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Monday, May 31, 2021

Derek Mackie: Has apathy become New Zealand's new national sport


The last few months have been some of the most radical and disturbing in NZ politics. In fact, I can’t recall any period that can rival this for extremism and racial division, all done in the patronising and perverse name of kindness and racial healing.

 Firstly, the mad, crazy rush to enact the Maori Wards legislation. Supposedly done to ensure Maori have their fair say at local government level...when the actual statistics show that Maori are already perfectly represented on councils and over-represented at national level.

 Secondly, the Climate Change Commission's draft recommendations, no doubt very soon to become actual government policy. A raft of woke, left-wing ideas to take more control of people’s lives and restrict freedom of choice, when we already have a sensible mechanism to control our emissions that allows flexibility and efficiencies in how the economy responds. 

Sunday, May 30, 2021

Karl du Fresne: We're all in the same waka


One thing that struck me about the background profiles published about Dame Cindy Kiro this week was that while listing her tribal affiliations, they also mentioned that her father came from the north of England.

It was only an incidental point, but it stood out because prominent Maori often don’t acknowledge their Pakeha antecedents.

It has become the norm for people of part-Maori descent to recite iwi connections, but without any reference to their European lineage. That inconvenient part of their ancestry is routinely erased.

I say “inconvenient” because I suspect it suits many part-Maori activists not to acknowledge their bicultural heritage, the reason being that their bloodlines demonstrate that New Zealand is a highly integrated society. This conflicts with their aim of portraying us as intrinsically and irreparably divided, with one side exerting dominance over the other.

GWPF Newsletter - EU chaos: Deep divisions erupt as EU leaders fail to agree on climate change plans

 





UK Government snubs IEA roadmap to Net Zero

In this newsletter:

1) EU chaos: Deep divisions erupt as Brussels leaders fail to agree on climate change plans
Daily Express, 25 May 2021
 
2) Poland tells EU leaders that meeting climate rules makes the ‘poor, poorer’
Politico, 25 May 2021

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Bob Edlin: Rio Tinto deal with the Ardern govt includes Ngai Tahu


Rio Tinto strikes a deal with the Ardern govt on cleaning up its mess – and it brings Ngai Tahu into an array of commitments.

Should we really be cheering news of a giant global company picking up the tab for cleaning up its own mess? Surely that’s what it should be doing.

But hey, we are talking about Rio Tinto, a company widely criticised by environmental groups around the world and at least one national government for the environmental impacts of its mining activities. Or so we are told by Wikipedia.

And it has been a dab hand at persuading governments in this country to help power its aluminium smelter operations near Bluff at a modest cost.

But the PM, helped by some of her ministerial team., has urged the company to do something about its toxic waste and – hurrah – the company  has obliged.

The company has made a raft of commitments, including recognising Ngai Tahu (a least by the looks of things) as an organisation akin to a co-governor.

Clive Bibby: Running Out of Options

The Prime Minister’s denials are becoming a flood.

Last week in Parliament she was forced to distance herself and Labour from the highly toxic He Puapua report as if it was not of her making, simply an aspirational expression of Maori plans for future development - one commissioned by others who were supposedly only floating ideas. In response to repeated questioning from the Leader of the Opposition, she claimed that it would be going nowhere during this parliamentary term.

No matter that the ideas included in the report sounded very much like they had the backing of not only Iwi throughout the country who had been engaged with senior government officials on this and other topics at hui in recent months, but also those at the highest level in this administration.

Are we to believe that those talks were not sanctioned by this government and it was all a waste of time. If that is not the case then the PM has some work to do convincing voters that she is not a liar that would put Baron Munchausen in the shade.

Gerry Eckhoff: The staff of life


Water, and not bread is the staff of life; an expression the goes back to biblical days. We can exist for quite some time without bread (food) but not water. 

Water is essential for proper brain function which has become even more obvious these days. One can be forgiven for assuming dehydration is prevalent with (published) ill-informed comments from public figures denying there is any public concerns as to where the future administration/commercialisation of water is heading.  

