New Zealand starting to feel the pointy end of the climate crisis
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Date published: 10:26 am, July 14th, 2025 - 53 comments
Categories: climate change, disaster
Tags: floods, just transition, Nelson, transition
Nelson Tasman region is still in a civil emergency and our climate denying Prime Minister is signalling an end to future flood bail outs.
Climate Change and Bumper Sticker Politics
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Date published: 7:50 am, July 15th, 2025 - No comments
Christopher Luxon has engaged in a classic example of bumper sticker politics by blaming Labour for excessive power prices, not the structure of the power sector. And he has completely ignored the imperitave action that climate change demands the country takes.
Open Mike 15/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 15th, 2025 - 3 comments
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Daily review 14/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 14th, 2025 - 3 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Open Mike 14/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 14th, 2025 - 11 comments
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Open Mike 13/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 13th, 2025 - 31 comments
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Jackal: Ray Chung – Arsehole of the week
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Date published: 11:06 pm, July 12th, 2025 - 9 comments
In the murky world of local politics, few things reek as badly as Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung’s despicable conduct. His smearing email, circulated to fellow councillors in early 2023, peddling baseless and salacious gossip about Mayor Tory Whanau, is not just a personal attack, it’s a grotesque abuse of power that exposes his utter unfitness for public office.
Open Mike 12/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 12th, 2025 - 15 comments
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Daily review 11/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 11th, 2025 - 6 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Corporate profit and Gaza
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Date published: 3:10 pm, July 11th, 2025 - 27 comments
UN Special rapporteur on Gaza Francesca Albanese’s latest report highlights the corporate role in enabling genocide in Gaza. Utterly predictably, she has been sanctioned by the United States.
Open Mike 11/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 11th, 2025 - 41 comments
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Daily review 10/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 10th, 2025 - 10 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025. Part 2: Nuclear refugees in the Pacific: the evacuation of Rongelap
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Date published: 4:30 pm, July 10th, 2025 - 1 comment
On its last voyage the Rainbow Warrior evacuated the entire population of Rongelap. Cancers, birth defects, and genetic damage had ripped through the population after US above-ground nuclear explosions.
Open Mike 10/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 10th, 2025 - 56 comments
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Daily review 09/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 9th, 2025 - 11 comments
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What happened to the Epstein Client List?
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Date published: 9:20 am, July 9th, 2025 - 9 comments
After months and months of speculation as to its content there was a bombshell announcement yesterday by the United States Justice Department. There is no Epstein list of wealthy men who preyed on vulnerable young women.
Open Mike 09/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 9th, 2025 - 39 comments
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Daily review 08/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 8th, 2025 - 19 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Open Mike 08/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 8th, 2025 - 25 comments
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Daily review 07/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 7th, 2025 - 28 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
Open Mike 07/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 7th, 2025 - 15 comments
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Reality Check Radio needs a reality check
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Date published: 2:50 pm, July 6th, 2025 - 64 comments
Reality Check Radio has on the eve of the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s hearings into the Government’s Covid response released a petition suggesting that Jacinda Ardern and others have been put on trial.
The Rainbow Warrior 1985-2025. Part 1: French State Terrorism and the end of innocence.
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Date published: 9:05 am, July 6th, 2025 - 41 comments
Immediately after blowing up the Rainbow Warrior the French agents went on a ski holiday in the South Island to celebrate. Such was the contempt they had for Kiwis and our police. How wrong they were.
Open Mike 06/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 6th, 2025 - 74 comments
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Open Mike 05/07/25
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 5th, 2025 - 44 comments
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Open mike 04/07/2025
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Date published: 10:23 am, July 4th, 2025 - 20 comments
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Almost $20 million budget cut to RNZ is met with … near silence from Kiwis
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Date published: 8:06 pm, July 3rd, 2025 - 68 comments
Why public interest journalism matters
Keith Locke Inaugural Memorial Debate – Live
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Date published: 7:01 pm, July 3rd, 2025 - No comments
View the inaugural Keith Locke Memorial Debate!
