Such an interesting political fallout. I can't figure out how much is about the failure of the climate targets, how much is Cass Report, and how much is Independence.
Quick reminder of the numbers – SNP 63, Tories 31 + Labour 22 + Lib Dems 4 + Greens 7 + Alba 1 = 65 so FM will hope Greens either support him or abstain but having said today he is a "coward" and "not to be trusted" can they with integrity support him?
also interesting is how similar the issues are to here. I'm listening in to a Scottish Space on twitter, and there is commentary like how much the Highlands and Islands have been neglected and the government focused on the cities. Too much about NB toilets, not enough ensuring ferry crossings are functional.
I really hope NZ GP and Lab are learning the right things here. We are lucky that neither party leadership do the kind of relationship destroying behaviour we've seen in Scotland in the recent past.
Scotland's Labor Party have been on the rise for a decade, now into the mid-30% and primed to replace SNP. With the Greens struggling to crack 5% forever.
I wasn't talking about the MP/Party make up. I was talking about the issues that matter to voters and why the SNP and SGs are in such a mess.
The last big dip I am aware of for the SNP was when Sturgeon was interviewed and couldn't explain how trans women are women but shouldn't be in women's prisons. Voters hate numpties.
As I said above, it's complex, because there are at least three distinct issues playing directly into what just happened: the climate targets, the Cass Review, and Independence. But those sit within a broader cultural context of what matters in people's day to day lives. That's very similar to here.
(and as an aside, but following on from that and your comment, looks to me like Scotland is getting MMP better than we are, with a better distribution of power across parties rather than retaining a two party system with add ons like NZ does).
With 63 of the 129 seats, the SNP will stumble on as an administration until the next election in 2026. On the issues in play to Scotland’s political makeup, only climate registers with voters here.
If Scotland is what successful coalition government looks like, we've done well to avoid it. Scotland's Greens should be taking lessons from us.
I've just been listening to a Scottish voter talking about the broader issues and they sound similar eg people concerned the liberal government parties are focusing on the wrong things.
Climate is an issue for the split in Scotland because the SG membership wanted a vote on whether to stay in the Bute House agreement after the SNP pulled out of the climate targets (as far as I understand it). Yousaf apparently decided not to wait for that, but I get the sense there is more to it because now the SNP are in a precarious position. That's a different set of dynamics than what ordinary voters want, which is what I was referring to.
If Scotland is what successful coalition government looks like, we've done well to avoid it. Scotland's Greens should be taking lessons from us.
Dunno about that, we currently have a successful coalition government tearing the country apart 🤷♀️
Scottish and UK Green Parties are insane because of their handling of the sex/gender wars and their lack of real politik and reading the room. The Scottish Green co-leader has denied the Cass Review findings and is doubling down on making the TRA agenda a priority. The UK Greens went through several scandals around a trans identified man and his father who was a child sex offender. How they handled that makes the NZ Greens' handling of problematic people seem very good.
The NZ GP removing Kerekere speaks to them having better sense of real politik. She was a loose unit, and because of that they were heading down the same path re gender identity that the SG and UKG have gone. It's silo mentality, and I really hope the NZ GP are in the process of leaving that behind.
Our own Green Party delivered massive legislation and policy programmes from a fairly small position last term. Neither NZ Greens nor any other party are revisiting the Birth Deaths and Marriages Act and nor will they ever: dead issue for all our political parties. Our Greens handled their leadership change with aplomb and their 2023 results are the strongest they've ever had.
I have no view of the Scottish Greens' level of sanity, but our Greens are on a roll.
yes, they are. And, there are challenges coming up. The Cass Review, the MoH review of puberty blockers, and the myriad of issues that have been arising in societies elsewhere and we are just getting started on. Those aren't going away and at some point the pressure will be on the Greens. My hope is that they learn from the SG and GPEW (UK) on what not to do, because those GPs are a shit show. The SG are in the process of major brand damage.
Self-ID may be a dead issue for political parties atm, but obviously not for voters. Hence Hipkins was completely unprepared for the 'what is a woman?' question, despite it being a major issue for UK Labour because women voters forced the issue.
If Labour and/or GP staffers are still giving them poor information on this issue, it will bite the centre left.
It's going to be an issue for Swarbrick, because there is a direct conflict between her plan to mobilise communities and the GP position of fuck off nazi terf bigot. Same with the Palestinian liberation and telling Jewish people they need to explore their racism. Her plan is good for building green left vote is good, but she has a huge blindspot as well. I hope she can resolve that over the next two years.
possible given that many of the people that would no longer vote for Labour or the Greens because of the gender identity trumps sex position had already made the decision before Hipkins was asked. Including TS commenters.
But it’s an odd assertion, given in the UK people saying they will no longer vote on the left over genderist policies, and we know that similar dynamics are playing out here. We also know that most people are supportive of trans people having the same kinds of rights as other people, but draw the line when those rights infringe on the rights of women and children.
The longer the liberal left stays in denial of what is happening, the more the narrative is handed to the right, and the bigger the backlash against trans people.
meanwhile, there’s to be a vote on confidence in the Scottish government, and the person that holds the balance of power is a gender critical woman who has already said that support for Yousaf depends on his support for women’s sex based rights.
I have written to Humza Yousaf this morning requesting a reset, and a return to competent government, where we prioritise independence and protect the dignity, safety and rights of women and children. I remain open to any discussion where we progress the priorities of the people of Scotland
That’s Ash Regan, who shifted from the SNP to the Alba Party last year.
So you can test whether UK reports about gender self-identification really do change votes. Or not.
That’s not how it works. People vote for a range of reasons and the only way to know to what extent gender identity pol is a factor would be to poll that specifically. I’m not aware of anyone doing that polling.
"The last big dip I am aware of for the SNP was when Sturgeon was interviewed and couldn't explain how trans women are women but shouldn't be in women's prisons. Voters hate numpties."
"trans women are trans women, which means biologically male, and they appear to have same rates of violence against women as other males and thus like other males shouldn't be housed in women's prisons. Trans women are at risk of violence from men in men's prisons, which is why as government we are moving now to establish how trans women, other gender non conforming or vulnerable male prisoners can be protected from targeted violence. We further acknowledge that men's prisons have inherent levels of violence that need addressing"
Yes, they're hard core gender identity ideologists. One of the co-leaders has been full on supporting the TRA lines against the Cass Review in the past few weeks.
The lessons for NZ GP and Labour are around what not to do.
Can they not run a minority government? One would hope the SNP would still be able to pass legislation with either Labour, Alba or the Greens each time.
Or do they need a confidence and supply agreement to stay as government?
BREAK: Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will lay motion of no confidence in the Scottish government this afternoon. If SG loses it would require Humza Yousaf to resign, there is 28 days to instal a new leader or face Scottish election.
with an screenshot saying that if there is a vote of no confidence in the government, the First Minister and Ministers have to resign, then there is 28 days to elect a new FM. If parliament can't do that, parliament is dissolved.
There is a bit of excitement over here in vegan-corner…
We have seen the future of protein/food…and it looks really good…
Move aside plant-based meats ..here comes protein grown from a microbe ..and thin air ..
At first glance it seems like magic..(and it really is..!..both in ending the cruelties/environmental damage from getting protein from animals ..and in fixing the problem of how to feed the planet..)
The scientific explanation is that the microbe uses the hydrogen in the air .to grow ..
Effing cool..!..eh..?
And this is not a new concept..it is already tried and true ..the American space program used this method to grow food for astronauts in space ..in the 1970's…
Anyone wanting to know more would be advised to google food from air ..(fill yet boots..!)
Looks like our rivers lost that war. 45% of our river length is unswimmable.
And our wetland lost tens of thousands of hectares.
And of course all our native species lost that war. 94% of our reptile species, 82% of bird species, 80%of bat species, 76%of freshwater fish species, and 46%of vascular plant species are either facing extinction or are at risk of being threatened with extinction.
Also forest cover in New Zealand has been reduced to below extinction levels in nearly all our districts.
The end of our enslaving of other species..(to do with what we will)..will see massive land use changes in NZ ..
One would expect that that the rural land currently used/abused to those enslaving ends…will see a sharp drop in value…as those export markets evaporate..
And one could also hope for a regeneration/re wilding of many of those ills you detail..
Something else that is of note is how quickly we have done this to new Zealand…
And one thing is for sure…we cannot continue doing the same..and expecting a different outcome..
But that change is going to be taken out of our hands..
It will just be a matter of NZ no longer needed as a source of protein…for the rest of the world…
And those addicted to tearing flesh from the bone can relax ..this air-grown protein can be made into beef/chicken/pig-meat etc ..
So there is no need of cultural change ..no need to see the light..and turn vegan..or anything like that ..
Market forces alone will drive those changes…
If the end product is indistinguishable from the animal based ones…one would need to be a bit of a sick puppy to insist that an animal must suffer/die..for you to eat..?..eh..?
