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Graffiti on a Gisborne statue of James Cook reading “Thief Pakeha”. (Photo: supplied)
Graffiti on a Gisborne statue of James Cook reading “Thief Pakeha”. (Photo: supplied)

The BulletinJuly 12, 2019

The Bulletin: Vandalised Captain Cook statue shows depth of wounds

Staff Writer
Graffiti on a Gisborne statue of James Cook reading “Thief Pakeha”. (Photo: supplied)
Graffiti on a Gisborne statue of James Cook reading “Thief Pakeha”. (Photo: supplied)

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Deep wounds shown by Captain Cook vandalism, expert fact checks claims around electric cars, and police deployed to fight non-existent crime wave.

A Gisborne Captain Cook statue has been vandalised, and the message painted on it shows the depth of tensions that will surround the 250th anniversary of his arrival in New Zealand. You might recall a different Cook statue was painted red back in 2016, to symbolise the killings of Māori people during his first visit. The message that has been painted on it this time cuts to the heart of what happened after that visit – the words ‘thief Pakeha’ is on the front, and ‘this is our land’ on the back – here’s a report on it from Te Ao News.

In general terms, there’s a lot of truth to the words. This piece from Stuff outlines that some of the loss of Māori land came through pressure in the legal system or dodgy deals with settlers, and some was just straight up confiscated by the government. The very existence of the Waitangi Tribunal is an acknowledgement of this.

Local Gisborne councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown says the conversations to come around the vandalism will be hard but necessary. Speaking to Radio NZ, she said she wasn’t in favour of vandalism, but saw it as a form of activism. “It is based on history and it’s based on that history never being given a chance to be spoken of, talked about or understood, and people want that.”

The idea of contested histories is going to become more and more important as the official ceremonies about Cook’s arrival get closer. On Te Ao News there was a recent story which highlighted just how important even how we talk about it will – at its heart, the story was about a dispute between MPs Kelvin Davis and Paul Goldsmith about whether the events should be commemorated or celebrated. It might seem like a small difference, but it conveys a vastly different interpretation of history. These are concepts museums have grappled with intensely over recent decades.

And the long legacy of those first encounters still holds weight, and arguably can still be seen playing out in seemingly unrelated news stories. Take, for example, recent comments in the NZ Herald (paywalled) by regional economic development minister Shane Jones, where he unloaded vitriol on the hapū Ngāti Oneone. They oppose extension of the Gisborne Port, which Mr Jones described as “hillbilly thinking.”

But Ngāti Oneone’s history in the area goes back far further than Mr Jones’ does, and while the minister himself is tangata whenua, in this situation he is a representative of the Crown. But Ngāti Oneone were there at that first contact with Cook – in fact their ancestor Te Maro was one of those shot dead by Cook, another representative of the Crown. Many will argue that such connections are irrelevant, because the country can’t live in the past. But to ignore less savoury aspects of New Zealand history would be to blind ourselves to relevant reasons as to why the country is how it is now.

You might have seen National MP Judith Collins’ comments around electric cars, that the manufacturers should sell them cheaper because there’s “precious little to them”. Fortunately, Driven writer Matthew Hansen has taken the time to patiently explain that there is in fact quite a bit to EVs, and also offers a deep analysis of why EV prices are in fact coming down. And if I can just offer Hansen another shout out, this analysis is an excellent pros and cons list about what the government’s feebate proposals on more emissions efficient cars will actually do.

Police are being deployed around Hamilton’s northern suburbs to combat a perceived crime wave, that they say isn’t actually happening. Stuff reports there has been a significant uptick in fears of crime among facebook groups based in the area, but police statistics don’t show any actual rise. In fact they say the areas resources are being devoted to – Flagstaff and Rototuna in particular – don’t actually have comparable rates of crime with other suburbs.

Gisborne mayor Meng Foon has been appointed as the new race relations commissioner, after many months of the job being vacant. He’s been profiled by Alice Webb-Liddall for The Spinoff, and a few relevant details jump out. Mr Foon has made great efforts to learn Māori language and worldviews, as well as having held leadership roles within the Chinese community. But one thing that I really like is this – he has composed waiata and even released an album.

Central and local government have clashed over the torturous cleanup of the Fox River, reports Radio NZ. Conservation minister Eugenie Sage’s view is that the Westland District Council haven’t had the money to pay for the cleanup due to their own financial mismanagement. However the district mayor Bruce Smith says the ratepayer base just isn’t there to pay for it, and the scale of the disaster took everyone by surprise. Around 20% of the river has now been cleaned.

I’ve talked repeatedly about how great Wikipedia is, and this guy’s story is inspiring beyond belief. Mike Dickison has been profiled by Farah Hancock at Newsroom – he travels the country encouraging people to contribute their knowledge and taonga to Wikipedia. Why? Many people, places events and species that have had a major impact on New Zealand have scant coverage on the platform, and his work has been to change that. Good on him and all of the other Wikipedia editors around the country.

