Fabulously clear day in Riverton. The sound of the waves from North beach promise settled weather. The students coming to our forest school today will be making damper, cooking it over an open fire of their creation. We'll learn about charcoal-making 🙂
Tomorrow, a South Korean film crew begins filming here for a series about people who live in forests.
Maybe students on the East Cape could learn about charcoal making in their region – lots of timber to pick up there.
It staggers me that we are two decades into the 21st century, we are supposedly a modern, progressive society and we get timber slash destroying lives and businesses on a massive scale. This parallels the damage to society caused by intensive dairying in Canterbury and elsewhere.
From what I can see, forests grown on unstable land in East Cape have been clear-felled with no regard to the consequences. The primary concern of the forestry companies is profit.
I don't know, if anyone, is advising Eli Rubashkyn but fleeing the country to avoid arrest on a minor assault charge is a really, really, really dumb idea. Even dumber is mocking the police with triumphalist statements on social media of their inability to do anything about her flight. Does she really think staying away for six months, one year or three years will make a difference to the NZ Police when she comes back to NZ?
She is of course being egged on via social media by an army of idiots none of whom will be standing in the dock next to her when she inevitably gets deported or arrives back in NZ and is arrested.
Travelling with an outstanding arrest warrant for assault is going to be perilous. One red flag or passport check at passport control will see her hauled off to a holding cell and deportation – God forbid she has been lying on her electronic visa applications, or travelling on other passports which conceal her identity in some way. You basically get treated like a potential terrorist if border authorities pick that up.
Much better advice would be to have turned up at the police station, been charged and bailed and in six months if you are lucky you’ll get a discharge without conviction and a stern telling off. At worst it’ll be a conviction and fine. Fleeing the justice system and laughing at the authorities means the courts will take a much dimmer view of her actions now.
Travelling to the USA with an outstanding warrant seems especially foolish and likely to end in sitting in immigration detention for a few days at the very least.
I agree. Saying they did assault people and would do it again is daft at.
Although they say they left because of death threats. And is there any evidence they have left the country? Some of their social media photos are fake or old photos reposted.
Doesn't sound "triumphalist" to me. Sounds more like someone in fear of their life.
Rubashkyn had already fled the country, before she heard the police were looking for her.
Considering the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker. And the on-line threats being made against her.
To get Eli Rubashkyn back to this country to face the offence she has been charged with, the New Zealand authorities need to offer Rubashkyn guaranteed safe protective custody.
Eli Rubashkyn expresses her love for this country and her dream for nobody to ever have to live in fear here.
[please supply evidence for the two sets of claims of fact. 1. that ER left the country before they knew the police were looking for them. 2. “the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”
Evidence means your explanation, quotes, and links. I want more than one piece of evidence for #2 and it had better be good, showing that there are fascists in NZ who both *follow KJK and *support her.
If you can’t produce evidence for both, please withdraw the assertion and agree that you won’t make assertions like this again without evidence.
You were warned about this the other day. This is a fraught topic and it’s not ok to run casual slur politics. The site policy is clear that you have to provide back up when requested.
If you ignore my moderation here I will simply ban you, because I’m not wasting any more time trying to get you up to speed when you have a long history of bans for similar. You have until the end of the day – weka]
Mod note. I've now looked at your ban history for 2023 and see you've already had two bans this year, one for making misleading comments, the other for attacking a commenter. If you don't follow the moderation note above in all respects, or if you mess me around, I will ban you until well after the election. If you are unclear on anything, please ask.
I do have a life you know. And have things to do. I will try and make your deadline, later to night when I get time. But I can't make any promiises. Except I will promise to do my best.
I did mean midnight, but am ok to extend until midnight tomorrow if you can’t get it all done today. Please know that I have a life too and things to do, and I am no longer willing to use my time to chase people up for this kind of thing when they have been warned before.
Trans people exist. Trans people want to go to the toilet. Something we all need to do most every day. Trans people. like everyone else want to be able to relieve themselves where they feel safest. This should not infringe on anyone's rights. It's the toilets, for goodness sake, we go there for one thing. And who hasn't gone in the other gendered toilets when they have been really busting and all the cubicles are occupied? But a moral panic has been created over this issue by the far right.
A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society.[1][2][3][page needed] It is "the process of arousing social concern over an issue",[4] usually perpetuated by moral entrepreneurs and mass media coverage, and exacerbated by politicians and lawmakers.[1][2]Moral panic can give rise to new laws aimed at controlling the community. [5]
Stanlev Cohen, who developed the term, states that moral panic happens when "a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests".[6]While the issues identified may be real, the claims "exaggerate the seriousness, extent, typicality and/or inevitability of harm"…..
….Examples of moral panic include the belief in widespread abduction of children by predatory pedophiles;[9][10][11]belief in ritual abuse of women and children by Satanic cults;[12]and concerns over the effects of music lyrics.[13] Some moral panics can become embedded in standard political discourse.[2] which include concepts such as the "Red Scare"[14] and terrorism.[15]
[please supply evidence for the two sets of claims of fact. 1. that ER(she has a name you know) Eliana Rubashkyn left the country before theyshe knew the police were looking for them. her. 2. “the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”
I am tired. In the morning I will be rested. But in the morning you will still lack empathy.
I am not excusing or supporting what Eliana did. And I certainly would not have done anything like that myself. But Eliana Rubashkyn is a person, she is not a "they" or a "them". Eliana Ruashyn is certainly not an “it”, like a dog or a sub-human or a thing. It really shouldn't have to be said, but Eliana Ruashyn is a real person who needs to be treated as a person with a proper identity, You may not agree with how Eliana Rubashkyn identifies herself but at least give her the respect to address her as she would wished to be addressed. I notice for instance that you address Posie Parker as she wishes to be addressed.
As a moderator, your lack of empathy means you have no issues at all with Eliana Rubashkyn being described as an “it” or as a “they” or as a “fuckwit” or as a “thug” terms that dehumanise her.
Well, when " it, they, fuckwit, thug", finally gets arrested for common assault on a woman, he ( yes its a man ), can explain its actions in court
No bans or cautions here. What I see is lots of prejudice, lots of hate, lots of fear, and zero empathy.
I also notice that you also don't object to trans, intersex, Jews being described as "sacred classes" or that it might be interesting to see if these "sacred classes" get special treatment in the US. A common fascist trope.
It will be interesting to see if any of the proclaimed "sacred classes" (trans, intersex, Jewish, Ukrainian) offer any protection.
Nothing to moderate here as far as you are concerned.
Whether Eliana Ruashyn knew or not whether she was being sought by the police is irrelevant really, I believe her when she says she heard if from a friend when she was already in Australia that the police were looking for her. She says she left this country which she says she loves dearly, because of the threats made against her.
And this fear is real. It was continuous non-stop on-line threats and abuse that brought down the ablest politician of a generation and the best Prime Minister of my life time. I can remember and name them all, starting from (Sir) Keith Holyoak on.
I think that if Jacinda Ardern spoke publicly in support of our trans community, the far right would kill her. I am not joking or exaggerating this is how strong the far right hate was/is against her. And what was Jacinda Ardern's crime that earned such hate from the far right? Being caring and courageous enough to take drastic actions to save possibly thousands of New Zealanders lives.
And you know what else I think. I think New Zealanders rallied in solidarity with our trans brothers and sisters in such numbers because we are sick and tired of the far right taking over the narrative by occupying and dominating our public and on-line spaces.
What was your other question?
What are the organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”
Evidence for that is everywhere..
I might give you the links tomorrow if you are interested. But I don't think you are. Not really.