With you all the way on dairying. I've come to really hate what they do to cows (and have done, particularly the grotesque results of selective breeding).
Oat milk, though pricey by comparison, is a pretty satisfactory substitute in drinks and pouring on cereals. Must now try and see how it goes in cooking.
On the plus side however Ad, we are making a name for ourselves in how to farm mud with cows used as an addition to really get the paddocks churned and thus hasten mud farming.
Mud farming plays an important part in our aim to increase the percentage of unswimmable rivers from a mediocre 45%.
When we use automatic irrigation systems on mud paddocks it enhances the runoff so it contains high fecal counts.
When farming mud NZ farmers can lead the way in better breeeding with the traditional cloven hooves gradually making way for flippered single digit hooves. They are also looking at borrowing from self clean oven manufacturers to develop a self clean system for cows legs should cows ever want to graze on dry grassed pastures. That then brings us to the latest developments in cows being specially bred to eat mud. Inventors are looking at if the addition of hay and limestone plus a change in the gut from rounded to square can lead to formed adobe type bricks being excreted by cows. /Sarc
There are still dopey farmers who don't self manage and actually needed the controls/restrictions imposed on not being able to farm mud. The lure of the mighty dollar overrides the need to protect cows or pastures. (People will say 'oh but farmers love their land and love their cows') They may do but it does not stop some from pushing, pushing the capacities of both to the nth degree.
NB The work done by local authorities etc to restrict practices that lead to mud farming has led, in my view, to the gap in pictures of the worst offenders due to close monitoring/shame of those mud farmers spoiling it for everyone.
NB on the so-called 'hardship' of fencing riparian margins my B-i-L fenced the margins of several creeks running through his Southland farm over 30 years ago. He was looked on as a sort of 'crazy man' then and looks like that attitude is still prevalent
Remember those farmers really need those holidays in Kenya to recuperate.
I was running an Environment Court case for a Society in the Upper Clutha (Wanaka area) a few years ago where the farmer was pleading poverty and the consequent need to subdivide, but he let slip that he had just come back from an Africa jaunt.
“It seems ghoulish, but it is a perfectly legal and common practice for chicken litter — the material that accumulates on the floor of chicken growing facilities — to be fed to cattle,” said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union.
fortunately for NZ, we could probably transition fast off the more insane aspects of our animal farming if we had to. Not sure we would mind (and def think we wouldn't under the current government).
Big Hairy News and Paul the Other One discuss Minister of Children Chhour's decision to thumb her nose at Waitangi tribunal over changes removing Maori focus in Oranga Tamariki. This opens the door for others in government to refuse to speak to the Tribunal to justify their political decisions.
Paul is very well-informed on this issue. Lots of political strategising on NZ First and ACT. Apparently, once legislation is in Parliament, the Tribunal cannot become involved. Hence, the fast-track of the Fast-Track.
I don't think it's "Minister" Chhour's decision to thumb her nose at the Waitangi Tribunal, it's those pulling her strings. We have to work towards this being a one-term government. We have 30 months.
For the record, Trump's attorney John Sauer argues before the Supreme Court that depending on the circumstances, assassinating a political rival could be considered an official act.
It's becoming clear from polls about the direction of the government that people voted Labour out because they were bored with their lives (surviving a pandemic only to work to pay rent or mortgage) so cheated on the New Zealand nation state society and formed a new relationship … with a dystopian nightmare.
Bringing back that pandemic "horror excitement" in a new way.
And all it took was a promise to prevent co-governance with Maori and any special place for the indigenous people (and Treaty) to launch it successfuilly.
So here we are, the reduction of the nation state government (apart from building roads) and pandering to a collective of special interests instead … landlords, trucking, farmers unconcerned for the environment .. business seeking the same …
It must be perplexing for this government that the Consumer Price Index remains stubbornly above 4.5%, interest rates have no schedule at all for coming down, and consumer confidence is the worst it's been since the 2008-9 GFC. Their austerity has cratered the economy of the Wellington region for years to come.
No doubt the government-by-resentment will work a smart schtick for a year.
But if the keep using austerity to crash the economy, I'm confident people will see their personal and family interests decline as a direct result of this government, and the mood will shift against this government.
I doubt anyone is perplexed that after just a few months all the problems of the world have not been resolved. As for ‘cratering’ the Wellington economy, given how few job losses there has been in Wellington so far, that’s some fantastic hyperbole there.
Taser maker and police contractor Axon has announced a new product called "Draft One," an AI that can generate police reports from body cam audio.
As Forbes reports, it's a brazen and worrying use of the tech that could easily lead to the furthering of institutional ills like racial bias in the hands of police departments. That's not to mention the propensity of AI models to "hallucinate" facts, which could easily lead to chaos and baseless accusations.
"It’s kind of a nightmare," Electronic Frontier Foundation surveillance technologies investigations director Dave Maass told Forbes. "Police, who aren't specialists in AI, and aren’t going to be specialists in recognizing the problems with AI, are going to use these systems to generate language that could affect millions of people in their involvement with the criminal justice system."
The Republican base, it turns out, is now opposed to democracy. Their words, not mine, as you’ll soon see.
[…]
Then they kicked it up a notch. They passed a resolution calling on people to please stop using the word “democracy.”
“We encourage Republicans to substitute the words ‘republic’ and ‘republicanism’ where previously they have used the word ‘democracy,’ ” the resolution says. “Every time the word ‘democracy’ is used favorably it serves to promote the principles of the Democratic Party, the principles of which we ardently oppose.”
The resolution sums up: “We … oppose legislation which makes our nation more democratic in nature.”
Is the solution to any of the serious, long term issues we all have to face as a nation, because many governments of all stripes we can probably all admit if we’re deeply truthful with ourselves haven’t done near enough work at the very times they should have, to basically ...
The 2018 Social Security Act suggests that Labour may have retreated to the minimalist (neo-liberal) welfare state which has developed out of the Richardson-Shipley ‘redesign’. One wonders what Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser and Walter Nash would have thought of the Social Security Act passed by the Ardern Labour Government ...
MPs are supposed to serve the public interest, not their own self-interest. And according to the New Zealand Parliament’s website, democracy and integrity are tarnished whenever politicians seek to enrich themselves or the people they are connected with. For this reason, the Parliament has a “Register of Pecuniary Interests” in ...
By now, most of you will have heard about the FLICC taxonomy of science denial techniques and how you can train your skills in detecting them with the Cranky Uncle game. If you like to quickly check how good you are at this already, answer the 12 quiz questions in the ...
Buzz from the Beehive The hacks of the Parliamentary Press Gallery have been able to chip into a rich vein of material on the government’s official website over the past 24 hours. Among the nuggets is the speech by Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and a press statement to announce ...
When Labour was in power, they wasted time, political capital, and scarce policy resources on trying to extend the parliamentary term to four years, in an effort to make themselves less accountable to us. It was unlikely to fly, the idea having previously lost tworeferendums by huge margins - ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: When Whanau Ora chief executive John Tamihere was asked what his expectations for the Budget next Thursday were, he said: “All hope is lost.” Last year Whānau Ora was allocated $163.1 million in the Budget to last for the next four years ...
Nick Hanne writes – There’s a common malady suffered by bureaucracies the world over. They wish to save us from ourselves. Sadly, NZ officials are no less prone to exhibiting symptoms of this occupational condition.Observe, for instance, the reaction from certain public figures to the news ...
Peter Dunne writes – As the city of Tauranga prepares to elect a new Mayor and Council after three and a half years being run by government-appointed Commissioners, the case for replacing the Wellington City Council with Commissioners strengthens. The Wellington City Council has been dysfunctional for years, ...
This will be s short post. It stems from observations I made elsewhere about what might be characterised as some macro and micro aspects of contemporary collective violence events. Here goes. The conflicts between Israel and Palestine and France and … Continue reading → ...
It may be a relic of a previous era of egalitarianism, but many of us like to think that, in general, most New Zealanders are as honest as the day is long. We’re good like that, and smart as. If we’re not punching above our weight on the world stage, ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Why aren’t politicians taking more action on the housing affordability crisis? The answer might lie in the latest “Register of Pecuniary Interests.” This register contains details of the various financial interests of parliamentarians. It shows that politicians own real estate in significant numbers. The ...
I built a time machine to see you againTo hear your phone callYour voice down the hallThe way we were back thenWe were dancing in the rainOur feet on the pavementYou said I was your second headI knew exactly what you meantIn the country of the blind, or so they ...
Why aren’t politicians taking more action on the housing affordability crisis? The answer might lie in the latest “Register of Pecuniary Interests.” This register contains details of the various financial interests of parliamentarians. It shows that politicians own real estate in significant numbers. The register published on Tuesday contains a ...
Microsoft’s transparency about its failure to meet its own net-zero goals is creditable, but the response to that failure is worrying. It is offering up a set of false solutions, heavily buttressed by baseless optimism. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in ...
