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Friday, March 29, 2024

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Luxon's challenge - Fiscal discipline or tax cuts


New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000.

Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s loose spending habits left New Zealand’s public finances in a parlous state. That includes items like throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at a hagiography for a retired politician.

John MacDonald: I could never be a teacher


One thing I know with absolute certainty is that I could never be a schoolteacher.

A few more people might be saying that today after the news that the behaviour of school kids in New Zealand has worsened over the past two years, making them among the worst-behaved in the OECD.

David Farrar: Bad GCSB


A quite stunning report by the Inspector-General of Intelligence. He has found that the GCSB hosted in New Zealand a signals intelligence system controlled by a foreign partner agency, and failed to even mention it to their Minister, or indeed their incoming Director!

He finds that the capability operated at GCSB:

Dr Peter Winsley: Biochar for productivity and climate change mitigation: What are we waiting for?


If you wanted to invent a country best placed to manage climate change it would look a lot like New Zealand. An island nation in the middle of a vast ocean, since oceans take the rough edges off some climate change extremes. Mountainous, with abundant water, hydropower resources and geothermal power. A high coastline to land area ratio and in the “Roaring Forties”, assuring high wind power capability. Low cost, high carbon wood to underpin new sustainable development opportunities.

Thursday March 28, 2024 

                    

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 28/3/24



Past plans are undone by a government keen to make the most of ocean resources and cut that “dam red tape”

Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so.

Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected to fall on eastern and northern holiday hotspots.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Hipkins' 2026 Election Strategy is Already Obvious


Hipkins' 2026 Election Strategy is Already Obvious - he wants NZ to fail so he can argue asset taxes are the only way out (which will make things worse).

The No-Principles Labour Party Leader, Chris Hipkins, was led by his focus groups & in-house pollsters to drop capital & asset taxes as a platform to fight Election 2023. They told him proposing such new taxes would be a losing strategy. Consequently he threw former Revenue Minister, David Parker's, plans back in his face.

Cam Slater: Imagine If the Sign Said ‘Colored Only’


There are some folk who haven’t realised that Kiwis rejected racism, separatism, and segregation at the last election. The parties which promoted those policies, Labour, Green and Maori, got bundled out of office. Now a storm has erupted over a sign at Auckland University.

Act got into the debate, as has Winston Peters:

Breaking Views Update: Week of 24.3.24







Thursday March 28, 2024 

News:
University of Auckland student shuts down segregation allegations levelled by Act Party

University of Auckland law student Shakeel Shamaail, of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kurī and Taranaki descent, was outraged at the Act Party’s position, saying the spaces are vital for wellbeing and counter discrimination they face daily.

The spaces for Māori and Pasifika are a long-standing tradition at the University of Auckland and were championed by writer Ranginui Walker and politicians Hone Harawira and Efeso Collins.

Gary Moller: Is tribalism the greatest threat to our liberal democracy?


The other day, my grown son visited the doctor for a minor concern and was surprised when they didn't charge him. Despite his offer to pay, they refused to accept it. Interestingly, I also went to the doctor for a minor issue, but was charged $80 for the brief ten-minute visit. The reason for this discrepancy is clear: I am a retired white man, while my son is a working man with brown skin, just like his mother's complexion. We are a family divided by privilege based on our skin colour (race, or tribe). So, also, increasingly, is the entire country.

Suze: NZ Muslims Are Yet to Object Publicly


It’s one and the same for fringe minorities seeking public affirmation through exploiting great chasms of tolerance embedded in our Christian-based law but the answer is not to adopt law changes instilling intolerance, but to nip the opportunists in the bud.

Trannies did it in public libraries up and down the country until Brian Tamaki recently cottoned onto their penchant for openly subjecting young children to flamboyant eroticism. He then campaigned against library events, successfully shutting down the Rotorua Public Library event after canvassing local support and threatening the Hastings City Council with the same.

Alwyn Poole: School Lunches: The $324million question (or ten questions)?


1. Why are some children in NZ going hungry in 2024?

2. What is it about our welfare system that needs to be fixed to ensure every child receives breakfast, lunch and dinner via their parents or caregivers?

3. Prof Boyd Swinburne stated this week that the school lunches have improved school attendance by 3 days a year (.75 days per term, 0.075 days per week) and had shown some mental health improvements. Is the $324m on food the best way to do that? How about the mental health gains from actually doing well at school – not just eating a sandwich?

Dr Eric Crampton: Anti-Money laundering laws hurt competition, and vulnerable groups


It isn’t that there are never $20 notes lying on the footpath, it’s that when markets are working well, there are strong incentives to find and pick them up. A $20 note shouldn’t have to wait very long before being grabbed.

When someone insists there are $20 notes on the footpath, it’s a good idea to check whether it’s simple and legal for someone to go ahead and collect them. If it is, are we sure the free money isn’t a mirage? If it isn’t, that tells us where the work needs to start.

Ele Ludemann: Minding other people’s business


What drives people to mind other people’s business?

. . . Her name — and her number plate — are the same: Karen. And now an email from Waka Kotahi NZTA has told her that someone, somewhere has complained about it.

Apparently the complaint to NZTA says:

David Farrar: The UK shows why it is one of the most tolerant countries there is


Vaughan Gething has just been elected as First Minister of Wales. He is black (his mother is Zambian) and this makes him the first black leader of a country in Europe.

John MacDonald: What a bunch of pushovers we are


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. We are the People’s Republic of Pushovers.

This time, we’ve been pushovers over this apparent cyber-attack on Parliament and spying on our politicians by China.

It happened two-and-a-half years ago, but it was only yesterday when we heard about it. It was something of a staged announcement with the United States and Britain, which were also targeted.

Kerre Woodham: Should you put caveats on second chances?


When it comes to second chances for people, do you put caveats on those second chances?

So you're allowed a second chance, but you must refrain from being in the public eye. Or you're allowed a second chance, but you must always present a subdued demeanour and never look as though you're enjoying life ever again.

Wednesday March 27, 2024 

                    

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 27/3/24



After hogging out on the Budget Policy Statement, media had less appetite for science reform “plan” (which is to seek advice)

The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities

This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver urgently needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders” while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track.

Mike's Minute: Why are we surprised about China?


It was hard to watch the China spying coverage yesterday without wondering what all the fuss was about.

It had an air of breathlessness about it, as though this had come as some sort of surprise.

Does the fact China spies on people honestly come as news to anyone? I guess hacking, as the PM suggested, is new, but spying and hacking... it's all nefarious skulduggery, isn't it?