Resistance

Written By: - Date published: 3:24 pm, March 31st, 2021 - 50 comments
Categories: blogs, uncategorized, Unions, workers' rights - Tags:

Chris Trotter’s recent article Why we (Don’t ) Fight asks the question about why there isn’t more resistance to the degree of inequality that we face in New Zealand:

Like the celebrated dog that didn’t bark, the New Zealand Left is proving itself a poor protector of the exploited. A housing crisis on the present scale, occurring fifty years ago, would have generated massive resistance. The trade unions would have been on their hind legs. The churches would have been on their hind legs. The students’ associations would have been on their hind legs. The Maori Council would have been on its hind legs. Consumer groups would have been on their hind legs. Hell – even the Labour Party would have been on its hind legs! … Why don’t we fight?

On such hind legs as they still have, unions still make their progressive voices heard inside the beltway. Their numbers are in such sharp decline that they are nearly invisible outside the remaining public sector unions, but bark they do.

On such legs that they still have, mainstream churches still organise against poverty and use their assets and services to that end including in primary and secondary schools, rest homes, hospitals, social services, housing, and more. Unfortunately they are in rapid decline and their assets are now much larger than their supporter base can support. Woof.

The rest of them, well fair enough.

It’s certainly a while since we rose as one and as a result of that rising changed the policy direction of the country. But Trotter puts the charge of activist failure on identity politics and intersectionality.

In practice, their “big idea” – intersectionality – turned out to be one enormous intersection at which ideological traffic, arriving from every direction, snarled and snarled itself into gridlocked ineffectuality. Idealistic kids, inspired by the 1/99% meme, and eager to join the revolution, were confronted with a paralysing Discordia. Not only did it seem that they were being asked to give up their “privilege/s”, but also their sanity. They left the Occupy encampments as disgusted as they were disillusioned. The forces of neoliberal order swatted away what was left like so many buzzing flies.

He’s partially right – we do spend an awfully amount of time arguing with each other about matters of smaller and smaller moment concerning smaller and smaller numbers of people, while inequality slides downhill from glacier to avalanche. But through the history of the left, that activist splintering and frission is as true in the 1930s as it is now. The rapid growth and expansion of whole phalanxes of liberation that occurred from 1974 through to 1985 including anti-racism, anti-nuclear, anti-colonial, anti-sexism, and ecological movements all made huge impacts without cooling too fast. And we’ll always have “idealistic kids”.

So, is it a systemic problem? It’s certainly true that members of political parties are tiny, and activists within them can indeed turn a tough electoral situation worse:

If the powers-that-be had set out to create an ideological system designed to render the progressive mass movements of the past utterly unrepeatable; while ensuring that any attempt to confront neoliberal capitalism with a Corbynesque “For the Many, Not the Few” electoral agenda, is instantly paralysed by bitter and protracted factional strife; could they ever have come up with a political poison as effective as identity politics?”

But “intersectionalism” isn’t the primary cause of activist cooling.

The first siphon of activism has been in activist professionalization through Mixed Member Proportional Representation starting in 1996. The smaller and more activist groupings are getting their voices heard through direct representation in parliament, so there’s much less need to shout about it in the streets whether left or right. From gay marriage to climate change, MMP has enabled the satisfaction of most activist grievances to date with little fuss outside of coalition talks.

The second route is inside the institutional capacity of the state. Since the 1980s but particularly in the last two decades the state has expanded into so many different fields and with ever-greater precision in how it assists people to change their lives. I’m not saying they’ve made social welfare or the health system easier to navigate. It’s damn awful. But I am claiming that after two decades of successive crises that have smashed us, our state intervenes harder and bigger than it ever has and most have benefited.

The third avenue is in the maturing of activist institutions. Twenty six years after the Tainui settlement and with just a couple of the large ones outstanding, Maori pick their fights narrowly, with clear commercial benefit, and they generally win. Similarly Forest and Bird and others are now well resourced with massive activist bases and boy when they pick a fight with the state, the state tends to lose badly. Also, 20 years of the Resource Management Act has further enabled the professionalization of local protest in a manner that gets clear mitigation and often stoppage of offending projects.

Now, it’s perfectly true that real estate capitalism is at least as powerful now as it was in the 1860s, so it’s not unreasonable to ask why our collective “dog” could not all rise as one about housing poverty. Is it really because “so many identities have been telling him for so long to keep his privileged mouth shut”?

