Australia are making us quarantine now on arrival due to the latest cluster, which is probably fair dinkum, as we still (and have always) made people coming from Australia quarantine for 14 days.
Struth mate, the kiwi government has sat on their hands with this one for over 6 months. Too right then fair dinkum Ozzies start calling time on this one sided deal.
Nothing betrays the middle class capture of our media like it's obsession with international travel. You'd think every new Zealander has a birthright to visit at least one tropical paradise annually and go shopping in NYC or London bi-annually. Instead of fretting over the chicken entrails about travel re-starting and printing every single whine from the international education and tourism sectors maybe our media could instead ask if this isn't a good time (with climate change and all) to re-set some national expectations around constant flying? This crazy idea that cheap package holidays to the Pacific or Asia are some kind of human right for the middle/lower middle class has been around since the beginning of this century anyway.
The Greens must be happy at the moment with very few people travelling overseas between countries, the amount of planes in the sky is well down and therefore the amount of air pollution must be far lower at the moment.
and he even had the contempt for Kiwis to try and book a slot in MIQ under the grounds of being a critical worker (was he having a laugh?) and then a second time on National Security grounds.
An embarrassment for the Greens. But then some would say the Greens are an embarrassment in themselves I suppose.
Killer first sentence there. Lovely balance and pivot at the mid-point between "media" and "like". 15 syllables one side, 13 the other, and an obsession echoing a betrayal.
It's Aus, not Rome. Lots of us have family over there, and vice versa. Shit, it's frequently cheaper to get to Aus than it is to get to the damned city the flight departs from (in BC times, anyway).
the fact that you cant travel freely from state to state doesnt seem to get much attention. when aussies can agree amongst themselves what their rules are, THEN ,lets rave on about travel bubbles. until then, its just another headline in search of clicks.
Pretty much. Trust and diseases are mutually incompatible.
It is like this company that National are promoting with a saliva test. They’re offering their own testing as proof that it is effective. Having Shane Reti MP pushing it like pharmaceutical sales rep on crack gives me no confidence at all. It just reminds me of the US state and federal representatives who were prostituting themselves with quack remedies mid last year. That resulted in some of the most shoddy fraud that I’ve seen for a while – and probably a lot of extra deaths.
The health department is doing the right thing and I trust them to do that. After all in the event of any outbreak, they are the people who have to clean up the mess. Health have something that they know works – so they concentrate on that. They’ll run their own tests so they are confident in any additions to the testing suite for NZ.
I might have a different view if we established absolute liability for death and injury on the private sector. Something like hanging for guilty directors and bankruptcy for shareholders would go a long way to making me feel that they would commit to doing a good job.
In the meantime, I trust civil servants and politicians somewhat more. Unlike the private sector the direct accountability is better.
Incidentally I see that some self-interested idiots want to import the Scott Morrison diminution of director responsibility here. It appears that having successful cases against delinquent directors is making the director community more in touch with their responsibilities – and this is somehow unfair. Idiots…
The purpose of the link is so one can have a wee look and see the countries where Te Virus is running rampant and causing a high number of deaths per million of population.
These are not necessarily the low and middle income countries such, as Ghana.
Ghana 80,759 confirmed cases, 582 total deaths, deaths per million 19.3
Belgium757,696 confirmed cases, 21,956 total deaths, deaths per million 1911.87
Which country has what could be described as "rampant" Covid 19?
Roll out the vaccines, as it does look like they just might prevent serious disease in most folk…but they will not necessarily prevent spread of the virus.
It’s important for everyone to continue using all the tools available to help stop this pandemic as we learn more about how COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions. Experts are also looking at how many people get vaccinated and how the virus is spreading in communities. We also don’t yet know whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to other people, even if you don’t get sick yourself. CDC will continue to update this page as we learn more.
Roll out the vaccines, as it does look like they just might prevent serious disease in most folk…but they will not necessarily prevent spread of the virus.
Vaccination against COVID-19 is expected to prevent the spread of the virus in some and hopefully many cases, although not (of course) in all cases.
Here, analyzing positive SARS-CoV-2 test results following inoculation with the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine, we find that the viral load is reduced 4-fold for infections occurring 12-28 days after the first dose of vaccine. These reduced viral loads hint to lower infectiousness, further contributing to vaccine impact on virus spread.
Vaccinations are generally effective and necessarily imperfect preventative medical treatments designed to train human immune systems – anyone expecting/requiring a universal miracle cure will necessarily be disappointed.
It is not a competition between which country is most rampant, but I’d say that Ghana seems to have much less control over the pandemic than Belgium. Surprising, isn’t it?
You can make the comparison yourself using simple tools such as Google:
For example, Belgium has conducted 807,546 tests/million people in the population but Ghana only 28,246 [Last updated: February 27, 2021, 08:09 GMT]. Can you spot the difference?
Indeed, vaccination may not be a magic bullet and other simple tools and behaviours should remain in place.
When the going gets tough, that’s when you show true commitment and dedication AKA grit and courage; everything else is just meaningless and without real impact in the long run.
I’m hoping for a big follow-up move/package in Budget-2021 but there’s more chance of finding alien lifeforms on Mars than of that happening.
i put J.A. in same box that i put Obama. Nice and polite, some good intention that lead no where really, and at the end of the day utterly disappointing.
"i put J.A. in same box that i put Obama" yes that is where I position her myself.
Unfortunately I think that both Ardern and her supporters would be quite pleased with that comparison, while wilfully ignoring the fact that there is a straight line of cause and consequence leading from the massive disappointments and the business as usual terms of the Obama administration to the election of the’ burn the house down’ persona of Donald Trump.
How the seemingly same ultimate disappointment in the non-delivery of Labour/Ardern will manifest itself in New Zealand is the question none of us can know the answer too yet.
Yes she did that. And so far that is the only thing she has accomplished. And it is a great accomplishment.
But covid is something that she reacted too, a new event if you so like, while poverty, homelessness, and state sanctioned idiocy and complacency in regards to the aforementioned poverty and homelessness is something that is / has been ignored now for decades.
After nearly 8 decades of govts all over the world trying different ways to lift people up off the bottom rungs of the ladder – the lesson has to be that it's damned hard to help people. Even when they want to be helped it can go so easily wrong.
And how about we start giving this a name that makes sense. There is no such thing as 'child poverty' as a unique issue that can be 'fixed'. Or put another way, all children are 'poor' pretty much by definition. The proper name for this is 'family poverty'.
NZ is a relatively prosperous little country that generates plenty of wealth – the question is why do some people so egregiously fail to access a decent share of it? Over the years here I can recall a thousand threads that have explored the various reasons why this might be – and most of them have at least some explanatory power – but none seem to be a whole answer in themselves.
And why does the left persist in framing this as a zero sum game where we always suggest that in order to help the poor we have to take from those who are better off? And why is it so easy to construct narratives that are rooted in blame and divisiveness, rather than ones that appeal – like NZ's astonishing COVID response – to a collective sense of caring, achievement and solidarity?
Maybe we should cut our governments some slack, we find it hard enough to help ourselves much of the time, so it's not surprising that it's really hard to do this at the scale of a whole society. But I'm actually optimistic in this one sense, rather than rushing in to this problem firing ideological silver bullets left and right – this govt seems to be taking the time to evolve organic solutions that stand a chance of working.
My simple suggestion – accumulate the positives. Let everything else fall away. (If this sounds hokey, consider that this is exactly how evolution works.)
In the whole time you've been here I doubt I can recall more than a handful comments from you that were anything more than small minded, petty denigrations or sly trolling.
That is because the pendulum has swung back so much to "its your own fault get your shit together" from “as a society we can do things to help”.
I agree that it isn't a zero sum game. Lifting GDP makes everyone richer and the world's GDP increases continues to lift more and more people out of poverty.
The best description I have seen of it is an elephant.
There is still across the world a tail of poverty i.e. less than $1 a day to live on, but then massive improvements in the bulk of the world – especially since WWII. Where the squeeze has come is in the middle class as you drop down to the trunk. The end of the trunk is raised as the top 5% have got wealthier.
That's why we feel it so much in NZ – the working middle class is being squeezed to improve lives overseas.
Private sector and political decisions however have not focussed on lifting our productivity through added value – they have focussed on low cost, low profit high volume – to some extent maximising the period through the 90's until now of the baby boomer dinkies – double income, no kids for domestic consumption including via tax benefits (lowering taxes when they reached maximum earnings capacity, tax incentives to utilise capital to purchase property, shifting the cost of their free tertiary study onto current generations) – and through rampant immigration and the reduction of added value for low cost exports – milk powder, raw logs. Remember when employers said "We can't afford pay rises unless we get tax cuts – well they got the tax cuts but really only the chief-executives and their ilk got the pay rises (and yep I think those million dollar salaries they get are simply legalised capital theft, a way of transferring company assets to their own pockets)
In short the short-term profit motive rather than long term societal investment.
Therein lies the problem. These things can't be fixed by fixing individuals – there are structural imbalances that can't only be fixed via high level change.
The question that really arises is does the pendulum have to keep swinging further before we see any real significant change i.e. do the rich have to keep getting richer without contributing more to the common good, does the working middle class have to keep getting poorer, does essentially laissez-faire economics have to continue to dominate.
Both WEAG and COV-ID-19 have given us an opportunity for a resetting of our thinking.
edit: I would add that I think the right portray this as a zero sum game far more than the left. The mantras of there is only so much money, you have to cut costs, austerity, you can’t do this if you do that, councils should only do roads, sewerage and infrastructure, and so on. The right are the masters of binary thinking. It totally dominates their narrative.
That's why we feel it so much in NZ – the working middle class is being squeezed to improve lives overseas.
Absolutely. This idea has gained some real traction lately with the idea of The Elephant Curve. Or a more formal paper here. What these suggest is that on a global scale the relatively wealthy of countries like NZ have already been required to sacrifice substantially to allow the really poor to escape poverty. In one sense it's an astonishing achievement – except the people who paid for it were never really asked if they wanted to participate.
The question that really arises is does the pendulum have to keep swinging further before we see any real significant change i.e. do the rich have to keep getting richer without contributing more to the common good,
The same astonishing economic engines that have lifted so many out of poverty, have an innate tendency to enable exponential wealth accumulation. The basic rule of any and all economic activity is 'the more you have, the faster you can grow it'. This is the fundamental maths underlying all exponential growth.
So perhaps one explanation for the Elephant curve is that while engine of globalisation has enabled the rapid growth of incomes especially for those offering the lowest and most competitive labour prices, at the same time the impact of exponential wealth accumulation still dominates the very top of the curve.
And for developed countries like NZ our experience is covered by the top 10% or so of the curve – that steep part where we experience increasing inequality – while we completely miss out of the growth of incomes at the bottom end due to globalisation.
The challenge here for the left in developed countries like NZ, is that while economic growth and human development have been amazingly good things from a global perspective – for the past few decades we've been missing out. And the finding practical solutions that don't involve 'bombing the village in order to save it' have been elusive indeed.
Otherwise yes – thanks for the thoughtful response.
"The third factor is policy: the decline in tax rates, reduced taxation of capital and all of that."
This is exactly what has happened in NZ. The thing is, is that the impact of this were not unknown. Historians could have told you exactly what would occur. We have been there done that in the past.
The thing is is that the conservative right knew this as well. They knew they would increase their wealth at a much faster rate if these policies were enacted. There are NZ books on capitalism from the mid-1800's that explain all this.
To a very, very large extent we are reaping what we sowed.
the decline in tax rates, reduced taxation of capital and all of that.
All pernicious trends that can be laid firmly at the feet of neo-liberalism – which is what happens when you take an economic model – capitalism in this case – and turn it into an ideology based on a narrow, materialistic value system that places the individual above all else.
The same astonishing economic engines that have lifted so many out of poverty
You attribute this to capitalism however that isn't entirely accurate:
The biggest poverty victories in the past 30 years, however, aren't in the developed world. They're in India and China.
721 million fewer people worldwide lived in extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1981 — despite the fact that the global population went from 4.5 billion to about seven billion during that time. About 80 percent of that poverty reduction happened in China alone.
The dramatic progress in reducing poverty over the past three decades in China is well known. According to the World Bank, more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of extreme poverty; China's poverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015
Educating women – this both increases their economic activity and reduces birth-rates (alongside access to contraception and legalised abortion)
Increased access to electricity – increases productivity, saves time in essential household tasks and education (you can't study in winter with no or poor light)
Both China and India really only achieved that once they gained access to the global economy – and while they've both operated their own economic variants, they did not 'lift millions out of poverty' in isolation from the wider capitalist systems of the rest of the world.
And who/what is responsible/a condition of the increasing inequality in the developed world?
The average level of inequality in developed countries has risen since the beginning of the eighties, while the population-weighted average indicates that such an increase started in the mid-sixties
In short a combination of the innate exponential nature of growth that we all enjoyed post-WW2 overlaid by an extremist neo-liberal ideology that exacerbated the underlying trend toward inequality from the 80's onward.
The first factor is in many ways a phase that is coming to an end with ageing demographics almost everywhere and declining populations in most developed nations.
The second factor neo-liberalism is an object lesson to politically aware people everywhere – as in 'what happens when you take a good idea and go too far with it'.
China, under Deng Xioping, was progressively opened up to the global economy and the previously suppressed entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese was unleashed.
Was the 'rest of the world' responsible for Chinas 30 years of near exponential growth? No, of course not. But they did facilitate it.
The sad thing is that China could have been where it is now if it had not been for the Cultural Revolution. Mao achieved many great things (One/New China; literacy and so on), but the last 25 years of his life held the Chinese people back.
And to be clear, China in 2021 is in no way a ‘communist’ or even a socialist country. It is an empire that now exists for the benefit of its elite.
And why does the left persist in framing this as a zero sum game where we always suggest that in order to help the poor we have to take from those who are better off?
Clearly because those who are better off have taken from the poor.
Are our schools perfect? Do all students learn and develop to their best potential equally well? And do schools fall short for other students and can we imagine ways they could do better for them? Well yes of course – that's the wonderful aspect of being an idealist – you can always conceive of something better, something higher to aim at.
