"My guess based on realpolitik, is South Africa's attempt to get an interim order for a cease-fire in Gaza will fail. The political pressure from the US and its allied states on the judges of the ICJ will is too great."
….the Court did not order the first provisional measure requested by South Africa, namely, calling on the ICJ to order that “the State of Israel shall immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza” (South Africa Application, para. 144)
"The 84 page mountain of evidence of genocidal acts and statements of intent to commit genocide contained in the Brief by South Africa is damning, I am certain that even more damning evidence will be revealed with the passing of time."
….It is especially notable which provisional measures the Israeli ad hoc judge, Aaron Barak supported.
“The State of Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts” within the scope of the Convention.
AGAINST: Judge Julia Sebutinde (Uganda) and Judge ad hoc Aaron Barak (Israel)
They can't ignore it forever. Not many people thought that the ICJ ruling would go this far. They have completely ignored the protestations from Israel and almost unanimously agreed that there is a case to be answered. Palestinians in Gaza are now a protected people under the genocide convention and Israel is obliged to cease from genocidal acts. The ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire mostly because they have no jurisdiction over Hamas and could not legitimately order a one sided ceasefire. But they are on notice as are any countries now that aid Israel with weaponry or financial support of genocidal actions. It is now incumbent on Nations to do something to prevent continued genocidal action by Israel. Suddenly, the Houthi in Yemen find themselves on the right side of international law. They just stopped and caused to turn around an attempt by the US to resupply Israel militarily
So the UN's judgmental arm is wagging it's moral finger at the situation. Does moral advisory authority work in this situation? Israel's deity is a jealous god – unlikely to take seriously any propositions that a bunch of humans carries any weight in the situation. The Israeli govt may not actually fall about laughing at the ICJ, but is likely to point out its irrelevance.
Sorry Dennis, but Israel really really hates losing control of the narrative. Western moral superiority has just become dust and all those supporting Israel can now legitimately be called genocide enablers. We are involved in bombing Sanaa in Yemen now. We are demanding that one of two countries that is acting to protect a people likely suffering genocide cease helping the victims. We also have become genocide enablers. The narrative is shifting faster now and none of your old school cynicism can stop that.
"Israel really hates losing control of the narrative"…..so true Sublim….and they lost control of this narrative as soon as they started their murderous indiscriminate incursion into Palestine (both Gaza and the occupied West Bank) over two months ago.
The ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire mostly because they have no jurisdiction over Hamas and could not legitimately order a one sided ceasefire. But they are on notice as are any countries now that aid Israel with weaponry or financial support of genocidal actions
Not because of a right to self-defence? Just no right, to commit war crimes, ethnic cleansing or genocide in that military action, thus the court expecting certain action (aid to civilians etc) and ceasing of certain actions (continuing war crimes that could lead to a finding in the proceeding court case).
"Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year.And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.” Winston Churchill
And on how their country's voted for a ceasefire in the UN General Assembly, plus US and Israeli diplomatic pressure. – I had predicted a narrow 9/8 split against a ceasefire. I also wrongly predicted a longer, more drawn out debate in chambers, as the judges put their relative arguments, for or against South Africa's resolution calling for a ceasefire.
If the supporters of the South African ceasefire resolution had not agreed on a compromise resolution, who knows, that may have been the case.
I am guessing that rather than lose it all, a compromise resolution, that stopped short of calling for a ceasefire, was put up on the condition that the majority of judges support it.
It is possible that if this compromise resolution had not been agreed to, the debate in chambers might still be on going, and when the final vote was eventually put the result would have been more split.
I predicted, (alongside many others), that South Africa's application
to the court for a ceasefire would fail.
I also predicted based on evidence, that when the full hearing on the charge of genocide made by South Africa against Israel is heard that it would succeed.
I still stand by that prediction. Unfortunately this ruling will come to too late to stop the genocide in Gaza.
The Israelis have made it clear. their intention is to 'change the facts on the ground'. By expulsion if possible, by mass murder, if necessary.
The ICJ can't stop the US from supplying Israel "militarily" as far as I'm aware there's no law existing which has this as it's purpose? Even if there was, the USA isn't obliged (and wouldn't) abide by it as the USA (Like all countries) is only bound (morally and ethically) to abide by treaties and agreements it signs up to. Even if it doesn't do that, there's no global government or the like that can make world laws and more importantly that could enforce them.
The closest is probably the UN but the USA has veto rights in any UN decisions or actions.
Historians write mythistory by default. They believe they write history, yet their subjective take on the topic makes it interpretive. Readers experience that via relativism since myth is a likely story & accounts by historians trend toward mythologising what happened in the past the more they percolate down to subsequent generations.
King’s history was praised in 2003 for the novelty of focusing on the negative environmental impact of human settlement, and that still feels novel. The first chapter runs like a pre-credits sequence showing the lush abundance of life here before people arrived to ruin it. King goes way back, as far as Gondwana. One of his influences was the Australian writer Tim Flannery, whose book The Future Eaters appeared less than a decade before King started on this history and who argued that humanity had a disastrous, profound impact on Australia’s natural environment, which seems far from a controversial idea now. King argues that the swift consumption of moa, seals and other slow-moving sources of protein by early Māori was a form of future-eating. Māori arrived, they ate well, and then had to adapt.
That environmental consciousness was novel but it does not explain the remarkable success of this book. The best explanation is that it was simply the right book by the right person at the right moment. https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/01/25/history-is-a-culture-war/
It comes as a pleasant surprise to me that he wrote ecohistory, since my bias is always that any academic is useless until they prove the contrary.
O’Regan praises King for “putting Māori-Pākehā relationships at the forefront of our public conversation”, which included pioneering books on Māori history in the 1970s, before it became politically difficult for a Pākehā writer to do that kind of work. O’Regan also acknowledges King for “identifying Pākehā as an indigenous culture in Aotearoa New Zealand”, which is a controversial view that O’Regan happens to agree with.
Whoopiedo. So these two guys agree that I'm indigenous to Aotearoa. I gather I'm meant to feel a sense of relief but too bad, I've always felt indigenous.
