Pandemics are no a time for inward-looking nationalism

Written By: - Date published: 4:37 am, April 9th, 2020 - 41 comments
Categories: covid-19, health, Politics, United Nations - Tags: , , , , , ,

The word Pandemic means a disease that is prevalent throughout the world. In other words, a global problem, facing the entire human species who inhabit the earth. 

During such a horrible phenomenon, leadership is required. Leadership is about developing people and helping others reach their full potential. It’s about equipping others with the right tools and strategies not only to maximize the success of an organization but also the lives of individuals.

Donald Trump, “leader” of the so-called free world has demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of either of these concepts in his response to COVID-19. I’m not talking about his bizarre and unprofessional press briefings – these are just standard Trump Bluster. I’m not talking about Trump’s insistence on calling COVID-19 the Chinese Virus, a racist and entirely offensive comment. I’m not even talking about the number of COVID-19 cases in the US now surpassing the number in China due in no small part to an utterly negligent Federal Government led by Donald Trump. These are all appalling acts of stupidity in the face of a pandemic and grounds for impeachment. But no. What Trump has done today is far worse, and far more dangerous for the people of this planet.

Yesterday, Donald Trump came out attacking the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) response to COVID-19. Trump threatened to withhold US funding for this vital global governance body during the worlds worst pandemic in over a century. Why? Because they had failed to stroke his delicate ego. Because the WHO had warned that the US along with many other countries were not doing enough to combat the virus. And now when things are turning bad in the US, he is looking for other people to blame. 

Global Impact of the World Health Organization's 2018 Digital ...

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) primary role is to direct international health within the United Nations’ system and to lead partners in global health responses. Threatening to cut the funding of this organisation during a pandemic is highly irresponsible and puts millions of lives at risk. 

Increasingly evidence is emerging that Trump was advised about the threat of COVID-19, yet failed to act appropriately. He was warned by top White House advisors back in January that COVID-19 had the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans and derail the US economy. Now, these predictions are coming to pass. So what does Trump do? He says that the WHO blew it and didn’t respond fast enough. Chinese General Sun Tzu famously said an attack is the secret of defence. And Trump is truly on the defensive now.

Trump’s political career has been based on ‘post-truth’ emotive spin and dog-whistle politics that tap into peoples fears. As I’ve previously posted, he has been very successful in this. But there is no doubt that the man is a sociopath. And an extremely dangerous one. 

Trump claims that the WHO is China Centric. This claim is nonsense. COVID-19 originated in Wuhan province in China. As the United Nations organisation responsible for World Health, The World Health Organisation had a responsibility to work collaboratively with Chinese authorities to prevent the spread of the virus. That’s right, a global governance body has a responsibility to do whatever it has to do to prevent the spread of a deadly virus throughout the planet. They have done so, in very trying circumstances.

President Donald Trump Tweetstorm – The Saturday Edition – Deadline

Donald Trump: More focussed on beating the nationalist drum for his own electoral gains than stepping up as a leader during a global crisis. Many lives could needlessly be lost due to his failure as a leader. 

This is not to say the World Health Organisation doesn’t have its faults. It does. But you don’t improve the work of the WHO by slashing its funding during a pandemic. That is an incredibly irresponsible move that could cost many more lives. 

Trump has been quick to shut off international travel to China and later Europe. Yet Trump has done nothing about numerous US states that have not implemented a proper lockdown, despite COVID-19 now being rife in the US. Pandemics don’t care about national borders. These artificial lines in the sand that humans call countries are just that, human-made lines that virus don’t recognise or respect. 

Trump is focussed on the November US Presidential Election. His anti-Chinese, nationalist, America First rhetoric is his go-to response to keep his political base onside. He is placing his political ambition ahead of millions of lives both in the US and globally. Trump has placed electoral politics ahead of leadership that could save millions of lives.

He either doesn’t understand or has no interest in understanding how a pandemic really works and subsequently has failed miserably as a leader during this crisis. Tragically the actions of Trump, the US Federal Government and the numerous US States that have failed to follow WHO guidance, will cause many more lives to be needlessly be lost. 

