I don't know what Chris Finlayson's been up to since he left Parliament but it hasn't killed his smarminess or his view that people other than he and his mates are stupid.
It was said on RNZ this morning that he was going back to contribute to getting the rules around the use of video from Parliament changed .
According to him the world has moved on and the rules need to be updated for the social media of today. We all know times move quickly and things move quickly.
We also know that the world didn't move that quickly in less than two years from when certain restrictions were included in the rules, to where they are no longer necessary.
Finlayson and his worthy leader no doubt had a part in formulating those rules. He is saying this brief time later that after the intellectual rigour they applied to constructing them the essence of part of them no longer applies?
What changed, what moved quickly is that they were no longer in power. What would have been argued on grounds of principle from high and mighty positions of power suddenly are being argued in a diametrically opposite way, ostensibly on grounds of principle.
The high and mighty are well suited to the worm holes. Finlayson should crawl back there.
Prior to becoming a politician Finlayson had a law practice which, as far as I know, continues to exist. I recall him saying on leaving politics that he was planning to resume his legal career.
That being the case then it is likely National hired him to represent them at the select committee hearing. That being the case then he would be representing his client (the Nats) and not himself.
As someone who seems to have specialised in copyright, contractural interpretation and other similar legal matters prior to entering parliament, then it seems probable Finlayson was hired in his capacity as a high flying barrister to represent them.
After all, they have lots of Chinese money at their disposal. You know… this "quid pro quo" thing which appears fashionable among some of the world's political elite these days.
I studied Latin for some years and while I came across many fine phrases (and use them occasionally,) sometimes English is great for being succinct and accurate.
Nice enough guy overtly @Anne…….shame about the sense of Tory entitlement and bitchiness he's adopted. Kind of a 'Dontcha know who I am?" – in an "I've paid my dues", sophisticated sort of way .
Better to just give him a knighthood and wish him a happy life in retirement. Maybe even a brass plaque on a front row seat in some remote venue where the NZSO plays.
Give him a bloody subscription for life even, or the keys to Miramar Penninsula, or even a guest column on Granny Herald
An interesting question for our times: why are so few Repugs willing to lift even their smallest finger to try to tame the turd tornado spattering up the walls of the Oval Office? After all, Pence would sign off on any judges the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him, and any tax cuts or other reactionary legislation, so it's not as if they would lose any ability to actually do anything.
I do hope that people in the USA are reading your comments Andre and that of other wise heads here. One can only hope that all the close attention we give to the USA here actually penetrates the outer stratosphere of the USA consciousness.
As for Brexit, it is also very interesting in all its manifestations as Halloween draws close.
One columnist spreads her interest wide to take in the Remainers.
Clever incompetents in Parliament have catastrophically overplayed their hand
The trouble with the Remainers is not their arrogant inability to grasp when they have lost, but their blindness to when they have won. So when Boris Johnson triumphantly returned from Brussels clutching the best bad deal possible, the eyes of MPs gunged up so quickly with spiteful, green anger that they failed to spot their finest chance to wreck Brexit.
Fatuous Remainer MPs have just become the useful idiots of the Leave cause – Sherelle Jacobs Daily Telegraph Columnist
Her image shows a 20-30 year old looking pleased with herself for getting a piece into the paper which comes from a different viewpoint – though a doubtfully valid one.
What a blast hearing Dogal Stevenson talking to John Campbell at this morning on TVNZ one ‘Breakfast’ show at 7.40am today when John asked Dogal; “what would you advise todays newreaders to do”?
Dogal said very carefully after deep reflection “well I would say to him; (from memory- my words)
“just loosen up, – you don’t want to be a slave to a BBC as an adjunct; – talk to your listeners audience as they are your own people, and you will receive far more empathy and respect for speaking the truth.”
Then from memory I recall Dogal said, he still searches for the truth as a newsreader, and mostly listens to RNZ as our public broadcaster, in the hope that that he is hearing the truth, and others are to biased today.
Yes we need to get that free to air public TV channel we were promised by Labour started soon as the election process is now in full swing putting out so much fake media hype now that is is often difficult to know what is the truth any more.
Yes public TV on a reasonable budget and no highly priced front people. Let's get able people who earn a reasonable screw and go for ugly ones – it's time we had our day in the sun.
"Yes we need to get that free to air public TV channel we were promised by Labour started soon as the election process is now in full swing "
As I replied to you @ Cleangreen once before (not sure if it was here or on TDB.)
Please don't hold your breath. You are probably already down as some disgruntled old coot whose vote won't make a difference in your twilight years anyway
Ideologically, the foxes are in charge of the chicken coup and the chickens are busy convincing their partners how dainty the taste of a Chardonnay is. So its better to just smile and watch them all jump off a cliff, and watch the onlookers clutch their pearls afterwards
chanting “Oooh! I say!”
Yes we are petty much stuffed now, like the movies always portray the masses as idiots when a huge disaster comes our way such as in the movie "The day after tomorrow
It correctly makes us all look quite stupid like chickens for sure. .
The hearing was mostly cordial, barring a stern rebuke from Mr Mallard to Massey University Professor Claire Robinson after her criticism of Labour's position.
The review was initiated after Labour complained that the Opposition had used official footage of Labour backbencher Deborah Russell without her permission in breach of one of Parliament's rarely enforced rules.
"But to be a vote for change Labour would have had to get more votes than National. In fact National got 20,574 more votes in 2017 than it did in 2014."
hello MMP is calling Claire…the left has multiple choice of parties.
And she lies by omission as National got less votes as a % of the total vote a whopping -2.59%. Saying they 'won' by getting more votes by number and by party was the National partys constant claim.
I keep getting good, hopeful feelings that problems are being dealt with in a timely, not time-wasting fashion, now that the Labour Coalition is in. Please God let this political do-wonders group stay in and we can have hope for the future. It can't please us all, all the time, but it is trying for most of the time. The others are gungy ghastly greedy and bottom-feeders.
They're trying @grey. But there's a lot of shit to push uphill and they've been slow to start, and slow to even recognise where many of the roadblocks are/have been.
Their worst enema comes from quite a few in the senior ranks of the public service. Now that I've come of age, I'm privy to the conversations and opinions of a bunch of retired senior public servants. I hadn't quite realised how much they're in agreement with what I've noticed quite independently of what they'd seen and experieinced. Kind of like a blatent display of a Master of the Universe culture, previously limited to the private sector.
Whereas once it was all a matter of self preservation through obfuscation, spin et al (as in "Yes Minister" fashion), NOW those same traits come with outright political partisanship in so many cases.
Not sure if it was in here or TDB that I was reminded of the word 'spiv' which reminded me of grifters, but its become a bit sad that many of the coalition MPs have taken this long (2 years in) to appreciate the level of 'pushback' that's occurred, and many still don't appear to have noticed how many of their 'officials' have the skills of the best used car salesman.
Some Ministers and MPs in the coalition are/have been simply too 'nice', and the used car salesmen are, and have taken advantage of it.
Pushing back, to the extent they're trying to show just who is boss; 'working to rule' on policies they dislike or don't agree with, slowing it all down; and crying victim if and when anyone even attempts to call them to account.
I'm glad you have confidence because what worries me most is that this government COULD be teetering on a loss come 2020, given a senior public service that's by and large its enemy and almost completely unaccountable for its many failures (a matter of record that could rival a bLip list, an almost non-existent 4th Estate, and an electorate that's becoming increasingly disinterested and feeling alienated.
If you’ve got one or two crystals I could clutch, I could return the favour, maybe as a tour guide to the new home of the Dalai Lama
The government is under fire for not going far enough with its Emissions Trading Scheme. Farmers won't have to start paying for their emissions until 2025, as long as they make progress in finding ways to measure and price emissions at the farm level. Greenpeace says the government's Emissions Trading Scheme shows pleas from tens-of-thousands of students for climate action have fallen on deaf ears. Corin speaks to the Climate Change Minister James Shaw in our Wellington studio.
and – Good work that engineer
8:15 am today
Engineer reveals dozens of building mistakes
From Morning Report, 8:15 am today 3.24m A structural engineer who helped trigger investigations into seismically-flawed building designs has revealed dozens of common but serious mistakes he is finding during reviews. The consequences of design faults include a 60-metre high transmission tower that snapped in half. Phil Pennington reports.
The way that builders go broke and don't pay their subbies is a shock to me, filled with the belief of building being one of our strong industries that was flourishing, blah blah. My relations just had a very nice house built and watched over it all the time, I think similar to a civil engineer as he is a retired builder. The supposed builder confessed that it was beyond him before the job was done, he was running a ponzi, paying off past debts from the current job, and it caught up with him. And he and his family were known to my relation, not fly-by-nights. In the end he was paid for the job, but didn't pay all his subbies, and my relation had to bargain with them to get them to sign off their work so the Council would issue a 'pass-notice' or whatever it's called. He had to pay some in full, so double for that part. Shocking! The house is pretty good but he had to finish off some parts himself. His knees are a bit shot, but he managed.
