Bob Edlin: Michael Laws says he WILL share a council seat with 'elected' Maori representatives

Democrats who bridle against some community groups being granted privileged access to local authority decision-making bodies risk being portrayed for what they oppose rather than for what they uphold.

Waatea News, reporting on bizarre constitutional goings-on in Otago, illustrates the point.

The Otago Regional Council (a strong majority, anyway) has voted in favour of enabling Ngai Tahu to choose two iwi members, representing four Otago rūnanga, to sit on its policy committee.

The appointees will have voting and speaking rights and join 12 elected councillors at the table.

Clive Bibby: For all the right reasons

Forgive me if l savour the moment.

Saturday's Australian Liberal Party's improbable election victory is a lesson for those who treat the common man with contempt. Yet unfortunately, l doubt that those who should learn from the experience have the capacity to do so.

On the other hand,  Prime Minister Tony Abbott, having endured one of the dirtiest battles of the  campaign fighting insurmountable odds in an unsuccessful effort to retain his own seat, showed what real character was about when he graciously accepted defeat.

Gerrard Eckhoff: Democracy

It was rather astutely observed some years ago that a huge oak tree was once just a nut that held its ground. The birth and struggle of democracy in Greece was also a fragile concept that managed to hold on and grow to epic proportions throughout the world yet today our democratic traditions are under threat as never before. 

Even the very word democratic is reprehensively misused in that wretched country - the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”. There is nothing remotely democratic or republican about North Korea yet the desire to use democratic in their name shows that even they understand the importance of a democratic pretense. The major difference (in part) is that corrupt politicians within a democratic system get caught. The socialist /communists leaders get rich.

GWPF Newsletter: Climate Hysteria Costs Labor Party 'Unlosable' Elections

Labor Loses Australia's 'Climate Election'

1) Climate Hysteria Costs Labor Party 'unlosable' Elections
Global Warming Policy Forum, 18 May 2019

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has retained power in the Australian election while Labor’s election strategy to make climate alarmism the key issue has backfired.

GWPF Newsletter: Antarctic Sea Ice Growth Due To Fewer Clouds, Chinese Scientists Find

Trump Administration Might “Re-Examine” Climate Modeling

In this newsletter:

1) Antarctic Sea Ice Growth Due To Fewer Clouds, Chinese Scientists Find
Xinhua News Agency, 26 April 2019
 
2) Trump Administration Might “Re-Examine” Climate Modeling
Scientific American, 10 May 2019 

NZCPR Weekly: Climate Change Hysteria

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the Government’s radical Zero Carbon Bill in the context of the growing rejection of climate change hysteria around the world, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Barry Brill shares his analysis of what he believes is an extremely dangerous Bill, and our poll asks whether you believe National should support or oppose Labour’s Zero Carbon Bill.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
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GWPF Newsletter: Corbyn's Power Grab

Climate Hysteria Morphs Into Energy Socialism 

In this newsletter:

1) Jeremy Corbyn Draws Up Plans To Seize Control Of UK's Energy With Sweeping Nationalisation Of Networks
The Daily Telegraph, 15 May 2019
 
2) Labour Weighs Up Delisting UK Firms If They Fail To Fight Climate Change
The Guardian, 10 May 2019 

Barry Brill: Why subsidise more congestion?

Rumours abound that the Coalition’s second budget might introduce ‘Green’ subsidies for such items as domestic solar panels and private electric vehicles, as yet another strand of its hydra-headed climate policy.  

Every sane economist would counsel against such steps:

•     Governments should never try to pick winners. When politicians claim an ability to foresee the future, the law of unintended consequences invariably runs rampant; 

•     Coerced subsidies are usually handouts from the poor to the rich. Always and everywhere, climate change policies are severely regressive (i.e. they increase child poverty);

GWPF Newsletter: Global Wheat Production Set To Hit New Record

Is The Long Renewables Honeymoon Over?

In this newsletter:

1) Ignore Climate Hysteria: Global Wheat Production Set To Hit New Record
Grain Central, May 13, 2019 
 
2) Sanjeev Sabhlok: Climate Science Violates The Basic Precepts Of Science
The Times of India, 9 May 2019 

Michael Laws: Cr Laws condemns iwi-only seats for Otago Regional Council

The proposal of Otago Regional Council (ORC) senior staff to give local iwi two (2) voting and paid seats on the ORC’s powerful policy committee, “is so privileged, and so obviously racist, that it calls into question the fundamental principles of democracy in Otago.”

On this Wednesday, 15 May 2019, the ORC will receive a senior executive management paper that recommends that two positions on the council’s policy committee be reserved exclusively for iwi (read Otakau runanga) representatives; that they be accorded full speaking and voting rights; that they be paid on the same pro rata basis as elected councillors; and that those positions be appointed by the local runanga and sit on the very next ORC policy committee meeting.

Brian Giesbrecht: Is it Okay to Be White?

