NEW ZEALAND DAY, WAITANGI DAY 2013
Although the spirit of Waitangi Day lies in honoring Maori inclusion as equal business partners with The Crown each day, Waitangi Day celebrations are “to give us a full sense of nationhood” du jour in agreement for all that New Zealanders as a team are trying to achieve.
To stay in agreement with the principles of Waitangi’s foundational spirit (to see others different to ourselves as equals) is the benchmark of respect in New Zealand that our founding fathers and mothers hoped for, when they as intelligent and adventurous people inked a deal to uphold justice – in the concept of communities evolving and being strong trading partners working together for the good of Aotearoa, NZ.
Prime Minister John Key said, he believed Waitangi Day was a valuable opportunity for discussion and stood by his commitment.
“How will history judge [us]? History will judge [us as New Zealanders] well because [we] come back year after year.”
He also urged the iwi [Ngapuhi] involved in the Te Hiku collective to sort out their differences and move toward a settlement, saying it would inject as much as $200 million into an area that greatly needed it.
Ngapuhi has over 20% of the Maori population. Ironically, the tribe is one of the last to settle with The Crown. So, a timely speech from the PM to Ngapuhi.
most photos: Michael Cunningham.
photos: nzh & northern advocate.
Top photo: In a rare display, Te Arawa Iwi’s flag flew too on Waitangi Day.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 6.2.13~
BUZZ WORDS NZ – JAN 2013
promised words for nz, jan 2013: eager. energised. welfare reform. law and order. education. rebuilds. step up momentum. build on good things. infrastructure investment. robust. primary exports. machinery investments. asia trade. asia investments. china market trebled. construction up. manufacturers. “investment, exports and savings.” investment crucial. start ups. expand business necessary. jobs creation. dynamic. be welcoming. be a magnet. reduce uncertainties. benefit others. develop the right skill sets. keep up with trends too. create opportunities. see opportunities. tell others when you see opportunities. use natural resources productively and sustainably. career pathways to be offered. learn a trade that will last a lifetime. irrigation, commercial-scale water storage. minerals. develop export markets. agricultural exports. science and innovation. r + d. new ideas. a focus on high-tech manufacturing. sustainable jobs.
added: more even wealth distribution.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 27.1.13~
EMPLOYERS HAVE A MORAL MESSAGE TO TRAIN THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE – SAFE HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTEMENT PRACTICE
“Once, New Zealand’s Prime Minister said he feared New Zealanders were becoming “tenants in their own land” – something he countered when investigations showed less than 1 per cent of New Zealand farmland was foreign-owned and OIO regulations were working well.
The point of this example is to show that he also is easily spooked. I wrote recently that if I had one New Year’s wish it was that Key returned from his holiday brimming with enough determination to challenge the nation’s employers – and himself – to tackle youth unemployment.
Lacking [is] a moral message to employers that they have a duty to train the workforce of the future.
I wanted giant steps – not baby steps. I’m still waiting.”
–Fran Sullivan writes after two weeks in China.
NZ citizens investing in human capital is important. Let’s face it, not all youth can be chippies. It’s fantastic though some will be.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 26.1.13~
FULL SCRIPT – PM’S STATE OF THE NATION SPEECH JAN 2013
Although his critics, well over the honeymoon period with NZ’s PM dubbed his new state of the nation korero as “underwhelming,” with Metiria Turei even going as far to say: “It’s no longer credible for [NZ's PM] to blame his economic failures on the rest of the world when unemployment is rising here while it is steady or falling in most developed countries.” A good point as cruel ageist greed is what NZ’s PM upheld the last two years. Youth got very angry. Families too. We were on the cusp of violence, anarchy, destruction, vandalism – unless reality kicked in for the NZ’s PM’s political stance.
[Metiria Turei is a politician, a New Zealand citizen who also happens to be of Maori lineage. She serves all people's interests in Wellington, just like the PM is meant to as well. Photo: Herald on Sunday].
We had created a very divisive and unsafe NZ. In a game where it’s really the world’s 1% wealthy now vying for all of the world’s best future resources (irrespective of a nation’s borders), it was a very unsafe game NZ was playing at home. We divided our own people, making NZ very vulnerable to be seduced by the carrots of the 1% globally. I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel like NZ either at the time. Although we learn from our mistakes at varying rates and levels (I know I am a slow learner on some things), NZ is fundamentally at our heart, a just people. So it was a double shock to see happen for those of us who know NZ. White greed soared out of control. It was excused time and time again.
