“Three days earlier it was alleged her actions had left bruising to the upper right arm of the staffer, who had been in the role for six days.
The report into the incident found it was “probable” that the employee’s version of events was more likely than the Minister’s.
Whaitiri says there are certain parts of the report she agrees with, but others she “actively continues to challenge”.
“In this country, we have a hierarchy; white men, white women, brown men, brown women, and sometimes brown women have to talk extra loud to be heard,” the MP said.”
So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.
She was a government minister for goodness sake – I can’t imagine her staff ignoring her because of the colour of her skin.
Jacinda would be a fool to let her back into a ministers role – she is obviously unrepentant for what she did.
‘Whataboutism (also known as whataboutery) is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent’s position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument, which in the United States is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often be “What about…” followed by an event in the Western world.’
Of course you did, James; you “missed” when Key repeatedly assaulted the ponytail-wearing waitress. I sometimes wonder if you’re completely blind (my apologies and sympathies if you are).
So I guess this makes assaulting a staff member and leaving bruises all ok then? Since you seem happy to ignore this (being the subject of the thread and all).
One account had Whaitiri grabbing the staffer. Another had her pushing the staffer.
At least you haven’t extrapolated it to ‘whacking’ or ‘hitting’ as I’ve seen elsewhere. You’ve got it to the semantic purity of ‘assaulted.’
In your world, assaulting, the act of making physical contact, is worse than the the worst verbal abuse. I can momentarily grab someone by the sleeve and yank them and that invites the death penalty. Tormenting staff to any degree for any time until they lose their mind or chuck their job will never equal one fleeting grab.
No it doesn’t but I don’t recall you getting all het up about the ongoing assault that John Key perpetrated on a staff member at a cafe that he frequented.
but i suggest it is best to not be throwing stones when you sit in a glass house.
Sadly, John Key while being the Prime Minister of NZ did harass a young women -to the point of where his wife told him to stop, the girl was in tears and everyone was just at wits end as to what to do with the pair of dry balls called John Key – at her work place and everyone just went yawn, he is the PM and surely that is just a bit of horseplaying there….even tho the young women was not interested at all in horseplaying with the PM. The man, while PM was also filmed fondling the hair of young girls until – again on camera – he was told of by the mother.
Maggy Barry should have stayed with her tomatoes and appropriate companion planting rather then go on to be a Minister who will only be known for harassment of staff – again, just a bit of horseplay right?
So for what its worth, my 2 cents, all of these fuckwits should have been sacked immediately from their jobs.
If you can not comport yourself as a decent human being towards others, go away and stay away. No decent company should have to put up with these losers.
In short, no its not ok if National does it.
As for that women from the Labour Party, sack her. If there is evidence of physical assault, charge her. Done.
So for what its worth, my 2 cents, all of these fuckwits should have been sacked immediately from their jobs.
They need a conviction of assault which carries a maximum term of more then two years which would have them automatically out of parliament and never be able to run for being an MP ever again.
“So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.”
Not actually what is said or meant, James. It says a lot that you equate the voices of women with violence. It’s almost like you’re scared of women and the things they say.
The telling quote is the one about the hierarchy of power, which I’m sure you agree with 100%, representing, as you do, the top echelon.
You have a very poor understanding of the issues at play. You don’t understand mana for instance and have zero idea of how that influences Māori. You are like a crayon when a fine quill is needed. You not only know little but that wee bit you picked up from the MSM you spin into lies and disinformation – pretty basic troll behaviour and certainly bigoted. You really are a weakling.
Ducking a and weaving Marty but still bs you sprout, there is no defense here, your cultural justification is pathetic Now don’t get all wound up and abusive over this, just chill
James isn’t a Kiwi. He’s an English immigrant and a guest here. Like a lot of older English immigrants, James brings colonial thinking to his every conversation and action and has no concept of Maori as a foundation of New Zealand indentity.
Evidently she grabbed the women by the arm and some minor bruising was inflicted, maybe the staffer is prone to bruising very easily, I don’t think it was a full blown assault as the media made out.
Obviously Meka did not realize her own strength in this incident which was blown right out of proportion ?
She still had no right to touch her and yes she is excusing her behavior by playing the race card.
She needs to stay on the naughty chair till she accepts her behavior was wrong.
I’m at the top 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Classic
At the top of what I’d love to know .
I’ve had Maori bosses 2 I’ve never been the boss of anyone apart from running a docking crew on occasion.
I’m one illness from broke and probably homeless .
Eve n my kiwisaver has turned against me .
Waitiri is levels above me and should/will stay there she just needs to pull her head in and stop being a bully.
Don’t be dense – you’re a white Male aren’t you. Sure you may be at the bottom of that group but you don’t have a clue about groups that SOCIETY oppresses.
Keep working on the understanding Jim. The problem with the majority of Kiwis (and I presume you are or have become), is that there has not been much thinking happening for 20 years or so. Try drinking regular glasses of water, cut down on the tea, coffee and alcohol and apply your mind to what goes on in NZ and look for how the various factions rate for income and opportunity for good jobs.
And who teaches them values of respect for all people – parents? school? the coach of their sports team?
What Meta Whaitiri said was, ” sometimes brown women have to talk extra loud to be heard,”
James reinterpreted that as, “So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.”
James does this as a matter of course, because it “seems” to him.
“Whaitiri says there are certain parts of the report she agrees with…”
Can you show that she doesn’t agree that “probably” bruising the staffers arm is wrong? You claim she’s attempting to excuse that action; where’s your evidence???
Well, James, may I straighten out a few things for you?
Firstly, I’m not apologising for Whaitiri. If you can show me where I’ve done that, I’d be grateful (and very surprised).
Secondly, this thread is called “Open Mike”. It is not devoted only to the topic of the first comment made here. If I or anyone wants to talk about Key’s ponytail-pulling, they can.
Thirdly, I’m not “fixicated” on anything at all, though it sounds fun.
Fourthly, I’m not minimising Whaitiri actions or statements, you are assuming that I am. I did notice though, that the quote you provided said:
“The report into the incident found it was “probable” that the employee’s version of events was more likely than the Minister’s.” and I reckon I know what “probable” means and it ain’t “certain”, so I’m cautious about taking a concreted stance and notice that you are not so careful.
Fifthly, Maggie Barry’s situation is similar in many ways, but you seem unwilling to comment on it, demanding that the topic of your comment is the only one that can be discussed – that seems odd to me. Why is it that you won’t give your views on someone else topic, James? Barry’s situation as worthy of discussion as Whaitiri’s, surely?
you understand the difference between a thread and a post not.
If you want to start a thread on key – go for it. I’m sure you will get the usuals pile in. But if you are using the “reply” button try to keep it on subject.
James – though you may feel you have the authority to dictate what a person might say on a thread you’ve initiated, you don’t. A moderator here might remind someone to keep on-topic where one is set by them, but Open Mike isn’t such a post. In any case, being lectured by you about thread-jacking is beyond hilarious, so keep it up – you’re good for a laugh today!
James, talk about flogging a dead horse … This subject was done to death here on TS and in the media at the time.
Were formal charges of assault ever laid against Whaitiri? No.
Was she found guilty of assault in a court of law? No.
Has she been punished for possibly bruising a staffer? Yes. On the basis of a review – not a formal trial in a court of law – she lost her ministerial positions and was sent to the back bench.
Does she have a right to continue to dispute parts of the review? Yes. It was not a formal finding by a court of law; she was not given her legal rights to be heard in a court of law, or to appeal. (See below.)
I have worked directly with/for Meka in the public service and detailed that experience here on TS at the time.
As you will note, Meka worked both in the public service at senior levels and in Parliament (eg as a senior adviser to her mentor, Parekura Horomia, when he was Minister of Maori Affairs).
To have then been elected to Parliament herself after Horomia’s death, and then to be appointed to Ministerial positions under the new Government would have been a career pinnacle to Meka.