The culture wars play out in the closing chapter, which act as a summing-up of New Zealand’s progress and general mood.
Good on him for at least having a go at that, and I'll reserve judgment until I read it. I suspect that the time since he died could append a more sombre verdict.
That makes the addition of Aotearoa to the title a nice move. It also undermines those who have been using, or misusing, King in their fight against official adoption of the Māori language. This issue goes back to the third chapter in the book, “The Great New Zealand Myth”.
The myth in question was Kupe’s discovery of New Zealand and the Great Fleet, but there was a sub-myth, if you like, which is that pre-European Māori called the country Aotearoa. King explained that the word Aotearoa was actually “popularised and entrenched” by William Pember Reeves in The Long White Cloud (1898) and that “Māori had no name for the country as a whole”… Right-wing culture-war figures such as former TV presenter Peter Williams, former newspaper editor Karl du Fresne and historian Michael Bassett have all enlisted King as support for their argument that New Zealand should not become Aotearoa. “Instead of being proud New Zealanders, we’ll be expected to call ourselves Aotearoaians,” Bassett grumbled.
Having been in Form 1 when I realised Aotearoa was a better name for our country than the neocolonial double-dutch thing, the year of 1961, I'm amused by right-wingers doing their usual dinosaur dance on the issue. Bassett is always classical Labour dinosaur, simulating death whilst still alive, proving the point spectacularly as he fails to spell Aotearoan correctly…
I have read it once and got part way through a second time.
I must admit the idea of Pakeha indigenousness has been bubbling under the surface for me, but not crystallising into those two words. I guess this tome planted those seeds in me, but the culture of the last 20 years has made it difficult for a wanna be progressive pale, stale male to fully embrace and articulate the concept.
I can't be from anywhere else, the connection to our whenua is profound, being a gracious host is important to me and King's words "And most New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant. " resonate.
I thoroughly recommend the book and as the review points out there are a few shortcomings, don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.
I love what Michael King said about being a part of NZ as a Pakeha
"For me, then, to be a Pakeha on the cusp of the 21st century; is not to be European. it is not to be alien in my own country. It is to be a non-Maori New Zealander who is aware and proud of my antecedents, but who identifies as intimately with this land and as strongly as any Maori. It is to be, as I have already argued, another kind of indigenous New Zealander."
Yes. And identifying with the land isn't the same as belonging to it.
I wish we could get past this though, and better understand the pathways for non-Māori to belong here beyond the might of the state and the rights established that way.
It's easy enough, on a personal level – sit and listen, learn what the passerines are saying. Sit and look – learn what the plants are signalling. Once you know what the tūī at dawn are saying, you're in 🙂
there's a big gap between were most people are and that, atlthough I think a lot more people could do that relatively easily if not for their life and society. Which does take us beyond the personal level.
I wish we could get past this though, and better understand the pathways for non-Māori to belong
Maybe not being told we are lesser kiwis ,with less rights.
because the average non Maori kiwi, who has no legal right to another country, has any advantage I can assure you, other than being free from being told we are victims.
This doesn't mean we don't honor the treaty and we don't move heaven and earth to lift moari outcomes.
I'm all for Maori seats on councils and boards but they still need to be elected positions,
This opens up an interesting conversation on identity.
Regardless of what yr opinions on identity are, I don't see folk flocking to another's definition if it is at odds with how they feel about themselves.
Generally it is related to the idea that those born in a land to someone born in that land, are of that nation or society.
Some pose it as a pejorative, where it is anti-migrant or anti-immigration (though it is notable that often migrants themselves have issues with high rates of migration once they become permanent residents and then citizens).
King’s basic idea here can be captured in the following quote which is reproduced on the cover of the book:
‘Pakeha New Zealanders who are committed to this land and its people are no less “indigenous” than Maori.’
King recognises and respects the place of Maori in New Zealand, and argues that Pakeha too belong inescapably to this country and in fact have no other. They (we) have become a second indigenous culture, that of Pakeha New Zealanders.
Both Massey and Lord Jellicoe thought they were descendants of a lost tribe of Israel, and that the king of England carried the bloodline of Moses, too.
Jellicoe the first or second? If the latter, I see he did well in his maiden parliamentary speech (despite spending 19 years there being too diffident to speak):
Like all your Lordships, I felt, and feel, a deep sense of shock, indeed revulsion, at the brutal butchery of the young King and his family, and of that great, and greatly human, statesman, Nuri Pasha. I have also been shocked by the tendency which one sees current at the moment to write off the Nuri regime as decadent, feudal and corrupt.
That picture, in my view, is a travesty of the truth … As part of the admirable development programme which the Nuri regime was carrying through there was a large schools programme. These schools were built for the purpose your Lordships might expect-to educate Iraqis in. But the Iraqis did not believe that; they thought-it was a very widespread belief which one could not eradicate-that these schools were camouflaged barracks intended for the British Army when they reoccupied Iraq. These are the sorts of 'ingrowing toenails' in the Iraqi consciousness which I feel we must try to eradicate". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jellicoe,_2nd_Earl_Jellicoe
Ingrowing toenails in any group mind are a problem, although one one rather expects the Iraqis to nowadays demonstrate considerable expertise in their use – we ought to get our man in Baghdad to write a paper on that.
I didn't know the Brits & Israelis had co-created a word federation, so thanks for the tip. Federal words are top-level memes. They organise governance. Serious stuff. Imperial racism was merely dross decorating the top of that to keep the voters happy. Gotta have plenty of imperial dross dressing up the place when you operate an empire without an emperor…
Furthermore, three Admirals of the Fleet, the right Hon. Sir John Jellicoe, who also served as Governor General of New Zealand and thus shared the faith with Prime Minister Massey, Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, Bart., K.C.B. and Admiral Lord Fisher professed their thoughts in favor or Britain's Israelitish origin.
