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You know National are being disingenuous about Teachers by using Palestine’s Genocide to deflect attention

 

Mega-strike incoming: Govt on offensive, union leader fires back

In saying the strikes were “politically motivated”, Collins pointed to the number one item on the agenda for a meeting between Education Minister Erica Stanford and the secondary teachers’ union being Palestine.

“Not terms and conditions. Not student achievement. Not the new curriculum. Palestine. That’s not what students or parents should expect,” Collins wrote.

PPTA president Chris Abercrombie responded, calling the letter “disappointing”, and saying that Stanford’s office had told them there would be no discussion of terms and conditions of an agreement

Abercrombie said the meeting was cancelled before any agenda items were formally submitted, adding that Palestine was only one of several topics it wanted to discuss with the minister, including NCEA changes and artificial intelligence in education.

He said its placement at the top of the list did not indicate priority.

…by pretending Palestine was the only issue Unions wanted to discuss, National are showing what a pack of disingenuous scumbags they are.

The irony that Judith Collins was in Washington DC flirting with the American Military Industrial Complex while lecturing Teachers on Palestine and then using the genocide to deflect highlights how insincere and mendacious National are being with striking teachers.

This is the real clincher…

“This strike is unfair and unwarranted,” she said, adding that while the Government valued public sector workers — including teachers, nurses, and doctors — it must also manage finances responsibly amid tight budgets and growing demands.

She pointed to increased public spending during Covid and rising debt.

…she’s got $400million for attack helicopters, hundred of millions of the Tobacco industry, and $14.6billion for tax cuts and landlords, but no money for the people teaching our children.

National started the fire and Judith is blaming us for not putting that fire out with the half full glass of water they’ve given us.

Unbelievable.

 

I’ve got $400million for these but nothing for you dirty Unions

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Just consider this Government’s cruel war on beneficiaries

New benefit sanctions will help beneficiaries find jobs, says Social Development Minister Louise Upston

Social Development Minister Louise Upston says the two new sanctions being introduced for beneficiaries are practical and will help improve their chances of finding a job.

Upston said, from tomorrow, anyone failing an obligation for the first time must either do a minimum of three job-search activities every week, or attend one or more employment-related training courses.

This follows two other sanctions introduced earlier this year as part of the Traffic Light System, which put half of a benefit on a payment card or required community work experience for those who failed to meet what was considered their obligations.

Just consider this Government’s cruel war on beneficiaries.

CPAG are damning

Right now, thousands of people in Aotearoa New Zealand are being sanctioned by the Ministry of Social Development. These sanctions reduce already inadequate incomes and punish families who are struggling to survive.

CPAG’s recent Below the Income Floor research shows that more and more households relying on income support are in deficit. That means their income is falling below the bare minimum needed to cover essentials, let alone to participate fully in society.

While the Government insists sanctions are about “compliance”, the facts tell a different story. Sanctions rose sharply in both the March and June 2025 quarters, even before the Social Security Amendment Act 2025 came into effect in May.

In reality, there are many reasons why someone might miss an MSD appointment, ranging from childcare, to health or transport issues, all made worse by the prolonged cost of living crisis. A Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) client had their benefit halved after they missed their Work and Income meeting due to their child being unwell.

Instead of recognising these barriers, the Government continues to punish families who are already doing it tough, despite the Government restating its commitment in May to the legislated 2028 goal of halving child poverty.

…When unemployment is 5.2 and predicted to rise, these new welfare sanctions are just political cruelty…

New ‘non-financial’ benefit sanctions begin today

New “non-financial” benefit sanctions starting today are about having “more tools available” than the current options, says the Minister for Social Development.

…the ‘Money Management’ punishment is called a ‘non-financial’ sanction, but that’s bullshit! It cuts welfare in half by 50% and forces it onto a card that people can’t use to pay rent or bills with…

New welfare sanctions could stop families paying rent, officials warn

Welfare officials say new Government policy, introducing new ways to sanction beneficiaries who did not meet their obligations to MSD, could lead to consequences such as families being unable to pay rent and basic bills.

The comment came during a scrutiny week hearing, in which Green and Labour MPs sounded alarm about new sanctions and whether the Government would dust off dormant provisions of the Social Security Act to punish parents who fail to meet “social obligations”.

…it is designed to make being on welfare impossible, that’s the point.

The second sanction is ‘Community Work Experience’ which again is a set of hoops that if not completed leads to cuts in welfare.

The reason the Government are introducing these new sanctions is because the Regulatory Impact Statement for the legislation warned these new penalties “exacerbates the risk of a client facing hardship”, and that’s the point!

This is designed yo be so difficult people are forced off welfare.

Only 1.2% of beneficiaries are currently not complying with the existing job ready demands so this Government has created new ‘non-financial’ tactics to use to make people not comply!

Once someone is sanctioned with a ‘Money Management scheme’ or ‘Community Work Experience scheme’ they become ineligible for emergency housing or special needs grants so that they fall over on purpose!

MSD now want 6 monthly reviews but hilariously they cut workers so can’t manage a 6 month review – what was the Government’s solution? Why they will use AI to find a discrepancy to penalise you with and they will use AI to reject your claim so you are forced to find a real staff member to try and get it back.

They have doubled the length of time they can punish you for when trawling through your life and there is actually no clear path off the ‘Money Management scheme’ or ‘Community Work Experience scheme’ once you get punished with it.

This Government is so hell bent on screwing over the poor to find their tax cuts for the rich, they’ve even gone after sole parents whop rent a room out to a Boarder!

Labour accuses govt of trying to avoid scrutiny by passing bill under urgency

A post-Budget debate about changes to an accommodation supplement unusually dragged on into the early hours of Saturday morning, as opposition parties tried in vain to block the changes.

The House sat under urgency to debate a dozen bills, when a vote on the Social Assistance Legislation (Accommodation Supplement and Income-related Rent) Amendment Bill was called at about 11.30pm.

Usually, Parliament would not sit beyond midnight, but once a vote commences, it cannot stop without leave. That leave was sought by Labour MP Kieran McAnulty, but denied by government MPs.

Instead, opposition parties filed dozens of minor amendments, dragging out the proceedings. McAnulty accused the government of trying to avoid scrutiny by passing the bill under urgency.

“There’s no reason for this bill to go through under urgency, it’s got nothing to do with the Budget really,” he told RNZ. “They are going to try and save money from this bill to fill the gaps in their Budget.

“It should go to select committee and New Zealanders should have an opportunity to have their say.”

“We saw this with the Pay Equity Bill recently and now they’re doing it with this bill as well, and we oppose it. Many New Zealanders don’t know it’s happening, because it’s getting rushed through.”

Under the change, every boarder a person has will be taken into account, when their accommodation supplement is calculated by Work and Income. Currently, only those with three or more boarders have their supplement reduced.

McAnulty said more than 7000 people would be affected by the changes, which would reduce subsidies by roughly $100 a week.

How spiteful is this Government?

They rammed through under urgency legislation originally set up to try and help Sole Parents with housing costs by allowing them 2 Boarders to help pay the rent.

These changes will force Sole Parents who have Boarders to now include their share of the rent in their own housing allowance calculations meaning those sole parents (or head tenants) who have 1 or 2 Boarders will lose $100 a week in their own housing allowance!

It is such a spiteful and brutal thing to do to Renters who have a Boarder to help cover costs, these people are not rolling in cash, they are just keeping their heads above water.

National are so desperate to take money from the poor to fund the rich, they are coming after sole parent renters who have a Boarder!

National take today what tomorrow never brings!

Then there is their weird Gimp advert bashing teenagers on welfare.

 

So much to unpack here.

Firstly, why is Labour shaped like Gumby playing video games with a teenager, because that seems pretty cool…

…secondly, why are National in a blue gimp suit and why are they breaking into their house…

…why is National’s penis so tiny?

That is A LOT of small dick energy in one tweet.

Why is the National Party channeling the Pulp Fiction gimp?

Is the National Party Gimp expecting some kind of sado-masochistic 3some with the teenager and Labour Party Gumby now he’s shut off the Video Game?

Note that once the National Party Gimp is standing in their lounge room, the teenager and Labour Gumby flee…

…so the message here is small penis National Party Gimp will break into your home, stand threateningly over you until you run away?

Is this a social policy or weird sexual fantasy?

 

Look.

Prime Minister Chris Luxon decided to do what the National Party have always done when polls are dropping, and that is to bash the dirty filthy bennies by forcing 18 and 19 year olds off welfare and calling that ‘tough love’, even those who are disabled FFS…

Hundreds of teens with a health condition, disability may be cut from Jobseeker benefit

…when asked where these teenagers were supposed to get jobs, the PM claimed that businesses were calling out for young workers.

When contacted by media about those claims, Business said, ‘no we are not, we are barely staying afloat as it is”.

Bashing the dirty filthy bennie is always a vote winner when the economy fails and Chris Luxon is so weak he needs to bash teenagers on benefits to look tough.

