Standing in the Shadow of the Red Flag

Written By: - Date published: 10:30 am, November 25th, 2015 - 47 comments
Categories: activism, class war, democratic participation, elections, labour, local body elections, local government, phil goff, Politics - Tags: , ,

There was a brief discussion on The Standard about whether it appropriate for Phil Goff to win the Auckland mayoralty as an independent. Regular commenter Atiawa asked this question:

“Why would Goff stand for the Auckland mayoralty as an independent candidate considering his life-long commitment to the Labour Party?”

Why indeed?

In the parties century of political activism, I can’t find any Auckland mayor who officially stood under the Labour banner. The nearest I can get is Ernest Davis, who was a millionaire beer baron back when being a millionaire meant something. Davis was clearly associated with the workers’ party, but again, I can’t find any record of this staunch (and complex) Labour supporter actually flying the red flag in his successful campaigns. Readers with better historical knowledge may be able to point to instances where this has happened and I’m happy to have the record corrected.

Of course, Auckland was a much more narrowly defined area until the Lange Labour government introduced local government reforms in 1989. These changes ended the independence of neighbouring boroughs such as Newmarket, Mt Eden and Mt Roskill and established the Auckland City Council as arguably the most powerful single local government body. The more recent reforms have further consolidated the Queen St council as the major player in local government. The role of Mayor of Auckland can reasonably seen as being as politically significant and, in some ways, equivalent in power to a Government Cabinet Minister.

Actually, I have no problem with Goff standing as an independent this time. To be an effective Auckland mayor, he will have to appeal across the political divide. The repeated endorsements from John Key will certainly help!

National, as we know, preferred to use the Citizens and Ratepayers vehicle (now Communities and Residents). Prior to the formation of the National Party, the Reform and United parties stood joint tickets. There have been many left leaning coalitions and City Vision was probably the most successful of those, ending decades of of C&R dominance in the Queen City. Many current left MP’s in the Greens and Labour have cut their teeth as City Vision councillors and local board members. The same applies to the Future West coalition in the city’s western suburbs. Good results and good experience.

I know that there have been candidates in other council elections in the past who have officially represented Labour. For example, veteran campaigner Richard Northey stood and won the Maungakiekie-Tamaki ward in Auckland under the Labour banner.  The local local board there also went to Labour candidates, as did the local boards in Mangere-Otahuhu and Otara. However, it’s clear that the vast majority of candidates at every level in Auckland, and from every political perspective, stand as independents.

It appears that both major parties accept that at local government level, the tickets should de-emphasise the links to national politics and present as broad community groups. This concept has worked since the twenties, but I think it might be time for Labour to re-think the strategy. If not in Auckland, where the coalition with the Greens is clearly working, then maybe in the provinces, where the party struggles to make headway.

New Zealand seems unique in this approach. The major parties in the UK, Europe and the USA most often stand under their own name. Council elections are regarded as both workouts for general elections and important indicators of a party’s prospects nationally. But not here, apparently.

I’m a firm believer in the Popular Front. The Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov recognised the fascist threat in the early thirties and campaigned for progressive parties to put aside their divisions to oppose the common foe. His was a hard fight at a time when Stalinism was being established in the USSR and the naive alternative, Trotskyism, was still convinced that a purist worldwide revolution should be the goal. In the face of a direct threat, unity is vital. Division is often fatal, particularly when the opposition is singular in its purpose.

But these are different times and there are limits to the political effectiveness of united fronts for the constituent parties. Subsuming your own identity within the electoral grouping does not enhance a party’s wider prospects. As noted above, it can be a great learning experience for candidates and a test of a party’s electoral machine, but it does little to broaden the appeal of a individual party.

For the Labour Party I think it’s time they seriously consider putting up tickets in next year’s council elections under the red flag. If the left is to win Government, Labour must pick up more support in the provinces. It’s not good enough to just have a few MP’s outside the major urban areas. The provinces have been abandoned to their fate by National. If it isn’t Labour championing the needs of towns like Gisborne, Whanganui and Dunedin, who will?

My proposal is that Labour pick a couple of small towns and one larger city and run a Labour ticket in next year’s council elections as an experiment. Let’s see if we can win under our own name and then let’s look at the results in the General Election eighteen months later and see if there is a related improvement. I reckon local Labour Party members will embrace the chance to fly the red flag in their communities. I’m equally sure that local voters will be happy to see that the Labour Party is more than just the Parliamentary caucus and is not just a 3 yearly parliamentary electoral machine.

