The current Anglican Church Schism in New Zealand

A guest post by John Stringer (former Anglican pastor).

I attend a Christchurch Anglican church that is 170 years old and was here before my suburb. It’s where Charles Upham double VC is buried in our historic cemetery. For several years I was also an Anglican pastor under license to the Bishop of the Canterbury diocese. I also attend another local non-Anglican church. I suppose I’m a ‘double-dipper.’

The 2018 NZ General Synod of the Anglican church of Aotearoa and Polynesia passed a resolution that same-sex unions are ok and can be blessed by God in Anglican churches. Synod changed the constitution and canons of the church to reflect this. It was largely a pastoral response, to make gay people feel more welcome in the church. It was argued the Anglican church has moved on “doctrine” before (on slavery; on women in ordination; divorcees being able to remarry; etc). The African wing of the church disagrees with the 2018 resolution, as do many Australian bishops. The Maori and Pacifica branches of the Anglican church in NZ also disagree, but abstained from the Synod vote, so the decision was a ‘minority’ one when it passed.

This shocked many conservative parishes in NZ. Parishes around the country have met and conducted a series of informational meetings and invited speakers from both sides to put their case. This was respectful, informed, and dug down deeply in to the issues. There were published notes and commentaries for parishioners to read, study and consult as discussion over many months progressed. Other parishes are happy with the decision; some have ignored the issue altogether.

The resolution also stated that no conservative parish must be forced to conduct same-gender union blessings in their churches, and where vicars leave on an issue of conscience, the new bishop (appointed last week, the Rev Dr Peter Carrell, who supports same-gender blessings but not same-sex marriage) must appoint a like-minded vicar (a tenet of “continuity of theology”). A general principle now reigns in the Anglican church, that there are “two truths” and that Anglicans in NZ “choose to disagree.”

This is a position many cannot accept. Some Australian bishops view it as “apostasy.”

The consequence is, that many NZ vicars have already, or will, resign from the Anglican church of NZ and Polynesia. Some parishes will leave on mass with them to form a new Anglican denomination under the oversight of another bishop (perhaps from Tasmania). If they leave, they must forego their buildings and assets and depart.

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Duncan Garner writes:

The aim of this week was to effectively arrest the narrative back into the positive, to draw a line under, through, around, whichever way works, this winter of concern if not discontent.

How did that go? Disastrous. What a bloody mess  By the end of the week, Labour was further behind than when they’d started out.

I put this down to a few crucial things. 

Labour’s ministers are struggling. Not all of them. They have a handful who get it. The rest are pretenders and threaten the stability of the Government itself. 

They are not match-fit and simply lack the experience or smarts to be players in the big dance. 

Of the 30 Ministers, only around half a dozen are on top of their game.

Jacinda Ardern acted swiftly to stand Whaitiri down, she had no choice. But her lax treatment of Clare Curran was weak and makes her look like a prime minister who is afraid to be too tough on her own. 

As even Helen Clark has effectively pointed out.

Almost a year into this Government I don’t see a plan, I see pockets of progress and hordes of committees.

The Pike River re-entry is a model in how to respect the dead and treat their families with dignity. 

On the flip side, leaving gravely ill Abby Hartley in Bali to battle her insurer to get home looks cold and callous, not compassionate and caring. When did the dollar trump common sense and concern for people so ill.

Not a great week for the Government indeed.

The Press editorial:

But Labour’s internal processes and soul-searching are also important. Following a review, parents of future activists will be pleased to know that new parental consent and alcohol policies will be in place at future Young Labour events. In what should be a no-brainer, “at least one Labour Party representative [will] attend the entire event and be available throughout”.

Actually this is insulting to Young Labour. It’s saying they can’t ever be trusted. Young Nationals have been running events for decades and I’ve never known the senior party to have a representative there to “manage” it. A few may attend because they enjoy it, but the Young Nats are trusted to run events sensibly. The leaders are not 18 and 19 year olds but often people in their mid 20s.

And going forward, perhaps Labour could rethink whether it really needs to make alcohol available at all at youth events that include teenagers, even if the drinking is supervised by party representatives. The party should hope that its ideas and guest speakers are intoxicating enough. 

A rather silly idea. Young people are capable of enjoying alcohol without causing problems. Don’t punish everyone for one mismanaged event.

Stuff reports:

Nine local bodies should know by Christmas whether online voting can be trialled in their elections next year.

The councils are seeking proposals from providers but the big question is whether legislation will be passed in time for the October 2019 poll.

The nine hope to jointly trial online voting alongside the traditional postal poll, with time tight to agree on a system without knowing exactly when Parliament would give the OK.

I hope the Government gives the okay in time.

Online voting doesn’t even need to be a web based system that people worry about hacking over.

You could do it by still posting everyone their ballot paper, and they fill it in manually. But have an option that instead of having to post it in, you can take a photo and e-mail it to the returning officer. They print them out and count them the normal way.