To then lose those positions on the basis of one incident which was then only investigated internally and not in a court of law (with rights of appeal etc accorded under the latter’s formal judicial processes) would have been devastating to her.
She has paid a heavy price for whatever took place that day – some would say too heavy a price, including not being afforded her rights under sections 24 and 25 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA) – the rights of persons charged, and the minimum standards of criminal procedure.
Personally I understand why she may still be questioning the findings of that internal investigation. OTOH, having worked for Meka, I can understand that someone who did not know her and had only worked for her for a day, could misconstrue her. In saying that, in no way do I condone physical assault in any way or any circumstance.
We will probably never know what actually took place. However, we do have another principle in our Bill of Rights Act 1990 that Whaitiri would also have been entitled to if this case had gone to court – that is the principle of double jeopardy under section 26.
Perhaps, in terms of fairness and equality, we – including the media – should be applying this principle to other situations such as this one where the accused has not been given their rights to a court hearing etc under BORA but has nevertheless been found guilty in the court of public opinion and/or by non judicial reviews/investigations AND paid a price for those findings.
Which means that people with the inclinations of James can depict it loud and long as Ms Waitiri ‘giving someone the bash.’
Assault? Insult. Insult to anyone inclined to have intelligent debate about anything in the country. As it stands the James’ of the world have the politician cast for life.
Yes, James – I absolutely believe in such principles being applied to everyone – regardless of race, religion, gender, colour etc including political beliefs and leanings.
Well said veutoviper. This was your area of expertise in the Public Service and I suspect your knowledge of this topic is far greater than anyone else who comments here.
Initially I was annoyed with Whaitiri for allowing her frustration to get the better of her but the more that comes out about the incident, the more I have some sympathy for her situation.
I think Mallard has hit on a long term problem inside Parliamentary Services. Both new ministers and parliamentarians in general – together with novice parliamentary staff members – are not given sufficient training on how to handle the various obstacles that must constantly arise.
In this case, it appears the new press officer to Whaitiri did not know it was her job to ensure that her minister was where she should be – in this instance standing with Jacinda Ardern for a photo. That is the primary task of a press officer to ensure maximum press coverage for their minister.
On the other hand it was wrong of Whaitiri to respond to the incident the way she did.
Both have acknowledged they were wrong which is more than Maggie Barry has done or is ever likely to do. Barry may not have physically touched anyone, but she has bullied individuals to the point they have felt suicidal. The effects of psychological bullying can be greater and last a lot longer than most physical bullying as anyone who has been on the receiving end will tell you. Unfortunately its the hardest to prove because the perpetrators are invariably cunning enough not to do it when witnesses are present.
From reports at the time, it seemed to me that Whaitiri lost her roles because of how the discrepancies between the inquiry and her own account were represented to and received by the PM – not purely due to the inquiry findings.
As you say, we will never know and it is well-buried horsemeat by now. You’d think James would still be stuffed from xmas.
Having a big staff turnover is bad? Is a sign the MP is terrible? Did AnneTolley have as big a turnover and office ‘personality differences’ as Maggie Barry as Meka Whaitiri?
On the subject of turnover, I actually covered that in one of my earlier comments back in early September – links in my 2.3.1.1.1.2 above, but might as well quote it here (with a few small edits):
… The investigation is being carried out by Ministerial Services (part of the Dept of Internal Affairs) as the staffer would be employed through Ministerial Services (MS), not Parliamentary Services (PS) who are not responsible for providing funding/staff for Ministers such as press officers, researchers etc. IMO and experience, MS are very professional and well versed in such matters as employment law, investigations etc – and are very thorough and careful. They have to be. They may well employ an outside independent investigator such as an employment law firm or similar.
RE the turnover aspect, the fact that many staff have left her Ministerial office is actually not unusual because of how the allocation of Parliamentary staff (both Parliamentary Service staff to MPs and Ministerial Services staff to Ministers) operates.
As I understand it, each of these Services have a pool of staff of various skills, qualifications and experience available for allocation at the beginning of a new Government which are then allocated to MPs and Ministers. Other staff are employed to fill any gaps, very specific roles etc. But it is all a bit of a ‘mix and match’ lolly scramble and the first year of a new Government is a bit of a shakedown period as MPs and Ministers and such staff find their feet and whether the employment relationships fit or don’t. So there are often big turnovers of staff during this period in particular.
I can think of many other MPs and Ministers over the years who have had similar levels of staff turnover – but some of them also had/have other employees who have worked for them for eons. One such is Winston Peters.
As well as MS and PS staff, departmental advisers seconded from the relevant Ministry(s) or Department(s) also work in Minister’s offices (as I did quite a number of times over the years).
Then yet another type of employees/contractors are political policy advisers/press officers whose sole allegiance is to their Party, Minister, Leader/Deputy Leader of their Party, MPs.
So Minister’s offices (and to a lesser degree MP’s offices) can be real mixture of people with different roles and objectives, different employers and employment contracts – all of which can add to the potential for things to be less than smooth unless managed carefully.”
Bullshit. She is not using it to ‘defend her actions’. If you’d switch your brain on, you’d remember she denies the allegation. So she is not ‘defending’ something she says didn’t actually happen.
You are a bulkshit artist James. Just another racist pushing agenda and using people of color as sacrifices to your disgusting personal philosophy of racist hate.
Yes he MUST MUST MUST!. If he doesn’t, then James will know he’s a legend (in his own mind) and he’s won.
I hope to Christ he doesn’t work in one of those ‘teams’, or manage staff for that matter.
By the way – did you ever get to have that conversation with James?
I’d recommend you have someone from Mediation Services present – you know that MoBIE agency? With a bit of luck they’ll be familiar with this little mediator’s gem from the past:
“I know you believe you understood what you thought I said – but I’m not sure that what you heard is not what I meant”
OR pistols at ten paces might be a better option, and far more efficient and effective, if not pragmatic (going forward)
James has achieved his desired result for the day, pissing some people off on TS which was his objective when he put up the post this morning. Try not to feed the TROLL ?
In other related news – commenters are being asked to be extra careful on open Mike today as a silly little boy James has code browned and spread his faecal matter all over the post. Please wash everything including your eyes if you read his shit.
James
You didn’t add anything to the discussion with that comment. Why DYSTFU. The moderators can’t think of you as anything but someone starting flame wars.
So it’s fair to assume James has been swimming at all twelve of those affected beaches recently. One of those swimming nappies on his butt and another one covering his mouth could have prevented this unfortunate situation.
Imagine a country where for ten years nearly, the roads have been poorly designed and maintained, there have been few mechanics and roading workers trained, where the vehicle fleet has been allowed to age, where trucks have been allowed to get bigger and bigger with consequent damage where promises for new roads and bridges have not been met.
That has been NZ from 2008-2017.
And then a tourist comes in 2017 and says “I drove these roads in 2005 and there was nothing wrong with them.”
But this is not about roads only. It’s about wages and working conditions, It’s about taxation favouritism. It’s about debilitating the unions. It’s about not spending enough on on vital infrastructure, on health and education. It’s about wayward priorities like flag referenda. It’s about running an economy on immigration and environmental degradation. It’s about poor regulation especially where it matters and then not enforcing laws and regulations properly.
It’s about nine years of poor government by poor politicians and senior civil servants, for the benefit of mostly of a proportion of the populace who are coincidentally not the poor.
Then the same tourist comes back a year later and expects it all to be fixed?
Probably the stupidest metaphor in a long time. It was fine a year ago, now it isn’t. It was fine every year before last, now it isn’t. It’s broken in the last year.
Guess the government is better at selling water than keeping it clean
No, Tuppence, the point is that the amount of effort required to fix, upgrade and rebuild infrastructure is immense. It is simply not credible to see a government deliberately run a country down and then demand fixes in the time frame you demand.
