Pacific Update: Indonesia, China and the South China Sea
Last week, Indonesia removed three Chinese vessels from its territory in the South China Sea. Officially, Indonesia does not dispute…
Setting the Agenda
Political analysis and commentary shaping the progressive debate in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on power, policy, and accountability.
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American Election Predictions: It’s Apocalypse in the USA
A week out from the US General Election (Wednesday 06/11/2024 NZ time) the opinion polls in the swing states are…
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Commonwealth takes bold step to protect freedom of expression
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Commonwealth Journalists’ Association called on states to take practical and effective steps to end arbitrary and excessive restrictions on free expression.
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Russian opportunity near Pokrovsk, can they capitalise on it?
Although fighting continues along the length of the frontline, the last week saw few significant changes in the frontline. Both…
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Ben Morgan’s Pacific Update: Australia announces $ 4.7 billion missile purchase
Last week, Australia announced that it intends to procure American Standard Missile 2 and Standard Missile 6 air defence missiles. …
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Bigger deficit for Christmas from the deficit buster. Expect higher ACC levies
The Government reduced taxes promising to pay for revenue lost with expenditure cuts. This task is proving very difficult, especially…
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RSF tackles Taiwan’s media freedom ‘Achilles heel’, boosts Asia Pacific monitoring action
It was a heady week for the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — celebration of seven years of its Taipei office, presenting a raft of proposals to the Taiwan government, and hosting its Asia-Pacific network of correspondents, including New Zealand.
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Auckland Observer Report: Wellingtonians the problem with Wellington
Never liked Wellington; liked Wellingtonians even less. Hobson felt the same way. He toured the country soon after he had…
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Christchurch City Council leads – Luxon government must follow
Following the principled decision of the Christchurch City Council this week to change its procurement policy to exclude companies involved…
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Christchurch City becomes the first New Zealand city to sanction Israel
This morning Christchurch City became the first city in New Zealand to sanction Israel after passing a resolution to amend…