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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    This week the International Energy Association released its Net Zero Roadmap, intended to guide us towards a liveable climate. The report demanded huge increases in renewable generation, no new gas or oil, and massive cuts to methane emissions. It was positive about our current path, but recommended that countries with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • “Racism” becomes a buzz word on the campaign trail – but our media watchdogs stay muzzled when...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Oh, dear.  We have nothing to report from the Beehive. At least, we have nothing to report from the government’s official website. But the drones have not gone silent.  They are out on the election campaign trail, busy buzzing about this and that in the hope ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Play it, Elvis
    Election Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t have time for. You’re welcome, etc. Let us press on, etc. 1.  What did Christopher Luxon use to his advantage in ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Pure class warfare
    National unveiled its fiscal policy today, announcing all the usual things which business cares about and I don't. But it did finally tell us how National plans to pay for its handouts to landlords: by effectively cutting benefits: The biggest saving announced on Friday was $2b cut from the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Ask Me Anything about the week to Sept 29
    Photo by Anna Ogiienko on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for an hour, including:duelling fiscal plans from National and Labour;Labour cutting cycling spending while accusing National of being weak on climate;Research showing the need for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Weekly Roundup 29-September-2023
    Welcome to Friday and the last one for September. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Matt highlighted at the latest with the City Rail Link. On Tuesday, Matt covered the interesting items from Auckland Transport’s latest board meeting agendas. On Thursday, a guest post from Darren Davis ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago
  • Protest at Parliament: The Reunion.
    Brian’s god spoke to him. He, for of course the Lord in Tamaki’s mind was a male god, with a mighty rod, and probably some black leathers. He, told Brian - “you must put a stop to all this love, hope, and kindness”. And it did please the Brian.He said ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Labour cuts $50m from cycleway spending
    Labour is cutting spending on cycling infrastructure while still trying to claim the higher ground on climate. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Labour Government released a climate manifesto this week to try to claim the high ground against National, despite having ignored the Climate Commission’s advice to toughen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • The Greater Of Two Evils.
    Not Labour: If you’re out to punish the government you once loved, then the last thing you need is to be shown evidence that the opposition parties are much, much worse.THE GREATEST VIRTUE of being the Opposition is not being the Government. Only very rarely is an opposition party elected ...
    1 day ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #39 2023
    Open access notables "Net zero is only a distraction— we just have to end fossil fuel emissions." The latter is true but the former isn't, or  not in the real world as it's likely to be in the immediate future. And "just" just doesn't enter into it; we don't have ...
    2 days ago
  • Chris Trotter: Losing the Left
    IN THE CURRENT MIX of electoral alternatives, there is no longer a credible left-wing party. Not when “a credible left-wing party” is defined as: a class-oriented, mass-based, democratically-structured political organisation; dedicated to promoting ideas sharply critical of laissez-faire capitalism; and committed to advancing democratic, egalitarian and emancipatory ideals across the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago
  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Hipkins fires up in leaders’ debate, but has the curtain already fallen on the Labour-led coalitio...
    Labour’s  Chris Hipkins came out firing, in the  leaders’ debate  on Newshub’s evening programme, and most of  the pundits  rated  him the winner against National’s  Christopher Luxon. But will this make any difference when New  Zealanders  start casting their ballots? The problem  for  Hipkins is  that  voters are  all too ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    2 days ago
  • Govt is energising housing projects with solar power – and fuelling the public’s concept of a di...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Not long after Point of Order published data which show the substantial number of New Zealanders (77%) who believe NZ is becoming more divided, government ministers were braying about a programme which distributes some money to “the public” and some to “Maori”. The ministers were dishing ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • MIKE GRIMSHAW: Election 2023 – a totemic & charisma failure?
    The D&W analysis Michael Grimshaw writes –  Given the apathy, disengagement, disillusionment, and all-round ennui of this year’s general election, it was considered time to bring in those noted political operatives and spin doctors D&W, the long-established consultancy firm run by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Known for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • FROM BFD: Will Winston be the spectre we think?
    Kissy kissy. Cartoon credit BoomSlang. The BFD. JC writes-  Allow me to preface this contribution with the following statement: If I were asked to express a preference between a National/ACT coalition or a National/ACT/NZF coalition then it would be the former. This week Luxon declared his position, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • California’s climate disclosure bill could have a huge impact across the U.S.
