So smart. Green senator Ludlam ‘welcomes’ Abbott to WA

Written By: - Date published: 10:27 pm, March 6th, 2014 - 30 comments
Categories: australian politics, greens, video, youtube - Tags: , ,

One of the most effective political videos that I have seen from a country that is coming to specialise in them. I’m unsurprised that it went completely viral.

It was a great description by Green senator Scott Ludlam of all of the ways that Tony Abbott is beholden to the interests of those made insane by idiotic greed – and welcoming him to Western Australia. All expressed in a polite quiet voice enumerating exactly how much of a arsehole Abbott is. Abbott even makes John Key look sort of rational – in a traditional junior partner kind of way.

YouTube link

Read this article in the  Sydney Morning Herald on the topic. Just don’t use their video link. It appears that they need a lot more bandwidth.

When Ludlam rose to speak just after 10pm on Monday only one other senator – Liberal Helen Kroger – was in the chamber. But the video of the speech has become an internet hit, with almost 280,000 YouTube views in three days, largely thanks to people “sharing” it on social media.

That’s not at the level of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech – which has over two million views – but it’s more than Kevin Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations or Prime Minister Abbott’s Christmas address.

The youtube video now has 362k views and it looks like it starting to head off elsewhere.

Updated: transcript from Aussie Greens

Tonight I rise to invite Prime Minister Tony Abbott to visit the beautiful state of Western Australia. I do this in good faith, because we are only a matter of weeks away from a historic by-election that will not just determine the final makeup of this chamber after July but also will decide much more of consequence to the people of Western Australia, whether they are thinking of voting for the Greens or not. Prime Minister, you are welcome out west, but this is a respectful invitation to think carefully about what baggage you pack when you make your next flying campaign stopover.

When you arrive at Perth airport, you will alight on the traditional country of the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, who have sung this country for more than 40,000 years. This is 200 times the age of the city that now stands on the banks of the Derbal Yerigan, the Swan River. Understand that you are now closer to Denpasar than to Western Sydney, in a state where an entire generation has been priced out of affordable housing. Recognise that you are standing in a place where the drought never ended, where climate change from land clearing and fossil fuel combustion is a lived reality that is already costing jobs, property and lives.

Mr Prime Minister, at your next press conference we invite you to leave your excruciatingly boring three-word slogans at home. If your image of Western Australia is of some caricatured redneck backwater that is enjoying the murderous horror unfolding on Manus Island, you are reading us wrong. Every time you refer to us as the ‘mining state’ as though the western third of our ancient continent is just Gina Rinehart’s inheritance to be chopped, benched and blasted, you are reading us wrong.

Western Australians are a generous and welcoming lot, but if you arrive and start talking proudly about your attempts to bankrupt the renewable energy sector, cripple the independence of the ABC and privatise SBS, if you show up waving your homophobia in people’s faces and start boasting about your ever-more insidious attacks on the trade union movement and all working people, you can expect a very different kind of welcome.

People are under enough pressure as it is without three years of this government going out of its way to make it worse. It looks awkward when you take policy advice on penalty rates and the minimum wage from mining billionaires and media oligarchs on the other side of the world-awkward, and kind of revolting. It is good to remember that these things are temporary. For anyone listening in from outside this almost empty Senate chamber, the truth is that Prime Minister Tony Abbott and this benighted attempt at a government are a temporary phenomenon. They will pass, and we need to keep our eyes on the bigger picture.

Just as the reign of the dinosaurs was cut short to their great surprise, it may be that the Abbott government will appear as nothing more than a thin, greasy layer in the core sample of future political scientists drilling back into the early years of the 21st century.

The year 2014 marks 30 years since the election of the first representative of what was to become the Greens-my dear friend and mentor Senator Jo Vallentine. She came into this place as a lone Western Australian representative speaking out against the nuclear weapons that formed the foundations of the geopolitical suicide pact we dimly remember as the Cold War.