Another Friday, another Rāmere Roundup! Here are a few things that caught our eye this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday, our new writer Connor Sharp roared into print with a future-focused take on the proposed Auckland Future Fund, and what it could invest in. On ...
Still Waiting: Māori land remains in the hands of Non-Māori. The broken promises of the Treaty remain broken. The mana of the tangata whenua languishes under racist neglect. The right to wear the huia feather remains as elusive as ever. Perhaps these three transformations are beyond the power of a ...
Posters opposing the proposed Fast-Track Approvals legislation were pasted around Wellington last week. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: One of the architects of the RMA and a former National Cabinet Minister, Simon Upton, has criticised the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals bill as potentially disastrous for the environment, arguing just 1% ...
There was less sharing of the joy this week than at the Chinese New Year celebrations in February. China’s ambassador to NZ (2nd from right above) has toldLuxon that relations between China and New Zealand are now at a ‘critical juncture’ Photo: Getty / Xinhua News AgencyTL;DR: The podcast ...
The importance of New Zealand’s relationship with China was surely demonstrated yesterday with the surprise arrival in the capital of top Chinese foreign policy official Liu Jianchao. The trip was apparently organized a week ago but kept secret. Liu is the Minister of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) International Liaison ...
With a crushing 20-plus point lead in the opinion polls, all the signs are that Labour leader Keir Starmer will be the PM after the general election on 4 July, called by Conservative incumbent Rishi Sunak yesterday. The stars are aligned for Starmer. Rival progressives are in abeyance: the Liberal-Democrat ...
We returned last week from England to London. Two different worlds. A quarter of an hour before dropping off our car, we came to a complete stop on the M25. Just moments before, there had been six lanes of hurtling cars and lorries. Now, everything was at a standstill as ...
Buzz from the Beehive A triumvirate of ministers – holding the Agriculture, Environment and RMA Reform portfolios – has announced the introduction of legislation “to slash the tangle of red and green tape throttling development in key sectors”, such as farming, mining and other primary industries. The exact name of ...
The Social Services and Community Committee has called for submissions on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. Submissions are due by Wednesday, 3 July 2024, and can be made at the link above. And if you're wondering what to say: section 7AA was enacted because Oranga Tamariki ...
Michael Reddell writes – The Reserve Bank doesn’t do independent fiscal forecasts so there is no news in the fiscal numbers in today’s Monetary Policy Statement themselves. The last official Treasury forecasts don’t take account of whatever the government is planning in next week’s Budget, and as the Bank notes ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – We know the old saying, “Never trust a politician”, and the Charter School debate is a good example of it. Charter Schools receive public funding, yet “are exempt from most statutory requirements of traditional public schools, including mandates around .. human capital management .. curriculum ...
How Do We Silence Them? The ruling obsession of the contemporary Left is that political action undertaken by individuals or groups further to the right than the liberal wings of mainstream conservative parties should not only be condemned, but suppressed.WEB OF CHAOS, a “deep dive into the world of disinformation”, ...
Muriel Newman writes – As the new Government puts the finishing touches to this month’s Budget, they will undoubtedly have had their hands full dealing with the economic mess that Labour created. Not only was Labour a grossly incompetent manager of the economy, but they also set out ...
Today the British PM, Rishi Sunak, called a general election for the 4th of July. He spoke of the challenging times and of strong leadership and achievements. It was as if he was talking about someone else, a real leader, rather than he himself or the woeful list of Tory ...
This post marks the return of an old format: Photo of the Day. Recently I was in an apartment in one of those new buildings on Great North Road Grey Lynn at rush hour, perfect day, the view was stunning, so naturally I whipped out my phone: GNR 5pm Turns ...
The Government may struggle with the political optics of scrapping assistance for first home buyers while also cutting the tax burden on landlords, increasing concerns over the growing generational divide. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government confirmed it will dump first home buyer grants in the Budget next ...
Yesterday, the Reserve Bank confirmed there will be no free card for the economy to get out of jail during the current term of the Government. Regardless of what the Budget next week says, we are in for three years of austerity. Over those three years, we will have to ...
It doesn’t inspire confidence when politicians change their minds. But you must give credit when a bad idea is dropped. Last year, we reported on the determination of British PM Rishi Sunak to lead the world in regulating the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. Perhaps he changed his mind after meeting ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Is carbon dioxide removal - aka "negative emissions" - going to save us from climate change? Or is it just a ...
Headed for the legislative wastepaper basket… Buzz from the Beehive It looks like this government is just as ready as its predecessor to dip into the public funds it is managing to dispense millions of dollars to finance – and favour – the parties it fancies. Or ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – National and Labour and ACT have at various times waxed on about their “vision” of NZ as a high value-added world tech centerWhat subject is tech based upon? Mathematics. A Chicago mathematician just told me that whereas last decade ...
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Ele Ludemann writes – That Kāinga Ora is a mess is no surprise, but the size of the mess is. There have been many reports of unruly tenants given licence to terrorise neighbours, properties bought and left vacant, and the state agency paying above market rates in competition ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s being explained as an “inadvertent error”. However, National MP David MacLeod’s excuse for failing to disclose $178,000 in donations for his election campaign last year is not necessarily enough to prevent some serious consequences. A Police investigation is now likely, and the result ...
The scathing “independent” review of Kāinga Ora barely hit the table before the coalition government had acted on it. The entire Kāinga Ora board will be replaced, and a new chair (Simon Moutter) has been announced. Hmm. No aspersions on Bill English, but the public would have had more confidence ...
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Politics is about compromise, right? And framing it so the voters see your compromise as the better one. John Key was a skilful exponent of this approach (as was Keith Holyoake in an earlier age), and Chris Luxon isn’t too bad either. But in politics, the process whereby an old ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
It’s being explained as an “inadvertent error”. However, National MP David MacLeod’s excuse for failing to disclose $178,000 in donations for his election campaign last year is not necessarily enough to prevent some serious consequences. A Police investigation is now likely, and the result of his non-disclosure could even see ...
The relentless drone coming out of the Prime Minister and his deputy for a million days now has been that the last government was just hosing money all over the show and now at last the grownups are in charge and shutting that drunken sailor stuff down. There is a word ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to riot-torn New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. Today’s flight will carry around 50 passengers with the most ...
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Rex Ahdar writes – The Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, likes to trace his political lineage back to the pioneers of parliamentary Maoridom. I will refer to these as the ‘big four’ or better still, the Four Knights. Just as ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper ...
That is the only way to describe an MP "forgetting" to declare $178,000 in donations. The amount of money involved - more than five times the candidate spending cap, and two and a half times the median income - is boggling. How do you just "forget" that amount of money? ...
In this week’s “A View from Afar” podcast Selwyn Manning and spoke about the upcoming US elections and what the possibility of another Trump presidency means for the US role in world affairs. We also spoke about the problems Joe … Continue reading → ...
Hi,Two years ago I briefly featured in Justin Pemberton’s Web of Chaos documentary, which touched on things like QAnon during the pandemic.I mostly prattled on about how intertwined conspiracy narratives are with Evangelical Christian thinking, something Webworm’s explored in the past.(The doc is available on TVNZ+, if you’re not in ...
The Government is leaving the entire construction sector and the community housing sector in limbo. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government released the long-awaited Bill English-led review of Kāinga Ora yesterday, but delayed key decisions on its build plan and how to help community housing providers (CHPs) build ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Farmers who can’t sleep, worrying they’ll lose everything amid increasing drought. Youth struggling with depression over a future that feels hopeless. Indigenous people grief-stricken over devastated ecosystems. For all these people and more, climate change is taking a clear toll ...
New Zealand’s relationship with China is becoming harder to define, and with that comes a worry that a deteriorating political relationship could spill over into the economic relationship. It is about more than whether New Zealand will join Pillar Two of Aukus, though the Chinese Ambassador, more or less, suggested ...
Been hoping we would see something like this from Sir Geoffrey Palmer. This is excellent.The present Bill goes further than the National Development Act 1979 in stripping away procedures designed to ensure that environmental issues are properly considered. The 1979 approach was not acceptable then and this present approach is ...
He’s Got The Moxie: Only Willie Jackson possesses the credentials to meld together a new Labour message that is, at one and the same moment, staunchly working-class, union-friendly, and which speaks to the hundreds-of-thousands of urban Māori untethered to the neo-tribal capitalist elites of the Iwi Leaders Forum.IT’S ONE OF THE ...
Tree-huggers may well accuse the Government of giving them the fingers, after Energy Minister Simeon Brown announced new measures to protect powerlines from trees, rather than measures to protect trees from powerlines. It can be no coincidence, surely, that this has been announced at the same as Fisheries Minister Shane Jones ...
Willie Jackson will participate in the prestigious Oxford Union debate on Thursday, following in David Lange’s footsteps. Coincidentally, Jackson has also followed Lange’s footsteps by living in his old home in South Auckland. And like Lange, Jackson might be the sort of loud-mouth scrapper who could take over the Labour ...
