The State cannot understand whānau; the State cannot restore whānau

“There are close connections between the structure of the family and the structure of the nation.” – Frantz Fanon, Black Skins, White Masks pp 141. I was struck still for a moment when I read these words. I have been involved with supporting whānau in a myriad of settings over 15 years as a professional… Read More The State cannot understand whānau; the State cannot restore whānau

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Monsters amongst us: inhumane commentators damn us all in their refugee crisis response

[Trigger warning: the photos of Alyan Kurdi’s body and Laith Majid with his children are in this blog] This is not a blog about Alyan Kurdi. But it is a blog about who we allow to speak to us about Alyan Kurdi. The public outpouring of grief and the demand for change in the pathetic… Read More Monsters amongst us: inhumane commentators damn us all in their refugee crisis response

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The Ashley Madison hack: the rights of the community & the triumph of the individual

The Impact Team, a group of hackers, has followed through on their threats and dumped, en masse, 35 million + email addresses and other details they hacked from Ashley Madison online for all and sundry to trawl through. Ashley Madison is the champ of online affairs; specifically targeting married people, their byline is “Life’s short, have… Read More The Ashley Madison hack: the rights of the community & the triumph of the individual

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“These are all instances of time”: NZTA’s 8,500 speeding drivers & their philosophy of speeding

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) has a speeding problem. After an OIA by the NZ Herald, it has been reported that in nine months there have been 8,500 instances of speeding of at least 10km above the speed limit. Geoff Dangerfield, Chief Executive of NZTA, was asked for an explanation by Susie Ferguson on… Read More “These are all instances of time”: NZTA’s 8,500 speeding drivers & their philosophy of speeding

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We need to impose sanctions on Australia

Currently New Zealand abides by the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Al Qaida and the Taliban, the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, North Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The range of sanctions include: asset freezes in which we “prohibit dealings in… Read More We need to impose sanctions on Australia

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Te Mātāwai: the most important change in te reo Māori in 25 years that you may not have heard about

Consultation hui for the Māori Language (Te Reo Māori) Bill begins tomorrow in Kaitāia. Over the next 12 days they will be coming to a town near you. These consultation hui will be part of the thinking of the Advisory Group that goes into their final report to the Minister of Māori Development. You should… Read More Te Mātāwai: the most important change in te reo Māori in 25 years that you may not have heard about

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Revenge of the Miffed: why Māori leaders are conspiring to end Native Affairs

About sixteen years ago in Wellington my wife and I were breakfasting with my parents and their friends. They had come to visit us and shouted us breakfast at their hotel. We had an inadvisable breakfast conversation about politics, and my Dad laughingly declared that when we grew up, we’d vote National. We were in… Read More Revenge of the Miffed: why Māori leaders are conspiring to end Native Affairs

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A home is not an asset: the flawed belief of the property investor in selling our social housing

If the admiring New Zealand Herald coverage given to Brandon Lipman’s ascension to his own property investment portfolio is anything to go by, the New Zealand mythology of the right to home ownership, the quarter acre section, has been decisively dethroned. The interregnum, a period of disquiet and uncertainty about the prospects for the middle… Read More A home is not an asset: the flawed belief of the property investor in selling our social housing

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