Derek Mackie: Ignorance is Bliss

In recent times, our attention-seeking Prime Minister has shied away from domestic public appearances and now only undertakes stage-managed performances in front of our tame mainstream media. This ensures no awkward questions or hecklers, which send her fleeing for the safety of her security detail and a group hug with the press gallery. 

 By contrast, she’s only too happy to fly all around the World, face-mask free, and be feted by the international woke brigade on chat shows and at ivy league universities. Some countries even wish she was their leader - “please take her, by all means”, right-thinking Kiwis shout. “We’ll throw in the Maori Caucus for free!” 

 She’s become a hermit PM at home, cocooned in the Beehive, surrounded by those who are happy to tell her just what she wants to hear, and only visible to the population on smiling posters or tightly scripted television interviews. 

 History is littered with out-of-touch leaders who convinced themselves they were adored when, in truth, their citizens despised them. In the end, they unravelled as their house of cards came tumbling down. 

Imagine how Jacinda’s grip on reality might loosen if her insecurity blossomed and overseas adulation really went to her head. 

 Here’s a fictional scenario of what may ensue if our elected leader, who abuses the power granted to her and exploits the trust of those she serves, reaps the whirlwind of paranoia and delusions of grandeur. 

Lindsay Mitchell: Benefit incomes - why it's not worth working

MSD have released a report on benefit incomes. I have long held that beneficiary advocates base their poverty pleading on the basic benefit rate, but those numbers are well under total incomes once the additional top-ups are included. Here is a selection of the graphs from the report:

Denis Hall: This is serious stuff - but may seem a bit weird! Christopher Luxon?

I can’t say I’m feeling sorry for him - but I am very concerned.

We can’t say he’s dead at the wheel - - because he doesn’t even seem to have made it into the vehicle yet. He hasn’t inspired me even slightly - and me - like the rest of the Nation’s people - are desperately looking for a new leader for what is left of the actual Nation - not to even mention the National Party itself.

Maybe National needs to do the big switcharoo - and swap him for Nicola Willis - or look deeper into the membership for leadership material.

We need a leader who will be strong - and whose strength is obvious - and ready for trouble - and able to deal with it - and he will need charisma - and the drawing power to lift the Nation out of the deepest and most corrupt and dangerous hole it has EVER been in.

Point of Order: Whoa there – the Govt’s Clean Car scheme has gone into overdrive

Leaving an unexpected fare (it seems) for taxpayers to pay

The Beehive’s on-line bulletin board today brings news of another Minister headed overseas for very important business, another Māori housing project getting under way with the help of millions of government dollars, and beneficiaries being enabled by our beneficent government to beat inflation.

The travel plans unveiled were those of Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Phil Twyford, who will lead New Zealand’s delegation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference at the United Nations in New York.

Bruce Moon: The truth or not the truth - that is the question

“A state is either completely democratic, or not at all”  - Robin Lane Fox, ‘The Classical World’, Penguin, 2006, p.182

A bold headlined in “Te Ao Maori News” for 26^th July 2022,  proclaims: “New Zealand Wars massacre  was real – Nanaia Mahuta.”

We have Mahuta’s reported claim in this article: “What we need to do is to be revising the historical injustices and hurt and harm in a way that builds our nation, not distract us and perpetuate further division.”

For this of course, we need the truth. We need to know the facts of our own history. This enables us to separate reality from mythology. It also forces us to acknowledge that reality, rather than creating a story by revising the facts to fulfil and perpetuate the social and political ideologies of those who promulgate them.

Point of Order: Improved local government legislation?

Not when Mahuta wants to make it mandatory to consider more Māori wards

When Nanaia Mahuta talks about improving local government processes, alarm bells should ring.

In a statement earlier this week, the Minister of Local Government said improvements to processes for electing councils at the next local government elections in 2025 have been introduced to Parliament in a measure called the Local Government Electoral Legislation Bill.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 24.7.22

Saturday July 30, 2022 

News:
Māori left behind in flood fix
Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says the government’s emergency response to this week’s flooding ignores roads leading to Māori townships in favour of fixing roads to mainstream towns.

She says they’re not doing enough.

Point of Order: Politicians nail down a plan for the construction sector

And there’s a role to be played by social engineers

Two of five press statements issued from the Beehive over the past 24 hours have a Treaty of Waitangi focus, two include the interests of Maori in their considerations, and the fifth mentions the presence of local iwi at a sod-turning ceremony.