Barrister Gary Judd KC’s complaint to the Regulatory Review Committee has sparked a fierce debate about the place of tikanga Māori – or Māori customs, values and spiritual beliefs – in the law.Judd opposes the New Zealand Council of Legal Education’s plans to make teaching tikanga compulsory in the legal curriculum.AUT ...
Alwyn Poole writes – In New Zealand we have approximately 460 high schools. The gaps between the schools that produce the best results for students and those at the other end of the spectrum are enormous.In terms of the data for their leavers, the top 30 schools have ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand First Cabinet Minister Shane Jones has become the best advertisement against the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill. In selling the radical new resource consenting processes, in which ministers can green light any mine, dam, or other major development, Jones seems to be ...
Brian Eastonwrites – The Fast-Track Approvals Bill enables cabinet ministers to circumvent key environmental planning and protection processes for infrastructure projects. Its difficulties have been well canvassed. This column suggests a different way of thinking about the proposal. I am ...
The split opening up in Israel’s “War Cabinet” is not just between PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his long-term rival Benny Gantz. It is actually a three-way split, set in motion by Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. It was Gallant’s open criticism of Netanyahu that finally flushed Gantz out into the open. ...
On Thursday 17 May, the Mayoral Proposal for Auckland’s Long Term Plan 2024-2034 was passed by Auckland Council, 20 to 1. It is set to be formally adopted by the Governing Body at its June 27th meeting. The entire process took 8 hours, with the vast majority of that time ...
Pakanga o muaTukua, ka ngaroPuritia taku ringaNgaro ana te ara ki pae rauThere's a battle aheadMany battles are lostBut you'll never see the end of the roadWhile you're travelling with meLate yesterday morning I headed to Wynyard Quarter to see Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick give their pre-budget State of ...
Maybe the Prime Minister and his Finance Minister expected the worst, so they mounted a stout defence of the Budget tax cuts to their party faithful at a party conference over the weekend. In turn, they were greeted with applause, which, though it may have been less than wildly enthusiastic, ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, May 12, 2024 thru Sat, May 18, 2024. Story of the week “The legislation I signed today [will] keep windmills off our beaches, gas in our tanks, and ...
TL;DR: Here’s six links that stood out to me in the last day in Aotearoa’s political economy to 6:06am on Sunday, May 19:Aotearoa-NZ is the seventh worst in the OECD’s homelessness rankings, just behind the United States and just ahead of Australia. BlackRock thinks rate hikes actually worsen inflation because ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect New Zealanders' right of free speech. The “Protection of Freedom of Expression Bill” will ensure that no organisation or individual, when acting within the law, is unreasonably denied use of a public venue for an organised event or ...
The Green Party unequivocally condemns the governing parties’ attempts to limit the public’s say on the controversial Māori wards legislation, after the select committee considering the legislation set a deadline for submissions of just five days. ...
Disabled children and families nationwide have recently found out they’re no longer able to use disability support funding for programmes during school hours in another quiet update from the Government. ...
Following a horrific case of stalking that ended in tragedy, Labour’s police spokesperson Ginny Andersen has drafted a bill that would add stalking to the Crimes Act. ...
The Rt Hon Winston Peters, joined by Mike King, has announced $24 million over four years for the ‘I Am Hope Foundation’, and will provide young people aged between 5 to 25 years with free mental health counselling services. This funding will help I Am Hope’s ‘Gumboot Friday’ initiative give ...
Te Pāti Māori have launched a petition to stop the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act. This announcement comes prior to the first reading of the Section 7AA repeal bill in Parliament today. “Section 7AA forces the Government to adhere to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with respect ...
The Government has yet again failed to do the one thing that needs to happen to ensure houses can be built – commit to ongoing funding, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Treasury officials have outlined many ways in which the Fast Track Approvals Bill is deeply flawed, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking says. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick used this year's State of the Planet to call on the Government to prioritise people and planet as the delivery of the Budget approaches. A full transcript of their speeches can be found below. ...
Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick have used their State of the Planet speeches to challenge the Government to prioritise people and planet over profit as the delivery of the Budget approaches. ...
The Government’s introduction of legislation that would enable landlords to end tenancies with no reason marks a dark day for the 1.4 million people who rent their home in Aotearoa. ...
The Minister for Mental Health has found the Suicide Prevention Office and mental health support for 111 calls slipping through his fingers, says Labour spokesperson for Mental Health Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s justification from the Minister for Children for scrapping protections for our tamariki was either a case of ignorance or deliberate deception. ...
The Green Party says the Government’s misguided policy on gangs will fail, following the announcement of the establishment of a national gang unit and district gang disruption units to target gang activities. ...
“With Police pay negotiations still unresolved after six months in Government, Mark Mitchell has today rolled the Commissioner out for a rebrand of their approach to gang crime,” Labour police spokesperson Ginny Andersen said. ...
The Government bringing back 50 charter schools will not increase achievement and is a distraction from the core mission of the education system, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Te Pāti Māori is showing extreme concern over the Environment Select Committees adoption of a lucky dip draw to determine hearings for the Fast Track Approvals bill. Of the 27,000 submissions, 2,900 requested to present. All organisations will be heard; however, the remaining 2,350 submitters will be subject to a ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
The Government has approved two-year extensions for four New Zealand Defence Force deployments to the Middle East and Africa, Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced today. “These deployments are long-standing New Zealand commitments, which reflect our ongoing interest in promoting peace and stability, and making active ...
The Climate Change Commission Chair, Dr Rod Carr, has confirmed his plans to retire at the end of his term later this year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Prior to the election, Dr Carr advised me he would be retiring when his term concluded. Dr Rod Carr has led ...
Nine highly respected experts have been appointed to the inaugural board of the new Integrity Sport and Recreation Commission, Sport & Recreation Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Integrity Sport and Recreation Commission is a new independent Crown entity which was established under the Integrity Sport and Recreation Act last year, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed today that Vote Foreign Affairs in Budget 2024 will balance two crucial priorities of the Coalition Government. While Budget 2024 reflects the constrained fiscal environment, the Government also recognises the critical role MFAT plays in keeping New Zealanders safe and prosperous. “Consistent with ...
New social housing funding in Budget 2024 will ensure the Government can continue supporting more families into warm, dry homes from July 2025, Housing Ministers Chris Bishop and Tama Potaka say. “Earlier this week I was proud to announce that Budget 2024 allocates $140 million to fund 1,500 new social ...
Introduction Today, we are sharing a red-letter occasion. A Blackball event on hallowed ground. Today we underscore the importance of our mineral estate. A reminder that our natural resource sector has much to offer. Such a contribution will not come to pass without investment. However, more than money is needed. ...
Increasing national and regional prosperity, providing the minerals needed for new technology and the clean energy transition, and doubling the value of minerals exports are the bold aims of the Government’s vision for the minerals sector. Resources Minister Shane Jones today launched a draft strategy for the minerals sector in ...
The coalition Government’s legislation to restore the rights of communities to determine whether to introduce Māori wards has passed its first reading in Parliament, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says. “Divisive changes introduced by the previous government denied local communities the ability to determine whether to establish Māori wards.” The ...
The coalition Government has today introduced legislation to slash the tangle of red and green tape throttling some of New Zealand’s key sectors, including farming, mining and other primary industries. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says the Government is committed to unlocking development and investment while ensuring the environment is ...
The decision by Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to approve the continued use of hydrogen cyanamide, known as Hi-Cane, has been welcomed by Environment Minister Penny Simmonds and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay. “The EPA decision introduces appropriate environmental safeguards which will allow kiwifruit and other growers to use Hi-Cane responsibly,” Ms ...
Kia ora, Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou kātoa Tāmaki Herenga Waka, Tāmaki Herenga tangata Ngā mihi ki ngā mana whenua o tēnei rohe Ngāti Whātua ō Ōrākei me nga iwi kātoa kua tae mai. Mauriora. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the EMA for hosting this event. Let me acknowledge ...
The coalition Government is investing in social housing for New Zealanders who are most in need of a warm dry home, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. Budget 2024 will allocate $140 million in new funding for 1,500 new social housing places to be provided by Community Housing Providers (CHPs), not ...
Thousands more young New Zealanders will have better access to mental health services as the Government delivers on its commitment to fund the Gumboot Friday initiative, says Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey. “Budget 2024 will provide $24 million over four years to contract the ...
The Coalition Government’s Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which will improve tenancy laws and help increase the supply of rental properties, has passed its first reading in Parliament says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “The Bill proposes much-needed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 that will remove barriers to increasing private ...
Standing here in Cassino War Cemetery, among the graves looking up at the beautiful Abbey of Montecassino, it is hard to imagine the utter devastation left behind by the battles which ended here in May 1944. Hundreds of thousands of shells and bombs of every description left nothing but piled ...
I present a legislative statement on the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill Mr. Speaker, I move that the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the Bill. Thank you, Mr. ...
