Young people and climate change

Written By: - Date published: 7:56 am, March 6th, 2019 - 50 comments
Categories: child welfare, climate change, disaster, Environment, ETS, global warming, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, labour, national, Nikki Kaye, Politics, Simon Bridges, sustainability - Tags:

I was a university student back in the 1980s. 

Back then it was a dark time, the United States and the Soviets were ignoring the plight of the rest of the world and pouring massive resources into Nuclear Arsenals. 

Clearly each side thought that with the timely use of nuclear weapons they could win the war, whatever that involved.

At some stage someone realised that we did not need to keep accumulating more than 25,000 nuclear warheads each to win the next world war, detonating about 500 would do the job. 

Their explosion would create a nuclear winter and we would all be stuffed.  If the blast did not get us then the inevitable long winter and the failure of the world’s food crops would.

Some wealthy people started to build bomb shelters and store away supplies. They seemed to think that it would be better to hide and emerge 6 months later to a destroyed world than try and preserve what we all had.

This is how young people’s culture responded.

Yep.  The first part of the song was satirical, God save the Queen.

The second part was a realistic analysis. No future.

We managed to get through this part of human history somehow. Mainly because the Russian leader Mikhael Gorbachev was intelligent and realised what the arms race was doing to Russia. He decided to back off.

The doomsday clock was set back a few reassuring minutes.

But now we are at a similar stage. But there is a difference this time. The equivalent threat will inevitably occur if more slowly unless we change things dramatically.

No wonder young people are getting so upset and so passionate. They have so much to lose. Like their future.

As extraordinary young person Greta Thunberg has said we are stealing their future.

Young people throughout the world are getting active and noisy and are demanding real leadership on this most important of issues.

And Jacinda Ardern realises that this is our new nuclear free moment.

Her ministers need to catch up with the play.

Chris Hipkins’ response to news of students planning to skip school to engage in protests against climate change is rather underwhelming.  From Newstalk:

Chris Hipkins told Larry Williams he’s not encouraging, or discouraging pupils from taking part.

“I’m certainly not going to tell them not to do it, but if they are going to do it, they should take part in it. It’s not an excuse to wag school.”

He says if kids make a choice to participate in a civic action, that’s for the school to manage, as they do on a daily basis. He adds that the Government will not be telling them what to do. 

Hipkins says we should pay attention to what children think about climate change. 

“I think it’s great that they want to have their voice heard.”

He does clarify that if kids make this choice, they will miss out on their education. 

National’s response was predictably turgid. Radio New Zealand has reported Simon Bridges as saying this:

National Party leader Simon Bridges said climate change was an important issue, but the strike should not have been held on a school day.

He said the protest could have been timed to coincide with the upcoming strike by secondary school teachers on 3 April.

“We know that there’s a number of strike days coming up, maybe they should protest on one of those days,” he said.

Mr Bridges said a small proportion of school children closely followed climate change and he doubted anyone would contest their participation in the strike.

“What we wouldn’t want to encourage is a situation where a whole lot of people who are fair-weather friends on this issue say ‘you know what, sweet, this is a day off school, I’m going to join the protest’,” he said.

Nikki Kaye was not much better:

National Party education spokesperson Nikki Kaye said government ministers should not be encouraging students to participate.

“I’m a bit concerned that we have got the Minister for Climate Change out there encouraging people to not be at school and that does put parents and principals in a pretty difficult situation,” she said.

“The main thing is that parents have given permission, otherwise we may have unsupervised kids, 12 or 13 years old, in the streets.”

Ms Kaye said ideally the strike would have been held outside of school hours.

And Judith Collins’ take was extraordinary:

National Party MP Judith Collins was dismissive of the protest action.

“Their little protest is not going to help the world one bit,” she said.

