Technology and the law – and going after Hager

Written By: Anthony R0bins - Date published: 10:12 am, October 29th, 2015 - 214 comments
Categories: Abuse of power, Dirty Politics, law, science - Tags: bytes, law, nicky hager, poperty, technology

Technology moves much more quickly than the law, throwing up all sorts of questions about privacy, intellectual property, consent, responsibility, ownership, and more. We have one interesting case in point developing in NZ right now, with the recent supreme court ruling that a computer file is “property”. As always, Andrew Geddis is required reading:

Dixon v R: An easy case that raises hard questions

The story of Jonathan Dixon doesn’t raise much sympathy. He was a bouncer at a Queenstown bar back in 2011. While working there, he observed the English rugby player Mike Tindall – who had just married the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips – “cavorting” with a woman on the dance floor. So Dixon went into the bar’s computer system, copied a file containing the video footage of Tindall’s escapades (which he then deleted from the bar’s computer) and tried to shop it to the UK tabloids (who, in an unexpected fit of ethics, refused to pay him).
…
This case then managed to wend its way up to the Supreme Court on a seemingly narrow point of law; did Dixon “obtain[] any property” when he copied the file containing footage of Tindall from his employer’s computer system?
…
Certainly what Dixon did looks a lot like the sort of thing we think of as being “theft”. … And, in a nutshell, that’s what the Supreme Court thinks about the matter (judgment available here). The digital file that Dixon took was something that his employer wanted, that his employer didn’t want Tindall to have, and which had an economic value. If something looks like property, sounds like property and gets treated like property, it should be considered property. … And so the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s previous decision that the files weren’t “property”.
…
Remember what the Court is saying in Dixon (at least, in relation to s.249(1)(a)). A digital file – the “stored sequence of bytes” – constitutes “property”. So if you make a copy of that stored system of bytes in order to remove it from someone’s computer system, then you obtain that property. Meaning there are now two instances of the same property – the original file and the copied file, as both contain the same “stored sequence of bytes”.
…
Whereas, if Dixon were to have taken printed still photos from the bar’s video camera, scanned them into electronic form and put them up on the internet, it would not be a breach of s.246(1) for anyone to view, print, download or otherwise access them. Why not? Because you would not be receiving the stolen property – the printed still photos – but rather a copy of them that contains the same information. And the Supreme Court is very careful to say that “information, even confidential information, is not property” (at paras [23]-[24]).

Well now there’s an interesting can of worms. There are all sorts of technical questions and legal hypotheticals arising. The rest of Geddis’ post and the comments that follow explore many of them. Keith Ng also has a brief go at some of the technical absurdities. Seems that if you zip any file you’re copying you’re probably in the clear because it isn’t the same “stored sequence of bytes”. I’m not a file system expert [and I am not speaking in ANY professional capacity here], but it seems likely that in many cases simply copying from one file system to another results in a somewhat different sequence of bytes (because of varying file system attributes / tags / pointers / metadata).

All good sport for lawyers of course, but here’s a case of immediate relevance:

Court decision puts Hager back in frame

Ruling that hacked files used for book are property means charges possible

Dirty Politics author Nicky Hager may face criminal charges over accepting the hacked material used to write the bombshell book, according to documents obtained by the Herald.

Police will not say whether the investigative journalist is again a suspect, instead of simply a witness, after a pivotal Supreme Court decision which ruled computer files were property.

Documents show the new definition from the court puts Hager back in the frame over the computer files he was given by a hacker which he used as the basis for his book.
…
Otago University law professor Andrew Geddis said the Supreme Court decision was focused on one small part of the Crimes Act. But he said the logic behind the court’s decision would likely “follow through” to the way the courts handled other parts of the law – including receiving stolen goods.

“Rawshark will have obtained property in breach of [the law]. If Rawshark obtained property it’s hard to see those files are not still property when they get passed on to Mr Hager.”

Any shift in Hager’s status as a suspect or a witness could also impact the decision on his High Court challenge to the search warrant executed on his home in October 2014. Hager’s lawyers had insisted there was a higher hurdle to get a search warrant against somebody who was a witness – as Hager was on the day of the search – than for a suspect.

While Cameron Slater and the rest of the Dirty Politics crew carry on as usual, the Police really do seem determined to make life difficult for a whistle-blowing journalist in a case of significant public interest. Remember yesterday’s post on “A creeping authoritarianism from the current government”?

A question for legal types – how can this recent decision be applied retroactively to Hager? If to him, then surely to everyone, e.g. Slater’s taking of files from Labour’s server?

214 comments on “Technology and the law – and going after Hager ”

Comments are now closed

One Anonymous Bloke 1

29 October 2015 at 10:29 am

How can it be applied retroactively? It isn’t a law change – it’s an interpretation of existing law, so I don’t think it would be “retroactive”.

Of course it also means that the Prime Minister’s office received stolen property, if interpreted that way.
Andrew Geddis 2

29 October 2015 at 10:58 am

A question for legal types – how can this recent decision be applied retroactively to Hager? If to him, then surely to everyone, e.g. Slater’s taking of files from Labour’s server?

In relation to the first question, the law works under a fiction. That fiction is that the law always has one true meaning, with the courts just “discovering” or “uncovering” this. So, when the Supreme Court says “computer files are property (at least in relation to s.249(1) of the Crimes Act)”, then this means that they ALWAYS were property (in relation to that section, at least). It doesn’t matter that the Court of Appeal said different. And it doesn’t matter if anyone relied on what the Court of Appeal said. Once the Supreme Court speaks, then that’s what the law both is and was.

(Note how ridiculous this fiction is – the Supreme Court clearly is creating a meaning for the legislation in question … meaning that if you (or anyone else) want to know what the Crimes Act permits/prohibits at any point in time, you need to guess what it’s going to decide on the matter irrespective of what lower courts have said.)

In relation to the second question, the question would be whether Slater “dishonestly or by deception, and without claim of right” took any files from Labour’s servers. As I understand it, his argument was that he simply copied information that was left available for the public to view. I’d guess he’d also argue that even if this was “obtaining property” on the Dixon test, he didn’t have the necessary mental intention for the offence.
- Naturesong 2.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:03 am
  
  “In relation to the second question, the question would be whether Slater “dishonestly or by deception, and without claim of right” took any files from Labour’s servers. As I understand it, his argument was that he simply copied information that was left available for the public to view. I’d guess he’d also argue that even if this was “obtaining property” on the Dixon test, he didn’t have the necessary mental intention for the offence.”
  
  Would that still be true if documentation, say in the form of PM’s or SMS between Slater and Ede, showed guilty intent?
  
  Speaking as a fan of calculas, I’ve quite comfortable with the idea of the legal fiction you describe. Our understanding of the law will always approach (but never quite get to) the true meaning.
  
  However it does raise the following:
  Can decisions made with a previous understanding of the newly uncovered/clarified point now be appealed by defendants or prosecutors of previous cases?
- One Anonymous Bloke 2.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:04 am
  
  Could the court rely on his conversations at the time of the offending (as reported in Dirty Politics) as evidence of intent? Where would this leave Mr. Ede?
  
  What is the significance of the fact that Dixon deleted the material he stole, whereas Slater/Ede did not?
  - Tracey 2.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:33 am
    
    did slater or ede use the info in any way?
    
    slater published personal stuff about blomfeld didnt he?
    - dukeofurl 2.2.1.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:51 am
      
      Slater did publish snippets of Labours data on his website, with identities blurred – just to show he had it.
      From memory, it included credit card payment details ?
      
      Not only that, Labours data was in the form of a backup of payment system files. Slater had to pay someone ( Reagan Cunliffe his website developer?) to reverse engineer the scrambled data to make it readable.
      
      This is important, it wasnt in a form easily readable by a browser or standard document viewer.
      - dukeofurl 2.2.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:16 pm
        
        Watching Slaters video of what he did, its clear that the personal data was in SQL backup format. This needed some skill to make readable
        Other data formats were used an example is csv ( which is easily readable though)
        
        infused 2.2.1.1.1.1
        
        30 October 2015 at 1:09 am
        
        It was plain text. No comp sci degree needed.
- Tracey 2.3
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:12 am
  
  and his receipt of the blomfeld files?
- john 2.4
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:15 am
  
  Except Slater didn’t take anything that wasn’t publically available.
  A bit like putting a naked photo of yourself in your front window and then complaining that someone saw it.
  In this case EMails were taken via breaking into Slater’s computer, then distributed (for profit, a book).
  A similar case would be someone breaking into your house taking photos of you in the shower and posting them on the internet.
  - Tracey 2.4.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:19 am
    
    but even if the data was sitting there… slater using it in someway to breach privacy is sti a srong unless he got peoples permission first? eg credit card info? someone leaving docs on a bench and them being found doesnt change who can give permission to use them?
    - infused 2.4.1.1
      
      30 October 2015 at 1:11 am
      
      Technically labour breached privacy by having it there publically in the first place
  - Tracey 2.4.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:21 am
    
    and it wasnt availa le to the public per se… LP fucked up everyones privacy… which is slightly different to what you are saying… not a public record like a phone book
  - One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.3
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:24 am
    
    You shouldn’t have left the window open: when you did that your whole house became publicly available. And the video of you induced vomiting in internet users.
    - dukeofurl 2.4.3.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:58 am
      
      Strictly speaking the same test could apply to accessing Slaters computer.
      
      The poor security on Labours website let him in and the poor security of his work computer let someone it.
      - Tracey 2.4.3.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:23 pm
        
        BUT if you are coreect above, even with the useless security, not everyone could use the information, only those prepared to research (or already knew) how to decode/translate?
  - Naturesong 2.4.4
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:35 am
    
    Slaters video of how he obtained the information is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnOAeVaU5xM
    
    It’s when the video gets to 4m10s the directory listing is revealed.
    At that point, there are two thoughts that pop up in most people’s heads (and most likely Slater himself given his later conversations with Ede about not wanting to get caught accessing the information).
    1. I’m not supposed to be seeing this. And …
    2. what a bunch of incompetents!
    
    Just because something is easy, or because the idiot who set up the site forgot to set permissions does not mean that anyone has a right to access that information.
    
    And that’s before any privacy considerations (membership lists, credit card details etc)
    
    You could argue that once he had stumbled upon it and realised what it was, he believed there was a public interest in the information, but that clearly is not the case here.
    
    That said, I’ll defer to Geddis and Edgler on the matter.
    - Tracey 2.4.4.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:54 am
      
      i would love to hear from them on this too naturesong.
      
      just cos i leave my phone in a room doesnt mean i am giving it away or giving permission to use my data
      - Naturesong 2.4.4.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:17 pm
        
        I understand from the twitter that Edgler is thinking about doing a blog post explicitly covering the property aspect of this.
        
        https://twitter.com/GraemeEdgeler/status/659229423208562688
        
        It runs along the lines of the file (container) being property but the information contained therein not being (although privacy issues may apply).
        
        So if Rawshark had altered the files by (as a for instance) by adding a *space* (or anything else that would result in a different hash) then the files (the containers of the information) would not be considered the same and so are no longer the property that was stolen.
        
