TPPA: US, corporate dominance – let’s do ACTION!!

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, March 5th, 2013 - 38 comments
Categories: activism, copyright, democracy under attack, internet, john key, slippery, trade, us politics - Tags: , , , ,

A round of TTPA negotiations is underway in Singapore. The  excellent Jane Kelsey is leading the critical discussion here in NZ.  Meanwhile there is some disturbing information from across the ditch in Aussie, raising the issue of corporate dominance over women’s health provisions and the undermining of women’s rights.

Kelsey posted yesterday on The Daily Blog about just how much Obama is using the TPPA to assert his agenda at home and abroad.  In doing this he is skewing the “negotiations” in favour of corporate US, and undermining any hopes for democratic processes. In ‘The reality of What TPPA means for NZ’, Kelsey says:

But today is the first day of the 16th round of talks in Singapore and the situation is getting serious.

The eleven participating countries – or more accurately, their current and temporary governments – are aiming to draft a new rulebook for the 21st century that locks in and extends the failed neoliberal model. In secret. For the indefinite future. Enforceable by each other and by their corporations in secretive offshore tribunals. …

Obama is putting the hard word on the other ten countries’ leaders, who are in turn pushing their chief negotiators and their teams to clear the dross out of the way so they can talk about trade-offs.

Some chapters are near that stage. Others have been at stalemate almost since the negotiations began as other countries rejected the basic tenets of US demands. Several of those areas are must-haves for Obama – notably, intellectual property, which impacts on pharmaceuticals, the internet and innovation and disciplines on state-enterprises that could extend to ACC, Kiwibank and the universities.

The way that John Key and Tim Groser talk, all the parties including New Zealand are equals at this negotiating table. But this has always been the US plus the rest.

Note that the key areas in focus include “intellectual property and the internet”.  This links in with the withdrawal of Murdoch’s News Corps from NZ Sky TV. Pressure for an accessible, affordable, critical and democratic “fourth estate” should be intensified, as the subscriber numbers for the Sky TV remain static, and television shows become increasingly accessible via the internet: a platform corporoates and investors are trying to control for their undemocratic financial gain..

Kelsey also issued a Press Release yesterday  that draws on OIA documents that expose John Key’s dodgy use of figures in relation to the TPPA:

An Official Information Act request revealed the Prime Minister was citing an unpublished econometric study in November 2012 by the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics that updated earlier versions published by the East West Centre.

Professor Kelsey says ‘the assumptions that underpin the report’s computerised modelling belong on an alien planet’. …

The report ignores any real world downsides – losing part or all of the $5 billion savings from Pharmac over 12 years, the stifling of innovation through extreme US monopoly rights over intellectual property, the economic and social costs of light-handed regulation, legal fees and compensation awards from investment arbitration suits brought by US firms, to name a few.

Yesterday there was also a press release by  AFTINET (Australian Fair Trade & Investment Network Ltd)  announcing a seminar in Sydney today on women’s rights and the TPPA.  It highlights that a US legal judgement means a pharmaceutical company can patent a gene linked to breast cancer. This will result in tests for breast cancer becoming unaffordable for most women.

With the TPPA, pharmaceutical companies  and investors are looking to control over and rights to other patents that will impact on large numbers of people, but especially on women, children and various “vulnerable” people.  (I guess “vulnerable” means those on low incomes and/or with little power).  The press release goes on:

This bad news could be even worse if the US government succeeds in its demands for even stronger patent rights, including for diagnostic testing, in the TTPA. This would lock stronger patent laws into an international agreement which Australian governments could not change,” said Dr Patricia Ranald, convener of the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network and a speaker at the seminar

“The US also wants stronger patent rights for pharmaceutical companies to charge high monopoly prices for medicines, and to delay cheaper generic drugs becoming available. As well, the US wants to prevent governments from regulating medicine prices, as happens through the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

It is important that NZ citizens understand what is happening with the TPPA.  Good on Kelsey for keeping information out there – and Kelsey also served notice of upcoming actions around the TPPA:

A new phase of the TPPA campaign, Countdown to May, is about to be launched through the itsourfuture website with activities that anyone do: adopt an MP; recruit local councillors to move resolutions that are critical of the TPPA, or better still make them TPPA-free zones; deluge the talkbacks and blogs; host the cartoon exhibition. Sign up to the bulletin on the www.itsourfuture.org.nz website and you can be part of making this our 21st century, not theirs!

