This is the second month in a row Roy Morgan has had Labour in the 30s. Basically National and Labour are unchanged from June but as ACT are up and the Greens are down the gap between the centre-right and centre-left has narrowed with Labour and Greens projected to have 63 seats – only two more than they need to govern.
In December 2020, Cabinet approved the progressive procurement policy aimed at increasing the diversity of Government suppliers. As part of this policy, all government agencies that are mandated to apply Government Procurement Rules are required to award at least 5% of their yearly procurement contracts to Māori businesses.
Te Puni Kōkiri and Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment are implementing the progressive procurement policy to support Māori enterprise. For this policy, a Māori business is defined as
having at least 50% Māori ownership; or
a Māori Authority as defined by the Inland Revenue Department.
So if one of the owners of the business has a great great great grandparent who was Maori they get preferential treatment over other suppliers, even if more expensive or lesser quality. And this is mandatory.
It’s nothing to do with if the business employs Maori staff, or helps underprivileged communities. It is purely to do with the racial background of the owner.
Two former Chairman of the Business Roundtable are Maori – Sir Ralph Norris and Sir Rob McLeod. So if they own 50% of a company, that company gets preferential treatment over a company owned by say a small business owner from Napier.
The intention may be good, but race based quotas in procurement are an awful idea.
Achievement gaps between groups of students have persisted and in some cases worsened over the last decade despite an overall improvement in NCEA results, a Stuff data analysis shows.
Among the findings, Māori and Pasifika students remain behind those from other backgrounds and boys continue to outperform girls in science and maths at the highest level, Scholarship – which carries monetary awards of between $500 and $30,000.
Stuff has a woke world view that males are always oppressors and females always the oppressed so the only gender disparity they focused on was the miniscule numbers of students who get scholarship in science and maths. This allows them to paint the system as advantaging boys. They ignored all the results at sub-scholarship level and in all other subjects to find something that fits their narrative.
The reality is the opposite. Boys are doing far far worse in our educational system. It isn’t even close. In 2018 I blogged boys are:
11% less likely to get NCEA Level 1
7% less likely to get NCEA Level 2
14% less likely to get NCEA Level 3
25% more likely to leave school with no qualifications
Twice as likely to be a high (special) needs student
27% less likely to get UE
Not one mention of this in the article. If it was the other way around, it would be reported constantly.
Boys are also 42% less likely to be in tertiary education. Why is this not a concern?
But this is sadly what we get from the media – stories that only fit their worldview.
If we look back on the origins of the Labour Party, there are plenty of photographs of Michael Joseph Savage and others bringing in some of the most volatile ideological concepts that society had then known, standing in front of crowds declaiming against capitalism in front of thousands of workers. Strike after violent bloody strike from Waihi onwards saw gradual growth in support for the Socialist Party, Independent Political Labour League, United labour League, and whole bunches of pretty muscular and aggressive unions. They spoke to those gathered thousands to specifically incite rebellion against specific companies, specific bosses, imperialism generally and compulsory military service, and their pamphlets and cartoons were by today’s standards outrageously slanderous. I doubt the Labour Party would have been able to exist today if this proposed control of speech had occurred then. We know what the bosses and rulers would have done, because they actually did it.
Where would we be now if such freedom of expression had been stopped?
New Zealand is extraordinarily fortunate that since the 1880s Maori leadership haven’t incited military violence to resist the early state. I’m tempted to say that such incitement is coded into the Haka we now use before Rugby games. But we have instead in New Zealand a very long tradition of civil society resistance that leads to renewal.
Do we need to go through the Springbok Tour resistance, and how much force the state put against protest, and how much force was organised by the protesters? This is how the state deploys the law when it feels like it.
The key difference between violent resistance in our history since the New Zealand wars, and the Christchurch Massacre, was not the regulation of speech but the collection of semiautomatic weapons and ammunition to carry out the murders. The buyback was a good idea and I hope Police continue to use its provisions.
We already have the capacity to remove speech which is so harmful that it should be removed, through the Chief Censor. Yesterday he ordered a specific cartoon of Muslims to be removed, and it was done. No law needed to be changed for that.
