It's a Horizon poll, so it means little (check out their historical record, way off compared with the usual TV1/3 polls).
But as always, "polls" are about how they affect the media narrative as much as their accuracy (lack of). It means Luxon will be asked about Winston, and he took a week to rule out Brian Tamaki, so he'll faff around forever on this one. Ardern will also be asked but her answer is easy: he was my deputy PM, it's MMP, you do what you gotta do.
I can't see any nat leaning voter voting Winston, the couple I know where in a real tizzy when he went labour, so if it's true it must be labour voters who want to corner the greens.
Voters are like party leaders, they refuse to countenance an option … until defeat looms, and then they countenance anything. Nat voters would pick Winston over the Maori Party in a heartbeat.
But to repeat … it's not about the numbers, it's about the narrative. Luxon might reject Winston, but he has to say so, which makes a headline. He would much rather not talk about Winston at all.
It seems unlikely that NZF would rocket from an average of around 3% for the whole of this year to 6.75% – with no substantial reason (Peters launching the party conference seems to be the only political activity he's been involved in recently).
I agree that this poll is likely to see an increased public perception of relevance for Peters.
Other figures also seem a bit off (substantial drops from both Labour and National) – and a drop for TPM – which seems unlikely.
ATM, it looks to me like a rogue poll (the last Horizon poll also over-estimated NZF in comparison to other prior and subsequent polls). Time will tell.
It's usually bad news for Greens and ACT, because traditionally NZF is the third highest polling party and demands governance via a two party coalition (with support partners if necessary for a majority).
If he follows this path when polling behind Greens and ACT, it would be something new – as per 2017-2020 when the highest polling party was in opposition.
So at this point the next government might be determined most by whether Greens or ACT would provide or deny support to a coalition that excludes them.
If not, on the grounds NZF should not be the 5th party trying to wag the tail of the big 4 …
will NZF providing formal support to a NACT or LG government? Or more likely just confidence and supply (and negotiate on terms for this) and sit on the cross benches?
Why doesn't the poll result headline say, "Labour ahead in latest Horizon poll"? And then go on to say that Labour/Greens polled higher than National/ACT?
Another point. With MMP more accurately reflecting voters by the amount of Green voters coming from Labour and ACT voters coming from National presumably, then the third strongest centrist party NZF has its role weakened as the centre closes up with the competition of both National and Labour there.
Who here on the Standard sees the shift away from two very large parties towards a more equal four or five party situation?
About 200 people attended a NZ First listening tour meeting in Gore yesterday, where party leader Mr Peters spoke on a variety of topics including climate change, education and co-governance.
Interestingly, regarding how many Labour voters there are in Southland, 2020 results had more Labour party votes than National by 2.8%. L 38.7%, N 35.9%.
NZF had 2% party vote, so who might these 200 voters be? Disgruntled centrist National voters? It is Gore after all, not the biggest population centres in Clutha/Southland.
Interesting also that there was no NZF candidate in that electorate in 2020.
"We rely on an economic system which relies on buried ancient sunlight. Globally we now use so much fossil energy, it has been estimated that it is the equivalent of everyone on earth having 100 slaves working 24 hours a day for us."
…meanwhile, there are stories about poor travellers having to pay heaps for flying, in the middle of a bloody CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Some even say, without irony apparently, that it is becoming 'unaffordable'. Jesus wept.
I am flying every week because there's not enough staff. Palmerston North flights and hotels often booked weeks in advance. Same Dunedin. Queenstown flights also v full. Like someone is going to take a bus?
And continuing to do it that way is apparently the only option, even though we all know it's inefficient, expensive and destructive. Why is the problem still presented as a personal affront to travellers, rather than a symptom of the obvious?
Yeah. But I don't see why the organisation Ad works for should be required to unilaterally make itself slower and less responsive to clients. In a competitive industry, that's suicidal. The politics of transition from BAU to something else looks as close to impossible as anything one can imagine.
No, it really doesn't. We can't comment on Ad's situation because we don't know the details, but we can comment on the fact that if we don't change we will lose everything anyway. Either you take the climate seriously or you're in denial.
If you take it seriously, then doors open on how to change. Maybe a business can't stop flying this year, but it can certainly be planning to. People can stop making excuses for not changing and instead talk about the urgency and looking at how we can change, right now.
No one in their right mind wants to live in Palmerston North unless they are a dairy farmer or teach at Massey which is pretty much the same thing.
So we fly in and fly out. Clients of major electricity infrastructure aren't gonig to wait for the bus to show up, if it shows up at all.
Sounds Air is going electric in three years and Air NZ regional will be right with them a couple of years later. NZ exists on air travel and won't ever change even if you Greens tax the bejeesus out of it.
Like it or not, social-ecological systems (including air travel) will change.
Air travel and climate change
"Think twice before you grab that great flight deal for a weekend away in the sun. It’s not so great when you think about the emissions that will continue to warm the planet for centuries."
Air NZ was ranked 13th/19th (of 125) in atmosfair's 2018 Airline Index – yay!
Rank — Airline — Country — Efficieny pts — Efficiency Class
#1 ……. TUI ………. UK ………….. 79.3 ……………… B
#13 ….. AirNZ …… NZ ………….. 70.5 ……………… C
#49 ….. Qantas … Australia … 61.4 ……………… D
#73 ….. Air France ………………. 54.5 ……………… D
#108 … Emirates UAE………….. 40.7 ……………… E
#123 … Kenya Airways ……….. 27.6 ……………… F
It's convenient to fly, and it's possible to fly less. Once upon a time no-one flew, and we are very well connected in other ways compared to then. Some fly often for convenience and/or leisure, but who really needs it?
Elite Status: Global inequalities in flying [March 2021; PDF]
The implications for climate change policy were clear. The
politically sacrosanct annual family holiday was not at fault
when it came to rapidly rising aviation emissions. Rather,
most air travel was down to a small, relatively well off
demographic taking ever more frequent leisure flights.
…
Desperate efforts by politicians to return aviation to its former planet-burning growth trajectory by throwing public money at airlines take place alongside a dawning global awareness of just how much danger we are all in from the unfolding climate crisis. Welcome, but belated, attempts at technofixes for this disproportionately damaging industrial sector are plainly not equal to the task ahead. The world cannot afford further growth in any intrinsically high carbon activities, and we must find ways to rapidly drive emissions down that are fair, equitable and just. A frequent flyer levy is one of them.
I don't want any details, I was pointing out that it's not possible to solve your company's problems at this distance. But there are plenty of other things to address.
No-one is saying all flying has to stop. But BAU is killing the planet and it's right to name the problems as people see them.
Yes Weka, I agree. Instead of waiting for BAU to return, it won't, it has gone, we could develop a mindset that the current situation is our our BAU.
So companies work on the basis that
employment situation is tight (yay! with my anti unemployment hat)
we don't have access to modes of transport that are anywhere carbon neutral and this is problematic
What would we do?
1 Location.
Ad is dismissive of Palmerston North and Wellington as only 'a dyed in the wool' Aucklander can be. If PN is not your employees favoured place then why are they going there. I know friends, relations who live in the northern Wairarapa, Horowhenua and small town Manawatu who commute to PN. A relation appointed to a CITO chose to live in Feilding rather than Wellington. Some go over the Pahiatua track each day from the northern Wairarapa. While there will be some emissions to contend with it is nothing like trips on planes.
2 Different ways of working and salaries
JVs, different ways of working and managing can springboard ideas away from the inevitability of having to fly. If people are not being attracted to work in smaller areas where the salaries are traditionally lower, investigate why this is. Is there some sort of salary differential being applied say AKL vis a vis the rest of NZ.
Not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs …the future though is waiting for those who are planning ahead rather than BAU to grab it.
It was the dismissive nature of your comment towards buses rather than a suggestion. I don't know the full details of your work and commute. Others have given more specific suggestions.
In plain English then – you don't want to. So any plan to get you out of planes will be dismissed.
You are claiming that your particular circumstance is either unavoidable or excusable.
Auckland to Wellington next Monday has a difference in price between flying and busing of $242 according to the Air NZ and Intercity websites. A pretty useful saving for a days effort. Bus has wifi and charging available.
NZ's energy transformation isn't going to happen at all if we let AirNZ fake its way through it all. The oligarchs will freeload – only the poor will pay.
Wellington has got the largest major infrastructure works in New Zealand and will have for at least four years. SO they are sucking workers the other way instead of PN.
No one wants to live in Wellington. All those MPs sell their flats as soon as their term is up. Wellington is a hole.
It woud be a stunning commute, and currently might even be cheaper then traveling by plane. And of course you could use the time on the train to work remote.
