Roastbusters redux

Written By: mickysavage - Date published: 9:46 am, January 27th, 2019 - 92 comments
Categories: alcohol, auckland supercity, child abuse, child welfare, crime, law, law and "order", local body elections, police, Politics, Social issues, supercity - Tags: john tamihere

In what was very unfortunate timing for John Tamihere’s launch of his Mayoral campaign the Roastbusters issue is back in the public eye.

To recap the roast busters were a group of young predominately westie males who used to get young women drunk and then engage in sexual contact with them. A private page on Facebook was then used to brag about what had happened.

I have been on the panel of West Auckland lawyers representing young people in the Youth Court for over 30 years. I have acted for many young people who have got themselves into trouble doing not dissimilar things.

The normal response is to first of all make sure everyone is safe, then determine guilt, and if the matter is admitted to have the young people attend the Safe Programme, an intensive programme involving counselling, therapy, family sessions and group sessions. The programme works remarkably well and changes young people’s views on sexuality. But early intervention is really important.

Jail time is not normally involved. It is more important that they are fixed up. And that intervention happens as soon as possible.

Prosecution of the roast busters should have been a slam dunk. It may have been difficult to prove sexual violation because of consent issues. But it is also against the law to engage in sexual conduct with a woman under the age of 16 years. And there were admissions on Facebook that this was what had happened. Proof of this offence should have been very easy.

I do not know why but instead of the Police moving immediately to charge the males involved they held off. For too long. And then found out they could not do anything because too much time had passed.

The Independent Police Complaint Authority had a good look at the situation.

There were some interesting findings:

[Child Protection Team] staff did not adequately follow up and pursue positive lines of enquiry
…
The fact that the father of one of the young men was a Police officer had no influence on Police’s handling of the investigations
…
CPT staff did not properly evaluate all available offences when determining the outcome of their respective investigations
…
CPT staff failed to properly consider alternative action to address the potential offending behaviour of the young men involved and their potential care and protection issues.

Most of the findings were sound but the fact that the father of one of the roast busters was a Police Officer caused and still causes concern. I wish I was not so confident about this. It seems to me that something significant happened to affect their treatment.

Because the Child Protection Team did not do what they should have. Young women were badly treated and then watched as the system let them down.

One of the Roastbusters, Joseph Parker has recently gone public and given some media interviews, apparently in an attempt to launch a music career. Talking about his redemption as a media opportunity really sucks. He should not venture into our consciousness and say that he has learned and is better now. He should keep quiet. And privately beg forgiveness from his victims.

John Tamihere ran into problems by apparently justifying and minimising their behaviour and by treating one young woman very poorly in a radio interview interview. Tamihere’s problem is that his jovial it was all a bit of a youthful banter and boys will be boys stuff may have been acceptable in the stone age, or even in the middle ages, but nowadays most of us expect much better.

Simon Wilson talked to Tamihere recently about Roastbusters and this passage captures lots of events simultaneously:

In 2013, a group of teens who called themselves Roast Busters boasted on Facebook about their sexual activities with underage girls, some as young as 13. At the time Tamihere was a co-host on Radio Live with Willie Jackson, who is now a cabinet minister. At least five girls laid complaints with the police.
Live on air, Tamihere and Jackson interviewed a girl who said she was a friend of one of the complainants, who alleged she had been raped.
The two men seemed to belittle the girl and trivialise the accusations.
They cast doubt on her story, suggested the youths’ behaviour wasn’t serious and wondered aloud whether blame should be shared by the girls as well as the youths.
In the backlash that followed, both hosts were censured and Tamihere lost his job.
When I ask him about it, the first thing he says is: “It’s not widely known but I got a six-figure settlement from MediaWorks after that had all died down.”
I ask him, is that his response now? Does he regret anything he said?
“You tell me what I said and I’ll tell you if I regret it.”
What he and Jackson said, in a series of questions, was that perhaps the girls should not have been drinking or out late at night, that they were “free and easy”, and that perhaps the sex was consensual.
They said the youths’ behaviour was merely “mischief”. They laughed at the suggestion of rape.
A few days later, I read those comments to him. He says “Well they’re the sort of thing you say as a talkback host”.
But is he suggesting the girls should share the blame or that rape was not involved?
“Let me ask you this. How many people have been charged with rape?” he says.
I tell him the answer is none. I ask whether he has anything else to say about it.
He says: “You are now making things up in terms of connecting dots.”
He gets up, says “thank you very much”, and walks out of the room.

I have a great deal of respect for JT. His work for Waipareira over the last couple of decades has been outstanding. I can recall attending a meeting in 2004 and wondering if he could be the first Maori Prime Minister of New Zealand.

But his attitude to women and young women sucks.

And to the roast busters. Laura Walters is right. You should privately seek forgiveness and redemption. And don’t think that your status should be some sort of platform for a future career.

92 comments on “Roastbusters redux ”

Comments are now closed

Sabine 1

27 January 2019 at 9:57 am

boys will be boys

and young women should have known better.

Young women who are all but 13 years of age for some of the victims.
- RedLogix 1.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 10:27 am
  
  When I was a boy I would not have even had a dark fantasy to do something like this; much less carried out anything like it. So … not this boy thank you very much.
  
  We have age of consent laws for a good reason; young people are prone to being emotionally manipulated into doing things they later regret a lot. It may even look like consent at the time, but it isn’t really. This is a pretty open and shut case of that and I agree totally with Mickey’s post on this, the Police should have made an attempt at prosecution regardless of the difficulties.
  
  Combined with the perpetrator’s recent public comments, you have to think they haven’t learned anything beyond feeling a bit sorry for themselves.
  
  I tend to err on the side of compassion for human failings, but these oxygen thieves have nothing but my contempt.
  - Sabine 1.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 12:08 pm
    
    you again don’t listen to what i said.
    
    in response to the post, aka the words of Tamihere
    
    boys will be boys
    and what where the women thinking
    
    is essentially just simply the down grading of the severity of the crimes committed, crimes i might add that were not prosecuted even to the slightest lest to the fullest extend of the law.
    
    boys will be boys
    and why were the women there, why were the women drinking alcohol, why were the women alone with boys, why why why why.
    
    Never mind that a thirteen year old is not a women.
    Never mind that a thirteen year old can not consent.
    Never mind that a thirteen year old is not legally allowed to drink alcohol.
    Never mind that a drunk and drugged person can not consent, never mind that a thirteen year old would be flattered beyond believe to be invited to an afternoon party with some older kids from school one whose daddy is a hollywood star and one whose daddy is a cop and one is a well to do offspring of a realtor.
    
    boys will be boys
    and why did she not go to the police, why did she not lay a charge
    
    never mind they did go to the police, they did lay charges
    
    and nothing happened, not even a charge of supplying alcohol to minors, not even a charge for statuatory rape, nothing
    
    cause boys will be boys
    and tamihere stated quite clearly why boys will be boys.
    
    and men like you need to understand that there is a small segment of people that goes around raping – babies, kids, teens, young women, old women, boys, young and old men, but because the Police does not do its job, because our Justice system does not do its job, we – the victims of sexual assault and rape are blamed for doing something wrong or else this would not have happened.
    
    Because men like Tamihere, and Police officers in NZ don’t give a flying fuck about the girls, don’t prosecute even the to the slightest of the law, and turn around blaming the victims for not coming out, even when they do.
    
    This is the issue, the roastbusters are simply the product of a society that does not care abut rape. And that blames the victims of rape for their rapes.
    A society that calls 13 year old girls young women.
    They are not women, they are girls, without any life experience, without any experience in drinking alcohol for most part, without any experience in using drugs, and thus can be used and discarded at the leisure of guys like the roast busters.
    As for tamihere, who cares what good he does, he obviously only cares about the well being of one gender in all of this doing good, and he is a rape apologist. he should hide in the darkest corner somewhere and be never spoken of against. He wants to be Mayor of a town, but only for the men? Or how is he going to protect the women and girls in the town that he is responsible for if this is his reaction to a serious crime that the police decided to not care about, to not prosecute, to not do anything to stop it?
    
    boys will be boys, until the day Police, the Law, and men like Tamihere decide that rape is a crime and that the fault for that crime does not lay with the victim, but with the perpetrator, and that that crime needs and must be prosecuted to teh fullest of the law.
    - RedLogix 1.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 4:28 pm
      
      All I can suggest is that you do take the time to read the IPCA report linked to in the OP:
      
      https://www.nbr.co.nz/sites/default/files/IPCA-Roastbusters.pdf
      
      It’s a mixed bag; clearly the Officers involved failed to spot the pattern of behaviour in a timely fashion. There was miscommunication in the team and you have to assume that due to their workloads and prioritising of other investigations, some important follow-up work didn’t happen. They got some things right, and others wrong.
      