For Maori it was like an invisible economic holocaust. We lost lots of teens to suicide during those years, we lost Maori families abroad at an alarming rate. Maori were almost buried (it’s sad to say, Christchurch never cared one iota about Maori citizens largely, during those years either). It felt like we’d (Maori NZ citizens) had been muzzled, we couldn’t appeal to those citizens around us, as they were drunk on electric digital market numbers and property snap ups games. They were the loneliest years to be a Maori citizen, I have ever encountered in NZ. It was a cold witchunt against Maori shutting Maori out (bar a few pets) from the wider economic inclusive structure of a robust NZ future.
During those years, I felt more Maori in the USA than I did in New Zealand (the last two years in NZ) and the USA were not pretty years for me in part. They were beyond tough, yet on some levels there was more recognition of one’s Maori identity in the US, than there was allowed to be, back in NZ during the last two years. It was a complete culture shock to return to the ‘new’ NZ after five years out of it. I’m still trying to understand the ‘new’ NZ two years on. Still in shock about it.
Thankfully it’s starting to move in a more just direction, as they (our wealthy) see beyond the greed they (we) perhaps have all been a bit drunk on, as the wealthy increased wealth by 30% last year at the expense of a nation’s youth, young families and largely brown populations too. Sorry to spell it out like that… yet that was the truth of our racist greed on show in the modern years of NZ in 2011, 12, 13. Frankly, it was heartbreaking. Brown people also were shocked that the white majority of NZ were all in on it too. It was hard to breathe or accept for many.
So, we’re moving ahead though, in 2013.
Anyway, here’s what NZ’s no.1 man had to say:
Ladies and Gentlemen
I hope you all had a good Christmas break and that you’re starting 2013 eager and energised.
I know I am.
And I know the Government is, because there are a lot of things to get done this year.
We have a re-energised team of Ministers, which I announced earlier this week.
And we have a very busy agenda.
Whether it’s welfare reform, law and order, education, the rebuild of Christchurch, or continuing our improvements in public services, it’s full steam ahead. (more…)
NEWS – NZ TV 22ND JANUARY 2012
I wasn’t paying much attention to the news tonight. It was a jolting day.
News was busy though. Wellie-cabinet is lead story as NZ goes really “sci digi-ed,” Obama parties in the US where melody poignant celebrations were had. Smokey kiwi hoods are suspicious, via the UK (not enough prints), the NZ environment needs constant kaitiakitanga and… lots more.
Click on pic for the 6pm news show from Aotearoa New Zealand.
[photo: Bronagh and John at Irish-Anglo Shackleton's hut. Karl Drury].
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 22.1.13. For the news… Ta.~
POU WHENUA EXPRESSION, ANTARCTICA IS A LOVELY TOUCH – JANUARY 2013
“It is expression [that] we are part of the culture of New Zealand… Scott Base has a place in the hearts and minds of New Zealanders, even if they haven’t visited here. To have this representation here is a lovely touch.”
56 years after New Zealand settled into Ross Island, Ngai Tahu’s Mark Solomon and NZ’s John Key speak in Artactica unveiling Ngai Tahu Maori artwork sculpture made of West Coast totara. The sculpture of cultural significance was placed next to the New Zealand flagpole that Sir Edmund Hillary put up in 1957 to mark the opening of Scott base on Ross Island.
–reporting Isaac Davison. Photo: Alan Gibson. NZH.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 20.1.13~
JOHN KEY FAINTS IN AN ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN CHRISTCHURCH
Awakening to the news, the story goes:
“[New Zealand's] Prime Minister John Key was taken to hospital last night after fainting in front of a full restaurant in Christchurch.
He was taken to Christchurch Hospital, where he was seen by three specialists, who have decided he is fit to travel to Antarctica this morning.
The restaurant was Tutto Bene, an Italian pizzeria in Merivale Mall. (more…)
LOCKWOOD SMITH PLANS TO CHECK OUT LONDON LIFE IN HIGH COMMISSIONER ROLE
[Lockwood Smith (center) and Bill English (far right) pose for a photo -nzp
He is the politician who has lived in the district of Kaipara, a region that my koro (grandad) Wiremu Hill‘s people discovered and settled in several centuries ago. Aunties, Uncles, cousins live in the Kaipara who are involved in Maori tribal life to this day. His name is Lockwood Smith. He was the annoying politician, school teachers would tell us to look like, when donning a school tie and blazer for events. Dressed to perfection, Lockwood was a standard of ‘the look.’
Smith plans on checking out the London life and what it offers.
Press Release: Lockwood Smith to become High Commissioner.
