Monday, July 14, 2025



A step towards freedom in Kanaky

Last year, New Caledonia burned after colonial France attempted to renege on a hard-won decolonisation deal and unilaterally impose constitutional changes without the consent of Kanaks. But now, after months of negotiations, France has finally consented to a further devolution of power, making Kanaky a state within France:

One of the most notable developments in terms of future status for New Caledonia is the notion of a "State of New Caledonia", under a regime that would maintain it a part of France, but with a dual citizenship (France, New Caledonia).

[...]

The text also envisages a gradual transfer of key powers currently held by France (such as international relations), but would not include portfolios such as defence, currency or justice.

In diplomacy, New Caledonia would be empowered to conduct its own affairs, but "in respect of France's international commitments and vital interests."

[...]

On police and public order matters, New Caledonia would be entitled to create its own provincial and traditional security forces, in addition to national French law enforcement agencies.

Its not independence. But its getting close, and it will allow the people of Kanaky to run their own country in their own way. And from here, its a very small change to full independence, or being an "associated state" of France.

Whether the deal will stick remains to be seen. But on that front, there's an obvious question: when will France release the political prisoners it took hostage?

Thursday, July 10, 2025



Gas is still dead

The National regime, with its outdated fossil thinking, is desperately trying to revive the fossil fuel industry. Meanwhile, that industry seems to be voting with its feet: one of my regular checks of the gas permit map, and comparison with the permit spreadsheet, shows that OMV has surrendered another two offshore exploration permits: 57075 and 60092. So of the nine offshore Taranaki exploration permits which existed when I started tracking this, seven have been surrendered, and only one is still active, and it expires in 2028.

(If you're wondering why I say nine offshore permits but the spreadsheet shows ten, its because the government was forced to grant another one under pre-ban rules by the courts in 2023).

The bad news is that National has converted Todd Energy's Karewa exploration permit off Kawhia into a mining permit. Which is weird, because the exploration permit had expired in July 2023, but NZPAM conveniently sat on an application to convert it for the last two years. Then, Todd Energy apparently applied again in May, and had it granted in just two weeks. Which seems... unusual. And only possible because of Labour's bad faith in banning new permits, but allowing existing ones to be extended and even converted, rather than guillotining the industry like it needed to do, which allowed the application to hang around until National had changed the law.

But on the plus side: Todd Energy's permit may simply end up as an accounting fiction, used to boost the nominal value of the company while the gas stays in the ground. Any possible development isn't going to happen until the end of the decade at the earliest, and there simply won't be a market for gas by then. And of course there'll be plenty of time between now and then for the next government to reimpose the offshore ban and legislatively revoke their permit. Which in itself ought to deter any development, because the risk of wasting a shit-ton of money is simply too great. The only question is how much this zombie industry is going to shamble around groaning before it finally realises it is dead.

A criminal nation

The European Court of Human Rights has found Russia guilty of horrific human rights violations during its unlawful invasions of Ukraine:

Russia has committed flagrant and unprecedented abuses of human rights since it invaded Ukraine in 2014, including extrajudicial killings, sexual violence and forced labour, the European court of human rights has found.

The court’s grand chamber unanimously held that between 11 May 2014 and 16 September 2022, when Russia ceased to be a party to the European convention on human rights it had committed “manifestly unlawful conduct … on a massive scale”.

[...]

In its judgment, published on Wednesday, the court said there was evidence of widespread and systemic use of sexual violence, accompanied by acts of torture, such as beatings, strangling or electric shocks. Civilians and prisoners of war were subjected to mock executions, the severing of body parts and electric shocks, including to intimate areas of their bodies, the court said.

Finding repeated violations of the convention, many of which had taken place over a period of more than eight years, the court said: “These actions seek to undermine the very fabric of the democracy on which the Council of Europe and its member states are founded by their destruction of individual freedoms, their suppression of political liberties and their blatant disregard for the rule of law.

The court also found Russia guilty of shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, murdering 298 people.

Russia withdrew from the court in September 2022, so the ruling isn't directly enforceable. But its enforceable within Europe, and Russian assets frozen there could lawfully be seized to pay compensation. More importantly, if Russia ever wants to normalise its relationship with Europe, it is going to have to address this, accept the ruling, and make restitution. And until it does, the world is justified in treating it as a criminal nation.

Wednesday, July 09, 2025



"There is no corruption in New Zealand..."

A government lavishes corporate welfare on a project managed by one of its donors, then appoints him as a director of a government body. The USA? No, its National's New Zealand:

A newly-appointed KiwiRail board director is associated with a company which donated to NZ First.

Scott O'Donnell is one of the four directors of Dynes Transport Tapanui, which donated $20,000 to NZ First in July 2024.

The company is also involved in a project which recently received a government regional infrastructure loan of $8 million.

A $8 million loan and a fat package of directors fees for a $20,000 donation? That's a hell of a return on investment...

The government says none of this is a conflict of interest, and its all perfectly OK. Bullshit. Its simply naked corruption - and the NZ public recognises that instantly. If our political class can't, then it shows how corrupt and institutionally rotten they are.

So how can we stop this? Getting money out of politics - banning donations and publicly funding political parties - is the ideal solution. But if that's not going to happen, we need a cordon sanitaire between money and politics. Which means long cooling off periods - at least the length of a parliamentary term - before a former donor is allowed to be appointed to any government role or receive any honour, and similar prohibitions on any body they control or are involved in being awarded any government contract or discretionary benefit. And if this deters donations, then it will simply confirm the suspicion that the primary driver is corruption.