      Overall the report is worth looking at; my reading is that due to the number of people involved, their workloads, the lack of cooperation from the complainants, the whole thing turned into a muddle. Plus some questionable judgement calls. I’ve no doubt in hindsight everyone wishes they’d made different choices.
      
      But to say that the Police and CPT teams didn’t care goes too far. Keeping in mind that the 2 of the 3 offenders themselves were under 16 at the time, this is the sort of policing that lies at the boundary of social work and criminal offending.
      
      Keep in mind also that if the Police were to criminally prosecute every time kids under the age of 16 had sex, we’d have very full prisons indeed. This is a worthwhile link:
      
      https://www.bmj.com/content/316/7124/29
      
      This is the median age… implying that fully 50% of women are having first sex under this. While this isn’t at all desirable, it’s not obvious criminalisation is the best response.
      
      In particular the Conclusions section states:
      
      . The Authority appreciates that the incidents involving the ‘Roastbusters’ presented Police with a complex set of challenges. The reprehensible and unacceptable behaviour demonstrated by this group of young men was further complicated by other issues. These included the vulnerability and fragility of the young women, the impact of peer, familial and social pressures in adolescence, attitudes towards sexual behaviour and the use of alcohol and other drugs, and the influence of youth culture and social media.
      
      Indeed, the issues were such that it is unlikely they could have ever been dealt with meaningfully and effectively solely by Police. Regrettably, Police had numerous opportunities to ‘connect the dots’ earlier, to generate a more organised, expansive and cohesive response, and to work in collaboration with CYF, the schools, and the parents of these young men to prevent their behaviour from continuing.
      
      I doubt very much you’ll find this a satisfying outcome; but it’s the reasonable explanation. The ball got dropped, as it usually is, from a combination of unintentional errors, omissions and mis-judgments. If you’ve ever worked on a complex project with multiple people working different rotations and shifts, over many months, with incomplete and confusing information you’d be very familiar with this phenomenon. While it’s easy for outsiders to leap to easy conclusions with the benefit of hindsight; the reality for the people involved at the time was much less clear.
      
      We have a very good friend here in Australia who has many decades of social work experience; this is her daily concern, that in among distractions and difficult decisions, something important will be missed. She’s had some close calls over the years, and watched colleagues get unjustly crushed by the machine when they got it wrong. It’s not easy in the slightest.
      - Sabine 1.1.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 8:39 pm
        
        i watched the saga in real live, and i will never forget the cop that said no one came forward, just to back track a week later saying oh someone came forward, but but but.
        
        the police did not do its job
        
        justice did not do its job
        
        these girls did not have sex, they got raped.
        Sex implies consent.
        Sex implies willing partners. Spiking someones drink and plying them till they are drunk and then raping them, filming them and shaming them online by showing these films is not sex. It is supplying alcohol to minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, forced sexual intercourse with a person not of age, producing porn with a minor, distributing porn with a minor.
        
        And the police – to their everlasting shame – could not be bothered to do their jobs and protect these girls, apprehend these guys, lock them up, and have them judged.
        If send to prison, believe me they would have recieved more care then the girls. More funds for rehabilitation, more access to social workers, psychiatrists etc etc etc. But no they got nothing, cause the Police in NZ was to fucking lazy, to full of bullshit, to ‘blame the girls for not coming forward’ and they did fuck all.
        
        If you consider this sex, than you might have to think about that.
        
        The police should prosecute anytime someone is raped. Irrespective of age.
        Do young people have sex, consentually? yes, and guess what, generally they are not drunk, they don’t get fucked by several guys, they don’t get filmed and they don’t get shamed.
        
        I don’t care if the offenders were sixteen, fifteen or thirty. They were old enough to go and find someone old enough to buy the booze, they then were old enough to ply girls with that booze to get them drunk, they then partook in a gang rape. They conspired, they planned, they executed they gangrapes.
        The police should have prosecuted, the police did not do its jobs, could not be bothered do its job, the son of the cop was never even named.
        The police in nz does not take rape as a crime serious enough to do its fucking job for which they are paid by the tax payer. Protect and serve only if it is convenient.
        
        This is not a reasonable outcome, maybe instead of interviewing the rapist who is begging for money pretending to have come ‘to his god’ they should interview the girls, some who by now might have turned 18 and ask them how they are dealing with the situation, if they have access to a social worker, if they have access to counseling, if they have any recourse with their emotional issues should they need recourse, if the videos of them are still around on the internet etc etc etc
        You will find that chances are they have received on that end as little help as they received when they went to the police to lay a complaint for rape.
        
        For what its worth, just about right now you sound like Tamihere, just that you hide behind ‘would you not want to think of the poor children who are rapists and young – boys will be boys , and social work, and prison, and such such such’.
        
        They raped, they got away with it, they don’t regret a single thing, they never felt sorry other then for themselves and if it would not have come out chances are they would have done it some more.
        
        As for OZ, generally speaking one women a week is killed in oz by a partner/expartner, surely that too is only due to boys being boys. .
        
        RedLogix 1.1.1.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 9:44 pm
        
        I’m not at all sure exactly what chimera you addressed that rant to, but it seems to bear little relationship to the comment I made above.
        
        I bothered to read the IPCA report and precis the general contents in order to give some sense of what exactly went wrong and why. Clearly this doesn’t interest you much beyond another opportunity to abuse the NZ Police.
        
        Have you considered that its highly probable at least some of the Police Officers investigating were women? Exactly what motive would they have to ‘not care about rape’? That seems an unjustified and defamatory claim.
        
        I don’t care if the offenders were sixteen, fifteen or thirty.
        
        Everyone here agrees their behaviour was reprehensible and totally out of line, that’s so obvious it hardly needs repeating. As I clearly stated above, it has to be damned disappointing they didn’t face legal consequences.
        
        At the same time while you may not care about their age, the law does. And the Police in this country, much to our huge good fortune, do generally care about the law. Two of these kids were minors, and when the girls first came forward, the wider pattern of abuse was not obvious. The normal Police response in these sorts of instances was to treat is as underage sex between minors. Very common as one of my links pointed out, and as I said above, it’s not clear that a criminal prosecution is always the best response in these cases.
        
        In this case it certainly was, but it was only later that the full facts emerged, and by then the complainants had decided to stop cooperating with the Police. This would have made a successful prosecution virtually impossible; but it doesn’t rule out one or more of them coming forward at some time in the future. Also for obvious reasons there might have been other evidence we don’t know about that caused the Prosecution Service to not proceed at this time.
        
        Contrary to what you may think, there are no real time limits here, and we may yet see this matter appear in Court.
        
        Lucy …
        
        28 January 2019 at 9:41 am
        
        It does not matter whether this goes to court now – only 30% of rape cases result in convictions. There was a story in the herald about juries agonizing on how short the skirt the woman was wearing when she got raped! Roast Busters for women was about how we are minimized by the courts, by police, by shock jocks when we say consent was not given. Even in clear cases under law when consent can not be given men are given the benefit of the doubt. If this was done in other criminal cases then how many cases of fraud do you think would fail? Money is more precious to the justice system and the people of NZ than its women! .
        
        Tiger Mountain …
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:13 am
        
        Spare us RL, the Police essentially investigating themselves, via IPCA, only on the rarest of occasions ever challenges NZ macho Police Culture
        
        RedLogix …
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:22 am
        
        Are you certain that all of the investigating officers were macho men? We do know that one of the people speaking on behalf of the Police is one “Detective Inspector Karyn Malthus”.
        
        I suspect that if you ever tried to actually do the job the Police have to do, you’d very quickly change your tune.
    - Tiger Mountain 1.1.1.2
      
      28 January 2019 at 11:11 am
      
      Well put Sabine, Mr Tamihere is ultimately an excuser and an enabler of dodgy males and NZ’s rape culture
Visubversa 2

27 January 2019 at 10:05 am

Tamahere does some good work, but he should stick to dealing with what he does. He is a sexist pillock and I have a recall of a newspaper article saying that he abandoned his 2 ginger cats when he moved house. That is him dead to me!
- marty mars 2.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 10:44 am
  
  + 1 yep – he isn’t as good as he thinks he is and he has done some good work amongst his foul and disgusting attitudes.
  - Tiger Mountain 2.1.1
    
    28 January 2019 at 11:48 am
    
    Not been keen on JT since he tried to exclude unions in the form of the then National Distribution Union-now First Union-from any role with staff in his early years at the trust in West Auckland. The cat abandonment showed a heartless streak too.
    
    He has authoritarian aspects to his character, which I guess could be seen as a good fit by some for local government!
    