I don’t think it would hurt Labour to stand under the scarlet standard in council elections. I believe there is nothing to lose and much to gain if candidates are proudly and publicly Labour at a local level. Could it hurt to try? Readers, would you be more interested in local body elections if you knew for sure what the politics of the candidates were? I suspect the answer might be ‘yes’.

 

tereoputake.wordpress.com/

twitter.com/tereoputake

[email protected]

47 comments on “Standing in the Shadow of the Red Flag ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Bill 1
    25 November 2015 at 10:57 am

    I’ve never understood why local elections don’t have up-front party participation here in NZ. It’s struck me as almost dishonest insofar as I doubt the actual independence of candidates running on assumed independence.

    Anyway, not only would standing as a party give voters a bit of a heads up on (often) quite unknown candidates, it would be a perfect opportunity to generate party enthusiasm or trust at the local level (assuming the elected reps don’t fuck up) that would flow seamlessly to the national level.

    A ‘no-brainer’ I’d have thought.

    • Atiawa 1.1
      25 November 2015 at 11:33 am

      I agree Bill.
      I could understand left leaning Labour/Greens aspiring politicians standing previously as independent candidates, however I’m not so sure about Goff who was a Labour cabinet Minister and party leader. It doesn’t sit comfortably with me.
      Ratepayers are more likely to gain greater satisfaction/value from their elected representatives when a group of like minded people are able to make decisions in their collective interests rather than the independent councilor who is guided by his/her individual and friends beliefs and thoughts.

    • Matthew Whitehead 1.2
      25 November 2015 at 6:40 pm

      The Greens actually do run local candidates already. (At least, they do here in Wellington) They just may not have an Auckland presence yet.

      • Visubversa 1.2.1
        25 November 2015 at 8:05 pm

        Labour and the Green Party have been in a political arrangement called City Vision in parts of Auckland since 1998. They also work together in Roskill Community Voice and Future West. In some Wards it is obviously smarter to stand as Labour – South Auckland ones in particular. Most of the time it works very well.

      • The Pink Postman 1.2.2
        26 November 2015 at 2:57 pm

        ln the 1970s the Cambridge Branch NZLP put up a full ticket fpr the local council Caused quite a stir and the local Tories really went on the abuse.we did not win but our branch membership,increased by 100 ,quite something for Blue Cambridge.

  2. Sanctuary 2
    25 November 2015 at 11:12 am

    I can understand why local body politics was historically pretty much free of political parties – local governance was about drains, roads, rates, rubbish, sewage, parking, petty by-laws and all the dross minutaie of local administration and democracy that the great ideological struggles of government are but a sideshow.

    But the supercity especially is a different kettle of fish. It is moving inexorably towards the status of a quasi-federal state within New Zealand, complete with it’s own funding streams and monopoly utility assets. And with independent funding comes the ability to pursue political agendas at variance with the prevailing central governments ideology or policies. In that environment, you need to know what sort of politician you are electing, not just the title of some front organisation he or she is standing for and from which you can have no idea of where they actually stand on the political spectrum.

  3. Colonial Viper 3
    25 November 2015 at 11:16 am

    It is right for Goff to distance himself from the Labour Party.

    • Skinny 3.1
      25 November 2015 at 12:55 pm

      I agree, campaigning under the Labour banner would be a disaster in Auckland. Hence Goff takes no chances, I have seen enough Nat voters saying they will vote for him, under the LP ticket this may not be the case. Interesting hearing Key saying there is a popular right-wing candidate about to throw his hat into the contest, someone he believes can win the Auckland Mayoralty. Sounds like Key has shoulder tapped a ex pat Kiwi from abroad, if so expect Key to be plugging them through his MSM mates.

  4. tracey 4
    25 November 2015 at 11:24 am

    Interestingly today Mr Smith, venerable Minister for the Environment, was at New World for a new campaign for recycling soft plastic bottles.

    Which New Work I hear you ask? Why the one in MT Roskill where the long standing MP will not stand in 2017.

    Coincidence I am sure.

    The history of the Red Flag

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_%28politics%29

    and the song

    The People’s Flag is deepest red,
    It shrouded oft our martyred dead,
    And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,
    Their hearts’ blood dyed its every fold.