[banned for the rest of the year for wasting moderator time and refusing to play by the rules (patterns of behaviour) – weka]
Te Allen, I want to apologise to you for a comment I made in response to your Nuremberg comment on the Daily Blog.
I can’t remember what I said, but it was reactive. I know you have a family member who is transgender and they absolutely deserve to live free of personal harassment.
I heard an interview with an older lesbian who claimed many of the trans rights activists were heterosexual men who identify as non binary.
people are entitled to identify any how they like, but I am against changing laws to accommodate that.
I also refuse to be gaslite by the state, now including the police that women can have a penis
Thanks Jenny, takes a brave person to support the trans community at the Standard.
Possibly, but it also takes someone who is willing to abide by the rules. Jenny has a long history of being moderated, on a range of topics. There are other people here who regularly support the trans community but don't do so by running slur politics and who are willing to work within the long standing debate culture of TS. They are welcome.
"…Analysts say Russia is also engaged in a continual conflict with what it perceives as its enemy, the west, including the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all of which have developed their own classified cyber-offensive capabilities in a digital arms race…"
I don't know how much damage will be done to the government over this email saga, with revelations coming out about whether it was incorrectly withheld from the Ombudsman and who was involved in the decision making process. In some respects, it may be seen as a beltway issue, and perceived as gotcha politics that doesn't impact on the lives of ordinary kiwis.
But, on the other hand, it is a very unwelcome distraction for the government, and is proving to be a major test of Hipkin's leadership. And also, stands in stark contrast to previous promises around transparency.
So, it will be interesting to see what happens from here on in. In some ways, a tidy way to control the narrative would be for the government to initiate an inquiry. This would get the issue out of media attention as the findings of the inquiry could be delayed until after the election.
The biggest problem for the government though is that the Auditor General may organise an independent inquiry. Under this scenario, the government would have no control over that enquiry, or when findings are released. And the AG may decide to have a much broader look at OIA releases.
I think the press gallery is trying to work itself into a frenzy about it, but that is because it suits their agenda – a beltway scandal they don't have to go far to investigate and where the they get to do the usual round of tired pundits and questions that beget questions and all from the comfort of their office chair.
Most issue like this have little impact on voters once the offending minister has been sacked, and anyway – Hipkins is insulated from the actions of the previous PM's office.
I agree, the damage is likely to be more limited if it can be confined to Nash.
However, what we don't know is what other emails may come to light, and whether that could involve other government ministers. If there has been a systematic pattern of suppressing OIA requests, then there may be more to come out, and we could have email controversies right up until the election.
Interesting times, and certainly a gift to the opposition, which ever way it is looked at.
Mr Key was well exposed in Nicky Hager’s “Dirty Politics” on his obstructionist attitude to some OIA requests–kicking out the timeline for “political purposes” and sometimes via his “office” (it wasn’t meee…) even supplying them to Mr “SlaterOil” before the official recipient got them!
So Cameron Slater Mr Key’s one time late night phone confidant (confirmed in Parliament) got a sneak preview.
Sure, not distant history like the Titanic disastor, or the American Civil War.
But distant in the sense that it applies to a government no longer in power and to politicians such as Key who haven't been in parliament for quite a long time. And it relates to issues that were covered quite extensively back then. So, it would be reboiling the cabbage so to speak.
Anyway, que sera sera. The opposition will be pushing this as hard as they can for awhile now. So, time will tell whether this has any long-term impact or not.
One problem for Hipkins is that he has set the standard for sacking now. So, if another similar email comes out implicating another minister, then Hipkins has a precedent he has to live up to.
One problem for Hipkins is that he has set the standard for sacking now. So, if another similar email comes out implicating another minister, then Hipkins has a precedent he has to live up to.
Context doesn’t matter in the Court of Public Opinion.
Except Pony getting away with it in the 'distant' past made it easier for any slippery customers after him to do the same. An enquiry with teeth would be a good thing regardless of who is in power.
I agree. If this is an isolated incident that can be sheeted to Nash, then you are probably right.
However, as I mentioned, what we don't know is how much more is out there. If this isn't an isolated accident, but part of a deliberate strategy to obstruct OIA requests, then there could be a lot more.
If that is the case, then the whole issue could keep boiling along with some new email being dropped every couple of weeks.
Caveat: I don't think this is anything more than a beltway issue. The whole problem of OIA evasion is not something that registers on the radar of ordinary Kiwis.
However, I think that the paper trail of this cock-up or coverup (take your pick) goes from Nash's office to the PM's office. At the very least, it's incompetence (there is no way that this email wasn't relevant – so what were the reasons for concealing it?)
However, the bigger issue brought to light is the standard practice of every party in government to conceal as much as possible in any OIA request.
We see this time and again – when Minister's 'forget' to include meetings in diaries, or staff exclude valid emails/letters on spurious grounds.
No party is immune from this. All do it – purely for political advantage.
I'd like to see legislation or regulation 'clarifying' that once someone is a Minister, they no longer have a separation of identity into MP and Minister – for OIA purposes. I mean, what do they do – run an impermeable membrane down the centre of their identity! Of course, MP communications are informed by their ministerial role and knowledge of what is discussed around the cabinet table. That is *why* there is an OIA to a minister, and not to a backbencher.
I'd also like to see serious consequences for OIA request delays and rejections (which are then pushed back by the Ombudsman) – which have just about become routine. Perhaps the Minister should be required to get leave from Parliament, complete with an excuse considered acceptable, for any delay. And make a formal explanation to Parliament of any adverse Ombudsman findings.
"My second comment is that this is a perfect example of why the OIA needs criminal penalties for deliberate violations. Canada does this, with the Access to Information Act having a penalty of two years imprisonment for those who, with intent to frustrate a request, conceal, falsify or destroy records. We should do the same, to deter such behaviour and enable public servants to stand up to illegal demands from their political masters. But as with the Ombudsmen's Act, the problem is getting Ministers to apply the law to themselves…"
No party is immune from this. All do it – purely for political advantage.
I tend to agree with you on that. However, the problem for Hipkins now is that he has set a threshold for sacking cabinet ministers. So, I bet he is sweating on the hope that no other ministers have offended in a similar way.
TBH – I'd say that the particular offence (sharing insider information from the cabinet with political donors) – is highly likely to be limited to Nash.
It doesn't seem the kind of thing that would be likely to be widespread – if only because your cabinet colleagues would be furious with you if/when they found out.
Also assuming that the rest of the Ministers have at least read the Cabinet Manual!
Any other Minister who has done such a stupid thing, would now know exactly what the consequences are. [Anyone who's even slightly dubious about what they've said, will no doubt be spending the weekend reviewing their correspondence for the last 5 years]
The part that is widespread – evasion of OIA requests, using any excuse under the sun – isn't something that he sacked Nash for, so won't need to hold others to the same high standard.
TBH – I'd say that the particular offence (sharing insider information from the cabinet with political donors) – is highly likely to be limited to Nash.
That is probably a fair point. One would hope such behaviour isn't wide-spread.
It looks like I missed the evolution of the meaning of another word. A car burned out on the Harbour Bridge last night. The vehicle "identified by witnesses as a Tesla – had somehow caught ablaze… Photos show the white Tesla’s front completely torched. No one was injured, he confirmed. The cause of the fire is also not yet known at this stage."
In my once-upon-a-time saying something had been 'torched' meant the cause was known – the object had been 'torched', i.e. deliberately set on fire. The word is used twice.
Interesting recent blogpost on mental health trends for young people in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Intro by Jon Haidt, one of the authors of 2018 book The Coddling of the American Mind, (which I have no knowledge of), the rest is Part 1 of the preliminary report by research partner, Zach Rausch.
