Resistance

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

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 ”

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Stuart Munro 1

31 March 2021 at 4:21 pm

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.
- greywarshark 1.1
  
  31 March 2021 at 4:53 pm
  
  Thanks Stuart Munro well said.
  
  And – If that's all there is, I'll just keep dancing… It seems a large number of people have just given up all the virtues and joys and given up on solving problems.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNFe4nak-oM
- Gosman 1.2
  
  1 April 2021 at 8:06 am
  
  You are quite wrong about three decades of rising suicide rates.
  
  https://socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/suicide.html
  
  https://www.ceicdata.com/en/new-zealand/health-statistics/nz-suicide-mortality-rate-per-100000-population
  - Stuart Munro 1.2.1
    
    1 April 2021 at 9:08 am
    
    You need to treat such data with a degree of scepticism – historically suicide was treated as a crime for religious reasons, the coronial standard still requires that proof of suicide be beyond reasonable doubt, not a standard applied to comparable public health data like rubella incidence or obesity.
    - Gosman 1.2.1.1
      
      1 April 2021 at 9:39 am
      
      Okay so shall we just take your word as being the source of truth on the topic?
      
      Before we do so, what experience do you have in determining suicide rates in NZ over the past three decades?
      - Stuart Munro 1.2.1.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 1:43 pm
        
        You might as well – it's not as if you're about to engage constructively on such issues.
        
        You might begin here: West Coast DHB widens scope of suicide workshop after claims it swept problem under rug | Stuff.co.nz
        
        Gosman 1.2.1.1.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 3:55 pm
        
        Do you even bother to read your own links. There isn't anything in that which sugests the statistics on the West coast are under-reported. On the contrary the people in the article are arguing that the statistics are not being taken seriously enough.
- Gosman 1.3
  
  1 April 2021 at 8:14 am
  
  You are also wrong about rampant inequality in NZ.
  
  https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2015/08/25/housing-wealth-and-inequality/
  - Ad 1.3.1
    
    1 April 2021 at 8:53 am
    
    You are citing 2014 statistics. Not helpful.
    - Gosman 1.3.1.1
      
      1 April 2021 at 9:37 am
      
      Are you implying it has got much worse under the Labour led government?
      - weka 1.3.1.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 9:52 am
        
        where have you been Gosman, that you don't know the housing crisis is getting worse every year?
        
        If you want to score cheap political points, I'm sure someone can point out how the Key govt poured petrol on the fire.
        
        Gosman 1.3.1.1.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 4:07 pm
        
        Do you mean like when the government encouraged the Reserve Bank to take in to account employment when setting monetary policy which means the interest rates might be lower than they should be?
        
        weka …
        
        1 April 2021 at 5:20 pm
        
        no.
  - Stuart Munro 1.3.2
    
    1 April 2021 at 9:11 am
    
    I'm sure an infrastructure economist has significant insight into inequality. Not.
    - Gosman 1.3.2.1
      
      1 April 2021 at 9:40 am
      
      As opposed to you who has expertise in this area in what way?
      - Stuart Munro 1.3.2.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 12:10 pm
        
        I've had experience of it – subsequent to being displaced from my profession by slave workers.
        
        But seriously – an economist? Couldn't you find someone more credible? A charlatan or a mountebank perhaps, or a grifter like the Tamakis? Economists have a lower confidence interval than chance – any random opinion invariably has more weight.
        
        Gosman 1.3.2.1.1.1
        
        1 April 2021 at 4:09 pm
        
        What profession did you do that was replaced with slave workers?
gsays 2

31 March 2021 at 4:44 pm

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
  
  31 March 2021 at 4:57 pm
  
  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.
RedLogix 3

31 March 2021 at 4:45 pm

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.
McFlock 4

31 March 2021 at 4:58 pm

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.
Tiger Mountain 5

31 March 2021 at 4:58 pm

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
  
  31 March 2021 at 5:59 pm
  
  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
    
    31 March 2021 at 7:03 pm
    
    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.
Descendant Of Smith 6

31 March 2021 at 5:55 pm

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.
Anne 7

31 March 2021 at 6:04 pm

… 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.

