James C. McCrae: A Separate Health Department is More Home-grown Apartheid

A recent Winnipeg Free Press article – Citizens panel recommends Indigenous health department – by Katie May reports that a panel of thirty “randomly selected volunteers” is recommending a “dedicated Indigenous health department” in Manitoba, as an “undisputed priority”.

A health department exclusively for Indigenous people may not, however, be an undisputed priority of most Manitobans. Manitoba already has an Indigenous Affairs Secretariat. The very first principle objective of the Secretariat is: “influencing the development and delivery of policies, programs and services that help create safe, healthy and secure environments for Indigenous people.”

Garrick Tremain: Vincent

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on Vincent Van Gogh! 

Caleb Anderson: Is There a Pattern to our Education Resets?

New Zealand's education system is certainly under the spotlight at the moment.  An increasing number of people seem to be of the view that education in New Zealand has been going in the wrong direction for some time.  

Changes in curriculum design and delivery over recent decades mirror similar changes across many Western jurisdictions.

I have been working in the education system for more than thirty-five years and I thought it might be helpful to identify some significant milestone events (resets) during my career (and before) that, in my view, have made this decline inevitable.  

Liam Dann: Money Talks - Roger Douglas on losing faith in all the parties including Act

Extract from the Herald:

Roger Douglas, former Labour Finance Minister and co-founder of the Act Party, is plainly unimpressed with modern politics.

“Look at the last 20 years, you tell me anyone, any Government that’s done anything,” he says.

Douglas, now 86, probably has more right than most to make that claim, having been the key driver of an economic revolution in his four years as Finance Minister, from 1984 to 1988.

To many Kiwis it was a revolution that saved the country from bankruptcy, pulling it out of a spiral of debt and depression.

Karl du Fresne: A grotesque irony in the honours list

I have just sent the following letter to the Wairarapa Times-Age. It will be interesting to see whether they publish it.

Garrick Tremain: Honours!

Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on the new New Year's Honours announcement that Trevor Mallard has received a knighthood!!!

Clive Bibby: Get over it - we won, you lost!

I suspect Sir Michael Cullen (knight of the realm, and faithful servant to this country’s democratic process over many years and author of that quotation), would not have foreseen the dramatic collapse of a government so hell bent on destroying the proud record of its Labour predecessors. 

While never having voted for Labour in my lifetime, l have always been happy to recognise common sense and merit in arguments offered by those of a different political persuasion. 

Net Zero Watch: Net Zero will hamper West and boost China, warns CEBR

 

In this newsletter:

1) Told you so! Net Zero will hamper West and boost China, warns CEBR
The Daily Telegraph, 26 December 2023
 
2) China’s BYD to overtake Tesla as world’s biggest electric vehicle seller
Semafor, 29 December 2023

Brendan O'Neill: The unholy alliance between wokeism and barbarism

After 2023, surely no one will deny that Western civilisation is under threat from without and within.

My favourite story about Spinoza concerns the time he lost his cool. A philosopher, a Jew and history’s finest defender of Enlightenment, Spinoza was normally a picture of quiet reason. But when he heard about the lynching of Johan and Cornelis de Witt he became gripped by an uncommon fury. The de Witt brothers were key political figures in the Dutch Republic, the enlightened new nation in which Spinoza enjoyed such great liberty to think and write. On 20 August 1672, at The Hague, they were set upon by a ferocious mob that held them responsible for the invasion of the republic by a French-English alliance. They were murdered, mutilated and clumps of their flesh were eaten.

JC: Right vs Left Is Chalk and Cheese

Now that the political tables have been turned and everyone is back in their rightful place, the calamity that was the last six years is revealing itself in spades. You don’t have to dig very far: in fact you don’t have to dig at all. All that is required is the use of ears and eyes to either watch or read. Many of us have spent the last few years wailing about how little daylight there is between National and Labour and rightfully so. Labour lite was the frequently used term. No more.