I have the money to fix a small amount of earthquake damage, but a dearth of tradesmen/builders to do it. They are busy for example building houses etc in our area for workers in a booming wine industry and for retirees coming into the area.
Have you a reference to back up your claim that all was fine in terms of the environment a year ago or did you luck it, or did you deliberately choose beaches which were swimmable at the time you chose from a wider selection of compromised beaches, as you would, of course.
This is what I can easily find.
16 Auckland beaches unswimmable in November 2017.
Auckland beaches unswimmable 30% of time- in early 2018.
10 beaches unswimmable in early 2017.
January 2017 60% of monitored rivers unswimmable. etc etc etc.
Your argument based on your probably wise choices last summer is not sufficienty robust evidence to argue that this a problem made by this government, not attended to by this government/local authorities or of a size able to be fixed within a year, given that much pollution is derived from agricultural sources and from human waste compounded by heavy periodic rainfall.
With the best will in the world, how long does it take to fix Auckland’s rainwater and sewerage problems to the point where there is no pollution?
Damn you Tuppence S. What did you leave behind you? When are you going to care about being a good thinking citizen. Everytime i read you it is something unhelpful to people trying to guard and better our environment.
Not to worry, Dr Smith is currently redefining quality standards to avoidt sinking to new lows.
“She [Rosie Bosworth] criticised New Zealand’s various agricultural sectors for failing to collaborate on responses to this challenge, saying it there had been “enough f…ing around”.
“Do it tomorrow because we have got about five years before this hits our shores like a massive tsunami.”
That wasn’t a useful reply. You don’t add anhything to the discourse. You RW people just try to drag the blog down, and you certainly do manage to bring it down quite a few notches.
It’s not people who are trying to shift NZrs out of the muddy rut of cow poo they are in or tolerate, because as the quote above says.
“Do it tomorrow because we have got about five years before this hits our shores like a massive tsunami.”
Great work. – hard to actually appreciate how awesome this mahi is – as good as it gets. So many positives for individuals, family, whānau, communities and our country.
Greymouth-based Treanor is one of the trailblazers for Oranga Tamariki’s new Kairaranga-a-whānau role, connecting vulnerable Māori children with extended family all around the country. She researches family trees, tracking down distant whānau in the hope of forging new family connections.
+ 100% will help a lot of young maori going forward, the dislocation from their whanau has been a big problem in the past, not just maori, but all cultures.
The numbers are all fking fake, the metrics are bullshit, the agencies responsible for enforcing good practices are knowing bullshiters enforcing and profiting off all the fake numbers and none of the models make sense at scale of actual human users. https://t.co/sfmdrxGBNJpic.twitter.com/thvicDEL29— Aram Zucker-Scharff (@Chronotope) December 26, 2018
How much of the internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was “bots masquerading as people,” a portion so high that employees feared an inflection point after which YouTube’s systems for detecting fraudulent traffic would begin to regard bot traffic as real and human traffic as fake. They called this hypothetical event “the Inversion.”
Now for something completely different. Saw tonight a 87 Two Ronnies Christmas Show.
Very dated and corny but hey the wit was fantastic beats Master fucking Chef and other similiar shit hands down
A small sample of the wit
Ronnie Corbett advised that the Noise Abatment Society were going to sing Silent Night Just brilliant.
The next generation know’s reality we can not rely on the Pollies to do the correct thing and use all the resourse the Papatuanuku has to build OUR grandchildren a Safer future well I just SEEN one yesterday spouting about spending $700 BILLION on Arms.
WTF we need to gift more to the poor countrys to help thy neighour servive Climate change sea level rising green house warming Risks of ‘domino effect’ of tipping points greater than thought, study says
Scientists warn policymakers not to ignore links, and stress that ‘every action counts’Policymakers have severely underestimated the risks of ecological tipping points, according to a study that shows 45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.
The authors said their paper, published in the journal Science, highlights how overstressed and overlapping natural systems are combining to throw up a growing number of unwelcome surprises.
Global warming melting UK dreams of a white Christmas
Read more
“The risks are greater than assumed because the interactions are more dynamic,” said Juan Rocha of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “The important message is to recognise the wickedness of the problem that humanity faces.”
The study collated existing research on ecosystem transitions that can irreversibly tip to another state, such as coral reefs bleaching and being overrun by algae, forests becoming savannahs and ice sheets melting into oceans. It then cross-referenced the 30 types of shift to examine the impacts they might have on one another and human society.Among the latter pairings were Arctic ice sheets and boreal forests. When the former melt, there is less ice to reflect the sun’s heat so the temperature of the planet rises. This increases the risks of forest fires, which discharge carbon into the air that adds to the greenhouse effect, which melts more ice. Although geographically distant, each amplifies the other.
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By contrast, a one-way domino-type impact is that between coral reefs and mangrove forests. When the former are destroyed, it weakens coastal defences and exposes mangroves to storms and ocean surges.
The deforestation of the Amazon is responsible for multiple “cascading effects” – weakening rain systems, forests becoming savannah, and reduced water supplies for cities like São Paulo and crops in the foothills of the Andes. This, in turn, increases the pressure for more land clearance.
Until recently, the study of tipping points was controversial, but it is increasingly accepted as an explanation for climate changes that are happening with more speed and ferocity than earlier computer models predicted. The loss of coral reefs and Arctic sea ice may already be past the point of no return. There are signs the Antarctic is heading the same way faster than thought. Ka kite ano links below P.S The kumara know how sweet it is
A new generation of women want to redefine ‘loud woman’ … (left to right) Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Geena Davis, Rihanna, Adele and Angela Merkel. Illustration:
In praise of loud women – the joy and power of being noisy and female Eco Maori has quite a few in my whano and I tau toko them as well Ngati Porou IWI has respected wahine for centrys we have had wahine toa/wahine warriors I say because of our culture we influnced wahine voteing.
Eco Maori tau toko’s wahine because its the correct thing to do they are the nurtures they are more intelligent than most men and when we get %50 of wahine in leadership positions OUR World will be a much better humane intelligent envirmentaly friendly Papatuanuku . My big voice was frowned upon when I was a girl in the 70s. Now, celebrities from Beyoncé to Michelle Obama Geena Davis are helping to tear up the idea of what a woman should sound . So, what are we supposed to do with the idea of loud women in our postfeminist age? Where have they all gone? Theresa May seems to maintain her fragile power by being the opposite of loud. Angela Merkel built a 30-year career on being as unnoticeable as possible. The response to Germaine Greer in recent years can be summed up as: “Shut up.” Is it no longer acceptable to be a woman and a noisy, loquacious pain in the arse? After all, the women we now think of as loud usually communicate through performance as larger-than-life versions of themselves: Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga.
In everyday life, there is still something uncomfortable for a woman about being called loud, because the implication is that a) you don’t care about the people around you (otherwise, why are you making them feel uncomfortable?) and b) you don’t care what other people think about you. To allow yourself to be loud as a woman is to be borderline psychopathic – to switch off your empathy and your emotional intelligence – to love the sound of your own voice, to take up too much space. That is the theory, at least. (“Who do you think you are? Beyoncé?”
Ka kite ano links below P.S Thanks for the tau toko from around Papatunuku.
Here you go all the maori who think this system is fair and unbiest wake up. This is what maori need more money in education for the lower classes as we are at the lowest rung of life in Aotearoa ana to kai. As the upper classes get the top jobs in Aotearoa there elitist glasses only lets them see life from there point of view and in most cases is DOWN on the lower classes Hence a system were its all good for them to cheat and buy there way out of human mistakes and throw the warth of there system at the poor people who most times are doing things just to survive.
Inequality has been exacerbated since the education “reforms” enacted by the Labour Party government of 1984–90, supported by the trade unions and enforced by successive administrations. A “market” model was imposed on schools and universities, with self-governing boards tasked with imposing “business” disciplines and competition for students. In the early 1990s, many schools in working-class areas were struggling to survive.
