The Herald reports:

There is no evidence cultural reports reduce reoffending and cutting funding for them will save money, the Justice Minister says.

The Government confirmed Wednesday that it was scrapping the target to reduce prison populations and would no longer fund the cultural reports used in sentencing.

Asked whether the reports might actually save money by avoiding prison sentences and stopping people from committing further crimes, Paul Goldsmith said there was no evidence of that.

This would be an interesting research project. What is the average reoffending rate (and time until reoffending) for those who got a reduced sentence due to a cultural report, compared to those who did not?

Wouldn’t it be fascinating if in fact the offenders reoffended more quickly, when they get a reduced sentence?

“We don’t think spending $7.5m producing reports like this is a good use of the money,” Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith said people could still give a cultural report orally in court, or in writing, but it would no longer be funded through the legal aid system.

The cost of these reports has increased over 15000% since 2017. It has become an industry of its own.

A guest post by Josh Brown:

Aid to UNRWA could jeopardise a role for New Zealand as an impartial mediator in the Middle East.

Palestinian refugees are different from all other refugees. The granddaughter of a Palestinian who has lived her entire life in Jordan can be a refugee. Mohamed Hadid, the celebrity Palestinian real estate developer and the father to models Bella and Gigi, who is a successful citizen of the USA, is considered a Palestinian refugee. Most Palestinians in New Zealand, no matter their residency status, are classified as refugees. To this day, all Palestinians displaced as a result of the 1948 Arab/Israeli conflict, including their descendants, no matter where they are, are refugees according to the UN. This criterion does not apply to any other group of displaced people.

No wonder then that the UN agency (UNRWA) –  originally set up for a three-year term in 1949 by the UN General Assembly to provide relief to refugees displaced as a result of the 1948 conflict – has become a politicised and entrenched institution. It exists not to resettle refugees, but to perpetuate the conflict by promising Palestinians that they will one day be able to return to what is now Israel. This false promise remains the cornerstone of the Palestinian political movement. It is also the single most important reason why all peace negotiations have inevitably failed. It is why you hear the controversial chant ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,’ even in New Zealand.

70 years after its establishment, UNRWA continues to operate in five different regions, providing education, healthcare, and social services. It serves only Palestinian refugees; refugees from the countless other conflicts in the world are served by UNHCR, the agency that actually works to end the status of refugees.  UNRWA receives annual funding of $1.1 billion USD from a mix of United Nations member states and charitable organisations, which amounts to roughly twice the per capita funding received by the UNHCR (approximately $220 per refugee vs $121 per refugee). Most of the budget is allocated to paying salaries.

UNRWA was established with good intentions – to provide relief to displaced Palestinians. However, corruption and political interference over decades has decayed its neutrality. In fact, according to some analysts, UNRWA in Gaza has become the de facto ‘above ground’ welfare arm of Hamas.

Thus, the recent news that New Zealand will review payments to UNRWA until more is known about the involvement of their staff in the atrocities of October 7th, is a sensible decision. It follows similar pronouncements by Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Iceland and other Western nations.

Advocacy groups have, for years, called on Governments around the world to suspend their funding of UNRWA. We have known for decades that their schools have taught children to glorify terror, that their staff have been members of terrorist groups, and that their facilities have been used by these groups. Frustratingly, when presented with the evidence, UN officials have typically denied them, and only taken meagre action when pushed.

Sadly, it took UNRWA staff’s involvement in the worst terrorist attack in Israel’s history – brutal rape, murder, torture, and kidnapping – for the spotlight to shine on the organisation. Predictably, UNRWA denied the allegations, attacked the messengers, and expressed disbelief. Now the UN is brushing away the charges by saying that the 12 UNRWA staff accused of being complicit in the attacks are merely ‘a few bad apples.’ Decades of evidence indicate that these bad apples, in fact, fill the whole barrel.

For example, in March last year, UN Watch in partnership with IMPACT-se released a comprehensive report exposing the pervasive presence of incitement to hatred within the UNRWA school system. They provided evidence of Gazan children being indoctrinated with the belief that they must use violence to regain their homes lost during the ‘Nakba’ or the 1948 conflict.

Another recent report by UN Watch finds widespread support for the October 7th atrocities among UNRWA Teachers in Gaza. Screenshots of 249,000 Telegram messages show murderers and rapists being praised as “heroes,” the glorifying of the “education” the terrorists received in UNRWA, the gleeful sharing photos of dead or captured Israelis, and the exhortation of their execution.