    But really the supercity seems on a chaos spiral that no individual Mayor is going to arrest unless they go full raving left-Free public transport, homeless villages, tiny houses for tiny rents (plonk them in NIMBYs backyards…), car bans, slash the $100 grand plus salaries, sack Hods, and run a referendum or whatever is legally required to can ACT’s undemocratic CCOs once and for all. If the Council operated for people maybe more than 38% would participate in voting.
cathy 3

27 January 2019 at 10:10 am

“Well they’re the sort of thing you say as a talkback host”.

and that was “recently” ?

“Let me ask you this. How many people have been charged with rape?” he says.

so his attitude hasn’t changed.
- Anne 3.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 10:42 am
  
  From the IPCA report:
  The fact that the father of one of the young men was a Police officer had no influence on Police’s handling of the investigations.
  
  When that information was first revealed by the media I thought: “… so that’s what was at the bottom of the delay”.
  
  It will not be the first time that the police have delayed or chosen not to prosecute because of a relationship/association with the perpetrator or perpetrators of crimes of this nature. My own experience with the police (admittedly a long time ago) suggest that the attitude of some police officers towards women were no different to John Tamihere.
  
  Maybe that is changing but I suspect there’s still a long way to go.
  - DJ Ward 3.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 1:32 pm
    
    Good point. The police policy with police safety orders of just walking over to the male and going “your it” is clear evidence of a bad attitude towards women. Imagine not being believed if your a girl and something bad did happen. You get sat down and listened to, they may even go and talk to the accused. Then the biased cops say no, we are not taking this further, we can’t establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
    
    Meanwhile a young male walks in to talk about being sexually abused by a female and gets laughed out of the station.
    - Anne 3.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 5:58 pm
      
      Meanwhile a young male walks in to talk about being sexually abused by a female and gets laughed out of the station.
      
      Well, that actually did happen to me twenty five years ago and I am a woman. It was Takapuna police station. I reported abusive and intimidating behaviour and the arrogant sod (he looked like he was not long out of nappies) behind the counter chose not to believe me and laughed. Unfortunately there were no witnesses. I walked out feeling embarrassed, humiliated and shaking with anger. I think I would still recognise the shit if I saw him today.
      
      So, DJ Ward don’t try to suggest it is only males who get treated like that because in those days in particular it was more likely to be females – such was the ignorance and misogyny in the Police Force.
    - mpledger 3.1.1.2
      
      28 January 2019 at 9:44 am
      
      Do you actually know a young man or know of a young man that this happened too? Or are you just assuming it happened?
      - DJ Ward 3.1.1.2.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:34 am
        
        Me. Apart from being around for a long time and well informed from the male victims of sex crimes groups where being laughed out of the police station is a well recorded phenomenon. I’ve even tried to deal with these issues in court on 2 occasions. Hell has no fury like a judge under attack for the sex crimes they support. One judge had to state he could never be in a case involving me again, and the other because I was attacking the conspiracy of the police and the courts of falsifying birth certificates lasted 30 seconds. Simple fact mpledger. Rate of female victims and prosecutions vs rate of male victims and prosecutions.
        
        The cops do this sex crime supporting and denigration of the male stuff on a consistent bases.
        In DV situations the female to anger the male will sometimes use a comment like “the kids not even yours”. The police do nothing in response to the admission of a crime involving sex and impose the law on the male for his anger. The same for comments “of course I lied about being on the pill” an actual sex crime. Often accompanied by you should have used a condom, and laughter.
        
        But how would we know. No research, no data, no integrity.
        
        3 days ago in a social setting I ended up for a few hours with a good freind and a 16 year old male. The good freind has got evidence his missus has been cheating on him, and is 6 months pregnant. To say the least he is not in a good state of mind. The 16 year old has just split up with a girlfriend and has experienced suicidle thoughts. Simply put the girl was treating him like he was her own personal slave. Eventually the subject of sex came up and he admitted his first experience was him 15 and the woman was 22. I pointed out she committed a crime and he simply didn’t even know it was a crime.
        
        RedLogix 3.1.1.2.1.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:44 am
        
        Of course if this young guy does kill himself, as men do very frequently, then absolutely no-one outside of his immediate family will give a shit.
        
        We lost one of our drivers where I’m working right now a few days ago in similar circumstances … FIFO creating plenty of opportunity for female cheating.
        
        DJ Ward …
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:57 am
        
        Especially the coroner.
        
        No surprise feminists went hard out preventing them releasing any information. Even now all we get is race and regions. Nothing about cause.
Sacha 4

27 January 2019 at 10:15 am

Via OnceWasTim on the other thread, Mediawatch has a detailed discussion of this: https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018679753/roastbuster-s-re-emergence-reopens-old-wounds
marty mars 5

27 January 2019 at 10:41 am

Good post. Toxic male thinking does have to change – sadly this thinking is deeply engrained and normalized for many males – look around – the shit we are in has a lot to do with toxic masculinity which is related to toxic thinking about nature, the world and even life.
DJ Ward 6

27 January 2019 at 11:07 am

So this is investigated in a court of law and Tamahere got paid out.

NZs attitude, or his.
NZ was the last nation on earth , apart from Saudi Arabia, to make it a crime to have sex with children in 2008. Well in traditional NZ male hating bigotry, women having sex with boys. Males having sex with girls in modern NZ has always been a crime.
It is also the case that if a boy is drunk and a woman has sex with them, nobody gives a shit. There’s absolutely no difference in harm, or morality. In fact the behavour can be far worse. The young male can end up being subject to a life changing, and for teenage males, deadly pregnancy. It’s not like they get any say in what’s happening, the resources, or have intellectual competency, or extortionary level finances, to protect themselves in the court, and the anti male bias of the courts is amplified by compassion towards the female and denigration of his behavour.
It’s not like the drunk boys can pre empt risk by taking a contraceptive just in case they get stupefied and raped. Oh that’s right rape doesn’t exist if your a little boy, or any male and an older women intentionaly acts for some fun and a sperm donation.
IRD has 15 year old boys paying child support. Sounds serous when a person is subject to a crime and then has to pay money to the offender. For 18 years. Shit the rape just goes on and on and on. Pay check after pay check. The girls wake up the next morning devastated and have a cry. It goes on and on and on, week after week, for the boys. There’s no comparison in harm. The boys get no justice at any level. The girls get the media and blog sites go full noise for them, with compassion, hatred of the offender, persecution years later for even just a wrong comment.

The boys get silence from the coroner. Silence from the media. Silence from the police. Silence from politicians. Look what happens when you go out of bounds on the discussion.

Not from me. The day before this scam, politically motivated attack on Tamahere, i was one of his callers. We had a lengthy discussion on these points. Cleary Tamahere was rocking the boat and needed to be silenced.

Yep lots of bigotry today.
- joe90 6.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 11:48 am
  
  So this is investigated in a court of law and Tamahere got paid out.
  
  Deny..
  
  Well in traditional NZ male hating bigotry,
  
  ..attack..
  
  In fact the behavour can be far worse. The young male can end up being subject to a life changing, and for teenage males, deadly pregnancy.
  
  ..reverse..
  
  The young male can end up being subject to a life changing, and for teenage males, deadly pregnancy.
  
  ..offender..
  
  Sounds serous when a person is subject to a crime and then has to pay money to the offender. For 18 years. Shit the rape just goes on and on and on.
  
  ..victim..
  
  …DARVO!
  - DJ Ward 6.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 1:17 pm
    
    Something like this.
    
    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/boys-men/201403/why-is-discussion-boys-and-men-opposed
    
    For a second there I thought you were condoning having sex with little boys. Or just the general normalised culture of having sex with drunk males and putting all the blame on them.
    - marty mars 6.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 1:42 pm
      
      Lol – yeah that’s what happens…
- Sabine 6.2
  
  27 January 2019 at 12:11 pm
  
  pregnancy is deadly for teenage males?
  
  Yeah, right Tui.
  - DJ Ward 6.2.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 1:02 pm
    
    Tell you what let’s put that comment to the test.
    
    Go and look for the data.
    You will find endless study’s and articles on female suicide related to pregnancy. You will find nothing on men. No discussion, no data.
    
    Just a dirty little secret.
    
    NZ very high rates of teenage pregnancy.
    NZ very high rates of teenage male suicide.
    Higher rates of teenage pregnancy with Maori.
    Higher rates a teenage male suicide with Maori.
    
    Nope, definately no link there.
  - Patricia 6.2.2
    
    27 January 2019 at 4:34 pm
    
    Some of the young girls involved in the Roast Busters debacle were / still are badly affected by the actual assaults and the subsequent fall out. I don’t see that the males involved were badly affected or remorseful. I cannot find any evidence of male mortality from teenage pregnancies.
    - RedLogix 6.2.2.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 4:55 pm
      
      Some of the young girls involved in the Roast Busters debacle were / still are badly affected by the actual assaults and the subsequent fall out.
      