Telling unemployed teenagers that “The world doesn’t owe you a living” is all fine and dandy, but he’s also the Prime Minister who has destroyed 6000 jobs in retail and hospo while destroying 20 000 in construction. The world doesn’t owe anyone a living but equally where are they supposed to get a job when he’s so busy destroying them?

This isn’t ‘tough love’, it’s ‘Manufactured righteousness

How does removing the jobless benefit from 4,300 unemployed 18-19 year olds and making them stay or return home to be supported by parents on less than $65,529 per annum going to help any single one of them find a job?

There are 216 000 people on jobseeker benefits and only 10 442 jobs open around the country. With 15 000 18 to 19 year olds on job seeker – where on earth are they supposed to get jobs while competing against older job seekers?

Unemployment is 6.2% in Auckland – Ikea received more than 25,000 applicants for 500 positions at its new Auckland mega-store. Doesn’t that level of desperation make the Prime Ministers comments look cruel and out of touch?

The Prime Minister said “If you want a job, you go where the jobs are I encourage anyone to do what it takes to get a job.” – they are doing that and 210 are fleeing to Australia every day – how is that a positive outcome?

Bashing these teenage beneficiaries and cutting them off welfare will only save $39million per year. This isn’t a real social policy is it, this is a revenge fantasy masquerading as a social policy

Luxon’s advice to the 15,045 teenagers on the jobseeker benefit was, “The world doesn’t owe you a living”, ok – but surely he’s responsible for crashing the economy and tanking the jobs they can’t find – why are the teenagers responsible but he isn’t?

This isn’t a real response to the economic crash his policies have created, this a just a virtue signal to his redneck reactionary base who hate beneficiaries and want to give them the bash.

I’m not sure how small penis National Party Gimp is helping convince anyone that these brutal sanctions are anything other than a weird fetish.

At some point, you as Kiwis, you as Egalitarians, you as the children of Universal Suffrage, Nucle free, the 40 hour working week, surely you will get off your knees for the corporations and the rich and stand against this obscenity of. government.

Surely you haven’t been so manipulated by your post-Covid bitterness that you are now slaves to the rich?

Who are you Kiwi?

Get off your knees in servitude to the rich.

Rise Kiwi.

Rise.

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MEDIAWATCH: 3 reasons why BSA case against Sean Plunkett is garbage

What is broadcasting – and who decides?

The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) upholds standards broadcasters are obliged to abide by, and the Broadcasting Act gives it the power to sanction them for serious breaches.

Last Wednesday, Sean Plunket – founder and boss of alternative streaming service the Platform – read aloud a letter he’d had from the BSA telling him someone had objected to Plunket describing Māori tikanga as “mumbo jumbo” earlier this year.

At the time Plunket had called the complainant “a plonker” for approaching the BSA, because he believed it had no authority over its online content.

But this week the BSA said The Platform is “an online broadcaster of a nature we consider clearly falls within BSA jurisdiction”.

The BSA letter was marked ‘confidential’ and ‘not for broadcast’, but Plunket aired the details live on The Platform, before condemning “Orwellian bureaucrats coming for us”.

“It is a hill I’m prepared to die on,” he told listeners.

Yawn.

Watching Sean Plunkett fight the BSA is like a death cage match between the Nazis + Daleks – you’re not sure who to cheer for.

This insanity is garbage for 3 reasons.

The first is the nonsense reason he’s being pulled up. The claim is he called Tikanga mumbo jumbo.

FFS, this is the least terrible shit he has said!

Plunkett is a radioactive hate grifter who has in the past attempted to claim images of starving Gazans were faked, has claimed Māui dolphins were “the Down syndrome kids of marine mammals” that “deserved to die”, has asked if anyone felt sorry for Harvey Weinstein and infamously claimed he was concerned about a mass outbreak of anorexia in Gaza.

And let’s not forget these great moments:

On 12 April 2023, Plunket claimed on The Platform that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had been hiding her new speaking engagement from the public. After Ardern and The Spinoff confirmed the speaking engagement story was false, Plunket apologised and removed references to the fake Ardern ad from his and The Platform’s social media. He also encouraged his followers to delete any mentions of it as well.[37]

In September 2023, Plunket claimed on The Platform that there were rumors that the media company Stuff had received financial support from the Māori iwi (tribe) Ngāi Tahu, which he claimed contributed to Stuff’s alleged embrace of wokeness and critical race theory. Plunket’s claims were disputed by Stuff’s owner Sinead Boucher, who stated that the company did not have a financial relationship with Ngāi Tahu and suggested that the rumors were motivated by misogyny.[38]

Pinging Sean on calling Tikanga, ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ is like arresting Pol Pot for jaywalking.

The second reason this is garbage is the insane overreach by the woke coven of the BSA itself.

The BSA are a group of noddy do-gooders who are picking the weakest bullshit to try and pull Sean up on.

Sean described Māori Tikanga as ‘mumbo jumbo’ which is the sort of dumb thing your drunk uncle who listens to Reality Check Radio says when half pissed at Christmas lunch because he’s banned from Christmas Dinner.

It’s a waste of time complaint made by woke micro aggression policing vegans who believe all heteronormative sex is rape.

That’s not to say the BSA is a complete waste of skin, they have an important role to play in ensuring journalistic standards are set and maintained on mainstream media, but this over reach for the most tepid nothings on Sean is a blunder that only manages to hand the Political Right more culture war ammunition.

This entire fiasco seems to hinge one what definition of transmission is and looks like a solution looking for a problem rather than any genuine attempt to uphold broadcasting standards.

The third reason the fight between the BSA and Sean is garbage is because this is NOT the most important free speech issue in NZ right now, the Talley’s vs TVNZ issue is…

Talley’s defamation trial: TVNZ warns of chilling effect on NZ journalism

Television New Zealand has warned the country’s news industry operations – and those of individual bloggers and writers – would be curtailed if the courts find against it in a long-running defamation claim brought by Talley’s Group.

The state-owned broadcaster claimed in the High Court at Auckland that it took adequate care in reporting on food processing giant Talley’s, and it was important to both the country and the media industry that this role was protected.

Talley’s has sued over six stories broadcast by its Christchurch reporter Thomas Mead in 2021-22 critical of the Nelson-based conglomerate’s health and safety standards and misconduct in its management of workplace injuries.

Davey Salmon KC, acting for TVNZ, said in closing arguments yesterday that the broadcasters’ newsroom was one of the largest in the country, and if its usual journalistic practices were insufficient to trigger the responsible journalism defence then the doctrine would apply to no one – especially not smaller news operations or individual bloggers.

“This defence needs to protect journalism as it really is in New Zealand,” Salmon said.

…Winston screams stasi censorship, Sean declares he’s going to war, the Free Speech Union gets to pretend they aren’t a Zionist front group, but the REAL challenge to Free Speech is Talley’s attempt to punish TVNZ for being truthful about Talley’s appalling history of abusing worker rights!

Journalistic privilege gives protection between the whistleblower, the journalist and the media platform, for Talley’s to try it and breach that so they can go on a witch hunt against whistleblowers is extraordinary and should be leading every news platform because it cuts to the heart of corporate power vs the Fourth Estate.

Talley’s is NZs biggest scumbag company.

The Ministry of Fisheries 2011 report said McDonald’s supplier Talley’s failed to report an estimated 780 tonnes of hoki in one season.

Talley’s crew hacked off by hair shaving

Crew members from a Nelson-based Talley’s ship say they feel violated after their hair was shaved to comply with company drug-testing.

AFFCO blasted over ‘petty’ t-shirt dispute

The Council of Trade Unions is blasting AFFCO’s decision to stand down five staff for wearing campaign t-shirts, as completely ridiculous.

AFFCO said the t-shirts, with the slogan ‘Jobs that count’ on the front and ‘Meat Workers Union’ on the back…resemble gang insignia.

Union says AFFCO/Talley’s is trying to muzzle free speech

The Meatworkers’ Union says Affco Talleys is trying to stop its workers talking about the company on Facebook and other social media.

Over the last three years ACC has paid out $8 million to nearly 5000 Talley’s employees – that’s more than one injury for every worker employed by Talley’s companies. 1286 Talley’s workers were injured on the job last year alone.

AFFCO Talley’s is run by fanatical anti-unionists and have so much power they can play games like attempting to force TVNZ to hand over whistleblower information so they can intimidate everyone else in the media.

Pretending that Sean vs the BSA is the biggest free speech issue in NZ is a culture war fight masquerading as a free speech issue.

Right wing rednecks getting pinged for being dickheads is not nearly as important as one of the most anti-union corporations in NZ trying to silence TVNZ from exposing them.