Since the first day of Senator Vallentine’s first term, the Greens have been articulating a vision of Australia as it could be-an economy running on infinite flows of renewable energy; a society that never forgets it lives on country occupied by the planet’s oldest continuing civilisation; and a country that values education, innovation and equality. These values are still at the heart of our work; nowhere stronger than on the Walkatjurra Walkabout, which will set off again later this month to challenge the poisonous imposition of the state’s first uranium mine on the shoreline of Lake Way. As the damage done by the nuclear industry is global, so is our resistance.

Mr Abbott, your thoughtless cancellation of half a billion dollars of Commonwealth funding for the Perth light rail project has been noted. Your blank cheque for Colin Barnett’s bloody and unnecessary shark cull has been noted. Your attacks on Medicare, on schools funding, on tertiary education-noted. The fact that your only proposal for environmental reforms thus far is to leave Minister Greg Hunt playing solitaire for the next three years while you outsource his responsibilities to the same Premier who presides over the shark cull has been noted too.

You may not believe this, Prime Minister, but your advocacy on behalf of foreign biotechnology corporations and Hollywood’s copyright-industrial complex to chain Australia to the Trans-Pacific Partnership has been noted. People have been keeping a record of every time you have been given the opportunity to choose between predator capitalism and the public interest, and it is bitterly obvious whose side you are on.

So to be very blunt, the reason that I extend this invitation to you, Mr Prime Minister, to spend as much time as you can spare in Western Australia is that every time you open your mouth the Green vote goes up.

You and your financial backers in the gas fracking and uranium industries have inspired hundreds of people to spend their precious time doorknocking thousands of homes for the Greens in the last few weeks.

Your decision to back Monsanto’s shareholders instead of Western Australian farmers has inspired people across the length and breadth of this country to make thousands of calls and donate to our campaign.

As for the premeditated destruction of the NBN and Attorney-General George Brandis’s degrading capitulation to the surveillance state when confronted with the unlawful actions of the US NSA-even the internet is turning green, ‘for the win’. Geeks and coders, network engineers and gamers would never have voted Green in a million years without the blundering and technically illiterate assistance of your leadership team.

For this I can only thank you.

And, perhaps most profoundly, your determined campaign to provoke fear in our community-fear of innocent families fleeing war and violence in our region-in the hope that it would bring out the worst in Australians is instead bringing out the best in us. Prime Minister, you are welcome to take your heartless racist exploitation of people’s fears and ram it as far from Western Australia as your taxpayer funded travel entitlements can take you.

What is at stake here, in the most immediate sense, is whether or not Prime Minister Tony Abbott has total control of this parliament in coming years. But I have come to realise that it is about much more than that. We want our country back. Through chance, misadventure, and, somewhere, a couple of boxes of misplaced ballot papers, we have been given the opportunity to take back just one seat on 5 April, and a whole lot more in 2016.

Game on, Prime Minister. See you out west.

30 comments on “So smart. Green senator Ludlam ‘welcomes’ Abbott to WA ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Saarbo 1
    6 March 2014 at 11:07 pm

    wow.

    • weka 1.1
      7 March 2014 at 9:32 am

      Just awesome.

      “We want our country back”.

    • Colt 45 1.2
      7 March 2014 at 11:01 am

      “…wow…”

      I reakon.

      I’m still stunned how the Former Catholic semitarian rose to the heights of the Office of Prime Minister of Australia by charging right through the MSM – as they’re far too smart not to notice him go round them. Some people are just born bullies I suppose.

      Cunny’s twice as smart as Abbott, and he has all the resources of the exceptional kiwi MSM as well – ‘a shoe-in’ as they would say over in Aussie.

      Life’s gunna be good for us soon ‘ay mate!

      • greywarbler 1.2.1
        7 March 2014 at 2:21 pm

        What’s that Colt 45? Sounds like drivel to me? Bit unco don’t ya think?

  3. Tamati 3
    7 March 2014 at 1:42 am

    What a fuck up their WA senate election was last time! Serious need of electoral reform.

  4. jbc 4
    7 March 2014 at 2:29 am

    That speech had a lot of great points. But we already knew Abbott was a nutjob before he was voted in. More’s the pity.

    Thinking about this more in an NZ context really shows that the 2-party system is flawed and MMP hasn’t really fixed that. In fact buying into the entire policy platform any one party is an exercise in futility.