      No-one is questioning this at all. It’s why the Police failure to act is has frustrated so many people, especially those who have a keen interest.
      
      I don’t see that the males involved were badly affected or remorseful.
      
      Ugly indeed; clearly they haven’t learned anything. Maybe no-one has taken the opportunity to try.
      
      I cannot find any evidence of male mortality from teenage pregnancies.
      
      I doubt DJW is implying any direct link; that would be a crazy assertion. Whether there is an indirect, associative link is an interesting question. It can’t be ruled out and it would interesting to see if there is any research into this.
      
      What is becoming clearer is that males are distinctly vulnerable to suicide in the aftermath of a bad relationship break-up; more so than commonly assumed. From my own experience I can attest this does seem a reasonable assertion.
      
      For men, being rejected sexually is a form of death. Not directly, but certainly in the reproductive sense. We’re supposed to ‘get over it’ and never talk about it, but it’s not always a trivial process.
      - marty mars 6.2.2.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 5:05 pm
        
        “For men, being rejected sexually is a form of death. Not directly, but certainly in the reproductive sense.”
        
        for SOME men maybe – I’d venture these shallow men really need to adjust the way they see the world because it isn’t all there JUST for them. This attitude od theirs causes pain for many many people.
        
        Patricia 6.2.2.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 5:30 pm
        
        Agree Marty Mars. Our young people, maybe more so young males, need to be more resiliant. Not sure how we teach this but should start at an early age.
        I well remember the good old days when young men would claim they would be physically damaged for life if we females spurned their sexual advances. I do hope our laughter and spurning has not had dire long term effects.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        27 January 2019 at 7:52 pm
        
        I do hope our laughter and spurning has not had dire long term effects.
        
        Probably not in that context; males are trained up to be the risk-taking, disposable gender, and very early in life we get used to the idea that our feelings don’t count whatsoever. And if we are silly enough to talk about them with our ‘intimate’ partner she’s likely to react quite badly to this perceived ‘weakness’.
        
        In general men are expected to be the performative gender; while women are innately valuable as the mothers of the next generation, we have to prove ourselves as worthwhile mates and fathers. It’s a different calculus for us.
        
        While women do tend to be more emotionally skilled and intelligent; but for all that it’s surprising how little most women really know about the inner lives of the men around them. It’s possibly why you sometimes find us so laughable and dangerous at the same time.
        
        RedLogix 6.2.2.1.1.2
        
        27 January 2019 at 6:20 pm
        
        It’s not something conscious. The biological reality is that women do the sexual selection. Geneticists tell us that fully half of all men who ever lived never reproduced; we have on average two female ancestors for every one male.
        
        It’s also why rape is such an emotionally fraught issue; because it breaks the fundamental taboo of this essential female prerogative, the right to select the male they want to have children with. It’s not even accurate to call it a ‘right’; it’s something deeply hard-wired into us; women especially.
        
        And it has to be said, from the male perspective the human female ‘hidden estrus’ created the problem of uncertain paternity. Adultery and rape both obviously feeding into this concern, especially in traditional societies.
        
        But the aspect we almost never talk about is that while women do the selecting, it is men who are expected to do the initiating, and take the risk of being turned down. Most of the time. And for fully half of men who ever lived, this was all of the time. From a strictly genetic perspective, this was the end of their heritage, their particular gene line dies out with them.
        
        It also explains why some men have a particular terror of approaching women they’re interested in; why it’s such a fraught experience. Although with maturity and experience we usually get past it, it’s certainly an unwanted guest squatting in the teenage and later years for many.
        
        The other day Sabine quoted a line I’ve seen before men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them.. There is real element of truth in this, but also a misapprehension. Superficially it seems absurd to compare being ‘laughed at’ with being ‘killed’.
        
        Yet if you reframe the experience of ‘being laughed at’ as ‘rejected and humiliated’, and ‘genetic death’ it takes on a different complexion. And it goes some way to explaining why men are vulnerable to disturbed and extreme responses in the aftermath of a relationship breakdown. Usually it comes in the form of heartache, depression and suicidal thoughts. Sometimes it lashes out as jealousy, stalking, threats and assaults. At the extremes we see suicides and familial murders.
        
        Understanding our innate subconscious drivers is key to helping people turn away from resentment, bitterness and vengeance. Knowing why we feel the way we do, especially when they’re dark, bitter feelings, is to my mind the first step in controlling how we respond to them. That’s how we develop resilience in the face of life’s inevitable crisis’s.
        
        marty mars …
        
        27 January 2019 at 6:41 pm
        
        “Yet if you reframe the experience of ‘being laughed at’ as ‘rejected and humiliated’, and ‘genetic death’ it takes on a different complexion. And it goes some way to explaining why men are vulnerable to disturbed and extreme responses in the aftermath of a relationship breakdown. Usually it comes in the form of heartache, depression and suicidal thoughts. Sometimes it lashes out as jealousy, stalking, threats and assaults. At the extremes we see suicides and familial murders.”
        
        nah I just don’t agree with those assertions of yours.
        
        I get it fits your narrative but the truth is life and men are much more complicated and have many more drivers than the base reproductive one you’d reduce us all to. That is just a way to create wiggle room in the same way as “What was she wearing” does for men.
        
        Men are able to be holistic, creative and controlled. Some men can’t do that – they need help from other men not reinforcement imo.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        27 January 2019 at 7:02 pm
        
        have many more drivers than the base reproductive one you’d reduce us all to.
        
        Every scrap of psychological research confirms our biological origins; and how they shape our unconscious reactions. Evolution is one of the single most powerful scientific ideas we have ever had, and one that has been confirmed in millions of different ways.
        
        But absolutely nowhere do I reduce us to these ‘base drivers’ as you suggest. Quite the opposite, how many times have I used the phrase ‘the first post-biological species’? Just to be 100% clear on this, I say this as emphatically as I can … our unique capacity for self-aware consciousness and complex abstraction also means that we can grasp the transcendent. We’re aware however dimly, of the divine spark in all of creation, and means we grapple with ideas such as justice, compassion, dignity and more.
        
        Biological determinism is by itself every bit as silly as the ‘blank-slate’ social constructionist claims. When you use the term ‘holistic’ I understand this as the merging of the biological creature and spiritual being that we all are. But to fully understand ourselves we cannot ignore our biological roots; and if we want to understand sexuality and it’s sometimes dark relationship with exploitation and violence there is every reason to turn to the ancient creature with us all.
        
        they need help from other men not reinforcement imo.
        
        You don’t help anyone by getting them to pretend they’re innately good.
        
        Patricia …
        
        27 January 2019 at 7:32 pm
        
        Marty Mars – when I was 17 in 1962 being pregnant and unmarried would have brought great shame on me and my parents. Difficult to get good birth control in those days – “no” was the only 100% method of contraception. Even though I had sympathy for my young boyfriend the prospect of pregnancy was absolutely frightening. I had a couple of women friends who did become pregnant. When they named the fathers the alleged fathers arranged for a couple of their mates to say they also had had sex with with the girls so case dismissed ; father unknown and no paternity fees @ 30 shillings weekly to be paid for 16 years. Great shame for the women ; in one case the entire family packed up and left town after buying a wedding ring for the woman to wear over the next 6 months. No DPB available for another 10 years so parents had to support their daughters until the birth. We females had far more to lose than young men with “blue balls”.
        
        veutoviper …
        
        27 January 2019 at 7:51 pm
        
        Patricia, I have not yet read in detail this whole thread, but I really thank you for this particular contribution.
        
        You have said in a very few words what I and others of our generation of females experienced in those days but have not, or cannot, express so well. Thank you.
        
        I have a few things to do this evening but will be reading this whole thread in detail later. As well as you, the people you are talking to are some of the best IMO. Kia kaha. Please stay..
        
        marty mars …
        
        27 January 2019 at 8:02 pm
        
        Thanks Patricia for your comment – you have outlined the issues very well. And so true about who had things to lose – there is no comparison in my opinion.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        27 January 2019 at 8:07 pm
        
        Absolutely, sex was always more costly and potentially dangerous for women; this was a simply biological reality. It explains why women are generally far more selective and cautious about the whole business. And it certainly explains why women are generally more sensitive to risk and threat, both to themselves and the relatively small number of potential children they might bear in a lifetime.
        
        Reliable contraception, the Pill in particular, dramatically reduced the physical cost of sex for women; although interestingly their evolved emotional caution and selectivity around mating remained as alive as ever.
        
        In many ways we’re still grappling with the profound social implications of this change in our biology.
        