        This obviously is not a defence of Rawshark who I think everyone understands broke the law by accessing information he had no right to, but as semantic as it appears to me, might be abough to protect journalists.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.4.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:32 pm
        
        Why would journalists need such semantic games when the public interest is a much stronger defence?
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:34 pm
        
        I asked Andrew Geddes (up there ) to confirm if public interest is a defence to receiving stolen goods? I don’t think he saw it.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:02 pm
        
        I suspect you’d first have to establish that the by-products of the Rawshark hack constitute property rather than information.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 6:30 pm
        
        yes that wld be first to establish a crime under the act
    - dukeofurl 2.4.4.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:59 am
      
      Remember the “data” he was after wasnt normally readable, he had to get it ‘unscrambled’ to be able to see names.
      - Naturesong 2.4.4.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:26 pm
        
        I would expect that could be a hurdle if he ever has to argue that he believed he had (implicit) permission to access the data.
  - George Hendry 2.4.5
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:57 am
    
    Sorry, John. Totally dissimilar. One runs into trouble like this when trying to misrepresent truth.
    
    Anyone who broke into my house, took photos of me naked in the shower (how would they do this without my knowing, this gets more ridiculous by the moment) then posted said photos on internet would quickly find they had not been doing so for profit. People would be demanding their money back even before they had paid any.
    
    “A bit like putting a naked photo of yourself in your front window and then complaining that someone saw it.”
    
    No. Nothing like it.
    
    The Labour party did not put their confidential files in their office window and then complain about people seeing them.
    
    You have indeed set yourself a hard task, explaining why Rawshark taking Slater’s files without his permission was illegal, and Ede taking Labour’s files without their permission was legal.
    
    All it clarifies is whose side you are on.
  - mpledger 2.4.6
    
    29 October 2015 at 12:11 pm
    
    IIRC The Labour database had virtually no security other than the complexity of access that would take IT expertise in order to get at the data (IIRC Slater & co needed an IT expert to do the dirty work). Apparently, Slater had virtually no security other than an easily guessable password. In both cases, the security of the data was poor, the owners of the data did not wish the information to be publicly available and the people taking it knew that.
    
    Even if Slater’s access was not legally an offense, it was definitely felt to be an ethical and moral offense as a written apology was proffered by the National Party via it’s chairman (?).
    - One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.6.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 12:21 pm
      
      Your door was open, so I walked in and took photographs of everything in your house including copies of all documents. I’m in the clear because the Prime Minister’s office did it too.
      - Naturesong 2.4.6.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:28 pm
        
        You might find it’s a poor defence to the breaking and entering you’d be charged with 😆
        
        But, you could do it during an open home.
        Be sure to keep us all updated as your trial progresses.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.6.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:29 pm
        
        I forgot to mention I got paid to do it, through a trust run by my mate Jordan. He says if I get busted he’ll call the client and I’ll be taken care of. It’s all a bit hush hush, but the best thing is, we’re in the digital age, so they haven’t even got plausible deniability.
        
        Mum’s the word.
    - john 2.4.6.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 3:30 pm
      
      Openly accessable..in fact, the labour party encourage you to look, how far is irrelevant. Therefore there is an implication of invitation…no “locked doors here”.
      Slater had a password….like having a lock on your front door, if it is a poor lock….it’s still breaking and entering with NO invitation either stated or implied.
      - One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.6.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:36 pm
        
        Which is why the thief in the PM’s office masked his IP address, because he knew he was doing nothing wrong.
        
        Do you have to repeatedly smash your head against a wall to achieve this level of cognitive dissonance? Or is it genetic?
        
        Naturesong 2.4.6.2.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:50 pm
        
        It is an interesting question though.
        
        If you have a guilty mind, believe you are committing a crime, but are in actual fact not.
        
        In this case however, it’s clear that information was accessed without authorisation (the nature of the information copied together with Slater and Ede’s relationship to the Labour Party requires a monumential leap of faith to come to any other conclusion), but until Dirty Politics came out there was no way to prove mens rea.
        
        Andrew 2.4.6.2.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:07 pm
        
        “Which is why the thief in the PM’s office masked his IP address”
        
        No he didn’t, i believe it was referred to as a “dynamic IP address”, which is what 95% of all people connected to the internet have. In particular anyone working for a company will generally have a dynamic IP address. try tying ipconfig /release, ipconfig /renew and see what happens. You might just get a new one.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:18 pm
        
        My bad. Jason “Dynamic” Ede offered “a hearty sigh of relief” that his prints weren’t on file, ‘cos had they been he’d’ve been “bang to rights, it’s a fair cop guv”.
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        29 October 2015 at 7:54 pm
        
        And a dynamic IP address can be traced by the simple expedient of asking the ISP and/or the network admin who was logged on and using that IP address at that time.
      - Tracey 2.4.6.2.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:25 pm
        
        Feel free to argue it in court, should it come to that, I hope Slater has a better defence than you would affford him.
  - weizguy 2.4.7
    
    29 October 2015 at 1:01 pm
    
    “A bit like putting a naked photo of yourself in your front window and then complaining that someone saw it.”
    
    Or, a better analogy, someone walking into your house through an open door (because you left the ranch-slider open on a summer’s day) proceeding to your bathroom and taking, and publishing, photos of you in the bath.
  - Draco T Bastard 2.4.8
    
    29 October 2015 at 3:08 pm
    
    Except Slater didn’t take anything that wasn’t publically available.
    
    If I leave my door open you can’t wander in and use everything in the house as you choose. If you do so you are committing a crime. This is what Slater did and thus, IMO, still committed a crime.
    
    In this case EMails were taken via breaking into Slater’s computer, then distributed (for profit, a book).
    
    But they weren’t taken – they were still there and profit from the book has nothing to do with it. Unless you’re arguing that nobody should ever get paid for their work?
    - john 2.4.8.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 3:34 pm
      
      So theft is work, now.
      The labour party’s door was open….because they wanted it open, they invite everyone in.
      Slater did not invite anyone in, in fact he had password protect, no matter how poor, it is still NOT an invitation.
      - Draco T Bastard 2.4.8.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:41 pm
        
        So theft is work, now.
        
        No, journalism is and it often skirts if not outright breaks the law which is why journalists have protection for doing so written into the law.
        
        The labour party’s door was open….because they wanted it open, they invite everyone in.
        
        That’s not how it works as you would know if you’d bothered to read the law.
        
        Slater did not invite anyone in, in fact he had password protect, no matter how poor, it is still NOT an invitation.
        
        Accessing Slater’s data was, as a matter of fact, a crime. Doing so exposed immoral and possibly illegal behaviour which is why Hager publishing a book is not a crime and nor is him receiving that information.
        
        john 2.4.8.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:15 pm
        
        Receiving that info., by hager, if data is property (supreme court)..then he has received stolen goods….a crime!!!!
        Searching through an OPEN web site (Labour’s, at the time) is not.
        Labour want you to explore their web site, don’t put anything on there you don’t want people to see, down load or copy.
        I don’t put my customer list or set of accounts on my web site. But you can see the products and services I supply…in fact I welcome people to look……… just like Labour….and all the other political parties.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:20 pm
        
        John the Bellman. What he tells you three times is true!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:26 pm
        
        You need to read the actual decision rather than taking your knowledge on this from Mr Slater’s website.
        
        if you aren’t prepared to read the actual decision, then don’t be surprised if you get ridiculed.
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:34 pm
        
        Receiving that info., by hager, if data is property (supreme court)..then he has received stolen goods….a crime!!!!
        
        Well, the SC went to a great deal of effort to say that it usually isn’t.
        
        Searching through an OPEN web site (Labour’s, at the time) is not.
        
        It wasn’t a website. If anybody had just explored Labour’s website they would not have found it. To access the files that Slater and Ede did required that they go looking for them and that shows intent to access data that they weren’t entitled to.
        
        I don’t put my customer list or set of accounts on my web site.
        
        And neither did Labour.
        
        john …
        
        29 October 2015 at 7:58 pm
        
        labour put this on their web site open and accessible!! Even they admit it.
        So..they searched the web site…so what. They could not have known it was there until they found it.
        Maybe someone in the Labour party told them where to look?
        As for the SC…usually isn’t does not mean never!!!
      - maui 2.4.8.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:46 pm
        
        If you found a wallet would you just help yourself would you?
        
        john 2.4.8.1.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:19 pm
        
        The law says that it is the property of the person who lost, you should make all reasonable attempts to return it.
        NOT the same here, the Labour party INVITES you in to look around their web site, just like ALL other political parties. If they leave, in plain view, something in there that they don’t want seen…more fool them. You can’t unsee something!!
        Hager used STOLEN Emails from a person that BROKE INTO someone’s property…. Not the same at all.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:21 pm
        
        Just the place for a snark.
        
        Poor John, he believes it so hard he wants to spread the word.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:28 pm
        
        and yet to make sense of the data Slater had to alter it from its original state (according to someone up there ^^^), therefore if you are right, then labour only wanted those who knew when they saw it how to “translate” it.
        
        Just in case you want to aquaint yourself with the actual decision
        
        http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/cases/jonathan-dixon-v-r-1/at_download/fileDecision
  - travellerev 2.4.9
    
    29 October 2015 at 4:31 pm
    
    Ah, the old they left the door open and therefore it’s not stealing argument!
    - john 2.4.9.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 5:02 pm
      
      They didn’t leave the door open, …they invited everyone in to look around!
      - Draco T Bastard 2.4.9.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:06 pm
        
        No they didn’t.
        
        john 2.4.9.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:02 pm
        
        Childish but……having a web site (such as all political parties do) is an invitation for people to look around it. Otherwise why isn’t it password protected and why does it actively encourage you to click on all the links on the front page, and as you go further in it encourages you to click on more links etc etc?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:10 pm
        
        If that’s how you see it your moral compass is due for a service.
        
        lprent …
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:28 pm
        
        No it isn’t. Read the crimes act and privacy acts for the actual law rather than talking out of your area with stupid shit like that. Most networked computers have both public and private areas. Even computers on internal networks have public streams.
        
        If anyone breaks into the areas that are not meant to be public, then they have committed a crime. I will lay a complaint, and If the police don’t take action then I will probably prosecute them one way or another.
        
        john …
        
        30 October 2015 at 9:49 am
        
        Not the case here …it was publically accessible and the Labour party have already admitted and apologised for that!!
        
        weka …
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:51 pm
        
        the pages that Slater and Ede accessed weren’t clickable off the main site. You had to know how to access them, and most people wouldn’t. That’s not a definition of public.
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        29 October 2015 at 9:34 pm
        
        +1
        
        john of course knows this but acts to hide the truth of what happened even from himself.
        
        Mike Bond …
        
        30 October 2015 at 9:34 am
        
        @John. You are wasting your time trying to explain to the Anonymous Bloke. He is stuck in his thinking and thinks he is very smart to ridicule others who disagree with him. We have to wait and see what comes out of the court case. What I do find funny is all the support given to Hager, yet those very same people had heaps to say about their own privacy and the powers of the GCCB. They don’t want their privacy breached, but it is OK to hack someone’s e mails and then write a book based on these e mails. We did say hypocrisy is ripe on the left.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        31 October 2015 at 8:58 am
        
        Who said it’s ok to hack emails?
        
        Nobody. Not even the hacker. Once again your ‘argument’ has no foundation.
        
