Police and computers: incompetent or just unbalanced?

Written By: - Date published: 8:26 am, August 21st, 2019 - 23 comments
Categories: crime, Dirty Politics, police, Politics, Social issues - Tags: , , , , , ,

I’ve just been reading the decision by the IPCA on the botched and quite illegally obtained warrants for a search of Nicky Hager’s house and belongings, and the unwarranted searches of his accounts with various businesses.

The whole process in this investigation just stinks. It points not only to the lack of process that the IPCA, various courts and the police hierarchy say that they have identified. The police say that they have fixed or are trying to fix these in policy.

Now I think that the police have some pretty selective issues about enforcing laws. Essentially if you’re John Key or Cameron Slater or the FBI then they seem to go all out. If you aren’t so well connected, especially in technical areas of law or computers that they don’t understand so well then complaining to the police appears to be like pissing into the wind. It is probably more useful.

But to me what it clearly points to is that in many areas around technical systems and the legal structures surrounding them, the police and their 19th century structure are clearly completely out of their depth. Even worse, I suspect that they’re falling even further behind all the time

To someone who is a political blogger in the time I can spare from a long career of being a professional commercial computer programmer – this is completely unacceptable. If the acts regarded as being unlawful in legislation are either aren’t being enforced or are being enforced excessively or in a proforma way by the investigating agency – then why bother having the police doing the task? Especially when the IPCA report on the Nicky Hager case clearly shows that the police again acted in an unlawful manner.

The police simply don’t appear to be able to concentrate the skills and clear sense of purpose that are required for dealing with information, computer and network legal issues. Various NZ regional police areas seem to respond quite differently to the same crimes in this area.

It took many years after I was a student marvelling at the lack of legal protections on computer system, but eventually in New Zealand in 2002, explicit laws were put into force in our Crimes Act and Summary Offenses Acts making most ‘grey’ computer based crimes explicitly unlawful. That was nearly two decades ago, and the police appear to only get concerned about these crimes if preferred political connections make them concerning.

There are several points about this that are worth examining, if only because there are so many daft myths held dearly by some self-interested members of the the public and the strange lack of balance by the police.

  • Intrusions into computer systems, networks, and all computer storage media without permission are completely unlawful under the existing and current legislation regardless of the means.
  • If the material was clearly exposed in public by accident, then copying or accessing it is just as unlawful.
  • Conspiring to intrude into a computer system or to access networks or media by trying to encourage or pay someone to do the act is just as unlawful.
  • Receiving or using information obtained by such unlawful means is unlawful.
  • But there are a few exemptions to this. For instance :-
    • Parliament reserves the right for MPs inside the house to be able to present information for public debate regardless of source – subject only to Parliament’s standing orders and the members of parliament and the crown.
    • There are various exemptions for police and other investigative and legal bodies to use unlawfully obtained material in the investigation and prosecution of other crimes – subject to the approval of the courts as to it admissibility in court.
    • And there are various limited privileges for journalists about protecting sources and material to allow public debate and for the public good.

Now this isn’t exactly legal rocket science.

Copying information is no different legally than breaking into someone’s house and stealing documents, pictures, silverware or anything else of value. It used to be back in the dark ages of law that depriving someone of the use of an object was the the test. But over the last few hundred years, information has increasingly been seen as having value, the theft of copies effectively deprived the owner of its value.

The Police don’t appear to have caught up with the changes in the legislation over the subsequent decades. Just to take a few obvious and related examples.

A 2014 hack into Cameron Slater’s computer over the net is made as a complaint to Counties Manukau Police along with the use of the messages, documents and other information obtained by a investigative journalist Nicky Hager who wrote a book based on them. What is the response?

Suddenly there are search warrants obtained and houses raided in Wellington, requests made to banks and airlines. All chasing just one annoying hacker out of the innumerable thousands that infest our computer systems every day.

Almost all of this frantic police activity has been damned in the IPCA authority findings as simply not following what was lawful or proper for the police to do. From the way that the search warrants were requested, through to the way that they were executed, the obvious issues of handling journalistic privilege, and the insane way that police used production orders on banks, airlines, paypal and NZ Customs.