We can all get involved! Time for action!

38 comments on “TPPA: US, corporate dominance – let’s do ACTION!! ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. geoff 1
    5 March 2013 at 10:12 am

    Great post, Karol. It would be cool if we had Jane Kelsey commenting on the standard.

  2. MrSmith 2
    5 March 2013 at 10:17 am

    Were are Labour on selling our sovereignty down the river? I’m all ears!

    • MrSmith 2.1
      5 March 2013 at 10:25 am

      Edit : Where are Labour on selling our sovereignty down the river? I’m all ears?

    • DH 2.2
      5 March 2013 at 11:49 am

      TPPA talks began under Labour, from what I’ve read the Nats haven’t actually changed much of NZ’s terms at the negotiating table.

      I think Labour’s silence on it tells us all we need to know; either they agree with the Nats or they’ve got a guilty conscience… or both.

  3. muzza 3
    5 March 2013 at 10:20 am

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/8081032/NZ-first-to-sign-food-safety-deal-with-US

    Looks like the signal of NZ selling out to corporations, has already been signalled!

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      5 March 2013 at 10:23 am

      Shheeeezus. The US allow genetically modified (GM) food into their supply chain without any testing or labeling whatsoever.

      What does this do for the entry of unlabelled GM foods on to our store shelves?

      FUCK.

      • freedom 3.1.1
        5 March 2013 at 10:36 am

        raw foods and heritage seeds will also be up for the chop, so to speak.

        then there is the prickly issue of US arrests for sharing raw milk and other heinous crimes against the corpocracy

        • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1
          5 March 2013 at 1:01 pm

          Each of these steps undermines the resilience of our local communities to be self sufficient in the face of uncertain climate and financial changes.

          • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.1.1
            5 March 2013 at 2:28 pm

            Which is, and always has been, the goal of the capitalists. Removing peoples ability to exist without the corporations and thus increasing dependence is exactly how they become rich.

            • woodpecker 3.1.1.1.1.1
              6 March 2013 at 8:04 am

              “I can see the day coming, when even your home garden is gonna be against the law”..Bob Dylan (early 80’s me thinks)

              • karol …
                6 March 2013 at 8:23 am

                Thanks for that tip, woodpecker.

                From Infidels 1983, Union Sundown:

                Well, the job that you used to have
                They gave it to somebody down in El Salvador
                The unions are big business, friend
                And they’re goin’ out like a dinosaur
                They used to grow food in Kansas
                Now they want to grow it on the moon and eat it raw
                I can see the day coming when even your home garden
                Is gonna be against the law

                Well, it’s sundown on the union
                And what’s made in the U.S.A.
                Sure was a good idea
                ’Til greed got in the way

                Not sure what he’s saying about the union – otherwise an apt song.

      • muzza 3.1.2
        5 March 2013 at 3:33 pm

        Yup, we have that deal signed, we have the food safety bill, natural remedies bill, etc all come to being, around the same time the TPPA pressure was/is really cranking up.

        These bills will have been written with an eye firmly on a TPPA green light, and will have *unintended consequences*, littering their future use.

        Most people have no idea what’s going on with these links, or that they are even in play, and the MPs self admit, do not read the bills in entirety!

        Who authors NZ bills – Oh that’s right, large corporate law firms!

