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 2012:
Setting the scene
Muriel Newman
15 January 2012
The
2012 year has had a turbulent start – from the
increasingly chaotic state of the European economies, to
the proliferation of geopolitical unrest, to the
on-going aftershocks in Christchurch, to the
unpredictable weather!... More >>>
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The
Eurozone Meltdown and New Zealand Exposures
Roger
Bowden
15 January 2012
Economic
life these days seems to shudder from one crisis to
another. The US finally looks like clawing its way back
from its own version of a financial nightmare, the
subprime crisis...
More
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Xmas
message
Muriel Newman
18 December 2011
Some
huge challenges lie ahead. In a country where all New
Zealanders, irrespective of racial origin should have equal
status and equal rights, the Maori Party - once more a partner
in government... More >>>
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National
ready to govern again
Muriel Newman
11 December 2011
This is the final
NZCPR Weekly column dealing with the 2011 General Election. We
hope you have found value in our coverage. Before the election
we wanted to inform you of the policy prescriptions being
promoted by... More >>>
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The
no-vote protest vote
Mike
Butler
11 December 2011
Why
did the losers lose in last week’s general election? Labour
leader-in-departure Phil Goff says it was not their time, and
Shane Jones wants to know why three out of every four voters
thought Team Goff was unfit to govern. Nearly 300,000 voters
deserted Labour between 2005 and 2011 voting with their feet....
More
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Eurogeddon
and austerity
Muriel Newman
4 December 2011
While
the coalition negotiations between National, ACT, United and the
Maori Party continue on in their indeterminable way, the
sovereign debt crisis in Europe deepens. Amid fears of
loan defaults by Italy and Greece,... More >>>
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Three
more years
Karl
du Fresne
4 December 2011
Let’s
get the congratulations out of the way first. National’s
election triumph was as emphatic as they get, at least under
MMP. Admittedly, it’s rare for a government to be tossed out
of office after only one term: it last happened in 1975...,More
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Election
2011 – the final countdown
Muriel Newman
27 November 2011
Last
month, with the Rugby World Cup in full swing, the country was
painted black in support of the All Blacks. Now, the country is
painted blue in support of a National-led government.
Almost half of the population... More >>>
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Election
2011 -
the winners and the losers
Frank
Newman
27 November 2011
The
votes are in. The winners are grinners, and the losers are out
or about to be ousted. While politicians spin the results, the
numbers tell the story. So who won? Who lost? And why?
More
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Election
2011 – tapes, vandalism, separatism, and the voting
referendum
Muriel Newman
20 November 2011
John Key was right
to take a principled stand to prevent the release of an illegal
tape recording of a private conversation between himself and
John Banks. If he hadn’t, the whole boundary between what is
private and what is public would... More >>>
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Maori
politics - rights without responsibility
Mike
Butler
20 November 2011
Which
New Zealand political party poses the greatest threat to
harmonious race relations? The parties that assert one law for
all, or those demanding entrenched Maori seats, automatic
enrolment of Maori on the Maori electoral roll, have Maori
language compulsorily available in schools...
More
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Election
2011 - storm
clouds
gather
on
horizon
Muriel Newman
14 November 2011
As
the Head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde
was warning about the bleak global economic outlook last week,
New Zealand politicians were digging deeper into taxpayer
pockets and promising to... More >>>
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The
1% balance and Belshazzar’s Feast
Roger
Bowden
13 November 2011
They
straggled past down Cuba Street, an odd collection of gaunt
activists, earnest ladies and scruffy alternative lifestylers,
waving handwritten signs ‘WE ARE THE OTHER 99%’, and
handing out cyclostyled bits of paper on the scourges.. More
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Election
2011 - “it’s
the economy, stupid”
Muriel Newman
7 November 2011
As predicted, the
biggest issue of the 2011 Election campaign is the economy. And
the major question on people’s minds is which party is better
placed to run the economy and protect us from... More >>>
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National's
welfare reforms - lots of smoke but not much fire
Lindsay Mitchell
6 November 2011
Listening
to the response to National's welfare policy on talkback radio
you would think National had proposed really radical reforms
in the run up to next month's election... More
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Election
2011 - round one
Muriel Newman
31 October 2011
The
campaign for New Zealand’s 2011 General Election on 26
November has started. The jostling and jockeying, shaking hands
and kissing babies, meetings and protests, promises and
bickering, the battle of ideas for...