On the 29th of January, the Wall Street Journal reported that out of 12,000 UNRWA employees, 1,200 (10%; 23% of all male employed) are ‘operatives’ of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and about half have close relatives who belong to these militant groups. These statistics may be unsurprising to those who read the reports of UNRWA staff hiding Israeli hostages and weaponry within their homes. In fact, claims of infiltration by Islamic terrorist groups into UNRWA have been circulating for over a decade, with evidence suggesting that UNRWA is now significantly entwined in these groups’ sinister operations.

Knowing this, the continued funding of this compromised organisation presents a moral dilemma for New Zealand. While there’s an inclination to demonstrate our commitment to humanitarian values as a conscientious member of the UN, we must not forget that Hamas aims to annihilate Israel, turning anything associated with it into an obstacle for peace. Ignoring this reality is bad faith and risks New Zealand’s reputation as a neutral party in Middle Eastern affairs, potentially excluding us from playing a constructive role in future peace negotiations as an unbiased mediator.

With the heart-wrenching devastation of Gaza, our humanity compels us to rally behind its reconstruction and recovery in the years ahead. Numerous aid organisations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross – ICRC , UNOPS and the WFP, are poised to undertake this vital role and we must support them. What is clear, however, is that UNRWA should not play a role, and we cannot continue to fund it if we are truly committed to a final status peace agreement.

The Herald reports:

Commerce Minister Andrew Bayly will soon get advice on dropping New Zealand’s few remaining tariffs, allowing vastly more goods to enter the country without paying a fee. …

These tariffs earned the Government $180 million last year, meaning that getting rid of them would cost the Government roughly that amount of money.

However, the BIM said the cost to the total economy was greater than what the Government earned in revenue.

“Costs include the administrative costs for government in maintaining the system and compliance costs for businesses in demonstrating that their imported goods come from a country that qualifies for lower tariffs under a Free Trade Agreement. A recent study estimated these add another $90-260 million in costs to consumers, businesses, and government,” the BIM said.

Tariffs are a tax on imports. They are bad for consumers and also bad for producers and manufacturers as they encourage investment in areas where we do not have a competitive advantage.

It would be great if the Government announced in their first budget, that all of them will go.

I am pretty much astounded in an ongoing way that an MP like Chloe Swarbrick can say what she likes to media and is rarely, if ever, questioned on her assertions.

This statement she made to the NZ Herald when announcing her leadership bid is pretty much answered below in an open letter I published last year. She could not see past my disagreement on the marijuana referendum and refused to support 480 children in their education in central Auckland.

“More than any other party we understand that there is far greater leadership out there in the community than there is in the so-called halls of power. I am here to serve my communities.”

For those Auckland families looking for more help with some of their children – Chloe stood directly in the way.

Given her leading “from the river to the sea” chant and then claiming to not really know what it means she is hardly the “well researched radical” she claims either.

Dear Chloe (published November 2023)

I found this article interesting as it is about the type of student I have dedicated my life to working with. Highlights for me were:

[Chlöe Swarbrick] the MP, known for tackling prickly topics in Parliament, brought the same energy last month when she first shared her adult ADHD diagnosis. In doing so, she used her platform to highlight the issues many with neurodiversity face in getting a diagnosis.

Swarbrick speaks in the New Zealand Herald about her ADHD journey and why things need to change. This began after years of grappling with depression, when she says it felt as though something was coming unstuck and had to give.

Retrospectively, she puts this down to her “masking” her symptoms. This concept is common with women who have ADHD and describes when neurodiverse people try to cover up their symptoms by copying the behaviour of neurotypical people to fit into the “neurotypical” world.

“If, as a younger woman like myself, you were sat in a corner trying to read something but you were reading the page 100 times over and absorbing none of that information. You fit the bill of someone that looks studious but, you know, nobody’s necessarily seeing the things that are going through your brain.”

Throughout her first few years at school, Swarbrick says she was relatively decent, but she says the wheels “fell off” in her later years. Had she known more about ADHD back then she says she would have arranged things differently and had a higher level of wellbeing.

Getting a diagnosis can end up becoming a “really expensive” process … “That lack of formal diagnosis then stands in the way of, and is a barrier to, what for some people is massively helpful medication.”

Part of the reason she decided to participate in the conversation surrounding ADHD is because of the privilege she holds as an MP. “I have a job to do as a representative that I take really seriously.

“Not only are her solutions quite different, she’s quite focused on them as well, so I think it helps make her a politician of the future. She’s not a normal politician.” “Having a role model like that is just massive. Oh goodness, it’s a little bit emotional when you think how brave Chlöe is, full stop. I think having a role model who isn’t the stereotype also really shakes it up in a useful way.”

