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.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
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1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
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Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
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Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
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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![wink wink](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/wink_smile.png)
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.![cheeky cheeky](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/tongue_smile.png)
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![laugh laugh](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/teeth_smile.png)
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.