Cabinet will on Monday consider the next steps in developing a plan for Aotearoa to realise its international obligations around Māori self-determination. Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson will take a paper to Cabinet with recommendations about developing a draft plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
New Zealand signed up to the Declaration in 2010 through then-Māori Affairs Minister and Māori Party co-leader Pita Sharples, under a National-led Government. New Zealand is one of 148 countries that support the Declaration. Canada last year backed the Declaration with legislation and will have a plan in place by next year.
If New Zealand enacts the plan by the end of this year it will be the first country in the world to do so.
Is this govt up to making history? Timidity has characterised it so far. Reluctance to discuss co-governance has been prolonged. Seymour has therefore called Labour's bluff by getting ACT to adopt a referendum policy. If Luxon is smart he'll say National will wait till Labour produces something real.
Timid as in calling a lockdown faster than most everyone else.
Timid as in calling a terrorist a terrorist, not a 'disturbed individual'.
Timid as in changing gun laws.
Timid as in standing up to Trump.
Timid as in raising the minimum wage while the business community claim the sky is falling.
Timid as in letting the clownvoy bury itself in its own stupidity before moving on it.
Timid as in still operating while being under attack by mealy mouthed nobodies for the entire duration.
Unlike those BRAVE tax cutting Nats, with their fiscal holes and their homeless MIQ visitors and their rivers of refugees and their unprecedented levels of whinging. And ACT the dog whistling dork sidekick, and their incel fan club.
Timid as in comparison to the first Labour govt. You know, the one that built plenty of state houses because the poor had nowhere to live? Notice how timid this current govt has been in explaining why it can't replicate that performance.
No, you may respond, they're actually being brave in copying National while pretending they aren't. As in their economic policy, for example. I call it deceitful rather than brave, because they pretend they're helping the poor.
Six months since Stuff reported this:
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Grant Roberston commented that he “still wants house prices to keep rising, but at a slower rate”.
You started with a critique on Labour's response to Maori co-governance.
Face up to the consequence of your own point and be prepared to lose, again.
Labour have also devolved several $$billion in health care expenditure to Maori health organisations than any previous government.
Labour have also passed the legislation for a specific, delegated, funded national Maori health organisation.
Labour have also gone through the public service tooth and nail to ensure that they more than comply with their Treaty partnership obligations. Plenty of faults some will have, but all account for their Treaty measures in Select Committee.
It is high time Green supporters like you got off your high fucking horse and demonstrate how their single useful initiative in 2 terms – the Carbon legislation – will form co-governance frameworks for Maori. But they won’t because it is a neo-liberal palimpsest about to be blown away by global events,
Labour are the superior government partners to Maori, compared to any other party in Parliament.
Forgot to mention: Labour have a massive and broad Cabinet and Maori caucus, which is strong and active. That’s co-governance at the heart of power.
The Greens can hold their Maori caucus in a phone booth and still have room for 4 Golriz Gharamans to slide in.
Labour will have no problem whatsoever demonstrating deeper Maori self-determination.
I'm not here to defend the Greens. I agree with the principle of co-governance and have said so often enough previously. I haven't noticed any public statements from the Greens supporting Labour's stance but they could be waiting for policy, right?
My initial framing (@#1) was sceptical, not critical. I believe Labour's steadfast refusal to acknowledge the principle is due to timidity – but it could also be due to pragmatism. Their pakeha neoliberals feature that as their primary collective trait, so it's feasible. And liberals aren't famous for taking stands on principle.
Your huffing & puffing on behalf of Labour awaits the verdict of history – it will all have been worth it if they reach consensus on the proposal(s) Willie is about to present to them. If they prove themselves brave rather than timid, I'll give them credit for it. Then it's just a matter of whether they legislate it or defer it for public verdict in the election campaign…
Look, if Labour were willing to cite their delivery on policies that accord with the co-governance principle (as you appear to be suggesting) then they would say so. Can you provide any such evidence of them doing that? I thought not.
That's why I'm sceptical. They're so timid they're even too scared to make such claims lest they give racists a target.
You have brought no criticism of the myriad evidence and examples I've provided
That's due to you missing my point again. Why would I want to criticise Labour delivery that seems worthwhile??
Labour are in a no win situation here. I heard Luxon the other day during a radio interview. He was talking about Three Waters and a Maori Health Authority organisation – both would be heading south under a National government. Luxon went on to say '' we are all New Zealanders.'' Unfortunately no one has had a word with Luxon and told him most Maori only consider being a New Zealander an add-on to being Maori. That is a fatal flaw in his understanding of race relations.
Maori are te tangata whenua always will be, just like Indians will always be Indians and Cjinese will always be Chinese, and New Zealanders secound as they come from New Zealand.
Red no one said you were a Second Class Citizen, you can identify as Tangata Whenua if you feel like it or Tangata Titiriti whatever takes our fantasy.
''I am emphatically not a second class New Zealander.''
No, you aren't a second class citizen, but in modern New Zealand, er, I mean Aotearoa, you and all other Europeans ( and those not classed as Maori) will be treated increasingly as second class citizens.
That's a problem for Luxon. ACT is already feeling the heat.
I don't think Luxon understands that to stop this incessant bs and funding around Maori, he will need to pass policy making him the most hated man in New Zealand.
Here's an example of what Luxon will face should he be prepared to stand up for all New Zealanders.
Māori longevity is second class. If being "treated increasingly as second class citizens" is a ‘concern’, might an extra 5+ years of life (on average), compared to those bloody first class Maaris, be some consolation?
Contribution of smoking to the life expectancy gap—Māori Among Māori men, 2.1 years (28.4%) of the 7.4 year gap in life expectancy was attributable to the higher mortality rates from smoking attributable deaths. Among Māori women, the contribution from smoking attributable deaths was 2.3 years (32.9%) of the 7.0 year gap.
Drivers of inequity Factors contributing to the pervasive and persisting ethnic health inequities are multifaceted and complex. Three main pathways have been identified: (i) differential access to the determinants of health or exposures leading to differences in disease incidence, (ii) differential access to healthcare and (iii) differences in quality of care received. These pathways are driven by different levels of racism, particularly institutionalised and personally mediated or interpersonal racism.
Blade and (other?) ACToids appear to fear that they will be dragged down and treated the same way as Māori have been (and live shorted lives on average) instead of hoping that Māori will be treated more equally compared to (and live as long as) their Pākehā brothers and sisters here in NZ. In other words, according to them, it is a zero-sum situation, and a dollar spent on Māori is therefore not spent on Pākehā. This overly simplistic argument seems to have lot of sway with many especially with neo-liberals.
I have never voted ACT. I class them as the arse end of socialism. They are a socialist party. It's just they expect a return on other peoples money they dish out… unlike Labour.
Me thinking I will be dragged down and my life expectancy shortened because Maori get millions of dollars to help them not help themselves, never crosses my mind. However, accountability and self help does cross my mind.
If you have anyone working in the health industry, many will tell you Maori make their lives a misery. Missed appointments, abuse, turning up outside visiting hours with half the hapu, theft… and worst of all, failing to follow medical advice.
Hospitals give Maori their own whanau rooms, they have hospital liaison teams, the departments are all named in Maori…karakia is on demand….and still their mortality rate is poor…even with their own Hauora healthcare. I'm tired of hearing Maori spokespeople in the media being asked to describe the typical racism and poor service in healthcare Maori face and not being able to. They go off on some strange odyssey.
My suggestion for finding poor health indicators: start with vape shops and KFC. I did a tally at a KFC drive through while waiting for my order. 20 cars; 11 identifiable as Maori. There's a non colonial health problem for you. KFC family packs – between $40-$70. Lucky there's food banks and WINZ to visit when the dollars run out.
In another incident, I picked up discharge papers and a script from my local hospital lying in the gutter. The discharge papers were for a young Maori woman who had been in hospital with sepsis( a killer condition).
The discharge papers said it was imperative she take and finish her course of antibiotics. I had a hell of a job tracking her down. Finally got her phone number and rang her. I gave her my address and she said ''oh, ok, thanks'' Never heard from her again.
You have two problems, Incognito:
1- Accepting the fact reality trumps ideology ( most of the time).
2- Explaining how a solid core of Maori who look after themselves and were able to roll up for Covid vaccinations without government funding; a free hangi and karakia, were able to do so all by themselves?
I'm more than prepared to discuss the other side of the coin from my own personal experiences…but not while people offer excuses for Maori failure.
Strange you sound just like a nurse I've heard describing Aboriginals. At the time she sounded veeeeery racist. She's not, but she sure had some racist reading materials to get her fired up.
It's amazing how easily some fall for the manipulation of others. Clever people finding the bias they seek because personal experience sees the trees cover the woods in frustration. It's understandable perhaps, but it's not accurate.
Did you ever wonder why there might be such striking similarities in the behaviours of two colonised people?
On both side of the Tasman dog whistling media and their fanboys continued to rain judgement upon others as 'failures' in their limited world view. This does NOTHING for reconciliation, and merely fans the flames.
But maybe you want that?
And while the trappings of redress are being ever so slowly and begrudgingly rolled out the dysfunction of many generations of abuse are not so easily healed.
This whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps stuff is nonsense. We pushed them down. You keep kicking.
Me thinking I will be dragged down and my life expectancy shortened because Maori get millions of dollars to help them not help themselves, never crosses my mind.
Interesting. How does this square with this:
… you and all other Europeans ( and those not classed as Maori) will be treated increasingly as second class citizens.
What does it even mean when you say that you will be treated as second class citizen?
You’re incorrect that no efforts are made to help Māori help themselves. This is exactly where it is heading! Yet, you and others are flipping your lids in epic unhinged rants. You don’t want to help a drowning man until and unless he learns to swim and saves himself. Bloody poor excuse that he couldn’t swim. \sarc
''Did you ever wonder why there might be such striking similarities in the behaviours of two colonised people?''
Yes, and I have also seen the striking similarities when colonial powers get the boot, or leave a colonised country.
''On both side of the Tasman dog whistling media and their fanboys continued to rain judgement upon others as 'failures' in their limited world view.This does NOTHING for reconciliation, and merely fans the flames. ''
''But maybe you want that?''
Then we both have a problem don't we.
No, I want historical grievances settled. I want accountability from Maori…and I want the government(s) to know that their way of doing things may not be good for all.
''This whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps stuff is nonsense. We pushed them down. You keep kicking.''
Why do you think we spend millions on Maori.? Where does the money go. Why does nothing improve? Does that ever cross your mind? Or does your liberalism stop you from seeing beyond the noble savage who has been hard done by by Colonel Colonial?
A cure would be giving Maori a taste of a favela slum. That would clear the sinuses and focus the mind. For Labour, 20 years in the wilderness may focus their minds on future liberal kowtowing to minority groups without accountability.
Of course that's fantasy stuff. But I look forward to your korero as things become worse in all regards for New Zealand, particularly race relations.
''What does it even mean when you say that you will be treated as second class citizen?''
I won't, I'm Maori. But if you don't have Maori blood, or believe you are Maori…like all those taonga wear Pakeha, I'm afraid the future isn't bright for you in Aotearoa.
Let me give you just one benign example:
My cousin is doing a prelim six month course to ready her for a full polytech social workers course. All Maori in the course received a $400 education support package. Guess what Pakeha got?
This is happening up and done the country. Free computers, cell phones etc. As Billy TK said '' it's not easy being a Maori nowadays.''
I don't consider I'm ranting. I'm just offering an opposing view many on this blog take exception to.
I just want fairness for everyone. In times past, little time was wasted on Maori and their aspirations. Now we have done a 360, and Pakeha are now in the same situation of Maori circa 1950s
You won’t explain what you mean? Okay, that’s helpful \sarc
And yet you’re repeating your same allegations, without support or explanation, such as this ominous “the future isn’t bright for you in Aotearoa” and this inconsistent and confused gem:
Now we have done a 360, and Pakeha are now in the same situation of Maori circa 1950s
A “360” isn’t what you think it is and the second part of your ‘sentence’ is something you may have plucked from a dystopian site somewhere on the dark web. Though I’m sure you can vividly remember what it was like being Māori (or Pākehā) in NZ in “circa 1950s”.
Not content with the theft from Maori by force and deception over the two centuries of White Settlement, ACT now wishes to tear up the only document preventing them from stealing what little Maori have left.
Yep, just like tribes used to do to each other by ''right of conquest.'' I do hope that ACT, in their rush to steal the last of Maori owned lands, don't take Maori as slaves, or worse, reinstate the smoked head trade.
Which version of the treaty did they sign… or understand? And what of those tribes who didn't sign the treaty? They are now fair game for ACT …and maybe National?
Yeah cause Europeans never did conquest or get conquered?
(Anyone would think it isn't happening right now somewhere in Europe?)
And regardless of which treaty was signed there is ample evidence of the treaty being breached and of much of this breaching done through the courts and legislative systems. It is one of the reasons we can have a good robust Waitangi tribunal examination and remedy – because Maori were not really conquered in battle – they were mainly deprived of what they owned through means that left behind lots of evidence of wrong-doing.
None of your points are actually relevant – you are doing racist dog-whistling at it's worse. I'm jut a little surprised you didn't hark back to cannibalism as well to go full racist.
Yes, correct, if I was agreeing with everything Maori were doing. Also, I can repair to my Scottish heritage…and maybe my drop of Spanish blood and TRY to see things from their view points, The Scots were very tribal laddie. I have a great Scottish coat of arms?
But shame on you, Blazer, for not knowing we are a multi racial society full of diversity and candy floss.
Your correct response should have been the old liberal standards – uncle Tom, or ''you are filled with self hate.''
Or Blade, Europeans quoting the bit in the Bible about slaves and enacting that again!! See how silly the reverse sounds?
We are in different times. We signed up to a Treaty. Then we signed up to an agreement regarding indigenous people. Now we live by it. Nobody said it was going to be easy or even comfortable, as we all acknowledge our ethnocentrism.
It would be a mistake to imagine that ACT really cares about democracy or national unity. Mostly it represents the interests of people who fear that any formal recognition of things Maori or a Maori worldview might impair their ability to privately enrich themselves at the expense of the planet and other people. The main concern is that natural resources and revenue streams that they might, or already do, profit from become inaccessible to them.
For a party that for years colluded in a little rort that gave them an electorate seat and thereby distorted the proportionality of parliament, to get on their high horse about democracy is a bit funny. These days of course they would win it legitimately, courtesy of the parade of four reckless Covid clowns inhabiting the National Party leadership.
A really interesting discourse on China and a little on the Ukraine from former Aussie PM, Kevin Rudd. Rudd, who speaks Mandarin, and is President and CEO of Asia Society, has a new book out called ''The Avoidable War.''
Rudd claims China is still five to seven years behind the US in microchip technology. But the US is now relying on Taiwan for much of it's microchip technology and development. And the Chinese haven't been quiet in the interim as they wait to catch up to the US. If Taiwan is invaded by China, the West may sink into technological Neanderthalism.
An interesting commentary on how Russia/India ties have been strengthened with the rubles for gas dictate, possible consequences of the move,and the swift(heh, no pun)rollout of the alternatives to SWIFT
India, one of the major economies and the largest democracy in the world has already been trading with Russia under Rouble – Rupee exchange agreements for many decades. Indian banking and finance lawyers privately say that India’s finance ministry along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Bank of Russia is “racing against time” in exploring options to “internationalise” Russian version of the SWIFT version – SPFS, starting with India as a launch base outside Russia (being helped by the fact that India has reservations in dealing with China’s CIPS – China’s version for SWIFT – though it is ready to accept expansion of China’s UnionPay card payment system subject to restrictions)
India are despite historic Russian ties, at least as vulnerable to US economic sanction as China.
Russia is playing against India since Russia has very strong links to Pakistan, and is a major arms supplier to Myanmar, and is a formal strategic partner with China.
India may be unable to avoid sanction under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) if it continues to purchase Russian arms of a certain caliber.
It's also a member of QUAD, which is about to understand why it was formed just in time for this scale of global instability.
India will be expected to act like a responsible great power seeking to uphold what remains of a rules-based international order. That's the one on which New Zealand among others depend for their continued existence.
Looking the other way on Russian misbehavior—or worse, appearing to endorse it—would show that New Delhi is not a reliable like-minded democratic partner. They will be punished for it.
In summary, India will be expected to do what it's told!
In summary India will be expected to not cheerlead for the naked aggressor in the most dangerous conflict since the end of WW2.
The moment Putin threatened first-strike nuclear action on NATO if they directly interfered, he became a pariah. As long as he remains in power Russia will be isolated – and any nation who supports them even covertly – will be at high risk of being tainted with the same brush.
The US has only experienced a few years of peace, (about 13) and not even consecutive years. To talk peace and US in the same sentence means you need to spell peace, piece , coz it’s always about getting a piece of someone else’s land or resources.
Although there were warnings, particularly from Biden, that Russia was about to invade, Zelenskyy seems to have made no attempts (though I'm not really sure on this point) to organize talks with Putin, talks which may have avoided the devastation that this war has caused. Now, even if they succeed in defending Ukraine, the price they will have paid will be enormous.
Zelenskyy seems to have relied on NATO support. That would have to be seen as a mistake.
Putin is not the first Russian ruler to deny Ukraine’s right to exist. On the contrary, Ukraine denial is a common thread running through Russian history that stretches back hundreds of years and remains widespread in today’s Russia. However, few have ever embraced this doctrine of denial as fervently as Putin, who has made clear that ending Ukrainian independence is a sacred mission which will define his place in history.
The current war is merely the latest and most dramatic stage in this long-term campaign. Putin’s first bid to end Ukrainian independence came in 2004 and saw him personally visit Kyiv on the eve of the country’s presidential election to campaign for the pro-Kremlin candidate.
This hubristic intervention backfired disastrously, enraging millions of otherwise apolitical Ukrainians and helping to spark mass pro-democracy protests that came to be known as the Orange Revolution. Ukraine’s embrace of democracy and historic turn towards the West in the years following the Orange Revolution infuriated Putin and further convinced him of the need to reassert Russian control over the country.
Putin has made no secret of his Ukraine obsession. Indeed, he has repeatedly sought to explain why he believes Ukrainian statehood is both an accident and a crime. In a 7,000-word July 2021 essay entitled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” Putin argued that Ukrainians were in fact Russians and dismissed the entire notion of a separate Ukrainian identity. “I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia,” he concluded.
