradigms of society. For instance in my lifetime on the latter – the role of women, homosexuality, and the lessons of the NZ civil war started in the 1860s come to mind.
So Pakistan has a couple of nukes. Not exactly a threat on the death and destruction side (maybe worth considering if you are in India). At least not compared to the thought of some idiot fundamentalist protestant in the US or a fundamentalist Russian orthodox or Donald Trump getting unrestricted access to the stockpiles of nukes in the US or Russia.
Offhand I can’t think of any partisan civil war triggered by immigrants with inferior technology. Even the recent historic invasions of here, the Americas required the immigrants to have far superior technology.
What historical analogy are you considering? The Mongols? The Huns?
And if a society isn’t capable of defending its ideas or assimilating external ideas, then you’d have to ask exactly how well it was founded.
Or are you simply being a simple bigot throwing up clash of civilisations idea with no fucking basis for it having happened in the recent past. Which is kind of where I suspect you are.
In NZ, I have heard the exact type of simple-minded alarmist nonsense in my life-time with Paheka, Irish, Dutch, Polynesians, South Africans, Chinese and bloody Poms. In fact it is hard to enumerate the number of times I’ve heard your EXACT argument expressed both in past history, recent history, or my lifetime with absolutely no basis behind it apart from the simple bigotry of the human tribal hardwiring for being scared of the stranger. Hell I’ve heard it expressed about geeks like me.
You don’t count anything that isn’t an existential threat as a threat? The fact that it’s a threat we can deal with easily if enough people decide secular liberalism is worth defending doesn’t make it a non-threat.
What historical analogy are you considering?
Too many to count, mostly involving Christianity, because that was the chief opponent of enlightenment values until recently. These days it’s a trivial opponent, but that wasn’t true historically. Now, having finally dealt with that opponent after centuries of conflict, we’re inviting in an even tougher one – it’s moronic and we shouldn’t be doing it.
Or are you simply being a simple bigot throwing up clash of civilisations idea with no fucking basis for it having happened in the recent past. Which is kind of where I suspect you are.
Assuming someone must be an arsehole because they disagree with you isn’t a good way either of testing or of improving your own opinions.
As a pretty enthusiastic atheist, I will take Muslim immigrants over Christian ones any day of the week, especially the ones not already from liberal democracies, as they actually understand the alternative to secularism and don’t want a bar of it. They might have some culture shocks getting used to the exact nature of society here, or not knowing all of the rights they’re getting, but that’s the same for anyone changing regime types, it’s not particular to Muslims, and there are actually similar shocks for those immigrating from the UK and USA, as their laws are getting increasingly draconian.
Anyone who’s cool with secular democracy, liberalism, and non-discrimination should be allowed in, I don’t care WHERE they’re from. And there’s no good evidence that Muslims are any worse than any other group- in fact, if we want to be wary of regressive religious views, we should be looking at restricting immigration for all religious conservatives, but good luck selling that to the National Party.
You don’t seem to get that the opponent isn’t the people who genuinely want in to more liberal democracies, it’s the people who are getting bombed overseas. We don’t need to touch immigration policy to deal with that, we need to not participate in US wars of aggression, and we need to use leverage to advocate for innocent civilians.
That would be my point as well.
Plenty of muslims in Auckland from quite a lot of locations, Like every other group, I work with them (I’m in IT – we have everyone), occasionally argue with them, and have a vast level of amusement when they discuss their preconceptions with others.
You haven’t seen anything until you see a cross purposes discussion between a strong muslim and a fundamentalist christian who has a short creationist timeframe.
Personally I don’t notice much difference between any immigrants based on their religions or usually from their countries of origin. For instance a muslim pakistani who migrated here will usually seem more rational to me than many of the English from the UK with their rather strange expectations about how NZ should be.
But I’m a native Aucklander – I’m used to immigrants. I see more real differences when I hit provincial NZ and suddenly find those strange inherited class structures. Those differences always appeared more startling to me because of the strange twist of assumptions in people who were raised here as well.
Most of the Muslims I’ve met (and yes, plenty – more than you for sure) have been pleasant enough people too. It would be nice if that were in some way relevant to the discussion.
In europe, it seems it’s generally not the immigrant generation that gets radicalised. It’s the next generation, growing up in slums staring at a crap future, that seem to be the more common radicals.
Which points to the importance of maintaining a welcoming society. High levels of immigration that stretches our infrastructure and plausibly contributes to other problems like low wages and exploitation of workers is likely to test our ability to continue to make immigrants feel a welcome and valued part of society.