 

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Mumbo-schmumbo from the BSA

The letter to The Platform from the Broadcasting Standards Authority resembles an April Fools gag. The RNZ newsreader was barely able to cover their mirth as they read out Sean Plunket’s response: “You Plonker we aren’t subject to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.” The complaint itself in the letter only refers to “unacceptable racist comments” and that it constitutes an allegation in respect to the broadcasters’ requirements of “good taste and decency” – Sean Plunket tells us this was him saying that “tikanga was mumbo jumbo.” It does sound like a joke, an episode from a satirical TV show.

The blatant breach of natural justice in trying to hold someone to account who could not possibly have known they were within that jurisdiction, is itself mumbo jumbo. It is not just a clumsy decision –  the process of going about it is grasping, psychotic, deranged conduct far removed from the sort of professionalism expected from public servants. It is a sneaky, underhanded, manoeuvre with no integrity or honour. It is, in short, the judicial version of the ethics and standards that Sean Plunket’s live show seems to be running on.

In June 2025 the BSA members signed off on the 2026 Statement of Performance Expectations

Those expectations – published barely three months ago – make no reference whatsoever to unilaterally re-interpreting their broadcasting mandate to extend their jurisdiction into internet programmes. The BSA hectors for a wider mandate, nags and nags for “reform”, craves “influence” but it says, begrudgingly, “It is for the Government – not the regulator – to decide what legislative solutions are most appropriate…” And yet within weeks they are behaving like an alternative universe where they already have a legislative solution! Those Karens don’t so much need a judicial review as they need drug testing.

But is this about standards to protect NZ from harm, or their own bureaucratic survival? From the part on finances:

“The financial pressures facing the media sector have direct implications for our funding model. As levy returns decline and more broadcasters move towards digital only offerings, we must carefully manage our resources to maintain financial stability while continuing to deliver high-quality services. We are conscious at all times of our responsibility to use Crown and levied funds responsibly.”

Does that sound as though a couple of months later they would actually be embarking on trying to take over the internet for its revenue that the coven of Karens covet? – which is exactly what this tells us. They are buying a fight that will cost a lot in legal fees without disclosing that is what would naturally occur from trying a stunt like this. The associated legal fees for what they are attempting aren’t in their statement. The associated windfall revenue from levy enforcement on internet broadcasters also isn’t disclosed in their statement. They didn’t plan to do it in June, but now they do? What on Earth is the timeline of the BSA’s brain fart? The multiple OIA’s from everyone will yield that information in the next month so we can work out how this came about. Either the BSA made a decision to extend their jurisdiction before or after the statement. It is a significant material item that must be addressed explicitly if it is to occur.  If they made their minds up before the statement– they were obligated to disclose it and if it was after they had no right to do it because it wasn’t in their expectations. Either way it is a blunder for which their must be disciplinary action. Broadcasting Minister Goldsmith just brushing off the litigation – as he tried to do – is foolish and not a serious response to a runaway “Stasi” of Stacey and Susie (the CEO and the Chair).

On 22 July Sean Plunket said “mumbo-jumbo” on the Platform, on 31 July “WK” (Whinging Karen?) makes “original complaint” email to The Platform, Plunket responds ‘You Plonker we aren’t subject to the Broadcasting Standards Authority’ on 1 August, and then on 4 August Whinging Karen – armed with the broadcaster’s decision makes a formal complaint to the BSA. I understand Plunket got the BSA email last Wednesday, 15 October.

So, what happened in the last three months since the Statement of Intent that the Authority has decided it can control the internet? It is an ambush that puts a lie to their claim to have consulted and have good relationships with stakeholders and to have been working with the Minister – clearly not! They have fallen so far short of their own expectations in such a short amount of time and done so in such a calculated manner, that the document itself could well be seen as an act of deception on the part of the Authority members who signed off on it. Surely they knew in June what they were going to do so it was designed to deceive the Minister and the public. And they haven’t planned for any avalanche of complaints and counter-complaints that will flow in should they take complaints for internet programmes if you see the targets in the Statement. They only get about 150 formal complaints a year, that could explode – and yet they plan for slightly less complaints this year!? Kleptomaniac Karens trying to control everything without any thought about the consequences. It is so deeply disrespectful to the people they wish to govern to be treated like this. Secretly try to take out the hated, oafish enfant terrible first and cower everyone else into submission.

2023-2027 Statement of Intent: “Less than 5% of the complaints the BSA received in the last financial year were upheld, which tells us traditional media are doing a good job of upholding community standards.” – It also means there is little point in the BSA – no business. What is the point if 95% of complaints are being successfully resolved by the broadcasters themselves? And check out the decisions for the sort of anorak, Edgelerlord, wanky, pedantic complaints that are adjudicated – a waste of time by and large. All the serious stuff is dealt with seriously: by police, or be defamation action.

Most people don’t understand that Mr Bradbury and his podcast The Bradbury Group is already under the BSA because it is broadcast on radio and television, and that other podcasts, such as the BHN podcasts, are voluntarily under the Media Council – so some internet broadcasts are regulated to some degree. Is there need to regulate the other programmes online? Probably not is my answer because there is no harm reduction possible by imposing standards that isn’t greater than the loss of freedom of speech would be.  We need a wild West, a frontier.

What can be done to stop the madness given the BSA has statutory independence from government?

I see section 23 of the Broadcasting Act 1989 gives Goldie an in to nudge the BSA into declaring it’s hand:

s.23 Power of Minister to request Authority to consider matter involving broadcasting standards

(1) Where the Minister considers it is desirable in the public interest to do so, the Minister may refer any matter relating to broadcasting standards to the Authority and require the Authority to consider whether or not it is appropriate to issue an advisory opinion on the matter under section 21(1)(d).

(2) As soon as practicable after referring any matter to the Authority under subsection (1), the Minister shall publish in the Gazette and lay before the House of Representatives a copy of the reference.

The Minister can require the Authority to consider what the hell they are doing before they make any further decisions on internet jurisdiction like how do they propose to levy them, how much will the standards cost etc. Why choose”livestreaming” but leave out “social media” for example. Goldie should get onto that quickly because the rollercoaster doesn’t have any brakes and Act and NZ First are angered. The bi-culturalism of all the BSA documentation will be instantly triggering for them.

One other idea is an amendment to have the Media Council or other qualifying organisation come in and handle all complaints and use the BSA only as an appellate body so they will be dealing with a lot less complaints in future. Otherwise why are they in existence?

I note that the definition of programme excludes predominantly alphanumeric text broadcasts which must have been for teletext (now defunct), however blogs would fall under that category and so have a general exemption from the BSA under that reading.

I made a New Year’s forecast that a decision to discontinue the FreeView TV transmission will be made earlier than planned this year. I cannot help but wonder if the BSA action is being made now because it has been indicated already and then they really will be out of business.

 

Amnesty International are right to criticise NZ

Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard calls on New Zealand to lift its game

One of the issues she’ll be raising here is New Zealand’s lack of specific climate-related visas for Pacific Islanders impacted by climate change.

Our current immigration pathways that exclude older people, and those with disabilities or a medical condition, have also been called out for violating international human rights law.

In fact, according to Amnesty International’s scorecard, New Zealand has little cause to be smug.

Its 2025 report, “The State of the World’s Human Rights”, criticises new legislation that undermines Māori rights, including the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, the abolition of the Māori Health Authority and the erosion of Māori wards.

Also highlighted is New Zealand’s fall by seven places to 41st in the Climate Change Performance Index, and the undermining of environmental protections under the Fast-track Approvals Bill.

Callamard has noted New Zealand’s decision not to recognise Palestine as a state, a stance that was out of step with traditional allies such as Britain, Australia, Canada and France but a similar position to countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. It’s clear Callamard thinks it’s time we lifted our game

As one of the oldest and continuous Democracies on Earth, New Zealand has an obligation to stand for human rights,  an obligation that has been undermined by this current Government.

The attack on indigenous rights, the high incarceration rates of indigenous people, our refusal to provide climate change refugee status to our Pacific brothers and sisters while doing nothing on climate change  and our decision not to recognise Palestine are all direct results of this Government and they are worthy of sneering contempt and criticism from an organisation with the mana of Amnesty International.

Agnes Callamard has the moral authority to criticise NZ to our faces and we need to have the integrity to hear those criticisms.

 

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Nicky No Boats and Winston are the helping Chinese military???

It’s like, how could Nicky No Boats and Winston manage to fuck the Ferry deal up even more than it was, and astoundingly they’ve managed to find a way!

Nicky No Boats and Winston are helping Chinese military…

Chinese military-linked yard to build new Cook Strait ferries

New Zealand’s new Cook Strait ferries will be built by a Chinese state-owned shipbuilder identified by analysts as being embedded in the country’s military network.

It is the type of deal critics have previously warned could indirectly fund China’s military expansion, and follows New Zealand’s spy agency raising concerns of Chinese espionage targeting our critical infrastructure.

Rail Minister Winston Peters told reporters that the military links were not a concern after he announced on Tuesday that the Government had secured a shipbuilder for new Interislander ferries.

Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) has been picked as the shipyard to build two new 200m-long ferries, complete with road and rail decks, and room for 1500 passengers each.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Peters said GSI was a “very internationally leading shipping company”.

GSI describes itself as a “national-level military enterprise”. Under parent company China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), it is largely state-owned but partially publicly listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.

The shipyard, one of the largest in southern China, operates directly under the Chinese Government and builds both commercial and naval vessels.

A specialist maritime publication reported this month that GSI is constructing at least five new special-purpose advanced warships, which appear specifically designed for amphibious assault.

…if Nicola hadn’t virtue signalled the cancelling of the original ferry’s, we wouldn’t now be allowing the Chinese military to build them!

How one earth is this a win???

Why are NZ spy agencies involved in buying China-made Cook Strait ferries?

Judith Collins says NZ spy agencies will play a role in the procurement process – although she won’t say what role.

Allowing the main geopolitical threat to us build the infrastructure that links our two Islands together?

If the Left had screwed up this badly, we’d never hear the end of it!

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Why Labour can’t cut a deal with NZF in 2026

NZF + Labour is not going to = 51%.

It will need the Greens and NZFs mutation into a feral Boomer Culture War glee club for rednecks is so toxic to Green Party members that Trump appearing at a Feminist Folk Festival is more likely than Greens acquiescing to Winston.

If Maori Party and Greens agree on an alliance that creates a unified negotiating team with Labour, not only is Winston locked out, we could see the most progressive policy platform since Michael Savage.

Labour can’t cut a deal with NZF if the Greens refuse to play and instead unify with te Pati Māori for negotiations post election.

NZFirst is a Culture War Boomer Party who is cannibalising National vote …

Winston Peters eats into National’s vote as support rises again

The latest The Post-Freshwater Strategy polling shows New Zealand First climbing to around 11% of the party vote, its highest since last year’s election, while Peters’ personal favourability has ticked up several points to 34%.

His approval remains slightly negative at -6 (the difference between those who view him favourably and unfavourably), though it has improved from -8 in June, making him the only major leader to see a lift in favourability over that period.

The data suggests the veteran leader is attracting disaffected National voters frustrated by the Government’s handling of the economy and internal tensions over leadership.

The polling also shows Peters performing particularly well among older men, provincial voters and those who previously identified as National supporters.

…the next election will be a battle between Old Zealand and New Zealand.

Bernard Hickey makes the point from the latest polling data…

Old anti-vaxx men prefer the coalition. Young women don’t.

A majority of male voters (54%) supported the centre-right, whereas 58% of female voters supported the centre-left. Voters under 40 years old were more supportive of the centre-left at 57 percent, whereas over 60 year old voters are more supportive of the centre-right, at 60 percent.

…Old Zealand are boomer white culture war males who thrash in fury at Trans, climate change, Māori, vaccines, the Treaty and are virulently pro Israel and Trump.

They are culturally threatened, have property and are economically anxious.

They are driven by Social Media Hate algorithms.

They have power because they religiously vote to ensure their privilege.

The good news for New Zealand is that Old Zealand are a shrinking electorate.

Estimation for 2025 (or more recent)

If similar age proportions hold, then:

    • If 60+ voters are ~28-30% of the voter roll, and

    • Under-40 voters are ~35%,

then in a total roll of ~3.6 million enrolled voters (approx current size), you’d expect:

    • 60+ voters≈ 1.0 to 1.1 million

    • 18-40 voters≈ 1.25 million

(These are rough estimates: actual numbers will depend on enrolment rates, population growth, and changes in age composition.)

New Zealand is a greater voting block than Old Zealand and that is what we need to collectively focus upon as we move into the 2026 election.

We have the numerical supremacy and by sweet Jesus we need to step up to defeat Old Zealand.

This hard rights Government’s anti-Māori, anti-Treaty, anti-Worker, anti-Renter, anti-beneficiary, anti-disabled, anti-environment agenda that strangles the common good for their donors interests represents Old Zealand whose cruelty and malice is simply not the future of New Zealand.

Old Zealand is dying metaphorically and literally. New Zealand is the future.

2026 Election will be Old Zealand vs New Zealand

Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.

 

The Daily Blog Open Mic – 20th October 2025

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

The Editor doesn’t moderate this blog,  3 volunteers do, they are very lenient to provide you a free speech space but if it’s just deranged abuse or putting words in bloggers mouths to have a pointless argument, we don’t bother publishing.

All in all, TDB gives punters a very, very, very wide space to comment in but we won’t bother with out right lies or gleeful malice. We leave that to the Herald comment section.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist abuse, homophobic abuse, racist abuse, anti-muslim abuse, transphobic abuse, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, Qanon lunacy, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics, 5G conspiracy theories, the virus is a bioweapon, some weird Bullshit about the UN taking over the world  and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.

In Occupied Palestine – 17 October 2025

In Occupied Palestine

Zionism in practice

Israel’s Daily Toll on Palestinian Life, Limb, Liberty and Land

08:00, 17 October 2025 until 08:00, 18 October 2025

Gaza Strip

Sanction Israel

Merciless blitz on starving Gaza growing numbers

of dead and injured

Victims 17 October 18 October 2025:

4 more people killed and 21 wounded

Since dawn, on 12 October Israeli gunfire has left 4 people dead and 10 wounded. Two more people died from wounds. Civil Defence crews retrieved 23 more bodies from underneath bomb-damaged property, bringing the total reported number now killed in Gaza, since 7 October 2023, to at least 68,116. The total reported wounded is now at least 170,200. The daily average number of men, women and children killed in Gaza is at least 91 and, that of those injured, is more than 229. A UN report states that, as of 14 January 2025, around 70% of those killed in Gaza were women and children.

Israel kills 11 Palestinian family members in Gaza’s deadliest truce breach

Al Jazeera 18 October 2025

Strike on civilian vehicle by Israeli military in Gaza City marks deadliest violation of eight-day ceasefire.

Israeli forces have killed 11 members of a Palestinian family in Gaza, the deadliest single violation of the fragile ceasefire since it took effect eight days ago. The attack happened on Friday evening when a tank shell was fired by Israeli forces at a civilian vehicle carrying the Abu Shaaban family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City, according to Gaza’s civil defence. Seven children and three women were among those killed when the Israeli military fired on the vehicle as the family attempted to reach their home to inspect it, civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement.

“They could have been warned or dealt with differently,” Basal said, adding that “what happened confirms that the occupation is still thirsty for blood, and insists on committing crimes against innocent civilians.” The agency said in a separate statement that its teams have managed to recover the bodies of nine people so far, in coordination with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Meanwhile, the bodies of two children remain missing, as their remains were “scattered due to the intensity of the bombardment,” the group added.

Hamas condemned what it called a “massacre” and said the family was targeted without justification. The group called on United States President Donald Trump and mediators to pressure Israel to respect the ceasefire agreement. In that attack, Israeli soldiers opened fire on people who crossed the so-called “yellow line”, the demarcation to which Israel’s military was supposed to pull back under the ceasefire terms. Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, reporting from Gaza, said many Palestinians lack internet access and are unaware of where Israeli forces remain positioned along the so-called demarcation lines, putting families at risk.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has claimed that the yellow lines in Gaza will soon be marked out for clarity. Israeli forces remain in control of approximately 53 percent of Gaza, Khoudary said. As the exchange of captives for Palestinian prisoners under the provisions of the deal has continued, Israel has killed at least 38 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Media Office on Saturday, and heavily restricted the flow of desperately needed aid, including food and medical supplies.

Last week, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the Shujayea neighbourhood, also in Gaza City. Israel has continued to seal the Rafah crossing with Egypt and blocked other key border crossings, preventing large-scale aid deliveries into the famine-stricken enclave. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that the Rafah crossing will remain closed until further notice, shortly after the Palestinian Embassy in Egypt announced that it would reopen on Monday.“The crossing’s opening will be considered based on the manner in which Hamas fulfills its part in returning the deceased hostages and implementing the agreed-upon framework,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

The United Nations warned this week that aid convoys are struggling to reach famine-hit areas, with 49% of people accessing less than six litres of drinking water per day – well below emergency standards. The World Food Programme said it has brought an average of 560 tonnes of food daily into Gaza since the ceasefire began, far below what is needed to address widespread malnutrition and prevent famine.

Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/18/israel-kills-11-palestinian-family-members-in-gazas-deadliest-truce-breach

West Bank

Since 24:00 on 7 October 2023, Israeli Occupation forces have been imposing a complete closure on the West Bank, preventing residents and other permit-holders from entering or leaving. The Israeli military also imposes severe and highlyvariable travel restrictions on all residents.

Israeli Army attack: Jerusalem – 14:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the town of Hizma, opening fire and lauching stun grenades towards people attending a wedding.

Israeli Army attacks: Jenin – the Israeli Army, firing live ammunition, continued to storm the city and the refugee camp.

