National may as well just admit that they work for Ardern.
The only time in a term that National has had Labour in any Parliamentary trouble was yesterday when the Speaker started warning Ardern for the urgency bill on mandates.
Played well in the public it could have become another Auckland cycleway moment.
Then, shanking Bridges late last night, Collins has cleared the media week for Ardern to do absolutely anything she wants. Way to pull out the 5-year-old hit file Judith.
Collins just gave Ardern her Christmas gift early.
Bridges must surely have signalled that he was going to challenge: there's no other reason for Collins to pull the hit file.
National MP Simon O'Connor said today: "One thing clear to me is that Judith Collins must resign."
It's clear to Simon? hahahahahahaha … 5 million people already worked it out long ago, and now the Brains Trust who think they should be running the country have finally latched on.
At least one Employment Court judge understands when an employer is being unreasonable.
[165] Good faith is a developing concept. Its scope is informed by particular circumstances. The Act focuses on maintaining and preserving employment relationships, rather than terminating them. It is arguable that in circumstances such as the COVID-19 context, where a “no jab, no job” outcome is under consideration, there is an active obligation on the employer to constructively consider and consult on alternatives where there is an objectively justifiable reason not to be vaccinated.47
[166] In summary, I find that it is arguable that, in light of the process points discussed, the steps taken by AIAL were not those a fair and reasonable employer could have taken.
Our Parliament has failed us spectacularly as the Speaker castigates his own Party and an opposition party eviscerates itself … all late at night …. all under "urgency"
Transphobes like Stock are anti-feminist, anti-queer and anti-intellectual, they are harmful and dangerous to trans people. They’re spiteful bootlickers, with Stock alone spitting out years worth of tweets, articles and organizing that make her distaste for our existence abundantly clear.
But guess what?
We are not up for debate. We cannot be reasoned out of existence. And we will not let people try to.
They camouflage their transphobia in academic language, in fake feminism, in "reasonable concerns", and then we suffer the real material consequences of it.
University of Sussex have continued to employ Stock whilst her rhetoric has contributed to the dire state of unsafety for trans people in this colonial shit-hole, whilst she profits from transphobia, and whilst students here have been resigned to stomach the influence and impact of her transphobia. This university is actively enabling and encouraging her transphobia by not firing her, which whilst not surprising, has continued for far too long.
We’ve fucking had enough.
We are an anonymous, unaffiliated group of queer, trans and non-binary students who will not allow our community to be slandered and harmed by someone who’s salary comes from our pockets. If you care for our community like we do, spread the word, get people angry, angry enough to do something about it.
Our demand is simple: fire Kathleen Stock. Until then, you’ll see us around.
I always enjoy the Triggernometry guys' informal wee chats. It is so important to spend actual time speaking with a person…to get to the heart of where they're coming from. This one's an extra good effort.
To me their very anonymity enables them to cross many lines where reasonableness and a knowledge of who they actually were may have been a more potent way of approaching things. Instead they focus their anonymity on someone who has no similar shield available to them. In other words there is no inbuilt holding back because others may know who they are ie a sense that they have to live now and in the future in their community. .
One point that I might have not grasped correctly is this – are the UK legislators 'walking back' the legislation or proposed legislation relating to changing the birth documents on the basis of feeling or averring. I got this from a reference that one of the guys said that Stonewall may not be as influential with the policy people in Govt as they once were. Is this correct?
Many government departments were receiving advice from Stonewall about HR policies and diversity. Some were paying for workshops, others were paying to be part of the diversity champions scheme, and the equality index (where Stonewall rated companies for their actions regarding diversity. Feedback or correspondence between companies and Stonewall was confidential and not to be disseminated.
Therefore NHS and the Scottish government received "advice" on how to improve their ratings by doing such things as removing words such as women and replacing with gender neutral language.
As this advice was confidential, and the involvement in the schemes was across the board, the influence was very effective and efficient, striking members of the public as pervasive and seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Some government departments and institutions may have withdrawn from the scheme, but the structures put in place (eg. Workplace Diversity Champion positions and groups) will remain, and still may hold tremendous influence.
The political zeitgeist also remains. You only have to look at this video from Family First regarding the select committee to understand how difficult it will be to have a proper conversation about resolving unintended issues from legislative change here in NZ. (I know….. Bob McKroskie?)
The guardian a scary New Covid variant B1.1.529 found in Botswanna and South Africa ,also in a returning traveller from South Africa to Hong Kong.This variant is able to avoid the bodies defence mechanisms.
Keeping MIQ in place is a must just opening our borders could be a disaster!
Quite frankly, who gives an single solitary shit if Bridges at some point did the blokey thing and offended a female colleague? This is politics, it is by it's very nature dirty and uncouth and, well, political. I don't know about anyone else but his, and any other politician's, shameful behaviour is unsurprising and barely worth a mention when there are more important things we ought to be paying attention to.
What is more important is just why his boss chose that particular moment in time to haul out that stale wee turd and fling it.
Not that you'd know it from a quick perusal of this morning's headlines in MSN and the two supposedly lefty blogsites but a very important piece of legislation was rammed through the House under urgency yesterday that even had The Speaker of the House up in arms.
Mallard suggested the Government could have taken a day for each of the bill’s three readings, and included a shortened select committee process to hear public submissions in between.
He said the Government, which announced its plans for a “traffic light system” in October, should have made public its policy decision, legal drafting instructions and early drafts of the bill.
