New Zealand has been hit by a weekend of severe storms, with landslides and flooding in the South Island cutting off towns and trapping an estimated 1,000 foreign tourists.
Continue reading...Category Archives: New Zealand
Flooding hits New Zealand tourist hubs of Wanaka and Queenstown
Heavy rain has led to rivers bursting their banks, forcing the closure of shops and restaurants
Streets in the South Island tourist towns of Wanaka and Queenstown were slowly going under water on Friday, after Lake Wanaka and Lake Wakatipu burst their banks earlier in the week, flooding businesses and sewerage systems.
Water and large debris closed the main street of Wanaka, a popular spot with Instagrammers thanks to its famous tree that appears to have grown out of the lake. On Friday businesses were sandbagging as heavy rain continued to fall.
Continue reading...Chaos in parliament over Coalition’s union-busting bill – politics live
Scott Morrison announces cut in number of government departments as part of public service overhaul. All the day’s political news, live
Labor is moving a motion saying the government’s attempts to push the union-busting bill through without debate was “anti-democratic”.
Better still is this bit of the motion:
This is a prime ministerial tantrum, with the prime minister of Australia behaving like a juvenile schoolyard bully just because he didn’t get his way last week.
We’re now moving through the votes for the government’s union-busting bill.
A side note - this is the 100th division to take place in the House for this sitting fortnight.
Continue reading...The foreign donation ban is a good thing – but it won’t protect NZ from political corruption
New Zealand’s political system relies on an untraceable flow of donations from rich individuals with personal agendas. That won’t change
The press release was triumphant. The justice minister, Andrew Little, announced that the government was banning foreign political donations, a move that would “protect New Zealand from foreign interference in our elections”.
This is a good thing. Across the Tasman, Australian politics has been roiled by allegations of Chinese interference. One donor, Huang Xiangmo, who had donated at least A$2.7m to both major parties, had his residency cancelled when his connections to Chinese Communist party-linked organisations were exposed. More recently Bond-esque revelations, including a Chinese defector, a dead businessman and a million-dollar donation, have emerged. Given that Australia is facing such a severe challenge to its democratic integrity, the attention Little is giving to this issue should be welcomed.
Continue reading...New Zealand bans foreign political donations amid interference concerns
Justice minister cites risk of foreign meddling in 2020 election and says further action could be taken
New Zealand will ban foreign donations to politicians and tighten disclosure rules for political advertising, the government has said, as concerns over foreign interference intensify ahead of an election next year.
The government said it would introduce legislation on Tuesday banning donations over NZ$50 ($32) to political parties and candidates by foreigners.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s gun buyback scheme suspended after data breach
Police admit that at least one person had been able to access other firearm owners’ personal information online
New Zealand’s high profile gun buyback scheme, enacted by the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, after the Christchurch mosque attacks, has been thrown into disarray after police admitted that at least one person had been able to access other firearm owners’ personal information online.
The error became public on Monday when a gun lobby group said it had spoken to 15 people who were able to access information on a website where firearms owners registered weapons to be relinquished. It included their names, addresses, dates of birth, firearms licence numbers and bank account details, the group said.
Continue reading...Jacinda Ardern unveils borrowing plan as PM puts Labour on election footing
Leader pitches schools overhaul in party conference message aimed at nation’s voters as much as Labour members
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New Zealand Labour has used its party conference to announce it would borrow money for “significant” infrastructure spending – a move long urged by businesses and economists – as it made its pitch to New Zealanders ahead of a 2020 election.
The party put its most popular asset, prime minister Jacinda Ardern, front and centre at the weekend gathering, which also saw the election of a new, female president, as it moved to address claims it has mishandled internal sexual assault complaints.
Continue reading...Sex, violence, racism: how the Grace Millane and Christchurch trials challenge court reporting | Megan Whelan
As New Zealanders grapple with graphic content and whether to name names, the media must ensure it toes the line of justice
The murder of British backpacker Grace Millane, and the upcoming trial of the man accused of the Christchurch terror attacks have led to widespread discussions about violence and racism and safety and sex. They also pose big questions around how journalists and editors handle graphic detail and court rulings.
The Millane case sparked intense public interest in New Zealand, including public vigils, international media attention and widespread public comment. A 27-year-old man was convicted of her murder. The man’s name and details that may identify him remain suppressed.
Continue reading...New Zealand’s Whanganui River – in pictures
Granted personhood in 2017 by the New Zealand parliament, the Whanganui is the first river in the world to be recognised as an indivisible and living being. But it still faces challenges from farming, forestry and development – and despite its beauty, the data suggests much needs to be done to nurse it back to full health
Continue reading...New Zealand begins genetic program to produce low methane-emitting sheep
‘Global first’ project will help tackle climate change by lowering agricultural greenhouse gases
The New Zealand livestock industry has begun a “global first” genetic program that would help to tackle climate change by breeding low methane-emitting sheep.