    This re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Andy Furillo was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The California Legislature took a step last week that has the potential to accelerate the fight against climate ...
    2 days ago
  • Untangling South East Queensland’s Public Transport
    This is a cross post Adventures in Transitland by Darren Davis. I recently visited Brisbane and South East Queensland and came away both impressed while also pondering some key changes to make public transport even better in the region. Here goes with my take on things. A bit of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    2 days ago
  • Try A Little Kindness.
    My daughter arrived home from the supermarket yesterday and she seemed a bit worried about something. It turned out she wanted to know if someone could get her bank number from a receipt.We wound the story back.She was in the store and there was a man there who was distressed, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • What makes NZFirst tick
    New Zealand’s longest-running political roadshow rolled into Opotiki yesterday, with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters knowing another poll last night showed he would make it back to Parliament and National would need him and his party if they wanted to form a government. The Newshub Reid Research poll ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • September AMA
    Hi,As September draws to a close — I feel it’s probably time to do an Ask Me Anything. You know how it goes: If you have any burning questions, fire away in the comments and I will do my best to answer. You might have questions about Webworm, or podcast ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • Bludgers lying in the scratcher making fools of us all
    The mediocrity who stands to be a Prime Minister has a litany.He uses it a bit like a Koru Lounge card. He will brandish it to say: these people are eligible. And more than that, too: These people are deserving. They have earned this policy.They have a right to this policy. What ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • More “partnerships” (by the look of it) and redress of over $30 million in Treaty settlement wit...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point of Order has waited until now – 3.45pm – for today’s officially posted government announcements.  There have been none. The only addition to the news on the Beehive’s website was posted later yesterday, after we had published our September 26 Buzz report. It came from ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • ALEX HOLLAND: Labour’s spending
    Alex Holland writes –  In 2017 when Labour came to power, crown spending was $76 billion per year. Now in 2023 it is $139 billion per year, which equates to a $63 billion annual increase (over $1 billion extra spend every week!) In 2017, New Zealand’s government debt ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • If not now, then when?
    Labour released its fiscal plan today, promising the same old, same old: "responsibility", balanced books, and of course no new taxes: "Labour will maintain income tax settings to provide consistency and certainty in these volatile times. Now is not the time for additional taxes or to promise billions of ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • THE FACTS:  77% of Kiwis believe NZ is becoming more divided
    The Facts has posted –        KEY INSIGHTSOf New Zealander’s polled: Social unity/division 77%believe NZ is becoming more divided (42% ‘much more’ + 35% ‘a little more’) 3%believe NZ is becoming less divided (1% ‘much less’ + 2% ‘a little less’) ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the cynical brutality of the centre-right’s welfare policies
    The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve Bank) for throwing people out of paid work to curb inflation, and achieve the optimal balance of workers to job seekers deemed to be desirable ...
    3 days ago
  • Wednesday’s Chorus: Arthur Grimes on why building many, many more social houses is so critical
    New research shows that tenants in social housing - such as these Wellington apartments - are just as happy as home owners and much happier than private tenants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The election campaign took an ugly turn yesterday, and in completely the wrong direction. All three ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Old habits
    Media awareness about global warming and climate change has grown fairly steadily since 2004. My impression is that journalists today tend to possess a higher climate literacy than before. This increasing awareness and improved knowledge is encouraging, but there are also some common interpretations which could be more nuanced. ...
    Real ClimateBy rasmus
    3 days ago
  • Bennie Bashing.
    If there’s one thing the mob loves more than keeping Māori in their place, more than getting tough on the gangs, maybe even more than tax cuts. It’s a good old round of beneficiary bashing.Are those meanies in the ACT party stealing your votes because they think David Seymour is ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • The kindest cuts
    Labour kicks off the fiscal credibility battle today with the release of its fiscal plan. National is expected to follow, possibly as soon as Thursday, with its own plan, which may (or may not) address the large hole that the problems with its foreign buyers’ ban might open up. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Green right turn in Britain? Well, a start
    While it may be unlikely to register in New Zealand’s general election, Britain’s PM Rishi Sunak has done something which might just be important in the long run. He’s announced a far-reaching change in his Conservative government’s approach to environmental, and particularly net zero, policy. The starting point – ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    4 days ago
  • At a glance – How do human CO2 emissions compare to natural CO2 emissions?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    4 days ago
  • How could this happen?