He also criticised MPs outside the Government, who sit on select committees, for not seeking a committee inquiry into the prospective law.
This is not the first time I have been personally affected by a rushed through piece of legislation that came on the back of many years of legal wranglings and a concerted effort by Ministry of Health bureaucrats to portray family carers of disabled New Zealanders with very high support needs (that were often unfunded by the Ministry anyway because they required RN level that they refused to fund in the home).
The Ministry of Health bureaucrats lied. They repeatedly demonstrated that they had an extraordinarily poor grasp of the reality of life with a significant disability and in their arrogance dismissed and indeed denigrated those of us who did…and still do.
Unlike our personal legislative little shit pile the one passed last night does still allow for folks to take their objections to the Courts…but as one legal experts says…
“But the point is filing an action in the High Court is not cheap. One of the problems that the applicants have had so far in these [vaccine mandate] cases – and I'm not someone who would like them to succeed, I have to admit – but one of the problems they've had is getting the evidence together, or how do they really contest, realistically contest, the weight of the Ministry of Health?
“The courts have shown that they're very deferential at the moment to the Ministry of Health's calculus and I think for good reasons. What does a High Court judge know about vaccination? They're just going to say, 'Well it looks good', and they have been saying that.
“Actually, this is a really significant intrusion on some people who object to the vaccination. They have the choice of either getting a substance they don't like put [in their] bodies, or they basically will be socially excluded.”
For a wee while there there was some Opposition in the House about this…but Judith's little shit-fling seems to have put paid to that.
Funny that. Politics, eh? Great spectator sport, bring popcorn. Just don't ever, ever give any thought to those who find themselves affected by this.
Funny that. Politics, eh? Great spectator sport, bring popcorn. Just don't ever, ever give any thought to those who find themselves affected by this.
Agree, Rosemary.
Those that primarily look at politics as a team sport or entertainment seem to be those most likely insulated against the impact of badly constructed legislation. For them it's point scoring, for those affected it is often life-changing (usually detrimentally).
I appreciate your reminders to think deeply and look wider in these discussions.
This will be one of the largest expansions of our total national safety net since the formation of ACC.
We are going to get a tax increase of 1-2% to pay for it.
He may well have taken 1.5 political terms to do it, but Roberston is delivering to core Labour values. He's my favourite NZ politician over two terms.
Two-tier benefit system, differentiating between the deserving and undeserving beneficiaries?
No surprises there from Grant Robertson.
Unlike you, I don't think he deserves accolades. (Can’t read article to see details. Will hold back censure until it comes out in full, but previous Robertson quotes on this were concerning in terms of division of those in financial stress.)
he is going to pay some people 80% of their last income as unemployment benefit.
The rest that does not fall in this group of super duper lucky good unemployed people as identified by Grant Robertson get the usual starvation rate and a food parcel if they find a charity that still has some to give out.
So theres been a lot of talk about the Kyle Rittenhouse court case and I'm not going to rehash whats already been said and done because, well its already been said and done
Instead I want to point out more evidence of bias from the MSM because there seems to be more questioning of the narrative of the MSM when they put out stories and hopefully this will continue
One of the stranger things that came out of the case was the 'what if the races were reversed'
Firstly because CNN and others played the race card up themselves, ie when talking about Kyle they always mentioned that he was white and that he shot Black Lives Matter activists and that led to quite a few people here and in the USA to believing that Kyle had shot black people.
Does anyone think if Jacob Blake was white he would have got the same treatment:
When Jacob Blake was shot (not killed) he had Joe Biden call him up, he had protests (later riots) start up in his name and 'Prosecutors also announced that Blake would not face any new charges and they dropped previous sexual assault and trespassing charges against Blake in exchange for him pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, for which he was then sentenced to two years of probation.'
So I don't think in this instance race was the determining factor, it is political ideology that would determine the outcome
Remember also that Kyle was also described in the MSM, variously, as white supremacist, a murderer, a terriorist, in the KKK, you name it
Joe Biden even linked him to White supremacism and even after the verdict and the evidence has been seen people on the left are still vilifying him and saying things that the trial refuted.
Hell Facebook banned people supporting Kyle and gofundme wouldn't allow him to use their site to fund raise for his own defence, innocent until proven?
So lets look at Darrell Brooks, the man that allegedly killed 6 (so far) people and injured over 60 and see what the MSM are saying about him, if you can find the articles, and to make it more interesting count the articles featuring Kyle Rittenhouse and the articles featuring Darrell Brookes
CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Times, NBC News, CBC News, New York Times etc
If Darrell Brooks was white would there be more coverage or less (could hardly be less), if Darrell Brooks was white would the media say he was white, if Darrell Brookes was white would CNN describe him a 'parade crash suspect' or something else
Yes Fox News is biased, absolutely and so is every other MSM news outlet, they're not just getting it wrong.
They are deliberately lying to us, they are telling us what to think.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
I think I was looking at different page. Still all three are couched in the most anodyne framing possible.
But while we're there I see the Arberry Ahmoud jury returned guilty verdicts as I mentioned yesterday. That is good news – despite the elites doing their level best to make everything about race – ordinary people on juries are getting it right more often than not.
No other country in the world would let teenagers, or anybody for that matter, fetishsise, possess, threaten or go wherever TF they like with sole purpose weapons, kill each other and then walk away claiming self-defence.
America, FUCK YEAH! ..more unhinged by the day.
A pregnant Florida woman is dead after allegedly initiating a road rage incident with a motorcyclist in Orange City on Saturday, police say.