The Associate Minister of Transport, Kieran McAnulty, was joined at the ceremony by the Mayors of Carterton and Masterton, local Iwi and members of the Wairarapa community to turn the first sod on a package of “crucial” safety improvements for State Highway 2 in Wairarapa.

Oliver Hartwich: Focus on price stability

The Initiative’s reports often attract media attention. Nothing, however, could have prepared us for the storm following the release of How central bank mistakes after 2019 led to inflation.

Global media covered our report, from Bloomberg to France’s Les Echos, from the UK’s Daily Telegraph to the Australian Financial Review, and from Brazil’s Plu7 TV channel to the Philippines’ Business Mirror. It confirms that the monetary policy issues we outlined in the report are of global concern.

In New Zealand, too, our report caused considerable debate in the media. It also triggered a political response.

Eric Crampton: Misplaced ambition

It isn’t crazy to claim that New Zealand’s school system lacks ambition. Or, if it is, our shop has been crazy for a while.

But if you were going to complain about a lack of ambition in the New Zealand school system, carbon accounting seems a ludicrous place to start.

Unless you’re the Ministry for the Environment.

Newsroom reported this week on frustrated Ministry for the Environment officials unable to get school boards to fill in carbon accounting paperwork. They briefed Ministers that the education sector lacks “sufficient ambition.”

Michael Johnston: Crying fowl

The chickens of negligence have come home to roost – but they’re not welcome in the Henhouse of Education.

As we wrote in Insights last week, in a pilot of new literacy and numeracy assessments for NCEA, only two thirds of assessed students met a basic standard of adult numeracy and reading ability. Only one third met the standard in writing.

But rather than taking responsibility for a failing system, the Ministry claimed that its own study was flawed. They weren’t alone. A conga line of influential educators assembled to explain away the dismal data.

James Broome-Isa: I'm 17, but I can't support lowering the voting age

It has been a big fortnight for young people with a political bent.

Last week 120 Youth MPs sat and were reported on by 19 members of the Youth Press Gallery under the watch of the first Youth Clerk or Youth Parliamentary CEO.

In the week before that, the slick, well-funded campaign to lower the voting age to 16 was heard in the Supreme Court. “Youth” are seeking a declaration that the voting age of 18 is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.

Being one of the Youth MPs privileged to sit in the big green chairs, I will not and cannot support lowering the voting age to 16.

Cam Slater: No Jacinda, Dear, You Are Not the Divine Source of ‘Truth’

It seems that the excesses of Jacinda Ardern‘s Covid response are starting to make headlines in overseas markets. You won’t see anything but a slavish defence of her from our bribed and corrupted media in New Zealand but for the rest of the world the scales are falling from their eyes, and they are realising that behind the flannel and the soft PR there lurks a nasty, evil, dictator who seems to think that she is the divine source of ‘truth’.

Back in May 2020 we highlighted the “single source of truth” claims made by the Prime Minister:

Point of Order: Oh, look – Sepuloni finds some money for the arts has not been spent

But it will be put to use in a trough for cultural “regeneration”

News of the PM’s next overseas travel plans flowed from the Beehive along with a fanfaronade of self-congratulation for work coming along nicely, thank you, announcements of fresh projects and programmes for consuming our taxes, and advice aimed at enhancing our wellbeing.

The overseas travel is to Samoa – Jacinda Ardern will lead a Parliamentary and community delegation to Apia from the 1–2 August to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of “the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, between Aotearoa New Zealand and Samoa”

Mike Hosking: Politics is getting messier and messier

We end the week with a couple of unresolved issues.

First, the Green Party leadership. What a complete and utter bust that has been. If you were looking to make a dick of yourself, you could not have done it better than the Greens have this week.

They vote to open nominations for co-leader because James Shaw isn't what they like. And what happens next? A media that looks desperate to fill the space with speculation as to who might run.

And slowly but surely two names that could be, might be running, don’t.

Bob Jones: Language mis-use

J.K. Rowling is constantly attacked by wokists for supposed trans-phobia. She’s a wordsmith so would be specially sensitive to the correct use of language.

In her rightly arguing there are only two sexes and the fact that some people believe they’ve been born in the wrong bodies, doesn’t alter the reality, namely there are only two sexes, regardless of what they genuinely believe.

But what gets my gander is the mis-use of the word “phobia”. It basically means an irrational fear. I very much doubt that J.K. Rowling fears the sight of a bloke in a dress or a head-shaven woman in men’s garb. Rather, I suspect she’d hold libertarian views of each to their own etc.

