The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
This was a sleight of hand by Labour. The party should have campaigned on Māori wards for the country's councils during the last election.
Just after the landslide they declared their hand on what is a significant change that shouldn't be underestimated. They’re removing the ratepayers’ right to instigate a binding referendum if they can drum up the support of five percent of their fellow voters to get it up and running.
Attempts in the past have shown there’s no ratepayer appetite for Māori wards. Since the Helen Clark Government passed a law almost 20 years ago making provision for Māori wards, 24 councils have tried to put them in place.
I was slightly disturbed at reportage that Judith Collins was trying to bring Simon bridges into line over his Coster ‘wokester’ comments
I hope it’s not true, because what this country needs - all countries need - is strong opposition.
Not opposition for opposition’s sake, but well thought through critique.
The trick to good opposition is not just that the government are wrong, it’s why they are wrong and what is the alternative. You have to give people an “out” or an “idea”.
He joined the merchant navy and went to see in 1741. In effect he was a corsair during the War of the Austrian Succession which put France at loggerheads with England. Ships lay in wait around the coast of Brittany and especially the narrow inlets of the Channel Islands to pounce on British ships returning from the West Indies or West Africa laden with precious metals, white wine, oranges, lemons, corn, and rye. Many of these hauls supplied all of France in foodstuffs and were lucrative for the mariners involved.
Chipmakers lament high taxes and green levies on electricity in Germany
In this newsletter:
1) High electricity cost drives German high-tech industry to Asia
Global Warming Policy Forum & Handelblatt, 23 February 2021
2) Chipmakers lament high taxes and green levies on electricity in Germany
Clean Energy Wire, 23 February 2021
A good piece on Newsroom - What’s the rush? Law making in a hurry - deals with the governments use of urgency and specifically around the change to Māori wards for councils.
I am “for” the change only on the basis that it’s an anomaly. It’s the only thing a council does that you can rummage up some signatures by way of a petition and force a vote on their decision. The fact you have been able to, as it turns out, is very valuable - back to that in a moment.
But, given its unique, it’s therefore to some degree unfair, and that is the government’s argument for changing it.
It’s a dishonest argument of course even though it’s technically correct. It’s an argument of convenience.
It’s the suggestion (the union said “disclosure”) that Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahata gave local councils advance notice of her Māori wards legislation and the short time that would be allowed for public submissions.
The Minister had given her allies a five-day head start to prepare submissions on the Bill to entrench Maori wards, union spokesman Jordan Williams contended.
Members of the public, on the other hand, were given just one day’s notice to prepare for “the disgracefully short two-day submission window.”
Why Beijing Loves Biden and Paris
In this newsletter:
1) Andrew Montford: The good news on climate
The Spectator, 21 February 2021
2) Indur Goklany: Impacts of climate change - perception and reality
GWPF TV, February 2021
Should the Prime Minister be among the very first Kiwis to get vaccinated?
The question has come up because Scott Morrison over in Australia was among the first to get the jab yesterday.
Of course there were some who predictably questioned whether he’s jumping the queue, which is silly, but it presumably is the very reason that Jacinda Ardern hasn’t done exactly the same thing.
She has been asked about it and says she’s “torn”. She realises that getting a jab could help to send a message that the vaccine is safe, but she also says she wants the border workers to get the jab first.
Today marks 10 years since the second Christchurch earthquake.
An unforgettable event for every Cantabrian and indeed many others connected to the Garden City: those with family there, those with students there, those who once called Christchurch home.
But it was most horrific for those in the centre of it.
My sister moved to Christchurch in 2010. In the earthquake 10 years ago today, she lost her roof. It collapsed into her two year old son's bedroom along with other damage to her house.
In your “Conversations” column for 18 February 2021, you state that “in an age of misinformation online and social media noise” .. “learning our history ... teaches us to think critically”. Yet you repeat one of the grossest lies which have ever been perpetrated about the history of New Zealand. Yes, you repeat one of the most frequently chanted lies with which our history is sullied: that “Colonel Nixon was famous for razing unfortified Rangiaowhia while men, women and children burnt in their church.” Not a word of this is true.
I am perplexed by our priorities.
Today, the Prime Minister announced proudly that she is rolling out pads and tampons to all schools to deal with period poverty.
How is it that we have kids going to school without food and our priority is tampons?
Let's look at the numbers to see if period poverty is actually a bigger problem than food poverty.
The article from Frank Newman on the Whangarei Community paper requires comment as it is a true indictment on how some publications have become irrelevant to those communities they serve.
I am happy to give my background within the newspaper industry prior to making comments on his article:
It is a fight (whoops - got to be careful using that word these days. In some quarters it could get you strung up) that we must win.
Our opponents are those who are acting like the “colonialists” they claim to despise. They want to take from you your legitimate rights acquired by birth.
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill has not even passed into law yet and Māori are calling for the number of Māori seats on local councils to be increased.
The Northland Regional Council's Te Tai Tokerau Māori and
Council Working Party says the Regional Council should not have not one but
three seats on the Council, and that "would be a good start on a journey
of incremental change", says the group co-chairman Pita Tipene as reported
in the Northern Age (18 February). These are seats reserved for Māori, elected
only by Māori.
If it is the start on a journey of incremental change then the Northland Regional Council should tell citizens where that journey will end. It's important, because the public should know, they deserve to know, and it's their right to know.
Q: Did Trump ‘incite’ the mob that trashed the Capitol on 6 January?
A: No or yes, depending on what you read into that word.