Sara Nicole Morales, 35, hit Andrew Derr's motorcycle intentionally with her blue Kia along the 1400 block of North Volusia Avenue around 5 p.m., according to investigators. Derr was not injured in the minor accident, and he and witnesses followed Morales while she drove away from the scene.
[…]
When Morales reached home, she went inside and reportedly retrieved a firearm. She confronted Derr and the witnesses in the street while they were on the phone with 911, according to the police.
Derr, who has a valid Florida concealed weapons permit, drew his firearm and fired multiple rounds, striking Morales.
No mention of colour, no one describing this as deliberate, no mention of terrorism, no mention of racism and its already off the front page, no going through his tweets or facebook like with Kyle, any democrat politicians been out to the victims…
You have to listen to what people don't say to start understanding their private thoughts.
Interesting idea. Since people don't say far more than they do say, it sounds like a recipe for getting caught up in endless paranoiac speculation. I find it serviceable to assume that people don't have private thoughts at all (or at least that these are totally unknowable) and just go around being a benign old chap who treats people at face value.
Fair points. And entirely relevant to ordinary day to day interactions with most people. But in the public domain that approach can be more than a tad naive.
The MSM is driving race hatred in the USA, what happens in the USA eventually happens here
The media used to, more or less, tell us what happened and we decided how we felt about it, now the MSM decides what to show us and how we think about it
Are you saying that all MSM news outlets are deliberately lying to us and telling us what to think because they said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and some people believed from that he had shot black people?
'Are you saying that all MSM news outlets are deliberately lying to us and telling us what to think'
– Is what I'm saying
'because they said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and some people believed from that he had shot black people?'
– I can't list all of the lies the MSM said but heres some about this case:
Kyle did not take a rifle over state lines
Kyle works in Kenosha
Kyle has family in Kenosha
He did not carry an assault rifle
He was legally carrying a legal firearm.
The crowd turned on Kyle when he put out a fire
The child sodomiser and domestic abuser was armed with a chain, threatened Kyles life, chased after Kyle and tried to take his rifle away before Kyle defended himself
The child sodomiser and domestic abuser also quite liberally used the N word
The multiple domestic abuser attacked Kyle and hit him with the skateboard, twice, before Kyle defended himself
The last guy Kyle shot had an illegal pistol, had a felony charge of drunk in charge of a weapon and Kyle only shot him when he raised and aimed the pistol at Kyle.
Thats just this case, how about the Covington kids, Hands up don't shoot, Ferguson, the Steele dossier, Hunter Biden, Christine Blasey Ford/Tara Reade
How many other examples do you need before you start to think that maybe theres an agenda, that maybe the MSM arn't you the whole story or even if what they're saying has any veracity to it all
None of this means the other team doesn't play it's own games as well – but the only way to stop this madness is to stop rewarding the media for their lies.
Yeah 100%, I don't want people to watch only Fox or Sky News Australia but just don't accept without question what someone is trying to sell you, sorry I mean trying to tell you
I agree PR you played it well about JC. I know how you must be feeling as I felt the same way when David Cunliffe went……
Your contribution on this site is very valuable. I haven't looked at the video stuff of Karl Rittenhouse, because I don't really follow things in the US. But I trust what you write and believe that it was likely a media narrative that lead most people including myself to believe he was guilty (that was at superficial glance). You have obviously. followed and presented good evidence.
Quite simply, if in the media it said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and from that some people believed he had shot black people, that is down to the people and their imaginations not the media.
Should the media have said "Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists" and then described the ethnicity of the dead?
"Gun fired in South Auckland" in our media should be followed by the ethnicity of the victims and the alleged or arrested perpetrators? "Accountant arrested in $11m fraud case" the same?
Kyles ethnicity was all over the media 'Kyle Rittenhouse, who is white, is accused of' to make it quite clear the ethnicity of the accused yet they then don't mention the ethnicity of the men he shot
Why not
Why not make it clear the ethnicity of the men that were shot or did they want to hide it for as long as they could
By stating the ethnicity of Kyle but not stating the ethnicity of the people he defended himself against and emphasizing that they were Black Lives Matter activists/protestors instead of calling them just protestors/activists or, more accurately, rioters it made people assume Kyle three black people
Considering the amount of people that thought Kyle had indeed shot only black people it worked.
Wouldn't adding a grenade launcher make it a destructive device and require a tax stamp?
Regardless of what the specific configuration of his weapon was, the distinction between "assault rifle" and "AR15" is trivial and contrived. You're clutching at too many pearls, there.
Somehow you seem to think that the distinction between what some people think of as an "assault rifle" and what is not an "assault rifle" is written in stone. If people can "bump fire" an "AR15" without any alteration as you suggest, there's no difference.
I'm pretty sure you're aware that the case had a verdict in, so we're left with matters of opinion. Are you worried that people might have a bad opinion of Rittenhouse if he took an "assault rifle", but not an "AR15"?
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry.
That is the assertion of fact based upon an alleged legal definition of "assault rifle" that you have not provided. Which is why I do not accept that assertion.
But for someone het up on the semantic difference between an "AR15" and an "assault rifle", you wouldn't be conflating "assault rifle" with the legally-defined "assault weapon" (in contradiction to the last paragraph in your "assault rifle" wikipedia link), would you?