In a series of lengthy anti-Ukrainian diatribes delivered on the eve of the current war, Putin went even further, condemning the entire country as an illegitimate “Anti-Russia” that could no longer be tolerated.
Putin’s personal attacks on Ukraine have been accompanied by years of relentless Kremlin propaganda designed to dehumanize Ukrainians. Since 2014, Russian TV audiences have been spoon-fed a daily diet of grotesque lies depicting Ukrainians as the modern-day successors to Hitler’s Nazis. The Russian public has been primed to see Ukraine as part of Russia and encouraged to view any Ukrainians who disagree as traitors or Nazis. The entire notion of Ukrainian identity has been demonized and equated with the worst criminals of world history. Unsurprisingly, all the available evidence indicates strong Russian public support for an invasion that has shocked and appalled audiences elsewhere around the world.
Meanwhile, accounts of arrests in areas under Russian occupation appear to confirm pre-invasion fears over the existence of Kremlin “kill lists.” A growing number of elected officials, journalists, activists, former military servicemen and religious leaders have been abducted by Russian forces in a sinister echo of Stalin-era terror tactics.
[Peter Dickinson is Editor of the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert Service. This article is based on an address delivered by the author to Swiss members of parliament at the Federal Palace in Bern on March 15.]
The writer binary-frames two outcomes: genocide or Russia defeated. The third obvious contender is negotiated peace. His bleak outlook rules that out. His thesis that compromise is impossible is based on Putin's inner world-view, as revealed here.
Can Putin be stopped? The first step is to recognize the terrible reality of his destructive intentions. As Yale historian Timothy Snyder recently tweeted, “When Putin says that there is no Ukrainian nation and no Ukrainian state, he means that he intends to destroy the Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian state. Everyone gets that, right?”
Well, no, everyone doesn't! Everyone assumes that peacemaking is feasible because Putin can be forced to compromise – call this a faith-based view! At what point will the evidence to the contrary become overwhelming??
Your last paras nails it. In my view Putin inner world view of a Rus moral superiority is not much removed from Hitler's more openly expressed claims for the Ayrian people.
Yet the perverse outcome of his paranoid delusions is that a few weeks ago the EU was content to trade their way into normalising relations with Russia, and NATO was a wobbly defensive entity that few saw much future purpose for.
All that has changed in a moment. Now the EU and NATO really do want to crush Putin – and if this means crushing Russia to do so – they will. However long it takes.
All that negotiations can achieve now is to temporarily freeze the conflict.
' NATO was a wobbly defensive entity that few saw much future purpose for.'
Interesting…opinion.
One does wonder if that was the case, why Ukraine was so fervent about wanting to join this 'wobbly' pact.
It seems that Zelensky has relied on NATO to support him full bore against Russian interventions ,and the primary reason he would not entertain Russias demands.
'Earlier this month when The Intercept’s Ryan Grim was able to get a word in edgewise at a White House press briefing amid the throngs of mass media reporters demanding to know why Biden still hasn’t started World War 3, Press Secretary Jen Psaki gave a very revealing answer.
“So, aside from the request for weapons, President Zelensky has also requested that the US be more involved in negotiations toward a peaceful resolution to the war. What is the U.S. doing to push those negotiations forward?” asked Grim.
“Well, one of the steps we’ve taken — a significant one — is to be the largest provider of military and humanitarian and economic assistance in the world, to put them in a greater position of strength as they go into these negotiations,” Psaki answered, completely dodging the question of whether the US was actually doing anything to help negotiate peace.
Blinken has made no effort to talk to Lavrov…at all.
"Putin argued that Ukrainians were in fact Russians and dismissed the entire notion of a separate Ukrainian identity. “I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia,” he concluded."
So as a true megalomaniac, his life mission is to put the world to rights and that's what he's doing now. His 'getting a life' is to ensure that lots of other lose theirs.
The media discourse around Seymour's latest racist brain fart highlights an aspect of MMP that needs wider consideration.
Let's face it – under FPP Seymour would be an obscure "controversial" backbencher from Epsom at best, ACT would not be a party in parliament and the Maori party would be largely ignored and would oscillate between zero, one or two seats on the opposition benches. The public debate would be between the two "broad church" main parties spokes persons who between them would represent the vast bulk of voters.
Instead, an extremist party – ACT – whose core support is 1-2% (their current number of MPs is Judith's gift to the nation) sets the media "noise" and is debated with by the Maori party, who have similar levels of support. So we are having a race debate dominated by the representatives of two parties that between them do not represent 95%+ of voters.
All of which, from the perspective of the right, would be said about the Green Party as well.
The representation of these elements of society, which were being totally ignored by both of the 'main' parties in the FPP era, was the strong driver to proportional representation.
The Left had an unprecedented in MPP level of popular support following the last election – an outright majority for Labour, with support from the Greens taking them close to 2/3 of parliament.
The main driver of the move to MMP was public outrage at the arrogant wielding of unbridled executive power between 1975-91 and a desire to punish both main parties by knobbling them electorally.
I think at the time it also represented a desire for a more population reflective diversity in parliament.
In those of a political bent there may have been anger etc but I think the vast majority who supported it just wanted to see more of themselves there. This was also occurring elsewhere in NZ – Puao Te Ata Tu for instance recognised that social welfare staffing did not reflect the people that that government department was serving and needed to do so.
There was a maturing of the political system – a natural evolution. Opponents of MMP like to cast it as only an angry response but that is dismissive and self-serving. The diversity has definitely increased as has the range of views. I continue to think this is a good thing.
it also represented a desire for a more population reflective diversity in parliament
Correct. That's why I voted for it. Sanctuary's punishment explanation probably motivated plenty of others but I'd known the left & right were both wrong for half my life by then…
Diversity was definitely a major selling point of MMP at the time, but I would argue simple political anger at the subversion of the democratic will by abuse of executive power in collusion with parts of the bureaucracy was the main reason MMP won. People had had enough of Treasury running the country via a simple majority of cabinet.
I agree that MMP represented a maturing of our electoral system and I think after 25 years we should be mature enough to acknowledge the obvious flaws of MMP. Several aspects of the electoral system need reform, and we also need to acknowledge that MMP is a system designed to prevent radical change.
This means (for example) doing much about the housing crisis is impossible since both our main parties need to dominate the middle ground to govern – and since two thirds or so of New Zealanders still own their own home (and they probably make up 80% of active voters) no major party is particularly interested in altering the status quo if that means upsetting that decisive voting bloc.
The real tragedy of the Greens is their complete inability to grasp the nature of MMP politics. Their MPs often fail to make the transition from activist to member of parliament, two quite different roles. So they agitate and froth mouthing lazy platitudes and epithets on behalf of the excluded instead of rolling their sleeves up and making the system work to create new status quos that include their constituency – a status quo the electoral system will then work to protect.
This means (for example) doing much about the housing crisis is impossible since both our main parties need to dominate the middle ground to govern – and since two thirds or so of New Zealanders still own their own home (and they probably make up 80% of active voters) no major party is particularly interested in altering the status quo if that means upsetting that decisive voting bloc.
However, this would be true under a FPP system as well. Both of the major politicial parties have one eye on the next election at all times. They know perfectly well that the swathe of central voters will 'punish' any radical change at the ballot box.
And given that the last radical change was the 4th Labour government of Lange and Douglas bringing in a wholesale privization of the state sector [yes, I'm over-simplifying] – middle NZ (and their allies) are rightfully wary of any move towards radical solutions.
Wow I can post without too much of the usual techno palaver again.
Belladonna, I'd be happy if it was just one eye on the next election. How I see it is that actually, both eyes are on the next election, with a need to give some appearance of following the agenda of the party. The justification is that actually governing in accord with that agenda in a manner that would bring more than cosmetic change would cause it to lose the next election Which would bring a worse outcome in regard to that agenda etc.
Which is stalemate. Hence the rise and rise of the shallow, careerist 'leftist' politician, and politics as mere game becoming ever more prevalent. The public (who are interested) are reduced to fantasy and cheering on 'our' team, as if that team was relevant beyond the game. In fact parliamentary teams bear about as much relation to the actual lives of supporters and to their personal and collective nation-state and physical environment aspirations, as do the All Blacks to their fans.
There are certainly those closer to the game and therefore with personal real-world interests, but for most, its just a daydream.
Diversity yes, but more diversity of political opinion than of either gender or ethnicity. The examples of the Social Credit party getting over 20% of votes and only 2 out of 92 seats in 1981, and Values which gained over 5% in 1978 with no seats. Many who disliked the policies of either Social Credit or Values still saw the election results as unfair. It probably helped MMP that National (Muldoon) gained power in 1978 with 39.8% of votes and 55 seats compared to Labour (Bill Rowling) with 40.4% of votes and 40 seats (Social Credit retained 1 seat won shortly before in a by-election, despite getting 16.1% of votes). It still took until 1996 to get the first MMP election . . .
Some media have always leapt for the loudest soundbite, even back when it wasn't called a soundbite. They so love controversy, the worst the better the bottom line, which is the bottom line.
Some would say bottom line feeders.
MMP didn't create the hunger for a tantalising headline. Greed does that.
Well, if they make persons of little consequence or rare opinion seem of more import than they are by magnifying their nonsense – to sell papers… call it what you will.
I did mention it was not new.
"Bad news sells papers" That's not an excuse for magnifying idiot opinions though, is it.
'Idiot' opinions is a matter of perspective.
Truly 'idiot' opinions (e.g. Flat Earth, tinfoil helmets, creationism) don't get traction in the mainstream media.
It is high time we rid ourselves of the threshold. Doing so would mean that the actual support for each party would be reflected in the number of parliamentary seats that it gained. In that case there would be no need for special arrangements like the one in Epsom.
Voters would be also be encouraged to vote for their preferred party instead of passing it over, thinking that it had no chance of reaching the threshold anyway; or voting for some other party just to make sure that party got over the 5% mark.
We should also look for some formula that would get rid of overhangs.
I expect the people will rise up and replace the current government in Honiara, with the new authorities then requesting police assistance from Australia and NZ, in 3, 2, 1…
"For Tokomaru Bay, this is the second severe flood in less than a year.
The town was hit by extensive flooding in June last year, which left Hatea-a-Rangi School students out of their classrooms for eight months while repairs were completed.
Tamariki had only been back on site for a few weeks before water went through the school for a second time.
Hatea-a-Rangi Board of Trustees chair Lillian Ward said the students were once again 'school-less'.
"It has really devastated us … our children especially – they were so proud to move into what they called a 'brand spanking new school'.
"It took eight months to fix the school after 20 June. We wouldn't have a clue what the timeframe will be on this one but … this time around it is more devastating," she said."
Yep. Get the housing and other stuff nature will trash out of there. Harsh but…* Take a whip to our forestry managers to create buffer zones and alternate plans for forest slash (rather than leaving it to smash bridges and coat riparian zones in rain events).
I suggest they work together in creating boilers that make (mostly) power and charcoal. Use the charcoal to scrub flue gases and organic waste streams then use the spent charcoal as fertiliser/soil amendment/carbon sequestration. Then, we might stop bitching about forestry if it actually heals soil, cleans air, and punches above its weight with regards to carbon. Right now forestry is greenwashed pest species monocultures that can destroy landscapes well beyond their allocation.
Locals might turn the floodplains into annual cropping land. Old school. No fertiliser required. A few earthworks here and there to let the floodplains flood, under direction…
*One could stand and fight, but they'd need to take on the oil industry, the transport industry, the industry industry… it's a fair sight bigger job than building a seawall. And now that rain arrives in 'biblical' proportions we'll need more than thoughts and prayers to, pardon me, weather the storm.
"Let’s start with some basics, for the sake of those of my readers who haven’t waded their way through the fine print of the paper. The central idea of catabolic collapse is that human societies pretty consistently tend to produce more stuff than they can afford to maintain. What we are pleased to call “primitive societies” – that is, societies that are well enough adapted to their environments that they get by comfortably without huge masses of cumbersome and expensive infrastructure – usually do so in a fairly small way, and very often evolve traditional ways of getting rid of excess goods at regular intervals so that the cost of maintaining it doesn’t become a burden. As societies expand and start to depend on complex infrastructure to support the daily activities of their inhabitants, though, it becomes harder and less popular to do this, and so the maintenance needs of the infrastructure and the rest of the society’s stuff gradually build up until they reach a level that can’t be covered by the resources on hand."
evolve traditional ways of getting rid of excess goods
Op-shops serve this purpose well. However the problem lies upstream from them. The problem lies in garages all over the nation. You can tell by the cars parked in front of the garage door because they no longer fit inside. Consumer crap!
My wife and I frequent op shops quite regularly, unless its for a specific item of clothing, some of the finds we've made make your head spin
A tagged Benetton dress at 200 pounds for 15 dollars is pretty hard to pass up though the nz made 2XL Swandri in pristine condition for 130 was my favourite
Savemart, if you're prepared to do a bit of travelling, has really good clothing.
My expensive brand hunter SO is obsessed with pre-worn clothes shops. Goes through the racks like a dose of lactulose and it's look at this, look at this, it's only $22. It's a $200 garment.
An icebreaker top needed a, small, black patch so I got a an ice breaker merino top (thats basically going to be sweated in and bush bashed) for cheap
I've got a macpac duck down puffer jacket for cheap (no stains) but the holy grail for me (since I got the Swanni) will be a Swazi jacket (Tahr or similar)
Or like in my neighbour case the garage was transformed into a room for the daughter and her child who are homeless and did not cope well one of our rundown homeless motels.
Major reasons that cars are not in garages around here: Garage turned into a bedroom (sometimes for a family); in older houses, modern cars are too wide to fit in – can't open the car doors); too many cars at the house to fit into the garage (e.g. 3 people with cars living there, only 2 garage spaces).
Not really seeing the 'garage filled with crap' as a significant factor (though, ironically, it is for me – as my basement is damp – so out-of-season clothes, sewing fabric, christmas decorations, etc. actually are stored in the garage – though, in addition to, not instead of, the car)
My Mum is a great de-cluttering minimalizer. Unfortunately, that means that she relies on me to either supply whatever it was that she's gotten rid of (extension power cord, navy blue reel of cotton), or transport her to buy a new one…..
Dennis missed (?) the more important aspect of the section he quoted…" usually do so in a fairly small way"…..I dont think 8 billion can be considered small, or even 5.1 million….more population demands more intensive systems.
Also that living minimalist lifestyles pre-supposes either a very short and easily accessible supply chain (your blacksmith down the road forging you a new knife); or access to a highly-developed and extensive supply chain (you can hop online and order the new Cat7 cable, which will be manufactured in China, shipped to NZ, and delivered to your door).
When you don't have security over either of these things, retaining stuff 'just in case' becomes a more valid strategy. 'I'm going to store this 'old' Cat5 cable just in case I need one, and can't get a replacement'
I know that we're building and retaining a lot more supply inventory at work than we used to (3-6 month buffer).
The amazing thing about that item is that almost all private homes in Tokomaru Bay had their foundations elevated after cyclone Bola in 1988, so flooding of private property has been limited. Yet here we are, in 2022, building a school which doesn't meet a requirement that should have been obvious to anyone with eyes to observe unique aspects of the local built environment. Unfortunately, the failure to use curiosity and intuitive reasoning to inform planning decisions appears to be a recurring characteristic of much of the infrastructure building in New Zealand.
The other question is the ongoing viability of the current agriculture model in a region whose transport infrastructure is poor, easily degraded and expensive to repair and where the environment is subject to very high levels of erosion. Again, these are questions that have been asked – and unanswered – for at least fifty years.
In times past houses and buildings that were flooded were simply cleaned dryed out and reinhabitated so whats changed ?.Building methods and materials have changed , so now instead of a solid tongue an groove floor normally made from quality timber and which can stand being wet and dry again for a hundred years ! we use particle board which is cheap and fast to install but turns back into sawdust in no time if it gets wet .
compounding the problem is the universal use of plaster board wall linings which again is fast to install and relatively cheap but is just paper glued on to a thin veneer of plaster and doesnt like getting wet !!.
Its like we all live in fairy land where nothing bad or adverse ever happens !?Modern building methods were supposedly evolved because this was deemed "progress " but what kind of progress is it when a house can be made completely unlivable with a single inundation of water requiring huge sums to remedy ?? Something is very wrong .
compounding the problem is the universal use of plaster board wall linings
Are you suggesting we go back to fibrous plaster and sap-wood sarking and scrim, or is there another affordable miracle lining material that doesn't mind getting wet?
Really, we've stopped with the particle board? That is good news if it is so.
Gib board is relatively benign. Some outfit has started recycling it too, at least in Auckland. It is useless in water. But, our houses shouldn't be in water…
"Its like we all live in fairy land where nothing bad or adverse ever happens"
That. A pressing need for architects, planners, engineers et al to remove ones head from ones ass.
Many of our buildings are inefficient power drains unfit for purpose. But when the desirable outcome is flash, rather than function…
Housing should be efficient, resilient, planned with knowledge of sun and wind and tide. Knowledge of the catchment, the history… So that it is a shelter from the storm, not a liability.
One time we raced out after a cyclone to ‘save’ some isolated islanders, who, when we arrived asked, ‘why are you here?’
They, and their houses, survive cyclones. All the western buildings were liabilities, with iron sheets flying about in the storm.
Function over flash. The above was taught in uni (Environsci 101), I’ll try find a link to the event.
Well if the alternative is having to rebuild or otherwise repair something of vital intrinsic necessesity as our home then yeah maybe we should or we could improve on the old ideas ..what about building a reinforced mould with all of the wiring pluming etc fitted on top of one of those modern concrete insulated floors and filling the whole thing all the internal walls and maybe the roof too with some type of concrete mix it would fucking near last forever could concievably be cheap and impevious to floods ?
I think governments and their training institutions should send engineers architects and permaculture people to places historically and currently ravaged by weather and learn from their indigenous folks pronto.
Better design. In line with nature, but not necessarily primitive. Best of both worlds could be achieved with good planning and open minds.