Strike organiser Sophie Hanford had the best response:

We’re sick and tired of not being listened to and it’s come to the point where we actually almost have to disrupt some of the norms to actually have our voices heard. It shouldn’t come to this, but we’re ready to stand up and fight for that” …

It might be one truancy for kids but kids take time off school often, when they’re sick, when they’re attending other events like sports days.

It’s one day and it could make a world of change for the future generations and for us.”

If it was up to me I would beg young people to take part. I would say that there is no more important issue that we need to address.  And I would have every MP and Cabinet Minister present at the protests.

This really is our Nuclear issue.  And if we fail our planet’s future is stuffed.

Details of the strike are here. The national day of action is March 15, 2019.

50 comments on “Young people and climate change ”

  1. Muttonbird 1

    Judith Collins. Typically dismissive, typically Cruella Deville.

    Totally out of touch with the upcoming generation which is why she’ll never make government again.

  2. Robert Guyton 2

    I wonder if rural school children will join the action?
    Are the children of farmers likely to take part in protests around climate change?

  3. Robert Guyton 3

    What’s the expected turnout in Taranaki, I wonder?

  4. Robert Guyton 4

    Greymouth?
    Some turn-out figures post-protest would be interesting.

  5. Well, to be fair, James Shaw of the Greens was the first to speak up formally in support of the strike, and other Labour MPs were a mixed bag, and I don’t expect anything better of National than to attack anything Labour supports, especially re: the environment:

    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/minister-supports-student-strike-against-climate-change-inaction-during-school-time

    Given what Ardern said, I’ve been waiting for her to actively support her Climate Minister (who is taking stick for his position) and the students and our nuclear-free moment – but nothing yet I think? Waiting…

    • Robert Guyton 5.1

      It’s unreasonable to expect the PM to advocate wagging, imo.

      • Incognito 5.1.1

        Snap!

      • Jess NZ 5.1.2

        Such an unreasonable attitude to call it or even think of it privately as wagging! It’s an international day of climate action.

        And I hear that she has now made a very weak comment:
        PM Jacinda Ardern told One News that she’d “like to think is that in New Zealand there’s less cause for protest, we’re certainly trying to do our bit.” A bit less fiery than “Our nuclear free moment’, eh?

        https://thespinoff.co.nz/the-bulletin/06-03-2019/the-bulletin-mps-take-sides-on-student-climate-strikes/

        Well, she’s only Labour, not a Green MP after all, and she already won her position. I can’t expect better. 🙁

        • patricia bremner 5.1.2.1

          Yes Jess sadly she is PM for the farmers who pollute as much as my PM.

          She is right in that NZ looks capable of meeting the Paris accord. Some will say “So what” Thing is, each country has to do their bit.

          The last Government was going to be “A slow follower” so at least we are now making strides.

          The children are looking at the bleak science, and want the adults in the room to be aware and active in this field.

          If you are 77 like me You might not be here for “The Tipping Point. If you are 16 you know this could be your dreadful future.

          We have lost an estimated 65% of insect species. If we lose 65% of food production wide spread hunger is likely.

          These children look at a cloudless blue sky and the lack of rain with foreboding, not as a gorgeous day to play.

          They see terrible danger everywhere. They are not being Chicken Little because they could live in the end days.

          Made old before their time, to take a day to admonish the movers and shakers of the world is right and sensible. Next year they will again gather and count successes and failures.

          Let us hope they help increase the momentum towards correcting the ills, at the very least they will develop in their ability to sell an important idea.

  6. I reckon this strike has terrific educational value. It’s a lesson in civics, social studies, science and public speaking all at once. It might be the most instructive day these kids have this year.

    • Incognito 6.1

      Agreed and very well put, thank you.

    • bwaghorn 6.3

      Yip good on them .
      And teachers can hardly come down on them as they a striking for something as petty as money.

      • In Vino 6.3.1

        Looking for nibbles? They are also striking for am education system that might actually work, you ignorant nob.
        As a teacher, I would fully support those students who can articulate their concerns. I think they are quite right.