It’s hard to rise in our thousands against real estate capitalism not because the LGBT alphabet is getting complex or the Pasifika brown moral conservatives don’t mix with the haute-bourgeoisie who run Ponsonby’s media empires. It’s not like we’re too posh to push.

There’s one extra element, paralleling New Zealand’s satisfaction with the Savage/Fraser government: we have the combination of an exceedingly popular Prime Minister, a stupendously huge economic crisis, and a simply monumental series of state interventions responding to it. Three decades of really popular and generally effective government will suck the life out of any movement.

And since government has signalled it will continue to make similarly-scaled interventions into our society and our economy well into the future, crowds of shaggy 1970s activists rattling their zimmer frames in unison up Queen Street grunting what do we want? We want somethingsomething may no longer be necessary. But woe betide the rest home that gets Chris Trotter.

50 comments on “Resistance ”

  1. Stuart Munro 1

    Three decades of really popular and generally effective government will suck the life out of any movement.

    Now there's an untested assertion. Three decades of rising suicide and rampant inequality. Three decades of mass low-wage immigration and bullshit 'racism' attacks on anyone that observes that every economic phenomenon, including migration, has good and bad sides.

    And now housing is moving out of reach, not merely of the Devil's poor, nor God's poor, but the middle classes too. And any palliative activity is set to be scotched as government thrashes about trying to meet Paris agreement commitments designed for a much smaller population.

    In spite of the Rogernomic promises, our country is less free, and has less to look forward to than ever before. No surprise the beltway are congratulating themselves however – it's a certainty nobody else will.

  2. gsays 2

    Thanks, Advantage. Plenty to mull over.

    The rise and rise of the individual over the last century and in particular the last 30 years is a big part of the problem.

    The Century of the Self by Adam Curtis covers this in 4 one-hour parts.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnPmg0R1M04

    This explains the de-powering of the unions (plus the Employment Contracts Act), the decline of church numbers, Cubs, Scouts and Guides find it hard to get volunteers…

    My scant knowledge and experience of intersectionality seems to accord with this. By that, a politics that is very particular, of the individual. Not to denigrate this approach, it is a contemporary lens through which we can confront inequality and bias.

    If unions were stronger a wide range of issues could be addressed. The cost of housing is only part of the inaffordability. The low incomes is another part. Our low wage economy feeds into a plethora of society's ails. Affording GPs, dentists, a decent diet.

    Stopping the practice of sub-contracting of labour. Especially in the government departments eg health. All security, orderlies, in home care and the kitchen workers must be employees of the health boards. Not employed by a third party, often overseas owned, taking part in a race to the bottom to satisfy some shareholders.

    Rant over.

    • RedLogix 2.1

      The cost of housing is only part of the inaffordability. The low incomes is another part. Our low wage economy feeds into a plethora of society's ails. Affording GPs, dentists, a decent diet.

      Great rant. The above lies at the bedrock of my argument too. Working here in Aus opens your eyes to this.

  3. RedLogix 3

    Great post Ad – I was hoping for something like this.

    I do agree thoroughly with Trotter that Identity Politics has been wonderfully successful at splintering the left into squabbling groups scrapping over largely imaginary power struggles. But even that's not the whole answer.

    My argument on inequality is still evolving but it seems to me that the root causes of it, and the effective answers are not to be found in brute protest and smashing capitalism. This challenge is equally an ethical, psychological one as much as it can be measured by GINI coefficients.

    And partly I believe that we're also running into the limits of the fossil powered industrial revolution, that while it took us a long way – it's running out of puff to deliver.

    Yet I agree there are some pretty basic moves this govt could do to more directly give those stuck at the bottom of the ladder a better chance of stepping up. I've long argued for a UBI on the grounds that it eliminates the poverty traps, both fiscal and moral. I'd also see some real support for housing and infrastructure renewal, the $3.8b so far being nothing more than seed money.

    I'd also see us take a much harder look at the Finnish education system, and pay much more attention to getting people not just a 'job' – but to discover the unique gem that lies hidden with all of us, and polish that to perfection. A national culture of excellence with the AB's and TMNZ showing us how it's done. We have to universally bury this culture of low expectations that dogs the petty underbelly of this country.

    And most especially I'd see the left – which in so many ways has a vital role to play in advocating for the weak and disadvantaged – learn to do it in a way that brings us together as a nation rather than dividing us by arbitrary categories.

  4. McFlock 4

    Tend to agree with a lot of the post.

    One other possible factor is if a lot of the more experienced members of the broader labour and general protesting movements are also more likely (fig20) to have a toe in the property market – owning their own home, maybe a rental as well.