        Has The Herald coming out for Hager not given you a little clue yet? My view is the majority one and you still haven’t read Dixon v R, have you.
        
        Very very feeble.
      - One Anonymous Bloke 2.4.9.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:10 pm
        
        John hasn’t realised that an open door isn’t an invitation. So if you find John in your house just looking around, don’t call the police, take it as an invitation to teach John better manners by some appropriate method.
        
        John. Cuddling up to crims since forever.
        
        BM 2.4.9.1.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:18 pm
        
        John would be trespassing as he wasn’t invited in and anything he took would be considered stealing.
        
        My take is the way Labour set up their server it basically meant to was an invite to all to come on in , check it out and take what you want.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:21 pm
        
        Like John’s, your take is woefully lacking in sense and sincerity.
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:31 pm
        
        It’s why it’s quite hard to prosecute a friend,family or flatmate who’s stolen your stuff.
        
        Normally it’s a civil matter, not a police matter.
        
        McFlock …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:48 pm
        
        Slater isn’t any of those to the Labour party though, is he?
        
        He’s the halfwitted thug from down the road who sees you left your door ajar and wanders all over your home, sniffing the dirty laundry. Sure, they try “the door was open” as a defence, and the judge/jury still finds them guilty.
        
        He knew he wasn’t supposed to have access to the information he was reading. That’s why it was a story. In my opinion (not tested in court) that’s also why he committed a crime.
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:54 pm
        
        Nah, it was about the incompetence of the Labour party.
        
        Can’t even run a website yet think they can run a country, lol, lol, what a bunch of tools.
        
        That was the story.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:58 pm
        
        Tools with nine surpluses in a row, the lowest unemployment rate since the 1970s, and all this without Oravida bleach attacks.
        
        McFlock …
        
        29 October 2015 at 6:00 pm
        
        You really do love to blame the victim.
        
        The story was “door left open, see a buffoon walk through the house and sniff the panties“.
        
        Stuart Munro …
        
        30 October 2015 at 3:25 am
        
        Yeah but he’s a Gnat thug – like a certain prominent individual who a corrupt judiciary has determined shall remain nameless – and like the Masons were once purported to, Gnats enjoy inappropriate and disproportionate police and court cooperation.
        
        So Hager will be prosecuted and Slater will probably get a knighthood – for services to the suppurating mass of corruption that is the Key administration.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 6:03 pm
        
        BM, cuddling up to crims since forever.
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 6:10 pm
        
        I must be a natural lefty and just haven’t realized it.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 6:12 pm
        
        I think of you as more the Capill-Garret-Sabin type.
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        29 October 2015 at 7:50 pm
        
        Oh, BM’s not the Capill-Garret-Sabin type at all. He’s the type that will support that type come what may because they’re on his team.
        
        john 2.4.9.1.2.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:03 pm
        
        But unlike rawshark, I won’t be in your house uninvited.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:20 pm
        
        You said having the door open was an invitation. Slater left the door open, or Rawshark wouldn’t have gained entry. According to you, John, that means Slater invited Rawshark in.
        
        Relax, crims and their cuddlers (that’s you, John), have been running this line since Cain was a tacker. The law rejected it eons ago.
        
        Any chance of you getting up to speed this century?
        
        john …
        
        30 October 2015 at 9:52 am
        
        No…read again….Rawshark Broke in by breaking past the password, there was no such block on the Labour party website and all comers are invited to explore ALL political party web sites.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        30 October 2015 at 12:18 pm
        
        Slater even tried to have The Standard hacked.
        
        Rawshark admits his offending. John’s cuddling up to crims. No wonder Hager wants to disinfect your dirty little schemes with the sunlight of public exposure.
- r0b 2.5
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:42 am
  
  Andrew – many thanks for your contributions. That description of “legal fiction” is one of the most interesting things I have read (and clearly never understood!) about the law.
  
  Seems to me that the legal fiction must fall over in the case of interpreting new technology? If the technology didn’t exist at the time a law was written there is no way it can have a “true meaning” that covers new developments.
  - dukeofurl 2.5.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 12:01 pm
    
    Ist it a throwback to medieval Kings, who were sole arbiters of the law, and could never be wrong, even when they changed their mind, or more commonly changed Kings ?
  - Andrew Geddis 2.5.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 12:32 pm
    
    @rOb,
    
    Well – it can! For example, the law on theft didn’t need to be rewritten to deal with the development of internet banking … if you get access to someone’s account on-line (say, they walk away from their computer without logging out of it) and transfer money into your account, you’ve “stolen” that money just as much as if you took $50 from their wallet. The question is, can existing concepts/definitions in the law stretch to encompass the new technology. If so, then the law can apply to it just as much as if it were around when the law was written.
    
    The REAL problem we have is that s.249 of the Crimes Act was written specifically to deal with a new technology (computers). What doesn’t seem to have been considered is how applying existing legal concepts (such as property) in the context of those sections (i.e. in relation to computers) might then flow through into other bits of the Crimes Act not written with computers in mind (i.e. the bits about receiving dishonestly obtained (stolen) “property”). Now the Supreme Court has forced us all to start thinking about that … and none of us really know!
    - r0b 2.5.2.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 1:12 pm
      
      The law / technology interface is a really fascinating place to be right now (potential students take note!).
    - One Anonymous Bloke 2.5.2.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 1:24 pm
      
      none of us really know!
      
      It can’t be that hard to figure out: the rule of law requires that governments and other dodgy types be held to account: freedom of expression is vital to that goal.
      
      What about precedents?
      
      Daniel Ellsberg springs to mind…
      - Tracey 2.5.2.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:38 pm
        
        perhaps rule of law is now a
        
        nice to have
        
        Pat 2.5.2.2.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 9:33 pm
        
        perhaps rule of law is now ability to afford?….and wasnt it always so if to a lesser degree in the recent past?
      - Naturesong 2.5.2.2.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:55 pm
        
        I don’t think it’s a matter of just finding out.
        This does appear to be new territory.
        
        It’ll be tested in court, and as each point is addressed and presidents are set, they become the true meaning of the law as indicated by Geddis above.
        
        Ellsberg was subject to the US judicial system so the precedent set there will not apply here (though judges do sometimes reference overseas rulings when setting precedents here)
        And, he was charged with theft, conspiracy and espionage. They threw the book at him.
        
        The issues these cases address (Dirty Politics, Blomfield and Labour website) appear to be:
        * Privacy
        * Defamation
        * The meaning of Property as it relates to information, or containers of information.
        * Unauthorised access of computer systems
        
        The issue that does overlap with Ellsberg is the public interest angle.
        The publishing of information which highlights abuse of power.
        Remember Ellsberg was a whistle-blower, Hager is a journalist.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 2.5.2.2.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:51 pm
        
        They threw the book at him, and the judge caught it and threw it (and their case) out of court.
        
        The SC ruling cites plenty of US law.
        
        They also refer to public interest and freedom of speech issues, which clearly covers Hager, The Herald, Paddy Gower et al,
        
        Naturesong …
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:33 pm
        
        Glad we agree.
        
        Or rather, I’m assuming we agree and you’re not left thinking that a lawyer representing a whistleblower in a New Zealand court could argue that a US ruling has any legal weight here.
        
        That’s not to say that a NZ Judge would not look to how judges overseas approached similar cases when setting precedent here.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:09 pm
        
        If they carry no legal weight, why cite them at all?
        
        What emerges from our brief discussion of the United States authorities is that although they differ as to whether software is tangible or intangible, they are in general agreement that software is “property”. There seems no reason to treat data files differently from software in this respect. Even though the English Court of Appeal considered that an electronic database was not tangible property capable of being converted, it acknowledged that it might be property.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:30 pm
        
        the precedent system can allow a court to consider a case from the USA but they do not HAVE to follow it, ergo, they are not bound by its ruling on a particular principle. The SC would have more latitude in this regard?
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:37 pm
        
        They also cite case law from the UK which takes a different view. Obviously that carried less weight than the US rulings in this case.
        
        What the RWNJs are ignoring is that the word “property” does not have a fixed, technical meaning but must be interpreted in context.
    - McFlock 2.5.2.3
      
      29 October 2015 at 3:26 pm
      
      Funnily enough, I would have said that what Dixon obtained wasn’t “property”, but rather he obtained a “benefit”: the information he got was then able to be used by him to gain notoriety and attention.
      
      Although the justices obviously know better than me…
- yabby 2.6
  
  29 October 2015 at 1:22 pm
  
  If I remember rightly Slater showed people how to go into the Labour website and access the open files.
weka 3

29 October 2015 at 11:02 am

What’s the problem with information being property?
- One Anonymous Bloke 3.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:05 am
  
  Receiving it is a crime.
  - Tracey 3.1.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:13 am
    
    which has implications for slater in tge blomfeld case?
  - weka 3.1.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:33 am
    
    “Receiving it is a crime.”
    
    Why is that a problem?
    - Tracey 3.1.2.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:41 am
      
      because receiving stolen goods is a criminal offence under the crimes act 1961
      - dukeofurl 3.1.2.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:01 pm
        
        Especially when you know ‘its stolen’
    - One Anonymous Bloke 3.1.2.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 11:44 am
      
      It’s a problem because of the way it affects for eg: journalism – the Intercept, for instance.
      - weka 3.1.2.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:01 pm
        
        ok, so apart from journalism, any other reasons why information being regarded as property is a problem?
        
        mpledger 3.1.2.2.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:17 pm
        
        Because there is no real way of knowing what information on the internet is stolen or not.
        
        Just look at youtube – if there is a video gone viral then there are often lots of copies on youtube where people have stolen the original video and uploaded it as if it was their own in order to get advertising revenue from the huge interest in it. If you look at the wrong one (i.e. one stolen from someone else) then you could be done for receiving under this new definition.
        
        weka …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:19 pm
        
        So the problems with internet usage should dictate whether information in general is property or not?
        
        AFAIK, if a video is copyrighted then uploading or downloading it without permission is illegal. That’s because the law grants ownership.
        
        dukeofurl …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:34 pm
        
        Thats really an intellectual property situation, completely different. The copyright , which is a license not real property, is about using someone elses IP ( usually without paying!)
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:26 pm
        
        Bollocks
        
        http://www.netlaw.co.nz/crime.cfm?PageID=328
        
        Hager knew the data was stolen, the person watching the you tube video does not.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:49 pm
        
        Right wing bush lawyer arguing that Jason Ede stole property while working in the PM’s office.
        
        The judgement makes it very clear that one of the reasons Dixon’s actions are considered theft is because he deleted the video footage. It also makes much of Parliament’s intent with regard to these matters and points out that the orthodox view is that information is not property.
        
        Your narrow self-serving interpretation ignores Parliament’s intent with regard to journalism. The courts will not.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:41 pm
        
        what is becoming apparent is at least 3 of our rightwing commenters have not read the decision despite it being available and have settled on a newspaper article as the basis of their assertions.
        
        dukeofurl …
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:46 pm
        
        Not quite.
        
        What happened was a “compliation” was made of the raw data – mostly showing the rugby player, this was copied onto Dixons USB, and then the COMPILATION WAS DELETED from desktop.
        