41 comments on “Pandemics are no a time for inward-looking nationalism ”

  1. Forget now 1

    Trump has the concentration span (and social grace) of a fly on shit. Tomorrow he'll likely be ranting about illegal (thus poorly housed and resourced) immigrants higher death rates in NYC proving the need to deport them, or some other nonsense. With any luck, he'll quietly forget about defunding the WHO, and next week be claiming that he was the one who founded the organisation in the first place.

    Trump is not a leader, he is a parasite camouflaged as one. Though importantly, he is very good at what he does. Biden may be a lot of things, but inspirational is not one of them.

  2. Sabine 2

    who would have known, and her fucking emails.

  3. pat 3

    Trump is the disaster we expected him to be but he is not alone. The EU are struggling with both leadership and solidarity as well.

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2020/apr/08/insurers-cut-dividends-bank-of-england-payouts-coronavirus-covid-19-crisis-aviva-legal-general-business-live

  4. RedLogix 4

    As the one person here who has consistently promoted the universal, global perspective I have to say how deeply disappointed I am in how WHO has handled COVID19. The facts are simple and undeniable.

    Pandemics don’t care about national borders. These artificial lines in the sand that humans call countries are just that, human-made lines that virus don’t recognise or respect.

    Up until Feb 28 Tedros was denying the need to close down global travel, the one single measure that could have stopped this damn thing in it's tracks. Instead he was bleating on about testing, when most nations were not in a position to do so at scale.

    Tedros then delayed calling this event a pandemic until well after it was blindly obvious that it was.

    On these two facts alone he stands condemned as an incompetent failure. The clear impression many, many people have is that this avowed marxist, with only modest professional credentials in the field of health, has put the political interests of China at the top of his list of priorities. At the very least no-one can have any confidence in his judgement; he has damaged a vital global institution at a critical moment and must go.

    This of course is no defense of the USA. Trump's administration is chaotic at best, and in an entrenched atmosphere of hyper-partisanship that dates back to at least Clinton's time, their capacity to respond to emergencies coherently is no longer there. They will pay a very high price for this.

    In the wider context it also speaks to the other theme that most people are missing; that the USA is no longer all that interested in propping up the global order as we know it. Trump is merely the end-point of a process that started with Clinton. Successive US Presidents have paid decreasing levels of attention on foreign policy, leaving the system increasingly rudderless and fragmented. Bush Jnr's version of foreign policy had only one point of focus … the aftermath of 9/11. Obama did little of use and Trump has brought a sledge hammer to what remains.

    This attack on WHO, deplorable as it is, is merely a dot point in a much larger process that seems to be gathering momentum.

    • McFlock 4.1

      Bit harsh on Clinton: a lot of his actions were a response to the inefficacy of global mechanisms to deal with the post-Cold War situation. So he went multilateral – e.g. NATO expansionism and resolutions to the Balkan wars. Multilateralism vs panlateralism, I guess. Same with trade deals.

      But I think that in many ways all the actions by the post-Bush snr presidents could be argued to have been done with the national interest as a consideration at least somewhere along the line, even if the political lenses meant they were actually harming the nation in the long run. Except the current guy.

      • RedLogix 4.1.1

        Yes I agree I'm being a bit glib on Clinton, his contribution was more than this.

        No US President can totally ignore global events, but in essence from Clinton onward they've been more reactionary than visionary. Besides to put it politely, Clinton was prone to 'distraction', he was great at immediate events, but lacked a plan.

        Bush Snr took a vision to the nation of what could be possible in the unique uni-polar world that arose when the Soviet Union collapsed. He openly discussed a New World Order, his personal goal being “a thousand points of light,” a community of free nations striving to better the human condition in ways heretofore unimaginable. Of course he got voted out. After decades of the Cold War the American people were over the rest of the world. This was the great lost opportunity that slipped by, and from then onward the US has become increasingly self-absorbed in a vicious cultural war.

        Clinton, Bush Jnr, Obama and now the Wrecker in Chief have steadily walked back from the implicit US security guarantee. Slowly but surely all the conditions that have made the post WW2 gravy train possible are grinding to a halt. The world is waking up to this and it will have consequences.

        • McFlock 4.1.1.1

          The NWO idea was killed by Somalia and the Balkans. Rwanda just exacerbated it.