    Canada is in uproar after the exposure that its parliament on September 22 provided a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran who had been invited into the chamber to participate in the parliamentary welcome to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a Ukrainian man who volunteered for service in ...
    4 days ago
  • Always Be Campaigning
    The big screen is a great place to lay out the ways of the salesman. He comes ready-made for Panto, ripe for lampooning.This is not to disparage that life. I have known many good people of that kind. But there is a type, brazen as all get out. The camera ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • STEPHEN FRANKS: Press seek to publicly shame doctor – we must push back
    The following is a message sent yesterday from lawyer Stephen Franks on behalf of the Free Speech Union. I don’t like to interrupt first thing Monday morning, but we’ve just become aware of a case where we think immediate and overwhelming attention could help turn the tide. It involves someone ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Competing on cruelty
    The right-wing message calendar is clearly reading "cruelty" today, because both National and NZ First have released beneficiary-bashing policies. National is promising a "traffic light" system to police and kick beneficiaries, which will no doubt be accompanied by arbitrary internal targets to classify people as "orange" or "red" to keep ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Further funding for Pharmac (forgotten in the Budget?) looks like a $1bn appeal from a PM in need of...
    Buzz from the Beehive One Labour plan  – for 3000 more public homes by 2025 – is the most recent to be posted on the government’s official website. Another – a prime ministerial promise of more funding for Pharmac – has been released as a Labour Party press statement. Who ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: The Vested interests shaping National Party policies
    As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that might arise. One of the key individuals of ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Labour may be on way out of power and NZ First back in – but will Peters go into coalition with Na...
    Voters  are deserting Labour in droves, despite Chris  Hipkins’  valiant  rearguard  action.  So  where  are they  heading?  Clearly  not all of them are going to vote National, which concedes that  the  outcome  will be “close”. To the Right of National, the ACT party just a  few weeks  ago  was ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • GRAHAM ADAMS: Will the racists please stand up?
    Accusations of racism by journalists and MPs are being called out. Graham Adams writes –    With the election less than three weeks away, what co-governance means in practice — including in water management, education, planning law and local government — remains largely obscure. Which is hardly ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on whether Winston Peters can be a moderating influence
    As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about the wisdom of giving National and ACT the power to govern alone. That’s why yesterday’s Newshub/Reid Research poll had the National/ACT combo dropping to 60 ...
    4 days ago
  • Tuesday’s Chorus: RBNZ set to rain on National's victory parade
    ANZ has increased its forecast for house inflation later this year on signs of growing momentum in the market ahead of the election. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: National has campaigned against the Labour Government’s record on inflation and mortgage rates, but there’s now a growing chance the Reserve ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • After a Pittsburgh coal processing plant closed, ER visits plummeted
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Katie Myers. This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Pittsburgh, in its founding, was blessed and cursed with two abundant natural resources: free-flowing rivers and a nearby coal seam. ...
    4 days ago
  • September-23 AT Board Meeting
    Today the AT board meet again and once again I’ve taken a look at what’s on the agenda to find the most interesting items. Closed Agenda Interestingly when I first looked at the agendas this paper was there but at the time of writing this post it had been ...
    4 days ago
  • Electorate Watch: West Coast-Tasman
    Continuing my series on interesting electorates, today it’s West Coast-Tasman.A long thin electorate running down the northern half of the west coast of the South Island. Think sand flies, beautiful landscapes, lots of rain, Pike River, alternative lifestylers, whitebaiting, and the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A brief word ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Big money brings Winston back
    National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday morning conceded it and last night’s Newshub poll confirmed it; Winston Peters and NZ First are not only back but highly likely to be part of the next government. It is a remarkable comeback for a party that was tossed out of Parliament in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • 20 days until Election Day, 7 until early voting begins… but what changes will we really see here?