        Now where does it say the raw data was deleted. (BTW sounds like they were experienced as this editing task)
        
        “While the files from which the compilation was constructed REMAINED on the CCTV system, the compilation contained what was valuable in the full files.”
        Supreme Court judgement [39]
        http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:55 pm
        
        Thanks – I hadn’t picked up on that.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 3.1.2.2.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:18 pm
        
        Do you have any material on your computer in breach of copyright? It just got upgraded to a whole new level of criminality.
        
        weka …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:21 pm
        
        my original question (“What’s the problem with information being property?”) isn’t about the current situation, it’s about the underlying issue of why information is not considered property (some information, other information already is).
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:45 pm
        
        The judgement considers the question in exhaustive detail, including plenty of existing case law. It lays out the Court of Appeal’s reasoning, and its own reasons for overturning their judgement.
        
        In doing so, the SC departs from what it terms the “orthodox” view – that information is not property. It’s clear from Prof. Geddis’ article that significant questions arise.
        
        The accompanying media release says that the word “property” does not have a fixed, technical meaning but must be interpreted in context.
        
        With regard to property, the court also makes reference to Parliament’s intent. It’s clear from other legislation that Parliament also “intends” to allow journalists to protect their sources.
        
        Somewhere there’s a balance.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:36 pm
        
        nicely put
        
        RJL 3.1.2.2.1.3
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:00 pm
        
        It radically changes the penalties associated with activities like Copyright Infringement.
        
        Draco T Bastard 3.1.2.2.1.4
        
        29 October 2015 at 3:21 pm
        
        Knowing how to do maths is information.
        Knowing how to read is information.
        Your genetic code is information.
        
        It goes on and on and on. They’d be huge problems for society if information became property.
- Andrew Geddis 3.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:20 am
  
  @Weka,
  
  If information is property in the same way as, say, your toothbrush or shoes are, then some free speech problems start to emerge.
  
  Consider. I am an evil entity (a company, or a union, if you prefer). I have been up to no-good. I write down my no-good deeds on a bit of paper. That information (the details of my no-good actions – not the bit of paper) then gets taken by a third party (an employee, or a cleaner, or whomever) and repeated to a campaigning journalist, who then broadcasts it to the world.
  
  Has the third party “stolen” my property (in the same way as taking your toothbrush or shoes would be)? Has the journalist then “received” that stolen property? In which case, hasn’t campaigning journalism just been criminalised? Is that then a good thing (from a societal point of view)?
  - Tracey 3.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:24 am
    
    thanks andrew.
    
    does public interest operate as a defence in this situation? Or is that what you mean about campaigning jouralism being criminalised? investigative too
  - weka 3.2.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:32 am
    
    what is campaigning journalism?
    
    Wouldn’t the scenario you describe be better covered by whistleblower/public interest legislation?
    
    But compare that to say someone making a copy of my computer’s HDD and sharing things from there that I don’t want shared. Nothing evil, just personal stuff or stuff that is confidential. Why should the information on my computer not be considered property?
    
    Conversely, how come my medical notes are the property of the medical practice I go to? Yes I am entitled to copies, but the originals are deemed to belong to the practice and I have limited control over the information I have shared. That information now belongs to other people.
    - Andrew Geddis 3.2.2.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 12:41 pm
      
      @Weka,
      
      Why should the information on my computer not be considered property?
      
      Well, it is a form of property, in that you have copyright over it and so can take civil action against anyone doing the sharing. What you’re asking is, why shouldn’t the Police be able to charge and the courts convict someone for what they’ve done. And the answer to that is the one I gave above … we should be very careful about extending the extensive criminal law protection we give to tangible property (shoes/toothbrushes/etc) to intangible “information” as the latter is so closely intertwined with free speech that we risk making public discussion/talking about things an illegal act.
      
      Case in point – if the person who is “sharing things from your HDD” has “taken property”, then everyone who they share with is “receiving it” and also has committed an offence. As would anyone that they>/i> share the information with. And so on. And so on.
      - BM 3.2.2.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:46 pm
        
        Only if they know it’s stolen.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.2.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:53 pm
        
        Not when they are a journalist working in the public interest.
        
        If they’re Jason Ede working in the Prime Minister’s office…you just dug yourself a big hole.
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 12:58 pm
        
        I can’t find it, but didn’t Hagar admit on radio that he knew the data he used for dirty politics was stolen.
        
        Sure it was on Hoskings show.
        
        Also if Slater and Eade broke the law they should be prosecuted
        
        Naturesong …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:01 pm
        
        “If Slater and Eade broke the law they should be done like Hagar.”
        
        By which you mean slandered by the PM and harassed but police?
        
        Or do you mean charged with a crime, like Hager has not been?
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:07 pm
        
        Even though I edited my comment.
        
        What I meant was that if Hager got done and Eade and Slater were guilty of the same sort of thing they should get done as well.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:09 pm
        
        Slater’s situation is unclear. Ede has no defence though, because he isn’t a journalist.
        
        Naturesong …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:23 pm
        
        I don’t understand.
        
        What Hagar did by publishing Dirty Politics from the information he received from Rawshark opens him up to privacy concerns and potentially defamation from the main subjects
        
        Whereas what Slater/Ede did was accesses a computer system and download information they believed they did not have a right to. (This is on par with Rawshark’s behaviour, not Hagers)
        
        There are however similarities between Hagar receiving information and writing Dirty Politics and Slater obtaining Blomfield’s information. These relate to privacy issues.
        
        In addition, Slater has been taken to court by Blomfield for defamation.
        This is an avenue that Slater can take against Hager but I suspect he’s terrified of what might be made public during discovery.
        Additionally, Hager looks to have a pretty strong public interest defence should he end up in court.
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 4:32 pm
        
        I don’t think the police have ever raided Slater for either the Ede related information or the Blomfeld data.
        
        dukeofurl …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:09 pm
        
        Like this time ?
        
        “Right-wing blogger Cameron Slater has been accused of paying a man to hack into an opposition website( The Standard) for political gain.
        In a statement provided to NZME. News Service, police confirmed they were investigating the claims, saying they had “received a complaint regarding an alleged attempt to procure the hacking of a computer system”.
        
        Nothing came of that one ! Surprised not ?
        
        Tracey 3.2.2.1.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:01 pm
        
        do they have any obligation to ascertain that before using it BM
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:03 pm
        
        How does some one do that.
        
        Naturesong …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:07 pm
        
        That question is irrelevant if there is no obligation.
        
        Or by asking that question, is belief that there is an obligation implicit?
        
        Tracey …
        
        29 October 2015 at 1:36 pm
        
        so if i dont even ask where something came from i committed no crime?
        
        BM …
        
        29 October 2015 at 5:29 pm
        
        Why would you ask unless you thought the items were stolen in which case it would be advisable not to take them.
        
        JeevesPOnzi …
        
        30 October 2015 at 10:21 am
        
        Well- it’s not just ‘knowing’ they are stolen- it’s also being ‘reckless’ to the facts around their providence….
      - Jim in Tokyo 3.2.2.1.2
        
        30 October 2015 at 9:41 am
        
        I haven’t seen any indication that Slater’s computer was broken into / accessed. Nor have I seen any indication that files were moved or copied?
        
        Looking at Rawshark’s twitter feed, it looks like two hosted cloud computing services were accessed (Gmail and Facebook) and screenshots were made of the relevant messages then circulated.
        
        You can’t even “copy” a Facebook instant message on the byte level to my knowledge – the screenshot process is more akin to taking an iphone snap of the security monitor showing the dancing rugby blockhead and circulating that.
        
        That’s quite a different scenario from say receiving an illegally obtained physical harddrive or clone of a physical harddrive.
        
        JeevesPOnzi 3.2.2.1.2.1
        
        30 October 2015 at 10:35 am
        
        That’s a refreshing slant on things- because up until now- Slater’s story has gathered steam without anybody actually examining it in detail.
        
        He’s been saying it was stolen…. and most people are now accepting on a certain level that Rawshark is ‘guilty’…
        
        But what if it wasn’t stolen… what if it was just ‘found’. And just because “Rawshark ” has said he is culpable, it still needs to be proven.
        
        At some point- in a series of improbable events – a person in possession of someone else’s goods, may have an argument of distant proximity from the crime?
        I see my neighbours car held back by a brick beneath the wheel, so I steal the brick. The car rolls down the hill and through the open gates of the farmyard at the bottom. Farmer picks it up on tractor and drops it out past the back paddock, on a country road. It sits there for two months until other farmer puts it in his paddock for safe keeping. Eventually weeds grow through it and his kids start driving it around the paddock… etc etc.
        
        Given the complexity of the cloud storage world vis a vis the archaic law applied to it- it may well be the real Rawshark could present a defence that simply usurps the law to the point that he plays no bigger a part than the Farmers’ kids driving in the paddock.
  - RJL 3.2.3
    
    29 October 2015 at 2:03 pm
    
    If information is property of the “toothbrush kind”, can the police then seize it as “the proceeds of crime”?
  - Ross 3.2.4
    
    29 October 2015 at 3:06 pm
    
    “Has the third party “stolen” my property?”
    
    What if the answer was yes but it was necessary to steal in order to protect the public?
  - McFlock 3.2.5
    
    29 October 2015 at 3:33 pm
    
    Semantic point: I’m not sure “stolen” applies to the information (no ability to permanently deprive Slater of his texts or the bar owner of the security camera footage).
    
    But it’s only a semantic point:
    
    246 Receiving
    (1)
    Every one is guilty of receiving who receives any property stolen or obtained by any other imprisonable offence, knowing that property to have been stolen or so obtained, or being reckless as to whether or not the property had been stolen or so obtained.
    - One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.5.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 3:46 pm
      
      Dixon made a compilation which (apart from the copy he took) he deleted. The compilation is the property in question, not the raw footage. So yes, his employer was deprived of it.
  - nukefacts 3.2.6
    
    30 October 2015 at 10:06 am
    
    This idea that Information is Property is so very flawed. It seems based on a conflation of physical manifestations of information with information itself.
    
    Consider this. Historically, property was defined through several attributes:
    
    – it is tangible i.e. can be touched
    – it is immutable – i.e. generally, it can’t be significantly changed (think a car, boat, land, a book)
    – it is possible to determine it’s provenance i.e. who previously owned it and what has been done with it (think a car ownership and service history). Provenance thus defines ownership
    – it has a quantifiable cost to create and maintain, hence it’s loss through theft incurs real financial costs to the owner
    
    Information, while not well defined even by the ICT sector, has some different attributes:
    
    – it is intangible, being created and maintained within computer technology and hence can’t be touched and often not even seen
    – it is highly mutable i.e it can undergo change ranging from minor e.g. change a date, to extensive, e.g. re-write a novel
    – provenance is often completely unknowable, especially when information can be quickly assembled from a huge range of unattributed sources. This point is especially important when thinking of information as property – you frequently can’t prove who or what (e.g. machine, person) is responsible for creating an changing information. Thus ownership via Provenance breaks down (note that many Asian cultures don’t think of provenance and ownership as western cultures do, based on this understanding that in reality, all information passes through multiple hands and is built by many participants).
    – costs to create and maintain are often exceptionally low while the perceived value may be high (think a movie, e-book), but increasingly the value of digital information is being devalued as business models evolve. This makes it hard to prove loss of value
    
    Two examples nicely illustrate these issues:
    
    1. I steal someones car. The car is clearly tangible, immutable, with known provenance, and a high cost. It’s clearly someone’s property otherwise it would not have been purchased, used and have sufficient value to warrant being stolen.
    
