Barry Brill: An absurd Ardern ambition

Thirty billion dollars ($30,000,000,000) is a mind-boggling amount of money.

That sum could buy dozens of new kindergartens or police stations or whole hospitals with medical schools. It could eliminate poverty or overhaul our decrepit education system. It could way over-fund the National Party’s tax cuts, for decades. It could even fund New Zealand’s yawning infrastructure deficit.

Leighton Smith chats to Dr Muriel Newman

Leighton speaks to Muriel Newman, from the NZ Centre for Political Research, on why New Zealanders need to make their voices heard.

They talk separatist government, the water debate (that shouldn’t even be happening), He Puapua (whatever that means), farming, and other damage the Arden government is inflicting on New Zealand.

Click image to listen - At approx 15.00 minutes in

John Porter: New Zealand’s Path to Ethnocracy

Today I’m trying to highlight how important your decision will be in the next general election, along with trying to demystify some of the jargon we are hearing.

Come late 2023 when election time rolls round, the New Zealand voting public will have one of their most important decisions, maybe ever, to make.

I firmly believe that the way we vote in the next general election will have a huge impact on our lives, our children’s lives and, quite possibly, our grandchildren’s lives.

Bob Jones: Wasting taxpayers money

Our print media are currently up in arms over the proposed merger of Radio NZ and Television NZ at a ludicrous cost of a third of a billion dollars. They claim it will produce a dominant news powerhouse and destroy competition.

Feasibly that’s possible albeit I’m a news hog yet never listen to the radio and being unable to speak maori, don’t watch our television news. But then I’m not necessarily representative of the wider public.

I was actually on the Broadcasting Commission of Enquiry three decades ago, which resulted in Radio and TV being split into two entities and I protested at the proposition which for the life of me seemed pointless, doing something for the sake of it. But my fellow commissioners ran with the British consultants who’s principal argument seemed to be that every other country was doing this.

Point of Order: Oops – our well-being is likely to be bruised as NZ slips down international rankings and we slump on economic performance

For long enough New Zealanders have liked to think they enjoyed one of the highest living standards in the world. More recently those familiar with what is happening in those countries which are leading the world have understood NZ has been slipping down the ladder.

Under a Labour-led government, the slide has accelerated. Now as inflation surges, and recession is looming on the horizon, new questions are being asked about the economic stewardship of the Ardern government.

Has too much been left to the Finance Minister Grant Robertson? How has he done in his fiscal management?. Why is inflation burning so fiercely? What has happened with his concept of “well-being”?

Oliver Hartwich: Is there an ethno-segregation agenda behind NZ’s water policy?

Visitors to New Zealand would have heard of the “land of the long white cloud”. But as they drive around its two large main islands, they will soon think of it as the land of the three waters. And they will wonder what that means.

These days, New Zealand’s rural highways are lined with “Stop! 3 Waters” signs. There must now be more of them than the ubiquitous nannying posters (“Take a break!”, “Arrive refreshed”, “Speed kills!”) Kiwis have become used to.

As it turns out, the three waters are not Lake Wakatipu, the Whanganui River and the Tasman Sea. No, they refer to drinking water, wastewater, and storm water. Unsuspecting visitors still might not realise why anyone would want to stop them.

So here is an explanation. As in many other countries, water infrastructure in New Zealand is owned and managed by local councils. The Ardern Government wants to change that. And this is where matters get complicated.