Because someone who cares about the informal but apparently-legally-meaningless distinction between "assault rifle" and "ar15" should also be aware of the distinction between "assault rifle" and the actual-in-real-life-in-USA-legally-defined "assault weapon".
because a baseless assertion made by someone with the maturity of a three year old really needs some manner of link to legislative sources to be credible.
Given that even the judge admitted to his inability to decide exactly what the law might have meant in this case; I'm calling an end to this unproductive exchange.
However, the most damaging moment came outside of the presence of the jury when the judge drilled down on the law. He told the prosecutors “I have been wrestling with this statute with, I’d hate to count the hours I’ve put into it, I’m still trying to figure out what it says, what’s prohibited. I have a legal education.” He added that he failed to understand how an “ordinary citizen” could understand what is illegal.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry, because an assault rifle is deemed to be a machine gun
Why do you not accept this ?
[RL: If you didn’t see my mod note above – fair enough. But none of the moderators here have any toleration for playing games. Consider deleting this comment.]
Key's back at the wheel? Luxon will do as he's told while his training wheels are still strapped to him. He will be let loose bit by bit and Key will sink back into anonymity.
It may not happen straight away but it will happen.
Edit: So Mark Mitchell is in the race. Had a feeling that was going to happen. They might go with him in the meantime while Luxon continues to learn the ropes.
Mr Robinson needs to be promoting good evidence based treatment for people with OCD. Helping professionals to get trained properly in these treatments. Like happens in the UK, but not here so much.
'Gender stereotyping and discrimination are consequential and recurring contributions to low electoral participation. Explicit sexism is based on gender stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. One in five Canadians hold explicitly sexist views, making them less likely to nominate or vote for female politicians. Women internalize such overt sexism, which contributes to their lack of confidence and, ultimately, lowers their interest in running for office. '
There's no way JC was a victim of sexism. Her toxic nature was to blame. She now needs to resign from parliament completely, but because she's a lazy entitled trougher I'm guessing she wont.
Hi,It’s almost Christmas Day which means it is almost my birthday, where you will find me whimpering in the corner clutching a warm bottle of Baileys.If you’re out of ideas for presents (and truly desperate) then it is possible to gift a full Webworm subscription to a friend (or enemy) ...
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Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...
Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...
Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...
The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...
Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...
In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...
At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Te Pāti Māori has had to adopt a new way of debating, operating and even thinking in Parliament in response to the Government’s “onslaught” against te ao Māori, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says.In an end-of-year interview with Newsroom, the Te Tai Hauauru MP reflected on how 2024 has differed from her ...
Opinion: The latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science report was announced earlier this month, yet it didn’t get the flurry of media attention and political hand-wringing that typically accompanies these announcements. This might be because it presented good news, or you could argue, no news; the results paint a ...
NewsroomBy Dr Lisa Darragh, Dr Raewyn Eden and Dr David Pomeroy
At long last, The Spinoff shells out for a nut ranking. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today.It recently came to The Spinoff’s attention ...
I was one of hundreds of people who lost my government job this week. Here’s exactly how it played out. The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a ...
Summer reissue: One anxiously attentive passenger pays attention to an in-flight safety video, and wonders ‘Why can’t I pick up my own phone?’ The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up ...
Summer reissue: Why do those Lange-Douglas years cast such a long shadow 40 years on? The Spinoff needs to double the number of paying members we have to continue telling these kinds of stories. Please read our open letter and sign up to be a member today. First published June ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 23 December appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The Government’s social housing agency has backed out of a billion-dollar infrastructure alliance that would have built about 6000 new homes in Auckland – less than 18 months after signing a five-year extension.Labour says the decision to rip up the contract and sell off existing state houses could lead to ...
ByKoroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor New Zealand’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) says impending bad weather for Port Vila is now the most significant post-quake hazard. A tropical low in the Coral Sea is expected to move into Vanuatu waters, bringing heavy rainfall. Authorities have issued warnings to people ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Bridges is going on the am show just after 7 , retiring? excuses?or war???
Who knew what and why the incident is being looked into now??
Had to go to work
Wont someone think if the popcorn?
National may as well just admit that they work for Ardern.
The only time in a term that National has had Labour in any Parliamentary trouble was yesterday when the Speaker started warning Ardern for the urgency bill on mandates.
Played well in the public it could have become another Auckland cycleway moment.
Then, shanking Bridges late last night, Collins has cleared the media week for Ardern to do absolutely anything she wants. Way to pull out the 5-year-old hit file Judith.
Collins just gave Ardern her Christmas gift early.
Bridges must surely have signalled that he was going to challenge: there's no other reason for Collins to pull the hit file.
JC has more pressing issues as it is about her and being the leader of the National Party.
Should be a big entertaining day at Parliament today.
National MP Simon O'Connor said today: "One thing clear to me is that Judith Collins must resign."
It's clear to Simon? hahahahahahaha … 5 million people already worked it out long ago, and now the Brains Trust who think they should be running the country have finally latched on.
Unbelievable.
At least one Employment Court judge understands when an employer is being unreasonable.
