Simon O'Connor: Montreal Burns

Why is it so hard for politicians and media to call out violence when initiated by certain groups? Plus a few observations on the ongoing hypocrisy of some New Zealand sportspeople.

You will have not seen any reporting here in New Zealand, but a few days ago there were significant and violent riots in Montreal, Canada. Police were attacked, cars burned, buildings smashed, fires lit, and calls for revolution and to globalise the intifada.

As you might expect, it was the usual suspects: Pro-Palestinian groups, supporters of terrorist organisations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Marxist radicals, anti-capitalists, anti-NATO activists, and other revolutionaries and anarchists.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: How to Break Monopoly power in the NZ Economy....

Finance Minister Willis Challenges DownToEarth.Kiwi to give her "ideas" about how to Break Monopoly power in the NZ Economy. Here they are.

When interviewed by Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB yesterday, Finance Minister Willis said, "And I'd like to put this out to Robert MacCulloch: if he has more ideas on how we can drive competition in the NZ economy, to break up some of these duopolies that are making too much money out of New Zealanders, then I am up for those ideas". I've already done so. Her National Party rejected them. Despite knowing some of her colleagues, who've asked whether she'd like to meet to me, she never did. Why not?

Peter Williams: Close to a COP out

Some Climate Conference decisions were laughable

There have now been 29 Conferences of the Parties or COPs to try and come to some agreement about what the nations of the world should do about climate change – that’s if they can actually do anything.

Doesn’t that tell you the exercise has been pretty much a waste of time since COP 1 at Berlin in 1995.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Finance Minister Willis is Sitting on a Gigantic Fiscal Hole....

Finance Minister Willis is Sitting on a Gigantic Fiscal Hole - she's conjured Figures in Budget 2024 that Contradict Treasury's Long Term Fiscal Forecasts.

Should the assertions in this Blog be even roughly correct, it looks like Finance Minister has a lot of explaining to do. Where's the evidence? Well, the long term fiscal situation is one my fields in economics - we even flew out the guru on such matters, Larry "Fiscal Gap" Kotlikoff, from the US several years ago. I organized a meeting between him and PM English, as well as other Members of Parliament. The graph below comes from the NZ Treasury's Long-Term Fiscal Forecasts. It was released in 2021. The forecast for 2035 is that the Budget will be in deficit by about 2% of GDP (as measured by the excess of Core Crown primary expenses over Core Crown primary revenues). Given GDP is around $400 billion, we're talking about $8 billion per annum. That kind of number causes our national debt to explode. The excess is mainly due to the ageing population putting pressures on health and pensions spending.

David Farrar: Scheme to levy fees on search engines and social media sites

How annoyed would NZers be if NZ news media were no longer findable on search engines and social media?

Readers will be aware that the Government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill has seen both Meta and Google warn that rather than pay a levy under the proposed law for links to news stories, they would block NZ news stories from Google and Facebook.

Curia was asked to poll 1,000 New Zealanders on:

Tom O'Connor: That Bill

If opponents to the Treaty of Waitangi Principles bill would take the time to read it they would see that it is no more than the principles of law which have applied in New Zealand since 1841 and in England since the Magna Carta of 1215. They are not new.

I don’t know if the bill – as currently written – is the right solution to the uncertainty created by the application of undefined principles of the treaty, but the status quo is clearly untenable in the long term.

Kerre Woodham: We need to do something about preventing obesity

The health system, well, we're not really talking about the health system, but how not to get into the health system because every time we talk about the health system, we talk about the need to stop people getting into the health system in the first place, the need to focus on prevention rather than cure.

And the Helen Clark Foundation has come up with a new report calling on politicians to take a new direction when it comes to problems with obesity and the health problems related to obesity.

Monday November 25, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 25/11/24

Watts will be bracing for the cold in Antarctica while Luxon is bracing for a White House change (and Trump’s taste for tariffs)

He could read about it or watch a documentary – but Climate Change Minister Simon Watts is a fellow who wants to find out for himself. Hence he is headed for Antarctica to see the impacts of climate change first-hand and check out New Zealand’s scientific work on the ice.

Clive Bibby: Triumph over adversity - Who would have thought

If nothing else is learned from Donald Trump’s impressive comeback election victory, the overriding takeaway is that if your case is based on the truth, it will ultimately prevail. 

In spite of the false charges laid during repeated attempts to destroy him politically, emotionally and physically, Trump has remained true to himself.

In the end, his fight against the tyranny and corruption of the establishment was vindicated in a way that few before him have achieved. 