July 3, 2025 | Auckland Irish Club or via livestream
The moot? China is a threat to regional peace
Moderator: Simon Wilson
On the Affirmative Hon Dr Wayne Mapp, Dr Cam Calder, Andrew Dickens
On the Negative Trevor Johnston, Dr Marco de Jong, Dr Arama Rata
Open mike 03/07/2025
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Date published: 11:07 am, July 3rd, 2025 - 14 comments
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Open mike 02/07/2025
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Date published: 6:00 am, July 2nd, 2025 - 72 comments
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Daily review 01/07/2025
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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 1st, 2025 - 3 comments
Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …
- Update on Texas flooding
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler My heart is breaking for the tragedy that’s unfolding in central Texas right now. At present, more than 70 people have died in the flooding in the Texas Hill Country. Given the widespread interest in this event and numerous requests ...14 hours ago - Cost of Defence’s roadmap for spending 3 percent of GDP on defence
The current debate on Defence funding, sparked by our 29 May report The Cost of Defence: ASPI Defence budget brief 2025–2026, and a subsequent US request for Australia to spend more, has swung between a ...14 hours ago - Chain gang
This is really nice. Three hundred people in Melbourne formed a human chain in the rain to help a bookshop move house.Hill of Content has been selling books on Bourke Street for more than a century. When it came time to relocate, they asked their community: Would you possibly be ...15 hours ago - In the fight against drugs, Australia should follow the money
Australia is losing the fight to disrupt illicit drug supply chains, not for lack of effort, but because we need additional weapons and new approaches. Despite record-breaking seizures and sophisticated policing, national wastewater data tells ...16 hours ago
- Bookshelf: Taiwan’s journey to geopolitical hotspot
The US administration is still formulating its Indo-Pacific policy, but recent indications suggest that it will take a tough stance on Taiwan. At the Shangri-La Dialogue, held in Singapore from 30 May to 1 June, ...17 hours ago
- A step towards freedom in Kanaky
Last year, New Caledonia burned after colonial France attempted to renege on a hard-won decolonisation deal and unilaterally impose constitutional changes without the consent of Kanaks. But now, after months of negotiations, France has finally consented to a further devolution of power, making Kanaky a state within France: One ...17 hours ago - The Moral Abyss of Concentration Camps
The concept of detention centres and concentration camps is a grim spectre in human history, a mechanism of dehumanisation and control that has no place in a civilised world. These camps, defined as large-scale detention sites where civilians are imprisoned without due process based on ethnicity, religion, or political beliefs, ...19 hours ago - Black Nykövä: Accepted
New story acceptance! My 1,000-word dark fantasy piece, Black Nykövä, has been accepted by Exquisite Death for their November issue (https://www.exquisitedeathezine.com/fiction.html)
This one has the distinction of being my first published fiction set ... 19 hours ago - Luxon, back from a week’s holiday, comes back swinging
It’s hard not to see the contradictions in National Party policies and statements.Last week on Q&A with Jack Tame, Paul Goldsmith - the Minister who wants Te Reo Māori gone - told Maiki Sherman that National was getting tougher on crime by for example, fining shoplifters of up to $1000 ...19 hours ago - Shane Jones’ Sky News Lies
In a cringe-worthy spectacle, Shane Jones, New Zealand First’s shameless spruiker for the oil and gas industry, slithered onto Sky News Australia on Friday, peddling lies so brazen that they would have collapsed under even a whiff of scrutiny.By blaming renewable energy like solar and wind for New Zealand’s exorbitant ...21 hours ago
- India, Australia collaborate on critical minerals for renewable energy and climate action
India and Australia are reinforcing their partnership on critical minerals to secure supply chains and enable the global transition to clean energy. This strategic collaboration recognises that lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements and similar resources ...21 hours ago
- Women Rise Up: 2025 Women’s Council Conference
On July 4 and 5, NZCTU Women’s Council welcomed over 120 wāhine toa at the biennial Women’s Conference “Women Rise Up” at the Lower Hutt Event Centre. The programme was designed around “anger, hope, action.” We wanted members to leave feeling connected, well-equipped and confident to organise and use ...22 hours ago - Monday 14 July
More than 36,000 Te Whatu Ora nurses, midwives, health care assistants and kaimahi hauora have voted to strike for 24 hours of what they say is a failure by Health NZ to address their safe staffing concerns. Erica Stanford has unveiled a plan to double the economic benefits brought into ...22 hours ago
- A studiously ignored problem: force projected from Australia must go through Indonesia
While the United States spends billions on military infrastructure from Guam to Darwin, one crucial enabler of Indo-Pacific deterrence remains noticeably underdeveloped: rights to pass through Indonesia. The sea and air space of the archipelago ...24 hours ago
- Rolling Stone Gets Hoaxed about a Hoax
Hi,Last week legendary music magazine Rolling Stone, home to some quite amazing journalism over the years, blasted an exclusive story:If you just woke up from a decade long coma, that headline would make very little sense. If you missed it, last month a band called “Velvet Sundown” appeared on Spotify, ...1 day ago - Slash blamed in climate change-free flash-flood coverage
Briefly for all subscribers for at 6am on Monday, July 14, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate today are:Another slash catastrophe unfolded over the weekend in the Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman region as the second ‘one-in-one-hundred-year’ flash flood ...1 day ago - David Seymour Can’t Handle the United Nations Jandal
David Seymour, who is unfortunately the current Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, despite only receiving 8% of the party vote, is having another whinge about people disagreeing with him. This time it's the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume, who recently issued a ...1 day ago
- 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #28
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 6, 2025 thru Sat, July 12, 2025. Stories we promoted this week, by category: Climate Change Impacts (6 articles) DeBriefed 4 July 2025: Trump `megabill` guts clean ...2 days ago
- The Malign and Indifferent Goeteia of Faerie: Tolkien and AI
Redoubtable YouTuber GirlNextGondor has put out a detailed look at how Tolkien might have viewed contemporary AI. It’s well worth watching: GirlNextGondor, to her credit, looks beyond the standard notion that Tolkien’s knee-jerk response would have been abject horror, and engages with the question through ...2 days ago - Managed Retreat gets Mentioned in the News
The Nelson Tasman region, battered by relentless storms, stands as a stark reminder of New Zealand’s vulnerability to climate-driven disasters. The floods of June and July 2025, which inundated homes, crippled infrastructure, and forced evacuations in areas like Tapawera and Motueka Valley, have exposed the government’s woeful inaction on flood ...2 days ago
- Statesmanship
In our democracy, former leaders usually fade into the background after they lose power. Occasionally, they might pop up when compelled to by what they see happening, offering the benefit of their years. Usually, this occurs after a couple of changes in government, when they’re no longer closely associated with ...2 days ago - What if there’d been no vaccine?
