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Friday, November 8, 2024

Thursday November 7, 2024 

                    

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 7/11/24



On Captain Cook’s birthday, the govt introduces the Treaty Principles Bill

The four-page Treaty Principles Bill – as was portended in the media earlier this week – has been introduced and will be debated in Parliament next week.

RNZ reports:

Robert MacCulloch: Kamala Harris mistake - taking advice from Ardern....


(One of) Kamala Harris' Big Mistakes: Taking Rubbish Advice from former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

Its hard to think of anyone more out-of-touch with American values and beliefs than our former PM, Jacinda Ardern. How come? An influential view in economics these days is that the US system of relatively ungenerous welfare and low taxation is supported by the beliefs of ordinary Americans. Most of them believe in "The American Dream" - namely that effort is rewarded in the market place and that folks like Elon Musk deserve their wealth. Not just high income Americans, but low income ones as well, including Latin American immigrants. The flip-side is that 60% of Americans believe the poor are lazy, and as such, undeserving of high levels of welfare payments. These beliefs support the American equilibrium that many of us consider is behind that country's status as being the world's largest economy, with high rates of innovation and entrepreneurship, together with high inequality.

Mike's Minute: Mike's wrap of Trump's win


The best thing about the result is you can't argue with it.

You can hate it, but you can't argue with it.

To win not just the College, but also the popular vote, gives the result a legitimacy that is rock solid.

Brendan O'Neill: The unbelievably hilarious meltdown of the centrists


Let us all enjoy the bewilderment of the podcast ponces in response to Trump’s victory.

I have found my favourite image from yesterday’s historic election in the US. It isn’t a too-bronzed Trump wobbling to ‘YMCA’ after his victory speech. It isn’t any of those candid shots of Kamala campaigners sobbing into their flags. No, it’s a still of Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell looking baffled beyond belief by the results. There they are, the two podcast ponces, a couple of bloviators who’ve somehow managed to convince the centrist dads of the turbo-smug suburbs that they know everything there is to know about politics, looking positively dumbstruck. Or perhaps just dumb. It’s delicious.

Simon O'Connor: He's back!


Early reflections on the results of the United States election, and how I think we can say that the results show a clear divide between the 'elites' and people at large.

A remarkable and definitive victory for Donald Trump and the Republicans. There is no doubt about this result – it was a thumping of the Democrats. Among many reflections, I think the most striking and relevant is that there is a huge gap between the Democrats and their ‘elite’ supporters including many in mainstream media, and the American people. I will expand on this later, but in short, the issues that Harris and friends thought were relevant are not except on college campuses, newsrooms, and among other left wing radicals. It will also be these same groups unable to comprehend the result and will seek to blame their failure on anyone but themselves.

Clive Bibby: A time for healing - then anything is possible


At the time of writing, Donald Trump has been called the winner of the US Presidential election although by how much is as yet undecided. The final count may not be announced for another day or so.

Whatever - we know enough now from the votes that have been counted to surmise that the final vote will look like a landslide with Trump doing what no Republican candidate has done for decades - win the popular vote by a sizeable margin.

We can read a number of things from this incredible victory.

Roger Childs: Today is the birthday of one of the greatest explorers in history


Most people see James Cook as an iconic figure whose legacy in New Zealand is a modern, progressive, multi-cultural society. However, a small number of Maori extremists see him as a negative influence and claim he committed many crimes against the Polynesian inhabitants of the time. They do not disclose any evidence or sources and their case is flimsy at best.

Breaking Views Update: Week of 3.11.24







Thursday November 7, 2024 

News:
Base Woodbourne Resolution With Kurahaupō Iwi

The Government and three Kurahaupō Iwi have signed a $25.2 million agreement to resolve the post-Treaty settlement issue of contaminated land at RNZAF Base Woodbourne.

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō Trust, Rangitāne o Wairau Settlement Trust, and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Kuia each received $8.4 million after contaminated soil at Base Woodbourne near Blenheim prevented the three Iwi from purchasing a substantial part of the site as originally intended in their Treaty settlement redress.

NZCPR Newsletter: Transforming Our Future



When Labour launched their failed Three Waters scheme in 2021, which aimed to confiscate council water services and amalgamate them into mega-authorities controlled by Maori, one of the major concerns raised was over the financing of the scheme.

The quantum of the proposed debt was eye-watering - some $180 billion was to be borrowed. Their figures were made more attractive because the repayment of that debt fell outside of their 30-year cash flow projections!