And if you think that is too insecure I have bad news for you. We already allow this in general elections – for overseas voters.

Bjorn Lomberg writes:

Activist organizations like Worldwatch argue that higher temperatures will make more people hungry, so drastic carbon cuts are needed. But a comprehensive new study published in Nature Climate Change led by researchers from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis has found that strong global climate action would cause far more hunger and food insecurity than climate change itself.

The scientists used eight global-agricultural models to analyze various scenarios between now and 2050. These models suggest, on average, that climate change could put an extra 24 million people at risk of hunger. But a global carbon tax would increase food prices and push 78 million more people into risk of hunger. The areas expected to be most vulnerable are sub-Saharan Africa and India.

Trying to help 24 million people by imperiling 78 million people’s lives is a very poor policy.

Pretty daft.

Ten years ago, a biofuels craze swept rich countries with the full-throated support of green activists who hailed any shift away from fossil fuels. Food crops were replaced to produce ethanol, and the resulting spike in food prices forced at least 30 million people into poverty and 30 million more into hunger, according to UK charity ActionAid.

Unintended consequences.

Around 800 million people are undernourished today, mostly because of poverty. The single most significant initiative that could be undertaken tomorrow is not a policy that slows the global economy, but one that cuts poverty: a global trade deal.

The Doha free-trade deal was allowed to collapse with just a fraction of the attention given to global climate-change negotiations.

Reviving Doha would lift an extra 145 million people out of poverty by 2030, according to research commissioned by Copenhagen Consensus. It could make the average person in the developing world $1,000 better off every year — allowing them to not only better feed themselves and their children, but also afford better health care, more education and lead more prosperous lives.

Free trade is the best cure for poverty.

The flawed Paris agreement, which is the closest we have to a global scheme, will achieve at best merely 1 percent of what would be needed to keep temperature rises under 2°C, according to the UN. It’ll cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion annually. This is money that can’t be spent improving nutrition, health or education.

$2 trillion a year for a 1% reduction.

My think tank asked 27 top climate economists to explore all the feasible policy responses, and the conclusion was that the best long-term investment is in green energy R&D. For every dollar spent, $11 of climate damages would be avoided.

I have great faith that science will provide the bulk of the solution to climate change.

The latest ANZ business confidence survey has net sentiment down a further 5% to -50%.

The data on firms own indications is a better indicator of the impact on economic growth. They show:

• Net +4% expect to do better in the next year (long term average is +27%)
• Net -5% expect to reduce investment
• Net -6% expect to reduce employment
• Net -17% expect profits to fall

ANZ comment:

But firms have real concerns about industrial relations policy, minimum wage hikes and costs more generally – and particularly about their ability to pass on higher costs and maintain profitability.

Troubles in the construction sector appear to be starting to cause stresses in related firms. And exporting firms will be keeping a nervous eye on signs that global growth has peaked.

It is mixed, to be sure, and we certainly do not expect growth to rocket away any time soon. But nor are we forecasting a painful slowdown.

The fundamentals remain in place for ongoing growth, albeit at a more modest pace – provided we don’t talk ourselves out of it.

The next few months will be key.

Employment Minister Willie Jackson on The Nation said:

So, unemployment – currently 4.5 per cent or thereabouts. Is the government still aiming to get down to 4 per cent in this first term?

Oh, absolutely. That’s always been the goal, and we’re on track. When I came in, into the portfolio, I inherited 4.9 per cent, so I think we’re doing well.

The unemployment rate in December 2017 was 4.5% not 4.9%. Even if you go back to September 2017 it was only 4.6%. So there has been no drop.

What’s driving the drop, do you reckon?
We’re investing in areas that the previous government forgot all about. You know? So when I came in, the employment figures were 4.9 per cent, but the reality was that—
They were on a downward trend, though.
They were on a downward trend, but there’s statistics, and then there’s statistics.

Yes there are the real stats and Willie’s ones.

The unemployment rate dropped in 2017 from 5.3% to 4.5% – a definite downward trend. So far in 2018 it has stayed at 4.5%.

The reality is you know and I know that the stats for Maori, the stats for Pacific Islanders, the stats for women, were terrible, basically.

In December 2017 the stats for PI was 7.7%, it is now 8.8%.

In December 2017 the stats for Maori was 9.0%. It is now 9.4%.

In December 2017 the stats for women was 5.0%. It is now 4.7%.

So the unemployment rates for PI and Maori have increased this year. And the unemployment rate for women is down slightly from 5.0% which is far from terrible.

And so we’ve seen some turnarounds in terms of youth, in terms of NEETs. We’ve taken that from 80,000 down to 72,000, and Maori unemployment has come down, and Maori employment has gone up.

The number of Maori unemployed has gone from 31,600 to 33,200 since 2017.