It was pretty damn impressive how swiftly they managed to produce a vaccine for COVID. Not soon enough to save all those lives in New York and London and Milan, but enough to get back comparatively soon to something like normal.Feels a bit comical now to recall how fondly some ...2 days ago - DOGE is Legally Liable for Texas Drownings
In a world increasingly battered by the ferocity of climate-driven storms, the catastrophic Texas floods of July 2025 stand as a grim testament to governmental negligence. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under the previous stewardship of Elon Musk and propelled by Donald Trump’s administration, slashed funding and staffing to critical ...2 days ago
- Since Australia hosts US facilities, we need a joint war plan
Australia hosts several joint Australian-American facilities and provides the US with privileged access to a range of functions that are performed at Australian facilities. As a consequence, Australia is deeply integrated into US strategies of ...3 days ago
- Could NZ First vs ACT blow up the coalition over the Regulatory Standards Bill?
Briefly for paying subscribers at 7am on Saturday, July 12, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, editorials, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate today are:Tension is mounting in Cabinet between ACT and NZ First over the Regulatory Standards Bill, with Winston Peters ...3 days ago - Is Progress Progressive?
We should not assume that all adopted innovations are progressive. Jonathon Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ illustrates that sometimes they require social measures to enhance well being.The Anxious Generation is a book which probably everyone engaging with adolescents should read. Haidt’s thesis is that smartphones replacing flip phones led to a ...4 days ago - National security isn’t what it used to be—and that’s the point
All prime ministers and presidents frequently tell us that national security is the top priority for government, but does the public see it the same way. And does that matter? When people think of national ...4 days ago
- No one told us life was gonna be this way
1. What has been named 2025 NZ Tree of the Year?a. Tane Mahutab. The Chook Treec. Steven Adamsd. The Bucket Fountain2. The botanical name for macrocarpa, Hesperocyparis macrocarpa, means: a. Large-fruited western cypressb. Tree most likely to crush your shedc. Will not lay eggs no matter how much you trim ...4 days ago - ASPI Defence Conference: Industry, policy and national resilience
Concerns about the strength of Australia’s defence industrial base were central to the industry policy panel at ASPI’s 2025 Defence Conference. The defence industrial base—a network of domestic and foreign industries, companies, research institutions and ...4 days ago
- Elon Musk’s Anti-Woke Grok AI Backfires
In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, Elon Musk’s Grok, developed by xAI, has sparked heated debate. It’s not for its promised “truth-seeking” prowess but for its alarming descent into extremism. Designed to counter what Musk perceived as the “woke” leanings of other AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Grok’s recent updates ...4 days ago
- Ray Chung – Arsehole of the Week
In the murky world of local politics, few things reek as badly as Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung’s despicable conduct. His smearing email, circulated to fellow councillors in early 2023, peddling baseless and salacious gossip about Mayor Tory Whanau, is not just a personal attack, it’s a grotesque abuse of ...4 days ago
- Collateral benefit: space launch centre’s sensors will plug Cape York gap
Australia’s northern approaches are increasingly contested, yet the airspace over Cape York remains under-monitored and operationally thin. But only for the moment. Civilian sensors will close the gap. My company, Space Centre Australia, has begun ...4 days ago
- For smuggled drones, China wouldn’t be as soft a target as Russia
Ukraine did it. Israel did it. Could Taiwan do it? If China attacks Taiwan, could the island unleash smuggled drones on Chinese territory against high-value targets? Maybe, but China has long been aware of the ...4 days ago
- Economic Bulletin June July 2025
We have two feature articles in this edition. In the first, Morgan James-Tresidder, the new pay equity lead at the NZCTU, sets out why pay equity is such a critical tool for advancing working women’s interests, and outlines how unions are fighting back against the government’s retrograde changes to the ...4 days ago