      • yeshe 3.1.3
        5 March 2013 at 5:40 pm

        I’m with you on this .. keep wondering if Monsanto and the like will be able to sue us under TPPA provisions for disallowing their murderous crops to be grown here ? Would love Jane Kelsey to answer this one .. it might be the one issue that could galvanise our tired and ill-informed public — this is so frightening and so few seem to have any interest, much less awareness … where are all the brilliant ones who signed their names on that anti-TPPA full page advert in the Herald, Dom etc a while back ??

        And yes, where is Labour on this very specific issue ? Voting Green party and candidate is only possibility now I think …

        • muzza 3.1.3.1
          5 March 2013 at 10:49 pm

          And yes, where is Labour on this very specific issue

          Oh you will find the LP in the same place as the rest of the MPs – Bent over the negotiating table, having sold themselves, and the rest of us out, just like their counterparts, decades earlier!

          Conditionality policies – 1961

    • freedom 3.2
      5 March 2013 at 1:03 pm

      and with the new head of the US FDA being a Monsanto stooge we are FUBAR,

      e.g: The Dairy industry has worked with Monsanto to produce high yield GM grasses. The FDA is an organization that after being lobbied by Dairy interests since 2009, now calls for Aspartame to be added to milk. Aspartame was declared a poison in 1975 by the FDA, but it is now in over ten thousand foodstuffs.

      • muzza 3.2.1
        5 March 2013 at 5:11 pm

        E951 – Yes we have Donald Rumsfeld to thank for that, hands up who remembers Donald, he’s a nice man!

        I agree with you freedom, the indications are, that we’re well and truly done!

        Will the remaining compos mentis, please stand up!

  4. Wayne 4
    5 March 2013 at 1:12 pm

    Karol,

    So what action do you propose?

    As I have noted before on this site (TPPA being one of the main issues I comment on this site) if the negotiating countries conclude the TPPA it will be ratified by NZ.

    In fact as Jane makes clear TPPA now has the strategic backing of the US, so its success is all the more certain.

    But NZ sees that as a desirable outcome. It was always the objective of the NZ Govt to get a NZUSFTA, and since it could not be done bilaterally, the vehicle of P5 which has now expanded to TPPA has been seen as a good outcome. Remember that NZ was an initial proponent of P5, and NZ is the depositry of the TPPA.

    There is absolutely no prospect whatsoever that NZ would not ratify TPPA.

    The NZ Govt will take no notice of Jane Kelsey, who is after all an ideological opponent of the Govt on virtually every issue. She has never seen an FTA she could support, therefore her opposition to TPPA is dismissed out of hand.

    However, I guess her objective is to influence those Govts that might have some sympathy with her views. But I would note her role in Korea oppossing the KUSFTA probably did not endear her to the Korean Govt, and they will make known to the other negotiating states.

    Her level of oppositional fevour to free trade agreements is so great, that it is easy for Govts to ignore her, even though she is deeply researched on the detail of the issues.

    • karol 4.1
      5 March 2013 at 1:42 pm

      Jane Kelsey makes good suggestions for action, which I quoted at the bottom of my post. This includes:

      adopt an MP; recruit local councillors to move resolutions that are critical of the TPPA, or better still make them TPPA-free zones; deluge the talkbacks and blogs; host the cartoon exhibition. Sign up to the bulletin on the http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz website

      There are concerns about the TPP from various South East Asian groups and governments – hence their development of the alternative RCEP

      • Wayne 4.1.1
        5 March 2013 at 1:53 pm

        Won’t change the view of Govt – and I would also bet will not shift Labour. But if it did that would certainly mean a radical shift by Labour if it was to oppose TPP.

        I personally would see that as a bad thing, but I guess you would not.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.1.1.1
          5 March 2013 at 2:32 pm

          Won’t change the view of Govt

          That would be the problem with governments welded to an ideology – they don’t change their minds no matter the evidence.

    • Colonial Viper 4.2
      5 March 2013 at 1:49 pm

      So Wayne, you’re not concerned about the undermining of our rights to decide how to govern the country, while US corporates get given more powers over our daily lives?