    Managers rarely intend to encourage the workers to strike.

  5. Tiger Mountain 5

    My take is that there is a feedback loop between Neo liberal hegemony–which encourages individualism over collectivism, Post Modernist philosophy–where anything can mean anything, and Identity Politics, the unholy union of “me-me-me” and “reality is what I say it is”.

    Perhaps enough people are doing ‘ok enough’ to not be into fighting inequality.

    Some can be keener on defending what they have rather than sharing with others. Hence in middle class (by Whangarei standards) Maunu suburb last year, $60,000 was raised for a legal defence fund to try and stop 37 state houses and apartments being built on an old MoE lot adjoining a neighbouring park. An Independent Commissioner ruled in the end that public housing was in line with Council plans, land use and social goals, and that residents worries about state tenants affecting their property values and lifestyles were not his concern. I and my fellow 6 submitters in favour celebrated, the 250 odd submitters against did not. The site is going ahead well, but gets regularly vandalised, so two video towers had to be installed.

    New Zealand is indeed a Tale of Two Cities in the new millennium, when some would deny others a warm dry home in a small city with several hundred regular homeless.

    Why is the fight not there? It has perhaps just gone underground with alienation and subsistence living for the 50% that own just 2% of the wealth. There are obvious struggles happening everyday with MSD, ACC, Migrant workers, employment disputes, environmental degradation and climate disaster.

    What is missing is centralised leadership for a combined fightback that unites all who can be united beyond the disparate issues.
    It is not going to come from a neo liberal Labour Caucus and party purged decades ago of leftists.
    It is not going to come from a central labour organisation given over to Tri-Partism and press releases since the class left FOL was tragically dissolved in 1987.
    It is not going to come from private sector unions decimated by the Employment Contracts Act in 1991.
    It is not going to come from Public sector unions who capitulated to “Partnership” collaborationist models years ago.

    It will likely come from a social movement preceding and following the 2023 Election and the generational replacements for “boomers”. The 70 NGOs “Letter to Jacinda” pre Xmas calling for benefit increases was an excellent shot across the Labour Caucus bow. My take is action is needed to back up demands–this is one reason Māori issues are often settled–along with research, and the grasp of history, and a co-operative model, there is direct action either taken, or the capability is there. Think Ihumātao, where Māori and non Māori were ready to go in sufficient numbers to expose Auckland Police operational shortcomings.

    Where ever punditry may take us, It is certainly objectively necessary to come up with some ideas for community organisation and action in favour of the working class such as bloody well housing us and our families! The current neo liberal state, Parliamentary monetarist consensus, and the invisible hand of the market are not going to do it for us.

    • RedLogix 5.1

      Perhaps enough people are doing ‘ok enough’ to not be into fighting inequality.

      Yes that's true – and actually cause for celebration. We should be pleased with this.

      At the same time it's also true that there are plenty of people stuck at the bottom, and leaving them there to flounder is a very bad idea.

      I recall having a conversation with a colleague who was having a moan about 'dole bludgers' or something like it – and he was quit miffed with me when I asked him if he really wanted desperate people knocking on our boss's door begging for a job at half our pay. At even this crude level it truly is in everyone's self interest for the social contract to hold together.

      Yet if you tell people that they're 'doing quite well enough and we're going to take some off you to help those who couldn't or didn't do as well as you' – then you're going to strike pushback.

      Tell the same people 'well done for doing so well, and now you're invited to help the team of 5m do even better' – it's going to get a quite different response.

      OK so that's a pretty simplistic framing, but I'd hope you can see the point.

      • Tiger Mountain 5.1.1

        Can’t write a novella every post…there are various framings “if you happen to reach the top floor don’t forget to send the elevator back down” etc. and the Wellington election yard signs along the lines of “I did ok last year, and/but I’m voting for those that didn’t”. Feel good, while admirable takes us only so far when there is institutional war on the poor, as MSD wages.

        There has been a state sanctioned underclass in NZ by design since 1984, and it will end up dragging everyone else down with it soon enough, unless we move onto a basic income and restoring full public ownership to state infrastructure imho.

  6. Descendant Of Smith 6

    I think the legislative restrictions on striking have been extremely effective at disempowering workers – as they were intended to do.

    Union members were caught in a bind – striking illegally meant that their unions would be fined and punished. Striking became possible only at the expiry of contracts which the unions made the mistake of negotiating for 3 years or longer.

    The power of the state was allowed to, did and continues to interfere in the power struggle between workers and employers.