The Bill to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act has had its first reading in Parliament today. The Bill reaffirms the Coalition Government’s commitment to the care and safety of children in care, says Minister for Children Karen Chhour. “When I became the Minister for Children, I made ...
Kia ora koutou, good morning, and zao shang hao. Thank you Fran for the opportunity to speak at the 2024 China Business Summit – it’s great to be here today. I’d also like to acknowledge: Simon Bridges - CEO of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. His Excellency Ambassador - Wang ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed a New Zealand Government plane will head to New Caledonia in the next hour in the first in a series of proposed flights to begin bringing New Zealanders home. “New Zealanders in New Caledonia have faced a challenging few days - and bringing them ...
The Coalition Government will introduce legislation this year that will enable roadside drug testing as part of our commitment to improve road safety and restore law and order, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Alcohol and drugs are the number one contributing factor in fatal road crashes in New Zealand. In ...
The Government has announced a series of immediate actions in response to the independent review of Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “Kāinga Ora is a large and important Crown entity, with assets of $45 billion and over $2.5 billion of expenditure each year. It ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour is pleased that Pseudoephedrine can now be purchased by the general public to protect them from winter illness, after the coalition government worked swiftly to change the law and oversaw a fast approval process by Medsafe. “Pharmacies are now putting the medicines back on their ...
Tēnā koutou katoa. Da jia hao. Good morning everyone. Prime Minister Luxon, your excellency, a great friend of New Zealand and my friend Ambassador Wang, Mayor of what he tells me is the best city in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, the highly respected Fran O’Sullivan, Champion of the Auckland business ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced that the Government will make it easier for lines firms to take action to remove vegetation from obstructing local powerlines. The change will ensure greater security of electricity supply in local communities, particularly during severe weather events. “Trees or parts of trees falling on ...
Wairarapa Moana ki Pouakani were the top winners at this year’s Ahuwhenua Trophy awards recognising the best in Māori dairy farming. Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka announced the winners and congratulated runners-up, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board, at an awards celebration also attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister ...
"On the 27th of March, I sought assurances from the Chief Executive, Department of Internal Affairs, that the Department’s correct processes and policies had been followed in regards to a passport application which received media attention,” says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “I raised my concerns after being ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins has announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges, to replace Judges who have recently retired. Peter James Davey of Auckland has been appointed a District Court Judge with a jury jurisdiction to be based at Whangarei. Mr Davey initially started work as a law clerk/solicitor with ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour is calling on the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) to put ideology to the side and focus on students’ learning, in reaction to the union holding paid teacher meetings across New Zealand about charter schools. “The PPTA is disrupting schools up and down the ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly today announced the appointment of Craig Stobo as the new chair of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Mr Stobo takes over from Mark Todd, whose term expired at the end of April. Mr Stobo’s appointment is for a five-year term. “The FMA plays ...
Surf Life Saving New Zealand and Coastguard New Zealand will continue to be able to keep people safe in, on, and around the water following a funding boost of $63.644 million over four years, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey say. “Heading to the beach for ...
New Zealand and Tuvalu have reaffirmed their close relationship, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand is committed to working with Tuvalu on a shared vision of resilience, prosperity and security, in close concert with Australia,” says Mr Peters, who last visited Tuvalu in 2019. “It is my pleasure ...
New Zealand is gravely concerned about the situation in New Caledonia, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The escalating situation and violent protests in Nouméa are of serious concern across the Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “The immediate priority must be for all sides to take steps to de-escalate the ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met today with Samoa’s O le Ao o le Malo, Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, who is making a State Visit to New Zealand. “His Highness and I reflected on our two countries’ extensive community links, with Samoan–New Zealanders contributing to all areas of our national ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced that he has approved Waiheke Island ferry operator Island Direct to be eligible for SuperGold Card funding, paving the way for a commercial agreement to bring the operator into the scheme. “Island Direct started operating in November 2023, offering an additional option for people ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters today announced further sanctions on 28 individuals and 14 entities providing military and strategic support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Russia is directly supported by its military-industrial complex in its illegal aggression against Ukraine, attacking its sovereignty and territorial integrity. New Zealand condemns all entities and ...
A year on from the tragedy at Loafers Lodge, the Government is working hard to improve building fire safety, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “I want to share my sincere condolences with the families and friends of the victims on the anniversary of the tragic fire at Loafers ...
Ka nui te mihi kia koutou. Kia ora and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me here in the lead up to my Government’s first Budget. Before I get started can I acknowledge: Simon Bridges – Auckland Business Chamber CEO. Steve Jurkovich – Kiwibank CEO. Kids born ...
New Zealand and Vanuatu will enhance collaboration on issues of mutual interest, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “It is important to return to Port Vila this week with a broad, high-level political delegation which demonstrates our deep commitment to New Zealand’s relationship with Vanuatu,” Mr Peters says. “This ...
Minister for Land Information, Chris Penk will travel to Peru this week to represent New Zealand at a meeting of trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific region on behalf of Trade Minister Todd McClay. The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministers Responsible for Trade meeting will be held on 17-18 May ...
Pacific Media Watch Pro-Palestinian protesters dressed in blue “press” vests tonight staged a vigil calling on New Zealand journalists to show solidarity with the media of Gaza who have suffered the highest death toll in any war. They staged the vigil at the Viaduct venue of NZ’s annual Voyager Media ...
Opinion: Outside my house, the autumn breeze blows crisp leaves off trees and leaks through the gap in my ranchslider while I slump on my couch listening to our CEO announcing our restructure. With many ums and ahs, he reads his script, talking of “prioritisation,” “working differently,” and “reconceiving the ...
Just days after Taiwan’s new president called on China to stop making threats, Beijing has launched “punishment” military drills around the island. Everyone was watching to see what China’s reaction to the swearing in of President William Lai Ching-te would be. On Thursday night we found out. China had already ...
For the past six weeks Annie has been sleeping with a teacher named Patrick Drury. Twice he has tried to call it an affair. Twice she has considered correcting him. But she likes how he looks when he says it. She likes that he’s older than her. That he’s recently ...
MONDAY Fast-Track Jones stood in the shade beneath an awning of a train station and waited for the 3:10 to Blackball. He narrowed his eyes and studied the view. A water tower. A windmill. A cattle fence. All else was empty land. Locomotive smoke rose over the horizon. The 3:10 ...
A groundbreaking investigative podcast into the death of Gore three-year-old Lachie Jones has won Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner two notable awards at the Voyager Media Awards. Their in-depth reporting and nine-part first season of The Boy in the Water, which led to the case being reopened twice and preceded ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist Scores of people have died in a huge landslide which has struck a remote village in the Papua New Guinean highlands. The landslide reportedly hit Yambali village in Enga Province, about 600 km north-west of Port Moresby. The landslip has buried homes and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lara Herrero, Research Leader in Virology and Infectious Disease, Griffith University Red-Diamond/Shutterstock We’ve now been living with COVID for well over four years. Although there’s still much to learn about SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID) at least one thing seems ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clive Schofield, Professor, Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), University of Wollongong The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has found countries are obliged to protect the oceans from climate change impacts under the law of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca McGirr, Postdoctoral research fellow, Australian National University Bernhard Staehli/Shutterstock Imagine you’re standing near the edge of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, gazing out over the ocean, when the ice near you starts to melt very rapidly. A surge of meltwater flows ...
The Finance Minister prepares to present one of the most difficult budgets, National MP David MacLeod gets himself into trouble and the First Home Buyers Grant is scrapped. ...
The Iranian Solidarity Group NZ met with Minister For Foreign Affairs Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, urging the NZ government to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. The group continues to advocate for justice ...
On 24th May, 6pm, Palestinian journalists covering Gaza will be honoured in a silent and visually impactful vigil outside Shed 10, 89 Quay Street, Auckland, where the Voyager Media Awards are being held. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Harcourt, Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney This should be a golden age for Australian soccer. After all, the big picture is good: the Matildas are waltzing, the Socceroos are well supported and Australia was just awarded hosting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Wellings, Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, Monash University Assuming a Labour win in the UK general election – always a risky assumption given Labour’s proclivity for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory – the “Global Britain” bombast emanating ...
The community group People Against Prisons Aotearoa is holding a protest against mass incarceration tomorrow against the Government’s proposed expansion of Waikeria prison. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Shutterstock OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, and News Corp, the international media conglomerate, have signed a deal that will let OpenAI use and learn from News Corp’s content. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jaimon Kelly, Senior Research Fellow in Telehealth delivered health services, The University of Queensland Shutterstock/Nils Versemann For many Australians the emergency department (ED) is the physical and emblematic front door to accessing urgent health-care services. But health-care services are evolving rapidly ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Trelease, Senior Lecturer in Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Following the hugely successful recent season of Married At First Sight (MAFS) Australia, fans of the format – and the reality romance genre in general – will be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic Redfern, Associate Professor, School of Art, RMIT University We Are All Unique by Universal Everything commissioned by Hyundai Motorstudio Senayan Park in Beings at ACMI.Image by Michelle Tran At this week’s launch of Beings by Universal Everything, ACMI board member ...