- Bernard Hickey, Peter Bale, Cathrine Dyer, Jonathan Boston & Wolfgang Rack ‘Hoon’ around the...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking with regular guest about the week’s news in geopolitics and climate, along with special guests Professor Jonathan Boston from Victoria University of Wellington and Professor Wolfgang Rack from University ...4 days ago
- Friday 11 July
NZ Post is being told to start over on its consultation process for a proposed business reorganisation after the ERA found it failed to meet its obligations to union members. Southland Hospital staff have taken industrial action for the third time since February over safety concerns. More people moved away ...4 days ago
- Wednesday 10 July
Foodstuffs has confirmed 180 roles at Victoria Park’s New World supermarket will be disestablished after a fire three weeks ago – Workers First have negotiated an extended redundancy period in support of the workers. Residential rents are falling in most parts of the country with Wellington leading the way down. ...4 days ago
- Brickbats
The past is always knocking incessantTrying to break through into the presentWe have to work to keep it outBut I won't be the first to SHOUT it's overSong: Billy Bragg.BrickbatnounA piece of brick used as a missile."he had received a blow with a brickbat"A critical remark or comment."The plaudits were ...4 days ago - 2018 offences should be retained in a new age of espionage
Australia’s 2018 espionage laws are instrumental to defending against espionage, foreign interference, sabotage and theft of trade secrets. A current review of them by Independent National Security Legislation Monitor’s (INSLM) should recommend their retention and ...4 days ago
- Young workers leaving in their droves
Briefly for paying subscribers at 6.30am on Friday, July 11, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, Op-Eds, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate are:Net migration to Australia hit a 12-year high in 2024 and overall net migration in the last two months ...4 days ago - David Seymour Dodges Truth on Mass Kiwi Exodus
New Zealand is bleeding talent, and the National-led government’s ineptitude is squarely to blame. A record 70,000 Kiwis fled our shores in the year to March 2025, with Australia’s brighter economic prospects luring two-thirds of them across the Tasman. The 18-30 age group, particularly young professionals and high-performing students, is ...4 days ago
- Christian Nightmares
Hi,Ever since Donald Trump was elected, and then lost, and was then elected again, I’ve finally come to accept that terrible shit just keeps coming back around.Annoyingly, my work here on Webworm reminds me of this all the time.Back in 2022, I proudly published that the leaders of New Zealand’s ...4 days ago - National gets a warning from its friends
Some of the National Party’s key stakeholders came to Parliament yesterday and ripped into one of the Government’s showpiece Bills. Underlying the criticism of the Bill, which would establish the industry training bodies to replace Labour’s loss-making Polytech body, Te Pūkenga, was a familiar theme. There was too much direction ...4 days ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #28 2025
Open access notables Americans and policymakers underestimate endorsement for the most popular climate solution narrative, combining personal and political action, Sparkman et al., Communications Earth & Environment A wide variety of existing narratives describe how we might address climate change. Which of these approaches is popular among the American public? ...5 days ago
- Trump’s tariff war risks undermining US alliances in East Asia
New York Times columnist David Brooks once remarked that Donald Trump is the wrong answer to the right questions—a sentiment that captures the core challenge facing US policy in East Asia. Trump correctly identified the ...5 days ago
- Dealing to the evidence
Rob Campbell recently wrote a piece for Newsroom entitled “Government continues its blunt refusal to acquire knowledge”.He quoted Karl Popper: “true ignorance is not the absence of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it.”He then quoted the PM on bootcamps “I don’t care what you say about whether it does ...5 days ago - Australia’s freedom-of-navigation activities raise more questions than answers
A freedom-of-navigation activity that the Australian and British navies jointly conducted near the Spratly Islands last month was notable. It was the first they’d done together, following a joint Australia and New Zealand transit of ...5 days ago
- “Can you have a peaceful revolution?”