    Chorus:
    So raise the scarlet standard high.
    Beneath its folds we’ll live and die,
    Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,
    We’ll keep the red flag flying here.

    Look round, the Frenchman loves its blaze,
    The sturdy German chants its praise,
    In Moscow’s vaults its hymns were sung
    Chicago swells the surging throng.

    (chorus)

    It waved above our infant might,
    When all ahead seemed dark as night;
    It witnessed many a deed and vow,
    We must not change its colour now.

    (chorus)

    It well recalls the triumphs past,
    It gives the hope of peace at last;
    The banner bright, the symbol plain,
    Of human right and human gain.

    (chorus)

    It suits today the weak and base,
    Whose minds are fixed on pelf and place
    To cringe before the rich man’s frown,
    And haul the sacred emblem down.

    (chorus)

    With head uncovered swear we all
    To bear it onward till we fall;
    Come dungeons dark or gallows grim,
    This song shall be our parting hymn.

    (chorus)

    I wonder if, like the British Labour Party, our LP has forgotten the roots of both the song and the flag or knows it well and has deliberately distanced itself from the association…

    For something lighter

    “The Red Flag” was parodied by singer-songwriter Leon Rosselson as the “Battle Hymn of the New Socialist Party,” also known as “The Red Flag Once a Year” or “The People’s Flag Is Palest Pink.” It is intended to satirise the perceived lack of socialist principles in the Labour Party. The initial parody was widely known in the 1960s, sometimes sung during late night parties at student conferences. It was revived in the early 2000s in response to the centrist reforms associated with Tony Blair.[13] A version which began “The people’s flag is palest pink, mum washed it in the kitchen sink” was popular among schoolchildren in the 1950s, which may have inspired Rosselson’s version.

    A version of the lyrics sung regularly at the Liberal Democrats’ Glee Club, also dated to the mid-sixties, is:

    The people’s flag is palest pink,
    It’s not as red as most think.
    We must not let the people know
    What socialists thought long ago.
    Don’t let the scarlet banner float;
    We want the middle classes’ vote.
    Let our old fashioned comrades sneer,
    We’ll stay in power for many a year.[14

    • RedBaronCV 4.1
      25 November 2015 at 1:21 pm

      Well that should get rid of a good chunk of the Mt Roskill New World customers if it is widely publised. I try to vote with my money if I see a business owner supporting NAct.

      • tracey 4.1.1
        25 November 2015 at 1:32 pm

        Yeah. I switched from countdown to New World to support NZ owned and that hire people to pack my bags, rather than me doing it myself (of which I am capable but surely better to have someone get a job from it?)

        So, what to do now.

        • Karen 4.1.1.1
          25 November 2015 at 1:41 pm

          Actually Tracey, Countdown have unionised staff with better pay and conditions than New World offers their staff. Just ignore the self service booths there in favour of a real person.

          • RedBaronCV 4.1.1.1.1
            25 November 2015 at 1:46 pm

            Yep I always support the local jobs here, in the banks with the ird etc etc. Always ask if the call centre is local.

          • tracey 4.1.1.1.2
            25 November 2015 at 1:51 pm

            I do that Karen. I stopped the self service queues after someone brought it up here a year or more ago.

            And that’s the crux Karen. Countdown probably are shafting all consumers and suppliers with their standover (reverse loss leader practice) AND profits going offsore…

            So, I fruit and veggie at my local fruit and veggie store. Buy my meat online and have the choice between the devil and his brother for the rest.

            Nonetheless Mr Smith in Mt Roskill… starting to build a profile for the nat candidate? I note all the people outside were in suits or part of the recycling group (and predominantly white and male…. Smith didn’t go near a worker inside (to my knowledge).

            • Karen 4.1.1.1.2.1
              25 November 2015 at 3:03 pm

              Personally I will always support a business that is union friendly, so it is Countdown for me for all those things I cannot get at my local vege shop, fish shop or butchers.

            • Nessalt 4.1.1.1.2.2
              25 November 2015 at 4:46 pm

              you gave up self service queues to help workers but you order your meat online? so you’re a contradictory luddite?