It should be a steady job and with good tradesmen getting good pay. But SNAFU is our codesign in NZ since neoliberalbloodyeconomics and the bloody Labourtroika/Treasury takeover. Can we pull ourselves out of the smelly bog – I hope.
Well I have heard queries about whether they are reliable but don't know. Why is the Master Builder crowd not being used more – don't know. My builder relation would have thought that knowing the person and his family, he would be okay.
People can look into the eyes of an assured bloke and form an opinion that their job knowledge and outcome will be okay. Silly but in law when you hold yourself out to be something then you should stand behind it and I guess that prompts people to accept others who seem to know what they are doing.
And on my 'namesake' day we received the word that an Iwi is challenging OMV CEO in an international court .
A good move there, – we all need to support them not leave them in solitude;.
We we wrote this in support today too.
CEAC support Iwi Leaders Group lawsuit against OMV CEO
25th October 2019.
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre.
CEAC support Climate change Iwi Leaders Group lawsuit against OMV CEO
On this ‘St Crispin’s day 25th October’, (a day that the English celebrate annually their victory against the French during the Agincourt 100yr war.)
We fully support the Iwi legal challenge against another polluter and ‘climate spoiler’ such as OMV is.
QUOTE;
“ An iwi leader has announced the initiation of a lawsuit to be filed at the International Criminal Court against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV”.
This was another very good Iwi policy that has considered the health ,safety and wellbeing of all citizens, and we commend the Iwi for making a bold stand against those corporate interests who wish harm upon our NZ citizens and we stand together with them in support and solitude.
No Right Turn nails it – shaw knows this stuff better than most and this is what he managed to sort – pathetic and disgraceful – if this is the big moment it fizzed worse than Dot-idiot and the big nothing.
Against this background, saying that agriculture, our biggest polluter, doesn't have to do anything until 2025 is committing to failure. And if we are to meet the emissions reduction targets necessary for human survival, it forces us towards policy paths that are extreme, like an actual cow-cull, rather than being able to reduce cow numbers by efficiency gains through the business cycle. We could afford to piss around like that in 2000, and maybe in 2008 (if we'd actually followed-through, rather than giving them a free ride). But now, we are out of time. You cannot compromise with physics, and anyone who thinks you can is trying to kill us. http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/10/climate-change-you-cannot-compromise.html
Well, I think take a tender for the jobs of running the country – and have each person with watchers who answer to the people for the performance of their lad or lass. . All coming from the citizens and having first done a public, civic management diploma and social anthropology one also, and also a farming and horticulture course – those being our main positive products. (Less emphasis on rockets and space, and more on food and maintaining the planet in a livable condition.)
They will be responsible for ensuring that the administration does what has been agreed upon in an appropriately professional way, getting the best out of staff while treating them with respect. We will save on paying wannabe celebrities with good hair and good teeth, who put in an appearance and say the things that suit their Party, performing when the key at their back is turned – for older; or the touch button is pressed – that's the younger ones.
I agree – imo disrespecting all of the climate action marchers, the school strikers, the people that WANT real change, disrespecting Greta and our children will only lead to misery for everyone
Picture this. Jacinda Ardern standing in the middle of Queen St on the bonnet of a tractor with her middle finger raised as ten of thousands of climate strikers stream by.
The Waitangi Tribunal has decided to hold an urgent inquiry into Oranga Tamariki's practices in taking Māori children from their mothers.
Chief Judge Wilson Isaac rejected Crown arguments that the issues should be examined in the current internal Oranga Tamariki inquiry or two others by the Children's Commissioner and Chief Ombudsman.
He said: "I conclude there are sufficient grounds for an urgent inquiry into a specific contemporary issue concerning a risk of significant and irreversible prejudice to Māori arising from current Oranga Tamariki policy and practice."
…Judge Isaac said the Tribunal would focus on two things:
"Having regard to the rising and disproportionately high number of tamariki Māori taken into state care under the auspices of Oranga Tamariki, is Crown legislation, policy and practice inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty and the Crown's Treaty duties to Māori? "
And:
"If so, what changes to Crown legislation, policy and practice are required to ensure Treaty compliance."
Revealed: how the FBI targeted environmental activists in domestic terror investigations
This article is more than 1 month old
Protesters were characterized as a threat to national security in what one calls an attempt to criminalize their actions.
Helen Yost, a 62-year-old environmental educator, has been a committed activist for nearly a decade. She says she spends 60 to 80 hours a week as a community organizer for Wild Idaho Rising Tide. She’s been arrested twice for engaging in non-violent civil disobedience.
Yost may not fit the profile of a domestic terrorist, but in 2014 the FBI classified her as a potential threat to national security. According to hundreds of pages of FBI files obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) lawsuit, and interviews with activists, Yost and more than a dozen other people campaigning against fossil fuel extraction in North America have been identified indomestic terrorism-related investigations.
The investigations, which targeted individual activists and some environmental organizations, were opened in 2013-2014, at the height of opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline and the expansion of fossil fuel production in North America.
The new Foia documents reveal the bureau’s motivation for investigating a broad cross-section of the environmental movement and its characterization of non-violent protesters as a potential threat to national security.
The new Foia documents reveal the bureau’s motivation for investigating a broad cross-section of the environmental movement and its characterization of non-violent protesters as a potential threat to national security.
However, in the file closing the case, it appears that Yost has been watchlisted, which is standard for named subjects of FBI domestic terrorism investigations, according to Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice. Being watchlisted can lead to heightened scrutiny from law enforcement and delays or additional screenings when traveling. Yost said she had not traveled overseas since the FBI investigation.
Yost, who was contacted by an FBI agent when the case was still active, said she was not surprised by the agency’s actions. Surveillance was a form of suppression, she said, and this was another attempt to criminalize the actions of “normal people” working to protect natural resources. But she remains undeterred.
The Wealthier countries need to step up and donate putea to help the poor country's of Te Papatuanuku. They have the lowest carbon footprint and will be suffering the most from Global warming that's a fact.
Almost $US10 billion pledged to help tackle climate change
Wealthier countries on Friday have promised nearly $US9.8 billion over the next four years to an international fund to help poorer nations develop cleanly and adapt to climate stresses.
Most of the donors making fresh contributions came from Europe, though New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Canada also committed funds, with New Zealand and South Korea pledging to double previous donations.
However, the United States will not contribute, because president Donald Trump decided to stop paying into the fund.
The funding is still a drop in the ocean compared with the estimated $3 trillion to $7 trillion a year needed to shift the world's economy onto a more sustainable and climate-friendly path, Mr Glemarec said
The fund so far has allocated about $5.2 billion to 111 projects in 99 countries.
They range from green, low-cost housing in Mongolia's polluted capital and a methane-fuelled rapid-transit bus system in Karachi to restoring climate-threatened ecosystems in Namibia
Time are changing fast our realities opinions can change just as fast now is the time to make sure that the information we are receiving is not being distorted by Wealthier people $$$$$$$$$$. In reality the best phenomenon for all is the best for Te Papatuanuku= equality for all equal income distribution and being caretaker of Papatuanuku and her creations for the next generations our mokopuna. Our society needs to learn respect our Tipuna and our mokopuna future respect for the past and future over our greed.
Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more?
It’s not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the ‘real’ facts – and now we can’t stop fighting about it.
We live in a time of political fury and hardening cultural divides. But if there is one thing on which virtually everyone is agreed, it is that the news and information we receive is biased. Every second of every day, someone is complaining about bias, in everything from the latest movie reviews to sports commentary to the BBC’s coverage of Brexit. These complaints and controversies take up a growing share of public discussion.
Much of the outrage that floods social media, occasionally leaking into opinion columns and broadcast interviews, is not simply a reaction to events themselves, but to the way in which they are reported and framed. The “mainstream media” is the principal focal point for this anger. Journalists and broadcasters who purport to be neutral are a constant object of scrutiny and derision, whenever they appear to let their personal views slip. The work of journalists involves an increasing amount of unscripted, real-time discussion, which provides an occasionally troubling window into their.
.
Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more? – podcast
This mentality now spans the entire political spectrum and pervades societies around the world. A recent survey found that the majority of people globally believe their society is broken and their economy is rigged. Both the left and the right feel misrepresented and misunderstood by political institutions and the media, but the anger is shared by many in the liberal centre, who believe that populists have gamed the system to harvest more attention than they deserve. Outrage with “mainstream” institutions has become a mass.
Public life has become like a play whose audience is unwilling to suspend disbelief. Any utterance by a public figure can be unpicked in search of its ulterior motive. As cynicism grows, even judges, the supposedly neutral upholders of the law, are publicly accused of personal bias. Once doubt descends on public life, people become increasingly dependent on their own experiences and their own beliefs about how the world really works. One effect of this is that facts no longer seem to matter (the phenomenon misleadingly dubbed “post-truth”). But the crisis of democracy and of truth are one and the same: individuals are increasingly suspicious of the “official” stories they are being told, and expect to witness things for themselves.