“Trump’s win was the triumph of capitalism and neoliberalism, and he’s going to wreak havoc. There’s nothing we can do about that, except maybe incremental changes. That’s not what we need. We need revolution. Can you have a peaceful revolution? I don’t know.”David SuzukiWell, David Suzuki has called it, and ...5 days ago - Gas is still dead
The National regime, with its outdated fossil thinking, is desperately trying to revive the fossil fuel industry. Meanwhile, that industry seems to be voting with its feet: one of my regular checks of the gas permit map, and comparison with the permit spreadsheet, shows that OMV has surrendered another two ...5 days ago
- India’s water treaty power play signals regional shift
As India renegotiates the Ganges Water Treaty with Bangladesh following the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, it is adopting a new posture in its water diplomacy. India appears to be charting a China-like path ...5 days ago
- The Dust of Israel’s Genocide Settles Across the World
In the annals of human cruelty, the Holocaust stands as a grotesque monument to industrialised slaughter. Hitler’s regime exterminated six million Jews, alongside Romani people, disabled individuals, political dissidents, LGBTQ+ communities, and intellectuals, a genocide shrouded in secrecy, its full horrors only grasped after the German's were defeated.Fast forward to ...5 days ago
- Wednesday 9 July
CTU president Richard Wagstaff warned the “light touch” approach in the Government’s new AI strategy would do nothing to protect workers from the serious risks from AI. Lawyers representing unions have urged the Supreme Court to uphold a landmark Court of Appeal ruling that a group of Uber drivers were ...5 days ago
- Good enough to win: rethinking risk in innovation
Innovation policy is often built around optimism. But in a world of live contest across the economy, the environment and the broader geostrategic landscape, progress cannot afford to wait for perfection. The scale of technology ...5 days ago
- Of Story Salvaging, Magazine Demise, and a Thousand Posts (+ Accursed AI)
This marks A Phuulish Fellow’s thousandth blog post. I was rather hoping that this milestone would coincide with the tenth anniversary in November 2025, but it was not to be. A thousand posts, spread over nearly a decade, is obviously a fair number, and the sheer number of post-categories on ...5 days ago - Rainbow Warriors
Where the Banshees cryAnd the bells they soundWhen you lift me highWhen you pull me downWhen you pull me downWhen you pull me downSongwriter: Donald Bain Mcglashan.Forty years ago today, the French government committed a terrorist action, an unprovoked act of war on our nation, for the crime of peaceful ...5 days ago - A criminal nation
The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia guilty of horrific human rights violations during its unlawful invasions of Ukraine: Russia has committed flagrant and unprecedented abuses of human rights since it invaded Ukraine in 2014, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, the European court of ...5 days ago
- Winning on economics means losing on national security
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needs to make a formal statement to the Australian Parliament addressing Australia’s place in a changing world and unambiguously asking the Australian public to pay a price to defend the nation’s ...5 days ago
- Trump just gave a huge gift to China’s economy
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections On the Fourth of July – America’s 249th birthday – President Donald Trump signed into law a bill that could very well cede the country’s position as the leading global economic superpower to China. As the nonpartisan energy think tank RMI has argued, the ...5 days ago
- Kāinga Ora selling Wellington land it once planned to build 320 homes on
Briefly for paying subscribers at 7am on Wednesday, July 91, the key scoops, breaking news, deep-dives, Op-Eds, analysis and other news links in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate are:Kāinga Ora is selling two plots of land in Wellington it once planned to put 320 homes on, and ...5 days ago - Gordon Campbell On Why The Regulatory Standards Bill Is A Hot Mess
When the politician pushing a controversial piece of legislation starts accusing his critics of “derangement syndrome” – as David Seymour has done this week – then any chance of a rational debate on the Regulatory Standards Bill has gone out the window. Seymour’s tantrum confirms the fears held by constitutional ...5 days ago - GCSB & NZSIS warn ACT Bill risks NZ’s National Security
As outlined earlier in the week, RNZ has a charter to “serve the public interest” - not pretend it is centrist, shy, or bipartisan.This week, during the Regulatory Standards Bill select committee, the dominance of corporate media and RNZ government inteference could not be clearer.As heavy hitter after heavy hitter, ...6 days ago
- The RBNZ just held the OCR at 3.25%. Is that it? Does it matter?
Get more from Bernard Hickey in the Substack appAvailable for iOS and AndroidGet the app ...6 days ago
- ‘Catastrophic failures’: Defence budget squeeze hits navy maintenance
The Defence budget squeeze has starved the Royal Australian Navy of sustainment funding. We see this in the scandalous state of two of the Royal Australian Navy’s most significant ships, revealed in an Australian National ...6 days ago
- Reimagining Democracy for a new era – Auckland
The expression of the will of the people has taken and can take many forms. It has been subject to change, tweaks and revolutions and remains something we trust to keep us free from tyranny and authoritarianism. However, we need to be give it continued thought. Today it needs some ...6 days ago
- One does not simply bring back a Moa
I have to admit my very first thought was: How awesome would it be to see one?My further thought was: Just how lopsided could this go?Spoiler alert: if you've been waiting sixty years to watch The Fly, the ending is not good.Help me, help me cries the tiny head of ...6 days ago - Albanese’s China visit: views from ASPI analysts
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit China from 12 to 18 July, his office said yesterday. He’ll meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Here are ASPI analysts’ views on the visit, what Albanese ...6 days ago