And in the comments Lynn Prentice states:
I have to agree. The problem isn’t the hate speech. As a society we can deal with demented dimwits. It isn’t the intent that is the problem. I am perfectly happy calling a demented dimwit out for who I think they are. So are many others.
The problem is when a demented dimwit gets enough power like automatic weapons, bomb making components, or other other tools of mass death. That allows them to cause damage far outside their normal abilities to convince and convert.
We need to control the potential actions. Not people’s ability to defend with words against the words of idiots.
Never before released data shows there has been a huge increase in the number of people in severe need waiting for a state house, National’s Housing spokesperson Nicola Willis says.
At risk applicants on the housing register are ranked on a scale of 1-20, with ‘A-20’ being the most at risk. These are people with high health needs or domestic abuse victims who desperately need a home.
Ms Willis says the data she has obtained through written questions shows the number of people in the top three risk categories has gone from 57 people in December 2017, to 2100 today.
“In December 2017, only three people met the criteria for highest risk, and on average they waited less than a week to be housed. Today that number is 198, and they’re now waiting an average 207 days for a home.
So the most vulnerable group in A20 used to get housed within a week under National and now they wait over 200 days on average. This is shameful.
“I will personally wipe you off this planet” and “I will blow your head off” are death threats a man allegedly sent to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and then Justice Minister Andrew Little among a barrage of abusive emails over a three-month period.
The Crown alleges Michael Cruickshank, in his 50s, regularly referred to the Prime Minister and Government as criminals, slave traders and state-sanctioned terrorists among some 88 lengthy emails he sent between October 2019 and January 2020. …
The email was also sent to a range of other recipients, including ACC staff, media organisations and then British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Another one aimed at Ardern and Little, sent half an hour later, read: “I will blow your … head off if your gas lighting on my life continues.
“You have kids who want to see you grow old, as do I. I suggest you place that into proper perspective.”
I think a jail term is warranted for these sort of threats. It is one thing for people to say stupid stuff on social media, but to e-mail Ministers directly threatening to kill them is reprehensible and should not be tolerated.
I was stunned by this amount. The Spinoff is a very left leaning website that seems to have the taxpayer as their major funder.
I don’t begrudge them for appling, but what on earth is NZ on Air doing throwing so much money at them. My God they got $175,000 just to interview some youth political party leaders!
Here’s the data I’d like to see. How many viewers did each of these projects get?
As detailed a few days ago the Villa Education Trust is in a huge battle with the Ministry of Education to be allowed to provide specialised education for up to 480 neuro-diverse learners through a non-zoned, Designated Character School, near an Auckland transport hub. There is massive demand for this.
We received new information today. The background is that; in response to the nonsensical rejection letter from the Minister – claiming these students are all well provided for in all State schools – a parent sent information on how much she pays (as a donation) for support for her 8 year old in a State school. It was sent on July 6. A Ministry official contacted that school and forced them to withdraw that provision on July 7. It has had a huge impact on the family and was, at best a callous act and the most they can say is that it might have been better to have directly contacted the family to “avoid confusion”. This has emotionally and provision-wise affected thousands of families who have lost this avenue for helping their child. It has effectively slashed funding for many, many schools for their high needs students. It has had huge media/social media.
The new information? Hipkins has today responded to a written question that he first read the parents email on July 16. He had even fronted media on it on the 15th. On the 6th and 7th – despite the email being sent addressed to the Minister that officials simply took it upon themselves to shoot from the hip.
So … rogue officials and a Minister not across his portfolio. Care, kindness and transparency? This is a Minister that has refused to meet with us for four years.
The most recent coverage of this (before today’s information) was thirty minutes on RNZ yesterday.
The 32-year-old was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in June 2019, after admitting 11 charges of indecent assault, involving groping several women during 2017.
Trembath was released on parole on May 4, with strict conditions until his official release date of December 31, 2023. Those conditions included not gambling, and not possessing or using any electronic device capable of accessing the Internet.