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Now
is the hour for our leadership to arise
Owen Glenn
30 October 2011
Leaders
grow things; they also make positive possibilities happen.
So where are our ones when we need them most?
We had leaders
once. Maybe we still do
but they’re conspicuous by their vocal absence... More
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Fresh
thinking
Muriel Newman
24 October 2011
With
the Rugby World Cup now almost
behind us – and a HUGE congratulations to the All
Blacks for their win and to all of those who made the
tournament so successful – the country’s focus will
soon turn to politics. With the 2011 general election
just four weeks away...
More >>>
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Gas
against wind
Matt Ridley
23 October 2011
Which
would you rather have in the view from your house? A thing
about the size of a domestic garage, or eight towers twice the
height of Nelson’s column with blades noisily thrumming the
air. The energy they can produce over ten years is similar:
eight wind turbines of 2.5-megawatts...
More
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Time
to hold politicians to account
Muriel Newman
17 October 2011
In 2006, property investor
Terrence Stirling applied to the Christchurch City Council for
a resource consent for a bulk retail centre on a two-hectare
site some 50 metres from the central business district... More >>>
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Let's
"Dis" the DURT
Owen
McShane
16 October 2011
The
publication of the Auckland Plan has stimulated some vigorous
and timely debate about the impact of excessive restraints of
supply on the price of land in our urban areas. Make no
mistake, regulations, that constrain the land supply are a key
ingredient in the DURT that seizes up the wheels...
More
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Crime
- it’s
about demography not race
Muriel Newman
9 October 2011
The Maori Party is
claiming that New Zealand’s justice, police, courts
and corrections processes systematically discriminate
against Maori. Co-leader Pita Sharples says that he has
based his stance on a series of top-level...More >>>
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Tough
policies reduce crime
Garth
McVicar
9 October 2011
Following
the Maori Parties [via Pita Sharples] allegations of Police
bias towards Maori Sensible Sentencing Trust Spokesman Garth
McVicar is asking if the Maori Party is really a covert
organisation in disguise.“... More
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Winning
an election is not enough
Muriel Newman
2 October 2011
The Rugby World Cup is
showing New Zealanders what is possible when we all
unite behind a common purpose. Imagine how far we could
go as a country if we all got behind a goal like lifting
our living standards! More >>>
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Beware
the dark greens
Owen
McShane
2 October 2011
We
may all be environmentalists now. However, just as, over the
last several decades, most of us have learned to be feminists,
most of us have also learned to reject the dark side of the
feminist movement that remains deeply Marxist in its roots and
intentions. More
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Spotlight
on politicians over debt crisis
Muriel Newman
25 September 2011
The
grim outlook for the world economy is putting huge
pressure on political leaders to come up with lasting
solutions to their country’s financial woes. The way
in which they choose to respond could have a major long
term global impact. ....
More >>>
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How
Is Warren
Buffett Like the Pope?
Richard
Epstein
25 September 2011
They
are both dead wrong on economic policy. The terrible economic
news from both Europe and the United States has led to much
soul-searching on both sides of the Atlantic. How did we get
here, and how can we get out of this jam? Both
economies will be able to extricate themselves from their deep
slumps only by promptly reversing those policies that have
brought them to the brink. ... More
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Leave
our constitution alone
Muriel Newman
18 September 2011
A
Maori academic who says that immigration by whites
should be restricted because they pose a threat to race
relations due to their "white supremacist"
attitudes, is leading an Independent Maori Working Group
on constitutional reform...
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A
Slippery Slope to Ruin
David
Round
18 September 2011
For
some years I taught constitutional law at the University of
Canterbury. I was also a debater, in those days when debating
was a more popular activity than it is now ~ and it would
happen, from time to time, when I appeared to speak in a
debate, that the chairman, in introducing me, would tell the
audience that I was... More
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Strategy for Power Price Increases
Muriel Newman
12 September 2011
For
those New Zealanders concerned about the relentless rise
in the price of power, the New Zealand Energy Strategy,
released last month by the National-led government,
offers little hope of relief... More >>>
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New
Zealand’s Energy Strategy – the good, the bad, and
the ugly
Bryan
Leyland
9 September 2011
The
latest New Zealand Energy Strategy is a strange mixture of
pragmatism, ignorance, unachievable aspirations and disregards
our biggest energy resource. The
policy on oil and gas is sensible and admirable... More
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A
matter of trust
Muriel Newman
4 September 2011
As I write this newsletter, like you, my sympathies go
out to the people of Christchurch... We can only wish them well as they struggle
to rebuild their lives. But as we watch the replays of the earthquakes, we are
again reminded of the power of nature and mankind’s
insignificance by comparison. ...