        Sabine …
        
        27 January 2019 at 8:45 pm
        
        simple
        
        men fear that women laugh at them
        women fear that men will kill them.
        
        marty mars …
        
        27 January 2019 at 8:50 pm
        
        Yep Sabine – there is no getting around that fact, no mincing of words or spillage of meaning or consideration of oh so many factors – nope, the truth is very scary and unequivocal.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        27 January 2019 at 10:17 pm
        
        As I said, there is truth in that. Superficially it’s absurd to compare the consequences of ‘being laughed at’ with ‘being killed’. I’m not a fool, that’s entirely obvious.
        
        But it covers up the reality that ‘being laughed at’ is in this context a proxy for humiliation, rejection and psychological abuse.
        
        We aren’t talking about good-natured ribbing or shit-stirring here, we’re talking the kind of cruel, undermining and shaming laughter that shrivels and diminishes.
        
        I’ve used this argument before. Imagine someone on a ladder falls onto you and breaks your arm. Painful, unpleasant and you could be a tad pissed off. Now consider the same person instead of accidentally falling, uses the ladder as a weapon, deliberately bashes you, breaking your arm. Clearly this is an entirely different situation, even though the physical injury is identical. Their bad intent matters, there is now a component of psychological injury to the attack, completely absent in the accident.
        
        Arguably it is more important that the physical injury. After all what is the fundamental difference between happy consensual sex and traumatic rape … if not bad intent.
        
        Now of course this in no way diminishes killing someone. That remains the most serious crime of all. If you commit homicide, you will rightly wear the most serious consequences.
        
        But neither does this alter the cost and consequences of psychological injuries. They aren’t visible like bruises, bashings or killings …. but I don’t think you get to dismiss their bad intent as trifles to be laughed at either.
        
        marty mars …
        
        27 January 2019 at 10:21 pm
        
        laughed at verses killed – hmmmm – imo they are chalk and cheese – unless toxic masculinity enters the male mind then laughed at becomes killed.
        
        RedLogix …
        
        27 January 2019 at 11:08 pm
        
        Yes they are different. I’m emphatically not making them the same. I’m not asking anyone to chose one over the other. Nor can anyone sanely use ‘being laughed at’ to justify ‘killing someone’. That would be utterly idiotic.
        
        Anne …
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:52 am
        
        Coming from the same generation as you Patricia, thank-you for your comments.
        
        I have found subsequent generations of men and women – including family – somewhat scornful of our youthful predicament. To be unmarried and pregnant was the most horrific thing that could happen to us. We would be harshly judged by every segment of society and shunned by our peers. Then when the baby was born it would be whisked away and adopted out. The birth mother would not be allowed to see her baby again and the adopted parents’ details withheld from her. That was her punishment for becoming pregnant no matter what the circumstances.
        
        Is it any wonder the majority of us said NO. We then stood a good chance of being discarded by the boyfriend in favour of someone who would say YES.
        
        So we lost whichever way we chose to go. The harsh attitudes we had to contend with in those days had a negative impact on our lives for a long time afterwards.
        
        DJ Ward …
        
        28 January 2019 at 2:45 pm
        
        I have never met a brother who was whisked away from my father when he was 14.
        At 16 he had a shotgun pointed at him, and a subsequent marriage he didn’t want to be part of.
        
        Luckily we have for the women moved on from that stuff.
        
        Anne …
        
        28 January 2019 at 3:31 pm
        
        @ DJ Ward
        Sorry to hear about your brother. Yes, all sorts of horrible attitudes existed decades ago but your response to my comment replying to Patricia is not in any way relevant nor does it make much sense
        
        You seem to want to play some silly game with women on this site who have a conversation about mutual experiences – an attempt to infer our contributions are somehow unworthy. Why? Do you believe women are not entitled to discuss their experiences?
        
        sumsuch 6.2.2.1.1.3
        
        27 January 2019 at 10:47 pm
        
        These narrow sea elephants disallowed by the beachmaster need to readjust their attitude. The quote is correct. The drama and tension of life.
        
        ‘After 40 men are either stoics or satyrs’. Well, both mostly. Most of us can’t do the unkind to a face thing.
      - mpledger 6.2.2.1.2
        
        28 January 2019 at 10:12 am
        
        But who doesn’t want you to talk about it? Other men might not but women certainly want men to be more open to them about their lives. It’s that the one of those eternal generalisations that women want to men to communicate more with them.
        
        Maori don’t have the same hang-ups about babies being born out of wedlock so I don’t believe that it causes a lot of angst at the time – grannies and aunties step up and get things done. I think it’s more an issue 10 years later when men who have bought into the hard living/hard drinking lifestyle and then find they have nothing to offer as a family man so they are left living an unconnected life.
        
        RedLogix 6.2.2.1.2.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:29 am
        
        Other men might not but women certainly want men to be more open to them about their lives.
        
        That is the conventional wisdom. In my experience the opposite is what actually happens.
        
        I recall an old Ray Bradbury short story which has a moment which goes like this; ‘For years women had wished that the men in their lives might open up and tell them what they really felt. And at 9pm that night they all did. And then at midnight all of the women suddenly wished their men would stop talking’.
        
        I paraphrase a lot, but Ray was a great student of the human condition.
Bazza64 7

27 January 2019 at 11:43 am

Agree totally with this post. Best they kept their mouths shut & not try to make more publicity out of it, nothing these guys did can be defended.
Ad 8

27 January 2019 at 1:35 pm

John Tamihere and Christine Fletcher are spent and stale.

They have no place anywhere near the Auckland mayoralty.

I won’t be supporting them.
- jam tomorrow 8.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 3:13 pm
  
  Christine Fletcher and Michelle Boag will make mincemeat of John Tamahere , he is too vain, too self-centred to be allowed anywhere near power – a minor Trump in the making.
  Fletcher and Boag will flatter and manipulate him – they are both far smarter at the dark arts than he – he is all bluster and puffery.
  - Ad 8.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 8:06 pm
    
    Tamihere has plenty of dark arts mates, in Maori, broadcasting, corporate, sport, trusts, and government. Don’t overestimate him as he is a bully and plays for keeps.
    
    Boag is as spent as Fletcher for all her skill.
Ross 9

27 January 2019 at 2:01 pm

I can’t stand Tamihere. But your comments about Roastbusters are off.

Prosecution of the roast busters should have been a slam dunk. It may have been difficult to prove sexual violation because of consent issues. But it is also against the law to engage in sexual conduct with a woman under the age of 16 years. And there were admissions on Facebook that this was what had happened. Proof of this offence should have been very easy.

Some people like bragging on Facebook. Some people like bragging off Facebook. It may surprise you, Mickey, but some people like to gild the lily. Bullshitting on Facebook isn’t enough to get you convicted, and I’d be concerned if that is the proof you are talking about.

I’m not sure why proof of the offence should’ve been easy. The Police apparently undertook a thorough review of the initial investigation and still found there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. Police often prosecute without much more than the allegation of the complainant. So when Police decide not to prosecute, it suggests the evidence is weak.
- mpledger 9.1
  
  28 January 2019 at 10:18 am
  
  The police didn’t make any decision at all, they left it too long for any prosecution to proceed. That doesn’t smack of the evidence being too weak, it suggests that there was no *easy* decision so they made *no* decision.
  
  Just prior to these events, their was a lot of take about letting boys off the hook if the couple were close in age e.g. boy 16 and girl 15 – all the “they’re in love” so he shouldn’t be prosecuted. But once there was purposeful stupefying the police should have been in like a shot to nail it on the head.
Ross 10

27 January 2019 at 2:04 pm

I do not know why but instead of the Police moving immediately to charge the males involved they held off. For too long. And then found out they could not do anything because too much time had passed.

I don’t believe that is correct. There have been convictions for historical sex offences dating back decades. When the offence happened is largely irrelevant.

http://www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/publications/operation-clover-investigation-overview-report.pdf
- veutoviper 10.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 3:36 pm
  
  Hi Ross (and mickysavage as author of the OP)
  
  This is completely off topic and I apologise to you both for that, but am wondering whether we have two people using the name “Ross” here at present, but with different identicons, or one person with two identicons.
  
  We have had situations where two people using the same name can be very confusing and the newest one is usually asked to differentiate their name. We have also had situations where the same person (eg Ed) has used more than one identicon as a result of using more than one email address – again very confusing.
  
  I noted yesterday that on the long comments to the “Herald names Dowie as the sender of the text to Jami-Lee Ross” we had several comments from “Ross” but :
  
  — Two with the same blue square identicon used here at your comments at 9 and 10 above, ie the comments @ 22.2 on 25 Jan at 1.20pm and @ 20.3.1.1 on 26 Jan at 11.53am on the Herald Dowie post;
  
  — the others (earlier ones on that other post) used a different violet snowflake type identicon – ie @ 19 dated 25 Jan 10.29am and @ 20.3 also dated 25 Jan at 12.47pm.
  
  I won’t try to post links to these specific comments as that does not seem to work currently – links only go to the post itself.
  
