Newly released child poverty statistics show that 254,000 Kiwi kids are living in poverty. For the young people affected, it’s much more than just a number, writes Lorraine Taylor of Variety. Every day, applications that cross my desk speak to the challenges our families, and our tamariki, face. Some of our most vulnerable children are … Read more
Alex Casey chats to Leilani Tominiko, aka Candy Lee, about raising trans awareness from the wrestling ring. If Candy Lee offers you a Gobstopper, don’t take it. It doesn’t mean what you think it means. One of her signature wrestling moves, it involves one heavy black boot, one swift kick to the side of the head, … Read more
Esther Zhuang on bananas, sunflowers, and a childhood in New Zealand as an outlier in two cultures. My Granddad loved bananas. Whether they were pale yellow just blossomed from green, or a golden yellow with black and brown freckles didn’t matter. He said it was because he had a full set of false teeth, and … Read more
The current discourse around Muslim women is narrow-minded and short-sighted, writes Nidha Khan. There are Kiwi-Muslims still grieving. There are Kiwi-Muslims still numb, upset, scared, angry, and emotionally exhausted. And, in such a time, it is deeply upsetting and unsettling for commentators like Heather du Plessis-Allan to re-ignite narrow-minded conversations about how wearing the hijab … Read more
If you were one of the few people who used it, you might have noticed Google+ has just closed down. As RMIT researcher Stan Karanasios argues, it’s part of a wave of user-generated feedback closures, which is having a huge effect on online communities. This piece was originally published on The Conversation. This week saw the … Read more
As powerful as the national outpouring of solidarity has been following the Christchurch attacks, it’s not enough on its own. Tony Blackett of Amnesty International NZ offers some ways you can take further action against racism. If the last couple weeks have shown us anything, it’s that now, more than ever, we need the human … Read more
The North Shore MP’s aggressive opposition to the End of Life Choice Bill is proving such a turn off that it can only bolster the pro-euthanasia side, writes Graham Adams. David Lange – famed stand-up comic and New Zealand’s funniest prime minister – once quipped that National leader Jim Bolger had “gone around the country … Read more
Different scams are dealt with by different agencies, leaving many consumers confused as to where to go. The Commission for Financial Capability’s Bronwyn Groot says it’s time to centralise how we report scams in New Zealand. News this week that the money lost through online scams had ballooned to $33 million in 2018 – triple … Read more
A review of the school system has recommended sweeping changes, most controversially the implementation of a new organisation structure based around centralised Education Hubs. Auckland Grammar principal Tim O’Connor thinks that’s a terrible idea. The government is considering radical changes to New Zealand’s community-led state-school system. Claire Amos, principal of Albany Senior High School, yesterday … Read more
The independent taskforce report on Tomorrow’s Schools recommends big changes to school governance, and a lot of principals are up in arms. Auckland high school principal Claire Amos explains why she’s not one of them. As the sun set on the school year at the end of 2018, the Tomorrow’s Schools Independent Taskforce published their … Read more
Forget Married at First Sight, the craziest hookups are happening at Wellington Zoo. Capybara reporter Emily Writes reveals all. I’ve been obsessed with the capybaras at Wellington Zoo for a long time now. They first arrived in 2016 from Paris. Sister wives Vara, Guara and Iapa and pseudo husband Guarani. I loved them on sight, … Read more
On the 6th of May, the Victoria University of Wellington council will meet to discuss a proposed name change – again. National MP Nicola Willis thinks the whole thing is absurd. Of all the issues I thought I’d be debating as a new MP, the name of my former university was not one. I graduated … Read more
James Casson’s comments on refugees and the Christchurch attack have earned him widespread condemnation, but he’s far from the first Hamilton councillor to spout embarrassing rubbish, writes longtime Hamilton Council watcher Angela Cuming. When the tinfoil-hat wearing Hamilton City councillor Siggi Henry was revealed to be an anti-vaxxer loon who believes measles is not deadly … Read more
New Zealanders have shown they care about the terrible situation refugees have found themselves in. But for so many people languishing in camps, they currently have no chance at all to make it here, writes national director of World Vision New Zealand Grant Bayldon. As we sit on cushions inside Khelfa’s plastic tent drinking thick black … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