So his sentence was 64 months. The Parole Board let him out after just 23 months!
Trembath was recalled to prison on June 16 on the ground of “undue risk and breach of release conditions,” and the Parole Board met on July 8 to discuss his case.
They heard that Trembath admitted he had bought a cell-phone, along with a plan that included Internet data, in May.
A probation officer received information on June 15 that Trembath had created a personal profile and had “recently been contacting women on Tinder,” the New Zealand Parole Board decision said.
Today’s generation of gang members are the children from the era of the benefit cuts and low wages, thus the growth in economic and social disparities where the marginalised and unskilled commit crime to survive. It is for these reasons the gang community has only one option in this election and that is to vote Labour. Voting Labour not because we necessarily support Labour but we need to vote Labour to keep Judith and National out. When you look at the gang numbers we have a voice if we care to use it. Lets start using it now for our own survival and freedom.
No wonder Labour changed the law allowing some prisoners to vote!
Gender Minorities Aotearoa’s national coordinator Ahi Wi-Hongi said the reforms also needed to be clarified so they couldn’t be used against the minority communities they are supposed to protect.
“I think it’s really important the legislation is really specific about who and what types of speech will be covered by the legislation. We want to make sure that whatever is in these laws will protect trans people and not be used against trans people who are standing up to bullying and harassment.”
The translation of this is that they want the laws to stop speech they disagree with, but allow their speech.
The former prime minister of Samoa has conceded defeat in elections held in April, Radio New Zealand reported on Monday, in a move that would bring to an end months of political instability.
Samoa descended into chaos earlier this year after then Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, refused to give way after losing a parliamentary election in April that would have ended his 22 years in power.
But Samoa’s Court of Appeal ruled last week that a makeshift swearing in ceremony for the country’s next government was legal, officially installing Samoa’s first female prime minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa.
While it had not been immediately clear whether Tuilaepa would abide by the ruling, Radio New Zealand reported that he had now conceded defeat.
Good to see the rule of law won out. Now they just need to replace the Head of State who obviously went rogue.
This shows the danger of one party ruling for so long – they think they are above the law.
The New Zealand Jewish Council is hitting out at the Mongrel Mob after a video surfaced of lifetime member Harry Tam saying “sieg heil” – a victory salute used by Nazis at political rallies.
The video, which was shared by the National Party on Wednesday, shows Tam speaking to a group of Mongrel Mob members about voting. He also uses the offensive phrase several times despite the Mongrel Mob Kingdom vowing to stop using it after the Christchurch terror attacks.
Spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council Juliet Moses condemned Tam’s comments on Friday.
“The Jewish Council is very disturbed to see the video of Harry Tam chanting the infamous Nazi salutation ‘sieg heil’.
Labour gave $2.75 million to a man who goes around chanting sieg heil to his fellow gang members.
Now it is fair to assume that Tam and the Mongrel Mob are not actual Nazis. The defence is that they are just saying it to shock people.
But does that lessen its impact on survivors of the Holocaust? I’d say a Jewish person hearing that phrase is not dissimilar to a black person hearing the N word.
A parent sent this in. Note that parents are being actively discouraged from providing their own lunch for their kids, and the school is even telling them what sort of food is acceptable!
Pew asked adults in 17 OECD countries if the current economic situation in their country was good or bad. The net satisfaction (good less bad) by country was:
Sweden +72%
Australia +48%
New Zealand +48%
Netherlands +39%
Singapore +38%
Germany +20%
Taiwan +13%
Canada -2%
Belgium -5%
UK -11%
US – 42%
Greece -44%
South Korea -44%
France -46%
Japan -62%
Spain -74%
Italy -75%
Fascinating that Sweden is so massively high. Australia and NZ both very high also.
The cost of the vaccine is tiny compared to the cost of closing down our nation due to an outbreak. The Pfizer vaccine costs around $US 20. So to vaccinate NZ would cost $US 200 million (for two doses). Whereas the cost of the wage subsidy scheme alone last year was between $10,000 million and $15,000 million.