Scoop News reports:
“Prime Minister John Key today welcomed the nomination of Dr the Rt Hon Lockwood Smith as New Zealand’s next High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
“Lockwood Smith has had a distinguished political career and his nomination is a mark of the high esteem in which he is held.
“Since 2008 he has held the role of Speaker of the House of Representatives, and was unanimously re-elected in 2011.
“The nomination of Parliament’s Speaker to the role of High Commissioner emphasises the importance of relationship between New Zealand and the United Kingdom,” says Mr Key.
Lockwood Smith has served as a Member of Parliament since 1984, when he was elected MP for Kaipara. In 1996, he became MP for Rodney, a role he held until 2011 when he went on the National Party List.
He has held a number of positions in National-led Governments, including Minister of Education, Agriculture, Trade and Deputy Finance Minister. (more…)
OINK…
New Zealand politicians get a Christmas bonus pay rise.
A good idea. They have so much more pressure to deal with these day… bloggers in thier mix for 1! :) (more…)
WOMEN IN NZ START TO ADDRESS THEIR OWN PAY INEQUALITY
Good News: Women begin to demand equal pay.
Fanstastic. I don’t need to blog on that topic any more. Go ladies in the nation that first gave women the vote.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 30.11.12~
INTENSE MILK – PART 2 – FONTERRA’S SHARES SOAR IN FIRST DAY OF TRADING
Units in the new Fonterra Shareholders Fund have debuted at $6.66 per unit – a $1.16 premium to their $5.50 issue price.
At $5.50, the units are expected to yield 5.5 per cent a year.
The unit’s debut coincided with the official opening of Fonterra’s new $500m milk processing plant near Christchurch.
The plant will process 2.2 million litres of milk a day into whole milk powder bound for South East Asia, China, and the Middle East.
–Reporting Jamie Gray. Gotta say… the South Island’s had a bumper year. Max use of water from the South. Fonterra’s new friends have had a good year too. :)
- – -
Question: Now who owns the water?
~Photo: Old Skool Kiwi Dairy. Freeze, Flowing or Dried. Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 30.11.12~
HE’S A GENIUS – SIR PETER JACKSON’S FAN CLUB & EP’sLOVE HIS WORK
“He’s a genius.”
–NZ’s PM John Key and movie executive producer of NZ films, describes Sir Peter Jackson‘s journey as a Kiwi filmmaker of Marshall Arts European filmmaking from New Zealand. Quite something. “Share the popcorn” and view it here.
Photo: TVNZ.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 29.11.12~
NZ’s POLITICAL LEADERS GET ROASTED ON TV FOR THEIR 2012 PERFORMANCE – IT WAS 100% WHITE MALE POLITICS IN 2012
After watching the Q+A Show on New Zealand TV this morning (NZ’s political week-in-review show), and seeing New Zealand’s leader, the PM, squirm like a worm, when asked why there are now 13,000 less jobs than when the last time he appeared on the show at his Party’s annual conference, where he promised no more jobs would be lost in NZ more would be created and he ended up with a minus 13,000 jobs lie on his plate, I got to thinking.
I thought… can I change the channel? Nah. It’s been a tough year. If you’ve followed politics, you are so sick and tired of all the porkies told this year. That was an example of one of them. People who tell so many porkies perhaps need their meds taken off them or some of their perks. It’s a sure sign they do.
The reality is, people sort of need to create their own jobs. Listening to our PM, hasn’t change that for many people over the course of a year, sad to say. I hope he has a more honest year in 2013 and a good break with his family (namely his children, in either their Hawaii home or London apartment, or wherever else they have homes in the world).
Seriously though, for leaders to get out of New Zealand is so healthy for them, as the PM discovered with a less than nice response when returning from a PR and trade trip abroad back to his Parnell home. People like you when an economy is good. When it isn’t, duck, is the general rule. Stay out of the spotlight until results rise again in favor of majorities is politics 101. 
(more…)
SUSTAINABLE, WELL PAYING JOBS – NEW ZEALAND’S NEXT REAL CHALLENGE – KEEPING YOUNG NZ PEOPLE IN THE GAME OF THEIR OWN WHENUA/ LAND
Most New Zealanders thirty years of age and younger are priced out of the current first time home owner market.