In 1989, student fees were introduced and have increased almost every year. Tertiary study, including at polytechnics, has now become too costly for many working-class students. In 2017, it was estimated that the combined student loan debt of 731,800 people, with an average debt of $NZ21,000, was $15.3 billion.
Significantly, the material produced by the Herald shatters the assiduously cultivated myth that “disparities” in education are not a matter of social class, but are due to other factors, such as ethnicity and gender.
All governments have promoted identity politics to divide the working class, while elevating a small upper middle class layer, particularly among indigenous Maori. A virtual academic industry, abetted and funded by the MoE, is devoted . to sustaining the notion that Maori and Pacific students are worse off because of “institutional racism,” not class.
The insistence that ethnicity is the central cause of inequality has fuelled reactionary political agendas, including demands for racially segregated school systems and charter schools controlled by Maori tribal-based businesses. As in the US and Britain, these publicly-funded, privately-run schools were introduced by the National government to undermine public education and establish a bridge-head for widespread privatisation.
Social class divisions, however, are asserting themselves more powerfully than ever, as capitalism lurches more deeply into global crisis. Internationally, including in New Zealand, teachers and other sections of the working class are beginning to fight back. Primary school teachers held a 24-hour nationwide strike in mid-August, following an effective pay freeze for much of the past decade, and severely understaffed schools. Their primary demands were for a pay increase of 16 percent, smaller class sizes and more support for needy students Ka kite ano links below.
A dark tale of dispossession and greed
by Vincent O’Malley | Dec 9, 2018 | 2 | 6 min read
Vincent O’Malley
For well over 25 years, Vincent O’Malley, a Pākehā historian, has been uncovering and recounting many of the rich and often discomforting stories about how Māori and Pākehā have got along since they began sharing Aotearoa 200 or so years ago.
His most substantial book has been The Great War for New Zealand, where he explains what went on in the Waikato, especially in the wake of the New Zealand Settlements Act in 1863.
But here he focuses on the significance of that legislation — and the need for us to understand and remember it.But here he focuses on the significance of that legislation — and the need for us to understand and remember it.
When dates were being considered for the first Rā Maumahara commemorating the New Zealand Wars, one suggestion was December 3. That day doesn’t mark the anniversary of any particular battle or conflict. Instead, it’s the day in 1863 that Governor George Grey signed into law the New Zealand Settlements Act.
It’s an innocuous-sounding piece of legislation but it had devastating consequences for many Māori communities. The Settlements Act provided the primary legislative mechanism for raupatu — sweeping land confiscations that were supposedly intended to punish acts of “rebellion” while also recouping the costs of fighting the wars. It’s an innocuous-sounding piece of legislation but it had devastating consequences for many Māori communities. The Settlements Act provided the primary legislative mechanism for raupatu — sweeping land confiscations that were supposedly intended to punish acts of “rebellion” while also recouping the costs of fighting the wars.
It declared that where “any Native Tribe or Section of a Tribe or any considerable number thereof” had committed acts of “rebellion against Her Majesty’s authority” since January 1, 1863, their lands could be declared subject to the Act and seized for the purposes of settlement.
It was part of a package of measures passed by the all-Pākehā parliament to crush Māori independence.
Governor George Grey
Grey and his ministers had drawn up these confiscation plans before invading Waikato in July 1863 and, by August, had begun recruiting military settlers who were to be offered a portion of the seized lands in return for their services . Loyal” Māori could apply for compensation for their losses — initially in money but later including lands. But the Compensation Court process that followed returned only a fraction of what was lost, often in completely different areas and always under a new legal form of title that meant many of these lands were quickly lost to their owners. Ka kite ano links below
Kia ora Tekaea Aotearoa is paradise we have heaps of guess and a lot of people are traveling to there holidays it’s cool that the price of fuel went down.
It’s ka pai to see Pohorawiri marae getting a spruce up it will be able to cope with all the tangata whenua gathering well into the future.
The salvation army does a very good service for tangata whenua in Aotearoa.
One can see the results of nine years of smoky governments suppressing Maori and the poor people as more food parcels that are needed has risen sharply as of late.
ka pai to the horouta wake whine are shining brighter.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub everyone has to drive carefully in Aotearoa as the roads are packed and they are not 3 lane highways that our guest are use to hence the road toll is climbing .Condolences to the people who lost love ones in the Indonesia
It is not accetable that tamariki are dieing in custerdy in the USA boarder detention centers.
The Tauranga council just permeted to many houses to be built and did not have climate change in there plans and look what happeneds tutai in the moana
Good on Collin O’brady for his treck across Antarctica solo some one could not say his name I wonder why I know.
Its a real crime letting all those children starving in Yemen there need to be more aid sent into help the children.
Do you believe those stats on daved seenothing getting all those hits on trademe for twerking haha .Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori has another word he has eliminated must be a reason they keep pushing thee other money
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12180881
“Three days earlier it was alleged her actions had left bruising to the upper right arm of the staffer, who had been in the role for six days.
The report into the incident found it was “probable” that the employee’s version of events was more likely than the Minister’s.
Whaitiri says there are certain parts of the report she agrees with, but others she “actively continues to challenge”.
“In this country, we have a hierarchy; white men, white women, brown men, brown women, and sometimes brown women have to talk extra loud to be heard,” the MP said.”
So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.
She was a government minister for goodness sake – I can’t imagine her staff ignoring her because of the colour of her skin.
Jacinda would be a fool to let her back into a ministers role – she is obviously unrepentant for what she did.
Whereas Maggie Barry fessed up immediately and handed in her Ministerial warrant quick-smart!
‘Whataboutism (also known as whataboutery) is a variant of the tu quoque logical fallacy that attempts to discredit an opponent’s position by charging them with hypocrisy without directly refuting or disproving their argument, which in the United States is particularly associated with Soviet and Russian propaganda.When criticisms were leveled at the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the Soviet response would often be “What about…” followed by an event in the Western world.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism
Yeah, but what about whoaboutism?
You do that quite a bit stunted munter.
I missed where she assaulted a staff member –
Of course you did, James; you “missed” when Key repeatedly assaulted the ponytail-wearing waitress. I sometimes wonder if you’re completely blind (my apologies and sympathies if you are).
I was wondering how long that would take.
*sigh*
So I guess this makes assaulting a staff member and leaving bruises all ok then? Since you seem happy to ignore this (being the subject of the thread and all).
Do the two bottles of wine Key coughed-up “make it all okay then”?
(Since you seem…)
One account had Whaitiri grabbing the staffer. Another had her pushing the staffer.
At least you haven’t extrapolated it to ‘whacking’ or ‘hitting’ as I’ve seen elsewhere. You’ve got it to the semantic purity of ‘assaulted.’
In your world, assaulting, the act of making physical contact, is worse than the the worst verbal abuse. I can momentarily grab someone by the sleeve and yank them and that invites the death penalty. Tormenting staff to any degree for any time until they lose their mind or chuck their job will never equal one fleeting grab.
Sigh indeed.
No it doesn’t but I don’t recall you getting all het up about the ongoing assault that John Key perpetrated on a staff member at a cafe that he frequented.
actually it does not make anything right,
but i suggest it is best to not be throwing stones when you sit in a glass house.
Sadly, John Key while being the Prime Minister of NZ did harass a young women -to the point of where his wife told him to stop, the girl was in tears and everyone was just at wits end as to what to do with the pair of dry balls called John Key – at her work place and everyone just went yawn, he is the PM and surely that is just a bit of horseplaying there….even tho the young women was not interested at all in horseplaying with the PM. The man, while PM was also filmed fondling the hair of young girls until – again on camera – he was told of by the mother.
Maggy Barry should have stayed with her tomatoes and appropriate companion planting rather then go on to be a Minister who will only be known for harassment of staff – again, just a bit of horseplay right?