        • bwaghorn 6.3.1.1

          Caught me . But funnily enough one of the kids said much the same as me in an article I read after posting that comment.

          • greywarshark 6.3.1.1.1

            Truth out of the mouths of babes eh. But the people who are lefties writing here know more about things than babes and very possibly write with integrity not just facility. So it’s a good thing to take notice of what is said here especially if present day teachers are saying it as they are at the coalface, getting their hands dirty.

            • bwaghorn 6.3.1.1.1.1

              I have know problem with teachers striking. But they better not come down on the climate kids it would be hypocritical would it not?

  7. Incognito 7

    He does clarify that if kids make this choice, they will miss out on their other education.

    I guess as Education Minister he cannot condone ‘wagging’ but his comment does make you wonder what kind of outdated views he has on what constitutes education. If put into a learning context this can have as much educational value as a field trip, for example. Not everyone ceases the opportunity to learn and enrich themselves on these occasions but it doesn’t follow that nobody can or should participate, does it?

  8. Sanctuary 8

    My partner observed last night that National seem determined to hit every jarring wrong note at the moment, especially Judith Collins who has gone in just the last few weeks into bat for slumlords and sneered at idealistic school children.

    I would have thought the best response for an opposition MP would be to simply laud the school kids for their idealism, then perhaps suggest that they don’t do it on a school day and they live the ideal and remember to start walking or biking to school to save on their carbon footprint.

    • AB 8.1

      “then perhaps suggest that they don’t do it on a school day and they live the ideal and remember to start walking or biking to school to save on their carbon footprint.”

      Don’t giver her ideas. She’ll be using that to accuse them of climate hypocrisy next.

      Actually trumped-up charges of climate hypocrisy are big from the right at the moment – AOC being accused of going in a minivan, etc.
      It is a very morally and intellectually shabby thing these accusations – throw back onto individuals the responsibility of dealing with a problem so massive that it can be solved only by widespread collective action. And doing so precisely because you don’t want that collective action to occur. It takes a particularly poisoned mind to play that game.

      • greywarshark 8.1.1

        Thanks AB you trace that circular reasoning well. It is sometimes hard to describe what smells about some of these statements. Another one is that green thinking speakers travel by air to present, when they could do so by using communications tech. However we still are humans and like to see people face to face, shake their hands, assess their character up close, have meetings and questions that arise from other questions in a real way.

  9. Ieuan 9

    Wow, such a garbled timeline, ‘God save the Queen’ by the Sex Pistols was released in 1977, the Doomsday clock was moved back in 1988 when the USA and Soviet Union signed a treaty on intermediate range missiles.

    The Sex Pistols as a band didn’t get past 1978 and Vicious was dead in 1979.

    Most of the protest songs of the 1980’s were about the Irish Troubles or Nelson Mandela.

    • left_forward 9.1

      If you say so – but it doesn’t change the point does it?

    • mickysavage 9.2

      Que?

      The arms race had reached the insane stage before 1977.

      In 1974 the doomsday clock was moved to 9 minutes to midnight. It went as low as 3 minutes in 1984 but then started to move out.

      The song is offered as an example of the cultural response at the time. There are plenty of others.

      The doomsday clock is now at 2 minutes to midnight.

      https://thebulletin.org/sites/default/files/2018%20Doomsday%20Clock%20Statement.pdf

      • Ieuan Attewell 9.2.1

        ‘The song is offered as an example of the cultural response at the time. There are plenty of others.’

        I think a bit of Billy Bragg would have been a much better example, a bit more cerebral and less like being bashed over the head with a baseball bat (which is what the Sex Pistols were like).

        Also Bragg was at his peak in the mid-1980’s and had close ties to the CND.

    • Drowsy M. Kram 9.3

      This is a beaut 1980s ‘protest song’ (ex Spitting Image) – more difficult to get away with anything similar these days?