The scary thing is we keep seeing stuff we didn't imagine only a few years back. We need to imagine worse winds and rain than we've ever seen, and design like our buildings are subject to that.
That rain the other morning in Auckland that was a record… I have a 4 metre section of gutter on a greenhouse, 150 mm (cleared, I checked) downpipe that, at one point, could not divert the amount of water falling on a mere 16 sq m. It started overflowing along the length of the gutter. That’s a LOT of water.
We could instead reverse greed, corporate control, CO2 levels, LOL!
In a case of serendipity – this came through a feed from another site.
Referencing the US school situation, with ageing school buildings, combined with climate change and increases in natural disasters (floods being the most common and the most costly) – with 2021 at an all-time-high – up from the previous all-time high in 2020.
It is essentially insurance….we spread the risk and use our resources to make good our losses, if those loses exceed our ability to make good the model ceases to work.
And insurance (a major component of the financial system) is teetering on the edge of viability.
Whether I agree with it or not I do like it when a minor support party does something like this because whats the point of being in power if you don't try to instigate changes you believe in
The Green Party could take note…
'Revealed exclusively to 1News, party leader David Seymour says it would be a bottom line if forming a Government with National.'
ACT proposes that the next government passes legislation defining the principles of the Treaty, then ask the people to vote on it becoming law.
The Treaty Principles Act would say:
1. All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties 2. All political authority comes from the people by democratic means, including universal suffrage, and regular and free elections with a secret ballot 3. New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.
[Links required for all the bits & pieces that you copied & pasted – Incognito]
The greens have their unicorn, sprinkles, sparkles and dollar bills to throw around, and fwiw, there is even photographic evidence there of, and well i guess that is the best they will ever do personally and as a group.
Pity then ACT voted against prisoners being able to vote. Only the Greens wanted all prisoners to be able to vote.
"Prisoners serving sentences of less than three years are set to vote at this election, after Parliament partially removed a blanket ban on prisoner voting rights.
All prisoners were banned from voting in 2010, prior to then prisoners with sentences of three years or less could vote.
Today, Parliament voted with Labour, the Green Party and NZ First in favour, while National, ACT and Jami Lee Ross voted against allowing prisoners serving sentences of three years or less to vote."
And where do permanent residents fit in – they are allowed to vote currently. What of their political rights and duties – how will they differ? Will they still be able to vote?
I care little that you don't think prisoners should be able to vote just pointing out the inconsistency in saying all New Zealanders as if he means it when the evidence is that he doesn't.
Doesn't happen now. And remand prisoners haven't been convicted of anything and may never be to boot.
Prisoners as a matter of principle should always have a say on who governs them – it is those lawmakers who decide to take away their liberty and through what means. I'd argue that they should be first in line for voting rights.
I'm sure the family of his victim think its great but sure you want to pump many, many more millions in prisons I'm all for it.
Corrections and rehabilitation services in NZ are woefully underfunded so you want to start talking to Labour about increased funding then go for it you have my support
"Corrections and rehabilitation services in NZ are woefully underfunded so you want to start talking to Labour about increased funding then go for it you have my support"
That we agree on. The trouble you have is that your, and much opf the public views views of crime and punishment are exactly the attitude that drives the services to be underfunded so you end up in a viscous circle of political unwillingness.
Finland can only do what they did because the public wanted a different way and gave the political class the will to make the change.
Finlands ethnic group make up is quite different to NZs, 91.98% ethnic Finns whereas NZs prison population has three major ethnic groups to consider
'The trouble you have is that your, and much of the public views views of crime and punishment are exactly the attitude that drives the services to be underfunded so you end up in a viscous circle of political unwillingness.
My views are based on working in prison for what thats worth.
"its about people wanting to signal how progressive they are."
Drop the 'woke', 'virtue-signalling' accusation crap.
Don't impute motives to others. You're avoiding the issue and are indicating that you're not worth debating with, given that level of intellectual engagement.
The people calling for greater rights for prisoners do not care for the prisoners, do not care for the victims of the prisoners, they only want to show how progressive they are
Do you or they petition the government for greater spending for rehabilitation services, for more spending on work programs, for more spending on educational opportunities
When the prisoner is released where do you think they go, they go back to the location that created them, the family (if you can call them that) that made them what they are and what do you think they'll do when they get there
Well. Prisoners are much less likely to get any of those other things you mention, which I totally agree are necessary, BTW, if they cannot influence political parties by voting.
Actually, it is true, and they’re less likely to get anything when their vote has been taken away whilst in prison. Once they’re released they are no longer prisoners, are they? Then can then vote and go to the movies or whatever, because those rights have been returned them and restored. The whole point is what has been taken away from them whilst in prison.
You’ve been behaving like an obnoxious troll in this whole discussion and you have added next to nothing to it except your opinion, but without much of an argument. The Spanish archer is waiting impatiently.
The people calling for greater rights for prisoners do not care for the prisoners, do not care for the victims of the prisoners, they only want to show how progressive they are
So what? What has that got do with voting rights? You have no arguments to support your position so you are just introducing a "red herring".
The right to vote isn't "special treatment" – being deprived of the right to vote is special treatment. Being deprived of the right to vote due to a prison sentence of <3 years was 'luck of the draw' wrong.
As many universal human rights as are practicable, imho. The idea that prisoners are human will set you free.
Article 21
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
ACT proposes that the next government passes legislation defining the principles of the Treaty, then ask the people to vote on it becoming law.
The Treaty Principles Act would say:
1. All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties 2. All political authority comes from the people by democratic means, including universal suffrage, and regular and free elections with a secret ballot 3. New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.
Article 21, number 3 seems to strongly support what Act are saying
Gosh, it's almost as if ACT's proposed "Treaty Principles Act" is unnecessary – just throw their bulk behind the UDHR.
Article 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
ACT – the embodiment of the spirit of brotherhood?
We're all brothers under the skin, eh cuzzie-bro
So I'm not sure how relevant the right to vote is to those purposes, at least any more than a general right to breathe.
I can see how it might disenfranchise people in demographic groups who are over-represented in the prison population, however. Especially if it is merely a step in the American slide from "no voting while in prison" to "no votes after release from prison".
I just can't see any other point to disenfranchising current prisoners (not even a plan I can disagree with – I just don't see an angle), so I do believe that was the longer term goal in 2010.
Think of it this way then, if voting rights are so important for prisoners and prisoners are clambering for them (if they are they haven't moaned to me about it) then consider it an incentive to not commit crimes in the future
I'm absolutely not being facetious at all
But seriously what ticks me off the most about this is people are doing this because its easy, its simple.
Voting rights for prisoners yeah lets do it, lets make them feel a part of the community and they'll re-enter society so much easier
Maybe they will, maybe the idea of voting and taking part in a democracy is just the spur these guys (and girls) need to inspire them to change
But there are far more worthy and needed issues that can be done that will integrate the crims back into society far more successfully than voting will
More money into rehabilitation and finding the staff to run it, more money into numeracy and literacy as above, more money into mental health and addiction issues as above, more money trades training as above, more money into understanding that women aren't actually punching bags would also be good
Fantastic, job done?
Nope, not by a long shot.
The crims now out of prison, where will he/she go…back to the same cesspool of crime and drugs and poverty and hopelessness they came from most likely
Work a minimum wage job getting up early or…knock over a house or two and sell some drugs (yes that comes from the crims mouths)
Instead lets give all crims the vote and we can collectively pat ourselves on the back for doing a good thing and ignore all the other issues
Voting is a right. Doesn't matter if we choose to exercise it, it's a right we are free to choose to exercise.
Removal of this right for prisoners without a decent reason is removal of a right without good reason. It doesn't matter if it's a big deal to prisoners or not.
It's not patting ourselves on the back for doing a good thing, it's a basic minimum of ensuring people in society don't have their rights pointlessly removed.
If there's a point to it, fine. Especially a compelling reason of how it's for the good of society or protecting people. Sure. If they do something bad, their base character bars them from office, because they might corrupt the office or draw it into disrepute simply by someone of such poor character being able to hold that office. Fine.
But there's no compelling reason to remove the right to vote from prisoners, is there?
True, that started out as a reply and then morphed into a rant aimed at well no one really
On the other hand I see no compelling reason to give the vote to someone that chooses to ignore the laws and rules of the country either and since prison is, unfortunately, all too brief it is only a temporary removal of a right
that the preservation of that right is essential for the functioning of a democracy
that this right is no different to any other right irrelevant to the justification for imprisonment: should we remove all rights from prisoners, legalising slavery, murder, and torture as long as the victims are prisoners? Why this right but not those?
It doesn't matter if the removal is "temporary". It's still an arbitrary removal of a right without justification, and could easily lead to an acceptance of permanent removal of that or any other right.
We can through the Serco one if you like, I don’t work for Serco so I can’t comment on exactly what they do but I can tell you from a Corrections pov if you want
Calls for (more) punitive sentencing, and incarceration conditions, tap into something primal (an eye for an eye), so following this approach will satisfy some, but it is flawed, imho.
Exploring alternatives requires an open mind, and considerable resources to implement effectively.
Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review [Sept 2021]
Based on a much larger meta-analysis of 116 studies, the current analysis shows that custodial sanctions have no effect on reoffending or slightly increase it when compared with the effects of noncustodial sanctions such as probation. This finding is robust regardless of variations in methodological rigor, types of sanctions examined, and sociodemographic characteristics of samples.
The criminal justice system is broken.
New Zealand has one of the highest incarceration rates in the developed world. Around 9000 people are in prison at any one time. That’s just under 200 prisoners per 100,000 people, compared to somewhere between the 30 and 60 in the Nordic countries. This is worse than it used to be: the rate was just 83 in 1980.
The logic behind imprisonment is that it keeps people safe by deterring crime and rehabilitating offenders. But when you dig deeper, there’s little evidence that it actually works that way.
About 60 per cent of New Zealand prisoners will reoffend, and 40 per cent will be reimprisoned within two years of being released. Numerous international studies show that prison only deters offending in certain limited cases — mainly white-collar crime by white middle-class men.
Instead of protecting society by reducing overall harm, prison exacerbates many existing social problems.
Generations of disadvantage: a view from the District Court bench. Ethel Benjamin Law Foundation Commemorative Address 2018
It is even worse for young offenders in prison. More than four out of five prisoners under the age of 20 have been in state care.
…
Those in youth justice residences are 10 times more likely to have a mental health disorder than youth generally. As a recent study concluded – rather chillingly – in New Zealand youth justice residences, “some form of psychological need was the rule rather than the exception.”
The pattern repeats in the adult jurisdiction. More than a third of offenders have a mental illness, while nine out of ten prisoners have a diagnosable lifetime mental illness disorder.
…
The prevalence of neurodisabilities is equally high amongst adult offenders: 95% of female prisoners, and almost half of all prisoners have a traumatic brain injury, and as many as 70% of prisoners have significant literacy problems, a strong marker of future criminal offending.
…
Overall, Māori are six times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Māori.
A rather thoughtful prison officer I knew, said most of the prison population would be avoided if we helped youngsters with literacy, a stake in society, job opportunities, mental health and education, before they offended. I.E. Addressed poverty!
Sending them to “crime University” usually results in a lifetime of disaffection and recidivism.
Interesting that the only crimes where prison has evidence of a real deterrant effect, is on White collar crime. They type of criminal that is least likely to be imprisoned.
I’m detecting a sub-text with some here that many in prison are messed up and cannot make good decisions & choices to save themselves, which is indeed an issue and in fact, it is the issue. This would be (another?) reason why those people should not have a say in elections that may possibly influence outcomes for all of us law-abiding citizens and upstanding members of society, God forbid. For example, prisoners might vote for the ‘wrong’ political party!! Thus, voting should be reserved for those who have shown that they’re worthy of exercising this right. You can guess how one can show/prove his/her ‘worthiness’. To Hell with democratic principles and Human Rights, meritocracy rules! And keeping up appearances …
Expressing the opinion that citizens in prison should be deprived of their right to vote is fine. But if citizens are actually being deprived of that right then (as McFlock said) there should be a decent/compelling reason. Punitive impulses do not a decent/compelling reason make, imho.
Part of the injustice of removal of inmate's voting rights was that sentenced criminals who avoided jail time still could vote.
A prisoner with a vote is still potentially engaged fundamentally with society.
Losing one's liberty and being fined or otherwise sanctioned is most understandable when dealing with a criminal. But what has removal of an adult's voting right got to do with fair punishment?
(1)Everyone lawfully in New Zealand has the right to freedom of movement and residence in New Zealand.
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
Restricting freedom of movement of a criminal convicted to prison is entirely lawful, taking away their voting rights (as well) is not. Don’t divert from the topic with false equivalences.
I still haven’t seen or heard a compelling enough argument to make me change my mind on this. So, I disagree and the Supreme Court and Waitangi Tribunal also disagree.
It’s not deterrent or punishment, it’s both. Per the Law Society:
The threat of imprisonment generates a small general deterrent effect and increases in the certainty of apprehension and punishment demonstrate a significant deterrent effect.
To me, it comes across as vindictive without any other reasonable purpose. Even more so when you consider that general elections are typically held every three years. For example, somebody serving four years in prison may be excluded once from participating in the democratic process just like all of his/her other fellow Kiwis. I thought we were ‘one people’!?
Agreed, it makes a mockery of the historic goal of our democratic system: universal suffrage.
The removal of the franchise of prisoners is a mark on our storied record:
1853 – British government passes the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, granting limited self-rule, including a bicameral parliament, to the colony. The vote was limited to male British subjects aged 21 or over who owned or rented sufficient property and were not imprisoned for a serious offence. Communally owned land was excluded from the property qualification, thus disenfranchising most Māori (indigenous) men.
1860 – Franchise extended to holders of miner's licenses who met all voting qualifications except that of property.
1867 – Māori seats established, giving Māori four reserved seats in the lower house. There was no property qualification; thus Māori men gained universal suffrage before other New Zealanders. The number of seats did not reflect the size of the Māori population, but Māori men who met the property requirement for general electorates were able to vote in them or in the Māori electorates but not both.
1879 – Property requirement abolished.
1893 – Women won equal voting rights with men, making New Zealand the first nation in the world to allow women to vote.
1969 – Voting age lowered to 20.
1974 – Voting age lowered to 18.
1975 – Franchise extended to permanent residents of New Zealand, regardless of whether they have citizenship.
1996 – Number of Māori seats increased to reflect Māori population.
2010 – Prisoners imprisoned for one year or more denied voting rights while serving the sentence.
Seems excessivly punitive to me dont we want them to retain a sense of belonging to the community ? What are we afraid of by letting them vote ?or is it just that "bread an water " thing ?
Breaking one law or even a couple of laws doesn’t mean complete and utter rejection of all society and doesn’t justify that society, in return, rejects all human rights of the convict. They’re convicted and sentenced to prison time, not to lose other human rights as well – it’s unlawful.
(1)Everyone lawfully in New Zealand has the right to freedom of movement and residence in New Zealand.
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
Hey puck sorry to ask u that question so far down the thread i hadnt realised you,d already run the gauntlet so to speak cause this morn i was reading from the bottom up trying to have a rest from the armchair generals !!
BS argument, again, it is not about doing a better or worse job as Correction Officer. It’s about prisoners’ voting rights being taken away, unlawfully, may I add.
Don’t be a dick in your comments and play stupid semantics games. The default state of a living in NZ is being free (i.e. not in prison unless convicted) and having voting rights (citizens and permanent residents).
I’ve warned you and am very close to revoking your commenting privileges here. As such, it is (much!) better if you don’t reply at all and simply take heed, which is why it was called a “warning” in the Mod note to you.
I think if someone has done something bad enough to be sent to prison for (and I believe its has to be pretty bad these days to get prison time) then they obviously do not care about breaking laws, then as part of the punishment, they should not get to vote or have a say in society.
It’s never an easy call when I first wear my commenter hat and next my Moderator one. It seems to confuse people here so much that they cannot follow simple suggestions or guidelines and they seem to think that I want to ‘win’ by using any means, which would be grossly unfair, of course. Actually, it says a lot more about those confused people than about me – I just enjoy a good game of sparring.
It has been a silly thread – Puckish has repeatedly asserted that the ban on voting is justified, without giving any reason. How does the ban help rehabilitation,; why is it justified – and if the ability to vote is withdrawn, what else could be withdrawn? The assertion that it is illegal has been shown to be false, but also keeps getting repeated.
My view is that the ability to vote is one way of telling a prisoner that he or she are still New Zealanders; that they have a mind, and can make a difference; it is a recognition that they can make a difference without drugs, violence, or generally breaking laws. If removing the ability to vote is justified; where should the line be drawn – making meals cheaper by only requiring minimum nutritional needs are met? Penal labour gangs with menial work to demonstrate degradation? Removal of the ability to take education courses? I cannot see how the ability to vote reduces the likelihood of rehabilitation, or creates any significant problem for prison authorities; it just seems a petty restriction that in practice is unlikely to make much difference at all to the overall composition of parliament.
Yes, indeed Prison is punishment. Oh my. And if people don't want to get deprived of their freedom and be incarcerated they better not break the law. Who knew?
Item in this morning’s Herald. An Otago shopper ordered some non-perishable grocery items from Amazon Australia & saved 35%. 5 days to deliver. Maybe a one-off special but could be a good option for shoppers struggling to meet their weekly budget & if enough people did it might be a wake up call for our super ?markets.
The article doesn't mention if she paid NZ GST on it.
If she didn't – which is still quite possible because it is still a bit voluntary last time I used the site via VPN, then the cost would have been over $130 including the freight.
Matthew Hooton claims Labour has "re-branded" Jacinda Ardern. Can't say I've noticed any change. She looks the same and she speaks the same. I suspect its another load of Hooton bullshit.
I don't do Herald subscription so if anybody can provide the link I wouldn't mind reading the article. Thanks.
Almost worth doing a post on Larry Fink's latest letter to shareholders, particularly since BlackRock controls US$10 Trillion in assets. None of which are in Russia.
Those countries such as ourselves that have relied for the last 40 years on a free-trade rules-based order will need to draw ever closer to the more powerful countries and markets closest to us.
Fink also has useful things to say on the differing near-term and longer-term impacts on Net Zero goals from the current crises.
Fink as Chair has more financial power than all but the largest global government heads. So his advice is worth tracking.