So for what its worth, my 2 cents, all of these fuckwits should have been sacked immediately from their jobs.
If you can not comport yourself as a decent human being towards others, go away and stay away. No decent company should have to put up with these losers.
In short, no its not ok if National does it.
As for that women from the Labour Party, sack her. If there is evidence of physical assault, charge her. Done.
They need a conviction of assault which carries a maximum term of more then two years which would have them automatically out of parliament and never be able to run for being an MP ever again.
S9 Summary Offences Act: Common Assault only carries six months.
S196 Crimes Act: Common Assault carries up to one year.
Damn.
Maybe we need to increase the term for assault.
She’ll be fine as long as she’s got staff who talk back ‘extra loud’ jimby.
“So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.”
Not actually what is said or meant, James. It says a lot that you equate the voices of women with violence. It’s almost like you’re scared of women and the things they say.
The telling quote is the one about the hierarchy of power, which I’m sure you agree with 100%, representing, as you do, the top echelon.
Utter cobblers Te Reo clearly you are not married.
It’s clear she is using it as an excuse for her actions.
Bullshit James you little racist creep. You are selective in your quoting but it does show your odious opinion and it reeks of racism.
I have her quote in full (as it was written) and linked to the entire article.
I think you are projecting Marty mars.
Your projecting your hate of people of color. So obvious and typical from a rwnj like you.
Now I will concede I think she’s was an extremely poor minister and is quite a horrible person.
But that has nothing to do with the colour of her skin.
On that I couldn’t give a shit.
You have a very poor understanding of the issues at play. You don’t understand mana for instance and have zero idea of how that influences Māori. You are like a crayon when a fine quill is needed. You not only know little but that wee bit you picked up from the MSM you spin into lies and disinformation – pretty basic troll behaviour and certainly bigoted. You really are a weakling.
Ducking a and weaving Marty but still bs you sprout, there is no defense here, your cultural justification is pathetic Now don’t get all wound up and abusive over this, just chill
Not defending at all. Just adding a nuance that most here don’t even realise exists.
James isn’t a Kiwi. He’s an English immigrant and a guest here. Like a lot of older English immigrants, James brings colonial thinking to his every conversation and action and has no concept of Maori as a foundation of New Zealand indentity.
^ deliberately stating something as fact with no evidence is poor form.
But you would jump to her defence esp as you have admitted prev having assaulted women. (Hey if you can start a meme – so can I ).
Thats just sad marty. One thing this is NOT about is mana
Evidently she grabbed the women by the arm and some minor bruising was inflicted, maybe the staffer is prone to bruising very easily, I don’t think it was a full blown assault as the media made out.
Obviously Meka did not realize her own strength in this incident which was blown right out of proportion ?
She still had no right to touch her and yes she is excusing her behavior by playing the race card.
She needs to stay on the naughty chair till she accepts her behavior was wrong.
“and yes she is excusing her behavior by playing the race card.”
Nah there is a heirarchy you are just at the top is all and can’t see anyone else from your lofty heights.
I’m at the top 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Classic
At the top of what I’d love to know .
I’ve had Maori bosses 2 I’ve never been the boss of anyone apart from running a docking crew on occasion.
I’m one illness from broke and probably homeless .
Eve n my kiwisaver has turned against me .
Waitiri is levels above me and should/will stay there she just needs to pull her head in and stop being a bully.
Don’t be dense – you’re a white Male aren’t you. Sure you may be at the bottom of that group but you don’t have a clue about groups that SOCIETY oppresses.
What are you Mars?
Not a Māori woman so I bow to their knowledge and experience.
Hard too understand how a Maori women, that holds a reasonably powerful position as a minister in government can claim oppression!
Keep working on the understanding Jim. The problem with the majority of Kiwis (and I presume you are or have become), is that there has not been much thinking happening for 20 years or so. Try drinking regular glasses of water, cut down on the tea, coffee and alcohol and apply your mind to what goes on in NZ and look for how the various factions rate for income and opportunity for good jobs.
And who teaches them values of respect for all people – parents? school? the coach of their sports team?
What Meta Whaitiri said was, ” sometimes brown women have to talk extra loud to be heard,”
James reinterpreted that as, “So it seems as a “brown woman” you have to physically assault staff and leave bruises in order to be heard.”
James does this as a matter of course, because it “seems” to him.
Robert
You would have a point if she said that in regard to perhaps Māori women getting into management etc.
Not so much when she is using it as an excuse for her assaulting a staff member.
By defending it you are excusing her actions.
“Whaitiri says there are certain parts of the report she agrees with…”
Can you show that she doesn’t agree that “probably” bruising the staffers arm is wrong? You claim she’s attempting to excuse that action; where’s your evidence???
The article.
People like you who minimise the assault really are part of the problem.
I wonder why you are fixicated on Key but are apologetic for Whaitiri?
Is it because she is a woman? Māori? Or are you willing to accept it because she she falls on ‘your side’ of the political fence.
Well, James, may I straighten out a few things for you?
Firstly, I’m not apologising for Whaitiri. If you can show me where I’ve done that, I’d be grateful (and very surprised).
Secondly, this thread is called “Open Mike”. It is not devoted only to the topic of the first comment made here. If I or anyone wants to talk about Key’s ponytail-pulling, they can.
Thirdly, I’m not “fixicated” on anything at all, though it sounds fun.
Fourthly, I’m not minimising Whaitiri actions or statements, you are assuming that I am. I did notice though, that the quote you provided said:
“The report into the incident found it was “probable” that the employee’s version of events was more likely than the Minister’s.” and I reckon I know what “probable” means and it ain’t “certain”, so I’m cautious about taking a concreted stance and notice that you are not so careful.
Fifthly, Maggie Barry’s situation is similar in many ways, but you seem unwilling to comment on it, demanding that the topic of your comment is the only one that can be discussed – that seems odd to me. Why is it that you won’t give your views on someone else topic, James? Barry’s situation as worthy of discussion as Whaitiri’s, surely?
you understand the difference between a thread and a post not.
If you want to start a thread on key – go for it. I’m sure you will get the usuals pile in. But if you are using the “reply” button try to keep it on subject.
James – though you may feel you have the authority to dictate what a person might say on a thread you’ve initiated, you don’t. A moderator here might remind someone to keep on-topic where one is set by them, but Open Mike isn’t such a post. In any case, being lectured by you about thread-jacking is beyond hilarious, so keep it up – you’re good for a laugh today!
Glad I make you smile.
You’re the Open Mike Sparkle Fairy, James, bringing light and love, bless you!
James, talk about flogging a dead horse … This subject was done to death here on TS and in the media at the time.
Were formal charges of assault ever laid against Whaitiri? No.
Was she found guilty of assault in a court of law? No.
Has she been punished for possibly bruising a staffer? Yes. On the basis of a review – not a formal trial in a court of law – she lost her ministerial positions and was sent to the back bench.
Does she have a right to continue to dispute parts of the review? Yes. It was not a formal finding by a court of law; she was not given her legal rights to be heard in a court of law, or to appeal. (See below.)
I have worked directly with/for Meka in the public service and detailed that experience here on TS at the time.
Here briefly on 31 August – https://thestandard.org.nz/facing-meka/#comment-1519566
And more detail here with a further follow-up two down from this comment.
https://thestandard.org.nz/facing-meka/#comment-1519865
As you will note, Meka worked both in the public service at senior levels and in Parliament (eg as a senior adviser to her mentor, Parekura Horomia, when he was Minister of Maori Affairs).
To have then been elected to Parliament herself after Horomia’s death, and then to be appointed to Ministerial positions under the new Government would have been a career pinnacle to Meka.
To then lose those positions on the basis of one incident which was then only investigated internally and not in a court of law (with rights of appeal etc accorded under the latter’s formal judicial processes) would have been devastating to her.
