Mary-Louise Kearney: Is UNDRIP enforceable under the law of a sovereign state?

Is UNDRIP - technically an aspirational non - legally binding UN mechanism - actually enforceable in national law? If so, why do politicians say the opposite? Are they seeking to allay citizens’ concerns? Or are they disregarding the reality of legislative processes?

Mary-Louise Kearney: Democracy - The Real Reset

An open letter to the leaders of  National, ACT and NZ First

Dear Gentlemen,

Hopefully you will read this message.  Whatever the Election outcome,  voters trust you will find ways to collaborate  effectively. Your common goal is to pull New Zealand back from the abyss after Labour’s gross mismanagement and outright deceit which leaves a legacy of shame.

Your  respective  policies all emphasize that  New Zealand faces unprecedented challenges to return to its  “first world country” status. This involves massive hurdles  and success is far from certain. The country is all but broken  with complex issues in all directions.

Mary Louise Kearney: The Prime Minister‘s Cloak

Did the New Zealand Prime Minister send a clear message to the world on Coronation Day? And did New Zealanders grasp this?

“The medium is the message”  is the famous catch phrase of  the Canadian Communication theorist,  Marshall McCluhan, and  the title of the first chapter in his 1964  book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man.  He contended that how a message is delivered strongly affects its impact and therefore  transmission should be the main focus of attention.   

Two channels of delivery are of paramount importance:   clothes and occasion.   Their interplay is the subject of Caroline Weber’s award-winning book, Queen of Fashion. What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, which scrutinizes the politics of public image and costume.

Mary-Louise Kearney: Co-governance - "It’s the veto issue, stupid”

(With apologies to James Carville, 1992 Democratic Campaign)

Have you noticed how rarely any co-governance discussion mentions or analyses the veto element of this issue?

Certainly, recent articles have focused attention on the co-governance model advanced by the Labour Party, the Maori Caucus and their numerous Critical Race Theory-trained supporters. The common agenda of this group is to replace New Zealand’s democracy by a system of governance based on equity and ethnicity.