Bob Edlin: The Parents’ Alliance - Post puts a spotlight on Jonathan Ayling....

.....but what are we supposed to see?

The headline on a report in the Post aroused PoO’s interest:

Former Free Speech head’s ‘useful skill set’ helped set up parent lobby group

The headline echoed the content of the first two sentences:

Bob Edlin: Champions of Maori flag raise questions about their grasp of sovereignty and history

RNZ’s audience might have been left wondering about the nature of the curriculum at St Stephen’s School, when they heard the reasons that students were giving for championing the Tino Rangatiratanga flag.

The students’ thinking about identity, history and culture is recorded in a report about a campaign to have the flag flown permanently alongside the New Zealand flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Campaign supporters are reported as saying this would recognise Māori identity, history and “the dual heritage of Aotearoa”.

Campaign organisers aim to gather 80,000 signatures in support of permanently raising the flag from Waitangi Day next year.

The flag now flies on the bridge each Waitangi Day before being removed the following day.

Bob Edlin: Family centre’s boss sits on Wellington City Council....

.....and three staffers soon may be sitting on the Porirua council

An article on the Scoop website reminded us that more than one election campaign is under way in one chunk of Porirua. A by-election is being fought in the Onepoto General Ward.

The Scoop article drew attention to Sāmoan educator and community services leader Lealamanu’a Aiga Caroline Mareko, who is running in the by-election.

Bob Edlin: The fast-track “beast” that bothers Shane Jones....

.....is the work of Parliament and its committees

Thoughts of Mary Shelley’s best-known creation were generated by Regional Development Minister Shane Jones’ denunciation of the time taken to decide on a mining application in Central Otago.

Always good for a colourful quote, he referred to the work of a ‘constipated bureaucratic beast’.

Bob Edlin: How Maori have thrived in the Royal Society environment

The champions of diversity policies for long have been bothered that Māori students and academics are under-represented in science courses and science departments in the country’s universities.

Overall Māori participation in higher education has increased over the years, but Māori make up less than 5% of total academic staff in science faculties.

Google steered us to papers published in 2020 and 2021 to support those figures.

One of the papers (pictured below)

Bob Edlin: Royal Society paper flaunts the Treaty....

......(in call for more govt funding for science) and bats for mātauranga Māori

Only in the past few decades has the Royal Society of New Zealand included the social sciences as an official class of scientific disciplines.

That shift controversially allowed a slew of professional social science organisations to formally affiliate with the society.

Bob Edlin: When names are gifted by Maori, they stick....

......even if a majority of submissions are opposed

Call a kaumatua and ask for a new name to be “gifted”.

That’s our advice to Green MP Julie Anne Genter, who is miffed about the name the Electoral Commission has given to the electorate which she hopes to represent in the next Parliament.

Names that have been “gifted” by local Maori have a strong chance of being adopted by public authorities.

Bob Edlin: A Treaty signed in 1840, sovereignty and genetic engineering....

.....Maori want a bigger slice of the action

An item on the Scimex website – drawing attention to a new research paper on the history of genetic modification in New Zealand – mentions “Maori” just once.

The paper to which attention is drawn, on the other hand, makes much of the role of Māori (or lack of it, we are led to believe) in the shaping of GM policy over the past 50 years.

The abstract says the authors trace five consistent threads across the complex history of GM,

Bob Edlin: Effective altruism.....

........a philosophy shunned by the Trump team but embraced by The Opportunity Party

I might have been busy thinking about mowing the lawns next day, or some such, on September 19 because I missed the chance to attend a conference on “effective altruism”.

The one-day conference, organised by an outfit called Effective Altruism Aotearoa New Zealand, was held at the National Library of New Zealand (not too far from my home).

Bob Edlin: Rainbow requirements and Treaty obligations......

......the HR issues that impede productivity but enhance diversity

PoO noted a Newsroom report headed Major export and construction firms warn against legal definition of women.