Freddie Sayers: Anders Tegnell’s lesson for the Covid Inquiry

Sweden's former State Epidemiologist is still being ignored.

After thousands of hours of political inquisition and motivated reasoning, the UK Covid Inquiry has finally allowed mention of the single most important control group in the global lockdown experiment: Sweden. A written submission by former State Epidemiologist of Sweden Anders Tegnell, published in a dump of more than 700 documents on the final day before the Christmas recess, contains a barrage of uncomfortable facts delivered in typical Nordic deadpan.

Bryce Edwards: NZ’s “most powerful” lawyers

To understand who it is that runs a country, it’s always useful to focus on the top legal figures. Usefully, the annual list of New Zealand’s most powerful law figures has just been released – compiled by the Lawfuel website. See: The Power List 2023.

The annual law Power List always provides an insight into the changing nature of the legal eagles in both government agencies and corporate boardrooms. The annual list is especially useful in identifying the up-and-coming people behind the scenes, as well as giving a sense of how New Zealand’s elite is changing.

Sir Ray Avery: ‘We are a great little country that “CAN” ‘

Sir Ray Avery writes:

Lloyd Burr opinion: Christopher Luxon's ferry snub shows he's all talk on infrastructure In line with my New Year's resolution to call out Journalists who publish inflammatory and negative clickbait stories lets put Lloyd Burr on the list. 

The Government has canned a three-billion-dollar blowout for a new interisland ferry service and Lloyd Burr is claiming that Luxon is “all talk” with respect to investment in infrastructure.

Penn Raine: Who should be in the naughty corner? or let's copy Oz and the US and have Parliamentary hearings

Readers who rate reality shows and those who despise them could have either their enjoyment intensified, or their prejudices debunked by watching the US and Australian senate hearings on You Tube.

We used to have the balance of an upper House, the Legislative Council but it was abolished, too soon you might argue, as no longer useful. Here in New Zealand the offices of the Auditor General and the Ombudsman may or may not, depending on whom they feel aligned to, investigate government and corporate malfeasance and having done so the public may or may not get to hear details, depending on whether or not an OIA request gets ‘lost’.

Ian Madsen: FLOP28 - Climate proposals would devastate economy

Politicians, academics, celebrities, self-appointed activists, protesters, and green energy industry lobbyists recently gathered in Dubai at their annual Climate Crisis jamboree (COP28).  Their central belief, from their computer models, is that human-generated global warming will lead to a rise in average global temperatures of two degrees Celsius, ‘2 C’ or even more frighteningly, as much as 3 C to 4 C by 2100.  They claim that this will cause widespread health, environmental, and economic devastation.

Jeffrey Tucker: How to be sick with intelligence and dignity

Writing with a second bout of COVID—yes, it’s annoying but I’ll get over it—I’m thinking about all that we’ve forgotten about sickness over the last four years, and also what we’ve learned and relearned.

It’s been a very strange time, when ruling class interest groups all decided to get together and utterly panic the world’s population over a respiratory virus that is not fatal for the overwhelming majority of people. Whole economies were wrecked, and lifespans are falling, not because of the virus but because of the way governments have responded to it.

Derek Mackie: Labour - An Irreparable State of Mind

“Now Chris! Just lie back on the couch, relax, and let your mind empty. 

 That should be easy enough.” 

“If you say so, Dr Awlinurehed      [pron. All-in-your-head].” 

“Please, call me Izza. I strive to have a friendly, informal relationship with all my high-profile troubled clients.” 

 “You must thank Klaus again for me. I know you’re in high demand amongst the woke, Left-wing elite and I’m not deluded enough to think I’d get this appointment at short notice without his recommendation.” 

“I‘ll pass that on to Herr Schwab; he’s a close personal acquaintance.

I regard it as a great honour to provide psychiatric counselling to the vanguard of the neo-Marxist movement, who do seem unfortunately prone to mental imbalance on a regular basis. Indeed, it has become a permanent condition for a disturbingly large contingent of the most notable - naming no names, of course.”