More >>>
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Confidence
in climate scientists plummets
Barry
Brill
4 September 2011
In
a Rasmussen national
telephone survey of American adults conducted last month, 69%
say it’s likely that some scientists have falsified research
data in order to support their own theories and beliefs. Only
6% say it is not at all likely.
More
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An
avoidable tragedy
Muriel Newman
31 August 2011
The
death of Nia Glassie was sickening. It exposed the darkest side
of human behaviour – the killing of a defenceless child. If it
was a one-off event, it would be bad enough, but the fact that
it occurs over and over again is a cause of deep concern to
every New Zealander... More >>>
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Brits
recoil from teaching respect for authority at home or
school
Peter
Saunders
29 August 2011
When
I was a student, I took a course in the sociology of deviance.
After weeks reviewing theories about the causes of
law-breaking, the lecturer announced that we were asking the
wrong question. "The
real question," he said, "is not why some break the
law. It is why we don't all break the law."..
More
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A
gravy train of "full & final" settlements
Muriel Newman
24 August 2011
A
few weeks ago the Minister for Treaty Settlements indicated that
he might try to rush more than 20 settlement bills through
Parliament as an omnibus bill before the House rises...
More >>>
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Treaty
payouts near $2.5b and continue to grow
Mike
Butler
21 August 2011
The total
redress paid under Treaty of Waitangi settlements is
approaching $2.5-billion and will continue to increase,
according to information from the Office of Treaty
Settlements. Eleven settlements with a total financial redress
amount of $216.64-million are awaiting legislation and...
More
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Mending
a broken society
There
are no excuses for the rioting and hooliganism that took place
in Britain in recent weeks. It was criminal and cowardly
behaviour – the worst form of opportunism by (mostly) young
delinquents...
More >>>
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Renewing
Compassion
Rt
Hon Iain Duncan
Smith
14 August 2011
Back
in the 1970s businesses avoided the UK because of its high
taxes, high strike rates and low productivity. We were losing
more than 20 million working days a year to labour disputes,
and had a lower rate of productivity growth...
More
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Time
to scrap the ETS
Muriel Newman
9 August 2011
Lord
Christopher Monckton, a former policy adviser to British Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher and one of the world’s leading
climate change realists, has been visiting New Zealand reminding
audiences that the world’s climate is not in the grip of
catastrophic man-made global warming... More >>>
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ETS
- Hot air and cold cash
Robin
Grieve
7 August 2011
The
fact that Phil Goff intends funding Labour’s $800 million
policy of paying R & D tax credits by bringing
agriculture’s biological emissions into the ETS two year
early in 2013 raises some very interesting questions about the
mechanisms of the ETS and its purpose. Goff stated that
delaying the entry of...
More
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Maori
Seat Increase Undermines MMP Referendum
Muriel Newman
1 August 2011
As
a representative democracy New Zealand’s system of government
is supposed to be ‘of the people, by the people, for the
people’. So why do our ruling parties go to such great lengths
to prevent the public from having a proper say on how we are
governed? ... More >>>
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Strengthening
Democracy – giving voters more power
Steve
Baron
31 July
2011
I
have been campaigning for more direct democracy in our
political system since 2003, but just recently I looked at
some old newspaper clippings from 1985 and realised I was even
talking about referendums way back then. Having an interest or
passion for politics is rather peculiar in this day and age. ..
More
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Capital
Gains Tax – Labour’s great leap
backwards
Muriel Newman
26 July 2011
Since
the 2008 election, the Labour Party has been desperately
searching for a new identity and relevance. As the main
opposition party they have failed to...
More >>>
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Capital
Gains Tax pitfalls and false prophets
Frank
Newman
24 July
2011
Over
the last few weeks various economists and tax experts have
been trying to predict the economic effects of Labour’s capital
gains tax (CGT) proposal. What the experts do agree on is
the best tax is one that is simple, has a...
More
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Coastal
Coalition’s CIR Gets the
Green Light
Muriel Newman
18 July 2011
Since
1996 our MMP voting system has given New Zealand a series of
coalition governments, consisting of a mainstream party –
Labour or National – and minor parties. Some minor parties
have radical agendas...