Patrick Smellie writes at Stuff:

At a time when Ardern is overseeing the most aggressive push for public sector wage rises in recent times, small and medium-sized employers, particularly, are spooked at the prospect of higher wage costs leaking across to them, at the same time as they perceive losses to their rights to hire, fire, and set terms and conditions within legislated minima without significant trade union involvement.

That is why Ardern’s aside that she was effectively the largest employer in the room on Tuesday was so unwise.

It plays to an easily scratched itch among employers that she doesn’t know how business people think and entrenched their nostalgia for a self-professed “business guy” like Sir John Key at the helm.

Before Winston make Jacinda PM, she had never worked a day in the private sector (unless the fish and chip shop counts) and had never employed a single staff member (except her EA).

To claim in front of all the business leaders who pay the taxes that fund the Government, that you understand them because you are the biggest employer in NZ is very silly.

Aljazeera reports:

Pakistan’s senate has unanimously passed a resolution condemning an anti-Islam cartoon contest planned by a far-right Dutch politician – one of the first actions taken by the assembly since last month’s general election. …

Physical depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in Islam.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty for anyone found guilty of insulting Prophet Muhammad, and life imprisonment for those found to defile the Quran.

Yep a mandatory death penalty for blasphemy.

Think if a country had a mandatory death penalty for insulting Jesus Christ. There would be outrage around the world.

Following the 14-post series by John Stringer earlier in the month on the 2018 archaeology of historic Gath in Israel, and the features in ASOR 80 and 84 of the American School of Oriental Research (ASOR), that attracted a lot of interest amongst readers, here is a summation of the 21st season and the finds, by professor Aren M. Maeir of Bar-Ilan University.  

The 2018 Season of Excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath

Introduction:

This year’s season of excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath was conducted from June 26 to July 20, 2018. It was the 22nd season of the project and the 21st season of excavation. The team was comprised of archaeologists, students and volunteers from all over the world, including groups from Bar-Ilan University, Brigham Young University, Colorado Christian University, University of Melbourne, University of Northern Colorado and Yeshiva University.

In contrast to previous seasons of excavation in which we had always excavated in various areas in the “upper city” (and areas in the “lower city”), this season was the first season in which we only excavated in the lower city. As the project is now nearing its 25th anniversary, and is close to completion of field work, for the next few years, we will concentrate most of our efforts on the study of the lower city. While clearly, there is still much potential for the study of the archaeological remains in the upper city, we believe that what we have revealed over the last 2 decades provides a nice cross section of the cultural history of the upper city throughout its major phases of occupation. In depth, further study of the upper city will have to await new projects on the site, sometime in the future.

The reason that we have chosen to focus on the lower city is the fact that over the last decade, in the extensive excavations in Area D, and more recently in Areas K and K2, well-preserved remains of the Iron Age were discovered, immediately below surface, in various parts of the lower city. In addition to this, based on aerial and terrestrial photos from the first half of the 20th cent CE, as well as from the archaeological evidence from the survey and excavations, it appears that the lower city was hardly settled in modern times, and apparently, for the most part, was never substantially settled after the Iron Age IIA destruction of the city by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, ca. 830 BCE.

This picture was further strengthened through remote sensing conducted in the lower city during the 2017 season. Following an extensive magnetometry survey conducted by Andrew Creekmore and his team, it was quite clear that there were many potential areas for further excavation (most likely of Iron Age dating based on their orientation) in various parts of the lower city.

All this indicated the very high potential, that a combination of excavations and remote sensing of various kinds, might enable us to understand the urban plan of and extensive portion of the lower city of Gath during the Iron Age, something that is rarely available in other large Iron Age cities in the Southern Levant.

With this backdrop, the objectives of the 2018 season were set as follows:

Define two new areas of excavation in the eastern portions of the lower city, based on several promising “anomalies” that could be seen in the magnetometry survey, to “ground truth” a sampling of the remote sensing survey.

Continue excavation in Area D East, to further define and understand the fortifications and apparent gate found in previous seasons in this area. Particular focus would be placed on confirming that in fact there was a gate, understand how it functioned, and more clearly define the architectural and stratigraphic sequence in this area.

Conduct small scale stratigraphic probes in Area D West, in the portion of this area where a metallurgical production zone was located in previous seasons. The aim was to define the borders of the metallurgical activity, and better define the stratigraphic and contextual sequence below it.

Results of the 2018 Season:

Area D West (supervisor V. Workman): Excavations in this area were limited to several small stratigraphic probes that were conducted in and around the metallurgical production zone that had been discovered in previous seasons. In addition to defining the phasing of several of the architectural features in this area, the stratigraphic phasing in this location was rechecked. A very interesting result relates to the dating of the metallurgical activities. Up until now, all evidence of these activities came from Stratum D3, the stratum destroyed in the “Hazael destruction” of ca. 830 BCE. And in fact, for the most part, this was the stratigraphic picture this season as well. But in one of the probes, portions of a crucible was found in stratigraphic layer below Stratum D3, most probably Stratum D4. This may very well indicate that the metallurgical activities commenced earlier. This in fact makes sense as it seems likely that the Stratum D3 metallurgical activities are connected to the cultic activities and temple situation to the west. As these cultic activities are seen in the earlier Strata D4 and D5, earlier metallurgical activities would fit in very well with this.