Reasons we cannot agree on what’s true |
On one level, heightened scepticism towards the establishment is a welcome development. A more media-literate and critical citizenry ought to be less easy for the
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There really is not much about Paula Bennett concerning her career trajectory, the policies she promoted, and most importantly, the socio-economic effect this had upon New Zealand (and particularly the most vulnerable in this, our oft-cited “egalitarian” society of this country) that can be said now that hasn’t already been ...
Don Franks Poverty, inequality – really – aren’t politicians paid to sort that stuff ? Why can’t they just get it together and come up with something fair and sensible? A cold rainy 2020 morning, a headline showed promise. “Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee an income of $325 a ...
A guest repost by Climate Science Legal Defense Fund (CSLDF) staff attorney Augusta Wilson. Fundraising is not the objective of this article but readers may wish to know that CSLDF is currently conducting a summer fundraiser to support defense of research scientists and research integrity from anti-science interference by politicians and industrial interests. The COVID-19 pandemic ...
Helloy… My name is Todd Muller and I am the leader of the National Party of New Zealand. Many people come up to me on the street and ask me who I am. I’m often walking through Tauranga, or in a mall in suburban Auckland, or maybe even a farmers’ ...
The US state of Mississippi has finally voted to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. Good. Its appalling that it was put there in the first place, but even more appalling that it took so long to remove it. Its basicly as if a German Länder still had ...
No one could have predicted when David Seymour’s End of Life Choice Bill was passed by Parliament last November that the referendum required to bring the legislation into force would be held against the backdrop of a deadly global pandemic. Since then, the mounting tally of casualties around the world ...
Paul GoldsmithYou can often tell just how effective a progressive policy proposal will be by how much the right wing criticise it. The more socially beneficial, the more vitriolic and unhinged they seem to become.That was the case when the Green Party announced their Poverty Action Plan yesterday. The response ...
Back at the beginning of April, when we had much else on our minds, I wrote this post urging some caution in interpreting the results of the latest Horizon poll, conducted in February, on voting intentions in this year's cannabis referendum, which was paid for by Helius Therapeutics.I wrote that ...
Over the weekend the Greens made their first election policy announcement, and promised transformational change: a more progressive tax system, with new rates applying to incomes of $100,000 and $150,000; a new wealth tax on net wealth over $1 million; and a guaranteed minimum income to eliminate poverty. Its bold, ...
Story of the Week... El Niño/La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Global Warming Is Melting Our Sense of Time Satellite image of smoke from active fires burning near the ...
. . Plague town? There are two things right now in Aotearoa New Zealand that are guaranteed to piss people off. Firstly, it’s National playing silly-bugger politics with the covid-19 pandemic. This cost Simon Bridges his job as National’s Leader. Lately, Michael Woodhouse has been playing fast and loose with ...
Tertiary fees in New Zealand versus Australia: Fees Are Important, but not as Important as Financing In Australia, the Education Minister Dan Tehan has proposed an overhaul of the existing higher education funding system to offer 39,000 additional study places by 2023 and 100,000 by 2030. The proposal has been ...
The latest opinion poll forecasts a landslide win by Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party, but when taken alongside other polling, it illustrates New Zealand politics remains volatile and the contest is still very open. According to the Colmar Brunton poll published by TVNZ last night, Labour would easily romp back ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 21 through Sat, June 27, 2020Editor's ChoiceFacebook creates fact-checking exemption for climate deniers Facebook is "aiding and abetting the spread of climate misinformation,” said Robert Brulle, an ...
The images and reports delivered to us by the world’s media leave us in no doubt that the rest of the world is still in the grip of a coronavirus pandemic that shows no signs of slackening, but is actually uncontrolled and picking up pace in many countries; and even ...
Minister of Health - David ClarkIf you follow politics at all in New Zealand, David Clark is likely a name you’re a bit familiar with. The current Minister of Health is perhaps the most disliked Member of Parliament at the moment, which amongst very stiff competition is really saying something. ...
SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Judging by the tweets, which is probably a bad idea, over lockdown, all of New Zealand found itself in front of The Chase every night at 5pm. It is a brilliant fomat: hardly anyone wins any money ...
SATURDAY JUNE 27Banksy and the Rise of Outlaw Art (Sky Arts, Sky 017, 8.00pm). There was graffiti before Banksy, but perhaps his pungent political messages hit home a bit harder. Anyways, a doco about his influence on street art featuring a bunch of cool people.SUNDAY JUNE 28Beat the Chasers (TVNZ 1, ...
We have been assailed by Fox News-style headlines, lurid stories of “a breach!”. An almost nuclear level disaster on the horizon scream, “Fiasco!” here, “Hero to Zero!” there… Oh quick, panic everyone!This has fueled an unbelievably stupid environment of panic among some, and spurred useless, counterproductive political ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A massive dust storm formed over the Sahara Desert last week and invaded the Caribbean over the June 20-21 weekend, bringing dangerous levels of air pollution and low visibility to the islands. The dust is accompanied by a large amount ...
Will the Covid Crisis lead to a dramatic redirection for New Zealand and the World? A hinge in history occurs where the past and present are connected but they point in different directions. Big hinges are rare but crucial in the development of humankind. Not in Narrow Seas identifies six. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industry New Zealand First is supporting calls by hunters and the New Zealand Tahr Foundation (NZTF) to halt a large scale cull of Himalayan Tahr by the Department of Conservation in National Parks. The calls are supported by a 40,000 strong petition and the ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First leader Winston Peters today scoffed at suggestions that a team of six political operatives have been dispatched to New Zealand to assist his campaign. ‘As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘there they go again.’ ‘The clickbait journos can’t ...
New Zealand First is pleased to announce Jenny Marcroft as the party’s election 2020 candidate for the Auckland Central electorate. Jenny spent years working in Auckland Central, having spent a vast proportion of her broadcasting career there. She says she, "knows the place and knows the people." Ms Marcroft says ...
New Zealanders deserve healthy rivers and lakes that are safe to swim in - but they have been getting worse for decades. That's why, with our latest announcement, we're investing in projects that will help clean up our rivers and lakes and restore them to health, within a generation. ...
This week we moved into the second half of 2020 - and our Government delivered another week of big changes and major progress for New Zealanders. Read below for a wrap of the key things moments from the week - from extending paid parental leave, to making major investments in ...
The Green Party has opposed the COVID-19 Recovery Fast-track Consenting Bill which shortcuts normal consenting processes under the Resource Management Act (RMA), reduces public participation and narrows environmental considerations. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Regional Economic Development A regional freight hub for the lower North Island will be built just northeast of Palmerston North, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Government is investing $40 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to designate and buy land and design ...
Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for the introduction of a Guaranteed Minimum Income to lift hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty and prevent more families entering into further debt with the Ministry of Social Development. ...
There has been renewed focus on New Zealand First acting as a handbrake on the Government after our decision to not support Auckland light rail. We are a handbrake for bad ideas, that istrue, but our track record since 2017 has seen New Zealand First constructively also serve as an ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP New Zealand First’s Fair Residency for Superannuation Bill passed its First Reading in Parliament today. The Bill makes a significant change to NZ Super by raising the minimum residency requirement from 10 to 20 years, after age 20. “Currently, a migrant of ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order A New Zealand First member’s bill in the name of Darroch Ball introducing a six-month minimum prison sentence for assaults on first responders has passed its second reading in Parliament. The new offence of "injuring a first responder or corrections officer with ...
Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Deputy Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First welcomes the launch of the new Criminal Cases Review Commission, gifted with the name from Waikato-Tainui - Te Kāhui Tātari Ture, announced in Hamilton today by Justice Minister Andrew Little. “New Zealand First has long believed in and ...
The Green Party is celebrating over $800m in new funding for green projects, which will get people into jobs while solving New Zealand’s long-term challenges. ...
Mark Patterson MP, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is appalled that Meridian seems to have been unnecessarily spilling water from its dams to drive up its profits."While New Zealanders have been coming together in some of our darkest hours, we don’t expect power gentailers to waste water and ...
We wrapped up the first half of 2020 with a busy month, taking additional steps to support New Zealanders as we continue with our economic recovery. We rolled out targeted packages to support key industries like tourism and construction, helped create jobs in the environmental and agriculture sectors, and set ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Infrastructure Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has welcomed the appointment of Maurice Davis and his deep infrastructure and construction experience to the board of the Infrastructure Commission. Mr Davis (Ngāti Maniapoto), is the seventh and final appointment to the board led by former Reserve Bank Governor ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand’s click bait journalism is taking a turn for the worse, with yet another example of sensationalist, wilful-misrepresentation of the facts. “New Zealand First has worked constructively with its Coalition partner on hundreds of pieces of legislation and policy, and ...
The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Rotorua Museum redevelopment and Whakarewarewa and Tokorangi Forest projects will be accelerated thanks to a $2.09 million Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) boost, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher ...
This week, we rolled out the next steps of our recovery plan, with new infrastructure investment, extra support for tourism operators, and a new programme to get Kiwis into agriculture careers. The global economic consequences of COVID-19 will continue to be a challenge, but we have a detailed plan to ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First welcomes the passage of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Bill through its final reading in Parliament today fulfilling a coalition agreement commitment. “This is an important step in saving the lives of New Zealanders and delivers a key coalition commitment ...
