50,000 Legal Firearms Confiscated in New Zealand ‘Buyback’
Breitbart London
[The following piece gives us insight on how other countries view the "Great Buyback". We confidently predict that it will have zero impact upon violent crime in New Zealand. We expect that the criminal gangs, which have grown prodigiously in significant numbers of patched members over the past two years, will continue their mayhem. The police will not be safer; nor will the general public. Ed.]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – New Zealand authorities said Saturday their country will be a safer place after owners handed in more than 50,000 guns during a buyback program following a ban on assault weapons. But critics say the process was flawed and many owners have illegally stashed their firearms.
The government banned many types of semi-automatic weapons less than a month after a lone gunman in March killed 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques. The police then launched a six-month program to buy the newly banned weapons from owners.
Showing posts with label New Zealand Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand Politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, 25 December 2019
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Leftist Messianism May Damage Itself Irreperably
The Game of Thrones and Unbridled Ambition
We are at present playing our own local version of Game of Thrones in New Zealand. Owing to our peculiar version of MMP (Mixed Member Proportional representation) we have the bizarre situation where the tail of small rag-tag political parties can well and truly wag the dog. Most sane folk view this to be bizarre.
At present, with no clear outcome from our recent parliamentary elections, small parties are engaged in negotiations with larger parties trying to form a governing coalition. The result is that, owing to the messianic complex common to our cluster of small parties, the tail is well and truly in control.
David Farrar has written an excellent piece at his blog, Kiwiblog. It discussed the issue which has been debated in many a household in recent days: namely, the short term versus the long term advantage. Finally we have a National Party stalwart stating what is obvious to many: it is far, far better to seek the longer term, strategic advantage than to enter into a coalition with minor political parties who think they are the Masters of the Galaxy.
Friday, 4 August 2017
Citizenship and Voting in New Zealand
An Archaic Anomaly That Needs Fixing
[We reproduce an essay by Michael Reddell, writing in Croaking Cassandra]
. . . today I wanted to focus on the one chapter that really caught my attention, by Kate McMillan, a senior lecturer in politics at Victoria. Her chapter bears the title “Fairness and the borders around political community”, and isn’t really about immigration, per se, at all. Rather she focuses on something I’d never known before, that New Zealand is very unusual internationally in when we allow new arrivals to vote.
Only five countries in the world have provisions allowing resident non-citizens to vote: Malawi, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay – none known these days for taking many immigrants – and New Zealand. In most countries, only citizens get the right to vote in national elections (there is a much wider range of rules for local elections in many countries). The United Kingdom also allows residents who are citizens of the Republic of Ireland or “qualifying” citizens of Commonwealth countries to vote in parliamentary elections, but there is no general entitlement for non-citizens residents (including those from EU countries other than Ireland).
New Zealand’s rules seem to have evolved from something very like the British system. Until 1975, “the right to vote in New Zealand local and national elections was granted only to British subject adults who had been resident in New Zealand for at least a year”, and similar provisions had been in place in Canada and Australia. McMillan reports that Canada and Australia at around this time shifted to a citizenship-based voting rights model, the same choice that had been made by most new states as they decolonised in the post-war decades (Malawi presumably being the exception).
New Zealand made a different choice.
[We reproduce an essay by Michael Reddell, writing in Croaking Cassandra]
. . . today I wanted to focus on the one chapter that really caught my attention, by Kate McMillan, a senior lecturer in politics at Victoria. Her chapter bears the title “Fairness and the borders around political community”, and isn’t really about immigration, per se, at all. Rather she focuses on something I’d never known before, that New Zealand is very unusual internationally in when we allow new arrivals to vote.
Only five countries in the world have provisions allowing resident non-citizens to vote: Malawi, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay – none known these days for taking many immigrants – and New Zealand. In most countries, only citizens get the right to vote in national elections (there is a much wider range of rules for local elections in many countries). The United Kingdom also allows residents who are citizens of the Republic of Ireland or “qualifying” citizens of Commonwealth countries to vote in parliamentary elections, but there is no general entitlement for non-citizens residents (including those from EU countries other than Ireland).
New Zealand’s rules seem to have evolved from something very like the British system. Until 1975, “the right to vote in New Zealand local and national elections was granted only to British subject adults who had been resident in New Zealand for at least a year”, and similar provisions had been in place in Canada and Australia. McMillan reports that Canada and Australia at around this time shifted to a citizenship-based voting rights model, the same choice that had been made by most new states as they decolonised in the post-war decades (Malawi presumably being the exception).
New Zealand made a different choice.
Friday, 24 March 2017
It's Hard to Find a Job in New Zealand
Chattering Classes on the Wacky Backy
There is a shortage of employees in some industries in New Zealand. The Prime Minister, Bill English stated the other day that he has been told repeatedly that one reason employers are short staffed is due to applicants failing drug tests. The Chattering Classes, the media and left-wing political opponents, all still living in the musty back rooms of Sydney and Beatrice Webb, went all apoplectic.
Where's your evidence? What surveys was this based upon? Ignorant prejudice, you stupid man, etc. The PM was quietly firm: "that's what employers have been telling me". Once consequence is that employers are ending up giving jobs to immigrants, who, for some inexplicable reason, don't spend their lives smoking weed and P. They actually want to work.
One media outlet broke away from the pack. Stuff reported:
There is a shortage of employees in some industries in New Zealand. The Prime Minister, Bill English stated the other day that he has been told repeatedly that one reason employers are short staffed is due to applicants failing drug tests. The Chattering Classes, the media and left-wing political opponents, all still living in the musty back rooms of Sydney and Beatrice Webb, went all apoplectic.
Where's your evidence? What surveys was this based upon? Ignorant prejudice, you stupid man, etc. The PM was quietly firm: "that's what employers have been telling me". Once consequence is that employers are ending up giving jobs to immigrants, who, for some inexplicable reason, don't spend their lives smoking weed and P. They actually want to work.
One media outlet broke away from the pack. Stuff reported:
A Hamilton-based farm recruitment agency is backing Prime Minister Bill English's claims that Kiwi workers' inability to pass drug tests are why overseas workers are needed.
Tuesday, 6 December 2016
Changing Times
A Different World?
What a difference a day makes! This morning we mark the resignation of two Prime Ministers. The first was in Italy--Matteo Renzi resigned over losing a referendum. This was entirely expected, and since very few Italian Prime Ministers last long, it comes as no surprise. The second was Prime Minister, John Key's announcement to a stunned New Zealand that he was resigning as Prime Minister. As political theatre it will go down in history.
As one blogger pointed out, Key is the only New Zealand Prime Minister to resign office on his own terms. This is so unusual that it deserves at least some reflection.
The first thing that stands out is that Key had that quality in spades which is deeply inscribed into New Zealand culture. He is a good bloke. He has been the opposite of a professional politician.
What a difference a day makes! This morning we mark the resignation of two Prime Ministers. The first was in Italy--Matteo Renzi resigned over losing a referendum. This was entirely expected, and since very few Italian Prime Ministers last long, it comes as no surprise. The second was Prime Minister, John Key's announcement to a stunned New Zealand that he was resigning as Prime Minister. As political theatre it will go down in history.
As one blogger pointed out, Key is the only New Zealand Prime Minister to resign office on his own terms. This is so unusual that it deserves at least some reflection.
The first thing that stands out is that Key had that quality in spades which is deeply inscribed into New Zealand culture. He is a good bloke. He has been the opposite of a professional politician.
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