We have high unemployment and wages on average in NZ are US$38k. That’s the average NZ wage. Obviously, there’s not a lot young people who do work, can do on that – if you’re reading from the USA. :)
Clearly: In order to be sustainable and encouraging to New Zealand citizens, well paying jobs must be created by NZ business owners and the NZ government. Currently 46% of the NZ economy is government derived. That’s too top heavy and not sustainable either, for a robust free market economy that’s real in NZ. So the private sector need to step up and create jobs. (more…)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORT: HOW NEW ZEALAND & THE USA & ASIAN NATIONS CAN WORK TOGETHER WITH TRADE RELATIONSHIP WINS
FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORT: HOW NEW ZEALAND, USA & ASIAN LEADERS CAN WIN IN TRADE RELATIONSHIPS – ESA & TPP REPORT November 2012:
East Asia Summit, USA-NZ TPP negotiations status report: The USA genuinely sees merit in getting a deal done. The USA sees New Zealand as a country that promotes free trade. New Zealand can be a useful sounding board for the USA on shaping trade deals in Asia in suring up comprehensive trade deals.
The US and NZ have an emerging relationship regarding possibilities of trade in Asia-Pacific that is improving.
TPP nuts and bolts – US-NZ: One suggestion to make an agreeable trade deal by 2013, was to have a watered down TPP.
An Ideal TPP is sought that all nations can buy into. (more…)
LADY DIANA ISAAC, A CANTERBURY ARTS & ENVIRONMENT PATRON HAS DIED
“[Her] contribution to Canterbury and New Zealand was truly remarkable. It is difficult to imagine anyone who was more generous or worked harder for the people of Canterbury.
“[She] will be missed immensely but her decades of philanthropy will be enjoyed for generations to come.”
–NZ’s PM John Key remembers Arts & Conservation philanthropist, Lady Diana Isaac, a Devonshire born Cantabrian green activist.
Her legacy lives on.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 24.11.12~
AUNG SAN SUU KYI CELEBRITY APPEARANCES NEWS – A THOUGHTFUL, INSIGHTFUL & CONTRUCTIVE MEETING FOR JOHN KEY
A celebrity is simply someone who is worthy of being celebrated. As a character on the global stage, Myanmar/ Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi is one such person. Against a backdrop of shocking human rights abuses, Suu Kyi was cast in a really bad house arrest movie that lastest fifteen odd years. Suu Kyi’s story created a tolerance icon of a new world. She has since become a leading figure on human rights enlightenment matters.
New Zealand’s Dominion Post published via Stuff these words: “Celebrated democratic reformer Aung San Suu Kyi dreamed of visiting New Zealand during her 15 years under house arrest.
Suu Kyi met with (New Zealand) Prime Minister John Key late last night (NZT) and took the opportunity to thank New Zealanders for their support during Myanmar’s struggle for democracy.
After the 30 minute talks at Key’s Naypyitaw hotel she told reporters she will come to New Zealand in the “not too distant future”.
“The two countries that I would think about were Canada and New Zealand. Because I thought those places were unpolluted areas and of course I have always thought that New Zealand was rather romantic – the land of the long cloud and so on. Not to mention the kiwifruit,” she said. (more…)
A KNOCK TO THE HEAD FOR JOHN KEY IN YANGON
“I saw stars and I don’t mean Sylvester Stallone“.
–NZ’s PM, Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 22.11.12~
THE HORIWOOD TOP TEN – 21.11.12
New Zealand’s Labour Party leader David Shearer gets a sign of tautoko (support) from Te Karere News, one of New Zealand’s Maori News media agencies, with this photo leading their news line up. Shearer is set for a productive 2013 year.
The Horiwood Top Ten are:
1. Asian Trading Leaders chat: Tim Grosser, John Key, Wen Jiabao, Barack Obama & friends meet
2. Art – Salvador Dali & Theology quotes – The West Hollywood years
3. Russia’s Natalia Pereverzeva says elitist inequality needs to be reigned in
6. Nicole Kidman & Mario Testino fashion art for Russia’s kids
7. American Music Awards 2012 – Winners List
8. “Remarkable Asia” – Barack Obama & Hun Sen in Cambodia
9. Barack Obama on human rights in Mynamar
10. Rihanna‘s 2012 record artwork
Myanmar and USA icons of change are pictured together, front page The Washington Post.
Humor: USA & NZ’s leaders do the Asian art of Fifty shades of grey and pink while in Cambodia talking trade deals with world leaders. Photo: Alan Gibson.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 21.11.12~
TIM GROSER, JOHN KEY, WEN JIABAO, BARACK OBAMA & LEADERS MEET IN CAMBODIA FOR EAST ASIA SUMMIT
In Cambodia, New Zealand’s John Key meets with World leaders including China’s Wen Jiabao, Tim Groser and Barack Obama, at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh.