More >>>
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Why
we are running a Citizens Initiated Referendum against
National’s Marine & Coastal Area Act
Dr
Hugh Barr
17
July
2011
Dr
Muriel Newman and I, the co-founders of the Coastal Coalition,
are leading a Citizens Initiated Referendum on the
question “Should the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011be replaced
by legislation that restores Crown ownership of the foreshore
and seabed?” ... More
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Radical
forces shape our future
Muriel Newman
12 July 2011
There
is no doubt that New Zealand is being subjected, more than ever
before, to radical forces from within. Previously we - the
silent majority - quite rightly relied upon our elected
politicians to do the talking and keep the radicals at bay, so
that the wishes of the majority of citizens were respected.... More >>>
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The
Jeweled Gecko
Gerry
Eckhoff10
July
2011
There
is an old adage that observes that if you want the same
result, just keep on doing the same things.
The loss of the famed Jeweled Gecko to wild
life smugglers continues unabated from the Otago Peninsula and
no doubt - else where... More
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Wai
262 empowers Maori elite
Muriel Newman
3 July 2011
Saturday’s
release of the Waitangi Tribunal’s long-awaited report on the
Wai 262 indigenous flora and fauna claim is packed full of
recommendations designed to empower the Maori elite.While the
Tribunal is careful to... More >>>
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Horotiu
the taniwha stirs
David
Round3
July
2011
The
Auckland City Council’s plans for a $2.6 billion rail loop to
assist in easing the city’s transport woes have encountered, as
all Aucklanders will be aware, a perhaps unexpected obstacle. One
Glenn Wilcox ... More
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Decision
Time for CIR
Muriel Newman
25 June 2011
It
is decision time for the proposed Citizens Initiated Referendum
(CIR) to restore Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed. If
you are concerned about this issue I would ask you to forward
this newsletter on to as many interested people as you can...
More >>>
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The
Challenge of Citizens Initiated Referenda
Larry
Baldock
25
June
2011
How
hard can it be to collect enough signatures for a referendum?
Well first let’s look at the history of Citizens Initiated
Referenda (CIR) since Parliament passed the legislation to allow
for such a democratic process in 1993.
After
the Muldoon years and the turmoil of the 4th Labour
Government, the National party sensed growing public
dissatisfaction with politicians ignoring the people. ... More
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Does
marriage matter?
Muriel Newman,
20 June 2011
The
rate of marriage in New Zealand is continuing to decline.
According to Statistics New Zealand the rate of marriage has
plummeted over the last 40 years by 72 percent from 45.5 per
1,000 people aged 16 years and over in 1971, to 12.45 last year...
More >>>
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Family
Court review a good start – but real vision is needed
Bruce
Tichbon
19 June
2011
In
ancient Greek mythology, the Hydra was a venomous serpent-like
creature with many heads. Each
time a head was cut off, two grew in its place.
The Hydra was defeated by the hero Hercules.... More
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A
scandal of wasted opportunity
Muriel Newman,
13 June 2011
The
70 job losses announced last week by KiwiRail in Dunedin and
Wellington, and the 41 from Yarrows bakery in South Taranaki are
reminders of how difficult business conditions are in New
Zealand at the present time...
More >>>
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Young
people need youth rates of pay
Alasdair
Thompson
12 June
2011
Six
years ago when the Labour government was planning to abolish
minimum pay rates for youth, our organization, the Employers and
Manufacturers Association, said the move was certain to hurt the
very people it was intended to help... More
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Time
for a national economic strategy
Muriel Newman,
6 June 2011
Last
month the Minister of Finance asked for ideas to kick start the
economy. It was a surprising request from someone who had just
delivered the Budget - an economic blueprint for the years
ahead...
More >>>
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A
week is a long time in politics
Phil
O'Reily
5 June
2011
The
recent Budget raised the question: What should we be doing to
grow the economy? The initial response by many commentators was
that the 2011 Budget was safe and headed in the right direction...
More
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Popular
beaches targeted for claims
Muriel Newman,
31 May 2011
It
has started – Maori tribal corporations are lining up to claim
customary title of our coastline. Thanks to National’s Marine
and Coastal Area Act... the birthright and common heritage of all
New Zealanders...has now been put up
for grabs by iwi. Reports are now emerging that claims for prime areas...