When Jon first asked me to figure out whether teen mental health had collapsed around the globe after 2012, I thought he was nuts. The task felt impossible and beyond what I thought I could accomplish. But it was precisely this kind of work that I aspired to do…
…The short answer to Jon’s question is: Teen mental health plummeted across the Western world in the early 2010s, particularly for girls and particularly in the most individualistic nations. The longer answer begins below and will continue in parts 2 and 3.
The increase in self-reported anxiety and depression in New Zealand is among the steepest across all of the Anglo countries. Figure 14, with data from the New Zealand Ministry of Health, shows that in 2007, the percentage of 15-24-year-old males and females who said they had been given an anxiety diagnosis was approximately 3%. By 2020, the percentage of young females with an anxiety diagnosis had grown to 24.8% (a259% increase compared to 2011). Males also rose to 9% in 2020 (a 131%increase).
These increases are so large, and the starting numbers are so low (just 3% of girls had an anxiety diagnosis in 2007?) that we suspect that this graph shows, in part, changing diagnostic criteria and greater awareness of anxiety. We do not believe that the underlying rates of anxiety disorders increased as quickly as the lines in Figure 11 suggest. Nonetheless, given what we are seeing in all of the Anglosphere countries, and given the self-harm data below, we believe that much or most of the rise is real. In any case, in 2007, only one in 30 girls thought she had an anxiety disorder; by 2020, it was one in four.
There is a 60 page draft document which lists sources and data not shown on the blogpost:
I'm currently looking through, and although no conclusions have been drawn it seems that addressing effectively this significant increase should be a priority for any government.
Me being cynical and therefore not overly helpful means I think that the Govt will be able to blame this concerning increase on the oppression felt by young people at the exercise of women's rights to safe spaces, fairness in sport etc.
On a more sensible note:
My concern is that children are being made to listen/absorb what should be the concerns of adults. I first became aware of this in the mid 1990s when my loved mother in law involved my then 9 year old brother & sister in law in listening to her troubles concerning the father's non payment/her legal troubles etc. I have seen this trend over and over. My bro in law was very affected by this, was powerless though.
We should strive to make sure our children have time to be children. They will have the rest of their lives to be concerned about world, country etc problems. I'm not meaning they live in a bubble.
I'm aware of how non acceptable/old fashioned these views are to some.
"We should strive to make sure our children have time to be children. "
I agree. I always considered one of the primary roles of a child's caregiver is to maintain appropriate boundaries.
The boundaries for independence and behaviour expand as the child grows in capability and demonstrations of maturity.
Safeguarding boundaries are not just related to physical access, but exposure to ideas and concepts (particularly adult concerns and sexuality) that disrupt or blight their individual development at their own pace.
If I find it, I’ll add the Facebook findings on the negative social media impact on young people, notably girls again.
Having a read through of the substack piece. I'd love to see that NZ graph plotted with increases in various SM platforms, and local events like Roastbusters. Also would be very good to see a breakdown of NZ by area, rural vs urban, ethnicity.
Looking at the all age group graph, there have been increases across all age groups, but most of the others have had ups and downs within that. So were young people better before and are catching up, or have been impacted more badly than other groups?
For the past three years, Facebook has been conducting studies into how its photo-sharing app affects its millions of young users. Repeatedly, the company’s researchers found that Instagram is harmful for a sizable percentage of them, most notably teenage girls.
“We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls,” said one slide from 2019, summarizing research about teen girls who experience the issues.
“Teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression,” said another slide. “This reaction was unprompted and consistent across all groups.”
Among teens who reported suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram, one presentation showed.
Affordability of smart phones, or other devices making them more accessible to young teenagers for longer periods of time?
I'll have to see if there is data or research looking at that in particular. If I find it, I'll post here. I think that may also differ by country as well.
When looking at such research, I don't think it is likely there is one answer. I'm more interested in looking at possible contributors, and trying to determine the weighting of each.
Otherwise, there is a danger of identifying one particular contributor, providing a solution for it, and disregarding the rest.
With that in mind – this from 2022 which I post without reading to beat the edit time constraint:
Off the books payment probe has resulted in a thunder of justice event – the big apple entices Florida man to home detention in Trump Towers.
A Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Donald J. Trump on Thursday for his role in paying hush money to a porn star, according to four people with knowledge of the matter, a historic development that will shake up the 2024 presidential race and forever mark him as the nation’s first former president to face criminal charges.
The felony indictment, filed under seal by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, will likely be announced in the coming days. By then, prosecutors working for the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, will have asked Mr. Trump to surrender and to face arraignment on charges that remain unknown for now.
A huge shoutout to the Hipkins government for continuing to do the one big thing they do well: redistribute taxpayer cash to those who need it.
From tomorrow the 1st of April over 1.4 million New Zealanders are going to get more money, Of course it's not enough. But Labour have a consistently strong record over two terms of increasing payments across welfare.
As of tomorrow the nurses pay agreement worth $200million kicks in; that's right across nurses in aged residential care, hospices, home and community services, those in Māori and Pacific healthcare, get up to 15% more in take home pay.
Also as of tomorrow more than half of New Zealand families with children can get subsidised childcare assistance. 10,000 more children can get Childcare Subsidy and takes an edge of financial grief off childcare before and after work.
For those on NZSuper, since 2017, a couple get $326.68 more per fortnight and single older people get an extra $212.34 per fortnight.
Also you get adjusted lifts for veteran's pensions.
Also coming up from 1 May the Winter Energy Payment goes to all beneficiaries and superannuants.
Also from 1 July Child Support will be passed on to sole parent beneficiaries.
That's easily 20% of New Zealand getting more of a hand to deal with growth in supermarket prices, power prices. Of course it's not enough. And yes poverty isn't going down fast enough and here's a series of stats on that:
A group of people probably vastly under-polled, and basically invisible in the constant media parade of middle class whiners, cookers and entitled small business complainers. Because Labour won by so much in 2019 it is overlooked that the polls were out by quite margin – I can't recall exactly, but I think they over-stated the right vote by 2% or so and understated Labour's support by around 4%, hopefully these groups will get out and vote en masse come the next election.
Duncan Garner,Tovar O'brien are facing the reality of the Free market and probably no redundancy. You would think they would be defending a company which can't make money closing down a loss making enterprise.The Media landscape has been changing for more than ten year's so no surprises therefore why would any company continue to throw good money after bad.
" Oh you poor little highly paid things. Now you know how it feels to be made redundant and tossed on the scrap heap without so much as a "sorry". It happened to many thousands of us in the 80s and 90s and we didn't earn big bucks. We survived, but not without serious hardships, and you will too. So shut up and stop moaning about how hard done by you are. We're not listening.
I watched the Hobart Let Women Speak several times and it was the genesis of the approach I made to SUFW and now the complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
She comments:
'The Tasmanian event was pretty horrifying. The women who spoke were visibly terrified and an angry mob drowned out their voices with hysterical screams and cult-like mantras' .
The women were surrounded by baying, shouting jostling people only kept at a distance of about 5ft, behind them, by several older men, no police. Police let the crowd surge forward. Also of concern at Hobart were the pest media who jostled the women speakers including putting the long nose of a camera across/above the shoulder of the woman speaking from a wheelchair.
I was being satirical because I couldn't quite take in that you were arguing that there's something about women's rights campaigners or women speaking at an open mike that attract angry mobs.
At a guess ( thinking of actual Fascist ideology ) is the strong emphasis put on traditional family values and roles. The idea of different genders and homosexuality being viewed as deviant.
The neo nazi presence would be not so much as support for Parker but rather as a show of dislike for the groups protesting against her.