[…]
A devoutly religious man, Fisher saw the hand of God acting on behalf of the British in their victory over the Germans. In a letter to Jellicoe dated April 29th, 1916, he took comfort in the fact that "our faith is the same, my beloved Jellicoe, and the only reason we shall win this War is because we are the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel!" 144 "The only hypothesis," he later asserted, "to explain why
we win in spite of incredible blunders is that we are the lost tribes of Israel."
Jellicoe was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet on 3 April 1919. He became Governor-General of New Zealand in September 1920 and while there also served as Grand Master of New Zealand's Masonic Grand Lodge. Following his return to England, he was created Earl Jellicoe and Viscount Brocas of Southampton… As First Sea Lord Jellicoe was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Belgian Order of Leopold on 21 April 1917, the Russian Order of St. George, 3rd Class on 5 June 1917, the Grand Cross of the Italian Military Order of Savoy on 11 August 1917 and the Grand Cordon of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun (29/8/1917).
And obviously a star on the international awards circuit! Irritated by that toad, Churchill, but then so usually was most of the establishment back then…
Then came modern DNA testing. And so another myth fell, alongside a 6000 year old earth, a worldwide flood, and when the Americans learn to read and comprehend end time judgment kingdom come in real history on earth (rather than faith about continuance).
The flood myth isn't a myth. Regardless all myths start out from some sort of real event.
But in terms of massive floods the one believed to be Noah's flood in the bible and the great flood documented by pretty much all of the ancient religions was probably the one that occurred around 12800 (approx) years ago at the start of what became known as the Younger Dryas period of about 1200 years of severe cooling and adverse climate conditions which led to mass global extinctions. (up to 80% of 40kg plus mammals in Nth America for example which is believed to have been the area where the most devastating impact occured.
Here's quite a good description of what may have happened:
Some believe (and there is a growing body of evidence) that an impact event caused massive flooding due to ice meltwaters (the earth was just starting to come out of the last ice age) and was the event that triggered massive climate change within a very short period of time.
In terms of it being global. Well the areas of Europe and all around the Mediterranean would have been the whole world to the peoples living there at the time.
A post ice age rising sea level is not a flood where the entire land of the earth is under water (because of an event caused by God) and every land (and air) based species was reduced to one family.
There have been population bottlenecks amongst species, but not for species at the same time.
Either evolution is somehow pushing each species to have its own version, which seems unlikely, or each species has had almost all its genetic diversity purged – which implies that its population was once very small.
What's more, these population bottlenecks seemingly all occurred between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.
Much of the coverage has interpreted this as implying some sort of global event, an unspecified catastrophe that slashed the population of pretty much every animal species. However, Stoeckle and Thaler do not argue that, saying instead that species experience bottlenecks every few hundred thousand years due to the rough and tumble of life.
Second, there is no trace in the geological record of any global event in the last 200,000 years. Any event that slashed populations that significantly would surely have led to a noticeable spike in the extinction rate, and there isn't one. There are of course the extinctions linked to humans, but those occurred at separate times and locations, not simultaneously across the planet.
But they would have to concede one human bottleneck had profound consequences. And it did appear to cause a population decline worldwide c60-70,000 years ago.
Our DNA includes that of Neanderthal of Europe and Denisovans of Asia indicating some hominin populations probably including homo sapien when they arrived (but at low levels).
In terms of it being global. Well the areas of Europe and all around the Mediterranean would have been the whole world to the peoples living there at the time.
There was no time when that area was entirely under water. Europe had the post ice age event placing Daggerland under water, and not long after the Black Sea event c 5500BCE. There was then another flood event in lower Sumer c5000 years ago.
The bible story is religious myth, with the purpose to pose God as ultimate power over life and death, and connected to the emergence in human history of the coming of the age of empire (where peoples and nations came under the rule of an imperial capital).
Yes the Bible flood story is a myth as is most of the bible.
But many myths are possibly based upon an initial profound event and as the story is passed on down through the generations it gets exaggerated and spiritual/supernatural bits are added to explain 'miracles' and so on.
It's entirely possible that some guy called Noah was a man of a village or particular tribe of ancient people and managed to survive a flood catastrophe by jumping in a boat with some of the villages animals. (maybe a couple of goats and a couple of birds, etc.)
In their times the whole world was limited to a small area. Over generations the story gets passed down and over time gets exaggerated and God gets involved (how else could he have survived when nobody else did) until it becomes myth.
Many ancient religions have flood myths and it's entirely possible they are just stories passed on about an event that happened. A group of devastating impacts causing massive meltwater release and tsunamis in the ancient world of course becomes Gods or the Gods doing because ancient peoples didn't have scientific explanations for such events. If the whole world (your village and the surrounding areas) gets wiped out by a giant Tsunami 10,000 years ago then of course the explanation becomes supernatural and it must be punishment, etc
I'm not saying myths are true and factual, I'm just saying that many could easily have their starting point as an actual event. Why would ancients just make up stories about global flood catastrophes?
The Trojan war is mythology, but now historians believe that Troy was real and have found evidence that it was located at the site of Hisarlik, in northwest Turkey. , etc. It's entirely possible that there was some soldier fighting in the war who happened to be very skilled, brave and who killed many enemy soldiers. Story telling about the war and some poetic license from Homer led to the mythical story of the hero Achilles, son of Zeus.
A more modern example could be the battle at Rourkes Drift, which has been exaggerated a bit over the years and has reached almost mythical status. If it had happened in ancient times it could easily have become a myth after a 1000 years or so.
""I think the most fascinating bit of all of that is that where the debate has been place so far and that’s at Tūrangawaewae marae last Saturday and then at Rātana this week, guess who wasn't there? David Seymour. If you want to have a debate, turn up and debate."
Why didn't Seymour front up?
Where are his bovver boys here on TS to explain his "scarcity"?
I read his no-show as a vote of no-confidence in himself combined with pragmatic acceptance that he didn't want his lack of maori solidarity to get more obvious.
However, Robert, you are right to point to the scarcity dimension of his tactical move: scarcity increases value. According to the scarcity theory of Chicago-school economism, he must believe that making himself scarce drives up his market value.