  7. Anne 7

    … crowds of shaggy 1970s activists rattling their zimmer frames in unison up Queen Street grunting what do we want? We want something…

    But we can't quite remember what it is?

    There's a few of us on this site who fall into this category but we're far from zimmer frame material (?) and memory loss (?) mate. cool

    Apart from that, lots to mull over in this post.

  8. weka 8

    on housing specifically (which is the block to ending poverty), the reason there is no left/progressive activist or protest movement is because so many liberals own property, even if it's just the family home that they're making massive capital gains on. I'm not seeing those people putting their hands up to share their wealth (not many of them at least). Wanting the govt to help poor people is different from being willing to do it oneself.

    • Pat 8.1

      I think its wider than that….if there are only 150,000 property investors (plus partners) then it dosnt explain the 30 plus years of support for the current settings…especially when the disparate inflation wasnt evident in the early stages.

      There has been a culture change…and now when the negative impacts are obvious it is problematic to dismiss a lifetime (for many) of belief.

      Add to that the diminishing capability of the government sector and you have a political class that is incapable of actioning change even if they wanted to.

      Then there is disengagement….and remember that around a quarter of the population is foreign born so dont necessarily have the same perspective.

      All in all, we have been divided (and distracted) and ruled.

      • weka 8.1.1

        agree about the culture change.

        Everyone who owns a house is now an investor thanks to capital gains. In the 90s we got sold the bullshit that we had to save for our retirement by investing (the middle classes at least) and that got coupled with housing. No longer enough to pay off the mortgage by the time one retires so the pension is enough to live on with no housing costs. Now homes are financial investments. How many left wing voters own a house?

  9. swordfish 9

    .
    The emergent Regime/Orthodoxy**: Wokedom / Intersectionality / Critical Race Theory / Archbishop DiAngelo = all so utterly full of shit.

    Horrendous Upper-Middle Class Cult seeking to transform the Left into an elitist Vanity Project [& power-grabbing opportunity for the most financially privileged members of alleged "marginalised" identities] … while systematically scapegoating low & low-middle income Whites for Colonisation & other social ills.

    A welcome dose of reality from the UK:

    https://twitter.com/swordfish7774/status/1377170461763641348

    ** Aka the Successor Ideology

  10. Gosman 10

    Most left wing progressive movements have a specific target they are fighting against that people can be riled up enough to get change. This requires leadership from usually middle class people as the working classes tend to be focused on their day to day lives and not on bigger picture visions unless it is at a crisis point. The leadership of the progressive movements have not been very effective at making the case for radical changes. Indeed a lot of the effort has been subsumed in attempting to make a case to tackle climate change which involves making compromises with more mainstream views. Ultimately it is pretty easy to counter most radical left wing prescriptions as being too risky and likely to cause more harm than good or that we should moderate them so we can get more people onboard.

    • RedLogix 10.1

      Ultimately it is pretty easy to counter most radical left wing prescriptions as being too risky and likely to cause more harm than good or that we should moderate them so we can get more people onboard.

      Something the moderate left despairs over. Part of the issue here is that by personal temperament the revolutionary left isn't very good at drawing boundaries. They always go too far, and then sell this as a virtue.

      • Drowsy M. Kram 10.1.1

        I'm a left-leaning retiree, quite comfortable in my day-to-day life. Radical change to the prevaling socioeconomic settings wouldn't suit me personally; not at all.

        I'm cautiously pessimistic that incrementalism can effectively address the challenges this iteration of civilisation faces – wouldn't want to be in my late teens/early twenties now. How many of my generation realise just how lucky we were/are? Maybe those building the next iteration will do better, if only they can learn from our mistakes.

        https://youtu.be/KAJsdgTPJpU

        • RedLogix 10.1.1.1

          Yes. Contrary to what you may think I'm as aware of the challenges we face as a species as any. Nor am I at all complacent about them; there is a very real chance a crisis will overwhelm us at any time; the ground is indeed shifting under us.

          Yet I'm of a view that the progress of humanity and modernity to date border on the miraculous. In the big picture much of this was driven by biological evolution, and a parallel analogous process of social evolution, both of which are for the most part incremental processes. (Although not entirely.)

          It's easy to underestimate the aggregate power of many small steps. Moreover small steps that turn out to be mistakes can be recovered from without too much damage. Large revolutionary ones that go awry are almost always terminal.

          Astonishingly we are perhaps the first species to understand this about ourselves. Evolution to this point has been a largely blind process – now as the first post-biological species it becomes a conscious one as well. How this might play is something none of understand yet.