Also, of course is the Nazi love of dressing up in uniforms and parading! Theres nothing a Nazi likes more than looking like a bus conductor!
"Nazi love of dressing up in uniforms and parading!"
Yep, like men dressing up as women (or how they think women should or do dress) and shutting opposing viewpoints down through use of intimidation and violence.
Socratic mode of questioning, that I had in all of its tough glory in some of my law studies is designed to elucidate, to expand knowledge by questioning.
Although the questioner(tutor) assumes an ignorant mindset, or argues in the negative, ignorant mindsets are not usually the ones who use this type of questioning.
The questioner has a depth of knowledge of the topic sufficient to enable them to maintain an argument against the topic to generate enhanced knowledge
People seeking knowledge about a topic that they do not have are best to read texts on and around the topic.
For instance we would not adopt a Socratic method of questioning when somebody wants to know how gravity works. We would ask them to read on the topic then to test or extend the depth of their knowledge we may ask some Socratic type questions.
But oh the almost terror in a law class where we had to sit in exactly the same seat as we had originally turned up to the first lecture, the lecturer who goes row by row along the rows & you realise you might not have 'got' the readings and questions are getting closer and closer, you've got to stand, think on your feet……
Good method perhaps especially for those involved in courtroom work.
Women's rights, women's rights, free speech, 'women don't have penises men don't have vaginas' are quite clear & plain to me.
In Open Mike today 1/4 I quote from a NZ woman Katrina Biggs on the Shaneel Lal debacle.
She concludes:
It seems that being an arsehole is still no barrier to getting a prestigious award, but being a woman who doesn’t want men in her or her daughters’ spaces gets your life put in danger. Good to know that the world hasn’t tilted on its’ axis too much.
I am, by now, quite well-read on the issue. I believe I understand the position you, weka et al have taken.
Something about it though, is off, imo.
Perhaps you do understand but I've not seen much evidence that you understand Molly, my, or other women's position, because you simply don't engage with the substance of the ideas. The way you have been commenting on TS strongly suggests that you don't understand. Again here instead of stating clearly what is off, it's just the smear suggestion so often used by TRAs in the place of clean debate.
I'm open to being wrong, maybe you do have a grasp of the issues, but I'm not seeing that.
I wonder if any of us here recall the UK miners strike of the mid eighties. This was the action that ultimately led to the decline of union power in Britain, and likely influenced, as unlike events in major powers often do to NZ, our own dark descent into Roger Douglas's wretched folly – for the decline of our unions did not proceed from resentment at their (unions) demand to be treated as a special case in wage negotiations.
I raise the issue because activism out of a context of genuine disadvantage, is wont to be self-defeating. The people of Europe after the revolutions of 1848, the suffragettes, once women had secured the vote, unions, once pay and safety concerns were meaningfully addressed, all had to wait getting on for a generation, and the development of new issues, before fresh activism could attract broadly based support.
Activists, having achieved any measure of success, are disempowered by it. They must find new careers, or fresh problems, if they substantially resolve the ones that initially motivated them.
And so I expect it is with the contemporary trans debate. Gifted unprecedented (and unearned) parliamentary representation by the Covid response, they voted themselves, in the form of the BDM review, unprecedented liberties without all that tiresome business of securing public support. Not bad for a group of roughly 3% (using Australian numbers) of the population. But as noted above, the natural demise of popular support for further activism.
not sure if I quite followed that, but in the UK there's the theory that because the big campaigns for lesbians and gays had been one, the charity Stonewall needed a new cause and chose trans issues. They've been hugely influential in how trans rights have developed and in blocking debate about how to ensure trans rights without harming women or LGB rights.
There have been a number of claims that the trans issues are settled, loosely based on Gen Z responses. There is a problem with the assertion, beyond its speculative nature, in that (and I don't have a convenient reference, alas) adolescence is pretty much a high point for gender variation – identity tends to stabilize with age or experience or some combination of the two, so that current snap-shots of Gen Z are as likely to be the apogee of gender variation in that generation, rather than some LGBT& millennium.
But the culmination of advocacy isn't going away. It might be, for example, an explanation for Grant Robertson's adoption of a useful role (economics) outside gender advocacy – realizing that the major battles in that field have already been fought, and that consequently the number of positions for activists is declining.
Issues move on, and climate, and the transition to a plausible socioeconomic accommodation with it, must be resolved. This is a present issue – perhaps the present issue – others are a distraction.
the other thing about the whole Gen Z idea is that the young women grow up into young mothers then older mothers and grandmothers and have to deal with everything that goes with that, both biologically and sociopolitically. There's a reason why the people that get the problems with GI are usually older women (and lesbians, they always got it). Nothing like sexism and misogyny when you're in labour or menopause to peak you.
A good point – and I think too that there is a kind of social conditioning, on younger folk and especially younger women, to not speak out. The habit of contemplating failures and injustices in silence makes older women especially formidable when, at last, they do.
"Activists, having achieved any measure of success, are disempowered by it."
I think we saw a good example of it in the 1980s over the issue of nuclear proliferation and the French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll in particular. It culminated in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior bombing in 1985 and its aftermath, by which time the success of the NZ government’s nuclear-free status had become synonymous with Prime Minister David Lange and the role he played. Who can forget the famous Oxford Union debate:
Together with the row over Rogernomics which Lange came to view with alarm and contempt, his successes (especially on the international stage) were to bring about his downfall. In other words he was in large part “disempowered” by those successes.
He died a sick man in 2005. He was only 62 years of age and I often wondered since how much all that argy-bargy in the 1980s might have affected his health.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
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The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
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RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
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Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
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The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
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The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
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I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots. In 2024, we’re seeing a pragmatic, determined, ...
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Fabulously clear day in Riverton. The sound of the waves from North beach promise settled weather. The students coming to our forest school today will be making damper, cooking it over an open fire of their creation. We'll learn about charcoal-making 🙂
Tomorrow, a South Korean film crew begins filming here for a series about people who live in forests.
The 4-day forecast looks good.
Maybe students on the East Cape could learn about charcoal making in their region – lots of timber to pick up there.
It staggers me that we are two decades into the 21st century, we are supposedly a modern, progressive society and we get timber slash destroying lives and businesses on a massive scale. This parallels the damage to society caused by intensive dairying in Canterbury and elsewhere.
From what I can see, forests grown on unstable land in East Cape have been clear-felled with no regard to the consequences. The primary concern of the forestry companies is profit.
Enjoy Robert. So pleased our fickle weather is behaving for your enterprises.
I don't know, if anyone, is advising Eli Rubashkyn but fleeing the country to avoid arrest on a minor assault charge is a really, really, really dumb idea. Even dumber is mocking the police with triumphalist statements on social media of their inability to do anything about her flight. Does she really think staying away for six months, one year or three years will make a difference to the NZ Police when she comes back to NZ?
She is of course being egged on via social media by an army of idiots none of whom will be standing in the dock next to her when she inevitably gets deported or arrives back in NZ and is arrested.
Travelling with an outstanding arrest warrant for assault is going to be perilous. One red flag or passport check at passport control will see her hauled off to a holding cell and deportation – God forbid she has been lying on her electronic visa applications, or travelling on other passports which conceal her identity in some way. You basically get treated like a potential terrorist if border authorities pick that up.
Much better advice would be to have turned up at the police station, been charged and bailed and in six months if you are lucky you’ll get a discharge without conviction and a stern telling off. At worst it’ll be a conviction and fine. Fleeing the justice system and laughing at the authorities means the courts will take a much dimmer view of her actions now.
Travelling to the USA with an outstanding warrant seems especially foolish and likely to end in sitting in immigration detention for a few days at the very least.