Area D East (supervisor J. Chadwick):

Excavations in Area D-East in 2016 and 2017 suggested that a gateway existed in the gully running from the tell to the stream bed. In 2018, the gate area was defined and identified. Additionally, the stone foundation of the Iron Age city wall was identified, as well as several rooms inside the wall line. Dramatic evidence of defensive actions taken by the inhabitants of Gath during the Aramean siege of the 9th century BCE was also discovered.

The segment of the Iron Age city wall excavated was some 14 meters long, and evidently continues eastward into unexcavated squares. Ceramics recovered from surviving portions of the brick superstructure of the wall suggest that it was built during the 10th century BCE, during early Iron Age IIA. At the west end of the excavated city wall length, a protruding gate pier foundation was identified. This northern gate pier was oriented on a slightly inward angle from the line of the city wall, and was built atop the foundation of an earlier north-south fortification wall which has not yet been securely dated. Access into the city through this gateway apparently involved walking up from the streambed, up the gully southward, along the earlier fortification line, and then turning sharply left (south-eastward) to enter the gateway opening. A small court or plaza seems to have existed inside the gateway, flanked by domestic structures which abutted the city wall’s inner face line. This gateway does not seem to have been the main gateway into the lower city, and probably served as the “water gate.”

A fortification tower with two interior rooms was built against the outside of the Iron Age city wall, just east of the north gate pier, sometime after the city wall itself had been initially erected. That this two-room tower was a later addition to the fortifications seems clear since its stone foundation extended higher than the outside line of the city wall foundation, and its stonework was not integrated into the stonework of the city wall foundation itself. The tower’s construction is dated to later Iron Age IIA, in the 9th century BCE. The tower seems to have been built to enhance the protection of the city wall and gateway at this vulnerable location where the gateway gully met the streambed. An earlier north-south stretch of fortifications, built of very large stones, over which the northern gate pier was erected, is provisionally dated to Iron Age I. The Iron Age I/II (or early Iron Age IIA) city wall system seems to have been built to enhance and strengthen the earlier fortification system in this area along the stream bed. It may be that the gateway in this area was previously in use as an entry in the earlier fortification scheme. 

During later Iron Age IIA, presumably during the late 9th century BCE Aramean siege of Gath, the gateway was closed in from the inside. Rooms south and east of the gateway, along the inside of the city wall line, were also filled with grey, ashy soil containing great amounts of LB and Iron I pottery sherds. These deep fills, which may have utilized soil from old LB/Iron I garbage dumps in the lower city, appear to have been a desperate effort to buffer and fortify the inside of the city wall line against siege breach efforts of the Aramean attackers.

Area M (supervisor M. Enuikhina):

The excavations in this area, situated in the eastern side of the lower city, were commenced this season, based on a series of linear anomalies, oriented east-west, north-south, seemingly looking like structures and roads, which were seen in the magnetometry conducted in the 2017 season. The excavations were aimed to “ground truth” the remote sensing.

Four squares were opened in this area with fantastic results. Mere centimeters below surface, rich remains of the “Hazael Destruction layer” were discovered. In all four squares, architectural remains of rooms filled with more than a half meter thick deposit of this destruction level, with scores of ceramic vessels (mostly smashed, but quite a few still whole). These vessels included a broad range of types, including small and large storage vessels, cooking and serving vessels, cultic related vessels (chalices), as well as vessels relating to various other functions.

Of particular interest were the two rounded stone basins discovered in two of the squares, very similar to stone basins previously found in Areas A and K. Most likely, these installations are olive presses, and perhaps serve as evidence of the importance of olive oil production in Iron IIA Gath. This is of importance as previously, some have suggested that olive oil production only commenced in Philistia in the 8th and 7th century BCE, centered at Philistine Ekron, and connected to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. If we are correct in the identification of these installations, it appears that olive oil production in Philistia was already important, at least as early as the Iron IIA (and perhaps earlier as well). It may very well be that the production and trade in olive oil was one of the economic strengths of Iron IIA Gath. And just as it has been suggested that Gath had a major role in the copper trade during this period, perhaps olive oil should be figured in as well.

Among the special finds from this season in Area M, several can be noted: a large jar that most of its body was covered in drilled holes – similar to several other jars found in Areas D and K in previous seasons; a chalice bowl with an application of an animal on its rim; and a complete, unbroken jar that was found in the last hour of the last day of excavation.

