Karen Chhour: “All I’m asking is for Oranga Tamariki to make sure that we’re putting safety and wellbeing first. Everything else must come second to that”
Children's Minister Karen Chhour, who grew up in state care, is fighting to remove Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. Her aim is to prioritise child safety and wellbeing over “an interpretation of Te Tiriti." For her efforts, she writes that “my colleagues across the aisle have called me a puppet and a sell-out.” She notes that Te Pāti Māori even suggested that she should have been uplifted as a child herself so that she could have been raised as the “right kind of Māori.”
Professor Michael Baker and other experts urging NZ to prepare for bird flu following Australia's first human H5N1 case
Public health experts, including Professor Michael Baker are pitching the need for New Zealand to increase its pandemic preparedness. This follows Australia's confirmation of its first human H5N1 bird flu case.
Is there too little or too much concern about NZ’s sovereignty under the incoming global Pandemic Treaty?
As governments meet in Geneva to try to agree on a global treaty around pandemic cooperation, Newsroom has published an OIA indicating the government put its sovereignty ahead of mitigating pandemics.
Haimona Gray: Attempting to cancel events usually backfires – giving one’s rivals free publicity
Political commentator Haimona Gray says the attempt, by Wellington politician Nikau Wi Neera, to stop a Wellington conference discussing gender has backfired badly, harming his clout while boosting Inflection Point NZ. Wi Neera 0 Inflection Point NZ 1.
Think our economy is in the loo now? Economists suggest you may not only be right, but it may be worse than you think
NZ’s economy appears to be in bad shape. Unemployment is up and GDP is down. There are hints it could get worse before it gets better. RNZ’s money reporter says that when looking at the GDP per person, domestic inflation, the number of businesses closing, and unpaid debts, the economy is in an “undeniable downturn.”
Hartwich: China’s “bullyboy tactics” against NZ likely to backfire
NZ Initiative’s Oliver Hartwich observes that while professing respect for New Zealand’s independent foreign policy, China’s ambassador to NZ, Wang Xiaolong’s message was clear: Stay away from AUKUS or face the consequences.
However, Hartwich argues China’s “bullyboy tactics” against Wellington “may be spectacularly backfiring.”
Study links COVID vaccines to increased mortality across multiple countries
New research findings challenge the notion that COVID vaccines have been beneficial in reducing deaths and, in fact, may be linked to increased all-cause mortality in at least 17 countries.
