National's campaign chair has demanded Labour and the Greens explain which smaller-party policies would emerge from coalition negotiations - despite National refusing to do the same.

Speaking to reporters in Auckland on Wednesday, Simeon Brown said the situation for a Labour-led coalition is "completely different" compared to a National-led one.

"Because we have got very clear fiscal rules. We took that to the last election, and we have a track record of sticking to that in government. Labour and the Greens don't have a track record, in particular, Labour doesn't have a track record even when they're in government with themselves - they break all of their fiscal rules and they break all of their tax promises.

"Labour will tax more, borrow more, and spend more and New Zealanders have a right to know what is Chris Hipkins prepared to sign up to in order to do a deal with the Greens by Christmas."

Labour has stood by its fiscal plan, with leader Chris Hipkins pointing to the last 30 years, saying hourly wages grew faster under Labour than National, and that Labour has balanced the books 11 times whereas National had only done so six times.

Brown pushed back on reporters' questions about which of New Zealand First's promises - which some commentators have estimated at costing $50 billion to $100b - National would take up.

He also denied that David Seymour - who said in 2023 he would like to be finance minister - could be named in the role, saying that would be for Nicola Willis. National has consistently attacked Labour over the risk that Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick could be finance minister, despite Hipkins ruling that out.

More at link

You can thank me for doing my bit. If enough of you do the same, there'll be too many of us for those National voters and we'll have a better 2027 than our 2026, 2025 or 2024.

Thirty-four northern chiefs signed He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni (the Declaration of Independence of the United Tribes of New Zealand) at a hui called by the British Resident, James Busby.

The previous year many of these chiefs had gathered to choose a national flag to fly on locally owned ships (see 20 March).

In the spring of 1835, Frenchman Charles de Thierry announced his intention to set up a ‘sovereign state’ in Hokianga. Concerned this might provoke intertribal conflict, Busby called a meeting of chiefs whom he persuaded to sign He Whakaputanga. They asked King William IV ‘to be the parent of their infant state [and] its protector from all attempts upon its independence’. As the United Tribes of New Zealand, the signatories would meet at Waitangi annually to frame laws.

The Colonial Office in London promised that the King would protect Māori. Busby eventually acquired 52 signatures to the declaration, all but two from northern chiefs.

The creation of the Confederation gave the United Kingdom influence in New Zealand that it was to exploit to the full at a third meeting of northern chiefs in Waitangi on 6 February 1840.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/declaration-independence-signed-northern-chiefs

Labour is promising to help public housing tenants buy their own homes, putting $100 a week towards their deposits under a new rent-to-buy scheme.

Under the election policy, working tenants in Kāinga Ora homes and participating community housing properties would be able to build up a deposit while paying rent.

They would receive a $100 weekly credit, adding up to $5200 a year, with the money held in a trust account.

Tenants could then buy the house they were renting, at a price set by an independent valuation.

Labour would also expand the existing First Home Loan scheme, lifting the income limit to $300,000 and allowing more people to buy a house with a deposit of just five percent.

Tenants could use both schemes together to buy their homes with a five percent deposit.

Labour says it would build three new public homes for every Kāinga Ora property sold through rent-to-buy, using the money from sales to help fund construction.

Community housing providers would be able to choose whether to participate.

The Greens have lodged a formal complaint against the Sensible Sentencing Trust (SST), accusing the lobby group of impersonating the party with its latest election attack ads.

The billboard ads were created by the Campaign Company, owned by Taxpayers' Union boss Jordan Williams.

They feature both Green co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson, as well as Labour leader Chris Hipkins, alongside the text "BACKING THE GANGS" above the Greens' campaign slogan "for all of us".

Swarbrick called the ads an "entirely new low" and called on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to condemn the "despicable downgrading of democracy".

The Greens complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). JC Decaux, the media company that owns the billboards, told RNZ it had paused the ads, while it reviewed the concerns raised.

The party said the SST was a Taxpayers' Union "astroturf group" - that is, a fake grassroots organisation supporting the same cause.

SST spokesperson Louise Parsons denied that - "We certainly aren't TPU at all" - but confirmed the involvement of Williams' company.

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The SST was also behind last year's 'Defund the police' billboards, resembling Green Party campaign hoardings.

The Green Party complained to the ASA about those too.

In that case, the ASA upheld the complaints in part, saying the advertiser's identity must be clearer to avoid confusion. It did not uphold complaints that the ads caused harm or offence.