Whakatāne has been given a $2.5 million boost to speed up previously funded projects and create more than 450 jobs in the next decade. Of those, the equivalent of 160 full-time jobs could be delivered in the next six weeks. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is in town to make ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister Fletcher Tabuteau MP, Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $2.5 million to accelerate three infrastructure projects in Whakatāne, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “This package is about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones is throwing his weight behind a bid by the Auckland Council to fast-track the more than doubling of the city's water allowance from the Waikato River. And he's coming out strongly against anyone who plans on getting in the way of this campaign. "It is my ...
The Green Party is thrilled to see changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that mean consents for large projects can be declined if they will have significant climate change implications that are inconsistent with the Zero Carbon Act and Aotearoa New Zealand’s Paris Agreement obligations. ...
Hon Ron Mark, Minister of Defence The Royal New Zealand Navy’s new ship, Aotearoa, set sail for New Zealand on 10 June from the Republic of Korea, and is due to arrive in Auckland tomorrow, announced Minister of Defence Ron Mark. “Aotearoa is the Royal New Zealand Navy’s new fleet ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters has today welcomed the Racing Industry Bill passing its third reading, creating the legislative framework for revitalising the racing industry while limiting the need for future government intervention. “For too long our domestic racing industry has ...
The Green Party has today put forward an amendment to the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill to ensure all people in prisons can vote in general elections. ...
The Green Party welcomes the decision to not proceed with Public Public Investment (PPI) delivery of Auckland’s light rail project and to instead run the process through the public service. ...
Hon Ron Mark, New Zealand First List MP based in the Wairarapa New Zealand First List MP Hon Ron Mark welcomes the announcement of Provincial Growth Funding investment of $1.4 million to help secure the Wairarapa’s water supply. The funding boost will allow the Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC), and ...
New Zealand First list MP Mark Patterson has been selected to represent the party in the newly formed Taieri electorate at the upcoming election. Mr Patterson, his wife Jude and two daughters farm sheep and beef at Lawrence and Waitahuna. He previously stood in the Clutha-Southland electorate however boundary changes ...
Hon Shane Jones, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises A new ‘super depot’ to be built for NZ Post in Wellington will create around 350 jobs during construction, Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprises Shane Jones says. Shane Jones today attended a ground-breaking and blessing ceremony for the parcel-processing depot ...
Our strong economic management prior to COVID-19 - with surpluses, low debt and near-record-low unemployment - put us in a good position to weather the impact of the virus and start to rebuild our economy much earlier than many other countries.Now we're putting our plan to recover and rebuild ...
Darroch Ball MP, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Law and Order Recently released Police fleeing driver statistics have shown yet another increase in incidents with another record-high in the latest quarter. “This new quarterly record-high is the latest in a string of record-high numbers since 2014. The data shows incidents ...
New Zealand First MP Fletcher Tabuteau is pleased to be confirmed today as the party’s candidate for the Rotorua electorate. Speaking at the Rotorua AGM for New Zealand First, Mr Tabuteau said this is an election that is incredibly important for the people of Rotorua. “The founding principles of New ...
The Human Rights Commission’s PRISM report on the issues impacting people based on their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) provides an excellent programme of work for future governments to follow, say the Greens. ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the trans-Tasman bubble had not been jeopardised after aborder botch-upresulted in New Zealand having two active cases of COVID-19. On Friday, Mr Peters told RNZ's Morning Report he had heard from Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison that borders for trans-Tasman travel would open by ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health. Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline. ...
The Government is making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. We are: Extending temporary work visas due to expire by the end of 2020 ...
Professor Peter Skelton CNZM has been appointed as Chief Freshwater Commissioner and Alternate Environment Court Judge Craig James Thompson as Deputy Chief Freshwater Commissioner for the newly established Freshwater Planning Process (FPP). Environment Minister David Parker today also announced the appointment of Chief Environment Court Judge Laurie Newhook as the ...
Auckland Queen’s Counsel Neil Campbell has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Campbell graduated with a BCom and LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1992. He spent two years with Bell Gully Buddle Weir in Auckland before travelling to the United ...
The Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, Poto Williams, is seeking feedback on a proposal to better enable the development and operation of commercial film and video facilities in Christchurch. The Proposal, developed by Regenerate Christchurch in response to a request from Christchurch City Council, asks that powers under section ...
The Government has launched a bold plan to boost primary sector export earnings by $44 billion over the next decade, while protecting the environment and growing jobs. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today released Fit for a Better World – Accelerating our Economic Potential, a 10-year roadmap to unlock greater value ...
A new approach to prevent family harm that encourages greater collaboration across government and community groups is being celebrated at the opening of a new facility in Auckland. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today opened the Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm Prevention Hub Te Taanga Manawa in Lambie Road in Manukau. The facility ...
The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. “That decision needs to be informed by policy analysis that is still to be completed. As a result it will be up to a ...
The history of Rāpaki is being restored through the inclusion of te reo in thirteen official place names on Te Pātaka-o-Rākaihautū / Banks Peninsula and around Lyttelton Harbour/Whakaraupō, the Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage, announced today. “I am pleased to approve the proposals from Te Hapū o Ngāti ...
Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan Woods. “Last week Air Commodore Darryn Webb and I ...
Grant Robertson has today announced the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. “Today we’re setting out how $80 million will be invested, with $54 million of that over the 2020/2021 financial year for organisations from community level through to elite ...
The Government is maintaining current levy rates for the next 2 years, as part of a set of changes to help ease the financial pressures of COVID-19 providing certainty for businesses and New Zealanders, ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “New Zealanders and businesses are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a ...
Small businesses are getting greater certainty about access to finance with an extension to the interest-free cashflow loan scheme to the end of the year. The Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme has already been extended once, to 24 July. Revenue and Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says it will be ...
A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects put forward by local councils receiving $62 million and the Kaipara ...
Tena koutou katoa Nga tangata whenua o tenei rohe o Pōneke, tena koutou Nau mai, haere mai ki te hui a tau mo te roopu reipa Ko tatou! Ko to tatou mana! Ko to tatou kaupapa kei te kokiri whakamua Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa Welcome. I ...
The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $1.5 million to ensure QE Health in Rotorua can proceed with its world class health service and save 75 existing jobs, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development, Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. The PGF funding announced today is in addition to the $8 million ...
A new programme, which sets a firm course for the Building and Construction sector to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has been announced by the Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa. “A significant amount of New Zealand’s carbon emissions come from the building and construction sector. If we’re serious ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing more than $7.5 million in Northland ventures to combat the economic impact of the COVID-19 virus, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investment is going to the Northern Adventure Experience and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced significant funding for Auckland’s Northcote College as part of the first wave of a new nationwide school redevelopment programme to upgrade schools over the next 10 years. The $48.5 million project brings the total investment in Northcote College to ...
The Government has opened an urgent response fund to support schools and early learning services to get children and young people back on track after the Covid-19 lockdown. “While we are seeing improvements in attendance under Alert Level 1 Ministry of Education data shows that attendance rates in our schools ...
The law to boost the economic recovery from the impact of COVID-19 by speeding up resource consenting on selected projects has passed its second and third readings in the House today. “Accelerating nationwide projects and activities by government, iwi and the private sector will help deliver faster economic recovery and ...
Five port-related projects in Whanganui will receive a $26.75 million Provincial Growth Fund investment to support local economic recovery and create new opportunities for growth, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This is a significant investment that will support the redevelopment of the Whanganui Port, a project governed ...
Whanganui’s Sarjeant Gallery will receive an investment of up to $12 million administered by the Provincial Growth Fund to support its redevelopment, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The project is included in a $3 billion infrastructure pipeline announced by Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Shane Jones yesterday. ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing nearly $2.5 million into three Te Ara Mahi programmes to support Manawatū-Whanganui jobseekers and employees to quickly train and upskill, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Up to 154 local people will be supported into employment within the first year by these ...
This morning I have formally tendered my resignation as Minister of Health, which was accepted by the Prime Minister. Serving as Minister of Health has been an absolute privilege – particularly through these extraordinary last few months. It’s no secret that Health is a challenging portfolio. I have given ...
Scholarships for 57 early-career agricultural emissions scientists from 20 developing countries is another example of New Zealand’s international leadership in primary sector sustainability, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. Mr O’Connor, announcing the scholarships today, says hundreds of applications were received for this fourth round of the CLIFF-GRADS programme (Climate, Food ...
A project to help rejuvenate the Horowhenua town of Foxton will receive a Provincial Growth Fund investment of $3.86 million, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This funding for the Foxton Regeneration project will be used to make the well-known holiday town even more attractive for visitors and ...
Moa bones and other sub-fossil remains of extinct species are set to have improved protection with proposals to prevent the trade in extinct species announced the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. “We have lost too many of our native species, but these lost species, such as moa, remain an ...
The Government’s free and healthy school lunches programme moves south for the first time creating jobs for around 30 people in Otago and Southland. “Eighteen schools with 3000 students are joining the programme – 11 have already begun serving lunches, and seven are preparing to start during Term 3. This is ...
