Category: Guest Posts
I have been asked by number of journalists to comment on the proposed 3 water changes. I haven't done so at this stage because to explain my view needs time. This is my journey with three waters so far.
The 1981 Springbok Tour was to have a major impact on my life. At first it seemed the tour handed me a golden chalice. But, as time passed by, I found that chalice to be filled with poison. From famous to infamous. From revered to reviled. The vicissitudes of life.
The He Puapua Report proposes revolutionary change for New Zealand. The question of how we have arrived at a crossroads where New Zealanders will have to choose between an ethno-nationalist state — which He Puapua leads to — or a democratic-nationalist one has its origins in three events.
The contest of ideas, which is the very heart and soul of liberal democracy, hinges on freedom of expression. Free and open debate is how we sort out the good from the bad. Our system of government can’t properly function without it.
Tikanga is a religion. We are presented with a set of beliefs that we are asked to accept and adhere to, without questioning, without rational understanding. For myself, I refuse.
So, the Climate Change Commission has produced their final report after careful consideration of the public submissions, and it's essentially the same as the draft report. The Treaty is mentioned 193 times and the report recommends “a Maori-led approach to ensure an equitable transition” - remind anyone of He Puapua?
Jacinda Ardern has offered herself as a hostage to fortune by repeatedly denying that the doctrine of “white privilege” is being taught in schools, or that the teaching curriculum mentions it anywhere, or that it is part of her “government’s agenda”.
The Public Interest Journalism Fund should be seen not as evidence of a principled, altruistic commitment to the survival of journalism, which is how it’s been framed, but as an opportunistic and cynical play by a left-wing government – financed by the taxpayer to the tune of $55 million – for control over the news media at a time when the industry is floundering and vulnerable.
The extraordinary rise of our regulatory state, comprised of red-tape and rules which can send the wrong signals and create woeful inefficiencies, has become public enemy number one. Our regulatory superstructure becomes vastly more opaque, year upon year, as each successive government tries to control more and more of our behaviours.
Increasingly we are coming to terms with the reality that ACTION will be needed to turn around the prevailing public mood; but that action cannot simply be left to someone else! Effective action will not take place by chance; it will require the participation of significant numbers in effective, planned and co-ordinated initiatives.
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