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“These are all instances of time”: NZTA’s 8,500 speeding drivers & their...
The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has a speeding problem. After an OIA by the NZ Herald, it has been reported that in nine months there have been 8,500 instances of speeding of at least 10km...
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The Ashley Madison hack: the rights of the community & the triumph of the...
The Impact Team, a group of hackers, has followed through on their threats and dumped, en masse, 35 million + email addresses and other details they hacked from Ashley Madison online for all and sundry...
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Monsters amongst us: inhumane commentators damn us all in their refugee...
[Trigger warning: the photos of Alyan Kurdi’s body and Laith Majid with his children are in this blog] This is not a blog about Alyan Kurdi. But it is a blog about who we allow to speak to us about...
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The State cannot understand whānau; the State cannot restore whānau
“There are close connections between the structure of the family and the structure of the nation.” – Frantz Fanon, Black Skins, White Masks pp 141. I was struck still for a moment when I read these...
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Part I: A quick critique of the Whānau Ora performance report
I have now read the Report on the Performance of General Practices in Whānau Ora Collectives as at March 2015 so that you do not have to. The report is a comparison of two samples of health data...
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Part II: A quick critique of the Understanding Whānau-centred Approaches report
Having done the GP comparison report, I thought I’d also have a look at Understanding whānau-centred approaches: Analysis of Phase One Whānau Ora research and monitoring results. Te Ururoa and Winston...
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Our first, & not our last, climate change refugee at NZ’s barricade
In July of this year, the Supreme Court denied the application of Ioana Teitiota from Kiribati to be granted asylum in Aotearoa New Zealand as a climate change refugee. In its ruling, the Supreme Court...
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Then they came for me: Australia’s increasingly fascist regime begins the...
One of the main strands of thought in the feedback on my reflections on the evictions of First Nations Australians from their communities and the response of Māori was that we had no responsibility nor...
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Tuawaru o Noema: celebrating the founding of the Ratana faith
On the 8th of November 1918, the Tuawaru o Noema, Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, a local farmer, was on the porch of his house on the exposed and lonely plains south of Whanganui when a cloud came from the...
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My (over-priced) house, my castle? Tauranga’s catching Auckland’s housing fever
Tauranga City Council has just completed its latest housing valuations from which it will determine the rates we pay for the next few years. Our personal house and property value jumped a massive 22...
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Liar, liar, pants on fire! English just makes up a new reason why we sold our...
With the Paris Climate Change Conference beginning today and the public memorial service for Jonah Lomu, you may have missed the news that “tens of thousands” of investors who bought shares in the sell...
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Slipping away from me: dredging our tupuna, Tauranga Moana
Baby I’ve been watching you, watching everything you do, and I just can’t help but feeling, someone is stealing you away from me. I was slowly walking up our mountain Mauao on Friday along the four...
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New Zealand’s 2015: the year we hid from a world in need
The long fragrant grass is yellowing out the open door, life burning off exposed to our southern sun. A quiet breeze dances with stubbornly green trees and a few sheep regard me thoughtfully as they...
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TPPA: Resistance is fragile, but not futile
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (either the TPPA or the TPP) is the next step in our neo-liberal pilgrimage to economic Mecca. Our government, in particular John Key, Steven Joyce and Tim...
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The Great Brown Hope: the Treaty exception in the TPP
The Treaty of Waitangi exception that is being touted by the Government and parroted by corporate Māori as a victory for which we can bow and scrape in thanks, is not all they would have you believe....
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Let us give thanks: acknowledging our blessings on this Waitangi Day
Beyond the headlines of John Key dodging Waitangi and his Ministers doing the same, beyond the drama and oratory at Te Tii Marae, beyond the colourful flags of protests arriving at the flagpole, beyond...
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Top Five Rolemodels for Males in Movies
In an effort to assist my wife today, I googled “best rolemodel characters for males in movies.” I was slightly surprised to find no simple lists. You can find lists for almost anything normally....
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Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill: a good idea stuck in a political mire
Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill has been mired in controversy since the first draft came out last year. At the heart of the concern is the lack of consultation by the Crown with current Māori landowners. As...
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Ah, flag it: the NZ flag referendum is a failure of leadership, not civic...
I had not considered writing about the infernal flag referendum because I do not have any great interest in either of the flags currently on offer, nor the four on the first ballot. However, what I do...
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Don’t forget staff are people too: one cancelled flight & people freaked out
With the various contracts I do, I fly pretty frequently now; perhaps three or four times a month. After one experience of Jetstar I decided that I could get places more reliably if I used a pillowcase...
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