Further work in Area M will aim, inter alia, to expand excavations to understand the architectural contexts of these rooms, and to understand the function of the stone basins. In addition, we hope to be able to see whether additional features can be detected in the remote sensing, to enable to define more of these stone basins and related features, whether through excavation or only through remote sensing.

Area Y (supervisor J. Katz):

The excavations in this area, situated in the eastern side of the lower city, were likewise commenced this season, based on a series of five square shaped anomalies seen in the magnetometry, oriented NE-SW, seemingly looking like rooms or installations that had been exposed to high temperatures. As in Area M, the excavations here were aimed to “ground truth” the remote sensing.

To a large extent, the results in Area Y were quite surprising. As opposed to all other areas that so far have been excavated in the lower city (Areas D West, D East, K, K2 and M) where the Iron IIA remains were immediately below surface, in Area Y, Iron Age I remains were discovered immediately below the mixed upper sediments containing finds from modern through the Iron Age.

In fact, a large structure, built of thick brick walls were discovered in all the five squares that were excavated. In addition to this, three of anomalies seen in the remote sensing were excavated as  well, and they were concentrations of burnt bricks. One these concentrations, on the NE excavated square was of particular interest. Here, a built installation with a seemingly gabled roof made of burnt bricks was discovered. This installation’s function is not clear. While reminiscent of pottery kilns, the finds associated with this structure have so far not provided a clear indication of its function. Whatever its function was, large concentrations of burnt bricks were found in its vicinity as well, including in a pit dug on its SE side. Extensive samples were taken from this feature and its surroundings, and hopefully, the results of their analyses (by A. Behar) will help clarify this installation’s functions.

On the southern side of Area Y, another interesting feature was discovered. Here, an extensive area (major portions of two squares) with layers of chalky material was discovered, seemingly laid out in purposeful manner. These chalk layers, apparently deriving from the nearby chalk cliffs of the upper tell, might have been part of a production process of building materials. In other areas of the excavation, and in many periods, building materials made from this chalk material have been discovered, including used as a plaster like material, within roofing and mudbricks and other features. Perhaps, these or similar construction-related materials were produced at this location.

An important characteristic of Area Y was the very poor preservation of artifacts in general. While there was sufficient pottery to date the features, in general, there was very little pottery, bones and other materials.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Area Y is the Iron I dating of the features that were discovered very close to surface. This is quite different from all other excavation areas in the lower city, including Areas K and M which are only a few score meters away (to the east and south). In addition, the orientation of the architecture in Area Y is completely different from the Iron II architecture in other parts of the lower city. The finds in Area Y indicate that already during the Iron I, the lower city of Gath was quite extensive. Previously found to the west in Areas D West and D East, we now know for sure that eastern parts of the lower city were settled as well during the early Iron Age.

An additional point is that of the relevance of the finds from Area Y, from a methodological point of view, as an example of the possible pit falls of insufficient sampling strategies in the study of a large scale site. If the study of the lower city of Gath would have been limited to only a small sample of excavation areas, very different results might have arisen. Based on a limited sampling from few excavation areas, one might have assumed that the lower city was only settled in the Iron I (as seen in Area Y), or, based on other areas, mainly in Iron IIA, with some earlier evidence below this. Clearly then, this stresses the need for large scale sampling, using survey, excavation and remote sensing, to be able to truly understand the character and history of a large site, such as Tell es-Safi/Gath.

Remote Sensing (A. Creekmore):

The original plan for this year was to continue and expand the remote sensing in the lower city, and to supplement the magnetometric analyses conducted last year with a Ground Penetrating Radar survey of the lower city. It was hoped that this would provide additional, supplementary information to the already very exciting results of last year’s remote sensing. Unfortunately, Andrew Creekmore’s GPR equipment was not released by the Israeli customs during his entire stay in Israel, so this equipment could not be used. Despite this, thanks for Prof. Amotz Agnon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, we did manage to survey a limited portion of the lower city, with a GPR instrument that was provided by Prof. Agnon. Hopefully, this will serve as the first stage for an extensive GPR survey at a later date.   

Stuff reports:

Airport departure cards will be a thing of the past from November.

People will no longer have to fill out the cards before flying overseas, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway announced at Auckland International Airport on Sunday.

“This will improve the experience of all travellers departing New Zealand, enabling a faster and smoother process ahead of the busy holiday period,” Lees-Galloway said.

“It will also save more than 100,000 hours of time currently spent by travellers completing more than 6.5 million departure cards per year.”

This is a good thing.

When you book your airline tickets, the airlines have all the info that goes on a departure card. I often wondered why they couldn’t provide filled in cards for you when you check in.

Presumably in future the airlines will share the data directly with the Government.