  No criticism intended, but it would be helpful to know whether it is a case of one person with two identicons, or two different people.
  
  Sorry, I am just a nuisance pedant!
  - Ross 10.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 6:13 pm
    
    Thanks, I’m happy adopt a different name and maybe say “formerly Ross”?
    - veutoviper 10.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 7:10 pm
      
      Thank you so much for your reply. I probably overstepped the mark not being an author or moderator here, but pedants must do what pedants do!
      
      Hopefully the real moderators, sysops who is lprent will step up and sort it with you.
      
      Ie I take it that you are not the same Ross (blue identicon) from the first Ross (violet snowflake identicon) ?
      
      Help – mickysavage lprent te reo putake – ….????
      
      Mea culpa (on repetition)
Treetop 11

27 January 2019 at 2:36 pm

It does not sit right with me that there were no actual legal consequences for the roast busters. This happened in 2013, it goes to show that there needs to be a shake up in legislation so people do not get away with committing serious crime.

Next month the inquiry into sexual, physical and emotional harm in state care begins.

I predict that the harm and suffering which was caused decades ago, for far to many, will not be fully understood in individual and monetary terms. The cost to an individual on many levels is a high price paid because this is the reality of what can happen and does happen.

Not enough is being done in current times and tragically the past is being repeated.

To take from a person a portion of their life, the value on this is what the offender does.

Settlement of sensitive claims with ACC are rigged, people are not compensated for the actual mental damage caused, especially in childhood.
- Formerly Ross 11.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 6:17 pm
  
  Police were also frustrated there were no consequences, but there was little possibility of conviction.
  
  Detective Inspector Karyn Malthus said today that the decision not to charge came about due to a range of factors including “evidential tests under the Solicitor General’s prosecution guidelines”.
  
  “These state that there must be a reasonable prospect of conviction for police to initiate a conviction.”
  
  Other factors included “the wishes of individual victims, the admissible evidence available, the nature of the offence and the age of the parties at the time of the offending”.
  
  Malthus said she was satisfied “every investigative avenue” was pursued, though she left the door open to further action saying there was no time limit on reporting sexual offending and any future disclosures would be assessed and investigated.
  
  “This is an important message to potential victims who have decided not to seek police assistance at this time,” she said.
  
  When questioned, Malthus agreed she would have liked to been able to prosecute but what they had did not pass the evidence test.
  
  http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/10674764/Roast-Busters-case-No-charges-to-be-laid
  - McFlock 11.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 8:25 pm
    
    It’s funny that “every investigative avenue was pursued” when the suspects were interviewed in only one case, and that was by officiers insufficiently prepared to conduct the interview.
    - Psycho Milt 11.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 10:10 pm
      
      “every investigative avenue was pursued” = “you must be joking pal, like fuck we’d investigate sluts whingeing about getting fucked, only shit, we’d better not say it like that or we’re, er fucked…”
      - Formerly Ross 11.1.1.1.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 6:08 am
        
        Psycho,
        
        The report into the case states:
        
        “Police acknowledge that the basis for interviews of the majority was hearsay and rumour and wish to make it clear at the time of this report that there is little evidence in existence to accuse the majority of persons of interest of being engaged in criminal sexual offending.”
        
        Would you really want a suspect tarred and feathered over some hearsay and rumour? That might be your kind of justice system but it isn’t mine.
        
        And you obviously missed my earlier comment when I said that Police are usually quick to prosecute where sexual offending is concerned. How many times have they said that they prefer to leave it to the jury to decide the facts of the case?
        
        Getting it wrong can be very costly for the wrongly convicted.
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12156071
        
        mpledger 11.1.1.1.1.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 10:20 am
        
        And being drugged and raped is costly too.
    - Formerly Ross 11.1.1.2
      
      28 January 2019 at 5:55 am
      
      the suspects were interviewed in only one case
      
      I’m not sure what you are saying, but of course suspects can refuse to be interviewed, and two did in this case.
      - McFlock 11.1.1.2.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 11:53 am
        
        Which case? The report covered half a dozen. One interviewed the suspects. You say two suspects refused to be interviewed – that’s still “every investigative avenue was pursued” except actually approaching the suspects in half the cases.
        
        “Police are usually quick to prosecute where sexual offending is concerned.”
        cf:
        “Rape cases are four times less likely to go to court in comparison with other types of physical assault“
        
        Formerly Ross 11.1.1.2.1.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 6:37 pm
        
        cf low rates of convictions for sexual assault prosecutions. About 35% of rape prosecutions result in a conviction.
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/107081667/over-60-per-cent-of-rape-charges-not-proven-in-court
        
        Clearly, many cases result in an acquittal. Therefore, one can only surmise at how weak the evidence may be in cases that are not prosecuted. But as stated, there ought to be a realistic chance of conviction. In these cases, police prosecuted despite the judge saying there was no realistic chance of conviction.
        
        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10387389
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/95862446/rape-charge-dismissed-against-ashburton-man
        
        Again, it raises the prospect of police prosecuting even when the evidence is weak. The police’s position is: let the jury decide.
        
        McFlock …
        
        28 January 2019 at 7:14 pm
        
        And yet they still have a low prosecution rate, and the majority of the roastbusters “investigations” did not involve an attempt to interview the suspects.
        
        Pretending that “a low conviction rate” means “the evidence is weak” might make you feel safer from the complaints of mean women, but the other possibility is that making a rapist accountable involves an unusually high threshold of evidence in this society. At no point would leaving a car unlocked be regarded as an excuse to enter the vehicle, and yet clothing is frequently brought up in rape trials. I suggest that supports the latter interpretation.
Jum 12

27 January 2019 at 7:11 pm

Until women/girls actually realise that their actions will impact on girls after them, then they will continue to be silent on what has happened to them.

So far, women have failed to warn their girls that there is no such thing as equality with men unless it is demanded and fought/killed even for.

Every women needs to understand that men will not allow or encourage them to stand beside men as equals until women unite and guard upcoming girls and women from the garbage of evolutionary woman-hatred by men.
- RedLogix 12.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 7:23 pm
  
  evolutionary woman-hatred by men.
  
  Honestly that phrase baffles me. I just cannot get my head around why anyone would think that.
  
  For certain there are some men who hate women, and some women who hate men. Our capacity for resentment and hate is something both genders share pretty damned equally in common.
  
  But the idea that the whole of human evolution can be boiled down to “all men innately hating all women” is absurd on the face of it, and contradicts every scrap of evidence.
  
  Quite the contrary; the most irritating thing about most men for many women is how we tend to put them on pedestals …
  - Psycho Milt 12.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 10:13 pm
    
    You don’t think there are evolutionary reasons why men might have an incentive not to consider leaving their sperm in a woman’s vagina a victory regardless of how she personally felt about the experience? Seriously?
    - RedLogix 12.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 10:55 pm
      
      Almost all human societies have a strong social taboo against rape. After all consider how we legally treat rape as a crime equally seriously as murder. On the face of it this is quite odd, after all from a purely objective perspective the act itself is almost indistinguishable from the same act enthusiastically undertaken by hundreds of millions of people every day. The same certainly cannot be said about murder.
      
      Of course what really matters is the psychological component, the bad intent to coerce, manipulate and negate the other’s power to say no. And all the evidence points to us taking this very seriously.
      
      Absent war and the general breakdown of social constraints, forcible rape is relatively rare. Of the roughly hundred million times humans have sex every day, only a tiny fraction of these would be in a legal sense coerced with bad intent.
      
      And even then there is good evidence to suggest that most serious sexual offenses are committed by a small number of serial offenders, sociopaths, psychopaths, pedophiles and other seriously damaged personalities. Most others tend to be crimes of circumstance and opportunity, just as culpable, but self-limiting when the circumstances change.
      
      However you want to paint it, coercive bad intent rape is not normal human behaviour. (Drunken, opportunistic, ill-advised, manipulative, guilt tripping, transactional bad sex is however pretty commonplace, but then again both genders seem more than capable of that.)
      - Psycho Milt 12.1.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 11:19 pm
        
        Almost all human societies have a strong social taboo against rape.
        
        Well, that’s the theory. How does that work out for women in practice?
        
        RedLogix 12.1.1.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 11:43 pm
        
        On a daily basis it works out reasonably well for most women. We could do better, but the good news is that generally rates of violent crime continue to diminish everywhere but on social media.
  - mpledger 12.1.2
    
    28 January 2019 at 10:24 am
    
    That’s not the most irritating thing about most men.
Jum 13

27 January 2019 at 7:22 pm

haumaha, roastbusters, tamahere – the hatred towards women and girls is palpable.
Morrissey 14

27 January 2019 at 8:15 pm

….a group of young predominately westie males who used to get young women drunk and then engage in sexual contact with them.

They sound exactly like an organized group of eastie and northie males.