For me, the key bit of the IPCA report was this:-

  1. Mr Hager and his lawyers suggested to the Authority that the amount of resources put into the Rawshark investigation seemed disproportionate.
  2. Mr Hager noted that the Police’s investigation into Rawshark began after Mr Slater sent an email to Assistant Commissioner Malcom Burgess’ PA, complaining that he had been hacked. Mr Hager implied that this contact with a senior Police officer was designed to bring indirect political pressure to bear.
  3. On the other hand, Assistant Commissioner Burgess told the Authority he did not know why Mr Slater emailed his complaint directly to his PA. The Police have maintained that this was a serious offence and that the investigation was run like any other of this sort, apart from the fact that there was probably a bit more oversight because of the high-profile nature of it.
  4. The Authority does not have information about the competing demands upon investigative resources in the Counties Manukau District at the time and is therefore unable to make any real comparison between this and other similar cases.

The IPCA was “unable to reach any conclusion as to whether the resources devoted to the investigation were proportionate to the seriousness of the alleged offense.”

Perhaps they should have asked some of the people who’ve been of the receiving end of the Police’s responses to computer crimes, who weren’t quite so well connected to the National Party or the Police hierarchy. The police seem to be quite selective about who they perform this kind of service for. But a compare and contrast with actions against Cameron Slater’s criminal associations is enlightening.

For instance there is a remarkably similar complaint made to the Waitemata Police about the same time about a hack into Matthew Blomfield’s computer over the net that obtained emails and other material which was subsequently used in blog posts published by Cameron Slater on his commercial blog site. What is the response?

As detailed in the book Whale Oil (see http://whaleoil.co.nz ) – apparently nothing much happens. No search warrants, no production orders. At best there were just a few interviews or statements taken. To me, in a legal sense, there appears to be absolutely no difference between the facts in both of these incidents – apart from the political damage to National from their association with Cameron Slater and/or a plea directly to the Malcolm Burgess.

Sure, if you assume that Cameron Slater was a journalist or if he claims to be one, then there may be a question of privilege about using the material – just as there was for Hager. But as the IPCA report says, that isn’t something that the police need to or should decide. It is a matter for the courts about the level of qualified privilege should apply.

That is quite explicit in the legislation and is something that needs to be decided by the High Court. The police just need to do their duty. The possibility of privilege needs to be mentioned in requests for search warrants and production orders. It needs to be handled appropriately if it arises during the execution of granted search orders and production orders.

Which makes the question of quality control by the police in how they investigate computer crimes and the subsequent use of material wide open to political debate. Do the police play favourites or are they just incompetent with the legislation or how it covers computer systems?

Exactly the same questions seem to arise whenever the Police needed to look at Cameron Slater for criminal behaviour where ever you look. Every other branch of the legal system appear to be able to hold him to account. The courts pulled him up for his criminal offense in breaching court orders. The civil courts finally get him for defamation. The Privacy Commission and the Human Rights Commission eventually pull him up for breaking the Privacy Act.

For instance staying with Blomfield look at what had previously happened to Blomfield when he made a complaint in 2012 about the theft and misuse of private information stored on hard drives and documents for commercial advantage by Slater. The contents of these private documents were selectively misused and misquoted in a series of at least a hundred defamatory posts by Cameron Slater. A selection of these posts have been found to be defamatory by civil court. The use of the copied material has been deemed to be a Privacy Act violation by the Human Rights Commission.

However the actual criminal act of copying the material off computer disks has been passed over without charges by the police despite Cameron Slater stating multiple times that he’d copied from sources obtained unlawfully without their owners permission. Again there is no effective legal difference between copying material from USB drives or from live computer systems – both are unlawful criminal acts without the owners permission. Yet the police don’t appear to have made any serious commitment of resources to pursuing the equivalent of Rawshark who gave those materials to Slater.