Thousands of Kiwi jobs and investment in New Zealand productions will be protected through a screen sector support package announced today by Associate Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford and Minister for Broadcasting Kris Faafoi. The package also includes investment in broadcasting ...
The Government has established a new $10 million fund for the domestic events sector to help save jobs and protect incomes as it recovers from the impacts of COVID-19, Minister of Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. This funding from Budget 2020 follows talks with the event sector designed to ...
The Government has taken another step in its commitment to making sure New Zealanders get a fairer deal at the petrol pump with the introduction of legislation to improve competition in the retail fuel market, says Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods. “The fuel market study that this Government ordered ...
New Zealand has joined a global initiative that aims to enable all countries to access a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters announced today. The COVAX Facility was recently launched by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The Alliance includes the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank ...
From today new legislation takes effect to both restore the right to legal representation at the start of a Care of Children (CoCA) dispute in the Family Court, and allow parties to those proceedings to access legal aid where eligible. During a visit to the Family Court in Auckland today, ...
Home-based early childhood education (ECE) subsidised by the government will transition to a fully qualified workforce by 2025 to ensure better and more consistent quality, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “Quality early learning helps provide children with a strong foundation for their future,” Chris Hipkins said. From 1 January ...
The new Criminal Cases Review Commission | Te Kāhui Tātari Ture (CCRC) has started work and can now independently investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “Even though we have appeal rights and safeguards against unsafe convictions, from time to time our justice system does get things wrong. The design of the ...
E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangatanga maha, tēnā koutou Ki a koutou Te Āti Awa, Taranaki Whānui, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, ngā mana whenua o te rohe nei, tēnā koutou Ko Te Whare Wānanga o Aotearoa ki ngā take o te Ao (NZIIA), Ko te Rōpū Tohu Tono ...
The Government’s increase to paid parental leave kicks in today with another 4 weeks taking New Zealand up to a full 6 months (26 weeks, up from 22 weeks) leave for new parents, and the maximum weekly payment will increase by $20pw, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. ...
A new package of infrastructure investments will help kick-start the post-COVID rebuild by creating more than 20,000 jobs and unlocking more than $5 billion of projects up and down New Zealand. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones today outlined how the $3 billion infrastructure fund in the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today expressed the New Zealand Government’s deep disappointment at the passage by China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee of a national security law for Hong Kong. “New Zealand has consistently emphasised its serious concern about the imposition of this legislation on Hong Kong without inclusive ...
More jobs and more family time with newborns are the centrepiece of a suite of Government initiatives coming into effect today. July 1 is a milestone day for the Government as a host of key policies take effect, demonstrating the critical areas where progress has been made. “The Coalition Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Vaz, Senior Lecturer, Department of Banking and Finance, Monash University The reimposition of stage 3 restrictions on metropolitan Melbourne is, as Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says, a matter of life or death. That’s also true for small businesses. A further six ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW After early success in suppressing COVID-19, we are facing a resurgence in Victoria, which is threatening disease control for the whole country. Outbreaks in northwestern ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin, 6 July 2020 Three Citizenships The concept of ‘citizenship’ has both general and specific meanings. Keith Rankin. The most specific and familiar I call passport citizenship. A passport citizen of a country is a person holding a passport for that country, or with unambiguous entitlement to ...
Minister of Health and State Services Chris Hipkins says he is disappointed the leak of Covid-19 patient details involved politicians, but he does not want to prejudice the investigation. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is rejecting accusations he influenced the outcome of a report saying Ports of Auckland should shift to Northland. ...
Wellington’s newspaper, The Dominion-Post, gave it to its readers straight: “I’m no saviour”—Ardern rejects saintly status”. But would the crowd of 500 attending Labour’s Congress have believed it? They had stamped and cheered when, in opening the event, Peter Samuel Jackson (no, not the film director) had said: “We have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Victorian government will lock down all metropolitan Melbourne for six weeks from Wednesday night, as a new wave of the coronavirus takes hold in the city. The lockdown will also cover the Mitchell Shire, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, one question that keeps coming up is whether COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. In fact, 239 scientists in 32 countries have written an ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Victorian government will lock down all metropolitan Melbourne for six weeks from Wednesday night, as a new wave of the coronavirus takes hold in the city. The lockdown will also cover the Mitchell Shire, ...
Transport Minister and senior Labour MP Phil Twyford has joined forces with his former colleague and now Auckland Mayor Phil Goff against New Zealand First and the party's push to move the port north. ...
The admissions by Walker and veteran spin doctor Michelle Boag follow the government’s announcement yesterday of a sweeping inquiry to find the source of the leak.National MP Hamish Walker has disclosed that he engineered a privacy breach over the weekend when he purposefully released the personal details of Covid-19 patients ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Russo, Associate Professor, Director Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University Metropolitan Melbourne and the shire of Mitchell will returned to Stage 3 stay-at-home restrictions as of midnight Wednesday, Premier Daniel Andrews has announced, after 191 new cases were ...
A National MP has outed himself as the source of media reports about a confidential Covid-19 patient data breach National's Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker has confessed to sharing the private information of Covid-19 patients with media, after the Government launched a high-powered inquiry to determine the source of the data breach. ...
"I have spoken to National Party Leader Todd Muller and informed him that I passed to members of the media, by email, information containing Covid-19 patient details that was given to me by a source." ...
I have spoken to National Party Leader Todd Muller and informed him that I passed to members of the media, by email, information containing Covid-19 patient details that was given to me by a source. I did this to expose the Government’s shortcomings ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, University of Melbourne When a recession hits, no group of workers is immune. But some are harder hit than others. The latest labour market figures are giving us a good idea of who is being hardest hit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Wilcox, Lecturer in Music and Sound Design, University of Technology Sydney Prolific composer Ennio Morricone has died in Rome at the age of 91. From his origins in Italian radio, Morricone became renowned internationally as a groundbreaking film composer. Composing over ...
One of the "bad boys of Brexit" who believes in political campaigns that are blunt and edgy has been hired to help with NZ First's election campaign, a UK newspaper is reporting. ...
Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says: “Auckland Council has released a statement to media boasting that, based on submissions to the Emergency Budget, a majority of Aucklanders support its rates increase. What the Council fails ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand said it repeatedly warned the government an attack like that on March 15 last year was possible. Today, it released the evidence.Within days of the March 15 mosque attacks, while the names of the dead were still being recorded, Anjum Rahman of the ...
In the 90s, the so-called information superhighway was more of a dirt road. Now it’s a multi-lane motorway. Vodafone NZ’s Sharina Nisha explains the technology that makes it all possible.They used to call it the information superhighway. Back in the heady days of the 1990s, the term was used to ...
Air New Zealand are temporarily suspending new international bookings to New Zealand to ensure that all arrivals can be accommodated in a managed isolation or quarantine facility. But as more countries open their borders to foreigners, including Kiwis, ...
Greenpeace says the newly released Government plan for the Primary Sector is a missed opportunity to build back better. The plan Fit for a Better World - Accelerating our Economic Potential , was released by Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday. It aims to map ...
Organisations representing a cross section of New Zealand industries are alarmed that no decision has been made on the fate of thousands of temporary workers with visas about to expire. ...
After three decades in existence, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust has launched its own gallery on Auckland’s Karangahape Road.The first thing that hits you entering Tautai Gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Moana Legacy, is the range of works on show. On one huge wall is a mural of black humanoid crocodiles on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sue McIntyre, Honorary Professor, Australian National University Last week we learned woody vegetation in New South Wales is being cleared at more than double the rate of the previous decade – and agriculture was responsible for more than half the destruction. Farming ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chongyi Feng, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney Chinese law professor Xu Zhangrun, who completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne, has become the latest high-profile critic of President Xi Jinping to be silenced for his views. It’s ...
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Latest from the Beehive Readers are increasingly being introduced to Te Reo by a government which eschews prosaic names that simply and functionally reflect an agency’ purpose – such as Ministry of Forestry. Consistent with the discarding of plain English, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has opened a Multi-Disciplinary Family Harm ...
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Rather than MPs rushing to regulate vaping in the last few days of this Parliamentary term, the bill’s many complexities should be debated after the General Election, says Nancy Loucas, co-director of Aotearoa Vapers Community Advocacy (AVCA). Parliament ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand will share parts 1 and 2 of the submission we presented to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Attacks. The aim is to ensure New Zealand is fully informed about the efforts IWCNZ took prior ...
Irrigation New Zealand is greatly encouraged by the fact that the Government has today recognised the “transformational opportunity” water storage provides for New Zealand as part of our post-Covid economic recovery. Water storage was acknowledged ...
The Taxpayers’ Union cannot believe that New Zealand First is importing foreign political consultants, presumably because no New Zealanders are suitable, or perhaps willing, for NZ First campaign roles. Union spokesperson Jordan Williams says: “Winston ...
Retailers upset by the Government’s blinkered restrictions on vaping products say they feel shut out and ignored given the outcome of the select committee process. New Zealand Association of Convenience Stores (NZACS) Executive Director, Dave Hooker, ...
The MakeItLegal campaign has today welcomed the website on cannabis legalisation from the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. “It is essential that people have reliable and factual information to help them decide how to vote in the cannabis ...