It will be interesting to see if any of the proclaimed "sacred classes" (trans, intersex, Jewish, Ukrainian) offer any protection.
I agree. Saying they did assault people and would do it again is daft at.
Although they say they left because of death threats. And is there any evidence they have left the country? Some of their social media photos are fake or old photos reposted.
"They?" I thought it was only one arsehole that assaulted her, there are more? I think you meant “he” Weka
Doesn't sound "triumphalist" to me. Sounds more like someone in fear of their life.
Rubashkyn had already fled the country, before she heard the police were looking for her.
Considering the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker. And the on-line threats being made against her.
To get Eli Rubashkyn back to this country to face the offence she has been charged with, the New Zealand authorities need to offer Rubashkyn guaranteed safe protective custody.
Eli Rubashkyn expresses her love for this country and her dream for nobody to ever have to live in fear here.
https://twitter.com/1newsnz/status/1639493167811796992
[please supply evidence for the two sets of claims of fact. 1. that ER left the country before they knew the police were looking for them. 2. “the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”
Evidence means your explanation, quotes, and links. I want more than one piece of evidence for #2 and it had better be good, showing that there are fascists in NZ who both *follow KJK and *support her.
If you can’t produce evidence for both, please withdraw the assertion and agree that you won’t make assertions like this again without evidence.
You were warned about this the other day. This is a fraught topic and it’s not ok to run casual slur politics. The site policy is clear that you have to provide back up when requested.
If you ignore my moderation here I will simply ban you, because I’m not wasting any more time trying to get you up to speed when you have a long history of bans for similar. You have until the end of the day – weka]
Right, so the poor wee mites plan when detained at the border somewhere is too… Claim refugee status on the grounds she is fleeing persecution?
This sort of unfiltered and adolescent emotional response to anything stressful is unfortunately fairly typical of many TRAs.
She needs to face the music and deal with it like every adult has to when they decide to clout someone in public.
Mod note. I've now looked at your ban history for 2023 and see you've already had two bans this year, one for making misleading comments, the other for attacking a commenter. If you don't follow the moderation note above in all respects, or if you mess me around, I will ban you until well after the election. If you are unclear on anything, please ask.
When you say end of the day. Is that Midnight?
I do have a life you know. And have things to do. I will try and make your deadline, later to night when I get time. But I can't make any promiises. Except I will promise to do my best.
I did mean midnight, but am ok to extend until midnight tomorrow if you can’t get it all done today. Please know that I have a life too and things to do, and I am no longer willing to use my time to chase people up for this kind of thing when they have been warned before.
Trans people exist. Trans people want to go to the toilet. Something we all need to do most every day. Trans people. like everyone else want to be able to relieve themselves where they feel safest. This should not infringe on anyone's rights. It's the toilets, for goodness sake, we go there for one thing. And who hasn't gone in the other gendered toilets when they have been really busting and all the cubicles are occupied? But a moral panic has been created over this issue by the far right.
[please supply evidence for the two sets of claims of fact. 1. that
ER(she has a name you know) Eliana Rubashkyn left the country beforetheyshe knew the police were looking forthem. her. 2. “the sort of organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”I am tired. In the morning I will be rested. But in the morning you will still lack empathy.
I am not excusing or supporting what Eliana did. And I certainly would not have done anything like that myself. But Eliana Rubashkyn is a person, she is not a "they" or a "them". Eliana Ruashyn is certainly not an “it”, like a dog or a sub-human or a thing. It really shouldn't have to be said, but Eliana Ruashyn is a real person who needs to be treated as a person with a proper identity, You may not agree with how Eliana Rubashkyn identifies herself but at least give her the respect to address her as she would wished to be addressed. I notice for instance that you address Posie Parker as she wishes to be addressed.
As a moderator, your lack of empathy means you have no issues at all with Eliana Rubashkyn being described as an “it” or as a “they” or as a “fuckwit” or as a “thug” terms that dehumanise her.
No bans or cautions here. What I see is lots of prejudice, lots of hate, lots of fear, and zero empathy.
I also notice that you also don't object to trans, intersex, Jews being described as "sacred classes" or that it might be interesting to see if these "sacred classes" get special treatment in the US. A common fascist trope.
https://www.ajc.org/news/antisemitic-tropes-are-proliferating-can-you-spot-them
Nothing to moderate here as far as you are concerned.
Whether Eliana Ruashyn knew or not whether she was being sought by the police is irrelevant really, I believe her when she says she heard if from a friend when she was already in Australia that the police were looking for her. She says she left this country which she says she loves dearly, because of the threats made against her.
And this fear is real. It was continuous non-stop on-line threats and abuse that brought down the ablest politician of a generation and the best Prime Minister of my life time. I can remember and name them all, starting from (Sir) Keith Holyoak on.
I think that if Jacinda Ardern spoke publicly in support of our trans community, the far right would kill her. I am not joking or exaggerating this is how strong the far right hate was/is against her. And what was Jacinda Ardern's crime that earned such hate from the far right? Being caring and courageous enough to take drastic actions to save possibly thousands of New Zealanders lives.
And you know what else I think. I think New Zealanders rallied in solidarity with our trans brothers and sisters in such numbers because we are sick and tired of the far right taking over the narrative by occupying and dominating our public and on-line spaces.
What was your other question?
What are the organised fascist groups that follow and support Posie Parker”
Evidence for that is everywhere..
I might give you the links tomorrow if you are interested. But I don't think you are. Not really.
[banned for the rest of the year for wasting moderator time and refusing to play by the rules (patterns of behaviour) – weka]
mod note.
Thanks Jenny, takes a brave person to support the trans community at the Standard.
Yep, respect for Jenny and all those missing, silenced voices here, even ure, who for once was on the right path.
I can’t remember what I said, but it was reactive. I know you have a family member who is transgender and they absolutely deserve to live free of personal harassment.
I heard an interview with an older lesbian who claimed many of the trans rights activists were heterosexual men who identify as non binary.
people are entitled to identify any how they like, but I am against changing laws to accommodate that.
I also refuse to be gaslite by the state, now including the police that women can have a penis
I'm not bothered either way.
Edit: But welcome your comment on my child.
Possibly, but it also takes someone who is willing to abide by the rules. Jenny has a long history of being moderated, on a range of topics. There are other people here who regularly support the trans community but don't do so by running slur politics and who are willing to work within the long standing debate culture of TS. They are welcome.
Well, when " it, they, fuckwit, thug", finally gets arrested for common assault on a woman, he ( yes its a man ), can explain its actions in court
please don't refer to humans on TS as it. It in English is dehumanising when applied to people.
Agreed, apologies.
thanks
Riverton's Harvest Festival on Stuff (if anyone's interested 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/garden/131632100/gardeners-concerned-at-cost-of-living-learn-at-southern-harvest-festival
That made my mouth water!!
Pretty sure planning systematic torture and bringing your own standardised kit to do the job is a high tariff war crime.
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1641110351646261248
[…]
https://twitter.com/shashj/status/1641114362654998533
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1641110351646261248.html
Interesting article today in the guardian that notes NZ is in the forefront of OFFENSIVE cyberwarfare capabilities in the fight against Russian online propaganda and cyberwarfare:
"…Analysts say Russia is also engaged in a continual conflict with what it perceives as its enemy, the west, including the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all of which have developed their own classified cyber-offensive capabilities in a digital arms race…"
If we had something useful to extend into an AUKUS side agreement, it would surely be in this field.
Just so long as the first into the fray isn't the Waikato DHB.
I don't know how much damage will be done to the government over this email saga, with revelations coming out about whether it was incorrectly withheld from the Ombudsman and who was involved in the decision making process. In some respects, it may be seen as a beltway issue, and perceived as gotcha politics that doesn't impact on the lives of ordinary kiwis.