Departs from Time Arrives at Time
Auckland 07:45 am Papakura 08:35 am
Papakura 08:35 am Hamilton 10:15 am
Hamilton 10:15 am Otorohanga 10:50 am
Otorohanga 10:50 am National Park 01:15 pm
National Park 01:15 pm Ohakune 01:45 pm
Ohakune 01:45 pm Palmerston North 04:20 pm
I agree with living in Wellington, it takes dedication. I did not have it. The wind did my head in, but in saying that i am a sucker for Levin and Shannon. would move there in a heartbeat.
The Government has adopted the first half of my Bill, but there’s still a long way to go and many questions regarding their courage to restrict marketing. So, my Bill stays on the table, for the Govt to answer why it won’t simply implement the reccs of Sir Graham Lowe from 2014. https://t.co/QXXEYor7yi
Swarbrick has a Member’s Bill in play that would put in place restrictions to alcohol marketing and sponsorship, and she said she would not be withdrawing her bill to match Labour’s approach.
A report on alcohol by former prime minister and law commission head Geoffrey Palmer more than ten years ago said alcohol had significant social costs on the nation, especially in crime and health. It recommended measures to curb access such as increasing the price.
And in 2014 a Ministerial Forum on Alcohol Advertising and Sponsorship was set up, that recommended changes to rules for ads and sponsorship.
But Ardern said changes in this area take time – and alcohol advertising and marketing signalled in 2012 by the National Party were still unrealised.
Little mom and pop neighbourhood grog shops have no political, financial or media power. The big liquor companies and the sporting organisations they sponsor have all three in spades.
I've suggested that the current naysayers on Treaty Settlements turn their attention to a worthier project and that is getting behind any move to breakdown/remove:
the dominance of liquor giants
the harm being caused in our communities across all racial groups.
Perhaps also working against the easy loan money scourge which is still with us.
Somehow this work does not seem to strike a chord, I guess studiously following the mis/dis information on Treaty Settlements is easier.
Is this an accurate description of those who have been commenting?
Isn't it more about the impact of various agreements, failures to inform, lack of transparency and policies that create yet another elite group of unelected power holders?
Isn't it more about the impact of various agreements, failures to inform, lack of transparency and policies that create yet another elite group of unelected power holders?
In a word no. Some are thinly disguised antis. I have not noted any moderates and as I have been working in the land field including Maori issues I would welcome seeing these. I will go back and check though as it is a good point, that there may have been some moderate posters, ah yes I think there was one. .
NB with Treaty settlements there
1 is no obligation to consult any wider than the Iwi and around Govt Depts. They are between the two partners to the Treaty of Waitangi ie Maori and the Crown.
2 not sure what lack of transparency is about to be honest. All Treaty settlements and the following legislation are freely available. In fact I have been suggesting that people read these to see what did happen to Maori land.
For instance some are finding it difficulty to understand why the Tuhoe settlement is such an egregious example of a Crown wrought wrong.
Tuhoe did not sign the Treaty
In the 1860s, there were the NZ wars. NZ Govt enacted legislation to confiscate land from those who were fighting them.
Tuhoe was not fighting in the NZ Wars
Tuhoe had many acres land taken by the crown ie confiscated as if they had been opposing belligerents
Later in 1956 when the crown owned land was the made a NP the Crown did not ask if this was OK with Tuhoe. So land wrongly taken is passed to a land status that prevents use of the land. Tuhoe has lived there since time immemorial.
I am not sure who has any right to be concerned about the impact but I do know that on the Crown side there is work done all the time to make sure that remedies are sought across the Crown's estate. I know that some are concerned but whether this is rightful or justifiable is the point. Information is available on several sites on current and past Treaty claims/Settlements.
The entity that is created to negotiate the Treaty settlement has to organise themselves in specific ways. The entity who holds the land holds it on behalf of of all their tribal members. The tribal members participate in elections etc. and elect people. It is sensible that only certain members of the Board have public comment making roles. In other organisations it is totally unprobelmatic that the chair makes public stataments. We find in some large companies that there are shareholders who disagree. Thye may go public.
As these groupings and the boards are elected following legislation/usual democratic procedure it is odd to me that people call the people exercising an unremarkable right in the Tuhoe situation (which is not a public company in any way shape or form) an elite group of unelected power holders yet have no problems with say a public company such as Fletchers or Mainfreight doing this. Very odd
elite group of unelected power holders. This word phrase, especially the 'elites' word bears a close relationship to many of the phrases used by the Brash mob, and other right wingers. I have seen it recently on a site relating to free speech and in this context it means free speech without any care for the consequences.
Māori – along with non-Māori, often have representatives that represent a cohort rather than the whole. I think this is a realistic expectation, otherwise decisions would never be reached, but this should be recognised as readily as other political constraints are. Especially in regards to unelected representatives. And if we are able to recognise that David Seymour MP for Epsom does not represent and/or reflect the views of all his electorate, we should admit the same holds true for Māori.
There is a focus on Te Tiriti that is not just about the settlements.
Māori health outcomes can be identified as worse than non-Māori, but to effectively address why, the co-morbidity factors have to be identified. It is not related physiologically to having Māori ancestry. I have no problem with a delivery system that successfully targets those factors. My problem is with a limiting access to Māori only, and not ALL those NZers who have those risk factors.
If I get Covid I have access to anti-virals that my partner does not unless he is immunocompromised. I consider both the intention and implementation of such policy unequitable and inexcusable especially in terms of health. I have suspicions that the funds put aside for Māori health, is going to be frittered away by a disjointed set of organisations and players.
(I have been called three times in the last month, regarding vaccine boosters, by one of the current organisations despite making it clear the first time, I don't want to be called.)
I also recently submitted to the prison survey that proposed specific rehabilitation programmes only accessible to Māori, and find that limited access also concerning.
Such an approach treats Māori as if they have all the same opportunities, environment, problems and so, solutions. It ignores the many Māori individuals, families and communities that thrive by living in an integrated and modern way, if they do not display recognisable Māori cultural signifiers.
It also treats non-Māori NZers as disposable, if they cannot access the same support others do by virtue of whakapapa.
We are in danger of creating a flipped version of access to resources and power that we rightly derided in the past.
I think this is a problem, and to ignore it, is to allow that problem to grow and divide.
I'm not anti-Māori, but I am critical of some of the approaches and policies that are being rolled out. I don't automatically assume that others with concerns are racist or reflexive naysayers. I know a few of them are Māori just stating their opinions.
We should be giving them an opportunity to talk and be listening. I do note that most of the commentators that are not Māori representatives, are often non-Māori.
I respect the knowledge you have about the Tuhoe situation, and I continue to read your posts with interest.
I live in Tāmaki, and the treaty settlement here was fraught with problems from the outset. The crown decided it wanted to roll a series of overlapping claims from several iwi together, and in doing so allowed an iwi collective with tenuous and contentious links to the area mana whenua status. This has led to escalating tensions between the iwi collectives within the Tāmaki Collective, culminating in court action that is still inconclusive, and the spilling over of bitter disputes between two of the iwi collectives.
The treaty settlement process seems to me to be a wholly inadequate way of addressing the wrongs committed by the crown towards Maori in the past, but it's the mechanism we currently have. What I ask is that you don't conflate criticism (including my own) of shortcomings in delivery of treaty outcomes with racially motivated attacks on the idea of resolving past wrongs in a meaningful way.
Yes I realise the Auckland situation with the overlapping claims. My view is that this is a problem for the Iwi involved and that the moment we start commenting/intervening we add a layer that is not helpful.
ToW froze a moment in time. There were back and forth battles, claims 'ahi ka'.
So I know you are commenting on the basis of the here and now and wish to go forward and that is fine. I accept this view.
I would not though, want to dismiss access to the Treaty of Waitangi mechanism because some uninvolved, legally, people do not agree with the results of one of them. As to if a different process could replace it I do not know…..the process can always be improved but that is not the same as replacing it. My view is that this is the process we have, it has worked in the past, now and probably will do so in the future.
A Maori work colleague, now Iwi leader, said to me that when Maori benefit we all benefit. Of course me being me and this being a Friday afternoon I carefully unpicked/challenged his view. While initially confronting when unpicked it is logical. This is a restating of the idea that a country's human/equity rights record is best judged by how it treats its most deprived citizens.
So imagine if Maori did not have the high figures they do in health deprivation. Hence my idea to swivel the eyes from the long term (treaty) mechanisms to allow Maori to play their part, to the current discussions around liquor licensing and ragtag lending.
These industries are to to found in areas of deprivation. They feed off the poor. The poor are not only Maori or Pasifika. The removal of pokies, lending stores & low or no assessment loans and storefront liquor stores will benefit everybody. These initiatives currently are a good place to start and a push from many, a sense of outrage from many will push the ideas of removal, ameliorating forward.