But to argue that the more fortunate students got through their school lives because they 'stole from those who were less fortunate' would be an absurd conclusion because we all understand that knowledge and education are not zero sum games.
At the other extreme we can understand that for example in a pre-industrial village of farmers, or pre-agricultural band of hunters would have in any given year a strict limit on how much food and resources were available to them. Scarcity imposed this.
The interesting thing about modernity is that it falls somewhere between these two extremes and over time is trending toward away from zero sum toward something else far more vibrant.
You seem to subscribe to the 'life's not fair, deal with it' philosophy, also subscribed to by such luminaries as Mike Hosking and David Seymour.
This philosophy embraces the current capitalist model with all its flaws, and encourages one to just beat the system. Anyone can do it, right?
Your school analogy ignores the main driver in vastly differing student progress and that is home life, which as we know is itself a function of an increasingly inequitable society.
Intergenerationally, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
the lesson has to be that it's damned hard to help people
for trying to be constructive RL. I have a different PoV – the lessons are:
(1) It's easy to help people if that help is unconditional (more carrot, less stick); and
(2) There's not enough unconditional help (nor conditional help) to meet the need.
A clue is the (large) number of charitable organisations that aim to help those living in poverty. They do fantastic work (and if at first they don't succeed, then…), but when 10% of NZ citizens have accumulated a collective debt of $13 billion, you know there's going to be unmet need.
Not that $13 billion is large relative to the $800 billion that the 'top' 10% have accumulated. Some might eventually realise that the solution to that $13 billion debt is obvious (and not actually hard at all), but that's an individual choice – "You can lead a horse to water…" Others (typically those who are better off) perceive only the (small) threat to their (relatively enormous) wealth that such an obvious solution represents.
Maybe the focus on 'child poverty', as opposed to 'family poverty', came about because it neatly sidesteps the criticism so often levelled by wealthy righties that the root cause of poverty is incompetent, lazy adults who are egregiously failing to access a decent share of wealth. Even wealthy righties such as Bill English belatedly recognised the egregious failure of governing adults to address child poverty, so rightly or wrongly the term is here to stay, with political parties from the left and right using it as a stick with which to beat each other.
My simple suggestion – accumulate the positives. Let everything else fall away. (If this sounds hokey, consider that this is exactly how evolution works.)
How might letting 'everything' that isn't positive "fall away" help Rebecca?
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
Yep I agree. it is annoying when a house has no price on it as you simply don't know if it is within your price range or whether it's hundreds of thousands too expensive for you. Real estate agents love auctions.
Has anyone else noticed some rather large price increases at the supermarket lately? I buy Purina One cat food in bags that used to be $18 a bag at Countdown, but were often on special for $15.99. I now notice that the normal shelf price is now $23 a bag! There also seems to be a supply issue as many of the other cat food lines seem to have empty shelf spaces.
I see Pak n Save have the Purina One on special for $14.99 this week……..wow $8 cheaper than Countdown. Looks like I need to make the effort to go to PNS so the cats can eat this week!
Has anyone heard of The Kohimarama Conference that took place between the Governor of NZ and the leaders of Iwi from around NZ in August 1860? It seems to put a lie to the argument that Maori never gave up sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
Here is an extract from the resolutions that the Iwi leaders themselves made which show they were well aware of where sovereignty in NZ lay.
"
The Chiefs having assembled in the Conference Hall, Paikea rose and proposed the following Resolution:—
"That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races; also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them."
The Kohimarama Conference, organised by Governor Browne, was aimed at convincing Māori leaders to reject the Maori King Movement and justify the Government's war in Taranaki.
"The Kohimarama Conference, organised by Governor Browne, was aimed at convincing Māori leaders to reject the Maori King Movement and justify the Government's war in Taranaki."
Would you like it in a three part harmony rather than simple text?
Again what is your point? That does not in anyway take away what the Iwi leaders agreed to at the Kohimarama Conference. It is quite clear a significant amount of Iwi knew very well that sovereignty in NZ lay with the Crown in 1860 and that derived from the TOW.
Gosman a few leaders agree is not unanimous or democracy.You are trying to rewrite history you will find some tribes were on the crown side others not.
You keep using Mana without knowing what its means trying to put up deliberately divisive arguments. Playing your Trump Card remember John Key giving Don Maori Bash a good telling off for undermining Nationals coalition with the Maori Party.
Brash on Maaaaaris Maori are a diluted race who have intermarried until "few, if any" remain full-blooded, says National leader Don Brash. He says Maori are different from other indigenous people around the world and also labelled judges as "out of touch" with the rest of New Zealand over their left-wing views on the Treaty of Waitangi.
Brash's comments came in a week when Prime Minister Helen Clark labelled him "cancerous", partly over the race-relations debate he sparked in 2004 over his first Orewa address as party leader.
Brash was asked by the Herald on Sunday to comment on a speech by High Court judge David Baragwanath to the Law Commission last month which raised the possibility that Maori might need separate legal treatment and highlighted the lack of Maori in the legal profession.
Brash said the judge's approach put him "totally at odds with my view of the way New Zealand should proceed".
"He continues to talk as if the Maori remain a distinct indigenous people. There are clearly many NZers who do see themselves as distinctly and distinctively Maori – but it is also clear there are few, if any, fully Maori left here. There has been a lot of intermarriage and that has been welcome."
Brash said Baragwanath's speech would reinforce the opinion held of the judiciary. Asked if that meant they were out of touch, he said: "Yeah, that's probably fair comment."
Brash also said that nothing should be read into the few Maori at law school. "Non-Maori are under-represented in the All Blacks. It doesn't mean the Treaty failed." http://tumeke.blogspot.com/2006/09/now-this-is-reason-don-brash-is-unfit.html
That does not seem to address any of the points raised by my post on The Kohimarama Conference. Did you want to discuss that or Dr Brash? I have no interest in discussing Dr Brash so you will be on your own there.
By 1860 I am pretty sure most of the Iwi leaders taking part had a good working relationship in the English language. In fact if you take the time to read the link I gave you the meeting itself seems to be largely driven by the Iwi leaders themselves.
How could a resolution be passed unanimously if only "most" of the participants had a working relationship with the language in which it was conducted?
I refer you to the following quote from that same document:
"Thus the proposal was incorporated in a major resolution passed unanimously at the final session: 'That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races, also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them.
This was, indeed, the kind of endorsement that the government was seeking. Not only did the resolution settle doubts about the allegiance to the Crown obtained in 1840, but it also committed tribes, such as Arawa, who had not signed the treaty. Having gained thereby the unanimous assent of most of the major Maori tribes to the Queen's sovereignty the government had cause to feel reasonably satisfied that the conference had served its main purpose"
[RL: Please check your Name autofill. You have unintended text in it causing this comment to go into moderation.]
I refer you to the following quote from that same document:
"Thus the proposal was incorporated in a major resolution passed unanimously at the final session: 'That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races, also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them.
This was, indeed, the kind of endorsement that the government was seeking. Not only did the resolution settle doubts about the allegiance to the Crown obtained in 1840, but it also committed tribes, such as Arawa, who had not signed the treaty. Having gained thereby the unanimous assent of most of the major Maori tribes to the Queen's sovereignty the government had cause to feel reasonably satisfied that the conference had served its main purpose"
Except it seems quite clear that what was signed at Waitangi 20 years before was taken to mean by the Iwi leaders present at Kohimarama to be that Sovereignty (Mana) was in the hands of the Crown. There was no dispute around that. There was even an acknowledgement by the son of Kawiti (who rebelled with Hone Heke in 1845) that the actions carried out by his father and Heke were at odds with the Treaty and wrong.
This was, indeed, the kind of endorsement that the government was seeking.
Funny how that happened at a meeting to which they invited the representatives, chaired, and for which they wrote the minutes that recorded unanimous support.
It's almost as if the people that the government had been, were currently, or were very shortly to be shooting at didn't really turn up to the meeting in any number.
I have already given you example of Kawiti's son being present. Te Rauparaha's son was also there and spoke in favour of the resolution. These were representatives of two of the Iwi who had actually got in to armed conflict with the British up till this point.
If we are going to teach NZ History on a wider basis at school we need to teach the entire History not just one version of it wouldn't you agree McFlock?
No I am quite happy to take the entire article in to account. Nowhere in the article does it dispute that Maori at the conference did not understand that the Queen held ultimate authority (read sovereignty/mana) in NZ and that was derived from the TOW.
Nowhere in the article does it dispute that Maori at the conference did not understand that the Queen held ultimate authority (read sovereignty/mana) in NZ
p74:
In 1860, McLean translated 'sovereignty' as nga tikanga me nga mana kawanatanga katoa, the authority and all the powers of governorship, a rendering that expanded on kawanatanga, yet added little of the sense of 'sovereignty'. Later in the conference he omitted any reference at all to kawanatanga, emphasizing instead the protection, or maru, that derived from sovereignty.
p75:
One might have assumed that the word mana would have caused a degree of unease amongst the chiefs had they considered the Queen's mana to be a challenge to their own. But apparently this was not so. Commitment to the Kuini mana was seen only in terms of benefits to be received. And later, Maoris would claim that their mana had been guaranteed to them at the 1860 conference.
also:
It seems very likely that several meanings for mana were understood; the first was the mana of the Queen who personified the sovereignty, or maru, ceded in 1840 (an understanding either conveyed during the con-ference or confirmed by conference discussion);72 secondly, beneath this stood the mana kawanatanga, the benevolent governorship deriving from the Queen; and then, alongside kawanatanga existed the Maori mana or rights—the whole confirmed in their relationships by the treaty of Waitangi. That this understanding was possible is suggested by Te Hapuku's exposition of Maori rights. He seems to have believed that Maori chiefs could enjoy a similar, if not equal status to that of gover-nors under the Queen: 'If only a position like that of a Governor were claimed for their King, [Tawhiao]73 there being one Queen, it would be well; and let Taiaroa74 also be made King for the other Island, for he has a separate Island. The Europeans have many Islands, and many Kings; but all derive their authority from the Queen alone.'75
Your last point is the key one. Maori mana stemmed from (i.e. it was subject to) the mana of the Queen. The Queen (i.e. Crown) held the ultimate mana (i.e. sovereignty) over NZ. There is no dispute about that in the article you linked to.
How about you give your take on what YOU think the Iwi leaders thought they were agreeing to when they affixed their marks/signatures to the declaration that came out of the Kohimarama Conference.
How about it McFlock? What is your take on what they meant when they agreed to wording and signed it.
My take is that some tory selectively quoting without context on an online blog is not a substitute for a dedicated commission of professionals considering specific claims in some sort of tribunal.
If we have such a commission or tribunal, my take is that any tory raising such a discussion is simply attempting to sow division and discord in NZ for their own duplicitous purposes.
The Waitangi Tribunal has made multiple determinations on what Māori did and did not cede when signing the Treaty.
But it has been fun watching you slither around trying to sow division and discord by doing the minimum reading possible, hiding behind vague summaries of the words of others, and then dripfeeding evidence for your claims only when requested.
It's good to see toryland so weak and infantile at the moment, both in the House and online.
It's not an appeal to authority, because I'm not asserting a point.
It's a realisation that there are some aspects of NZ that one doesn't become an expert in through arguing with disingenuous tories (who are probably just pissed off that the Māori Party is advocating for increased benefit levels, and a good old stoush about ToW is always a tory go-to way to dogwhistle to their base without being Don Brash-level racist).
I'm not making a counter-assertion. I merely sought to clarify your own reasoning as to why you made comment 6, and your assertion seems to be that:
the KC overrules ToW; and
the KC proves Māori ceded the European understanding of "Sovereignty" to the British monarchy
Neither proposition can apply to all Māori based on the simple number of signatories, and the second is almost infinitely debatable on an online platform (a point of which you are most probably aware).
And as always I suspect you, personally, of having a duplicitous motive for initiating any discussion on this website.
As for the Te Reo translation I refer to this section:
"Yet 'sovereignty' was also translated at the conference as mana. Tuhaere, in referring to the conference, claimed that it was 'the real treaty upon which the sovereignty (mana) of the Queen will hang'. The final resolution recognized the Queen's sovereignty (mana)"
People have argued that if the Treaty of Waitangi ceded sovereignty to the Crown then it should have used the term Mana. The Kohimarama Conference did in fact use the term Mana.
How you manage to pretend a definitive translation for "sovereignty" was used based on a piece that argues the opposite is most entertaining, but you really are full of shit.
So much for your suggestion that the representatives had unanimously endorsed a statement in English based on their "working relationship" with the language.
The article YOU linked to states that the word used in the final declaration in the Te Reo translation was Mana. Why does this not equate to Sovereignty?
I'm just going off what a number of people have stated about the TOW in relation to sovereignty. They have stated that if it was really surrendering sovereignty that it should have been translated as Mana. In this conference it was translated to mean that in relation to what the Crown had as a result of the TOW.
Dude you know I can't argue with your ghost reckonses.
If other people want to argue it in good faith, they can do it themselves. But if your behaviour with a link in the thread everyone can see is any indication, I doubt their points were precisely what you are claiming to be "going off".
"Dr Cybèle Locke: Māori never ceded sovereignty. If the word mana had been used instead to translate the English version which was very definitely about ceding sovereignty to the British crown, then no chief would have signed."
"The discrepancy lies in the use of the word kawanatanga instead of mana in the Maori version, when governorship is the translation and sovereignty is intended meaning in the English version. It is clear from an earlier work that the translator was aware that the term for sovereignty in the Maori language is mana. It is here, then, that the nature of British intentions is first cast in doubt. According to Walker,"
Yet ultimately the semantics play little part in the subsequent actions by the crown to ride roughshod or alternatively to give Maori the same treatment as british citizens – pay rates at 1/10th of the rate paid to british workers by employers for instance were allowed to run rampant with no protection by the crown, the protection of tenths another, the peppercorn leases to white settlers and so on.Treaty settlements outline that history well.
The Crown breached their side of the bargain in so many, many ways that continues today.