              • Matthew Whitehead …
                25 November 2015 at 7:04 pm

                Online deliveries still have to be prepared and shipped. Supermarket workers go through and prepare the bundles, it’s just instead of having a checkout worker scan them, they have a truck worker deliver them. It’s probably more labour-intensive than ordering in person, (and certainly moreso than self-service) it just shifts some of that labour away from the busiest periods.

    • Mike the Savage One 4.2
      25 November 2015 at 2:23 pm

      Nick the D*ck should get rid of plastic bags and most one way packaging full stop, had he any damned guts to do something for the environment. This is just more tinkering around the edges, as recycled plastic bags and wrappings do not result in any good quality goods made from recycled material. It is at best second to third rate plastics what comes out of recycling that, and it may even be cheaper to fire the stuff through a furnace as part of a generator that produces electricity from burning such rubbish (filtering the toxic stuff out of the fumes of course).

      New Zealand, like many other western nations, that go on about the “green” image are a joke, to be honest. We should not get more recycling but first of all go back to re-used packaging, such as we once had when milk was still delivered to homes, in reusable glass bottles. But as most are now convenience addicts, it is hard to convince the lazy minds and bodies, to change thinking and habits.

      That is one area where Auckland as the largest city in NZ could lead the way, by bringing in rules under the RMA that does actually do more to reduce waste, that is altogether, so that only minimal amounts need recycling and even less go to landfill. There is a real job for Phil, I wonder whether he is up to annoying the convenience-obsessed and consumerist Aucklanders, used to buy and turf out one way stuff.

      • Macro 4.2.1
        25 November 2015 at 7:44 pm

        Absolutely. NZ is adjacent to one of the worst polluted areas of Ocean in the world and is the breeding ground for about 70% of sea birds all of which are now under threat because of this massive rubbish dump.
        http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11505808
        I and my wife refuse plastic bags for all our purchases – we carry our own bags, and for our meat I visit the local butcher and supply my own reusable tinfoil trays.
        It was a bit strange at first – but the local shops now know we don’t want their bags and are happy not to press one on us. The old plastic bags we have have been reused may times – spuds, carrots, etc. Paper bag if we have one, for the home baked bread at the market. It can be done and does not need a lot of thought.

  5. tracey 5
    25 November 2015 at 11:27 am

    TRP

    So when Len Brown was being denoted as Labour, that was more the use of it as a sneer by the Right (genuine question)?

    • te reo putake 5.1
      25 November 2015 at 12:25 pm

      I’m pretty sure he also stood as an independent, but was endorsed by Labour.

      • tracey 5.1.1
        25 November 2015 at 1:35 pm

        he was also affiliated with the Labour Party, does that mean was a member? I, perhaps wrongly, assumed Goff stands as an independent to pitch himself to both sides?

        • te reo putake 5.1.1.1
          25 November 2015 at 2:37 pm

          Brown has been an LP member since he was 17. I just checked and he won the Manukau mayoralty as an independent too. I guess you’re right that the independent tag helps get broad support.

    • Hanswurst 5.2
      25 November 2015 at 12:28 pm

      I seem to recall Phil Goff expressing satisfaction at the election of a “Labour mayor” in footage of him congratulating Brown on the latter’s victory in the inaugural super city election. I couldn’t find any footage online in a quick search just now, though.

  6. Ad 6
    25 November 2015 at 11:38 am

    For Auckland, Councillors Ross Clow and Alf Filipaina stood successfully under Labour.

    For the Whau and Mangere-Otahuhu and Otara Local Boards, a majority stood and won under Labour.

    Whereas in the centre of Auckland it’s the City Vision coalition, which is predominantly Labour with some Greens. In the Waitakere Local Board the same thing was called Vision West or something.

    While in some suburbs it may be horses for courses, the Labour brand has been ridiculously undersold in local government. And when Labour activists have the conviction to get behind proudly Labour-branded candidates, the results are that targeted turnout can win otherwise unlikely seats. Fewf are now naively saying that party politics should be kept out of local government. Unite or be crushed.

    Against that, Labour are polling not well, have very little money to contribute to a local campaign let alone a central one, and it’s not a brand that resonates at all well with any male over 40. So I can see why it’s not entirely attractive.

  7. Anne 7
    25 November 2015 at 11:43 am

    Readers, would you be more interested in local body elections if you knew for sure what the politics of the candidates were? I suspect the answer might be ‘yes’.

    I think the answer is a ‘yes’ but for a different reason put forward by TRP.

