Newshub awaits a miracle – but in the meantime its Mātauranga Māori debate has spurred Jerry Coyne (again) to bat for science

Emeritus Professor Jerry Coyne, from his base in the United States, may well be oblivious to the furore raised about the state of  the news media in New Zealand – and the implications for our democracy – after TV3’s American owners announced Newshub’s fate.  The news service will be shut down at the end of June, unless there is a miracle (and Coyne does not believe in miracles).

What has been drawn to his attention is an item from Newshub, reproduced on MSN, which  contains a 10-minute debate about whether and how Mātauranga Māori (Māori “ways of knowing) should be taught in public schools.

ETS review will be good news (we think) for the forest sector but govt gets tough with Hamas and Israeli extremists

Buzz from the Beehive

When the Luxon government took office last year, forest owners and investors were among the myriads of interest groups who pressed incoming ministers with pleadings, urgings and advice – typically self-serving –  for change.

The forestry bunch hoped the new government would give clearer direction on the Emissions Trading Scheme as investment in the sector threatened to dry up in response to policy uncertainty.

BRYCE EDWARDS: How Wellington City Council got captured by vested interests

• Bryce Edwards writes –

Wellington City has become a great case study for those that are suspicious that both local and central government politicians have become enthralled by property developers, the “professional managerial class”, and other vested interests.

Politicians from parties of both left and right are increasingly seen as being captured by such interests, regardless of whether they are Greens, National, or Labour. And rising public discontent is the result.

Productivity Commission gone tomorrow, Māori Health Authority gone in June – so what should we do with the Waitangi Tribunal?

The Productivity Commission will cease operations tomorrow, to make way for the new Ministry for Regulation.

On the same day, the Waitangi Tribunal will begin an urgent inquiry into the government’s proposal to disestablish the Māori Health Authority.

But legislation passed under urgency by Parliament will result in the authority being shut down by the end of June, when its functions will be absorbed into the country’s national healthcare system.

Puff! And before you can get through a packet of 20, Parliament will have stubbed out parts of Labour’s smoke-free law

Buzz from the Beehive

Health dominated the government’s announcements over the past 24 hour or so, at the same time as Parliament was debating legislation to abolish the Maori Health Authority and repeal parts of the previous government’s planned changes to regulate smoked tobacco.

Health Minister Shane Reti brandished a report from the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) report released today. It had been commissioned by the previous government to provide an independent assessment on health reform implementation.

Reti says a significant number of the problems uncovered by the MAC stem from a lack of Ministerial oversight and political incompetence.

No, it isn’t a surprise – the government is disestablishing the Māori Health Authority (just as it pledged before the election)

Latest from the Beehive

The mainstream news media have been grimly auguring this news for  the past few days under headings such as…

• Axing Māori Health Authority before hearing ‘disrespectful’ — expert (One News);
• Coalition Government to forge ahead with repeal of smokefree laws, Māori Health Authority this week (NZ Herald); and
• The Waitangi Tribunal’s losing battle (RNZ).

This afternoon the government’s official website affirmed it.

BRYCE EDWARDS: NZ elections are being Americanised with “dark money” flowing into campaign groups

• Bryce Edwards writes – 

Elections in the United States are dominated by big money. But what isn’t commonly understood is that most of it is raised and spent, not by the political parties and candidates for office, but by special interest groups who run their own election campaigns to influence the outcome.

Billions of dollars are channelled into campaign groups to run what are normally attack ads against politicians. The reason for this is because the political donations rules are designed to encourage this – with big clampdowns on people funding the politicians, but allowing them to more easily give to advocacy and lobbying groups instead.

LINDSAY MITCHELL: Child poverty – complex or simple?

Question: Do you understand how the child poverty statistics are derived?

Clearly some people do not.

Last week the latest child poverty statistics were all over the media. But there are a number of misunderstandings that need addressing. Like this one from NewstalkZB’s John MacDonald who wrote:

CHRIS TROTTER: Tougher love

Mark Mitchell’s gang laws will separate the liberal sheep from the authoritarian goats

• Chris Trotter writes –

THE INTENSIFYING POLITICAL CONTROVERSY over the Coalition Government’s policy on gangs promises to be one of those sheep-from-goats moments. While the Left will veer instinctively towards the sociological, the Right will opt to (paraphrasing one of the best lines from Pulp Fiction) “get medieval” on the gangs’ collective ass.

Practical questions, such as “Can this policy possibly work?” will crash into angry ideological responses, “Are you saying gangs are above the law?” The sociological “sheep” who believe in a world unconstrained by the fiction of “human nature”, will face the “goats” of realism, who recognise only the necessity of keeping human beings’ potential for chaos and cruelty under strict control.

Funding announced for landfill improvements and farmers – but the headline grabber is news of a crackdown on criminal gangs

Buzz from the Beehive

The government has been dishing out sums of money in much the same way as the Ardern-Hipkins government has done.

Four historic landfill sites will benefit from the granting of $6.6 million to clean up old landfill sites

And the coalition Government is  providing support for farmers and growers (funding of up to $20,000 will be made available to the Top of the South Rural Support Trust ) as dry conditions worsen across the top of the South Island.