    The narrow choice at election time throws away a huge amount of voter reasoning and the result does not necessarily bear any relation to the proportionality in our minds. We have to pick a winner or two. Forced to make such a compromise decision, many will put aside the ‘nice to have’ and choose for their personal wellbeing. That sucks. That leads to Abbotts.

    • weka 4.1
      7 March 2014 at 9:34 am

      NZ needs to be brave and finally vote Green. We don’t have a 2 party system, we have choices, the question remains why we don’t take them.

      • Colonial Viper 4.1.1
        7 March 2014 at 10:33 am

        And we need to have the MMP threshold reduced to 5%.

        we have choices, the question remains why we don’t take them.

        What we need are real choices, real alternatives, not another variant of vanilla being marketed as one.

        • weka 4.1.1.1
          7 March 2014 at 10:56 am

          Sure, but in the meantime, we still have another kind of real choice, which is to implement change in the right direction. That shouldn’t be underestimated or undervalued like it is now.

        • greywarbler 4.1.1.2
          7 March 2014 at 2:31 pm

          Colonial V
          5%? I thought it already was. MMP was an attempt to change eh. But it has got gamed, and yet it wasn’t a mistake, it was a step.

          The Australian Senate got frozen at one stage with a religious individual like Craig holding the one important vote. The system needs to have an out when that happens. Simple majority just sets us up for a rort in those conditons.

      • jbc 4.1.2
        7 March 2014 at 1:53 pm

        What if we don’t like the choices? Sorry I wasn’t clear on that.

        I’m an atheist. A free-thinking non-believer. Non tribal. I find the idea of having ‘faith’ in one political party abhorrent. I find Colin Craig and Russell Norman equally odious and my chances of voting for a party led by either of them is zero. The days of the inspirational political leader seem to be long gone.

        However I do really like some Green party policies, so there is the dilemma. I’m forced to throw away a good deal of my preferences no matter how I vote.

        It’s not about being brave. Sounds more like having faith, and I’m not going there.

        For a real contrast in how NZ politics has degenerated into a collection of sideshows – watch Frost interviewing Norman Kirk. If only we had someone like that today…

        http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/frost-over-new-zealand-the-leaders-1973

        • weka 4.1.2.1
          7 March 2014 at 3:05 pm

          “However I do really like some Green party policies, so there is the dilemma. I’m forced to throw away a good deal of my preferences no matter how I vote.”

          Only if you belief that voting is about personal satisfaction. I don’t know where this idea comes from that we should get to vote for exactly what we want.

          If you want NZ to move back towards being country that gives a shit about things like fairness, community, helping vulnerable people, caring about the environment etc, it’s pretty bloody simple: vote Labour, GP or, depending on what electorate you vote in, Mana. If you want to up the chances of that change happening sooner rather than later, then vote GP, because they’re the only party that can make that shift happen now.

          Faith doesn’t have anything to do with it for me. I’m curious about what you mean by that. What makes you think you have to have faith in the GP to vote for them? What’s wrong with voting on their policies?

          • jbc 4.1.2.1.1
            7 March 2014 at 5:52 pm

            “Only if you belief that voting is about personal satisfaction. I don’t know where this idea comes from that we should get to vote for exactly what we want.”

            That’s not what I said at all. You vote for what you think is best for NZ. People have different ideas about what is best. That is why Greens don’t get 100% of the vote.

            I’m saying that there is much more diversity of opinion than what we get to choose from. Ergo, voting is always going to be a compromise unless you are a ‘true believer’ and swallow the whole of any party manifesto as the one true thing.

            “Faith doesn’t have anything to do with it for me. I’m curious about what you mean by that. What makes you think you have to have faith in the GP to vote for them? What’s wrong with voting on their policies?”

            I was referring to bravery in: “NZ needs to be brave and finally vote Green.”

            Voting on policies is exactly what I’d like to do. I was simply lamenting that no party inspires me, and the whole scene seems to have degenerated into sideshows vying for public attention.

            This is only opinion, not directed at anyone in particular. And I’ll add once more for good measure: the Greens do have policies that I agree with in stark contrast to the present government.