[165] Good faith is a developing concept. Its scope is informed by particular circumstances. The Act focuses on maintaining and preserving employment relationships, rather than terminating them. It is arguable that in circumstances such as the COVID-19 context, where a “no jab, no job” outcome is under consideration, there is an active obligation on the employer to constructively consider and consult on alternatives where there is an objectively justifiable reason not to be vaccinated.47
[166] In summary, I find that it is arguable that, in light of the process points discussed, the steps taken by AIAL were not those a fair and reasonable employer could have taken.
https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/EMPC-356-2021-WXN-v-Auckland-International-Airport-Ltd-jud-231121.pdf
why are we going to let tourists back in?
best thing about the pandemic has been the decimation of tourism (apologies to those biz operators affected of course)
they bring no net benefit, only net loss
nobody wants them back other than tourism operators
an inanity of humanity
More poetry becoming applicable:
The Second Coming
by William Butler Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Our Parliament has failed us spectacularly as the Speaker castigates his own Party and an opposition party eviscerates itself … all late at night …. all under "urgency"
This is how low our beloved country has fallen.
Some of the most prescient and memorable words ever written.
One hour interview with Kathleen Stock – for those who want to find out more, about her views.
To understand the concerted campaign, you can see visit the website used to co-ordinate and maintain the harassment: Antiterf Sussex.
You can read the whole manifesto focused on Stock that gave police concerns. Bolding as original.
I always enjoy the Triggernometry guys' informal wee chats. It is so important to spend actual time speaking with a person…to get to the heart of where they're coming from. This one's an extra good effort.
I'd never seen them before. Their interview style here was really good.
Good grief.
To me their very anonymity enables them to cross many lines where reasonableness and a knowledge of who they actually were may have been a more potent way of approaching things. Instead they focus their anonymity on someone who has no similar shield available to them. In other words there is no inbuilt holding back because others may know who they are ie a sense that they have to live now and in the future in their community. .
One point that I might have not grasped correctly is this – are the UK legislators 'walking back' the legislation or proposed legislation relating to changing the birth documents on the basis of feeling or averring. I got this from a reference that one of the guys said that Stonewall may not be as influential with the policy people in Govt as they once were. Is this correct?
Many government departments were receiving advice from Stonewall about HR policies and diversity. Some were paying for workshops, others were paying to be part of the diversity champions scheme, and the equality index (where Stonewall rated companies for their actions regarding diversity. Feedback or correspondence between companies and Stonewall was confidential and not to be disseminated.
Therefore NHS and the Scottish government received "advice" on how to improve their ratings by doing such things as removing words such as women and replacing with gender neutral language.
As this advice was confidential, and the involvement in the schemes was across the board, the influence was very effective and efficient, striking members of the public as pervasive and seemingly coming out of nowhere.
Some government departments and institutions may have withdrawn from the scheme, but the structures put in place (eg. Workplace Diversity Champion positions and groups) will remain, and still may hold tremendous influence.
The political zeitgeist also remains. You only have to look at this video from Family First regarding the select committee to understand how difficult it will be to have a proper conversation about resolving unintended issues from legislative change here in NZ. (I know….. Bob McKroskie?)
The guardian a scary New Covid variant B1.1.529 found in Botswanna and South Africa ,also in a returning traveller from South Africa to Hong Kong.This variant is able to avoid the bodies defence mechanisms.
Keeping MIQ in place is a must just opening our borders could be a disaster!
Quite frankly, who gives an single solitary shit if Bridges at some point did the blokey thing and offended a female colleague? This is politics, it is by it's very nature dirty and uncouth and, well, political. I don't know about anyone else but his, and any other politician's, shameful behaviour is unsurprising and barely worth a mention when there are more important things we ought to be paying attention to.
What is more important is just why his boss chose that particular moment in time to haul out that stale wee turd and fling it.
Not that you'd know it from a quick perusal of this morning's headlines in MSN and the two supposedly lefty blogsites but a very important piece of legislation was rammed through the House under urgency yesterday that even had The Speaker of the House up in arms.
Mallard suggested the Government could have taken a day for each of the bill’s three readings, and included a shortened select committee process to hear public submissions in between.
He said the Government, which announced its plans for a “traffic light system” in October, should have made public its policy decision, legal drafting instructions and early drafts of the bill.
He also criticised MPs outside the Government, who sit on select committees, for not seeking a committee inquiry into the prospective law.
This is not the first time I have been personally affected by a rushed through piece of legislation that came on the back of many years of legal wranglings and a concerted effort by Ministry of Health bureaucrats to portray family carers of disabled New Zealanders with very high support needs (that were often unfunded by the Ministry anyway because they required RN level that they refused to fund in the home).
The Ministry of Health bureaucrats lied. They repeatedly demonstrated that they had an extraordinarily poor grasp of the reality of life with a significant disability and in their arrogance dismissed and indeed denigrated those of us who did…and still do.
Unlike our personal legislative little shit pile the one passed last night does still allow for folks to take their objections to the Courts…but as one legal experts says…
“But the point is filing an action in the High Court is not cheap. One of the problems that the applicants have had so far in these [vaccine mandate] cases – and I'm not someone who would like them to succeed, I have to admit – but one of the problems they've had is getting the evidence together, or how do they really contest, realistically contest, the weight of the Ministry of Health?
“The courts have shown that they're very deferential at the moment to the Ministry of Health's calculus and I think for good reasons. What does a High Court judge know about vaccination? They're just going to say, 'Well it looks good', and they have been saying that.
“Actually, this is a really significant intrusion on some people who object to the vaccination. They have the choice of either getting a substance they don't like put [in their] bodies, or they basically will be socially excluded.”
For a wee while there there was some Opposition in the House about this…but Judith's little shit-fling seems to have put paid to that.
Funny that. Politics, eh? Great spectator sport, bring popcorn. Just don't ever, ever give any thought to those who find themselves affected by this.
Agree, Rosemary.