What I ask is that you don't conflate criticism (including my own) of shortcomings in delivery of treaty outcomes with racially motivated attacks on the idea of resolving past wrongs in a meaningful way.
I won't. Weka has said the difference is 'nuanced'. I would say 'a fine line'.
What are the shortcomings you refer to? Focusing on the process, as per the Treaty between the two partners, not the results.
Hi Shanreagh…I have replied to you below, but I'm not quite sure what happened to the order of the post. I had to send the post twice – my 'office' today is the library, and the first attempt jumped back at me??
Many times, in fact. Those details are still in the system, obviously. When you change them you don’t identify as the same user and thus you’re let through automatically. You know that, don’t you?
“When you change them you don’t identify as the same user and thus you’re let through automatically. You know that, don’t you?”
What details? you have my email address, and you know who I am from previous posts. What are you talking about?
This combination of username + e-mail address first appeared here and was manually approved (by a Moderator) on 18 Sep, as with all ‘new users’, and neither has ever been banned.
So you think that focussing on Treaty settlements which is a mechanism between the Crown and the Maori partner is a better use of time and head space than getting behind some of the most pressing social issues that may affect us all.
Liquor licensing
ratbag lenders
We correctly have no influence on Treaty Claims so an anti movement is a wasted movement as claims will move through our society and we will all be the better for them.
Other issues such as liquor licensing issues, ratbag lenders and the whole gender stupidity may be receptive to a push from the general public.
Is this an accurate description of those who have been commenting?
I think it's accurate for some of the comments. Not all of course, and it might be useful to tease out the difference between the naysaying comments and the ones that have more nuanced critiques.
And here I thought The Government had the power !! Must be wrong with my premise.
And why the government is playing catch up. Waits to see what the reaction is and THEN signals its plans but wont be rushed, perhaps those within the Beehive were not aware of the issue and its impact out here ?? 😱"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the government will tackle alcohol law reform, to curb alcohol marketing and sponsorship, but will take time to do it right and won't be rushed"
It's to facilitate an end to the proliferation of alcohol sale outlets in areas with a lot of Lotto sales …. and to assuage concerns about this in those communities.
And a bit like the mom and dad landlord myth of family businesses being impacted, it's really about chains of shops and their lawyers.
The government has signalled it sees this as something in four parts.
In March next year its looking at advertising/marketing. The other parts being price and age (conscience vote).
If you read past the scolding bit, jimmy, you'd find the situation is a bit more nuanced. The judge has not finished with our 14 year old, she threatened him with jail if he continued, denied him bail because of the harm he was doing, reminded him that bad decisions had got him behind bars, that he should spend that quiet time while on remand in a youth facility to consider his actions and consequences of his action, and finally there is a small matter of a psychological report to be factored in.
The media's use of 'scolding' to typify those remarks is fatuous. I wonder if they would have used that term if the judge had been male?
The report finished with some wisdom from the police regarding the long term factors that had led to this very young man's offending.
It was disturbing to read this from Superintendent Todd.
“However it’s hard to see these apprehensions as anything more than an inevitable end to a story that started long before any offence was committed.”
Todd said it was rare to see youth offenders come “out of the blue”, he encouraged communities to reach out to police if they see concerning behaviour amongst young people."
The whole article was much more nuanced and it is a pity that the 'scolding' typification did not do justice to the greater gravity of the piece.
Very interesting press conference (3 mayors on 3 waters!). They've actually shafted Luxon, but quite subtly. Saying "just scrap it" is an easy election line, the mayors are taking quite a different approach. Flushing out (sorry) National to come up with their own proposal.
How about 3 waters WITHOUT co governance, They have combined 2 issues into 1that there could be an increase of by in ??
That is if the govt was serious about this being "only" an infrastructure issue 🤫 and not been very open (some could say opaque) about how the process was managed.
As I said, they are in the delivery of treaty outcomes. The example of the Tupuna Maunga Authority in Auckland is a perfect illustration. Those of us in maunga communities who value these special places welcomed the opportunity to work with the Authority to enhance and restore these special parks, expecting this to be a gentle and environmentally progressive process.
Instead, captured by ideological interests and driven by hubris, the Authority has become a divisive and destructive presence. It has systematically stripped maunga of non-native trees, with the loss of substantial native birdlife, and an increase in erosion. Its plantings are dismal, and represent a substantial biomass loss when compared to what is being removed.
Perhaps one of the most damning aspects of the Court of Appeal decision that found the TMA's consultation to have been inadequate in the case of Ōwairaka was the finding that the decision to fell Ōwairaka's 345 exotic trees was not made by the Authority, but by an employee.
Ōwairaka is by no means alone. The TMA's treatment of the football club on Te Pane o Mataoho is an ongoing sore in that community, particularly following the way the community was treated when a large number of trees were stripped from their maunga without public consultation.
So the problems with the TMA are in the outcomes, and much of these fall at the feet of the crown.
It was the crown who insisted on bringing together 13 iwi and hapu across 3 sub-collective groupings that cut across existing mana whenua claims.
And it was the crown who agreed to the TMA having the powers that it has over both iwi and crown land, without the necessary checks and balances in place to counter the excesses of a small number of bad actors.
The result? A necessary redress has turned into a shit fight, that is being called out by Maori and Non Maori alike.
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Buzz from the Beehive Two fresh press releases had been posted when we checked the Beehive website at noon, both of them posted yesterday. In one statement, in the runup to Waitangi Day, Maori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis drew attention to happenings on a Northland battle site in 1845. ...
It’s that time of the week again when I’m on the site for an hour for a chat in an Ask Me Anything with paying subscribers to The Kaka. Jump in for a chat on anything, including:Auckland’s catastrophic floods, which are set to cost insurers and the Government well over ...
Australia’s Treasurer Jim Chalmers (left) has published a 6,000 word manifesto called ‘Capitalism after the Crises’ arguing for ‘values-based capitalism’. Yet here in NZ we hear the same stale old rhetoric unchanged from the 1990s and early 2000s. Photo: Getty ImagesTLDR: The rest of the world is talking about inflation ...
A couple of weeks ago, after NCEA results came out, my son’s enrolment at Auckland Uni for this year was confirmed - he is doing a BSc majoring in Statistics. Well that is the plan now, who knows what will take his interest once he starts.I spent a bit of ...
Kia ora. What a week! We hope you’ve all come through last weekend’s extreme weather event relatively dry and safe. Header image: stormwater ponds at Hobsonville Point. Image via Twitter. The week in Greater Auckland There’s been a storm of information and debate since the worst of the flooding ...
Hi,At 4.43pm yesterday it arrived — a cease and desist letter from the guy I mentioned in my last newsletter. I’d written an article about “WEWE”, a global multi-level marketing scam making in-roads into New Zealand. MLMs are terrible for many of the same reasons megachurches are terrible, and I ...
Time To Call A Halt: Chris Hipkins knows that iwi leaders possess the means to make life very difficult for his government. Notwithstanding their objections, however, the Prime Minister’s direction of travel – already clearly signalled by his very public demotion of Nanaia Mahuta – must be confirmed by an emphatic ...
Open access notables Via PNAS, Ceylan, Anderson & Wood present a paper squarely in the center of the Skeptical Science wheelhouse: Sharing of misinformation is habitual, not just lazy or biased. The signficance statement is obvious catnip: Misinformation is a worldwide concern carrying socioeconomic and political consequences. What drives ...
Mark White from the Left free speech organisation Plebity looks at the disturbing trend of ‘book burning’ on US campuses In the abstract, people mostly agree that book banning is a bad thing. The Nazis did us the favor of being very clear about it and literally burning books, but ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has undergone a stern baptisim of fire in his first week in his new job, but it doesn’t get any easier. Next week, he has a vital meeting in Canberra with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, where he has to establish ...
As PM Chris Hipkins says, it’s a “no brainer” to extend the fuel tax cut, half price public subsidy and the cut to the road user levy until mid-year. A no braoner if the prime purpose is to ease the burden on people struggling to cope with the cost of ...
Buzz from the Beehive Cost-of-living pressures loomed large in Beehive announcements over the past 24 hours. The PM was obviously keen to announce further measures to keep those costs in check and demonstrate he means business when he talks of focusing his government on bread-and-butter issues. His statement was headed ...
Poor Mike Hosking. He has revealed himself in his most recent diatribe to be one of those public figures who is defined, not by who he is, but by who he isn’t, or at least not by what he is for, but by what he is against. Jacinda’s departure has ...
