Wednesday November 27, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 27/11/24

Peters pitches our Pacific-focused policy in a speech in Paris while Chinese envoy to NZ sounds a warning (or is it a threat?)

In this country, China’s ambassador Wang Xiaolong was warning of the political fallout if New Zealand were to join the AUKUS pact.

A decision by New Zealand to join AUKUS would ‘inevitably” have negative consequences for the country’s relationship with China, he said in an interview on 30′ With Guyon Espiner.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Any cut in the Official Cash Rate by NZ's Reserve Bank today will be Illegal.

When National came to power, the Party amended the Reserve Bank of NZ legislation, which had previously instructed the Bank to pursue the dual objective of low inflation and "maximum sustainable employment". The latter aim allows a central bank to manage how fast the economy is growing, and to influence the unemployment rate, at least in the short term. However, Finance Minister Willis, when she came to power a year ago, removed the ability of the Bank to target the state of the economy, introducing legislation that gave the Reserve Bank the sole mandate of achieving price stability. That has been defined by the government as keeping inflation in a 1-3% bracket - so preferably close to 2%. Willis, who introduced the law, said removing the dual mandate was a “highly symbolic, important act”.

Dr Oliver Hartwich: Merkel’s 16 years of tactical drift

Angela Merkel is “fundamentally an optimist”, she tells Der Spiegel magazine in her first major interview since leaving office. One wonders why.

After all, Germany’s economy is struggling, its energy prices are among the highest in the world, its military barely functions, and its relations with Eastern European neighbours remain strained.

This interview, carefully staged to promote her forthcoming memoir Freedom: Memories 1954-2021, offers a revealing glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s most influential leaders.

Peter Williams: Living Next Door to Nikki

Like many New Zealanders my wife and I were saddened to hear about the passing of Nikki Kaye because we had a connection different to most.

We lived next door to Nikki for much of the time she was our local MP.

Ele Ludemann: Restoring farmer confidence

By the end of six long years under the Labour governments, farmers were despondent.

After one year under a National-led government, farmer confidence is rebounding, and there are good reasons for that:

Guest Post: Koru-Koi

Call it what you want, a hikoi, a car-koi or a koru-koi, the recent protest march against Act's Treaty Principles Bill has been exposed now for what it was - a publicity stunt for and by the Maori Party.

The fawning media have presented it as a popular uprising, over-reporting the crowd sizes and not reporting at all who was really running and funding the show.

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: It's time to scrap NCEA for good

I wouldn't be surprised if Education Minister Erica Stanford actually ends up scrapping NCEA level one.

Because she's already concerned enough to order a review - and the review has come back slamming it, so she's got all the ammo she needs to pull the trigger if she wants to.

And I hope she does, because it has become apparent, especially in the last three years, that NCEA is a massively flawed system. And I don't think this is just a level one problem, I think there's problems across all three levels.

Richard Lindzen & William Happer: Net Zero Policies Will Have A Trivial Effect on Temperature, But Disastrous Effects on People Worldwide

The United States and countries worldwide are vigorously pursuing regulations and subsidies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to Net Zero by 2050 on the assumption, best stated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that the “evidence is clear that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main driver of climate change” and is “responsible for more than 50% of the change.”

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Former Chancellor Merkel insults Trump....

No wonder Germany has failed: former Chancellor Merkel insults Trump and at the same time reveals she doesn't know what is a property developer.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has written a book full of insults about incoming US President Trump. You'd think, given the weakness of Germany's economy and military, that its not in the best interests of the nation to attack America's new leader. What's amusing about her book is the line that Trump “looked at everything like the real estate developer he was before he entered politics” - as a zero-sum game. “For him, all countries were rivals in which the success of one meant the failure of another. He didn’t think that prosperity could be increased for all through cooperation.” Which only goes to show that Merkel doesn't know what property developers do. That is, construct new buildings, renovate old ones and sell, lease and rent those buildings.

DTNZ: The All Blacks and freedom of expression

The controversy over some All Blacks displaying the Tino Rangatiratanga flag after Sunday’s test against Italy, and TJ Perenara’s modification of the haka, has spawned a passionate national conversation.

Those players have an absolute right to express themselves, but there are certain situations where saying or acting how you want is counterproductive.

Dr Bryce Edwards: Democracy Briefing - Foundations of a constitutional crisis?

The first question in politics is “who rules?” It’s at the forefront of the debate about David Seymour’s Treaty Principles bill, which holds that the Government has the ultimate right to govern and Parliament has the full power to make laws. Te Pati Māori argues that Māori never ceded sovereignty and should hold governing power over themselves.

But there’s another power struggle taking place in the background of this debate: a quiet but profound contest between Parliament and the courts over the power to make laws. In the week that Seymour’s bill passed its first reading, an open letter from forty-two members of the King’s Council called on the Prime Minister and the Attorney General to abandon the legislation, and it contained the aside “even if Parliament can legislate in this way (which is uncertain)…”

Yvonne Van Dongen: The Plot Sickens

Labour continues to support gender affirmation and courtesy of puberty blockers, the sterilisation of children.

Eight months after the comprehensive Cass report on gender affirming care was released in the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has finally responded to its findings.

Their evidence brief and position statement on the use of puberty blockers for gender identity issues has been both applauded and derided by interested parties.

David Farrar: Almost $800 million on traffic management.

Simeon Brown revealed:

The Government has revealed that over the past three years, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has spent an eyewatering $786 million of taxpayers’ money on road cones and temporary traffic management (TTM), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. …

Kerre Woodham: Do people trust Labour with a capital gains tax?

One of the questions we’ll be putting to Chris Hipkins, of course, is a question around the capital gains tax, because this is an issue that simply will not die. Labour Party members will vote on whether to formally endorse continuing work on a capital gains or wealth tax at their party conference in Christchurch this weekend. The party's been debating tax policy since losing the election last year, part of a broader truth and reconciliation soul searching. The people loved us so much and then they didn't. How did it all go so wrong? So that's there's been a lot of that.

Tuesday November 26, 2024 

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Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 26/11/24

Govt rolls out initiatives – but we must wait to enjoy the benefits – on housing, health and police

Plans to provide more social housing, plans to provide more doctors and nurses, and plans to relocate a police station…

These were among the initiatives announced by our hard-working ministers in the past day or so.

Chris Lynch: Funding boost to bring 50 senior doctors and more nurses to New Zealand hospitals

The Government has announced funding to hire 50 senior doctors, along with additional specialist nurses and allied health professionals, as part of a push to improve healthcare across New Zealand.

Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said the initiative would reduce wait times, enhance patient safety, and support vulnerable specialties such as dermatology.

Centrist: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer admits Māori have ‘different rights’

In a Q&A interview with Jack Tame, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer acknowledged Māori have separate rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi as tangata whenua. When pressed on whether this meant different standards of citizenship, she said, “We have different expectations and different rights, absolutely.”

She argued these rights are essential to protect all New Zealanders from “corporate exploitation” and the “Atlas agenda coming at us”.

Dave Patterson: Trump, the UN, and the World

The new administration will be familiarly transformational.

President-elect Donald Trump has not demonstrated a fondness for the United Nations (UN). During his first term, he pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council because it operated to attack rather than preserve human rights. There is little to recommend the UN for anything more than an opportunity for international diplomats to sit and chat among themselves.