A guest post by Mitchell Palmer, a student at Auckland Grammar School:

New Zealand’s education system is fundamentally broken. We are failing our kids, especially those from the poorest families.  Whle our NCEA pass rates increase year-on-year, every year, our international performance has worsened. The Tertiary Education Commission found 40% of students who passed Year 12 failed international reading tests. No English-speaking country has a system which underserves poor children worse than ours. And as our system becomes more unequal, the Australian, Canadian, British, and American systems improve. As we head into a modern economy where manual labour is less and less a marketable skill, we need better education, not worse.

One of our greatest Prime Ministers, Peter Fraser said all New Zealanders “whatever their ability, rich or poor, whether they live in town or country” have a birthright to “a free education of the kind for which they are best fitted and to the fullest extent of their powers.” Most New Zealanders would agree with that. Unfortunately, we have failed to achieve it.

The problem lies particularly in the lottery of birth which determines where a child can go to school. In American politics it is a common plattitude that “a child’s future should not be determined by his zip [post] code”. In New Zealand, it is rather the size of the child’s parents’ paycheque which determines that future.

Wealthy parents can afford to move into any school zone in the country, to access the best public schools, or to send their children to private schools. For instance, the average premium charged for a property in the zones of Auckland Grammar School and Epsom Girls’ Grammar School is in excess of $500,000. Fees at Kings’ College are around $25,000 per student, per year. This is clearly out of reach of the average New Zealand family – whose average household income just breached $100,000 last year – let alone the poorest, who probably would benefit most from the upward mobility advantages of high-quality schooling.

The variety of choice avaliable to wealthy parents means there is significant compeitition for their education dollars. Schools compete with each other to outperform academically, culturally, and in sports. For instance, Auckland Grammar knows it must maintain high standards, otherwise many of its current and future students will jump ship to Westlake Boys’, Macleans, Auckland International College or King’s, in search of a quality academic education.

By contrast, look at the choices avaliable to middle- and working- class New Zealand families. Locked out of the best public schools by exclusionary zoning policies – which reach around the country; for instance, both Hamilton and Christchurch Boys’ High Schools have tight zoning requirements – and out of the private schools by the high costs, they must accept whatever their local school gives them. As much as local schools may profess to be interested in the futures of their students, they have no significant incentive to actually do so, because they have a captive audience. Instead their incentive is to meet Ministry-set targets, which they do by inflating NCEA grades and channeling their students through vocational courses, locking them out of many career paths.

This dichotomy suggests the solution to many of our woes: Give all parents – no matter their household incomes – the choice of where to send their children to school to introduce real competition.

We should begin by dezoning every public school and allowing them to choose their own enrollment scheme. We should also link the private school subsidy to parental income and increase it significantly, allowing children across the entire income spectrum to access that part of the system.

Next, we must allow more flexibility for public schools to structure themselves: Underperforming schools should be able to be purchased by high performers who can’t fulfill demand. New Zealand has already seen this flexible model in action. In the early 20th century, Auckland Grammar, already overcapacity, set up schools around Auckland following its system and sharing its traditions and, for a period, Board of Governors. These schools – places like Mount Albert Grammar, Takapuna Grammar, and Epsom Girls’ Grammar – are some of Auckland’s premier schools even today.

We should also end the government subsidy of NCEA. NCEA is a system which, with its unlimited flexibility, allows schools in low-competition areas to take soft options and lock their students out of opportunity. If it is to continue, it should be on an equal playing field with credible alternatives, like the internationally-renowned Cambridge and IB systems.

And lastly – and possibly most controversially – we should end the teachers’ unions’ monopoly on teaching. We should allow public schools to negotiate pay and conditions with teachers on an individual basis, rather than setting payrates nationally by negotiation between the Ministry of Education and the NZPPTA and NZEI (the unions). Schools are far more aware of their specific needs and situation than Ministry bureaucrats attempting to create a one-size-fits-all contracts. Such flexiblity would allow schools to attract top talent and pay their best teachers more, without having to take them out of the classroom and into management.

Michael Gove called it the “soft bigotry of low expectations”; I call it paternalism: New Zealand has systematically removed the power of less-well-off parents over their children’s educations and given it to Wellington. What have we got for it? Record truancy rates and a generation of children who have no opportunity to move up in society. That certainly doesn’t sound like the egalitarian paradise New Zealand aims to be.

We need to change it.

Mitchell Palmer is a student at Auckland Grammar School and much of this article draws from Briar Lipson’s excellent report from the New Zealand Initiative: Spoiled by Choice (https://nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/reports/spoiled-by-choice-how-ncea-hampers-education-and-what-it-needs-to-succeed/) and was inspired by her presentation at the 2018 ACT Conference.

Ruth sent me a copy of a recent speech, and I wouldn’t do it justice by editing it, so a great read for those interested.

Soon after Dr Rod Carr, a star in the Canterbury firmament, took over at the helm of UC a decade ago, he issued a business challenge.

The dare to create five new Canterbury companies worth over a billion dollars.

This week, SML, of which I am a foundation director, welcomed our new CEO Leon Clement.