New Zealand is the second least corrupt country on earth according to the latest Corruption Perception Index published yesterday by Transparency International. But how much does this reflect reality? The problem with being continually feted for world-leading political integrity – which the Beehive and government departments love to boast about ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
TLDR: Including my pick of the news and other links in my checks around the news sites since 4am. Paying subscribers can see them all below the fold.In Aotearoa’s political economyBrown vs Fish Read more ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
In other countries, the target-rich cohorts of swinging voters are given labels such as ‘Mondeo Man’, ‘White Van Man,’ ‘Soccer Moms’ and ‘Little Aussie Battlers.’ Here, the easiest shorthand is ‘Ford Ranger Man’ – as seen here parked outside a Herne Bay restaurant, inbetween two SUVs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / ...
Transport Minister and now also Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood has confirmed that the light rail project is part of the government’s policy refocus. Wood said the light rail project was under review as part of a ministerial refocus on key Government projects. “We are undertaking a stocktake about how ...
Sometime before the new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that this year would be about “bread and butter issues”, National’s finance spokesperson Nicola Willis decided to move from Wellington Central and stand for Ohariu, which spreads across north Wellington from the central city to Johnsonville and Tawa. It’s an ...
They say a week is a long time in politics. For Mayor Wayne Brown, turns out 24 hours was long enough for many of us to see, quite obviously, “something isn’t right here…”. That in fact, a lot was going wrong. Very wrong indeed.Mainly because it turns ...
One of the most effective, and successful, graphics developed by Skeptical Science is the escalator. The escalator shows how global surface temperature anomalies vary with time, and illustrates how "contrarians" tend to cherry-pick short time intervals so as to argue that there has been no recent warming, while "realists" recognise ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTLDR: Here’s a quick roundup of the news today for paying subscribers on a slightly frantic, very wet, and then very warm day. In Aotearoa’s political economy today Read more ...
Tomorrow we have a funeral, and thank you all of you for your very kind words and thoughts — flowers, even.Our friend Michèle messaged: we never get to feel one thing at a time, us grownups, and oh boy is that ever the truth. Tomorrow we have the funeral, and ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
Lynn and I have just returned from a news conference where Hipkins, fresh from visiting a relief centre in Mangere, was repeatedly challenged to justify the extension of subsidies to create more climate emissions when the effects of climate change had just proved so disastrous. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The ...
A new Prime Minister, a revitalised Cabinet, and possibly revised priorities – but is the political and, importantly, economic landscape much different? Certainly some within the news media were excited by the changes which Chris Hipkins announced yesterday or – before the announcement – by the prospect of changes in ...
Currently the government's strategy for reducing transport emissions hinges on boosting vehicle fuel-efficiency, via the clean car standard and clean car discount, and some improvements to public transport. The former has been hugely successful, and has clearly set us on the right path, but its also not enough, and will ...
Buzz from the Beehive Before he announced his Cabinet yesterday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced he would be flying to Australia next week to meet that country’s Prime Minister. And before Kieran McAnulty had time to say “Three Waters” after his promotion to the Local Government portfolio, he was dishing ...
The quarterly labour market statistics were released this morning, showing that unemployment has risen slightly to 3.4%. There are now 99,000 people unemployed - 24,000 fewer than when Labour took office. So, I guess the Reserve Bank's plan to throw people out of work to stop wage rises "inflation", and ...
Another night of heavy rain, flooding, damage to homes, and people worried about where the hell all this water is going to go as we enter day twenty two of rain this year.Honestly if the government can’t sell Three Waters on the back of what has happened with storm water ...
* Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins continues to be the new broom in Government, re-setting his Government away from its problem areas in his Cabinet reshuffle yesterday, and trying to convince voters that Labour is focused on “bread and butter” issues. The ministers responsible for unpopular reforms in water and DHB centralisation ...
Hi,It’s weird to me that in 2023 we still have people falling for multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs for short). There are Netflix documentaries about them, countless articles, and last year we did an Armchaired and Dangerous episode on them.Then you check a ticketing website like EventBrite and see this shit ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Nanaia Mahuta fell the furthest in the Cabinet reshuffle. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: PM Chris Hipkins unveiled a Cabinet this afternoon he hopes will show wavering voters that a refreshed Labour Government is focused on ‘bread and butter cost of living’ issues, rather than the unpopular, unwieldy and massively centralising ...
Shortly, the absolute state of Wayne Brown. But before that, something I wrote four years ago for the council’s own media machine. It was a day-in-the-life profile of their many and varied and quite possibly unnoticed vital services. We went all over Auckland in 48 hours for the story, the ...
Completed reads for January Lilith, by George MacDonald The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Christabel (poem), by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, by Anonymous The Lay of Kraka (poem), by Anonymous 1066 and All That, by W.C. Sellar and R.J. ...
Pity the poor Brits. They just can’t catch a break. After years of reporting of lying Boris Johnson, a change to a less colourful PM in Rishi Sunak has resulted in a smooth media pivot to an end-of-empire narrative. The New York Times, no less, amplifies suggestions that Blighty ...
On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth.Genesis 6:11-12THE TORRENTIAL DOWNPOURS that dumped a record-breaking amount of rain on Auckland this anniversary weekend will reoccur with ever-increasing frequency. The planet’s atmosphere is ...
Buzz from the Beehive There has been plenty to keep the relevant Ministers busy in flood-stricken Auckland over the past day or two. But New Zealand, last time we looked, extends north of Auckland into Northland and south of the Bombay Hills all the way to the bottom of the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters When early settlers came to the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers before the California Gold Rush, Indigenous people warned them that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when great winter rains came. The storytellers described water filling the ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Wayne Brown managed a smile when meeting with Remuera residents, but he was grumpy about having to deal with “media drongos”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: In my pick of the news links found in my rounds since 4am for paying subscribers below the paywall:Wayne Brown moans about the media and ...
Dr Bryce Edwards writes – Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Hipkins’ aim this year will be to present a ‘low target’ for those seeking to attack Labour’s policies and spending. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Anyone dealing with Government departments and councils who wants some sort of big or long-term decision out of officials or politicians this year should brace for ...
Last night’s opinion polls answered the big question of whether a switch of prime minister would really be a gamechanger for election year. The 1News and Newshub polls released at 6pm gave the same response: the shift from Jacinda Ardern to Chris Hipkins has changed everything, and Labour is back ...
Over the last few years, it’s seemed like city after city around the world has become subject to extreme flooding events that have been made worse by impacts from climate change. We’ve highlighted many of them in our Weekly Roundup series. Sadly, over the last few days it’s been Auckland’s ...
And so the first month of the year draws to a close. It rained in Auckland on 21 out of the 31 days in January. Feels like summer never really happened this year. It’s actually hard to believe there were 10 days that it didn’t rain. Was it any better where ...
Kia ora e te whānau. Today, we mark the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi - and our commitment to working in partnership with Māori to deliver better outcomes and tackle the big issues, together. ...
We’ve just announced a massive infrastructure investment to kick-start new housing developments across New Zealand. Through our Infrastructure Acceleration Fund, we’re making sure that critical infrastructure - like pipes, roads and wastewater connections - is in place, so thousands more homes can be built. ...
The Green Party is joining more than 20 community organisations to call for an immediate rent freeze in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, after reports of landlords intending to hike rents after flooding. ...
When Chris Hipkins took on the job of Prime Minister, he said bread and butter issues like the cost of living would be the Government’s top priority – and this week, we’ve set out extra support for families and businesses. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to provide direct support to low-income households and to stop subsidising fossil fuels during a climate crisis. ...
The tools exist to help families with surging costs – and as costs continue to rise it is more urgent than ever that we use them, the Green Party says. ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for India tomorrow as she continues to reconnect Aotearoa New Zealand to the world. The visit will begin in New Delhi where the Foreign Minister will meet with the Vice President Hon Jagdeep Dhankar and her Indian Government counterparts, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and ...
Over $10 million infrastructure funding to unlock housing in Whangārei The purchase of a 3.279 hectare site in Kerikeri to enable 56 new homes Northland becomes eligible for $100 million scheme for affordable rentals Multiple Northland communities will benefit from multiple Government housing investments, delivering thousands of new homes for ...
A memorial event at a key battle site in the New Zealand land wars is an important event to mark the progress in relations between Māori and the Crown as we head towards Waitangi Day, Minister for Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis said. The Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845 saw ...
More Police officers are being deployed to the frontline with the graduation of 54 new constables from the Royal New Zealand Police College today. The graduation ceremony for Recruit Wing 362 at Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua was the first official event for Stuart Nash since his reappointment as Police ...
The Government is unlocking an additional $700,000 in support for regions that have been badly hit by the recent flooding and storm damage in the upper North Island. “We’re supporting the response and recovery of Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Northland, and Bay of Plenty regions, through activating Enhanced Taskforce Green to ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has welcomed the announcement that Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, will visit New Zealand this month. “Princess Anne is travelling to Aotearoa at the request of the NZ Army’s Royal New Zealand Corps of Signals, of which she is Colonel in Chief, to ...