You’re absolutely right that we should stick to our actual capacity to take in new migrants. That’s sensible policy no matter your attitude on migration.
That said, I would point out that the phenomenon of radicalisation of the children of immigrants (or subsequent generations) is likely down to a confluence of factors. As you say, poverty could play a role, but so could structural racism, and so could foreign policy that looks insufficiently compassionate to people like them, in either race or religion, especially if it extends to actual wars.
So basically, the problem is never the immigration, as radicals are far more likely to be home-grown than actual immigrants, so you need to look at other policy areas to prevent radicalisation, and in the meantime, use good enforcement policies that hold the line between preventing attacks and not trampling on people’s liberties.
We also need to keep terrorism in perspective. There were accidents that killed more people than the London incident. It’s news, sure, but it’s a footnote. We’ve been panicking over terrorism for way too long for something that’s not fucking new anymore.
Assuming someone must be an arsehole because they disagree with you isn’t a good way either of testing or of improving your own opinions.
That is because you haven’t said anything about the source of your (to me) quite irrational fears.
I assume that anyone doing that and being unable to articulate the source of their assertions is hiding a nefarious reason. If you can’t articulate your assumptions then people can’t respond to them, and point out the mistakes that they think you are making.
The overwhelmingly most common reason I have run across for that kind of hidden motive assertion based behaviour in the past has been cases of simple bigotry. So I tend to start with that as the likely explanation until I find a reason to change my mind.
As a strategy, this usually works. It also certainly saves me considerable time trying to be nice as I weasel the real reasons out of people.
Besides, I really don’t like being nice. I think it is against my personal belief systems.
That is because you haven’t said anything about the source of your (to me) quite irrational fears.
What fears? A few weeks back there was a discussion here about the need to be vigilant against right-wing extremism, triggered by an event so trivial as to be ridiculous (a student group at UoA with a dodgy slogan). No-one wittered on about the people demanding vigilance being bigots or being afraid, because they weren’t – they just didn’t like extremist political groups getting mainstream acceptance. I don’t either, and people like Mr Mansoor give much better reasons for that dislike than some crackpot starting up a student group.
I assume that anyone doing that and being unable to articulate the source of their assertions is hiding a nefarious reason.
In what sense unable? Seeing as you immediately declared I must be ignorant of Islam, I assumed you must know a bit about it yourself and I therefore didn’t need to explain to you why it’s a problem. If you do need it explained, let me know. But the precis is that totalitarian ideologies tend to produce people you don’t want to have around, so encouraging adherents of that ideology to move to your country is a bad idea.
+10 LPrent
Posted similar a little while back. Radical Islamic terrorism is a threat. You have to be up front about that.
It’s just a vastly overblown threat that is used as a rationale by governments to do impressively world-scale dumb things, many of which undermine any superiority of virtue to Enlightenment ideals.
“As an ethnic Brit myself, it annoys the fuck out of me to see the Guardian or BBC reporting that a “Briton” has been killed fighting for Da’esh in Syria – those guys are about as “British” as a taco.”
that is such bullshit and so selectivly bigotted – ethnic brit ffs what a plonker
Technically it should be ethnic English, my mistake.
When does the melting pot actually melt? My father was English, loved being English from Bournemouth, very proud. When did the invasions and influences down there stop being them and instead became us. Is it generations, where you are born, die, grow, have kids, what you look like, what you believe? When?
It happened for your kin when are you going to allow other people the same privedge?
Q: why do the English have a different accent or dialect every 20 miles?
A: So they know who their enemies are.
Must have been written by an American. Everyone knows that real English would never speak to their neighbours
lol
I recall one of those british crime dramas (morse/frost/whatever) where they asked the grieving widow if there was someone who could sit with her, like a neighbour. The response was “no, we’ve only lived here for three years”.
Ethnicity isn’t about being born somewhere – if it was there’d be upwards of 4 million “Maori” in Aotearoa. For my money, if some prick considers himself a member of the umma first, a Pakistani second, and British a distant third, if at all, there’s no point in me pretending he’s wrong.
English – stick to the point – so religion is one of the things you think is English and not English. Is it also that loyalty to the English group is lower than loyalty to some belief systems?
See? Your whole argument is bullshit mixed with bigotry. It’s okay many feel the same that’s why this world is fucked up.
Being a member of the umma is not the same as believing in a religion. Lip-service-only Muslims have no problem being British, but true believers have basically ruled it out.