But, on the other hand, it is a very unwelcome distraction for the government, and is proving to be a major test of Hipkin's leadership. And also, stands in stark contrast to previous promises around transparency.
So, it will be interesting to see what happens from here on in. In some ways, a tidy way to control the narrative would be for the government to initiate an inquiry. This would get the issue out of media attention as the findings of the inquiry could be delayed until after the election.
The biggest problem for the government though is that the Auditor General may organise an independent inquiry. Under this scenario, the government would have no control over that enquiry, or when findings are released. And the AG may decide to have a much broader look at OIA releases.
I think the press gallery is trying to work itself into a frenzy about it, but that is because it suits their agenda – a beltway scandal they don't have to go far to investigate and where the they get to do the usual round of tired pundits and questions that beget questions and all from the comfort of their office chair.
Most issue like this have little impact on voters once the offending minister has been sacked, and anyway – Hipkins is insulated from the actions of the previous PM's office.
I agree, the damage is likely to be more limited if it can be confined to Nash.
However, what we don't know is what other emails may come to light, and whether that could involve other government ministers. If there has been a systematic pattern of suppressing OIA requests, then there may be more to come out, and we could have email controversies right up until the election.
Interesting times, and certainly a gift to the opposition, which ever way it is looked at.
Maybe someone should start investigating similar scenarios during the Nat years under Key et al.
Mr Key was well exposed in Nicky Hager’s “Dirty Politics” on his obstructionist attitude to some OIA requests–kicking out the timeline for “political purposes” and sometimes via his “office” (it wasn’t meee…) even supplying them to Mr “SlaterOil” before the official recipient got them!
So Cameron Slater Mr Key’s one time late night phone confidant (confirmed in Parliament) got a sneak preview.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/257009/pm-admits-govt-uses-delaying-tactics
None of this negates Nashy’s behaviour let alone anyone else, but the Natzos are on rather thin ice here.
Except, that was fairly distant history. This is very much current.
Around seven to eight years ago? That's modern history of our time.
Sure, not distant history like the Titanic disastor, or the American Civil War.
But distant in the sense that it applies to a government no longer in power and to politicians such as Key who haven't been in parliament for quite a long time. And it relates to issues that were covered quite extensively back then. So, it would be reboiling the cabbage so to speak.
Anyway, que sera sera. The opposition will be pushing this as hard as they can for awhile now. So, time will tell whether this has any long-term impact or not.
One problem for Hipkins is that he has set the standard for sacking now. So, if another similar email comes out implicating another minister, then Hipkins has a precedent he has to live up to.
From Twitter:
"So, @chrishipkinshas revealed senior official Holly Donald is the person who hid Stuart Nash's email – despite it being requested as part of an Official Information Act query. This is the same Holly Donald who led a seminar on how to avoid having things examined under the OIA."
And this from NRT:
In this case its strictly false, because information from Cabinet discussions can only be held in a Ministerial capacity; the PM's staff's willingness to overlook this calls every OIA judgement they have ever made into question, and suggests they are systematically illegally withholding information on political grounds.
Rotten to the core.
Context doesn’t matter in the Court of Public Opinion.
Except Pony getting away with it in the 'distant' past made it easier for any slippery customers after him to do the same. An enquiry with teeth would be a good thing regardless of who is in power.
I think dumping Nash and then blaming him for everything has sorted it in the minds of the populace
I agree. If this is an isolated incident that can be sheeted to Nash, then you are probably right.
However, as I mentioned, what we don't know is how much more is out there. If this isn't an isolated accident, but part of a deliberate strategy to obstruct OIA requests, then there could be a lot more.
If that is the case, then the whole issue could keep boiling along with some new email being dropped every couple of weeks.
Caveat: I don't think this is anything more than a beltway issue. The whole problem of OIA evasion is not something that registers on the radar of ordinary Kiwis.
However, I think that the paper trail of this cock-up or coverup (take your pick) goes from Nash's office to the PM's office. At the very least, it's incompetence (there is no way that this email wasn't relevant – so what were the reasons for concealing it?)
However, the bigger issue brought to light is the standard practice of every party in government to conceal as much as possible in any OIA request.
We see this time and again – when Minister's 'forget' to include meetings in diaries, or staff exclude valid emails/letters on spurious grounds.
No party is immune from this. All do it – purely for political advantage.
I'd like to see legislation or regulation 'clarifying' that once someone is a Minister, they no longer have a separation of identity into MP and Minister – for OIA purposes. I mean, what do they do – run an impermeable membrane down the centre of their identity! Of course, MP communications are informed by their ministerial role and knowledge of what is discussed around the cabinet table. That is *why* there is an OIA to a minister, and not to a backbencher.
I'd also like to see serious consequences for OIA request delays and rejections (which are then pushed back by the Ombudsman) – which have just about become routine. Perhaps the Minister should be required to get leave from Parliament, complete with an excuse considered acceptable, for any delay. And make a formal explanation to Parliament of any adverse Ombudsman findings.
You'll be interested in this piece from NRT.
"My second comment is that this is a perfect example of why the OIA needs criminal penalties for deliberate violations. Canada does this, with the Access to Information Act having a penalty of two years imprisonment for those who, with intent to frustrate a request, conceal, falsify or destroy records. We should do the same, to deter such behaviour and enable public servants to stand up to illegal demands from their political masters. But as with the Ombudsmen's Act, the problem is getting Ministers to apply the law to themselves…"
Here Corin Dann interviews Andrew Geddes about the government's handling of this email. Quite interesting.
It was, thanks for linking.
I tend to agree with you on that. However, the problem for Hipkins now is that he has set a threshold for sacking cabinet ministers. So, I bet he is sweating on the hope that no other ministers have offended in a similar way.
TBH – I'd say that the particular offence (sharing insider information from the cabinet with political donors) – is highly likely to be limited to Nash.
It doesn't seem the kind of thing that would be likely to be widespread – if only because your cabinet colleagues would be furious with you if/when they found out.
Also assuming that the rest of the Ministers have at least read the Cabinet Manual!
Any other Minister who has done such a stupid thing, would now know exactly what the consequences are. [Anyone who's even slightly dubious about what they've said, will no doubt be spending the weekend reviewing their correspondence for the last 5 years]
The part that is widespread – evasion of OIA requests, using any excuse under the sun – isn't something that he sacked Nash for, so won't need to hold others to the same high standard.
That is probably a fair point. One would hope such behaviour isn't wide-spread.
OR, hoping that one or two HAVE offended in a similar way…
It looks like I missed the evolution of the meaning of another word. A car burned out on the Harbour Bridge last night. The vehicle "identified by witnesses as a Tesla – had somehow caught ablaze… Photos show the white Tesla’s front completely torched. No one was injured, he confirmed. The cause of the fire is also not yet known at this stage."
In my once-upon-a-time saying something had been 'torched' meant the cause was known – the object had been 'torched', i.e. deliberately set on fire. The word is used twice.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dramatic-scenes-on-auckland-harbour-bridge-after-car-catches-fire/BAYOYLMW4BC6JHFLHBS7DA6UKI/
Interesting recent blogpost on mental health trends for young people in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Intro by Jon Haidt, one of the authors of 2018 book The Coddling of the American Mind, (which I have no knowledge of), the rest is Part 1 of the preliminary report by research partner, Zach Rausch.
https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/international-mental-illness-part-one
You can skip to the New Zealand summary here:
https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/i/111288830/new-zealand
There is a 60 page draft document which lists sources and data not shown on the blogpost:
I'm currently looking through, and although no conclusions have been drawn it seems that addressing effectively this significant increase should be a priority for any government.