It is entirely right and proper therefore that all the issues surrounding ownership, development and or control of water and its uses receives the utmost scrutiny.  Claims to fresh water in the South Island have been filed in the High Court so it would seem the political scramble for use and prior use rights continues unabated.

Henry Armstrong: The Transfer of Political Power: Unconstitutional; Undemocratic; Underhand; Unwise


In a highly significant post on NZCPR of 28 February 2021, former ACT MP Muriel Newman penned an astonishingly erudite and profound article entitled: “The Corruption of Democracy” - see HERE.

This post should be read by every thinking New Zealander as it neatly describes the hidden transfer of political and economic power from the ruling parliament, to a “co-governed” New Zealand comprising a 50/50 power share between our Maori people (16%) of the population, and everybody else (84%), by 2040. One can only imagine the disastrous social and economic outcomes which this transfer will undoubtedly bring in its wake. Dr Newman’s article instigated literally hundreds of online responses objecting to this potential constitutional disaster.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 23.05.21







Saturday May 29, 2021 

News:
Maori component in law degree studies welcomed

A move to make tikanga Maori part of training for a law degree has been welcomed by the University of Otago’s Faculty of Law.

But Otago’s acting dean of law said it was too early to know what the coming change could mean for the school or its students.

Friday, May 28, 2021

GWPF Newsletter: The Net Zero battle has truly begun

 





It is suicidal for Tories to bludgeon us into complying with Net Zero pledges

In this newsletter:

1) The Sun says: It is suicidal for Tories to bludgeon us into complying with Net Zero pledges
Editorial, The Sun, 26 May 2021 
 
2) Steve Baker: The ‘Net Zero’ boiler ban will leave Britain’s poorest out in the cold
The Sun, 26 May 2021

Mike Hosking: Why is there no outrage about our inept, bumbling Covid-19 response?

 

As we watch Melbourne yet again on a knife edge, we are in our own complacent smug way watching a train wreck in front of our own eyes and not realising it.

13 MIQ operations here in February and March had snap inspections.

The fact we have snap inspections should be of some relief, but what they found shouldn’t.

Would it surprise you to learn a lot of faults were found, a lot was below par, a lot was less than what it should be or desirable?

Staff shortages, PPE supply problems, and a lot of mingling in hotel lobbies by returnees, no masks or eye protection for bus drivers, who either weren’t wearing them or refused to wear them.

NZCPR Weekly: The Dependency Budget



Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter we examine Budget 2021 and raise concerns about the underlying incentives to increase dependency – as well as providing a brief insight into the Government’s $55 million taxpayer-funded public interest journalism fund, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Professor Robert MacCulloch explains why the Budget’s failure to address the extraordinary rise of the regulatory state is so significant, and our poll asks whether you would give Budget 2021 the thumbs up or thumbs down.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.
 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Kate Hawkesby: I've never been more tempted to run for Mayor

 

I had an infuriating interview with Phil Goff yesterday, and I say infuriating because as a proud born and bred Aucklander, I feel very despondent about what has happened to our once great city. It’s a shambles. That’s putting it politely.

A word starting with cluster and ending in something that rhymes with duck would be more appropriate.

But basically, Mayor Phil Goff has taken a leaf out of the Jacinda and Ashley playbook, of literally denying reality and refuting any facts thrown his way. In Phil’s world, we’re all on buses, trains, ferries, and bikes. We love public transport and only want to use more of it; we don’t need or want our cars. I don’t know what planet Phil’s living on, but it’s not Planet Auckland.

Mike Hosking: Trump may have been right about Wuhan all along

 

The trouble with Trump calling it ‘the China Virus is that it was Trump.

The trouble with Trump suggesting Covid came from the lab is it was Trump.

It’s one thing to say something but it depends who said it.

Now there are increasing reports and with them come increasing questions around China and its role in the virus.

Lab workers in Wuhan were hospitalised way earlier than originally declared, according to US intelligence just this week.