The TOW was not signed by all Iwi leaders in NZ either. The key thing is that the Iwi leaders at this conference represented a significant (probably a majority) of the Maori population of NZ at that time.
There are a few reasons why there were more signatories to the Treaty than who signed up to the declarations made from the Kohimarama Conference. What is clear is that the conference was a far more considered affair than the Treaty and the people involved were far more targeted to be key individuals rather than just trying to get as many signatures as possible.
Oh, I'm not disputing that the government targeted invitations with a specific outcome in mind. In fact, I suspect their translations and minutes were equally well considered.
Why do I suspect that?
Because if the desired outcome were to peacefully and honourably resolve any disputes regarding the Treaty, the KC was a bigger fuckup than the Treaty itself.
'I imagine that a day will come not long hence, when the preposterous Waitangi treaty will be overruled and the ridiculous claims of the native to thousands of . . . acres of untrodden bush . . . will be no longer able to damp the ardour & cramp the energies of the industrious white man'.
Consider also this excerpt, given the origin of those "evils":
It will be the wisdom of the Maori people to avail themselves of this generous policy, and thus save their race from evils which have befallen others less favored.
Re sovereignty:
The issue of more immediate concern in 1860 was the government's problem of the crisis in Maori affairs. During the conference, British sovereignty somehow had to be confirmed; but it was essential to obtain Maori assent without appearing to trespass on Maori rights, or mana, particularly those relating to land. Implicit in a European understanding of sovereignty is the acquisition and exercise of territorial rights. Yet to dwell on these aspects would surely have been as unwise in 1860 as it had been in 1840. Almost certainly, then, the Maori chiefs were encouraged to understand 'sovereignty' in the protective sense, as the Crown's benevolence. This is suggested in the Maori records.
How can these apparent contradictions be reconciled? Perhaps the answer lies in the understanding of 'sovereignty' and mana conveyed during the conference?
An insightful expert analysis of the meaning/understanding of ‘sovereignty‘ during that period (1840 – 1860); well worth a read imho.
Well, it's a pretty well-rounded document that looks at the issue from a number of perspectives and sources. You've only been discussing the bits that have the perspectives you agree with.
Claudia Orange's paper on the Covenant of Kohimarama seemed relevant to the discussion. Apologies if that paper had already been linked to upthread, and if II’ve repeated what's already been written – I do try to resist the tendency to introduce certain topics and then go on like a drain about them
The Hong Kong government yesterday announced that anyone running for local councils must be a "patriot". Meaning that they must swear loyalty not to their constituents but to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party.
The pro-democracy councillors will be expelled. Disqualified candidates will be barred from running for 5 years.
After the national security law was passed last year, this was a last vestige of elected members serving the people.
It just underlines why China must be resisted- by us and every other strong democracy.
Of course, fools will step in and say this should not be believed and the US is somehow to blame.
Good to see Canada's Parliament vote against this lie yesterday and rebuke China's scourge of the Uighur peoples.
Watching Frickin Dangerous Bro last night, waiting for the hour delay Wellington Paranormal.
The FDB trio visited Feilding, my home town. Looking through the Coach Museum, they came across a sign for Pakeha Butter. There were a couple of quips and the one that stayed with me was: "Is it called Pakeha Butter because it spreads everywhere?".
"Employees of Amnesty International said the organisation had received messages about Navalny’s past remarks that they felt “were part of a coordinated campaign to discredit him abroad”, but nonetheless felt compelled to change his designation."
I gather by 'compelled' and "coordinated campaign' they infact mean…the actual facts Navalny being a on the record as a populist racist. (this still being easily verifiable despite Googles sterling job at disappearing 99% of references to one particular video), not to mention Navalny's breaking the terms of his parole, and recieving, by international standards, a light sentence.
Of course if they had kept this low key ..and not spent a veritable fortune bombarding us with their Navalny message ..they may well have slipt under the radar.
I'd like to give myself, and anyone else on here, who has been vigilantly responding to the unbelievable tsunami of Amnesty International adverts on Facebook, advocating for Navalny, …a pat on the back.
One can but hope this is the small crack that leads to the demise of Russiagate in all its various forms.
"One can but hope this is the small crack that leads to the demise of Russiagate in all its various forms."
I wouldn't hold my breath on that one..
Hidden Russiagate docs expose more misconduct, evidentiary holes: ex-investigator
"As a senior House Intel investigator and Trump administration official, Kash Patel helped unearth critical misconduct by the intelligence officials who carried out the Trump-Russia probe. In his first extended interview since leaving government, Patel tells Aaron Maté that still-classified documents expose more malpractice, as well as major evidentiary holes in the pivotal — and largely unquestioned — claims of a sweeping Russian interference campaign to elect Trump in 2016. According to Patel, the release of these critical documents was "continuously impeded."
"not to mention Navalny's breaking the terms of his parole"
You do realise that this means he didn't report to his Russian parole officers because at the time he was in a coma in a German hospital after he had been poisoned by the Russian secret police apparatus?
Absolute rubbish. He was in a coma for 8 months was he?
Navalny "was supposed to appear at penitentiary inspection office at least twice a month on the days appointed by the penitentiary inspection. However, he skipped these check-ins at least six times in 2020, specifically on January 13, January 27, February 3, March 16, July 6, and August 17. "
He "was not summoned for registration during the period of his treatment at Berlin’s Charite clinic."
No, he was pointing out your pavlovian response to any challenge to the official misinformation campaign against Russia. You are the one who's barking, not the person who pointed out that you were barking.
I think it was more a desperate insult trying to disenfranchise my comment.
Going on your amateur stenographer history, I'm not surprised you have issues reading between the lines, but surely the actual words should be easy enough.
It was a joke (but yes wrapped in an insult) that I thought worked quite well.
Al1en ..frankly I am very disappointed in you, that the best counter that you can come up with today is that I was trying to "disenfranchise" your comment, seriously?…come on man up your game, I know you can do better.
Yeah, it was sort of funny, which is why I blew the raspberry in my reply that bit back, but to claim it wasn't designed to shut me down and disenfranchise doesn't read correctly.
Anyway, still doesn't change the irony that some will attack Navalny for missing check in appointments yet excuse another jumping bail.
You don't really use Tass as a source of "facts" do you?
I would trust Tass about as much as I would believe that fellow Trump. On second thoughts that is a bit tough on Trump. I would trust Tass about as much as I would believe something by that Tova O'Brien woman. Not At All.
Tisk tisk – surely there are a few times you've been on the same page as O’Brien.
Just hours before we meet, O'Brien has essentially called for Health Minister David Clark's resignation on The AM Show, after a third embarrassment in which he admitted moving houses in alert level 3. While the prime minister said she was comfortable with it, he'd already admitted breaking the rules twice.
Later that night, during a live cross on the 6pm news, O'Brien again says Clark shouldn't be in the job. O'Brien's consistent questioning of the PM about Clark has been criticised as being at the expense of focus on bigger issues.
I would suggest that I regard O'Brien as being like a cat that has caught a mouse and plays with the poor thing.
She runs for the hills though when she runs into someone who really doesn't give a damn about her. Then she behaves like a cat being chased by a German Shepherd.
Alwyn, why are you going soft on political criminals?
Assange was allowed to leave the country just because he never got the prosecutions text (out of phone credit) to say he ought to report to the police now, please. Everybody understands if he had he would probably be enjoying a Cuban holiday by now. Why this other standard for Navalny when the courts already considered his guilt?
Absolutely. Good on David Parker for trying to investigate the true distribution of wealth in NZ. As he says in your linked article
“I think governments need good data for wealth distribution,” Parker said.
“It's accurate at the bottom, it's not accurate at the top,”
Such a shame Labour are so utterly determined to protect and defend appalling wealth inequality. The rich own everything and pay less tax than everyone.
Treasury figured that the top 10 per cent of New Zealanders owned 59 per cent of all wealth, which it considered to be an “underestimation”.
At top end of estimates – using Reserve Bank data – Treasury believed the top 10 per cent of New Zealanders owned 70 per cent of all wealth. However it warned that the data was unreliable enough that this could be “underestimated or overestimated”.
Regardless, the top 1 per cent of New Zealanders owned between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of all wealth depending on which calculation was used.
Agreed Uncooked….people discuss income/wages far too much when the true issue is wealth distribution/who owns the assets.
A CGT brought in now will not work in regard to redistributing wealth because it starts from a date where the top 5% already own most of the assets and these are already at high values and they would only have to pay CGT on any price increase from that date when they sell the asset.
The Greens' Wealth Tax, or similar, is the answer.
We get these write ups about rich people only declaring the lowest income (thanks accountants everywhere and tax loopholes/writeoffs/ etc) every two years, but surely the new wealth tax from Grant Robertson will be the one tax all the rich people with incomes above 150.000 NZD will pay.
well a good political move – Let the people decide – include a referendum on a wealth tax in the next election … I predict it would bolt in and essentially mandates the government and give it a big fat push
Of course its not really the top cop he's after… its the government. The top cop's crime is he was appointed by this government.
Yeah… they're soft on crime voters. You're gonna have gang members breaking into your house and trashing everything n' going on killing sprees and the cops are just going to stand by and let it happen.
That's the message and what's the bet Collins is right there behind him. The good cop/bad cop routine only its hard to tell which is which.
All well and good excepting that central bank independence in western economies has been accepted (demanded) practice since the Thatcher and Reagan ….the mantra 'the market knows best' is incompatible with political interference…I doubt it will be viewed favourably.
I think it is a desperate attempt by Robertson to try and set up the RBNZ as the people who cop the blame for the shambles that this Government has been making of the housing market for the last three and a half years.
I suspect it will backfire on him (Robertson). Orr is far to smart to allow Robertson to get away with such a transparent attempt to pass the parcel.
Orr is quite likely to take it as an invitation to tell Robertson, publicly, what he thinks will be required to fix the housing situation. Nothing he proposes will be something the the RBNZ can do. Everything will be something that requires fiscal action by Robertson himself. It will be on the basis of "If you don't do this it will get worse". What he will suggest is very unlikely to be acceptable to the Government but Orr can then continue in the future to propose that "if the Government had only followed our advice…… etc".
I think Robertson will come to his senses and never mention the topic again.
I think it is a desperate attempt by Robertson to try and set up the RBNZ as the people who cop the blame for the shambles that this Government has been making of the housing market for the last three and a half years.
There’s no excuse for Government inaction, of course, but I reckon it could be worse; how about a nine-year shambles.
Instead, we need government leadership that is prepared to focus on the fundamental issues driving the crisis. National is ready to provide that leadership. Earlier this month [August 2007] I announced our four-point plan for improving home affordability:
Ensuring people are in a better financial position to afford a house.
Freeing up the supply of land.
Dealing with the compliance issues that drive up building costs.
Allowing state house tenants to buy the houses they live in.
Things weren't too bad from about 2009 to 2012. Then it all went bad again and we went back to the same mad situation that we had from 2000 to 2008 and then from 2013 until today.
I not sure if anything during this period has been quite as bad though as the Progressive Home Ownership scheme which seems to have spent some enormous amount to house 12 families. I have seen claims regarding the amount spent but I have no real faith in any of the various estimates accuracy. God knows how much it really is and he isn't talking.
I would like to see someone ask one of our senior Government MPs whether they are embarrassed that their Auckland homes have risen by a million dollars or so during their term in office. I mean the ones who live in a decent area like Sandringham or suchlike rather than those who live in Mangere.
Recent Labour-led and National-led governments have all failed to effectively address NZ's growing housing crisis. Labour has a track record of building state houses, but regrettably appears unable or unwilling to go down that path again, at least on a useful scale.
I party vote Green, and will give this Government the benefit of the doubt while it continues to produce excellent pandemic health outcomes. There's simply too much uncertainty surrounding the judgement of the current batch of opposition National MPs – it's a matter of trust, and I can't read those eyebrows.
"I disagree with her position, this is a change for the National Party. Under the leadership of John Key and Bill English, they did take a science and evidence base to this issue.
"It is another area you can see this is not the same National Party it once was."
Being unpopular with a small number special interests is hardly going to be an impediment to any popular economic policy in a democracy. The main impediment appears to be the publics understanding of public funding which institutions like the DMO create mythology around regularly. Never the less I think joe public has basically figured out that the RBNZ owns 37% of govt debt means the govt has been funding itself and the next question is becoming if you can do that why bother having financial middlemen in that process at all.
"Orr said it was up to government to decide if it wanted to go further and give the RBNZ the mandate to buy bonds for fiscal policy purposes, rather than monetary policy purposes – IE buy bonds to help pay for government spending initiatives rather than to keep inflation and employment in check."
No, in fact they have mostly indicated they don't do anything according to MMT, ever period full stop.
But of course once you understand MMT is just a way to understand how the monetary system works thats just makes the finance minister start to look ridiculous.
A lot of people seem less interested in why but, MMT or no, most seem to have noticed that the RBNZ is funding the government via its QE policy. The finance ministers denials that its happening not with standing.
In case you havnt noticed our 4 largest banks are foreign owned and get a quarter of their funding offshore…those are vested interests that arnt insignificant…..do you think NZ is ready to nationalise its banking system with all the implications that come with that?
Except its not fiscal policy is it….will they leave because of this action?no….is this the end of the political intrusion?…the first step is always the hardest.
Oh sorry, I meant fiscal policy in an environment where the politicians are aware their spending decisions and the economic impacts of those are to be considered by the voting public.
That will largely depend on the alternatives….is any reduction in the free allocation of capital unique to this (small) market or is it a reflection of a wider trend.
A 38 minute video discussing the UK response to Covid, very interesting to contrast with our situation.
A year after the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic, with Britain enduring more than a 100,000 deaths since, a number of major questions remain unanswered. Why was the response of the UK among the worst in the world? How is it possible that the death toll of countries in Europe and North America is so much higher than for poorer countries in Asia such as Thailand and Vietnam? And when will things go ‘back to normal’?
Discussing that, and more, is Richard Horton – editor of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet and author of ‘The Covid-19 catastrophe, what’s gone wrong and how to stop it happening again’.
– Intro
– Britain among the worst Covid-19 responses in the world
– Why weren't we more prepared?