 “Surely not!  Mind you, my predecessor was certainly acting oddly towards the end of her term in office.”  

“And don’t underestimate your delusions, Chris. That’s my job, remember. 

Now, what seems to be the problem?” 

Brendan O'Neill: Stephen Fry and the rise of woke anti-Semitism

The response to Fry’s Christmas message confirms that Jew hate has returned with a vengeance.

The great irony of the tidal wave of anti-Jew invective that has come Stephen Fry’s way over the past 48 hours is that it has perfectly proved his point. He goes on TV to say we are witnessing a ‘rise in anti-Jewish racism’ and right away there’s a spike in anti-Jewish racism. Even before he’d finished his touching fireside homily on Jew hate, the Jew haters were out in force to ask: ‘Who the f**k does he think he is?’ A Jew on TV? At Christmas? Wanging on about the victimisation of Jews? Vomit emoji. That was literally the response of the army of a*seholes that passes for the left these days, every one of them too dim to realise they were making Fry’s case for him.

David Farrar: Hipkins can’t point to anything they should have done differently

Radio NZ reports:

Two months on from Labour's election-night shellacking, leader chris hipkins still cannot pinpoint what the party could have done differently during the campaign to win.

Long may this lack of insight continue.

Peter Winsley: Te Tiriti o Waitangi cedes sovereignty to the Crown, and can be unifying rather than divisive

Repeated claims are made that Māori never ceded sovereignty to the Crown. These claims come from sources such as the Waitangi Tribunal, activists, academics, and from Te Pāti Māori. 

A display in Te Papa on an English language version of the Treaty of Waitangi has been vandalized, presumably because it stated that the Crown assumed full sovereignty over New Zealand.  Activists argue that the Māori language Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the only legitimate Treaty text, since most Māori assenting to a Treaty signed this version.  I agree with these assertions.  However, I disagree that in signing Te Tiriti, Māori did not cede sovereignty to the Crown.

Don Brash: The new government has one helluva a task in front of it: Compulsory indoctrination is unworthy of professional bodies

The other day, I became aware of another example of the way in which the last Government tried to embed its own narrow interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi into every aspect of New Zealand life.

This one involves the Real Estate Authority. Like many similar bodies, it encourages its authorized agents to get regular updates about the laws and regulations affecting their profession. In this case, real estate agents are required to do 10 hours of study on a variety of issues, theoretically relevant to the real estate industry.

Robert MacCulloch: How the Grinches Stole Christmas - what will happen the next three years?

Grant Robertson, our worst Finance Minister ever, and Chris Hipkins, the former Labour Leader who's desperate to cling onto at least some power, have left NZ with a broken economy. We are experiencing plummeting living standards, as measured by GDP per capita, which the NZ Treasury confirms has been going on for some time and is set to continue. So what will happen the next three years?

In short, Hipkins & Robertson want the economy to keep going backwards. They're placing bets on the new Coalition's (and country's) failure. They have a plan so depressing, at least we should bring it out into the open so everyone knows about it. 

Matt Ridley: Virology poses a far greater threat to the world than AI

Sam Altman, the recently fired (and rehired) chief executive of Open AI, was asked earlier this year by his fellow tech billionaire Patrick Collison what he thought of the risks of synthetic biology. ‘I would like to not have another synthetic pathogen cause a global pandemic. I think we can all agree that wasn’t a great experience,’ he replied. ‘Wasn’t that bad compared to what it could have been, but I’m surprised there has not been more global coordination and I think we should have more of that.’

Bryce Edwards: The Influencers and ideas getting New Zealand politics “back on track”

The role of lobbyists, interest groups and advocacy campaigners is in the spotlight a lot at the moment, especially with the new government forming, which always changes the dynamics of who has the ear of those in power. The ongoing question is whether certain campaigners and vested interests have an outsized or unexamined influence on public policy, government and society.

