Efeso Collins Speech
Maiden address
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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John Key & National ram through TPPA minus any real scrutiny
In a few hours the Key government will take the next step to railroad through the legislation to implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). There were relatively few submissions, reflecting people’s disgust with how the hearings on the agreement itself were conducted.
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Cause For Celebration: An Entirely Fictional Exchange
A PRIVATE DINING-ROOM in an exclusive Wellington restaurant. Seated at a window table and reading a newspaper is JULIAN, a well-dressed senior officer in the NZ Security Intelligence Service. The door opens and a waiter ushers in RACHEL, a much younger officer.
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Institutional care – was the baby thrown out with the bathwater?
Twenty years ago the Clark Government shepherded through the closure of the country’s grim old standalone mental health institutions – Tokanui, Lake Alice and Cherry Farm are names that come to mind.
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Black Ops from the SIS and FBI?
Two days ago (28 October), FBI Director, James B. Comey, sent a letter to the US Congress disclosing that the Bureau was investigating newly-discovered emails from disgraced former US Congressman, Anthony Weiner.
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Forgotten Lessons: Has Labour Just Chosen To Lose Hutt South?
SOMETIMES IT FEELS LIKE THE LEFT is incapable of learning anything. Why leftists forget every lesson History teaches them – even those of the recent past – I simply do not know. Mistakes, it seems, are for repeating – endlessly.
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Dairy farm animal abuse part of the economic model
Dairy industry representatives, academics and the Minister for Primary Industries were full of denials this week as they all sought to explain, excuse, diminish or justify animal cruelty on dairy farms, exposed again by FarmWatch.
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The taxi industry is quietly being deregulated, taking most of its accountability with it
Right now, the government are consulting on a raft of changes that deregulate the taxi industry. They’re selling them as a simplification of the rules which will be a win-win for passenger safety as well as emerging technologies. I am not convinced.
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Board Games: Can Phil Goff really make Auckland Transport “accountable”?
PHIL GOFF has declined to reappoint Councillors Mike Lee and Christine Fletcher to Auckland Transport’s (AT) Board of Directors. Auckland’s new mayor is unconvinced that councillor directors are the solution to the city’s Council Controlled Organisations’ (CCOs) alleged unaccountability.
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Calling time on Trojan horse treaties
If you’re concerned about the TPPA, there is even worse to come. TiSA is a new trade deal that would leave citizens powerless to set the rules about what big multinational corporations can do in our communities and workplaces.