    2. I steal someones digital medical record. This is not property as we understand it, and the theft has different consequences. The record is intangible, and highly mutable as it is continually modified until the patient is dead. Provenance is discoverable, but ownership is jointly held between the patient, doctor, hospital / GP, and other care providers. Costs to create are almost zero, and costs to maintain the record are very high for care provider labour, but almost nothing for the digital aspects of the record. There’s no financial cost to the theft of the record, and no physical asset is harmed or taken off someone. There are potential health and repetitional problems that can arise at different times (e.g. a mental health diagnosis may limit employment) but in no way can the record be considered ‘property’.
    
    To apply this thinking to the Dixon case. What was taken was a ‘mashup’ of existing footage. It was created by Dixon using his employers resources but it is unclear that he was actually forbidden from using these (e.g. computer, video footage). To conclude he stole property is clearly wrong. The employer owned the original CCTV footage, not the mashup, and the original footage was not deleted. The cost to produce the mashup was mostly Dixons labour, with some electricity etc from the employer. Dixon possibly breached privacy law by using the footage for a purpose it wasn’t intended for, but in no way did he steal property.
    
    In the case of Rawshark and Hager, Rawshark may have committed a crime. Hager however received a set of digital files that themselves are not the same as the original. To expand this point, any time you copy a file it’s not actually exactly the same as the original because the create/read/update metadata of the file is changed. You cannot make a digital copy of something and keep it on writable media (computer memory, hard disk, SSD etc) without this metadata being changed. Therefore it’s not the same file so he wasn’t receiving stolen property.
    - One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.6.1
      
      30 October 2015 at 3:22 pm
      
      Dixon used his employer’s computer to make the compilation. The compilation automatically belongs to the employer, no?
      
      Put it this way: the SC ruling clearly states that Dixon’s access of the computer was “unauthorised”.
      
      Have you read the judgement?
      - McFlock 3.2.6.1.1
        
        30 October 2015 at 3:41 pm
        
        The compilation automatically belongs to the employer, no?
        
        Well, there’s an interesting argument right there.
        
        E.g. what if the compilation used a small enough amount of the raw footage to count as “fair use” under the copyright act? Sure, it was obtained unlawfully, but if I steal a library book and write an article citing some of the contents, I own the article even if I can be done for theft. And aren’t Hager’s excerpts in the book a “compilation” of the hacked material?
        
        The entire issue is a dog’s breakfast.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke 3.2.6.1.1.1
        
        31 October 2015 at 7:58 am
        
        I think it’s a bit of a leap between Dixon and Rawshark, and a far bigger one to Hager.
        
        As the SC points out, context is everything. Was Slater deprived of his information, for example? The ‘benefit’ from it was to the entire nation.
        
        I can sense many long bows being drawn 🙂
- ianmac 3.3
  
  29 October 2015 at 1:59 pm
  
  If you copy something and leave the original intact, then have you stolen anything? If I take say a cell phone it is gone. But Data on a computer is still there so has it been stolen?
  - john 3.3.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 8:14 pm
    
    If you steal a car, drive it around town and return exactly where you found it with exactly the same amount of petrol in the tank, without the owners knowledge.
    It is still stealing!!!!
    - One Anonymous Bloke 3.3.1.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 8:55 pm
      
      It’s possible that you’d be a worse choice for Cameron’s lawyer than he is.
    - JeevesPOnzi 3.3.1.2
      
      30 October 2015 at 10:40 am
      
      No its not stealing- its borrowing without the owners consent.
      Particularly if you bring it back with petrol in it.
Tory 4

29 October 2015 at 11:25 am

The good news is that this is sitting with the NZ Supreme Court and they will make a decision based on interpretation of the law. Personally I think Hager is in trouble.
- One Anonymous Bloke 4.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:27 am
  
  They’ve already made their decision and were at pains to point out that they intend a very narrow interpretation. Please try and keep up.
  - Tracey 4.1.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 11:31 am
    
    chuckle
- Tracey 4.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:30 am
  
  can you set out the legal basis for considering hager is in trouble?
  - dukeofurl 4.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 12:03 pm
    
    It didnt say “best wishes from Cam” on his package.
    
    Knowing you have received stolen goods ( and not returning them) is the problem
    - ianmac 4.2.1.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 2:01 pm
      
      So if Hager returned his data to Slater it is not stolen?
      - dukeofurl 4.2.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:39 pm
        
        No. But for the person who received the stolen property , its a way of indicating they didnt have the ‘required intent’
        
        Merely possession of someone elses property usually isnt enough for a conviction. If you knew it was stolen AND kept it would however most likely be.
        
        ianmac 4.2.1.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 2:43 pm
        
        If I bought a stolen car it can be taken off me even if I didn’t know it had been stolen. Not sure if I am guilty of a crime unless I knowingly received.
        
        john 4.2.1.1.1.2
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:17 pm
        
        But Hager didn’t merely possess it did he…profited from the writing of a book using info he was not entitled to have and he knew was stolen (he said so himself).
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:27 pm
        
        Slowly, you’re joining the dots. The dots that form the trivial part of your “case”.
        
        Now for the guts of it.
        
        When you’ve absorbed that information, and noticed that you have no case whatsoever, please don’t hesitate to ask questions.
  - Tory 4.2.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 12:46 pm
    
    http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11535914
    
    “Rawshark will have obtained property in breach of [the law]. If Rawshark obtained property it’s hard to see those files are not still property when they get passed on to Mr Hager.”
    
    I am sure you can join the dots….
    - One Anonymous Bloke 4.2.2.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 12:56 pm
      
      I’m sure that you are ignoring Hager’s cast-iron public interest defence. Sadly for you, the SC makes direct reference to it, as does Parliament.
      
      Keep wishfully wishing all your political opponents were in prison. Perhaps you could be a guard, wearing a smart uniform with shiny buttons, to open and close the gate.
    - Tracey 4.2.2.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 1:02 pm
      
      so you read the herald articke and concluded hager was likely guilty? Cool. Fortunately the courts will delve deeper than the herald
- George Hendry 4.3
  
  29 October 2015 at 12:15 pm
  
  ‘Personally I think Hager is in trouble.’ 🙂 🙂 🙂
  
  He will have had no idea of this, and realising it will worry him greatly. Never yet having been in trouble with police, he naturally has no notion of what being harassed by them could be like.
  
  If they now have the law on their side, what might that give them the power to do?
  
  ‘It didnt say “best wishes from Cam” on his package.’
  
  There is no public evidence that Cam gives or has ever given best wishes to anybody, so to expect Rawshark to look for such a thing was unrealistic.
  - dukeofurl 4.3.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 2:35 pm
    
    Dont be silly, it was meant as a way of saying the files werent sent with Slaters blessing.
    - George Hendry 4.3.1.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 9:02 pm
      
      Indeed, I was hoping I could get you to say ‘…weren’t sent with Slater’s permission’, or even better, with his expressed agreement as a response to a specific request.
      
      His permission was not given. Nor was the Labour party’s permission given. So there was equal ‘theft’ (virtual theft?) in both cases.
      
      Our resident trolls have spent ages arguing on this long thread that Rawshark stole, because it was (more) difficult, and Ede didn’t steal, because it was easy. Totally beside the point.
      
      When in doubt, seek permission. Or run the risk of being charged with theft.
      - One Anonymous Bloke 4.3.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 9:09 pm
        
        There’s another difference between Slater/Ede and Rawshark – Rawshark admits personal responsibility for his crime.
        
        The lost sheep 4.3.1.1.1.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 11:18 pm
        
        Anonymous personal responsibility?
        
        Gee, now there’s a mind bending concept!
        
        So at first Personal Responsibility didn’t exist at all, then it did exist but only for those who were wealthy or of a Right Wing political persuasion, and now it has spread to a nebulous kind of half existence in an alternative universe where you can at the one and same time take it, without actually being answerable to it, because you can’t be identified….
        
        Progress. At this rate, some time in 2029 personal responsibility will have achieved that democratically Utopian state of applying to all citizens equally without discrimination.
        
        McFlock …
        
        30 October 2015 at 12:50 am
        
        Oh, you think that personal responsibility only applies to how other people treat you, rather than it being reated to some sort of internal characteristic of the person, like a conscience or other alien concept.
        
        My impression is that Rawshark knew perfectly well that what they were considering doing would be illegal, but made a rational choice to risk imprisonment and hack slater because they felt that would be the correct thing to do.
        
        My impression of Slater and Ede is that they think they are entitled to be repugnant without risk of any repercussion whatsoever, and that sense of entitlement extends to them being legally reckless.
        
        One case makes their choice and consciously takes their risks, minimising but accepting the possibility of punishment. The other case just assumes they’re legally, ethically and personally immune from any repercussions.
        
        I know which case I think comes closer to accepting “personal responsibility”.
        
        Draco T Bastard …
        
        30 October 2015 at 1:22 am
        
        Exactly.
        
        When it comes down to it, the right-wing never take responsibility for their actions unless they’re forced to by a court and even then they’ll deny blame.
        
        One Anonymous Bloke …
        
        30 October 2015 at 5:37 am
        
        Sheep correctly notes that the “personal responsibility” displayed by Rawshark is minimal. That’s still infinitely more than wingnuts display, despite the lip service they give.
        
        Still, my bad for not adding the smiley to indicate that I wasn’t being entirely serious, and confusing poor Sheep.
savenz 5

29 October 2015 at 11:27 am

Shocking. What about legal protection for journalists and whistle blowers for public good?
- savenz 5.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 11:34 am
  
  Quite different receiving incriminating data that shows evidence of corruption to a journalist than an employee copying security footage like in the UK case and trying to sell it for profit to breach somebodies privacy.
- whateva next? 5.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 7:10 pm
  
  or when “public good” is at odds with “good for government”???? it seems “good for government” wins every time these days
  - Draco T Bastard 5.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 7:56 pm
    
    We seem to need laws that prevent the police going after people just because they’ve proven the government corrupt.
    - whateva next? 5.2.1.1
      
      30 October 2015 at 10:53 am
      
      not under this government, slightly against the trend of the laws they are passing in their reign?
johnm 6

29 October 2015 at 11:39 am

I haven’t studied this deeply but my impression is this government led by Key the U$ lackey is copying what the fascist U$ is doing to Julian Assange the whistleblower. Hager has done the same here,but obviously on a much more micro level, exposed the venal small minded unprincipled corruption of this government. And they’re out to make him pay for it. JMO but this is fascist lite, certainly some Natsi mps seem to have a leadership cult for fuhrer Key! Some of them seem obsessed with saying… ” at the end of the day .” Are we looking at a 4 term Reich here? I hope not.
- john 6.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 8:20 pm
  
  Isn’t there some unwritten law of the internet…stating…as soon as you make reference to fascists/ n**i’s you have lost the debate?
  - Chooky 6.1.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 8:35 pm
    
    ?
  - One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 9:03 pm
    
    As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1
    
    As for the notion of an unwritten law of the internet, I suppose there must be a video of it somewhere.
  - George Hendry 6.1.3
    
    29 October 2015 at 9:18 pm
    
    “Isn’t there some unwritten law of the internet…”
    
    No, there isn’t. But there are those who believe there is. And that as long as they avoid such reference they can’t lose, no matter how faulty their arguments may be.
Gabby 7

29 October 2015 at 1:03 pm

If you receive a copy of the ‘property’, have you received the property itself? If you haven’t deleted the original as this fellow Dixon did, have you deprived the owner of anything except the exclusivity of the information?
- savenz 7.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 1:06 pm
  
  Good point!
- One Anonymous Bloke 7.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 1:07 pm
  
  Basically, if you aren’t a journalist and there is no public interest in the information, you’re on shaky ground.
  