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/alleged-inappropriate-touching-young-nats-event-investigated

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/108894339/national-party-defends-handling-of-young-nats-incident

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/11/27/340389/young-nat-suspended-after-newsroom-story
McFlock 15

27 January 2019 at 8:49 pm

Young men do objectionable things.
Old men say objectionable thing to defend the young men.
Police fuck up the case.
Old and young men pretend “no charges were laid” means they never did anything wrong.
Discussions about the objectionable things get derailed by people saying how difficult life can be for men.

That’s how rape culture works: ignore the women, ignore the acts, defend the men, so men feel free to do objectionable things again. To use an americanism, “fuck all y’all” who do that shit.
- Treetop 15.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 10:02 pm
  
  Ineffective legislation is the problem and worse no one is changing it so that a prosecution can occur.
  - McFlock 15.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 10:26 pm
    
    The current legislation would be fine if women were believed.
    
    If “reasonable doubt” in some cases meant “it’s not reqasonable to believe the defendant rather than the witness”, rather than “one person’s word against another, oh gosh I guess we can never know”. If “reasonable chance of successful prosecution” meant “it could work” rather than “it will probably work”.
    
    If suspects were interviewed by police who are thoroughly familiar with the details of the case each and every time.
    
    The legislation is fine. Our society is broken.
Chris T 16

27 January 2019 at 10:52 pm

I have little time for this roastbuster scum, but the comments on Tamihere are far from the truth.

What is done is done, but I’d point out I was actually listening to the radio on that day and they weren’t

a) Interviewing her. She rang in as a normal caller

b) She was mates with girls involved and was actually besmirching the girls

c) The whole thing was taken out of context
- Psycho Milt 16.1
  
  27 January 2019 at 11:17 pm
  
  Was there a context in which Tamihere siding with the perpetrators against their victims made him look less of an arsehole? Because I’m finding it difficult to picture that context.
  - Chris T 16.1.1
    
    27 January 2019 at 11:26 pm
    
    He didn’t
    
    That is kind of the point.
    
    The whole conversation was taken out of context, with snippets of edited material.
    
    He was asking what was going on because his daughter was roughly the same age.
    
    I can see exactly what this thread is btw and I am not even an Aucklander, can’t vote and don’t particularly give a shit who wins.
    
    Bloke announces mayoralty challenge, Labour supporters of Goff do group lynch mob on the same day, to label the other bloke a rape apologist.
    
    It would actually be quite funny if it wasn’t so sick
    - McFlock 16.1.1.1
      
      27 January 2019 at 11:41 pm
      
      From my perspective (not that I have a bottle on that shelf), the main thing that makes him worse than Goff is attitudes to Roastbusters and suchlike. His actual community-related work, from what I gather, has been pretty darn good.
      
      Signing up with Christine Fletcher bodes poorly, but it’s not like Goff is the last true hope of the Left, either. He and Goff probably aren’t too far apart.
      - Chris T 16.1.1.1.1
        
        27 January 2019 at 11:48 pm
        
        I’m similar actually
        
        Personally think he can’t do worse than Goff, but he can be a bit of a loose cannon.
        
        And as I say, I don’t actually care as I live in Welly
        
        It is just the coincidental character assassination on here on the same day as he put up his name I find a bit distasteful.
        
        But hey
        
        Only the right do dirty politics apparently
        
        McFlock 16.1.1.1.1.1
        
        28 January 2019 at 12:04 am
        
        As the post said, unfortunate timing for him that one of the little shits was trying to launch a recording career at the same time Tamihere announced running for mayor.
        
        It’s not character assassination, though. He fucked up badly, and his actual excuse (rather than the one you presented) was that apparently one is supposed to talk like that on talkback. Which is a whole other argument.
- mpledger 16.2
  
  28 January 2019 at 10:30 am
  
  I heard it too. Not at the time but later over the internet (before it was taken down). They were really awful to the girl and it wasn’t taken out of context. I thought she handled herself really well against a couple of misogynist pricks. I would never have had the guts to go toe to toe with them at her age – and probably wouldn’t even now.
- Morrissey 16.3
  
  28 January 2019 at 10:45 am
  
  Some years ago the RadioVILE intellectuals Willie Jackson and John Tamihere talked learnedly and sensitively on the subject of marital infidelity. The dwarf-boxing impresario Dean Lonergan also took part.
  
  Both Deano and JT made it clear that there was no excuse for violence against any woman, even if one came home one day midway through the afternoon to find her in bed with, say, half the ACT caucus. Willie Jackson, though, was having none of that P.C. nonsense. “If I found out that my missus was fooling around on me,” he said, with quiet sincerity, “I’d put a knife through her heart.”
  
  This shocked even the crass and offensive Lonergan, who felt moved to remonstrate: “I think that’s going a bit far, mate.”
  
  Willie didn’t back down an inch, however. “Nah, nah, nah—don’t give me THAT,” he said, without even a hint of his usual playfulness. “I would. I would put a knife through her heart. I WOULD.”
  
  JT snorted sardonically and laughed, “You’re a mongrel, Willie, a mongrel.”
  
  http://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2019/01/daytime-tv-review-three-wise-men.html

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6 days ago

How to Factory Reset Gateway Laptop A Comprehensive Guide
A factory reset restores your Gateway laptop to its original factory settings, erasing all data, apps, and personalizations. This can be necessary to resolve software issues, remove viruses, or prepare your laptop for sale or transfer. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to factory reset your Gateway laptop: Method 1: ...
Gareth’s WorldBy admin
6 days ago

The Folly Of Impermanence.
“You talking about me?” The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Bowalley Road
6 days ago

A crisis of ambition
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
6 days ago

Have 308 people in the Education Ministry’s Curriculum Development Team spent over $100m on a 60-p...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
6 days ago

'This bill is dangerous for the environment and our democracy'
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
6 days ago

Release: Working together on consistent support for veterans this Anzac Day
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Labour Blog
2 days ago

Release: Penny drops – but what about Seymour and Peters?
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Labour Blog
2 days ago

Release: Budget blunder shows Nicola Willis could cut recovery funding
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Further environmental mismanagement on the cards
The Government’s resource management reforms will add to the heavy and ever-growing burden this Government is loading on to our environment. ...
Greens
3 days ago

Release: RMA changes will be a disaster for environment
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Labour supports urgent changes to emergency management system
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
Labour Blog
3 days ago

Release: Labour calls for New Zealand to recognise Palestine
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Release: Three strikes law political posturing of worst kind
The Government is bringing back a law that has little evidential backing just to look tough, Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Release: Government cuts unbelievably target child exploitation, violent extremism, ports and airpor...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Three strikes has failed before and will fail again
Resurrecting the archaic three-strikes legislation is an unwelcome return to a failed American-style approach to justice. ...
Greens
4 days ago

Release: Environmental protection vital, not ‘onerous’
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Labour Blog
4 days ago

Release: Govt cuts doctors and nurses in hiring freeze
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Labour Blog
7 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
2 weeks 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
2 weeks 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
2 weeks 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
2 weeks 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
2 weeks ago

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

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

Luxon targets are lousy example of leadership
If talk is cheap, Chris Luxon’s “targets” are bankrupt. ...
Greens
3 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
3 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
3 weeks ago

Anzac Commemorative Address – NZ National Service, Chunuk Bair
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
12 hours ago

Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, Türkiye
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
18 hours ago

PM announces changes to portfolios
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

New catch limits for unique fishery areas
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
2 days ago

Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Overseas decommissioning models considered
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Release of North Island Severe Weather Event Inquiry
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
3 days ago

Justice Minister to attend Human Rights Council
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facility
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Government to introduce revised Three Strikes law
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

New diplomatic appointments
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
4 days ago

Arts Minister congratulates Mataaho Collective
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Supporting better financial outcomes for Kiwis
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

Trade relationship with China remains strong
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
5 days ago

PM’s South East Asia mission does the business
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
6 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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
7 days 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 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week 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
1 week ago

Opinion: It’s time for an arts and creative sector strategy
I was initially resistant to the idea often suggested to me that the Government should deliver an arts strategy. The whole point of the arts and creativity is that people should do whatever the hell they want, unbound by the dictates of politicians in Wellington. Peter Jackson, Kiri Te Kanawa, Eleanor ...
BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
1 week 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
1 week ago

Paul Goldsmith starts as new Media Minister replacing sacked Melissa Lee
The media industry is "under pressure", Paul Goldsmith says, but he plans to plot a path forward as he takes up the difficult role. ...
Radio NZ – political
37 mins ago

Is NZ bringing in 'Indonesian coal every month to keep the lights on'?
Analysis: The Resource Minister said it, but is it true and why does it matter? ...
Radio NZ – political
1 hour ago