GWPF Newsletter: Government backs down on gas boiler fines after Steve Baker warns of consumer revolt

 




Banning all gas boilers by 2035 is 'simply not going to happen' 

In this newsletter:

1) Government backs down on gas boiler fines after Steve Baker warns of consumer revolt
Daily Mail, 25 May 2021

2) Banning all gas boilers by 2035 is 'simply not going to happen'
Daily Mail 25 May 2021

Kate Hawkesby: National and Act need each other

 

It’s interesting to see Judith Collins take a swing at Act, just as headlines pop up asking who the real opposition in this country is.

For the past couple of years, it has very much looked like Act is.

Seymour’s searing one liners, his clever turn of phrase, his quick out of the blocks responses to government moves, have often positioned him as the only viable active opposition player.

But being in opposition is not just firing pot-shots at the government, (which is easily done) it’s coming up with ideas of your own too.

New policies, new directions, fresh material, giving voters a contest, a real alternative, something that looks promising.

And this is where National has been weak. Too much in fighting, leaking, and looking over each other’s shoulders has seen the Nats look less an opposition party, and more a bickering mess.

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

John Robinson: Proposed New Zealand history curriculum - a critical appraisal


Maori are just one part – around one sixth – of the people of New Zealand (16.7% of the national population in 2020).  The focus of the draft curriculum on only this one group, with the claim that “Maori history forms a continuous thread, directly linking the contemporary world to the past”, denigrates the significance of the experiences of all other New Zealanders.  Pupils, of diverse backgrounds in a multicultural society, should all be included, and taught the history of us all – including their own ancestors whether Maori or other.

Maori should stop posturing (yes, I have read He Puapua [1]) and take their place as equals with the rest of us. This ethnic exceptionalism is nonsensical and damaging to our New Zealand community.

Lindsay Mitchell: Can Government Numbers be Trusted?


Occasionally I get told off for writing about 'child poverty'. People say I shouldn't use the term because real child poverty doesn't exist in New Zealand. Or that there is no such thing as child poverty - only parental poverty. They are fair enough criticisms given the World Bank defines extreme (or absolute) poverty as living on $1.95 a day or less. New Zealand only has relative poverty yet too often the descriptor is missing.

But the language must be used to dispute the subject. There's not a lot to be gained from stuffing our fingers in our ears when so much this majority government does revolves around reducing child poverty.

Let's try and simplify how child poverty is defined and measured without too much jargon.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

GWPF Newsletter: EU leaders brace for clash over astronomical cost of Net Zero plans

 




Germany proposes to exclude China from carbon border tax

In this newsletter:

1) EU leaders brace for clash over astronomical cost of Net Zero plans
GWPF, 23 May 2021
 
2) EU leaders brace for clash on how to implement climate goals
Financial Times, 22 May 2021

Sunday, May 23, 2021

Yes Prime Minister - Poll Rigging


 
Sir Humphrey shows how easily it is to rig polls by asking leading questions. Has that been happening here?

John Robinson: New Zealand apartheid


Beware: read with care; this article has been judged not fit to publish by the management of the New Zealand Herald, when overturning the decision of the Editor of the Northland Age to put it in the paper that he (supposedly) edits.

Acceptance of New Zealand law demands a belief in race, together with a willingness to accept apartheid with separation into members of “the Maori race” and other New Zealanders.  Much of New Zealand’s law and system of government are based on that division.

This is clearly and unequivocally stated, in the Māori Affairs Amendment Act 1974, where a Maori is defined as “a person of the Maori race of New Zealand; and includes any descendant of such a person”.

Based on that definition, we have separation into two different peoples – with special seats in Parliament, special wards in much local Government, separate rights such as access to the Waitangi Tribunal, and much more.  We are two people.

That definition makes no sense unless those who wrote it, and those who follow it, believe in the existence of the Maori race.  That is, a belief, as members of a cult, in the outmoded and disgraceful concept of race and racial separation which is written into law.  There can be no clearer definition of national racism, with the resulting apartheid in treatment and rights. 