  Think industrial espionage, for example.
  - ianmac 7.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 2:05 pm
    
    But industrial espionage would be for profit as was with the Queenstown barman.
    Neither Rawshark or Hager were taking for profit which is a distinction in the law – somewhere.
    - One Anonymous Bloke 7.2.1.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 2:47 pm
      
      Even when it is ‘for profit’ – as in the case of a newspaper, for example, it’s clear that public interest is an over-riding principle.
    - john 7.2.1.2
      
      29 October 2015 at 8:22 pm
      
      ????? are you suggesting that Hager gave the books away??? really???
      - One Anonymous Bloke 7.2.1.2.1
        
        29 October 2015 at 8:34 pm
        
        Are you suggesting that you still haven’t grasped the meaning of “public interest” – even though people have been so patient and polite with you? A less charitable observer might describe your behaviour as boorish, ungrateful, and completely lacking in any vestige of personal responsibility.
        
        You can lead a John to information but the poor wingnut can’t think.
  - Gabby 7.2.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 5:34 pm
    
    That would be ‘intellectual property’ though. Bit of a long shot to call a planned smear campaign intellectual property.
    - One Anonymous Bloke 7.2.2.1
      
      29 October 2015 at 6:02 pm
      
      I don’t think even the National Party would lay claim to Richard Nixon’s intellectual property. They probably owe enough in royalties as it is.
savenz 8

29 October 2015 at 3:24 pm

Imagine if individuals become criminalised for revealing information about criminal corruption or whatever by people in power.

Corruption and criminal acts or even lying and hypocrisy would sky rocket in particular with people in power. (and probably already are). The criminals and wrongdoers would know they will be unlikely to be caught if it was illegal to reveal their actions.

Goodbye transparency and justice.
- Chooky 8.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 3:31 pm
  
  +100 savenz …re “Imagine if individuals become criminalised for revealing information about criminal corruption or whatever by people in power”….and this could very well be the case with the persecution of Hager
  
  …not only because of what he revealed in ‘Dirty politics’ but also because of what he could further reveal on different issues and what he was working on
  
  this is not just a threat to investigative journalism , it is a threat to democracy and an open society and a civil society not riven with corruption
- john 8.2
  
  29 October 2015 at 8:24 pm
  
  ALL enquiries showed…no criminality and no corruption.
  So no public interest!!!
  
  [lprent: Are you talking about Nicky Hager and Rawshark? That was the topic of the post. But I’d agree. So far the police haven’t charged anyone and noone has taken a prosecution.
  
  Use the reply button or quote or reference the number of the comment you are replying to. Otherwise your opinion can be misconstrued.. ]
  - Chooky 8.2.1
    
    29 October 2015 at 8:41 pm
    
    on the contrary, there is a huge amount of PUBLIC INTEREST!… in what has happened to Hager!
    
    …why has he been treated this way?!
    
    ….what have Westpac and the police got to hide ?!
    
    …or whose orders are Westpac and the police acting on?!…jonkey nactional?
    
    ….if so what is being hidden ?….and why do they FEAR Hager so?!
  - One Anonymous Bloke 8.2.2
    
    29 October 2015 at 8:49 pm
    
    Gwynn Inquiry S.9, 10, 11, etc. don’t exist on Planet John. How will John manage to keep up with events on Earth?
  - George Hendry 8.2.3
    
    29 October 2015 at 9:07 pm
    
    Come on, john. Out with it.
    
    Are you trolling?
Tarquin 9

29 October 2015 at 4:37 pm

I was under the impression the public good defense as used in the plough shears case is no longer viable. Not 100% sure, anyone know?
- One Anonymous Bloke 9.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 4:41 pm
  
  They used the claim of right as a defence. Not the same thing.
NZJester 10

29 October 2015 at 4:44 pm

Why did they never go after a certain someone who had a physical hard drive and physical paper files stolen from the person he was writing about then?
- One Anonymous Bloke 10.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 4:48 pm
  
  Because the stories a certain someone made up were fashioned from whole cloth, not the stolen material?
reason 11

29 October 2015 at 4:53 pm

Its interesting to note that BM and srylands would both stand up and defend child abusers if they were caught on the basis of evidence of their crimes being taken from their computers without their permission …………….The spirit of sabin is strong in those two .

John Key is a dirty ………….. his mate Cam slater is a natural fit for team Key….. Although not suffering any real consequences yet ………… they have at least been exposed.

But that wont stop BM and Srylands from being their cheerleaders …………

Srylands has admitted to giving money to Slater …… which makes one wonder what type of shit he gets up to ………………….. creepy guy.

Nicky Hager has exposed the truth ……….. The police have already debased themselves aligning themselves with dirt and trying to criminalize him for it ………

This is our brighter future …………….
- Rodel 11.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 9:05 pm
  
  Christ this is boring. The facts are :
  Hager is a decent person and should be recognised as a genuine New Zealand whistle blower .
  Slater is an arsehole, a shame to New Zealand and should be locked away in a bin.
mikesh 12

29 October 2015 at 9:37 pm

I don’t think, Rawshark can be accused of theft, nor Hager accused of fencing, since Slater still has his files. Also Rawshark didn’t access the files for his own purposes but, rather, to alert the public, through the agency of Nicky Hager, to the existence of the files and their content. This is really more analogous of the situation where a detective sniffs out information for the purpose of solving a crime. Of course, if a detective obtains information in a dodgy manner that information may be inadmissible in a court of law, but that particular sanction hardly applies in this case.

The pair may of course stand accused of invading privacy but I would think that the “public interest” would in the these circumstances be considered a good defence.
- ianmac 12.1
  
  29 October 2015 at 10:18 pm
  
  That is true mikesh. There is no way that Rawshark could be accused of removing files for profit. Nor Hager. In both cases they took a great risk to themselves. Look what has happened in USA to whistleblowers who have annoyed the State. In our case I feel sure that even if the State here does not win the case against Hager, the State will be pleased that they have punished him and sent a message to all those other uppity journalists.
infused 13

30 October 2015 at 1:06 am

Of course its property. What a stupid question.
- One Anonymous Bloke 13.1
  
  30 October 2015 at 5:39 am
  
  Yes, the Supreme Court is being stupid. If only they had your wisdom, they’d be at war with North Korea 🙄
- North 13.2
  
  31 October 2015 at 8:07 am
  
  A repugnant infusion ! No knowledge just Boys’ Own Ponce-Key sucking.
Smilin 14

30 October 2015 at 1:44 am

Concerning copying property. In the machinery industry many people have copied designs without stealing the actual plans : ie; ploughs etc and built for their own use and sold at a later date either in or out of patent which in essence is the same as copyright and to sell is a breach of the law and who cares its only a plough.
Not being a lawyer or legal judge I am only talkin of common practise and the little I understand
But it appears to me Hager is in the position of someone being charged for receiving property from theft and not copying directly in the use of the information in its original form but used as in parts like a chop shop for cars even though it appears to be the bytes of information being in their original sequence, is it the same as “part or parts of”as in a copyright ?very confusing or is it all irrelevant .Or is the evidence being constructed in such away as to try and put treason into the case against Hager when it could be that is where the govt sits .

But when does the deliberate action of a govt to pervert democracy become a chargeable offence if evidence of their action to do that becomes public property by whatever means, and when in essence it is public property by the fact that it is known and possibly the responsibility of an elected parliamentarian who has knowledge of the action that has taken place .Or that all govt action is accountable to the people and not the discretion of the govt of the day to play legal games with or institute protectionism to cover their arse
A bit of a mishmash but I hope it brings some normality to the fact that this whole Dirty Politics thing is about an attack on democracy and ultimately there should be a people’s referendum to clear Mr Hager
French Revolution anyone. It is the Guillotine for someone who will it be, our precious possibly ………..
- Stuart Munro 14.1
  
  30 October 2015 at 3:36 am
  
  Yeah – you’re leaving out the bit that what Hager received and disseminated was evidence of crime or substantial wrongdoing. A public interest defence operates for genuine journalism disclosing inconvenient truths – not so much for Slater’s black publicly funded operation.
  
  But the police and courts have shown themselves to be completely corrupt and I have every confidence that injustice will prevail. NZ – is becoming a dystopian dream. Slater for PM next – like Trump, but even less savoury.
ropata 15

30 October 2015 at 7:55 am

The “stored sequence of bytes” will differ between filesystems (NTFS, FAT32), different media (CD, USB, HDD), different encoding (ASCII, EBCDIC, UTF-8), file type (dos, unix, txt, rtf), etc etc etc
- mikesh 15.1
  
  30 October 2015 at 9:39 am
  
  The exact form in which information is stored is surely irrelevant. The issue is whether copying information, and using that information, without the owner’s consent amounts to theft. Copying and selling copyrighted information would have to be considered theft because the culprit is effectively stealing income that belongs rightfully to someone else. Presumably though Slater’s emails were not copyrighted, though the Dixon case would seem to indicate that they don’t actually have to be in order that the information be considered “property”.
  
  The court in the Dixon case seems to be saying that while taking information is not theft, copying files, in which information is stored, is. It seems to me the courts are “bending over backwards” to find something that they can criminalize in these sorts of situations .
  - ropata 15.1.1
    
    30 October 2015 at 5:26 pm
    
    By saying a “stored sequence of bytes” the Supreme Court refers to an exact duplicate, so the storage format surely IS relevant. If Hager received the data in a zip file, then no breach occurred! (not to mention the fact that ALL files on the web are broken up into TCP/IP packets, encoded, turned into bitstreams, transmitted via copper and handy servers, then re-assembled by the recipient). The court needs a better definition of digital data…
    
    If possessing “the information” was a crime, everyone who bought a copy of Dirty Politics would also be liable.
Kev 16

30 October 2015 at 7:58 am

When selling digital goods sellers will often create a directory with an unguessable name and put the digital good (e.g. a video file, pdf file etc) in the directory. It’s low tech but simple. The problem is person A may buy the digital good and then give the url of the digital good to person B, who is then able to download the digital good for free by going directly to the url. In that case we have a clear case of theft. This is because the seller is being deprived of money and person B knows he is depriving the seller of money (act + guilty mind)

The last sentence is important.

Now let’s say someone puts up a spreadsheet on a website in a place where he thinks the public won’t look, because he wants to go home and view the spreadsheet on his home computer. He knows that provided they know the url anyone can view the spreadsheet. And instead of removing the spreadsheet after he’s finished he leaves it there. Someone comes along and somehow finds out the url of the spreadsheet, goes in, looks at it etc. It’s not theft because he’s not depriving the web site owner of anything. Arguably it’s unauthorised access provided the person knew he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be – although whether or not the law was meant to be applied to folks wandering around a website I don’t know. IMHO the law was meant to be applied to “hackers” – people who use scripts and vulnerabilities to get access to file systems on remote computers etc. So in this case we have at most unauthorised access and not theft.