Clive Bibby: Observations from a sodbuster that may be of interest

The comments l am about to make will no doubt force a reaction from those who have difficulty facing reality even in a good week.

We all know these individuals in our society but few see the need to challenge them with the truth about what are the limiting factors to us all living in harmony even some of the time.

Roger Childs: ‘Honour the Treaty!’ But which one?

There is only one

As readers know the so-called “Treaty in English” was recently graffitied at Te Papa. One thing I am in agreement with the protest group Te Waka Hourua on is that there is only one Treaty – Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

So why do the Waitangi Tribunal, some historians and many Maori activists claim that there is an English text of the Treaty? If there was such a thing, it would be an exact English version of the Maori text.

 Tuesday December 26, 2023 

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Rupert Darwall: Britain’s Net Zero Disaster and the Wind Power Scam

“This is not about complicated issues of cryptocurrency,” assistant U.S. attorney Nicolas Roos declared in the Sam Bankman-Fried trial, after accusing the defendant of building FTX on a “pyramid of deceit.” Much the same can be said about the foundations of Britain’s net zero experiment. Energy is complicated, and electricity is essential to modern society and our quality of life, but as with FTX, the underlying story is straightforward: wind power and net zero are built on a pyramid of deceit.

Net zero was sold to Parliament and the British people on claims that wind-power costs were low and falling. This was untrue: wind-power costs are high and have been rising. 

Net Zero Watch - 2023: Global temperature, statistics and hot air

 

In this newsletter:

1) 2023: Global temperature, statistics and hot air
Net Zero Watch, 20 December 2023
 
2) Winning! EU Commission postpones heat pump plan until after the EU elections
Renewable Energy Magazine, 20 December 2023

Lushington D. Brady: Will Luxon Be Our Best Little Mate?

As I’ve previously observed, New Zealanders are fast learning the truth of Paul Keating’s claim that “when you change the government, you change the country”. For once, the changes seem to be trending in the right direction.

The new government is repealing Three Waters, promising to bin the Auckland Light Rail white elephant, the ute tax and more. It’s being dragged, however reluctantly and slowly, into a likely referendum on co-governance and clawing back the ‘interpretations’ of the Treaty of Waitangi.

JC: ‘Hole’ and ‘Sausage’ Fit the Bill

Nicola Willis and her use of the words hole and sausage could be deemed lewd on the one hand but entirely appropriate on the other. This lady is someone I am growing to very much like as a finance minister as she is growing into the role. It is easy to say anyone would be better than her predecessor but that would be an insult. She is showing the economic nous that has been sorely missing for the last six years. I believe her to be resonating with the public: the noises she is making will be welcomed by many.

 Sunday December 24, 2023 

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Bruce Moon: Anne Salmond at it again!

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” - Sir Walter Scott, “Marmion”, 1808

“The confounding of all right and wrong, in wild fury, has averted from us the gracious favour of the gods” - Catullus

Now, I am amongst the first to assert that dear Anne does not “practice to deceive”, but as the same time it is fair to say that some of what she writes has a very similar effect.

She writes in “Newsroom” for 15 December 2023 that “Maori and Pakeha think differently.”

NZCPR Newsletter: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear NZCPR Reader,

On behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

I would also like to say a huge thank you for backing us over the last twelve months. None of what we achieve would be possible without the wonderful support of our readers. Through your kind generosity the NZCPR informs public opinion and influences decision-makers - together we are helping to shape the future direction of New Zealand.

Alistair Boyce: The ‘RECKONING’…its “napalm in the morning”

In April ’22 on a forlorn post parliamentary occupation afternoon I looked up from my workbench as a dapper and wizened gunslinger, not unknown to me or anyone else, walked through to the designated outside leaner and settled in.

I had been waiting a long time for him even though it felt like he had never gone away. We had much to discuss, there were things I needed to say and things I needed to hear. But most of all I needed to see the look in his eyes. His eyes were wild, open, thinking and full of intent. And I knew he was back, and not a moment too soon. 