      I’ve travelled this old world of ours from Barnsley to Peru,
      I’ve had sunshine in the arctic and a swim in Tinbuktu,
      I’ve seen unicorns in Burma and a Yetti in Nepal,
      And I’ve danced with ten foot pygmies in a Montezuma hall,
      I’ve met the King of China and a working Yorkshire miner –
      But I’ve never met a nice South African!

      No he’s never met a nice South African,
      And that’s not bloody surprising man!
      ‘Cause we’re a bunch of arrogant b***tards,
      Who hate black people!

      I once got served in Woolies aften less than four week’s wait,
      I had lunch with Rowan Atkinson when he paid and wasn’t late,
      I know a public swimming bath where they don’t piss in the pool,
      I know a guy who got a job straight after leaving school,
      I’ve met a normal merman, and a fairly modest German –
      But I’ve never met a nice South African!

      No he’s never met a nice South African,
      And that’s not bloody surprising man!
      ‘Cause we’re a bunch of talentless murderers,
      Who smell like baboons.

      I’ve had a close encounter of the twenty-second kind,
      That’s when an alien spaceship disappears up your behind,
      I got directory enquiries after less than forty rings,
      I’ve even heard a decent song by Paul McCartney’s Wings,
      I’ve seen a flying pig, in a quite convincing wig,
      But I’ve never met a nice South African!

      No he’s never met a nice South African,
      And that’s not bloody surprising man!
      ‘Cause we’re a bunch of ignorant loudmouths,
      With no sense of humour.

      I’ve met the Loch Ness monster and he looks like Fred Astaire,
      At the BBC in London he’s the chief commissionaire,
      I know a place in Glasgow which is rife with daffodillies,
      I met a man in Katmandu who claimed to have two willies,
      I’ve had a nice pot noodle, but I’ve never had a poodle –
      And I’ve never met a nice South African.

      No he’s never met a nice South African,
      And that’s not bloody surprising man,
      Because we’ve never met one either!
      Except for Breyten Breytenbach, and he’s emigrated to Paris. (farts)

      Yes he’s quite a nice South African,
      And he’s hardly ever killed anyone,
      And he’s not smelly at all.
      That’s why we put him prison!

    • SHG 9.4

      John Lydon describes the environment that spawned the Sex Pistols:

      “Early Seventies Britain was a very depressing place. It was completely run-down, there was trash on the streets, total unemployment—just about everybody was on strike.

      Robb, John, Punk Rock, p. 97.

  10. greywarshark 10

    Should they be asking for a stop to 5g because of EFMs and cell towers and jump points all over the place?

    A tornado strikes houses go down and so does the cell tower blocking the road in Alabama.
    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/384064/alabama-tornadoes-seven-family-members-among-23-killed

    • Drowsy M. Kram 10.1

      Good observation – should these towers be (re)constructed to a ‘higher’ standard? Or maybe the 5G towers can be shorter, because there will be more of them?

      I personally have no use for 5G developments, but no doubt they are important for economic growth, efficiency, convenience, etc.

      Could be a useful initiative for progressive governments to insist that all proposed infrastructure development projects be accurately and transparently assessed for their carbon footprint, including any downstream growth. Or would that be drawing too much attention to the ‘problem’?

    • One Two 10.2

      The, known issues caused by RF manipulation, such as damage to human, animal and plant are substantial…although largely ignored and sidelined…

      Rf manipulation and the damage caused, is enabled by the infrastructure and platforms of hardware/software which facilitate Rf manipulation…

      Infrastructure and hardware fabricted from earth minerals, for which a fantasized state of ‘smart cities’ will be built upon…

      ‘Smart cities’ which…it has been ‘promised’ by industry…will lead towards ‘saving planet earth’…

      However… as a pre-requisite…’we’ must first…destroy planet earth…

      Technology as been sold as a ‘get out of jail free card’… an attempt by every individual and company that has played a role in plundering planet earth…to absolve themselves of their actions…

