Category: Guest Posts
"A House Divided" is a new report by the Independent Constitutional Review Panel, that examines New Zealand's constitutional arrangements, and highlights the threat to race relations posed by the Maori Party's constitutional conversation. We urge every concerned New Zealander to read our report.
The recent kerfuffle about Anadarko and its drilling in our EEZ off the South Waikato coast has stirred a veritable pot of misunderstanding and confusion with regard to exactly what environmental approvals are needed for such a venture, and from whom – largely arising from a knowledge vacuum created by Government and the oil industry, but also from deliberately misleading political interests.
Why is it that John Key always asks the wrong questions - that is, how will voters react - and as a result, will rule out most quality policy options, rather than asking, what is the right thing to do? And then, and only then, asking how do I sell it?
The case for ‘co-governance’ between the government and iwi is justified according to cultural recognition and social justice beliefs. However that is to make a fundamental error, one that ignores the dangers of including ethnicity into the political arrangements of a democratic nation.
In Switzerland, the people have extensive decision-making power. As in New Zealand, Swiss nationals elect the members of parliament and just as in New Zealand, everyone is entitled to address written requests, suggestions and complaints to the authorities. But in Switzerland, citizens get more of a say.
Climate change has done more good than harm so far and is likely to continue doing so for most of this century. This is not some barmy, right-wing fantasy; it is the consensus of expert opinion. Yet almost nobody seems to know this.
Is it just me or do we face a real peril? As part of our survival genes we humans see threats everywhere. That is why we are suckers for charlatans peddling fears. But as MPs are fond of saying “just because I am paranoid does not mean they are not out to get me”. So should we worry about the prospect of a Labour/Green government?
A recent paper by the Productivity Commission has shone a lot of light on New Zealand’s productivity performance. After considering a variety of possible explanations, the Commission’s analysis shows that a long slow decline of New Zealand’s labour productivity is the main reason why growth of GDP per capita in New Zealand has not kept pace with other OECD countries.
The latest Treaty Transparency report shows that with a total of 60 treaty settlements more or less completed and at least 23 under negotiation, a total of $2.23-billion has been agreed upon and largely transferred. According to the OTS progress report, the settlement process is probably less than half way through.
A recent Child Poverty Action Group report about child abuse claimed that, " ...the Ministry of Social Development and its predecessors have been researching and writing about child abuse for almost quarter of a century."
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