– Did China deliberately lie about Covid-19?
– The role of Covid-denialism
– When do we go back to normal?
– Will new mutations render vaccines redundant? Do we need zero Covid?
– Test-and-trace is here to stay, nobody is saying this
– A global health guarantee
– We need a bigger role for science in politics
– The next pandemic could be our extinction event
For informative reading about the politics of the UK and their failings, I suggest this book about where the pollies get trained, and their ideas and opinions that guide their lives thereafter are formed.
Posh Boys is a welcome catalyst for that debate.' ― Sunday Herald. 'In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product's domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.' ― Observer.
Who keeps altering the status of cases which require a Covid-19 test, the frequency of the test and the isolation period for the close contact and the close plus contact and their family?
They can't do that. The treaty says that Sealord, or at least their owners, can do anything they please in New Zealand waters. There will, no doubt, be a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal to scrap the decision.
There will, no doubt, be a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal to scrap the decision.
Doubtful.
He [Sealord chief operating officer Doug Paulin] said while Sealord was disappointed with the outcome, they respected the Court’s decision.
“The Court referred to Sealord as a ‘giant in the industry in which it operates’, and with that comes an expectation that we will be held to the highest possible standards.”
They won't need to go that far. It will be dropped as soon as it drops off the news media radar. Rather like the way that all proceedings with the various ratbags in the Labour Party had all the charges dropped.
Partly, this reflects Hager’s cast of characters. The lesser lights include a clutch of right-wing bloggers and sundry consultants to the governing National Party. But the supporting cast also numbers a special adviser working in Prime Minister John Key’s office, and former justice minister (and one-time aspiring National Party leader) Judith Collins. Most importantly, at centre stage stands Key.
The fishing companies will be treated leniently of course – the courts are aware the BPAs are essentially a farce – one of those instances of industry self-regulation carried out to forestall effective legislation. After all, they've run slave ships for forty years with government response amounting to nothing more than sustained bootlicking.
Time to reform the sector in the public interest – the monopsony of major fisheries players is an ecological failure on top of its innumerable other failures.
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Back in 2020, the then-Labour government signed contracted for the construction and purchase of two new rail-enabled Cook Strait ferries, to be operational from 2026. But when National took power in 2023, they cancelled them in a desperate effort to make the books look good for a year. And now ...
The fragmentation of cyber regulation in the Indo-Pacific is not just inconvenient; it is a strategic vulnerability. In recent years, governments across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, have moved to reform their regulatory frameworks for cyber ...
Welcome to the March 2025 Economic Bulletin. The feature article examines what public private partnerships (PPPs) are. PPPs have been a hot topic recently, with the coalition government signalling it wants to use them to deliver infrastructure. However, experience with PPPs, both here and overseas, indicates we should be wary. ...
Willis announces more plans of plans for supermarketsYesterday’s much touted supermarket competition announcement by Nicola Willis amounted to her telling us she was issuing a 6 week RFI1 that will solicit advice from supermarket players.In short, it was an announcement of a plan - but better than her Kiwirail Interislander ...
This was the post I was planning to write this morning to mark Orr’s final day. That said, if the underlying events – deliberate attempts to mislead Parliament – were Orr’s doing, the post is more about the apparent uselessness of Parliament (specifically the Finance and Expenditure Committee) in holding ...
Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC’s plan to build a plant in the United States looks like a move made at the behest of local officials to solidify US support for Taiwan. However, it may eventually lessen ...
This is a Guest Post by Transport Planner Bevan Woodward from the charitable trust Movement, which has lodged an application for a judicial review of the Governments Setting of Speed Limits Rule 2024 Auckland is at grave risk of having its safer speed limits on approx. 1,500 local streets ...
We're just talkin' 'bout the futureForget about the pastIt'll always be with usIt's never gonna die, never gonna dieSongwriters: Brian Johnson / Angus Young / Malcolm YoungMorena, all you lovely people, it’s good to be back, and I have news from the heartland. Now brace yourself for this: depending on ...
Today is the last day in office for the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr. Of course, he hasn’t been in the office since 5 March when, on the eve of his major international conference, his resignation was announced and he stormed off with no (effective) notice and no ...
Treasury and Cabinet have finally agreed to a Crown guarantee for a non-Government lending agency for Community Housing Providers (CHPs), which could unlock billions worth of loans and investments by pension funds and banks to build thousands of more affordable social homes. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories shortest:Chris Bishop ...
Australia has plenty of room to spend more on defence. History shows that 2.9 percent of GDP is no great burden in ordinary times, so pushing spending to 3.0 percent in dangerous times is very ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Winston Peters will announce later today whether two new ferries are rail ‘compatible’, requiring time-consuming container shuffling, or the more efficient and expensive rail ‘enabled,’ where wagons can roll straight on and off.Nicola Willisthreatened yesterday to break up the supermarket duopoly with ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 23, 2025 thru Sat, March 29, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
For prospective writers out there, Inspired Quill, the publisher of my novel(s) is putting together a short story anthology (pieces up to 10,000 words). The open submission window is 29th March to 29th April. https://www.inspired-quill.com/anthology-submissions/ The theme?This anthology will bring together diverse voices exploring themes of hope, resistance, and human ...
Prime minister Kevin Rudd released the 2009 defence white paper in May of that year. It is today remembered mostly for what it said about the strategic implications of China’s rise; its plan to double ...
In short this morning in our political economy:Voters want the Government to retain the living wage for cleaners, a poll shows.The Government’s move to provide a Crown guarantee to banks and the private sector for social housing is described a watershed moment and welcomed by Community Housing Providers.Nicola Willis is ...
The recent attacks in the Congo by Rwandan backed militias has led to worldwide condemnation of the Rwandan regime of Paul Kagame. Following up on the recent Fabian Zoom with Mikela Wrong and Maria Amoudian, Dr Rudaswinga will give a complete picture of Kagame’s regime and discuss the potential ...
New Zealand’s economic development has always been a partnership between the public and private sectors.Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) have become fashionable again, partly because of the government’s ambitions to accelerate infrastructural development. There is, of course, an ideological element too, while some of the opposition to them is also ideological.PPPs come in ...
How Australia funds development and defence was front of mind before Tuesday’s federal budget. US President Donald Trump’s demands for a dramatic lift in allied military spending and brutal cuts to US foreign assistance meant ...
Questions 1. Where and what is this protest?a. Hamilton, angry crowd yelling What kind of food do you call this Seymour?b.Dunedin, angry crowd yelling Still waiting, Simeon, still waitingc. Wellington, angry crowd yelling You’re trashing everything you idiotsd. Istanbul, angry crowd yelling Give us our democracy back, give it ...
Two blueprints that could redefine the Northern Territory’s economic future were launched last week. The first was a government-led economic strategy and the other an industry-driven economic roadmap. Both highlight that supporting the Northern Territory ...
Today, the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading, but there is one more stage before it becomes law. The Governor-General must give their ‘Royal assent’ for any bill to become legally enforceable. This means that, even if a bill gets voted ...
Abortion care at Whakatāne Hospital has been quietly shelved, with patients told they will likely have to travel more than an hour to Tauranga to get the treatment they need. ...
Thousands of New Zealanders’ submissions are missing from the official parliamentary record because the National-dominated Justice Select Committee has rushed work on the Treaty Principles Bill. ...
Today’s announcement of 10 percent tariffs for New Zealand goods entering the United States is disappointing for exporters and consumers alike, with the long-lasting impact on prices and inflation still unknown. ...
The National Government’s choices have contributed to a slow-down in the building sector, as thousands of people have lost their jobs in construction. ...
Willie Apiata’s decision to hand over his Victoria Cross to the Minister for Veterans is a powerful and selfless act, made on behalf of all those who have served our country. ...
The Privileges Committee has denied fundamental rights to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, Rawiri Waititi and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, breaching their own standing orders, breaching principles of natural justice, and highlighting systemic prejudice and discrimination within our parliamentary processes. The three MPs were summoned to the privileges committee following their performance of a haka ...
April 1 used to be a day when workers could count on a pay rise with stronger support for those doing it tough, but that’s not the case under this Government. ...
Winston Peters is shopping for smaller ferries after Nicola Willis torpedoed the original deal, which would have delivered new rail enabled ferries next year. ...
The Government should work with other countries to press the Myanmar military regime to stop its bombing campaign especially while the country recovers from the devastating earthquake. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to scrap proposed changes to Early Childhood Care, after attending a petition calling for the Government to ‘Put tamariki at the heart of decisions about ECE’. ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill today that will remove the power of MPs conscience votes and ensure mandatory national referendums are held before any conscience issues are passed into law. “We are giving democracy and power back to the people”, says New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters. ...
Welcome to members of the diplomatic corp, fellow members of parliament, the fourth estate, foreign affairs experts, trade tragics, ladies and gentlemen. ...
In recent weeks, disturbing instances of state-sanctioned violence against Māori have shed light on the systemic racism permeating our institutions. An 11-year-old autistic Māori child was forcibly medicated at the Henry Bennett Centre, a 15-year-old had his jaw broken by police in Napier, kaumātua Dean Wickliffe went on a hunger ...
Confidence in the job market has continued to drop to its lowest level in five years as more New Zealanders feel uncertain about finding work, keeping their jobs, and getting decent pay, according to the latest Westpac-McDermott Miller Employment Confidence Index. ...
The Greens are calling on the Government to follow through on their vague promises of environmental protection in their Resource Management Act (RMA) reform. ...
“Make New Zealand First Again” Ladies and gentlemen, First of all, thank you for being here today. We know your lives are busy and you are working harder and longer than you ever have, and there are many calls on your time, so thank you for the chance to speak ...
Hundreds more Palestinians have died in recent days as Israel’s assault on Gaza continues and humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, is blocked. ...
National is looking to cut hundreds of jobs at New Zealand’s Defence Force, while at the same time it talks up plans to increase focus and spending in Defence. ...
It’s been revealed that the Government is secretly trying to bring back a ‘one-size fits all’ standardised test – a decision that has shocked school principals. ...
The Green Party is calling for the compassionate release of Dean Wickliffe, a 77-year-old kaumātua on hunger strike at the Spring Hill Corrections Facility, after visiting him at the prison. ...
The Green Party is calling on Government MPs to support Chlöe Swarbrick’s Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence and illegal actions in Palestine, following another day of appalling violence against civilians in Gaza. ...
The Green Party stands in support of volunteer firefighters petitioning the Government to step up and change legislation to provide volunteers the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts. ...
At 2.30am local time, Israel launched a treacherous attack on Gaza killing more than 300 defenceless civilians while they slept. Many of them were children. This followed a more than 2 week-long blockade by Israel on the entry of all goods and aid into Gaza. Israel deliberately targeted densely populated ...
Living Strong, Aging Well There is much discussion around the health of our older New Zealanders and how we can age well. In reality, the delivery of health services accounts for only a relatively small percentage of health outcomes as we age. Significantly, dry warm housing, nutrition, exercise, social connection, ...
Shane Jones’ display on Q&A showed how out of touch he and this Government are with our communities and how in sync they are with companies with little concern for people and planet. ...
The Government’s new planning legislation to replace the Resource Management Act will make it easier to get things done while protecting the environment, say Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop and Under-Secretary Simon Court. “The RMA is broken and everyone knows it. It makes it too hard to build ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay has today launched a public consultation on New Zealand and India’s negotiations of a formal comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. “Negotiations are getting underway, and the Public’s views will better inform us in the early parts of this important negotiation,” Mr McClay says. We are ...
More than 900 thousand superannuitants and almost five thousand veterans are among the New Zealanders set to receive a significant financial boost from next week, an uplift Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says will help support them through cost-of-living challenges. “I am pleased to confirm that from 1 ...
Progressing a holistic strategy to unlock the potential of New Zealand’s geothermal resources, possibly in applications beyond energy generation, is at the centre of discussions with mana whenua at a hui in Rotorua today, Resources and Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is in the early stages ...
New annual data has exposed the staggering cost of delays previously hidden in the building consent system, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I directed Building Consent Authorities to begin providing quarterly data last year to improve transparency, following repeated complaints from tradespeople waiting far longer than the statutory ...
Increases in water charges for Auckland consumers this year will be halved under the Watercare Charter which has now been passed into law, Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Auckland Minister Simeon Brown say. The charter is part of the financial arrangement for Watercare developed last year by Auckland Council ...
There is wide public support for the Government’s work to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity protections, says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The Ministry for Primary Industries recently completed public consultation on proposed amendments to the Biosecurity Act and the submissions show that people understand the importance of having a strong biosecurity ...
A new independent review function will enable individuals and organisations to seek an expert independent review of specified civil aviation regulatory decisions made by, or on behalf of, the Director of Civil Aviation, Acting Transport Minister James Meager has announced today. “Today we are making it easier and more affordable ...
The Government will invest in an enhanced overnight urgent care service for the Napier community as part of our focus on ensuring access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown has today confirmed. “I am delighted that a solution has been found to ensure Napier residents will continue to ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey attended a sod turning today to officially mark the start of construction on a new mental health facility at Hillmorton Campus. “This represents a significant step in modernising mental health services in Canterbury,” Mr Brown says. “Improving health infrastructure is ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has welcomed confirmation the economy has turned the corner. Stats NZ reported today that gross domestic product grew 0.7 per cent in the three months to December following falls in the June and September quarters. “We know many families and businesses are still suffering the after-effects ...
The sealing of a 12-kilometre stretch of State Highway 43 (SH43) through the Tangarakau Gorge – one of the last remaining sections of unsealed state highway in the country – has been completed this week as part of a wider programme of work aimed at improving the safety and resilience ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters says relations between New Zealand and the United States are on a strong footing, as he concludes a week-long visit to New York and Washington DC today. “We came to the United States to ask the new Administration what it wants from ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has welcomed changes to international anti-money laundering standards which closely align with the Government’s reforms. “The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) last month adopted revised standards for tackling money laundering and the financing of terrorism to allow for simplified regulatory measures for businesses, organisations and sectors ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour says he welcomes Medsafe’s decision to approve an electronic controlled drug register for use in New Zealand pharmacies, allowing pharmacies to replace their physical paper-based register. “The register, developed by Kiwi brand Toniq Limited, is the first of its kind to be approved in New ...