A new Government and industry strategy launched today has its sights on growing the value of New Zealand’s horticultural production to $12 billion by 2035, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said. “Our food and fibre exports are vital to New Zealand’s economic security. We’re focussed on long-term strategies that build on ...
25 cents per litre petrol excise duty cut extended to 30 June 2023 – reducing an average 60 litre tank of petrol by $17.25 Road User Charge discount will be re-introduced and continue through until 30 June Half price public transport fares extended to the end of June 2023 saving ...
The strong economy has attracted more people into the workforce, with a record number of New Zealanders in paid work and wages rising to help with cost of living pressures. “The Government’s economic plan is delivering on more better-paid jobs, growing wages and creating more opportunities for more New Zealanders,” ...
The Government is providing a further $1 million to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced today. “Cabinet today agreed that, given the severity of the event, a further $1 million contribution be made. Cabinet wishes to be proactive ...
The new Cabinet will be focused on core bread and butter issues like the cost of living, education, health, housing and keeping communities and businesses safe, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has announced. “We need a greater focus on what’s in front of New Zealanders right now. The new Cabinet line ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will travel to Canberra next week for an in person meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. “The trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s closest and most important, and it was crucial to me that my first overseas trip as Prime Minister was to Australia,” Chris Hipkins ...
The Government is providing establishment funding of $100,000 to the Mayoral Relief Fund to help communities in Auckland following flooding, Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty announced. “We moved quickly to make available this funding to support Aucklanders while the full extent of the damage is being assessed,” Kieran McAnulty ...
As the Mayor of Auckland has announced a state of emergency, the Government, through NEMA, is able to step up support for those affected by flooding in Auckland. “I’d urge people to follow the advice of authorities and check Auckland Emergency Management for the latest information. As always, the Government ...
Ka papā te whatitiri, Hikohiko ana te uira, wāhi rua mai ana rā runga mai o Huruiki maunga Kua hinga te māreikura o te Nota, a Titewhai Harawira Nā reira, e te kahurangi, takoto, e moe Ka mōwai koa a Whakapara, kua uhia te Tai Tokerau e te kapua pōuri ...
Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development and Employment, has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG) in response to flooding and damaged caused by Cyclone Hale in the Tairāwhiti region. Up to $500,000 will be made available to employ job seekers to support the clean-up. We are still investigating whether other parts ...
The 2023 General Election will be held on Saturday 14 October 2023, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “Announcing the election date early in the year provides New Zealanders with certainty and has become the practice of this Government and the previous one, and I believe is best practice,” Jacinda ...
Jacinda Ardern has announced she will step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party. Her resignation will take effect on the appointment of a new Prime Minister. A caucus vote to elect a new Party Leader will occur in 3 days’ time on Sunday the 22nd of ...
By Hilaire Bule, RNZ Pacific Vanuatu correspondent in Port Vila Vanuatu’s prime minister has stressed any future employment within the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat must be from MSG member countries. Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, who is also chair of the MSG Secretariat, made the statement following the recruitment of ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Yamin Kogoya On Friday 10 February 2023, it will be one month since the Papua Governor Lukas Enembe was “kidnapped” at a local restaurant during his lunch hour by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and security forces. The crisis began in September 2022, when Governor Enembe was ...
By Kālino Lātū, editor of Kaniva News Dr Sitiveni Halapua, former deputy leader of Tonga’s Democratic Movement, has died aged 74. Born on February 13, 1949, he was a respected academic, a pioneer of Tonga’s democratic reforms and pioneer of a conflict resolution system based on traditional practices. Halapua earned ...
COMMENTARY:By Richard Naidu in Suva Five weeks on from Christmas Eve, I think most of us are still a bit stunned at what has happened in Fiji. A new government came to power in dramatic circumstances. It took not one but two Sodelpa management board meetings to change it, ...
By Red Tsounga Another house done, and onto the next . . . Volunteers working in Mount Roskill community over the past few days helping those suffering from Auckland’s flash flood devastation have done us proud. Tremendous work by everybody. Here are some random photos of our volunteer teams on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP Senator Lidia Thorpe announced on Monday that she would be leaving the Greens. Thorpe had split with the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis B. Desmond, Lecturer, Cyberintelligence and Cybercrime Investigations, University of the Sunshine Coast The news of a so-called “Chinese spy balloon” being shot down over the US has reignited interest in how nation-states spy on one another. It’s not confirmed that the ...
Today, at a Waitangi ki Waititi concert hosted by Te Whānau o Waipareira at Hoani Waititi Marae, West Auckland; Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp was officially announced as Te Pāti Māori Candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau for the 2023 Election. Hailing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Daniel Pockett/AAP Victorian Indigenous Senator Lidia Thorpe has defected from the Greens to sit on the crossbench, declaring she wants to fully represent the “Blak Sovereign Movement” in parliament. The announcement by ...
Sure, Scotty Morrison’s Māori At Work is a wonderful resource for Aotearoa’s collective te reo Māori journey. But is it judgemental enough for the modern office environment?First published September 12 2019 The growing strength of te reo is palpable across Aotearoa, with record numbers of people participating in Mahuru ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Mills, Professor and Dean La Trobe Rural Health School, La Trobe University Shutterstock It can be tough to access front-line health care outside the cities and suburbs. For the seven million Australians living in rural communities there are significant ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Donald Rothwell, Professor of International Law, Australian National University Chad Fish/AP Was the balloon that suddenly appeared over the US last week undertaking surveillance? Or was it engaging in research, as China has claimed? While the answers to these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Walker-Munro, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The generative AI industry will be worth about A$22 trillion by 2030, according to the CSIRO. These systems – of which ChatGPT is currently the best known – can write ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described this morning's Waitangi dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics. ...
Screenwriter Dana Leaming’s debut comedy series Not Even is out now on Prime and Neon. This is the out the gate story of how it got there.Kia ora, Hi, What up? Up to? U up? …I’m Dana. I wrote and co-directed (with Ainsley Gardiner) the TV show Not Even ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Mick Tsikas/AAP A federal Newspoll, conducted February 1-4 from a sample of 1,512, gave Labor a 55-45 lead, unchanged on ...
The Human Rights Commission, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, last week released two reports on racism and the impact of colonialism in Aotearoa. Among their many insights was the necessity of a wider understanding of how racism manifests itself. I was honoured to accept an invitation by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata ...
Vincent O’Malley reviews a history of the battle of Gate Pā.First published February 5, 2019 Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. The road, named after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Murray Goot, Emeritus Professor of Politics and International Relations, Macquarie University Support for embedding an Indigenous Voice to parliament in the Constitution has fallen. The polls provide good evidence once you work out how to find it. However, the voters who have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Doug Drury, Professor/Head of Aviation, CQUniversity Australia Shutterstock When booking a flight, do you ever think about which seat will protect you the most in an emergency? Probably not. Most people book seats for comfort, such as leg room, or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Rumpff, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne David Crosling/AAP The Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20 were cataclysmic: a landmark in Australia’s environmental history. They burnt more than 10 million hectares, mostly forests in southeast Australia. Many of our most ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Grové, Fulbright Scholar and Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Monash University Anete Lusina/Pexels School attendance levels in Australia are a massive issue according to Education Minister Jason Clare. As he told reporters last week, he hopes to talk to state colleagues ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marion Terrill, Transport and Cities Program Director, Grattan Institute Revising the generous fuel tax credits given to businesses should be a priority for the Albanese government, because keeping them would conflict with two other pressing priorities: reducing carbon emissions and repairing the ...
For nine years he steered the ship he built, but last week Duncan Greive announced his surprise resignation as CEO of The Spinoff. He joins guest host, Jane Yee, to discuss how doing things differently took The Spinoff from an irreverent TV blog to a respected online magazine, and why ...
Three decades ago one of the giants of New Zealand thinking and writing, Ranginui Walker, published Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou, Struggle Without End. The book, originally released in 1990 and revised in 2004, is a history of Aotearoa from a Māori perspective. It had a profound influence and today remains ...
A review for Waitangi weekend The bestselling novel Kāwai: For Such a Time as This by Monty Soutar feels like the story Matua Monty has been working toward telling his entire life. It aims for the loftiest mountain peak in a valiant attempt at the fabled Great New Zealand ...
Unfortunately the great flood of January 27 was not a one-off but a precursor to more emergencies likely to strike the city because of environmental effects of climate change. While the Auckland floods are proving devastating, costly and far-reaching, they have also had the strange effect of revealing Tamaki Makaurau's original landscape. ...
Health inequities between Pākehā and Māori are often framed as complex and difficult to change. But making access to GPs and dentists free will not only save money for whānau using these services, it will also save money for the health system and ensure Māori rights to good governance and equity ...