In 2015, I made a complaint to the Counties Manukau Police about what appeared to be a conspiracy by Cameron Slater and others to pay a hacker for information obtained from my computers about this site. There were amounts mentioned and eventually enough corroborating information for me to take the step of laying a complaint.

If proved, then to conspire to or to pay someone to do an unlawful hack is a pretty serious offense. It simply doesn’t matter if the hack took place. There is a reason for that – even the threat that might have happened is very costly. It cost me most of a week of holiday time checking logs for evidence of access and looking for weak points in my systems. In other words several thousand dollars of my time. It deprived my employer of that time as well as I took an unexpected break in the crucial start of a project and was distracted for longer.

Yet despite this after the initial complaint when I made it clear that this had caused me considerable issues, the Counties Manukau Police appeared to think that this was something that I needed to know about. After a dearth of information, I got a lawyer to obtain information that charges would be laid. Yet somehow the Counties Manukau Police failed to inform me of court dates despite saying they would.

I was in Italy doing a task when I found that the Counties Manukau Police had offered both Cameron Slater and the hacker diversion, that it had already been approved by the court and that somehow it was a victimless crime. I had to fly back early to show up at court to find out what was happening and to try to prevent Cameron Slater for getting a free pass that he wasn’t eligible for because of previous convictions. I didn’t succeed. All I got was the judge telling the police that it obviously wasn’t a victimless crime.

Al I can say about Cameron Slater’s charmed life with the police is that it is a damn good thing that the legal fraternity are there. It eventually turned sour for the him. The level of protection that he had as he stomped all over the criminal law has just allowed the time for the civil and privacy laws to exert themselves. It has now created a hole big enough to be a prison.

If you’re around the computing or the activist communities, the stories are rife about how little the police are willing to do when it comes to computer crimes. They are viewed as being completely useless and extremely selective about when they do act. The only reason that anyone IT even bothers giving complaints about intrusions to the police is because it is required by insurance cover.

The police appear to be technically and legally incapable of enforcing our legislation about computer crimes. Bearing in mind just how important our computers and networks are to the economy – that is concerning. Perhaps the government should follow the example of the Serious Fraud Office and give the task of dealing with 2002 computer crimes to a specialist office who can garner the skills to deal with it – without political linkages being an issue.

23 comments on “Police and computers: incompetent or just unbalanced? ”

  1. Dukeofurl 1

    Who was the Police Minister at the time of Slaters email direct to the Assistant Commissioners PA ?

    Judith Collins was Minister of Police from Nov 2008 till Dec 2011. Does that time period overlap ?

    Also remember Slaters intrusion into the Labour party website , where he downloaded a backup version of database of small donors – which required technical assistance from someone [who I know the name] to reverse the formatting to make it readable

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11490084

    The details revealed in the book led to the Labour Party complaining it had been hacked, among other claims. The other matters were dismissed by police last year. The reason, in a letter from Mr Drew, was that the "only evidence being relied on was contents of Mr Hagar's (sic) book and the entities and persons named did not want to pursue any action".

    Mr Barnett – "Barnnet",[labour Party Secretary] according to police – said the police conclusions were "unbelievable". He said the party was considering further action.

    He said the effort being put into investigating Slater did not compare to the greater energy put into investigating Hager.

  2. Stuart Munro. 2

    The IPCA doesn't inspire much confidence frankly – the only thing independent about it appears to be its name. With respect to the Hager warrant, although there was clear wrongdoing in deceiving the warrant grantor, no-one has been censured or punished, from which we may take it that the IPCA is perfectly happy for the same abuse to recur.

    As with the free pass given to agencies employing Thompson & Clark, our freedoms are ignored, and our rights are not defended by the very agencies that are tasked to defend them.

    It won't do.