But wait, you say! What if the person not only looks at the spreadsheet but also downloads it? This is where I admit it gets murky. In this case we have the person taking something from someone. So we have an act of “theft”. Then we have to ask does the person know that he is doing wrong – that he knows that he is taking from another person something that he’s not supposed to? In that case I would say that arguably we have a case of theft. But if the person’s attitude is something like “tough luck, you left the spreadsheet in a publicly accessible place where anyone could look at it and download it” then arguably there’s no theft. Just at most unauthorised access (unlikely to stick) and or someone taking advantage of another’s negligence.
AsleepWhileWalking 17

30 October 2015 at 8:22 am

RFIDs (probably with biometric data) stored in the cloud, used in place of a passport, and probably linked with government and banking info….yikes
mikesh 18

30 October 2015 at 12:51 pm

I doubt there is much difference between viewing online and dowloading since one could photograph
something that one is viewing.

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The Government can head off to the holidays, entitled to assure itself that it has done more or less what it said it would do. The campaign last year promised to “get New Zealand back on track.” When you look at the basic promises—to trim back Government expenditure, toughen up ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

2 days ago
Skeptical Science New Research for Week #51 2024

Open access notables An intensification of surface Earth’s energy imbalance since the late 20th century, Li et al., Communications Earth & Environment: Tracking the energy balance of the Earth system is a key method for studying the contribution of human activities to climate change. However, accurately estimating the surface energy balance ...

Skeptical Science

2 days ago
Join us at 5pm for 2024’s last Hoon

Photo by Mauricio Fanfa on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guests and , ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

2 days ago
Christmas Gifts: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.

“Like you said, I’m an unreconstructed socialist. Everybody deserves to get something for Christmas.”“ONE OF THOSE had better be for me!” Hannah grinned, fascinated, as Laurie made his way, gingerly, to the bar, his arms full of gift-wrapped packages.“Of course!”, beamed Laurie. Depositing his armful on the bar-top and selecting ...

Bowalley Road

2 days ago
GDP Figures No Christmas Present for New Zealand

Data released by Statistics New Zealand today showed a significant slowdown in the economy over the past six months, with GDP falling by 1% in September, and 1.1% in June said CTU Economist Craig Renney. “The data shows that the size of the economy in GDP terms is now smaller ...

NZCTUBy Stella Whitfield

2 days ago
Cheeseburgers and Stunt Monkeys

One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

2 days ago
MSD rejecting 220 pleas for food grants each day

Sparse offerings outside a Te Kauwhata church. Meanwhile, the Government is cutting spending in ways that make thousands of hungry children even hungrier, while also cutting funding for the charities that help them. It’s also doing that while winding back new building of affordable housing that would allow parents to ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

3 days ago
The Wing Parties’ Economic Policies.

It is difficult to make sense of the Luxon Coalition Government’s economic management.This end-of-year review about the state of economic management – the state of the economy was last week – is not going to cover the National Party contribution. Frankly, like every other careful observer, I cannot make up ...

PunditBy Brian Easton

3 days ago
Back on Track

This morning I awoke to the lovely news that we are firmly back on track, that is if the scale was reversed.NZ ranks low in global economic comparisonsNew Zealand's economy has been ranked 33rd out of 37 in an international comparison of which have done best in 2024.Economies were ranked ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

3 days ago
Book Review: How Big Things Get Done

This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called How Big Things Get Done by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner Want to know how to do something big? Ask someone who has done it before! Professor Bent Flyvbjerg has spent his career studying megaprojects. In 2023, ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

3 days ago
Gordon Campbell On Why We Can’t Survive Two More Years Of This

Remember those silent movies where the heroine is tied to the railway tracks or going over the waterfall in a barrel? Finance Minister Nicola Willis seems intent on portraying herself as that damsel in distress. According to Willis, this country’s current economic problems have all been caused by the spending ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

3 days ago
Dragging our way towards the finish line, the end of this year can’t come soon enough for many…

Similar to the cuts and the austerity drive imposed by Ruth Richardson in the 1990’s, an era which to all intents and purposes we’ve largely fiddled around the edges with fixing in the time since – over, to be fair, several administrations – whilst trying our best it seems to ...

exhALANtBy exhalantblog

3 days ago
Handling Democracy.

String-Pulling in the Dark: For the democratic process to be meaningful it must also be public. WITH TRUST AND CONFIDENCE in New Zealand’s politicians and journalists steadily declining, restoring those virtues poses a daunting challenge. Just how daunting is made clear by comparing the way politicians and journalists treated New Zealanders ...

Bowalley Road

3 days ago
Open letter to the Minister of Dwindling Finances

Dear Nicola Willis, thank you for letting us know in so many words that the swingeing austerity hasn't worked.By in so many words I mean the bit where you said, Here is a sea of red ink in which we are drowning after twelve months of savage cost cutting and ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

3 days ago
Open Government: The joke ends

The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral organisation committed to advancing open government. Countries which join are supposed to co-create regular action plans with civil society, committing to making verifiable improvements in transparency, accountability, participation, or technology and innovation for the above. And they're held to account through an Independent ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

3 days ago
An unusual sort of press conference

Today I tuned into something strange: a press conference that didn’t make my stomach churn or the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Which was strange, because it was about the torture of children. It was the announcement by Erica Stanford — on her own, unusually ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

3 days ago
This substack has talked about this government’s seeming corruption & pro-corporate issues...

This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEO Our news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

3 days ago
NZCTU: Minister needs to listen to the evidence on engineered stone ban

NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Acting Secretary Erin Polaczuk is welcoming the announcement from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden that she is opening consultation on engineered stone and is calling on her to listen to the evidence and implement a total ban of the product. “We need ...

NZCTUBy Stella Whitfield

3 days ago
Wednesday 18 December

The Government has announced a 1.5% increase in the minimum wage from 1 April 2025, well below forecast inflation of 2.5%. Unions have reacted strongly and denounced it as a real terms cut. PSA and the CTU are opposing a new round of staff cuts at WorkSafe, which they say ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

3 days ago
Can the government change its mind on the ferries?

The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

3 days ago
Notes from Afar: Will Luxon Attend Waitangi Day? And Opposition Calls Out Nicola Willis for “C...

Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

4 days ago
Member’s morning

Today is a special member's morning, scheduled to make up for the government's theft of member's days throughout the year. First up was the first reading of Greg Fleming's Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill, which was passed unanimously. Currently the House is debating the third reading of ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
Going Backwards

We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

4 days ago
Blaming Treasury & Labour, Willis looks for even more Austerity

Willis blamed Treasury for changing its productivity assumptions and Labour’s spending increases since Covid for the worsening Budget outlook. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, December 18 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast above ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
December-24 AT Board Meeting

Today the Auckland Transport board meet for the last time this year. For those interested (and with time to spare), you can follow along via this MS Teams link from 10am. I’ve taken a quick look through the agenda items to see what I think the most interesting aspects are. ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

4 days ago
The Making of a Mental Health Rockstar

Hi,If you’re a New Zealander — you know who Mike King is. He is the face of New Zealand’s battle against mental health problems. He can be loud and brash. He raises, and is entrusted with, a lot of cash. Last year his “I Am Hope” charity reported a revenue ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

4 days ago
It could have been worse

Probably about the only consolation available from yesterday’s unveiling of the Half-Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) is that it could have been worse. Though Finance Minister Nicola Willis has tightened the screws on future government spending, she has resisted the calls from hard-line academics, fiscal purists and fiscal hawks ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

4 days ago
The Deep Divisions of Local Government

The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

4 days ago
Willis’ austerity strategy just isn’t working

Long story short: the Government’s austerity policy has driven the economy into a deeper and longer recession that means it will have to borrow $20 billion more over the next four years than it expected just six months ago. Treasury’s latest forecasts show the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s fiscal strategy of ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
Sabin 33 #7 – Are solar projects hurting farmers and rural communities?

On November 1, 2024 we announced the publication of 33 rebuttals based on the report "Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles" written by Matthew Eisenson, Jacob Elkin, Andy Fitch, Matthew Ard, Kaya Sittinger & Samuel Lavine and published by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia ...

Skeptical Science

4 days ago
Join us for a pop-up Hoon at 5pm on HYEFU

Come and join myself and CTU Chief Economist for a pop-up ‘Hoon’ webinar on the Government’s Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU) with paying subscribers to The Kākā for 30 minutes at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream to watch our chat. Don’t worry if ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

4 days ago
‘Ideas Worth Saving’: A Call for Papers

Some years ago, I found myself pondering the power of literature to endure. Or at least the power of some of it to endure, while the rest vanishes in mere decades: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/look-on-my-works-ye-mighty-and-despair-the-literary-future/. I have similarly had fun with the subject in some of my short stories, such as Another Alexandria ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

4 days ago
Corrections is torturing prisoners again

In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
HYEFU and BPS data shows New Zealand is way off track

New data released by the Treasury shows that the economic policies of this Government have made things worse in the year since they took office, said NZCTU Economist Craig Renney. “Our fiscal indicators are all heading in the wrong direction – with higher levels of debt, a higher deficit, and ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

4 days ago
“Better economic management”

At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

4 days ago
Shameless, clueless

AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

4 days ago
Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut

The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

5 days ago
Crazy ’bout a Sharp-dressed Man

Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

5 days ago
How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt?

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson In this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...

Skeptical Science

5 days ago
8% ACT Party Creates One Ring To Rule Them All

In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour 1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

5 days ago
When austerity worsens public debt & cuts GDP

Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

5 days ago
Govt to double number of toll roads

On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...

Greater AucklandBy Matt L

5 days ago
Luxon’s pre-emptive strike

The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...

PolitikBy Richard Harman

5 days ago
Gordon Campbell On The Coalition’s Empty Gestures, And Abortion Refusal As The New Slavery

This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...

WerewolfBy ScoopEditor

5 days ago
More public service contempt of parliament

Back in 2023 the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties raised concerns about the inherent conflict of interest involved in public service agencies supporting parliamentary select committees. Our parliament is run on a shoestring, so depends on the public service for advice. But public service agencies work for Ministers, not ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

5 days ago
If There Is A God

And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

5 days ago
A Lipstick Government

Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...

Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tūī

5 days ago
NZCTU open letter to Treasury on undue restrictions on restricted briefings

Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

5 days ago
Why you won’t hear me advocate for electric cars

This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate. I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...

Greater AucklandBy Guest Post

6 days ago
Coalition forced to back down on tolling Pahiatua track

A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...

The KakaBy Bernard Hickey

6 days ago
Thank You

Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

6 days ago
2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #50

A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...

Skeptical Science

6 days ago
Making Gravy

I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

7 days ago
Nothing here but the shadows

Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...

More Than A FeildingBy David Slack

7 days ago
The United Right: the FSU’s Continued Efforts to Undermine Academia

The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

7 days ago
Showing the Americans how to do it

Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...

No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant

1 week ago
2 Men, 1 Haircut

Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...

David FarrierBy David Farrier

1 week ago
Chris Penk’s Hate Parade

What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...