            • weka 4.1.2.1.1.1
              7 March 2014 at 7:59 pm

              “Ergo, voting is always going to be a compromise unless you are a ‘true believer’ and swallow the whole of any party manifesto as the one true thing.”

              ok, we are in agreement on that. Possibly where we differ is that I don’t see that as a problem.

              “I was simply lamenting that no party inspires me, and the whole scene seems to have degenerated into sideshows vying for public attention.”

              Well the GP in particular is between a rock and a hard place. If they don’t play the game they won’t get the MSM coverage and they won’t increase their vote. I don’t think we need inspiration to make a good voting choice. I suppose I think that this is the system we’ve got, so the point of voting isn’t to get the govt we want, it’s to move things in a better direction than now. That’s where NZ lacks guts imo. It’s not about faith so much as integrity.

        • Ant 4.1.2.2
          7 March 2014 at 4:15 pm

          I’ve been put off the Greens by all the crap over David Hay, he seems like a dickhead, but the way they treat members that get on the wrong side of the head prefect’s clique makes me think they are no different to anyone else these days.

          • greywarbler 4.1.2.2.1
            7 March 2014 at 4:59 pm

            If you start a group that decides to do something in society that is important to a great number of people, then there needs to be principles which get put in practice. Even if you play computer games Ant there are behaviours which you have to contend with. Everyone who doesn’t probably gets killed off.

            In real life people who join parties like the Greens try to run things so that people don’t get killed of, or run others into the ground. If you want to have a dichhead in parliament representing you, do vote National, you’re probably too good for ACT to bother with.

            • Ant 4.1.2.2.1.1
              7 March 2014 at 5:25 pm

              I don’t know… it looks a bit too much like the polls showed his list position would put them in parliament then out came the knives. My comment is he reacted like a ‘dickhead’, but the guy does have legitimate grievances. I’d like to think I’d react differently in the same circumstance, but if I gave that much time and effort campaigning for a party in Tory HQ Epsom of all places just to get shafted, I’d be pissed too.

              It’s same level of unease I had with Goff when he hung Carter out to dry so he could look like the tough guy, the same unease I had for Shearer and co. when they hung Cunliffe out to dry.

              If the Greens want to act like that fine, so I might as well just vote red.

              Anyway this is pretty OT.

              • weka …
                7 March 2014 at 7:53 pm

                There is no problem with Hay being pissed off. The problem is his serious lack of judgement in how he handled things. A leadership challenge a few months out from a general election when the GP is polling well but still needs to gain ground? I’m glad they suspended his membership. His personal grievances don’t take precedent over the needs of the party.

  5. Philj 5
    7 March 2014 at 7:07 am

    Xox
    Read the Greens transcript. Makes our Greens look meek and mild in comparison to this bold and defiant speech. Our Greens need more fibre in their muesli.

    • karol 5.1
      7 March 2014 at 9:14 am

      Did you hear or read Russel Norman’s speech at the opening of parliament in January this year?

      Youtube

      While on the one hand we have the choice of a genuinely progressive government, the alternative if the current government is given a third term will be a very different government to the one elected in 2008.

      It will be a hard-right government – economically, environmentally and socially, beholden to the damaged and discredited ACT, United Future, and Conservative parties.

      John Key’s claim to be a moderate has evaporated over the course of the last couple of years.

      He has overseen increasing water pollution, blocked attempts to set strong rules to clean up our rivers and subsidised polluting irrigation schemes.

      The government has destroyed a price on carbon and subsidised fossil fuels, with the result that New Zealand’s emissions are projected to increase 50 percent above 1990 levels by 2030; that’s according to Ministry for the Environment’s own projections.

      This government has made it that much harder for people to just get by.

      There are 50,000 more New Zealanders unemployed than when John Key first came to power.
      Median household income has fallen 4 percent after inflation under this National government.

      Electricity prices were up 3 percent last year despite falling demand, and rising mortgage rates this year will wipe out pay rises for many families.

      And this government has failed to manage the economy.

      Their irresponsible tax cuts to the top 10%, costing $1.1billion a year, have contributed to National’s record borrowing. In just six years, National has borrowed more than all prior governments combined.