This controversial funding arrangement was likened to a Ponzi scheme – one day the chickens would come home to roost and the money would have to be paid back.

Penn Raine: Party tonight at Mar A Lago!

One November afternoon in 2016 I came out of a three-hour meeting shocked to find that the world’s greatest power had elected the world’s most obnoxious man as its President.

I expected the USA to sink immediately beneath a tsunami of blood. I’m not exactly sure why, just that it seemed that the democratic process had slumped to the level of a TV game show. Of course, that that was before Ardern was elected.

I say I was shocked, but I was not surprised. It was obvious to anyone who listened to anything out of the States beside Oscar acceptance speeches, that John and Jane Doe wanted something done about the creep of the rust belt, the war on traditional values and the deluge of illegal migrants through its porous border.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: There are few things more political than a political leak

To the Treaty Principles Bill.

Despite David Seymour's best efforts to pretend that there's absolutely nothing to see here, there is no doubt in my mind that the government is planning to introduce the Treaty Principles Bill tomorrow to try to hide it - because they know full well, we're all going to be completely obsessed and distracted by the US election.

They know that if they get it out on Thursday, tomorrow, it's before the planned Hikoi even sets off on Monday.

Dr Michael John Schmidt: The US is not a democracy.


Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany, is often attributed with the quote, “If you are going to tell a lie, it may as well be a big lie.” Nowhere is this more apparent than in the US, where the Democratic Party frequently discusses “democracy” and how it’s supposedly under threat.[1] Goebbels also stated, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it and you will even come to believe it yourself.”[2] It’s crucial to recognise the scale of this statement in understanding the current political landscape in the US.[3]

Dr Eric Crampton: Taxing people unfairly just isn’t cricket


I can’t pretend that dinnertime on the 21st of October was anywhere near as exciting as dinnertime on the 3rd of November.

On the evening of Sunday the 3rd, I expect most of us were tuned into the final overs of the third cricket test, hoping that New Zealand would be the first to sweep a full test series in India.

By contrast, at dinnertime on Monday the 21st, I was possibly the only one in the country waiting for the embargo to lift on the Tax Foundation’s annual Tax Competitiveness report. Would New Zealand keep its third-place showing, or would Switzerland jump past us in the rankings?

Kerre Woodham: There needs to be some measure to keep people safe


There's been much political play made around outside organisations having the potential to use violence on at risk kids. And really, it's entirely the fault of inexperienced politicians in the Coalition Government that Labour and Te Pati Māori have got any traction on this at all. The PMs ‘I know nothing, I know nothing’, when he was questioned about this yesterday on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, the refusal to answer questions on a leaked document, it just makes a vacuum which the opposition can fill with accusations of ‘violence’.

Wednesday November 6, 2024 

                    

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 6/11/24



$8m govt “co-investment” puts meat traders on the gravy train – does this mean we stop beefing about farm subsidies?

This country likes to boast of having the lowest level of agricultural subsidies in the OECD – less than one percent of producers’ income. Our agriculture is a highly-productive, market-oriented sector, with minimal government intervention, we bray. Tariffs on agricultural products are among the lowest worldwide.

There would have been no surprise, therefore, that when the world’s trade ministers headed to a WTO meeting in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand was calling for an immediate capping of agricultural subsidies and urgency in reducing them to prevent and correct production and trade distortion.

David Farrar: The impact of alcohol monopolies


Simon Court said:

“My bill would repeal the monopolies held by the Invercargill, Mataura, Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts. It would break these communities free from silly rules and give entrepreneurial locals the ability to sell alcohol under the same rules that apply nationwide.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Capital Taxes


Dirty Politics: Ipsos Pollsters confess to The Platform that 87% of Kiwis Oppose Capital Taxes "in some form", but Radio NZ reported 67% "Support Them".

State owned broadcaster, Radio NZ, reported in no uncertain terms, with Big Bold Headline, "Survey of 1000 people shows 65% would support Capital Gains Tax". It stated, "A new survey shows the tax tide could be turning. An IPSOS survey of 1003 people this month shows 65 percent of those questioned would support a Capital Gains Tax or CGT". Then in another article it said, 'Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would support a CGT "in some form"'. What a pack of lies.

Mike's Minute: Trump is full of bullsh*t - but I think he'll win


If you forget the politics for a moment, a trait of Donald Trump I admire is his unrelenting persistence and unwavering belief.

In a contest no one can confidently call based on fact, as opposed to feels, or gut, or hope, I think I can very confidently say if Biden had stayed in it, it wouldn't even be close.