Monday, July 07, 2025



Another attack on the rule of law

Over the past few years New Zealand fisheries ministers have been repeatedly found to have acted illegally in their quota decisions, ignoring the Fisheries Act's environmental and information principles and setting quota at unlawfully high levels to pander to the fishing industry. But current fisheries minister Shame Jones has a solution: ban court cases:

But a “frustrated” Jones is signalling a dramatic response: he’s considering changing the law to limit such court action altogether.

In an interview with The Post, Jones said he had asked officials to review the Fisheries Act to determine whether it had become “weaponised” by environmental groups.

[...]

“The frequency of this litigious activity has caused me to explore with the officials as to whether or not the law is fit for purpose,” he said.

“We cannot have a situation where we’re outsourcing to litigants and the judiciary the statutory role of resource management on behalf of the citizens of New Zealand.”

But of course that wouldn't be happening if ministers were obeying the law in the first place. The problem here is not the courts - it is consistently unlawful behaviour by ministers, who seem to regard the whims of their fishing industry donors as being more important than the law.

More generally, interpreting the law and ensuring that the government actually follows it are key duties of the courts. When you remove that, you don't have legal government in any real sense. Instead you have the arbitrary whims of a dictator. That may suit Jones very well - he's made no secret of his authoritarian and autocratic inclinations. But I don't think it suits kiwis at all. But if Jones goes ahead and pushes this through in his narrowing time window before the election, it will simply be another piece of bad law to be nuked in the next government's Omnibus Repeal Bill.

Thursday, July 03, 2025



A further descent into tyranny

A protest group carries out repeated non-violent actions to highlight its cause, highlighting the fact that the regime's foreign policy is in violation of international law and is at odds witht he values and wishes of its people. The regime responds by banning the organisation, and threatening 14 year jail terms for anyone who expresses support from it.

Putin's Russia? No, it's Starmer's UK:

MPs have voted in favour of legislation to proscribe group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, passing by 385 votes to 26.

The order, which amends the Terrorism Act 2000, is now expected to be signed by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and come into effect later this week.

Once in effect, supporting Palestine Action will become a criminal offence, with membership or expressing support for the direct action group punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

This is exactly what civil libertarians and human rights groups warned about when western governments passed "anti-terrorism" legislation in the wake of September 11th: that the tools used to target terrorists would ultimately come home and be used against peaceful protest groups. Its taken 25 years, but its happened, and there's no coming back from it. Along with the UK's anti-protest laws and the jailing of peaceful activists, it makes it clear that the UK is now a tyranny in all but name. And there's one thing we all know about tyrannies: they deserve to be overthrown.

Tuesday, July 01, 2025



This is what the IPCA's anti-protest laws mean

Back in February, the "Independent" Police Conduct Authority issued a radical, out-of-the-blue proposal to ban protests. The core of their proposal was a requirement for protesters to notify police well in advance of any protest action, and to obey whatever conditions police subsequently set or directions they made, with failure to do so being an arrestable offence. The latter proposal has since been adopted as a Member's Bill by a National MP, so its very much the regime's agenda as well.

The IPCA's proposal was based in part on draconian Australian anti-protest laws. And there's a perfect example of what they mean in practice, with the possible blinding of a protestor by police in Sydney:

A former Greens candidate has been injured after allegedly resisting police arrest while picketing a business in Sydney’s west, with friends and family warned she may lose sight in her right eye.

The protest, which attracted between 50 and 60 people, sought to stop pedestrian access to a business that was accused by protesters of “supplying electroplating and surface coating services for a variety of applications including aerospace and defence technology” to Israel.

[...]

According to police, officers issued a move-on direction to the protesters at about 5.30am on Friday.

The force alleged the protest was “unauthorised”, as those involved had not given advanced notice nor submitted a form that protected them from being charged under anti-protest laws.

The key thing to realise here is that police may use "reasonable force" to effect an arrest. So creating an offence of "disobeying police" or "refusing to tell police your plans" is effectively a licence for police to beat people at will, an invitation to the sort of violent and brutal policing exemplified above. Or to the sort of violent and brutal policing we see in America, where police respond to protests with barrages of tear gas, rubber bullets, and baton charges, because apparently that's an appropriate response to people yelling and waving banners in the streets.

This sort of policing is profoundly incompatible with democracy. It is not the sort of policing we want to see here. And if the IPCA wants it, then they are no longer fit for purpose, and should be dissolved.

National is afraid of kids

As the government - or one of its Ministers, anyway - keeps reminding us, Parliament is meant to be a place of free speech, where MPs (but not apparently select committee witnesses) need to be able to robustly criticise government policy and hold Ministers to account. But Youth MPs at this week's Youth Parliament won't be able to experience this. Instead, they're being censored, to stop them from criticising the government:

Some young people taking part in Youth Parliament 2025 say they’ve been censored and told to avoid speaking on major political issues — including voting rights, climate action, pay equity and financial literacy — or being critical of ministers.

“We’ve been told to soften our language, drop key parts of our speeches, and avoid criticising certain ministers, as speaking out could ‘cause problems’,” said Nate Wilbourne, founder of Gen Z Aotearoa and Youth MP for Labour’s Damien O’Connor. “That isn’t guidance — it’s control.”

In a statement, the coalition of youth organisations accused the Ministry of Youth Development of censorship, saying decisions made by officials have undermined the event.

Youth MPs have been specifically banned from speaking on the issues that matter most to them, including voting rights, pay equity, and climate action. And they have been banned from clapping or "expressing dissent" in the chamber. The RNZ version of the story suggests that the Ministry of Youth Development is trying to enforce "political neutrality" on youth MPs - a standard which applies only to public servants, not young members of the public.

This is pathetic. But it is certainly revealing about what the regime is afraid of. And what they're afraid of are young people who overwhelmingly disagree with them freely expressing their views. But if they won't let youth MPs properly express themselves in Parliament, maybe they should do it outside, and make it clear how rotten this dogshit government is.