Breaking Views Update: Week of 24.12.23

Sunday December 24, 2023 

News:
'Fanaticism and barbarism': 'Offensive' Whanganui war memorial to be removed
The country's oldest war memorial will be removed from an historic Whanganui reserve following objections to an inscription condemning upriver Māori for "fanaticism and barbarism".

Whanganui River iwi representatives say the language on the 158-year-old Weeping Woman monument is offensive and a blight on the history of Whanganui.

Bruce Cotterill: Why we need a good dose of national pride

It feels like we need a good dose of national pride.

It’s been a challenging year in many ways. The end of a controversial government has left us almost unrecognisable from our 2017 selves. That government left us financially bereft and emotionally divided. Many New Zealanders are more fanatical than ever on matters of health, education, law & order, race, or even climate.

And as you would expect, our media coverage over this last year has reflected these matters and the growing uneasiness around many of them. But sometimes we all get a bit close to it all.

Capitalist: Who Are the Real Racists in NZ?

In recent times there has been a lot of talk in the media and elsewhere – actually it is just in the media and Labour Party circles – trying to paint the new Government as somehow “racist”. So let us analyse that to see if there is anything in it: something which professional journalists would do, except they don’t because it doesn’t suit their left-wing version of events.

Let us take an historical example; let’s compare how history views two groups of people and see if we discover a certain trend emerging within left-wing circles. Oh, and feel free to fact-check me; you’ll discover, as usual, I am right but merely saying something which makes left-wingers (and perhaps you?) uncomfortable because of its truthfulness.

Saturday December 23, 2023 

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Derek Mackie: 'Twas the night before Christmas

‘Twas the night before Christmas 

And at Parliament House 

Not an MP shit-stirring 

Was as quiet as a mouse 

Perce Harpham: Be Careful About Ideology

In the desirable rush to reverse so many of the undesirable things introduced by the previous Government I am concerned that they may simply be destroyed and the monies spent will be completely wasted. 

This concern arises from the Prime Minister commenting that the costs will be high because 5 year employment contracts will have to be paid out. 

Peter Wilson: Week in Politics -Treasury's grim forecast doesn't deter Willis

Treasury's latest forecast shows the extent of the economic challenges facing the government, but Nicola Willis isn't backing down on delivering tax cuts; Christopher Luxon goes to Sydney, vowing New Zealand will be a "bedrock partner" in regional security; and Parliament adjourns for the year after another burst of repealing zeal.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis is facing a difficult year balancing her tax cuts against deteriorating economic conditions, but there's no way she's going to back down.

Peter Schwerdtfeger, John Raine and David Lillis: Is the Decolonisation and Indigenisation Movement Dividing our Country?

Decolonisation and the Undermining of Sound Education

It is difficult not to be aware of cultural reshaping in New Zealand society. Moves have also been made by New Zealand’s Ministry of Education to politicise our schools’ education curriculum through casting it within a Treaty of Waitangi framework, and presenting mathematics and the sciences from a postmodern, relativist and decolonisation perspective which appears hostile to the core areas of student learning. Fortunately, the curriculum is now being further reviewed and developed but both this, and some university programmes, remain vulnerable to being used as a vehicle of cultural indoctrination. Here, we examine decolonisation, the need for open and constructive academic debate, and the imperative to protect democracy in New Zealand.

Bryce Wilkinson: More oversight of public spending needed

Thank goodness New Zealand has an Auditor-General who takes his official responsibilities seriously.

Last week, he released a damning assessment of recent ministerial processes for making funding decisions on two major infrastructure investment programmes.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 17.12.23

Saturday December 23, 2023 

News:
Hapū interests undermined in RMA roll back
Te Pāti Māori says the removal of the term hapū from new resource management legislation erodes the rights and interests of mana whenua.

