Tiananmen Square’s Failed Revolution

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, June 4th, 2019 - 70 comments
Categories: China, Deep stuff, democracy under attack, democratic participation, International - Tags:

(With thanks to Alternatehistory.com)

Right now we could be dealing with a China with a similar mixed model to Vietnam, or a re-unified country like Germany.

We are not. And this hinges on that fateful political year of 1989.

In 1989, why did the Chinese protests in Tianenmen Square fail when all those cruel Soviet states imploded?

How come there was no moment similar to Ronald Reagan declaiming in 1987: “Mr President, tear down this wall”?

When they started in the Square, the demonstrations made the conservative faction led by Li Peng very nervous. There was fear that if they were allowed to continue, it would result in the eventual end of CCP rule.

Zhao Ziyang and the moderates within the leadership took a much more conciliatory approach. They hoped to persuade the demonstrators to go home by meeting with them and compromising with their demands.

There was still a chance to save something out of this. And there was still a sense that one moderate power-faction within the Chinese government could aggregate sufficient power to beat the hardliners.

But Zhao had to leave the country on a scheduled trip to North Korea, and this was the critical moment the Conservative faction used to move against the protesters.

Upon his departure, Li Peng called a meeting of the PSC at Deng’s home. At the meeting, he painted the protestors as being anti-socialist, anti-party, and anti-Deng.

Without Zhao to oppose him, it was easy for him to convince the rest of the leadership that the protesters were counter-revolutionaries funded and organized with just a few escaping the country.

Soviet Europe was liberated, but there was to be no liberation of China.

70 comments on “Tiananmen Square’s Failed Revolution ”

  1. Incognito 1

    If the Chinese want to be liberated, when might that happen? Or better, how might it happen? POTUS is trying hard to destabilise the fragile Chinese economy, and the global economy for that matter, and he may, inadvertently (?), cause a bloodbath unless the liberation will be peaceful. This is all pure speculation on my behalf because I know very little about China 😉

    • Peter Christchurch NZ 1.1

      Incognito, with the greatest of respect, you are talking total bs re POTUS.

      The primary pressures on China come from within its borders, as per my post below. China is not just full of 'Chinese'. It has many other ethnic groups, such as Turkmen, who consider the Han no more than colonisers, there it extract the resources of their 'country'.

      Also the problem of religion: Muslims in Xinjiang do not take too kindly to being placed in re-education camps to be force fed Han racial superiority and communist ideology.

      Then the languages. Over eight major distinct mutually unintelligle languages, over 300 distinct dialects. A very real north/south cultural and linguistic divide. Even Mao struggled with Mandarin!

      There is a very interesting once over lightly free book on the site babel.co.nz. Worth a read to get a feel for some of the nature of China.

      • Incognito 1.1.1

        I’m happy to stand corrected. I find it impossible to comprehend anything POTUS says or does and from where I’m sitting, it appears he’s destabilising the Chinese economy. Maybe that’s not his intention, although his motto seems to be “you lose, I win”, but his decisions may well act as a catalyst for unrest and what have you. No?

    • roy cartland 1.2

      Interestingly, it has happened before in China's history, and more than once. The Kuomintang/Nationalists ended a thousand years of imperial rule, while they in turn were overthrown by the Communists and ultimately driven to Taiwan.

      That's two revolutions in ~50 years.

      While there are some pretty awful government barriers now (like drones, facial recognition, social credits) is it really so hard to think that the CCP can be reformed or at least transformed in short order?

  2. Peter Christchurch NZ 2

    China will go the way of the USSR, albeit for different reasons. Xinjiang and its Uighurs will become the new Chechnya. They are already going the way of the Jews in Nazi Germany pre WW2. Increasing calls for independence in Nei Mongolia. And of course Xizang (Tibet).

  3. Pierre 3

    If the CCP had abandoned socialism in 1989 it would just have become another super-exploited Third World country, like India, or Indonesia. The Indian economy was subject to IMF structural adjustment in 1991. Around thirty years on, India continues to struggle to provide public welfare, meanwhile China is doing comparatively much better.