      While continuing to plunder the planet…

  11. One Two 11

    It’s going to take much more than children and young people dropping school to express what they hardly understand…

    What are the parents/adults doing in support of their children and other young people…

    Is the strategy…blah blah blah…oil…gas…carbon…ppm…

    Having a strategy implies knowledge of what we’re up against’…and my interpretation is the vast majority who are even sneaking a peak…have NFI what is going on…and therefore what is actually required…

    Space programms continue, satellite launches in the thousands of ‘wireless internet’ are approved, and vanity projects such as spaceX are embraced by ‘adults’ who comment at this blog…which signals extreme cognitive dissonance when it comes to environmental and atmospheric damage caused by ‘rocket launches’…

    ‘Nuclear Moment’ …hollow words…a catch cry perhaps hoping the heavy lifting will be on the backs of other people…because the politicians won’t be doing the heavy lifting…or any lifting at all that matters…

    Signing TPPA…et al… buiness as usual…

    Space programme’s…business as usual…

    Technology deployments…business as usual…

    Lies, spin and more lies…business as usual…

    TRUTH…is the root cause of all problems being faced…without truth…the problems can only worsen…

    • greywarshark 11.1

      When youngsters decide that they will stand up to the oppression and violence of other parts of society, and keep coming as they did in Birmingham for Wyatt Walker, organiser and Dr King’s call to make a stand, the police and the powerful have difficulties.

      But the white police and leaders had taken lessons in how to manage the situation. Act nicey nice – while the tv cameras were on hand. It took the youngsters persistence, wave on wave of them carrying banners would leave a church and take a short walk to the wagons to take them to prison. But the plan had been to have so many that the prisons would be full. What would the police do then? Parents were worried about white violence and harassment of the young black teenagers.

      The black community were apathetic, what could they achieve. But the young ones stuck to the task. Finally there was a telling photo of an Alsatian attacking a black teenage boy. It was a searing image, but actually the dog was being restrained not encouraged and it wasn’t as fearsome as it seemed. As the camera often does, it distorted the image in favour of black sentiment. But it stood in for all the other dog attacks and showed the sort of thing that could happen, did happen to African-Americans.

      The black organisers had to stage manage and organise to break the police chief Connor’s politeness training. The police turned on the fire hoses at full blast, the teenagers fell over, looked bad, cameras misled again. It was very hot, they were happy to run into the hoses and get swept away and return.

      The planning was necessary, blacks were up against cunning white people who could turn nasty when they could get away with it. It took ages to bring to justice the nasty white adults who burned blacks in their church. So devious planning is required to stand against self-centred, self-appointed enemies of the vulnerable.

      Here is an excerpt from Malcolm Gladwell’s book David and Goliath – Underdogs Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.
      https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/18/us/19blackchurch.html

      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/26/lynchings-sadism-white-men-why-america-must-atone

      • greywarshark 11.1.1

        The 22 year old man Roof who attended a prayer meeting then deliberately shot dead nine people was sentenced to death. But the USA from being too quick to kill off people now can’t decide to deal with obvious cases of deliberate and dreadful determined killing like this.

        If Charleston church killer Dylann Roof is sentenced to death by the federal jury hearing his case, appeals will delay his execution for years.
        “Generally speaking, you are looking at a decade or more,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Resource Center, a non-profit that tracks death penalty data.

        According to a study published last month by Dunham’s group, a record low number of death penalty sentences were handed out last year – 30 across the nation. That continues a sharply downward trend from 1996, when 315 death penalty sentences were meted out.

        Read more here: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/crime/article124200884.html#storylink=cpy

  12. Michelle 13

    one two to say they hardly understand is a bit condescending isn’t it, this type of attitude will be see the national party siting in the opposition benches for a very long time hooray !

    • patricia bremner 13.1

      1000% Michelle.