Leon inherits a company that didn’t exist 10 years ago but is now worth $2billion and growing. Quite a legacy from the retiring CEO, Dr John Penno.

The first talent I worked with in dairy, Simon Challies, could talk in similar glowing terms about Ryman Healthcare.

And then there are the challengers – I chair two of those companies – NZ Merino making wool great again, or more accurately a natural fibre premium play, blending with friends. Think wool surfboards with eco-resin or wool and eucalypt shoes. 

And Syft, a University of Canterbury start-up, which after consuming vast amounts of investor dollars, so very nearly fell from its perch. Rescued by a relentless focus on sales, Syft is now one of the fastest growing and profitable companies in NZ.

Both have a billion dollars in their DNA.

I have had the fortune to straddle two worlds in my career; public policy and private business – the performance of both matters a lot to the prospects of success on a global stage.

Let me start with the prime driver which is business, not the government.

We can’t prosper by taking in our own washing so, strutting it on the global stage has to be our modus operandi.

And I mean strutting, not just selling low value stuff that rises or falls on the rise or fall of the NZ dollar.

Strutting starts with the daring of the ambition and is sustained by the ability to execute.

The CFO of NZ Merino has recently completed a PM’s scholarship at the London Business School.

His report to the Board singled out this formula for success captured in a former attendee’s quote:

“The recipe for a successful new business is 5% idea and 95% execution.”

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The Herald reports:

Property developer and brothel owner John Chow says he’s interested in running for the Auckland mayoralty.

Mayoral elections in the country’s biggest city are coming up next year. Incumbent Mayor Phil Goff is expected to run again.

But Chow – who owns the Chow Group with his brother Michael – has indicated his interest.

Chow said on social media site LinkedIn that one in four of Aucklanders were Asian.

“Is it time for the Asian community of Auckland to nominate a candidate for mayor? I could be arm-twisted to put my name forward, if there’s enough interest,” Chow said.

Chow is a very hard nosed businessman. If he was Mayor I’m damn sure he could find efficiencies beyond the 0.04% Phil Goff has managed.

“New Zealand has allowed me to dream big and I have taken that opportunity to work my way from running a fish n chip shop with my brother to running a multi-million dollar business spanning varied industries. It is for this reason I believe I know how to help Aucklanders be great again,” he said.

Make Auckland Great Again – I think one can get some caps saying that!

The Herald reports:

Police investigating allegations by Anihera Black that a paedophile ring has been operating in Tauranga say they have been unable to substantiate the allegations.

In July it was revealed that police had spoken to Te Awanuiārangi Black’s widow about allegations her husband was a paedophile.

Police said that based on the information available, they were unable to progress the matter further at this time.

The allegations seemed to be based mainly on some vibes from her spiritual advisor.

The Herald reports:

Speaking to the Rotorua Daily Post after a Q&A session at the Property Council New Zealand national conference in Rotorua today, Clark said heads would have rolled if Labour’s youth camp sex scandal had occurred on her watch.

She didn’t know whether she would have released the internal report into the allegations, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said has not been released because there are matters now before the court.

One of the victims involved in the incident has criticised the party for not releasing the report, saying there was no transparency.

When asked how she would have dealt with it, Clark said: “Draw your own conclusions, go back to how I dealt with things like this, people wouldn’t have kept their jobs.”

Clark would have had people sacked for such a monumental failure. Instead Labour have just done a wet bus ticket.

A guest post by Bryan Leland:

The New Zealand Climate Science Coalition have discovered that the Royal Society of New Zealand cannot support its contention that man-made global warming is real and dangerous.

Various exchanges between NZCSC and RSNZ revealed that the Society: has forgotten its roots; makes statements that it cannot support with evidence; is quite happy for its officers and members of the Society to make public statements that are against its own Code of Ethics; agrees that climate science is contentious but will not support open debate on it; wants to change its Code of Ethics to put cultural beliefs on equal footing with scientific evidence. 

It all started with a statement by the Chief Executive (CE) and two reports that made it clear that RSNZ supported the belief that that man-made global warming was real and dangerous and urgent action was essential. The NZCSC asked RSNZ to provide convincing evidence based on observational data that supported this belief. The Royal Society were unable to do so and passed the query on to Prof James Renwick who has close links with the IPCC. He too was unable to provide the requested evidence. It seems that the evidence does not exist.

The NZCSC then lodged a complaint with the Society on the grounds that statements made by the CE and authors of the report breached RSNZ’s Code of Ethics because, among other things, they had ignored the requirement that statements to the public should make it clear if there were uncertainties in the science and if other scientists held different views. The Ethics panel could have killed our complaint by providing evidence confirming the existence of dangerous global warming. It didn’t. Instead it claimed that the matter was “insufficiently grave” and anyway, they felt that members should be free to say what they liked to the public. Remarkable, to say the least!