Clive Bibby: Be careful what you wish for!


The government seems hell bent on passing legislation, much of which will benefit only one group of citizens at the expense of virtually all others.

Where does this fit with the mantra that we are all in this together, one group of five million (supposedly equals) or the promise to govern in the interest of all.

It would seem that the PM and her motley crew are scared of their own shadow and worried sick that this is the only opportunity they will get to honour the promises they have made to only a select few of its citizens.

Saturday, May 22, 2021

Bruce Moon: Twisting the Treaty - Yet Another Version


The fake arguments of officialdom and academe all to clearly shown in the “ideasroom” article of Dr Emily Beausoleil of the Department of Political Science at Victoria University on 11th May 2021 do invite a response.  We respond accordingly.

Her article is headed by a display in colour of Busby’s so-called national flag[i] and the so-called “Maori sovereignty flag” with the Union Jack and New Zealand national flag conspicuously absent, so some idea of its tenor may be gained immediately though that was perhaps an editorial choice!

As the introduction states, Beausoleil's article purports to make “a case for  implementing the changes recommended in the He Puapua report ‘to more fully realise the unceded authority of tangata whenua’ and give greater self-determination, equality and meaningful voice among Tiriti partners.”  Her “unceded authority” and “tiriti partners” must ring the alarm bells for any alert reader.  Addressed here in particular are her tales about the Treaty of Waitangi and the earlier  “Declaration of Independence”. The threat implied in He Puapua is another matter.

Steen Videbeck: Daylight robbery


I was very disappointed with the recent housing announcements. Partly because they will increase my rent. But mostly because I want to be a part of a world-leading country. I want transformational new taxes, not a Capital Gains Tax with a trendy new name.

Also, if you are going to rush through last-minute legislation, with no oversight, by slipping it into an omnibus bill, together with tax write-offs for cow diseases, you might as well have some fun.

How? Now, I don’t want to be too definitive, but all you need is a crisis and some aspirational new ideas for taxes.

The next crisis is obviously the rental crisis.

And the answer is obviously a Window Tax.

Bob Edlin: Water and the co-governing numbers caper in which 68,000 Ngai Tahu might carry the same clout as 750,000 South Islanders

The news media hastened to air Ngai Tahu’s prompt rebuttal of Opposition leader Judith Collins claim that the Government would be giving the tribe an ownership stake in the South Island’s water and water assets.

It has not been so hasty to clearly explain the implications of what Ngai Tahu does want.

Collins referred to a document which – she said – meant South Island water services would be co-owned by Ngai Tahu and the Government.

Not so, was the prompt and tart rebuttal from the tribe and from central and local government leaders.

Co-governance maybe, co-ownership no.

But what does co-governance mean for the administrative structure?

At first blush, vital questions of democratic governance and accountability are raised.

GWPF Newsletter: Move COP26 online or risk global fiasco, GWPF warns

 





Asian governments reject IEA call to stop new fossil fuel investments

In this newsletter:

1) Move COP26 online or risk global fiasco, GWPF warns
Global Warming Policy Forum, 19 May 2021

2) Queue-jumping? Global vaccine shortage imperils Glasgow climate talks
Reuters, 19 May 2021

Breaking Views Update: Week of 16.05.21







Saturday May 22, 2021 

News:
10 – 1: Masterton District Council votes for a Māori ward

Wairarapa’s first Māori wards were welcomed today with waiata and haka. A packed council chambers saw Masterton councillors usher in a review which should lead to at least one Māori ward in the region for next year’s elections.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Derek Mackie: He Puapua - we need a coordinated plan to fight back effectively


It’s been a funny old month! A covert plan by Labour to completely alter New Zealand’s constitution and award a 50% share of power and veto rights to Maori is exposed in parliament...and then, the government’s popularity in the polls INCREASES by almost 3%. Surely that can’t be right! I know many people who comment on this website are upset and angry at how this could happen. 

