Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
We think of human rights abuses occurring in far off places. But 4000 km to the North is a country that has been taken over as a prison. There are 1200 people held against their will. They were sent there for six months to processing their applications for refugee status. Three years later, they are trapped on Nauru in despair.
Āwhina – the te reo Māori word for helper – is truly by the people, for the people. The website is easy to navigate, providing a one-stop-shop for information on services and facilities that people need in order to help themselves.
The government recently announced an extra $20 billion in military spending over the next 15 years. When the greatest threat to our sovereignty comes not from war and terrorism, but from unaffordable housing, health and education, how can we justify this?
THAT DAVID SEYMOUR’S latest effusion of political bile is being hosted by The Spinoff is entirely fitting. The ACT leader and his hipster enablers cannot wait to get into the political engine-room, and their chosen path to the centre of power is via fomenting an intergenerational war.
After four years of campaigning, the words “Living Wage” will echo through the chambers of at least six councils across Aotearoa and at least one council is poised to become an accredited Living Wage Employer: Wellington City Council.
An ethical question this process seeks to address is can society do harm to a person with a terminal illness who is facing death by allowing them to choose when and how they die with the support of an authorised medical practitioner?
When he dismissed Fidel Castro as a “brutal dictator” Donald Trump again showed how out of touch he is. Most of the world is mourning the death of Cuba’s revolutionary leader.
I’m really not quite sure what to say about Fidel Castro’s death.
BRYCE EDWARDS AND JOHN MOORE have taken the country-and-western melodies of populism and over-dubbed them with their own revolutionary lyrics. But, the resulting songs will never be sung by populists. Revolutionaries, too, are unlikely to find the Edwards/Moore mash-up inspirational. In the final analysis, revolution should be about overturning and replacing the existing order. Populism, in almost every instance, is about restoring the old one.
Since National has not thought twice at under-funding the Health Budget, it certainly does not seem troubled at using tax-cuts as an election bribe, and undermining this country’s future superannuation savings-fund for selfish political gain.