Those that primarily look at politics as a team sport or entertainment seem to be those most likely insulated against the impact of badly constructed legislation. For them it's point scoring, for those affected it is often life-changing (usually detrimentally).
I appreciate your reminders to think deeply and look wider in these discussions.
Roberston is going to massively expand social welfare, paying 80% of the income of people laid off.
Government finalises massive expansion of social safety net, funded by 1-2 per cent tax hike – NZ Herald
This will be one of the largest expansions of our total national safety net since the formation of ACC.
We are going to get a tax increase of 1-2% to pay for it.
He may well have taken 1.5 political terms to do it, but Roberston is delivering to core Labour values. He's my favourite NZ politician over two terms.
Two-tier benefit system, differentiating between the deserving and undeserving beneficiaries?
No surprises there from Grant Robertson.
Unlike you, I don't think he deserves accolades. (Can’t read article to see details. Will hold back censure until it comes out in full, but previous Robertson quotes on this were concerning in terms of division of those in financial stress.)
nah,
he is going to pay some people 80% of their last income as unemployment benefit.
The rest that does not fall in this group of super duper lucky good unemployed people as identified by Grant Robertson get the usual starvation rate and a food parcel if they find a charity that still has some to give out.
*Trigger warning, sh**ting on msm again*
So theres been a lot of talk about the Kyle Rittenhouse court case and I'm not going to rehash whats already been said and done because, well its already been said and done
Instead I want to point out more evidence of bias from the MSM because there seems to be more questioning of the narrative of the MSM when they put out stories and hopefully this will continue
One of the stranger things that came out of the case was the 'what if the races were reversed'
Firstly because CNN and others played the race card up themselves, ie when talking about Kyle they always mentioned that he was white and that he shot Black Lives Matter activists and that led to quite a few people here and in the USA to believing that Kyle had shot black people.
Does anyone think if Jacob Blake was white he would have got the same treatment:
When Jacob Blake was shot (not killed) he had Joe Biden call him up, he had protests (later riots) start up in his name and 'Prosecutors also announced that Blake would not face any new charges and they dropped previous sexual assault and trespassing charges against Blake in exchange for him pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, for which he was then sentenced to two years of probation.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jacob_Blake
So I don't think in this instance race was the determining factor, it is political ideology that would determine the outcome
Remember also that Kyle was also described in the MSM, variously, as white supremacist, a murderer, a terriorist, in the KKK, you name it
Joe Biden even linked him to White supremacism and even after the verdict and the evidence has been seen people on the left are still vilifying him and saying things that the trial refuted.
Hell Facebook banned people supporting Kyle and gofundme wouldn't allow him to use their site to fund raise for his own defence, innocent until proven?
So lets look at Darrell Brooks, the man that allegedly killed 6 (so far) people and injured over 60 and see what the MSM are saying about him, if you can find the articles, and to make it more interesting count the articles featuring Kyle Rittenhouse and the articles featuring Darrell Brookes
CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Times, NBC News, CBC News, New York Times etc
If Darrell Brooks was white would there be more coverage or less (could hardly be less), if Darrell Brooks was white would the media say he was white, if Darrell Brookes was white would CNN describe him a 'parade crash suspect' or something else
Yes Fox News is biased, absolutely and so is every other MSM news outlet, they're not just getting it wrong.
They are deliberately lying to us, they are telling us what to think.
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
Yes. I checked out CNN's front page last night – not a single mention of the Brookes story. Scrubbed clean.
You have to listen to what people don't say to start understanding their private thoughts.
I won't hold my breath but maybe there'll be a change: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/john-malone-says-warnermedia-discovery-getting-rid-of-cnn-would-be-the-cowards-way-out.html
If enough people want it
Three on the front page.
https://edition.cnn.com/us
I think I was looking at different page. Still all three are couched in the most anodyne framing possible.
But while we're there I see the Arberry Ahmoud jury returned guilty verdicts as I mentioned yesterday. That is good news – despite the elites doing their level best to make everything about race – ordinary people on juries are getting it right more often than not.
No other country in the world would let teenagers, or anybody for that matter, fetishsise, possess, threaten or go wherever TF they like with sole purpose weapons, kill each other and then walk away claiming self-defence.
America, FUCK YEAH! ..more unhinged by the day.
A pregnant Florida woman is dead after allegedly initiating a road rage incident with a motorcyclist in Orange City on Saturday, police say.
Sara Nicole Morales, 35, hit Andrew Derr's motorcycle intentionally with her blue Kia along the 1400 block of North Volusia Avenue around 5 p.m., according to investigators. Derr was not injured in the minor accident, and he and witnesses followed Morales while she drove away from the scene.
[…]
When Morales reached home, she went inside and reportedly retrieved a firearm. She confronted Derr and the witnesses in the street while they were on the phone with 911, according to the police.
Derr, who has a valid Florida concealed weapons permit, drew his firearm and fired multiple rounds, striking Morales.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-pregnant-woman-killed-road-rage-initiated-shooting-cops
Really? Not exactly front page is it but fair enough how do they describe him
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/24/us/waukesha-car-parade-crowd-wednesday/index.html
No mention of colour, no one describing this as deliberate, no mention of terrorism, no mention of racism and its already off the front page, no going through his tweets or facebook like with Kyle, any democrat politicians been out to the victims…
https://edition.cnn.com/
https://www.cnn.com/
Would the coverage be the same if Darrell Brookes was white?
https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/2021/11/24/darrell-brooks-criminal-complaint/
Interesting idea. Since people don't say far more than they do say, it sounds like a recipe for getting caught up in endless paranoiac speculation. I find it serviceable to assume that people don't have private thoughts at all (or at least that these are totally unknowable) and just go around being a benign old chap who treats people at face value.