    I think it's fair to say that China watched closely what happened in the former socialist countries. The experience of capitalist restoration was devastating: co-operative enterprises privatised, welfare systems evaporated, life expectancy plummeted as public healthcare was ripped apart, basic social rights to food and shelter turned over to the market, all while Eastern Europe saw an alarming explosion of neo-nazi activity. If China had capitulated, that was the dark future which lay in wait.

    The Soviet Union was destroyed from within, the crisis got increasingly severe alongside the 'liberalisation' of the economy. As capital gained a foothold in the state, corruption flourished, and oligarchs emerged. It’s easy enough to see that there was no such self-destructive tendency within the CCP, which had long ago committed to regulating market forces under the control of the working class.

    • WeTheBleeple 3.1

      What a breath of fresh air.

      The whole 'reds under the bed' line is getting very tired.

      • Pierre 3.1.1

        Hey, someone's got to speak up for the left on this website! ✊

        • Peter Christchurch NZ 3.1.1.1

          Good return Pierre!

          But honestly, when we are talking about China, I really do not think we are talking about socialism or the left. And I am sorry if you think my comments were meant to be anti-left. With China, it is just 'anti-totalinarism', not anti-left that I was pushing.

    • Peter Christchurch NZ 3.2

      I suggest you talk to a few Chinese. Their take is somewhat different. This is particularly true of the 'semi-autonomous' states, which collectively make up the bulk of the China landmass and are resource rich but very poor. They would certainly regard themselves as being 'exploited third world'. But hey, lets not let the facts get in the way of rapid ideology.

      • WeTheBleeple 3.2.1

        "Rapid ideology"

        Making up new phrases now…

        'Reds under the bed' had a much better ring to it.

        There's 1 360 000 000 Chinese citizens. I'm sure you'll find dissenting voices – millions of them.

        Whereas there's no civil unrest in America (the great).

        https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-america-talk-turns-to-something-unspoken-for-150-years-civil-war/2019/02/28/b3733af8-3ae4-11e9-a2cd-307b06d0257b_story.html?utm_term=.caa4b4c9a261

        • Peter Christchurch NZ 3.2.1.1

          Yes, many dissenting voices without a doubt. Even during the Cultural Revolution there were many supporters of Mao, but I doubt today you will find a single person in China that supports that period. Or the Great Leap Forward.

          I would strongly suggest that you learn about China a little before pushing your views. It is a huge country with an extremely diverse population and a very sad history over much of the last 70 years.

          It is not without good reason that the Chinese in Hong Kong fear China. I doubt you will find a single Chinese person who does not support the liberalisation of the last 30 years. It is easy to spout ideology if you are not one of the poor unfortunates that are forced to live under it.

          • WeTheBleeple 3.2.1.1.1

            "I would strongly suggest that you learn about China a little before pushing your views."

            I would strongly suggest I read more than most of this site combined.

            • Peter Christchurch NZ 3.2.1.1.1.1

              Perhaps, but we all read selectively, I suppose often to reinforce our existing viewpoints.

              My comments are based on living in China, working now with a China related business, and so on, rather than mere reading.

              • WeTheBleeple

                I read to learn, while I don't expect you to pay attention to what I do, I've backed down being wrong several times here. Being RIGHT is more BS than being wrong and learning from it. Learning is the bees knees. Understanding, much harder but I try.

                I am merely bristling at all the pre-conceived notions trotted out here.

              • greywarshark

                Peter Chch NZ What books do you suggest that the ordinary person can get a picture of China from? Do you know some that are in the library system? Perhaps in Chch – I have the idea that their library is very good.

                • WeTheBleeple

                  I recommend Thick Face Black Heart (Chin-Ning Chu) to any wishing to do business in China.

                  • Peter Christchurch NZ

                    WTB: I will search that out and give it a read. Thankyou.

                    Greywarshark: nothing springs to mind.
                    The free ebook at babel.co.nz is a good simple read (note SIMPLE), but it is one we refer clients to to at least peake their interest.