More >>>
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Making
referendum count
Colin
Craig
29
May
2011
I
wonder how you voted in the last binding referendum. I refer of
course to the 2008 election in which we the people decided the
mix of representatives for the next 3 years. Of course there is
another binding referendum (election) later this year but is one
every 3 years enough? I think not... More
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Budget
2011: A wasted opportunity
Muriel Newman,
24 May 2011
In
terms of theatre, last Thursday’s election year budget was a polished performance - a nice public relations
exercise aimed at pacifying the concerns of voters, while giving
little to opposition parties to really get their teeth into... More >>>
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Budget
2011 doesn't solve serious problems
Roger
Kerr
22
May
2011
Some
have described the 2011 budget as cautious and safe.
Cautious, yes. Safe
– maybe politically, but not in terms of removing economic
risks. And no one
to my knowledge described it as strategic – constituting a
coherent, medium-term plan for restoring balanced growth... More
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Tackling
Welfare
Muriel Newman,
17 May 2011
With
the financial crisis forcing governments around the world to
tighten their belts the call for welfare reform is growing
stronger. In Australia, teenage parents could lose welfare
payments as soon as six months after... More >>>
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Child
Disability Allowance: Fraud and incompetence?
Dr
Tim Rooke
15
May
2011
One
of the problems of being a doctor in New Zealand is being asked
to sign documents that are untrue for the benefit of patients or
patient’s parents. I
wrote to the Minister of Social Development twice after I had a
confrontation with a patient’s parent.
More
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It's
time to say "no more"
Muriel Newman,
9 May 2011
Last
Thursday, TVNZ’s current affairs programme Close Up, asked
viewers “Do Maori have a special place in this country?” The
result was overwhelming - 81 percent of the 40,000 respondents
said “No”, Maori do not have a special place.
More >>>
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Time
to Say "no" to Treaty Claims
David
Round
8
May
2011
There
is an old joke, which I am afraid I have used more than once on
occasions where speeches may be required to run along very
familiar lines, in which one remarks that ones job as a speaker
is a little like the challenge which faced Elizabeth Taylor’s
eighth husband on their wedding night...
More
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The
new political landscape
Muriel Newman,
2 May 2011
Former
British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once quipped, “A week is
a long time in politics”. Last week was a long time in
politics! Within one week
new forces have emerged at both ends of NZ’s
political spectrum....
More >>>
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The
economic consequences of Mr Key
Prof. Roger
Bowden
2
May
2011
It’s
been an odd sort of government, these last three years. The one
thing they’ve done really well, namely the slick PR job on Mr
Key.... should be enough
to get the National Party back on the treasury benches.
More
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Maori
Demand $600m for Te Reo
Muriel Newman,
24 April 2011
The
demands by the Maori elite are as relentless as a rising tide.
Not content with securing the future ownership of the public’s
foreshore and seabed... Maori leaders are now coming back for more...More >>>
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The
Great Maori Language Rort
Michael
Coote
25 April
2011
The great Maori
language rort is one of a series of frauds being perpetrated on
New Zealanders by part-Maori looters of taxpayer funds and Crown
assets (or in the case of the foreshore and seabed, ex-Crown
assets).
More
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Tinkering
with welfare
Muriel Newman,
19 April 2011
It
is disappointing that two government initiatives announced over
the last week aimed at reducing New Zealand’s appalling rate
of child abuse, appear more focussed on criminalising
law-abiding citizens than changing those government policies
that are at the heart of the child abuse crisis...
More >>>
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Herbert
Spencer’s influence on Sir Frederic Truby King
Nigel
Costley
19 April 2011
Highly
sexist, intellectually eclectic, and champion of numerous public
health campaigns, the founder of Plunket, Sir Frederic Truby King
(1858 – 1938) is a difficult customer for the modern mind to
understand...
More
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An
odious omnibus
Muriel Newman,
12 April 2011
In the same week
that the Coastal Coalition took a step towards forcing greater
accountability on Parliament,... National was
trying to change Parliament’s rules to reduce accountability!... More >>>
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Repealing
the Marine & Coastal Area Act 2011
Dr Hugh
Barr
10 April 2011
There
are so many untruths and uncertainties about National's highly
controversial Marine and Coastal Area Act that the public has
been vindicated for massively opposing it. The Act claims to
address the uncertain issue of Maori customary rights in 1840,
something that nobody alive today has any direct knowledge of.