Is "white privilege" not also a racist statement when used in such manner? Like an insult with a reference to a rodent. It assumes that all people with white skin are the same, colonial suppressors in one fell swoop, and using such terms is in my view as bad as any emotional appeasement. A low point in intellectual exchange no doubt.
Perhaps then another book might be an interesting read to add to the discussion. "The treason of the Intellectuals" by Julian Brenda.
I don't actually know what Robert is meaning there, but I hope he's not implying death to an MP, because wishing death is a bannable offence here.
However I don't think white privilege means all white people are the same. It's a term used to point to systems that grant Pākehā advantages. It doesn't say all Pākehā all have the same advantages, nor that people of colour don't have any advantages. It's just shorthand for pointing out systemic inequity.
What!!! Weka, you should know me by now.
” …because wishing death is a bannable offence here”
Every other week, I get (subtlety/overtly) threatened with banning!
???????????????????????????????????????????????????
I thought I would have a wee crack at Wags above about him defending Stuff's reporting efforts. I wanted to ask him if Stuff had reported on the Hannibal directive yet.
That led me to look at TS history and found Joe90 had mentioned it just shy of 10 years ago.
On that thread, there is talk of Putin's horrors (flight MH17 was a recent event), a link to an Bill Maher opinion on the internet bringing out the worst of us (with a plea for "seeking "understanding first" and attempting to reach common ground rather than fight.") and korero about Israel and genocide visited on Palestinians.
The interim ruling issued by the court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts, and to take effective steps to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians
“The State of Israel shall submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to this order within one month as from the date of the order”
AGAINST: Judge Julia Sebutinde (Uganda) and Judge ad hoc Aaron Barak (Israel)
Whether Israel abides by the court's order to submit a report, or not. We won't need to wait one month to see what measures if any are being taken by Israel, to give affect to this order.
A 7.5% spending cut to Whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled people, Pacific Peoples, and so on is on the table. Shame on Nicola Willis, David Seymour, Winston Peters, and Chris Luxon and their parties!
The spending cuts range from 6.5 to 7.5%. This will have a devastating impact upon Aotearoa/New Zealand's ability to properly function for a long time.
In the name of austerity, Aotearoa/NZ is destroying itself.
Across-the-board random-number cuts like this are a clear sign of blind ideology.
Cut 7.5%….what if the 7.5% cut ends up costing us 20%? What if the cut is socially very valuable compared to the proposed tax cuts for rich people? Don't know, no analysis, don't care.
Are Parliamentary services (or whichever body is reponsible) able to find savings by cutting MP expenses for things they can afford themselves out of their salaries, eg taxi fares to and from airports? (or make them take the airport bus when appropriate?)
Perhaps it's time to start means-testing politicians for everything over and above their base salaries. If they have over x amount of savings/assests that can be converted to cash/income from investments, then they don't need that accommodation allowance, travel allowance etc. If it's good enough for those at the bottom of the heap….
The Israeli appointed judge on the ICJ agreed with two of its interim judgments
which stated that Israel must prevent and punish any incitement to commit genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, and that Israel must take “immediate and effective measures” to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Barak said he voted for those orders in the hope that they would "help to decrease tensions and discourage damaging rhetoric" while easing the "consequences of the armed conflict for the most vulnerable.
The rising Europe to Asia shipping costs are having an impact on China.
DUBAI, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Chinese officials have asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis, or risk harming business relations with Beijing, four Iranian sources and a diplomat familiar with the matter said.
The discussions about the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place at several recent meetings in Beijing and Tehran, the Iranian sources said, declining to provide details about when they took place or who attended.
"At the crux of his inquiry into the key motive forces of our civilization’s course is Vogt’s insistence that while much is broken with the exploitive consumerism behind the world’s government and industry, much more depends on and is mendable by the concerted collective action of ordinary people."
"Drastic measures are inescapable. Above everything else, we must reorganize our thinking. If we are to escape the crash we must abandon all thought of living unto ourselves. We form an earth-company, and the lot of the Indiana farmer can no longer be isolated from that of the Bantu… An eroding hillside in Mexico or Yugoslavia affects the living standard and probability of survival of the American people… Today’s white bread may force a break in the levees, and flood New Orleans next spring. This year’s wheat from Australia’s eroding slopes may flare into a Japanese war three decades hence."
@PimToolNews
Tim Pool had two guys on his show to debunk the "man-made climate change cult narrative", and the conversation went off the rails so much they ended up talking about how scientists are trying to open "spiritual portals" and summon literal demons using particle accelerators.
"At the slightest sign that National was about welch on the Coalition Agreement, Act and NZ First were expected to shoot the Coalition Government in the head."
"and if it then refuses to step away from the coalition and move to the cross-benches; then somewhere between a tenth and a fifth of the electorate – and possibly a lot more – will find themselves in the market for a political champion who rejects entirely the niceties of traditional Māori-Pakeha relations, in favour of a new and unabashed ethno-nationalist vocabulary and manifesto."
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It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
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Another complete failure by New Zealand’s mainstream corporate media.
No mention of the ICJ’s judgment,
No wonder so many New Zealanders are so ill informed.
No wonder
If you go on the Herald’s website, nothing, even if you click on world news.
Ditto for Stuff..
Ditto got RNZ.
Our Main Stream Media journalists refusal to report this history shaping event, I guess it is up to us to try and analyse the ICJ's interim order.
A Victory for Realpolitik
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realpolitik
Jenny @1.1.2
25 January 2024 at 4:42 pm
"My guess based on realpolitik, is South Africa's attempt to get an interim order for a cease-fire in Gaza will fail. The political pressure from the US and its allied states on the judges of the ICJ will is too great."
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-01-2024/#comment-1986714
Jenny @1.1.2
25 January 2024 at 4:42 pm
"The 84 page mountain of evidence of genocidal acts and statements of intent to commit genocide contained in the Brief by South Africa is damning, I am certain that even more damning evidence will be revealed with the passing of time."