    The main reason why most candidates for local body elections have run as ‘independent’ – or loosely defined tickets – was borne out of experience. Rightly or wrongly, voters find party political involvement in LB elections to be anathema to them. That’s the way it’s always been and I don’t think anything has changed.

    It has long been a farce because the Cits and Rats have never been anything else but National in drag, but they conned the voters for decades. That’s why they dominated Auckland Councils for so long. It took Labour (remember this was FPP days) a long, long time to cotton on, and start up their own “loosely defined tickets” and since then their fortunes have improved.

    Therefore I say, leave things as they are. Voting habits are notoriously hard to change.

  8. alwyn 8
    25 November 2015 at 12:11 pm

    I didn’t think that the Labour Party had ever stopped running candidates.
    In Wellington at least they had a number representing the party in the last Local Body Election.
    Here is a press release that was issued by The New Zealand Labour Party at the time.
    http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=54793

    • te reo putake 8.1
      25 November 2015 at 1:39 pm

      Thanks, Alwyn. When I was researching for the post, I concentrated on Auckland, but I was reasonably confident that there were Labour candidates elsewhere. I just didn’t know where exactly.

      • alwyn 8.1.1
        25 November 2015 at 2:11 pm

        You at least know something about our largest city.
        As a Wellington resident I can only offer a parody of L P Hartley’s line.
        “”The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there”,”
        and change “past” to “Queen city”.
        I suppose “Queen City” is still used for Auckland or am I even out of date on that?

        On the other hand our current mayor ran as an Independent, even though she had been on the Green Party list for Parliament at one point. She had the gall to use orange as her campaign colour. As a UK born person I would have remembered the Northern Irish troubles and the difference between Orange and Green.

        • tracey 8.1.1.1
          25 November 2015 at 2:14 pm

          Haven’t heard it called that in a long time alwyn. City of Sails (sales) maybe but not Queen city for a long time

        • te reo putake 8.1.1.2
          25 November 2015 at 2:23 pm

          Ironically, I’m the atheist chair of a Catholic football club. Our bhoys and ladies play in green, but our away colours are orange. That’s a nod to the club’s Dutch dominated post war history. We’ve got a Northern Ireland born player who swears he only plays well in the orange away kit and that the green shirt makes him want start fights with himself. You can take the boyo out of Belfast, but you can’t take Belfast out of the boyo, apparently.

  9. Richard Christie 9
    25 November 2015 at 12:23 pm

    Why?

    Because he’s always been Labour, but never been Labour.

  10. Tiger Mountain 10
    25 November 2015 at 12:44 pm

    yep, it makes little sense in a class society to claim independence, one obvious problem is all of the current parliamentary parties present as cross class–representing “all New Zealanders” when in fact the bourgeois parliament is itself a part of the state superstructure enforcing private ownership, and currently via the Nats and ACT openly facilitating private penetration of publicly owned assets and services

    but if you want to talk pragmatism and reforms the least local government voters need to know is where Mayors stand on Living Wage, CCO type organisations and flogging off public assets

  11. Tiger Mountain 11
    25 November 2015 at 12:45 pm

    yep, it makes little sense in a class society to claim independence, one obvious problem is all of the current parliamentary parties present as cross class–representing “all New Zealanders” when in fact the bourgeois parliament is itself a part of the state superstructure enforcing private ownership, and currently via the Nats and ACT openly facilitating private penetration of publicly owned assets and services

    but if you want to talk pragmatism and reforms the least local government voters need to know is where Mayoral candidates stand on Living Wage, CCO type organisations and flogging off public assets

  12. pipalbany 12
    25 November 2015 at 1:11 pm

    My only question is who or how Labour would fund these local body elections, the coffers are a bit barren for the Parliamentary Election machine. and there seems to be a dearth of fundraising at local level that is channeling into the main coffers, or is there funding or fund-raising going on at local levels that would allow a candidate to nail their colours that clearly to a mast?

  13. RedBaronCV 13
    25 November 2015 at 1:42 pm

    I quite like candidates to have some form of endorsement from established parties – at least for larger centres and bodies.
    Even when you have been around a while it can be tedious trying to sort through the ticket to work out who is going to vote for what if elected. How a newcomer copes I don’t know.
    An endorsement also helps to sift out some of the less desirable candidates as the parties do care about their reputations. At the last elections, quite apart from the usual single issue candidates, there were candidiates in jail awaiting trial and subsequent conviction, some who were seriously ill before nomination, unlikely to recover and died soon after election day. Then there are the muddlers, the clueless etc etc. and some good people who will miss out.