More
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An
exercise in futility
5 April 2011
It
was the British philosopher and MP Edmund Burke who first
described the media as the “fourth estate”. During a
parliamentary debate in 1787 to usher in press reporting of the
House of Commons, he said... More >>>
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The
folly of the ETS
Robin
Grieve
4 April 2011
The
Emission Trading Scheme was put in place to help New Zealand meet
its obligations to the Kyoto Protocol. The ultimate purpose of
that Protocol and the ETS is to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases that some say may be causing global warming.
While I find it extraordinary that...
More
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Too
little, too late
Muriel Newman,
28 March 2011
With
the budget fast approaching, National is finally being forced to
do something about a government sector that has grown far too
big. According to Treasury, since 2005 “government spending
has ballooned by about... More >>>
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Evaluating
performance in our universities
Dr
Ron Smith
27 March 2011
As
2011 begins, academic staff at New Zealand Universities will
emerge from all the ‘formative exercises’, ‘mentoring’
and ‘coaching’ sessions of recent years, to get straight
into the real thing: Performance Based
Research Funding... More
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Reinstating
democracy
Muriel Newman,
21 March 2011
There
appears to be a growing undercurrent of disillusionment
with New Zealand’s system of representative democracy.
Some are saying our elected members of parliament are
turning their backs to the voters.... More >>>
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Racial
Extortion or “Freedom from Fear?”
Gavin
de Malmanche
20 March 2011
Last
year New Zealanders were informed a new Marine and Coastal
Area Bill, scheduled to replace the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed
Act would mean “nothing would change.” Despite this claim,
further down the track... More
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Corporate
iwi get rich at your expense
Muriel Newman,
14 March 2011
Few
know much about a shadowy and powerful group of tribal
elite that have become a driving force behind the
acquisition of public assets. While they first argued
for Treaty settlements to put right historic wrongs,...
More >>>
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People
Power or Ethnic Elites?
Elizabeth
Rata
13 March 2011
In
the last five years there has been a shift in the strategies
used by iwi in their quest for property rights and
constitutional recognition. The shift is from a Treaty of
Waitangi justification to a more comprehensive indigenous
group rights argument.... More
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A
dangerous law
Muriel Newman,
6 March 2011
After nine months of campaigning to
raise public awareness about the dangers of the Marine
and Coastal Area Bill, the National Party is on the
brink of passing it into law - while the country is
still in mourning over the...
More >>>
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No
ordinary bill
Chris
Trotter
6 March 2011
The
government's decision to rush through the remaining stages of
the Marine & Coastal Area Bill is as ill-considered as it
is dangerous. For this is no ordinary piece of legislation,
easily repealed by a newly-elected House of Representatives.
More
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Readjusting
welfare
Muriel Newman,
27 February 2011
The
Christchurch earthquake has shocked the nation. The
unbelievable pain and suffering of families who have
lost their loved ones is heartbreaking. Amid the
devastation is the
extraordinary bravery... More >>>
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The
real meaning of welfare
Roger
Kerr
27 February 2011
As
with September’s earthquake and the Pike River disaster, the
devastating effects of this week’s catastrophe are tempered
by only one thing: the compassion, generosity and
big-heartedness New Zealanders show to their fellow human
beings...
More
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Privilege
Muriel Newman,
20 February 2011
Is John Key a man of his word, or
simply a man of words? That is a question many are
beginning to ask as finally the electorate’s love
affair with what was an image of hope is starting to
tire. More >>>
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Polls,
MMP, and the ‘Bugger Off’ Factor
Prof
Roger Bowden
20 February 2011
It’s
7 pm and you’re either making the dinner or eating it in
peace. The phone rings. You think you know why, but family is
always a concern, so you have to answer it. No, it’s not an
Indian call centre trying to flog off time sharing or phone
shifting.
More
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Traversty
of trust
Muriel Newman,
13 February 2011
It
appears that unless there is intense public pressure NOW,
John Key will pass the Marine and Coastal Area Bill into
law under urgency this week. Why else would the Bill
have been rushed back... More >>>
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A
question of trust – The government & the Marine
and Coastal Bill
Michael Coote
13 February 2011
In the cop
spoof comedy “Sledgehammer”, the policeman hero Mike
Hammer used to pull out a huge silver gun in the presence of
frightened women and children and say, “Trust me, I know
what I’m doing.” The National-led government is in the
same position with attempting to force the Marine and
Coastal (Takutai Moana) Bill through Parliament as soon as
it can get away with it...
More
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Tough
Times
Muriel Newman,
6 February 2011
Michael
has been in the hospitality industry for 30 years.