Children with special education needs and disability aren’t even getting the education they’re legally entitled to, let alone the one they deserve, and it’s about time the Minister of Education took ownership, writes Jai Breitnauer. I’m writing this from my kitchen table, not my office, because my ASD child has once again been stood down … Read more
Even if you can’t have kids naturally, that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to be a parent, writes Sharyn Graham Davies. “If you can’t have kids naturally through heterosexual intercourse, then you’re not meant to have kids. We already live in an over-populated world. There are almost 8 billion of us.” “We shouldn’t waste time, … Read more
A former leader of NZ’s far right communities says groups have closed up shop, but we must interrogate their claims and listen to the voices they try to speak over. Kate Hannah writes for RNZ. “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the … Read more
Two survivors tell their stories of the mosque attacks and the days that followed, after watching the National Remembrance Service at Hagley Park. MD Faysal survived the terrorist attack at Al Noor mosque. Tofazzal Alam survived the second shooting, minutes later, at Linwood mosque. The men, Muslim New Zealanders originally from Bangladesh, spoke to Toby … Read more
Christchurch shooting survivor Farid Ahmed, whose wife was killed on March 15, spoke at the National Remembrance Service today. This is his speech. Allah says in the Qur’an, “Do not say about those who are killed in the service of Allah, in the worship of Allah, that they are dead, but know they are living. … Read more
Reform needs to address firearm issues beyond those directly related to the Christchurch terrorist’s approach, and loopholes must be closed, writes William L. Much needed change is coming. Firearms laws are tightening and far right extremists will be monitored as the danger they have been all along. The specifics of new legislation are not yet … Read more
Cashmere High School attracted national attention as the school a number of terrorist victims attended, and the driving force behind last week’s emotional schools vigil in the centre of Christchurch. But Cashmere doesn’t just have a connection to the modern Muslim community – its ties go back much further, writes James Dann. All young people … Read more
Remarks by a Federated Farmers leader are a boon to beneficiary-bashers, and they’re utter rubbish, writes tax expert Lisa Marriott On Monday, newsletter comments by Federated Farmers Marlborough President Phillip Neal expressing his distaste for proposed tax reforms were quoted and reiterated on Stuff. Neal didn’t restrict himself to the proposed tax reforms. Instead he … Read more
March 15 was a horrific reminder that white supremacist ideologies put all minorities in danger, writes Ali Nissenbaum. 1997: We’re window shopping at Christchurch’s Mid-City Markets. Between the incense holders and Kurt Cobain T-shirts we come across a stand selling Nazi jewellery. My friend Yasmin, who’s much braver than I am, confronts the saleswoman: “That’s … Read more
Growing up in the south of the South Island, Paula Simpson’s world was quiet, conservative and very white. And then she moved to India… Here she speaks to fellow Pākehā New Zealanders about prejudice and preconceptions. Content warning: racist language It’s hard to know you’re racist when you’re surrounded by people like yourself. I’m a … Read more
After seeing three shows in the Auckland Arts Festival this week, Sam Brooks reflects on the place of art in the wake of national tragedy. After a week of self-inflicted Wellington time, it felt a little strange to come back to the Auckland Arts Festival. After the events of 15/3, even more so. There were … Read more
I implore New Zealanders to centre the victims, to examine our past, to understand that for many of us, this attack was more of a ‘when’ than an ‘if’, writes Shamim Aslani An act of unspeakable horror seared itself into our collective consciousness as New Zealanders on March 15. We lost 50 lives in an … Read more
The upcoming trial of a man accused of carrying out the Christchurch mosque shootings will be unprecedented in New Zealand law. To get your head around the process, legal expert Graeme Edgeler casts his eyes over some of the most pressing questions New Zealanders are asking about how it will happen. What charges will the … Read more
I have been encouraged by those who have started to reflect. I hope we can take that love, and can learn to listen, writes Marama Davidson On Friday I went to the Masjid Al-Maktoum to share the nationwide two-minute silence with other New Zealanders. It was beautiful, and sad, and loving. Some people arrived in … Read more