Israeli Army attackshome invasions: Tulkarem – the Israeli military, firing live ammunition, continued to storm the city as well as the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, invading and occupying homes.

Israeli Army settler – agricultural sabotage – 4 injured: Nablus – 08:0010:00, armed Occupation settlers, opening indiscriminate fire towards farmers in the Osirin Plain area and Qabalan, assaulted residents in the the town, injuring four people and damaging three motor vehicles.

Israeli Army settler – agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 10:05, armed Israeli settlers raided Qusra town agricultural land, opening fire and demolishing a farm building.

Israeli Army settlerolive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 11:3013:00, armed Occupation settlers, opening random fire, invaded Beit Furik agricultural land and forced working olive harvesters off the land.

Israeli Army attack – 1 wounded: Hebron – 20:35, Israeli Occupation forces opened fire, from the Annexation Wall adjacent to the town of Beit Ula, wounding a man, Ahmed Salama Al-Adam, as he was making his way to work across the Green Line.

Home invasions 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Jerusalem – 19:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided the Qalandiya refugee camp as well as Kafr Aqab town, invading five homes and taking prisoner one person in the refugee camp.

Home invasions: Jenin – 20:00, Israeli forces raided the village of Al-Arqa and invaded two houses.

Home invasion: Qalqiliya – 18:25, the Israeli Army raided the village of Kafr Qaddum and searched a home.

Home invasion refugee camp: Nablus – 22:0501:00, Israeli troops raided the Balata refugee camp and invaded a house.

Home invasions 1 taken prisoner in refugee camp: Hebron – 14:20, the Israeli military raided the village of Al-Rihiya and invaded a house of mourning where a family was gathering over the killing of an 11yearold boy, Mohammad Bahjat al-Hallaq, shot by Israeli troops. The Israeli Army threatened the family and warned them not to carry out the mourning.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Ramallah – 11:2013:00, Israeli Occupation settlers set fire to crops on Turmusaya agricultural land.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Ramallah – 11:25, Occupation settlers raided Palestinian land in Silwad and forced every one off of it, in order to prevent the olive harvest.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Ramallah – 17:20, Israeli settlers attacked and prevented the olive harvest in the Wadi Ammar area of Turmusaya.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Tubas – Israeli Occupation settlers invaded the Khallet Khader area of the North Jordan Valley, bulldozing approximately 3 hectares of agricultural land and destroying a water network on another 2.5 hectares of land, causing severe damage to crops.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Tulkarem – Israeli settlers raided agricultural land of people in the Wadi Salama area, cutting down and setting fire to about 100 olive trees.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 09:20-13:00, Occupation settlers stole the olive harvest, east of the village of Rujeib.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 09:55, Israeli settlers assaulted olive harvesters on Duma village land.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 09:55, Israeli Occupation settlers drove off olive harvesters from land in the Jabal Qamas area, between the town of Beita and the village of Osirin.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 09:55, Israeli settlers drove olive harvesters off land, near the entrance to Beit Dajan village.

Occupation settler violence and populationcontrol: Nablus – 10:5013:00, armed Occupation settlers forced away a bulldozer repairing roads in Talfit village and terrorised two residents.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 12:05, Israeli settlers drove olive harvesters off Duma village agricultural land.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Nablus – 15:00, Occupation settlers invaded agricultural land in the Wadi Al-Hajj Issa area of Aqraba and forced olive harvesters off the land.

Occupation settler agricultural sabotage: Nablus – 15:05, Israeli settlers raided Jalloud village agricultural land, vandalising structures as well as removing retaining walls and entrance gates.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Salfit – 09:50, Israeli Occupation settlers invaded land, south of Deir Ballut, and assaulted olive crop harvesters.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage injury: Salfit – 11:4016:40, stonethrowing Israeli settlers invaded agricultural lands in the Wadi al-Matwi area, between Salfit and Bruqin, assaulting olive harvesters and severely beating-up and hospitalising a man: Mahmoud Abdel Fattah Hajjaj.

Occupation settler olive harvest sabotage: Salfit – 15:25, Occupation settlers, riding a tractor-trailer, entered people’s‘ lands in the Khallet Hassan area of Qarawat Bani Hassan and assaulted olive harvesters.

Occupation settler terrorism: Jericho – 13:5515:30, Israeli settlers raided the Bedouin community in the Al-Auja Waterfall area and terrorised residents, while roaming among their homes.

Occupation settler violence 1 injured: Jericho – 15:00, Israelis, from the Gitit Occupation settlement, severely beatup and hospitalised a man: Wadih Mustafa Sawarka.

Raids: Jerusalem – 13:35, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the towns of Abu Dis and Al-Eizariya.

Raid: Jerusalem – 01:2003:15, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Anata.

Raid: Ramallah – 08:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Birzeit.

Raids: Ramallah – 11:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the villages of Al-Mughayir, Umm Safa, Deir Sudan and Ajul.

Raid: Ramallah – 11:20, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Silwad.

Raid: Ramallah – 17:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.

Raid: Ramallah – 18:4021:00, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Turmusaya.

Raids: Ramallah – 20:0023:55, Israeli forces raided the villages of Nabi Saleh, Aboud and Kharbatha Bani Harith.

Raid 4 taken prisoner: Ramallah – 20:0023:55, the Israeli Army raided the village of Bil’in, taking prisoner four people.

Raid: Ramallah – 22:2523:55, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Deir Abu Mash’al.

Raids: Ramallah – 23:5503:15, the Israeli military raided and patrolled Ni’lin and Beit Liqiya as well as the villages of Deir Qaddis and Beit Sira.

Raid: Jenin – 08:2510:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Rumana.

Raid: Jenin – 10:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the town of Jaba’.

Raid: Jenin – 17:35, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Ya’bad.

Raid: Jenin – 18:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the village of al-Fanduqumiya.

Raids: Jenin – 06:4007:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the villages of al-Fanduqumiya and Al-Attara.

Raid violence and injury: Jenin – 22:15, Israeli soldiers assaulted a man, Aws Mahmoud Dheeb Nazzal, on the road to the town of Araba, severely beating-up and hospitalising him.

Raid 1 taken prisoner: Jenin – 02:10, Israeli troops raided the village of Beit Qad, taking prisoner one person.

Raid violence and injury: Tubas – Israeli Occupation forces, in the village of Aqaba, severely beat-up and hospitalised a resident: Youssef Daif Allah Al-Faqir.

Raid: Tulkarem – 15:55, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Farun.

Raid olive harvest sabotage violence and injury: Tulkarem – 11:00, the Israeli Army assaulted olive harvesters on Ramin village land, denying them entry due to lack of ‘permits’ and taking prisoner a number of people. The soldiers also beatup and hospitalised a news reporter.

Raid: Nablus – 09:20, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Qabalan.

Raid: Nablus – 10:15, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Osirin.

Raids: Nablus – 10:40, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the villages of Rujeib and Tal.

Raid: Nablus – 10:50, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the village of Asira al-Qibliya.

Raid: Nablus – 12:40, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Duma.

Raids: Nablus – 13:10, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled Asira al-Shamaliya as well as the village of Talluza.

Raid: Nablus – 14:25, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the village of Madama.

Raid: Nablus – 16:35, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the village of Sarra.

Raid: Nablus – 18:00, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the village of Burqa.

Raids: Nablus – 18:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled Sebastia, as well as the villages of Naqoura and Deir Sharaf.

Raid: Nablus – 18:40, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the village of Al-Badhan.

Raids violence and injury: Nablus – 19:25, the Israeli Army beatup a man, Yasser Bilal Nasser Al-Qaddoumi, and his brother, Muhammad, in the village of Kafr Qaddum, who were afterwards admitted to the Government Hospital in Nablus.

Raid on refugee camp: Nablus – 22:0501:00, Israeli troops raided the Askar refugee camp.

Raid: Nablus – 00:30, the Israeli military raided the town of Beita, as well as the village of Osirin, and invaded a livestock shelter.

Raid: Salfit – 16:3017:50, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Deir Istiya.

Raids: Salfit – 19:20, Israeli Occupation forces raided and patrolled the town of Zawiya as well as the village of Rafat.

Raid: Jericho – 14:15-16:50, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the city.

Raid 1 taken prisoner: Jericho – 13:30-14:15, the Israeli Army raided the village of Fasayil, taking prisoner one person.

Raid: Bethlehem – 09:50, Israeli troops raided the town of Al-Khadr.

Raid: Bethlehem – 18:10, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Beit Fajjar.

Raid: Bethlehem – 20:30, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Za’tara.

Raid: Bethlehem – 21:3004:15, Israeli Occupation forces again raided and patrolled Al-Khadr.

Raid: Hebron – 08:05, Israeli forces raided and patrolled the town of Bani Na’im.

Raid: Hebron – 08:50, the Israeli Army raided and patrolled the town of Dura.

Raid: Hebron – 18:5501:30, Israeli troops raided and patrolled the town of Halhul.