Photos: Alan Gibson.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 20.11.12~
NEWS CAMERAS ZOOM IN ON DAVID SHEARER, LABOUR PARTY LEADER NEW ZEALAND, PRE-CHRISTMAS “SWEETENING” NZ
For many New Zealand families, a grinch’s Christmas is on the table this year. That’s being blunt frank honest. Change needs to happen real quick as people get set to jet to Aussie with the family for a holiday vacation. Yeah…
So what what are we doing to stop the grinch-engineered bleed (a record exodus in NZ of citizens moving to Australia)?
We are doing David Shearer politics as the end of year “sweetener” to a mean year for many NZ families and a series of failed policies that didn’t hold up during GFC sting, ‘white heist’ years. The news is being well recieved outside of his own party ranks.
Anyway, see where it’s at with Shearer for yourself by watching news clip (when it arrives). The Maori reporters sound excited in the news rheel. So that’s good. Leave a comment to say what you think of David Shearer and the Labour party, on this website if you want to. (more…)
IF I WAS HIT BY A BUS TOMORROW – JOHN KEY ON ECONOMY NOV2012
According to the NZ Herald: Prime Minister John Key says if he was hit by a bus today, he would have left New Zealand in a better shape than he found it.
Speaking on TV3′s The Nation this morning, Mr Key defended the Government’s handling of the economy in the face of weak growth projections and high unemployment.
“I want to leave New Zealand in a better shape than I found it. Personally, I think if I got hit by a bus this afternoon, I will have left New Zealand in a better shape than I found it,” he said. (more…)
CAMILLA HAS A GO AT THE HONGI GREETING OF NEW ZEALAND & ARMISTICE DAY REMEMBERANCE NEWS
Photo: Camilla while visiting New Zealand has a go at the hongi greeting of New Zealand.–Photo: NZH.
The NBR‘s Jock Anderson wrote: “Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall chatted amiably with journalists after a well-attended Armistice Day ceremony at the Cenotaph at the Auckland War Memorial Museum this afternoon.
Accompanying her husband Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, on her first visit to New Zealand, Camilla wor[e] a black suit and black hat – the latter getting in the way during a series of welcoming hongis. (Hey it happens, noses get in the way of hats too).
[Prince Charles chats to New Zealand friends - Photo NBR]
Prince Charles laid a wreath at the Cenotaph on behalf of the Queen on the 94th anniversary of the end of World War One, before the couple spent time greeting and chatting to some of the large crowd, including war veterans and various representatives of the armed forces.
Wellwishers thronged around the couple, who arrived in Auckland last night and will continue a busy series of engagements in Auckland, Wellington, Fielding and Christchurch this week before flying home.
Watch video of Prince Charles and Camilla here. Christchurch City and Hobbit movie items are also on the Royals list of sights to see in NZ. Photo: AFP. Alsor read: The New Zealand Herald‘s Armistice Day coverage (with full links). It has been 94 years since the first war’s fighting ceased.
I have a nephew in the military serving. Armistice Day rememberance is our way of saying thank you for those that went before, who fought for our freedom. We remember, lest we forget the great gift they all gave us to be. NZ’s military website reminds us:
“The Great War of 1914 to 1918 was one of the most disastrous events in human history. New Zealand, with a population of 1.1 million in 1914, sent 100,000 men and women abroad. 16,700 died and over 40,000 were wounded – a higher per capita casualty rate than any other country involved.”
Therefore for those who are conscious of history, Rememberance Day is perhaps the most poignant in New Zealand, like no other place on earth. It is the price our founding fathers and mothers paid in a nation-wide effort during the war years for Aotearoa New Zealand’s freedom of democracy.
So good that Camilla could make it to NZ for her first time with Charles. She’s glowing, looks happy. The Royal’s visit also celebrates the Queens Diamond Jubilee year. NZ’s PM and Auckland’s Mayor Len Brown feature in video links. The Prince is also featured here.
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 11.11.12~
POLITICS END OF YEAR SHOW REVIEW 2012
In White People Behaving Badly News: Prashant Pradhan appears in Myanmar pre-Fonterra’s partial float + Fletcher timber planks in a zero budget announcement + shock jock radio dj MP actors + UK royals breeding press + Aussies “phoning it in” = milk (water) heists for ‘foreign’ investors + construction politics gains 2012 + 60,000 Kiwis Missing.
A giddying end-of-year review of news in politics.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry about some of these end of year results… The Price of Privatizing the Milk Paddock was f*cking racist and expensive!
[Photo: Fashionably Geek]
~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 8.12.12~
December 8, 2012 | Categories: Greed, John Key, New Zealand, Parnell, Politics, Pop Cultural Commentary, Wellington | Leave A Comment »