The Coalition Government’s drive for regional economic growth through the $1.2 billion Regional Infrastructure Fund is on track with more than $550 million in funding so far committed to key infrastructure projects, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. “To date, the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) has received more than 250 ...
[Comments following the bilateral meeting with United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; United States State Department, Washington D.C.] * We’re very pleased with our meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this afternoon. * We came here to listen to the new Administration and to be clear about what ...
The intersection of State Highway 2 (SH2) and Wainui Road in the Eastern Bay of Plenty will be made safer and more efficient for vehicles and freight with the construction of a new and long-awaited roundabout, says Transport Minister Chris Bishop. “The current intersection of SH2 and Wainui Road is ...
The Ocean Race will return to the City of Sails in 2027 following the Government’s decision to invest up to $4 million from the Major Events Fund into the international event, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown says. “New Zealand is a proud sailing nation, and Auckland is well-known internationally as the ...
Improving access to mental health and addiction support took a significant step forward today with Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey announcing that the University of Canterbury have been the first to be selected to develop the Government’s new associate psychologist training programme. “I am thrilled that the University of Canterbury ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened the new East Building expansion at Manukau Health Park. “This is a significant milestone and the first stage of the Grow Manukau programme, which will double the footprint of the Manukau Health Park to around 30,000m2 once complete,” Mr Brown says. “Home ...
The Government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund, Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee say. “In recent years there has been increased antisocial and criminal behaviour in our CBD. The Government ...
The Government is moving to strengthen rules for feeding food waste to pigs to protect New Zealand from exotic animal diseases like foot and mouth disease (FMD), says Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard. ‘Feeding untreated meat waste, often known as "swill", to pigs could introduce serious animal diseases like FMD and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held productive talks in New Delhi today. Fresh off announcing that New Zealand and India would commence negotiations towards a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, the two Prime Ministers released a joint statement detailing plans for further cooperation between the two countries across ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the forestry sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay signed a new Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) today during the Prime Minister’s Indian Trade Mission, reinforcing New Zealand’s commitment to enhancing collaboration with India in the horticulture sector. “Our relationship with India is a key priority for New Zealand, and this agreement reflects our ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new Family Court Judges. The new Judges will take up their roles in April and May and fill Family Court vacancies at the Auckland and Manukau courts. Annette Gray Ms Gray completed her law degree at Victoria University before joining Phillips ...
Health Minister Simeon Brown has today officially opened Wellington Regional Hospital’s first High Dependency Unit (HDU). “This unit will boost critical care services in the lower North Island, providing extra capacity and relieving pressure on the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency department. “Wellington Regional Hospital has previously relied ...
Namaskar, Sat Sri Akal, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. What an honour it is to stand on this stage - to inaugurate this august Dialogue - with none other than the Honourable Narendra Modi. My good friend, thank you for so generously welcoming me to India and for our ...
Nearly 25 years after the "corngate" saga, the debate on genetic modification is back thanks to the Gene Technology Bill currently in select committee. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephanie Brodie, Research Scientist in Marine Ecology, CSIRO jittawit21, Shutterstock Picture this: you’re lounging on a beautiful beach, soaking up the sun and listening to the soothing sound of the waves. You run your hands through the warm sand, only to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Although New Zealand and Australia seem to have escaped the worst of Donald Trump’s latest tariffs, some Pacific Islands stand to be hit hard — including a few that aren’t even “countries”. The US will impose a base tariff of 10 percent on all ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton both agree Australia should react to US President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff regime by continuing to seek a special deal. They just disagree about which of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joanne Orlando, Researcher, Digital Literacy and Digital Wellbeing, Western Sydney University UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer met with Adolescence writer Jack Thorne to discuss adolescent safety at Downing Street on Monday. Jack Taylor/ GettyImages Netflix’s Adolescence has ignited global debate. ...
By Anneke Smith,RNZ News political reporter A stoush between the Chief Human Rights Commissioner and a Jewish community leader has flared up following a showdown at Parliament. Appearing before a parliamentary select committee today, Dr Stephen Rainbow was asked about his recent apology for incorrect comments he made about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rakesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Accounting & Finance, Charles Darwin University US President Donald Trump’s new trade war will not only send shockwaves through the global economy – it also upsets efforts to tackle the urgent issue of climate change. Trump has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Toohey, Professor of Law, UNSW Sydney It had the hallmarks of a reality TV cliffhanger. Until recently, many people had never even heard of tariffs. Now, there’s been rolling live international coverage of so-called “Liberation Day”, as US President Donald Trump ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney mavo/Shutterstock In the ever-changing wellness industry, one diet obsession has captured and held TikTok’s attention: protein. Whether it’s sharing snaps of protein-packed meals or giving tutorials to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastian Maslow, Associate Professor, International Relations, University of Tokyo Two months into US President Donald Trump’s second term, the liberal international order is on life support. Alliances and multilateral institutions are now seen by the United States as burdens. Europe and ...
Starving public services of resources, gutting the workforce and then proposing private market solutions has been a key strategy of this government, says Vanessa Cole, spokesperson for Public Housing Futures. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hayley Geyle, Ecologist, Charles Darwin University Sarah Maclagan/Author provided The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is one of Australia’s most iconic yet at-risk animals — and the last surviving bilby species. Once found across 70% of Australia, its range has contracted by ...
The government’s own Regulatory Impact Statement acknowledges that organic producers will bear the financial burden of adapting to the risks posed by GMO expansion. ...
The committee has "rammed it through with outrageous haste", with a report now expected tomorrow, but excluding thousands of submissions, Duncan Webb says. ...
The US president’s sweeping programme of global tariffs will hit every country abroad, including New Zealand, and dramatically raise prices at home. This is an excerpt from The World Bulletin, our weekly global current affairs newsletter exclusively for Spinoff Members. Sign up here.In a dramatic, flag-draped address from the White ...
Alex Casey talks to Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi, the couple who launched a project to change 51 lives in honour of those lost in the Christchurch mosque attacks. When Bariz Shah and Saba Afrasyabi walked into Naeem’s house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, they knew immediately that he needed their help. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Deane, Professor of Trade Law, Taxation and Climate Change, Queensland University of Technology US President Donald Trump has imposed a range of tariffs on all products entering the US market, with Australian exports set to face a 10% tariff, effective April ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra US President Donald Trump singled out Australia’s beef trade for special mention in his announcement that the United States would impose a 10% global tariff as well as “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hayley Geyle, Ecologist, Charles Darwin University Sarah Maclagan/Author provided The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is one of Australia’s most iconic yet at-risk animals — and the last surviving bilby species. Once found across 70% of Australia, its range has contracted by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra US President Donald Trump singled out Australia’s beef trade for special mention in his announcement that the United States would impose a 10% global tariff as well as “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Shutterstock Recent media coverage in the Nine newspapers highlights a surge in non-medical ultrasound providers offering “reassurance ultrasounds” to expectant parents. The service has resulted in serious harms, such as misdiagnosed ectopic pregnancies and ...
The three MPs whose rule-breaking haka caught the world’s attention didn’t attend their scheduled hearing yesterday. Constitutional law expert Andrew Geddis has the rundown of what happened, why, and what’s likely to come next. I see Te Pāti Māori and the privileges committee are in some sort of stand-off – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Turner, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University The Eurasian and North American tectonic plates in Thingvellir National Park, Iceland.Nido Huebl/Shutterstock Earth is the only known planet which has plate tectonics today. The constant movement of these giant slabs of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra US President Donald Trump singled out Australia’s beef trade for special mention in his announcement that the United States would impose a 10% global tariff as well as “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries. In ...
Meta has stolen millions of books to train its AI, including books by kaituhi Māori. What does that mean for mātauranga and its status as taonga? New Zealand authors are among the millions whose books have been pirated and scraped by Meta to train its AI. The New Zealand Society of ...
Some hoped the open of the New Zealand markets would open with a bounce as certain tariffs fell short of the worst-case scenario, but investors were met with a deflated thud.The New Zealand market fell immediately as stock market darling Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s shares were punished, with no update ...
Healthcare dominated the debate in an unusually sober and serious question time. “Hey David!” a group of high school students in the public gallery called out as Act leader David Seymour entered the debating chamber. Standing in the middle of the floor, before any other MPs had arrived, he happily ...
Australia are making us quarantine now on arrival due to the latest cluster, which is probably fair dinkum, as we still (and have always) made people coming from Australia quarantine for 14 days.
Australian states burst travel bubble with New Zealand | Stuff.co.nz
Struth mate, the kiwi government has sat on their hands with this one for over 6 months. Too right then fair dinkum Ozzies start calling time on this one sided deal.
Nothing betrays the middle class capture of our media like it's obsession with international travel. You'd think every new Zealander has a birthright to visit at least one tropical paradise annually and go shopping in NYC or London bi-annually. Instead of fretting over the chicken entrails about travel re-starting and printing every single whine from the international education and tourism sectors maybe our media could instead ask if this isn't a good time (with climate change and all) to re-set some national expectations around constant flying? This crazy idea that cheap package holidays to the Pacific or Asia are some kind of human right for the middle/lower middle class has been around since the beginning of this century anyway.
Yes but can we please do that after I get to Skara Brae, the Patagonians mountains, and Jerusalem.
You can probably add Tijuana to that list.
The Greens must be happy at the moment with very few people travelling overseas between countries, the amount of planes in the sky is well down and therefore the amount of air pollution must be far lower at the moment.
Well, except for the Greens themselves of course
Spot on.
Yeah, like that nasty hypocrit Ricardo Menendez.
and he even had the contempt for Kiwis to try and book a slot in MIQ under the grounds of being a critical worker (was he having a laugh?) and then a second time on National Security grounds.
An embarrassment for the Greens. But then some would say the Greens are an embarrassment in themselves I suppose.
Killer first sentence there. Lovely balance and pivot at the mid-point between "media" and "like". 15 syllables one side, 13 the other, and an obsession echoing a betrayal.
It's Aus, not Rome. Lots of us have family over there, and vice versa. Shit, it's frequently cheaper to get to Aus than it is to get to the damned city the flight departs from (in BC times, anyway).
Crocky deck mite, strines larva wan sodded dale cobba.
Australian Covid-19 deaths/million – 35
New Zealand Covid-19 deaths/million – 5
the fact that you cant travel freely from state to state doesnt seem to get much attention. when aussies can agree amongst themselves what their rules are, THEN ,lets rave on about travel bubbles. until then, its just another headline in search of clicks.
It is about the risk of transmission in the community. Australia have been accommodating when NZ has had no community transmission.
Yes but we haven't been as accommodating to them as we make them stay in MIQ for 14 days.
Only been a week or so since Vic had it's last local case.
It is a numbers game when it comes to the risk of bringing Covid into a country. It is a mistake to treat Australia differently.
Pretty much. Trust and diseases are mutually incompatible.
It is like this company that National are promoting with a saliva test. They’re offering their own testing as proof that it is effective. Having Shane Reti MP pushing it like pharmaceutical sales rep on crack gives me no confidence at all. It just reminds me of the US state and federal representatives who were prostituting themselves with quack remedies mid last year. That resulted in some of the most shoddy fraud that I’ve seen for a while – and probably a lot of extra deaths.
Covid debate becoming ideological Politik – probably paywalled
The health department is doing the right thing and I trust them to do that. After all in the event of any outbreak, they are the people who have to clean up the mess. Health have something that they know works – so they concentrate on that. They’ll run their own tests so they are confident in any additions to the testing suite for NZ.
I might have a different view if we established absolute liability for death and injury on the private sector. Something like hanging for guilty directors and bankruptcy for shareholders would go a long way to making me feel that they would commit to doing a good job.
In the meantime, I trust civil servants and politicians somewhat more. Unlike the private sector the direct accountability is better.
Incidentally I see that some self-interested idiots want to import the Scott Morrison diminution of director responsibility here. It appears that having successful cases against delinquent directors is making the director community more in touch with their responsibilities – and this is somehow unfair. Idiots…
Now is not the time to copy Australia BusinessDesk – may be paywalled.
Australia has had issues with their banking directors.
NZ trusting Australian banks is one thing. NZ trusting Australia to not export Covid-19 is another matter.
This is good. No point trying to control and manage the pandemic if it is allowed to remain rampant in poorer parts of the world.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/africa/300238753/covid19-ghana-becomes-first-nation-in-the-world-to-receive-covax-vaccines
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/
"Rampant" might be overstating a little.
What is supposed to be the take-home message of your link?
Do you know what rampant means?
Did you even read the number of low-and middle-income countries that are receiving vaccines for free through COVAX?
Answer: 92 + another 90 and eight territories that might agree to pay COVAX for vaccines.
Did you even read the number of doses of Covid-19 vaccines COVAX intends (AKA hopes) deliver this year around the world?
Answer: close to 2 billion
That would be a whole lot of people less to potentially incubate and mutate the virus and spread it.
The purpose of the link is so one can have a wee look and see the countries where Te Virus is running rampant and causing a high number of deaths per million of population.
These are not necessarily the low and middle income countries such, as Ghana.
Ghana 80,759 confirmed cases, 582 total deaths, deaths per million 19.3
Belgium757,696 confirmed cases, 21,956 total deaths, deaths per million 1911.87
Which country has what could be described as "rampant" Covid 19?
Roll out the vaccines, as it does look like they just might prevent serious disease in most folk…but they will not necessarily prevent spread of the virus.
It’s important for everyone to continue using all the tools available to help stop this pandemic as we learn more about how COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions. Experts are also looking at how many people get vaccinated and how the virus is spreading in communities. We also don’t yet know whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine will prevent you from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 to other people, even if you don’t get sick yourself. CDC will continue to update this page as we learn more.
Together, COVID-19 vaccination and following CDC’s recommendations for how to protect yourself and others will offer the best protection from getting and spreading COVID-19. Additional information can be found at key things to know about the COVID-19 vaccine. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/keythingstoknow.html.
greatly reduced viral load – much lower rate of transmission
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.06.21251283v1.full-text
Vaccination against COVID-19 is expected to prevent the spread of the virus in some and hopefully many cases, although not (of course) in all cases.