The pōwhiri for Te Pūtake o Te Riri, He Rā Maumahara, an annual commemoration of Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (the New Zealand Wars), was hosted by Taranaki iwi at Ōwae Marae in Waitara. Events took place over three days. They included wānanga on the conflicts in Taranaki, the launch of a podcast, Stories of Waitara (part of an RNZ series on the New Zealand Wars), and visits to significant sites of the First Taranaki War (1860–61). Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was among hundreds of people present on the first day.

The first He Rā Maumahara events took place in the Bay of Islands in March 2018 and were centred on the Northern War (1845–46). While the official date for commemorations is 28 October, the day He Whakaputanga (the Declaration of Independence) was signed in 1835, different iwi host the observance each year, and they may choose another date of particular significance to them.

Advocacy for a national day to commemorate the New Zealand Wars was written into the constitution of the Battle of O-Rākau Heritage Society in 2011. The idea was taken up by students of Ōtorohanga College, among whom Waimarama Anderson and Leah Bell were prominent, after they attended an event marking the 150th anniversary of the battle of Ōrākau in 2014.

A petition initiated by the students had attracted nearly 13,000 signatures by the time they presented it to Parliament in 2015. King Tūheitia and the Iwi Leaders Forum also took up the cause. The government announced the day of commemoration in 2016 and in 2017 an advisory panel comprising Crown and Māori representatives was set up to allocate money to support events from a fund which became Te Pūtake o te Riri: Wars and Conflicts in New Zealand.

There was no public observance of the day in 2020 or 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He Rā Maumahara was hosted at Ōrākau by Waikato Tainui in 2022 (marking the Waikato War of 1863–64) and at Pukehinahina (Gate Pā) by Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pūkenga in 2023 (marking the 1864 Tauranga campaign). Events in subsequent years will commemorate later phases of the New Zealand Wars. Fighting ended in 1872.  

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/new-zealand-wars-commemorated-waitara

The first Labour Day celebrated the struggle for an eight-hour working day. Parades in the main centres were attended by several thousand trade union members and supporters.

New Zealand workers were among the first in the world to claim the right to an eight-hour day. As early as 1840 the carpenter Samuel Parnell famously won an eight-hour day in Wellington. The provision was soon extended to other centres, but it was a custom, not a legal entitlement, and only applied to some groups of workers. The establishment of Labour Day reflected the growing influence of New Zealand's trade union movement in the 1880s and its efforts to improve employment conditions for all workers.

Labour Day was first celebrated in New Zealand on 28 October 1890, marking 50 years since Parnell's achievement and the first anniversary of the formation of the Maritime Council, an umbrella organisation of transport and mining unions, in 1889. The event was held during the dying days of the ill-fated trans-Tasman Maritime Strike, and several thousand trade union members and supporters attended parades in the main centres; a highlight of the Wellington event was an appearance by the elderly Parnell. Government employees were given the day off to attend the parades.

In 1899 Parliament legislated to make Labour Day a public holiday. Predating both Anzac Day and Waitangi Day, this was the first public holiday in New Zealand not associated with religion, royal birthdays or the anniversaries of provincial settlement. Since 1910 Labour Day has been observed on the fourth Monday in October.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/first-labour-day-celebrations

A brand new intensive care unit at Auckland's Waitākere hospital sits empty, fully equipped, but with no money budgeted to run it yet.

No opening date has been scheduled, with no staff and no operating budget.

The unit was previously due for use by the end of this year.

The six-bed unit was heralded as West Auckland's first ICU, when it was announced as part of a $96 million, 30-bed urgent care ward building in 2021.

That Manaaki Hōhonu building officially opened last month, but only half the beds were used, because Health NZ had not employed enough nurses to staff every bed.

No staff were hired for the intensive care unit.

Health NZ advertised for a clinical lead - but on a one year, part-time (0.4 FTE) contract.

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"Intensive care requires a highly specialised workforce, and detailed clinical and operational planning, before services can safely begin."

The union for senior doctors questioned why that recruitment was only happening now.

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton said there had been more than five years to prepare.

"There are clinicians and patients who are eagerly awaiting these improved facilities," she said. "They take years to plan and build.

"It is not like it's a surprise when they open."

The need for an intensive care unit for the area, which had a population of 250,000 people, had been discussed for years, before it was even announced, she said.

"It's just frustrating that, now it is open, there aren't the people to staff it."

The owners of more than 200 stolen garden gnomes and other ornaments are being sought by police after being found during a search warrant.

Wairarapa police said the gnomes had been stolen from the Wairarapa region in the past six to 12 months.

The ornaments were discovered during a search warrant at a home in Masterton on 17 October.

The haul also included bird baths, outdoor furniture, a gazebo, trollies, windmills, solar lights, children's wheelbarrows, metal birds, pot plants, statues, sculptures, a concrete giraffe and even a few buddha, police said.

