NZ Politics
A Ratepayer Funded Junket
Paul C We are again at the time of the year when councillors (and staff) are asking to attend the Local Government New Zealand Inc. conference which is to be held this year at Blenheim. The group’s proposed 2020 conference was cancelled because of the countrywide lockdown. In 2002
Education and New Zealand’s Future
Michael Bassett bassettbrashandhide.com Nothing matters more for the future of New Zealand than educating our children. As part of the globalised world we have contributed towards the common good and wasted opportunities in about equal measure. Unless we now retreat to the small, isolated South Sea islands that the
Letters to Jacinda
A letter from Lucy: We’ve set up an email address so you too can submit letters to the Prime Minister. We will format your letter in a suitable child-like font, perhaps make it look like crayon, so she will read it, then we will publish it and send
Daily News Roundup – 8 April 2021
Vaccinations and leaked figures Jason Walls (Herald): ‘Leaked’ document shows NZ vaccine rollout is ‘miles’ behind schedule, says National Party Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government has vaccinated a third of its original target – leaked report Rachel Sadler (Newshub): How New Zealand’s vaccine programme will ramp up, why targets aren’t
Stuff ‘Journalists’ Prove What Even Blind Freddy Already Knew
Two Stuff journalists spent the inaugural slow train from Hamilton to Papakura proving what even the dimmest fool already knew, that the train is a whole lot slower than the versatile and ubiquitous automobile: We left five minutes after the train-catchers, as we forgot something at the office and
Face of the Day
The Prime Minister has begun her sales pitch in an effort to attract Australian tourists when the trans-Tasman bubble opens. […] Yesterday, Ardern says she “carries the weight” of promoting the country and will consider travelling to Australia to do so. Who is the tourism minister? It looks like Stuart
New Zealand Second Last in OECD for Vaccinations
Not only is New Zealand second bottom in the OECD for the number of Covid-19 vaccinations but in information leaked to National we are nowhere near where the Government planned for us to be back in January, National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson Chris Bishop says. “Leaked data shows
We Were Slow to Secure Vaccines and Now We’re Exposed
ACT Party ACT Leader David Seymour. “New Zealand has been left terribly exposed as a slow vaccinating outlier among developed countries, unable to let vaccinated travellers into the country because the Government doesn’t yet know enough about how infectious those protected travellers might be,” says ACT Leader David Seymour.
Vulnerable People Disadvantaged in Managing Personal Finances
Today Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly has recommended to the Finance and Expenditure Committee that an inquiry take place to assess whether Government agencies and banks are sufficiently providing services which allow for vulnerable people to continue to manage their financial affairs independently. “The loss of the ability to use cheque
Two Politicians Diagnosed with Cancer: How Twitter Reacted to Each
This week two politicians, one on each side of both the Tasman and the political aisles, announced that they had been diagnosed with aggressive cancers. Both announced that they would be stepping back from their political duties while they sought treatment. But the very different reactions to each spoke volumes.
Beijing Meddling Exploits Pacific Divisions
The 2020 Pacific Islands Forum might in retrospect be seen as an opening skirmish in China’s diplomatic and trade war against Australia. The forum hosted an unseemly display of “gibsmedat” Pacific tinpot panjandrums lining up to harangue Australia while Chinese “wolf warrior” diplomats cheerfully threw wads of cash into
Government Mustn’t Let Rotten Apple Pile Get Higher
ACT Party ACT Immigration spokesperson Dr James McDowall “It was heartbreaking to watch a media conference of Hawke’s Bay orchardists today revealing, as one put it ‘anxiety and desperation beyond belief,’ at the situation the Government left them all in this season by refusing to let more Pacific Island
National Calls for ACC and Super Fund to Front Select Committee
National will seek support at the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee to call in the New Zealand Super Fund and ACC Investment Fund to discuss the ethical investment parameters they work within, National’s Foreign Affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee says. “As a good international
NZ Super Fund Decision Breaches Legal Requirements
IINZ israelinstitute.nz UK Lawyers For Israel have published an article that outlines a number of reasons why the New Zealand Super Fund (NZSF) decision to divest from Israeli banks is an apparent breach of legal requirements. International financial markets lawyer, Dan Harris, is cited as considering that the published