      • Wayne 4.2.1
        5 March 2013 at 2:01 pm

        I see these sorts of negotiations as having a balance, every negotiating country has to give something to get something.

        So NZ will give something on IP protection to get market access for agriculture. In any event we also originate IP (ask Weta Films), so this might be as much to our benefit as it is a cost.

        And of course all FTA’s limit the sovereignty of Govts. Thats their point.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.2.1.1
          5 March 2013 at 2:33 pm

          So NZ will give something on IP protection to get market access for agriculture. In any event we also originate IP (ask Weta Films), so this might be as much to our benefit as it is a cost.

          We’ll be worse off no matter what.

        • thatguynz 4.2.1.2
          5 March 2013 at 3:59 pm

          Wayne, I’m sorry mate but if you think that the US will open the door to inbound NZ agriculture in any meaningful way then you stand to be sadly disappointed.

          The FTA’s (Free trade as opposed to Fair trade) that have been negotiated over time with ANY country have always favoured the larger trading “partner”. I don’t think anyone is naive enough to suggest the TPPA would be any different – if in fact it was largely about trade…

          Let’s be quite blunt about it – the TPPA is as far from a trade agreement as the current Labour Party is from it’s founding principles. It is a reduction in our ability to self-govern, self-regulate and is an acceleration of the global corporatocracy.

          • Draco T Bastard 4.2.1.2.1
            5 March 2013 at 5:28 pm

            I don’t think anyone is naive enough to suggest the TPPA would be any different

            Wayne’s proven that he is that naive.

            if in fact it was largely about trade

            And you’re right, it’s not about trade but about banks and money and how they can take ownership of NZ without having to use an armed invasion.

            It is a reduction in our ability to self-govern, self-regulate and is an acceleration of the global corporatocracy.

            QFT

          • Wayne 4.2.1.2.2
            5 March 2013 at 5:30 pm

            Actually not true with China FTA, which has been a huge gain for NZ. It gives us tarriff and quota free access to China for all goods, including agricultral.

            China, arguably had other strategic objectives in mind in entering into the agreement with NZ.

            As for US agriculture – well the sequester makes the agriculture subsidies pretty vulnearble, and this is one of Obama’s objectives.

            • Colonial Viper 4.2.1.2.2.1
              6 March 2013 at 8:17 am

              It gives us tarriff and quota free access to China for all goods, including agricultral.

              You mean apart from the many times that China has been allowed to slap spontaneous tarriffs on to NZ imports since the signing of the agreement?

    • DH 4.3
      5 March 2013 at 2:12 pm

      “In fact as Jane makes clear TPPA now has the strategic backing of the US, so its success is all the more certain. ”

      Your argument is all over the place. For starters Jane Kelsey doesn’t oppose the TPPA. She opposes some of what’s in it. Big difference there. Secondly you deliberately run Kelsey down for her beliefs and then concede that she does have valid arguments so what’s your point? Thirdly when you say that NZ will ratify the TPPA you’re not saying anything. It’s what is in the TPPA that concerns people, I doubt anyone is totally against trade itself it’s the terms & conditions we care about.

      • Wayne 4.3.1
        5 March 2013 at 3:15 pm

        My experience of Jane is that she has oppossed every FTA that has actually been negotiated. Of course she would point out the specific issues that concerned her, but they were in all FTA’s, and her view was that if they were in the agreement it had to be oppossed.

        But I do recognise that she is very well researched – she knows the details, she writes well and is very articulate. But I fundamentally disagree with her perspective on the merits of free trade. I beleive it promotes overall welfare, she does not. And I also consider the evidence supports my proposition, not hers.

        Asia would not have the prosperity that it has today, unless the US market had the low tarriff barriers on manufactured goods that it has had for decades. The Asian economies had to export their low priced goods to the US to get their high growth rates. The US had to shift out of those sort of goods to higher value products and services.