The party voted against the law to repeal the Natural and Built Environment Act and the Spatial Planning Act and go back to the 1991 RMA while new legislation is drafted.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 22/12/23

We anxiously await news that the bloke in this sleigh and his team of reindeer have passed muster with our biosecurity authorities

Time is running out, but on behalf of the nation’s children we hope to hear soon that biosecurity officials have granted the appropriate permits for a team of reindeer to cross our borders.

We were alerted to the need for such approvals – and in turn we drew the matter to the attention of some of the big-wigs in the Beehive – when we received a press statement from American biosecurity officials:

JC: Roy Morgan Poll Shows up Left

Tuesday’s Roy Morgan poll was fairly accurate in reflecting the current political mood of the country. It showed the coalition parties on a sound footing with a combined 58 per cent support of voters. National was virtually unchanged at 37.5% (down 0.6%), ACT increased 3.9% to 12.5% and NZ First rose 1.9% to 8%. The alternative ‘coalition of chaos’ on the other side could only manage 36%, down 5.6% from the election. Labour’s support has morphed to a disastrous 21%, the lowest ever recorded in a Roy Morgan poll. As a result the objectionable Greens received a minor boost. The Maori Party also lost support.

Robert MacCulloch: How the Grinches Stole Christmas: what will happen the next three years?

Grant Robertson, our worst Finance Minister ever, and Chris Hipkins, the former Labour Leader who's desperate to cling onto at least some power, have left NZ with a broken economy. We are experiencing plummeting living standards, as measured by GDP per capita, which the NZ Treasury confirms has been going on for some time and is set to continue. So what will happen the next three years?

Bryce Edwards: Dark political clouds before Christmas

Commentators are still evaluating Nicola Willis’ mini-budget and the opening of the Treasury books. Most provocatively, Herald columnist Matthew Hooton, is calling today for the Treasury Secretary Caroline McLiesh to resign over how woeful the state of the New Zealand economy is. He points out that the Treasury boss says that any growth this year and next will be driven “almost entirely by population growth”, and that New Zealanders are going to continue in 2024 and 2025 to become progressively worse off.

Friday December 22, 2023 

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Garrick Tremain: The GG

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on Chippy! 

Caleb Anderson: Stop Asking Stupid Questions

Mr Peters' recent frustration with the media is understandable.  After a series of inane questions from the usual left-wing attack dogs he simply instructed them to "stop asking stupid questions" and then walked away.

And indeed their questions were stupid.

Amidst what might be seen as momentous discoveries and disclosures ... the cascading evidence of fiscal ineptitude by the previous government, corruption, sabotage, bullying, and lies and deceit, the mainstream media have deemed it of greater importance to focus on Teslas, Te Reo lessons and slips of the tongue.

Viv Forbes: When the Ice Returns

A long time ago
              the universe was made of ice.

Then one day the ice began to melt,
              and a mist rose into the sky.

Out of the mist came a giant made of frost,
              and the earth and heavens were made from his body.

That is how the world began,
              and that is how the world will end.

Not by fire
              but by Ice.

- an Ancient Scandinavian Legend, quoted by Robert W Felix in his great book: “NOT BY FIRE BUT BY ICE”.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/12/23

Stats that made the case for a Māori Health Authority might also have made the case for a change of government

A decline in rates of immunisation among children in recent years – particularly among Māori children – was drawn to the attention of Point of Order while we were considering a press statement from Health Minister Shane Reti.

We were tempted to suppose that putting health in the hands of Andrew Little might have had something to do with this.

Brendan O'Neill: A judicial insurrection against democracy

The Colorado ruling forbidding Trump from standing for election is a grotesque assault on democratic rights.

We didn’t need further proof that Trump Derangement Syndrome poses a graver threat to American democracy than Donald Trump himself, but we have it. The decision of the Colorado Supreme Court to disqualify Trump from holding office is the anti-Trumpists’ most egregious assault on democracy yet. It shows once again how willing they are to use the tactics of the banana republic, the sly schemes of a tinpot state, to take down a politician they love to loathe. ‘We are defending democracy’, they say, as they beat it to a pulp.