The Perrenial Racist Winston Peters has come out against the Co-Governance Maaori Model, showing his true colours again. Seymour Guns and Winnie vying for the racist votes.
How bout stark contrasts : the first place getter an emblem of denialism, the old order & share bloody minded 'do what I want ': spark up the diesel burning Ford Ranger. The number two position , the future now, hitech & efficient: able to travel 350km for the price of a couple of lagers.Silicon wizardry hits the tarmac in the form if The Tesla. What greater sign of the denial vs acceptism could we get?
National will begin the formal process of selecting a candidate to run in Tauranga next week. Party President Peter Goodfellow said nominations would open next Tuesday. "Our local members are looking for a candidate who is passionate about fighting for the issues that matter to communities across Tauranga. Like addressing the crushing cost-of-living crisis, restoring local democracy, and delivering better transport solutions to get the city moving," Goodfellow said.
He didn't explain why Tauranga is currently static. Could the retiring MP, a simple chap called Simon, be to blame? Nah, situation too complex.
National leader Christopher Luxon said the party is trying something different as it looks for a candidate to run in the Tauranga byelection
Gosh, that sounds horribly like an intellectual challenge to his cohorts. Imagine the dismay. Conservatism is all about doing the same shit all the time. Trying something different is radical to any conservative. Talk about cat amongst pigeons. Female Nats entering an orgy of pearl-clutching will have to fight off male colleagues trying to clutch them too. Distract them with resets!
"We have reset our candidate selection processes. We did that over Christmas" … Luxon said the party wanted to "reset" some of its "core processes" – and not just candidate selection. He said this included a "reset around code of conduct and dispute resolution", which was done over the summer.
But there's more!
Luxon said over the summer the party rolled out "National 101", a course for people interested in candidacy
Now you might think he meant National 1.01 – you know, conservatives are traditional, blah blah blah. However the punctuation mark keeps failing to show up every time it gets mentioned. So I suspect they are trying to innovate – widening their recruitment pool to include the punctuationally-challenged. Most of the younger generations, in other words. Older Nats will struggle with all this new stuff…
Heard on Newstalk ZB, that someone has just taken delivery of a new Tesla and received the $8,625? rebate, and two days later have listed it for sale at close to the full retail price saying "why wait 8 months for delivery". So he gets to pocket most of the $8,625 rebate if he can sell it close to retail price.
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Do the 31,000 signatures of the OISM Petition Project invalidate the scientific consensus on climate change? Climatologists made up only 0.1% of signatories ...
In the 1980s and early 1990s when I wrote about Argentine and South American authoritarianism, I borrowed the phrase “cultura del miedo” (culture of fear) from Juan Corradi, Guillermo O’Donnell, Norberto Lechner and others to characterise the social anomaly that exists in a country ruled by a state terror regime ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
Chris Bishop has unveiled plans for new roads in Tauranga, Auckland and Northland that will cost up to a combined $10 billion. Photo: Lynn GrievesonLong stories short from Aotearoa political economy around housing, poverty and climate in the week to Saturday, April 26:Chris Bishop ploughed ahead this week with spending ...
Unless you've been living under a rock, you would have noticed that New Zealand’s government, under the guise of economic stewardship, is tightening the screws on its citizens, and using debt as a tool of control. This isn’t just a conspiracy theory whispered in pub corners...it’s backed by hard data ...
The budget runup is far from easy.Budget 2025 day is Thursday 22 May. About a month earlier in a normal year, the macroeconomic forecasts would be completed (the fiscal ones would still be tidying up) and the main policy decisions would have been made (but there would still be a ...
On 25 April 2021, I published an internal all-staff Anzac Day message. I did so as the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for Australia’s civil defence, and its resilience in ...
You’ve likely noticed that the disgraced blogger of Whale Oil Beef Hooked infamy, Cameron Slater, is still slithering around the internet, peddling his bile on a shiny new blogsite calling itself The Good Oil. If you thought bankruptcy, defamation rulings, and a near-fatal health scare would teach this idiot a ...
The Atlas Network, a sprawling web of libertarian think tanks funded by fossil fuel barons and corporate elites, has sunk its claws into New Zealand’s political landscape. At the forefront of this insidious influence is David Seymour, the ACT Party leader, whose ties to Atlas run deep.With the National Party’s ...
Nicola Willis, National’s supposed Finance Minister, has delivered another policy failure with the Family Boost scheme, a childcare rebate that was big on promises but has been very small on delivery. Only 56,000 families have signed up, a far cry from the 130,000 Willis personally championed in National’s campaign. This ...
This article was first published on 7 February 2025. In January, I crossed the milestone of 24 years of service in two militaries—the British and Australian armies. It is fair to say that I am ...
He shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningI will remember him.My mate Keith died yesterday, peacefully in the early hours. My dear friend in Rotorua, whom I’ve been ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on news New Zealand abstained from a vote on a global shipping levy on climate emissions and downgraded the importance ...
Hi,In case you missed it, New Zealand icon Lorde has a new single out. It’s called “What Was That”, and has a very low key music video that was filmed around her impromptu performance in New York’s Washington Square Park. When police shut down the initial popup, one of my ...
A strategy of denial is now the cornerstone concept for Australia’s National Defence Strategy. The term’s use as an overarching guide to defence policy, however, has led to some confusion on what it actually means ...
The IMF’s twice-yearly World Economic Outlook and Fiscal Monitor publications have come out in the last couple of days. If there is gloom in the GDP numbers (eg this chart for the advanced countries, and we don’t score a lot better on the comparable one for the 2019 to ...
For a while, it looked like the government had unfucked the ETS, at least insofar as unit settings were concerned. They had to be forced into it by a court case, but at least it got done, and when National came to power, it learned the lesson (and then fucked ...
The argument over US officials’ misuse of secure but non-governmental messaging platform Signal falls into two camps. Either it is a gross error that undermines national security, or it is a bit of a blunder ...
Cost of living ~1/3 of Kiwis needed help with food as cost of living pressures continue to increase - turning to friends, family, food banks or Work and Income in the past year, to find food. 40% of Kiwis also said they felt schemes offered little or no benefit, according ...
Hi,Perhaps in 2025 it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the CEO and owner of Voyager Internet — the major sponsor of the New Zealand Media Awards — has taken to sharing a variety of Anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories to his 1.2 million followers.This included sharing a post from ...
In the sprint to deepen Australia-India defence cooperation, navy links have shot ahead of ties between the two countries’ air forces and armies. That’s largely a good thing: maritime security is at the heart of ...
'Cause you and me, were meant to be,Walking free, in harmony,One fine day, we'll fly away,Don't you know that Rome wasn't built in a day?Songwriters: Paul David Godfrey / Ross Godfrey / Skye Edwards.I was half expecting to see photos this morning of National Party supporters with wads of cotton ...
The PSA says a settlement with Health New Zealand over the agency’s proposed restructure of its Data and Digital and Pacific Health teams has saved around 200 roles from being cut. A third of New Zealanders have needed help accessing food in the past year, according to Consumer NZ, and ...
John Campbell’s Under His Command, a five-part TVNZ+ investigation series starting today, rips the veil off Destiny Church, exposing the rot festering under Brian Tamaki’s self-proclaimed apostolic throne. This isn’t just a church; it’s a fiefdom, built on fear, manipulation, and a trail of scandals that make your stomach churn. ...
Some argue we still have time, since quantum computing capable of breaking today’s encryption is a decade or more away. But breakthrough capabilities, especially in domains tied to strategic advantage, rarely follow predictable timelines. Just ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Pearl Marvell(Photo credit: Pearl Marvell. Image credit: Samantha Harrington. Dollar bill vector image: by pch.vector on Freepik) Igrew up knowing that when you had extra money, you put it under a bed, stashed it in a book or a clock, or, ...
The political petrified piece of wood, Winston Peters, who refuses to retire gracefully, has had an eventful couple of weeks peddling transphobia, pushing bigoted policies, undertaking his unrelenting war on wokeness and slinging vile accusations like calling Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick a “groomer”.At 80, the hypocritical NZ First leader’s latest ...
It's raining in Cockermouth and we're following our host up the stairs. We’re telling her it’s a lovely building and she’s explaining that it used to be a pub and a nightclub and a backpackers, but no more.There were floods in 2009 and 2015 along the main street, huge floods, ...
A recurring aspect of the Trump tariff coverage is that it normalises – or even sanctifies – a status quo that in many respects has been a disaster for working class families. No doubt, Donald Trump is an uncertainty machine that is tanking the stock market and the growth prospects ...
The National Party’s Minister of Police, Corrections, and Ethnic Communities (irony alert) has stumbled into yet another racist quagmire, proving that when it comes to bigotry, the right wing’s playbook is as predictable as it is vile. This time, Mitchell’s office reposted an Instagram reel falsely claiming that Te Pāti ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
In a world crying out for empathy, J.K. Rowling has once again proven she’s more interested in stoking division than building bridges. The once-beloved author of Harry Potter has cemented her place as this week’s Arsehole of the Week, a title earned through her relentless, tone-deaf crusade against transgender rights. ...
Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats. With the wind back of Covid-19 ...
Would our political parties pass muster under the Fair Trading Act?WHAT IF OUR POLITICAL PARTIES were subject to the Fair Trading Act? What if they, like the nation’s businesses, were prohibited from misleading their consumers – i.e. the voters – about the nature, characteristics, suitability, or quantity of the products ...
Rod EmmersonThank you to my subscribers and readers - you make it all possible. Tui.Subscribe nowSix updates today from around the world and locally here in Aoteaora New Zealand -1. RFK Jnr’s Autism CrusadeAmerica plans to create a registry of people with autism in the United States. RFK Jr’s department ...
We see it often enough. A democracy deals with an authoritarian state, and those who oppose concessions cite the lesson of Munich 1938: make none to dictators; take a firm stand. And so we hear ...
370 perioperative nurses working at Auckland City Hospital, Starship Hospital and Greenlane Clinical Centre will strike for two hours on 1 May – the same day senior doctors are striking. This is part of nationwide events to mark May Day on 1 May, including rallies outside public hospitals, organised by ...
Character protections for Auckland’s villas have stymied past development. Now moves afoot to strip character protection from a bunch of inner-city villas. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest from our political economy on Wednesday, April 23:Special Character Areas designed to protect villas are stopping 20,000 sites near Auckland’s ...
Artificial intelligence is poised to significantly transform the Indo-Pacific maritime security landscape. It offers unprecedented situational awareness, decision-making speed and operational flexibility. But without clear rules, shared norms and mechanisms for risk reduction, AI could ...
For what is a man, what has he got?If not himself, then he has naughtTo say the things he truly feelsAnd not the words of one who kneelsThe record showsI took the blowsAnd did it my wayLyrics: Paul Anka.Morena folks, before we discuss Winston’s latest salvo in NZ First’s War ...
Britain once risked a reputation as the weak link in the trilateral AUKUS partnership. But now the appointment of an empowered senior official to drive the project forward and a new burst of British parliamentary ...
Australia’s ability to produce basic metals, including copper, lead, zinc, nickel and construction steel, is in jeopardy, with ageing plants struggling against Chinese competition. The multinational commodities company Trafigura has put its Australian operations under ...
There have been recent PPP debacles, both in New Zealand (think Transmission Gully) and globally, with numerous examples across both Australia and Britain of failed projects and extensive litigation by government agencies seeking redress for the failures.Rob Campbell is one of New Zealand’s sharpest critics of PPPs noting that; "There ...
On Twitter on Saturday I indicated that there had been a mistake in my post from last Thursday in which I attempted to step through the Reserve Bank Funding Agreement issues. Making mistakes (there are two) is annoying and I don’t fully understand how I did it (probably too much ...
Indonesia’s armed forces still have a lot of work to do in making proper use of drones. Two major challenges are pilot training and achieving interoperability between the services. Another is overcoming a predilection for ...
The StrategistBy Sandy Juda Pratama, Curie Maharani and Gautama Adi Kusuma
As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel ...
Donald Trump, who has called the Chair of the Federal Reserve “a major loser”. Photo: Getty ImagesLong stories shortest from our political economy on Tuesday, April 22:US markets slump after Donald Trump threatens the Fed’s independence. China warns its trading partners not to side with the US. Trump says some ...
Last night, the news came through that Pope Francis had passed away at 7:35 am in Rome on Monday, the 21st of April, following a reported stroke and heart failure. Pope Francis. Photo: AP.Despite his obvious ill health, it still came as a shock, following so soon after the Easter ...
The 2024 Independent Intelligence Review found the NIC to be highly capable and performing well. So, it is not a surprise that most of the 67 recommendations are incremental adjustments and small but nevertheless important ...
This is a re-post from The Climate BrinkThe world has made real progress toward tacking climate change in recent years, with spending on clean energy technologies skyrocketing from hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars globally over the past decade, and global CO2 emissions plateauing.This has contributed to a reassessment of ...
Hi,I’ve been having a peaceful month of what I’d call “existential dread”, even more aware than usual that — at some point — this all ends.It was very specifically triggered by watching Pantheon, an animated sci-fi show that I’m filing away with all-time greats like Six Feet Under, Watchmen and ...
Once the formalities of honouring the late Pope wrap up in two to three weeks time, the conclave of Cardinals will go into seclusion. Some 253 of the current College of Cardinals can take part in the debate over choosing the next Pope, but only 138 of them are below ...
The National Party government is doubling down on a grim, regressive vision for the future: more prisons, more prisoners, and a society fractured by policies that punish rather than heal. This isn’t just a misstep; it’s a deliberate lurch toward a dystopian future where incarceration is the answer to every ...
The audacity of Don Brash never ceases to amaze. The former National Party and Hobson’s Pledge mouthpiece has now sunk his claws into NZME, the media giant behind the New Zealand Herald and half of our commercial radio stations. Don Brash has snapped up shares in NZME, aligning himself with ...
A listing of 28 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 13, 2025 thru Sat, April 19, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. The formatting is a ...
“What I’d say to you is…” our Prime Minister might typically begin a sentence, when he’s about to obfuscate and attempt to derail the question you really, really want him to answer properly (even once would be okay, Christopher). Questions such as “Why is a literal election promise over ...
Ruth IrwinExponential Economic growth is the driver of Ecological degradation. It is driven by CO2 greenhouse gas emissions through fossil fuel extraction and burning for the plethora of polluting industries. Extreme weather disasters and Climate change will continue to get worse because governments subscribe to the current global economic system, ...
A man on telly tries to tell me what is realBut it's alright, I like the way that feelsAnd everybody singsWe are evolving from night to morningAnd I wanna believe in somethingWriter: Adam Duritz.The world is changing rapidly, over the last year or so, it has been out with the ...
MFB Co-Founder Cecilia Robinson runs Tend HealthcareSummary:Kieran McAnulty calls out National on healthcare lies and says Health Minister Simeon Brown is “dishonest and disingenuous”(video below)McAnulty says negotiation with doctors is standard practice, but this level of disrespect is not, especially when we need and want our valued doctors.National’s $20bn ...
Chris Luxon’s tenure as New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been a masterclass in incompetence, marked by coalition chaos, economic lethargy, verbal gaffes, and a moral compass that seems to point wherever political expediency lies. The former Air New Zealand CEO (how could we forget?) was sold as a steady hand, ...
Has anybody else noticed Cameron Slater still obsessing over Jacinda Ardern? The disgraced Whale Oil blogger seems to have made it his life’s mission to shadow the former Prime Minister of New Zealand like some unhinged stalker lurking in the digital bushes.The man’s obsession with Ardern isn't just unhealthy...it’s downright ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is climate change a net benefit for society? Human-caused climate change has been a net detriment to society as measured by loss of ...
When the National Party hastily announced its “Local Water Done Well” policy, they touted it as the great saviour of New Zealand’s crumbling water infrastructure. But as time goes by it's looking more and more like a planning and fiscal lame duck...and one that’s going to cost ratepayers far more ...
Donald Trump, the orange-hued oligarch, is back at it again, wielding tariffs like a mob boss swinging a lead pipe. His latest economic edict; slapping hefty tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, has the stench of a protectionist shakedown, cooked up in the fevered minds of his sycophantic ...
In the week of Australia’s 3 May election, ASPI will release Agenda for Change 2025: preparedness and resilience in an uncertain world, a report promoting public debate and understanding on issues of strategic importance to ...
One pill makes you largerAnd one pill makes you smallAnd the ones that mother gives youDon't do anything at allGo ask AliceWhen she's ten feet tallSongwriter: Grace Wing Slick.Morena, all, and a happy Bicycle Day to you.Today is an unofficial celebration of the dawning of the psychedelic era, commemorating the ...
It’s only been a few months since the Hollywood fires tore through Los Angeles, leaving a trail of devastation, numerous deaths, over 10,000 homes reduced to rubble, and a once glorious film industry on its knees. The Palisades and Eaton fires, fueled by climate-driven dry winds, didn’t just burn houses; ...
Four eighty-year-old books which are still vitally relevant today. Between 1942 and 1945, four refugees from Vienna each published a ground-breaking – seminal – book.* They left their country after Austria was taken over by fascists in 1934 and by Nazi Germany in 1938. Previously they had lived in ‘Red ...
Good Friday, 18th April, 2025: I can at last unveil the Secret Non-Fiction Project. The first complete Latin-to-English translation of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s twelve-book Disputationes adversus astrologiam divinatricem (Disputations Against Divinatory Astrology). Amounting to some 174,000 words, total. Some context is probably in order. Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) ...
National MP Hamish Campbell's pathetic attempt to downplay his deep ties to and involvement in the Two by Twos...a secretive religious sect under FBI and NZ Police investigation for child sexual abuse...isn’t just a misstep; it’s a calculated lie that insults the intelligence of every Kiwi voter.Campbell’s claim of being ...
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones has long styled himself as the “Prince of the Provinces,” a champion of regional development and economic growth. But beneath the bluster lies a troubling pattern of behaviour that reeks of cronyism and corruption, undermining the very democracy he claims to serve. Recent revelations and ...
Give me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundGive me one reason to stay hereAnd I'll turn right back aroundSaid I don't want to leave you lonelyYou got to make me change my mindSongwriters: Tracy Chapman.Morena, and Happy Easter, whether that means to you. Hot cross buns, ...