 Living in NZ these days is a bit like poor old Alice in Wonderland, nothing makes sense, everything is the opposite of what it should be - “curiouser and curiouser”. For Alice it was a bizarre dream but for NZ it is a cold, stark reality. To those of us who have read He Puapua and know this government’s attempts to hide it from the public, to the extent that it was never mentioned in Labour’s 2020 election manifesto, it seems inconceivable that their support could actually grow. 

 This should be our Watergate moment! In many ways it’s far more important. After all, Watergate exposed a president willing to authorise  illegal spying on political opponents - bad enough. He Puapua proposes to “gift” half the parliament and all Crown land and water to one minority race and then for good measure change our culture, legal system, education system and health system to favour Maori ahead of everyone else, with no public consultation, debate or referenda. The final nail in the coffin is to give preference and tax breaks to the iwi conglomerates that will be created from our national wealth, driving other companies out of business. 

NZCPR Weekly: Political Dishonesty



Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter we reflect on political dishonesty and the fact that Jacinda Ardern did not inform voters during the election campaign that if elected she intended to introduce a radical separatist agenda that will lead to tribal control of New Zealand, our NZCPR Guest Commentator John Bell believes the public must take action if this threat to our democratic system and way of life is to be stopped, and our poll asks whether New Zealand needs a “recall election” provision to protect the public against a dishonest government.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.
 


Thursday, May 20, 2021

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Budget gets a 'B' for Boring

 

You know what’s missing in this budget?

Ambition.

The difference between this budget and the Aussie budget from last week couldn’t be starker.

Here, we’re getting a big boost for benefits, a huge amount of money for Māori initiatives ($243 for the Māori Health Authority, $380m for Māori housing and $42m for Māori media), the health and education spending that you would expect, and a $200m funding boost for Pharmac that is welcome, but isn’t even half what Pharmac needs to pay for all the medicines it wants to buy.

Obviously missing, anything for middle NZ workers, anything for businesses and any plan for how we grow the economy now that the government is shutting down the ability to hire migrant workers.

GWPF Newsletter: Angela Merkel rejects bringing forward Germany’s 2038 coal exit

 





Britain’s real energy revolution: Rolls-Royce to roll out Small Modular Reactors by 2030

In this newsletter:

1) Merkel rejects bringing forward Germany’s 2038 coal exit
Reuters, 17 May 2021 
 
2) Germany ignores EU & US concerns: Germany authorises pipe-laying for Nord Stream 2 in its waters
TASS, 17 May 2021

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Heather du Plessis-Allan: New Zealand needs migrant workers more than we think

 

I don’t blame you if your first reaction is to like the sound of the government’s plan to cut right back on migrant workers. 

For a while there has been frustration at our high levels of migration, and the pressure migrant workers have put on our resources; roads, schools, houses and so on.

So we have just done an experiment of what it’s like without that. 

We’ve now had more than a year without migration.  

So what’s your assessment?  Is it an improvement? 

I figure there are two ways of looking at this.

Chris Trotter: The TV3 Poll: Journalism or Propaganda


Predictable “News”: Expecting the mainstream media to acknowledge its own deficiencies as the supposed protector and facilitator of democratic discussion and debate has become unrealistic. It no longer sees its role in such terms. Its responsibility, now, is to impart the truth – as officially defined – to the population, while doing everything within its power to ensure that this official version of reality is not effectively challenged by anyone – up to and including the Leader of the Opposition.

TV3’s presentation of the poll results delivered to them by Reid Research Ltd tells us a lot. The most important message to draw from the way it handled this “news” is how rapidly propaganda is replacing journalism in the mainstream news media. 

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Kate Hawkesby: Does anyone even care about politics at the moment?

 

In defence of Judith Collins, good on her for being so tenacious.

She was on the Mike Hosking Breakfast yesterday and she sounded strong and unflustered. Whether she's privately flustered remains to be seen, but the fact is that publicly, she remains stoic.

Which is impressive. She knows she has to be, I guess, given her party is prone to panic at first signs of bad polling. National tends to work themselves into a frenzy and that serves no purpose other than to make them look shambolic. 