Sapphi’s SubstackBy Sapphi

1 week ago
Tell me a story

All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago
As Our Power Lessens: Accepted

2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...

A Phuulish FellowBy strda221

1 week ago
Six years of work wasted – Holidays Act reform now years away

Brooke van Velden has wasted six years of work from businesses, unions, and government by binning planned Holidays Act reforms, said Acting CTU President Rachel Mackintosh in response to today’s announcement from Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. “The Minister has cynically kicked the can on Holiday Act reform even ...

NZCTUBy Jack McDonald

1 week ago
Come Undone?

Words, playing me deja vuLike a radio tune, I swear I've heard beforeChill, is it something real?Or the magic I'm feeding off your fingersWho do you need?Who do you love?When you come undoneSongwriters: John Taylor / Simon Le Bon / Nick Rhodes / Warren Cuccurullo.When this three-way coalition was being ...

Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel

1 week ago

National’s Greatest Misses 2023-4

National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: Minister’s plan for tertiary sector a backwards step

Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...

Labour Blog

1 day ago
Release: National buries 1019 planned homes

It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab

The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom

The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...

Greens

2 days ago
Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession

The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...

Labour Blog

2 days ago
Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis

Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...

Labour Blog

3 days ago
ECE no place to cut corners

The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...

Greens

3 days ago
Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders

A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...

Labour Blog

3 days ago
Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects

Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects

The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...

Greens

4 days ago
Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity

The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...

Greens

4 days ago
Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less

The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis

With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...

Labour Blog

4 days ago
Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’

Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...

Māori Party

4 days ago
Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again

For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards

The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes

All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again

The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers

The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...

Labour Blog

5 days ago
Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex

The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...

Greens

5 days ago
Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty

The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat

The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction

New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day

The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families

Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas

Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation

Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker

The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
One year on, still no progress on new ferries

Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...

Greens

1 week ago
Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more

After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...

Labour Blog

1 week ago
Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban

The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...

Labour Blog

2 weeks ago
Greyhound racing industry ban marks new era for animal welfare

After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Rangatahi voices must be centred in Government’s Relationship and Sexuality Education refresh

In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Govt introduces archaic anti-worker legislation

The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
Winston Peters – Kinleith Mill Speech

Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...

NZ First Press Release

2 weeks ago
Swarbrick calls on Auckland Mayor to end delay of revival of St James Theatre

Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago
He Ara Anamata: Greens launch Emissions Reduction Plan

Today, the Green Party of Aotearoa proudly unveils its new Emissions Reduction Plan–He Ara Anamata–a blueprint reimagining our collective future. ...

Greens

2 weeks ago

PM appoints business leader to APEC Business Advisory Council

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
New intelligence oversight appointments

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
New housing developments able to progress more quickly

Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Actions to speed up air travel delivering results

The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Ending contracted emergency housing in Rotorua

The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Vocational education and training decisions support return to regions

The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

1 day ago
Reducing the environmental impact of synthetic refrigerants

The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Ngāruawāhia section of Waikato Expressway back to 4 lanes for Christmas

People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Appointments to the ENZ board

Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Government to celebrate Waitangi Day around NZ

The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
More gangs added to Gangs Act list

Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Judicial appointment announced

Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
GDP data highlights importance of growth

The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Strengthening Free Speech in Universities

Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

2 days ago
Launch of Emergency Cellular Priority Service

Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Minister reopens Mangamuka Gorge

State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Funding confirmed for second Ashburton Bridge

The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Government boosts support for avian influenza response

The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Levelling the playing field for media advertising

Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Inspector-General of Defence appointed

Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Fire and Emergency New Zealand final levy rates confirmed

Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
More AML relief on the way for Kiwi businesses

The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Hawke’s Bay Expressway moving at pace

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Government seeks partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned-land

The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Wide ranging legislation to make justice system more efficient

Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Diverse skills in community trust appointments

A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
Torture redress for survivors of the Lake Alice Unit

The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

3 days ago
A busy year in the House

It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Consultation opens on working with engineered stone

“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Greater reporting on Treaty settlement commitments

Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New appointments to the Charities Registration Board

Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Building consent processing times improve

More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Faster access to support through Innovation Fund

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New Zealand to assist Vanuatu on earthquake response

New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Government takes steps to reduce card fees for Kiwis

The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Review recommends ECE regulation shakeup

Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Offshore Renewable Energy Bill passes first reading

The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Local Government (Water Services) Bill passes first reading

Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
Gene Technology Bill passes first reading

New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago
New Zealand ratifies AANZFTA Upgrade

New Zealand has ratified the Upgrade to the Agreement establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), Minister for Trade Todd McClay announced today. “ASEAN which is comprised of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, is New Zealand’s fourth largest trading partner in two-way trade – ...

BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz

4 days ago

OECD Report Highlights That More Is Needed

This report reflects that gap in our dealings overseas, and it shows that legislators, the public sector and businesses need to walk the talk. ...

Scoop politics

9 hours ago
Government quietly scraps waste minimisation policies

The government has quietly cancelled plans to improve recycling and roll out a kerbside food scraps composting scheme. ...

Radio NZ – political

9 hours ago
MEAA welcomes News MAP funding ‘leg up’ for Australian journalism

Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

10 hours ago
Transmission Gully partnership breakdown will not hurt future public-private partnerships, Infrastru...

The roads partnership unravelled under a confidential settlement this week, meaning NZTA will now finish off what it had said was incomplete work. ...

Radio NZ – political

15 hours ago
Funding cuts to charity particularly felt over Christmas period

The number of people seeking help from Lifeline is expected to increase by 10 to 20 percent over Christmas. ...

Radio NZ – political

17 hours ago
Nelson Hospital conditions ‘unbearable’ – staff

One worker says the building is decrepit and falling down around them. ...

Radio NZ – political

17 hours ago
The Secret Diary of .. Luxon at Xmas

MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...

NewsroomBy Steve Braunias

18 hours ago
Stand by for cricket’s Smash Palace

It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...

NewsroomBy Aiden McLaughlin

18 hours ago
Early-onset dementia under the microscope

Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...

NewsroomBy Shruti Sharma and Dr Brigid Ryan

18 hours ago
Keeping the pirates at bay: Should the Australian ‘Blocking Order’ case prompt a discussion in N...

Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...

NewsroomBy Tania Goatley and Oscar Zambuto

18 hours ago
‘We were as famous as Tom Cruise’: Craig Parker on 90s Shortland St fandom

As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...

The SpinoffBy My Life in TV

19 hours ago
‘I prioritise the mission, not my health’: Adam McGrath’s perfect weekend playlist

The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...

The SpinoffBy Weekend playlist

19 hours ago
The rescue dog bringing joy to Christchurch retirement homes

Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes. Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...

The SpinoffBy Alex Casey

19 hours ago
Fiji pro-Palestine nativity scene exposes Gaza as ‘hell on earth’ at Christmas

Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

22 hours ago
Vanuatu quake: ‘Our shop was flattened like a deck of cards’

By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...

Evening ReportBy Asia Pacific Report

1 day ago
How diplomats have broken the law in NZ – and what happened next

A handful of foreign diplomats have misbehaved during their time here - and not all of them have been brought to justice. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Swim schools report sinking enrolments as downturn deepens

Being able to swim is often considered a life skill, but tough economic times are forcing many families to pull their children out of lessons. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
‘There will be deaths because of this’ – Warning over Health NZ IT cuts

A West Coast IT worker is warning patients will die as Health New Zealand aims to slash its data and digital staff. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Polytech sales possible but unlikely when Te Pūkenga disestablished – minister

In a surprise move, the sale of polytechnics will be on the table when the national institute of technology Te Pūkenga is disestablished. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Parliament’s final sitting day an insight into party factions

On Parliament's last day of the year, there was a rare glimpse of the factions within the major parties. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Former Labour MP, North Shore mayor Ann Hartley dies

Former Labour MP and mayor of Auckland's North Shore City Ann Hartley has died. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
The closest thing Australian cartooning had to a prophet: the sometimes celebrated, sometimes contro...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker. Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
Labour moves Speaker from the ‘nice’ to ‘naughty’ list

Last week's fights with the Speaker over the Fast Track schedule may have changed the tone in Parliament. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Govt ends pilot programme for Māori and Pacific, sparking outrage

The Government announced the end of the programme that allowed Māori and Pacific people to acess bowel cancer screening at 50-years-old. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Parliament fits an extra morning into final sitting day

The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
The Friday Poem: ‘Bejeweled log’ by Holly Fletcher

A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...

The SpinoffBy Holly Fletcher

1 day ago
Sunglasses don’t just look good – they’re good for you too. Here’s how to choose the right p...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
How does franchising work?

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
The one episode of Shortland Street you need to watch this year

If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...

The SpinoffBy Tara Ward

1 day ago
As China expands its cyber espionage and sabotage operations, how will the Trump administration resp...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
The Unity Books bestseller chart for 2024

Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...

The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books

1 day ago
Government confirms plan to dismantle Te Pūkenga, re-establish polytechs

The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
AI can’t do your Christmas shopping just yet – but next year might be different

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Whittle, Director, Data61 Ganjalex / Shutterstock I’m a computer scientist and a bad Christmas shopper. Over the weekend, I wondered whether AI systems might be able to help me out. Could I just prompt ChatGPT to pick a personalised ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
Heading on an overseas holiday? The Australian dollar tumbled this week – but that’s not bad new...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor of Economics, Monash University Michael Leslie/Shutterstock This week, the value of the Australian dollar fell to 62 US cents, its lowest level since October 2022. The acute cause? A revelation by the United States Federal Reserve that ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

1 day ago
Former political figure who abused teens confirms appeal

The former political figure who sexually abused two teens in the late 1990s will challenge his case in the Court of Appeal next year. ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
The real NZ Wrapped: Analysing the 2024 NZ Music charts

A couple of weeks after Spotify Wrapped comes a much more comprehensive survey of New Zealand’s listening. Duncan Greive casts an eye over the official 2024 end of year music charts. Streaming has changed music listening, and what we know about it, forever. Where once our charts were sales driven, ...

The SpinoffBy Duncan Greive

1 day ago
End of Clean Car discount, road user charges see EV sales decline

Subsidies are gone, road user charges are in, and ACC levies are up. So do electric cars still make financial sense? ...

Radio NZ – political

1 day ago
Without clean water, Pacific Islanders turn to sugary drinks. Tackling this could reduce obesity

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suneha Seetahul, Senior Research Fellow, Applied Microeconomics, University of Sydney Kara Math/Shutterstock One in two people in the Pacific Islands is classified as overweight (with a body mass index of 25–29) or obese (a BMI 30 or above). This is a ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
Beware of bad customers – and 3 other ways small and medium businesses can thrive in 2025

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Fiedler, Senior Lecturer, Management and International Business, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau There is no denying times have been tough for small and medium-sized businesses, and 2025 is not looking that much better. Gross domestic product per capita is continuing ...

Evening ReportBy The Conversation

2 days ago
Community Voices Needed To Challenge Legislative Threats To Māori Wellbeing

The Regulatory Standards Bill and the Oranga Tamariki Bill are both open for public submissions, yet the urgency of these proposed laws remains largely under the radar for many. ...

Scoop politics

2 days ago

Technology and the law – and going after Hager

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