Te Pāti Māori are appalled by Cabinet's decision to agree to 15 recommendations to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector following the regulatory review by the Ministry of Regulation. We emphasise the need to prioritise tamariki Māori in Early Childhood Education, conducted by education experts- not economists. “Our mokopuna deserve ...
The Government must support Northland hapū who have resorted to rakes and buckets to try to control a devastating invasive seaweed that threatens the local economy and environment. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would ensure the biological definition of a woman and man are defined in law. “This is not about being anti-anyone or anti-anything. This is about ensuring we as a country focus on the facts of biology and protect the ...
After stonewalling requests for information on boot camps, the Government has now offered up a blog post right before Easter weekend rather than provide clarity on the pilot. ...
More people could be harmed if Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey does not guarantee to protect patients and workers as the Police withdraw from supporting mental health call outs. ...
The Green Party recognises the extension of visa allowances for our Pacific whānau as a step in the right direction but continues to call for a Pacific Visa Waiver. ...
The Government yesterday released its annual child poverty statistics, and by its own admission, more tamariki across Aotearoa are now living in material hardship. ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori join the motu in celebration as the Treaty Principles Bill is voted down at its second reading. “From the beginning, this Bill was never welcome in this House,” said Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader, Rawiri Waititi. “Our response to the first reading was one of protest: protesting ...
The Green Party is proud to have voted down the Coalition Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, an archaic piece of legislation that sought to attack the nation’s founding agreement. ...
A Member’s Bill in the name of Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter which aims to stop coal mining, the Crown Minerals (Prohibition of Mining) Amendment Bill, has been pulled from Parliament’s ‘biscuit tin’ today. ...
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty’s Members Bill to make the law simpler and fairer for businesses operating on Easter, Anzac and Christmas Days has passed its first reading after a conscience vote in Parliament. ...
Nicola Willis continues to sit on her hands amid a global economic crisis, leaving the Reserve Bank to act for New Zealanders who are worried about their jobs, mortgages, and KiwiSaver. ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
By Susana Suisuiki, RNZ Pacific presenter The doors of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican have now been closed and the coffin sealed, ahead of preparations for tonight’s funeral of Pope Francis. The Vatican says a quarter of a million people have paid respects to Pope Francis in the last ...
Once or twice a week, Dr Margaret Henley rolls up the door on a windowless storage locker in central Auckland, pulls her plastic chair up to a picnic table and sifts through the history of netball in New Zealand.She works alongside netball archivist and statistician Todd Miller, together trawling through ...
Corin DannThe time is 7:36am on Wednesday, April 23, and you’re listening to Morning Report, New Zealand’s voice of the educated left on good incomes. I’m joined now by acting Prime Minister Winston Peters. Good morning Mr Peters.Winston PetersIt was, until I saw you. I much prefer your brother.Corin DannLiam ...
When Professor David Krofcheck got an email congratulating him on winning the Oscar of the science world, he dismissed it as a hoax.“I thought it was a scam, I thought it was a phishing email,” recalls Krofcheck, nuclear physicist at Auckland University.“Yeah right, I’ve won the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in ...
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.I’ve been re-watching Girls lately, the HBO classic that perfectly captures millennial women in the most painful way. I highly recommend it especially if you haven’t watched it before. Every character on the show is deeply flawed and frustrating in their own ...
With the double-header long weekend comes a welcome chance to escape streaming slop, writes Alex Casey. Over Easter I texted my husband Joe a sentence that perhaps nobody in human history has ever texted: “hurry up geostorm is starting”. No punctuation, no capitalisation, not because I was trying to ...
April 27 is Moehanga Day, the anniversary of the day in 1806 when Ngāpuhi warrior Moehanga became the first Māori to visit England. This is his story. The wooden ship sailed down the River Thames, past smoke stacks and brick factories, until it reached a wharf in industrial south London. ...
Heidi Thomson on how her husband’s illness and Daniel Kalderimis’s book Zest have enhanced her understanding of George Eliot’s great novel.Sometimes a book finds you at just the right time. In early December my husband John had a stroke. At the time we were both reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch, ...
The musician, actor and star of upcoming documentary Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds takes us through his life in television. Musician Marlon Williams has been on our My Life in TV wish list ever since he revealed during his My Boy tour that he wrote ‘Thinking ...
When she walked dripping into the lounge, hair wet from the shower, she took one look at Hamish and dropped her towel.He was holding her phone.—How long has it been going on for?His blue eyes blazed. She wanted to pluck them out and blow on them gently, cool them off. ...
A citizens’ assembly of 100 Porirua locals has provided the city council with more than a dozen recommendations about how to tackle climate change and make sure the region is resilient to worsening extreme weather events.Ranging from expanding access to renewable energy and incentivising the planting of native trees through ...
Comment: Democracy globally is in crisis. Around the world we are seeing the rise of nationalism and declining trust in democratic institutions. Politicians, even in Aotearoa, undermine the authority of core institutions like the media and the courts, which are critical for a functioning democracy. To live well together, in ...
Journalist Rod Oram, who died last year, would have been delighted to see the commitment to addressing climate change shown by the 23-year-old winner of a prize established in his memory.Mika Hervel, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, is today named winner of the Rod Oram Memorial Essay Prize, ...
COMMENTARY:By Nour Odeh There was faint hope that efforts to achieve a ceasefire deal in Gaza would succeed. That hope is now all but gone, offering 2.1 million tormented and starved Palestinians dismal prospects for the days and weeks ahead. Last Saturday, the Israeli Prime Minister once again affirmed ...
An ocean conservation non-profit has condemned the United States President’s latest executive order aimed at boosting the deep sea mining industry. President Donald Trump issued the “Unleashing America’s offshore critical minerals and resources” order on Thursday, directing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to allow deep sea mining. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this election, voters are more distrustful than ever of politicians, and the political heroes of 2022 have fallen from grace, swept from favour by independent players. A Roy Morgan survey has found, for ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The former head of BenarNews’ Pacific bureau says a United States court ruling this week ordering the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to release congressionally approved funding to Radio Free Asia and its subsidiaries “makes us very happy”. However, Stefan Armbruster, who has ...
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 25, 2025. Labor takes large leads in YouGov and Morgan polls as surge continuesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne With just eight days until the May 3 federal election, and with in-person early voting well under way, Labor has taken a ...
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 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (Fourth Estate, $35) Fictionalised true crime for foodies. 2 Sunrise on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Taneshka Kruger, UP ISMC: Project Manager and Coordinator, University of Pretoria Healthcare in Africa faces a perfect storm: high rates of infectious diseases like malaria and HIV, a rise in non-communicable diseases, and dwindling foreign aid. In 2021, nearly half of ...
Australia and New Zealand join forces once more to bring you the best films and TV shows to watch this weekend. This Anzac Day, our free-to-air TV channels will screen a variety of commemorative coverage. At 11am, TVNZ1 has live coverage of the Anzac Day National Commemorative Service in Wellington. ...
Our laws are leaving many veterans who served after 1974 out in the cold. I know, because I’m one of them.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.First published in 2024.As I write this story, I am in constant pain. My hands ...
An MP fighting for anti-trafficking legislation says it is hard for prosecutors to take cases to court - but he is hopeful his bill will turn the tide. ...
NONFICTION1 No Words for This by Ali Mau (HarperCollins, $39.99)2 Everyday Comfort Food by Vanya Insull (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)3 Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw (Allen & Unwin, $39.99)
This Anzac Day marks 110 years since the Gallipoli landings by soldiers in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the ANZACS. It signalled the beginning of a campaign that was to take the lives of so many of our young men - and would devastate the ...
The violent deportation of migrants is not new, and New Zealand forces had a hand in such a regime after World War II, writes historian Scott Hamilton. The world is watching the new Trump government wage a war against migrants it deems illegal. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.This Sunday Essay was made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
A new poem by Aperahama Hurihanganui, about the name of Aperahama and Abby Hauraki’s three-year-old son, Te Hono ki Īhipa (which translates to ‘The Connection to Egypt’). Te Hono ki Īhipa what’s in a name? te hono – the connection to your tīpuna, valiant soldiers of the 28th Māori Battalion ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan and Amanda Dunn discuss the fourth week of the 2025 election campaign. While the death of Pope Francis interrupted campaigning for a while, the leaders had another debate on Tuesday night and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Whatever the result on May 3, even people within the Liberals think they have run a very poor national campaign. Not just poor, but odd. Nothing makes the point more strongly than this week’s ...
Labour bites the bullet. Will it spit it out?
Is this govt up to making history? Timidity has characterised it so far. Reluctance to discuss co-governance has been prolonged. Seymour has therefore called Labour's bluff by getting ACT to adopt a referendum policy. If Luxon is smart he'll say National will wait till Labour produces something real.
National don't have any policy I am aware off.
Timid as in calling a lockdown faster than most everyone else.
Timid as in calling a terrorist a terrorist, not a 'disturbed individual'.
Timid as in changing gun laws.
Timid as in standing up to Trump.
Timid as in raising the minimum wage while the business community claim the sky is falling.
Timid as in letting the clownvoy bury itself in its own stupidity before moving on it.
Timid as in still operating while being under attack by mealy mouthed nobodies for the entire duration.
Unlike those BRAVE tax cutting Nats, with their fiscal holes and their homeless MIQ visitors and their rivers of refugees and their unprecedented levels of whinging. And ACT the dog whistling dork sidekick, and their incel fan club.
Timid as in comparison to the first Labour govt. You know, the one that built plenty of state houses because the poor had nowhere to live? Notice how timid this current govt has been in explaining why it can't replicate that performance.
No, you may respond, they're actually being brave in copying National while pretending they aren't. As in their economic policy, for example. I call it deceitful rather than brave, because they pretend they're helping the poor.
Six months since Stuff reported this:
So why is he operating the exact opposite of an economic policy to help the poor? Because Labour are full of shit, right?
Labour has put more into marae housing than anyone.
Labour has also put out a fairly audacious model of Maori co-governance with 3 waters.
Labour in its previous term put $3 billion into the provinces – and if you track it most of it went to Maori business.
You apparently are a supporter of the Green Party, the laziest and least effective political party we've had since Social Credit.
Nothing the Greens want will ever happen unless they persuade Labour that it is worth it.
Start there.
whataboutism, deployed to evade the point… 🙄
Irony much? Wasn’t the point “timidity”?
Discuss, without emojis, if you can.
You started with a critique on Labour's response to Maori co-governance.
Face up to the consequence of your own point and be prepared to lose, again.
Labour have also devolved several $$billion in health care expenditure to Maori health organisations than any previous government.
Labour have also passed the legislation for a specific, delegated, funded national Maori health organisation.
Labour have also gone through the public service tooth and nail to ensure that they more than comply with their Treaty partnership obligations. Plenty of faults some will have, but all account for their Treaty measures in Select Committee.
It is high time Green supporters like you got off your high fucking horse and demonstrate how their single useful initiative in 2 terms – the Carbon legislation – will form co-governance frameworks for Maori. But they won’t because it is a neo-liberal palimpsest about to be blown away by global events,
Labour are the superior government partners to Maori, compared to any other party in Parliament.
Forgot to mention: Labour have a massive and broad Cabinet and Maori caucus, which is strong and active. That’s co-governance at the heart of power.
The Greens can hold their Maori caucus in a phone booth and still have room for 4 Golriz Gharamans to slide in.
Labour will have no problem whatsoever demonstrating deeper Maori self-determination.
The Greens can't.
I'm not here to defend the Greens. I agree with the principle of co-governance and have said so often enough previously. I haven't noticed any public statements from the Greens supporting Labour's stance but they could be waiting for policy, right?
My initial framing (@#1) was sceptical, not critical. I believe Labour's steadfast refusal to acknowledge the principle is due to timidity – but it could also be due to pragmatism. Their pakeha neoliberals feature that as their primary collective trait, so it's feasible. And liberals aren't famous for taking stands on principle.
Your huffing & puffing on behalf of Labour awaits the verdict of history – it will all have been worth it if they reach consensus on the proposal(s) Willie is about to present to them. If they prove themselves brave rather than timid, I'll give them credit for it. Then it's just a matter of whether they legislate it or defer it for public verdict in the election campaign…
Not only is the policy out there in black and white, it is deep into the middle of institutional reform.
Why the Greens fail to support the 3 Waters policy is beyond belief.
Intitutional reform done well is near-imperceptible to the politically ignorant eye and impossible to reverse. That's why you Dennis can't see it.
Whether you give credit to Labour for anything, well that amounts to nothing.
As expected you have failed to provide any alternative model for any public institution.
And you failing to defend Labour from the Orewa-scale shitstorm that Act is about to throw down, is again pretty typical of the Greens.
You have brought no criticism of the myriad evidence and examples I've provided, so your opinion is utterly worthless.
You want to bring up Maori self-determination again, next time bring a fact with you.
Look, if Labour were willing to cite their delivery on policies that accord with the co-governance principle (as you appear to be suggesting) then they would say so. Can you provide any such evidence of them doing that? I thought not.
That's why I'm sceptical. They're so timid they're even too scared to make such claims lest they give racists a target.
You have brought no criticism of the myriad evidence and examples I've provided
That's due to you missing my point again. Why would I want to criticise Labour delivery that seems worthwhile??
Yes DB,
Jacinda and C/o should be deaf, such is the cacophony.
Some well off are gong to really squeal when they have to consider the planet and others first. To quote Dennis “They will be clutching their pearls.”
Labour are in a no win situation here. I heard Luxon the other day during a radio interview. He was talking about Three Waters and a Maori Health Authority organisation – both would be heading south under a National government. Luxon went on to say '' we are all New Zealanders.'' Unfortunately no one has had a word with Luxon and told him most Maori only consider being a New Zealander an add-on to being Maori. That is a fatal flaw in his understanding of race relations.
Maori are te tangata whenua always will be, just like Indians will always be Indians and Cjinese will always be Chinese, and New Zealanders secound as they come from New Zealand.
I am emphatically not a second class New Zealander
Come back to New Zealand.
All is forgiven 🙂
Anyway done you have some distant East Coast Maori lineage?
Yes – that's the ironic stupidity of this racist divisiveness. And it isn't all that distant – my paternal grandfather.
Red no one said you were a Second Class Citizen, you can identify as Tangata Whenua if you feel like it or Tangata Titiriti whatever takes our fantasy.
''I am emphatically not a second class New Zealander.''
No, you aren't a second class citizen, but in modern New Zealand, er, I mean Aotearoa, you and all other Europeans ( and those not classed as Maori) will be treated increasingly as second class citizens.
That's a problem for Luxon. ACT is already feeling the heat.
I don't think Luxon understands that to stop this incessant bs and funding around Maori, he will need to pass policy making him the most hated man in New Zealand.
Here's an example of what Luxon will face should he be prepared to stand up for all New Zealanders.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/03/david-seymour-defends-xero-founder-rod-drury-after-national-m-ori-authority-chair-matthew-tukaki-calls-for-product-boycott-over-act-donation.html
Māori longevity is second class. If being "treated increasingly as second class citizens" is a ‘concern’, might an extra 5+ years of life (on average), compared to those bloody first class Maaris, be some consolation?
Blade and (other?) ACToids appear to fear that they will be dragged down and treated the same way as Māori have been (and live shorted lives on average) instead of hoping that Māori will be treated more equally compared to (and live as long as) their Pākehā brothers and sisters here in NZ. In other words, according to them, it is a zero-sum situation, and a dollar spent on Māori is therefore not spent on Pākehā. This overly simplistic argument seems to have lot of sway with many especially with neo-liberals.
''Blade and (other?) ACToids.''
I have never voted ACT. I class them as the arse end of socialism. They are a socialist party. It's just they expect a return on other peoples money they dish out… unlike Labour.
Me thinking I will be dragged down and my life expectancy shortened because Maori get millions of dollars to help them not help themselves, never crosses my mind. However, accountability and self help does cross my mind.
If you have anyone working in the health industry, many will tell you Maori make their lives a misery. Missed appointments, abuse, turning up outside visiting hours with half the hapu, theft… and worst of all, failing to follow medical advice.
Hospitals give Maori their own whanau rooms, they have hospital liaison teams, the departments are all named in Maori…karakia is on demand….and still their mortality rate is poor…even with their own Hauora healthcare. I'm tired of hearing Maori spokespeople in the media being asked to describe the typical racism and poor service in healthcare Maori face and not being able to. They go off on some strange odyssey.
My suggestion for finding poor health indicators: start with vape shops and KFC. I did a tally at a KFC drive through while waiting for my order.
20 cars; 11 identifiable as Maori. There's a non colonial health problem for you. KFC family packs – between $40-$70. Lucky there's food banks and WINZ to visit when the dollars run out.
In another incident, I picked up discharge papers and a script from my local hospital lying in the gutter. The discharge papers were for a young Maori woman who had been in hospital with sepsis( a killer condition).
The discharge papers said it was imperative she take and finish her course of antibiotics. I had a hell of a job tracking her down. Finally got her phone number and rang her. I gave her my address and she said ''oh, ok, thanks'' Never heard from her again.
You have two problems, Incognito:
1- Accepting the fact reality trumps ideology ( most of the time).
2- Explaining how a solid core of Maori who look after themselves and were able to roll up for Covid vaccinations without government funding; a free hangi and karakia, were able to do so all by themselves?
I'm more than prepared to discuss the other side of the coin from my own personal experiences…but not while people offer excuses for Maori failure.
Strange you sound just like a nurse I've heard describing Aboriginals. At the time she sounded veeeeery racist. She's not, but she sure had some racist reading materials to get her fired up.
It's amazing how easily some fall for the manipulation of others. Clever people finding the bias they seek because personal experience sees the trees cover the woods in frustration. It's understandable perhaps, but it's not accurate.
Did you ever wonder why there might be such striking similarities in the behaviours of two colonised people?
On both side of the Tasman dog whistling media and their fanboys continued to rain judgement upon others as 'failures' in their limited world view. This does NOTHING for reconciliation, and merely fans the flames.
But maybe you want that?
And while the trappings of redress are being ever so slowly and begrudgingly rolled out the dysfunction of many generations of abuse are not so easily healed.
This whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps stuff is nonsense. We pushed them down. You keep kicking.
Interesting. How does this square with this:
What does it even mean when you say that you will be treated as second class citizen?
You’re incorrect that no efforts are made to help Māori help themselves. This is exactly where it is heading! Yet, you and others are flipping your lids in epic unhinged rants. You don’t want to help a drowning man until and unless he learns to swim and saves himself. Bloody poor excuse that he couldn’t swim. \sarc
''Did you ever wonder why there might be such striking similarities in the behaviours of two colonised people?''
Yes, and I have also seen the striking similarities when colonial powers get the boot, or leave a colonised country.
''On both side of the Tasman dog whistling media and their fanboys continued to rain judgement upon others as 'failures' in their limited world view.This does NOTHING for reconciliation, and merely fans the flames. ''
''But maybe you want that?''
Then we both have a problem don't we.
No, I want historical grievances settled. I want accountability from Maori…and I want the government(s) to know that their way of doing things may not be good for all.
''This whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps stuff is nonsense. We pushed them down. You keep kicking.''
Why do you think we spend millions on Maori.? Where does the money go. Why does nothing improve? Does that ever cross your mind? Or does your liberalism stop you from seeing beyond the noble savage who has been hard done by by Colonel Colonial?
A cure would be giving Maori a taste of a favela slum. That would clear the sinuses and focus the mind. For Labour, 20 years in the wilderness may focus their minds on future liberal kowtowing to minority groups without accountability.
Of course that's fantasy stuff. But I look forward to your korero as things become worse in all regards for New Zealand, particularly race relations.
@ Incognito
''What does it even mean when you say that you will be treated as second class citizen?''
I won't, I'm Maori. But if you don't have Maori blood, or believe you are Maori…like all those taonga wear Pakeha, I'm afraid the future isn't bright for you in Aotearoa.
Let me give you just one benign example:
My cousin is doing a prelim six month course to ready her for a full polytech social workers course. All Maori in the course received a $400 education support package. Guess what Pakeha got?
This is happening up and done the country. Free computers, cell phones etc. As Billy TK said '' it's not easy being a Maori nowadays.''
I don't consider I'm ranting. I'm just offering an opposing view many on this blog take exception to.
I just want fairness for everyone. In times past, little time was wasted on Maori and their aspirations. Now we have done a 360, and Pakeha are now in the same situation of Maori circa 1950s
Something has to give?
You won’t explain what you mean? Okay, that’s helpful \sarc
And yet you’re repeating your same allegations, without support or explanation, such as this ominous “the future isn’t bright for you in Aotearoa” and this inconsistent and confused gem:
A “360” isn’t what you think it is and the second part of your ‘sentence’ is something you may have plucked from a dystopian site somewhere on the dark web. Though I’m sure you can vividly remember what it was like being Māori (or Pākehā) in NZ in “circa 1950s”.
Fearful and constitutionally incapable of putting themselves in 'feral' shoes – I don’t envy their predicament.

You speak for most Maori do you? Or maybe, after hearing you for only one day, you are here to rubbish them. I think you are scum, and a coward.
Calm down
Not content with the theft from Maori by force and deception over the two centuries of White Settlement, ACT now wishes to tear up the only document preventing them from stealing what little Maori have left.
Yep, just like tribes used to do to each other by ''right of conquest.'' I do hope that ACT, in their rush to steal the last of Maori owned lands, don't take Maori as slaves, or worse, reinstate the smoked head trade.
Only problem with your theory…Maori were not conquered.
They signed a treaty guaranteeing them…rights.
Which version of the treaty did they sign… or understand? And what of those tribes who didn't sign the treaty? They are now fair game for ACT …and maybe National?
Yeah cause Europeans never did conquest or get conquered?
(Anyone would think it isn't happening right now somewhere in Europe?)
And regardless of which treaty was signed there is ample evidence of the treaty being breached and of much of this breaching done through the courts and legislative systems. It is one of the reasons we can have a good robust Waitangi tribunal examination and remedy – because Maori were not really conquered in battle – they were mainly deprived of what they owned through means that left behind lots of evidence of wrong-doing.
None of your points are actually relevant – you are doing racist dog-whistling at it's worse. I'm jut a little surprised you didn't hark back to cannibalism as well to go full racist.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/europes-hypocritical-history-of-cannibalism-42642371/#:~:text=Europe%20boasts%20the%20oldest%20fossil,to%20extract%20marrow%20and%20brains.
What do you mean 'they'?
You just stated that 'you' are…Maori!
Surely you mean…'we'!
Yes, correct, if I was agreeing with everything Maori were doing. Also, I can repair to my Scottish heritage…and maybe my drop of Spanish blood and TRY to see things from their view points, The Scots were very tribal laddie. I have a great Scottish coat of arms?
But shame on you, Blazer, for not knowing we are a multi racial society full of diversity and candy floss.
Your correct response should have been the old liberal standards – uncle Tom, or ''you are filled with self hate.''
I like the self hate trope.
Don't mention it…I knew you just ..'forgot' you were ..Maori.
Or Blade, Europeans quoting the bit in the Bible about slaves and enacting that again!! See how silly the reverse sounds?
We are in different times. We signed up to a Treaty. Then we signed up to an agreement regarding indigenous people. Now we live by it. Nobody said it was going to be easy or even comfortable, as we all acknowledge our ethnocentrism.
It would be a mistake to imagine that ACT really cares about democracy or national unity. Mostly it represents the interests of people who fear that any formal recognition of things Maori or a Maori worldview might impair their ability to privately enrich themselves at the expense of the planet and other people. The main concern is that natural resources and revenue streams that they might, or already do, profit from become inaccessible to them.
For a party that for years colluded in a little rort that gave them an electorate seat and thereby distorted the proportionality of parliament, to get on their high horse about democracy is a bit funny. These days of course they would win it legitimately, courtesy of the parade of four reckless Covid clowns inhabiting the National Party leadership.
A really interesting discourse on China and a little on the Ukraine from former Aussie PM, Kevin Rudd. Rudd, who speaks Mandarin, and is President and CEO of Asia Society, has a new book out called ''The Avoidable War.''
His interview with Mikey starts at 7.00.
https://weekondemand.newstalkzb.co.nz/WeekOnDemand/ZB/auckland/2022.03.24-08.00.00-D.mp3
[lprent: That is interesting – somewhere along the line the automatic audio feature failed. I will have a play with this weekend. ]
Rudd claims China is still five to seven years behind the US in microchip technology. But the US is now relying on Taiwan for much of it's microchip technology and development. And the Chinese haven't been quiet in the interim as they wait to catch up to the US. If Taiwan is invaded by China, the West may sink into technological Neanderthalism.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies
Re the link. Tried posting it in all possible ways. That was the best I could do. If you find out how to post such links, please advise.
An interesting commentary on how Russia/India ties have been strengthened with the rubles for gas dictate, possible consequences of the move,and the swift(heh, no pun)rollout of the alternatives to SWIFT
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/03/russia-counter-sanctions-unfriendly-nations-by-requiring-gas-payments-in-roubles-dallas-fed-predicts-2022-global-recession-if-russian-energy-supply-remains-restricted.html
Yeah nah.
India are despite historic Russian ties, at least as vulnerable to US economic sanction as China.
Russia is playing against India since Russia has very strong links to Pakistan, and is a major arms supplier to Myanmar, and is a formal strategic partner with China.
India may be unable to avoid sanction under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) if it continues to purchase Russian arms of a certain caliber.
It's also a member of QUAD, which is about to understand why it was formed just in time for this scale of global instability.
India will be expected to act like a responsible great power seeking to uphold what remains of a rules-based international order. That's the one on which New Zealand among others depend for their continued existence.
Looking the other way on Russian misbehavior—or worse, appearing to endorse it—would show that New Delhi is not a reliable like-minded democratic partner. They will be punished for it.
In summary, India will be expected to do what it's told!
At the forefront of U.S foreign policy is maintaining the status of the U.S Dollar as the worlds reserve currency for international trade.
Ever since the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944 this has been the backbone of American prosperity.
Along with their dominance at the IMF, it has been a foundation, that is now under serious threat.
Even the Saudis, who have a petro dollar reinvestment arrangement in exchange for security guarantees are becoming increasingly rebellious.
The BRIC countries have been accumulating gold for years and they have the desire and intent to move away from dollar denominated debt.
The U.S achieved its role by being a consistent creditor to the world,now it is a debtor, subsidised by the rest of the world.
In summary, India will be expected to do what it's told!
In summary India will be expected to not cheerlead for the naked aggressor in the most dangerous conflict since the end of WW2.
The moment Putin threatened first-strike nuclear action on NATO if they directly interfered, he became a pariah. As long as he remains in power Russia will be isolated – and any nation who supports them even covertly – will be at high risk of being tainted with the same brush.
A completely unnecessary conflict…!
Ukraine misread the situation.
Zelenskyy: Western nations share ‘responsibility’ for casualties | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera
You really should read past the headline of your links
I read the whole thing…he wants no fly zones.
The point is Zelensky expected alot lot more support than was forth coming.
So now it's the US fault for not wanting to immediately escalate the conflict into nuclear conflagration?
Is there nothing you cannot twist into making the US the root cause of all evil in the world?
‘US the root cause of all evil in the world?’
well it is, and future history will show this.
The US has only experienced a few years of peace, (about 13) and not even consecutive years. To talk peace and US in the same sentence means you need to spell peace, piece , coz it’s always about getting a piece of someone else’s land or resources.
Although there were warnings, particularly from Biden, that Russia was about to invade, Zelenskyy seems to have made no attempts (though I'm not really sure on this point) to organize talks with Putin, talks which may have avoided the devastation that this war has caused. Now, even if they succeed in defending Ukraine, the price they will have paid will be enormous.
Zelenskyy seems to have relied on NATO support. That would have to be seen as a mistake.
India , of course may be looking for different partners, and doesn't have a particularly benign view of its previous colonial owners
They certainly seem to have a vibrant and diverse media .This talk show is entertaining , lively and instructive
Fox News for India – anti-Moslem pro BJP.
Why Putin has history with Ukraine:
The writer binary-frames two outcomes: genocide or Russia defeated. The third obvious contender is negotiated peace. His bleak outlook rules that out. His thesis that compromise is impossible is based on Putin's inner world-view, as revealed here.
Well, no, everyone doesn't! Everyone assumes that peacemaking is feasible because Putin can be forced to compromise – call this a faith-based view! At what point will the evidence to the contrary become overwhelming??
Your last paras nails it. In my view Putin inner world view of a Rus moral superiority is not much removed from Hitler's more openly expressed claims for the Ayrian people.
Yet the perverse outcome of his paranoid delusions is that a few weeks ago the EU was content to trade their way into normalising relations with Russia, and NATO was a wobbly defensive entity that few saw much future purpose for.
All that has changed in a moment. Now the EU and NATO really do want to crush Putin – and if this means crushing Russia to do so – they will. However long it takes.
All that negotiations can achieve now is to temporarily freeze the conflict.
' NATO was a wobbly defensive entity that few saw much future purpose for.'
Interesting…opinion.
One does wonder if that was the case, why Ukraine was so fervent about wanting to join this 'wobbly' pact.
It seems that Zelensky has relied on NATO to support him full bore against Russian interventions ,and the primary reason he would not entertain Russias demands.
Your persistent victim blaming here is repellant.
Open both your …eyes.
'Earlier this month when The Intercept’s Ryan Grim was able to get a word in edgewise at a White House press briefing amid the throngs of mass media reporters demanding to know why Biden still hasn’t started World War 3, Press Secretary Jen Psaki gave a very revealing answer.
“So, aside from the request for weapons, President Zelensky has also requested that the US be more involved in negotiations toward a peaceful resolution to the war. What is the U.S. doing to push those negotiations forward?” asked Grim.
“Well, one of the steps we’ve taken — a significant one — is to be the largest provider of military and humanitarian and economic assistance in the world, to put them in a greater position of strength as they go into these negotiations,” Psaki answered, completely dodging the question of whether the US was actually doing anything to help negotiate peace.
Blinken has made no effort to talk to Lavrov…at all.
"Putin argued that Ukrainians were in fact Russians and dismissed the entire notion of a separate Ukrainian identity. “I am confident that true sovereignty of Ukraine is possible only in partnership with Russia,” he concluded."
So as a true megalomaniac, his life mission is to put the world to rights and that's what he's doing now. His 'getting a life' is to ensure that lots of other lose theirs.
Adolf Hitler often said that if you tell big lies and tell them often enough, then eventually they become the truth.
You can see who Putin gets his inspiration from.
The media discourse around Seymour's latest racist brain fart highlights an aspect of MMP that needs wider consideration.
Let's face it – under FPP Seymour would be an obscure "controversial" backbencher from Epsom at best, ACT would not be a party in parliament and the Maori party would be largely ignored and would oscillate between zero, one or two seats on the opposition benches. The public debate would be between the two "broad church" main parties spokes persons who between them would represent the vast bulk of voters.
Instead, an extremist party – ACT – whose core support is 1-2% (their current number of MPs is Judith's gift to the nation) sets the media "noise" and is debated with by the Maori party, who have similar levels of support. So we are having a race debate dominated by the representatives of two parties that between them do not represent 95%+ of voters.
All of which, from the perspective of the right, would be said about the Green Party as well.
The representation of these elements of society, which were being totally ignored by both of the 'main' parties in the FPP era, was the strong driver to proportional representation.
The Left had an unprecedented in MPP level of popular support following the last election – an outright majority for Labour, with support from the Greens taking them close to 2/3 of parliament.
The main driver of the move to MMP was public outrage at the arrogant wielding of unbridled executive power between 1975-91 and a desire to punish both main parties by knobbling them electorally.
I think at the time it also represented a desire for a more population reflective diversity in parliament.
In those of a political bent there may have been anger etc but I think the vast majority who supported it just wanted to see more of themselves there. This was also occurring elsewhere in NZ – Puao Te Ata Tu for instance recognised that social welfare staffing did not reflect the people that that government department was serving and needed to do so.
There was a maturing of the political system – a natural evolution. Opponents of MMP like to cast it as only an angry response but that is dismissive and self-serving. The diversity has definitely increased as has the range of views. I continue to think this is a good thing.
it also represented a desire for a more population reflective diversity in parliament
Correct. That's why I voted for it. Sanctuary's punishment explanation probably motivated plenty of others but I'd known the left & right were both wrong for half my life by then…
Diversity was definitely a major selling point of MMP at the time, but I would argue simple political anger at the subversion of the democratic will by abuse of executive power in collusion with parts of the bureaucracy was the main reason MMP won. People had had enough of Treasury running the country via a simple majority of cabinet.
I agree that MMP represented a maturing of our electoral system and I think after 25 years we should be mature enough to acknowledge the obvious flaws of MMP. Several aspects of the electoral system need reform, and we also need to acknowledge that MMP is a system designed to prevent radical change.
This means (for example) doing much about the housing crisis is impossible since both our main parties need to dominate the middle ground to govern – and since two thirds or so of New Zealanders still own their own home (and they probably make up 80% of active voters) no major party is particularly interested in altering the status quo if that means upsetting that decisive voting bloc.
The real tragedy of the Greens is their complete inability to grasp the nature of MMP politics. Their MPs often fail to make the transition from activist to member of parliament, two quite different roles. So they agitate and froth mouthing lazy platitudes and epithets on behalf of the excluded instead of rolling their sleeves up and making the system work to create new status quos that include their constituency – a status quo the electoral system will then work to protect.
One of the funny things for the Greens (I wouldn't call it a real tragedy) is all those outside it who keep telling them what they should do.
Only Green supporters worry about being told what to do.
The rest of us do the work.
However, this would be true under a FPP system as well. Both of the major politicial parties have one eye on the next election at all times. They know perfectly well that the swathe of central voters will 'punish' any radical change at the ballot box.
And given that the last radical change was the 4th Labour government of Lange and Douglas bringing in a wholesale privization of the state sector [yes, I'm over-simplifying] – middle NZ (and their allies) are rightfully wary of any move towards radical solutions.
Wow I can post without too much of the usual techno palaver again.
Belladonna, I'd be happy if it was just one eye on the next election. How I see it is that actually, both eyes are on the next election, with a need to give some appearance of following the agenda of the party. The justification is that actually governing in accord with that agenda in a manner that would bring more than cosmetic change would cause it to lose the next election Which would bring a worse outcome in regard to that agenda etc.
Which is stalemate. Hence the rise and rise of the shallow, careerist 'leftist' politician, and politics as mere game becoming ever more prevalent. The public (who are interested) are reduced to fantasy and cheering on 'our' team, as if that team was relevant beyond the game. In fact parliamentary teams bear about as much relation to the actual lives of supporters and to their personal and collective nation-state and physical environment aspirations, as do the All Blacks to their fans.
There are certainly those closer to the game and therefore with personal real-world interests, but for most, its just a daydream.
Diversity yes, but more diversity of political opinion than of either gender or ethnicity. The examples of the Social Credit party getting over 20% of votes and only 2 out of 92 seats in 1981, and Values which gained over 5% in 1978 with no seats. Many who disliked the policies of either Social Credit or Values still saw the election results as unfair. It probably helped MMP that National (Muldoon) gained power in 1978 with 39.8% of votes and 55 seats compared to Labour (Bill Rowling) with 40.4% of votes and 40 seats (Social Credit retained 1 seat won shortly before in a by-election, despite getting 16.1% of votes). It still took until 1996 to get the first MMP election . . .
Some media have always leapt for the loudest soundbite, even back when it wasn't called a soundbite. They so love controversy, the worst the better the bottom line, which is the bottom line.
Some would say bottom line feeders.
MMP didn't create the hunger for a tantalising headline. Greed does that.
Think it's a little unfair to characterize this as 'Greed'
Bad news sells papers – this is just as true in the digital age as it was in the print era.
Well, if they make persons of little consequence or rare opinion seem of more import than they are by magnifying their nonsense – to sell papers… call it what you will.
I did mention it was not new.
"Bad news sells papers" That's not an excuse for magnifying idiot opinions though, is it.
'Idiot' opinions is a matter of perspective.
Truly 'idiot' opinions (e.g. Flat Earth, tinfoil helmets, creationism) don't get traction in the mainstream media.