Responding to National MP Nicola Willis’s statement that National was wrong to sell so much state housing, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “What a weak capitulation to left-wing ideology.” “Selling a state house ...
The Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand are sharing parts 1 and 2 of the submission we presented to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Mosque Attacks. The aim is to ensure New Zealand is fully informed about the efforts IWCNZ took prior ...
An interesting tale of international diplomacy has emerged over NZ’s decision to turn next year’s round of APEC meetings – including the leaders’ summit – into a virtual event. NZ had to fight off a determined bid by the 2020 host, Malaysia, which hoped it could have its hosting rights ...
Members of New Zealand’s Indian community rallied in Auckland on Sunday to raise awareness about threats to their homeland’s democracy from the rise of right-wing Hindu nationalism. As the world’s second-most populous nation grapples with a burgeoning pandemic and deepening political and social division, about 25 protesters gathered in Auckland’s Aotea ...
CEAC applauds professor Mike Joy as NZ’s leading environmental ecologists tireless efforts to enlighten ‘successive Governments’ over the pollution of our waterways and promoting best practice paths of cleaning up of our waterways over successive ...
Almost 170 years ago, Māori political processes were interrupted and displaced by a new, enforced electoral system. Researcher Jo Waitoa dispels the myth that voter turnout and political participation are the same thing. Read more of the The Spinoff’s Election 2020 coverage here.Māori political participation has a long and enduring tradition ...
After previously stonewalling inquiries on the matter, Leave.EU ‘bad boy’ Arron Banks has told a UK newspaper he is sending a team to New Zealand to work on Winston Peters’ NZ First campaign. Justin Giovannetti reports. New Zealand First has hired a crew of political operators from one of the most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Campbell, Senior research fellow and ARC Future Fellow, Monash University Lithium is used in everything from medication to mobile phone batteries, but where does it come from? We know it is mined here on Earth, but where it is created in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janak Rogers, Associate Lecturer, Broadcast Journalism, RMIT University The case for a more diverse and representative media should be clear by now – it’s been made time and time again. But it’s instructive to take stock every now and then. Over the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Lee, Professor at the National Drug Research Institute (Melbourne) and Director at 360Edge, Curtin University The “hard lockdown” of nine public housing towers in Melbourne has no doubt brought an array of challenges for the thousands of residents. For people who ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ryan R. Witt, Conjoint Lecturer | School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle This article is a preview from Flora, Fauna, Fire, a multimedia project launching on Monday July 13. The project tracks the recovery of Australia’s native plants and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Turney, Professor of Earth Science and Climate Change, Director of the Changing Earth Research Centre and the Chronos 14Carbon-Cycle Facility at UNSW, and Node Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, UNSW Evidence of minute amounts ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Isaac Gross, Lecturer in Economics, Monash University Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has spent billions trying to save us from recession. The winding down of JobKeeper scheduled for September means he’ll have to spend billions more. Many of the stimulus measures talked about are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hassan, Professor, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne Spoiler alert: this story details how The War of the Worlds ends. The latest screen adaption of H. G. Wells’ 1898 modern masterwork The War of the Worlds will hit our ...
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level one – read about what that means here. For official government advice, see here.The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Problems looming for temporary visa holders, state house waiting list balloons again, and US ban could hit NZ seafood exports.There are some real problems looming for temporary visa holders and their employers, with thousands set to expire all once, reports Nona ...
Publisher Stuff is turning its back on Facebook. Anna Rawhiti-Connell explains why, and how that might affect readers In a bold move, one of our biggest media companies announced on Monday it will cease all activity on Facebook and Instagram for an unspecified time. Stuff’s action follows in the wake ...
A call by Peter Gluckman, Helen Clark and Rob Fyfe for a 'conversation' on opening our border lacks serious economic analysis and ignores real risks to New Zealanders, writes Geoff Bertram From the start of the coronavirus pandemic there has been a steady drumbeat of demands from tourism and other ...
A new port report before Cabinet is a U-turn on the last one, which recommended Auckland's port be moved to Northland Moves to shift Auckland's port from the CBD to Northland have ground to a halt on the back of a new report before Cabinet that suggests Manukau Harbour is a better option. ...
Sarah Cowley Ross sits down with Mary Thompson, one of New Zealand's great sports volunteers, who's given much of her life to netball. Mary Thompson clearly remembers the conversation with Dame Lois Muir. It was during Thompson’s stint as president of Bay of Plenty Netball, and two candidates had applied to ...
Matt Bartlett explains why Facebook should come to see political advertising and its challenges in the same way as Twitter Even before Covid-19 prevented most of us from leaving our homes, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter had become society’s main public square. We gather online in Facebook and ...
Cat MacLennan argues there's scanty evidence for a decision to rule footage of a sharemilker beating cows with a metal pole inadmissible on the grounds it would encourage more undercover filming The judge in the cow cruelty case of Ministry for Primary Industries v Luke ruled that hidden camera film footage ...
I’m one of many applauding the Government’s decision to prescribe the teaching of New Zealand history in our schools. But wait – prescription – isn’t that anathema to the Ministry of Education? We now have a localised curriculum, with the national document giving guidelines only. It’s up to schools to ...
An author finds historical parallels with the dog-whistling comments made by Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker. The recent race-based comments by the Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker have been described as “disgraceful, scaremongering and racist”. But I found them fascinatingly familiar. My wife Jenny and I, both Otago-born teachers, lived in Central ...
Open mike 25/10/2019 
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Sneeky
I don't know what Chris Finlayson's been up to since he left Parliament but it hasn't killed his smarminess or his view that people other than he and his mates are stupid.
It was said on RNZ this morning that he was going back to contribute to getting the rules around the use of video from Parliament changed .
According to him the world has moved on and the rules need to be updated for the social media of today. We all know times move quickly and things move quickly.
We also know that the world didn't move that quickly in less than two years from when certain restrictions were included in the rules, to where they are no longer necessary.
Finlayson and his worthy leader no doubt had a part in formulating those rules. He is saying this brief time later that after the intellectual rigour they applied to constructing them the essence of part of them no longer applies?
What changed, what moved quickly is that they were no longer in power. What would have been argued on grounds of principle from high and mighty positions of power suddenly are being argued in a diametrically opposite way, ostensibly on grounds of principle.
The high and mighty are well suited to the worm holes. Finlayson should crawl back there.
Prior to becoming a politician Finlayson had a law practice which, as far as I know, continues to exist. I recall him saying on leaving politics that he was planning to resume his legal career.
That being the case then it is likely National hired him to represent them at the select committee hearing. That being the case then he would be representing his client (the Nats) and not himself.
No . he hasnt 'resumed his' previous legal practice. He has moved to Auckland ( where the money is) to work as an high end arbitrator and barrister
https://www.bankside.co.nz/barrister/hon-christopher-finlayson-qc/
That's interesting. Thanks Dukeofurl.
As someone who seems to have specialised in copyright, contractural interpretation and other similar legal matters prior to entering parliament, then it seems probable Finlayson was hired in his capacity as a high flying barrister to represent them.
After all, they have lots of Chinese money at their disposal. You know… this "quid pro quo" thing which appears fashionable among some of the world's political elite these days.
The legal fraternity love their Latin phrases so here’s one that’s quite fitting IMO: cui bono?
I studied Latin for some years and while I came across many fine phrases (and use them occasionally,) sometimes English is great for being succinct and accurate.
Like "the man is an arsehole."
Nice enough guy overtly @Anne…….shame about the sense of Tory entitlement and bitchiness he's adopted. Kind of a 'Dontcha know who I am?" – in an "I've paid my dues", sophisticated sort of way .
Better to just give him a knighthood and wish him a happy life in retirement. Maybe even a brass plaque on a front row seat in some remote venue where the NZSO plays.
Give him a bloody subscription for life even, or the keys to Miramar Penninsula, or even a guest column on Granny Herald
Well said peter.; – "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
but we must not allow our own photo images to be used for political gain without our consent.
An interesting question for our times: why are so few Repugs willing to lift even their smallest finger to try to tame the turd tornado spattering up the walls of the Oval Office? After all, Pence would sign off on any judges the Heritage Foundation puts in front of him, and any tax cuts or other reactionary legislation, so it's not as if they would lose any ability to actually do anything.
Is it simple partisan loyalty?
https://fortune.com/2019/10/21/republican-senators-impeachment/
Are modern day Repugs entirely driven by 'triggering the libs' and Pence just won't do that as effectively as the flambee'd freakshow?
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/10/8/20903433/pence-trump-impeachment-conservatives
Personally, I'm still going with they're too busy quivering in fear that Darth Hater would open a can of Whoopass on their spineless husks.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/10/24/the-fantasy-of-republicans-ditching-trump-229879
I do hope that people in the USA are reading your comments Andre and that of other wise heads here. One can only hope that all the close attention we give to the USA here actually penetrates the outer stratosphere of the USA consciousness.
As for Brexit, it is also very interesting in all its manifestations as Halloween draws close.
One columnist spreads her interest wide to take in the Remainers.