- Politicised COVID Inquiry Targets Labour
In the grand theatre of New Zealand politics, the Coalition of Chaos has turned the second phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons Learned into a stage for partisan point-scoring, rather than a genuine pursuit of truth. This expanded inquiry, set to conclude by February 2026, is ...6 days ago
- Why our housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on is stalled
Rate cuts aren’t working this time to fire up our economy, which is now even more of a housing-market-with-bits-tacked-on. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāBriefly in the news from Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Wednesday, July 9:The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has paused1 its rate ...6 days ago - When a RNZ Host gets it terribly wrong
..With perhaps one (or maybe two) exception(s), the journalists, producers, technicians, and hosts at RNZ are folks I hold in high regard. They have tough jobs to do - especially when trying to elicit some semblance of comprehensible answers from our robotic Prime Minister, programmed to give automated responses to ...6 days ago - Don’t let Beijing’s AI charm offensive fool us
There’s one thing China’s ambassador to Australia got right in a call to add artificial intelligence to the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA): ‘China has always viewed Australia and China-Australia relations from a strategic and ...6 days ago
- Workers absent from government’s AI “strategy”
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi is concerned that the artificial intelligence (AI) “strategy” document released today by the Government ignores impacts on working people and replicates the corporate hype of Microsoft and other tech giants. “It is crucial that no workers are left behind as ...6 days ago
- China’s ‘Taiwanese separatist’ hotline shows expanding lawfare strategy
Beijing’s coercion campaign against Taiwan is entering a more litigious phase. While military drills and cognitive warfare remain staples of its coercive playbook, China is now intensifying the systematic use of law to target Taiwan’s ...6 days ago
- “There is no corruption in New Zealand…”
A government lavishes corporate welfare on a project managed by one of its donors, then appoints him as a director of a government body. The USA? No, its National's New Zealand: A newly-appointed KiwiRail board director is associated with a company which donated to NZ First. Scott O'Donnell is ...6 days ago
- Pacific maritime policy could mend fragmentation, increase resilience
The Pacific’s patchwork of national policies and voluntary regional frameworks often falls short of delivering unified, timely and effective responses. A comprehensive and legally binding regional maritime policy could build a more cohesive and resilient ...6 days ago
- Unbelievable
The things, you sayYour purple prose just gives you awayThe things, you sayYou're unbelievableWriters: Ian Dench, Mark De Cloedt, Zachary Foley, James Atkin, Derran Brownson.Things are a bit strange right now. Don’t you think?With the right emboldened, the usual standards of decency, evidence, and logic have been abandoned, lying in ...6 days ago
- Submissions show overwhelming opposition to RSB
The Green Party is calling on Cabinet to stop the Regulatory Standards Bill, after only 19 of a total 208 submissions heard over the course of last week’s submissions process supported the Bill. ...21 hours ago - An update on Winston’s War on Woke & June wrap up
New Zealand First continues to bring balance, experience, and commonsense to Government. During the month of June, we made progress on many of our promises to New Zealand. An update on Winston's War on Woke ...4 days ago - Green Party won’t contest Tāmaki Makaurau by-election
After careful consideration, the Green Party will not stand a candidate in the upcoming Tāmaki Makaurau by-election. ...4 days ago
- Te Pāti Māori Announces Award-Winning Broadcaster Oriini Kaipara to Contest Tāmaki Makaurau By-El...
Te Pāti Māori have confirmed the selection of celebrated broadcaster and longtime West Auckland advocate Oriini Kaipara (Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Awa, Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangitihi) as its candidate for the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election. Oriini’s deep whakapapa to Tāmaki Makaurau is grounded in her upbringing at Hoani Waititi Marae, where she was ...4 days ago
- OPED – Mark Patterson: “Do something about the bloody trees”
“Do something about the bloody trees” would be the most common refrain I hear around Clutha and when travelling about rural New Zealand. Forestry has been, and is, a legitimate land use option for farmers and forestry companies. Always has been, always will. Sensible farmers have incorporated planting out of ...5 days ago
- OPED – Jenny Marcroft: Supporting our oyster farmers
Most of us who live in the Mahurangi region are well aware of the ongoing challenges faced by oyster farmers because of multiple significant sewage spills into Mahurangi Harbour. Watercare’s sewerage network in Warkworth is infiltrated with stormwater following rainfall, resulting in overflows into the Mahurangi River and the wider ...6 days ago
- NZ First Introduces Bill to Protect New Zealanders’ Ability to Use Cash
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill that would protect New Zealanders’ ability to use cash. The Bill will provide for the enduring use of cash as a private, accessible, and reliable method of payment. “People who rely on cash due to barriers to digital banking deserve ...7 days ago
- New study shows speed of Antarctic ice melt, Govt fans climate flames
As the Government pulls out of global climate commitments, a significant new report shows that sea ice around Antarctica is melting at unprecedented speed. ...1 week ago
- Family Boost announcement does little to boost families
Today’s announcement on the Family Boost scheme is little more than tinkering around the edges while real issues in the ECE system are ignored, says the Green Party. ...1 week ago
- Serious Response to Serious Problems
