The Standard

Daily review 06/07/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 6th, 2021 - 17 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

About the Hate Speech law changes

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Date published: 12:06 pm, July 6th, 2021 - 94 comments

The debate about the Government’s consultation on proposed changes to hate speech laws continues, with the level of heat increasing, but the level of actual understanding of what is being proposed in critical shortage.

No Right Turn: Climate Change: Legal action

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Date published: 6:05 am, July 6th, 2021 - 2 comments

Lawyers for Climate Action are taking the Climate Change Commission to court over their lax budgets and dodgy accounting.

Open mike 06/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 6th, 2021 - 95 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Daily review 05/07/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 5th, 2021 - 17 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

Open mike 05/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 5th, 2021 - 93 comments

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America’s Democratic Decline Really Matters

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Date published: 11:57 am, July 4th, 2021 - 48 comments

With the United States Supreme Court allowing individual states to choke voting rights into bare consciousness, that country is accelerating its democratic decline. That matters for every democracy including ours.

All the right words on climate have already been said

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Date published: 6:05 am, July 4th, 2021 - 19 comments

So I was just driving around thinking, “Ugh it’s hot. Ugh there’s a new fire starting near me at least every other day. Ugh, how is this my life, also this is just the beginning, I feel like I should be waking up from this nightmare at some point and yet I am not,” when the editor finally reached me.

Open mike 04/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 4th, 2021 - 54 comments

Open mike is your post. For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Step up to the mike …

Open mike 03/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 3rd, 2021 - 95 comments

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Daily review 02/07/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 2nd, 2021 - 3 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

RNZ’s Chinese Spies story doesn’t add up

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Date published: 10:00 am, July 2nd, 2021 - 47 comments

On Monday, RNZ reported that “Chinese Communist Party spies are infiltrating New Zealand universities”. Our guest poster views this thin and anecdotal ‘investigative’ reporting with deep suspicion. Was any of this activity was reported to the proper authorities. Or is it just the usual paranoia / racist dog-whistling or a paid story?

Judith Collins is not John Key

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Date published: 7:52 am, July 2nd, 2021 - 168 comments

I honestly am not sure what Judith’s game plan.  Supporting someone who on twitter called for the lynching of a person with a contrary view is not a way to reach to the middle of New Zealand politics.

Open mike 02/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 2nd, 2021 - 80 comments

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Daily review 01/07/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, July 1st, 2021 - 19 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

Open mike 01/07/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, July 1st, 2021 - 137 comments

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Communist Party of China turns 100

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Date published: 11:59 pm, June 30th, 2021 - 59 comments

July 1st this year marks the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai in 1921. It is a date worth commemorating as while the Party is not well understood, its positive achievements have been outstanding.

Daily review 30/06/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, June 30th, 2021 - 19 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

Hate speech wide-eyed scaremongering

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Date published: 11:13 am, June 30th, 2021 - 111 comments

A guest post by Clint Smith who has actually analysed the effect of the proposed changes and makes comment on the detail of what is proposed.

Open mike 30/06/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, June 30th, 2021 - 110 comments

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Daily review 29/06/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, June 29th, 2021 - 3 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

No Right Turn: Spy cameras literally are

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Date published: 6:05 am, June 29th, 2021 - 21 comments

Its time for our local authorities (and other bodies such as NZTA) to come clean, and confess whether they allow the SIS to access their camera networks in this way. That would allow the people to judge whether it is acceptable, and hold them accountable if they feel it necessary. But I suspect that that prospect is precisely why the SIS has kept this secret for so long.

Open mike 29/06/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, June 29th, 2021 - 76 comments

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Daily review 28/06/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, June 28th, 2021 - 5 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

The Pausing of the Travel Bubble

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Date published: 9:11 am, June 28th, 2021 - 81 comments

So far there have been no discovered cases of community spread of the Covid delta variant in Wellington following the recent visit by an Australian tourist who was infected with the variant.  Meanwhile in Australia the authorities are trying to stamp out community flareups that are appearing in different parts of the country.

Denis Tegg: Regional Transport Plan Will Increase Emissions And Is Thus Unlawful

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Date published: 6:05 am, June 28th, 2021 - 26 comments

Waikato Regional Council (WRC) has approved a transport plan which assigns just 3% of its 10-year budget to walking and cycling, and only 5% to public transport. This must inevitably increase overall transport emission pollution in the region.  In my opinion the law requires the plan to reduce transport emissions to achieve consistency with central government transport policy.  If emissions will rise under the plan this makes the plan unlawful and places WRC at significant risk of a successful legal challenge.

Open mike 28/06/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, June 28th, 2021 - 141 comments

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Open mike 27/06/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, June 27th, 2021 - 64 comments

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Oppose this new hate speech bill

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Date published: 9:43 am, June 26th, 2021 - 206 comments

Hate speech is about to get a lot more criminalised with much stronger penalties. It’s worth going back to what the Royal Commission actually considered, since that’s the basis of proposing this law. The Royal Commission in fact found that trying to protect religion from very strong opinions is simply not a good idea: … we acknowledge that there […]

Open mike 26/06/2021

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Date published: 6:00 am, June 26th, 2021 - 31 comments

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Daily review 25/06/2021

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Date published: 5:30 pm, June 25th, 2021 - 25 comments

Daily review is also your post. This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day. The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy). Don’t forget to be kind to each other …