            • WeTheBleeple 3.2.1.1.1.2

              I actually think one of Mao's greatest faults (other than ego) was that he was a bit gullible/malleable.

              e.g. Backyard steel manufacture

              e.g. Agricultural reforms without backing evidence

              Then, after the enormous screw-ups, the ego kicks in, and others pay. At his behest or via over eager state representation. The whole thing was an experiment to learn from, not trot out every time you want to denigrate modern China. There was a pattern of willingness to try things different and Mao changed tack several times. Without a working model to draw from, and with a huge unwieldy empire to try apply some semblance of order…

              Mao is in the past now, and trotting him out is similar to using Hitler to make judgement calls about today's Germany.

              The west never forgets the foibles of everyone else, meanwhile, their kids want to be influencers, youtubers, and other utterly useless shite.

              Let's hear it for striped toothpaste, minted dog biscuits and edible panties.

              Go the west!

              • greywarshark

                WtB

                Brilliant.

              • Peter Christchurch NZ

                Re Mao, I think that his greatest mistake was to try to isolate China from the rest of the world. Retarded China's economy for decades. As you say his ego also. He fell out with every ally sooner or later: USSR, Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea etc.

                Trotting out Mao is not 'denigrating modern China', and sadly his influence is not in the past either. Every Yuan note still has Maos portrait on it. That is a little like if Germany still had currency with Hitler on it. Says a huge amount about the leadership of China and their continued brain washing and control.

                • WeTheBleeple

                  I think it says Mao's image is still in use on currency. I feel no obligation to Queen Elizabeth despite our currency, and considering she is currently entertaining Trump, she can fuck right off.

      • bewildered 3.2.2

        One problem Pete, the Chinese Han make 90pc of population irrespective of land mass and indigenous inhabitants or number of ethnicities I see China eventually collapsing on it internal contradictions, communism political system vs capitalist economic system, no separation of state and judiciary, statism vs religion, humanism etc This will only occur when Han majority decide they have had enough

        • Peter Christchurh nz 3.2.2.1

          Bewildered. You spotted the flaw in my plan. Bugger.

          • greywarshark 3.2.2.1.1

            Peter Chch nz

            Is that Chinese positional thinking – be enigmatic, step sideways?

        • McFlock 3.2.2.2

          The two big frictions I see are the urban/rural divide (e.g. booming cities vs a lack of indoor plumbing in rural areas) and the removal of presidential term limits (which allowed China to guarantee incremental adaptation, rather than entrenching a single leader).

      • woodart 3.2.3

        maybe we should think about the fragmentation of countries like china ,soviet russia, czechoslovarkia, and look at the likes of u.s. and u.k. tearing themselves apart from within. many parts of both u.s. and u.k. regard themselves as exploited third world. look outward to blame others . maybe with very large countries ,there is such a disconnect with citizens to the heads of government, that nothing much happens until there is outright revolution. either all or nothing.

  4. Stuart Munro. 4

    It's a complex phenomenon – as education levels improve the willingness of troops to fire on massed unarmed civilians may not be as strong now as it was in the '80s.

    The students were good Confucians, their leaders were not. Korea, being more Confucian, retains its demonstration culture, and any government measure bad enough will see its streets filled – shame we didn't manage it here over Rogergnomics.

    The Chinese system retains some of the features of monarchies – the ability to rapidly change and implement policies for instance. But presumably due to party structures or political culture, it's relatively rare to see intemperate actions of the kind that recently blotted Saudi's ledger. The discretion lacking in measures like the Skripal affair would be atypical of China.

    • greywarshark 4.1

      I was wondering if Confucianism would be a good background set of precepts that could provide a good model for even a Christian country – seeing we seem to be losing most of what we thought we had in NZ? What do you think as a quick reply and why.

      (And speaking as a Christian that occasionally goes to church.)

      • Peter Christchurch NZ 4.1.1

        Absolutely. It does not conflict with Christianity in any way that I am aware of.