Garrick Tremain: Source of all truth

Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on Mahuta the puppeteer!

Guy Hatchard: When is Compelling Evidence Just Propaganda?

The BBC has announced “compelling evidence” that Covid originated in the Wuhan seafood and wildlife market.

Among scientists, this announcement is causing some laughter.

There has been a great deal of prior scientific debate on this subject which has left us in limbo. Principally because the Chinese blocked the possibility of independent investigation and access to data.

Oliver Hartwich & Bryce Wilkinson: Foresight economics correctly predicted New Zealand's loss of price stability

In response to criticism of the Reserve Bank’s performance over the past four years, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance have accused critics of applying ‘hindsight economics’.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The New Zealand Initiative has been consistent in its warnings of loose monetary policy, the RBNZ’s loss of focus on price stability and its preference for stimulus.

To put the record straight, here are just some examples of how the Initiative has commented on RBNZ policy since 2018.

John Porter: The Namer of Names Is the Father of All Things

Last year the Maori Party were pushing for all place names to be restored to their original Maori name by 2026 and ‘Aotearoa’ to officially replace ‘New Zealand’. They launched a petition to that effect.

Party leader Rawiri Waititi stated, “It’s well past time that Maori was restored to its rightful place as the first and official language of this country. We are a Polynesian country, we are Aotearoa.

“Aotearoa is a name that will unify our country rather than divide it,” Waititi said. “Others are trying to use it as a divisive tool, but this is an inclusive tool, where our ancestors consented to us all living on this land together.”

Further, Waititi claims, “Tangata whenua are sick to death of our ancestral names being mangled, bastardised, and ignored. It’s the 21st century, this must change.”

“It is the duty of the Crown to do all that it can to restore the status of our language. That means it needs to be accessible in the most obvious of places; on our televisions, on our radio stations, on road signs, maps and official advertising, and in our education system.”

But hold on Rawiri, the modern cities and towns of New Zealand do not owe their existence in any way to Maori culture.

Point of Order: Price of power looks likely to become an issue, now that the Tiwai Point smelter wants to keep operating

A shot in the arm for the province of Southland came this week with the news that the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will not shut down in 2024 — and could have a long term future.

Since the global giant Rio Tinto renegotiated the last electricity contract, extending the life of the smelter for three years from 2021, the price of aluminium soared as high as $US3800 a tonne, and although it has retreated from those levels, it is still high at around $US2400.

And because the aluminium produced at Tiwai Point is among the purest in the world, it is not surprising that Rio Tinto, and its Japanese partner, Sumitomo, want to continue production.

Kate Hawkesby: Start investing in our health system now, or it'll only get worse

 

I note the average time to wait to get in to see your GP is three weeks. That’s the average. For many it’s longer than that.

And for some rural areas in this country, you’d be hard pressed to see a GP at all, far less one close to you. You may have to drive for miles to get to even get to one. So we know it’s a problem, but how to fix it?

President of the Royal NZ College of GP’s, Samantha Murton, wrote a piece for the Herald yesterday saying how it’s not an easy fix. “We can’t magic away the chronic GP shortage”, she said.

Matt Ridley: Eco-extremism has brought Sri Lanka to its knees

 

An obsession with organic farming ‘in sync with nature’ triggered an unsustainable but predictable economic crisis

Sri Lanka’s collapse, from one of the fastest growing Asian economies to a political, economic and humanitarian horror show, seems to have taken everybody by surprise.

Five years ago, the World Bank was extolling “how Sri Lanka intends to transition to a more competitive and inclusive upper-middle income country”. Right up to the middle of last year, despite the impact of the pandemic, the country’s misery index (inflation plus unemployment) was low and falling. Then the misery index took off like a rocket, quintupling in a year.

Bob Jones: Naive idealists

A ridiculous story hit the news a week or so back re supermarkets making it a condition of their occupancy in shopping centres, not to allow competitors. As a result of the Commerce Commission’s naïve intervention this has now been made illegal, in the purported interest of competition.

I say it’s naïve as supermarkets, like everyone else, pursue their own interest. They’re a critical base tenant in a shopping centre and know it, but if forced to accept competition, will pay a lesser rent. To make the development viable then necessitates the developer charging higher rents to the other non-supermarket tenancies, which added costs will be reflected in their pricing. Ergo; no net benefit to consumers.