          Particularly Somalia: the brief was to protect the food aid, and the yanks decided that meant pacifying the nation. Whoops.

          After that plan got torn up, they went to bulwarking NATO and expanding trade.

          • RedLogix 4.1.1.1.1

            Yup. Good examples of bad mis-steps along the way.

            the brief was to protect the food aid, and the yanks decided that meant pacifying the nation.

            Can you see it from the US perspective? They were trying to do the right thing and help deliver aid, but the locals were downright rude and disruptive about it. If the same scenario had played out in say New Orleans, there would have been zero problem with the US govt dealing to armed criminals hijacking aid.

            It’s a good example of the limits of a global order centred on a single nation, no matter how powerful can never have the moral authority to fully pursue outcomes to their logical end.

            • McFlock 4.1.1.1.1.1

              Nah that's a complete misreading of the situation. UN needed camp guards and convoy security. Instead they started snatching "warlords" in order to decapitate the rival factions.

              The people they snatched were not just mercenary adventurers, though, they were also local cultural leaders. And yanks being yanks, they viewed civilians as the threat and treated them like shit.

              It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

              Funnily enough, I've recently been reading about Nordbat 2 in the Balkans, which was a bit of UNPROFOR that did it right. They stuck top the job of keeping roads open and keeping hospitals safe, but did it without bullshit and developed their own ROE without reference to politicians, but with the mission and law in mind. So they refused to cede control of a hospital even though outnumbered and without support, forced roadblocks open, and fired back when threatened or fired upon.

              That's all that the yanks were asked to do: provide a legitimate replacement for the "technical support" line item human rights orgs had at the time (why utes with machine guns on the back are still sometimes called "technicals" today).

              Instead they started with a beach landing and hovering helicopters over every other block.

              • RedLogix

                Oh FFS.

                UN needed camp guards and convoy security. Instead they started snatching "warlords" in order to decapitate the rival factions.

                And exactly why was this 'convoy security' needed?

                Because Somalia was an ungoverned shit hole where your precious fucking civilian 'rival factions' (with hearts of pure fucking gold) were snatching whatever they could.

                As I said … the locals were being rude and disruptive.

                And if the same thing was going down within the US borders, the local warlords criminals involved would be dealt to summarily. Essentially I’m agreeing with you; the same approach didn’t work so well in Somalia, primarily because the US lacked the political and moral authority to act in the same way.

                • McFlock

                  The USA has a functioning government. Somalia did not.

                  Somalia was in an anarchic situation. Cleaning that up was not the job of the US army. The mandate was to provide a secure environment for humanitarian aid. The yanks interpreted that as "further destabilise the nation and just be another party in the war, because that really worked in Lebanon".

                  A more narrow interpretation would be NORDBAT 2's approach of "don't let anyone fuck with the aid".

                  The proof is in the pudding. NORDBAT2 didn't end the war, but they kept the roads open and protected themselves and civilians. If all UNPROFOR had been run like that, rather than surrendering thousands of civilians to be massacred, maybe the massacres wouldn't have taken place.

                  • RedLogix

                    Jesus wept. If you're going to bitch at me even when I agree with you it's hard to think you're coming from a place of good faith.

                    Yeah sure the Yanks screwed up, they did their level best to get it wrong on any number of occasions. The USA is a democracy, the govt that set out to stop the Soviets in the 1940's was not the same one as got heavy handed in Somalia. Their lack of angelic perfection for all time doesn't undermine my broad argument one jot.

                    Read what I'm saying carefully and stop projecting. I'm emphatically NOT NOT NOT defending the USA. I'm describing what happened and what impact it has had. The post WW2 Cold War global order came with both good and bad consequences. It's important to understand both, because when the Yanks go home … and in this all the anti-US types here should be celebrating …. both the good AND the bad will go home with them.

                    Now if like most hard left types you've had a singular focus on all the bad things the US has done, you're in for a nasty surprise when the reality of a world without an implicit US security guarantee goes away as well.

                    And if you want to pretend this security doesn't exist, then I ask you to tell me why do you imagine the largest naval force in history was built to serve no useful purpose? One US supercarrier battle group may have more firepower than most of the rest of the world's navies combined … and they have 11 of them. Way in excess of what was needed to defend the North American continent, or even enforce the Monroe Doctrine. These guys could project serious impact anywhere in the world, a capacity only a handful of other nations can even remotely approach.