Vaccinations are generally effective and necessarily imperfect preventative medical treatments designed to train human immune systems – anyone expecting/requiring a universal miracle cure will necessarily be disappointed.
The operative word is “remain”.
You don’t seem to know the meaning of “rampant”.
It is not a competition between which country is most rampant, but I’d say that Ghana seems to have much less control over the pandemic than Belgium. Surprising, isn’t it?
You can make the comparison yourself using simple tools such as Google:
https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-NZ&state=6&mid=%2Fm%2F0154j&gl=NZ&ceid=NZ%3Aen
In Belgium, 731,352 vaccine doses have been given and 288,712 people have been fully vaccinated while in Ghana No data.
Or here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
For example, Belgium has conducted 807,546 tests/million people in the population but Ghana only 28,246 [Last updated: February 27, 2021, 08:09 GMT]. Can you spot the difference?
Indeed, vaccination may not be a magic bullet and other simple tools and behaviours should remain in place.
Beginners’ gains?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/on-the-inside/437106/tackling-child-poverty-a-mountain-that-keeps-getting-steeper [by Max Rashbrooke]
rather lack of follow up and commitment.
Seems that way, doesn’t it?
When the going gets tough, that’s when you show true commitment and dedication AKA grit and courage; everything else is just meaningless and without real impact in the long run.
I’m hoping for a big follow-up move/package in Budget-2021 but there’s more chance of finding alien lifeforms on Mars than of that happening.
i put J.A. in same box that i put Obama. Nice and polite, some good intention that lead no where really, and at the end of the day utterly disappointing.
Hampered by consensus, compromise and concession. There's a fixation with bring parties together so that all agree.
Nothing gets done.
Well, sometimes you just have to ram through what you do want, and see if it sticks. Worked for our Covid response.
no guts, no glory.
"i put J.A. in same box that i put Obama" yes that is where I position her myself.
Unfortunately I think that both Ardern and her supporters would be quite pleased with that comparison, while wilfully ignoring the fact that there is a straight line of cause and consequence leading from the massive disappointments and the business as usual terms of the Obama administration to the election of the’ burn the house down’ persona of Donald Trump.
How the seemingly same ultimate disappointment in the non-delivery of Labour/Ardern will manifest itself in New Zealand is the question none of us can know the answer too yet.
Turn Labour Left!
Turn Labour Left?
She got a majority. If she wanted to be left, she could be.
She's murdered way fewer people, so that's something.
Yes she did that. And so far that is the only thing she has accomplished. And it is a great accomplishment.
But covid is something that she reacted too, a new event if you so like, while poverty, homelessness, and state sanctioned idiocy and complacency in regards to the aforementioned poverty and homelessness is something that is / has been ignored now for decades.
And on that point she fails.
After nearly 8 decades of govts all over the world trying different ways to lift people up off the bottom rungs of the ladder – the lesson has to be that it's damned hard to help people. Even when they want to be helped it can go so easily wrong.
And how about we start giving this a name that makes sense. There is no such thing as 'child poverty' as a unique issue that can be 'fixed'. Or put another way, all children are 'poor' pretty much by definition. The proper name for this is 'family poverty'.
NZ is a relatively prosperous little country that generates plenty of wealth – the question is why do some people so egregiously fail to access a decent share of it? Over the years here I can recall a thousand threads that have explored the various reasons why this might be – and most of them have at least some explanatory power – but none seem to be a whole answer in themselves.
And why does the left persist in framing this as a zero sum game where we always suggest that in order to help the poor we have to take from those who are better off? And why is it so easy to construct narratives that are rooted in blame and divisiveness, rather than ones that appeal – like NZ's astonishing COVID response – to a collective sense of caring, achievement and solidarity?
Maybe we should cut our governments some slack, we find it hard enough to help ourselves much of the time, so it's not surprising that it's really hard to do this at the scale of a whole society. But I'm actually optimistic in this one sense, rather than rushing in to this problem firing ideological silver bullets left and right – this govt seems to be taking the time to evolve organic solutions that stand a chance of working.
My simple suggestion – accumulate the positives. Let everything else fall away. (If this sounds hokey, consider that this is exactly how evolution works.)
Did you just make up that 'the left … zero sum game' twaddle?
In the whole time you've been here I doubt I can recall more than a handful comments from you that were anything more than small minded, petty denigrations or sly trolling.
Play the ball not the player.
And yes, well done, you’ve been posting for a long time. That’s largely irrelevant.
Where do you get the idea ‘the left’ ‘persists’ with this ‘zero-sum’ framing?
Here?
I see, you're a time-traveller.
To be fair, it'd be hard not to class your far left zero sum twaddle as smallminded and petty.
That is because the pendulum has swung back so much to "its your own fault get your shit together" from “as a society we can do things to help”.
I agree that it isn't a zero sum game. Lifting GDP makes everyone richer and the world's GDP increases continues to lift more and more people out of poverty.
The best description I have seen of it is an elephant.
There is still across the world a tail of poverty i.e. less than $1 a day to live on, but then massive improvements in the bulk of the world – especially since WWII. Where the squeeze has come is in the middle class as you drop down to the trunk. The end of the trunk is raised as the top 5% have got wealthier.
That's why we feel it so much in NZ – the working middle class is being squeezed to improve lives overseas.
Private sector and political decisions however have not focussed on lifting our productivity through added value – they have focussed on low cost, low profit high volume – to some extent maximising the period through the 90's until now of the baby boomer dinkies – double income, no kids for domestic consumption including via tax benefits (lowering taxes when they reached maximum earnings capacity, tax incentives to utilise capital to purchase property, shifting the cost of their free tertiary study onto current generations) – and through rampant immigration and the reduction of added value for low cost exports – milk powder, raw logs. Remember when employers said "We can't afford pay rises unless we get tax cuts – well they got the tax cuts but really only the chief-executives and their ilk got the pay rises (and yep I think those million dollar salaries they get are simply legalised capital theft, a way of transferring company assets to their own pockets)
In short the short-term profit motive rather than long term societal investment.
Therein lies the problem. These things can't be fixed by fixing individuals – there are structural imbalances that can't only be fixed via high level change.
The question that really arises is does the pendulum have to keep swinging further before we see any real significant change i.e. do the rich have to keep getting richer without contributing more to the common good, does the working middle class have to keep getting poorer, does essentially laissez-faire economics have to continue to dominate.
Both WEAG and COV-ID-19 have given us an opportunity for a resetting of our thinking.
edit: I would add that I think the right portray this as a zero sum game far more than the left. The mantras of there is only so much money, you have to cut costs, austerity, you can’t do this if you do that, councils should only do roads, sewerage and infrastructure, and so on. The right are the masters of binary thinking. It totally dominates their narrative.
That's why we feel it so much in NZ – the working middle class is being squeezed to improve lives overseas.
Absolutely. This idea has gained some real traction lately with the idea of The Elephant Curve. Or a more formal paper here. What these suggest is that on a global scale the relatively wealthy of countries like NZ have already been required to sacrifice substantially to allow the really poor to escape poverty. In one sense it's an astonishing achievement – except the people who paid for it were never really asked if they wanted to participate.
The question that really arises is does the pendulum have to keep swinging further before we see any real significant change i.e. do the rich have to keep getting richer without contributing more to the common good,
The same astonishing economic engines that have lifted so many out of poverty, have an innate tendency to enable exponential wealth accumulation. The basic rule of any and all economic activity is 'the more you have, the faster you can grow it'. This is the fundamental maths underlying all exponential growth.
So perhaps one explanation for the Elephant curve is that while engine of globalisation has enabled the rapid growth of incomes especially for those offering the lowest and most competitive labour prices, at the same time the impact of exponential wealth accumulation still dominates the very top of the curve.
And for developed countries like NZ our experience is covered by the top 10% or so of the curve – that steep part where we experience increasing inequality – while we completely miss out of the growth of incomes at the bottom end due to globalisation.
The challenge here for the left in developed countries like NZ, is that while economic growth and human development have been amazingly good things from a global perspective – for the past few decades we've been missing out. And the finding practical solutions that don't involve 'bombing the village in order to save it' have been elusive indeed.
Otherwise yes – thanks for the thoughtful response.
From the elephant curve link.
"The third factor is policy: the decline in tax rates, reduced taxation of capital and all of that."
This is exactly what has happened in NZ. The thing is, is that the impact of this were not unknown. Historians could have told you exactly what would occur. We have been there done that in the past.
The thing is is that the conservative right knew this as well. They knew they would increase their wealth at a much faster rate if these policies were enacted. There are NZ books on capitalism from the mid-1800's that explain all this.
To a very, very large extent we are reaping what we sowed.
the decline in tax rates, reduced taxation of capital and all of that.
All pernicious trends that can be laid firmly at the feet of neo-liberalism – which is what happens when you take an economic model – capitalism in this case – and turn it into an ideology based on a narrow, materialistic value system that places the individual above all else.
The same astonishing economic engines that have lifted so many out of poverty
You attribute this to capitalism however that isn't entirely accurate:
https://www.vox.com/2014/12/14/7384515/extreme-poverty-decline
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_China
Other significant factors I am aware of are:
Maybe not things we might normally think about.
Both China and India really only achieved that once they gained access to the global economy – and while they've both operated their own economic variants, they did not 'lift millions out of poverty' in isolation from the wider capitalist systems of the rest of the world.
Ah I see, the rest of the world is responsible for China and India's success. No trace of idealogical bias here. /
Less 'responsible for' and more 'a condition of'.
And who/what is responsible/a condition of the increasing inequality in the developed world?
https://epub.wu.ac.at/4529/1/Roser_Crespo-Cuaresma_2014_RIW_inequality.pdf
In short a combination of the innate exponential nature of growth that we all enjoyed post-WW2 overlaid by an extremist neo-liberal ideology that exacerbated the underlying trend toward inequality from the 80's onward.
The first factor is in many ways a phase that is coming to an end with ageing demographics almost everywhere and declining populations in most developed nations.
The second factor neo-liberalism is an object lesson to politically aware people everywhere – as in 'what happens when you take a good idea and go too far with it'.
China, under Deng Xioping, was progressively opened up to the global economy and the previously suppressed entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese was unleashed.
Was the 'rest of the world' responsible for Chinas 30 years of near exponential growth? No, of course not. But they did facilitate it.
The sad thing is that China could have been where it is now if it had not been for the Cultural Revolution. Mao achieved many great things (One/New China; literacy and so on), but the last 25 years of his life held the Chinese people back.
And to be clear, China in 2021 is in no way a ‘communist’ or even a socialist country. It is an empire that now exists for the benefit of its elite.
Another way to look at it is – Taiwan being what the mainland could have been if not for the CCP.
Yep Red, 100% true. Although Mao did unite China and end the endless internecine wars. Just did not realise when his used by date expired.
Clearly because those who are better off have taken from the poor.
Are our schools perfect? Do all students learn and develop to their best potential equally well? And do schools fall short for other students and can we imagine ways they could do better for them? Well yes of course – that's the wonderful aspect of being an idealist – you can always conceive of something better, something higher to aim at.
But to argue that the more fortunate students got through their school lives because they 'stole from those who were less fortunate' would be an absurd conclusion because we all understand that knowledge and education are not zero sum games.
At the other extreme we can understand that for example in a pre-industrial village of farmers, or pre-agricultural band of hunters would have in any given year a strict limit on how much food and resources were available to them. Scarcity imposed this.
The interesting thing about modernity is that it falls somewhere between these two extremes and over time is trending toward away from zero sum toward something else far more vibrant.
You seem to subscribe to the 'life's not fair, deal with it' philosophy, also subscribed to by such luminaries as Mike Hosking and David Seymour.
This philosophy embraces the current capitalist model with all its flaws, and encourages one to just beat the system. Anyone can do it, right?
Your school analogy ignores the main driver in vastly differing student progress and that is home life, which as we know is itself a function of an increasingly inequitable society.
Intergenerationally, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.
All good though, right?
(1) It's easy to help people if that help is unconditional (more carrot, less stick); and
(2) There's not enough unconditional help (nor conditional help) to meet the need.
A clue is the (large) number of charitable organisations that aim to help those living in poverty. They do fantastic work (and if at first they don't succeed, then…), but when 10% of NZ citizens have accumulated a collective debt of $13 billion, you know there's going to be unmet need.
Not that $13 billion is large relative to the $800 billion that the 'top' 10% have accumulated. Some might eventually realise that the solution to that $13 billion debt is obvious (and not actually hard at all), but that's an individual choice – "You can lead a horse to water…" Others (typically those who are better off) perceive only the (small) threat to their (relatively enormous) wealth that such an obvious solution represents.
Maybe the focus on 'child poverty', as opposed to 'family poverty', came about because it neatly sidesteps the criticism so often levelled by wealthy righties that the root cause of poverty is incompetent, lazy adults who are egregiously failing to access a decent share of wealth. Even wealthy righties such as Bill English belatedly recognised the egregious failure of governing adults to address child poverty, so rightly or wrongly the term is here to stay, with political parties from the left and right using it as a stick with which to beat each other.
How might letting 'everything' that isn't positive "fall away" help Rebecca?
Far out. This stuff has been know for decades and simply approved of by all and sundry.
It's baffling that some in authority perhaps never agreed with it in the first place but said nothing for so long.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2021/02/housing-crisis-reserve-bank-governor-says-auctions-create-fomo-stops-short-of-saying-they-should-be-banned.html
I agree with you on this – I'm no fan auctions at all.
Auctions, deadline sales and listings without a price in general can just get stuffed.
agreed.
Yep I agree. it is annoying when a house has no price on it as you simply don't know if it is within your price range or whether it's hundreds of thousands too expensive for you. Real estate agents love auctions.
Has anyone else noticed some rather large price increases at the supermarket lately? I buy Purina One cat food in bags that used to be $18 a bag at Countdown, but were often on special for $15.99. I now notice that the normal shelf price is now $23 a bag! There also seems to be a supply issue as many of the other cat food lines seem to have empty shelf spaces.