  3. Muttonbird 3

    I thought the take away lie line from the IPCA report, "an unwitting neglect of duty", reached a new level of cleansing absolution.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/397070/nicky-hager-police-raid-in-2014-unwitting-neglect-of-duty-ipca

      • lprent 3.1.1
        1. When interviewing the officers involved in drafting and executing the search warrant, the Authority found they had no experience in dealing with journalistic privilege issues. The lead detective himself acknowledged he had never come across the issue of journalistic privilege before and did not know anything about it. It is therefore not surprising that he and others said that they simply acted on the legal advice they had received regarding the content of the search warrant application. The detective inspector overseeing the case told the Authority:

          “…the warrant that I did on another … address a couple of months prior, I did decide to put in the draft just two paragraphs saying we anticipated privilege would be claimed, and that’s how we would deal with it if it was claimed, and that went to legal section and the advice was to take that out. So I essentially used that as the yardstick around not putting those two paragraphs in this application.”

        2. There is no evidence that the officers prepared the warrant with the intent of deceiving the Judge about the fact that the subject was a journalist and there might be privilege issues. Although the court found they failed to fulfil their obligations, this failure in the circumstances was an unwitting neglect of duty.
        • lprent 3.1.1.1

          This is why I think that the police just ain't that good at certain areas of the law.

          Each case needs to be treated separately. But if it was probably a journo for the first one – I'd love to know why anyone legal would take the section out. Because the judge would want to know more? Or would restrict the use of the warrant?

          In the case of Hager or for that matter most computer crimes – Painting by numbers without understanding why is just a way to get a legal mess.

          • Muttonbird 3.1.1.1.1

            Yes, from your quoted section 10, the question then is why did the 'legal section' ask for reference to anticipated journalistic privilege issues to be removed.

            Seems clear this is deliberately withhold information from the judge. Although should a good judge be across who Nicky Hager is in a warrant put in front of him/her?

            I take it the 'legal section' is not within the terms of reference of the IPCA report, or even under the scope of the IPCA at all.

            • lprent 3.1.1.1.1.1

              From what was in the report, that would appear to be correct. Certainly that was what the IPCA said without the 'deliberately' part. I think that the ex-judge was somewhat generous.

              Pretty much everything else spirals out of that. The police and support staff doing the searches appear to have been considerably under-trained. For instance from what I understand from material outside of this report, they were totally unprepared. As Nicky Hager wasn't present he couldn't claim privilege, but he could also not be forced to disclose access keys. So the police shutdown running computers were shutdown to their encrypted state.

              I mean, who doesn't naturally heavily encrypt sensitive systems these days? Usually with several layers of encryption.

              Why did the police think that they could seize computers for information without the keys? So ignorant… It sounds like the only thing that they were able to derive information from was the daughters computer and whatever was on paper.

  4. Anne 4

    If you’re around the computing or the activist communities, the stories are rife about how little the police are willing to do when it comes to computer crimes. They are viewed as being completely useless and extremely selective about when they do act.

    In doesn't just apply to computer crimes, but other crimes which have a political element to them. Years ago I reported a series of crimes committed against me over a long period of time. I approached the police on at least five occasions and they did not lift a finger to investigate. Consequently the main perpetrator (whose identity I was eventually able to establish but with no help from the police) got clean away with the crimes.

    Like Slater, this person had contacts in high places including National Party circles. I don't know if the bias towards National is still the case, but the poor police treatment of complainants who were perceived to belong to the Left side of the political equation has been a national disgrace for many decades.

    • Peter Christchurch NZ 4.1

      But I do wonder Anne if your experience is just a reflection of a wider Police unwillingness or even inability to do their job? For example, a year ago waiting at the lights, a drunken thug went down the line and kicked each car door in. It was caught on CCTV. We make a Police complaint (2 hours of teeth pulling), only to get a letter a month later saying they were too busy to investigate.

      Yesterdays Press headline has similar lack of interest by the Police in doing their job.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/115100035/when-police-fail-to-act-over-a-nearby-drug-house

      My partner received the same disinterest regarding a house selling sin and P, blatently and openly so. So many articles, so many friends and work colleagues report similar. And when you combine that with their Keystone Cops antics in how many guns are stolen from Police Stations, their appalling record keeping, fudging of crime stats etc, I for one would never again waste my time reporting a crime.

      • Anne 4.1.1

        Yes, Peter. I agree with all you've said.

