Category: imported_guest
It’s an honour to share some thoughts with you, report on the NZ, Australian and US relationship and put it in a historic, then global and regional context. I do this with some trepidation. I spent the first forty years of my life trying to get into the media and have tried ever since I was appointed trying to keep out of the media.
Deception has always been at the heart of the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation. When it was enacted in great haste by a Labour Government in 2008, the public were told it was intended to stave off global warming. In fact, its purpose was to settle a major law suit brought against the Government by the forestry industry.
If the current (New Zealand) owners cannot sell the Crafar Farms to the highest valuing individual, regardless of nationality, then the consequences for the New Zealand economy in the long run could be substantial. The necessarily lower market values eventuating for the relevant "sensitive assets‟ such as farm land will flow through to lower capital valuations.
I have been thinking about ‘culture’, my friends, and am trying to get a handle on this most important matter. Culture is jolly important. We hear a lot about Maori culture, and hear all the time that we are a ‘bicultural nation’, although this is of course disputed by those who insist that we are actually multicultural.
The decision by New Zealanders to keep MMP means that any changes that come as a result of the “review” of MMP will be those the politicians prefer to implement. This piece discusses the scope of the “review”, some desirable changes to MMP and the need for our politicians to put any changes to our voting system to voters.
The Coastal Coalition was set up in May 2010 to support public ownership of New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed, for all New Zealanders. But John Key with Maori Party support, passed the Marine and Coastal Area Act last April. This removes Crown ownership, and allows iwi Customary Marine Title, in spite of 90 percent of public submissions opposing it.
Welfare reforms the government will legislate for later this year have been typically denounced by opposition politicians and child advocates. Many have railed in particular against the idea that mothers with children as young as 1 year-old will be expected to be available for part-time work, which, incidentally, may involve as few as 12 hours per week.
Control over the interpretation and symbolism of the Treaty of Waitangi was one of the most effective of the brokerage mechanisms used by the emergent neotribal elite. It enabled a strategic march through the institutions of a democratic society by nondemocratic neotraditionalist forces.
Many people around the country are unhappy with the performance of their Councils and demanding action of one kind or another. Perhaps surprisingly, the same key issues are being debated in places as diverse as the UK, Ireland, Florida, California, Texas, Melbourne, Sydney, and Honolulu.
The matter of children and the benefit system has long concerned me. It began with the death of Wairarapa toddler Lillybing (Hinewaoriki Karaitiana-Matiaha) in 2000....
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