Ani O'Brien: A Week Is A Long Time - 14 June 2025

A NZ Politics weekly wrap-up

Total system failure resulted in teen’s death and no one wanted to talk about it

In January 2023, in New Zealand, a 17-year old girl died of starvation alone in emergency accommodation and wasn’t found for two days. When her distraught parents arrived to see her body a police officer scolded them for using her name and female pronouns because she “identified as a boy”. This was the final insult to injury for parents who had fought New Zealand social services (government and NGOs) over their child for years…

Penn Raine: Listen Up, Radio New Zealand

I’ve a lot of time for Stickman, Pak’nSave’s poster chappie, but wonder how he has resisted being dressed in a frock and rainbow scarf. Perhaps his Foodstuffs’ mum and dad took to heart how the Australian Woollies’ brand was vilified for snubbing Australia Day, and the subsequent defenestration of its CEO, Banducci. His attempts to paint a friendly face on the company whose shady majority shareholders are Blackrock and Vanguard by insisting chummily that he be known as ‘Brad’ did him little good. Although Ozzies had been peevish over Woolworth’s perceived price-gouging, it took Brad’s refusal to let them buy tacky plastic merch to celebrate their national day to persuade them to boycott the retailer.