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Has Chris Hipkins trashed the education of a generation of Kiwis?

Its Official: statistics prove Labour Leader Chris Hipkins, NZ Education Minister from 2017 to 2023, trashed the education of a generation of Kiwis.

The Leader of the Opposition, Labour MP Chris Hipkins, was Education Minister from 2017 to 2023. Over that time the proportion of children leaving school with NZCEA Level 1 plummeted from 89% to 82%; with NZCEA Level 2 plummeted from 80% to 72%; with NZCEA Level 3 from 51% to 47% and with University Entrance from 56% to 53%.

Mike's Minute: TJ Perenara haka is a sign of the times

Surely the TJ Perenara performance is a sign of the times?

How far back (small clue, not far) do you need to go to think that this sort of extra curricular activity would never have even been close to being countenanced by an All Black squad?

Not long ago, essentially, sport was sport.

DTNZ: Fiery reaction as All Blacks make divisive ‘political’ statement

In an unusual and divisive departure from tradition All Blacks halfback TJ Perenara made a political statement during the haka in what was his final test match, sparking debate over the mixing of sports and politics.

Perenara’s controversial gesture was added to post-match with several teammates posing with a Tino Rangatiratanga flag.

The actions may lead to a potential alienation of fans who view the All Blacks as a unifying force, not a political platform.

Damien Grant: A haka makes for great theatre. It isn’t an argument

The Haka is a powerful challenge and views differ if its use in parliament by Te Pati Māori to oppose the Treaty Principle Bill was appropriate but, it was consistent with their tikanga.

The issue is bringing all the kids to the yard and Dame Jenny Shipley, in a courageous move to remind the nation that she hasn’t retired and is still available for directorships, warned us that “…the minute you put the Treaty into a political framework in its totality, you are inviting civil war.”

Dave Witherow: Treaty weather

 Democracy, as a prescription for society, is all or nothing. It can’t be diluted, apportioned...

Things are getting a little heated. Simple propositions that, not long ago, would have been understood, are no longer. We see this every day and we saw it recently in Wellington in front of the Beehive, being demonstrated by a large number of people.

It is now obviously a waste of time trying to explain, or even discuss, the contentious Treaty, and its alleged Principles. There are no Principles. There never were any — and despite the well-paid sophistries of the country’s “top lawyers”, there still aren’t.

NZCPR Newsletter: Treaty Principles Debate

ACT’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill was tabled in Parliament on November 7, and the first reading debate was held on November 14. The Bill was referred to the Justice Select Committee, where a closing date for submissions of 7 January 2024 has been set – full details can be found HERE.

This is the third time Parliament has dealt with a Bill designed to address the Treaty principles conundrum.

The problem, of course, is that the Treaty of Waitangi doesn’t have any principles. As Sir Apirana Ngata outlined so eloquently in his 1922 explanation of the original Maori version of the Treaty, it only has three articles: they established the Queen as our Sovereign, protected private property rights, and gave Maori the same rights and privileges under British law as every other New Zealander. 

Guest Post: Peter Ellis Case Blows Up New Zealand – Twice

A guest post on Kiwiblog by Peter Lynn:

The strengthening of Tikanga is ominous for New Zealand.

In the 1980’s and 1990’s there were sporadic hysterias about paedophile rings and satanic abuse in various western countries.

In 1993, 35-year-old homosexual Peter Ellis, who had been working at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre was tried for offenses against children and found guilty. Four female workers were discharged.

Melanie Phillips: The policing of wrongspeak

Hate crime is the expression of a totalitarian mindset

According to The Times (UK £), doctors, vicars, social workers and other professionals have been investigated by the police for “non-crime hate incidents”. Oh — so too have nine year-olds.

Eh? Say again?! And what exactly is a non-crime hate incident? What do these words even mean? If the incident isn’t a crime, why are the police investigating it at all?

David Farrar: Small but promising change

Mark Mitchell released data on crime. The summary was:

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Does ComCom hate the private sector?.....

Does ComCom hate the private sector? It lays criminal charges on OneNZ, but not on Otago University for far worse breaches of the Fair Trading Act.

Monopolies are running riot in NZ. Air NZ, which is majority state owned, for one. Auckland Airport, which is part owned by the Council. The Big Banks, of which State owned Kiwi Bank is one. Fletcher Building that was kept afloat by the government's wage subsidy. The Big Supermarkets that were given a State Monopoly License during the Covid lockdowns whilst small green grocers were bankrupted. The Commerce Commission hasn't scratched them. It is ineffective.