Still, it’s good to know my kids can call themselves Maori because they were born here, I’m sure it will come in handy one day.
And your snide answer shows me I’ve got to your wee wall of self belief – here you can work on your bigotry if you wanted.
Well, what do you want? You call me a plonker for fondly imagining I have an ethnicity and people who don’t share it shouldn’t be pretended to share it, accuse me of bullshit and bigotry, and now claim the fact I gave you a snide answer says something about me. Actually, it does; a less-patient commenter would have told you to get fucked.
Whatever – attack is often the best form of defence – especially when compared with the alternatives eh cuz
The diversity of London.
https://twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/844863098171277313
Ouch the comments are tough
Ethnic brit makes more sense because English depends on political boundaries – enjoy debating with scots and welsh about the validity of modern boundaries. Ethnic brit says your biological heritage is primarily anglosaxon/northern European / norse/Anglo Norman/celtic/ Briton, with a pinch of Roman perhaps.
Whereas Maori can include Tariana Turia, Christian Cullen and Tony Brown.
Ethnicity is cultural as well as genealogical, so neither ethnic Brit nor ethnic English make sense. I’m guessing what PM meant was Anglosaxon.
Data on British population genetics suggest he could be <50% Anglo-Saxon.
"The majority of eastern, central and southern England is made up of a single, relatively homogeneous, genetic group with a significant DNA contribution from Anglo-Saxon migrations (10-40% of total ancestry). This settles a historical controversy in showing that the Anglo-Saxons intermarried with, rather than replaced, the existing populations."
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0315/180315-fine-scale-british-isle-genetic-map
His cultural ethnicity could be worked out from his comments, maybe.
Data on British population genetics suggest he could be <50% Anglo-Saxon.
Fucking awesome. Now tell us about all those “part-Maoris” making the Treaty of Waitangi meaningless.
Our Police doing their bit for the road transport industry,
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/disbanding-police-mechanics-opposed
So they are going to get rid of 26 mermaids, truckies will love that, those guys have the biggest safety impact of all but aren’t actually sworn police because of their specialist skill set. But the moves of a dying National government, damn the consequences, let’s look after our mates and keep those donations coming in.
Also big ups to the union, the Police Association, for calling them out on this.
Whenever a National government goes into a death spiral, they ram through as much nasty, self-serving crap as they can in the short time they have left. This is business as usual for them, given the circumstances.
Yeah, it’s sad, but also pleasing in a way that they have come to this stage.
Let’s see our loyal opposition call them out on this and get talking about how the problem should be solved, and that’s by resourcing the Police properly. And all the other services that are falling to bits.
47% is death spiral?
In some respects yes, since A.C.T. and United Future, literally only exist in Parliament because Messrs Seymour (with no small amount of help from National) and Dunne won seats.
They barely got anything outside of these two electorates. Certainly not enough to get in on the Party vote.
Because of said absence of support – less than 1% combined, 47 + 1 = 48%, which last time I looked was not a majority.
still beats the crap out of 30 and 12
English is death process.
“Whenever a National government goes into a death spiral, they ram through as much nasty, self-serving crap as they can in the short time they have left. This is business as usual for them, given the circumstances.”
+1
@wensleydale
You must mean the RMA reforms-may the Maori Party rot in hell for giving the Nats the numbers to pass these.
Classic national, not only fiddle while she burns but chuck some fuel on in between tunes.
Heard of a commercial bus driver the other week struggling with the steering as it was obviously pulling…….he thanked the passenger who was going to report it as he’s had no luck getting it sorted in the brighter future.
Following logging trucks lately that weave about the road like drunken sailors.
Sounds like they are going to outsource/privatise the roadside traffic inspections.
So sad – the comments are so funny too
https://i.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/90807099/adele-a-lyrical-genius-says-pm-bill-english
Thanks for that marty-hilarious.
“Bill English went to see Adele last night-Rumour has it, Adele buying exclusive Queenstown property and has citizenship sewn into the deal”
I liked the guy on Morning Report this AM who flew from Hawaii for the concert. Also I think they said 40 people flew from one of the pacific islands for the show.
He can’t quite pull it off like Key could.
But he is right about Adele, she is one of the few female vocalists worth listening to in the modern era.
Seriously. If you’re gushing over Adele you need to hand in your man card.
This is very weird. This project would have been structured in the minutest detail to be released on time. Sure, sometimes projects run over but this one was visibly ahead of schedule. I drive past it several times a week and the structures around the tunnel were completed months ago. Pre-publicity stories about the tunnel also appeared months ago.