She has paid a heavy price for whatever took place that day – some would say too heavy a price, including not being afforded her rights under sections 24 and 25 of the Bill of Rights Act 1990 (BORA) – the rights of persons charged, and the minimum standards of criminal procedure.
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225528
Personally I understand why she may still be questioning the findings of that internal investigation. OTOH, having worked for Meka, I can understand that someone who did not know her and had only worked for her for a day, could misconstrue her. In saying that, in no way do I condone physical assault in any way or any circumstance.
We will probably never know what actually took place. However, we do have another principle in our Bill of Rights Act 1990 that Whaitiri would also have been entitled to if this case had gone to court – that is the principle of double jeopardy under section 26.
Perhaps, in terms of fairness and equality, we – including the media – should be applying this principle to other situations such as this one where the accused has not been given their rights to a court hearing etc under BORA but has nevertheless been found guilty in the court of public opinion and/or by non judicial reviews/investigations AND paid a price for those findings.
Yours is the comprehensive comment, veutoviper – makes the rest of us look like chumps 🙂
We will never know and cannot ever know.
Which means that people with the inclinations of James can depict it loud and long as Ms Waitiri ‘giving someone the bash.’
Assault? Insult. Insult to anyone inclined to have intelligent debate about anything in the country. As it stands the James’ of the world have the politician cast for life.
Much respect for your great reply.
I assume you would be happy with that principle to be applied to all – including national MPs?
Because that is something very much lacking on here.
In regard to the rest of your post – thank you for the detail, thought and effort you put in.
Yes, James – I absolutely believe in such principles being applied to everyone – regardless of race, religion, gender, colour etc including political beliefs and leanings.
Hence my comment(s) over the last day or so defending your rights of reply to claims made against you personally and to seek proof of those claims. eg https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-23-12-2018/#comment-1565009
Nothing to do with your political leanings – everything to do with your – and everyone’s – rights under BORA etc.
Graceful and gallant there V V.
As a woman, Ad, I have never been called gallant before, ROFL!
Not particularly physically graceful either! But will accept both terms as a compliment, Thank you.
Noted and appreciated
The effing search function doesn’t work. Bit hard to provide links to comments and conversations so one must go from memory instead.
You are very protective of James and I’m not sure why. Perhaps you are sweetened by the occasional saccharine reply.
Well said veutoviper. This was your area of expertise in the Public Service and I suspect your knowledge of this topic is far greater than anyone else who comments here.
Initially I was annoyed with Whaitiri for allowing her frustration to get the better of her but the more that comes out about the incident, the more I have some sympathy for her situation.
I think Mallard has hit on a long term problem inside Parliamentary Services. Both new ministers and parliamentarians in general – together with novice parliamentary staff members – are not given sufficient training on how to handle the various obstacles that must constantly arise.
In this case, it appears the new press officer to Whaitiri did not know it was her job to ensure that her minister was where she should be – in this instance standing with Jacinda Ardern for a photo. That is the primary task of a press officer to ensure maximum press coverage for their minister.
On the other hand it was wrong of Whaitiri to respond to the incident the way she did.
Both have acknowledged they were wrong which is more than Maggie Barry has done or is ever likely to do. Barry may not have physically touched anyone, but she has bullied individuals to the point they have felt suicidal. The effects of psychological bullying can be greater and last a lot longer than most physical bullying as anyone who has been on the receiving end will tell you. Unfortunately its the hardest to prove because the perpetrators are invariably cunning enough not to do it when witnesses are present.
Thank you. Both your informed comment, and veutoviper’s above, give me some hope for us all.
From reports at the time, it seemed to me that Whaitiri lost her roles because of how the discrepancies between the inquiry and her own account were represented to and received by the PM – not purely due to the inquiry findings.
As you say, we will never know and it is well-buried horsemeat by now. You’d think James would still be stuffed from xmas.
Mate. She had a staff turn over that makes Heathrow Airport on a Saturday seem quiet.
She assaulted a staffer.
She is now making excuses
How anyone can condone that is weird
Having a big staff turnover is bad? Is a sign the MP is terrible? Did AnneTolley have as big a turnover and office ‘personality differences’ as Maggie Barry as Meka Whaitiri?
On the subject of turnover, I actually covered that in one of my earlier comments back in early September – links in my 2.3.1.1.1.2 above, but might as well quote it here (with a few small edits):
… The investigation is being carried out by Ministerial Services (part of the Dept of Internal Affairs) as the staffer would be employed through Ministerial Services (MS), not Parliamentary Services (PS) who are not responsible for providing funding/staff for Ministers such as press officers, researchers etc. IMO and experience, MS are very professional and well versed in such matters as employment law, investigations etc – and are very thorough and careful. They have to be. They may well employ an outside independent investigator such as an employment law firm or similar.
RE the turnover aspect, the fact that many staff have left her Ministerial office is actually not unusual because of how the allocation of Parliamentary staff (both Parliamentary Service staff to MPs and Ministerial Services staff to Ministers) operates.
As I understand it, each of these Services have a pool of staff of various skills, qualifications and experience available for allocation at the beginning of a new Government which are then allocated to MPs and Ministers. Other staff are employed to fill any gaps, very specific roles etc. But it is all a bit of a ‘mix and match’ lolly scramble and the first year of a new Government is a bit of a shakedown period as MPs and Ministers and such staff find their feet and whether the employment relationships fit or don’t. So there are often big turnovers of staff during this period in particular.
I can think of many other MPs and Ministers over the years who have had similar levels of staff turnover – but some of them also had/have other employees who have worked for them for eons. One such is Winston Peters.
As well as MS and PS staff, departmental advisers seconded from the relevant Ministry(s) or Department(s) also work in Minister’s offices (as I did quite a number of times over the years).
Then yet another type of employees/contractors are political policy advisers/press officers whose sole allegiance is to their Party, Minister, Leader/Deputy Leader of their Party, MPs.
So Minister’s offices (and to a lesser degree MP’s offices) can be real mixture of people with different roles and objectives, different employers and employment contracts – all of which can add to the potential for things to be less than smooth unless managed carefully.”
It’s not good petey.
Bullshit. She is not using it to ‘defend her actions’. If you’d switch your brain on, you’d remember she denies the allegation. So she is not ‘defending’ something she says didn’t actually happen.
You are a bulkshit artist James. Just another racist pushing agenda and using people of color as sacrifices to your disgusting personal philosophy of racist hate.
Who agenda is this – she is the one raising race in regard to this issue.
Piss off noddy. Take your racism and shove it.
Can’t discuss the point huh?
I assume you were ok with her giving her staff member bruises ?
Marty – James has raised a point – YOU MUST DISCUSS IT!!!
Yeah racists love that shit. I think it really shows how ineffectual and woefully useless they are in real life.
Yes he MUST MUST MUST!. If he doesn’t, then James will know he’s a legend (in his own mind) and he’s won.
I hope to Christ he doesn’t work in one of those ‘teams’, or manage staff for that matter.
By the way – did you ever get to have that conversation with James?
I’d recommend you have someone from Mediation Services present – you know that MoBIE agency? With a bit of luck they’ll be familiar with this little mediator’s gem from the past:
“I know you believe you understood what you thought I said – but I’m not sure that what you heard is not what I meant”
OR pistols at ten paces might be a better option, and far more efficient and effective, if not pragmatic (going forward)
I assume you like beating up things James – bullyboys often do.
James has achieved his desired result for the day, pissing some people off on TS which was his objective when he put up the post this morning. Try not to feed the TROLL ?
You’re a racist troll too so why listen to a wanker like you?
Gee you are a grumpy puppy this morning arnt you.
Hope you cheer up for 2019.
Do your twenty something sons and their children, your grand children, know their 48 year old dad/grandad is an agitator on a left leaning blog site?
What age are the grandkids (plural) which you referred to yesterday, James?