    As this blogger, alongside many others, has already posited in another forum: we all know the National Party’s “budget” (meaning this concept of even adding up numbers properly is doing a lot of heavy, heavy lifting right now) is utter and complete bunk (read hung, drawn and quartered and ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    5 days ago
  • A night out
    Everyone was asking, Are you nervous? and my response was various forms of God, yes.I've written more speeches than I can count; not much surprises me when the speaker gets to their feet and the room goes quiet.But a play? Never.YOU CAME! THANK YOU! Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • A pallid shade of Green III
    Clearly Labour's focus groups are telling it that it needs to pay more attention to climate change - because hot on the heels of their weaksauce energy efficiency pilot programme and not-great-but-better-than-nothing solar grants, they've released a full climate manifesto. Unfortunately, the core policies in it - a second Emissions ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • A coalition of racism, cruelty, and chaos
    Today's big political news is that after months of wibbling, National's Chris Luxon has finally confirmed that he is willing to work with Winston Peters to become Prime Minister. Which is expected, but I guess it tells us something about which way the polls are going. Which raises the question: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • More migrant workers should help generate the tax income needed to provide benefits for job seekers
    Buzz from the Beehive Under something described as a “rebalance” of its immigration rules, the Government has adopted four of five recommendations made in an independent review released in July, The fifth, which called on the government to specify criteria for out-of-hours compliance visits similar to those used during ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Letter To Luxon.
    Some of you might know Gerard Otto (G), and his G News platform. This morning he wrote a letter to Christopher Luxon which I particularly enjoyed, and with his agreement I’m sharing it with you in this guest newsletter.If you’d like to make a contribution to support Gerard’s work you ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Alarming trend in benefit numbers
    Lindsay Mitchell writes –  While there will not be another quarterly release of benefit numbers prior to the election, limited weekly reporting continues and is showing an alarming trend. Because there is a seasonal component to benefit number fluctuations it is crucial to compare like with like. In ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON: Has there been external structural change?
    A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase.   Brian Easton writes –  Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • CRL Progress – Sep-23
    It’s been a while since we looked at the latest with the City Rail Link and there’s been some fantastic milestones recently. To start with, and most recently, CRL have released an awesome video showing a full fly-through of one of the tunnels. Come fly with us! You asked for ...
    5 days ago
  • Monday’s Chorus: Not building nearly enough
    We are heading into another period of fast population growth without matching increased home building or infrastructure investment.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Labour and National detailed their house building and migration approaches over the weekend, with both pledging fast population growth policies without enough house building or infrastructure investment ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Game on; Hipkins comes out punching
    Labour leader Chris Hipkins yesterday took the gloves off and laid into National and its leader Christopher Luxon. For many in Labour – and particularly for some at the top of the caucus and the party — it would not have been a moment too soon. POLITIK is aware ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Tax Cut Austerity Blues.
    The leaders have had their go, they’ve told us the “what?” and the “why?” of their promises. Now it’s the turn of the would be Finance Ministers to tell us the “how?”, the “how much?”, and the “when?”A chance for those competing for the second most powerful job in the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • MIKE GRIMSHAW:  It’s the economy – and the spirit – Stupid…
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Over the past 30-odd years it’s become almost an orthodoxy to blame or invoke neoliberalism for the failures of New Zealand society. On the left the usual response goes something like, neoliberalism is the cause of everything that’s gone wrong and the answer ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #38
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 17, 2023 thru Sat, Sep 23, 2023. Story of the Week  Opinion: Let’s free ourselves from the story of economic growth A relentless focus on economic growth has ushered in ...
    6 days ago
  • The End Of The World.
    Have you been looking out of your window for signs of the apocalypse? Don’t worry, you haven’t been door knocked by a representative of the Brian Tamaki party. They’re probably a bit busy this morning spruiking salvation, or getting ready to march on our parliament, which is closed. No, I’ve ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Climate Town: The Brainwashing Of America's Children
    Climate Town is the YouTube channel of Rollie Williams and a ragtag team of climate communicators, creatives and comedians. They examine climate change in a way that doesn’t make you want to eat a cyanide pill. Get informed about the climate crisis before the weather does it for you. The latest ...
    1 week ago
  • Has There Been External Structural Change?