          • Drowsy M. Kram 10.1.1.1.1

            I could be misinterpreting your reply – do you believe there is no-one on the planet who is more aware of the challenges we face as a species than you? wink

            Yet I'm of a view that the progress of humanity and modernity to date border on the miraculous.

            I hold a similar view (civilisation can achieve most things, good and bad, given enough time and other resources), although I'd replace "border on the miraculous" with 'is remarkable.' This, the first truly global iteration of civilisation on spaceship Earth, has gone far, and is running on 'overshoot empty', appeals to the notion of "post-biological species" notwithstanding.

            Due to past incautions ("many small steps"), civilisation is now in a bind. Time is up for an incremental escape [video of a nearly successful water escape] to succeed, but (realistically) that's the only type of planned escape we might be capable of mounting on a global scale, imho. Hope it works, whatever it might be.

            The science done by the young Einstein will continue as long as our civilization, but for civilization to survive, we'll need the wisdom of the old Einstein — humane, global and farseeing.
            https://www.ted.com/talks/martin_rees_is_this_our_final_century/transcript?language=en

            And I do like Rees' take (particle chauvinism) on baryonic matter's place in the great scheme, as an antidote to 'our' troubling tendency (myself included) to get rather up ourselves.

            This would be the final Copernican twist in our status in the material universe. Not only are we not at the center of the universe: we are not even made of the predominant form of matter.

            • RedLogix 10.1.1.1.1.1

              I could be misinterpreting your reply – do you believe there is no-one on the planet who is more aware of the challenges we face as a species than you?

              Yes that would an entirely mischievous interpretation. That I choose to remain optimistic in the face of it, and not fall back into catastrophising may be what’s misled you.

              • Drowsy M. Kram

                Not connecting your admirable optimism to my misinterpretation, but aok.

                Do you think Rees is guilty of catastrophising when he asks "Is this our final century?"? Or maybe the Australian scientists 'behind' this report?

                Best to 'catastrophise' after the event? Mustn't upset the punters.

                https://www.rochesterfirst.com/science/nothing-to-sneeze-at-global-warming-triggers-earlier-pollen/

                As I see it, at one end of the spectrum, there's (former) President Trump:

                OK. It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch,” Mr Trump replied.

                I wish science agreed with you,” said Mr Crowfoot.

                Well, I don’t think science knows, actually,” said the President.

                At the other end there are the catastropfizers. I’d like to think I’m somewhere in between. I don't catastrophise much in my day-to-day life, but sometimes a sense of urgency, and even alarm, is justified, imho – "Iceberg ahead!"

                What is catastrophising?
                Catastrophising involves irrational thoughts where we believe something is far worse than it actually is.

                "It’ll start getting cooler. You just watch" – maybe things are looking up smiley

                This lengthy review of Elizabeth Kolbert’s Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, may appeal to you, in that it seems more aligned with your worldview than the passages I've selected might suggest.

                But a funny thing happens on the way to the eco-apocalypse. Kolbert departs from the well-trodden narration of those who have come before her, and indeed, from much of her earlier writing, recognizing that we can’t just stop. So entangled are we with so much of the natural world at virtually every level, from the global carbon cycle to the many species of plants and animals that have hitched a ride with us around the planet to the novel ecosystems that are all around us, that withdrawal is not an option. We broke the world, now we own it, and there is no alternative to actively managing the Frankensteined earth systems and ecosystems that we have unwittingly created.

                The fact that we can’t seem to master the seemingly modest ecological challenge of keeping invasive carp out of Lake Michigan suggests, in Kolbert’s telling, that efforts to, say, remove carbon from the atmosphere or manage the heating of the earth with sulfur particles are likely to end, in the best case, with a profoundly diminished human future, and in the worst, in catastrophe – even as she suggests that we may not have a choice. “If there is to be an answer to the problem of control, it’s going to be more control,” Kolbert writes. “First you reverse a river. Then you electrify it.

                • Robert Guyton

                  "We broke the world, now we own it, and there is no alternative to actively managing the Frankensteined earth systems and ecosystems that we have unwittingly created."

                  Well, yes, but…

                  The drivers and techniques that we've used to "break the world" won't serve to fix it; we've unearthed a pathological world-view and wielded it with little discretion and self-awareness. From here on in, we'll need to re-jig our ways in order to effectively and appropriately manage what we created; I believe we can. But am unsure that we will.