        It is definitely "a reflection of a wider police unwillingness or even inability to do their job." But when you add to that a prejudice against left leaning complainants (or at least those whom the police perceive as such) then you have a serious in-balance in police responses. Look at the way they went for Hagar after he published his book and yet left Slater completely alone. An example of a relatively recent national disgrace.

        I, too, would not bother wasting time reporting a crime.

        • Peter Christchurh nz 4.1.1.1

          Yes that slime ball Slater seemed to be untouchable. I wonder why?

          And the Police showed their true sympathies way back with the Springbok tour. A long time ago, but institutional culture tends to change slowly.

        • Anne 4.1.1.2

          Oops… my comment at 4.1.1 should read serious imbalance – not in-balance. 🙄

    • New view 4.2

      I’m inclined to agree. Computers and police come to mind when I think of the proposed firearms register. Commercially computers came on the scene in the late 1970s. Around that time I attained my license so was interested when a discussion at the time dismissed the idea of registering the gun in favour the person. I couldn’t understand the decision then, as to me it was the perfect opportunity to deal with the problem while the problem was small. The rest is history and our police have come across as dopey and incompetent for a good part of it.

  5. cleangreen 5

    Anne Tolley is known in Gisborne as "no show tolley"

    When she was a NCC deputy Mayor 1999 to 2002 she did nothing for our Napier People at all.

    Tolley;= useless as tits on a bull.

  6. Blazer 6

    there is no corruption in NZ…even Transparency International will confirm that!

  7. SHG 7

    Minister of Police, this year: Stuart Nash, Labour

    Minister of Police, last year: Stuart Nash, Labour

    Minister of Police, year before that: Stuart Nash, Labour

    punchline not needed

  8. Jum 8

    Suggesting Cameron Slater was a journalist is suggesting John Key enhanced the office of Prime Minister. Both would be an insult to New Zealanders' integrity.