As New Zealand has positively responded to the crack down on gang patches there has been a growing recognition of the influence of organized crime on our communities. New Zealand First continues to be focused on all aspects that undermine the safety and security in our neighbourhoods, businesses, and ...2 weeks ago
- NZ First Bill: Only Official New Zealand Flag to Fly on Government Buildings
New Zealand First has today introduced a member's bill which would make it law that government buildings can only display the official flag of New Zealand. “Government buildings are for all New Zealanders and should not be hijacked to force cultural, woke, or divisive political ideology down the throats of ...2 weeks ago
- Healthy Homes standards need more teeth
With mandatory Healthy Homes standards coming into effect for all tenancies tomorrow, the Green Party is calling for a new Rental Warrant of Fitness system to give the new standards true effect. ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party pays tribute to Takutai Tarsh Kemp
The Green Party has paid tribute to Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp who sadly passed away early this morning. ...3 weeks ago
- Government Sabotages Settlement: Te Pāti Māori Backs Te Whānau-Ā-Apanui
Te Pāti Māori stands in solidarity with Te Whānau-ā-Apanui after revelations the Government is looking to derail their almost completed Treaty settlement. Minister Goldsmith has stated that the Government will not budge on its position that the Crown is sovereign. They are seeking to remove the ‘sovereignty clause’ agreed to ...3 weeks ago
- Govt abandons Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance
Christopher Luxon’s Government pulling out of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance is just the latest sign they care little for the climate crisis or cost of living it’ll exacerbate, says the Green Party. ...3 weeks ago
- Auckland’s annual report card is out again – and its grades have barely budged
The 2025 State of the City report shows marginal improvements more than cancelled out by some big drops. So what can be done to turn around the persistent malaise that grips the supercity? Mid-July is a tough time to be in Auckland. In summer the sea all around is calling ...3 hours ago - The cost of living crisis is over – this is just our reality now
New Zealanders are participating in mass delusion by insisting we are still in a ‘crisis’, argues a nihilistic Mad Chapman. Imagine you don’t smoke. You tell everyone you don’t smoke, and it’s true. Then one night you drink a few too many beers at a party and find yourself smoking ...3 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 15 July
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 15 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago - How to solve an empire state of mind
Opinion: It took a year and 45 days to build the Empire State Building – less time than it can take to get planning permission to build a supermarket in NZ The post How to solve an empire state of mind appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Land of the long white saviour fiction
William Delisle Hay is despicable. He travelled to and lived in New Zealand in the 1870s as part of the larger 19th-century British imperial project, and his 1880 novella, The Doom of the Great City, imagines the land as a site primed for imperial conquest and repopulation. He posits the ...3 hours ago
- RNZ reviving a national news wire as it aims to be journalism’s cornerstone
MediaRoom column: Public broadcaster RNZ plans to launch a national news and content ‘wire’ service this year, bringing together at least 30 other media partners. The wire – which would be the country’s first substantive news sharing-system since the NZ Press Association was closed in 2011 – is in the ...3 hours ago
- Scrapping census could compromise infrastructure planning
Reduced data quality expected to be felt from counting homelessness to infrastructure planning The post Scrapping census could compromise infrastructure planning appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Rough times for a classic NZ fish
The country’s deep-sea darling, the orange roughy, is once again at the centre of controversy. Once hailed as the “white gold” of our oceans, this elusive, slow-growing fish is fast becoming a symbol of what happens when demand outweighs caution. It’s led to our largest orange roughy fishery, accounting for ...3 hours ago
- Anne Salmond: Freedom, for whom?
The debate over the Regulatory Standards Bill has been illuminating. New Zealanders have learned a great deal about how our society is being run at present, by whom and for whom. In this bill, a small libertarian minority is attempting to use the law of the land, past and present, ...3 hours ago
- Mini crossword, Tuesday 15 July
The post Mini crossword, Tuesday 15 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 15 July
The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 15 July appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 hours ago
- Tertiary Education Union says sector’s become a political football, slams Te Pūkenga disestab...
The Tertiary Education Union says the sector has become a political football. ...3 hours ago - Space Minister Judith Collins goes to ground over alleged government failures managing NZ’s fi...
An astrophysicist wrote to government officials in March warning the public was being given a "materially incomplete" picture. ...3 hours ago
- Israeli settlers shoot, beat to death 2 Palestinians in latest lynchings
BEARING WITNESS: By Cole Martin in occupied West Bank Two young Palestinians were shot and beaten to death on their land, and 30 injured, by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Saturday. A large group of settlers attacked the rural Palestinian village of Sinjil, in the Ramallah governorate, ...8 hours ago - View from The Hill: Segal’s antisemitism plan gives government controversy, not clarity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may be rueing what seemed a good idea at the time – the appointment of a special envoy to combat antisemitism (as well as an envoy to combat Islamophobia). Or ...8 hours ago
- David Robie condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The ...10 hours ago
- ‘Policing is policing’: Australian recruiters say they’re just making sure Kiwi co...