The report draws attention to objections raised to the Legislation (Definitions of Woman and Man) Amendment Bill, which aims to amend the Legislation Act to define “woman” as “an adult human biological female” and “man” as “an adult human biological male”.

Bob Edlin: Te Tai Tonga titillates the Nats on coalition options – but not for long

The Nats would – or should – have been troubling over their prospects of forming another coalition government after polling from 1News-Verian showed a Green surge and the left bloc able to win government.

That could be averted (on the basis of the poll results) only if National was willing to work with the Opportunity Party – and National leader Christopher Luxon has ruled them out of considerations.

Then came news of another possibility…

Bob Edlin: The Nats, Nicola and the no-new-taxes slogan.....

....maybe (to nobble Chloe) a new war whoop is needed

Some readers are likely to have choked on their cornflakes this morning as they contemplated the prospect of a Green Party Minister of Finance.

That prospect was raised by a few ominous headlines.

Bob Edlin: Yes, voters favoured scrapping the Maori Health Authority....

....but the Waitangi Tribunal wants it resurrected

By finding that the Luxon Government failed to do all sorts of things when it scrapped the Māori Health Authority, the Waitangi Tribunal has buttressed the case for its disestablishment which ACT and New Zealand First are promoting.

In a report released on Friday, the tribunal examined the Crown’s process for developing plans to address Māori health in place of a Māori health authority.

Bob Edlin: MBIE mandarins (it seems) have left Ministers out in the cold....

.....when it comes to overheated housing

PoO noted an RNZ report which said:

Advocates for people living in overheating new builds are dismayed that officials will not consider comprehensive changes to fix the issue until 2031.

Residents of the glut of townhouses and apartments built in the last few years have repeatedly raised concerns about dangerous heat in their homes during summer, because of common design flaws.

Bob Edlin: We are talking here about AI mischief at Stanford University.....

....but there are lessons for NZ media and our electoral laws

The name “Stanford” has popped up in a slew of news reports in this country in recent days, as Education Minister Erica Stanford wriggles her way – or tries to – through various controversies.

She and the Principals’ Federation president are firing insults at each other after she delivered a speech at a recent federation conference.

She is embroiled in controversy over Official Information Act issues (here and here).

Bob Edlin: Maori Party announces a pot of gold....

.....or rather, $66m a year – for a new commission at the end of the rainbow

If you think it’s great to learn something that extends your vocabulary, read on.

Then again, maybe it’s not a new word for you, and the writer of this article will be exposing himself as a bloke who hasn’t been paying attention to something which was incorporated long ago in media reports along with a raft of other te reo words.

Bob Edlin: New Plymouth’s Treaty lesson.....

....councils rushing restructuring plans mustn’t forget their consultation commitments

New Plymouth District Council staff have been being chided by councillors for not talking with mana whenua before taking a council reform proposal to Government. Their failure to comply with the consultation demands of the Treaty of Waitangi – inevitably – came into considerations.

How many councillors were dissatisfied with the staff is not clear. The council has a mayor and 14 councillors.

Bob Edlin: Lawyer’s concerns about the Waitangi Tribunal’s future....

.....raises good questions about who should govern

The PoO team, busily digesting news reports and opinions each day, inevitably encounters headlines that raise great questions about the way we are and should be governed.

That, in turn, raises questions about which party we should vote for.

An example pops up in The Post today –

If the Waitangi Tribunal is scrapped, who will do its job?

Bob Edlin: Todd McClay can see a difference between Air NZ and supermarkets....

....but Luxon ducked the question

Gerry Brownlee – who has ordered three MPs from the House of Representatives this week – seems to have lost the sense of humour that has been a feature of his term as Speaker.

Bob Edlin: Hikoi by horseback (or pony express)....

....how 52,000 names were delivered to Parliament after a five-day journey

PoO was somewhat surprised to learn that a hikoi involving 40 horses had arrived at Parliament with 52,000 names on a petition against proposed amendments to Treaty references in legislation.

We had supposed hikoi involved walking, marching or some similar activity that would require sturdy footwear.