Fair points. And entirely relevant to ordinary day to day interactions with most people. But in the public domain that approach can be more than a tad naive.
Especially when the sanity of the US President is in question
I think Biden's heart is largely in the right place – it's just his mind has trouble keeping up at times.
Plus it's becoming increasingly obvious that Biden's advisors have an outsized influence.
How much juice can you squeeze out of this …Orange!
Or in your case – what people don't want to hear.
The MSM is driving race hatred in the USA, what happens in the USA eventually happens here
The media used to, more or less, tell us what happened and we decided how we felt about it, now the MSM decides what to show us and how we think about it
Ha!
Are you saying that all MSM news outlets are deliberately lying to us and telling us what to think because they said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and some people believed from that he had shot black people?
'Are you saying that all MSM news outlets are deliberately lying to us and telling us what to think'
– Is what I'm saying
'because they said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and some people believed from that he had shot black people?'
– I can't list all of the lies the MSM said but heres some about this case:
Thats just this case, how about the Covington kids, Hands up don't shoot, Ferguson, the Steele dossier, Hunter Biden, Christine Blasey Ford/Tara Reade
How many other examples do you need before you start to think that maybe theres an agenda, that maybe the MSM arn't you the whole story or even if what they're saying has any veracity to it all
All solid factual points.
None of this means the other team doesn't play it's own games as well – but the only way to stop this madness is to stop rewarding the media for their lies.
Yeah 100%, I don't want people to watch only Fox or Sky News Australia but just don't accept without question what someone is trying to sell you, sorry I mean trying to tell you
Probably why I'm spending more and more time on youtube because guys like this: https://www.youtube.com/c/RekietaLaw/videos were absolutely killing it
BTW – commiserations. You played it well.
No no its all part of the very, long plan…a really, really very long plan.
I'll look forward to it.
Not going to lie but it might take a while…
Grandmother of the nation?
Might be Mummy of the nation at this rate…
A saint is canonised. Will she be mummified?
I agree PR you played it well about JC. I know how you must be feeling as I felt the same way when David Cunliffe went……
Your contribution on this site is very valuable. I haven't looked at the video stuff of Karl Rittenhouse, because I don't really follow things in the US. But I trust what you write and believe that it was likely a media narrative that lead most people including myself to believe he was guilty (that was at superficial glance). You have obviously. followed and presented good evidence.
Keep posting PR
Well thank you.
I do think the way the media manipulates people is a bad thing and if the least I can do is point it out then thats what I'll do
Cheers
Quite simply, if in the media it said Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists and from that some people believed he had shot black people, that is down to the people and their imaginations not the media.
Should the media have said "Rittenhouse shot Black Lives Matter activists" and then described the ethnicity of the dead?
"Gun fired in South Auckland" in our media should be followed by the ethnicity of the victims and the alleged or arrested perpetrators? "Accountant arrested in $11m fraud case" the same?
Kyles ethnicity was all over the media 'Kyle Rittenhouse, who is white, is accused of' to make it quite clear the ethnicity of the accused yet they then don't mention the ethnicity of the men he shot
Why not
Why not make it clear the ethnicity of the men that were shot or did they want to hide it for as long as they could
I responded to you saying that they (the media) deliberately lied to us and told us what to think because the ethnicity of the dead wasn't stated.
I'm struggling to see how the media can tell us how to think by not saying something.
By stating the ethnicity of Kyle but not stating the ethnicity of the people he defended himself against and emphasizing that they were Black Lives Matter activists/protestors instead of calling them just protestors/activists or, more accurately, rioters it made people assume Kyle three black people
Considering the amount of people that thought Kyle had indeed shot only black people it worked.
What was the rifle KR used then pr out of curiosity ?
He did not use an assault rifle, an assault rifle is a specific thing.
He used an AR-15 type rifle which looks like an assault rifle but isn't an assault rifle
yeah i assumed it was an AR15 but if thats not an assault rifle whats the difference ?
Essentially an AR-15 type rifle can only be fired in semi-auto mode whereas an assault rifle can be fired in either semi-auto or full auto mode
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_rifle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15_style_rifle
Thanks i guess i couldve worked that out myself if i,d thought about it !
incidently did you ever meet arthur tayler ?
No I haven't and I'd do my best avoid him if I ever saw him out and about
Unless, of course, your AR15 has a bump-stock, a variety of trigger adaptations to reset the firing process while maintaining trigger pressure, or some other device to let it shoot hundreds of rounds a minute while claiming it's "semi auto".
The difference is solely in the legal semantics of manufacturers who want to sell rapid-fire weapons to whomever wants one.
Did Kyle do any of those things to his rifle?
Don't bother answering, no he didn't.
He also didn’t attach a grenade launcher or shot gun to his rifle either
Its also not that difficult to bump fire a weapon without a bump stock (google it) but I'm sure you knew that already.
Wouldn't adding a grenade launcher make it a destructive device and require a tax stamp?
Regardless of what the specific configuration of his weapon was, the distinction between "assault rifle" and "AR15" is trivial and contrived. You're clutching at too many pearls, there.
You do know I didn't come up with the classification of what an assault rifle is or isn't
But OK for the sake of argument let's say Kyle was carrying an assault rifle (we'll make it legal for him to carry it)
What difference does it make to the case?