        Reason? It teaches rules of behaviour and conduct that are based on mutual respect. I think Taoism is also pretty good, and a great match to Confucianism. But Buddhism is also strong in China. And Catholic in north east (Shandong especially)

        • greywarshark 4.1.1.1

          I think we have had enough of Catholicism for a period – give them time to reflect on themselves. Buddhism interests me but seems too passive and finicky for our present. I keep thinking that Confucianism and perhaps Taoism (Lao Tze) have worthwhile precepts – the former being about mutual respect. The Chinese have long been scholars. Joseph Needham combined their histories of invention, which I have yet to read. I have enjoyed reading van Gulik's detective stories based on Judge Dee's around the Tang? dynasty.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China

          Yet I fear their eugenic thoughts referred to FTTT. And they do not respect Confucianism any more I hear, old fashioned. No doubt it would come round again, but in our short time span for cultural changes, I think it needs to be soon. I go with some of Sun Tzu’s precepts, the ones I have seen seem good. Make you think.
          This one: Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
          https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2014/05/23/sun-tzus-33-best-pieces-of-leadership-advice/#30f4adf05e5e

          • Stuart Munro. 4.1.1.1.1

            Confucianism has a few issues too – it was designed to create a stable society, so there's little or no provision for social mobility. Taken to extremes, such as Mencius's Mum, who expected he be able to write calligraphy even in the dark, or the civil service exam, which is exclusionary rather than objective and forms the model for the high school exam that drives youth suicide statistics across Asia, it has a few problems without even getting to the neoConfucian nastiness of a few centuries back.

            Broadly speaking though, it has much to recommend it. My old Korean friends reckoned that of the three beliefs they're familiar with, going for at least two out of three is a pretty good rule of thumb. If Buddha, Jesus, & Confucius are on the same page you're on pretty safe ground. If one is out on his own it might not be their best work.

          • Incognito 4.1.1.1.2

            Crikey, van Gulik, that brings back old memories of red ears and short nights because of reading a great story. Thanks for that!

          • Grant 4.1.1.1.3

            Try Epicurus on for size. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicureanism

    • Lettuce 4.2

      The 'Skripal Affair' as you call it was meant to be a warning. That's why it carried out using a sensational and easily traceable method. If the Russian secret service wants to bump someone off in a discreet and deniable manner they are more than capable.

      Skripal was a former UK spy. He got caught and was traded in prisoner swap between the UK and Russia. The rules once this occurs are simple. The traded spy agrees to leave the spying game and settle down to a quiet retirement in their new country, never to be heard of in intelligence circles again. Skripal broke these rules and was continuing to sell classified information about Russia to Eastern European countries for profit. That's why Putin decided to make an example of him in such a public manner.

  5. vto 5

    I have had colleagues say strongly that China is currently well liberated and that in comparison it is New Zealand that is in straitjackets. New Zealanders suffer less freedoms than the Chinese.. This is what they say. Of course, quite how we are supposed to verify that from Westport Taneatua Akitio or Gore I do not know….

    …but I think we should not be so arrogant in our assumptions Advantage…

    • McFlock 5.1

      I'm sure it's well liberated if you toe the party line.

      Not so much if you're religious, or want too much change in government policy, or want to know the unexpurgated history of your country.

      A Chinese flatmate once asked what happened in Tianamen square. All she'd been told was that "bad people" tried to harm the country. Struck me that the dominant "we" had the same basic assumptions about the Land Wars and Parihaka until people uncovered and publicised a less biased version of our own history.

      Funnily enough, I read an article a day or two ago listing several ways China has erased the events of 1989, and interesting repercussions (one was that it had to teach censors about it in order for them to identify references to it). Can't seem to find that article today, though. If I had a suspicious turn of mind…

      • vto 5.1.1

        Sure, I get the political thing, but there are countless other restriction/liberation spheres within a society and the feedback I was given was that outside of the political sphere it is NZ that falls woefully short in the freedom stakes…

        … how big an issue is political freedom in that context? That is one of the big questions of course, and is a very complex one for a society/societies like the Chinese have I think. It is even more difficult again for people like (most of) us to answer from Taneatua… especially when our own political elite structures and powers prefer a certain view of China ….

        dunno eh

      • I taught English in Xinjiang a few years ago.

        On the first day at school we (the foreign teachers) were told never to mention the 3 'T's' – Tianamen, Tibet, Taiwan.

        ALL the students I taught were profoundly ignorant of what really happened.