Apart from that, lots to mull over in this post.
weka 8

31 March 2021 at 6:48 pm

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
  
  31 March 2021 at 7:44 pm
  
  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
    
    31 March 2021 at 10:01 pm
    
    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?
swordfish 9

31 March 2021 at 9:41 pm

.
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
- swordfish 9.1
  
  31 March 2021 at 10:03 pm
  
  Sasha #ClassMatters on Twitter: "In the US too, class is FAR more correlated with academic achievement than race. Meanwhile schools try to gaslight low income white kids into believing they're privileged oppressors while middle & upper class minorities are told they're oppressed victims. Disgusting and harmful." / Twitter
  - RedLogix 9.1.1
    
    1 April 2021 at 4:04 am
    
    Yup – at least most cults have the decency to do it in private.
Gosman 10

1 April 2021 at 8:26 am

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
  
  1 April 2021 at 10:09 am
  
  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
    
    1 April 2021 at 12:26 pm
    
    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
      
      1 April 2021 at 12:52 pm
      
      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
        
        1 April 2021 at 3:55 pm
        
        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?
        
        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
        
        1 April 2021 at 4:05 pm
        
        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 …
        
        1 April 2021 at 6:01 pm
        
        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
        
        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 …
        
        2 April 2021 at 8:17 am
        
        "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.
        
        weka …
        
        2 April 2021 at 8:23 am
        
        Robert Guyton …
        
        2 April 2021 at 8:37 am
        
        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 []
        
        2 April 2021 at 8:46 am
        
        what culture is that ritual from Robert?
        
        Robert Guyton …
        
        2 April 2021 at 9:18 am
        
        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
        
        2 April 2021 at 8:11 am
        
        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
        
        2 April 2021 at 12:25 pm
        
        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
        
        Robert Guyton …
        
        2 April 2021 at 2:12 pm
        
        "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 🙂
Michael 11

1 April 2021 at 1:17 pm

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.
greywarshark 12

2 April 2021 at 12:55 pm

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
zee 13

2 April 2021 at 8:42 pm

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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Seymour is chuffed about cutting early-learning red tape – but we hear, too, that Jones has loose...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
4 days ago

Bryce Edwards: Will politicians let democracy die in the darkness?
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
4 days ago

Was Hawkesby entirely wrong?
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
4 days ago

PRC shadow looms as the Solomons head for election
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time. A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
4 days ago

Climate Change: Criminal ecocide
We are in the middle of a climate crisis. Last year was (again) the hottest year on record. NOAA has just announced another global coral bleaching event. Floods are threatening UK food security. So naturally, Shane Jones wants to make it easier to mine coal: Resources Minister Shane Jones ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Is saving one minute of a politician's time worth nearly $1 billion?
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
4 days ago

Long Tunnel or Long Con?
Yesterday it was revealed that Transport Minister had asked Waka Kotahi to look at the options for a long tunnel through Wellington. State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the ...
Greater AucklandBy Matt L
4 days ago

Fast-track submissions period must be extended
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
Greens
16 hours ago

Release: Progress on climate will be undone by Govt
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Labour Blog
16 hours ago

Release: Dark day for Kiwi kids as a third of Govt cuts affect them
News that 1000 jobs at the Ministry of Education and Oranga Tamariki could go is devastating for future generations of New Zealanders. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Alarm as Government signals further blow to school lunches
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Quick, submit – stop Govt’s dodgy approvals bill
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Government throws coal on the climate crisis fire
The Government’s policy announced today to ease consenting for coal mining will have a lasting impact across generations. ...
Greens
4 days ago

Release: Public transport costs to double as National looks at unaffordable roading project instead
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
Labour Blog
5 days ago

Release: Cost of living in Auckland still not a priority
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Labour Blog
5 days ago

Greens look to fast-track submissions on harmful law
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Release: Govt should stop making people’s lives harder and build more homes
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Release: Melissa Lee missing in action on media
The action Melissa Lee promised to protect democracy and the media sector is missing, Media and Communications spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Landlord Government leaves little hope for renters
The Government’s announcement on tenancy rules prove that it does not care about renters. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Opportunity to build a more sustainable economy
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Significant step forward in fixing cruel and unjust past
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Missed opportunity but NZ will surely one day recognise the right to a sustainable environment
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Greens
1 week ago

Release: Don’t cut our lunches – clear message sent to Government
Tens of thousands of people are demanding the Government commits to fully funding free and healthy school lunches. ...
Labour Blog
1 week ago

Release: Govt makes U-turn on Suicide Prevention Office
Labour welcomes the Government’s U-turn on the closure of the Suicide Prevention Office, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

