NZ MAGA'fuckation | November 2024 Edition
A month of MAGA'fuckation importation by the New Zealand Government
MAGA'fuckation: Usage suggests the term is meant to describe the perceived adoption or importation of MAGA-style politics or rhetoric into other countries, in this case New Zealand, with a strongly negative connotation. (Copilot)
Labour say David Seymour’s media event where people getting measles test showed poor judgement
Some people being tested onsite were understood to be considered close contacts and were in quarantine.
Krystal Gibbens
Teachers shocked by government decision to remove Treaty of Waitangi requirement in schools
The minister had been moving to change the requirement, but has announced it will remove it altogether.
John Gerritsen
School curriculum ‘will perpetuate racism and ongoing inequity in our schools’
The new school curriculum makes Māori people, knowledge and culture invisible and prioritises European knowledge, say Māori education leaders.
John Gerritsen
Freshwater allocation system degrading water quality and shutting Māori out, court hears
A group of Māori landowners taking the government to court over freshwater rights.
Pokere Paewai
NZTA to spend another $32 million fixing Wellington’s Transmission Gully
NZTA’s Mark Owen told Morning Report the builder never applied the final chip seal layer so it was not as waterproof as it should be.
Morningreport
Transmission Gully, A National Govt PPP like the proposed Roads of National Significance (RoNS). I drove it a few days after opening and it was plainly already an old road.
Teachers shocked by government decision to remove Treaty of Waitangi requirement in schools
The minister had been moving to change the requirement, but has announced it will remove it altogether.
John Gerritsen
Regulatory Standards Bill passes second reading after heated debate in Parliament
The bill was introduced by ACT and part of National and Act’s coalition agreement.
Ellen O’dwyer
Government has ‘Trumpian accent’ - human rights activist
Amnesty International’s Agnès Callamard is calling on New Zealand leaders to speak up on world issues, saying “we need you”.
RNZ News
Why commercial fishing is still being allowed in ‘protected’ Hauraki Gulf zones
The Hauraki Gulf recovery is at risk after a last-minute fishing carve-out to the new Tīkapa Moana, a City Councillor and a Marine Science Professor warn.
Amanda Gillies
Reducing emergency housing support, banning rough sleeping (because it has increased)
Government pays $20m less in emergency housing support
The drop has led to concerns the decline is pushing more people into homelessness.
Susan Edmunds
Rough sleeping ban in central Auckland considered by government
Government ministers have confirmed they are considering measures to move homeless people out of Auckland’s city centre - but the exact details remain unclear.
Craig Mcculloch
Employers, migrant advocates rail against local job priority warning
Advocates claim the government is “driving a wedge” between migrant workers and local communities by urging domestic businesses to prioritise New Zealanders.
Liu Chen
COP30: NZ’s lack of climate ambition undermines global goals and free-trade agreements
New Zealand justifies its weakened climate policies as necessary to boost the economy, but it may come at a cost to international trade.
Nathan Cooper
Regulatory Standards Bill back in the House after a highly engaged public submission period
While the week in politics began with another chapter in the ongoing tensions within Te Pāti Māori, the House started the parliamentary week by resuming the consideration of the closely followed Regulatory Standards Bill.
Louis Collins
Winner of top science prize blames ‘batshit’ Budget for brain drain
Dr Samuel Mehr says the Government values science, but their ‘idiotic’ approach to funding it will cost them their brightest.
Fox Meyer
Government ‘got to sort out’ homeless in Auckland CBD, PM Christopher Luxon says
Central government and Auckland Council are considering how they can move homeless people out of the CBD ahead of summer.
Morningreport, Ninetonoon
The government’s dismantling of climate laws breaks years of cross-party agreement
Governments make grand statements on targets without awkward detail about what we have to do to reach them, write Barry Barton and Jennifer Campion.
Barry Barton and Jennifer Campion*
COP30: climate law changes mean NZ could retreat from its international obligations
Proposed changes to New Zealand’s landmark climate law amount to a “soft renege” on the Paris Agreement, with potentially significant consequences for the economy.
Cathrine Dyer
Removing Treaty responsibility from school boards undoes decades of progress
Taking away the duty of boards to “give effect” to te Tiriti o Waitangi undermines the expectation that schools should work for Maori as well as for anyone else.
Dominic O’Sullivan
‘Embarrassing’: International climate expert at COP30 scorns NZ’s methane target
A veteran climate scientist says it’s “unbelievable” that New Zealand has gone to the annual climate summit with a weaker target as global temperatures continue to rise.
Kate Newton
‘Like a cockroach’ - Regulatory Standards Bill passes third reading
NZ’s Regulatory Standards Bill passes final reading, creating a board to judge laws by “good lawmaking” principles, amid strong opposition over Te Tiriti and democratic impacts.