Raid: Hebron – 01:3003:55, the Israeli military raided and patrolled the town of Yatta.

Raid: Hebron – 01:3003:55, Israeli soldiers raided and patrolled the town of Al-Samou.

Richard Wagstaff’s response to the Government on nationwide strikes – NZCTU

The strikes planned by several unions on October 23 represent the biggest day of industrial action in decades. More than a hundred thousand union members spread across many occupations have voted to send a message that they expect their employers to respond properly to the claims they have put forward in negotiations.

These workers include primary and secondary teachers, teacher aids, allied health workers, care and support workers, advisory and knowledge workers, mental health and general nurses, and doctors. Other professions like fire fighters are also taking industrial action.

What these groups all have in common is that they are being confronted with a coordinated and deliberate bargaining strategy from the Public Service Commission and employers. That is to respond with long-term pay offers that are well under inflation. In other words, the employers are insisting that these workers take a pay cut in real terms, not just for this year, but for two or three years.

These disputes are about much more than pay rates. These workers have also raised numerous issues around the quality of service and care, especially around short staffing and resources. This has largely fallen on deaf ears. No meaningful proposal has been made on these issues, which go to the very heart of the disputes.

Taken together, the bargaining position of the employers, which will have been signed off by the Government, represents a downgrading of our public services, our health services, and our education services.

The public sector workforce is highly committed to providing what they were trained as professionals to do – deliver a quality service that supports communities to have a high quality of life. If they accept the paltry offers being put in front of them, they know service quality will suffer, and even more workers will head overseas.

The Government consistently demonstrates they are out of touch with the realities of workers. They have tried to portray the dispute as politically driven by unions – ignoring the fact that it is the workers themselves, not union officials, who have voted overwhelmingly to take this action.

The Prime Minister even falsely claimed that the unions taking action are affiliated to the Labour Party – in reality, none of these unions are affiliated to Labour. He is deliberately spreading misinformation to deflect from his Government’s failure to deliver quality public services.

The concerns over safe staffing, resources, and equipment are all long standing and have been raised year after year. There have been agreements to fix things that have not been honoured. Just a few months ago, these workers had their pay equity claims and settlements severely undermined by the Government, which has had a significant impact on their take home pay.

This Government promised to fix the cost-of-living crisis but are instead cutting wages for hundreds of thousands of public service workers.

The nature of industrial disputes is that reaching a fair settlement will ultimately require agreement between the parties.

The Government argues it can’t afford it to meet the claims. But workers are well aware that the Government found $23 billion over the past two budgets for tax cuts for high income earners, and tax breaks and write offs for landlords, tobacco companies, and businesses. Workers understand its all about priorities, and that ministers could choose to prioritise the essential services and workers we all depend on.

Previous National-led governments have found ways through industrial disputes in the past. We need to see leadership not politics from this Government.

No one wants to take strike action if it can be reasonably avoided. Workers know there are impacts of strike action – but if there wasn’t no pressure could be brought on employers to change their position.

In fact, these workers have shown extraordinary patience. They have been in bargaining for many months, for some over a year. This simply can’t go on with the meaningless timewasting of employers who keep coming back with effectively the same offers.

It is condescending for the Government to accuse these workers of not caring about the impact of the strike. This workforce is dedicated to these services and fully understand that these disputes are not just about settling collective agreements, but also about protecting the public investment and long-term viability of these services. They are taking a stand for all of us, and we encourage the public to show their support.

We all depend on essential public services that are there when we need them. We need to show that we value these services not just with words, but by addressing the concerns brought to the negotiating table by the people who do the work.

Stop With The Politics And Threats – PSA Responds To Judith Collins ‘Open Letter’ – PSA

Public Service Minister Judith Collins needs to stop with the political games and get back to the bargaining table with a fair offer for health workers striking on Thursday for safe staffing and decent pay.

The Minister’s open letter blaming unions completely misses the point – the public understands why health workers are taking action and backs them in their fight for fair pay and recognition of the vital work they do, said Fleur Fitzsimons, National Secretary for the Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi.

“Health workers are striking because after months of negotiation, the Government has failed to offer fair pay or address the chronic understaffing crisis putting them and patients at risk.

“These are nurses, allied health workers and other critical support staff who keep our health system running 24/7 and now work double shifts to cover vacancies because of the Government’s underfunding.

“It’s a problem of their own making and now the Government is blaming unions and making reckless threats to change the law and take away workers’ fundamental right to strike.

“None of this is helpful and just distracts from the real issue – this government’s political choice to underfund our health system while handing out tax breaks to landlords and tobacco companies.

“Health funding is a political choice. Listening to workers is a political choice. This government is making the wrong choices.

“It needs to stop the threats, stop the blame game, and start taking responsibility for the health staffing crisis it has created through short-sighted funding cuts.

“Health workers don’t want to strike – they want fair pay and safe working conditions so they can get back to caring for patients. The ball is in the Government’s court.”

Local Elections 2025 – Winners, Losers + Predictions

The local council elections saw a pitiful 35% turn out which was lower than the previous low point of 40%!

This isn’t voter apathy, it’s voter antipathy – how can any council pretend to have any mandate when barely a third voted?

In 66 mayoral races, nearly half elected a new mayor based on high rates rise revolts – rate rises that were ironically caused because this Government dismantled 3 waters and pushed the costs onto locals – how is 3 Waters looking now rednecks?

Who do you feel more sorry for, anyone who was forced to appear in a Hobson’s Pledge Billboard or the $90 000 Rolex that Ray Chung had put aside to buy when he won the Wellington Mayoralty?

There are of course political winners and losers.

 

Winners:

Weaponised Voter Apathy: People hate how rigged local elections are now that they refuse point blank to vote. The rich get multiple votes in multiple elections thanks to their holiday batches and multiple properties, the voting process is rigged against the poor and renters who are more transient and right wing arsehole astro turf organisations funded with Dark Ag money take over the narrative. Better to refuse the masquerade of participation for legitimacy and starve the pricks of any mandate whatsoever.

 

The 2 private companies running these joke elections:

The vast number of Kiwis do not known that our local democracy has been privatised to just 2 private companies, it is NOT run by the Electoral Commission!

  • Election Services – an Auckland-based company that runs elections for Auckland Council and several other North Island councils.

  • electionz.com – a Christchurch-based company that provides election services (including postal voting and online voting systems) for many South Island and some North Island councils.

Look at the impact of privatising local elections over that time on participation rates:

  • 1992–1998: turnout in the 50–55% range.

  • 2001 (Local Electoral Act introduced, outsourcing becoming the norm): turnout dropped to ~47%.

  • 2004–2010: around 43–49%.

  • 2013–2019: fell further to 39–42%.

  • 2022: hit a modern low of ~36% nationwide.

  • 2025 – barely 30%

Ever since we privatised our local elections, turn out has crashed, and that’s because these two private companies don’t care about the participation rate, they care about making money on their contracts!

By outsourcing our local elections to private companies, we have destroyed our participation rates, it is time to remove all contracts from these two companies and take the elections back into the Electoral Commission and run them with the same level of funding we run National Elections!

Klan Wards:

The racist anti-Māori ward debate led by Hobson’s Pledge and managed by the Taxpayers’ Union has made the following Councils racist redneck scumbags by voting against Māori wards:

  • Whangarei District Council
  • Hauraki District Council
  • Thames-Coromandel District Council
  • Matamata-Piako District Council
  • Waikato District Council
  • Waipa District Council
  • Ōtorohanga District Council
  • Western Bay of Plenty District Council
  • Taupo District Council
  • Hastings District Council
  • Napier City Council
  • Central Hawke’s Bay District Council
  • Tararua District Council
  • Rangitikei District Council
  • Manawatu District Council
  • New Plymouth District Council
  • Stratford District Council
  • South Taranaki District Council
  • Horowhenua District Council
  • Tasman District Counci
  • Marlborough District Council
  • Northland Regional Council
  • Hawke’s Bay Regional Council
  • Horizons Regional Council
  • Taranaki Regional Council

The white man marches on!

Dark Ag Money: They have had a field day by manufacturing redneck talking points of ‘da Maaaarees is stealing da (fill in whatever here) to ensure their interests dominate local councils. You have to give it to them, they know how to manipulate Kiwis.

 

Hobsons Pledge: Cracker wins again to make sure 19th Century White Settler Privilege dominates the local council agendas. It is a banjo twanging redneck cross burning jamboree and everyone who isn’t brown is invited.

ACT Party: Managed to get 10 of their self funded cretinous candidates elected to start their attacks on any local issue that aligns with what ever culture war party trick David Seymour is attempting.

NZ Initiative: Manage to hide their interested by calling for candidates with ‘business experience’ so they can strangle local democracy.

The Atlas Network: The playbook is destroy indigenous rights so resources can be exploited. It has been taken from Canada and adapted for Australia and New Zealand.