I bought my first block of shops sixty years back. Such monopolistic clauses were in every retail lease back then. Today my company owns the most CBD retail premises in Wellington and such clauses no longer appear, nor are sought in retail leases. Here’s why.

Mike Hosking: Govt targeting high-value investors is no bad thing

Hold the front page, the Government has done something eminently sensible. The changes to the investment visas make some real sense.

Buying your way into a country without a proper contribution is an invite to simply have money parked and not necessarily being used for the betterment of New Zealand.

They didn’t actually need to raise the "Category A” up to $15 million. The amount is not always the key. The key is what is done with it. What is it invested in? How many jobs does it create? Does it start a new company? Does it expand a company? Does it take a business to the next level? Does it open up new markets? All of that is key to investment success.

Peter Jackson: Speak or hold your peace?

Councils gagged if they accept the Govt’s cash

Whatever you think of Jacinda Ardern, she can hardly be accused of deceiving us when she promised that her Government would be transformational. Indeed, “transformational” might seem like an understatement, as she and her party continue to promote societal changes that promise to last a very long time.

She also promised that her Government would be the most open and transparent that this country had ever seen. The jury might still be out on that, although if they have yet to return their verdict it would likely be that they are enjoying an extraordinarily long lunch.

Many of those whose job it is to obtain information from the Government on our behalf will tell you that that has become much more difficult than it used to be. Even the select committee process, another opportunity for politicians to explain what they intend doing, how and why, has largely become a farce.

There is one field of political endeavour that has become more transparent than it used to be, however.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Māori ward legislation change is clever politics from Nanaia Mahuta

This is a clever move by Nanaia Mahuta to try to essentially force Māori wards on councils, or at least make it very hard for councils to resist introducing Maori wards.

Mahuta has slipped a change into a piece of legislation that will make it mandatory for councils every six years to consider whether they should introduce Maori wards.

When they meet for their six-yearly Representation Review, the first step councils must take must be a decision about whether to establish Māori wards or constituencies.

That makes it very likely, doesn't it, that a lot of councils will opt to introduce Māori wards. Because if they consider the wards and then actively choose not to introduce them, what are they?

Point of Order: Waititi is stung by failure to negotiate a “Tiriti-centric” free trade agreement

New legislation has been a feature of press statements from the Beehive over the past 24 hours or so.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta introduced a Bill aimed at improving processes for electing councils at the local government elections in 2025 (and citizens should be wary, when the Ardern Government sets about “improving” local government electoral procedures). The legislation covers issues such as Māori wards, the number of councillors at Auckland Council, more consistent rules for a coin toss if an election result is tied, and filing nominations electronically.

Michael Johnston: NCEA Literacy and Numeracy OpEd from NZ Initiative

We need an urgent review of the way in which literacy and numeracy are taught in primary schools.

The New Zealand Initiative recently commented on a pilot of new reading, writing and numeracy assessments for NCEA. Just a third of students participating in the pilot met the standard for writing. One third met each of the reading and numeracy standards.

Commentators from the education sector were surprisingly relaxed about the findings.

The Ministry of Education asserted that the trial was “small-scale and not representative”. In other words, they’re saying that their own study didn’t include enough students to yield reliable results. They’re also saying that the sample of schools involved wasn’t a good snapshot of New Zealand’s schools in general.

Let’s take these claims one at a time.

Rodney Hide chats to Don Brash

Rodney Hide hosting at The Platform talks with Don Brash about inflation, the Reserve Bank and much more.....(55 minutes)

Clive Bibby: Complacency is our enemy

Warning to National.

Being ahead in the polls and watching the Government commit suicide would normally be seen as a time for keeping the noses clean while waiting for the inevitable "takeover" of the treasury benches. 

However, it would be wrong to think that it will be that easy.

In fact, given the uninspiring leadership being offered by Christoper Luxon, it is by no means a certainty that the Oppostion will appeal to enough people to be trusted with government come election time next year.

Garrick Tremain: Another day at the office

Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on the government over-riding democracy!

Point of Order: Why the Govt is on course to be given a “fail” mark for its work in our schools and polytechnics

Covid-19 was never going to be kind to the country’s education sector, especially when our school children were already sliding down the OECD rankings for literacy, maths and science and there was a lack of equity in terms of at-home and online learning.

But it’s hard to look at the sector and not conclude there has been a colossal failure.

* School attendance rates for term 1 fell below 50%.

* The polytechnic mega merger is said to be unravelling at pace.