        The world view of the average uneducated Han is about 2 metres ahead of the barrow he's pushing.

        • WeTheBleeple 5.1.2.1

          If you were to never mention these subjects, how is you you know ALL your students were profoundly ignorant on said subjects.

          ESP?

          Your description of the average Han reminds me of Trump supporters. National supporters, Hosking readers…

          But we are so superior.

          • greywarshark 5.1.2.1.1

            Yes how did you know Tony V? – but WtB he seems a sound commenter and I think you are being touch.

            • WeTheBleeple 5.1.2.1.1.1

              Yes I am playing Devil's advocate to Chinaphobic drivel. I've heard it all before freedom of press (like we have it), human rights (like we practice them), poor people (nothing to see here), warmongering (cough cough) etc.

              We've taken our 'freedoms' and created the twitterati.

              A billion sound bites of shite. Many of them to do with 'others'.

              The perception of ourselves as standing on moral high ground is resoundingly overblown as usual.

              • McFlock

                It's a fair approach to take, but shit sure went down in 1989. You might sniff at the "twitterati", but you're safe in the knowledge that by doing so you're not going to get yourself in difficulty with the authorities.

              • A late response: such a prohibition only spurred the foreign teachers to venture, tentatively, on the forbidden subjects. Invariably, in the case of Tianamen Square, nothing – the event had been erased from their knowledge of their own history. Tibet and Taiwan, when mentioned casually, occasioned a full blown propaganda response.

                I taught senior high school kids and young adults about the age of mid twenties on the whole. With very few exceptions none could place NZ on a world map. For God's sake, I even encountered one student who couldn't even find China without a search!

                Urumqi is the furtherest city from the sea in the world – 2250 kms in any direction. Perhaps that explains the depth of ignorance.

                I also taught a smattering of older students who had lived through the Cultural Revolution. Their stories, retailed in meetings outside the classroom, were quite harrowing. They confirmed the censorship that prevails in China about Tianamen.

                I might be spouting Chinaphobic drivel, but it is drivel derived from observation on the ground (albeit in a remote part of China).

                • WeTheBleeple

                  Yep it's largely drivel imo. Try an American class on geography if you want to see truly stupid.

                  America is interesting in that Trump represents them succinctly. Full of blow and nothing to show. The stats say America has the most PhD's but… 70% or more are foreigners getting them in USA. If you got the actual numbers, and then divvied up by country of birth, they're a bunch of morons.

                  What I'm doing here is similar to you making assumptions about a people but I'm using broad data not your experience in a classroom.

                  I'm sure America has a few folk sporting respectable IQ's. It'd be nice to hear from them for a change.

                  Try quizzing NZ folk you'll find some stunningly stupid fucks soon enough.

                  I will continue to use Whataboutism on the west so long as people continue with their high and mighty BS.

                  Check some of these morons out. The interviewee was the first muslim they ever met but they're doing hate marches against them.

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwRVoHohD7c

                  Now, nobody want's a late night knock on the door from the CCP, and nobody wants to see camps for muslims. But what is America doing???? Preventing terror or promulgating it. We don't want the CIA or some merc piece of shit like Mitchell on our door either. Our wailing about others is hypocritical rubbish. The west must clean their own houses they're full of assholes bullies liars conmen and thieves.

                  Oh we do love a scapegoat to detract from what mealy mouthed little shits we've become.

        • Sam 5.1.2.2

          This

          The world view of the average uneducated Han is about 2 metres ahead of the barrow he's pushing.

          Back when the Red Gaurd was implementing the Great Leap Forward Chinese soilders was going around burning every book and destroying every art piece. Only things that survived was either buried or shuttled to the Taiwanese National Museum.

          People often say that China has a rich and ancient history and that they're reassuming there place as Middle Kingdom. I used to think that and I was wrong. About a hundred years ago or so there whole history was destroyed. They're effectively a juvenile state armed to the teeth with nukes.

          China was never this infatuated with foreign policy or Navy. They had such an overwhelming population number they didn't have to worry about what was outside there borders. All that history and knowledge was wiped away in the great purges. Now China's shining examples of how to be a superpower are Russia and America.