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-25-01-2024/#comment-1986714
They can't ignore it forever. Not many people thought that the ICJ ruling would go this far. They have completely ignored the protestations from Israel and almost unanimously agreed that there is a case to be answered. Palestinians in Gaza are now a protected people under the genocide convention and Israel is obliged to cease from genocidal acts. The ICJ stopped short of ordering a ceasefire mostly because they have no jurisdiction over Hamas and could not legitimately order a one sided ceasefire. But they are on notice as are any countries now that aid Israel with weaponry or financial support of genocidal actions. It is now incumbent on Nations to do something to prevent continued genocidal action by Israel. Suddenly, the Houthi in Yemen find themselves on the right side of international law. They just stopped and caused to turn around an attempt by the US to resupply Israel militarily
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/01/international-court-of-justice-rules-forcefully-against-israel-in-landmark-genocide-ruling-including-restricting-military-action.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/24/us-navy-cargo-ships-houthi-missile-attack-yemen
The ICJ is merely a simulation of global justice. It has issued judgments, but who judges the judges? An ephemeral bunch of global onlookers.
So the UN's judgmental arm is wagging it's moral finger at the situation. Does moral advisory authority work in this situation? Israel's deity is a jealous god – unlikely to take seriously any propositions that a bunch of humans carries any weight in the situation. The Israeli govt may not actually fall about laughing at the ICJ, but is likely to point out its irrelevance.
Sorry Dennis, but Israel really really hates losing control of the narrative. Western moral superiority has just become dust and all those supporting Israel can now legitimately be called genocide enablers. We are involved in bombing Sanaa in Yemen now. We are demanding that one of two countries that is acting to protect a people likely suffering genocide cease helping the victims. We also have become genocide enablers. The narrative is shifting faster now and none of your old school cynicism can stop that.
Yeah, you ain't wrong. Passion is catalytic. Good luck to younger generations doing a global resonance play…
"Israel really hates losing control of the narrative"…..so true Sublim….and they lost control of this narrative as soon as they started their murderous indiscriminate incursion into Palestine (both Gaza and the occupied West Bank) over two months ago.
"…over two months ago."
Yep, just after October 7 wasn't it?
Not because of a right to self-defence? Just no right, to commit war crimes, ethnic cleansing or genocide in that military action, thus the court expecting certain action (aid to civilians etc) and ceasing of certain actions (continuing war crimes that could lead to a finding in the proceeding court case).
The ICJ can't stop the US from supplying Israel "militarily" as far as I'm aware there's no law existing which has this as it's purpose? Even if there was, the USA isn't obliged (and wouldn't) abide by it as the USA (Like all countries) is only bound (morally and ethically) to abide by treaties and agreements it signs up to. Even if it doesn't do that, there's no global government or the like that can make world laws and more importantly that could enforce them.
The closest is probably the UN but the USA has veto rights in any UN decisions or actions.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350160170/top-un-court-orders-israel-prevent-genocide-gaza-stops-short-ordering
Leading story on stuff
Time date 6.30am.
The decision came out 2am out time (judge at work explaining for an hour or so 1am on).
This there January 26, 2024, 08:10pm
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350160111/israel-reveals-secret-orders-fightback-against-genocide-charges.
And this story since then.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350160303/un-workers-sacked-allegations-involvement-hamas-attack-israel-emerge
I realise it's 10am now, but I definitely heard this story on RNZ at 6am, and this story is currently up on their website https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/507667/south-african-president-hails-ruling-against-israel-as-step-toward-justice
So it has been mentioned in the MSM today,
8.29 am RNZ
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/507667/south-african-president-hails-ruling-against-israel-as-step-toward-justice
7.03 am NZH
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/top-un-court-orders-israel-to-prevent-genocide-in-gaza-but-stops-short-of-ordering-cease-fire/HQATBL54TVGVBA2CMRTYIODAHE/
6.51am
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/27/top-un-court-orders-israel-to-prevent-genocide-in-gaza/
not yet 9 hours ago
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2024/01/international-court-of-justice-says-israel-must-take-all-measures-to-prevent-genocide-in-gaza-stops-short-of-calling-for-ceasefire.html
Historians write mythistory by default. They believe they write history, yet their subjective take on the topic makes it interpretive. Readers experience that via relativism since myth is a likely story & accounts by historians trend toward mythologising what happened in the past the more they percolate down to subsequent generations.
It comes as a pleasant surprise to me that he wrote ecohistory, since my bias is always that any academic is useless until they prove the contrary.
Whoopiedo. So these two guys agree that I'm indigenous to Aotearoa. I gather I'm meant to feel a sense of relief but too bad, I've always felt indigenous.
Good on him for at least having a go at that, and I'll reserve judgment until I read it. I suspect that the time since he died could append a more sombre verdict.
Wait, there's more!
Having been in Form 1 when I realised Aotearoa was a better name for our country than the neocolonial double-dutch thing, the year of 1961, I'm amused by right-wingers doing their usual dinosaur dance on the issue. Bassett is always classical Labour dinosaur, simulating death whilst still alive, proving the point spectacularly as he fails to spell Aotearoan correctly…
Thanks for the reminder of this book Dennis.
I have read it once and got part way through a second time.
I must admit the idea of Pakeha indigenousness has been bubbling under the surface for me, but not crystallising into those two words. I guess this tome planted those seeds in me, but the culture of the last 20 years has made it difficult for a wanna be progressive pale, stale male to fully embrace and articulate the concept.
I can't be from anywhere else, the connection to our whenua is profound, being a gracious host is important to me and King's words "And most New Zealanders, whatever their cultural backgrounds, are good-hearted, practical, commonsensical and tolerant. " resonate.
I thoroughly recommend the book and as the review points out there are a few shortcomings, don't let perfection be the enemy of the good.
I love what Michael King said about being a part of NZ as a Pakeha
"For me, then, to be a Pakeha on the cusp of the 21st century; is not to be European. it is not to be alien in my own country. It is to be a non-Maori New Zealander who is aware and proud of my antecedents, but who identifies as intimately with this land and as strongly as any Maori. It is to be, as I have already argued, another kind of indigenous New Zealander."
Thanks Michael, that sums it up nicely for me.