        TPP is intended to further reduce tarriffs, especially on agricultral goods. For many markets, even in agriculture, the US expects to gain – beef into Asia, grain into Asia. For NZ the goal is diary and beef – we are a lower cost producer than the US.

        Jane does say that she supports “fair trade” as oppossed to free trade, but that seems to be trade which retains tarriffs rather than reducing them, or which has selective tarriffs, say low tarriffs for “fair trade” coffee but not for other coffee.

        By the way I understand that “fair trade” coffee is required to be produced by the grower and his/her family. There are to be no employees. Frankly I find that ludicrous – why shouldn’t people be able to employ others if they have the entreprenurial skill. It would be like banning NZ farmers from employing anyone on their farms. However, I concede no grower is forced to be part of the “fair trade” brand, but that is what it is, a brand.

        • DH 4.3.1.1
          5 March 2013 at 3:31 pm

          Again your argument is all over the place. You belittle Kelsey in a clear attempt to rebut her by ad-hominem but you don’t address any of the arguments she’s made.

          I find it odd that you call the TPPA ‘free trade’ What’s free about it? If we are to be subjected to another nation’s laws then we’re not trading freely are we? You conceded that we have to give up certain freedoms in order to gain (potential) monetary rewards. How can giving up the right to trade freely, as we now do, be a precurser to free trade?

        • Colonial Viper 4.3.1.2
          6 March 2013 at 8:15 am

          lol how is the US ag lobby going to allow Obama to drop the massive annual Food Bill subsidies to them?

          Oh that’s right, it’s not.

          • DH 4.3.1.2.1
            6 March 2013 at 12:46 pm

            These people who blindly support the TPPA are a bit odd. The biggest criticism of the TPPA is the secretive nature of the talks. We don’t know what they’re giving away or agreeing to. How can you support something you have no knowledge of?

            Without knowing what the negotiations are about it comes down to a matter of trust and risk evaluation. Can we trust the Govt to act in our best interests, can we trust them to get it right and if they make a mistake(s) that turn out to be bad for us what’s the potential costs and can the mistake be fixed?

            About the only thing we can conclude with certainty is that we can’t pull out of the TPPA once the deal is done. On that basis alone the default position should be to oppose it until overwhelming evidence is presented that proves its merits. Wayne here says “damn the torpedos, full steam ahead!”

    • Draco T Bastard 4.4
      5 March 2013 at 2:31 pm

      But NZ sees that as a desirable outcome.

      No, it’s idiots that still hold onto the failed neo-liberal economic paradigm that see it as a desirable outcome.

      • Wayne 4.4.1
        5 March 2013 at 3:16 pm

        Seemingly the majority of voters.

        • Draco T Bastard 4.4.1.1
          5 March 2013 at 5:31 pm

          I don’t think that the majority of voters are holding on to the failed neo-liberal paradigm. It’s the political parties that are.

  5. georgecom 5
    5 March 2013 at 9:23 pm

    Te Ohu Rata O Aotearoa (Maori Medical Practitioners Association) and the NZNO

    Monday 04 March 2013, 10:27am

    More than 400 members of New Zealand’s medical community have signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to be vigilant that our future health is not negotiated away under the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

    The letter, written by Christchurch paediatrician Philip Pattemore, was digitally signed online by 415 health professionals, mainly doctors and nurses.

    The letter expresses concerns over whether the TPPA could have a significant impact on New Zealanders’ future health and, in particular, the Government’s stated goal of achieving a smokefree New Zealand by 2025…”PHARMAC has saved the New Zealand taxpayer $5 billion over the past 12 years and greatly increased the access we have to medicine. Giving up the fight on patents could hike up the price of medicines significantly, causing inequity in access.”

    http://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/un-doctored/2013/march-2013/04/doctors-and-nurses-warn-prime-minister-over-trade-talks.aspx

    • karol 5.1
      6 March 2013 at 8:09 am

      Thanks for that information and link, georgecom. I hope it gets more widespread attention.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

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

  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2023-12-09T05:34:41+00:00