Breaking Views Update: Week of 28.4.24

Sunday April 28, 2024 

News:
Inaugural Māori councillor election could go alongside referendum
The Kāpiti Coast could hold a referendum on Māori wards the same time as it elects its inaugural Māori councillor at next year’s local election.

Capitalist: Luxon Needs to Wake Up

In 1975 the US Senate conducted a major investigation into the activities of the CIA; it was known as the Church Committee after its chairman Frank Church. During the course of this investigation a great deal of concerning stuff came to light which shocked America and led to greater oversight of the CIA which has continued through to the present day. Until 1975 the CIA had operated without having to really answer to anybody; they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, and nobody ever really knew. Occasionally a leak would appear in the media (such as using Cosa Nostra mobsters in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro) but the agency would simply lie about it.

Nick Clark: Boosting our cities and regions

New Zealand faces significant challenges in managing growth, delivering infrastructure, and improving the well-being of our communities. Our productivity performance has been dismal. Cities and regions are grappling with housing shortages, transport congestion, and skills gaps. The current model of mostly centralised decision-making and funding is struggling to keep pace with these complex, cross-cutting issues.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics.

That’s refreshing and will be extremely well received. The public will perceive this unprecedented move as a sign that Luxon has very high standards for his government and is determined that his ministers actually deliver results.

Ele Ludemann: More tax for less

New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year:

New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says.

The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax in New Zealand was 4.5 percent higher last year compared with 2022.

Saturday April 27, 2024 

                    ⇩

Ian Bradford: Is any of the material we are fed by the climate alarmists’ reliable?

More and more people are coming to the realisation that Carbon Dioxide and Methane and therefore humans are not responsible for climate change.  The climate alarmists’ cause is not helped by the continuing finding of false data. Here are but a few examples.

Data from non-existent temperature stations.

“Earth’s issuing a distress call,” said UN Secretary General  Antonio Guterres on March 19^th 2024. “The latest state of the global report shows a planet on the brink.” 

(Actually it’s been on the brink for at least 30 years now!)

Caleb Anderson: What's bugging the left? Why are they sometimes so very nasty?

Politics doesn't always bring the best out in people, but have you ever wondered why, or how, the left has made such a fine art of being nasty.  While they don't have a monopoly on nasty by any means they seem, quite simply, to have refined the art.

I recall, as a child in the seventies, the Labour Party (or the left generally) as being less vicious than the left today.  In those days a good number of Labour MPs had come from working-class backgrounds, and they seemed to have a sense of what it was to be decent, they played a hard game but there were rules.  At least that's how it seemed to me.

Richard Treadgold: Defeat is Near - when will we roar?

We are an unhappy people. Years of intellectual darkness gathering across the country have been followed by Labour’s unequivocal socialist-inspired vandalism.

They bent the law’s neutrality out of shape with widespread racist meddling, fiddled with our institutions, granted political power to anti-democratic tribal leaders, appointed racially selected representatives to elected bodies and turned a blind eye as tribal and socialist activists saturated universities, civil service and judiciary.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: New Zealand's education revolution

In New Zealand, one of the most exciting education reforms in the world is quietly getting underway. Erica Stanford, the country’s new Education Minister, is on a mission to overhaul the education system from top to bottom – and she is leaving no stone unturned.

Stanford, a rising star in Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s cabinet, has hit the ground running since taking office in late 2023. In just a few short months, she has announced a suite of reforms that promise to fundamentally reshape the way New Zealand children are taught.

Cam Slater: Make Your Mind up Willie

Willie Jackson is a motor mouth with a poor memory. Just a few weeks ago he was attacking Melissa Lee and calling her ‘useless’, ‘stupid’ and ‘incompetent’, and yesterday he was waxing lyrical about her skill set after Christopher Luxon sacked her as Broadcasting Minister. Make your mind up Willie!

Breaking Views Update: Week of 21.4.24

Saturday April 27, 2024 

News:
Decision to quash the Waitangi Tribunal's summons was 'a very good one' - barrister
A barrister says the High Court's decision to overturn the Waitangi Tribunal summons of the Children's Minister was a good and clear decision.

It ruled Karen Chhour could not be compelled to appear before the Tribunal over her plans to repeal part of the Oranga Tamariki Act.

David Farrar: Hipkins wrong

Newshub reports:

Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has stood by increasing the public service workforce during his time in government, saying it’s been proportionate to the growth in population.

The Coalition Government has directed the public services to cut costs by between 6.5 and 7.5 percent to help reduce annual public service spending by $1.5 billion. It’s resulted in thousands of jobs proposed to be axed across the sector.

Brendan O'Neill: Elon Musk vs the globalist censors

Australia’s demand that X take down a violent video clip in every country in the world is wildly authoritarian.

I’m in Australia at the moment, which means I am bound by Australian law. If I do something here that this great democratic nation has decreed to be a crime, I’m in hot water. And rightly so. Yet when I jet back to Britain in a week’s time, that will no longer be the case, right? Surely no Aussie lawmaker, no Aussie cop, no Aussie bureaucrat will enjoy jurisdiction over the behaviour of this free Brit some 10,000 miles away? Actually, they might, if Australia’s ‘eSafety commissioner’ has her way.

Michael Ryan: Does fighting inflation always lead to recession?

Does fighting inflation always lead to recession? What 60 years of NZ data can tell us

There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession.

Suze: A Well Kept Secret

If you think politics is about unacknowledged influences misusing power, you’d be spot on, which makes me pessimistic about our political future.

Gone are the days of the altruistic politician with a heart of gold saying all the right things and attracting grassroots support because of their genuine, honest and hardworking characteristics. Even if you find such a rare naïve beast in politics today, they won’t survive long, as we saw during the 2023 election.

Capitalist: Their Low Standards

Los Angeles prior to World War II was a bit of a joke; it was isolated and difficult to get to; it had Hollywood but not much else. If you research the 1930s golden age of Hollywood you will be hard pushed to find a single movie actually set in Los Angeles – even the movie moguls considered their own city a joke! San Francisco was the major California city, home to banking and corporate headquarters. San Diego was home to the naval base. Even during the war, troops exiting the US for the Pacific left from San Francisco. LA was on very few radar screens.

David Farrar: Possible changes to End of Life regime

The Herald reports:

The End of Life Choice Act needs changes when it comes up for review later this year, say both the architect of New Zealand’s assisted dying laws and hospice leaders.

Friday April 26, 2024 

                    ⇩

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 26/4/24

Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after the Gallipoli debacle

Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up.

In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled world.