I see Pak n Save have the Purina One on special for $14.99 this week……..wow $8 cheaper than Countdown. Looks like I need to make the effort to go to PNS so the cats can eat this week!
Has anyone heard of The Kohimarama Conference that took place between the Governor of NZ and the leaders of Iwi from around NZ in August 1860? It seems to put a lie to the argument that Maori never gave up sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
Here is an extract from the resolutions that the Iwi leaders themselves made which show they were well aware of where sovereignty in NZ lay.
"
The Chiefs having assembled in the Conference Hall, Paikea rose and proposed the following Resolution:—
"That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races; also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them."
"
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-BIM504Kohi-t1-g1-t4-body1-d2.html
The Kohimarama Conference, organised by Governor Browne, was aimed at convincing Māori leaders to reject the Maori King Movement and justify the Government's war in Taranaki.
What is your point?
My point is:
"The Kohimarama Conference, organised by Governor Browne, was aimed at convincing Māori leaders to reject the Maori King Movement and justify the Government's war in Taranaki."
Would you like it in a three part harmony rather than simple text?
Again what is your point? That does not in anyway take away what the Iwi leaders agreed to at the Kohimarama Conference. It is quite clear a significant amount of Iwi knew very well that sovereignty in NZ lay with the Crown in 1860 and that derived from the TOW.
Gosman a few leaders agree is not unanimous or democracy.You are trying to rewrite history you will find some tribes were on the crown side others not.
You keep using Mana without knowing what its means trying to put up deliberately divisive arguments. Playing your Trump Card remember John Key giving Don Maori Bash a good telling off for undermining Nationals coalition with the Maori Party.
Is that you Dr Brash?
That does not seem to address any of the points raised by my post on The Kohimarama Conference. Did you want to discuss that or Dr Brash? I have no interest in discussing Dr Brash so you will be on your own there.
lol where's the Māori translation of that resolution.
By 1860 I am pretty sure most of the Iwi leaders taking part had a good working relationship in the English language. In fact if you take the time to read the link I gave you the meeting itself seems to be largely driven by the Iwi leaders themselves.
How could a resolution be passed unanimously if only "most" of the participants had a working relationship with the language in which it was conducted?
But it seems that translations were indeed used, and had similar issues of imprecision as had ToW.
Very interesting link thanks McFlock
I refer you to the following quote from that same document:
"Thus the proposal was incorporated in a major resolution passed unanimously at the final session: 'That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races, also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them.
This was, indeed, the kind of endorsement that the government was seeking. Not only did the resolution settle doubts about the allegiance to the Crown obtained in 1840, but it also committed tribes, such as Arawa, who had not signed the treaty. Having gained thereby the unanimous assent of most of the major Maori tribes to the Queen's sovereignty the government had cause to feel reasonably satisfied that the conference had served its main purpose"
[RL: Please check your Name autofill. You have unintended text in it causing this comment to go into moderation.]
lolz yeah the government's conference served its purpose.
I checked it and hence why I resubmitted without the text
Very interesting link thanks McFlock
I refer you to the following quote from that same document:
"Thus the proposal was incorporated in a major resolution passed unanimously at the final session: 'That this Conference takes cognizance of the fact that the several Chiefs, members thereof, are pledged to each other to do nothing inconsistent with their declared recognition of the Queen's sovereignty, and of the union of the two races, also to discountenance all proceedings tending to a breach of the covenant here solemnly entered into by them.
This was, indeed, the kind of endorsement that the government was seeking. Not only did the resolution settle doubts about the allegiance to the Crown obtained in 1840, but it also committed tribes, such as Arawa, who had not signed the treaty. Having gained thereby the unanimous assent of most of the major Maori tribes to the Queen's sovereignty the government had cause to feel reasonably satisfied that the conference had served its main purpose"
Lets say, just for the sake of argument, that indeed several chiefs at this conference did declare recognition of the Queen's sovereignty.
So what?
It doesn't invalidate the fact the the two versions of the treaty were not consistent on the issue of sovereignty.
Or are you implying that the declarations at this conference invalidated the Maori version of the treaty.
You're so bloody transparent Gosman it's hilarious
Except it seems quite clear that what was signed at Waitangi 20 years before was taken to mean by the Iwi leaders present at Kohimarama to be that Sovereignty (Mana) was in the hands of the Crown. There was no dispute around that. There was even an acknowledgement by the son of Kawiti (who rebelled with Hone Heke in 1845) that the actions carried out by his father and Heke were at odds with the Treaty and wrong.
Funny how that happened at a meeting to which they invited the representatives, chaired, and for which they wrote the minutes that recorded unanimous support.
It's almost as if the people that the government had been, were currently, or were very shortly to be shooting at didn't really turn up to the meeting in any number.
I have already given you example of Kawiti's son being present. Te Rauparaha's son was also there and spoke in favour of the resolution. These were representatives of two of the Iwi who had actually got in to armed conflict with the British up till this point.
And so the New Zealand Wars were ended peacefully and we all lived happily ever after.
If we are going to teach NZ History on a wider basis at school we need to teach the entire History not just one version of it wouldn't you agree McFlock?
Says the dude who can't even refer to an entire article, just cherry-picks paragraphs that suit his narrative when they are taken out of context.
No I am quite happy to take the entire article in to account. Nowhere in the article does it dispute that Maori at the conference did not understand that the Queen held ultimate authority (read sovereignty/mana) in NZ and that was derived from the TOW.
p74:
p75:
also:
Your last point is the key one. Maori mana stemmed from (i.e. it was subject to) the mana of the Queen. The Queen (i.e. Crown) held the ultimate mana (i.e. sovereignty) over NZ. There is no dispute about that in the article you linked to.
There is no "key" one. There were multiple understandings even of the single word you think substitutes perfectly for "sovereignty".
And to claim it for a single quote that has multiple equivocations is just typical gossimer-talk, I guess.
How about you give your take on what YOU think the Iwi leaders thought they were agreeing to when they affixed their marks/signatures to the declaration that came out of the Kohimarama Conference.
How about it McFlock? What is your take on what they meant when they agreed to wording and signed it.
My take is that some tory selectively quoting without context on an online blog is not a substitute for a dedicated commission of professionals considering specific claims in some sort of tribunal.
If we have such a commission or tribunal, my take is that any tory raising such a discussion is simply attempting to sow division and discord in NZ for their own duplicitous purposes.
The Waitangi Tribunal has made multiple determinations on what Māori did and did not cede when signing the Treaty.
But it has been fun watching you slither around trying to sow division and discord by doing the minimum reading possible, hiding behind vague summaries of the words of others, and then dripfeeding evidence for your claims only when requested.
It's good to see toryland so weak and infantile at the moment, both in the House and online.
LOL
A variation of the appeal to authority logical fallacy.
Is that the best you have?
Says the personification of logical fallacies.
It's not an appeal to authority, because I'm not asserting a point.
It's a realisation that there are some aspects of NZ that one doesn't become an expert in through arguing with disingenuous tories (who are probably just pissed off that the Māori Party is advocating for increased benefit levels, and a good old stoush about ToW is always a tory go-to way to dogwhistle to their base without being Don Brash-level racist).
I'm not making a counter-assertion. I merely sought to clarify your own reasoning as to why you made comment 6, and your assertion seems to be that:
Neither proposition can apply to all Māori based on the simple number of signatories, and the second is almost infinitely debatable on an online platform (a point of which you are most probably aware).
And as always I suspect you, personally, of having a duplicitous motive for initiating any discussion on this website.
As for the Te Reo translation I refer to this section:
"Yet 'sovereignty' was also translated at the conference as mana. Tuhaere, in referring to the conference, claimed that it was 'the real treaty upon which the sovereignty (mana) of the Queen will hang'. The final resolution recognized the Queen's sovereignty (mana)"
People have argued that if the Treaty of Waitangi ceded sovereignty to the Crown then it should have used the term Mana. The Kohimarama Conference did in fact use the term Mana.
'People have argued…..'
Of course they bloody have.
Jesus effing christ
How you manage to pretend a definitive translation for "sovereignty" was used based on a piece that argues the opposite is most entertaining, but you really are full of shit.
So much for your suggestion that the representatives had unanimously endorsed a statement in English based on their "working relationship" with the language.
The article YOU linked to states that the word used in the final declaration in the Te Reo translation was Mana. Why does this not equate to Sovereignty?
Read several pages of the link from page 75 onwards. The nuances and context of the translations are exhaustively discussed.
Your proposal that complex abstract terms perfectly "equate" from one language to another is a different type of bullshit.
I'm just going off what a number of people have stated about the TOW in relation to sovereignty. They have stated that if it was really surrendering sovereignty that it should have been translated as Mana. In this conference it was translated to mean that in relation to what the Crown had as a result of the TOW.
Dude you know I can't argue with your ghost reckonses.
If other people want to argue it in good faith, they can do it themselves. But if your behaviour with a link in the thread everyone can see is any indication, I doubt their points were precisely what you are claiming to be "going off".
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/te-tiriti-o-waitangi-the-treaty-explained/AIRJNJH2U2HCHYLT3EWROECC6A/
"Some argue if the original translation of "sovereignty" remained as "mana motuhake" it's likely the Treaty would not have been signed by chiefs."
https://natlib.govt.nz/he-tohu/korero/the-question-of-sovereignty
"Dr Cybèle Locke: Māori never ceded sovereignty. If the word mana had been used instead to translate the English version which was very definitely about ceding sovereignty to the British crown, then no chief would have signed."
http://www.postcolonialweb.org/nz/maorijlg7.html
"The discrepancy lies in the use of the word kawanatanga instead of mana in the Maori version, when governorship is the translation and sovereignty is intended meaning in the English version. It is clear from an earlier work that the translator was aware that the term for sovereignty in the Maori language is mana. It is here, then, that the nature of British intentions is first cast in doubt. According to Walker,"
Is that enough evidence for you for people arguing that Mana should have been used in relation to Sovereignty in the TOW?
Have "some" argued the opposite?
Yet ultimately the semantics play little part in the subsequent actions by the crown to ride roughshod or alternatively to give Maori the same treatment as british citizens – pay rates at 1/10th of the rate paid to british workers by employers for instance were allowed to run rampant with no protection by the crown, the protection of tenths another, the peppercorn leases to white settlers and so on.Treaty settlements outline that history well.
The Crown breached their side of the bargain in so many, many ways that continues today.
Maori had recourse to the courts. Did they challenge these abuses?
Gotta love that recourse to the courts in the victorian era in particular.
Better now, but not perfect.
Actually they petitioned the king in many many cases for many many years – the person who was actually the sovereign.
And when the courts did decide that many land sales were invalid parliament made them valid again.
1894 Validation of Invalid Land Sales Act.
Any pākehā misdealings concerning Māori land were legitimised.
Which iwi did the named individuals represent? You'd know that I guess, as you seem to think they were representative of maoridom?
Over 200 Iwi leaders from ALL over the North Island.
Are you disputing the mana of these leaders?
but not ALL iwi leaders even in the North Island (let alone ALL Aotearoa).
The TOW was not signed by all Iwi leaders in NZ either. The key thing is that the Iwi leaders at this conference represented a significant (probably a majority) of the Maori population of NZ at that time.
ToW had something like 500 signatories. KC had half that 20 years later. Both had obvious translation issues.
There are a few reasons why there were more signatories to the Treaty than who signed up to the declarations made from the Kohimarama Conference. What is clear is that the conference was a far more considered affair than the Treaty and the people involved were far more targeted to be key individuals rather than just trying to get as many signatures as possible.
Oh, I'm not disputing that the government targeted invitations with a specific outcome in mind. In fact, I suspect their translations and minutes were equally well considered.
Why do I suspect that?
Because if the desired outcome were to peacefully and honourably resolve any disputes regarding the Treaty, the KC was a bigger fuckup than the Treaty itself.
The Covenant of Kohimarama
A RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY OF WAITANGI – Claudia Orange (1979)
Consider also this excerpt, given the origin of those "evils":
Re sovereignty:
An insightful expert analysis of the meaning/understanding of ‘sovereignty‘ during that period (1840 – 1860); well worth a read imho.
We have just been discussing that very text.
Well, it's a pretty well-rounded document that looks at the issue from a number of perspectives and sources. You've only been discussing the bits that have the perspectives you agree with.
Claudia Orange's paper on the Covenant of Kohimarama seemed relevant to the discussion. Apologies if that paper had already been linked to upthread, and if II’ve repeated what's already been written – I do try to resist the tendency to introduce certain topics and then go on like a drain about them
The Hong Kong government yesterday announced that anyone running for local councils must be a "patriot". Meaning that they must swear loyalty not to their constituents but to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party.
The pro-democracy councillors will be expelled. Disqualified candidates will be barred from running for 5 years.
After the national security law was passed last year, this was a last vestige of elected members serving the people.
It just underlines why China must be resisted- by us and every other strong democracy.
Of course, fools will step in and say this should not be believed and the US is somehow to blame.
Good to see Canada's Parliament vote against this lie yesterday and rebuke China's scourge of the Uighur peoples.
The wording of the above petition was certainly not phrased by folk with English as a second language!
Watching Frickin Dangerous Bro last night, waiting for the hour delay Wellington Paranormal.
The FDB trio visited Feilding, my home town. Looking through the Coach Museum, they came across a sign for Pakeha Butter. There were a couple of quips and the one that stayed with me was: "Is it called Pakeha Butter because it spreads everywhere?".
It is refreshing, a chance to laugh at ourselves.
Well well well….from the Guardian .this morning
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/24/alexei-navalny-loses-amnesty-prisoner-of-conscience-label
I do love the obfuscation of the wording…
I gather by 'compelled' and "coordinated campaign' they infact mean…the actual facts Navalny being a on the record as a populist racist. (this still being easily verifiable despite Googles sterling job at disappearing 99% of references to one particular video), not to mention Navalny's breaking the terms of his parole, and recieving, by international standards, a light sentence.