This is a really good story and interview from Nine to Noon on the value of gorse in bringing back native bush. The work is significant because it took a combination of ecological knowledge, foresight and unconventional thinking to make happen, but has now resulted in a flourishing 15,000 hectare native forest. The person behind it all? A botanist called Hugh Wilson whose ideas were written off by many.

Don’t forget, later on this afternoon those of you who are Spinoff Members will be getting another Bulletin, covering some of the most important World stories right now. In today’s issue, a referendum that could get ugly in Australia, an explosive report connects Russian oil with the European far right, Sri Lanka eliminates measles, and other big stories from around the world. All the details on Spinoff membership can be found here.

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Right now on The Spinoff: Catherine Woulfe has some art-based activities that might be able to keep bored kids occupied over the school holiday. Duncan Greive has dived deep into the ratings war between TVNZ 2 and Three, symbolised by their champion shows Shortland St and The Block. Don Rowe visits the National Telehealth Service, which was dramatically expanded after the Christchurch mosque shootings. And Josie Adams looks at one of the longest lived shops in Ponsonby – the iconic Women’s Bookshop, which is about to celebrate 30 years.

For a feature today, we’ll have a piece that looks deeply into how online radicalisation can affect partners. A few months ago Mel Magazine spoke to a series of women whose boyfriends had been ‘red-pilled’ – for those who aren’t aware, it means joining a particularly toxic online male subculture. The results that are described are typically really frightening, and revealing of how the process can take place. Here’s an excerpt:

“I had to learn about what they were saying, quickly, so that I could try to debunk his view, or at least challenge them. And usually when we would debate these topics, it would end up in tears.” That’s because, “When I would try refute him, he would flip out. He would say that I was hysterical, that I was stupid and acting on my emotions rather than the facts, that I didn’t want to open up my mind to anything other than my left-wing views.”

Still, she hoped that he could at least see some of her perspective — that they could compromise, even when it came to her most deeply held convictions. “I was spending hours a day trying to get him to see other people’s views. But the more he would watch these videos, the more he reinforced his opinions. If I said something, he’d just send another video to ‘prove’ his point. He’d shut down conversations if I didn’t relent and agree with him. He wanted to debate things with me — but only up to a point. Eventually, he’d expect me to side with him.”

Radio NZ’s Ravinder Hunia may well have the best job in sports journalism right now, and she’s really making the most of it. After covering the Cricket World Cup, her latest piece is an analysis of the biggest threats the Silver Ferns will face at the Netball World Cup, which is due to start for the team tonight. It’s going to be a seriously challenging tournament for the Silver Ferns, even with their new direction under Noeline Taurua, because the rest of the world has got pretty good too.

Finally, the Cricket World Cup will be held this Sunday night, and the Black Caps will play England. The tournament hosts have smashed Australia in an utterly one-sided contest, chasing down a total of 223 with about 18 overs to spare. If you’re still not over how good the win over India was by the way, please feel free to listen to our latest episode of The Offspin – I don’t want to oversell it but it’s basically half an hour of delirious, sleep deprived ranting from Simon Day and myself. Enjoy the final, everyone.

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From our partners: A two-tier system of energy use is developing, with those on high incomes much more able to reduce their bills than households on lower incomes. Vector’s Chief Risk and Sustainability Officer Kate Beddoe outlines what the company plans to do about that.

That’s it for The Bulletin. If you liked what you read, and know other people who would find it useful, pass on this signup form to them.

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(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

The BulletinJuly 11, 2019

The Bulletin: Patient advocates question medicinal cannabis proposals

Staff Writer
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government releases proposals around medicinal cannabis, oxycontin takes hold in NZ despite US epidemic, and vaping pushed at Māori women.

Just quickly, apologies if today’s Bulletin has a few errors, I haven’t slept because of the cricket. The Black Caps are heading to the World Cup final after an astonishing win overnight. As someone who cares far too much about these things, I have a lot of thoughts on that, and put them into a piece, which you can read here. Now, on with the news.

Government plans for how the medicinal cannabis regime will operate have been revealed, but not everyone is happy with them. It will lead to some easier outcomes for patients, but will involve significant hurdles for patients wanting to use it more easily. To clarify as well – this will all take place outside of the plans for a referendum on legalisation for recreational use.

Ministry of health sign-off would be needed for all prescribed products, reports Radio NZ. Currently, that list constitutes one product only – the mouth spray Sativex. Under the proposals, smokable and edible cannabis would both still be out, and creams, pills and vaping forms would all be in.

However, the specialist sign-off requirement is upsetting to some campaigners, who say getting access to specialists is difficult, even if it did simplify the process overall for patients compared to the current status quo. A patient speaking to Newshub went further, saying that the model proposed appeared to be less patient-centric, and more focused on being “geared around industry and money and pharmaceutical products.”

In terms of that industry end though, there would be significantly more scope for people who had previously been criminalised to go legal. That’s according to this NZ Herald report which suggests those who know how to grow it well would be in a position to capitalise on that expertise, and get into a lucrative international market, provided they meet the criteria. That potentially opens the way for the dream of many on the East Coast – legit job creation through cannabis – to become a reality. The set of proposals are open for consultation until August 7, so those who don’t believe the right balance has been struck can have their say.