Police recruiters will be in Christchurch and Auckland this month to host jobs and information sessions for the Northern Territory. ...11 hours ago
- Was the Air India crash caused by pilot error or technical fault? None of the theories holds up – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Guido Carim Junior, Senior Lecturer in Aviation, Griffith University Over the weekend, the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau released a preliminary report on last month’s crash of Air India flight 171, which killed 260 people, 19 of them on the ground. The ...12 hours ago
- Ray Chung’s ‘vile’ email condemned across the political spectrum
Both the prime minister and the opposition leader have given scathing rebukes of the Wellington councillor's actions. ...13 hours ago
- Confusing for doctors, inequitable for patients: why Australia’s medicinal cannabis system needs u...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christine Mary Hallinan, Senior Research Fellow, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne Vanessa Nunes/Getty Images In 2024 alone, Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), authorised at least ...13 hours ago
- Treasury warns the government it may not balance the budget or meet its housing targets
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Head, Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra Kokkai Ng/Getty In the runup to each election, federal treasury produces a “blue book” and a “red book”, with advice tailored to the priorities of the two alternative governments. One of ...13 hours ago
- UNESCO grants World Heritage status to Khmer Rouge atrocity sites – paving the way for other sites...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Hughes, Associate Professor of Geography, The University of Melbourne A series of atrocity sites of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia have been formally entered onto the World Heritage list, as part of the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee. ...13 hours ago
- How do you stop an AI model turning Nazi? What the Grok drama reveals about AI training
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron J. Snoswell, Senior Research Fellow in AI Accountability, Queensland University of Technology Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy & AI4Media, CC BY Grok, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot embedded in X (formerly Twitter) and built by Elon Musk’s company xAI, is ...14 hours ago
- Author condemns ‘callous’ health legacy of French, US nuclear bomb tests in Pacific
Asia Pacific Report A journalist who was on the Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap last night condemned France for its “callous” attack of an environmental ship, saying “we haven’t forgotten, or forgiven this outrage”. David Robie, the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage and Legacy of the Rainbow ...14 hours ago
- The Green Party’s Universal Basic Illusion
The Green Party’s UBI is a reformist containment strategy, not a pathway to liberation. ...14 hours ago - Tāmaki Makaurau by-election to be held in September
The byelection was triggered by the death of Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Moana Tarsh Kemp last month. ...15 hours ago
- Washington’s war demands – Australia right to refuse committing to a hypothetical conflict with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. LIU/Shutterstock The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies. Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty ...15 hours ago
- Te Pūkenga changes: 10 polytechs to return to ‘regional governance’
The government is moving ahead with its long-signalled plan to re-establish polytechnics merged under Labour into the super-institute Te Pūkenga. ...15 hours ago
- Watch: Christopher Luxon on the the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga
10 polytechnics to replace the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology on 1 January 2026. ...15 hours ago
- A radical tax plan to avoid an economic ‘car crash’
The idea proposed by a former finance minister and an economist would have you paying into savings rather than tax. ...16 hours ago
- A play-by-play of Ray Chung’s train wreck interview with Sean Plunket
What’s even worse than a days-long PR crisis as a mayoral candidate? Getting owned by Sean Plunket. Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung was under fire in a way he had never experienced before. Donors were abandoning him, and his support was cratering. The root cause: An email he sent to ...16 hours ago
- New Finance Rules Risk Cutting Off Rural Lending
Without real-world knowledge of farming systems, the framework fails to reflect the operational realities and sustainability efforts already embedded in New Zealand’s primary sector. ...16 hours ago
- How much salt is OK in drinking water? Without limits, Australia’s health gap widens in remote and...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Juliette Crowther, Researcher in Food Policy, George Institute for Global Health Andrew Merry/Getty Most Australians consume far too much sodium, mostly in the form of salt (sodium chloride) in the food they eat. The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends ...16 hours ago
- More students passing maths and reading, fewer in writing
Pass rates improved in crucial NCEA maths and reading tests in May. ...16 hours ago
- Majority Of Submitters Opposed The Gene Technology Bill
Of the 14947 submissions received by the Health Select Committee on the Gene Technology Bill 97% were opposed to its passing into law. ...17 hours ago
- Washington’s war demands – Australia right to refuse being dragged into a potential conflict wit...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. LIU/Shutterstock The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies. Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty ...17 hours ago
- ER Report: A Roundup of Significant Articles on EveningReport.nz for July 14, 2025
ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 14, 2025. Washington’s war demands – Australia risks being dragged into a conflict with China over TaiwanSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. ...17 hours ago
- Calls By Jewish Council For Censorship Will Backfire
Calls by the New Zealand Jewish Council for our Government to implement similar recommendations such as stricter enforcement of ‘hate speech’ laws and removing funding from universities for failing to act against certain perspectives, is overreach and risks ...17 hours ago
- Washington’s war demands – Australia risks being dragged into a conflict with China over Taiwan
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Andy. LIU/Shutterstock The United States can count on Australia as one of its closest allies. Dating back to the shared experiences in the second world war and the ANZUS Treaty ...17 hours ago
- Women played key roles in Syria’s revolution. Now they’ve been pushed to the margins
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kinda Alsamara, Lecturer in the School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland The end of the oppressive Assad regime in Syria in late 2024 has been broadly welcomed on the global stage – underscored by the fact the United States ...17 hours ago
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