Turning to my computer thesaurus, ‘incite’ can mean, amongst other things, ‘stir up’ and ‘rouse’, or ‘bring about’ and ‘cause’. The first two of these distance Trump’s words that day from the specific outcome of the rally, viz the sacking of the Capitol; therefore, ‘no’. The second two forge a direct, causal connection between the words and that specific outcome; therefore, ‘yes’.
Dear Namesake-but-not-a-relation Paul Moon,
I have read with some amazement and incredulity your comments in “Stuff” about the Treaty of Waitangi, undated but apparently about 8th February. How different it is from the model of rigorous investigation and plain speaking in your 2008 book, “This Horrid Practice” about Maori cannibalism, its colossal scale and its enduring physical and psychological effects upon them!
Global carbon trade war looms
In this newsletter:
1) China targets rare earth export curbs to hobble US & EU industries
Financial Times, 16 February 2021
2) China’s threatened export ban on rare earths is an almighty own goal for the West
Harry De Quetteville, The Daily Telegraph, 16 February 2021
Imagine my surprise when (a) a new study published by the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs found cannabis legalisation leads to increased youth use, and (b) that the media didn’t report it. It’s justification that NZ made the right decision in voting No. It also flies in the face of what the Yes camp were saying – which was that legalising cannabis would not lead to any increase in use.
This new study looked at more than 3 million High Schoolers aged between 12 to 16.. and ‘found significant increases in lifetime and past-month marijuana use among almost all demographics’. “Of concern was relatively greater increases in the prevalence of cannabis use among younger adolescents...” the study said.
The government has done the right thing in adjusting support for business yet again forced to close through no fault of their own.
They sadly - tragically in some cases - are the forgotten story of this latest level adjustment, for it is the same businesses getting smacked each time.
I still don’t think it’s enough support. The government has dropped the criteria or loosened the criteria to a 30 percent hit over seven days as opposed to 14.
What they might have worked out - remembering of course these are not business people , virtually none of them have ever owned a restaurant or a café or a nail bar or a hair dressers - is that it’s not “just” three days.
If you've ever wondered whether the commonly held belief that Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison was responsible for the slogan 100% Pure New Zealand, then forget it.
ScoMo did work for Tourism New Zealand in the late 90s when the slogan was conceived and has claimed credit for it but those of us who were around at the time knew it came from those whose job it was dream up slogans of that sort, M&C Saatchi.
ScoMo was brought to Wellington by the former dark ops Tourism Minister Murray McCully but ended his contract a year early after a whispering campaign with his political boss got rid of the three top men at the organisation.
Frozen wind turbines, surging demand trigger Texas blackouts
In this newsletter:
1) Frozen wind turbines, surging demand trigger Texas blackouts
Austin American-Statesman, 15 February 2021
2) Frozen turbines and surging demand prompt rolling blackouts in Texas
The New York Times, 15 February 2021
Let’s Get Wellington Moving might be the biggest oxymoron of the recent age.
A six and a half billion dollar dream that is in tatters, confirmed by the obligatory review that tells us such, as a result of the report out Friday everyone is now freaking out.
How is it this country, through local government ineptitude, has become so broken?
Sure, there have been the usual photo opportunities of a person sitting at the Oval Office desk putting his mark on a record number of executive orders aimed at overriding or rescinding authority given by the previous administration for some pretty significant developments that undoubtedly had been deemed at the time to be in the national interest.
This week there were 14 pages, plus a cover wrap - two pages advertising the Round the Bays fun run in Auckland.
Page 1. Article titled "The truth about Aotearoa's past".
State-owned fossil fuel firms' plan to invest $1.9tn could destroy climate hopes
In this newsletter:
Here is Garrick Tremain's latest cartoon commentary!
Paris Climate Agreement requires COVID-like lockdowns for decades, scientists warn
In this newsletter:
1) Rising superpower India to overtake EU as world’s third largest energy consumer by 2030
Press Trust of India, 9 February 2021
2) Paris Climate Agreement requires COVID-like lockdowns for decades, scientists warn
CNS News, 9 February 2021
Today the new rules for landlords come in. It’s something they’ve had plenty of warning about, something tenants should also be across in term of understanding their new rights.
And it just makes me wonder how much smooth sailing we’re in for here versus choppy waters.
The tenancy tribunal must be bracing itself as I imagine there’ll be a raft of issues potentially being sheeted their way to be tested. Many landlords too will be holding their breath.
Will their tenant suddenly want to paint the walls? Hang pictures? Replace curtains? What sort of look will they be giving the landlord’s property?
SUBMISSION: Local Electoral (Maori Wards and Maori
Constituencies) Amendment Bill
11
February 2021
Committee Secretariat
Maori Affairs Committee
Parliament Buildings
Wellington
ma@parliament.govt.nz
Dear
Sir,
Thank
you for providing the opportunity to make a submission on the Local
Electoral (Maori Wards and Maori Constituencies) Amendment Bill.
This
submission on is on behalf
of New Zealand Centre for Political Research, a public policy think tank
established in 2005.
The NZCPR opposes the Bill and asks the Select Committee to recommend that the Bill be withdrawn on the basis that it is anti-democratic and misleads the public of New Zealand.
Jacinda Ardern preaches about it time and again. How we should all be kind to each other and to look after our wellbeing.
Well, the Prime Minister's just lost all moral authority to preach to us about niceness, because on that score she's failed miserably and so have her Labour sheep in Parliament.
You just had to hear them bleating in Parliament's debating chamber as National's Chris Bishop attempted against all odds to move a vote of no confidence in Speaker Trevor Mallard.