    A close analysis of the Treasury assessment of the Medium Term in its PREFU 2023 suggests the economy may be entering a new phase. Last week I explained that the forecasts in the just published Treasury Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (PREFU 2023) was similar to the May Budget BEFU, ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago

  • New community-level energy projects to support more than 800 Māori households
    Seven more innovative community-scale energy projects will receive government funding through the Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund to bring more affordable, locally generated clean energy to more than 800 Māori households, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. “We’ve already funded 42 small-scale clean energy projects that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Huge boost to Te Tai Tokerau flood resilience
    The Government has approved new funding that will boost resilience and greatly reduce the risk of major flood damage across Te Tai Tokerau. Significant weather events this year caused severe flooding and damage across the region. The $8.9m will be used to provide some of the smaller communities and maraes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Napier’s largest public housing development comes with solar
    The largest public housing development in Napier for many years has been recently completed and has the added benefit of innovative solar technology, thanks to Government programmes, says Housing Minister Dr Megan Woods. The 24 warm, dry homes are in Seddon Crescent, Marewa and Megan Woods says the whanau living ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Te Whānau a Apanui and the Crown initial Deed of Settlement I Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me...
    Māori: Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna te Whakaaetanga Whakataunga Kua waitohua e Te Whānau a Apanui me te Karauna i tētahi Whakaaetanga Whakataunga hei whakamihi i ō rātou tāhuhu kerēme Tiriti o Waitangi. E tekau mā rua ngā hapū o roto mai o Te Whānau ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Plan for 3,000 more public homes by 2025 – regions set to benefit
    Regions around the country will get significant boosts of public housing in the next two years, as outlined in the latest public housing plan update, released by the Housing Minister, Dr Megan Woods. “We’re delivering the most public homes each year since the Nash government of the 1950s with one ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Immigration settings updates
    Judicial warrant process for out-of-hours compliance visits 2023/24 Recognised Seasonal Employer cap increased by 500 Additional roles for Construction and Infrastructure Sector Agreement More roles added to Green List Three-month extension for onshore Recovery Visa holders The Government has confirmed a number of updates to immigration settings as part of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Poroporoaki: Tā Patrick (Patu) Wahanga Hohepa
    Tangi ngunguru ana ngā tai ki te wahapū o Hokianga Whakapau Karakia. Tārehu ana ngā pae maunga ki Te Puna o te Ao Marama. Korihi tangi ana ngā manu, kua hinga he kauri nui ki te Wao Nui o Tāne. He Toa. He Pou. He Ahorangi. E papaki tū ana ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Renewable energy fund to support community resilience
    40 solar energy systems on community buildings in regions affected by Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events Virtual capability-building hub to support community organisations get projects off the ground Boost for community-level renewable energy projects across the country At least 40 community buildings used to support the emergency response ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • COVID-19 funding returned to Government
    The lifting of COVID-19 isolation and mask mandates in August has resulted in a return of almost $50m in savings and recovered contingencies, Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Following the revocation of mandates and isolation, specialised COVID-19 telehealth and alternative isolation accommodation are among the operational elements ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Appointment of District Court Judge
    Susie Houghton of Auckland has been appointed as a new District Court Judge, to serve on the Family Court, Attorney-General David Parker said today.  Judge Houghton has acted as a lawyer for child for more than 20 years. She has acted on matters relating to the Hague Convention, an international ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government invests further in Central Hawke’s Bay resilience
    The Government has today confirmed $2.5 million to fund a replace and upgrade a stopbank to protect the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant. “As a result of Cyclone Gabrielle, the original stopbank protecting the Waipawa Drinking Water Treatment Plant was destroyed. The plant was operational within 6 weeks of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Govt boost for Hawke’s Bay cyclone waste clean-up
    Another $2.1 million to boost capacity to deal with waste left in Cyclone Gabrielle’s wake. Funds for Hastings District Council, Phoenix Contracting and Hog Fuel NZ to increase local waste-processing infrastructure. The Government is beefing up Hawke’s Bay’s Cyclone Gabrielle clean-up capacity with more support dealing with the massive amount ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Taupō Supercars revs up with Government support
    The future of Supercars events in New Zealand has been secured with new Government support. The Government is getting engines started through the Major Events Fund, a special fund to support high profile events in New Zealand that provide long-term economic, social and cultural benefits. “The Repco Supercars Championship is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • There is no recession in NZ, economy grows nearly 1 percent in June quarter
    The economy has turned a corner with confirmation today New Zealand never was in recession and stronger than expected growth in the June quarter, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said. “The New Zealand economy is doing better than expected,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s continuing to grow, with the latest figures showing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Highest legal protection for New Zealand’s largest freshwater springs
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