I’ve got two theories: One, initial testing was completed at the designated time but the tunnel, on/off ramps, or traffic engineering model failed and they are now setting about either fixing what failed or getting another opinion that ensures it won’t fail, in true John Key style.
Two, the Nats have ordered the delay of the project so that it can be opened closer to the election thereby ensuring many thousands of temporarily happy Aucklanders vote for the status quo believing their transport woes have been addressed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11824825
Number two is my preferred option.
A stonking big gridlock on election day to remind the average Aucklander why its a bad idea to drive to work, and a reminder of how ill served they are by their elected officials, local and Government.
“NZTA has released a written statement about the project, but a spokeswoman for the organisation refused a request for an interview to answer further questions.
The spokeswoman said the Herald reporting on concerns about the project had been “irresponsible”, leaving them “reluctant” to comment.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11824825
Delays happen all the time, especially at this scale.
It’s not politics, it’s just fix the tags now and make sure you get less grief upon opening.
No, I don’t buy that and I addressed it in my comment.
Delays do happen but not at this stage they are quite clearly visible from months or years out. Something has gone wrong with the engineering plan as a result of shortcuts taken earlier. Physically the whole thing is ready to go and for them to delay just two weeks out from opening a $1.4 Billion project smells like shit to me.
It is politics in that it’s know cheap Chinese steel was used and if this is an indicator then other similar concessions will have been made in the name of cutting costs.
Or they could just need to replace and test several hundred sprinkler heads that had intermittent failures
Brett Gliddon from NZTA is doing the right thing erring on the side of safety here. Fully support the delay.
I’ve been inside it a couple of times. Awesome kit. Too much at stake to go wrong.
This is a very important issue that most know nothing about – the Ture Whenua
Māori Bill
http://mananews.co.nz/wp/?p=10019
I knew absolutely nothing about it at all – had never heard it mentioned. Yet from your link it sounds like a very big deal.
“New corporate structures and corporate management, and rules making it easier to partition land, will make it easier for Maori land to be lost to foreigners.
“And changes to current legislation will allow people with no whakapapa connection to make decisions over the land, allow a minority of owners to make decisions without telling the rest of the owners, and allow Maori land to be sold to foreigners without the approval of its owners.
You any idea where various political parties and others stand on it?
Supported by gnats and Māori Party. I’m on my phone so not that easy to search and post links for other ones
It’s a long way along the process.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/bills-and-laws/bills-proposed-laws/document/00DBHOH_BILL68904_1/te-ture-whenua-m%C4%81ori-bill
I’ve heard very little, to nothing about this on Māori Television
This on waatea, but a rehash of the link marty mars put up with attack on Hone.
http://www.waateanews.com/waateanews?story_id=MTU5NDE=
Struggled to find public criticism made by Meka Whaitiri, but good on her for opposing it. That said, cheap shot at Hone.
I don’t think her own blog counts as to public. http://mekawhaitiri.org.nz/tag/te-ture-whenua-maori-bill/
There are times when labour MP’s should just put things like this on the standard.
Meka has been speaking out about it for quite some time.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503459&objectid=11612798
It isn’t easy to get material about Māori issues in the MSM.
Select committee
Plus
http://equaljusticeproject.co.nz/2016/07/cross-examination-understanding-the-opposition-to-the-te-ture-whenua-maori-bill/
I don’t read the herald, that aside. You have posted a local rag, all well and good – but if you speaking out about somthing, do it nationally. Hone did it on a national scale, and he is not even an MP.
It has nothing to do with Māori news/issues it has to do with methodology. I get Meka has spoken out, but not well, particularly on a national scale. And putting in the cheap shot in the Waatea piece, was bloody pointless.
If you haven’t been aware of this bill it is your responsibility – it is not because Meka was unable to get her press releases taken up by a form of media that you read. There has been plenty of discussion about this bill in the past year within Māori circles – I am Pākehā and I have known about it for quite some time.
Hone is a candidate in the upcoming election and he has signed an agreement with the Māori Party, so his opposition to a bill promoted by Te Ururoa Flavell is bound to attract media attention. My question would be why didn’t Hone bring it up with Te Ururoa during their negotiations?
I do agree that Meka’s critcism of Hone in the Waatea piece was unnecessary.
He kai kei aku ringa
“My question would be why didn’t Hone bring it up with Te Ururoa during their negotiations?”
What makes you think he didn’t?
Perhaps they did discuss it and agreed to disagree – I don’t know but if that is the case I would have thought there would be some reference to their discussions in this press statement.