The NZCSC responded by pointing out that the motto of the UK Royal Society was “take no man’s word for it” and the UK Royal Society was formed to promote open debate. As RSNZ was based on the UK Society it should be promoting open debate on man-made global warming. RSNZ did not reply.

In March 2018 the President of RSNZ claimed that the data showed that if the Paris agreement was ignored world temperatures would rise by 3° by the end of the century. NZCSC lodged another ethics complaint on the grounds that his claim was based on the output of computer models that had never made accurate predictions instead of observational data. The Panel did not provide any evidence that his claims were supported by observational data. It did claim that he was quoting the consensus view and that the President was acting on behalf of RSNZ so he was not bound by the Society’s Code of Ethics.

It seems of the Panel were unaware that observational evidence rules in science and consensus views are valid in politics. The beliefs of Galileo – and many others – were based on evidence, were against the consensus and were right. It seems that RSNZ has abandoned the UK Society’s ”take no man’s word for it” and substituted “take my word for it”.

Even though it cannot provide convincing evidence that a danger exists or the recommended actions will be effective, RSNZ has published reports that recommend that the government adopt hugely expensive and disruptive policies that, it is claimed, will reduce the risk of climatic disaster. What the Society should be doing is providing the government with scientific evidence that supports rational science-based policies.

The latest is that RSNZ have just released a draft Code of Ethics that puts cultural beliefs on an equal footing with scientific evidence. It ignores the fact that science is about evidence while culture is about beliefs.  Beliefs cannot, for example, stop apples falling!

“Lord how the mighty have fallen!” 

Bryan Leyland is a power engineer with an active interest in global warming.

Mike Hosking writes:

Labour is in a mess. …

James Shaw and Winston Peters have every right to be asking questions. So far, despite all 
the predictions, the coalition has held together well.

Policy differences have been smoothed over, calamity within the grouping has been avoided.

The weak link is Labour. They look ill-disciplined, sloppy, incoherent, and led by a woman who doesn’t want to be tough.

What Curran did was sackable, full stop. If Whaitiri shoved staff, that’s sackable.

It’s a two-fold problem: One is the crime.

Two is the lack of decisive action to deal with the crime and as a result the ongoing fallout.

Labour can’t run a summer camp, they can’t control ministers, they’ve got a former leader barking advice and the economy is in trouble. 

A rather pithy summary.

No Right Turn blogs:

The previous government was notorious for cronyism, running fake appointment processes for form’s sake before shoehorning their preferred cronies in at the last minute. That was pretty blatantly corrupt, but in less than a year the new government has managed to surpass them, with the appointment of former Labour MP Steve Maharey as chair of Pharmac. When Maharey was appointed, I submitted the usual OIA request seeking details on the process. The released documents show cronyism so naked that I have not seen it before in New Zealand.

Basically what happened is:

First, Health Minister David Clark received advice to reappoint the existing board chair Stuart McLauchlan to manage Pharmac through upcoming changes, or at least temporarily reappoint him so a proper process to find a replacement could be run …

This advice was ignored. Which would be fine if Clark had then run a proper appointment process to appoint someone on merit. Instead, he simply shoulder-tapped Maharey, on the basis of “skills and experience which are well known to the Minister of Health”.

No position description, no application, no interviews, nothing. Just $48,000 a year for knowing the right person. Its cronyism, pure and simple.

I’m not against former Ministers getting board appointments. But I’ve never before seen one appointed with no process at all – just on the whim of the Minister. No advertising, no consideration of other people.

The Herald reports:

US whistleblower and activist Chelsea Manning has been granted permission to apply for a visa to enter New Zealand for two speaking events in September.

Immigration New Zealand has confirmed a special direction had been granted Manning, meaning she could now apply for a specific purpose work visa to enter New Zealand for the events in Auckland on September 8 and Wellington on September 9.

Manning needed a special direction as she was subject to character provisions in section 15 of the Immigration Act.

Manning is a terrible person (read this article from someone who trained with her) but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be able to speak in NZ.

I guarantee you though there will be no violent protests against her, no demands she be banned from speaking on campus – unlike Jordan Peterson whose visit I am sure will spark calls for deplatforming.

Meanwhile a Green MP of course is all in favour of letting Manning (a convicted criminal and traitor) speak in NZ, but seems to want Nigel Farage banned.

It’s not about an unfettered right to speak. It’s about whether the person’s speech poses a risk (maybe read stuff I say first). During & after Farage’s dishonest & callous Bexit campaign hate crimes went up exponentially in the UK, including murder of a pro-diversity MP, Jo Cox.

— Golriz Ghahraman (@golrizghahraman) August 29, 2018

Here she basically argues in favour of banning Nigel Farage (an elected member of the European Parliament) from speaking in NZ, and absolutely terribly links his advocacy of Brexit to the murder of Jo Cox.

It seems very clear that the Greens favour free speech only for people they like.