There are about six sheep for each person in New Zealand, and the livestock industry accounts for about one-third of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
Continue reading...Waka on the Whanganui: the outrigger canoeists taking care of the river – video
Howard Hyland has lived next to the Whanganui river for much of his life. He runs the Whanganui River outrigger canoe club and understands that 'we've got to stop polluting the river'
Continue reading...A living being: The Whanganui River – video
New Zealanders who live close to the Whanganui river, which has been given legal personhood, speak of how important it is to them. 'How we look after it belongs to all of us'.
Continue reading...I live in a gang town and Simon Bridges’ zero-tolerance approach won’t help one bit | Morgan Godfery
The ‘war on gangs’ rhetoric may be politically effective, but as a policy it fails, time after time
It took me almost 10 years to notice that the green ink snaking across my old man’s forehead said “Mongrel Mob”. I never thought the bulldogs wrapping around his hands meant gang member. I mean, he was a dog lover, and he was Dad.
You never really know your parents’ life before you were born, right, even when it’s written across their bodies. You only know the person who is, your mum or dad in the here and now, and it’s almost impossible to imagine they’re someone other people might fear. This is why it took almost 10 years to figure out that the thing on Dad’s head was the reason people were locking their car doors when our family was walking past.
Continue reading...New Zealand launches world’s first HIV positive sperm bank
Effort aims to reduce the stigma experienced by those living with the virus
The world’s first HIV positive sperm bank has been launched in an effort to reduce the stigma experienced by those living with the virus.
Sperm Positive has begun with three male donors from across New Zealand who are living with HIV but have an undetectable viral load, meaning the amount of the virus in a person’s blood is so low that it cannot be detected by standard methods.
Continue reading...Women’s sexual histories have no place in a murder trial, as Grace Millane case shows
The scrutiny of the Briton’s sex life at her killer’s trial was just one of the proceedings’ many disturbing elements
Violence against women is one of New Zealand’s most significant and pressing social issues. Every day police respond to hundreds of family violence incidents, and women continue to die as a result of men’s violence. In December 2018 New Zealand recognised the severity of a specific offence – strangulation – and implemented legislative reform to address its pervasiveness. Five arrests for strangulation were reported a day in February 2019 . I mention all of this because of the Grace Millane murder trial.
On 21 December 2018 she was strangled to death while visiting New Zealand. Her body was later found in a suitcase, buried, in the Waitakere ranges in Auckland. The man accused of her murder claimed her death was the result of consensual rough sex that had “gone wrong”. After a three-week trial, a jury of five men and seven women found him guilty of murder after less than six hours of deliberation.
Continue reading...‘She was our sunshine’: father of Grace Millane speaks after man found guilty of her murder – video
David Millane spoke to the media outside the high court in Auckland after a New Zealand man was found guilty of murdering his daughter, a student from Britain who was travelling around the world. With his wife Gillian at his side, he said: 'Grace was taken from us in the most brutal fashion. Our lives have been ripped apart. This will be with us for the rest of our lives. Grace was a beautiful, talented, loving daughter. Grace was our sunshine. She did not deserve to be murdered in such a barbaric way.'
Continue reading...On every issue important to Māori this government is failing
Only in its absence do I miss the Māori party, which achieved huge amounts despite a system stacked against it
New Zealand is probably the only country in the Anglosphere where the Indigenous people make up a disproportionate share of the parliament. Māori make up only 16% of the country’s population, but make up 23% of our representatives, holding 27 seats in the 120-seat House. Māori lead every single parliamentary party as well, bar Jacinda Ardern’s Labour.
You might struggle to find a country where a minority exerts more governing power, and demographic defiance, than Māori in New Zealand.
Continue reading...Grace Millane trial: New Zealand man found guilty of murdering British backpacker
A jury in Auckland has decided a 27-year-old, whose name has been suppressed, knowingly killed the British tourist
A jury in New Zealand has found a 27-year-old man guilty of murdering British backpacker Grace Millane.
Her parents David and Gillian, who had sat through the three-week trial in Auckland’s high court, sobbed at the verdict.
Continue reading...Bohemian Rhapsody and a BBQ: Stephen Colbert visits Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand
Prime minister collects chat show host from the airport in first episode of ‘The Newest Zealander’
The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert engaged in potentially copyright-infringing carpool karaoke with prime minister Jacinda Ardern and pranked Lorde at a barbecue – aka a “New Zealand state dinner” – as he made good on a promise to get as far away as possible from news about Donald Trump.
The chat show host got straight to it in his sit-down interview with the New Zealand prime minister for Tuesday night’s opening episode, called the “Newest Zealander”, pleading to become a citizen and offering to marry Ardern and partner Clarke Gayford.
Continue reading...A weeping sore – Jacinda Ardern must clean up New Zealand’s political donations mess
New revelations about party funding are a stain on the country’s reputation for transparency
Complacency can be a nation’s greatest foe.
New Zealanders, buoyed by their country’s high ranking in global transparency measures, see little to learn from other states when it comes to cleaning up politics.
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