Me being cynical and therefore not overly helpful means I think that the Govt will be able to blame this concerning increase on the oppression felt by young people at the exercise of women's rights to safe spaces, fairness in sport etc.
On a more sensible note:
My concern is that children are being made to listen/absorb what should be the concerns of adults. I first became aware of this in the mid 1990s when my loved mother in law involved my then 9 year old brother & sister in law in listening to her troubles concerning the father's non payment/her legal troubles etc. I have seen this trend over and over. My bro in law was very affected by this, was powerless though.
We should strive to make sure our children have time to be children. They will have the rest of their lives to be concerned about world, country etc problems. I'm not meaning they live in a bubble.
I'm aware of how non acceptable/old fashioned these views are to some.
"We should strive to make sure our children have time to be children. "
I agree. I always considered one of the primary roles of a child's caregiver is to maintain appropriate boundaries.
The boundaries for independence and behaviour expand as the child grows in capability and demonstrations of maturity.
Safeguarding boundaries are not just related to physical access, but exposure to ideas and concepts (particularly adult concerns and sexuality) that disrupt or blight their individual development at their own pace.
If I find it, I’ll add the Facebook findings on the negative social media impact on young people, notably girls again.
IMHO the whole world is on a mental health hiding to nothing as the realisation of just how serious the climate crisis is, sinks in.
Over the next decade or so, our whole way of life is going to change, very probably materially for the worse.
And change begets stress.
We ain't seen nothing yet!
best advice I am hearing is to build community resiliency in any way we can right now, not waiting for government (central or local).
Yes. Busy with that. https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/garden/131632100/gardeners-concerned-at-cost-of-living-learn-at-southern-harvest-festival
Covid disruption may have affected some age demographics more than others too.
We could be increasing current access while conducting research into the hows for targeted solutions.
Did you look at the links? Anything in particular that stood out for you?
Having a read through of the substack piece. I'd love to see that NZ graph plotted with increases in various SM platforms, and local events like Roastbusters. Also would be very good to see a breakdown of NZ by area, rural vs urban, ethnicity.
Looking at the all age group graph, there have been increases across all age groups, but most of the others have had ups and downs within that. So were young people better before and are catching up, or have been impacted more badly than other groups?
am also wondering about changes in diagnostic criteria in that time, as well as diagnosing culture with NZ GPS, and how that played out in NZ.
They do mention that, so it'll be interesting if they definitively weight it in their final draft.
https://twitter.com/moveincircles/status/1634162342379372545
Causes
Being constantly told that the earth's is fucked due cc
Social media.
Stressed parents only just making ends meat,
Gender ideology, my kids school tried gender neutral toilets, a fucking primary school.
Rampant divorce rates because that's the easy option.
It's trendy to be anxious and gender fluid.
Overview of Facebook internal research:
https://archive.ph/RMV5C
those are obviously influences in later years, but not at the start.
2008 the year the country elected the lying key ing.
Only partially joking
The year the truth stopped mattering. That'd make anyone anxious.
Facebook 2004
Instagram 2010
Snapchat 2011
TikTok 2017
Tumblr 2007 (of particular interest re gender ideology and the rise of girls transitioning)
Would be interesting to know the years that FB upped its emotional manipulation algorithms.
Quite the correlation with the growth of youtube and the 2016 kick in females mirrors uptake of fibre to the home.
2014 to 2015?
Affordability of smart phones, or other devices making them more accessible to young teenagers for longer periods of time?
I'll have to see if there is data or research looking at that in particular. If I find it, I'll post here. I think that may also differ by country as well.
It's also 2013-2014, a 2013-2015 spike and when it goes down for males.
For males the jump is 2015-2016, when it goes down/flatlines for females.
Good luck.
When looking at such research, I don't think it is likely there is one answer. I'm more interested in looking at possible contributors, and trying to determine the weighting of each.
Otherwise, there is a danger of identifying one particular contributor, providing a solution for it, and disregarding the rest.
With that in mind – this from 2022 which I post without reading to beat the edit time constraint:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-022-02012-8
The growth of the internet and insidious advertising may be a factor?
It could be that society and culture has been unable to accommodate such sudden and significant changes without cost.
Off the books payment probe has resulted in a thunder of justice event – the big apple entices Florida man to home detention in Trump Towers.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/30/nyregion/trump-indictment-news
A huge shoutout to the Hipkins government for continuing to do the one big thing they do well: redistribute taxpayer cash to those who need it.
From tomorrow the 1st of April over 1.4 million New Zealanders are going to get more money, Of course it's not enough. But Labour have a consistently strong record over two terms of increasing payments across welfare.
As of tomorrow the nurses pay agreement worth $200million kicks in; that's right across nurses in aged residential care, hospices, home and community services, those in Māori and Pacific healthcare, get up to 15% more in take home pay.
Also as of tomorrow more than half of New Zealand families with children can get subsidised childcare assistance. 10,000 more children can get Childcare Subsidy and takes an edge of financial grief off childcare before and after work.
For those on NZSuper, since 2017, a couple get $326.68 more per fortnight and single older people get an extra $212.34 per fortnight.
Also you get adjusted lifts for veteran's pensions.
Also coming up from 1 May the Winter Energy Payment goes to all beneficiaries and superannuants.
Also from 1 July Child Support will be passed on to sole parent beneficiaries.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2303/S00270/over-a-quarter-of-new-zealanders-to-get-cost-of-living-relief-from-tomorrow.htm
That's easily 20% of New Zealand getting more of a hand to deal with growth in supermarket prices, power prices. Of course it's not enough. And yes poverty isn't going down fast enough and here's a series of stats on that:
https://www.childpoverty.org.nz/
A group of people probably vastly under-polled, and basically invisible in the constant media parade of middle class whiners, cookers and entitled small business complainers. Because Labour won by so much in 2019 it is overlooked that the polls were out by quite margin – I can't recall exactly, but I think they over-stated the right vote by 2% or so and understated Labour's support by around 4%, hopefully these groups will get out and vote en masse come the next election.
Duncan Garner,Tovar O'brien are facing the reality of the Free market and probably no redundancy. You would think they would be defending a company which can't make money closing down a loss making enterprise.The Media landscape has been changing for more than ten year's so no surprises therefore why would any company continue to throw good money after bad.
Live by the capitalist sword, die by the capitalist sword.
Live by the taxpayer dollar without creating, die from the economic reality.
My first reaction to the story:
" Oh you poor little highly paid things. Now you know how it feels to be made redundant and tossed on the scrap heap without so much as a "sorry". It happened to many thousands of us in the 80s and 90s and we didn't earn big bucks. We survived, but not without serious hardships, and you will too. So shut up and stop moaning about how hard done by you are. We're not listening.
A piece by the much maligned Posey Parker in the Spectator .
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/fear-and-loathing-in-new-zealand/
I watched the Hobart Let Women Speak several times and it was the genesis of the approach I made to SUFW and now the complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
She comments:
'The Tasmanian event was pretty horrifying. The women who spoke were visibly terrified and an angry mob drowned out their voices with hysterical screams and cult-like mantras' .
The women were surrounded by baying, shouting jostling people only kept at a distance of about 5ft, behind them, by several older men, no police. Police let the crowd surge forward. Also of concern at Hobart were the pest media who jostled the women speakers including putting the long nose of a camera across/above the shoulder of the woman speaking from a wheelchair.
Kudos to those women.
What is it about them that attracts angry mobs?
left wing men being useless?
Useless?
Guess then, I'm gone-burger!
I was being satirical because I couldn't quite take in that you were arguing that there's something about women's rights campaigners or women speaking at an open mike that attract angry mobs.