Oxycontin, one of the main drugs behind the American opioid epidemic, is increasingly being prescribed in New Zealand, reports Tony Wall for Stuff. In fact, it is now close to being prescribed as frequently as morphine, though in that same time rates of morphine use haven’t dropped at all. The drug is highly addictive, and Pharmac has spent tens of millions of dollars subsidising it.

Māori women are being targeted by big tobacco to switch from cigarettes to vaping, reports Guyon Espiner for Radio NZ. Reps from Philip Morris are running campaigns in marae and in predominantly Māori and Pacific Island areas, and selling vaping devices for half price in some circumstances. They say their product is much safer than cigarettes, and Māori women have very high smoking rates compared to the population as a whole. On the other hand, how benevolent is it really to cure one addiction by selling another?

Firearms licenses have been granted in New Zealand to hundreds of people convicted of crimes in Australia. The big concern, as Radio NZ reports, is that some of those people have gone on to commit crimes here too, including two cases of people being shot to death. In some cases the Australian convictions weren’t declared, and in others it didn’t warrant sufficient grounds to deny the license.

One of the key local election battles in Christchurch will be over potential future asset sales. The Star reported last week the campaign to prevent them was thrown into disarray by former mayor Vicki Buck’s surprise decision not to run again in the Riccarton ward. There wasn’t a candidate ready to replace her on the left-leaning People’s Choice ticket. However, their latest update is that former community board chair Peter Laloli will run. He’ll be taking on Catherine Chu, from the right-leaning Independent Citizens ticket.

The Reserve Bank might end up with climate change considerations enshrined in legislation, which would be a world first for a central bank, reports Interest. At this stage it is just being floated in a consultation paper for the review of the RBNZ Act. But the bank did publish a climate change strategy paper last year, so they’re clearly thinking about it as an issue.

Just this morning, the longlist for the Silver Scrolls songwriting awards has been released. The Spinoff has covered it, with each song listed in alphabetical order for your listening convenience. Now I don’t want it to feel like I’m picking favourites here, but I probably listen to the song on the list by The Beths about four times a week, possibly more.

The man who ran over PM Jacinda Ardern’s cat has finally come forward, and spoken to Stuff. It’s a coda to one of the strangest stories of 2017, back when Ardern had only recently taken office. He apologised to her, and strangely enough, she said she was sorry it had happened to him as well.

The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s acclaimed, free daily curated digest of all the most important stories from around New Zealand delivered directly to your inbox each morning.

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HANNAH SALMON, from THE MODERN ALPHA series (Jones, Trump and Kavanaugh), 2019.

Right now on The Spinoff: Teuila Fuatai writes about a targeted debt-clearing service, aimed at helping whānau without making them get another loan. Ollie Rusden writes about five other things that could be banned along with plastic bags to reduce waste. Hera Lindsay Bird celebrates the work of New Zealand artist Hannah Salmon, aka Daily Secretion, who creates portraits of angry ‘alpha men’. Greater Auckland’s Heidi O’Callahan takes a granular look at urban density, and asks what good density looks like in practice.

Finally, I heartily recommend a good binge of both of these television shows, so it’s good to see them matched together here. Laura Vincent says those missing the remarkable British hit Fleabag should turn their eyes towards the under-rated Crazy Ex-Girlfriend next.

Today’s feature is a look into a side of the sporting world New Zealanders don’t often consider, despite it being relatively close to home. Professional rugby players in Europe are feeling the pinch, writes Jamie Lyall for Rugby Pass, with the market swinging towards favouring clubs and buyers. That in turn could have major implications for international rugby, if it ends up putting even more pressure on players to forego that less lucrative part of the game. It’s really more of an economics story than a sports story – here’s an excerpt:

The rub of all this is that some players – not the real galacticos, but those with a handful of caps or a fledgling Test career beckoning – are forced to be increasingly calculating about their international prospects.

“A player can go to the World Cup this year and be absolutely fantastic, one of the stars of the show – it doesn’t mean they’ll come back and get a contract,” Beattie says.

“That is the market we’re in at the moment. There are no guarantees. You can be absolutely fantastic and have no job. What’s best for the player’s family?”

In the other World Cup about to start in England, there’s relief for the Silver Ferns, with Katrina Rore confirmed for their squad. Radio NZ reports she was in doubt with a calf strain, however that has now come right. The campaign will get underway this Friday night against Malawi.

From our partners: A two-tier system of energy use is developing, with those on high incomes much more able to reduce their bills than households on lower incomes. Vector’s Chief Risk and Sustainability Officer Kate Beddoe outlines what the company plans to do about that.

That’s it for The Bulletin. If you liked what you read, and know other people who would find it useful, pass on this signup form to them.

This content is brought to you by Vector. If you live in Auckland, they also delivered the power you’re using to read it. And they’re creating a new energy future for all of us, as showcased by the incredible Vector Lights in partnership with Auckland Council.