As a result, the Ministry of Health should have ordered 5 million vaccine courses from Pfizer as early as possible, as well as this same number from each of the other suppliers, even if the government ended up binning some of its choices. The decision to “make Pfizer our primary vaccine provider”, as stated by the Ministry, shouldn’t have been made in January 2021 on the ex-post medical grounds they describe. Ex-ante, 5 million courses of all available vaccines should have been ordered – the cost being so small relative to potential benefits that even if those benefits didn’t materialize in the case of some purchases – it didn’t matter.
Instead the Ministry of Health under-ordered last year since they didn’t do the simplest, most basic, one-liner of a CBA. Blaming our bottom-of-the-OECD vaccination rate on Pfizer is an outrage. It was a late order. By the way, the British Medical Journal reports, “Israel, which is on course to vaccinate all its citizens before any other nation [in January 2021] acknowledged paying $US 23.50 per dose to Pfizer to obtain early shipments. Even at this high price, vaccinating the entire population of Israel costs the economy only as much as two days of lockdown”. Shame our Wellington bureaucrats couldn’t do the math.
This is entirely right – we should have ordered five or ten million of each vaccine the moment we could have.
Heritage New Zealand opposed the design of a wheelchair ramp proposed for the main entrance of Wellington Rail Station in 2019.
KiwiRail, the owner of the building, has been planning to add a wheelchair-accessible ramp at the front entrance but said it has been blocked over heritage concerns for two years.
“We have been working with Heritage New Zealand to get its approval for the new ramp, but have not yet succeeded,” KiwiRail property manager Olivia Poulsen said.
I don’t think Heritage NZ should be abolished, but I’d remove their powers to designate buildings owned by other people as heritage buildings.
Instead I’d give them a budget. If they think a building is really a huge heritage merit, then they can buy it. But they should not have the power to block a wheelchair ramp at a railway station.
Political and Community Necessity MAY be the mother of Invention/Innovation
Yesterday I outlined the long-term cynical politics that has led us to have an education system that is no longer fit for purpose and creating outcomes with dire social consequences. No one is looking to take responsibility for this; least of all an incompetent Ministry hierarchy that would not know “accountability” if it was the name of the dog that bit them on their collective bum. (I apologise to the KB commenter yesterday who struggles with 10 short paragraphs – this is slightly longer … concentrate! You can do it.)
A rope-ladder out of a deep hole is a difficult thing to climb. The hope here, politically, is that National/ACT may finally be forced to do something comprehensive in this sector – or face more electoral pain/embarrassment.
One focus of the Villa Education Trust (VET) is provision and success modelling for Maori, Pasifika and Decile 1 children through South Auckland Middle School and Middle School West Auckland. Their success is well documented. Our second focus is expert provision for children with learning and behavioural needs that make it difficult to succeed in, what is technically known as, “ordinary State Schools.” We have done that through a small private school called Mt Hobson Middle School (MHMS) since 2003. It has worked for the vast majority of students who have come to us – many of whom were deeply struggling when they started at MHMS. Long term stats are:
– 96% of these children got Level 1 NCEA. (National average 72%). 56% of our students achieved Merit or Excellence endorsements.
– 90% of these children got Level 2 NCEA. (National average is 77.4%). 46% of our students achieved Merit or Excellence endorsements.
– 66% or our students got Level 3 NCEA. 33% of our students achieved Merit or Excellence endorsements and 60% achieved UE. (The current national average for UE is 49%.) Many have gone onto tertiary study and into successful careers.
In 2020 it had become clear that the societal problem for neuro diverse learners is so large that we could do a lot more. We took the PM at her word (she doesn’t lie) that Designated Character Schools were the way to go. We applied and got rejected out of hand. Hipkins refusing to even engage. This fired up a broad group of people and this year we applied again with huge support showing demand, incredible expertise and a long and highly effective record. We were confident of at least a professional process and the Minister putting it to consultation. What followed was a report to the Minister from the Ministry that is the worst piece of “professional” work I have seen in the sector since I started teaching in walk-shorts and long socks in 1991 (trend-setter). They recommended the Minister file it WPB with no consultation. He then sent a letter of rejection with two very stupid statements.