      …. and so on… til

      Such a hard right government will further turn its back on science; climate science in particular, as Tony Abbot is doing across the ditch.

      Such a hard right government will take away the ladder of opportunity that many of us here climbed to achieve our potential.

      It will embrace the politics of the conservative right, who believe that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and a gay man’s place is in the closet.

      And it will turn its back on New Zealand’s opportunity to be a world leader in green economics and green jobs.

  6. karol 6
    7 March 2014 at 9:04 am

    I like that Senator Ludlam uses the same approach to speaking as the NZ Greens. Stating the facts, addressing the issues in a straightforward way, without all the loud rhetorical, combative posturing that is more usual in the NZ House.

  7. Jimbob 7
    7 March 2014 at 10:01 am

    I got bored. Far prefer this one and its a lot shorter…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH_MBwQhGgA

  8. Ron 8
    7 March 2014 at 10:53 am

    I see that the WA Senate is as bad as ours for attendance. I can only see 4 members present (disregarding the one that have to be there) and that is disgraceful. I expect all MP’s should be present in New Zealand House and whoever changed the rules to allow whips to make votes on behalf of members needs a lesson in representative democracy.
    Can anyone remember which government changed the rules in NZ?
    Oh for the days when every bill/speech/debate had a full house on both sides and it was pretty rare for leave to be given except for urgent business by ministers.

    • greywarbler 8.1
      7 March 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Ron
      I haven’t been watching NZ parliament much. I am so naive I thought that it was rare for MPs to be allowed out of school. Are you saying that they just leae it up to this pairing system so they could end up with under 10 in the House? No wonder they can build up other businesses. Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile then. Another leady House debacle.

  9. marty mars 9
    7 March 2014 at 1:36 pm

    Awesome speech. The point i think is the social media aspect – there have been good speeches here and when a good one is made it needs linking and sharing across the networks so more and more people see it. That speech was a very strong call to Green and really worked.

  10. Dingo 10
    9 March 2014 at 1:32 pm

    What a disgusting parasite.

    [lprent: It often pays to say who you are abusing and explaining why. Please read our policy about pointless abuse and moderators responses to it. ]

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    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    2 days ago

  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago

  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    3 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago

  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago

  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    6 days ago

  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago

  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    7 days ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: Who’s driving the right-wing bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In 2023, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 week ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS:  Media knives flashing for Luxon’s government
    The fear and loathing among legacy journalists is astonishing Graham Adams writes – No one is going to die wondering how some of the nation’s most influential journalists personally view the new National-led government. It has become abundantly clear within a few days of the coalition agreements ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    1 week ago

  • Top 10 news links for Wednesday, Nov 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere for Wednesday November 29, including:The early return of interest deductibility for landlords could see rebates paid on previous taxes and the cost increase to $3 billion from National’s initial estimate of $2.1 billion, CTU Economist Craig Renney estimated here last ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Smokefree Fallout and a High Profile Resignation.
    The day after being sworn in the new cabinet met yesterday, to enjoy their honeymoon phase. You remember, that period after a new government takes power where the country, and the media, are optimistic about them, because they haven’t had a chance to stuff anything about yet.Sadly the nuptials complete ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • As Cabinet revs up, building plans go on hold
    Wellington Council hoardings proclaim its preparations for population growth, but around the country councils are putting things on hold in the absence of clear funding pathways for infrastructure, and despite exploding migrant numbers. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Cabinet meets in earnest today to consider the new Government’s 100-day ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • National takes over infrastructure
    Though New Zealand First may have had ambitions to run the infrastructure portfolios, National would seem to have ended up firmly in control of them.  POLITIK has obtained a private memo to members of Infrastructure NZ yesterday, which shows that the peak organisation for infrastructure sees  National MPs Chris ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago

  • At a glance – Evidence for global warming
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Who’s Driving The Right-Wing Bus?
    Who’s At The Wheel? The electorate’s message, as aggregated in the polling booths on 14 October, turned out to be a conservative political agenda stronger than anything New Zealand has seen in five decades. In 1975, Bill Rowling was run over by just one bus, with Rob Muldoon at the wheel. In ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    16 hours ago

  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

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