It is high time we rid ourselves of the threshold. Doing so would mean that the actual support for each party would be reflected in the number of parliamentary seats that it gained. In that case there would be no need for special arrangements like the one in Epsom.
Voters would be also be encouraged to vote for their preferred party instead of passing it over, thinking that it had no chance of reaching the threshold anyway; or voting for some other party just to make sure that party got over the 5% mark.
We should also look for some formula that would get rid of overhangs.
I expect the people will rise up and replace the current government in Honiara, with the new authorities then requesting police assistance from Australia and NZ, in 3, 2, 1…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/south-pacific/300549709/china-to-sign-first-pacific-security-deal-which-will-give-them-warships-on-australias-doorstep
The foundations for a more U.S friendly regime have already been laid.
Riot-hit Solomons begins clean-up as more foreign troops arrive | Politics News | Al Jazeera
interesting Blazer
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/24/china-finalising-security-deal-with-solomon-islands-to-base-warships-in-the-pacific
"For Tokomaru Bay, this is the second severe flood in less than a year.
The town was hit by extensive flooding in June last year, which left Hatea-a-Rangi School students out of their classrooms for eight months while repairs were completed.
Tamariki had only been back on site for a few weeks before water went through the school for a second time.
Hatea-a-Rangi Board of Trustees chair Lillian Ward said the students were once again 'school-less'.
"It has really devastated us … our children especially – they were so proud to move into what they called a 'brand spanking new school'.
"It took eight months to fix the school after 20 June. We wouldn't have a clue what the timeframe will be on this one but … this time around it is more devastating," she said."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/463954/tairawhiti-flood-damage-will-take-about-a-year-to-clean-up
"Houston, we have a problem"
Flooding twice in 2 years. Sounds like it's built on a high-risk area of the floodplain.
Time to re-locate.
Yes , it may be wise to relocate….which of course takes resources, much like the constant repairs.
Finite resources.
Managed retreat. Same for Westport.
Yep. Get the housing and other stuff nature will trash out of there. Harsh but…* Take a whip to our forestry managers to create buffer zones and alternate plans for forest slash (rather than leaving it to smash bridges and coat riparian zones in rain events).
I suggest they work together in creating boilers that make (mostly) power and charcoal. Use the charcoal to scrub flue gases and organic waste streams then use the spent charcoal as fertiliser/soil amendment/carbon sequestration. Then, we might stop bitching about forestry if it actually heals soil, cleans air, and punches above its weight with regards to carbon. Right now forestry is greenwashed pest species monocultures that can destroy landscapes well beyond their allocation.
Locals might turn the floodplains into annual cropping land. Old school. No fertiliser required. A few earthworks here and there to let the floodplains flood, under direction…
*One could stand and fight, but they'd need to take on the oil industry, the transport industry, the industry industry… it's a fair sight bigger job than building a seawall. And now that rain arrives in 'biblical' proportions we'll need more than thoughts and prayers to, pardon me, weather the storm.
"Let’s start with some basics, for the sake of those of my readers who haven’t waded their way through the fine print of the paper. The central idea of catabolic collapse is that human societies pretty consistently tend to produce more stuff than they can afford to maintain. What we are pleased to call “primitive societies” – that is, societies that are well enough adapted to their environments that they get by comfortably without huge masses of cumbersome and expensive infrastructure – usually do so in a fairly small way, and very often evolve traditional ways of getting rid of excess goods at regular intervals so that the cost of maintaining it doesn’t become a burden. As societies expand and start to depend on complex infrastructure to support the daily activities of their inhabitants, though, it becomes harder and less popular to do this, and so the maintenance needs of the infrastructure and the rest of the society’s stuff gradually build up until they reach a level that can’t be covered by the resources on hand."
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2011-01-20/onset-catabolic-collapse/
evolve traditional ways of getting rid of excess goods
Op-shops serve this purpose well. However the problem lies upstream from them. The problem lies in garages all over the nation. You can tell by the cars parked in front of the garage door because they no longer fit inside. Consumer crap!
My wife and I frequent op shops quite regularly, unless its for a specific item of clothing, some of the finds we've made make your head spin
A tagged Benetton dress at 200 pounds for 15 dollars is pretty hard to pass up though the nz made 2XL Swandri in pristine condition for 130 was my favourite
Savemart, if you're prepared to do a bit of travelling, has really good clothing.
Best find i had was a Trelise Cooper Leather Jacket for 75 NZD. Was a nice affordable present for someone.
Amazing what some people will throw out.
I guess everyone has different priorities
My expensive brand hunter SO is obsessed with pre-worn clothes shops. Goes through the racks like a dose of lactulose and it's look at this, look at this, it's only $22. It's a $200 garment.
Makes perfect sense to me.
An icebreaker top needed a, small, black patch so I got a an ice breaker merino top (thats basically going to be sweated in and bush bashed) for cheap
I've got a macpac duck down puffer jacket for cheap (no stains) but the holy grail for me (since I got the Swanni) will be a Swazi jacket (Tahr or similar)
Or like in my neighbour case the garage was transformed into a room for the daughter and her child who are homeless and did not cope well one of our rundown homeless motels.
Major reasons that cars are not in garages around here: Garage turned into a bedroom (sometimes for a family); in older houses, modern cars are too wide to fit in – can't open the car doors); too many cars at the house to fit into the garage (e.g. 3 people with cars living there, only 2 garage spaces).
Not really seeing the 'garage filled with crap' as a significant factor (though, ironically, it is for me – as my basement is damp – so out-of-season clothes, sewing fabric, christmas decorations, etc. actually are stored in the garage – though, in addition to, not instead of, the car)
My Mum is a great de-cluttering minimalizer. Unfortunately, that means that she relies on me to either supply whatever it was that she's gotten rid of (extension power cord, navy blue reel of cotton), or transport her to buy a new one…..
Dennis missed (?) the more important aspect of the section he quoted…" usually do so in a fairly small way"…..I dont think 8 billion can be considered small, or even 5.1 million….more population demands more intensive systems.
Also that living minimalist lifestyles pre-supposes either a very short and easily accessible supply chain (your blacksmith down the road forging you a new knife); or access to a highly-developed and extensive supply chain (you can hop online and order the new Cat7 cable, which will be manufactured in China, shipped to NZ, and delivered to your door).
When you don't have security over either of these things, retaining stuff 'just in case' becomes a more valid strategy. 'I'm going to store this 'old' Cat5 cable just in case I need one, and can't get a replacement'
I know that we're building and retaining a lot more supply inventory at work than we used to (3-6 month buffer).
and there are too many things that need to be kept 'just in case'…a lot of wasted production which makes the problem worse.
We have been operating at the extreme limits of our capacity, an accident waiting to happen….and it is.
The amazing thing about that item is that almost all private homes in Tokomaru Bay had their foundations elevated after cyclone Bola in 1988, so flooding of private property has been limited. Yet here we are, in 2022, building a school which doesn't meet a requirement that should have been obvious to anyone with eyes to observe unique aspects of the local built environment. Unfortunately, the failure to use curiosity and intuitive reasoning to inform planning decisions appears to be a recurring characteristic of much of the infrastructure building in New Zealand.
The other question is the ongoing viability of the current agriculture model in a region whose transport infrastructure is poor, easily degraded and expensive to repair and where the environment is subject to very high levels of erosion. Again, these are questions that have been asked – and unanswered – for at least fifty years.
In times past houses and buildings that were flooded were simply cleaned dryed out and reinhabitated so whats changed ?.Building methods and materials have changed , so now instead of a solid tongue an groove floor normally made from quality timber and which can stand being wet and dry again for a hundred years ! we use particle board which is cheap and fast to install but turns back into sawdust in no time if it gets wet .
compounding the problem is the universal use of plaster board wall linings which again is fast to install and relatively cheap but is just paper glued on to a thin veneer of plaster and doesnt like getting wet !!.
Its like we all live in fairy land where nothing bad or adverse ever happens !?Modern building methods were supposedly evolved because this was deemed "progress " but what kind of progress is it when a house can be made completely unlivable with a single inundation of water requiring huge sums to remedy ?? Something is very wrong .
Very good points.
Not any more.
Are you suggesting we go back to fibrous plaster and sap-wood sarking and scrim, or is there another affordable miracle lining material that doesn't mind getting wet?
Really, we've stopped with the particle board? That is good news if it is so.
Gib board is relatively benign. Some outfit has started recycling it too, at least in Auckland. It is useless in water. But, our houses shouldn't be in water…
"Its like we all live in fairy land where nothing bad or adverse ever happens"
That. A pressing need for architects, planners, engineers et al to remove ones head from ones ass.
Many of our buildings are inefficient power drains unfit for purpose. But when the desirable outcome is flash, rather than function…
Housing should be efficient, resilient, planned with knowledge of sun and wind and tide. Knowledge of the catchment, the history… So that it is a shelter from the storm, not a liability.
One time we raced out after a cyclone to ‘save’ some isolated islanders, who, when we arrived asked, ‘why are you here?’
They, and their houses, survive cyclones. All the western buildings were liabilities, with iron sheets flying about in the storm.
Function over flash. The above was taught in uni (Environsci 101), I’ll try find a link to the event.
Well if the alternative is having to rebuild or otherwise repair something of vital intrinsic necessesity as our home then yeah maybe we should or we could improve on the old ideas ..what about building a reinforced mould with all of the wiring pluming etc fitted on top of one of those modern concrete insulated floors and filling the whole thing all the internal walls and maybe the roof too with some type of concrete mix it would fucking near last forever could concievably be cheap and impevious to floods ?
I think governments and their training institutions should send engineers architects and permaculture people to places historically and currently ravaged by weather and learn from their indigenous folks pronto.
Better design. In line with nature, but not necessarily primitive. Best of both worlds could be achieved with good planning and open minds.
The scary thing is we keep seeing stuff we didn't imagine only a few years back. We need to imagine worse winds and rain than we've ever seen, and design like our buildings are subject to that.
That rain the other morning in Auckland that was a record… I have a 4 metre section of gutter on a greenhouse, 150 mm (cleared, I checked) downpipe that, at one point, could not divert the amount of water falling on a mere 16 sq m. It started overflowing along the length of the gutter. That’s a LOT of water.
We could instead reverse greed, corporate control, CO2 levels, LOL!
In a case of serendipity – this came through a feed from another site.
Referencing the US school situation, with ageing school buildings, combined with climate change and increases in natural disasters (floods being the most common and the most costly) – with 2021 at an all-time-high – up from the previous all-time high in 2020.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/21/1084912552/climate-change-schools
It is essentially insurance….we spread the risk and use our resources to make good our losses, if those loses exceed our ability to make good the model ceases to work.
And insurance (a major component of the financial system) is teetering on the edge of viability.
Again, nothing to do with money.
An interesting bottom line.
Whether I agree with it or not I do like it when a minor support party does something like this because whats the point of being in power if you don't try to instigate changes you believe in
The Green Party could take note…
'Revealed exclusively to 1News, party leader David Seymour says it would be a bottom line if forming a Government with National.'
ACT proposes that the next government passes legislation defining the principles of the Treaty, then ask the people to vote on it becoming law.
The Treaty Principles Act would say:
1. All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties
2. All political authority comes from the people by democratic means, including universal suffrage, and regular and free elections with a secret ballot
3. New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.
[Links required for all the bits & pieces that you copied & pasted – Incognito]
And thus Act just handed a policy to National.
Pass the popcorn.
Imagine if the Greens laid down a bottom line of all rivers and lakes in NZ must be to this insert standard here standard or something
Good to shake up the status quo every now and then
The Greens are crustaceans.
They have just one shot and it's coming up in May.
Indeed
The greens have their unicorn, sprinkles, sparkles and dollar bills to throw around, and fwiw, there is even photographic evidence there of, and well i guess that is the best they will ever do personally and as a group.
Its a shame
True that.
Mod note
Here you go:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/24/act-party-wants-referendum-on-co-governance-with-maori/
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2022/03/act_calls_for_referendum_on_co-governance.html
Ta
Are you saying that ACT does their
propagandapress releases through KB or that you get your news from there?'Revealed exclusively to 1News, party leader David Seymour says it would be a bottom line if forming a Government with National.'
News no, opinions merely one of many places I frequent
Do not think Semour Guns will have to woory in the 2023 Election his support is tanking thriugh the floor jmo.
Pity then ACT voted against prisoners being able to vote. Only the Greens wanted all prisoners to be able to vote.
"Prisoners serving sentences of less than three years are set to vote at this election, after Parliament partially removed a blanket ban on prisoner voting rights.
All prisoners were banned from voting in 2010, prior to then prisoners with sentences of three years or less could vote.
Today, Parliament voted with Labour, the Green Party and NZ First in favour, while National, ACT and Jami Lee Ross voted against allowing prisoners serving sentences of three years or less to vote."
And where do permanent residents fit in – they are allowed to vote currently. What of their political rights and duties – how will they differ? Will they still be able to vote?
https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/06/24/prisoner-voting-rights-bill-passes-in-parliament/
Nope.
Prisoners lose all sorts of rights when they go to prison. Voting should always be one of them.
I care little that you don't think prisoners should be able to vote just pointing out the inconsistency in saying all New Zealanders as if he means it when the evidence is that he doesn't.
Its not inconsistent at all.
Go to prison you lose your right to vote, stay out of prison you vote.
No matter who you are.
Doesn't happen now. And remand prisoners haven't been convicted of anything and may never be to boot.
Prisoners as a matter of principle should always have a say on who governs them – it is those lawmakers who decide to take away their liberty and through what means. I'd argue that they should be first in line for voting rights.
No.
Prisoners already get enough special treatment.
This is not about prisoners rights, its about people wanting to signal how progressive they are.
The more you make prison like the outside world the less of a deterrent prison becomes, its enough of a joke already.
Finland would disagree with you.
I'm sure the family of his victim think its great but sure you want to pump many, many more millions in prisons I'm all for it.
Corrections and rehabilitation services in NZ are woefully underfunded so you want to start talking to Labour about increased funding then go for it you have my support
"Corrections and rehabilitation services in NZ are woefully underfunded so you want to start talking to Labour about increased funding then go for it you have my support"
That we agree on. The trouble you have is that your, and much opf the public views views of crime and punishment are exactly the attitude that drives the services to be underfunded so you end up in a viscous circle of political unwillingness.
Finland can only do what they did because the public wanted a different way and gave the political class the will to make the change.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland
Finlands ethnic group make up is quite different to NZs, 91.98% ethnic Finns whereas NZs prison population has three major ethnic groups to consider
'The trouble you have is that your, and much of the public views views of crime and punishment are exactly the attitude that drives the services to be underfunded so you end up in a viscous circle of political unwillingness.
My views are based on working in prison for what thats worth.
"its about people wanting to signal how progressive they are."
Drop the 'woke', 'virtue-signalling' accusation crap.
Don't impute motives to others. You're avoiding the issue and are indicating that you're not worth debating with, given that level of intellectual engagement.
It's name-calling, facile, and derogatory.
'It's name-calling, facile, and derogatory'
Good.
My point got across exactly as I intended it.
The people calling for greater rights for prisoners do not care for the prisoners, do not care for the victims of the prisoners, they only want to show how progressive they are
Do you or they petition the government for greater spending for rehabilitation services, for more spending on work programs, for more spending on educational opportunities
When the prisoner is released where do you think they go, they go back to the location that created them, the family (if you can call them that) that made them what they are and what do you think they'll do when they get there
Most prisoners are barely literate: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/84820782/twothirds-of-prisoners-cant-do-everyday-literacy-tasks
This happened before they came to prison, when they were children.
Are people up in arms about the failure of the education system to educate them
The failure of the health system to correct glue ear, diagnose FAS, mental health issues
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/bad-hearing-could-trigger-crime/64VIZRACEFNCOMCZYPPNP4ORK4/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/84031898/more-than-90pc-of-prisoners-have-suffered-mental-health-or-substance-use-issues
The failure of CYPS (or whatever they're called) to check if the childs going to school, the home life
But sure voting rights is the most important thing for prisoners.
Nobody here said or argued that, so please stop your disingenuous strawmen. Law makers can walk and chew gum at the same time.
'Law makers can walk and chew gum at the same time.'
I wonder about that.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/300549832/man-who-stabbed-someone-during-midstreet-knife-fight-gets-jail-term-cut
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/128154407/man-who-distributed-child-sex-exploitation-material-avoids-prison-sentence
Another nonsensical reply from you.
As I said, you don't know who you are talking to, or what I have done for prisoner rehabilitation.
Good for you.
Well. Prisoners are much less likely to get any of those other things you mention, which I totally agree are necessary, BTW, if they cannot influence political parties by voting.
Not true.
They can vote when they're released.
Actually, it is true, and they’re less likely to get anything when their vote has been taken away whilst in prison. Once they’re released they are no longer prisoners, are they? Then can then vote and go to the movies or whatever, because those rights have been returned them and restored. The whole point is what has been taken away from them whilst in prison.
You’ve been behaving like an obnoxious troll in this whole discussion and you have added next to nothing to it except your opinion, but without much of an argument. The Spanish archer is waiting impatiently.
Can you explain what the Spanish archer is, I know what the Spanish prisoner is but I'm not sure how that applies here.
Give you the el bow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Archer
Well thats certainly a saying all right, probably not a well known one in this country but hey we've all learned something so thats a bonus
The people calling for greater rights for prisoners do not care for the prisoners, do not care for the victims of the prisoners, they only want to show how progressive they are
So what? What has that got do with voting rights? You have no arguments to support your position so you are just introducing a "red herring".
The right to vote isn't "special treatment" – being deprived of the right to vote is special treatment. Being deprived of the right to vote due to a prison sentence of <3 years was 'luck of the draw' wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_of_prisoners_in_New_Zealand
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/how-some-european-prisons-are-based-dignity-instead-dehumanization
So tell me what rights prisoners should or shouldn't have.
As many universal human rights as are practicable, imho. The idea that prisoners are human will set you free.
Article 21
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
Interesting
ACT proposes that the next government passes legislation defining the principles of the Treaty, then ask the people to vote on it becoming law.