Age for age, just the sight of Trump stampeding across the landscape in the way he does would have left Biden gasping.

Brendan O'Neill: They still don’t get it


Why the elites remain so mystified and horrified by Trump voters.

They still don’t get it. Eight years after Donald Trump was first elected president of the United States of America, the elites remain mystified that such an anomaly could occur. They still view his voters less as rational beings to be engaged with than as a far-flung tribe to be studied. They still approach this curious horde – if they approach it at all – as a Victorian anthropologist might have approached a pre-modern people in the densest forests of Africa. ‘I went to CPAC as an anthropologist to understand Trump’s base’, wrote a ‘distinguished professor’ earlier this year, breezily unaware of the offence such pseudo-scientific studies might cause to those being studied. That’s another thing they still don’t get: how creepy they seem to ordinary people.

Ele Ludemann: Wasting time on trivia


Guyon Espiner had a 30 minute interview with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

It was an opportunity to learn a lot more about the man and his plans for New Zealand and there were some good parts, including the reasons why a Capital Gains Tax wouldn’t be a good idea.

But Espiner wasted too much time on issues that have been well canvassed like claiming the housing allowance, selling his apartment and poll ratings.

Simon O'Connor: Who is really making the decisions?


Increasingly, decisions around our daily lives are being made by unelected, unaccountable, nameless managers.

Just a few weeks ago, Organ Donation New Zealand announced they had been working on a national strategy for ‘Assisted Dying Donation’. This means that those seeking euthanasia/assisted suicide can also donate their organs after their death. For some readers, this will be a welcome development. For others, quite disturbing.

For me, it raised at least two red flags. The main concern has nothing to do with the ethical questions of euthanasia per se, but rather how this new strategy demonstrates how a managerial class of people - and not elected representatives – have made this decision. The second is ethically related, and that is whether such a strategy changes the quantum when it comes to motives and coercion around assisted suicide.

I want to concern myself with only the first today, and that is the fundamental issue of who decides the rules in New Zealand.

Dr Eric Crampton: The price to pay for a better heritage


New Zealand’s poor productivity statistics are less puzzling if you understand the country’s land use planning and consenting system.

It isn’t much of an exaggeration that, for many activities, anyone’s “no” can block anyone else from doing anything. It is hardly productive.

The government has promised to reform land use planning to make property rights the system’s foundation.

Kerre Woodham: Education shouldn't be left up to chance


Now we've known for some time that New Zealand's once world class education system is no longer – that it is failing. And I really, really feel for the teachers. Education has been hijacked by ideologues who want children to share their world view and care little for the fact that our kids have no idea how to spell world or view. Our literacy is bad, our numeracy is even worse.

JC: Tulsi Gabbard Tells It Like It Is


Get to know this lady: you’re going to hear a lot about and from her in the future.

Tulsi Gabbard is a lady with political smarts, and when she speaks it pays to listen. She grabs your attention. Why? When did you last come across a truly believable politician: a politician who speaks from the heart and eloquently vocalises her thoughts? I have not heard a better female political communicator since the days of Margaret Thatcher.

David Farrar: The Pākehā Project


Radio NZ profiles The Pākehā Project:

A group of Pākehā is embracing the opportunity to honour Te Tiriti, saying that a commitment to tino rangatiratanga strengthens, rather than divides, Aotearoa.

The Pākehā Project is an organisation of tangata Tiriti leaders who run programmes and workshops for Pākehā, aimed at deepening their understanding of the constitutional foundations of Aotearoa. …

Tuesday November 5, 2024 

                    

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 5/11/24



Govt to spend $2m on a maths teaching pilot (and pupils might learn that 2 + 2 is not as culturally obvious as it seems)

Whatever the government is doing, we will be paying, but only one minister today has given us an idea of what is being – or will be – spent.

Mind you, Ministers much prefer to boast about their investing rather than their spending.

Mike's Minute: The celeb trend for the election is a bust


One of the many things I have failed to truly understand about this election is just what is it they think Jennifer Anniston or Harrison Ford is going to do for your vote.

The celebrity endorsement has been a mainstay of the Democrat's campaign – mainly because there are very few so called “famous people” in places like Hollywood that aren't liberals. She has not been short of choice.