As Married at First Sight New Zealand returns to our screens this Sunday, Tara Ward speaks to the show’s new relationship experts about what lies ahead. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. John Aiken is teasing Jo Robertson about her cup of ...
A new poem by Wellington writer Erin Donohue. The body’s score Here is what happens if you starve yourself for years. Your body will forget herself. She will have to learn new how a heart beats and she will not get it right. She will need MRIs and a quiet ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $25)A charming, smash-hit book about ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle “Only the struggle counts . . . death is nothing.” Éloi Machoro — “the Che Guevara of the Pacific” — said this shortly before he was gunned down by a French sniper on 12 January 1985. Machoro, one of the leaders of the newly-formed FLNKS (Kanak ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Wake, Associate Professor, Journalism, RMIT University Photo by Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels The news media play a vital role in shaping the public conversation and covering complex issues such as war, the economy, climate change and technology. Yet our new research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aviroop Gupta, PhD Candidate, Curtin University Narendra Modi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has resorted to religious polarisation as it tries to rally its Hindu nationalist base in India’s ongoing general election, which ends on June 1. Just days after voting started ...
Lana Walters’ new show is playing in Auckland for the NZ International Comedy Festival. Madeleine Holden (a parent) and Liv Sisson (not) went along to review. I hadn’t heard of comedian Lana Walters until a colleague posted the following message in one of The Spinoff’s Slack channels: “Has anyone been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paola A. Magni, Associate Professor of Forensic Science, Murdoch University Microgen / Shutterstock When you think of a criminal investigation, you might picture detectives meticulously collecting and analysing evidence found at the scene: weapons, biological fluids, footprints and fingerprints. However, this ...
Recent price falls in the New Zealand market for carbon credits leaves the Government facing the prospect of a significant loss of revenue from carbon auctions this year. The March financial statements from Treasury highlight lower-than-expected revenue ...
ANALYSIS:By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk French President Emmanuel Macron has ended a meeting-packed whirlwind day in New Caledonia with back-to-back sessions including opposing leaders in the French Pacific territory. Macron left New Caledonia this morning, leaving some members of his entourage to deal with details ...
"The government's 'Draft Mineral Strategy' released this week by Minister for Resources Shane Jones is a disaster in the making for the environment, the climate and people as more and more rural communities will have to battle these companies ...
Behind the pretty flower beds at Auckland Botanic Gardens, conservation mahi is under way for the region’s 357 threatened plants. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. At Auckland Botanic Gardens, conservation specialist Ella Rawcliffe has been trying to plant a seed that’s smaller ...
One financial hopeful looks to MPs for inspiration on how to be savvy with money.As a person whose search history includes “easy ways to make money” and “what should I do with $1,000 savings”, my interest was piqued when parliament released the pecuniary interests register this week. Since 2005, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Mintzes, Professor, School of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney Monster Ztudio/Shutterstock Drug companies are paying Australian doctors millions of dollars a year to fly to overseas conferences and meetings, give talks to other doctors, and to serve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Trivess Moore, Associate Professor, School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University The Victorian government is planning Australia’s largest urban renewal project. The plan is to knock down and rebuild 44 large public housing towers in Melbourne. The government says these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karen Scott, Professor in Law, University of Canterbury Christian Charisius/dpa/Getty Images In a significant development for small island nations threatened by rising seas, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has found greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pi-Shen Seet, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Edith Cowan University William Fortunato/Pexels Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of any innovative economy. New business creation has been shown to have a significant and positive impact on economic growth, innovation and job creation. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treena Clark, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains names, images and stories of deceased people. Around the world, fashion researchers, ...
Gumboot Friday pocketed a significant budget boost this week, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin, but concerns have been raised over transparency. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
It’s 40 years since Lorraine Moller and her peers broke a glass ceiling at the Los Angeles Olympics. The Games in 1984 saw the inclusion of the women’s marathon for the first time and for Moller, then 29, it was the first of four consecutive appearances in the Olympic race ...
While New Zealand writers festivals are reporting record audiences, booksellers and publishers are struggling under financial pressure. Books editor Claire Mabey looks at the challenges faced by the industry, and what can be done about it.Last week the Auckland Writers Festival broke all attendance records with more than 85,000 ...
When the publisher of NZ Lifestyle Block announced it was closing down, its editor had a scary decision to make. Michael Andrew tells what happened next. At three in the morning a few months ago, I sat at my desk with two windows open on my computer. One was a ...
National promised a “back pocket boost” when it unveiled a tax package before the election, and now in Government in tough economic times its Budget next week will sort the easy promises from reality. The tax bracket changes and other in-work and family payment adjustments might need to land with ...
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Opinion: Wellington recently passed a new ambitious district plan, which paves the way for increased housing density in the city. But as Wellington embraces opportunities for urban intensification, it also needs to consider how this shift will affect residents’ lives. Key to ensuring urban development does not adversely affect health ...
Sir Bill English’s Kāinga Ora review looked way beyond its financial troubles to propose a new social housing system, harking back to his own government The post The Great Game resumes on public housing appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Revenue Minister Simon Watts has asked tax officials to work to remove a perceived tax incentive for double-cab utes as part of a larger re-working of fringe benefit tax (FBT). In a briefing released to Newsroom under the Official Information Act, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) laid out two options ...
In a stunning summary of what appears to have been one of the worst hearings of his 19 years as an ERA member, Michael Loftus has ordered a $100k penalty against the owners of a Hamilton restaurant The post Outgoing ERA member shreds ‘unstuck’ restaurant owners in 19-year first appeared ...
FICTION 1 The Bone Tree by Airana Ngarewa (Hachette, $37,99) Sales of the author’s 2023 novel went through the roof after he appeared at the Auckland Writers Festival in the weekend. A witness at Ngarewa’s event commented, “It’s the schools and adult combo – not many authors traverse both. Airana ...
French President Emmanuel Macron’s priority on his rush visit to New Caledonia is to quell the unrest that has been tearing at the territory for nearly two weeks. But what is he likely to achieve in his 24 hours on the ground? A Pacific leader here says France is in ...
It’s tempting to host a lolly scramble on Budget Day, but the Prime Minister says he’s making ‘tough calls’ needed to get the fundamentals right. The post Luxon: No excuse for NZ not to do ‘incredibly well’ appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Former MSP Regan has the deciding vote on a no confidence vote in Scotland.
The SNP have 63 votes, the others have 64.
The SNP have been in government for 17 years.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3g8dwn01gno
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-67248844
former SNP 👍
Such an interesting political fallout. I can't figure out how much is about the failure of the climate targets, how much is Cass Report, and how much is Independence.
https://twitter.com/holyroodmandy/status/1783471554786951315
also interesting is how similar the issues are to here. I'm listening in to a Scottish Space on twitter, and there is commentary like how much the Highlands and Islands have been neglected and the government focused on the cities. Too much about NB toilets, not enough ensuring ferry crossings are functional.
I really hope NZ GP and Lab are learning the right things here. We are lucky that neither party leadership do the kind of relationship destroying behaviour we've seen in Scotland in the recent past.
Scotland's Labor Party have been on the rise for a decade, now into the mid-30% and primed to replace SNP. With the Greens struggling to crack 5% forever.
https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/polls_scot.html
That's a whole different scenario to New Zealand.
I wasn't talking about the MP/Party make up. I was talking about the issues that matter to voters and why the SNP and SGs are in such a mess.
The last big dip I am aware of for the SNP was when Sturgeon was interviewed and couldn't explain how trans women are women but shouldn't be in women's prisons. Voters hate numpties.
As I said above, it's complex, because there are at least three distinct issues playing directly into what just happened: the climate targets, the Cass Review, and Independence. But those sit within a broader cultural context of what matters in people's day to day lives. That's very similar to here.
(and as an aside, but following on from that and your comment, looks to me like Scotland is getting MMP better than we are, with a better distribution of power across parties rather than retaining a two party system with add ons like NZ does).
With 63 of the 129 seats, the SNP will stumble on as an administration until the next election in 2026. On the issues in play to Scotland’s political makeup, only climate registers with voters here.
If Scotland is what successful coalition government looks like, we've done well to avoid it. Scotland's Greens should be taking lessons from us.
I've just been listening to a Scottish voter talking about the broader issues and they sound similar eg people concerned the liberal government parties are focusing on the wrong things.
Climate is an issue for the split in Scotland because the SG membership wanted a vote on whether to stay in the Bute House agreement after the SNP pulled out of the climate targets (as far as I understand it). Yousaf apparently decided not to wait for that, but I get the sense there is more to it because now the SNP are in a precarious position. That's a different set of dynamics than what ordinary voters want, which is what I was referring to.
