On Move On orders - I've been in some of the meetings with Ministers about city centre safety issues in AK; it has repeatedly been discussed that the people doing the anti-social behaviour and the people who are visibly homeless on our streets are usually NOT the same people.
20 years later, Councillor Goldsmith (now Minister) finally got his wish, he gets to see homeless people arrested. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Our drinking water sources have close to no protection... #nzpol
www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/our...
A teenage boy with dark hair and a black and gold football jersey holds his helmet, standing on the side line of a green football field
I’m one of the ProPublica reporters who has been documenting the aggressive tactics federal agents are using against immigrants & U.S. citizens
All eyes are on Minnesota right now, but I want to tell you about Arnoldo Bazan, a 16-YO citizen in Houston who was choked by immigration agents in October
“When Ministers Serve Capital, Not Communities: The Nicole McKee Alcohol U-Turn” - 31 December 2025
open.substack.com/pub/themaori...
Wrote something a bit longer - is still rather unfiltered and ranty - about the proposed changes to the Total Mobility scheme for disabled persons.
It's still a sh*tty proposal and now I go into this in more detail in the post:
open.substack.com/pub/drbex/p/...
Robin Ince reveals to last night’s audience at a recording of Infinite Monkey Cage that the BBC has forced him to resign over his support of trans people
"Turnover of doctors who achieve medical registration is very high with 60% of these doctors leaving New Zealand within two years. Retention is the substantive problem, not registration."
newsroom.co.nz/2025/04/24/h...
The poem 'Dangerous Coats' by contemporary Irish writer Sharon Owens #womensart
Home Office surveillance photograph of suffragette Olive Beamish, 1914
#WomensArt
Ka pai. Kei te pēhea koe?
Luxon himself handed me the Prime Minister's science prize last year. Let me say this in plain English: he's an idiot for running a govt who budgeted more for AI than for the Marsden fund. any journo reading this can quote me on it #nzpol
The One Piece pirate flag, first used in Indonesian protests, is spreading across Asia and beyond as a symbol of youth resistance against injustice and authoritarianism.
www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia...
Reducing the capital requirements merely increases the risk banks take on - and at our infinite expense as it is taxpayers who bear the real brunt of high risk banking activity. And yes it practically serves to increase banking profits. Orr would have stood in the way of capital requirements being cut - and that's why he had to go. Sending him a performance management level put enough pressure on him that he jumped - to all of our detriment
This RBNZ story is really huge - it should also put Quigley's role at University of Waikato in question
Cartoon. Title: “Right To Repair Bill” Image shows Marama Davidson with a screwdriver. She has taken the lid off the Beehive, and Winston Peters has, boing, burst out. Marama Davidson is looking startled, and is saying, “OH! That’s definitely phut”
This week NZ First pulled its support for Marama Davidson’s Consumer Guarantees (Right To Repair) Amendment Bill.
Maybe repairing stuff is a bit too woke for NZ First.
My Stuff #NZpol #cartoon #RightToRepair #ConsumerGuarantees
The text reads: Sick again? This month, in some New Zealand schools, there have been days when more than 50% of students have been absent due to illness. Let’s get clean air happening in all schools and early childhood settings. The text is white over a red background and there is a photographic image of three laughing children under the text. The Aotearoa Covid Action logo is in the bottom right corner. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.
Sick again? This month, in some New Zealand schools, there have been days when more than 50% of students have been absent due to illness. Let’s get clean air happening in all schools and early childhood settings.
Fonterra rejects the idea of two-tiered butter prices to give NZers a discount – but there are already two price tiers.
We pay high butter prices PLUS the price of polluted rivers, massive climate emissions and contaminated drinking water.
#TooManyCows
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
bsky.app/profile/iwil...
*Liberation theology has entered the chat*
On 6th anniversary of terror attack on mosques in Ōtautahi Christchurch. We will never forget March 15, the shuhada, those injured and their families, but forever hold to the response inspired by peace, love, compassion and unity. I wrote this last year newsroom.co.nz/2024/03/13/m...
"The future prosperity of the Waikato Region and wellbeing of our people relies on a healthy river/awa. Under the River Settlement, there is a common commitment and agreement to restoring and protecting te awa. Te Ture Whaimana sets the vision for te awa and everything we do must give effect to this. As part of the River Settlement Te Ture Whaimana has the standing of a National Policy Statement under the RMA and where there is inconsistency with any other National Policy Statement it takes precedence. We note that the Bill creates three new National Standards National Engineering Design Standards, National Wastewater Environmental Standards, and National Stormwater Environmental Standards. As they currently stand in the Bill, each of the new standards take precedence over Te Ture Whaimana which is problematic. Hamilton City Council cannot support the diminution of the mana, standing, and operation of the Waikato River Settlement and Te Ture Whaimana. We are also concerned that the consultation requirements relating to the development of the standards does not recognise the mana and role of Waikato-Tainui in relation to the awa. For Waikato Tainui, the Waikato River is a tupuna which has mana and in turn represents the mana and maurt of Waikato-Tainui. The relationship of Walkato-Tainui with the Waikato River and their respect for it lies at the heart of their spiritual and physical wellbeing, and their tribal identity and culture. This is captured in Schedule One of the Kiingitanga Accord which is a feature of the Waikato River settlement. We recommend that the Select Committee rework the proposed National Standards framework so that it appropriately recognises the commitment that the Crown has made through Treaty Settlements and does not undermine the Waikato River Settlement and the standing of Te Ture Whaimana."
The new Local Government (Water Services) Bill seeks to take precedent over Treaty settlements - a hugely problematic direction for the government to be taking.
Here's the excerpt from Hamilton City Council's draft submission which talks about how it effects the Waikato-Tainui settlement.
Ōtautahi peeps, check out the JazzUp Jazz Jam. We have some amazing local talent.
We're into our 4th year. This Tuesday 4 Feb 7pm, we kick off 2025.
No cover charge, get a drink at the bar, be surprised and often dazzled. At Good Times Comedy Club, 224 St Asaph Street.
More than 50 years after becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon, Kathrine Switzer continues to make history – and for the first time, in New Zealand.
I’m seeing a lot of people shocked and not used to this tone coming out of society’s leaders, whether political or business leaders, when they address Trump. Those of us who’ve lived in and reported from Moscow and Beijing though. We’ve seen this.