Their ages have nothing to do with anything – other than for you to bring it up again and again and again.
Bummer
“People are being warned to stay from 12 Auckland beaches this summer as they are contaminated by human and animal faeces.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/auckland/109449059/12-auckland-beaches-declared-noswim-zones-due-to-human-faeces-contamination
In other related news – commenters are being asked to be extra careful on open Mike today as a silly little boy James has code browned and spread his faecal matter all over the post. Please wash everything including your eyes if you read his shit.
Now you are just starting to sound hysterical.
Chill out – life’s good.
James
You didn’t add anything to the discussion with that comment. Why DYSTFU. The moderators can’t think of you as anything but someone starting flame wars.
So it’s fair to assume James has been swimming at all twelve of those affected beaches recently. One of those swimming nappies on his butt and another one covering his mouth could have prevented this unfortunate situation.
Lol
I swam at 5 of those beaches last summer snow I can’t. Thought this government was going to do more for the environment than any previous government?
Imagine a country where for ten years nearly, the roads have been poorly designed and maintained, there have been few mechanics and roading workers trained, where the vehicle fleet has been allowed to age, where trucks have been allowed to get bigger and bigger with consequent damage where promises for new roads and bridges have not been met.
That has been NZ from 2008-2017.
And then a tourist comes in 2017 and says “I drove these roads in 2005 and there was nothing wrong with them.”
But this is not about roads only. It’s about wages and working conditions, It’s about taxation favouritism. It’s about debilitating the unions. It’s about not spending enough on on vital infrastructure, on health and education. It’s about wayward priorities like flag referenda. It’s about running an economy on immigration and environmental degradation. It’s about poor regulation especially where it matters and then not enforcing laws and regulations properly.
It’s about nine years of poor government by poor politicians and senior civil servants, for the benefit of mostly of a proportion of the populace who are coincidentally not the poor.
Then the same tourist comes back a year later and expects it all to be fixed?
Probably the stupidest metaphor in a long time. It was fine a year ago, now it isn’t. It was fine every year before last, now it isn’t. It’s broken in the last year.
Guess the government is better at selling water than keeping it clean
No, Tuppence, the point is that the amount of effort required to fix, upgrade and rebuild infrastructure is immense. It is simply not credible to see a government deliberately run a country down and then demand fixes in the time frame you demand.
I have the money to fix a small amount of earthquake damage, but a dearth of tradesmen/builders to do it. They are busy for example building houses etc in our area for workers in a booming wine industry and for retirees coming into the area.
Have you a reference to back up your claim that all was fine in terms of the environment a year ago or did you luck it, or did you deliberately choose beaches which were swimmable at the time you chose from a wider selection of compromised beaches, as you would, of course.
This is what I can easily find.
16 Auckland beaches unswimmable in November 2017.
Auckland beaches unswimmable 30% of time- in early 2018.
10 beaches unswimmable in early 2017.
January 2017 60% of monitored rivers unswimmable. etc etc etc.
Your argument based on your probably wise choices last summer is not sufficienty robust evidence to argue that this a problem made by this government, not attended to by this government/local authorities or of a size able to be fixed within a year, given that much pollution is derived from agricultural sources and from human waste compounded by heavy periodic rainfall.
With the best will in the world, how long does it take to fix Auckland’s rainwater and sewerage problems to the point where there is no pollution?
Damn you Tuppence S. What did you leave behind you? When are you going to care about being a good thinking citizen. Everytime i read you it is something unhelpful to people trying to guard and better our environment.
Take only photographs, leave only foot prints.
So damn you, you old coot. What do you bring to the table that makes your contribution so special and worthy.
It’s your generation with the most to answer for. So fuck off
“damn you, you old coot” – “fuck off”.
A thought-free reply – infantile really.
Not to worry, Dr Smith is currently redefining quality standards to avoidt sinking to new lows.
That wasn’t a useful reply. You don’t add anhything to the discourse. You RW people just try to drag the blog down, and you certainly do manage to bring it down quite a few notches.
It’s not people who are trying to shift NZrs out of the muddy rut of cow poo they are in or tolerate, because as the quote above says.
“Do it tomorrow because we have got about five years before this hits our shores like a massive tsunami.”
Great work. – hard to actually appreciate how awesome this mahi is – as good as it gets. So many positives for individuals, family, whānau, communities and our country.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/108992047/for-vulnerable-mori-children-theres-nothing-quite-like-whnau
+ 100% will help a lot of young maori going forward, the dislocation from their whanau has been a big problem in the past, not just maori, but all cultures.
gotta make a dollar sir, just a dollar here and there and everywhere
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/12/coming-blackwaters-ominous-message-portends-new-trump-era-privatized-warfare/
Oh look, the internets are a scam.
/
[thread]
https://twitter.com/Chronotope/status/1078003966863200256
How much of the internet is fake? Studies generally suggest that, year after year, less than 60 percent of web traffic is human; some years, according to some researchers, a healthy majority of it is bot. For a period of time in 2013, the Times reported this year, a full half of YouTube traffic was “bots masquerading as people,” a portion so high that employees feared an inflection point after which YouTube’s systems for detecting fraudulent traffic would begin to regard bot traffic as real and human traffic as fake. They called this hypothetical event “the Inversion.”
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/how-much-of-the-internet-is-fake.html
Now for something completely different. Saw tonight a 87 Two Ronnies Christmas Show.
Very dated and corny but hey the wit was fantastic beats Master fucking Chef and other similiar shit hands down
A small sample of the wit
Ronnie Corbett advised that the Noise Abatment Society were going to sing Silent Night Just brilliant.
They are great.
This one still one of my favorites from anyone.
https://youtu.be/pV1IP4N9ajg
Same here Marty, just great.
The next generation know’s reality we can not rely on the Pollies to do the correct thing and use all the resourse the Papatuanuku has to build OUR grandchildren a Safer future well I just SEEN one yesterday spouting about spending $700 BILLION on Arms.
WTF we need to gift more to the poor countrys to help thy neighour servive Climate change sea level rising green house warming Risks of ‘domino effect’ of tipping points greater than thought, study says
Scientists warn policymakers not to ignore links, and stress that ‘every action counts’Policymakers have severely underestimated the risks of ecological tipping points, according to a study that shows 45% of all potential environmental collapses are interrelated and could amplify one another.
The authors said their paper, published in the journal Science, highlights how overstressed and overlapping natural systems are combining to throw up a growing number of unwelcome surprises.
Global warming melting UK dreams of a white Christmas
Read more
“The risks are greater than assumed because the interactions are more dynamic,” said Juan Rocha of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. “The important message is to recognise the wickedness of the problem that humanity faces.”
The study collated existing research on ecosystem transitions that can irreversibly tip to another state, such as coral reefs bleaching and being overrun by algae, forests becoming savannahs and ice sheets melting into oceans. It then cross-referenced the 30 types of shift to examine the impacts they might have on one another and human society.Among the latter pairings were Arctic ice sheets and boreal forests. When the former melt, there is less ice to reflect the sun’s heat so the temperature of the planet rises. This increases the risks of forest fires, which discharge carbon into the air that adds to the greenhouse effect, which melts more ice. Although geographically distant, each amplifies the other.
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By contrast, a one-way domino-type impact is that between coral reefs and mangrove forests. When the former are destroyed, it weakens coastal defences and exposes mangroves to storms and ocean surges.
The deforestation of the Amazon is responsible for multiple “cascading effects” – weakening rain systems, forests becoming savannah, and reduced water supplies for cities like São Paulo and crops in the foothills of the Andes. This, in turn, increases the pressure for more land clearance.