                    Did they build all of this capacity just for shits and giggles?

                    • McFlock

                      Well, "shits" being "superpower dick-measuring" and "giggles" being "military-industrial complex". But that doesn't mesh so well with your little speech from A Few Good men.

                      The US, through its own incompetence, causes as much (or more) insecurity than it prevents.

                      NWO was a workable idea, for almost anyone else. The yanks jumped the first hurdle ok, and got bases in Saudi Arabia to boot. Then they faceplanted the following three hurdles, and that was that for the NWO. No pax americana, and a few new enemies to meet in the early 21st century.

                    • RedLogix

                      Well, "shits" being "superpower dick-measuring" and "giggles" being "military-industrial complex".

                      Such an obdurate cynicism doesn't make for useful conversation. I've laid out my case in good faith and in detail. Sniping around the margins is tedious at best.

                    • McFlock

                      You keep going around in circles, arguing "security" then getting defensive when people point out that the absence of the "security" provided by the US also requires the absence of the instability or other harm that the US causes, then saying the US is a fact of life, and then back to arguing security.

                      But please keep calling me "hard left", I'm sure it gives one or two people here a fine old laugh.

                    • RedLogix

                      My argument is watertight. The essential pre-condition to prosperity is trade, and for trade to happen security is essential. Otherwise the local warlords/pirates/neighbouring states are apt to simply seize your goods or kidnap your services for their own benefit. This is the undeniable pattern of human history.

                      Empire was predicated on the ability to provide trade security. Period. There is no possible argument with this assertion; one only has to look at the relationship between the British Empire and the Royal Navy to see this in crystal detail. Every other empire in history develops a military to accomplish this essential function, I can think of no significant exceptions.

                      Now post WW2 what changed? Why did we no longer need British warships to provide trade security? And yet suddenly almost every nation on earth could reliably trade with every other and it all worked almost flawlessly … do you imagine the bloody fairies were making this possible?

                      Yes there were formal 'international agreements' in place, but they meant nothing unless enforceable. And there was only one entity remotely capable of enforcing trade route security globally … the US Navy. They never had to provide convoy escorts as anyone stupid enough to make a nuisance of themselves would know the consequences. Overwhelming superiority has it's merits … you rarely have to use it.

                      Consider the fact that the US had a supercarrier battle group permanently stationed in the Persian Gulf until 2015. No other nation could remotely have imposed security in what is historically the most dangerous part of the world. The Saudi's and Iranians loath each other viscerally; the Iranians want to restore their glory days of Persian Empire and roll over the Middle East, while the downright feudal Saudis know a mortal enemy when they see one. Not to mention the Shite/Sunni thing which drives it all. Just as soon as the Iranians think they've re-built sufficient military capacity they'll be rolling into Iraq and taking aim at Saudi.

                      Hell they've already taken potshots at each other … in any real conflict the oil installations will be the primary target. If the US Navy goes home, how the fuck do you imagine anyone else is going to provide protection to the supertankers passing through the Straits of Hormuz …. geography matters. And a lot more than we like to think.

                      If you think oil is cheap now, what happens when nobody can reliably get it out of the ME? Why do you think Saudi is in a price war with Russia and US shale oil? It’s to try and cement their pre-eminent position in the market and thereby ensure they have allies they can call on.

                      Edit: Also worth a read:

                      https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/10/the-death-of-global-order-was-caused-by-clinton-bush-and-obama/

                    • joe90

                      Now post WW what changed?

                      Most of this is behind a paywall but the argument seems to be that it's more about the lack of hegemony.

                      Charles Kindleberger, one of the intellectual architects of the Marshall Plan, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was a result of the United States' failure to provide global public goods after it had replaced Britain as the leading power. Today, as China’s power grows, will it make the same mistake?

                      https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/kindleberger-trap

                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegemonic_stability_theory

                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P._Kindleberger

                    • RedLogix

                      joe

                      That first link scans really well. It makes a lot of sense and not only buttresses my argument here, but takes it a lot further. I haven't encountered Kindleberger before … thanks.