    • One Two 13.2

      Hardly understand will be entitely accurate for most all the youngsters and most all of their parents…and adults in general…

      If you’d read, and understood the comment, in full the way I had indented it to be read…the way I had written it…well…I’ll leave it there…

      Want to take on the big machine…you need to understand the big machines language…

      Are the youngsters likely to understand big machine language…do you understand it, michelle?

      Your throw away political comment says to me, you hardly understand…

      • Michelle 13.2.1

        one two many adults don’t even understand or don’t want to understand climate change. The argument about missing one day of school is rather weak given many NZers take holidays and pull their kids out of school. To ignore this group and claim they know nothing about this issue is also wrong they probably know more than we do.

  13. Pat 14

    Definition of insanity

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/05/the-last-great-tree-a-majestic-relic-of-canadas-vanishing-boreal-forest

    A thousand years…50 generations…and we, in the space of a couple have destroyed it all (almost)

  14. Jenny - How to get there? 15

    Youth climate strikers: ‘We are going to change the fate of humanity’
    Damian Carrington – March 2, 2019

    https://grist.org/article/youth-climate-strikers-we-are-going-to-change-the-fate-of-humanity/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

    “For people under 18 in most countries, the only democratic right we have is to demonstrate. We don’t have representation,” said Jonas Kampus, a 17-year-old student activist, from near Zurich, Switzerland.

  15. Jenny - How to get there? 16

    Young, and old are both telling the establishment politicians. “We’ll be less activist, if you will be less shit”.

    from Stuff.co.nz

    A very polite rebellion

    Meet the climate activists ready to go to jail to save the planet.

    The planet’s last stand: Why these climate change activists are ready to break the law
    Andrea Vance – March 7, 2019

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/111018713/the-planets-last-stand-why-these-climate-change-activists-are-ready-to-break-the-law

    ….from his neat town house in central Christchurch, the 74-year-old is plotting how to get arrested.

    “For years and years now, we’ve been playing nice. And I think one of the things that has been recognised in the last year or so is that it’s not working….

  16. Jenny - How to get there? 17

    Talking about being, “less shit”

    Todd Muller speaks, (through James Shaw).

    …..with electricity production already at 85 per cent renewable. We can continue to increase this, but as we approach 100 per cent renewable electricity, the last few per cent become very expensive and don’t deliver significant emissions reductions.
    Todd Muller – February 4, 2019

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200162

    The government may be willing to shift ground on its 2035 renewable electricity target if the Interim Climate Change Committee feels there are better targets to pursue.
    James Shaw – March 6, 2019

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@environment/2019/03/06/475094/govt-open-to-advice-on-100-renewable-target-shaw

    Get Ready, Get Set, and, Fast Follow

    In not rejecting Todd Muller’s demand that New Zealand not be 100% renewable in electricity generation by 2035,. James Shaw is bowing to another National Party bottom line political demand, one first made by John Key and reiterated and amplified several times recently by Todd Muller,

    “New Zealand must not be a leader on climate change.”

    For New Zealand to achieve fossil free electricity generation by 2035 is the sort of global setting lead that National and the polluters cannot allow.

    This “shit” is why both young and old, have had enough

  17. Robert Guyton 18

    Education Minister Chris Hipkins said it was up to schools to decide how to handle the strike.

    “I want kids to be learning. If taking part in this action is part of the learning process, then there may be some merit in it.”

  18. Cinny 19

    If Miss 14 wants to be involved, then that’s fine with me, happy to write a note to her teacher. I would love for Miss 11 to be able to do the same, but I’m working 🙁

    Kids should have a say about it, after all they will be living in the wake of our decisions.

  19. Incognito 20

    Graeme Edgeler has drafted a Bill and offers legal advice: https://publicaddress.net/legalbeagle/the-climate-strike-and-the-voting-age/

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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
    9 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 – 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 Déjà 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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