          Now APEC dignitaries and delegates will have to manage this relationship.

  6. The Chinese regime survived because it was (and is) prepared to exert force to maintain its power. Gorbachev wasn't prepared to exert force in 1989, so the Eastern bloc fell apart (the collapse of the Soviet Union proper was an internal power struggle, not a matter of popular will).

  7. RedLogix 7

    There are only two purposes for which the state is morally authorised to use violence. One is against criminals and the other is to protect the state from aggressive outsiders.

    The state is not morally authorised to use violence against it's own citizens for ideological purposes. This is the core point where the sovereignty of the individual supercedes that of the collective.

    As long as Russia and China continue to revere both Stalin and Mao respectively, they will fail this critical test and the rest of the world will be right to remain wary of them.

    • Mark 7.1

      Heard of a guy called Andrew Jackson, RL?

      He's still on a US banknote and is a hero of Trumps

  8. barry 8

    Actually in the years after Tiananmen China did make considerable advances in freedom and governance. They established an orderly transition of leadership with steady hands to guide the progression. It may not have been as good as the best democracies, but was considerably better than the worst.

    Unfortunately under Xi things have definitely gone backwards. Now there is no prospect of a change at the end of his 10 years, and the space for independent thought has greatly diminished. The fear of independent thought has provoked the overreaction in Xinjiang and elsewhere in China.

  9. joe90 9

    High-tech totalitarianism and the economic miracle.

    China has shocked the world at least twice in the course of the past 30 years. The first time was the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement and the ensuing repression, which made the world aware of the ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party. The second time was China’s “economic miracle.” In 2010, with the phenomenal growth of its economy, China became the second largest economy by nominal Gross Domestic Product. In 2014, it surpassed the United States, achieving purchasing power parity.

    In fact these two—the extinguishing of the democracy movement and the flowering of the economic miracle—are closely linked. Without the massacres of June 3 and 4, 1989, there would be no Chinese miracle. “What’s most ironic is that the economic reforms of elite privatization that China carried out after June 4th were undoubtedly the most shameless and deplorable in moral terms, but also probably the most effective and likely to succeed. The Tiananmen massacre completely deprived people of their right to speak, and the lack of public participation and supervision in China’s privatization process allowed a minority of officials to treat public assets as their personal property. Officials instantly became capitalists, and privatization reforms attained their goal in a single step. Added to that, the relatively stable investment environment created by suppressive policies attracted a large amount of foreign capital.”[3]

    https://www.lawliberty.org/liberty-forum/china-since-tiananmen-not-a-dream-but-a-nightmare/

  10. millsy 10

    We hear a lot about how the Dengist reforms have "lifted millions out of poverty", however, before 1978, the average steel factory worker in Guangdong had a job for life, free health care, free education for his kids, subsidised housing and what was more or less a job for life, with a pension at the end of it. In other words, what steel workers in Pittburgh, Sheffield, Illawarra and Glenbrook had. How he doesnt have any of those. For all we know, he is probably begging on the streets now, having had his job restructured out of existence.

    It seems prosperity and wealth is all about buying electronic goods with cheap credit.

  11. millsy 11

    That said, I dont think anyone has a right to criticise China on human rights, when lawmakers in Texas want to execute women who seek abortions in another state.

  12. Observer Tokoroa 12

    Yes Millsy

    The Past quickly slips away. The horrendous Atrocities carried out by the English in many Lands, are not known by any English Citizens today.

    Perhaps the most Heinous was what the English did to India. Century after Century. Right up to recent times. Stricken by their losses in wars, the English gave India Independance and freedom in 1947.

    It will be nice to see India and Pakistan taking over the now disheveled British who have no idea of what they want. Or how to become Civilised. The Brits once ruled much of the world. They cannot now it would seem, even rule a Fish and Chip shop.

    Not that it Matters. Trump will pick the weakest Brit Brains and drag them through his cruel Health Plans and Trade Atrocities. He will Skin the English Banks alive. He will install his meek Republicans into London – and take over dull Merry England, for himself.

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    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    8 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology â€“ the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of DĂŠjĂ  Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
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