Clive Bibby: Why are we not surprised

A change of government in this country has resulted in the exposure of battle lines that until now had been deliberately disguised as only assumptions or delusions.

The first 100 days of the National led Coalition has witnessed, amongst other things - the opening of the books that show just how incompetent and wilfully disingenuous the last administration really was.

David Farrar: Stunning migration stats

Two massively different stories.

The number of NZ citizens leaving new zealand is at a record high. Has reached 47,350 which is almost 1,000 a week.

While net migration of non-citizens is at 179,040 which is around twice the previous high.

Dr Guy Hatchard: The Need for a Comprehensive Health Service Audit

Two papers published this week present starkly contrasting views of the scientific process. Dr. John Gibson economist at the University of Waikato, published “Cumulative excess deaths in New Zealand in the COVID-19 era: biases from ignoring changes in population growth rates” whereas the Global Vaccine Data Network published “COVID-19 vaccines and adverse events of special interest: A multinational Global Vaccine Data Network (GVDN) cohort study of 99 million vaccinated individuals” whose contributors included Dr. Helen Petousis-Harris of the University of Auckland.

Ele Ludemann: Another Labour legacy of failure

Worsening child poverty is another legacy of the Ardern and Hipkins Labour governments:

Three of the nine measures of child poverty increased for the year ended June 2023 compared with the previous year, according to figures released by Stats NZ.

Brendan O' Neill: Gaza and the narcissism of the elites

Why our political class prefers pontificating on Palestine to fixing problems in our own society.

Finally, MPs have found something to feel passionate about. An issue that gets their blood pumping. An issue that appears to have aroused them from their technocratic stupour, turning them from unworldly careerist stiffs who’d rather die than go ‘off message’ into pantomime Churchills making tub-thumping speeches about good and evil.

David Farrar: A good summary of Three Waters

grant duncan writes:

Labour's original proposed governance structure, even if you overlook the co-governance aspect of it, was a complicated beast: it had unelected ‘representative' bodies that appoint board-appointment committees that appoint boards that then appoint advisory panels that monitor the boards and report to the representative body. Confused?

Dr Eric Crampton: Economists agreeing

There was remarkable agreement at the New Zealand Economics Forum last week.

Waikato University’s Forum is now an annual feature of the policy calendar, barring Covid interruptions.

Two very definite themes ran through this year’s sessions.

David Farrar: Industry bodies should not compel Treaty worship

Hobson’s Pledge report:

Janet is a dedicated real estate agent with more than 30 years experience, but the Real Estate Authority is threatening to cancel her licence for five years. Why? Because Janet is taking a principled stance in refusing to complete an online training course instructing real estate agents on te reo Māori, tikanga, and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Roger Partridge: Has the Supreme Court lost it's way?

With age comes wisdom – or so it is said. Yet exceptions abound. A notable reflection from leading lawyer Jack Hodder on the Supreme Court’s 20th anniversary suggests the Court is a case in point.

Hodder, a barrister and senior King’s Counsel, was speaking at last week’s Legal Research Foundation conference to commemorate the Court’s anniversary.

His paper, One Advocate’s Opinions – The Least “Dangerous Branch”? Predictability and Unease, was couched in the politest terms. But it delivered a withering critique of a court with fundamental misconceptions of its role gravely exceeding its bounds.

Ele Ludemann: Fees-free failure

Philip Crump shows that Labour’s fees-free policy was an expensive failure:

“While questioning the Tertiary Education Commission in this week’s Parliament’s Education and Workforce Committee, I was told there is ‘no discernible evidence’ the previous Government’s fees-free scheme has improved participation from low socio-economic groups,” says ACT Tertiary Education and Skills spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar.

Bob McCoskrie: Chloe proves the danger of ‘hate speech’ laws

In 2022, the Labour Government released a discussion document on hate speech laws that intended to strengthen protections against speech inciting hatred or discrimination because they said they didn’t believe the law was clear enough, specifically highlighting that trans, gender diverse and intersex people needed to be protected from “discrimination”. They said the final proposal would make changes to clarify this by changing the word “sex” (currently understood as biological sex as would be naturally expected) – changed to include “sex characteristics or intersex status” and adding a new ground of “gender including gender expression and gender identity”.

Lushington D. Brady: He Can’t Talk to Them!

Stuff Journo Astonished Hipkins Talks to Plunkett

Various studies have indicated that people on the left are far more intolerant of different opinions than the right. In fact, Pew research has shown that self-described “liberals” are twice as likely to block and unfriend someone on social media, because they expressed an opinion the “liberal” didn’t like. That behaviour carries over into real life, as well: “liberals” are vastly more likely to drop a friend because of their political views.

Saturday February 24, 2024 

                    ⇩

Sandra Goudie: Waitangi Tribunal – time to go!

The Waitangi Tribunal must change or be removed following the cessation of historical Treaty settlements by 1992 as stated in the Treaty of Waitangi Act.

Why?

Queen Victoria spread her cloak over all the peoples of New Zealand in both the Royal Charter of 1840 and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Queen Victoria made it clear that all citizens were equal in the law.

Barrie Davis: I Lift My Pen…

The proposed Treaty Principles Bill by the ACT Party has caused debate about the meaning of the Treaty of Waitangi in Maori. Dame Anne Salmond recently published an article in which she claimed that Maoris have a different way of thinking to Pakehas and so attribute a different meaning to the Treaty. I will consider that claim and its implications.

Dame Anne takes her ways of thinking from Cartesian dualism, which she says is brought about by the division between the thinking self and the material world. She says this gives rise to logic based on binary oppositions which organizes reality into entities that are radically distinct from each other. She also says that is the origin of scientific racism.

Danny Simms: Threats to New Zealand’s Agricultural Export Industry

In New Zealand we are seeing a seismic shift in land use. If it was based on straight economics, we should accept it. However it is not. Vast areas of productive farmland is being taken out of production and planted in pine trees.

This is being driven exclusively by industry using our land to offset their carbon emissions.

 The carbon credit subsidy driven rush to plant tens of thousands of hectares of productive farmland in pine trees must stop.

Ross Meurant: End of an Era

As the timbers begin to fall, a new light emerges though the canopy which protected our once great country.

Well do I recall as a young sergeant, standing near the wreckage of another motor accident, saying to myself: ‘If I reach 40, I’ll be lucky’.

Time passes. Trumpets blare and heroes fall.

Last week, the recent deaths of five cops resonated with the author.

NZCPR Newsletter: Investigating Covid

New Zealand has experienced two pandemics in recent years.

The first was the swine flu pandemic, caused by the H1N1 influenza virus which originated in Mexico in 2009. It is estimated to have affected as many as 1.4 billion people world-wide over a period of some 19 months, causing upwards of 600,000 deaths.

The second was the Covid-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which originated in Wuhan in China in December 2019. While the World Health Organisation reports almost 800 million cases and more than 7 million deaths, they believe this grossly under-represents the true situation.

David Farrar: Media plead for Parliament to legalise theft

Stuff reports:

Sinead Boucher, executive chair and publisher of Stuff, and Joanna Norris, managing director of masthead publishing also spoke in support of the Bill.

Stuff was the second most searched term on Google last year after weather and news, Boucher said.

Ele Ludemann: Labour’s legacy – nurses leaving

This is part of Labour’s legacy:

More than 9000 New Zealand nurses have registered to work in Australia in the past 10 months – about 12 percent of the active workforce.

The rate of nurses expressing interest is growing, despite a boost in pay last year.