Dr AI Bryce Edwards: While he still jaw droopingly publishes Chris Trotter and refers to him as ‘left’, Bryce has probably had one of the best insights into why the local elections went the way they did and highlights the influence of right wing astro turf organisations masking their interests and polluting the outcome. I’ve started taking notice of his work again, his AI columns are like an academic on viagra.

Mass Surveillance: Maybe an arsehole like Wayne Brown is the Mayor that a city of arseholes deserves, but I don’t think most Aucklanders, beaten into political apathy by a gridlocked City that is dying, appreciate what Wayne Brown winning the Mayoralty will actually mean to them.

The vast, vast, vast swathe of Auckland has NO IDEA the roads are about to be privatised.

They are just trying to grind out a living during a cost of living crisis in a gridlocked city AND THEN they will be told they are being charged for that

The bullshit used to support congestion charges are that when they are adopted it sees a decrease in emissions and traffic, but in every single city they have tried this in they have high density public transport, in Auckland we have shit public transport!

Congestion charges will only cause more poverty and misery because there isn’t any fucking public transport infrastructure.

When Aucklanders get blindsided by this, they will scream for blood and demand to know who did it, so your starting hatred should go to the Boomer King, then National, then ACT, then NZF, then Labour and then the Greens.

The fact congestion charges will enable a mass surveillance of the transport network hasn’t even been considered yet.

Culture War Boomers: The Chris Trotter’s of the world will love that a Boomer arsehole like Wayne Brown has been elected and that da Maaaarrees got the bash. The snide put downs of the next generation of Aucklanders is all the Culture War Boomers have now as the next generation flee the city and country to get away from them. Let’s hope whatever Filipino nurse is brought in to look after them in the dementia ward steals from them.

 

Losers:

Ray Chung and his $90 000 Rolex: He put a $90 000 Rolex on hold as a celebration for when he won the Wellington Mayoralty.

Bhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahah hahahahahahahahahahahahahah.

Everyone appearing in Hobsons’ Pledge Billboards: Hobsons’ Pledge people know no actual Māori so had to keep stealing Māori to appear in their billboards.

Democracy: Thanks to private companies running rigged processes alongside Dark Ag money flowing into the campaign, democracy ultimately is the loser and the damage this next generation of small government freaks empowered by Culture War Boomers will cause our communities will be immense.

 

Predictions:

Since we privatised the elections to just two companies in the 1990s, participation rates went from 55% to 32%. It is time for us to dump the privatisation of our local elections and actually have the Electoral Commission do them with the same level of resource we do with national elections.

Before 2022 we only had 3 Māori Wards and after this we now have 20, so that’s progress!

Online voting will simply open us to hacking from Russia, China or North Korea and make local elections forever corrupted.

Dr Bryce Edwards notes that right wing astro turf groups were highly effective in pushing their messages and ACT gained 10 seats – when will the Left be able to match the influence of these right wing groups is the real question.

The damage the Right have inflicted upon local democracy is brutal and demands the Unions and Civil Society Institutes step up as the counter weight.

 

HAHAHAHAHA – We have right royally fucked Auckland up!

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MEDIAWATCH: Is Liam Dann from NZME micro-dosing acid?

WTF?

The economy is recovering, but brace yourself, there’s bad news coming – Liam Dann

The economic recovery might well be under way.

The ingredients are in place – low interest rates and high export prices.

But brace yourself.

Even if things go well from here, we’re going to get a series of ugly economic statistics between now and Christmas.

There is always a sting in the tail of a downturn.

Recessions usually save the worst for last, and when confidence is already low (as it is now), the risk that grim headlines will undermine progress is heightened.

Let’s look at what’s coming up so we can face it with the kind of brave, steely resolve that Kiwis seem to manage when we’re defending trylines and climbing mountains and so forth.

Ummmmmmmmmm.

Is Liam micro-dosing acid?

I don’t think we have Economic Journalists anymore, I think we have cheerleaders for capitalism.

Capitalists live in a fantasy land where everyone has to be super positive because money is so emotional and when people lose it thanks to ideological experiments from Right Wing Governments, any business journalist who critiques too negatively gets their balls kicked in for spooking the stupid consumers and I think Liam’s very rational analysis of a market crash in the Housing market had Real Estate Pimp after Real Estate Pimp screaming at him for crashing sentiment.

From here on in he’s only allowed to scream, “ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHTS SIDE OF LIFE”, or, “Tis merely a flesh wound”.

Maybe, just maybe the terrible decision to smash the Infrastructure Pipeline Labour had built for public housing, hospitals, schools and roads in 2024 had a cascade impact on the economy that has scarred the market so badly that we are actually in for far worse damage than Laim’s cheerleading can acknowledge.

Put aside the inflation and  Unemployment rates that will dominate news headlines, look at the raw economic data.

Maybe those ‘green shoots’ are really the dried snot of vacant hope?

The Reserve Bank made a dramatic 50 point drop last week in the OCR as more and more economic data suggests the economy is in far worse shape than feared, this isn’t prudent management it’s naked desperation and panic.

The latest leading indicators for the economy suggest a darkening outlook for September quarter GDP. The BusinessNZ-BNZ PSI survey out yesterday showed the services sector that makes up over 60% of the economy contracted in September, its 19th-consecutive month of contraction.

The matching BusinessNZ-BNZ PMI survey for the manufacturing sector on Friday also showed a contraction.

Liam doesn’t have much to say about that.

Information out last week shows the Housing market continues to slide as QV report shows prices down 1.1 percent in the three months ended September with the Market marginally weaker than year ago, down 14 percent from its peak in 2022.

The NZ Economy is built on selling each other over inflated houses and pretending that’s wealth, but again, RNZ and Stuff are pretty quiet on that front.

Overall migrant arrivals dropped 16% to 138,600, while departures increased 13% to 127,900 – the economy is so bad that now even the migrant workers are fleeing!

Treasury papers show we have an $11.1billion deficit, but the Government has given away $19.5b to landlords, the rich and tobacco companies – if they hadn’t done that we would have an $8.4b surplus – this Government has manufactured a debt problem and called that an economic plan.

The reality is that the economy is about to get far, far, far worse and none of this Government’s austerity agenda will make any of that pain easier to take.

I believe it is time for the Political Left to look at Sovereign Credit to fund our infrastructure.

The greatest mistake Labour did over Covid, was that they borrowed the money from private banking rather than do what Mickey Savage did, create Sovereign Credit!

In the 1930s–40s, the first Labour Government (Savage & Fraser) used the Reserve Bank to directly finance social housing, infrastructure, and employment schemes. This was sovereign credit creation — money issued into the economy for public purposes.

New Zealand used sovereign credit creation in the 1930s for housing and recovery. Since the late 20th century, reforms locked us into a bond-based system to satisfy global financial orthodoxy and inflation fears. The difference is simple: bonds create debt to outsiders, sovereign credit creates money internally.

So what would happen if NZ created sovereign credit now?

  • If the Reserve Bank or Treasury created credit for targeted, productive investment(say, green infrastructure, affordable housing, climate resilience):

    • The economy could benefit from extra capacity and jobs.

    • Inflationary pressure would be limited if the spending matched real productive needs.

    • International markets might notice but wouldn’t necessarily “punish” NZ — especially if debt-to-GDP stayed stable.

If NZ created sovereign credit now for targeted, productive investment, markets might grumble but wouldn’t punish us severely — especially if inflation stayed under control.

We could back this Sovereign Credit using ACC and KiwiSaver:

  • ACC Fund: ~$50 billion+ investment portfolio to meet future injury compensation liabilities.

  • KiwiSaver funds: ~$100 billion+ in private retirement savings, invested across shares, bonds, property, etc.

How backing sovereign credit with them could work:

  1. Collateralisation model

    • The government issues new sovereign credit (say $10 billion for housing or climate infrastructure).

    • To reassure markets, it pledges that this credit is “backed” by the assets of ACC or KiwiSaver (effectively saying: if inflation gets out of hand, or repayment is needed, we can draw on these assets).

  2. Investment direction model

    • Instead of using them as collateral, the government could require ACC or KiwiSaver funds to buy sovereign credit instruments (like 0% or low-interest bonds).

    • This would channel domestic savings into public projects instead of relying on offshore investors.

  3. Hybrid public wealth fund model

    • NZ could merge sovereign credit issuance with a sovereign wealth approach — creating credit but investing it in productive, revenue-generating infrastructure, and having ACC/KiwiSaver co-invest.

    • That way, the projects themselves generate returns to repay the credit, limiting inflation risks.

None of what I am suggesting is new, Mickey Savage used it to build NZ and Postive Money has been making these points for a long time:

Positive Money NZ is the New Zealand branch of the international Positive Moneymovement (originally UK-based). Their core aim is to change who creates moneyin the economy.

At present:

  • About 97% of money in NZ is created by commercial banks when they issue loans (especially mortgages).

  • Only ~3% is physical cash issued by the Reserve Bank.