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    The work begins Philip Crump wrote this article ahead of the new government being sworn in yesterday – Later today the new National-led coalition government will be sworn in, and the hard work begins. At the core of government will be three men – each a leader ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Black Friday
    As everyone who watches television or is on the mailing list for any of our major stores will confirm, “Black Friday” has become the longest running commercial extravaganza and celebration in our history. Although its origins are obscure (presumably dreamt up by American salesmen a few years ago), it has ...
    Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
    2 days ago
  • In Defense of the Media.
    Yesterday the Ministers in the next government were sworn in by our Governor General. A day of tradition and ceremony, of decorum and respect. Usually.But yesterday Winston Peters, the incoming Deputy Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister, of our nation used it, as he did with the signing of the coalition ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Tuesday, Nov 28
    Nicola Willis’ first move was ‘spilling the tea’ on what she called the ‘sobering’ state of the nation’s books, but she had better be able to back that up in the HYEFU. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • PT use up but fare increases coming
    Yesterday Auckland Transport were celebrating, as the most recent Sunday was the busiest Sunday they’ve ever had. That’s a great outcome and I’m sure the ...
    2 days ago
  • The very opposite of social investment
    Nicola Willis (in blue) at the signing of the coalition agreement, before being sworn in as both Finance Minister and Social Investment Minister. National’s plan to unwind anti-smoking measures will benefit her in the first role, but how does it stack up from a social investment viewpoint? Photo: Lynn Grieveson ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Giving Tuesday
    For the first time "in history" we decided to jump on the "Giving Tuesday" bandwagon in order to make you aware of the options you have to contribute to our work! Projects supported by Skeptical Science Inc. Skeptical Science Skeptical Science is an all-volunteer organization but ...
    3 days ago
  • Let's open the books with Nicotine Willis
    Let’s say it’s 1984,and there's a dreary little nation at the bottom of the Pacific whose name rhymes with New Zealand,and they've just had an election.Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, will you look at the state of these books we’ve opened,cries the incoming government, will you look at all this mountain ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change: Stopping oil
    National is promising to bring back offshore oil and gas drilling. Naturally, the Greens have organised a petition campaign to try and stop them. You should sign it - every little bit helps, and as the struggle over mining conservation land showed, even National can be deterred if enough people ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Don’t accept Human Rights Commission reading of data on Treaty partnership – read the survey fin...
    Wellington is braced for a “massive impact’ from the new government’s cutting public service jobs, The Post somewhat grimly reported today. Expectations of an economic and social jolt are based on the National-Act coalition agreement to cut public service numbers in each government agency in a cost-trimming exercise  “informed by” head ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • The stupidest of stupid reasons
    One of the threats in the National - ACT - NZ First coalition agreements was to extend the term of Parliament to four years, reducing our opportunities to throw a bad government out. The justification? Apparently, the government thinks "elections are expensive". This is the stupidest of stupid reasons for ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • A website bereft of buzz
    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    3 days ago
  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    3 days ago
  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    5 days ago
  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Cans of Worms.
    “And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
    6 days ago
  • Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back
    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
    6 days ago
  • Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record.1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is not even an entry in Wikipedia. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago
  • The New Government: 2023 Edition
    So New Zealand has a brand-spanking new right-wing government. Not just any new government either. A formal majority coalition, of the sort last seen in 1996-1998 (our governmental arrangements for the past quarter of a century have been varying flavours of minority coalition or single-party minority, with great emphasis ...
    6 days ago
  • The unboxing
    And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the tree with its gold ribbon but can turn out to be nothing more than a big box holding a voucher for socks, so it ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • A cruel, vicious, nasty government
    So, after weeks of negotiations, we finally have a government, with a three-party cabinet and a time-sharing deputy PM arrangement. Newsroom's Marc Daalder has put the various coalition documents online, and I've been reading through them. A few things stand out: Luxon doesn't want to do any work, ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Hurrah – we have a new government (National, ACT and New Zealand First commit “to deliver for al...
    Buzz from the Beehive Sorry, there has been  no fresh news on the government’s official website since the caretaker trade minister’s press statement about the European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement. But the capital is abuzz with news – and media comment is quickly flowing – after ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Christopher Luxon – NZ PM #42.
    Nothing says strong and stable like having your government announcement delayed by a day because one of your deputies wants to remind everyone, but mostly you, who wears the trousers. It was all a bit embarrassing yesterday with the parties descending on Wellington before pulling out of proceedings. There are ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Coalition Government details policies & ministers
    Winston Peters will be Deputy PM for the first half of the Coalition Government’s three-year term, with David Seymour being Deputy PM for the second half. Photo montage by Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: PM-Elect Christopher Luxon has announced the formation of a joint National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government with a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • “Old Coat” by Peter, Paul & Mary.
     THERE ARE SOME SONGS that seem to come from a place that is at once in and out of the world. Written by men and women who, for a brief moment, are granted access to that strange, collective compendium of human experience that comes from, and belongs to, all the ...
    6 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 23-November-2023
    It’s Friday again! Maybe today we’ll finally have a government again. Roll into the weekend with some of the articles that caught our attention this week. And as always, feel free to add your links and observations in the comments. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    6 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s strategy for COP28 in Dubai
    The COP28 countdown is on. Over 100 world leaders are expected to attend this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which starts next Thursday. Among the VIPs confirmed for the Dubai summit are the UK’s Rishi Sunak and Brazil’s Lula da Silva – along ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    7 days ago
  • Coalition talks: a timeline
    Media demand to know why a coalition government has yet to be formed. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    7 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Nov 24
    Luxon was no doubt relieved to be able to announce a coalition agreement has been reached, but we still have to wait to hear the detail. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago
  • Passing Things Down.
    Keeping The Past Alive: The durability of Commando comics testifies to the extended nature of the generational passing down of the images, music, and ideology of the Second World War. It has remained fixed in the Baby Boomers’ consciousness as “The Good War”: the conflict in which, to a far ...
    7 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #47 2023
    Open access notables How warped are we by fossil fuel dependency? Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, 35-40 million cubic meters per day of Russian natural gas are piped across Ukraine for European consumption every single day, right now. In order to secure European cooperation against Russian aggression, Ukraine must help to ...
    7 days ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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