Graeme Reeves: Is New Zealand a “secular” society or have we descended into a “sectarian” society?

Noted humanist and author Jim Herrick defines secularism as follows,” Secularism in the largest sense means that people do not refer to religion to make decisions, to adopt policies, to run their lives, to order their relationships, or to impel their activity.”  

For our purposes we can substitute the word    “people” with the word “state”.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines a sectarian as, “a person who very strongly supports the religious or political group that they are a member of, in a way that may cause problems with people of other groups.”

At the inaugural meeting on the Kaipara District Council’s Council meeting the New Mayor intervened when the newly elected Maori Ward Councillor attempted to recite, without notice or consent, a Karakia.

The Mayor justified his action as follows,” This is a council that’s full of people who are non-religious, religious, of different ethnicities and I intend to run a secular council here which respects everybody and I will not be veering from that .”

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Truancy announcement is just vote buying

Look, I really want to believe that 82 new truancy officers are going to turn around our falling attendance rates at schools. 

But we live in the real world, so here are some real world facts:

We have 2500 schools and 815,000 students in this country.

That means each of those officers is going to have to cover 31 schools each. Each of those officers is responsible for 10,000 students each.

If the figures are to be believed and 54 percent were truant in term three last year, then each of those officers are supposed to chase up 5400 students regularly.

Mike Hosking: Cyclone looting was inevitable so where are those in charge?

It doesn’t take long for the ugliness to surface in a crisis.

We have friends in Auckland who have a visitor from Hawkes Bay staying with them because she is afraid to be alone at night.

She is afraid to be alone at night because her neighbourhood is getting ransacked by gangs stealing stuff.

Point of Order: Govt pumps $74m into truancy package....

......but will Tinetti be a dunce, or will she prosecute parents and earn top marks

Two cyclone-related announcements were found on the Beehive website this morning. But a ministerial announcement that triggered a tart response from ACT – about truancy – had not yet been posted, although it was the subject of a front-page headline in the Dominion-Post today.

The headline was $74m package to fight truancy.

Mike Hosking: The Waitangi Tribunal has been taken over by activism

It is widely accepted by those who follow such matters that the Waitangi Tribunal has become wildly activist.

It is now, without question, a brilliant example of a decent idea gone horribly awry.

As Anthony Albanese struggles to drum up support for his voice vote, which will almost certainly fail, he has looked here. In fact, many people have looked to New Zealand and our attempts over what now is many decades to rectify past wrongs.

Ironically, history increasingly shows the Government's that have made the most progress have been National ones.

Cam Slater: Will the Govt Response Lose or Win Them an Election?

As the scale of the disaster of Cyclone Gabrielle on the East Coast of the North Island is becoming more and more known, people in the region are starting to wonder whether the Government response will be like the response in the US to Hurricane Katrina, which ultimately cost George W. Bush an election, or will it be like the Christchurch earthquake response which helped John Key win an election.

The people on the ground who are struggling to deal with everything are starting to think it will be like Hurricane Katrina.

Some key examples come to mind. On Sunday there were twelve helicopters sitting on the tarmac at Napier airport doing nothing because no one had tasked them to do anything.

NZCPR newsletter: Cyclone Gabrielle

Cyclone Gabrielle was a tragedy that has exposed life-threatening frailties and failures within our infrastructure network.

Once the immediate problems have been addressed, a comprehensive public inquiry rather than the internal government review signalled by the Minister for Emergency Management, should be held to ensure that lessons will be learnt and changes made to mitigate the effects of potentially damaging natural events in the future.

Ian Bradford: Using a fake treaty has got Maori to where they are now. Here is the truth about the treaty.

So many claims have been made by Maori  that the Treaty Of Waitangi  is a partnership,  that the rest of us have to abide by the principles, that special consideration should be given to Maori and so on.  With thanks to the excellent research by Martin Doutre,  here is the truth about the Treaty. 

Let’s start with the correct three articles of the Treaty.

Chris Trotter: The Privatisation Two-Step: Is Three Waters A Masterpiece Of Misdirection?

If cabinet fails to scrap Three Waters and start again, New Zealand may very quickly come to resemble Bolivia. Not the Bolivia of today, where a socialist government elected by a huge majority holds sway, but the Bolivia of 1997. That Bolivia had been ordered by the World Bank to privatise its water – on pain of being refused the loans it so desperately needed to keep its economy afloat. Taken over by French and American corporations, Bolivia’s water resources were very quickly priced beyond the reach of its poorest – that is to say, its indigenous – citizens.

Unsurprisingly, the Bolivian Government soon found itself in the grip of a massive popular uprising. In 2005, after five years of unrelenting struggle, the indigenous Bolivians forced their government to terminate the concessions granted to the French and the Americans.

Kate Hawkesby: Cyclone Gabrielle: 'Our optimistic and resilient nature also prevents us from complaining and asking the questions that need to be asked'

Someone wrote to me over the weekend and made a really good point after I talked about the resilience of people last Friday. 