The trouble with the Remainers is not their arrogant inability to grasp when they have lost, but their blindness to when they have won. So when Boris Johnson triumphantly returned from Brussels clutching the best bad deal possible, the eyes of MPs gunged up so quickly with spiteful, green anger that they failed to spot their finest chance to wreck Brexit.
Fatuous Remainer MPs have just become the useful idiots of the Leave cause – Sherelle Jacobs Daily Telegraph Columnist
Her image shows a 20-30 year old looking pleased with herself for getting a piece into the paper which comes from a different viewpoint – though a doubtfully valid one.
" One can only hope that all the close attention we give to the USA here actually penetrates.."
Do really believe that ? the Guardian especially has far better writers and columnists, a world wide syndication and yet no one takes any notice
Did anyone watch the interview between John Campbell with Dogal Stevenson (the famous 1960’s news reporter)on TVNZ one Breakfast show today?
What a gem, here's my memory of it.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/10/25/special-report-to-save-democracy-we-must-make-the-media-our-own/#comment-479698
Todays blog.
What a blast hearing Dogal Stevenson talking to John Campbell at this morning on TVNZ one ‘Breakfast’ show at 7.40am today when John asked Dogal; “what would you advise todays newreaders to do”?
Dogal said very carefully after deep reflection “well I would say to him; (from memory- my words)
“just loosen up, – you don’t want to be a slave to a BBC as an adjunct; – talk to your listeners audience as they are your own people, and you will receive far more empathy and respect for speaking the truth.”
Then from memory I recall Dogal said, he still searches for the truth as a newsreader, and mostly listens to RNZ as our public broadcaster, in the hope that that he is hearing the truth, and others are to biased today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96745495/labour-promises-freetoair-rnz-tv-channel
Yes we need to get that free to air public TV channel we were promised by Labour started soon as the election process is now in full swing putting out so much fake media hype now that is is often difficult to know what is the truth any more.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96745495/labour-promises-freetoair-rnz-tv-channel?rm=a
.
Yes public TV on a reasonable budget and no highly priced front people. Let's get able people who earn a reasonable screw and go for ugly ones – it's time we had our day in the sun.
"Yes we need to get that free to air public TV channel we were promised by Labour started soon as the election process is now in full swing "
As I replied to you @ Cleangreen once before (not sure if it was here or on TDB.)
Please don't hold your breath. You are probably already down as some disgruntled old coot whose vote won't make a difference in your twilight years anyway
Ideologically, the foxes are in charge of the chicken coup and the chickens are busy convincing their partners how dainty the taste of a Chardonnay is. So its better to just smile and watch them all jump off a cliff, and watch the onlookers clutch their pearls afterwards
chanting “Oooh! I say!”
OncewasTim.
Yes we are petty much stuffed now, like the movies always portray the masses as idiots when a huge disaster comes our way such as in the movie "The day after tomorrow
It correctly makes us all look quite stupid like chickens for sure. .
Can I sing 'Rule Britannia" one last time ?
Bond, James Bond .. no relation to Boris.
I wondered about this. What is the reasonable position on it?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/401733/parliament-tv-attack-ads-speaker-reprimands-academic-over-comments
The hearing was mostly cordial, barring a stern rebuke from Mr Mallard to Massey University Professor Claire Robinson after her criticism of Labour's position.
The review was initiated after Labour complained that the Opposition had used official footage of Labour backbencher Deborah Russell without her permission in breach of one of Parliament's rarely enforced rules.
This is the only audio I can find. https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018719271
Claire Robinson…. always finds way to twist the narrative to favour national
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/08-10-2017/election-2017-a-vote-for-the-status-quo/
"But to be a vote for change Labour would have had to get more votes than National. In fact National got 20,574 more votes in 2017 than it did in 2014."
hello MMP is calling Claire…the left has multiple choice of parties.
And she lies by omission as National got less votes as a % of the total vote a whopping -2.59%. Saying they 'won' by getting more votes by number and by party was the National partys constant claim.
I keep getting good, hopeful feelings that problems are being dealt with in a timely, not time-wasting fashion, now that the Labour Coalition is in. Please God let this political do-wonders group stay in and we can have hope for the future. It can't please us all, all the time, but it is trying for most of the time. The others are gungy ghastly greedy and bottom-feeders.
They're trying @grey. But there's a lot of shit to push uphill and they've been slow to start, and slow to even recognise where many of the roadblocks are/have been.
Their worst enema comes from quite a few in the senior ranks of the public service. Now that I've come of age, I'm privy to the conversations and opinions of a bunch of retired senior public servants. I hadn't quite realised how much they're in agreement with what I've noticed quite independently of what they'd seen and experieinced. Kind of like a blatent display of a Master of the Universe culture, previously limited to the private sector.
Whereas once it was all a matter of self preservation through obfuscation, spin et al (as in "Yes Minister" fashion), NOW those same traits come with outright political partisanship in so many cases.
Not sure if it was in here or TDB that I was reminded of the word 'spiv' which reminded me of grifters, but its become a bit sad that many of the coalition MPs have taken this long (2 years in) to appreciate the level of 'pushback' that's occurred, and many still don't appear to have noticed how many of their 'officials' have the skills of the best used car salesman.
Some Ministers and MPs in the coalition are/have been simply too 'nice', and the used car salesmen are, and have taken advantage of it.
Pushing back, to the extent they're trying to show just who is boss; 'working to rule' on policies they dislike or don't agree with, slowing it all down; and crying victim if and when anyone even attempts to call them to account.
I'm glad you have confidence because what worries me most is that this government COULD be teetering on a loss come 2020, given a senior public service that's by and large its enemy and almost completely unaccountable for its many failures (a matter of record that could rival a bLip list, an almost non-existent 4th Estate, and an electorate that's becoming increasingly disinterested and feeling alienated.
If you’ve got one or two crystals I could clutch, I could return the favour, maybe as a tour guide to the new home of the Dalai Lama
Edit
James Shaw gave an excellent interview.
environment Emissions trading scheme under fire
From Morning Report, 8:24 am today Listen duration 5′ :50″
The government is under fire for not going far enough with its Emissions Trading Scheme. Farmers won't have to start paying for their emissions until 2025, as long as they make progress in finding ways to measure and price emissions at the farm level. Greenpeace says the government's Emissions Trading Scheme shows pleas from tens-of-thousands of students for climate action have fallen on deaf ears. Corin speaks to the Climate Change Minister James Shaw in our Wellington studio.
and – Good work that engineer
8:15 am today
Engineer reveals dozens of building mistakes
From Morning Report, 8:15 am today 3.24m
A structural engineer who helped trigger investigations into seismically-flawed building designs has revealed dozens of common but serious mistakes he is finding during reviews. The consequences of design faults include a 60-metre high transmission tower that snapped in half. Phil Pennington reports.
I have relatives in the building industry. 'Cowboys' would be a polite description.
The way that builders go broke and don't pay their subbies is a shock to me, filled with the belief of building being one of our strong industries that was flourishing, blah blah. My relations just had a very nice house built and watched over it all the time, I think similar to a civil engineer as he is a retired builder. The supposed builder confessed that it was beyond him before the job was done, he was running a ponzi, paying off past debts from the current job, and it caught up with him. And he and his family were known to my relation, not fly-by-nights. In the end he was paid for the job, but didn't pay all his subbies, and my relation had to bargain with them to get them to sign off their work so the Council would issue a 'pass-notice' or whatever it's called. He had to pay some in full, so double for that part. Shocking! The house is pretty good but he had to finish off some parts himself. His knees are a bit shot, but he managed.
It should be a steady job and with good tradesmen getting good pay. But SNAFU is our codesign in NZ since neoliberalbloodyeconomics and the bloody Labourtroika/Treasury takeover. Can we pull ourselves out of the smelly bog – I hope.
The Master Builders still exist and they guarantee their work, do they not?
https://www.masterbuilder.org.nz/RMBA/Master_Build_Guarantee/RMBA/MB_Guarantee/GuaranteeHome.aspx
Well I have heard queries about whether they are reliable but don't know. Why is the Master Builder crowd not being used more – don't know. My builder relation would have thought that knowing the person and his family, he would be okay.
People can look into the eyes of an assured bloke and form an opinion that their job knowledge and outcome will be okay. Silly but in law when you hold yourself out to be something then you should stand behind it and I guess that prompts people to accept others who seem to know what they are doing.
One of the characteristics of the criminally inclined is that they can appear honest.
Another human chararacteristic is that family members will kill other family members on contract, as we learn today from a trial in Nelson.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/116818971/pair-sentenced-for-murder-of-nelson-woman
Spammers, ponzi schemes, crooked employers, employees, companies evading reponsibilities, cowboys, fly by nighters, human traffickers, exploiters everywhere.
And that's on a good day……………….
@ mac1. Why not find out yourself then tell us all if you are right.
And on my 'namesake' day we received the word that an Iwi is challenging OMV CEO in an international court .
A good move there, – we all need to support them not leave them in solitude;.
We we wrote this in support today too.
CEAC support Iwi Leaders Group lawsuit against OMV CEO
25th October 2019.