So Judith does well to hold her line. No she won’t resile from her position or her angle or the way she’s holding the government to account.

Bob Edlin: Why Collins must ignore critics who claim she is playing the race card and keep challenging the PM on the meaning of “partnership”

 

Left-wing commentators are cock-a-hoop.  Labour is up 2.7% to 52.7%; National is up 1.4% to 27%; the Greens are down 0.8%; ACT is down 0.7%.

In the latest preferred leader poll results, Jacinda Ardern is down a bit but Judith Collins’s support has gone down by two thirds.

On The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury posted an item under the heading Why National’s Māori segregation bashing has failed in the polls.

He seized on the responses when TV3 asked voters if they thought Labour was being separatist, and National divisive…

Monday, May 17, 2021

Heather du Plessis Allan: Hipkins' comment exposes Labour's lax approach to our money

 

Something that’s really been bugging me in the last few days was a comment that Chris Hipkins made. 

You know this business about the huge number of schools lunches that are wasted? 

David Seymour quite rightly called it irresponsible that no one is counting the number of lunches that go uneaten.

And to that, Chris Hipkins got smart and said ‘“If David Seymour wants to be the lunch monitor in every primary and secondary school he's welcome to do that.” 

Well, actually, I would like someone to know how much is being wasted.

We are putting $221 million taxpayer into this. That’s a lot of money. 

Don’t you think Hipkins’ comment betrays an attitude? 

Tony Sayers: Through Pakeha Eyes


To date, the media has swamped us with articles about the countless demands and accusations from the Maori Sovereignty Movement. The non-Maori component of the population have tended to remain silent through fear of being branded racist. Even those who call for equality have been branded as racist by the Maori trolls because equality and their agenda are incompatible. They subdue their critics by calling them ‘Racist’.

Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer pulled this stunt in Parliament last week in an attempt to intimidate opponents to the He Puapua strategy, and to try and stifle debate on the issue.

They enjoy the publicity and like to portray the image of being the victims.

My stance is for true equality for all people, regardless of race, colour or creed.

So, go ahead and call me racist, the Maori activists are the only ones who believe it.

There are truths that need to be spoken – and I will speak them.

Sunday, May 16, 2021

GWPF Newsletter: Boris faces Cop-Flop

 





Russia rejects Western calls to tighten emissions targets

In this newsletter:

1) Russia rejects Western calls to tighten CO2 emissions targets
Reuters, 13 May 2021
 
2) Natural gas, energy security face existential crisis in climate wary Europe
Reuters, 14 May 2021

Saturday, May 15, 2021

Karl du Fresne: Maori wards - what councillors who vote 'no' can expect


 
“Tears, anger and heartache followed tangata whenua out of the room as an historic opportunity became, in the eyes of some, cynical sidelining.”

That was the opening sentence on Stuff’s report of last week’s meeting at which Manawatu district councillors voted 6-4 against the creation of Maori wards.

Stuff reported that the council voted to defer a decision until 2024, “amid accusations [that] aspirations of re-election were put ahead of their convictions”.

Nicholas Kerr: New Zealand had no choice but to lock down


"New Zealand hospitals in crisis."

A surprising headline for many. Why are patients being treated in hospital corridors in a country that has essentially eliminated COVID-19? Unfortunately, it’s a familiar story for many Kiwis and those who have studied universal healthcare.

New Zealand has been held up as a model as to how to tackle the pandemic. We’re told that it acted decisively to bring the virus to heel. A more accurate account is that other countries implemented measures in February and early March, while the government there dithered. It wasn’t until mid-March that New Zealand imposed one of the toughest lockdowns in the world. By then, there were 102 cases, which its healthcare system was struggling to deal with.

Graham Adams: Will He Puapua propel Winston Peters back into politics?


The NZ First leader once described the UN Declaration as the “road to Zimbabwe”. Graham Adams asks how long he will sit on the sidelines as the debate over Maori sovereignty rages.