They said it was true, that often times a disaster can bring out the best in people or —as we're seeing with the looters— the worst, in some cases. But they made the point that a part of that optimistic and resilient nature also prevents us from complaining because we don’t want to appear as whingers when there’s always someone worse off. 

But as a result of that, they pointed out, the focus can shift away from questions that need to be asked. And as a resident of Hawkes Bay, these were his questions: what are the three things you need to be working in a disaster? Communications, power and roads, he said. What failed in Hawkes Bay, and continues to fail in many parts: communications, power and roads. 

Cam Slater: Time to Swing the Axe on Government Spending

As the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle starts to be fully understood, it is going to force the government into making some unpalatable decisions that will affect its re-election chances. But they are decisions that will have to be made, and made sooner rather than later.

In an article we published on the weekend we heard from Nick Stewart, who lives in the Hawke’s Bay, just how much damage there is, not only to public infrastructure but also to private housing, farming and agriculture. The orchard industry in the region is worth approximately $6 billion to New Zealand in exports. That is now almost completely destroyed.

I know of one orchardist who has lost more than 100 hectares of apple trees. There are many other tales like this. Vineyards are buried under metres of silt, the Esk Valley is destroyed and many other agricultural production business are devastated.

Garrick Tremain: Our of sight

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on inhouse political party deals! 

Tony Orman: Book Review - ‘New Zealand’s History Curriculum ~ Education or Indoctrination?’

The Ministry of Education’s prejudiced social engineering and indoctrination

Roger Childs has been a teacher of geography, social studies and history for 40 years. In addition he has worked on many social sciences curriculum and examination contracts for the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs and has been an author and co-author of several school textbooks, including history ones.

He is therefore very well qualified to carry out a critique of the Ministry of Education’s controversial new history curriculum. In this book he works his way through the curriculum and concludes “The final curriculum published in 2022 is a case of deliberate, pre-meditated social engineering. This curriculum is more about Maori studies than New Zealand history.”

Thomas Cranmer: Covid and our Kiwi Kids: The Ministry of Health responds

'... it is also not possible for Manatū Hauora to make comment on why the government did or did not implement recommendations from its experts or advisors'.

Prior to my two Covid articles in mid-January (available here and here), I contacted the Ministry of Health for comment. I have now received their response and have set it out below along with some of my own additional observations. Some queries have been redirected by the ministry to the Office of the Minister of Health for additional comment and will be provided to me in due course.

Michael Bassett: Cyclones and politics

In February-March 1988 when Cyclone Bola hit the eastern North Island I was Minister of Civil Defence. I remember flying crab-wise into a howling gale to a closed Gisborne airport in a small Air Force plane in order to get an immediate handle on the crisis that was unfolding. I met with local officials and put them in touch with the Beehive national emergency team. Prime Minister David Lange followed a day or two later by helicopter, dropping in on isolated farms and settlements with bottles of water and assurances that the government was doing what was needed to help the recovery.

Stuart Smith: The Basics of the Treaty

Waitangi Day has been and gone with much ink spilled over what it means for present-day New Zealand, and where we go from here.

The Treaty was drafted in English and translated into Maori and, while there are disputes about the meanings of different terms, there is no compelling evidence that the Treaty said anything more, or indeed less, than the three articles below:

Thomas Cranmer: Balancing Free Speech and Protecting Religious Beliefs - The Complexities of Hate Speech Laws

The government's most recent failed attempt to enact hate speech laws shows just how difficult it is to strike the right balance between free speech and the protection of religious beliefs.

The tension between free speech and the protection of religious beliefs has long been a subject of debate around the world, and the complexities of hate speech laws have become a challenging issue. In New Zealand, this debate has been especially prominent in recent decades, with several high-profile cases and tragic events bringing the issue to the forefront of public discourse. In this article, we will explore some of these cases both in New Zealand and abroad, and examine the challenges faced by governments in balancing free speech and religious beliefs.

Thomas Cranmer: Tūhoe ~ co-governance is not our word

Recently obtained board minutes from Te Urewera reveal a troubled relationship between the Board and Crown, a Board that rejects the term 'co-governance' and is wary of the court of public opinion.

Last week Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson admitted that the ship had sailed on explaining co-governance to the public, which is why he conceded that it needs to be reframed in a way it can be understood.

Jackson believes that he’s worked out the two areas the Government has gone wrong with explaining co-governance.

Guy Hatchard: Our Politicians Believe They Can Do No Wrong

The pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in people. In order to understand what is going on, we need to refer to history. When dictators empower supporters to persecute, oppress, and blame a segment of the population, things rapidly go from bad to worse as the inflamed followers seek to outdo each other in extreme actions. Once the privileged group is allowed to openly hold outlandish opinions and act upon them without censure or restraint, things rapidly get out of hand. Traditional values of justice, morality, and kindness are readily abandoned.

Point of Order: Not as simple as it looks

The international commentariat may be forgiven for believing new PM Chris Hipkins has relaunched the government rather well.

First a clever pivot to the centre and now a compassionate and inclusive focus on disaster recovery.

Giving credence to rumours that the key strategic brains agreed and executed a skilful change of direction rather well.