More spending cuts needed to stablise government finances – economist
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Radio NZ – political
1 hour ago

The government's 22 trips abroad in April
The government appears committed to overseas visits with 14 miniters and MPs in 18 countries this month. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

Loopholes will be exploited in new vape rules – experts
There is no doubt vape manufacturers will find and exploit loopholes in new regulations, say marketing experts. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

Aotearoa Party Merges With Rock The Vote NZ Party And John Alcock Elected As Party Leader
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Scoop politics
3 hours ago

After spending $2m on pins for Covid-19 workers, department now cutting costs
Government department that spent $2m on lapel pins to honour Covid-19 workers is now looking to make cuts. ...
Radio NZ – political
3 hours ago

An afternoon at the Repair Café, where everyday objects get a second life
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
The SpinoffBy Shanti Mathias
4 hours ago

Dreaming of my not-wedding day
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
The SpinoffBy Gráinne Patterson
4 hours ago

Debt clifftop guardrail and ambulance removed at same time
It will be soon be easier to get lending, but harder to get help for debt The post Debt clifftop guardrail and ambulance removed at same time appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Emma Hatton
4 hours ago

Just Life exit from NZX puts listed company regulation under microscope
Just Life’s chief executive says the exchange’s regulatory burden outweighs any benefits to small business The post Just Life exit from NZX puts listed company regulation under microscope appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Andrew Bevin
4 hours ago

Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Laura Walters
4 hours ago

Daily crossword, Friday 26 April
The post Daily crossword, Friday 26 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
4 hours ago

The outlook for engineering specialists looks bleak
Opinion: Delays getting to the starting line of new programmes of work are causing significant disruption across the sector The post The outlook for engineering specialists looks bleak appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Helen Davidson
4 hours ago

Eliza wants more than a last tango in Paris
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
NewsroomBy Suzanne McFadden
4 hours ago

This week’s bestselling books – April 26
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
NewsroomBy Steve Braunias
4 hours ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 26 April
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NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
4 hours ago

On the fringes of the Gallipoli battlefield
You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
NewsroomBy Alexia Russell
4 hours ago

Govt repeats mistakes of Muldoon’s authoritarian excesses
Opinion: It needs wiser leadership to learn from the past to have a balanced planning and resource management law The post Govt repeats mistakes of Muldoon’s authoritarian excesses appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Peter Dunne
4 hours ago

Grattan on Friday: Social media companies can’t be immune from the need for a social licence
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
10 hours ago

Nelson Mandela’s grandson joins Gaza flotilla, slams ‘genocide complicit’ leaders
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
13 hours ago

200 journalists ‘targeted’ over their environment reporting, warns RSF
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
14 hours ago

Bryce Edwards Analysis – Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz) Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Evening ReportBy Bryce Edwards
14 hours ago

David Seymour: Auckland Grammar School ANZAC Day Address
This speech was delivered to Auckland Grammar students, family, Old Boys, and staff on ANZAC Day 2024 by David Seymour ’97, MP for Epsom. ...
Scoop politics
16 hours ago

David Seymour: Auckland Grammar School ANZAC Day Address
This speech was delivered to Auckland Grammar students, family, Old Boys, and staff on ANZAC Day 2024 by David Seymour ’97, MP for Epsom. ...
Scoop politics
16 hours ago

Inflation is slowly falling while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain the CPI
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
16 hours ago

Response To ANZAC Day Protests
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Scoop politics
17 hours ago

Claimants want Children's Minister to front up kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face)
Waitangi Tribunal claimants will appeal a High Court decision to overturn a summons order from the Tribunal for Children's Minister Karen Chhour. ...
Radio NZ – political
17 hours ago

‘It bucked our lads up wonderfully’: the lightning-quick battle that marked the birth of the US-...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
18 hours ago

GCSB refuses to release details of spy deal 'to protect interests'
The spy agency is refusing to release a copy of its deal with a foreign agency to run a secret operation out of this country. ...
Radio NZ – political
19 hours ago

Die In for Palestine Marks ANZAC day
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

Ancient nomads you’ve probably never heard of disappeared from Europe 1,000 years ago. Now, DNA an...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD). Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
21 hours ago

Don’t mention the war: On grandparents and Anzac biscuits
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits. First published in 2021. All my ...
The SpinoffBy Amanda Thompson
21 hours ago

If plastic manufacturing goes up 10%, plastic pollution goes up 10% – and we’re set for a huge ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
21 hours ago

Governor-General's Anzac Day Dawn Service Address
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

Angling-Conservation Group Sees Fast Track Bill As Undemocratic
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Scoop politics
22 hours ago

Remembering the great TrueBliss vs Bardot national anthem sing-off
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff. First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
The SpinoffBy Jamie Wall
22 hours ago

Help Me Hera: Do I even want the public sector job I might be about to lose?
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nz Dear Hera, May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
The SpinoffBy Hera Lindsay Bird
24 hours ago

ANZAC Day Wreath Calls For No Future Deaths From AUKUS
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Swimmer does everything and more to get to Paris
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
NewsroomBy Dave Crampton
1 day ago

Seize the day
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view. The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell. First published in 2022. The high school’s head girl and ...
The SpinoffBy David Hill
1 day ago

The first, forgotten Anzacs, more than 50 years before Gallipoli
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association. First published in 2018. When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
The SpinoffBy Scott Hamilton
1 day ago

Poem for Anzac Day: ‘Hoki Mai’ by Tayi Tibble
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble. Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
The SpinoffBy Tayi Tibble
1 day ago

Poem for Anzac Day: ‘My World War I Poem’ by Bill Manhire
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin. My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
The SpinoffBy Bill Manhire
1 day ago

Book of the Week: Talia Marshall on living legend Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
NewsroomBy Talia Marshall
1 day ago

Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 25 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, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
1 day ago

Daily crossword, Thursday 25 April
The post Daily crossword, Thursday 25 April appeared first on Newsroom. ...
NewsroomBy Newsroom Puzzles
1 day ago

High Court overturns Waitangi Tribunal summons to Minister for Children Karen Chhour
The minister was due to give evidence on Friday regarding the government's plans to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act ...
Radio NZ – political
1 day ago

Sydney University students set up Gaza solidarity camp as war marks 200 days
Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
2 days ago

Most bees don’t die after stinging – and other surprising bee facts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

How Anzac deaths changed the way we mourn to this day
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/Flickr Victor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Sugar gums have a reputation as risky branch-droppers but they’re important to bees, parrots and p...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Our housing system is broken and the poorest Australians are being hardest hit
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

‘It bucked our lads up wonderfully’: the lightning-quick WWI battle that marked the birth of the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918. Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

First Nations Anzacs sacrificed life and limb for Country. Why aren’t their stories shown onscreen...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War Memorial Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

NZ’s Media Minister Melissa Lee demoted after Newshub crisis
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
2 days ago

Our tall, wet forests were not open and park-like when colonists arrived – and we shouldn’t be b...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Aces in their places: Luxon plays coy over ministers' competence
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Politics with Michelle Grattan: Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Melissa Lee’s media Hail Mary comes up short
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
NewsroomBy Laura Walters
2 days ago

Northland council continues four-year Māori ward fight in face of government changes
A council that played a key role in getting Māori ward polling removed is now lobbying against government plans to reinstate binding referendums. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Education Ministry cuts: Roles providing support for disabled kids among those proposed to be axed
Leaked documents show which divisions will bear the brunt of hundreds of proposed job cuts at the Ministry of Education. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Land Information New Zealand proposes 57 job cuts
It is the latest department to announce job cuts as part of the government's cost-cutting measures. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Watch: Government's 'wheels are falling off already', Hipkins says, after ministers d...
The Labour leader says the demotion of two ministers today shows the PM "didn't have particularly good judgement". ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

The stories of Australia’s Muslim Anzacs have long been forgotten. It’s time we honour them
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

National emergency response facing 26 separate inquiries: What have we learned
The country's emergency response is besieged by inquiries, despite years of reviews and efforts to make laws that deliver. ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Sexual assault victims give evidence in court, but alleged perpetrators don’t have to. Bruce Lehrm...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

What’s the difference between ADD and ADHD?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
2 days ago

Watch: Government's 'wheels are falling off already', Hipkins says, after minsters de...
The Labour leader says the demotion of two ministers today shows the PM "didn't have particularly good judgement". ...
Radio NZ – political
2 days ago

Anti-Poverty Groups Urge New Minister For Disability Issues To Reverse Funding Cuts
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

New Media Minister Must Rule Out State Intervention In Private Media
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

OPM leader’s open letter condemns Australia’s ‘treachery’ over Papua
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report
2 days ago

‘Emily Dickinson made me into a writer’: Lauren Groff on the power of reading
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff. The book I wish I’d written If I wish I’d written a ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
2 days ago

Roastbusters redux

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