One of New Zealand's most promising fast bowlers, Molly Penfold, was surprised to get the call-up for the T20 World Cup, but she has a great support team around her, Merryn Anderson reports. She's only played one T20 for the White Ferns, and she's yet to take a wicket, but Molly ...
Labour and National’s leaders came to Waitangi agreed on which areas need more investment in election year. But as political editor Jo Moir writes, the country is going to see a big debate on how Māori should benefit from it Prime Minister Chris Hipkins used his speech at Sunday’s pōwhiri ...
Securing the right to housing will require us to challenge the very systems and ideologies that are doing such harm to our planet.Opinion: The images of rivers running down our streets, cars floating down the motorway, houses flooded and half-submerged buses ferrying people across the causeway, will stick with ...
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It is hard to separate the politics from Waitangi, but the day party leaders were welcomed on to Te Whare Rūnanga was largely free of inflammatory rhetoric and political point scoring. ...
Rheive Grey pays tribute to one political party’s unapologetic commitment to markers of Māori identity, from hei tiki to waiata to tikitiki. I’m proud to be Māori. If you’re like me, it’s hard to read that sentence without singing it in your head. That’s either the power of good campaigning, ...
When I was a man my dick was only average size, but learning how to tuck it out of sight is a steep learning curve for a girl on a budget. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.Illustrations: Sloane Hong The dick ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND Australia’s Reserve Bank is set to push up rates once again at its first meeting for the year on Tuesday, according to all but ...
By David Robie When Papuan journalist Victor Mambor visited New Zealand almost nine years ago, he impressed student journalists from the Pacific Media Centre and community activists with his refreshing candour and courage. As the founder of the Jubi news media group, he remained defiant that he would tell the ...
Today, Te Pāti Māori officially announced Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as their candidate for the Te Tai Tokerau electorate in this year’s General Election. The announcement was part of the pōwhiri for MPs at Te Whare Rūnanga o Waitangi. “Making the announcement ...
Paul Diamond’s book about the 1920s scandal that shocked Whanganui is on the longlist for the Ockhams (in the hotly contested General Non-Fiction category). Victor Rodger reviews. A closeted mayor with huge ambitions. A handsome, young, returned soldier with ambiguous motivations.A scandalous shooting that leads to a spectacular ...
An easy, low sugar jam that tastes even better than the sickly-sweet stuff. Often jam recipes call for much more sugar that I think is necessary, resulting in a cloyingly sweet jam whose flavour sadly becomes lost. Where some recipes will call for equal measures of fruit and sugar, this ...
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https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/130323053/winston-peters-returns-to-kingmaker-position-in-new-political-poll
Winston's back
It's a Horizon poll, so it means little (check out their historical record, way off compared with the usual TV1/3 polls).
But as always, "polls" are about how they affect the media narrative as much as their accuracy (lack of). It means Luxon will be asked about Winston, and he took a week to rule out Brian Tamaki, so he'll faff around forever on this one. Ardern will also be asked but her answer is easy: he was my deputy PM, it's MMP, you do what you gotta do.
I can't see any nat leaning voter voting Winston, the couple I know where in a real tizzy when he went labour, so if it's true it must be labour voters who want to corner the greens.
The numbers in your Stuff link suggest otherwise.
Voters are like party leaders, they refuse to countenance an option … until defeat looms, and then they countenance anything. Nat voters would pick Winston over the Maori Party in a heartbeat.
But to repeat … it's not about the numbers, it's about the narrative. Luxon might reject Winston, but he has to say so, which makes a headline. He would much rather not talk about Winston at all.
And now the comments have arrived on that Stuff article! They are exactly as you'd expect.
Our health system will be busy today, dealing with all that high blood pressure and incoherent rage …
Anyone voting WinstonFirst expecting him to go with National should just vote National like all other idiots.
But the best thing for the country would be for the Winston party to just disappear quietly.
or maybe its five people in the five hundred that were asked. be careful you dont trip over that molehill.
I don't think he will faff in regard to Winston-he won't rule out a coalition with NZF.
It seems unlikely that NZF would rocket from an average of around 3% for the whole of this year to 6.75% – with no substantial reason (Peters launching the party conference seems to be the only political activity he's been involved in recently).
I agree that this poll is likely to see an increased public perception of relevance for Peters.
Other figures also seem a bit off (substantial drops from both Labour and National) – and a drop for TPM – which seems unlikely.
ATM, it looks to me like a rogue poll (the last Horizon poll also over-estimated NZF in comparison to other prior and subsequent polls). Time will tell.
Horizon poll results here
https://www.horizonpoll.co.nz/page/652/horizonpoll-nz-
It's usually bad news for Greens and ACT, because traditionally NZF is the third highest polling party and demands governance via a two party coalition (with support partners if necessary for a majority).
If he follows this path when polling behind Greens and ACT, it would be something new – as per 2017-2020 when the highest polling party was in opposition.
So at this point the next government might be determined most by whether Greens or ACT would provide or deny support to a coalition that excludes them.
If not, on the grounds NZF should not be the 5th party trying to wag the tail of the big 4 …
will NZF providing formal support to a NACT or LG government? Or more likely just confidence and supply (and negotiate on terms for this) and sit on the cross benches?
Why doesn't the poll result headline say, "Labour ahead in latest Horizon poll"? And then go on to say that Labour/Greens polled higher than National/ACT?
Another point. With MMP more accurately reflecting voters by the amount of Green voters coming from Labour and ACT voters coming from National presumably, then the third strongest centrist party NZF has its role weakened as the centre closes up with the competition of both National and Labour there.
Who here on the Standard sees the shift away from two very large parties towards a more equal four or five party situation?
Agree that the headline is deliberately mischievous.
Well….he's in the True Blue "heartland" of Gorrre…. not many Labour/Green votes there. 200 at meeting? hmmm
Southland had 15,000+ Labour voters in 2020….
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_(New_Zealand_electorate)
Interestingly, regarding how many Labour voters there are in Southland, 2020 results had more Labour party votes than National by 2.8%. L 38.7%, N 35.9%.
NZF had 2% party vote, so who might these 200 voters be? Disgruntled centrist National voters? It is Gore after all, not the biggest population centres in Clutha/Southland.
Interesting also that there was no NZF candidate in that electorate in 2020.
Don't know what Winston's stance on the ets and carbon farming is but if he's against it he'll be in fertile ground
I think that ratio (L to N party votes) held true throughout most of the country in 2020. It was an extraordinary election result.
Mainstream thought?…not yet but perhaps arriving
"We rely on an economic system which relies on buried ancient sunlight. Globally we now use so much fossil energy, it has been estimated that it is the equivalent of everyone on earth having 100 slaves working 24 hours a day for us."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/130305745/its-time-to-give-up-on-growth–why-degrowth-is-the-key-to-our-future
"Hopefully, it will be degrowth by design and not by disaster."
…meanwhile, there are stories about poor travellers having to pay heaps for flying, in the middle of a bloody CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Some even say, without irony apparently, that it is becoming 'unaffordable'. Jesus wept.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/477712/air-fares-travellers-unhappy-at-skyrocketing-prices
I am flying every week because there's not enough staff. Palmerston North flights and hotels often booked weeks in advance. Same Dunedin. Queenstown flights also v full. Like someone is going to take a bus?
And continuing to do it that way is apparently the only option, even though we all know it's inefficient, expensive and destructive. Why is the problem still presented as a personal affront to travellers, rather than a symptom of the obvious?
Yeah. But I don't see why the organisation Ad works for should be required to unilaterally make itself slower and less responsive to clients. In a competitive industry, that's suicidal. The politics of transition from BAU to something else looks as close to impossible as anything one can imagine.
No, it really doesn't. We can't comment on Ad's situation because we don't know the details, but we can comment on the fact that if we don't change we will lose everything anyway. Either you take the climate seriously or you're in denial.
If you take it seriously, then doors open on how to change. Maybe a business can't stop flying this year, but it can certainly be planning to. People can stop making excuses for not changing and instead talk about the urgency and looking at how we can change, right now.
What details do you want?
No one in their right mind wants to live in Palmerston North unless they are a dairy farmer or teach at Massey which is pretty much the same thing.
So we fly in and fly out. Clients of major electricity infrastructure aren't gonig to wait for the bus to show up, if it shows up at all.
Sounds Air is going electric in three years and Air NZ regional will be right with them a couple of years later. NZ exists on air travel and won't ever change even if you Greens tax the bejeesus out of it.
Like it or not, social-ecological systems (including air travel) will change.
Air NZ was ranked 13th/19th (of 125) in atmosfair's 2018 Airline Index – yay!