Professor Jerry Coyne: Move over, modern medicine - it’s time to collaborate with Rongoā Māori


Rongoā Māori is the “indigenous way of healing”: a combination of herbal and spiritual medicine used by the Māori of New Zealand. As The Encyclopedia of New Zealand notes, there were both supernatural and human illnesses, with the former treated through spiritual means (e.g., prayers, dunking in water, and other treatments described below), and the latter through herbal remedies. Here, for example, are the supernatural maladies and remedies:

Reynold Macpherson: Why Rotorua district does not have 50-50 co-governance

Between 2013 and 2023, Rotorua Lakes Council was prevented by Parliament and law from adopting a 50/50 co-governance model. In my view this outcome aligns with local preferences and broader trends in New Zealand and other democracies, such as the United States and Canada, where debates over governance models and minority and majority rights continue to evolve. 

This article outlines three key reasons for Rotorua’s reversion to pluralistic majoritarianism and situates them within the wider national and international context.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Luxon's corporate speak is not a big deal

The latest thing that isn't a big deal but will have a big deal made of it - because it's the Prime Minister - is that Chris Luxon has called us voters 'customers'.

He did it in a sit down interview where he was asked about being seen as out of touch, and he was saying he was because he talks to people all the time. He said -“It’s been a belief system of mine, talk to the customer, to the public, to the people and the voters."

Barrie Davis: What does New Zealand mean to me?


The United Kingdom is continuing down the path of illegal migration together with its attendant problems. Could the racial discord in Britain be a sign of things to come for New Zealand? Here are some recent events for consideration.

The British knew before the July 4 election that they were about to elect someone they did not want. But after 14 years of Conservative rule, they had no other choice. Brexit was about migration, yet the Tories did nothing with it. The boats continued to cross the channel and the UK detected 39,000 illegal migrants in the year to June 2024.

DTNZ: ‘Disgraceful’ - Select Committee blocks public submissions seeking transparency on MP expenses


In a controversial first, a Parliamentary Select Committee has blocked nearly 10,000 public submissions calling for greater transparency on how Members of Parliament spend taxpayer money.

The action has sparked criticism from the Taxpayers’ Union, which had organised the submission drive through a tool on OpenTheBooks.nz.

John McLean: It's unseemly (& not easy), bein Green


A snapshot of New Zealand’s former environmental political party

In May 2022, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand changed its rules to require one of its co-leaders to be female and the other to be “of any gender”, with one of them needing to have Maori ancestry. The Greens’ co-leaders are currently Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson, who between them appear to tick the boxes.

It’s devilishly difficult to keep abreast of the rapidly shifting Greens. My Greens snippets must therefore be snappy, because new weeds sprout fast and furious in the Greens’ rambling garden. Here goes…

JC: Why Harris Is Going to Get Trumped


In terms of the position America holds as the leader of the free world, this election is without doubt the most important in our lifetime. It is the choice between freedom, peace and prosperity – or the risk of World War III brought about by the warmongers in the Democratic Party.

Harris is going to get Trumped, quite possibly in a big way.

David Farrar: Does the TPM Secretary know he could face jail time?


I previously blogged on how the Electoral Commission referred Te Pati Maori to the Police for not filing their annual financials statements by 30 June 2024, as required by law.

Their party secretary is Lance Norman (a manager in one of the Tamihere organisations) and I wonder if he realises the personal risk he is at.

Kerre Woodham: Healthy teeth are vital for a healthy life


There is absolutely no doubt that healthy teeth are vital for a healthy life.

Poor dental care can actually kill you. There's a small number of cases from the States they read about recently where an untreated tooth abscess led to an infection that spread to the brain, and a number of children died as a result of that.

Monday November 4, 2024 

                    

Monday, November 4, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 4/11/24



A tariffying prospect for Kiwi exporters: Trump plans to tax imports – but a Harris presidency would be not much better

Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay today announced he will lead a large trade delegation to the 7th annual China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai next week, followed by a visit to Guangzhou. Maybe he should be preparing instead to head for the United States to do his best to counter American threats to this country’s trading interests.

The prospect of a second Trump presidency bodes ill for this country’s exports to the US – but, more ominously, his plans to slap stiff taxes on imports to protect American producers portend the sparking of trade wars around the globe.

Rob MacCulloch On Misleading Reports On Kiwis Support For A CGT


Sean Plunket talks to economist Rob MacCulloch on The Platform about misleading reports on Kiwis’ support for a CGT.


Click to view

Mike's Minute: Bring back the worth of a uni degree


Can I thank Mike Grimshaw for saying what he said?