Last Hallowe’en night a costumed person was seen tacking up posters at the University of Manitoba. The posters said “It’s Okay To Be White”. This strange occurrence was uniformly denounced by the university administration and various student associations who claimed that it was the organized work of white supremacists. 

The administrators also claimed that these racists had deliberately targeted an Indigenous students’ organization by sending copies of the posters to their office. In fact, so seriously has the university administration taken this incident that they called in the police to conduct an investigation into a possible hate crime. If the administration’s claims are true, and this was the organized work of racists or white supremacists the administrators’ actions make sense.

Daniel J. Mitchell - Comparing the Economic Growth of East Germany to West Germany: A History Lesson

Donald Trump is an incoherent mix of good policies and bad policies.
Some of his potential 2020 opponents, by contrast, are coherent but crazy.
And economic craziness exists in other nations as well.

Socialism Ruined East Germany

In a column for the New York Times, Jochen Bittner writes about how a rising star of Germany’s Social Democrat Party wants the type of socialism that made former East Germany an economic failure.

Mole News

Financial disputes schemes failing Maori and Pasifika
The government-approved disputes schemes to which people wronged by a bank, insurer, or lender can appeal for help are hearing too few complaints from Māori and Pasifika New Zealanders.

When Dr Carla Houkamau from the University of Auckland evaluated the responses of a small sample of Māori participants in financial capability courses she found some people were deterred from engaging with banks because they saw them as racist.

Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup - the State of the NZ media

Last week was a big one for the media. Not only did New Zealand’s biggest newspaper launch a new paywall, but Thursday was “World News Day”, and Friday was “World Media Freedom Day”. All of this prompts the question, how well is New Zealand society and democracy served by the media in 2019?  The World Press Freedom Index recently pronounced New Zealand as having the seventh most free media in the world (up one from eighth) – see: Press freedom threatened by business imperatives. The main point made by Reporters Without Borders, who authored the report, is: “The press is free in New Zealand but its independence and pluralism are often undermined by the profit imperatives of media groups trying to cut costs.”

GWPF Newsletter: EU Heads Downgrade Climate Change To 'A Footnote'

The Truth About The Latest Mass Extinction Scare

In this newsletter:

1) EU Heads Downgrade Climate Change To A ‘Footnote’ In Their Statement On Future Of Europe 
EurActiv, 9 May 2019 
 
2) The UN’s Extinction Warning Doesn’t Add Up
Toby Young, The Spectator, 9 May 2019

Bob Edlin: Now ‘binding’ has been defined, what's the meaning of ‘hate speech’

The Government seemed to be in a bind about the cannabis referendum to be held at the general election next year.  The dilemma was about whether the referendum should be binding.

Referencing a leaked cabinet paper, National Party drug reform spokeswoman Paula Bennett threw doubt on how binding the referendum would be. 

National declined to release the paper to protect the source (something of an impediment when it comes to establishing the credibility of claims against political opponents) but said only one of four referendum options due to be discussed by Cabinet yesterday might compel the Government to act on the outcome.

GWPF Newsletter: Europe's New Climate Rebels

Germany, Italy, Hungary & Poland Reject Net-Zero Climate Target

In this newsletter:

1) Europe’s New Climate Rebels: Germany, Italy, Hungary & Poland Reject Net-Zero Climate Target
EurActiv, 7 May 2019
 
2) EU Elections: Europe's Populist Parties Target Climate Policies
Thomas Grose, U.S. News, 8 May 2019

Bruce Moon: An Open Letter to Associate Professor Maria Bargh

27^th April 2019

Dear Associate Professor Bargh,

You are reported by Bob Edlin in “Breaking Views” on 19^th April[1] as having written recently,

“Te Tiriti o Waitangi reaffirmed Māori tino rangatiratanga and allowed for Crown kawanatanga. This partnership approach has been noted as one of the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown, the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal. 

Te Tiriti o Waitangi creates obligations, including for the Crown to actively protect Māori rights and interests and to uphold the Treaty partnership. Ensuring that Māori are a key part of decision-making in local government is one of the ways that the Crown can uphold their obligations.”

Matt Ridley: Biodiversity threat won’t be tackled by alarmist biologist hype and dismantling capitalism

Driven perhaps by envy at the attention that climate change is getting, and ambition to set up a great new intergovernmental body that can fly scientists to mega-conferences, biologists have gone into overdrive on the subject of biodiversity this week.

They are right that there is a lot wrong with the world’s wildlife, that we can do much more to conserve, enhance and recover it, but much of the coverage in the media, and many of the pronouncements of Sir Bob Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), are frankly weird.

NZCPR Weekly: Expert Group Proposes Increased Dependency

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we examine the welfare changes recommended by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group and the Government’s response, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Lindsay Mitchell shares her analysis of the Advisory Group’s report, and our poll asks whether you support Labour’s decision to abolish the penalty for mothers who refuse to name the fathers of their children.

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