Trade, govt rels & eco dev. Anglican (still) thinks global & local, views from this a/c my own, retweets no endorsement.
Auckland, New Zealand
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Delighted to be joining @HelenClarkFound as one of three new Honorary Senior Fellows: helenclark.foundation/news/b… Grateful to @HelenClarkNZ, the Foundation Board and staff team for this opportunity!
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What an indictment of our political system that something like this can happen!
Sam Sachdeva has the details on NZ’s decision to abstain on UN pandemic preparedness resolution. “Newsroom can reveal that the majority of Cabinet ministers wanted to vote in favour”, but no Cabinet decision was required, so Peters made the call.
newsroom.co.nz/2026/10/13/pe…
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Inhuman, immoral, sinful
US death row inmate Christa Pike taken to hospital after surviving two lethal injections, says lawyer bbc.in/4dyzAkL
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Reputational damage certainly but more than that, I wouldn’t be so sure. Trade agreements are always open to interpretation. But leaving the Paris Agreement would be an entirely different matter- dopey NZ politicians take note!
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Deeply moving visit to Gallipoli. Hadn’t expected the site to be quite so beautiful. Kia maumahara tonu tãtou ki a rātou. No more war!
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First step - recognise Palestine!
The Minister spoke with Palestinian Foreign Minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin.
The Minister expressed New Zealand’s concern for those impacted by escalating settler violence in the West Bank; and sought an update on the situation in Gaza and steps the international community can take to progress the peace plan.
He also reaffirmed New Zealand’s long-standing commitment to Palestinian self-determination and a two-state solution.
@VarsenAghShahin
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Economic and environmental vandalism!
New Zealand First is saying we need to get out of the Paris Accord altogether.
Why are we making a rod for our own backs, punishing our farmers and our taxpayers and our economy, when China or the US could sneeze and produce more CO2 overnight than we do in a year?
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Neither party are proposing to cut the employer contribution tax, introduced by the Key/English Govt, never a feature of the original Clark/Cullen design. This means that the full 6% will not be received by savers and the tax take will increase. That’s penalising future retirees
NEW: Labour release its KiwiSaver policy:
- Compulsory payments for employers - but not employees
- Employer rate lifts to 6% by 2032, employee rate goes to 4%
- Ban on total rem contracts
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“… as was so clearly articulated by New Zealand’s prime minister, Dame Jacinda Ardern … when it comes to national and global leadership, it is values, wisdom, integrity and authenticity that matter most of all” thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361077…
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Hoping this opening brings better, brighter days for downtown Tāmaki !
The security grille at Te Waihorotiu station is down, but everything around it looks magnificent and ready, 5 days from the CRL opening.
Scooters are in place, drinking fountains working, landscaping planted and even the big trees in spring leaf. The whole midtown looks splendid
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Stephen Jacobi previews the forthcoming annual meeting of CER Trade Ministers, noting they can show that openness, practical cooperation and rules still matter interest.co.nz/business/1400…
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Brilliant article!
A New World Order Is Coming. We Aren’t Ready. nytimes.com/2026/09/01/opini… via @NYTOpinion
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Very sad to read of Neil Walter’s death. One of our finest diplomats, unassuming, practical, fully aware of how to advance NZ’s place in the world. Moe mai ra e te rangatira.
Neil Walter, NZ diplomat & several times administrator of Tokelau, has died aged 84. Played a key role in 1996 UN supervised referendum on Tokelau’s future. Later he was Secretary of Foreign Affairs: a highly principled and decent person.
facebook.com/groups/Pacificn…
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Wait times at hospitals are a national catastrophe. Simply decrying them as unacceptable falls short of what is needed. So does shaming those EDs that are coping with under-funding. We need more urgent action yesterday.
I’ve heard this (privately) from another CEO recently. It underscores that our broken hospital system affects not only the poor (which is scandalous) but the rich. There’s no way of avoiding a public hospital when you really need one. That includes politicians.
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What a gift to one party the headline below is! How do we get out of the mess we’re in without more, better targeted spending (eg no LNG terminal, no buying back the BNZ, no vanity hospital projects) and new revenue streams?
Yesterday’s fiscal strategy made the dividing lines of the election refreshingly clear.
Labour is a social democratic party. It believes the state should have more of a role in the economy and should be more worried about unemployment. It wants to tax and spend more.
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