Mike is at the University of Canterbury, a university by the way with a very good reputation, according to the vast swathes of late teens we currently deal with in our lives. There is great demand among students from all over the country

Anyway, Mike is an associate professor and wants university to return to elitism.

JD: Right...Orr Wrong


Guest post on The Good Oil by JD

When I was a young shaver, I was taught a simple lesson to explain how inflation works. Imagine, if all the goods and services in the country are represented by a box of 100 apples and all the money in circulation is represented by 100 dollars, then each apple is worth one dollar.

David Thunder: Jeff Bezos Is Right - Legacy Media Must Self-Reflect


I can count on one hand the times I have seen leaders of media organisations engage in anything that could be described as hard-hitting forms of self-critique in the public square.

One of those times was when Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on public record, in a letter to the Republican House Judiciary Committee (dated August 26th, 2024), that he “regretted” bowing to pressure from the Biden administration to censor “certain Covid-19 content.” Another was the almost unprecedented public apology in January 2022 (here’s a report in English) by a Danish newspaper that it had towed the “official” line during the pandemic far too uncritically.

Dr Bryce Edwards: The Govt’s self-certification proposal is a risky bet on house builders


The housing property development industry wants the “red tape” of building consents cut, giving builders the chance to “self-certify” instead of relying on local government housing inspectors. And the Government says they’ve been listening, and now propose some major alterations to the Building Act 2004, which will deregulate the consents process.

The self-certification scheme, introduced by Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, is framed as an effort to speed up building processes, and therefore lower housing costs. Many in the industry are, however, expressing concerns about the potential risks of deregulation, drawing comparisons to the leaky homes crisis and questioning the robustness of proposed safeguards.

The Government’s case for self-certification

Peter Williams: We don't want fries with that


A well performing local council listens to its ratepayers and residents. If the people don’t want something to be built, then it shouldn’t go ahead.

Which means the proposed new McDonalds in Wanaka should be a non-starter, dead in the water.

But will the deep pockets of the fast food giant keep pushing the case all the way to the highest courts in the land?

John MacDonald: We need to ditch this obsession with uni degrees


I didn’t go to university and there’s a bit of a dad joke that I trot out about that now and again. I say that I’m a student of life, in no rush to graduate.

So maybe I’m coming at this with a biased view of the world, but I agree with this academic at the University of Canterbury who is saying today that universities have just become factories that pump out people with degrees. And he wants them to become elite institutions again.

David Farrar: Major party vote share


There has been some discussion that NZ may follow other countries with the dominant major parties fading over time, to be replaced by more extreme ones. I thought it would be useful to look at the combined vote share for National and Labour under MMP.

Nick Clark: Wellington’s woes show need for local Government reform


When a council needs adult supervision, something has gone seriously wrong.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown's intention to appoint a Crown Observer to Wellington City Council reflects mounting frustration with the capital's governance. While intervention may provide temporary relief, it highlights deeper structural problems that require more fundamental reform.

Brendan O'Neill: Finally, a leader who’s willing to fight the culture war


Kemi Badenoch is the anti-Kamala, just the breath of fresh air the Western world needed.

Imagine if, a few years ago, you had told the wet leftists of the British establishment that one day there’d be a black woman in charge of a major political party and that they would freak out about it. That instead of celebrating this final breakthrough for race relations, these self-styled progressives would be bitterly murmuring into their muesli that ‘She’s a bit abrasive’ and ‘God help us now’. They’d have refused to believe you. Yet here we are. Kemi Badenoch has won the Conservative Party leadership contest and becomes the first black person ever to lead a major party in Britain. And the left ain’t happy.

Sunday November 3, 2024 

                    

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Nick Clarke: Trump or Harris, how the US election matters to New Zealanders


2024 is a significant year for elections with over 60 countries having been to the polls or are going to the polls this year. The United States election on 5 November is without doubt the most consequential.

Polls of New Zealanders indicate a clear preference for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. Our opinions carry no weight at the American ballot box, but the election result will have a big influence on New Zealand's economic and security landscape.

David Farrar: Kemi wins


Kemi Badenoch has been elected the 19th leader of the UK Conservative Party. She is the 4th woman and 2nd non-white to lead the party, while UK Labour have had 19 white male leaders in a row. This of course has not stopped a Labour MP calling her a white supremacist in blackface!

Here’s some facts on Badenoch:

Ele Ludemann: Are we the baddies?

Chris Trotter asks: are we the baddies?

In doing so he compares what is happening in New Zealand now with what happened in the USA between the abolitionists in the north and the slaveholding states of the south.