The controversial report He Puapua has been seized upon by National and Act as evidence of a covert agenda for advancing Maori sovereignty that the government hid until after the 2020 election because of the obvious electoral risk. Now media speculation has added another plot twist involving Winston Peters.

It has been claimed that it may not have been voters whom Ardern most wanted to keep in the dark about the plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but rather her Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters. Even if the general public might have overlooked He Puapua had it been released — not least because the mainstream media would quite possibly have ignored it — Peters almost certainly would not have.

GWPF Newsletter: Boris Johnson’s advisers consider to hold COP26 online (for two-thirds)

 




Electric cars may make driving too expensive for middle classes, warns carmaker warns

In this newsletter:

1) Boris Johnson’s advisers consider to hold COP26 online in face of winter Covid risk
Global Warming Policy Forum, 13 May 2021
  
2) Landmark study casts doubt on controversial theory linking melting Arctic to severe winter weather
Science Magazine, 12 May 2021

Breaking Views Update: Week of 9.05.21







Saturday May 15, 2021 

News:
Protest planned after Napier City Council holds off on Māori wards until 2025
A protest is being planned after Napier City Council voted against Māori Wards for the 2022 local body elections.

Napier City Council was planning for consultation and engagement on the establishment of Māori wards in Napier.

Clive Bibby: Change doesn’t come easy to most of us

COVID has changed the world forever.

However, not all the lessons we can learn from this mammoth disruption to the way we do things will be detrimental to our survival as a species. Some will actually help.

We can talk about that a little later.

First, the net result of the pandemic and its origin from what we know so far.

Obviously nothing will compensate those poor folk who have lost loved ones because of the virus. Particularly when they come to understand the truth about its origin and that it could quite possibly have escaped from a lab that was working on viruses that could be used by governments in future conflicts as part of their assault weapons of mass destruction.

Friday, May 14, 2021

Garrick Tremain: Labour's Separatist Agenda

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on the Government's separatist agenda! 



NZCPR Weekly: A Bombshell Decision



Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week’s NZCPR newsletter is especially important – we analyse the bombshell High Court ruling on the first of 200 tribal claims for New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed and reveal that unless the judgement is appealed, the entire coastal area appears likely to fall under tribal control, our NZCPR Guest Commentator former Judge Anthony Willy outlines his deep concern about the ruling and the danger it represents to New Zealand’s common law, and our poll asks whether you believe the Churchman ruling should be appealed.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.
 


GWPF Newsletter: Macron's climate referendum dead in the water as Senate changes draft bill

 





A ‘red team’ view of climate science

In this newsletter:

1) Macron's climate referendum dead in the water as Senate changes draft bill
France 24 News, 11 May 2021

2) Germany plans to hide the astronomical cost of the renewable energy transition
Alex Reichmuth, Schweizer Nebelspalte, 5 May 2021

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Kate Hawkesby: Shocker of a week for the government

 

Not a great week for the government this week.

The vaccination rollout’s been called a shambles, with potentially worse to come.

Minister Chris Hipkins is saying he's nervous about how it’s going to go, supply is an issue, lots of excuses of course, but the upshot is, even what they’re currently rolling out is a mess.

Just ask the 81 year old who was turned away, having booked an appointment and waited half an hour only to be told, no jab today sorry love.

She was one of many in the same boat.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Bob Edlin: Here’s a letter to the editor you might have missed on science and how it should be shaped by the Treaty and spirituality

Scimex drew our attention around two weeks ago to news that Māori researchers were calling for a Tiriti-led science-policy approach.

A multi-disciplinary group of Māori researchers – most of them from the humanities – had published a report which recommended the appointments of Māori Chief Science Advisors and the development of Treaty-based guidelines for science and innovation funding.

In other words, scientists should have their funding chopped off if they don’t subscribe to the authors’ ideas about how the Treaty should play a role in this country’s science and innovation systems.

They wrote that the way scientists and policymakers work with each other left little room for Māori participation or leadership, although it seems they have been doing nicely, thank you, with their own careers.