It's convenient to fly, and it's possible to fly less. Once upon a time no-one flew, and we are very well connected in other ways compared to then. Some fly often for convenience and/or leisure, but who really needs it?
http://www.pointhacks.com.au/news/status-mark-ross-smith/
http://www.pointhacks.co.nz/gold-status-tips/
What a game eh? And not a 'global warming' or 'climate change' in sight!
I don't want any details, I was pointing out that it's not possible to solve your company's problems at this distance. But there are plenty of other things to address.
No-one is saying all flying has to stop. But BAU is killing the planet and it's right to name the problems as people see them.
Yes Weka, I agree. Instead of waiting for BAU to return, it won't, it has gone, we could develop a mindset that the current situation is our our BAU.
So companies work on the basis that
employment situation is tight (yay! with my anti unemployment hat)
we don't have access to modes of transport that are anywhere carbon neutral and this is problematic
What would we do?
1 Location.
Ad is dismissive of Palmerston North and Wellington as only 'a dyed in the wool' Aucklander can be. If PN is not your employees favoured place then why are they going there. I know friends, relations who live in the northern Wairarapa, Horowhenua and small town Manawatu who commute to PN. A relation appointed to a CITO chose to live in Feilding rather than Wellington. Some go over the Pahiatua track each day from the northern Wairarapa. While there will be some emissions to contend with it is nothing like trips on planes.
2 Different ways of working and salaries
JVs, different ways of working and managing can springboard ideas away from the inevitability of having to fly. If people are not being attracted to work in smaller areas where the salaries are traditionally lower, investigate why this is. Is there some sort of salary differential being applied say AKL vis a vis the rest of NZ.
Not trying to tell anyone how to suck eggs …the future though is waiting for those who are planning ahead rather than BAU to grab it.
this is why we have a climate emergency
Buses don't offset their emissions. AirNZ does.
emissions offsetting is rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Might have worked 30 years ago, far too late now. We have to stop emitting.
Ad, if this is a regular occurrence – why are you not booked weeks in advance in terms of accommodation?
I've also used a bus – occasionally – to travel the North Island. My 80 something mother does it regularly. Do you mean someone other than you?
We are.
80 year olds have time to spare so they take the bus. Go for it.
It was the dismissive nature of your comment towards buses rather than a suggestion. I don't know the full details of your work and commute. Others have given more specific suggestions.
In plain English then – you don't want to. So any plan to get you out of planes will be dismissed.
You are claiming that your particular circumstance is either unavoidable or excusable.
Good on you for owning it.
I'm sure others feel the same.
Auckland to Wellington next Monday has a difference in price between flying and busing of $242 according to the Air NZ and Intercity websites. A pretty useful saving for a days effort. Bus has wifi and charging available.
That's so hilarious. Auckland to Palmerston North on the 6.15 means I am on site at the wind farm at 9. By bus it's a full day.
NZ's energy transformation isn't going to wait for the bus.
NZ's energy transformation isn't going to happen at all if we let AirNZ fake its way through it all. The oligarchs will freeload – only the poor will pay.
Actually the people paying for flights are the rich.
Poor people don't fly more than a handful in their lifetimes. The poor take the bus.
Air NZ is essential to NZ's energy transformation. They bring in the skilled workers and staff we don't have. No point wishing something different.
Pfft – while the leadership imagine they are a jet set, and misbehave accordingly, they are only cementing opposition to any kind of transition.
They might as well sit at home – they've chosen failure.
Take the train at least for Palmerston North.
https://www.pncc.govt.nz/Services/Transport-roading/Getting-to-Palmerston-North
That's from Wellington.
Wellington has got the largest major infrastructure works in New Zealand and will have for at least four years. SO they are sucking workers the other way instead of PN.
No one wants to live in Wellington. All those MPs sell their flats as soon as their term is up. Wellington is a hole.
You live in Auckland and you run other cities down!!
I'd take Wellington any day if I was unfortunate enough to have to live in a city.
nope, if you have a look you will see that you can also take the train from Auckland.
Northern Star. https://www.greatjourneysnz.com/tours-and-trains/scenic-trains/northern-explorer-train/
It woud be a stunning commute, and currently might even be cheaper then traveling by plane. And of course you could use the time on the train to work remote.
Departs from Time Arrives at Time
Auckland 07:45 am Papakura 08:35 am
Papakura 08:35 am Hamilton 10:15 am
Hamilton 10:15 am Otorohanga 10:50 am
Otorohanga 10:50 am National Park 01:15 pm
National Park 01:15 pm Ohakune 01:45 pm
Ohakune 01:45 pm Palmerston North 04:20 pm
I agree with living in Wellington, it takes dedication. I did not have it. The wind did my head in, but in saying that i am a sucker for Levin and Shannon. would move there in a heartbeat.
How dare you.
Good to see Minister Allen pick up Swarbricks bill. Odd that the PM then delays any discussion on alcohol sponsorship on same day.
I noticed that too, where's the tautoko, JA?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/477726/alcohol-law-reform-plans-signalled-by-government
The stores ain't the issue it's the rotgut sugar caffeine charged alco pops that are the problem, .
Little mom and pop neighbourhood grog shops have no political, financial or media power. The big liquor companies and the sporting organisations they sponsor have all three in spades.
I've suggested that the current naysayers on Treaty Settlements turn their attention to a worthier project and that is getting behind any move to breakdown/remove:
Perhaps also working against the easy loan money scourge which is still with us.
Somehow this work does not seem to strike a chord, I guess studiously following the mis/dis information on Treaty Settlements is easier.
/sarc
"the current naysayers on Treaty Settlements"
Is this an accurate description of those who have been commenting?
Isn't it more about the impact of various agreements, failures to inform, lack of transparency and policies that create yet another elite group of unelected power holders?
In a word no. Some are thinly disguised antis. I have not noted any moderates and as I have been working in the land field including Maori issues I would welcome seeing these. I will go back and check though as it is a good point, that there may have been some moderate posters, ah yes I think there was one. .
NB with Treaty settlements there
1 is no obligation to consult any wider than the Iwi and around Govt Depts. They are between the two partners to the Treaty of Waitangi ie Maori and the Crown.
2 not sure what lack of transparency is about to be honest. All Treaty settlements and the following legislation are freely available. In fact I have been suggesting that people read these to see what did happen to Maori land.
For instance some are finding it difficulty to understand why the Tuhoe settlement is such an egregious example of a Crown wrought wrong.
I am not sure who has any right to be concerned about the impact but I do know that on the Crown side there is work done all the time to make sure that remedies are sought across the Crown's estate. I know that some are concerned but whether this is rightful or justifiable is the point. Information is available on several sites on current and past Treaty claims/Settlements.
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PlibC5191/historical-treaty-settlements
and follow the links on that page to settlements.
The entity that is created to negotiate the Treaty settlement has to organise themselves in specific ways. The entity who holds the land holds it on behalf of of all their tribal members. The tribal members participate in elections etc. and elect people. It is sensible that only certain members of the Board have public comment making roles. In other organisations it is totally unprobelmatic that the chair makes public stataments. We find in some large companies that there are shareholders who disagree. Thye may go public.
As these groupings and the boards are elected following legislation/usual democratic procedure it is odd to me that people call the people exercising an unremarkable right in the Tuhoe situation (which is not a public company in any way shape or form) an elite group of unelected power holders yet have no problems with say a public company such as Fletchers or Mainfreight doing this. Very odd
elite group of unelected power holders. This word phrase, especially the 'elites' word bears a close relationship to many of the phrases used by the Brash mob, and other right wingers. I have seen it recently on a site relating to free speech and in this context it means free speech without any care for the consequences.
Māori – along with non-Māori, often have representatives that represent a cohort rather than the whole. I think this is a realistic expectation, otherwise decisions would never be reached, but this should be recognised as readily as other political constraints are. Especially in regards to unelected representatives. And if we are able to recognise that David Seymour MP for Epsom does not represent and/or reflect the views of all his electorate, we should admit the same holds true for Māori.
There is a focus on Te Tiriti that is not just about the settlements.
eg. Covid anti-viral and vaccination access.
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/populations/maori-health
Māori health outcomes can be identified as worse than non-Māori, but to effectively address why, the co-morbidity factors have to be identified. It is not related physiologically to having Māori ancestry. I have no problem with a delivery system that successfully targets those factors. My problem is with a limiting access to Māori only, and not ALL those NZers who have those risk factors.
If I get Covid I have access to anti-virals that my partner does not unless he is immunocompromised. I consider both the intention and implementation of such policy unequitable and inexcusable especially in terms of health. I have suspicions that the funds put aside for Māori health, is going to be frittered away by a disjointed set of organisations and players.
(I have been called three times in the last month, regarding vaccine boosters, by one of the current organisations despite making it clear the first time, I don't want to be called.)