"…but who identifies as intimately with this land and as strongly as any Maori…"
Did your antecedents arrive at a place where no human had ever set foot?
First peoples are first.
Yes. And identifying with the land isn't the same as belonging to it.
I wish we could get past this though, and better understand the pathways for non-Māori to belong here beyond the might of the state and the rights established that way.
It's easy enough, on a personal level – sit and listen, learn what the passerines are saying. Sit and look – learn what the plants are signalling. Once you know what the tūī at dawn are saying, you're in 🙂
there's a big gap between were most people are and that, atlthough I think a lot more people could do that relatively easily if not for their life and society. Which does take us beyond the personal level.
Maybe not being told we are lesser kiwis ,with less rights.
because the average non Maori kiwi, who has no legal right to another country, has any advantage I can assure you, other than being free from being told we are victims.
This doesn't mean we don't honor the treaty and we don't move heaven and earth to lift moari outcomes.
I'm all for Maori seats on councils and boards but they still need to be elected positions,
Shit if I got upset and went and blocked citizens from legally accessing a boat ramp I'd be arrested and moved on very quickly I expect .unlike our grumpy freind in the north,
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/507618/ngati-kahu-block-boat-ramp-in-fishing-protest
Completely agree. Where do you see this happening most?
More a vibe , than actually spoken word, but will scratch the cells to clarify,
Been waiting for some lefties to apologize for being white, similar to an ex leaders apology for being a man .
This opens up an interesting conversation on identity.
Regardless of what yr opinions on identity are, I don't see folk flocking to another's definition if it is at odds with how they feel about themselves.
There is the concept of nativism.
Generally it is related to the idea that those born in a land to someone born in that land, are of that nation or society.
Some pose it as a pejorative, where it is anti-migrant or anti-immigration (though it is notable that often migrants themselves have issues with high rates of migration once they become permanent residents and then citizens).
Michael, we require links with quotes here, or if this is from a book, then a reference. Please supply either now, thanks.
It's a quote from Being Pakeha Now.
https://www.nationdatesnz.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/King-1999.pdf
https://thisisgraeme.me/2012/05/23/michael-kings-being-pakeha-now/
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-pakeha-quest.html
Just noticed this and agree totally
Both Massey and Lord Jellicoe thought they were descendants of a lost tribe of Israel, and that the king of England carried the bloodline of Moses, too.
Jellicoe the first or second? If the latter, I see he did well in his maiden parliamentary speech (despite spending 19 years there being too diffident to speak):
Ingrowing toenails in any group mind are a problem, although one one rather expects the Iraqis to nowadays demonstrate considerable expertise in their use – we ought to get our man in Baghdad to write a paper on that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Iraq
As for the other guy, seems like he had a few clues:
I didn't know the Brits & Israelis had co-created a word federation, so thanks for the tip. Federal words are top-level memes. They organise governance. Serious stuff. Imperial racism was merely dross decorating the top of that to keep the voters happy. Gotta have plenty of imperial dross dressing up the place when you operate an empire without an emperor…
The first.
Furthermore, three Admirals of the Fleet, the right Hon. Sir John Jellicoe, who also served as Governor General of New Zealand and thus shared the faith with Prime Minister Massey, Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, Bart., K.C.B. and Admiral Lord Fisher professed their thoughts in favor or Britain's Israelitish origin.
[…]
A devoutly religious man, Fisher saw the hand of God acting on behalf of the British in their victory over the Germans. In a letter to Jellicoe dated April 29th, 1916, he took comfort in the fact that "our faith is the same, my beloved Jellicoe, and the only reason we shall win this War is because we are the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel!" 144 "The only hypothesis," he later asserted, "to explain why
we win in spite of incredible blunders is that we are the lost tribes of Israel."
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/323272223.pdf
btw, they're still around.
http://www.britishisrael.co.uk/contact.php
Ah, a mason:
And obviously a star on the international awards circuit! Irritated by that toad, Churchill, but then so usually was most of the establishment back then…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jellicoe,_1st_Earl_Jellicoe
Then came modern DNA testing. And so another myth fell, alongside a 6000 year old earth, a worldwide flood, and when the Americans learn to read and comprehend end time judgment kingdom come in real history on earth (rather than faith about continuance).
The flood myth isn't a myth. Regardless all myths start out from some sort of real event.
But in terms of massive floods the one believed to be Noah's flood in the bible and the great flood documented by pretty much all of the ancient religions was probably the one that occurred around 12800 (approx) years ago at the start of what became known as the Younger Dryas period of about 1200 years of severe cooling and adverse climate conditions which led to mass global extinctions. (up to 80% of 40kg plus mammals in Nth America for example which is believed to have been the area where the most devastating impact occured.
Here's quite a good description of what may have happened:
https://beta.capeia.com/planetary-science/2019/06/03/disappearance-of-ice-age-megafauna-and-the-younger-dryas-impact#:~:text=Population%20decline%20and%20extinction,%25%20in%20Sub%2DSaharan%20Africa.
and here:
https://humanoriginproject.com/younger-dryas-event-extinction-prehistoric-period/
Some believe (and there is a growing body of evidence) that an impact event caused massive flooding due to ice meltwaters (the earth was just starting to come out of the last ice age) and was the event that triggered massive climate change within a very short period of time.
In terms of it being global. Well the areas of Europe and all around the Mediterranean would have been the whole world to the peoples living there at the time.
The bible flood story is a myth.
A post ice age rising sea level is not a flood where the entire land of the earth is under water (because of an event caused by God) and every land (and air) based species was reduced to one family.
There have been population bottlenecks amongst species, but not for species at the same time.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelmarshalleurope/2018/11/26/no-humans-are-probably-not-all-descended-from-a-single-couple-who-lived-200000-years-ago/?sh=5bf05bc17cd8
But they would have to concede one human bottleneck had profound consequences. And it did appear to cause a population decline worldwide c60-70,000 years ago.
Our DNA includes that of Neanderthal of Europe and Denisovans of Asia indicating some hominin populations probably including homo sapien when they arrived (but at low levels).