CCC issues warning over further climate delay
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Luxon targets lame and lousy example of leadership
If talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Luxon targets are lousy example of leadership
If talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Commitment to disability communities missing from Govt priorities
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Methane target review is dangerous duplication
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Government must commit to school building project for disabled students
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Release: National must take mental health seriously
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Referendums for Māori wards a racist step backwards
The Government's imposed referendum on Māori wards is a racist step backwards for Māori representation, and disregards Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
Greens
2 weeks ago

Release: Job losses at Health not worth it for tax cuts
New Zealand will feel the harm of the National Government’s reckless cuts to jobs at the health ministry for generations, says Ayesha Verrall. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Press release: No Māori initiatives in Government’s nothing plan
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
Labour Blog
2 weeks ago

Thirty six point PR spin
The Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

Thirty six point PR spin
The Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

Thirty six point PR spin
The Government’s ‘36 point’ plan for the next three months is as pointless as it is hollow. ...
Greens
3 weeks ago

Release: Social housing off Government’s to-do list
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Labour Blog
3 weeks ago

Release: Less money in most people’s pockets this April
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Labour Blog
3 weeks ago

$41m to support clean energy in South East Asia
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
16 hours ago

Minister releases Fast-track stakeholder list
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
18 hours ago

Judicial appointments announced
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
19 hours ago

Education Minister heads to major teaching summit in Singapore
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
20 hours ago

Value of stopbank project proven during cyclone
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
20 hours ago

Anzac commemorations, Türkiye relationship focus of visit
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
20 hours ago

Minister to Europe for OECD meeting, Anzac Day
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
23 hours ago

Comprehensive Partnership the goal for NZ and the Philippines
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 day ago

Government commits $20m to Westport flood protection
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Taupō takes pole position
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Cost of living support for low-income homeowners
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Government backing mussel spat project
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Government focused on getting people into work
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Clean energy key driver to reducing emissions
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Earthquake-prone buildings review brought forward
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Thailand and NZ to agree to Strategic Partnership
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Government consults on extending coastal permits for ports
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Inflation coming down, but more work to do
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

School attendance restored as a priority in health advice
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Unnecessary bureaucracy cut in oceans sector
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Patterson promoting NZ’s wool sector at International Congress
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Removing red tape to help early learners thrive
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

RMA changes to cut coal mining consent red tape
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

McClay reaffirms strong NZ-China trade relationship
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Prime Minister Luxon acknowledges legacy of Singapore Prime Minister Lee
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

PMs Luxon and Lee deepen Singapore-NZ ties
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Antarctica New Zealand Board appointments
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Finance Minister travels to Washington DC
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Pet bonds a win/win for renters and landlords
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Long Tunnel for SH1 Wellington being considered
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

New Zealand condemns Iranian strikes
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Huge interest in Government’s infrastructure plans
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Health Minister thanks outgoing Health New Zealand Chair
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Roads of National Significance planning underway
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Navigating an unstable global environment
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

NZ welcomes Australian Governor-General
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Pseudoephedrine back on shelves for Winter
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

NZ and the US: an ever closer partnership
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Joint US and NZ declaration
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

NZ and US to undertake further practical Pacific cooperation
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week ago

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon meets KPIs on Southeast Asia mission
Power Play - Asked for his own assessment of the visit, the prime minister said he was returning home "excited and energised". ...
Radio NZ – political
2 hours ago

Embracing Māori Representation Enriches Democracy, Not Divides It
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
Scoop politics
2 hours ago

Anne Salmond: My open submission on this radical, flawed fast-track bill
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
NewsroomBy Dame Anne Salmond
2 hours ago

Short story: Finally, by Caoimhe McKeogh
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
NewsroomBy Caoimhe McKeogh
2 hours ago

Thomas James is a master of invention
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
NewsroomBy Ben Fahy
2 hours ago

All 28 road tunnels in New Zealand ranked from worst to best
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
The SpinoffBy Group Think
3 hours ago

How to make the most of your market haul
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
The SpinoffBy Lucinda Bennett
3 hours ago

From a library basement comes a fashion history
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
NewsroomBy Sharon Brettkelly
3 hours ago

Rousing farewell for Kiwi doctors flying out to Gaza aid flotilla
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
10 hours ago

Communities Against The Fast-track Heartened By ‘Overwhelming’ Public Response; Disgusted By ‘...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Scoop politics
12 hours ago

