Cam Slater: Hipkins Bonfire Put Out with Three Waters

Despite claims of a policy bonfire by Chris Hipkins, the Government is pushing ahead with its divisive race-based water policy. Auckland and Northland will be the first casualties, after new legislation was introduced to parliament this week.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins owe the people of Northland an apology

 

The Prime Minister and Chris Hipkins should just apologise to the people of Northland.

Of course they owe them an apology. They let three women cross the border from Auckland to Northland.  They gave them permission. And those women took Covid with them and Covid - back then - equalled a government lockdown.

Yes, it wasn’t Jacinda and it wasn’t Chris who signed off on the permission for those women to go over the border. It was some faceless bureaucrat in MSD. But it was the system that Jacinda and Chris designed and they are more than happy to take the credit for all the times they think their system worked, but they are not happy to take the blame when their system didn’t work.

Kate Hawkesby: Can truancy be solved by student-led solutions?

 

I saw a story yesterday that caught my eye because it was positive and seemed to be offering up a solution by way of cleaning up truancy rates. It’s a campaign being run in Northland, and according to the story I saw, it’s having great success at stopping kids from wagging school.

"Let's Get to School Tai Tokerau" is running in 150 schools across the region and at its heart are messages from children explaining why the classroom is a good place to be,” the story said. 

HDPA: Is anyone else surprised Northland iwi stopping cars is now legal?

 

Did it take anyone else by surprise to hear the Police Commissioner reveal the Government’s made it legal for iwi up north to stop your car?

Yeah, me too. 

So I checked it out.

Turns out, they did change the law.

Two weeks ago, on November 20 — a Saturday — they inserted a new bit into the Covid-19 Health Response Act granting the power to “close roads and public places and stop vehicles” to members of iwi organisations.  

It’s there in black and white.

Barry Soper: The Pulpit of Truth is fast becoming the Pulpit of Strewth

 

If you ever have any doubt that this Government has a credibility problem, you only had to tune into the latest sermon from the Pulpit of Truth to confirm it.

This is a government, don't forget, that Jacinda Ardern promised would be the most transparent administration that we have ever experienced. It'd be a pure as the driven snow.

Bollocks.

Two women have been holding Northland hostage for the past week.   They crossed the border illegally to get there and travelled widely in the far north.