Of course if they had kept this low key ..and not spent a veritable fortune bombarding us with their Navalny message ..they may well have slipt under the radar.
I'd like to give myself, and anyone else on here, who has been vigilantly responding to the unbelievable tsunami of Amnesty International adverts on Facebook, advocating for Navalny, …a pat on the back.
One can but hope this is the small crack that leads to the demise of Russiagate in all its various forms.
"One can but hope this is the small crack that leads to the demise of Russiagate in all its various forms."
I wouldn't hold my breath on that one..
Hidden Russiagate docs expose more misconduct, evidentiary holes: ex-investigator
"As a senior House Intel investigator and Trump administration official, Kash Patel helped unearth critical misconduct by the intelligence officials who carried out the Trump-Russia probe. In his first extended interview since leaving government, Patel tells Aaron Maté that still-classified documents expose more malpractice, as well as major evidentiary holes in the pivotal — and largely unquestioned — claims of a sweeping Russian interference campaign to elect Trump in 2016. According to Patel, the release of these critical documents was "continuously impeded."
"not to mention Navalny's breaking the terms of his parole"
You do realise that this means he didn't report to his Russian parole officers because at the time he was in a coma in a German hospital after he had been poisoned by the Russian secret police apparatus?
I have a certain sympathy with his excuse.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/02/02/i-was-in-a-coma-navalny-ridicules-allegation-he-failed-to-meet-parole-officers-in-moscow-court-hearing/?sh=17d9d32a3771
Absolute rubbish. He was in a coma for 8 months was he?
Navalny "was supposed to appear at penitentiary inspection office at least twice a month on the days appointed by the penitentiary inspection. However, he skipped these check-ins at least six times in 2020, specifically on January 13, January 27, February 3, March 16, July 6, and August 17. "
He "was not summoned for registration during the period of his treatment at Berlin’s Charite clinic."
https://tass.com/russia/1252005
So it pays to check the facts before you blithely spread anti Russian propaganda
Love the irony when put in context with Arsange skipping bail lol
Ahhh the camp guard dog enters the fray…sit boy sit!
That's funny. You call me a dog yet you're the one who's barking.
No, he was pointing out your pavlovian response to any challenge to the official misinformation campaign against Russia. You are the one who's barking, not the person who pointed out that you were barking.
I think it was more a desperate insult trying to disenfranchise my comment.
Going on your amateur stenographer history, I'm not surprised you have issues reading between the lines, but surely the actual words should be easy enough.
It was a joke (but yes wrapped in an insult) that I thought worked quite well.
Al1en ..frankly I am very disappointed in you, that the best counter that you can come up with today is that I was trying to "disenfranchise" your comment, seriously?…come on man up your game, I know you can do better.
C-…must try harder.
Yeah, it was sort of funny, which is why I blew the raspberry in my reply that bit back, but to claim it wasn't designed to shut me down and disenfranchise doesn't read correctly.
Anyway, still doesn't change the irony that some will attack Navalny for missing check in appointments yet excuse another jumping bail.
You don't really use Tass as a source of "facts" do you?
I would trust Tass about as much as I would believe that fellow Trump. On second thoughts that is a bit tough on Trump. I would trust Tass about as much as I would believe something by that Tova O'Brien woman. Not At All.
Tisk tisk – surely there are a few times you've been on the same page as O’Brien.
I would suggest that I regard O'Brien as being like a cat that has caught a mouse and plays with the poor thing.
She runs for the hills though when she runs into someone who really doesn't give a damn about her. Then she behaves like a cat being chased by a German Shepherd.
Alwyn, why are you going soft on political criminals?
Assange was allowed to leave the country just because he never got the prosecutions text (out of phone credit) to say he ought to report to the police now, please. Everybody understands if he had he would probably be enjoying a Cuban holiday by now. Why this other standard for Navalny when the courts already considered his guilt?
What does my comment have to do with Assange?
Pinata anyone? Maybe they can do some local talent too.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300238241/more-than-40-of-millionaires-paying-tax-rates-lower-than-the-lowest-earners-government-data-reveals
Time for a Wealth Tax-the Greens have is right as usual.
Absolutely. Good on David Parker for trying to investigate the true distribution of wealth in NZ. As he says in your linked article
Such a shame Labour are so utterly determined to protect and defend appalling wealth inequality. The rich own everything and pay less tax than everyone.
Agreed Uncooked….people discuss income/wages far too much when the true issue is wealth distribution/who owns the assets.
A CGT brought in now will not work in regard to redistributing wealth because it starts from a date where the top 5% already own most of the assets and these are already at high values and they would only have to pay CGT on any price increase from that date when they sell the asset.
The Greens' Wealth Tax, or similar, is the answer.
We get these write ups about rich people only declaring the lowest income (thanks accountants everywhere and tax loopholes/writeoffs/ etc) every two years, but surely the new wealth tax from Grant Robertson will be the one tax all the rich people with incomes above 150.000 NZD will pay.
yeah, right Tui.
well a good political move – Let the people decide – include a referendum on a wealth tax in the next election … I predict it would bolt in and essentially mandates the government and give it a big fat push
Just make it a policy at the next election….the voters will decide.
Bridges at it again:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/300239000/bridges-v-coster-top-cop-in-fiery-spat-with-national-mp-over-gang-numbers-and-policing-by-consent
Of course its not really the top cop he's after… its the government. The top cop's crime is he was appointed by this government.
Yeah… they're soft on crime voters. You're gonna have gang members breaking into your house and trashing everything n' going on killing sprees and the cops are just going to stand by and let it happen.
That's the message and what's the bet Collins is right there behind him. The good cop/bad cop routine only its hard to tell which is which.
I thought that a couple of days ago, with the "wokester" comment and soft hand slap that followed, though I went with shit cop/shitter cop.
It's still a toss up as to which is which.
Bridges knows full well his target is not allowed to defend himself – it's the usual National arsehole behaviour
cowards.
Next Bridges will be saying that Coster is over paid.
Is there any history between Coster and Bridges?
"Is there any history between Coster and Bridges?"
Not that I know of. As I said, Coster's crime is, he was appointed by a Labour led govt.
It is really the govt. Bridges is trying to smear through the Police Commissioner.
It's so blatant it would take a total dickhead to try it on and think they can get away with it. Bridges is a dickhead.
Bridges is lacking maturity. Both Bridges and Coster hold positions where they need to ensure the community is safe from guns.
Hard being an opposition MP when you have no policy with substance to offer.
Seismic shift…Central bank independence disappearing….how will markets and banks react.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/437128/reserve-bank-must-consider-impact-on-housing-of-its-policy-decisions-robertson-says
How much of this is the Govt washing its hands of responsibility for housing affordability do you think?
Can be viewed as the contrary….if they are now directing monetary policy as well
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=46942
A discussion of how central bank independence alignes with the discipline of markets rather than the discipline of democracy.
Though the implications of central banks independence is vastly overstated.
All well and good excepting that central bank independence in western economies has been accepted (demanded) practice since the Thatcher and Reagan ….the mantra 'the market knows best' is incompatible with political interference…I doubt it will be viewed favourably.
I think it is a desperate attempt by Robertson to try and set up the RBNZ as the people who cop the blame for the shambles that this Government has been making of the housing market for the last three and a half years.
I suspect it will backfire on him (Robertson). Orr is far to smart to allow Robertson to get away with such a transparent attempt to pass the parcel.
Orr is quite likely to take it as an invitation to tell Robertson, publicly, what he thinks will be required to fix the housing situation. Nothing he proposes will be something the the RBNZ can do. Everything will be something that requires fiscal action by Robertson himself. It will be on the basis of "If you don't do this it will get worse". What he will suggest is very unlikely to be acceptable to the Government but Orr can then continue in the future to propose that "if the Government had only followed our advice…… etc".
I think Robertson will come to his senses and never mention the topic again.
Shambles! Shambles? Did someone say 'shambles'?
There’s no excuse for Government inaction, of course, but I reckon it could be worse; how about a nine-year shambles.
Things weren't too bad from about 2009 to 2012. Then it all went bad again and we went back to the same mad situation that we had from 2000 to 2008 and then from 2013 until today.
I not sure if anything during this period has been quite as bad though as the Progressive Home Ownership scheme which seems to have spent some enormous amount to house 12 families. I have seen claims regarding the amount spent but I have no real faith in any of the various estimates accuracy. God knows how much it really is and he isn't talking.
I would like to see someone ask one of our senior Government MPs whether they are embarrassed that their Auckland homes have risen by a million dollars or so during their term in office. I mean the ones who live in a decent area like Sandringham or suchlike rather than those who live in Mangere.
Recent Labour-led and National-led governments have all failed to effectively address NZ's growing housing crisis. Labour has a track record of building state houses, but regrettably appears unable or unwilling to go down that path again, at least on a useful scale.
I party vote Green, and will give this Government the benefit of the doubt while it continues to produce excellent pandemic health outcomes. There's simply too much uncertainty surrounding the judgement of the current batch of opposition National MPs – it's a matter of trust, and I can't read those eyebrows.
Im not sure Orr will become any more overt in his public statements…unless its in his resignation speech
Being unpopular with a small number special interests is hardly going to be an impediment to any popular economic policy in a democracy. The main impediment appears to be the publics understanding of public funding which institutions like the DMO create mythology around regularly. Never the less I think joe public has basically figured out that the RBNZ owns 37% of govt debt means the govt has been funding itself and the next question is becoming if you can do that why bother having financial middlemen in that process at all.
Have Robertson or Orr ever expressed interest in heterodox economics or MMT?
"Orr said it was up to government to decide if it wanted to go further and give the RBNZ the mandate to buy bonds for fiscal policy purposes, rather than monetary policy purposes – IE buy bonds to help pay for government spending initiatives rather than to keep inflation and employment in check."
https://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/105145/adrian-orr-more-qe-would-be-simple-way-reserve-bank-boost-economy-going-further-and
No, in fact they have mostly indicated they don't do anything according to MMT, ever period full stop.
But of course once you understand MMT is just a way to understand how the monetary system works thats just makes the finance minister start to look ridiculous.
A lot of people seem less interested in why but, MMT or no, most seem to have noticed that the RBNZ is funding the government via its QE policy. The finance ministers denials that its happening not with standing.
In case you havnt noticed our 4 largest banks are foreign owned and get a quarter of their funding offshore…those are vested interests that arnt insignificant…..do you think NZ is ready to nationalise its banking system with all the implications that come with that?
You seriously think they are going to leave over a bit of democratic fiscal policy? Come on.
Except its not fiscal policy is it….will they leave because of this action?no….is this the end of the political intrusion?…the first step is always the hardest.
Oh sorry, I meant fiscal policy in an environment where the politicians are aware their spending decisions and the economic impacts of those are to be considered by the voting public.
That will largely depend on the alternatives….is any reduction in the free allocation of capital unique to this (small) market or is it a reflection of a wider trend.
I don't interpret that comment in any coherent way.
snap
A 38 minute video discussing the UK response to Covid, very interesting to contrast with our situation.
A year after the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic, with Britain enduring more than a 100,000 deaths since, a number of major questions remain unanswered. Why was the response of the UK among the worst in the world? How is it possible that the death toll of countries in Europe and North America is so much higher than for poorer countries in Asia such as Thailand and Vietnam? And when will things go ‘back to normal’?
Discussing that, and more, is Richard Horton – editor of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet and author of ‘The Covid-19 catastrophe, what’s gone wrong and how to stop it happening again’.
– Intro
– Britain among the worst Covid-19 responses in the world
– Why weren't we more prepared?
– Did China deliberately lie about Covid-19?
– The role of Covid-denialism
– When do we go back to normal?
– Will new mutations render vaccines redundant? Do we need zero Covid?
– Test-and-trace is here to stay, nobody is saying this
– A global health guarantee
– We need a bigger role for science in politics
– The next pandemic could be our extinction event
Really informative interview – thanks for that.
For informative reading about the politics of the UK and their failings, I suggest this book about where the pollies get trained, and their ideas and opinions that guide their lives thereafter are formed.
Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain: Verkaik …
http://www.amazon.com › Posh-Boys-English-Schools-Britain
Posh Boys is a welcome catalyst for that debate.' ― Sunday Herald. 'In his fascinating, enraging polemic, Verkaik touches on one of the strangest aspects of the elite schools and their product's domination of public life for two and a half centuries: the acquiescence of everyone else.' ― Observer.
Who keeps altering the status of cases which require a Covid-19 test, the frequency of the test and the isolation period for the close contact and the close plus contact and their family?
Covered here yet?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122237611/sealord-fined-24000-and-ordered-to-forfeit-vessel-for-trawling-in-protected-zone?rm=a
They can't do that. The treaty says that Sealord, or at least their owners, can do anything they please in New Zealand waters. There will, no doubt, be a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal to scrap the decision.
Doubtful.
You are probably correct.
They won't need to go that far. It will be dropped as soon as it drops off the news media radar. Rather like the way that all proceedings with the various ratbags in the Labour Party had all the charges dropped.
No doubt alwyn, no doubt – your familiarity with corruption is no surprise.
Let dream team Boag, Ross and Woodhouse (so many to choose from) oversee the ‘stamping‘ – when it comes to ratbags and corruption, they're experts.
Maybe get your eyebrows checked
The fishing companies will be treated leniently of course – the courts are aware the BPAs are essentially a farce – one of those instances of industry self-regulation carried out to forestall effective legislation. After all, they've run slave ships for forty years with government response amounting to nothing more than sustained bootlicking.
Time to reform the sector in the public interest – the monopsony of major fisheries players is an ecological failure on top of its innumerable other failures.
Would be the goals of a genuine government.
This doesn't sound good in Papatoetoe. We've had too many firearms incidents lately.
Man shot by police in Papatoetoe after firing gun through neighbour's window – NZ Herald
"too many firearms incidents lately".
But they all stopped about 18 months ago. There haven't been any since St J miraculously removed all the firearms from the people of this country.
Whatever.
Now, now, the guy might have been a law-abiding responsible gun owner. Is David Seymour holding his hand in the ambulance?
The person misusing the firearm is harming the community and theirselves. An innocent person could be shot.