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/essential-timeline-understanding-evolution-homo-sapiens-180976807/
There was no time when that area was entirely under water. Europe had the post ice age event placing Daggerland under water, and not long after the Black Sea event c 5500BCE. There was then another flood event in lower Sumer c5000 years ago.
The bible story is religious myth, with the purpose to pose God as ultimate power over life and death, and connected to the emergence in human history of the coming of the age of empire (where peoples and nations came under the rule of an imperial capital).
Summed up beautifully by Danny Bhoy here:
Yes the Bible flood story is a myth as is most of the bible.
But many myths are possibly based upon an initial profound event and as the story is passed on down through the generations it gets exaggerated and spiritual/supernatural bits are added to explain 'miracles' and so on.
It's entirely possible that some guy called Noah was a man of a village or particular tribe of ancient people and managed to survive a flood catastrophe by jumping in a boat with some of the villages animals. (maybe a couple of goats and a couple of birds, etc.)
In their times the whole world was limited to a small area. Over generations the story gets passed down and over time gets exaggerated and God gets involved (how else could he have survived when nobody else did) until it becomes myth.
Many ancient religions have flood myths and it's entirely possible they are just stories passed on about an event that happened. A group of devastating impacts causing massive meltwater release and tsunamis in the ancient world of course becomes Gods or the Gods doing because ancient peoples didn't have scientific explanations for such events. If the whole world (your village and the surrounding areas) gets wiped out by a giant Tsunami 10,000 years ago then of course the explanation becomes supernatural and it must be punishment, etc
I'm not saying myths are true and factual, I'm just saying that many could easily have their starting point as an actual event. Why would ancients just make up stories about global flood catastrophes?
The Trojan war is mythology, but now historians believe that Troy was real and have found evidence that it was located at the site of Hisarlik, in northwest Turkey. , etc. It's entirely possible that there was some soldier fighting in the war who happened to be very skilled, brave and who killed many enemy soldiers. Story telling about the war and some poetic license from Homer led to the mythical story of the hero Achilles, son of Zeus.
A more modern example could be the battle at Rourkes Drift, which has been exaggerated a bit over the years and has reached almost mythical status. If it had happened in ancient times it could easily have become a myth after a 1000 years or so.
Your point is?
Where's
WallyDavid?""I think the most fascinating bit of all of that is that where the debate has been place so far and that’s at Tūrangawaewae marae last Saturday and then at Rātana this week, guess who wasn't there? David Seymour. If you want to have a debate, turn up and debate."
Why didn't Seymour front up?
Where are his bovver boys here on TS to explain his "scarcity"?
https://frankmacskasy.substack.com/p/the-desperate-cynicism-of-david-seymour
I read his no-show as a vote of no-confidence in himself combined with pragmatic acceptance that he didn't want his lack of maori solidarity to get more obvious.
However, Robert, you are right to point to the scarcity dimension of his tactical move: scarcity increases value. According to the scarcity theory of Chicago-school economism, he must believe that making himself scarce drives up his market value.
I hoped someone might say,
"In the deli section of Countdown, South Dunedin", but so far, no one has 🙂
100% Now Robert… Pest Control?
You can buy at rat-bait at Countdown called, "White Privilege".
Irresistible to pernicious pests.
Is "white privilege" not also a racist statement when used in such manner? Like an insult with a reference to a rodent. It assumes that all people with white skin are the same, colonial suppressors in one fell swoop, and using such terms is in my view as bad as any emotional appeasement. A low point in intellectual exchange no doubt.
Perhaps then another book might be an interesting read to add to the discussion. "The treason of the Intellectuals" by Julian Brenda.
Niall Ferguson | Uncommon Knowledge
Enjoy your weekend.
.
I don't actually know what Robert is meaning there, but I hope he's not implying death to an MP, because wishing death is a bannable offence here.
However I don't think white privilege means all white people are the same. It's a term used to point to systems that grant Pākehā advantages. It doesn't say all Pākehā all have the same advantages, nor that people of colour don't have any advantages. It's just shorthand for pointing out systemic inequity.
What!!! Weka, you should know me by now.
” …because wishing death is a bannable offence here”
Every other week, I get (subtlety/overtly) threatened with banning!
???????????????????????????????????????????????????
I already said I didn’t know what you meant. That was an opening to clarify.
The reference to banning isn’t personal to you. Anyone that wishes death on another risks this.
"It assumes that all people with white skin are the same…"
No, it doesn't, you do.
Those who are attracted to the "White Privilege" bait, are those who are attracted to white privilege.
I'm not.
Are you?
There is nothing new under the sun.
I thought I would have a wee crack at Wags above about him defending Stuff's reporting efforts. I wanted to ask him if Stuff had reported on the Hannibal directive yet.
That led me to look at TS history and found Joe90 had mentioned it just shy of 10 years ago.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04082014/#comment-860139
On that thread, there is talk of Putin's horrors (flight MH17 was a recent event), a link to an Bill Maher opinion on the internet bringing out the worst of us (with a plea for "seeking "understanding first" and attempting to reach common ground rather than fight.") and korero about Israel and genocide visited on Palestinians.
Your link takes me to an empty 2014 open mic?
umm,… I just right click on the link and select 'Open link in new tab' and voila!
works for me. Try again. Lynn is doing some work on TS at the moment.
Still the same, I'm on a mobile , android ph
thanks. Can you please let me know if any other links to TS pages/posts/comments don't work for you, cheers.
also if the same thing happens after restarting your phone.
are you using the mobile or desktop version on your phone?
Restarted it, switched to desktop still going to 2014,only difference is on desktop it's a populated om.
well it is an Open Mike from 2014. Are you saying you can see the comments?
Doh yip on desktop comments show, missed the bit about it being a 10 year old post being linked to,
Easily confused 😕
Not to forget the Samson option.
Jim Jones/Marshall Applewhite territory.
Holy moley, that's grim.
We've got no idea how blessed we are to be born/live here.
The interim ruling issued by the court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts, and to take effective steps to ensure the provision of humanitarian assistance to civilians
Whether Israel abides by the court's order to submit a report, or not. We won't need to wait one month to see what measures if any are being taken by Israel, to give affect to this order.