The Treaty Principles Act would say:
1. All citizens of New Zealand have the same political rights and duties
2. All political authority comes from the people by democratic means, including universal suffrage, and regular and free elections with a secret ballot
3. New Zealand is a multi-ethnic liberal democracy where discrimination based on ethnicity is illegal.
Article 21, number 3 seems to strongly support what Act are saying
Gosh, it's almost as if ACT's proposed "Treaty Principles Act" is unnecessary – just throw their bulk behind the UDHR.
ACT – the embodiment of the spirit of brotherhood?
We're all brothers under the skin, eh cuzzie-bro
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300366313/the-subtle-dig-at-mori-in-racebased-politics-and-how-its-swinging-voters-judgement
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/126329260/seymours-stunt-could-do-real-damage
ISTR having this argument before.
The role of prison is to protect society from the currently dangerous and to rehabilitate them so they are no longer dangerous. The phrasing in the Crimes Act of "is liable to" also suggests a repayment of debt.
So I'm not sure how relevant the right to vote is to those purposes, at least any more than a general right to breathe.
I can see how it might disenfranchise people in demographic groups who are over-represented in the prison population, however. Especially if it is merely a step in the American slide from "no voting while in prison" to "no votes after release from prison".
'Especially if it is merely a step in the American slide from "no voting while in prison" to "no votes after release from prison".'
Good thing I haven't said anything remotely like that then isn't it.
to clarify, yeah. Not you.
I just can't see any other point to disenfranchising current prisoners (not even a plan I can disagree with – I just don't see an angle), so I do believe that was the longer term goal in 2010.
It's bounced around quite a bit, though.
Think of it this way then, if voting rights are so important for prisoners and prisoners are clambering for them (if they are they haven't moaned to me about it) then consider it an incentive to not commit crimes in the future
I'm absolutely not being facetious at all
But seriously what ticks me off the most about this is people are doing this because its easy, its simple.
Voting rights for prisoners yeah lets do it, lets make them feel a part of the community and they'll re-enter society so much easier
Maybe they will, maybe the idea of voting and taking part in a democracy is just the spur these guys (and girls) need to inspire them to change
But there are far more worthy and needed issues that can be done that will integrate the crims back into society far more successfully than voting will
More money into rehabilitation and finding the staff to run it, more money into numeracy and literacy as above, more money into mental health and addiction issues as above, more money trades training as above, more money into understanding that women aren't actually punching bags would also be good
Fantastic, job done?
Nope, not by a long shot.
The crims now out of prison, where will he/she go…back to the same cesspool of crime and drugs and poverty and hopelessness they came from most likely
Work a minimum wage job getting up early or…knock over a house or two and sell some drugs (yes that comes from the crims mouths)
Instead lets give all crims the vote and we can collectively pat ourselves on the back for doing a good thing and ignore all the other issues
Now I'm the one who said none of that.
Voting is a right. Doesn't matter if we choose to exercise it, it's a right we are free to choose to exercise.
Removal of this right for prisoners without a decent reason is removal of a right without good reason. It doesn't matter if it's a big deal to prisoners or not.
It's not patting ourselves on the back for doing a good thing, it's a basic minimum of ensuring people in society don't have their rights pointlessly removed.
If there's a point to it, fine. Especially a compelling reason of how it's for the good of society or protecting people. Sure. If they do something bad, their base character bars them from office, because they might corrupt the office or draw it into disrepute simply by someone of such poor character being able to hold that office. Fine.
But there's no compelling reason to remove the right to vote from prisoners, is there?
True, that started out as a reply and then morphed into a rant aimed at well no one really
On the other hand I see no compelling reason to give the vote to someone that chooses to ignore the laws and rules of the country either and since prison is, unfortunately, all too brief it is only a temporary removal of a right
The compelling reasons are:
It doesn't matter if the removal is "temporary". It's still an arbitrary removal of a right without justification, and could easily lead to an acceptance of permanent removal of that or any other right.
Punitive Pucky – 'lock 'em up and throw away the key'?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/376381/watch-who-s-in-prison
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ex-inmate-takes-prison-operator-serco-to-court-over-alleged-degrading-treatment/JSSIWYJXRGIHPDG7A7FDIMNVFI/
Otoh, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it.
Yeah sometimes crimes in NZ are too lenient
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/128064031/theyre-young-theyll-get-over-it–how-laken-maree-rose-became-one-of-new-zealands-most-prolific-female-child-sex-offenders
We can through the Serco one if you like, I don’t work for Serco so I can’t comment on exactly what they do but I can tell you from a Corrections pov if you want
Calls for (more) punitive sentencing, and incarceration conditions, tap into something primal (an eye for an eye), so following this approach will satisfy some, but it is flawed, imho.
Exploring alternatives requires an open mind, and considerable resources to implement effectively.
A rather thoughtful prison officer I knew, said most of the prison population would be avoided if we helped youngsters with literacy, a stake in society, job opportunities, mental health and education, before they offended. I.E. Addressed poverty!
Sending them to “crime University” usually results in a lifetime of disaffection and recidivism.
Interesting that the only crimes where prison has evidence of a real deterrant effect, is on White collar crime. They type of criminal that is least likely to be imprisoned.
Yeah it's not hard to work out what the issues are, a couple of weeks in the wings and you realise just how messed up a lot of them are
I would also add in somehow reaching the mum as well because Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is no joke and very prevalent in prisoners
I’m detecting a sub-text with some here that many in prison are messed up and cannot make good decisions & choices to save themselves, which is indeed an issue and in fact, it is the issue. This would be (another?) reason why those people should not have a say in elections that may possibly influence outcomes for all of us law-abiding citizens and upstanding members of society, God forbid. For example, prisoners might vote for the ‘wrong’ political party!! Thus, voting should be reserved for those who have shown that they’re worthy of exercising this right. You can guess how one can show/prove his/her ‘worthiness’. To Hell with democratic principles and Human Rights, meritocracy rules! And keeping up appearances …
Expressing the opinion that citizens in prison should be deprived of their right to vote is fine. But if citizens are actually being deprived of that right then (as McFlock said) there should be a decent/compelling reason. Punitive impulses do not a decent/compelling reason make, imho.
Go to prison you lose your right to vote, stay out of prison you vote.
Why?
Part of the injustice of removal of inmate's voting rights was that sentenced criminals who avoided jail time still could vote.
A prisoner with a vote is still potentially engaged fundamentally with society.
Losing one's liberty and being fined or otherwise sanctioned is most understandable when dealing with a criminal. But what has removal of an adult's voting right got to do with fair punishment?
Where'd punishment come into it?
What other reason, then?
To me its rather simple.
You have chosen, in breaking the law enough to be incarcerated, that you do not want to follow the laws of the country.
So while you're in prison you do not get to participate in the running of country, including the creating of laws, until you are out of prison.
Want to vote, stay out of prison.
Why stop at incarceration? All who do not follow the rules of the country should be so sanctioned.
Tax evaders, speeders, red light runners, non-indicators, those who fail to check the rear vision mirror regularly- fair cop.
Can we introduce a property ownership qualification, as well?
And minimum education standards?
And sex, age and mental acuity?
Over the top?
What we're debating here is why you want to limit the vote to the incarcerated, because you would limit that basic human right.
We also limit the Freedom of Movement (as did the government to the whole of NZ) do you have a problem with that?
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225517
18Freedom of movement
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
Restricting freedom of movement of a criminal convicted to prison is entirely lawful, taking away their voting rights (as well) is not. Don’t divert from the topic with false equivalences.
Restrictions are put on people all the time (as they should be) even when released from prison.
You do not get to break societies rules and then have a say in how those rules are formed.
Part of the deterrent of prison (and its deterrent not punishment) is the loss of certain rights, voting should be one of them.
I still haven’t seen or heard a compelling enough argument to make me change my mind on this. So, I disagree and the Supreme Court and Waitangi Tribunal also disagree.
@Puckish Rogue
It’s not deterrent or punishment, it’s both. Per the Law Society:
https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/lawtalk/issue-929/does-new-zealands-use-of-imprisonment-breach-the-new-zealand-bill-of-rights-act/
'So, I disagree and the Supreme Court and Waitangi Tribunal also disagree.'
Good thing we live in a country where we can disagree on such things
Agreed, and it looks as if we end this convo by agreeing to disagree.
I'm good with that
"You do not get to break societies rules and then have a say in how those rules are formed."
Says who?
Indeed, which is why it was successfully challenged in the Supreme Court.
And the Waitangi Tribunal too!
https://waitangitribunal.govt.nz/news/tribunal-releases-report-on-maori-prisoners-voting-rights/
Yup
To me, it comes across as vindictive without any other reasonable purpose. Even more so when you consider that general elections are typically held every three years. For example, somebody serving four years in prison may be excluded once from participating in the democratic process just like all of his/her other fellow Kiwis. I thought we were ‘one people’!?
Agreed, it makes a mockery of the historic goal of our democratic system: universal suffrage.
The removal of the franchise of prisoners is a mark on our storied record:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffrage#New_Zealand
Why exactly do u think prisoners should lose the right to vote puck ?
You have chosen, in breaking the law enough to be incarcerated, that you do not want to follow the laws of the country.
So while you're in prison you do not get to participate in the running of country, including the creating of laws, until you are out of prison.
Seems excessivly punitive to me dont we want them to retain a sense of belonging to the community ? What are we afraid of by letting them vote ?or is it just that "bread an water " thing ?
Breaking one law or even a couple of laws doesn’t mean complete and utter rejection of all society and doesn’t justify that society, in return, rejects all human rights of the convict. They’re convicted and sentenced to prison time, not to lose other human rights as well – it’s unlawful.
'They’re convicted and sentenced to prison time, not to lose other human rights as well – it’s unlawful.'
Are you sure thats what you really think?
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225507
18Freedom of movement
(2)Every New Zealand citizen has the right to enter New Zealand.
(3)Everyone has the right to leave New Zealand.
(4)No one who is not a New Zealand citizen and who is lawfully in New Zealand shall be required to leave New Zealand except under a decision taken on grounds prescribed by law.
Convince me otherwise, it’s not in your pasted text.
Those who break the law, Pucky, but don't get caught, can still vote, alright?
Hey puck sorry to ask u that question so far down the thread i hadnt realised you,d already run the gauntlet so to speak cause this morn i was reading from the bottom up trying to have a rest from the armchair generals !!
All good
Why give them back the vote after release? They flouted the laws. Why link it to time in prison?
Unless it's punishment?
Moronic reply
The question got the reply it deserved
Thank you, my woke-baiting, virtue-hating friend. End of debate- no, too strong a word, end of exchange.
I'm not your friend and if you think you can do better, join me and have a go yourself, theres plenty of roles all over NZ:
https://www.seek.co.nz/Corrections-Officers-jobs?sortmode=KeywordRelevance
BS argument, again, it is not about doing a better or worse job as Correction Officer. It’s about prisoners’ voting rights being taken away, unlawfully, may I add.
'It’s about prisoners’ voting rights being taken away, unlawfully, may I add.'
I wish it was.
I would take it away from those that already have it but its about giving it back to those that don't have it.
[By default, you cannot not have a basic human right, which would contravene the BORA.
If you want to play silly board games here I suggest you’d take the weekend off. This is your warning – Incognito]
Mod note
Sorry I'm not really sure how to reply to this because the double negative is a bit confusing.
Don’t be a dick in your comments and play stupid semantics games. The default state of a living in NZ is being free (i.e. not in prison unless convicted) and having voting rights (citizens and permanent residents).
I’ve warned you and am very close to revoking your commenting privileges here. As such, it is (much!) better if you don’t reply at all and simply take heed, which is why it was called a “warning” in the Mod note to you.
I think if someone has done something bad enough to be sent to prison for (and I believe its has to be pretty bad these days to get prison time) then they obviously do not care about breaking laws, then as part of the punishment, they should not get to vote or have a say in society.
I think I actually agree with Puckish Rogue.
Lovely, noted.
No you don't agree with PR because he says it's not punishment. cf 9.1.2.1 above
You’ll get the treatment you deserve, if you keep this up.
We both know how this is going to end so you may as well just ban me now.
Aren’t you a Correction Officer? So, why don’t you self-correct your debating skills and behaviour here and lift your game?
If it ends the way you want, you’ll get what you wish for.
Pucky's just being silly – give him the Spanish archer.
He may be silly, but is he stupid? That may be the key difference.
I think it's stupid for someone to drive moderators close to expelling them. So, yes 🙂
It’s never an easy call when I first wear my commenter hat and next my Moderator one. It seems to confuse people here so much that they cannot follow simple suggestions or guidelines and they seem to think that I want to ‘win’ by using any means, which would be grossly unfair, of course. Actually, it says a lot more about those confused people than about me – I just enjoy a good game of sparring.
It has been a silly thread – Puckish has repeatedly asserted that the ban on voting is justified, without giving any reason. How does the ban help rehabilitation,; why is it justified – and if the ability to vote is withdrawn, what else could be withdrawn? The assertion that it is illegal has been shown to be false, but also keeps getting repeated.
My view is that the ability to vote is one way of telling a prisoner that he or she are still New Zealanders; that they have a mind, and can make a difference; it is a recognition that they can make a difference without drugs, violence, or generally breaking laws. If removing the ability to vote is justified; where should the line be drawn – making meals cheaper by only requiring minimum nutritional needs are met? Penal labour gangs with menial work to demonstrate degradation? Removal of the ability to take education courses? I cannot see how the ability to vote reduces the likelihood of rehabilitation, or creates any significant problem for prison authorities; it just seems a petty restriction that in practice is unlikely to make much difference at all to the overall composition of parliament.
PR raised many good points but it was sad to see his self-strangulation with regard to the voting rights of prisoners.
Yes, indeed Prison is punishment. Oh my. And if people don't want to get deprived of their freedom and be incarcerated they better not break the law. Who knew?
Missing the point, it’s not about incarceration, it’s about voting rights. Keep up.
Item in this morning’s Herald. An Otago shopper ordered some non-perishable grocery items from Amazon Australia & saved 35%. 5 days to deliver. Maybe a one-off special but could be a good option for shoppers struggling to meet their weekly budget & if enough people did it might be a wake up call for our super ?markets.
[Link required – Incognito]
Funny thing was she saved about 40 NZD, so even by paying 15 for shipping she would have made a saving. Sad innit?
Whats sadest is contributing to the empire of lord bezos !
true that, that too is sad, but sadder still is the fact that these items were cheaper to be shipped here then bought here. but yeah, Bezos..lol
True Bezo's is getting your $, but if not him some other multi millionaire gets more of your $.
Shop local and hes a multi billionaire the second richest man in the world anyone else is poor as a church mouse by comparison
Thanks for that, I'm going to look it up
Mod note
Link for Herald Article
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/kiwi-shopper-saves-35-per-cent-ordering-groceries-from-australia/BL3RATPOZGLJQASWDRVY3DC4O4/
The article doesn't mention if she paid NZ GST on it.
If she didn't – which is still quite possible because it is still a bit voluntary last time I used the site via VPN, then the cost would have been over $130 including the freight.
Matthew Hooton claims Labour has "re-branded" Jacinda Ardern. Can't say I've noticed any change. She looks the same and she speaks the same. I suspect its another load of Hooton bullshit.
I don't do Herald subscription so if anybody can provide the link I wouldn't mind reading the article. Thanks.
Heh, National has done more than 'rebrand' their leader. They've changed the product five times since Ardern became PM.
English, Bridges, Muller, Collins, Luxon. Lest we forget.
Being in opposition certainly does lead to odd decisions by parties:
Goff, Shearer, Cunliffe, Little
Lest we forget.
Almost worth doing a post on Larry Fink's latest letter to shareholders, particularly since BlackRock controls US$10 Trillion in assets. None of which are in Russia.
Larry Fink’s Chairman's Letter to Shareholders | BlackRock
Those countries such as ourselves that have relied for the last 40 years on a free-trade rules-based order will need to draw ever closer to the more powerful countries and markets closest to us.
Fink also has useful things to say on the differing near-term and longer-term impacts on Net Zero goals from the current crises.
Fink as Chair has more financial power than all but the largest global government heads. So his advice is worth tracking.
The Perrenial Racist Winston Peters has come out against the Co-Governance Maaori Model, showing his true colours again. Seymour Guns and Winnie vying for the racist votes.
How bout stark contrasts : the first place getter an emblem of denialism, the old order & share bloody minded 'do what I want ': spark up the diesel burning Ford Ranger. The number two position , the future now, hitech & efficient: able to travel 350km for the price of a couple of lagers.Silicon wizardry hits the tarmac in the form if The Tesla. What greater sign of the denial vs acceptism could we get?
National resets all over the place…
He didn't explain why Tauranga is currently static. Could the retiring MP, a simple chap called Simon, be to blame? Nah, situation too complex.
Gosh, that sounds horribly like an intellectual challenge to his cohorts. Imagine the dismay. Conservatism is all about doing the same shit all the time. Trying something different is radical to any conservative. Talk about cat amongst pigeons. Female Nats entering an orgy of pearl-clutching will have to fight off male colleagues trying to clutch them too. Distract them with resets!
But there's more!
Now you might think he meant National 1.01 – you know, conservatives are traditional, blah blah blah. However the punctuation mark keeps failing to show up every time it gets mentioned. So I suspect they are trying to innovate – widening their recruitment pool to include the punctuationally-challenged. Most of the younger generations, in other words. Older Nats will struggle with all this new stuff…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/christopher-luxon-rolls-out-national-101-to-get-better-candidates-for-parliament/J74VDJJJHUC2QBIJDZ2HJDPX3E/
Heard on Newstalk ZB, that someone has just taken delivery of a new Tesla and received the $8,625? rebate, and two days later have listed it for sale at close to the full retail price saying "why wait 8 months for delivery". So he gets to pocket most of the $8,625 rebate if he can sell it close to retail price.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/tesla/model-3/listing/3517910603?bof=DPBYQA4i
I would wager the person will have no intention of paying tax on the profit either
I would wager that you are 100% correct.
Who was it Luxon ?
Might be Mallard
https://www.stuff.co.nz/editors-picks/6434238/Trevor-Mallard-I-m-no-ticket-scalper
And they have a good chance of selling it above list price as the vehicle is in the country so no waiting list and no shipping issues.
But hey, congrats on the entrepreneurial spirit!