Mapp: “Part of protecting their reputation is also finding out what happened, particularly if there is an allegation that civilian casualties may have been accidentally caused. In that way we both honour the soldiers, and also demonstrate to the Afghans that we hold ourselves to the highest ideals of respect of life, even in circumstances of military conflict.”
It appears that the questioned NZDF attack took place at the location claimed by the force, but hit the villages named by the book (coordinates used by various parties are off by 2km).
A full report into the Havelock North water crisis has been delayed until (surprise!) after the election.
There were several significant developments on Hit and Run and the NZDF over the weekend. Which version of the NZDF story is it that Bill English backs 100%?
Bill English should stop being evasive and just get on with an inquiry into the fiasco outlined in Hit and Run. The latest developments make any other outcome ridiculous. The longer English delays the worse he looks.
Good on you Wayne. Hit just got real.
The Nats are buying another fight with NZ’s nature lovers. Last time they tried something like this 50,000 marched in Auckland and they were forced to back down.
Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s book Hit and Run makes a compelling case for the Government to conduct a full inquiry to see if New Zealand forces were complicit in the killing of innocent men and women and if there was a cover up.
No Right Turn: “The real barrier to National … acting on this is because that “no-one owns water, first come, first served” policy disproportionately benefits one group and allows them to profiteer from a public resource while destroying its value to others. That group is farmers – and they donate to the National Party.”
There are no surpluses in NZ right now, not in any real sense. There is only debt, negative externalities and deferred costs.
A couple of racist groups seem to be hawking their wares recently. Unfortunately this may herald the start of a dirty election, dragged down by well funded and unaccountable pressure groups.
First they came for the budgeting services. Now we know that every social service agency has to provide clients’ private personal data to […]
2017 will be New Zealand’s eighth election under MMP, over 22 years. With very strong democratically elected governments appearing right across the world digging in for the long term, it’s useful to take a moment for MMP.
An excellent piece by Pike River mum, Sonya Rockhouse, in today’s Sunday Star-Times. The full article is here, but here are some of the most important points…
There has been an unfortunate trend developing in recent weeks, of negatively labelling people who dare to have a different opinion on equality to the labeller, as identarian. This description is something to be appreciated in these times when dark forces appear to be on the rise again.
With this vicious infighting exposed the government is clearly in total disarray.
“Matt McCarten is one to watch. He’s developing his union. I don’t have much time for [the established unions]. I hope my mate Matt destroys them.” – 2005 – link
This is what an unfettered right-wing government looks like.
Not meant as a general criticism. Auckland has lovely beaches. When they aren’t drowning in shit that is.
Matt Nippert continued his excellent work on foreign trusts yesterday in The Herald. Will Bill English clean up the mess that John Key was determined to ignore?
One of the claims made by Edward Snowden was that there were no effective channels in the NSA to whistle blow to. This claim appears to have been spectacularly validated thursday with a POGO report that the NSA’s Inspector General, its final whistleblower protector, has been suspended for retaliating against another whistleblower.
A scapegoat for the failure of the Nats’ first “social bonds” programme has been found. Turns out it was the fault of government officials! Shocker!
Current governance structures for our cities that rely on corporate management are proving to be ineffective and are not delivering the sort of result our democracy needs.
NoRightTurn: The police’s illegal raid on Nicky Hager’s home has got even more expensive
Bill English tells the families he’ll meet them “later”. They’ve waited for justice for six years. It’s always “later”.
Lisa Owen interviewed Key on The Nation yesterday. As usual Key spent half his time denying facts and figures – in this case from Treasury and from his own government sources.
An engineer’s report concluded it would be safe to enter the mine to look for evidence of the cause the blasts which killed 29 men.
RNZ this morning describes a 2011 report by the Chief Human Rights Commissioner on historical child abuse in NZ. “It was never published because, she says, the Attorney General Chris Finlayson did not like its recommendations.”
Nat MP Chester Borrows is to stand trial for injuring a protestor with his car. Barry Soper is outraged, because “elderly female, placard waving protesters” just don’t deserve the protection of the law.
With two more Fossil awards to add to its collection, New Zealand is called out yet again for its lack of action on climate change.
Apparently today, Netsafe will start acting as the “Approved Agency” of the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015. This is an act that is meant to deal with some of the excessive online abuse and bullying. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to me that Netsafe is currently capable of dealing with the task. Instead they look like incompetent monkeys.
Disaster response is about more than showing up for photos and cancelling a trip or two. National has made a mess of Christchurch and comprehensively failed to learn its lessons. They should in no way be rewarded with a 4th term.
For six years the families of the men who died at Pike River have not had clear answers about what happened. From the Pike River Royal Commission, they got some answers. From the government, nothing but lies.
What exactly happened at Pike River? The families of the 29 men who died don’t know, and as Solid Energy moves to seal the mine forever, they demand justice.
The Pike River families have decided to take a stand and are occupying the road to the mine to ensure it cannot be closed, sealing up the evidence of what happened and the bodies of their loved ones forever.
The Pike River families will be protesting tomorrow to get their men out of the mine that killed them.