“There’s a big conversation to be had about how we can recognise it in a way that’s helpful and how we can validate people’s experience in a useful way. I think Chlöe’s probably done a great job of starting that in a really positive way.”

ADHD affects 2 to 5 per cent of all children.

Here is the kicker though!

As you are aware, Chlöe, I have twice been involved in applications for Designated Character Schools (non-zoned) for Neuro-Diverse learners in or near your electorate but available to Year 7 – 13 students from across Auckland. Many of the students who come to the school with be Maori and Pasifika and low decile.

I have shown significant demand and the ability to deliver in our applications. A previous school I established, Mt Hobson Middle School, has deeply cared for all learners and students have gone on to NCEA Level 1 at 96%, UE at 69% and many have found their adult niche – like you have.

In turning us down the Minister/Ministry had tried to say that neuro-diverse are fully cared for in ordinary State schools. During the last few years, Parliament has been told that there are as many as 80,000 children with needs being under-cared for in our education system.

Your article notes there could be as many as 5% of children with ADHD. Add to this children with high anxiety, dyslexia, FAS, experiences of violence and other trauma in the home.

You have stated to me that you are hesitant to help as I had been critical of some Green Party policies! It is not about me. Please see your way past that.

This type of school is desperately needed and I believe the new government are more likely to make it happen – but please get behind such measures – especially for Auckland Central. Turn your informed sympathy to practical empathy.

Alwyn Poole
Innovative Education Consultants
www.innovativeeducation.co.nz
www.alwynpoole.substack.com
www.linkedin.com/in/alwyn-poole-16b02151/

Nayib Bukele just won re-election as President off El Salvador with 85% of the vote!

How?

He cracked down on gangs. Around 75,000 people got jailed – that is more than 1% of the population. Not all of them got trials, so this is no model for civil liberties. They built a new 40,000 capacity prison in seven months!

But El Salvador has gone from the highest murder rate in the world to a 95% drop in murders. Outwards migrations has halved as it has become safer. That is a drop of over 5,000 murders a year. El Salvador now has a lower murder rate than some US cities. It used to be over 6,000 and in 2023 it looks to have dropped to 154 homicides.

The WSJ reported:

But more than 60% of Salvadorans said they didn’t care if their government was democratic as long as it solved their day-to-day problems, according to a survey by Chile-based regional pollster Latinobarometro in 2021. 

I’m a big fan of democracy, but democratic governments have to actually perform their core roles well, the most critical being keep the country safe. If you fail at that, you fail.

1 News reports:

Lonely Planet’s revealed its top beaches to visit in its new travel guide book, Best Beaches.

Among the list is Te Whanganui-A-Hei/Cathedral Cove in the Coromandel Peninsula. The beach boasts a naturally formed rock archway, perfect for taking in the picturesque surrounds of the peninsula. …

Cathedral Cove and Awaroa Beach joined the likes of The Pass in Cape Byron, Australia; Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Sugar Beach in St Lucia on the list.

So our most iconic beach is rated one of the best in the world, yet DOC plans to do nothing about restoring access to it for a further year, at least.

What other country would allow one of their top tourist attractions to remain closed for years, while a government department consults on what to do?

The Herald reports:

There are nearly 60,000 New Zealanders overdue for a first appointment with a health specialist.

That’s a 67 per cent increase in 12 months, and health officials admit: “Referrals for first specialist assessments are greater than our capacity to treat.”

Amazing that Labour could increase spending by so much, yet have almost every indicator get far worse.

The Herald reports:

A plumbing industry body is calling for independent commissioners to look into Wellington City Council amid a tsunami of leaks in the capital.

The Wellington region is in level 2 water restrictions, meaning a ban on household garden sprinklers and irrigation systems, with a possible move to level 3 restrictions.

But at the same time, Wellington Water said the region had thousands of water leaks and estimated 45 per cent of the region’s water was being lost, prompting some residents to reroute the leaks to water their garden.

Master Plumbers chief executive Greg Wallace told Checkpoint Wellingtonians were fed up. …

Wallace said the council needed to stop doing band-aid patch jobs and move forward with a real replacement strategy. In the meantime, he said the isolation valves and tobies (a water shut-off valve) in all houses needed to be fixed.

“We need to stop bandaging the problem. What we’re doing is we’re digging up the road, fixing one leak, and 200m down the road that pipe that needed repair 40 years ago is going to leak again.

“We’re advocating for independent commissioners to go into the council … this problem has been around for decades. We’re still investing into cycleways, a new Town Hall and libraries, when we potentially could run out of water,” he said.