Renters Rights To Drastically Reduce Under Landlord Government
The Government’s announced changes around tenancy rules set renters’ rights back by nearly a decade. ...
Scoop politics
12 hours ago

NZPI Submission on Fast Track Approvals Bill
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
Scoop politics
12 hours ago

Fast Track Invite List Includes Most Destructive Industries In New Zealand
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
Scoop politics
12 hours ago

Eugene Doyle: Helen Clark on why AUKUS isn’t in New Zealand’s national interest
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
12 hours ago

Government releases list of organisations shoulder-tapped for fast-track consents
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Radio NZ – political
13 hours ago

The Week in Politics: Job cuts surge and Waitangi Tribunal trouble
Analysis - It's been a grim week for public servants, while trouble is also brewing between the government and Waitangi Tribunal. ...
Radio NZ – political
14 hours ago

It never rains but it pours: intense rain and flash floods have increased inland in eastern Australi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

Watch: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in Manila
The PM has defended how he's talked up NZ trade on his trip to Southeast Asia, after criticism from his own delegation. ...
Radio NZ – political
15 hours ago

‘It could be the death of the museum’: why research cuts at a South Australian institution have ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

Government signs off $41m clean energy deal with Asian Development Bank
The government has committed $41 million to clean energy transition at the Asian Development Bank's Energy Transition Mechanism. ...
Radio NZ – political
15 hours ago

Are 2 mid-career AFL retirements a sign Australian athletes are taking brain health more seriously?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
17 hours ago

Luxon: Waitangi Tribunal comments from coalition parties 'ill considered'
Comments from ACT and NZ First ministers about the Tribunal were "ill considered" and "that message will be underscored" to them, the PM says. ...
Radio NZ – political
17 hours ago

Mental Health Foundation Facing Staff Cuts From Govt Funding Squeeze
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

I wholeheartedly recommend The President: a brilliant revival of a play of decay, terror and revulsi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
18 hours ago

How the coolest little capital is shrinking
It's not the first time a government has targeted public servants for job cuts, but this time Wellington is really feeling it. ...
Radio NZ – political
18 hours ago

Many prisoners go years without touching a smartphone. It means they struggle to navigate life on th...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
18 hours ago

Ministers accused of Cabinet Manual breach with threats to Waitangi Tribunal
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
NewsroomBy Marc Daalder
18 hours ago

Good news: midlife health is about more than a waist measurement. Here’s why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
18 hours ago

The Friday Poem: ‘Mitochondrial Problem’ by Evangeline Riddiford Graham
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The SpinoffBy Evangeline Riddiford Graham
18 hours ago

The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending April 18
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38) Hot off the press, this debut ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
18 hours ago

Department of Conservation closing Dunedin centre, but no jobs lost
Visitor habits are changing and DOC needs to adapt in a financially sustainable way, its operations director says. ...
Radio NZ – political
18 hours ago

Unions Collaborate With Thousands Of Job Cuts
With New Zealand officially in recession, a swathe of mass sackings is currently sending shockwaves through the entire working class. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

Watch live: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in Manila
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to reporters in Manila after pledging greater defence cooperation with the Philippines. Watch live. ...
Radio NZ – political
19 hours ago

Government sent please explain letter to Wellington City Council over transport disagreement
The contents were revealed in correspondence from Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop to Wellington's Mayor. ...
Radio NZ – political
19 hours ago

Some families push back against journalists who mine social media for photos – they have every rig...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
19 hours ago

Mental Health Foundation staff cuts loom, with funding falling behind rising costs
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
Radio NZ – political
19 hours ago

The ‘devil comet’ 12P/Pons-Brooks has finally become visible from Australia. What can we expect?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Pons–Brooks visible from Utah, March 9 2024. James Peirce/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND If you’re a fan of all things space, you’ve doubtless heard about the “devil comet”, which has been captivating keen-eyed observers in the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
20 hours ago

Rugby stadiums are sold as an economic asset – but NZ needs to ask if they’re really worth it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Hamlin, Senior Lecturer in Marketing , University of Otago A multi-billion dollar stadium precinct has been proposed for Auckland, one of three proposals in front of Auckland Council for a new stadium in the city. The council is also considering revamping ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
20 hours ago

Auckland dog attacks: Callouts for attacks on other animals going up
Roaming dogs are responsible for more than a thousand attacks on animals each year, and the number is growing. ...
Radio NZ – political
20 hours ago