Positive Money argues this system:

  • Drives house price inflation (since most new money goes into property lending).

  • Makes the economy unstable (credit booms and busts).

  • Privatises the benefits of money creation (banks profit, not the public).

Labour, Greens and te Parti Maori need radical solutions to the many problems we have, investigating Sovereign Credit to build our infrastructure and climate adaptation is one of those radical solutions.

As for Liam…

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Why Chippy should stay on as Labour Leader

Voters approval for leaders of National and Labour dropping significantly – poll

A new poll shows voters approval for the leaders of the two most major parties is dropping significantly.

The latest 1News Verian poll has Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with an overall approval rating of -14, down from -7 in March. Meanwhile, Labour leader Chris Hipkins scored +1, still in the positives, but a 15 point drop from a result earlier this year.

The most recent round of polling brought about the usual drop in approval for Luxon and Chippy with focus on Chippy and the inevitable chatter about whether Chippy stand down.

I get asked privately what my thoughts are about Chippy’s ability to deliver the Left meaningful policy more than any other question, and I’ll tell you all what I tell them.

Look.

I’vs been covering politics for over 3 decades and I don’t for one second think Chippy is the socialist hero who will bring about the Marxist Utopia, but I have had the good fortune to speak with him privately over the years and have watched him closely.

I honestly hand on heart think Chippy is a good bugger, who is in public service for the right reasons and when they close those doors at the top table and make decisions behind our backs, I believe he is in there making calls that benefit the common good, not vested interests.

He is a decent bloke who has actual values.

I don’t for one second think he would have banned kids books with Māori words.

I don’t think for one second he would have ignored the Climate Commission and created a pro-business lobby group to lower methane levels.

I don’t for one second believe he would have given one fucking cent to the tobacco industry.

I don’t believe he would have pushed ahead with draconian welfare sanctions.

I don’t think he would have replaced school lunches with the shit they get now.

I don’t believe Chippy would have embarked upon an anti-Māori, anti-Treaty, anti-beneficiary, anti-worker, anti-renter, anti environment agenda that strangles the common good for his donors interests.

I just don’t.

Chippy has actual values and I believe a decent person with real values should be the main qualifier for our top job.

He has the talent and executive leadership skills to be PM and he deserves the shot for the 2026 election.

That’s not to say his policies can’t be enhanced significantly from the Green Party and te Pati Māori, but as a stable, fair and positive force, he is far preferable to the naked malice of National, ACT and NZF.

I stand with Chippy 🫡 ✊

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GUEST BLOG: Ian Powell – The Ignoble Nobel: from Hitler to Kissinger to Machado

Much to the disappointment of US President Donald Trump, on 10 October the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Maria Corina Machado.

In the words of the Committee the award was “…for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

I’ll come back to this claim further below. But first it is important to understand better the politics of the Peace Prize committee.

Potted history of politics of Nobel Prize Committee

The committee was established in 1900. At that time, it genuinely believed that the peace prize should be awarded to those who, hand-on-heart, did believe in peaceful solutions and non-violence.

From 1901 the first brace of recipients were Jean Henry Dumont, the Swiss founder of the Red Cross, and Frédéric Passy, the French founder of the International League for a Permanent Peace.

However, this focus abruptly changed as early as five years later. In 1906 the prize was awarded to US President Theodore Roosevelt who had previously led a particularly brutally violent war in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Tariq Ali provided a revealing potted history of the Nobel prize committee’s first century

A potted history of the politics of the Nobel Peace Prize was covered by an article by Tariq Ali in The Guardian as long ago as 7 December 2002 under the same heading as this blog: Ignoble Nobel.

In Ali’s words:

Throughout the 1920s, the committee reflected a pathetic helplessness in the face of a growing crisis. Politicians, usually of the same liberal-conservative stripe, were regularly rewarded. During the 1930s, world politics was dominated by the fascist victories in Italy, Germany and Spain, the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the eruption of a mass non-violent struggle against the British empire in India.

The sickening height of hypocrisy: Adolf Hitler short listed with Mahatma Gandhi!

In 1938 the Nobel committee found itself considering a shortlist for the prize headed by German Nazi dictator and genocidal murderer Adolf Hitler and Indian non-violence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

One can easily understand the latter. But to even consider Hitler!!! At the time he had just invaded the Rhineland. Well before he had replaced Germany’s formal democracy with a viciously repressive dictatorship.

In fact, as Ali reports, the choice proved too difficult for the “mandarins” who instead opted for the Nansen International Office of Refugees.

Fast-forwarding to today: other options

Fast-forward to 16 October 2025 with the following Facebook post from Tariq Ali quoting from his comments to the Norwegian progressive daily, Klassekampen, on his views on the “Nobel War Prize”:

It was obvious that even the craven Nobel War Prize Committee could not give it to Trump. The next best thing was to consult their usual contacts in the intelligence services and ask for advice. So the blood-drenched prize went to Macahado [sic] who Trump wants to make Venezuela’s next President. She wants the US to invade her country and force through regime-change. And she immediately offered the prize to Trump. This not a big surprise. What is obvious is that this Committee is past its sell by date.

Gaza Peace Flotilla a ‘Nobel’ choice in contrast with the ignoble Machado

If Nobel was a genuine peace prize, Ali added, it should have been given to “…a number of people or collectively to the Peace Flotilla…”

I would add as another option the Palestinian victims of ethnic cleansing through genocide in Gaza. Or, perhaps, the courageous Jews living in Israel who oppose this ethnic cleansing.

Or the courageous and committed health professionals in Gaza, many of whom have been killed, maimed, or imprisoned and tortured.

From commendable to grotesque to ridiculous

Nelson Mandela one of the commendable awards

There have, of course, been occasional commendable awards since the Hitler versus Gandhi abomination.

This list includes Martin Luther King Jr. (1964), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (1980), South African bishop Desmond Tutu (1984), and Nelson Mandela (1993).

Henry Kissinger award irrevocably tarnished Nobel Committee

However, the awarding of the prize Henry Kissinger in 1973 irrevocably tarnished the original idea of honouring those who strove for peace and the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

Kissinger deserves the label of ‘serial killer’ because of his responsibility for the brutal bombing of Vietnam and the destabilisation of ‘politically unacceptable’ democratic processes, such as in Salvador Allende’s Chile.

Then we had the ridiculous. US President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, oddly awarded just a few months after he took office in early 2009.

The citation said it was “…for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples…”

But he had done very little, if anything at all, in these areas. Making a further mockery of the award, during his eight years in office Obama never ceased to wage wars and conduct military operations abroad.

He authorised 563 attacks, primarily drone strikes, to eliminate “terrorist targets” in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen; much more than his war mongering predecessor George W. Bush’s ordered 57 during his eight years

María Corina Machado

María Corina Machado’s award continues the pattern from Roosevelt to Hitler (almost) and Kissinger. She has long been a fervent advocate of violence in Venezuela since the election of Hugo Chávez Frías as President December 1998.

María Corina Machado a pro-fascist who embodies violence

She participated in the planning of a coup attempt April 2002 that failed to end Chávez’s life by a miracle.

She travelled to Washington to meet with President George W. Bush seeking support to overthrow Venezuela’s constitutional government. This proposed American military intervention would have resulted in a bloodbath in Venezuela.

In 2014 Machado supported far right armed attempts to overthrow the government. Machado also appeared on the international stage as a Panama ‘alternate ambassador’ while still a member of Venezuela’s National Assembly.

In this ‘alternate’ role she urged the OAS Permanent Council to authorise a multinational military intervention against Venezuela in order to overthrow its government.

Over the years, Machado  has repeatedly urged foreign intervention to overthrow the Venezuelan government while consistently dismissing any criticism of armed violence from the armed political far right.

Machado spent many years urging the governments of the United States and the European Union to impose harsh economic sanctions and a wide range of other measures against Venezuela.

She was also investigated for conspiracy after a non-government organisation she founded and directed received funding from the National Endowment for Democracy, a programme financed by the US Congress, for campaigns aimed at destabilising the Venezuelan government.

She is also silent on the genocide in Gaza while even advocating that Israel should militarily intervene in Venezuela.

No surprises; just consistency

Machado embodies fascist violence. In most countries, she would face severe legal action for her actions. Consequently there was no surprise that she dedicated her Nobel Prize to Donald Trump, a fellow attempted insurrectionist.

There is also no surprise at all in the Nobel Prize committee awarding the misnamed peace prize to someone of the violent far right politics such as Machado.

The genocidal Benjamin Netanyahu would have deserved being the recipient based on the committee’s history.

This is what should be expected from an organisation that once short-listed Adolf Hitler and subsequently awarded it to a ‘serial killer’ (Henry Kissinger).

 

 

Ian Powell was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the professional union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand, for over 30 years, until December 2019. He is now a health systems, labour market, and political commentator living in the small river estuary community of Otaihanga (the place by the tide). First published at Political Bytes