    I’d also like a bit of non financial support for endorsed candidates post elections, maybe drawn from the local community. If they want to be re-elected then they have to generally cleave to the values supported but they get piles of stuff to analyse so a bit of help may not go amiss.

    Mainly they get information and analysis from council officers and officers have been caught briefing some councillors and not others depending on what they support. I have seen councillors who are great in some areas but with the help of a bit of independent analysis could put more pressure on council officers to widen the values they use or put a wider agenda up front for consideration.

  14. Mike the Savage One 14
    25 November 2015 at 2:12 pm

    Is it not for the fact that local body elections, especially here in Auckland, do get a rather low turnout and participation rate, that there is a need to try and appeal across party lines?

    I think that it has been reported before, that of those that still bother to vote, most seem to be those with some vested interests, which would include property ownership (rate-payers) and those with business interests. As far as I know voter participation in Auckland is low among those that do not own property, who are renters, who are ordinary workers and who are at the same time often not that well informed on what goes on in their city.

    And the lowest participation is among those that are not even in work due to unemployment and/or health reasons, same among many of a younger age.

    With that in mind, it is not at all surprising that Goff and others try to run as “independents”, as that makes them appear as wanting to reach out to voters and residents that bother voting, many of whom may feel little inclined to vote for a person that openly carries the “Labour” brand.

    As no candidate addresses a major issue, that is trying to activate and interest the many non voters, we simply continue to get a repeat of the same of past years, on local body and national level. Those that vote are home owners, and others, who are very interested in keeping their interests considered and looked after. So we can already predict what Phil Goff will stand for and do, as he will depend on the votes of many middle class and upper class people with their very vested interests here in Auckland.

    If only someone had the guts and resources, and ability of course, to mobilise the large number of disenfranchised and marginalised, we could have very different results and a different future for Auckland, but it seems, that as campaigns depend on financial support, again coming from the better off, we will not get any change soon.

  15. Penny Bright 15
    25 November 2015 at 6:53 pm

    I’ll be running a full frontal Mayoral campaign against the neo-liberal ‘Rogernomics reforms’ which have made the Auckland region a ‘Supercity’ – for the 1%.

    That may help inspire some of the 64% of Auckland voters, who didn’t bother in 2013 to participate in the 2016 election?

    What is Phil Goff saying, or, more importantly, what has he ever done to inspire real confidence in anyone but the ‘corporate 1%’ in whose interests the Auckland region is currently being run?

    (I first encountered Phil Goff back in 1985, when he was the Rogernomics Labour Minister of Housing, and Labour had just lifted the rent freeze.

    Which affected low-income renters.

    I was one of those fighting those neo-liberal Rogernomics reforms – that Phil Goff was helping to implement.)

    Penny Bright

    Confirmed and serious 2016 Auckland Mayoral candidate.

  16. rhinocrates 16
    26 November 2015 at 10:56 am

    What “life-long commitment to the Labour Party”? It was only a vehicle for his ambitions and his only loyalty was to himself and to Douglas. The only reason he didn’t follow his idol into ACT was because he thought that he was going to be PM and he’d never be that in a minor party. Labour’s well rid of the toxic bastard.

  17. FlashinthePan 17
    26 November 2015 at 3:04 pm

    I think TRP’s on to something but, as others have mentioned, this could backfire for Labour as most people don’t like politics in their local bodies.

    However, a cunning underdog like Winston could use the local body elections as a great forerunner to the general election in branding NZ First as the “party of the provinces”. Finding good candidates would be their biggest challenge.

    NZ First tapped into a provincial resentment towards being taken advantage of by National in the Northland By-Election that they’d be mad not to tap into.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 hours ago

  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago

  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    10 hours ago

  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    11 hours ago

  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    23 hours ago

  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 day ago

  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago

  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    2 days ago

  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago

  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    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
    4 days ago

  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago

  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  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. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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
    6 days ago

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    6 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days 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
    4 days 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
    5 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
    5 days ago

  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 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
    6 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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
    1 week 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

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2023-12-09T04:47:53+00:00