1 News reports: Carterton’s deputy mayor is “disappointed” and “disgusted” at the response to a proposal to erect a memorial sculpture of the late Georgina Beyer. “I’m just really disappointed at how some people have expressed their views by tearing apart a deceased person and their character when they can’t defend themselves,” Carterton’s Deputy Mayor Dale Williams said. Beyer, who died last year, was elected mayor of Carterton in 1995 — making her the world’s first openly transgender mayor. Williams said he was “disgusted” by the comments his council had received regarding a proposal t ..read more

The Conversation in 2019 reported: Former federal trade minister Andrew Robb says he has quit his A$880,000-a-year consultancy job with Chinese-owned Landbridge Group because it didn’t have anything for him to do. Former Victorian premier John Brumby says he has quit as a director of Chinese tech giant Huawei in Australia because he has too much else to do. Former federal foreign minister and ex-NSW premier Bob Carr has quit his job as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, an organisation bankrolled by a Chinese billionairewith a history of using donati ..read more

DOC has published a 30 page report with options for restoring walking access to Cathedral Cove, which close almost 18 months ago. It is unbelievable that it has remained closed for so long, especially having just been ranked one of the world’s top 50 beaches. The obvious priority is option 2A which is stick in a new boardwalk on the one section where it is damaged, and put in some steps from the beach. This should have actually happened automatically- take a week or so. After you get access going, then you can consult on which long term solution is chosen, so long as it isn’;’t the one to ban ..read more

On Wednesday last week Māori Party MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi gave a general debate speech in the House with this opening sentence, “No matter my words today, the Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori.” She went on to say, “The theory of the Minister is that… — Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) May 6, 2024 Read the whole tweet. A Member of Parliament got up in the House and said the Government (which has a Cabinet which is 35% Māori) wants to exterminate Māori. Has the media reported this, with the editorials decrying such nonsensical and abusive language? Imagine if an ..read more

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Gary Judd KC writes: At present, the compulsory law degree subjects are The Legal System, The Law of Contracts, The Law of Torts, Criminal Law, Public Law and Property Law. The tikanga regulations make it compulsory for all students commencing a law degree from 1 January 2025 to complete a subject on the general principles and practices of tikanga Māori | Māori laws and philosophy, and for tikanga Māori | Māori laws and philosophy to be included in all other subjects which are part of the compulsory requirements for the LLB and LLB Honours degrees. This will not be about education, but indoc ..read more

Stuff reports: Kāinga Ora has been ordered to pay a tenant $6000 after she was “terrorised” by her neighbours and fellow social housing tenants, who pooed outside her door and allegedly threw a woman off a balcony. Poor woman. The tenant said they had been “terrorised” by their neighbours, who had made death threats, left blood, urine and phlegm around the complex, pooed outside her door, slashed car tyres, had fights in the hallways, used methamphetamine, intimidated other tenants and invited antisocial visitors onto the premises who knocked on residents’ doors asking for money. Any of th ..read more

Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more promising. Then we have the Stuff article which says it is about explaining Maori Wards. I don’t think it means to be biased, but the total absence of any of the principled arguments from opponents means it is. I suspect it is because they have never been reported in almost any medium. Some extracts: Aotearoa never even noticed as nearly ..read more

This is fkn brilliant pic.twitter.com/PRmHwSymgn — The Smokin Grasshopper (@Grasshopper2049) April 26, 2024 This is very funny, and if you don’t think so, you suffer from humour derangement syndrome. The post Funny mashup first appeared on Kiwiblog ..read more

The Media Council released: The NZ Media Council has found that an opinion piece written by Damien Grant contained a significant factual inaccuracy. However, the Council agreed with Dr Ali that the statement: “The worst intentional crime committed by Israel is to buy land off West Bank farmers and build houses” was inaccurate. The word “buy” is problematic. The vast balance of opinion is that a lot of the land acquired by Israelis in the occupied territories was not purchased from Palestinians in the usual sense of an agreement and payment of money. It is inaccurate to describe the West Bank ..read more