“It’s nothing else than financial mismanagement from this council.”

This is what the Council has chosen to spend money on, instead:

• Town Hall music venue $340 million
• Rebuild central library rather than use existing ones – $189 million
• A $13 million carpark building
• Cycleways $226 million
• Convention Centre $169 million
• $32 million corporate welfare for Reading Cinemas
• $139 million on the Golden Mile (removing cars)
• $236 million on food recycling

We need to hold those responsible accountable.

NBC reports:

WASHINGTON — The United States launched attacks against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday, its first retaliatory strikes for the killing of three American soldiers in Jordan last weekend, according to an official at the Department of Defense.

U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, hitting facilities such as command and control operations, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, and drone storage sites, according to the U.S. Central Command.

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”

This seems like a proportionate response.

Radio NZ reports:

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the pandemic response last year delayed hearing public submissions until 2024 while the National-led coalition government reviewed its scope.

Public consultation will begin this month on expanding the inquiry’s scope to include:

• Use of multiple lockdowns
• Vaccine procurement and efficacy
• The social and economic impacts on both regional and national levels
• Whether the decisions made, and steps taken, were justified
• The cost-effectiveness of the government’s policies, and whether the rules set by the government appropriately balanced Covid-19 elimination with other goals
• The government’s utilisation of partnerships with business and professional groups
• The extent of disruption to New Zealanders’ health, education, and business as a result of the government’s policies
• If the government’s response was consistent with the rule of law
• How New Zealand’s pandemic preparedness compared to other countries

All these proposed additions are common sense. What is outrageous is they were not included in the first place by the Labour Government.

The Herald reports:

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick has announced she will run for the Green Party’s leadership.

She said that would mean getting more Green Party members running local campaigns and setting up local solutions to problems.

“It means more Greens Local Body members, Councillors and Mayors. It means more Greens MPs in Parliament and ultimately, our nation’s first Green-led Government.”

The Greens could do very well with Chloe as leader. She already is very popular with under 40s (she scores higher with them as Preferred PM than Hipkins does) and should not be underestimated.

In a Patreon post today, I go through six months of polling data to analyse where she gets most of her support from.

The Herald reported:

A speaker accused of insulting New Zealand First’s Winston Peters and Shane Jones during the annual political pilgrimage to Rātana is being investigated by the government department he works for.

Statistics New Zealand has confirmed it is looking into “a potential conflict [of interest] of a Stats NZ employee who spoke at Rātana Pā”.

In his address last Wednesday, Rua condemned deputy Peters and Cabinet minister Jones as taurekareka (slaves) for the Crown and said Jones had turned his back on Māori.

This is clearly unacceptable. You could make a case for a public servants, in a private capacity, to be allowed to raise concerns about government policy at a meeting or hui. But to think you can call Ministers slaves is clearly unacceptable.

This needs to be taken extremely seriously. In the United States we have seen a distressing fall in confidence in important institutions such as the legal system, the electoral system., the public service etc. If authorities want to avoid the same happening in New Zealand, they have to be rigorous in ensuring public servants do not act in a manner which undermines neutrality.

The same goes for all those public servants leaking cabinet papers. I’ve never seen so many leaks, presumably by public servants, trying to take down a Minister. Again, the authorities need to be finding those responsible, and taking action.

The Herald reports:

Labour has admitted to an error in using a Gif of divisive influencer Andrew Tate – a man charged with rape and human trafficking – to endorse a post on one of the party’s Instagram accounts.

If National had done this, there would be 20 different groups calling on the leader to resign over it.

It’s now February 2024, and around a third of backbench MPs still don’t have bill in the members’ ballot. Today’s ballot saw the following MPs with bills in the ballot:

• Greens 14/15 93%
• National 22/30 73%
• ACT 4/6 67%
• Labour 22/34 65%
• Te Pati Maori 2/6 33%
• NZ First 0/4 0%

1 News reports:

Auckland District Court documents show that Ghahraman is accused of stealing $2060 worth of clothing from Scotties Boutique in Auckland’s Ponsonby on December 21 last year, and $7223 worth of clothing from the same store on December 23.

The third charge dates back further, with the ex-MP accused of shoplifting clothes valued at $695 from Cre8iveworx in Wellington on October 22. In total, the value of goods allegedly taken is $9978.

The two charges related to Scotties Boutique each carry a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment, while the Cre8iveworx charge has a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment.

Allegedly stealing twice from the same store, just two days apart, seems very targeted.