A 7.5% spending cut to Whaikaha the Ministry for Disabled people, Pacific Peoples, and so on is on the table. Shame on Nicola Willis, David Seymour, Winston Peters, and Chris Luxon and their parties!
The spending cuts range from 6.5 to 7.5%. This will have a devastating impact upon Aotearoa/New Zealand's ability to properly function for a long time.
In the name of austerity, Aotearoa/NZ is destroying itself.
We need to make this an one-term government.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/507659/the-public-service-agencies-asked-to-cut-spending
Across-the-board random-number cuts like this are a clear sign of blind ideology.
Cut 7.5%….what if the 7.5% cut ends up costing us 20%? What if the cut is socially very valuable compared to the proposed tax cuts for rich people? Don't know, no analysis, don't care.
Brilliant economic managers, my arse.
Here's the full list:
Agencies asked to make 7.5 percent cuts:
Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Ministry for Pacific Peoples
Ministry for Women
Whaikaha – Ministry for Disabled people
Ministry for Primary Industries
Ministry of Education
Ministry for the Environment
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
Ministry of Transport Public Service Commission
Statistics New Zealand
Agencies asked to make 6.5 percent cuts:
Department of Conservation
Department of Internal Affairs
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Education Review Office
Executive Board for the Elimination of Family Violence and Sexual Violence
Inland Revenue Department
Justice Cluster (Crown Law Office, Department of Corrections, Ministry of Justice, New Zealand Police, Serious Fraud Office)
Land Information New Zealand
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Ministry of Health
Ministry of Māori Development – Te Puni Kōkiri
Ministry of Social Development
New Zealand Customs Service
New Zealand Defence Force
Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives
Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children
Parliamentary Counsel Office
Parliamentary Service
Te Arawhiti – Office for Māori Crown Relations
The Treasury
Te Arawhiti – Office for Māori Crown Relations
Department of Conservation
Department of Internal Affairs
I see there is no planned budget cut for the Ministry of Silly Smirks.
Big pay rise coming I believe!
Are Parliamentary services (or whichever body is reponsible) able to find savings by cutting MP expenses for things they can afford themselves out of their salaries, eg taxi fares to and from airports? (or make them take the airport bus when appropriate?)
Perhaps it's time to start means-testing politicians for everything over and above their base salaries. If they have over x amount of savings/assests that can be converted to cash/income from investments, then they don't need that accommodation allowance, travel allowance etc. If it's good enough for those at the bottom of the heap….
Rofl thats $83.3 million US thanks Donny
https://edition.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-trial-e-jean-carroll-01-26-24/index.html
One has to wonder if she will ever see a cent. The Chump has a long history of failure to pay.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2020/10/27/report-trump-had-over-280-million-in-debt-forgiven-and-avoided-paying-taxes-on-most-of-it/?sh=286d09a57ac4
The Israeli appointed judge on the ICJ agreed with two of its interim judgments
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-01-26/ty-article/icj-rules-israel-must-avoid-genocidal-acts-in-gaza-stops-short-of-ordering-cease-fire/0000018d-4606-d35c-a39f-ee5e5b7e0000
The rising Europe to Asia shipping costs are having an impact on China.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/china-presses-iran-rein-houthi-attacks-red-sea-sources-say-2024-01-26/T
"At the crux of his inquiry into the key motive forces of our civilization’s course is Vogt’s insistence that while much is broken with the exploitive consumerism behind the world’s government and industry, much more depends on and is mendable by the concerted collective action of ordinary people."
It's up to us…
https://www.themarginalian.org/2021/02/18/william-vogt-road-to-survival/
"Drastic measures are inescapable. Above everything else, we must reorganize our thinking. If we are to escape the crash we must abandon all thought of living unto ourselves. We form an earth-company, and the lot of the Indiana farmer can no longer be isolated from that of the Bantu… An eroding hillside in Mexico or Yugoslavia affects the living standard and probability of survival of the American people… Today’s white bread may force a break in the levees, and flood New Orleans next spring. This year’s wheat from Australia’s eroding slopes may flare into a Japanese war three decades hence."
Link in previous comment 🙂
Living in the dumbest of times.
@EdMix13
Oh No! They're on to you guys. The jig is up,
@ProfBrianCox @bgreene @LKrauss1 @neiltyson
https://twitter.com/EdMix13/status/1750986613901910157
Chris Trotter is using very violent language:
"At the slightest sign that National was about welch on the Coalition Agreement, Act and NZ First were expected to shoot the Coalition Government in the head."
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2024/01/by-time-we-got-to-turangawaewae.html
This, from Chris Trotter:
"and if it then refuses to step away from the coalition and move to the cross-benches; then somewhere between a tenth and a fifth of the electorate – and possibly a lot more – will find themselves in the market for a political champion who rejects entirely the niceties of traditional Māori-Pakeha relations, in favour of a new and unabashed ethno-nationalist vocabulary and manifesto."
Watch out!
https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2024/01/by-time-we-got-to-turangawaewae.html
is he talking about ACT voters? How are they wanting ethno-nationalism? Does he mean they will rally behind Pākehā identity?
Yes, I believe he is.
I guess they wouldn't call themselves Pākehā though. Presumably New Zealanders would be the term of choice.
Nowhere, now here, just saying' 🙂
Have a good night.
Maybe it is time for the Civilian under Beehive occupation to investigate.
Were they kiore, rats who came with the indigenous peoples migration?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2024/01/dunedin-countdown-rat-infestation-being-treated-with-urgency-says-ministry-for-primary-industries.html
Or were they rats who came with an earlier people?
https://teara.govt.nz/en/when-was-new-zealand-first-settled/page-5
Should kiore who came before the Maori, or with the Maori, have no more rights than rats who came with European settlers?
https://frankmacskasy.substack.com/p/the-desperate-cynicism-of-david-seymour
PS Matiu Rata (ran a parliamentary comic library) and Door Mouse creates them, unlock the doors.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5859970/