What access to puberty blockers means for trans young people and their whānau
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
The SpinoffBy Julia de Bres
20 hours ago

NZ and Philippines pledge defence cooperation amid rising tensions
The commitment came after a sit-down meeting between Christopher Luxon and President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr overnight. ...
Radio NZ – political
22 hours ago

How superblocks can help reimagine city life
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
The SpinoffBy Ellen Rykers
22 hours ago

Fire engineering expertise may take a big hit with job cuts at MBIE
The public sector cuts are poised to take out a big chunk of expertise at the country's building regulator. ...
Radio NZ – political
22 hours ago

“Fast-track Law To Kill Kiwi”: Students Say Fight Against Anti-democracy Legislation Is Only Jus...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

‘We have thousands of Modis’: the secret behind the BJP’s enduring success in India
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
23 hours ago

Online schooling is not just for lockdowns. Could it work for your child?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
23 hours ago

Hear me out: You can shove your reusable period products
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
The SpinoffBy Kristin Kelly
23 hours ago

Rip It Up And Start Over – Fast-Track Approvals Bill Needs To Be Scrapped
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Maori Authority Warns Government On Fast Track Legislation
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Scoop politics
24 hours ago

Why the government’s haste in changing the health system could come back to haunt it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
24 hours ago

Many suicides are related to gambling. How can we tackle this problem?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
24 hours ago

Things that go buzz in the night – our global study found there really are more insects out after ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
24 hours ago

Why don’t Australians talk about their salaries? Pay transparency and fairness go hand-in-hand
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
24 hours ago

‘Character’ And Its Impact On Immigration Status
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
Scoop politics
24 hours ago

20,000 more on jobseeker benefits than this time last year
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
The SpinoffBy Catherine McGregor
1 day ago

All of the Raglan Roast cafes in Wellington, ranked from worst to best
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
The SpinoffBy Zoë Mills
1 day ago

Auckland uni students threaten rent strike over rising accommodation fees
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously. The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
The SpinoffBy Stewart Sowman-Lund
1 day ago

Missy rustles to stardom in Canada
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
NewsroomBy Aiden McLaughlin
1 day ago

Emissions fall again – now NZ needs to up the pace
Official figures confirm New Zealand produced less climate pollution in 2022 than in any other year in the 21st century The post Emissions fall again – now NZ needs to up the pace appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Marc Daalder
1 day ago

Warning of death from a million cuts as Oceans Secretariat dissolved
Shane Jones says people voted for change, but opponents say small cuts such as ending a special oceans secretariat are starting to add up The post Warning of death from a million cuts as Oceans Secretariat dissolved appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Andrew Bevin
1 day ago

Defence deal to counter Beijing’s aggression in South China Sea
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
NewsroomBy Laura Walters
1 day ago

Wellington’s ebb and flow of public servants
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
NewsroomBy Tom Kitchin
1 day ago

New Zealand transport planning has gone off the rails
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
NewsroomBy Dr Timothy F Welch
1 day ago

Daily crossword, Friday 19 April
The post Daily crossword, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
1 day ago

Brakes on transport and logistics sector as demand for freight slows
The transport sector is currently in the slow lane The post Brakes on transport and logistics sector as demand for freight slows appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Emma Hatton
1 day ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 19 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
1 day ago

Financial literacy should be on all of us
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Bryce Marsden
1 day ago

Grattan on Friday: Ethnic tensions will complicate the Albanese government’s multicultural policy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 day ago

Group plans work to improve safety of female MPs
New research shows harassment of elected officials - especially women - is on the rise. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Ukraine warns of WW3 ahead of long-stalled Congress aid vote
Ukraine's Prime Minister says his country desperately needs the US to approve long-stalled security assistance. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

PSA astonished Education Minister expects hiring of contractors to review curriculum
Hiring contractors is an appalling solution when people who could do the work are losing their jobs, the PSA says. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Crown lawyers attempt to block Waitangi Tribunal summons to Minister for Children
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Luxon refuses to guarantee public consultation on AUKUS Pillar 2
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says it's "far too premature" to be confirming whether the public would be consulted on joining AUKUS Pillar 2. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Visualising the 1800s or designing wedding invitations: 6 ways you can use AI beyond generating text
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Falls, fractures and self-harm: 4 charts on how kids’ injury risk changes over time and differs fo...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

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