Well, fuck.

Troops of 8 Brigade, 3 New Zealand Division, landed on Mono, one of the Treasury Islands in the Solomons group, to help clear it of Japanese forces. This was the first opposed landing by New Zealand troops since Gallipoli in 1915 (see 25 April).

3 New Zealand Division arrived at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in mid-September 1943. A month later, they received orders to seize and hold Stirling and Mono Islands, where the Americans planned to establish a long-range radar station.

The New Zealanders landed on Mono Island at about 6.25 a.m. in the face of enemy machine-gun fire, and managed to establish a beachhead alongside American forces. By the end of the day, 21 New Zealanders had been killed and 70 wounded.

Although the Japanese defenders were outnumbered, Mono’s geography afforded them some protection. The island rose steeply from the sea, and dense forest concealed many caves in which the enemy was able to hide. Clearing the island was a slow and difficult task. It was declared clear of Japanese forces on 7 November, but isolated enemy positions held out for weeks longer.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/first-opposed-new-zealand-landing-since-gallipoli

who here was a fan of the channel C4?

ACT has published its campaign manifesto on the first day of voting, pitching itself as the only party seeking to save taxpayers' money this election.

The document also shows ACT has ditched an earlier promise to scrap the existing Permanent Resident Visa category in response to "anxieties" among migrant communities.

Instead, the manifesto states those visa-holders will have to maintain "a genuine connection to New Zealand".

The plan brings together all of ACT's announced policies, including a KiwiSaver tax break, a higher pension age and a three-year freeze on the minimum wage.

Together, it promises to cut $22 billion of "wasteful" spending over four years, with government debt $12.4b lower by 2031 than currently forecast

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Among the policies already announced is a plan to remove tax on KiwiSaver investment earnings. In exchange, ACT would scrap the government's KiwiSaver contribution.

It would also gradually increase the age of superannuation.

By 2035, New Zealanders would have to wait until 67 to receive the pension, with early access for people in physically demanding jobs.

People could still withdraw their KiwiSaver savings at 65.

People receiving Jobseeker Support who were considered ready to work would face restrictions on their spending after four months on the benefit.

Their payments would be managed electronically, covering essentials such as food and housing while blocking spending on alcohol, tobacco and gambling.

ACT would also require independent medical assessments and gradually reassess people receiving health-related Jobseeker Support and the Supported Living Payment.

The party would also freeze the adult minimum wage for three years and allow employers to pay workers under 20 a training wage worth 60 percent of the adult rate during their first year of employment.

Tauranga City Council has approved a further $3.5 million for Mauao's landslide recovery, taking forecast operational costs to $10.5m.

Six holidaymakers died, when a section of Mauao collapsed into Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park, owned by Tauranga City Council, about 9.30am on 22 January, after record rain.

The council had spent almost $6.7m by the end of September, after previously approving $7m from its risk reserve for the landslide response, recovery and associated reviews.

The $3.5m requested by the recovery team would include $1m for geotechnical monitoring, reporting and advice, $700,000 for security and $600,000 for recovery staff costs, with further funding forecast for reviews and associated legal support.

I have a couple of friends at different stations experiencing this right now. It's so appalling to me. These are good hearted, hard working people.
​Am I naive to think that it wouldnt happen in the police?? How does 1 speak up when you're in fear of losing a career you've worked so hard for? And fear of being further ostracized. Are there other stories like this or are these incidents uncommon?

Enrolments have closed and voting in the general election begins today, with party leaders among those casting their ballot on day one.

Candidates were calling for last-minute enrolments on Sunday, while the Electoral Commission acknowledged the Government's changes preventing enrolment right up until voting day would impact numbers.

As of Friday - with two days remaining to enrol - 92.4 percent of those eligible had done so. In the 2023 election 94.7 percent of eligible voters enrolled.

Having spent some time in Europe, I was taken with the sheer diversity of their cheeses especially the French. One of my favourites is their Comte especially the aged ones.

NZ cheeses tend towards mass produced mass market consistency in style and flavour. Acidic and tangy a little like the British counterparts.

New Zealand has excellent milk, so there's no fundamental reason it couldn't produce cheese as complex and delicious as Comté or others ?

So why is it that NZ isn’t producing similar cheeses to the French ones ?

Is it because we prefer our style ? Is it because there’s no market for it? Is it because the milk predominantly goes to mass market and there’s not enough left at the right price to experiment ?

Smaller producers do produce good cheeses like Gibbston Valley washed rind and Whitestone form Oamaru. But they’re nothing like the French ones.

Your thoughts are arguments appreciated. Especially if they lead to good Nz cheeses. 🧀