He’s a good operator. The awards displayed on his wall
prove it.
It
was three years ago that he bought his current
establishment. ...More >>>
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Youth
Unemployment
Eric Crampton
6 February 2011
Minimum
wages are a bit like minimum speed limits. For a while, they
can seem not to matter too much. Then all of a sudden they
start to bite. State
Highway 73 runs
from Christchurch over to the West Coast. The first part of it
is flat and straight. Suppose we're all driving along to the
West Coast... More
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Quashing
Quangos
Muriel Newman,
31 January 2011
Last
week the National and Labour Party leaders gave their
State of the Nation addresses. Squaring off in the first bout
of the contest that will end on election night, it was
disturbing to see that neither...
More >>>
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Here's
a government department we can do without
Wayne Brown
30 January 2011
I
received a call from the press the other day asking me if I
had any comment on the announcement from the Race Relations
Conciliator that they were taking no further action on the
complaint against me. My comment was “How do you know all
this?”...
More
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One
nation, two peoples
Muriel Newman,
23 January 2011
Last week a group of Christian
students climbed to the top of Mount Egmont so they
could hold an “epic barbecue. Instead of praise for
the fact that they had engaged in some good clean fun...
More >>>
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Multiculturalism
and Diversity – part 1
David Round
23 January 2011
It
was, doubtless, with relief, not unmingled with boredom, and a
silent prayer of thanks that we lived a very long way away,
that we recently read in our newspapers that ‘[f]inally,
Iraq is on the verge of having a government...
More
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Ideas
Shape Nations
Muriel Newman,
15 January 2011
As
we step into election year, it is surely time to take
stock of what the National Party said it would do, and
what it has actually done. More >>>
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Rattle of a grumpy man
Gerry Eckhoff,
15 January 2011
With
an election in eight months time and the prospect of
having to vote a party rather than a person into office-
I’m getting grumpy. The
thought of another three years of treading water with
the National Party or ...
More
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Looking
ahead
Muriel Newman,
12 December 2010
With
the general election now less than 12 months away it is time
to reflect on whether the National Government has lived up to
expectations in the first two years of its term. More >>>
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Call
for Finlayson to be replaced
Muriel Newman,
5 December 2010
The National Party has a problem,
thanks to their list MP Christopher Finlayson. He no doubt
promised his Caucus colleagues that he could deliver on a bill
to replace Labour’s Foreshore and Seabed Act... More >>>
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Submissions
to the Marine and Coastal Area Bill
5 December 2010
Extracts from submissions to
the Marine and Coastal Area Bill. More
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Setting
the record straight
Muriel Newman,
28 November 2010
There are some causes in this
world that good people just can’t ignore. That’s why many
of us are speaking out against National’s planned repeal of
the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act...why some are
taking a stand .. More >>>
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Protest
without end
28 November 2010
Mike Butler
A solidarity picnic against a
land protest at the Far North Taipa Sailing Club has shown
what to do when authorities are reluctant to enforce a
trespass order – take direct action. Since the organised
protest picnic against a Maori land protest may indicate a
turning point, the following quick look at 43 years of
treatyist activism shows how the movement has relied upon
occupations... More
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Intimidation
and Fear in Coastal Communities
Muriel Newman,
21 November 2010
Maori
protest action has created a pall over the Far North community
of Taipa. It’s the one that is in the news at the moment,
but everywhere Maori activists have been allowed by the
authorities to... More >>>
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Maori
occupation at Taipa: An insiders view
21 November 2010
A Resident of Taipa
Last weekend was glorious at Taipa Point and
looking out over the estuary it would have been difficult
to find a more tranquil or beautiful setting in ‘God’s
Own’. The beach had a colourful sheen under clear skies
and ... More
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Speak
now or forever lose your beach!
Muriel Newman,
14 November 2010
In his
iconic book “Free to Choose”, Milton Friedman explained
the strategy used by many governments when they want to pass
legislation that will benefit a minority of citizens at the
expense of the majority... More >>>
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Marry
in haste, repent at leisure
14 November 2010
Prof
Roger Bowden
The
new Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill brings to
mind the old saying ‘marry in haste, repent at leisure’.