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre.
CEAC support Climate change Iwi Leaders Group lawsuit against OMV CEO
On this ‘St Crispin’s day 25th October’, (a day that the English celebrate annually their victory against the French during the Agincourt 100yr war.)
• It was fitting that we were sent this important press release on this day.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1910/S00504/iwi-leader-launches-criminal-lawsuit-against-omv-ceo.htm
We fully support the Iwi legal challenge against another polluter and ‘climate spoiler’ such as OMV is.
QUOTE;
“ An iwi leader has announced the initiation of a lawsuit to be filed at the International Criminal Court against Rainer Seele, the CEO of Austrian oil giant OMV”.
This was another very good Iwi policy that has considered the health ,safety and wellbeing of all citizens, and we commend the Iwi for making a bold stand against those corporate interests who wish harm upon our NZ citizens and we stand together with them in support and solitude.
END
No Right Turn nails it – shaw knows this stuff better than most and this is what he managed to sort – pathetic and disgraceful – if this is the big moment it fizzed worse than Dot-idiot and the big nothing.
Would it be possible to replace Westminster with with an algorithm run by .. oh, Zuckerberg ?
Think of the cost savings, efficiencies, and 'improvements' in democratic process.
Well, I think take a tender for the jobs of running the country – and have each person with watchers who answer to the people for the performance of their lad or lass. . All coming from the citizens and having first done a public, civic management diploma and social anthropology one also, and also a farming and horticulture course – those being our main positive products. (Less emphasis on rockets and space, and more on food and maintaining the planet in a livable condition.)
They will be responsible for ensuring that the administration does what has been agreed upon in an appropriately professional way, getting the best out of staff while treating them with respect. We will save on paying wannabe celebrities with good hair and good teeth, who put in an appearance and say the things that suit their Party, performing when the key at their back is turned – for older; or the touch button is pressed – that's the younger ones.
I agree – imo disrespecting all of the climate action marchers, the school strikers, the people that WANT real change, disrespecting Greta and our children will only lead to misery for everyone
Ethnic cleansing seems to be all good with the No 2 Repug in the Senate:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/john-cornyn-defends-trump-kurds_n_5db1a0f3e4b0131fa99a9fba
well as the orange hostage taker once said
"He (they) knew what he (they) signed up for.
and besides He – the orange hostage taker – is also known for stiffing his contractors. so really they knew what they signed up for, right?
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2017/10/18/trump-says-fallen-soldier-knew-signed/
Here is the UK House of Commons with Q&A. How do we compare – I know I should listen and watch our Parliament but I am remiss about this.
Our QA starts with a Question. Theirs starts with background then the question.
And the initial question is a single question then next one on a different topic.
I can't keep track of UK Q&A!
This is brave, comedian Kelly Bachman telling Harvey Weinstein 'Fuck you' when he's in the audience at an event for young actors,
(cheers from the women, boos from the men).
Good job, those women!
Good on her.
and fuck him for having the gall to attend.
Good this is happening.
Revealed: how the FBI targeted environmental activists in domestic terror investigations
This article is more than 1 month old
Protesters were characterized as a threat to national security in what one calls an attempt to criminalize their actions.
Helen Yost, a 62-year-old environmental educator, has been a committed activist for nearly a decade. She says she spends 60 to 80 hours a week as a community organizer for Wild Idaho Rising Tide. She’s been arrested twice for engaging in non-violent civil disobedience.
Yost may not fit the profile of a domestic terrorist, but in 2014 the FBI classified her as a potential threat to national security. According to hundreds of pages of FBI files obtained by the Guardian through a Freedom of Information Act (Foia) lawsuit, and interviews with activists, Yost and more than a dozen other people campaigning against fossil fuel extraction in North America have been identified in domestic terrorism-related investigations.
The investigations, which targeted individual activists and some environmental organizations, were opened in 2013-2014, at the height of opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline and the expansion of fossil fuel production in North America.
The new Foia documents reveal the bureau’s motivation for investigating a broad cross-section of the environmental movement and its characterization of non-violent protesters as a potential threat to national security.
The new Foia documents reveal the bureau’s motivation for investigating a broad cross-section of the environmental movement and its characterization of non-violent protesters as a potential threat to national security.
However, in the file closing the case, it appears that Yost has been watchlisted, which is standard for named subjects of FBI domestic terrorism investigations, according to Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice. Being watchlisted can lead to heightened scrutiny from law enforcement and delays or additional screenings when traveling. Yost said she had not traveled overseas since the FBI investigation.
Yost, who was contacted by an FBI agent when the case was still active, said she was not surprised by the agency’s actions. Surveillance was a form of suppression, she said, and this was another attempt to criminalize the actions of “normal people” working to protect natural resources. But she remains undeterred.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/23/revealed-how-the-fbi-targeted-environmental-activists-in-domestic-terror-investigations
Kia Ora 1 News.
That's is cool the school still having a calf day.
Te Uluru is a Tangata Whenua of Australia taonga all Australians need to learn some of the Tangata whenua great culture.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Yes I will be a great game of Rugby tonight.
Ma Te Wa for the League.
Armogedon will be great this year. The is heaps of potential for our Rangatahi to make plenty of putea from playing and developing video games.
Ka kite Ano
The Wealthier countries need to step up and donate putea to help the poor country's of Te Papatuanuku. They have the lowest carbon footprint and will be suffering the most from Global warming that's a fact.
Almost $US10 billion pledged to help tackle climate change
Wealthier countries on Friday have promised nearly $US9.8 billion over the next four years to an international fund to help poorer nations develop cleanly and adapt to climate stresses.
Most of the donors making fresh contributions came from Europe, though New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Canada also committed funds, with New Zealand and South Korea pledging to double previous donations.
However, the United States will not contribute, because president Donald Trump decided to stop paying into the fund.
The funding is still a drop in the ocean compared with the estimated $3 trillion to $7 trillion a year needed to shift the world's economy onto a more sustainable and climate-friendly path, Mr Glemarec said
The fund so far has allocated about $5.2 billion to 111 projects in 99 countries.
They range from green, low-cost housing in Mongolia's polluted capital and a methane-fuelled rapid-transit bus system in Karachi to restoring climate-threatened ecosystems in Namibia
Ka kite Ano link below.
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
Time are changing fast our realities opinions can change just as fast now is the time to make sure that the information we are receiving is not being distorted by Wealthier people $$$$$$$$$$. In reality the best phenomenon for all is the best for Te Papatuanuku= equality for all equal income distribution and being caretaker of Papatuanuku and her creations for the next generations our mokopuna. Our society needs to learn respect our Tipuna and our mokopuna future respect for the past and future over our greed.
Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more?
It’s not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the ‘real’ facts – and now we can’t stop fighting about it.
We live in a time of political fury and hardening cultural divides. But if there is one thing on which virtually everyone is agreed, it is that the news and information we receive is biased. Every second of every day, someone is complaining about bias, in everything from the latest movie reviews to sports commentary to the BBC’s coverage of Brexit. These complaints and controversies take up a growing share of public discussion.
Much of the outrage that floods social media, occasionally leaking into opinion columns and broadcast interviews, is not simply a reaction to events themselves, but to the way in which they are reported and framed. The “mainstream media” is the principal focal point for this anger. Journalists and broadcasters who purport to be neutral are a constant object of scrutiny and derision, whenever they appear to let their personal views slip. The work of journalists involves an increasing amount of unscripted, real-time discussion, which provides an occasionally troubling window into their.
.
Why can’t we agree on what’s true any more? – podcast
This mentality now spans the entire political spectrum and pervades societies around the world. A recent survey found that the majority of people globally believe their society is broken and their economy is rigged. Both the left and the right feel misrepresented and misunderstood by political institutions and the media, but the anger is shared by many in the liberal centre, who believe that populists have gamed the system to harvest more attention than they deserve. Outrage with “mainstream” institutions has become a mass.
Public life has become like a play whose audience is unwilling to suspend disbelief. Any utterance by a public figure can be unpicked in search of its ulterior motive. As cynicism grows, even judges, the supposedly neutral upholders of the law, are publicly accused of personal bias. Once doubt descends on public life, people become increasingly dependent on their own experiences and their own beliefs about how the world really works. One effect of this is that facts no longer seem to matter (the phenomenon misleadingly dubbed “post-truth”). But the crisis of democracy and of truth are one and the same: individuals are increasingly suspicious of the “official” stories they are being told, and expect to witness things for themselves.
Reasons we cannot agree on what’s true |
On one level, heightened scepticism towards the establishment is a welcome development. A more media-literate and critical citizenry ought to be less easy for the
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/sep/19/why-cant-we-agree-on-whats-true-anymore
Kia Ora 1 News.
The Korowai Trust is doing a good job housing the homeless.
I'm trying to get A lawyer to.
That's awesome a commeration of the New Zealand land wars.
I agree we should not let go of the pass.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's a good Haka and waiata at Waitara Marae for the commeration of the New Zealand Wars.
It was good luck that Hine won the draw.
Its awesome to see tangata whenua getting council seats.
Ka kite Ano