                      As US President-elect Donald Trump prepares his administration’s policy toward China, he should be wary of two major traps that history has set for him. The “Thucydides Trap,” cited by Chinese President Xi Jinping, refers to the warning by the ancient Greek historian that cataclysmic war can erupt if an established power (like the United States) becomes too fearful of a rising power (like China). But Trump also has to worry about the “Kindleberger Trap”: a China that seems too weak rather than too strong.

                      Charles Kindleberger, an intellectual architect of the Marshall Plan who later taught at MIT, argued that the disastrous decade of the 1930s was caused when the US replaced Britain as the largest global power but failed to take on Britain’s role in providing global public goods. The result was the collapse of the global system into depression, genocide, and world war. Today, as China’s power grows, will it help provide global public goods?

                      Interesting paradox. For a very long time I was convinced that a rising China represented the new imperial power with expansionary intent. Indeed listening to their rhetoric, one can easily come to this conclusion.

                      However looking at the realities paints a different picture. China has absolutely benefited from it's participation in the global trade order, it has gone from a third world basket case to the workshop of the world in 40 year. In this the Chinese people have accomplished much. But this is not necessarily a strong China.

                      Geography is against them, they cannot project a blue water navy beyond the First Island chain without encountering potentially hostile adversaries all the way from Taiwan to India. (Incidentally the Indians and Chinese have been periodically in conflict with each other for centuries). The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force is the navy the Chinese wished they had.

                      Their labour force is aging and becoming more expensive. Recently they've encountered shortages; their biggest asset, cheap labour, is going away.

                      As a direct result of the one child policy there is a real shortage of 30 year olds, the group that would generate the highest domestic consumption.

                      They are highly dependent on imported raw materials and energy, especially oil from the ME.

                      Their agricultural sector is barely able to feed their population and is also highly dependent on imported fertilisers and the like. Thin arid soils in the north give way to rugged land in the south, with much of the best land now urbanised.

                      The CCP is committed to a low trust, highly authoritarian surveillance society. This cannot have a good outcome; the Chinese people may place a higher weight on the communal than the West, but they aren’t mindless hive minds either.

                      How any of this will play out is impossible to predict, but the possibility of all the crisis’ exploding at once cannot be ruled out.

                    • McFlock

                      I reckon the ME nations would still be selling oil without the US interventionism. That's why they developed OPEC.

                      Especially as the current Iranian regime is the reaction to a US-supported (in part) coup d'etat bringing in a repressive regime that lasted 20 years. See how that works? You're arguing that the yanks are providing protection from the folks who protected themselves from the last people to whom the yanks provided protection.

                      It's not all bad: the UN was a damned good move. The yanks just never let it do its job, though. The network of trade deals is also a good idea, but they're not the only ones working on that.

                    • RedLogix

                      I reckon the ME nations would still be selling oil without the US interventionism.

                      Really? This is just a list of ME conflict since 1914. This left wing idea that every problem in that part of the world is a result of western imperial meddling is only fractionally true.

                      The ME has a long, long history of conflict, well before any western involvement. In particular the conflict between the Persians and Arabs is both deep seated and visceral.

                      In many ways the civil war in Syria can be seen as the opening gambit in the upcoming war between Saudi and Iran. If you think Iran has been hyper violent in its support for Assad, this is nothing compared to the covert Saudi/Wahabi backing for jihadist groups like ISIS and Al Qaeda whose record of medieval atrocities is a great match for Saudis feudal fundamentalism.

                      And if Syria is not obvious enough to you, consider the drone attacks on Saudi oil production just late last year. Again this wasn't done by the fairies.

                      If you imagine the ME to be an oasis of peaceful hippie good loving think again.

                  • McFlock

                    That list impresses me with how much peace US protection has given to the region.

                    • RedLogix

                      Yet here is the astonishing thing, for all of this conflict the global oil supply, that most vulnerable commodity, has mostly kept flowing to all nations. Little old NZ included.

                    • McFlock

                      Like diamonds and coltan and phosphate and copper from other war zones.

                    • RedLogix

                      The oil kept the world running … you can moralise about this all you like, but without it nothing would have been the same.

                      You sure as hell wouldn’t be here carping on about it.

                    • McFlock

                      So? West Saharan phosphate gets dumped on our farms at a price cheaper than equivalent alternatives.