The problem is that it’s the National and Maori parties that
joined in unholy matrimony, and... More
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Reaching
Aussie Becomes More Distant
7 November 2010
Muriel Newman
“Conventional
politicians ignore structural reform because they think they
are in power to please people, and pleasing people does not
involve making them face the hard questions. They use the
latest polls to... More >>>
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An
open letter to John Key
31 October 2010
Muriel Newman
Dear
Prime Minister, In late March, when you launched your
government’s Review of the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act,
you stated that you would leave the current law in
place if there was insufficient support for your plan... More >>>
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Foreshore
and seaabed public access
31 October 2010
David
Round
Something
very suspicious is happening. The Prime Minister and
Attorney-General insist that their proposed new foreshore and
seabed law will allow free public access, and accuse Dr Hugh
Barr, of the Coastal Coalition, of telling ‘untruths’...
More
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Doing
More Harm than Good
25 October 2010
Muriel Newman
In the late
19th century, New Zealand gained a reputation as the ‘social
laboratory of the world’. This was largely as a result of
our adoption in 1898 of a pay-as-you-go pension scheme, which
was in sharp contrast to...
More >>>
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Child
Support Review – A Chance for Needed Change
24 October 2010
Bruce
Tichbon
One of the
most volatile pieces of law in our society is up for review
again. The public
has till 29th of October to make submissions on the review of
child support led by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne... More
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Inspiration
and Exasperation
17 October 2010
Muriel Newman
The
rescue of the 33 Chilean miners, trapped half a mile
underground for almost ten weeks, has been a remarkable story
of human innovation and progress. In another age...
More >>>
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The
Tyranny of Umbrage
17 October 2010
Lindsay
Perigo
"What is freedom of
expression? Without freedom to offend, it ceases to
exist," wrote Salman Rushdie. Rushdie
once offended Muslims, the most prominent of whom at the time
issued a fatwa against him. Muslims like to use the
freedom afforded them in western societies to hold
demonstrations... More
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Militant
unions failing our students
10 October 2010
Muriel Newman
Last
month an estimated 280,000 students and their parents were
badly disrupted through strike action by members of the Post
Primary Teachers' Union. Some 16,000 teachers went on
strike... More >>>
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It's
Time to Call the Teachers' Bluff
10 October 2010
Karl
du Fresne
History
tells us that when a government takes on a trade union, there
can be only one outcome. In 1912, William Massey’s
government famously crushed a strike by Waihi gold miners. The
following year, the same administration...
More
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Grassroots
politics
3 October 2010
Muriel Newman
Democracy is said to be government ‘of the people, by the people and for the
people’. It is meant to protect individual freedom and liberty... More >>>
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Global
cooling and the new world order
3 October 2010
James
Delingpole
Bilderberg.
Whether you believe it’s part of a sinister conspiracy which
will lead inexorably to one world government or whether you
think it’s just an innocent high-level talking shop,
there’s one thing that can’t be denied:...
More
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National's
foreshore & seabed bill
26 September 2010
Muriel Newman
If
you want
New Zealand
to remain a democracy rather than slowly reverting to a tribal
aristocracy, please read on. And as you do, think about your
children and grandchildren, and whether you want them to... More >>>
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Submission
process a disgrace
26 September 2010
David
Round
Public
submissions on the government’s Marine and Coastal Area
(Takutai Moana) Bill may now be made until the 19th
of November. Then, after those who wish to speak to their
submissions have done so, the select committee hearing... More
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Shifting the
balance of power
26 September 2010
Muriel Newman
“Co-management”
and “co-governance” are buzz words in government circles.
While they sound relatively benign, they are in fact creating
a significant shift in the balance of power in New
Zealand
and as such... More >>>
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Maori
fishery reserves – bureaucratic racism
19 September 2010
Roger
Beattie
Te
Atiawa, a Marlborough
iwi, proposes a Maori fishing reserve (mataitai) over 99% of
Tory Channel in the Marlborough Sounds. This mataitai takes
many rights from many people. It robs our children of their future.
Mataitai
are customary fishing reserves under Treaty of Waitangi
fisheries settlements...
More
>>>
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New
Race-based Legislation Tabled
12 September 2010
Muriel Newman
In an
astonishing twist of fate, the party that came back from the
wilderness on the promise of unifying the country by putting
an end to divisive race-based legislation and abolishing the
Maori seats is...More >>>
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The
iwi tax is upon us
12 September 2010
Prof
Roger Bowden
The
worrying thing about being an economist is that every decision
becomes an economic decision. It causes paralytic seizures
every time I step into a shop. Just ask the wife. But
just occasionally... More
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