I also recently submitted to the prison survey that proposed specific rehabilitation programmes only accessible to Māori, and find that limited access also concerning.
Such an approach treats Māori as if they have all the same opportunities, environment, problems and so, solutions. It ignores the many Māori individuals, families and communities that thrive by living in an integrated and modern way, if they do not display recognisable Māori cultural signifiers.
It also treats non-Māori NZers as disposable, if they cannot access the same support others do by virtue of whakapapa.
We are in danger of creating a flipped version of access to resources and power that we rightly derided in the past.
I think this is a problem, and to ignore it, is to allow that problem to grow and divide.
I'm not anti-Māori, but I am critical of some of the approaches and policies that are being rolled out. I don't automatically assume that others with concerns are racist or reflexive naysayers. I know a few of them are Māori just stating their opinions.
We should be giving them an opportunity to talk and be listening. I do note that most of the commentators that are not Māori representatives, are often non-Māori.
Hi Shanreagh
I respect the knowledge you have about the Tuhoe situation, and I continue to read your posts with interest.
I live in Tāmaki, and the treaty settlement here was fraught with problems from the outset. The crown decided it wanted to roll a series of overlapping claims from several iwi together, and in doing so allowed an iwi collective with tenuous and contentious links to the area mana whenua status. This has led to escalating tensions between the iwi collectives within the Tāmaki Collective, culminating in court action that is still inconclusive, and the spilling over of bitter disputes between two of the iwi collectives.
The treaty settlement process seems to me to be a wholly inadequate way of addressing the wrongs committed by the crown towards Maori in the past, but it's the mechanism we currently have. What I ask is that you don't conflate criticism (including my own) of shortcomings in delivery of treaty outcomes with racially motivated attacks on the idea of resolving past wrongs in a meaningful way.
Yes I realise the Auckland situation with the overlapping claims. My view is that this is a problem for the Iwi involved and that the moment we start commenting/intervening we add a layer that is not helpful.
ToW froze a moment in time. There were back and forth battles, claims 'ahi ka'.
So I know you are commenting on the basis of the here and now and wish to go forward and that is fine. I accept this view.
I would not though, want to dismiss access to the Treaty of Waitangi mechanism because some uninvolved, legally, people do not agree with the results of one of them. As to if a different process could replace it I do not know…..the process can always be improved but that is not the same as replacing it. My view is that this is the process we have, it has worked in the past, now and probably will do so in the future.
A Maori work colleague, now Iwi leader, said to me that when Maori benefit we all benefit. Of course me being me and this being a Friday afternoon I carefully unpicked/challenged his view. While initially confronting when unpicked it is logical. This is a restating of the idea that a country's human/equity rights record is best judged by how it treats its most deprived citizens.
So imagine if Maori did not have the high figures they do in health deprivation. Hence my idea to swivel the eyes from the long term (treaty) mechanisms to allow Maori to play their part, to the current discussions around liquor licensing and ragtag lending.
These industries are to to found in areas of deprivation. They feed off the poor. The poor are not only Maori or Pasifika. The removal of pokies, lending stores & low or no assessment loans and storefront liquor stores will benefit everybody. These initiatives currently are a good place to start and a push from many, a sense of outrage from many will push the ideas of removal, ameliorating forward.
I won't. Weka has said the difference is 'nuanced'. I would say 'a fine line'.
What are the shortcomings you refer to? Focusing on the process, as per the Treaty between the two partners, not the results.
Hi Shanreagh…I have replied to you below, but I'm not quite sure what happened to the order of the post. I had to send the post twice – my 'office' today is the library, and the first attempt jumped back at me??
That’s because the system identified you as a banned user.
"That’s because the system identified you as a banned user.'
?? When was I 'banned'? And how am I now ‘unbanned’?
Many times, in fact. Those details are still in the system, obviously. When you change them you don’t identify as the same user and thus you’re let through automatically. You know that, don’t you?
"Many times, in fact."
I've never been banned. Ever.
“When you change them you don’t identify as the same user and thus you’re let through automatically. You know that, don’t you?”
What details? you have my email address, and you know who I am from previous posts. What are you talking about?
This combination of username + e-mail address first appeared here and was manually approved (by a Moderator) on 18 Sep, as with all ‘new users’, and neither has ever been banned.
So you think that focussing on Treaty settlements which is a mechanism between the Crown and the Maori partner is a better use of time and head space than getting behind some of the most pressing social issues that may affect us all.
Liquor licensing
ratbag lenders
We correctly have no influence on Treaty Claims so an anti movement is a wasted movement as claims will move through our society and we will all be the better for them.
Other issues such as liquor licensing issues, ratbag lenders and the whole gender stupidity may be receptive to a push from the general public.
I think it's accurate for some of the comments. Not all of course, and it might be useful to tease out the difference between the naysaying comments and the ones that have more nuanced critiques.
And here I thought The Government had the power !! Must be wrong with my premise.
And why the government is playing catch up. Waits to see what the reaction is and THEN signals its plans but wont be rushed, perhaps those within the Beehive were not aware of the issue and its impact out here ?? 😱"Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the government will tackle alcohol law reform, to curb alcohol marketing and sponsorship, but will take time to do it right and won't be rushed"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/477726/alcohol-law-reform-plans-signalled-by-government
It's to facilitate an end to the proliferation of alcohol sale outlets in areas with a lot of Lotto sales …. and to assuage concerns about this in those communities.
And a bit like the mom and dad landlord myth of family businesses being impacted, it's really about chains of shops and their lawyers.
The government has signalled it sees this as something in four parts.
In March next year its looking at advertising/marketing. The other parts being price and age (conscience vote).
As long as he got a good scolding LOL!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/130326545/teen-allegedly-at-centre-of-weeklong-christchurch-crime-spree-faces-81-charges
If you read past the scolding bit, jimmy, you'd find the situation is a bit more nuanced. The judge has not finished with our 14 year old, she threatened him with jail if he continued, denied him bail because of the harm he was doing, reminded him that bad decisions had got him behind bars, that he should spend that quiet time while on remand in a youth facility to consider his actions and consequences of his action, and finally there is a small matter of a psychological report to be factored in.
The media's use of 'scolding' to typify those remarks is fatuous. I wonder if they would have used that term if the judge had been male?
The report finished with some wisdom from the police regarding the long term factors that had led to this very young man's offending.
It was disturbing to read this from Superintendent Todd.
“However it’s hard to see these apprehensions as anything more than an inevitable end to a story that started long before any offence was committed.”
Todd said it was rare to see youth offenders come “out of the blue”, he encouraged communities to reach out to police if they see concerning behaviour amongst young people."
The whole article was much more nuanced and it is a pity that the 'scolding' typification did not do justice to the greater gravity of the piece.
Very interesting press conference (3 mayors on 3 waters!). They've actually shafted Luxon, but quite subtly. Saying "just scrap it" is an easy election line, the mayors are taking quite a different approach. Flushing out (sorry) National to come up with their own proposal.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/130328610/live-auckland-and-christchurch-mayors-front-over-three-waters-alternative
How about 3 waters WITHOUT co governance, They have combined 2 issues into 1that there could be an increase of by in ??
That is if the govt was serious about this being "only" an infrastructure issue 🤫 and not been very open (some could say opaque) about how the process was managed.
"What are the shortcomings you refer to?"
As I said, they are in the delivery of treaty outcomes. The example of the Tupuna Maunga Authority in Auckland is a perfect illustration. Those of us in maunga communities who value these special places welcomed the opportunity to work with the Authority to enhance and restore these special parks, expecting this to be a gentle and environmentally progressive process.
Instead, captured by ideological interests and driven by hubris, the Authority has become a divisive and destructive presence. It has systematically stripped maunga of non-native trees, with the loss of substantial native birdlife, and an increase in erosion. Its plantings are dismal, and represent a substantial biomass loss when compared to what is being removed.
Perhaps one of the most damning aspects of the Court of Appeal decision that found the TMA's consultation to have been inadequate in the case of Ōwairaka was the finding that the decision to fell Ōwairaka's 345 exotic trees was not made by the Authority, but by an employee.
Ōwairaka is by no means alone. The TMA's treatment of the football club on Te Pane o Mataoho is an ongoing sore in that community, particularly following the way the community was treated when a large number of trees were stripped from their maunga without public consultation.
So the problems with the TMA are in the outcomes, and much of these fall at the feet of the crown.
It was the crown who insisted on bringing together 13 iwi and hapu across 3 sub-collective groupings that cut across existing mana whenua claims.
And it was the crown who agreed to the TMA having the powers that it has over both iwi and crown land, without the necessary checks and balances in place to counter the excesses of a small number of bad actors.
The result? A necessary redress has turned into a shit fight, that is being called out by Maori and Non Maori alike.