Dunno about that, we currently have a successful coalition government tearing the country apart 🤷♀️
Scottish and UK Green Parties are insane because of their handling of the sex/gender wars and their lack of real politik and reading the room. The Scottish Green co-leader has denied the Cass Review findings and is doubling down on making the TRA agenda a priority. The UK Greens went through several scandals around a trans identified man and his father who was a child sex offender. How they handled that makes the NZ Greens' handling of problematic people seem very good.
The NZ GP removing Kerekere speaks to them having better sense of real politik. She was a loose unit, and because of that they were heading down the same path re gender identity that the SG and UKG have gone. It's silo mentality, and I really hope the NZ GP are in the process of leaving that behind.
Our own Green Party delivered massive legislation and policy programmes from a fairly small position last term. Neither NZ Greens nor any other party are revisiting the Birth Deaths and Marriages Act and nor will they ever: dead issue for all our political parties. Our Greens handled their leadership change with aplomb and their 2023 results are the strongest they've ever had.
I have no view of the Scottish Greens' level of sanity, but our Greens are on a roll.
yes, they are. And, there are challenges coming up. The Cass Review, the MoH review of puberty blockers, and the myriad of issues that have been arising in societies elsewhere and we are just getting started on. Those aren't going away and at some point the pressure will be on the Greens. My hope is that they learn from the SG and GPEW (UK) on what not to do, because those GPs are a shit show. The SG are in the process of major brand damage.
Self-ID may be a dead issue for political parties atm, but obviously not for voters. Hence Hipkins was completely unprepared for the 'what is a woman?' question, despite it being a major issue for UK Labour because women voters forced the issue.
If Labour and/or GP staffers are still giving them poor information on this issue, it will bite the centre left.
It's going to be an issue for Swarbrick, because there is a direct conflict between her plan to mobilise communities and the GP position of fuck off nazi terf bigot. Same with the Palestinian liberation and telling Jewish people they need to explore their racism. Her plan is good for building green left vote is good, but she has a huge blindspot as well. I hope she can resolve that over the next two years.
The question to Hipkins changed not a single vote.
Same question could have been put to any NZ political leader and it would still have no effect at all.
possible given that many of the people that would no longer vote for Labour or the Greens because of the gender identity trumps sex position had already made the decision before Hipkins was asked. Including TS commenters.
But it’s an odd assertion, given in the UK people saying they will no longer vote on the left over genderist policies, and we know that similar dynamics are playing out here. We also know that most people are supportive of trans people having the same kinds of rights as other people, but draw the line when those rights infringe on the rights of women and children.
The longer the liberal left stays in denial of what is happening, the more the narrative is handed to the right, and the bigger the backlash against trans people.
"The question to Hipkins changed not a single vote"
Well it was another reason for me not to give Labour either tick and confirmed a party vote tick for the Maori Party.
You don't have to wait for the next Scottish election.
On May 2nd – 2 weeks time – there's the next British election.
So you can test whether UK reports about gender self-identification really do change votes. Or not.
meanwhile, there’s to be a vote on confidence in the Scottish government, and the person that holds the balance of power is a gender critical woman who has already said that support for Yousaf depends on his support for women’s sex based rights.
https://twitter.com/AshReganALBA/status/1783769794824503712
That’s Ash Regan, who shifted from the SNP to the Alba Party last year.
That’s not how it works. People vote for a range of reasons and the only way to know to what extent gender identity pol is a factor would be to poll that specifically. I’m not aware of anyone doing that polling.
edit: the vote is about Yousaf not the government
"The last big dip I am aware of for the SNP was when Sturgeon was interviewed and couldn't explain how trans women are women but shouldn't be in women's prisons. Voters hate numpties."
What should she have said, Weka?
"trans women are trans women, which means biologically male, and they appear to have same rates of violence against women as other males and thus like other males shouldn't be housed in women's prisons. Trans women are at risk of violence from men in men's prisons, which is why as government we are moving now to establish how trans women, other gender non conforming or vulnerable male prisoners can be protected from targeted violence. We further acknowledge that men's prisons have inherent levels of violence that need addressing"
Not true of the Scottish parliament Ad. Between 1999 AND 2021 lLabour has gone down steadily from 34% to 19, while the Greens have gone from 3% to 8.
This is from Wiki….difficult to link as am in Dunedin cafe.
In 2018 Labour were at 21% and tanked to a low of 12%.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1225498/scotland-holyrood-voting-intention/
As of now they are on 32% and rising, with SNP on 34% and falling fast.
Greens are at 4% which is about where they were in 2018.
Please, what are "NB toilets"?
non binary
Oh, of course.
I stared at it for a couple of minutes without registering. Thank you.
Have the Scottish Greens been captured by GI ideologues the same way as the wider UK party apparently has? (See https://thestandard.org.nz/chris-hipkins-values-matter/#comment-1993957) If so, I think it would be unwise to take any lessons from them.
You can track here what's most important to Scottish voters, over multiple years:
https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/foi-eir-release/2023/08/foi-202300359025/documents/foi-202300359025—information-for-release—2/foi-202300359025—information-for-release—2/govscot%3Adocument/FOI%2B202300359025%2B-%2BInformation%2Bfor%2BRelease%2B-%2B2.pdf
Yes, they're hard core gender identity ideologists. One of the co-leaders has been full on supporting the TRA lines against the Cass Review in the past few weeks.
The lessons for NZ GP and Labour are around what not to do.
I would link to SG twitter accounts but apparently they purged all the tweets related to the CR (I haven't looked though).
my bad, it's not the UK Greens, but the GP of England and Wales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Party_of_England_and_Wales
One of the more bonkers issues they've had
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimee_Knight
My bad too, Weka. I could do with more time for preliminary fact-finding, tbh.
It appears it is concessions to Regan now an Alba MP (Salmond, which might influence strategy) from SNP.
If not, then it's onto elections.
That could result in a Labour led government, with either SNP, or LD and Greens.
If SNP (under a new leader, say Forbes) remain number 1, they might seek partnership with LD (if they have the votes).
Can they not run a minority government? One would hope the SNP would still be able to pass legislation with either Labour, Alba or the Greens each time.
Or do they need a confidence and supply agreement to stay as government?
A no confidence vote would likely result in the SNP First Minister either resigning, or calling new elections.
The alternative is a new SNP leader (Forbes a social conservative, who lost the last leadership contest, is not favoured by Greens).
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3g8dwn01gno
It is if Regan votes with the SNP that they would continue as a minority government.
This now. Crikey.
with an screenshot saying that if there is a vote of no confidence in the government, the First Minister and Ministers have to resign, then there is 28 days to elect a new FM. If parliament can't do that, parliament is dissolved.
https://twitter.com/ConnorGillies/status/1783786023480123712
There is a bit of excitement over here in vegan-corner…
We have seen the future of protein/food…and it looks really good…
Move aside plant-based meats ..here comes protein grown from a microbe ..and thin air ..
At first glance it seems like magic..(and it really is..!..both in ending the cruelties/environmental damage from getting protein from animals ..and in fixing the problem of how to feed the planet..)
The scientific explanation is that the microbe uses the hydrogen in the air .to grow ..
Effing cool..!..eh..?
And this is not a new concept..it is already tried and true ..the American space program used this method to grow food for astronauts in space ..in the 1970's…
Anyone wanting to know more would be advised to google food from air ..(fill yet boots..!)
And pass on the good news…
Apparently the war on farming is over.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2404/S00323/government-ends-war-on-farming.htm
Looks like our rivers lost that war. 45% of our river length is unswimmable.
And our wetland lost tens of thousands of hectares.
And of course all our native species lost that war. 94% of our reptile species, 82% of bird species, 80%of bat species, 76%of freshwater fish species, and 46%of vascular plant species are either facing extinction or are at risk of being threatened with extinction.
Also forest cover in New Zealand has been reduced to below extinction levels in nearly all our districts.
Maybe we just re-name ourselves New DeathLand.
May as well as it would appear the welcome mat's been laid out awhile to Capital of many varieties to plunder these shores.
The end of our enslaving of other species..(to do with what we will)..will see massive land use changes in NZ ..
One would expect that that the rural land currently used/abused to those enslaving ends…will see a sharp drop in value…as those export markets evaporate..
And one could also hope for a regeneration/re wilding of many of those ills you detail..
Something else that is of note is how quickly we have done this to new Zealand…
And one thing is for sure…we cannot continue doing the same..and expecting a different outcome..
But that change is going to be taken out of our hands..
It will just be a matter of NZ no longer needed as a source of protein…for the rest of the world…
..we need to get our heads around all this..
And those addicted to tearing flesh from the bone can relax ..this air-grown protein can be made into beef/chicken/pig-meat etc ..
So there is no need of cultural change ..no need to see the light..and turn vegan..or anything like that ..
Market forces alone will drive those changes…
If the end product is indistinguishable from the animal based ones…one would need to be a bit of a sick puppy to insist that an animal must suffer/die..for you to eat..?..eh..?
I don't think your out-there approach is gaining many converts Phil :), but if a true faux meat can be created for the carnists – woot!