* The leaders of 10 regional principals’ associations say schools are at or near breaking point because of the stress of staff and student absences. They have implored the government to reveal as soon as possible how it would help teens pass NCEA this year.

But who should be blamed?

Graham Adams: Richard Prebble using the C-word is a step change.

A year ago the mainstream media was busily reassuring its audiences that the revolutionary document He Puapua being waved about in Parliament by David Seymour was merely blue-sky thinking by a working group that could be safely disregarded because it was not government policy.

Things have changed dramatically since then. Last week, the New Zealand Herald published a column by former Labour Cabinet minister and Act leader Richard Prebble that described the push for co-governance with Maori — particularly in Three Waters — as a “coup”.

What was remarkable was not only the Herald’s willingness to publish such an inflammatory article but it used the C-word in its heading online: “Richard Prebble: Three Waters is a coup — an attack on democracy.”

Oliver Hartwich: Germany is stumbling towards an uncertain future

It is summer in Germany, and traditionally that is not good news. Or rather, it is not a good time for news.

When non-stories suddenly dominate the front pages in the UK, they call it ‘the silly season’. The German equivalent is ‘the summer hole’, which is an apt term for the hot issue of this year: a party song called Layla.

Layla is a bizarre chart-topper for a country that once regarded itself as a Kulturnation. There is a diametrical difference between Layla’s musical quality and Beethoven’s, and the song’s lyrics insult the language of Luther and Goethe. The little content they contain is crude, rude, and disgusting. This is no wonder because the song is about a brothel and its lead employee, Layla (“She’s prettier, younger, hornier / La-la-la-la-la-Layla”).

Now, Layla should not be worth mentioning, least of all to an international audience. But its tasteless content has led to its banning at some folk festivals and radio stations. And that, in turn, has created a debate on freedom of speech and sexism.

Mike Hosking: When Reserve Bank Governors are openly disagreeing, you know there's a problem

The value of Graeme Wheeler writing the report he has on the Reserve Bank and the shambles it’s made of the economy, is it shows us and shines real light on one of life's simple but often forgotten truths.

Just because you are touted as an expert doesn’t mean you actually know what you are doing.

Wheeler was our Reserve Bank Governor from 2012 to 2017. He joins, by the way, Don Brash who also held the same job in calling out our current boss, Adrian Orr and his handling of the Covid era.

Our bank is not alone. Lots of central banks essentially did the same thing. Depending on how mad they went, depends now on how bad the fiscal fallout for the average person now is.

Net Zero Watch: Half of Britons cutting back on food as they struggle to afford energy bills

 

In this newsletter:

1) Half of Britons cutting back on food as they struggle to afford energy bills
The Independent, 22 July 2022

2) Can the new Prime Minister survive the looming winter energy disaster?
The Spectator, 25 July 2022

Bob Jones: Dr Bob Brockie

Above is a Bob Brockie cartoon. A life-long leftie, Dr Brockie, now 90 is outraged by the Labour government’s maori nonsense.

Guy Hatchard: Ardern and Her Government Tighten Their Hold on Information Access in New Zealand

… and give us a glimpse into their enforcement methods.

Last week the government called for mask wearing to be enforced in New Zealand schools. Many schools have apparently decided to punish students who do not wear masks.

Asked whether she was happy that schools punished students who did not wear masks, Ardern ducked the question, denied the mandate, passed the buck, and still managed to appear happy for students to be punished. Ardern said:

Point of Order: Munificence for Mātauranga Māori

How the Ardern Govt is dishing out millions for projects from the arts to science

The Point of Order Munificence for Mātauranga Māori Monitor picked up the announcement from the Beehive this morning of more money being heaped into a trough unabashedly reserved for people from just one of the country’s many ethnic groups.

The latest handouts are being spruiked as further action taken by the government to protect Mātauranga Māori against whatever mischief Covid-19 might do to it.

NZCPR Newsletter: Unhinged Obsession

Climate change represents a major threat to New Zealand – but not because of the emissions produced by cows and sheep or from driving cars to the shops. The biggest threat comes from the unhinged obsession of climate fanatics – including New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – who are trying to force damaging policies onto the country that will have zero impact on the climate but will devastate the fundamentals of our economy.

First, some background.

Jerry Coyne: Indigenous psychiatry - how valuable is it?