Wondering why the neo-nazis turned up in support in Australia.
No Nazis in Hobart.
As for the rest of your question you are clearly not reading the links we have provided.
KJM does not support Nazis. I doubt any of the women who tried to line up to talk in Akl support Nazis either.
This is a trans trope/slur
The obvious point for many is that women don't have penises and men don't have vaginas.
Sure with the miracles of modern cosmetic etc surgery these can be created the fact remains there are two sexes: male & female.
"KJM does not support Nazis. I doubt any of the women who tried to line up to talk in Akl support Nazis either."
This is my belief also.
What were the neo-Nazis supporting?
What were the neo Nazis supporting?
At a guess ( thinking of actual Fascist ideology ) is the strong emphasis put on traditional family values and roles. The idea of different genders and homosexuality being viewed as deviant.
The neo nazi presence would be not so much as support for Parker but rather as a show of dislike for the groups protesting against her.
Also, of course is the Nazi love of dressing up in uniforms and parading! Theres nothing a Nazi likes more than looking like a bus conductor!
sounds like a good guess to me.
" traditional family values and roles."
Father brings home the bacon, mother bakes the cakes, that sort of thing?
"Nazi love of dressing up in uniforms and parading!"
Yep, like men dressing up as women (or how they think women should or do dress) and shutting opposing viewpoints down through use of intimidation and violence.
Sounds just like facists to me.
My question also, weka.
I'm not convinced by hetzer'a argument. Are you?
They weren't there to support Parker, but instead to "show dislike" for a community?
please describe the support that you see, of neo-Nazis supporting KJK and LWS. Some evidence of it would be useful as well so we can see the context.
because I see you making the assertion and I don't actually know what you mean and there's certainly been no evidence or theory in your comments.
If you are honestly still wondering, then it is because you are not reading any of the responses given to this question on TS.
Go back, and stop pretending ignorance.
Or worse, celebrating ignorance when enlightenment is available to you.
Good points Molly.
Socratic mode of questioning, that I had in all of its tough glory in some of my law studies is designed to elucidate, to expand knowledge by questioning.
Although the questioner(tutor) assumes an ignorant mindset, or argues in the negative, ignorant mindsets are not usually the ones who use this type of questioning.
The questioner has a depth of knowledge of the topic sufficient to enable them to maintain an argument against the topic to generate enhanced knowledge
People seeking knowledge about a topic that they do not have are best to read texts on and around the topic.
For instance we would not adopt a Socratic method of questioning when somebody wants to know how gravity works. We would ask them to read on the topic then to test or extend the depth of their knowledge we may ask some Socratic type questions.
But oh the almost terror in a law class where we had to sit in exactly the same seat as we had originally turned up to the first lecture, the lecturer who goes row by row along the rows & you realise you might not have 'got' the readings and questions are getting closer and closer, you've got to stand, think on your feet……
Good method perhaps especially for those involved in courtroom work.
I am, by now, quite well-read on the issue. I believe I understand the position you, weka et al have taken.
Something about it though, is off, imo.
"I am, by now, quite well-read on the issue. I believe I understand the position you, weka et al have taken."
Not apparent by your comments. However, feel free to articulate your understanding of "the position you, weka et al have taken.".
I'll honestly tell you if you've got it right – or wrong.
"Something about it though, is off, imo."
The only information that imparts is that it is a vague aspersion.
Women's rights, women's rights, free speech, 'women don't have penises men don't have vaginas' are quite clear & plain to me.
In Open Mike today 1/4 I quote from a NZ woman Katrina Biggs on the Shaneel Lal debacle.
She concludes:
https://aboldwoman.substack.com/p/you
In a less topsy turvey world women who stepped up to protect their daughters would be feted not derided.
Unless you express your views about what is 'off' with these views we cannot discuss them (obviously)
Perhaps you do understand but I've not seen much evidence that you understand Molly, my, or other women's position, because you simply don't engage with the substance of the ideas. The way you have been commenting on TS strongly suggests that you don't understand. Again here instead of stating clearly what is off, it's just the smear suggestion so often used by TRAs in the place of clean debate.
I'm open to being wrong, maybe you do have a grasp of the issues, but I'm not seeing that.
Okay.
I wonder if any of us here recall the UK miners strike of the mid eighties. This was the action that ultimately led to the decline of union power in Britain, and likely influenced, as unlike events in major powers often do to NZ, our own dark descent into Roger Douglas's wretched folly – for the decline of our unions did not proceed from resentment at their (unions) demand to be treated as a special case in wage negotiations.
I raise the issue because activism out of a context of genuine disadvantage, is wont to be self-defeating. The people of Europe after the revolutions of 1848, the suffragettes, once women had secured the vote, unions, once pay and safety concerns were meaningfully addressed, all had to wait getting on for a generation, and the development of new issues, before fresh activism could attract broadly based support.
Activists, having achieved any measure of success, are disempowered by it. They must find new careers, or fresh problems, if they substantially resolve the ones that initially motivated them.
And so I expect it is with the contemporary trans debate. Gifted unprecedented (and unearned) parliamentary representation by the Covid response, they voted themselves, in the form of the BDM review, unprecedented liberties without all that tiresome business of securing public support. Not bad for a group of roughly 3% (using Australian numbers) of the population. But as noted above, the natural demise of popular support for further activism.
not sure if I quite followed that, but in the UK there's the theory that because the big campaigns for lesbians and gays had been one, the charity Stonewall needed a new cause and chose trans issues. They've been hugely influential in how trans rights have developed and in blocking debate about how to ensure trans rights without harming women or LGB rights.
Yes I think that is one facet of the situation.
There have been a number of claims that the trans issues are settled, loosely based on Gen Z responses. There is a problem with the assertion, beyond its speculative nature, in that (and I don't have a convenient reference, alas) adolescence is pretty much a high point for gender variation – identity tends to stabilize with age or experience or some combination of the two, so that current snap-shots of Gen Z are as likely to be the apogee of gender variation in that generation, rather than some LGBT& millennium.
But the culmination of advocacy isn't going away. It might be, for example, an explanation for Grant Robertson's adoption of a useful role (economics) outside gender advocacy – realizing that the major battles in that field have already been fought, and that consequently the number of positions for activists is declining.
Issues move on, and climate, and the transition to a plausible socioeconomic accommodation with it, must be resolved. This is a present issue – perhaps the present issue – others are a distraction.
the other thing about the whole Gen Z idea is that the young women grow up into young mothers then older mothers and grandmothers and have to deal with everything that goes with that, both biologically and sociopolitically. There's a reason why the people that get the problems with GI are usually older women (and lesbians, they always got it). Nothing like sexism and misogyny when you're in labour or menopause to peak you.
A good point – and I think too that there is a kind of social conditioning, on younger folk and especially younger women, to not speak out. The habit of contemplating failures and injustices in silence makes older women especially formidable when, at last, they do.
"Activists, having achieved any measure of success, are disempowered by it."
I think we saw a good example of it in the 1980s over the issue of nuclear proliferation and the French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll in particular. It culminated in the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior bombing in 1985 and its aftermath, by which time the success of the NZ government’s nuclear-free status had become synonymous with Prime Minister David Lange and the role he played. Who can forget the famous Oxford Union debate:
https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/32901/david-lange-and-the-oxford-union-debate
Together with the row over Rogernomics which Lange came to view with alarm and contempt, his successes (especially on the international stage) were to bring about his downfall. In other words he was in large part “disempowered” by those successes.
He died a sick man in 2005. He was only 62 years of age and I often wondered since how much all that argy-bargy in the 1980s might have affected his health.