1. “there are available supports for all learners in existing State schools.” (basically the whole NZ education sector/population knows this to be nonsense.)
2. “the new school [of 480] would not add materially to the network.” (79% of NZ schools are 480 or less.)
The evening this letter reached our community one of our parents sent documentation to the Minister showing that her 8 year old (with autism and ADHD) in a State school had been previously completely rejected for assistance by the Ministry for teacher aide assistance. Her response had been to personally donate $2,700 a term to the school to help her son and free the teacher to help 30 others. The Minister/Ministry’s kind and compassionate response? That night a senior official made contact with that school, banned them from receiving the money and effectively withdrew the provision for the child.
The response to this has been that for the first time for a long time the media, social media and direct communication has moved massively against this government (references below) with a lot more to come this week. Hipkins came out of his education cave and told a couple of porkies and we have heard from his office that, for the first time in four years, he is considering meeting with us. Even the NZEI have a petition up.
Against both the nature and content of the Ministry’s report on the VET application and their actions against the said child and family we have laid complaints with the SSC, the Ombudsman and others. We have already got a petition through to the Education and Workforce Committee from 2020 and the HRC taking forward a complaint. This is a David vs Goliath fight but we aren’t quitting.
Given the response to this, to Mike King, Poto Williams’ diabolical treatment of the Police, etc, this is a government either still massively complacent or under pressure. Their “we fund what works” public statements are truly laughable.
Back to the rope ladder. Firstly, we are tiny but the community in NZ is waking up to their power to make noise and get responses. My hope is that this unrest in education will spread to the families of Maori, Pasifika and Decile 1 children who need so much better ACADEMIC provision (and not just the introduction of lunches and more soft subjects for meaningless L2 NCEA credits). I hope it also spreads to areas such as Mental Health provision – also screwing over young people.
Secondly, the last election result means that National/ACT need comprehensive policies to actually attack Labour’s base and this should most certainly include policies that would bring about significant change for the 30% not achieving in our schools. They need to expose Labour’s cynical and criminal neglect. They also need to produce policy quickly, back it up, and get the ideas entrenched and supported by the communities. They need to listen to the likes of John Hattie and genuine change agents. They need to ignore the Ministry and plan for a huge re-structure of that bureaucratic monolith.
The last election result is the bottom rungs of the rope ladder. To wait or produce tepid policies serves nobody’s purposes – least of all the current opposition parties hope to become the government in 2023.
Broad solutions (point the hose at the fire):
Have a comprehensive and monitored/incentive/resourced parents as first (and most important) teachers programme.
Super-fund the decile 1-3 schools.
Provide Principals in those schools with a Business Manager to take care of resourcing, contracts, etc – allowing them to fully focus on academics and student/family engagement.
Trust these Principals with significant incentive payments to attract and keep great teachers. Limit class size to 15. Help the families – provide uniform, stationery and IT and don’t ask for donations. Make every year urgent in these schools but also have a 13-year plan so that by the end of that these young people, who will go on to parent the next generation, have education levels that inspire their children.
Have very specific UE goals for schools in each decile that accelerate over time. Have very specific goals for attendance and retention to 17 years of age (and incentivise them).
The secondary teacher shortage is qualitative as well as quantitative. To attract great degree graduates and second career people they must be paid to train as it is no longer tenable to have them without a year of income in a high employment economy and with so many international opportunities.
Provide fully, accurately, and quickly for students with diverse learning needs.
Have a very good Designated Character School policy that is not administered in anyway by the current Ministry and does not reference the bums on seats network.
Tear down the upper levels of the Ministry of Education and start again. Bizarre that Ian Foster – as a leader in a sport – is under more pressure than Ministry leaders who destroy the hopes of 30% of every cohort through our schools.
Don’t re-introduce things that will simply poke the Union Bear – Charter Schools and National Standards. It is not about winning a battle with them. It is about provision for kids.
Appendix: Media on the current Learning and Behavioural needs debacle – July 2021