I’ve written a lot about how New Zealand is valorizing indigenous knowledge, and the educational system is on the path to teaching Mātauranga Māori (“MM”)—a mixture of myth, legend, practical knowledge acquired by trial and error, and spirituality—as “science”, coequal to science in science classes. There is some science in MM, but as a whole it is certainly not the same thing as modern science, and many of its claims are either dubious or palpably false. To teach MM in science classes is to deprive the children of New Zealand of an understanding of science.

Many New Zealanders seems to regard everything about its indigenous people as not only valid, but admirable. A lot of it is, but many Kiwis are too cowed to stand up to some of the more questionable claims of the Māori, including the claim that their Polynesian ancestors discovered Antarctica centuries ago. I know about this fear because Kiwis who do stand up against nonsense get persecuted, and I get emails from lots of them who agree with me but say that they dare not speak up because they’ll lose their jobs.

Alwyn Poole: Education and the supply side of inflation

Yesterday this headline was in the NZ Herald: Missed opportunity: $3 billion lost in NZ each year due to lack of productivity.

There are two broad sides to determining the general price levels in an economy – the demand side and the supply side. Inflation can be caused by over pumping the money supply making interest rates low and spending relatively easy. Government spending can also play a huge part and there is no doubt that this government, under Grant Robertson, has borrowed [and] spent appalling amounts of money.

Cam Slater: NZ Leading the World Again…Oh Wait

If you only consume the news from NZ sources you’d think we were doing well. It turns out reality isn’t what they’d have you believe

The way our media gush about Jacinda Ardern and her Government you’d think we were doing astonishingly well in slaying the Covid dragon. Sadly, reality shows we are leading the world, just not in the way you think.

Bob Jones: Hypocrisy or human?

The hypocrisy of the left when it comes to personal gain, never surprises me.

The latest spectacular example is news that Britain’s Guardian newspaper is paying its editor, thanks to a massive 42% pay rise, a NZ$1m annual salary.

Like Stuff here, the daily Guardian newspaper’s free on-line issue makes pleas for donations from its readers. Last year this yielded The Guardian circa NZ$150m with over a million on-line readers pledging £1 per month and another half million making one-off payments.

All of that despite the newspaper having a base support from its owner, the tax exempt Scott Trust, which has a circa NZ$3billion investment fund used solely to fund the newspaper.

Garrick Tremain: Awards

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on clandestine awards! 

Mike Hosking: How is the benefit line growing?

There has never been a worse time to be on the Jobseeker benefit.

And yet 100,000 are. Tens of thousands more than were on it when the current government arrived in power. How on Earth is that possible?

And when are enough hard questions going to be asked about a government that protects the lazy, those without ambition, and a belief that the state, i.e you and I, should be paying their bills while they do nothing.

Bryce Wilkinson: How Central Bank mistakes after 2019 led to inflation

A research note released today by The New Zealand Initiative mainly attributes the outbreak of inflation in many economies to central bank mistakes.

Co-authored by Graeme Wheeler, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and Bryce Wilkinson, Senior Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, the paper argues that central banks overall:

Guy Hatchard: The NZ Government Wrests Control of Our Children’s Vaccination Status With the Help of Family Court Judges

Stuff newspaper under its banner programme ‘The Whole Truth’, which is financially supported by the government, trumpeted its satisfaction yesterday with the headline: “Covid-19: Family Court declines mum’s bid to stop her daughter being vaccinated”

In the latest of six Family Court decisions promoting Covid-19 vaccination for minors, another judge, Sarah Jane Fleming, has followed suit by ruling that a 12 year old girl should receive Covid mRNA vaccination against the wishes of her mother. The judge supported the wish of the father to allow vaccination.

Point of Order: James Shaw and the challenge for the Greens:

How to get the politicking right when you want to steer clear of the centre

A week ago Point of Order noted how James Shaw was fending off challenges, first from his political opponents on his climate change policies, and then against his co-leadership of the Green Party. He emerged unscathed from the first but then lost his co-leadership.

Yet beneath that quiet exterior lurks a man with intent.

He truly believes in what he is doing in shaping the country’s climate-change policy, and he is not blinking in the face of the challenge from within the party that he is not doing enough to stave off back the climatic apocalypse.

Kate Hawkesby: If Greens don't know who they want instead of Shaw, the whole thing is pointless

 

The Greens trying to roll James Shaw is about the most active thing I can think of that the Greens have done during this whole electoral cycle.

As a party you don't hear much about them doing anything, in part I guess because they're so wrapped up with the Labour party now that there's less theatrics and vocal opposition to things.

So it’s good to see them exercised about something - although a party in disunity is never a great sign.