Until recently, the study of tipping points was controversial, but it is increasingly accepted as an explanation for climate changes that are happening with more speed and ferocity than earlier computer models predicted. The loss of coral reefs and Arctic sea ice may already be past the point of no return. There are signs the Antarctic is heading the same way faster than thought. Ka kite ano links below P.S The kumara know how sweet it is
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/20/risks-of-domino-effect-of-tipping-points-greater-than-thought-study-says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc8sppzaueo
A new generation of women want to redefine ‘loud woman’ … (left to right) Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Geena Davis, Rihanna, Adele and Angela Merkel. Illustration:
In praise of loud women – the joy and power of being noisy and female Eco Maori has quite a few in my whano and I tau toko them as well Ngati Porou IWI has respected wahine for centrys we have had wahine toa/wahine warriors I say because of our culture we influnced wahine voteing.
Eco Maori tau toko’s wahine because its the correct thing to do they are the nurtures they are more intelligent than most men and when we get %50 of wahine in leadership positions OUR World will be a much better humane intelligent envirmentaly friendly Papatuanuku . My big voice was frowned upon when I was a girl in the 70s. Now, celebrities from Beyoncé to Michelle Obama Geena Davis are helping to tear up the idea of what a woman should sound . So, what are we supposed to do with the idea of loud women in our postfeminist age? Where have they all gone? Theresa May seems to maintain her fragile power by being the opposite of loud. Angela Merkel built a 30-year career on being as unnoticeable as possible. The response to Germaine Greer in recent years can be summed up as: “Shut up.” Is it no longer acceptable to be a woman and a noisy, loquacious pain in the arse? After all, the women we now think of as loud usually communicate through performance as larger-than-life versions of themselves: Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga.
In everyday life, there is still something uncomfortable for a woman about being called loud, because the implication is that a) you don’t care about the people around you (otherwise, why are you making them feel uncomfortable?) and b) you don’t care what other people think about you. To allow yourself to be loud as a woman is to be borderline psychopathic – to switch off your empathy and your emotional intelligence – to love the sound of your own voice, to take up too much space. That is the theory, at least. (“Who do you think you are? Beyoncé?”
Ka kite ano links below P.S Thanks for the tau toko from around Papatunuku.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/nov/06/in-praise-of-loud-women-the-joy-and-power-of-being-noisy-and-female
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCwKM6uB71I
Here you go all the maori who think this system is fair and unbiest wake up. This is what maori need more money in education for the lower classes as we are at the lowest rung of life in Aotearoa ana to kai. As the upper classes get the top jobs in Aotearoa there elitist glasses only lets them see life from there point of view and in most cases is DOWN on the lower classes Hence a system were its all good for them to cheat and buy there way out of human mistakes and throw the warth of there system at the poor people who most times are doing things just to survive.
Inequality has been exacerbated since the education “reforms” enacted by the Labour Party government of 1984–90, supported by the trade unions and enforced by successive administrations. A “market” model was imposed on schools and universities, with self-governing boards tasked with imposing “business” disciplines and competition for students. In the early 1990s, many schools in working-class areas were struggling to survive.
In 1989, student fees were introduced and have increased almost every year. Tertiary study, including at polytechnics, has now become too costly for many working-class students. In 2017, it was estimated that the combined student loan debt of 731,800 people, with an average debt of $NZ21,000, was $15.3 billion.
Significantly, the material produced by the Herald shatters the assiduously cultivated myth that “disparities” in education are not a matter of social class, but are due to other factors, such as ethnicity and gender.
All governments have promoted identity politics to divide the working class, while elevating a small upper middle class layer, particularly among indigenous Maori. A virtual academic industry, abetted and funded by the MoE, is devoted . to sustaining the notion that Maori and Pacific students are worse off because of “institutional racism,” not class.
The insistence that ethnicity is the central cause of inequality has fuelled reactionary political agendas, including demands for racially segregated school systems and charter schools controlled by Maori tribal-based businesses. As in the US and Britain, these publicly-funded, privately-run schools were introduced by the National government to undermine public education and establish a bridge-head for widespread privatisation.
Social class divisions, however, are asserting themselves more powerfully than ever, as capitalism lurches more deeply into global crisis. Internationally, including in New Zealand, teachers and other sections of the working class are beginning to fight back. Primary school teachers held a 24-hour nationwide strike in mid-August, following an effective pay freeze for much of the past decade, and severely understaffed schools. Their primary demands were for a pay increase of 16 percent, smaller class sizes and more support for needy students Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/02/nzed-o02.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=723PLMahCOo
A dark tale of dispossession and greed
by Vincent O’Malley | Dec 9, 2018 | 2 | 6 min read
Vincent O’Malley
For well over 25 years, Vincent O’Malley, a Pākehā historian, has been uncovering and recounting many of the rich and often discomforting stories about how Māori and Pākehā have got along since they began sharing Aotearoa 200 or so years ago.
His most substantial book has been The Great War for New Zealand, where he explains what went on in the Waikato, especially in the wake of the New Zealand Settlements Act in 1863.
But here he focuses on the significance of that legislation — and the need for us to understand and remember it.But here he focuses on the significance of that legislation — and the need for us to understand and remember it.
When dates were being considered for the first Rā Maumahara commemorating the New Zealand Wars, one suggestion was December 3. That day doesn’t mark the anniversary of any particular battle or conflict. Instead, it’s the day in 1863 that Governor George Grey signed into law the New Zealand Settlements Act.
It’s an innocuous-sounding piece of legislation but it had devastating consequences for many Māori communities. The Settlements Act provided the primary legislative mechanism for raupatu — sweeping land confiscations that were supposedly intended to punish acts of “rebellion” while also recouping the costs of fighting the wars. It’s an innocuous-sounding piece of legislation but it had devastating consequences for many Māori communities. The Settlements Act provided the primary legislative mechanism for raupatu — sweeping land confiscations that were supposedly intended to punish acts of “rebellion” while also recouping the costs of fighting the wars.
It declared that where “any Native Tribe or Section of a Tribe or any considerable number thereof” had committed acts of “rebellion against Her Majesty’s authority” since January 1, 1863, their lands could be declared subject to the Act and seized for the purposes of settlement.
It was part of a package of measures passed by the all-Pākehā parliament to crush Māori independence.
Governor George Grey
Grey and his ministers had drawn up these confiscation plans before invading Waikato in July 1863 and, by August, had begun recruiting military settlers who were to be offered a portion of the seized lands in return for their services . Loyal” Māori could apply for compensation for their losses — initially in money but later including lands. But the Compensation Court process that followed returned only a fraction of what was lost, often in completely different areas and always under a new legal form of title that meant many of these lands were quickly lost to their owners. Ka kite ano links below
https://e-tangata.co.nz/history/a-dark-tale-of-dispossession-and-greed/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rynnk2LBEY0
Kia ora Tekaea Aotearoa is paradise we have heaps of guess and a lot of people are traveling to there holidays it’s cool that the price of fuel went down.
It’s ka pai to see Pohorawiri marae getting a spruce up it will be able to cope with all the tangata whenua gathering well into the future.
The salvation army does a very good service for tangata whenua in Aotearoa.
One can see the results of nine years of smoky governments suppressing Maori and the poor people as more food parcels that are needed has risen sharply as of late.
ka pai to the horouta wake whine are shining brighter.
Ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub everyone has to drive carefully in Aotearoa as the roads are packed and they are not 3 lane highways that our guest are use to hence the road toll is climbing .Condolences to the people who lost love ones in the Indonesia
It is not accetable that tamariki are dieing in custerdy in the USA boarder detention centers.
The Tauranga council just permeted to many houses to be built and did not have climate change in there plans and look what happeneds tutai in the moana
Good on Collin O’brady for his treck across Antarctica solo some one could not say his name I wonder why I know.
Its a real crime letting all those children starving in Yemen there need to be more aid sent into help the children.
Do you believe those stats on daved seenothing getting all those hits on trademe for twerking haha .Ka kite ano P.S Eco Maori has another word he has eliminated must be a reason they keep pushing thee other money