Council community development bureaucrats behead Tauranga Moana Safe City

[Disclosure Statement: These are my views, not those of Tauranga Moana Safe City. I have never worked for Tauranga Moana Safe City; however I worked on joint projects with Mike Mills when I was the Manager of the Merivale Community Centre and when I was contracted to run the White Ribbon Campaign events in 2013.… Read More Council community development bureaucrats behead Tauranga Moana Safe City

May 18, 2015May 19, 2015 grahamcameron5 Comments

Burning down the house: how social housing could break NZ communities

Merivale in Tauranga, New Zealand has 22 streets. There are just under 900 houses in those streets. We have comparatively low levels of home ownership and high levels of absentee landlords. Over 200 of the houses are owned by Housing New Zealand, the government’s state housing organisation. Originally the Housing NZ houses were all built… Read More Burning down the house: how social housing could break NZ communities

March 25, 2015 grahamcameron

The Copenhagen shootings & building the case for the inhumanity of Muslims

On Morning Report, the public service radio station here in Aotearoa New Zealand, sandwiched between faux outrage that Andrew Little, the leader of the Labour party, paid a bill late and real outrage from the Greens party that Andrew Little doesn’t care what they think, a report on the Copenhagen shootings included an interview with… Read More The Copenhagen shootings & building the case for the inhumanity of Muslims

February 18, 2015February 18, 2015 grahamcameron1 Comment

Paora Maxwell is here to neuter Māori Television

Paora Maxwell’s interview on Mediawatch (starts at 15.40) this week was a solid piece of key phrases and deflection. He doesn’t strike the listener as a person who has all that much to contribute; conflicts of interest aside, I was left wondering what he had that so swayed the board of Māori Television. However, despite his best… Read More Paora Maxwell is here to neuter Māori Television

November 16, 2014November 17, 2014 grahamcameron

So yeah, that thing you say about us signing over sovereignty… Stage 1, Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry

“The implications of a clear finding by the Tribunal that tāngata whenua did not give up sovereignty is that that the basis on which Parliament, government agencies and local government refuse to consider arrangements that share sovereignty has become very tenuous indeed.”… Read More So yeah, that thing you say about us signing over sovereignty… Stage 1, Te Paparahi o te Raki inquiry

November 14, 2014November 14, 2014 grahamcameron2 Comments

Key plays up ISIS to betray our freedoms for a Security Council seat

John Key’s deliberately murky statements about New Zealanders who want to be “foreign fighters” and who are sympathetic to ISIS in late September have now led to a Cabinet briefing today suggesting legislative changes that will put us more in line with our allies and will no doubt lead to Key’s signposted decision to join the… Read More Key plays up ISIS to betray our freedoms for a Security Council seat

October 13, 2014October 13, 2014 grahamcameron

Remember, remember the 5th of November: Parihaka’s silent vigil for Machiavellian NZ

Last night, as part of the Wellington Doicese’s Anglican Schools Youth Pigrimage, we stayed in Te Niho o Te Ati Awa on Parihaka Pa. We were hosted by my whanaunga, the redoubtable kuia Maata, who has lived on the pa for thirty years and is from the Borell and Moanaroa whānau of Tauranga Moana. Warmly… Read More Remember, remember the 5th of November: Parihaka’s silent vigil for Machiavellian NZ

September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 grahamcameron

Confessions of a moderate Maori voter…(If that’s OK with you, that is).

Originally posted on Sparrowhawk/Kārearea:
On my Facebook feed this morning I read the following status update written by a friend. It made me wonder. This was a cry from the heart for something that Māori have apparently lost. This woman was just.. [r]emembering the days when we weren’t separated by our political beliefs…

September 3, 2014September 9, 2014 grahamcameron

Disapproval Voting: When there’s no-one worth voting for, we need to be able to vote for no-one

I watched the circus of Judith Collins’ resignation as a Minister today. It was an overwhelming input of tweets, posts, commentary and live television that must leave us more disturbed than consoled at the state of our Parliament and democracy. I have so many questions: if she resigned for planning to besmirch the head of the Serious… Read More Disapproval Voting: When there’s no-one worth voting for, we need to be able to vote for no-one

August 30, 2014 grahamcameron2 Comments