Somehow you seem to think that the distinction between what some people think of as an "assault rifle" and what is not an "assault rifle" is written in stone. If people can "bump fire" an "AR15" without any alteration as you suggest, there's no difference.
I'm pretty sure you're aware that the case had a verdict in, so we're left with matters of opinion. Are you worried that people might have a bad opinion of Rittenhouse if he took an "assault rifle", but not an "AR15"?
I've answered your questions, you answer mine for a change.
What difference would it make to the case?
As far as I know, none.
One reason I'm somewhat bemused as to why the distinction is so important to you.
Because the distinction is accurate, legally defined and the truth.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry
Why do you not accept this?
"legally defined"
Then why did you provide the wikipedia link, rather than the legal definition?
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry
Why do you not accept this?
You asserted that "assault rifle" is legally defined and therefore somehow relevant to the case.
I haven't found that definition. Please enlighten me.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry.
Why do you not accept this?
That is the assertion of fact based upon an alleged legal definition of "assault rifle" that you have not provided. Which is why I do not accept that assertion.
"Machine gun", fine. "Assault weapon", sure.
But for someone het up on the semantic difference between an "AR15" and an "assault rifle", you wouldn't be conflating "assault rifle" with the legally-defined "assault weapon" (in contradiction to the last paragraph in your "assault rifle" wikipedia link), would you?
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry.
Why do you not accept this?
Because you are making it up.
I mean, if you weren’t you’d be supplying the legislative links rather than cut and pasting your unsupported assertions.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry.
Why do you not accept this?
Because your assertions of fact are as unsubstantiated as they are pedantic and irrelevant.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry.
Why do you not accept this ?
Because repeating baseless assertions doesn't make them true.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry .
Why do you not accept this?
Because someone who cares about the informal but apparently-legally-meaningless distinction between "assault rifle" and "ar15" should also be aware of the distinction between "assault rifle" and the actual-in-real-life-in-USA-legally-defined "assault weapon".
because a baseless assertion made by someone with the maturity of a three year old really needs some manner of link to legislative sources to be credible.
because your third assertion is apparently incorrect.
Because you're wrong.
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry .
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry .
Why do you not accept this ?
https://www.reactiongifs.com/r/ywrng.gif
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle .
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry .
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry .
Why do you not accept this ?
Because you're wrong.
You're still two behind.
Given that even the judge admitted to his inability to decide exactly what the law might have meant in this case; I'm calling an end to this unproductive exchange.
https://jonathanturley.org/2021/11/14/was-rittenhouses-possession-of-the-ar-15-unlawful/
(Claiming the last word)
Kyle carried an AR-15 type rifle.
An AR-15 type rifle is legal for Kyle to carry.
An assault rifle would have been illegal for Kyle to carry, because an assault rifle is deemed to be a machine gun
Why do you not accept this ?
[RL: If you didn’t see my mod note above – fair enough. But none of the moderators here have any toleration for playing games. Consider deleting this comment.]
Europe is now a high risk covid region,and travellers from europe should be treated as such.
https://twitter.com/WHO_Europe/status/1463191115780268032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1463191115780268032%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FWHO_Europe2Fstatus2F1463191115780268032widget%3DTweet
.
Those ridiculously large feet get me every time, so cute
Roughly whereabouts? Up or downstream of Tawa Station?
Downstream. Just a tad.
If Luxon gets appointed to LOO will Key be the Puppetmaster. I see he is lurking around again.
…will Key be the Puppetmaster.
Key's back at the wheel? Luxon will do as he's told while his training wheels are still strapped to him. He will be let loose bit by bit and Key will sink back into anonymity.
It may not happen straight away but it will happen.
Edit: So Mark Mitchell is in the race. Had a feeling that was going to happen. They might go with him in the meantime while Luxon continues to learn the ropes.
Of course Mitchell will be in the race, He ran against Collins last time after all.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/127084165/spotlight-criticised-for-ignorant-and-disrespectful-ocd-christmas-items
really?
Mr Robinson needs to be promoting good evidence based treatment for people with OCD. Helping professionals to get trained properly in these treatments. Like happens in the UK, but not here so much.
Hmm. so one of the busiest border crossings in the world has been closed for 18 months?
But I thought really busy transit points couldn't be closed to control covid, and that's why places like the UK were covid clusterfucks? guess not.
.
Fantastic Cult Film / Fantastic Cult Party.
Gun fetishism. It's a thing.
https://whatwouldjackdo.org/2021/04/02/gun-fetishism-the-false-optics-of-courage-without-having-any-courage-of-conviction/
Hi Jenny
Are you or this guy aware of just how few deaths in the USA are caused by AR-15s?
Check this out:
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8.xls
Really should be concentrating on handguns but those AR-15s sure are scary arn't they
https://ipolitics.ca/2021/02/01/why-dont-more-women-run-for-office/
'Gender stereotyping and discrimination are consequential and recurring contributions to low electoral participation. Explicit sexism is based on gender stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. One in five Canadians hold explicitly sexist views, making them less likely to nominate or vote for female politicians. Women internalize such overt sexism, which contributes to their lack of confidence and, ultimately, lowers their interest in running for office. '
There's no way JC was a victim of sexism. Her toxic nature was to blame. She now needs to resign from parliament completely, but because she's a lazy entitled trougher I'm guessing she wont.