Māni Dunlop
Fast-track fears coalesce at proposed Golden Bay mine
Tākaka locals say the Sams Creek goldmine could poison their river, as Government pushes for a gold-plated resource renaissance
Fox Meyer
Some Anti-MAGA'fuckation
Greens pledge to revoke fast-track consents for coal, hard-rock gold, seabed mining projects
“We will revoke them, even if consents are issued,” said the Greens’ resources spokesperson Steve Abel.
Giles Dexter
Go the Greens!
Labour selects Dr Gary Payinda to take on former Health Minister Dr Shane Reti
A high-profile emergency doctor has been selected to stand for the Labour Party against former Health Minister Dr Shane Reti.
RNZ News
Schools across Aotearoa reaffirm commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi after changes to Education Act
From Whakatāne to Tāmaki Makaurau to Ōtautahi and Invercargill, school boards have issued public statements reaffirming their obligations to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Layla Bailey Mcdowell
Back to the MAGA'fuckation:
New Zealand slumps again in climate-change league table
“Backsliding” on climate policies means New Zealand is now ranked as “low-performing” in a major international index.
Kate Newton
Clean Green New Zealand was always a myth, now it's not even a future
Meeting with govt ‘complete waste of time’, Pike River families say
Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse sat down with Brooke van Velden on the 15th anniversary of the disaster: “She seemed to be focusing all the time on the employers.”
Anneke Smith
Brooke van Velden is engineering another Pike River
Smokefree goal on track to choke
Today from The Detail: We’ve failed to reach our smokefree obligations, but has New Zealand done well enough to relax our efforts?
Sharon Brettkelly
The Detail looks at why we missed the goal, the impact of this Government’s removal of smokefree protections introduced by the previous Labour government under the Smokefree Action Plan, and what is next in the tobacco control battle.
‘Absolutely ludicrous’: Casey Costello defends plunge in global tobacco control ranking
New Zealand has gone from second in the world to 53rd in a major tobacco control index.
Morningreport,
Costello let the Tobacco industry write the rules. Could not even explain how their papers got to her desk, their terminology to her changes.
Govt’s puberty blockers move attracts strong reactions
Cabinet has signed off on plans to halt new prescriptions for puberty blockers for young people with gender dysphoria, pending the results of a major clinical trial in the United Kingdom, expected in 2031.
Lillian Hanly
Minsters are not Doctors
Auckland Pride takes legal action over scrapping of transgender inclusive sports guidelines
Auckland Pride has filed for judicial review in the High Court over Minister Mark Mitchell’s directive that Sport NZ must scrap its transgender inclusive community sport guidelines.
RNZ News
Ignorant old man could not even explain why removing guidelines was necessary. "documents released by Minister Mark Mitchell show he did not consider the Bill of Rights Act, the Human Rights Act or Sport NZ's legal obligations when making this decision"
Government quietly rejects advice to set more ambitious ‘net negative’ emissions goal
The decision to retain the 2050 net-zero target ignores Climate Change Commission advice that New Zealand can, and should be, doing more.
Kate Newton
The Climate Destruction Minister
COP30: Minister defends NZ’s lack of committment to phasing out fossil fuels
Simon Watts says New Zealand has already committed to “transition away” from fossil fuels.
Morningreport
Minister Andrew Hoggard assures PM he’s following Cabinet rules after complaint
SAFE has made a complaint to the prime minister after the decision to allow the continued use of farrowing crates and mating stalls.
Monique Steele
The industry re-wrote the regulations
Watch: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to media after NZ First, ACT stoush
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to media in Auckland.
RNZ News
New Zealand's weakest PM can't control the children
Government to end Cook Strait open ocean tug contract early
The government has sunk plans to station an open ocean tug in the strait long term.
Nick James
How the oil and gas industry helped rewrite New Zealand’s drilling rules
A paper trail shows just how far ministers went to accommodate the industry’s wishlist, including giving it access to draft laws.
Kirsty Johnston
The industry wrote the law, see Health and Tobacco Companies for same
Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon delivers complaint to UN in Geneva
“The coalition government has escalated discrimination against Māori, spread misinformation, and overridden constitutional norms,” says Lady Tureiti Moxon.
Pokere Paewai
Clean vehicle bill changes passed under urgency
Changes to the Clean Car Standard passed under urgency at Parliament clearing three stages of the legislative process to lower charges for vehicle importers.
Danielamaoatecox
Misleading headline, the changes increase high emission vehicles
Regional council revamp ‘pretty serious attack’ on Treaty rights - Andrew Little
The coalition’s proposals would impact Māori representation that’s been guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi, Wellington’s mayor says.
Ninetonoon
Cancelled Kapuni carbon storage scheme scrapped from national emissions plan
Despite a raft of climate policy cuts, the country is still on track to narrowly meet its greenhouse gas budget - but not a 2030 methane target set in law.
Kate Newton
The fierce battle over mining on Denniston Plateau
It’s long been mining country, but a proposed expansion of coal mining operations - and the backlash - leaves the region’s economy and ecology uncertain.
Amanda Gillies