                      Trade happens in and out of war zones. Bullets are expensive, and there's always someone willing to make a buck. Purest form of capitalism there is: laws and regulations sidelined, anything can be traded.

                    • RedLogix

                      Well done, you've derailed the original point right off the planet.

                      It’s been precisely the lack of any grand policy vision since GH Bush that has propelled the US into one foreign policy blunder after another. You carp at these failures, oblivious that you are essentially confirming my point. The US is slowly pulling back from the world and these mistakes are but a foretaste of what is to come.

                      It's my guess that within 2 -3 yrs, perhaps less, the absence of the US global security guarantee will play out vividly enough.

                    • McFlock

                      Oh please. The US "global security gurantee" was exactly the same security guarantee as every other global empire or local neighbourhood protection racket.

                      Globalisation is driven by technology, not US government doctrine. China has its Belt and Road, Russia has its own GPS satellites. Nobody wants to interrupt global trade. So we go back to Great Power diplomacy, rather than single-superpower diplomacy. Only now we have a UN and a multitude of other examples of global governmental cooperation.

        • joe90 4.1.1.2

          He openly discussed a New World Order, his personal goal being “a thousand points of light,” a community of free nations striving to better the human condition in ways heretofore unimaginable. Of course he got voted out.

          He was speechifying in both his nomination and inaugural addresses about community organisations, nothing more.

          This is America: the Knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and Professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC {League of United Latin American Citizens}, Holy Name, a brilliant diversity spreads like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky.

          https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-accepting-the-presidential-nomination-the-republican-national-convention-new

          http://archive.li/K6AmH#selection-747.0-747.622

    • Poission 4.2

      Up until Feb 28 Tedros was denying the need to close down global travel, the one single measure that could have stopped this damn thing in it's tracks. Instead he was bleating on about testing, when most nations were not in a position to do so at scale.

      The researchers who first called the alarm on CV were consistently critical of WHO and their recommendations.

      https://twitter.com/normonics/status/1247648187701215232

      • RedLogix 4.2.1

        And all through Feb the very measured Dr John Campbell was constantly lamenting Tedros's inexplicable obstinacy.

        The damage this man has done to the idea of global scale governance is immense … I'm bloody furious about it.

        • KJT 4.2.1.1

          Imagine. "Global scale Governance" and being forced to follow the US, policy, for "the good of the Global economy".

          I couldn't imagine anything, worse!

          • RedLogix 4.2.1.1.1

            No you can't. You've consistently demonstrated a remarkable lack of imagination.

            If you had bothered to actually read anything I've said on the topic, as opposed to mere projecting, you would have noticed me insisting that the current form of 'great power' dominated global governance is fatally flawed and cannot last.

            Yes it has brought us great benefits (and this should indicate to us the potential of the globalisation if we did it properly), but it never meant the US-centric post-WW2 system was ever going to be sustainable. Inevitably the internal contradictions would mean it would come to an end; in this case the American people lost interest in propping up a system they were not really benefiting from. Hence Trump and MAGA … the great decoupling.

            An authentic global system shares most of the same characteristics of a successful nation state, universal authority, devolution of power, democratic accountability, rule of law and independent legal and media institutions to name a few.

            Yet there is only one thing worse than bad government and that is no government. The same is true at the global level, the US system has been a defacto stand in for the real thing since WW2, but now it is going away. The absence will become acutely obvious very soon.

  5. Macro 5

    But what did Obama ever do to stop this?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwjegyrhNiM

  6. Amakiwi 6

    If Trump loses the election and is forced out of office, he will spend the rest of his life in court rooms and possibly in jail.

    A federal pardon will not protect from being prosecuted by states on numerous other charges.

    He is a cornered animal fighting for his life. Very dangerous.

  7. weka 7

    Nick, if you're reading comments, I've fixed the image sizes in the post. The Trump photo in particular was way oversized. The system does that now sometimes. The fix is to open Visual mode editor and drag the corners to adjust the photo inwards a bit (this seems to trigger the system to adjust it to the right size). I also edited the photos and selected Centre.

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    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    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 Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    12 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    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 ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    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; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$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 ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    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. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    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 Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    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 ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    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 ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    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. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    8 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
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