I'm hanging out for a synthetic milk so the dairy industry can go the way of the dinosaurs.
With you all the way on dairying. I've come to really hate what they do to cows (and have done, particularly the grotesque results of selective breeding).
Oat milk, though pricey by comparison, is a pretty satisfactory substitute in drinks and pouring on cereals. Must now try and see how it goes in cooking.
(a comment of mine just vanished.. where did it go..?
And re the non-dairy milks:..the Pam's home brand soy milk has the best taste/texture for tea/coffee..
And vanilla flavoured anything is good for breakfasts…
The one to be wary of is almond milk…it has an elephant sized environmental footprint..
it went into Spam because of the typo in your username.
I thought I was being quite restrained.
The sooner people realise what is coming..the upending of our animal based export-industry..the better..
We can still grow fruit/veg..like real farmers do..
I don't think animal fatteners deserve the sobriquet of farmer…they don't farm…
They just fatten animals for slaughter..
So..the sooner we start making this protein from air..the better..
Best to be before the curve..not trailing behind ..
And what I say is immaterial to any outcomes..
I am just standing on a rock.. shouting "oy..!..over here..!'..
please fix your username
On the plus side however Ad, we are making a name for ourselves in how to farm mud with cows used as an addition to really get the paddocks churned and thus hasten mud farming.
Mud farming plays an important part in our aim to increase the percentage of unswimmable rivers from a mediocre 45%.
When we use automatic irrigation systems on mud paddocks it enhances the runoff so it contains high fecal counts.
When farming mud NZ farmers can lead the way in better breeeding with the traditional cloven hooves gradually making way for flippered single digit hooves. They are also looking at borrowing from self clean oven manufacturers to develop a self clean system for cows legs should cows ever want to graze on dry grassed pastures. That then brings us to the latest developments in cows being specially bred to eat mud. Inventors are looking at if the addition of hay and limestone plus a change in the gut from rounded to square can lead to formed adobe type bricks being excreted by cows. /Sarc
There are still dopey farmers who don't self manage and actually needed the controls/restrictions imposed on not being able to farm mud. The lure of the mighty dollar overrides the need to protect cows or pastures. (People will say 'oh but farmers love their land and love their cows') They may do but it does not stop some from pushing, pushing the capacities of both to the nth degree.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/125623570/activist-photos-reignite-winter-grazing-debate-in-southland
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/404052/farm-animals-suffering-due-to-poor-winter-grazing-practices-taskforce-says
Let us hope that Greenpeace is on the trail again.
https://www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/press-release/mud-farming-clear-evidence-of-too-many-cows/
NB The work done by local authorities etc to restrict practices that lead to mud farming has led, in my view, to the gap in pictures of the worst offenders due to close monitoring/shame of those mud farmers spoiling it for everyone.
NB on the so-called 'hardship' of fencing riparian margins my B-i-L fenced the margins of several creeks running through his Southland farm over 30 years ago. He was looked on as a sort of 'crazy man' then and looks like that attitude is still prevalent
There's so much Southland adventure tourism potential in on-farm bog snorkeling
Southland is what they call "another country". They do things differently there ….
Remember those farmers really need those holidays in Kenya to recuperate.
I was running an Environment Court case for a Society in the Upper Clutha (Wanaka area) a few years ago where the farmer was pleading poverty and the consequent need to subdivide, but he let slip that he had just come back from an Africa jaunt.
heh. Who won?
The phoney war on farmers has ended.
The real war on the environment has begun.
National is responsible for both.
Good point about the phoney “war” (which non-farmers would call justified regulation).
Federated Farmers has played the role of innocent victim perfectly.
Can't wait.
“It seems ghoulish, but it is a perfectly legal and common practice for chicken litter — the material that accumulates on the floor of chicken growing facilities — to be fed to cattle,” said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union.
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-18/avian-flu-outbreak-raises-a-disturbing-question-is-our-food-system-built-on-poop
fortunately for NZ, we could probably transition fast off the more insane aspects of our animal farming if we had to. Not sure we would mind (and def think we wouldn't under the current government).
"and def think we wouldn't under the current government".
Which is why those who really care have to work to ensure this is a one-term government.
I'm trying to make connections on my patch towards that. This nightmare has to end as soon as possible.
Big Hairy News and Paul the Other One discuss Minister of Children Chhour's decision to thumb her nose at Waitangi tribunal over changes removing Maori focus in Oranga Tamariki. This opens the door for others in government to refuse to speak to the Tribunal to justify their political decisions.
Paul is very well-informed on this issue. Lots of political strategising on NZ First and ACT. Apparently, once legislation is in Parliament, the Tribunal cannot become involved. Hence, the fast-track of the Fast-Track.
I don't think it's "Minister" Chhour's decision to thumb her nose at the Waitangi Tribunal, it's those pulling her strings. We have to work towards this being a one-term government. We have 30 months.
Chhour hasn't "thumbed her nose" at anyone. The Waitangi Tribunal is not a court, and so has no power to summons anyone.
It's a tribunal populated by judges.
The Minister is showing herself incapable of engaging seriously with experts who are also jurists, within her own Ministerial portfolio field.
Chhour is a fucking coward. She will get utterly mocked at Matariki.
As to the power to summons anyone, read the High Court judgement:
https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/assets/cases/2024/2024-NZHC-931.pdf
So yes they can summons people, but be careful with Ministers (the case is being appealed).
Surely it is part of her job description..?
To interact with/explain gummint policies to relevant interested parties..?
And surely the tribunal is that..?
(Grr.!..name..!)
What exactly does she need to explain to the Waitangi Tribunal that they don't know already? It's a power play by the tribunal, pure and simple.
No it's not…the tribunal is an agent of the people..taking care of their interests.
And as such it most certainly behoves the minister to interact with the tribunal… seeing as it's the voice for many..
..and especially so when the policies the minister is enacting…are having/will be having such an impact on those the tribunal represents..
The minister refusing to meet with them makes a mockery of democracy..
A former and possible future US president is telling the supreme court that he should have immunity to kill political rivals.
Surreal.
@abbydphillip
For the record, Trump's attorney John Sauer argues before the Supreme Court that depending on the circumstances, assassinating a political rival could be considered an official act.
https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1783498625974198289
It's becoming clear from polls about the direction of the government that people voted Labour out because they were bored with their lives (surviving a pandemic only to work to pay rent or mortgage) so cheated on the New Zealand nation state society and formed a new relationship … with a dystopian nightmare.
Bringing back that pandemic "horror excitement" in a new way.
And all it took was a promise to prevent co-governance with Maori and any special place for the indigenous people (and Treaty) to launch it successfuilly.
So here we are, the reduction of the nation state government (apart from building roads) and pandering to a collective of special interests instead … landlords, trucking, farmers unconcerned for the environment .. business seeking the same …
It must be perplexing for this government that the Consumer Price Index remains stubbornly above 4.5%, interest rates have no schedule at all for coming down, and consumer confidence is the worst it's been since the 2008-9 GFC. Their austerity has cratered the economy of the Wellington region for years to come.
No doubt the government-by-resentment will work a smart schtick for a year.
But if the keep using austerity to crash the economy, I'm confident people will see their personal and family interests decline as a direct result of this government, and the mood will shift against this government.
I doubt anyone is perplexed that after just a few months all the problems of the world have not been resolved. As for ‘cratering’ the Wellington economy, given how few job losses there has been in Wellington so far, that’s some fantastic hyperbole there.
Right up Merk Mitchell's alley, I reckon.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/498887/ethics-questioned-of-us-taser-company-working-with-nz-police
Taser maker and police contractor Axon has announced a new product called "Draft One," an AI that can generate police reports from body cam audio.
As Forbes reports, it's a brazen and worrying use of the tech that could easily lead to the furthering of institutional ills like racial bias in the hands of police departments. That's not to mention the propensity of AI models to "hallucinate" facts, which could easily lead to chaos and baseless accusations.
"It’s kind of a nightmare," Electronic Frontier Foundation surveillance technologies investigations director Dave Maass told Forbes. "Police, who aren't specialists in AI, and aren’t going to be specialists in recognizing the problems with AI, are going to use these systems to generate language that could affect millions of people in their involvement with the criminal justice system."
"What could go wrong?" he pondered.
https://futurism.com/police-ai-generates-police-reports-body-cam-footage
A cult in need of a king.
./
The Republican base, it turns out, is now opposed to democracy. Their words, not mine, as you’ll soon see.
[…]
Then they kicked it up a notch. They passed a resolution calling on people to please stop using the word “democracy.”
“We encourage Republicans to substitute the words ‘republic’ and ‘republicanism’ where previously they have used the word ‘democracy,’ ” the resolution says. “Every time the word ‘democracy’ is used favorably it serves to promote the principles of the Democratic Party, the principles of which we ardently oppose.”
The resolution sums up: “We … oppose legislation which makes our nation more democratic in nature.”
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/