This bill is one that Te Ururoa has been backing enthusiastically for some time – I don’t think he will be happy to read this from Hone. Then again, the MP/Mana agreement does allow for criticism of each other’s policies so he can’t do much about it.
Labour and the Greens both oppose it. Meka Whaitiri has been pointing out its flaws for quite some time now, as have a number of the people who have submitted against it, yet it is being railroaded through the parliament without any attempt to address the many concerns. This is typical of many of the objections:
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2451265-135/tairawhiti-has-its-say-on-te
Lol. Labour literally governing from opposition.
http://i.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/auckland-city-harbour-news/90825342/plans-to-introduce-light-rail-from-auckland-airport-to-city-centre-confirmed
It is so laughable that this do nothing government meekly announces Labour social and infrastructure policy.
Who says NZ doesn’t have a strong opposition?
Didn’t they promise 10 bridges to Northland too?
Only problem is that national have done their usual – announced somthing putting it 30 years in the future.
They are so useless – the press should cut them a new one for this.
Yeah, how they are doing it now, our clayton’s government says it will do something in 30 (or 40) years to solve a current crisis.
“National, the government you’re having when you’re not having a government”
I see some guy who looks like the offspring of Phil Spector and Roger Stone has lawyered up. He can afford a much better wig than Phillip Smith, but it looks a bit odd on…
Just visited the NZ Herald site. Pics of Grant Robertson and James Shaw with the caption, “Would you trust them with your money?” Not exactly impartial, Granny H!
Didn’t the Natz give away 1 billion to SCF?
It’s the most coverage Grant Robertson has ever got in the NZHerald, including his leadership tilt. NZHerald did well giving them uninterrupted 2 whole pages.
Handing out jobs for the girls. Got to look out for one another.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/327400/govt-rejects-nz-first-'shoulder-tap'-claim
Maggie Barry sepent her time as a mouthpiece on RadioNZ learning all the cliches about government behaviour such as saying it was a ‘conspiracy theory’ of NZ First’s Winston Peters when he criticised over-spending and jobs for the birls (women who have learned to behave like males) .
Documents obtained by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters show that in May last year Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Maggie Barry wrote to Dame Jenny asking her to accept the role.
In November, a Cabinet committee considered a long-list of potential candidates before Dame Jenny was officially selected. Mr Peters said that was clearly unfair.
“It’s totally unfair on the rest of the candidates – they think they’re involved in a fair process.
“They’re going through the whole steps and rigmarole of the process only to find out it’s been determined before they even started. Now, that is disgraceful,” Mr Peters said.
Ms Barry said New Zealand First’s assertion that it was not above board was nothing more than a conspiracy theory, and due process had been followed
http://www.mch.govt.nz/first-encounters-250-commemoration-launchedOnly Jenny Shipley has the mana to host and run this. Perhaps she has a space now that some of her other portfolios have been sliding down.
That rocky outcrop in the article is amazing.
The government has put up $3.5 million to celebrate finding NZ and will get a replica of Endeavour and others to sail right around to prove that we are still here. However we haven’t yet become civilised, being still prone to land grabs wherever people can get away with it, and trying to chop down the trees of Eden to make the country over into a paradise for social climbers.
I suggest we put that $3.5 million into teaching civics, how democracies work to define what policies will be best for the present and the future to enhance life, enjoyable community and the environment, and how to learn methods for getting on with others to create a society to be proud of in the 21st century. This is the one where the flower of human intelligence should be awe-inspiring in its creativity and humanity cutting through harmful short-term thinking.
Instead we are regressing back to nostalgia for our historic folk tales that are projected onto our ignorance so that the total exceeds the sum of the parts.
Someone that should be commemorated, as we think of Endeavour’s voyage, is Sydney Parkinson who did the painting depicted on the announcement of the remembrance voyage of Cook’s Endeavour to NZ.
Wikipedia:
Parkinson was employed by Joseph Banks to travel with him on James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific in 1768,[1] in HMS Endeavour. Parkinson made nearly a thousand drawings of plants and animals collected by Banks and Daniel Solander on the voyage.
He had to work in difficult conditions, living and working in a small cabin surrounded by hundreds of specimens. In Tahiti he was plagued by swarms of flies which ate the paint as he worked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Parkinson
This young bloke died of dysentery on the voyage, at the age of only 26. Ther is more details about his life and work, which is poorly recorded and only in the 1980s was his work recorded.
http://www.botanicalartandartists.com/sydney-parkinson.html