                    • Robert Guyton

                      Some societies have built-in behaviours that protect them from that which we have embraced 🙂

                      "There is a ceremony taking place, a great fire is lit and onto it they begin to throw their belongings: tools, weapons, fishing nets, headdresses of egret feathers; all the beautiful and useful things that make up the material existence of their culture.

                      ‘These things die here,’ McIntyre is told, ‘so we can return.’ So the people can be released from the bind these objects have over them, can become unstuck and make the journey to ‘the beginning’."

                    • weka []

                      what culture is that ritual from Robert?

                    • Robert Guyton

                      The Mayoruna of the Amazon.

                      https://dark-mountain.net/walking-in-the-void/

                      I'm not suggesting we hurl all of our stuff onto a bonfire but hinting that the changes we need to make will be on a similar scale.

          • Robert Guyton 10.1.1.1.2

            I find myself in full agreement with what you've written there, RedLogix.

            I did pause at this though: "Astonishingly we are perhaps the first species to understand this about ourselves. "

            Do you suspect other species have been down this path before?

            Others understood those concepts?

            Keen to hear more 🙂

            • RedLogix 10.1.1.1.2.1

              Good question. Assuming that the emergence of consciousness to the stage where it understood it's own evolution would look like something we would recognise – then I think we really are the first species to get there. (At the same time it would be wonderful to be proved wrong on this.)

              This is not to discount the significance of the conscious states that we do share with all of the rest of the natural world. I firmly believe we tend to miss a hell of a lot that is going on because our current paradigm (to use that overworked word) is mostly located in the material domain. We lack the tools and confidence to negotiate the non-material with much confidence. This being in part the result of the extraordinary success of the scientific method, but also because the old religions have yet to evolve into forms adapted to this new environment.

              Yes our current civilisation does have it's pathological aspects, but more in the sense of say an unruly adolescent yet to grow into maturity and adult capacity, than say a failed experiment to be dismantled.

              Many years back I encountered this idea, that the civilisations of the world can be broadly divided into three types, a western material centred group, an eastern philosophical group, and an indigenous group that are rooted in the spiritual. One of these groups has clearly dominated the past 400 years, and has utterly transformed our material world. The next phases must be a similar transformation of our philosophical and spiritual capacities, layered on top of the astonishing material progress we have already achieved. (This is the process the old texts referred to as 're-birth'.)

              In my view there is a very large psychological hole in humanity roughly shaped in the form of the traditional faiths that have mostly departed the scene in the past century. There is nothing startling or new about this observation – but I would add that we could be a little wiser about what we seize upon to backfill this need with. It's getting messy out there devil

              • Robert Guyton

                "Many years back I encountered this idea, that the civilisations of the world can be broadly divided into three types, a western material centred group, an eastern philosophical group, and an indigenous group that are rooted in the spiritual. One of these groups has clearly dominated the past 400 years, and has utterly transformed our material world. The next phases must be a similar transformation of our philosophical and spiritual capacities, layered on top of the astonishing material progress we have already achieved. (This is the process the old texts referred to as 're-birth'.)"

                I certainly enjoyed that paragraph, RedLogix!

                Discussions about that transformation are often hampered by woo, to my great frustration 🙂

  11. Michael 11

    The Labour Party is no longer a vehicle for social justice. Its fatal surrender to neoliberal capitalism rendered it morally compromised. Some elements within the Greens now occupy the space Labour vacated but, and this is where I agree with Trotter, factionalism among the political left neuters its capacity for collective action. I believe the only alternative to neoliberalism currently on offer is extreme right-wing populism, harnessed by authoritarian capitalism.

  12. greywarshark 12

    Don't give up Michael. We were never promised a walk in the park, a garden of roses etc. Soon it will be Anzac Day and the men and women who have died in wars, in torture chambers, uin ugly experiments, in punishing and dreadfully painful methods would have only been carried through by the remembrance of good people out there trying to rise above the creatively evil that seems to take over some hearts.

    You can hold up your head, in your own estimation, if as you try to keep going you hold in your head and heart the idea of finding a way to live in a community, and world, with strong minded, kind, tolerant, people who know themselves as faulty, and the world imperfect, but work together to make it good with moments of great happiness and community and no shadow. And I send a little song by John Denver to brighten your day.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toYfeN0ACDw

  13. zee 13

    In spite of the Rogernomic promises, our country is less free, and has less to look forward to than ever before. No surprise the beltway are congratulating themselves however – it's a certainty nobody else will.

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    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    9 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    23 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
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