It’s a proven fact that women are paid significantly less than men for the same or equivalent work, but too many people just don’t want to face the truth. Tao Lin rebuts some of the most common ways the gender pay imbalance is dismissed. Here’s a cool party trick: bring up the fact that in … Read more
The star of a confrontational new television commercial explains why she felt compelled to help save hens from the cruelty of battery cages. Update: Late last week, in apparent response to the upcoming SAFE ad, Countdown supermarkets announced they will remove battery-caged and colony-caged eggs from their own-brand range by 2022, the same year battery … Read more
The use of ‘degrading’ and ‘dehumanising’ restraints in New Zealand prisons has been found by the Ombudsman’s Office to breach the UN Convention on Torture. This is no time to be making excuses, writes Elizabeth Stanley. In New Zealand, “At Risk Units” hold prisoners who are considered at risk of suicide or self-harm. They are … Read more
Contrary to media reports, a new study by policy thinktank the NZ Initiative does not recommend performance pay for high achieving teachers, says its author Martine Udahemuka. But still, she asks, shouldn’t parents and educators at least be having the conversation? First, let’s set the record straight. A couple of weeks ago we released a … Read more
House prices have apparently gone down in Auckland, but does that mean the average worker can afford a home? Take the income quiz below. Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
News that house prices fell this month represents a tiny glimmer of hope for ever-gloomy first home buyers. But is that optimism, however feeble, at all justified? Economist Shamubeel Eaqub investigates. House prices fell in February, per latest data from QV. Time to celebrate the popping of the bubble, right? Hold on, don’t uncork the … Read more
The amazing truth about reducing child poverty is that we already know what works: regular, no strings attached cash payments. Dr Jess Berentson-Shaw explains the research backing up her call for the government to reinstate the Family Benefit. It was 1985; New Zealand was riding high in the waves of economic deregulation. I was seven … Read more
Last week The Legends Academy’s Ben Alexander was back in Auckland to hold one of his regular workshops on ‘modern dating skills’ for men. The Academy claims to reject the blatant misogyny of the old-style PUA culture, but what does it offer men instead? Branko Marcetic joined the audience to find out. If our Google … Read more
As New Zealanders’ drift to the city continues, the rural-urban divide grows ever deeper. Instead of writing off the complaints of ‘townies’, those of us in the agricultural industries can’t afford to ignore the increasing calls for action, writes John Hart, farmer and Green candidate. When I was kid in the 1970s, almost everyone I … Read more
It’s a story as old as the New Zealand OE itself. You move to London, you fall in love, you settle down. But what happens when you start feeling homesick and your UK-born partner doesn’t want to leave? James Quentin writes about the double life of an expat Kiwi. In May I will be bringing … Read more
In a special edition of On the Rag, the gang travel back in time to talk about the Equal Pay Act of 1972, and how men and women are still not paid the same in 2017. We are all about Scooby Doo, Dr Hook and cords this week, as Alex, Leonie and Michele meet in … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. There once was a Countdown in central Hamilton. It lost it’s ‘o’, and became C-untdown. How we laughed. That laughter, and the store in question, are dust in the winds of time. Judging by the quality of their wares, Countdown … Read more
Regardless of today’s verdict, the assumptions made and line of questioning pursued by Kuggeleijn’s lawyer Philip Morgan over the course of two trials were extremely troubling, writes Madeleine Chapman. A jury of six men and six women has found Scott Kuggeleijn not guilty of raping a woman in May 2015. Many have expressed relief at … Read more
It’s all over Instagram but how much do you really know about food? Having trouble viewing the quiz? Take it here.
From the 70s through the 90s, Auckland’s inner-city streets hosted a population of trans sex workers who were not only outside the protection of the law, but often at the mercy of those who enforce it. Those who survived that era tell Julie Hill about the sexual acts demanded by police, and how they made … Read more
In this special one-off podcast marking the Auckland Pride Festival and brought to you by AUT, Sam Orchard talks to Emmy Rākete and Dr Pani Farvid about gender noncomformity, trans rights and challenging queer/straight binaries in Aotearoa and beyond. Today’s panelists are Sam Orchard, trans man, comic book artist, designer and activist; Emmy Rākete, Māori … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. It ended exactly as you’d imagine it would: with the Prime Minister and Richie McCaw on stage while ‘Poi E’ boomed out across the room and Toni Street and Scotty Morrison clapping on. The night had been long, though unlike … Read more
Driving in Queenstown has become a kind of Russian roulette. Platitudes about ‘education’ won’t cut it: we need a tourist licence requirement, and urgently, argues Peter Newport. The ability of Governments to ignore reality is fairly well established but the deaths and chaos around Queenstown being caused by overseas drivers has to stop. I was … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Of all the streets I regularly drive on, Patteson Ave is the worst. Not for its condition or quality, but for the danger it puts you in by combining off-street parking, a hill, poor visibility and double yellow lines. I … Read more
Trans activist and academic Lexie Matheson was a key figure in instigating transgender friendly toilets at Marlborough Girl’s High School, a decision made to accommodate the first trans student on their roll. She talked to Alex Casey about the process, and Family First’s Ask Me First response campaign reported on by the Herald yesterday. Yesterday, homophobic, transphobic, … Read more
A year ago this week, the strongest cyclone in recorded history to make landfall in the South Pacific Basin hit Fiji. Unicef NZ’s Lachlan Forsyth travelled to the tiny village of Rakiraki to see how a devastated community is slowly rebuilding. It’s a modest collection of buildings. A couple of classrooms, some homes for the … Read more
You wouldn’t trust an economist to give you a smear test. So is it reasonable to expect those working in health to grasp economics? But still we listen to sugar tax proponents who don’t understand how consumer taxes work, says the NZ Initiative’s Jenesa Jeram. This is the second in a two-part series presenting both … Read more
Uber seems like a terrible company. But beyond binning an app, the challenge for the tech industry is to delete an entrenched, monolithic culture that sees women and minorities leaving in droves, writes Sacha Judd This week, Susan Fowler published a blog post about her time working as an engineer for Uber, and why she … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. I remember doing Art History in high school and stumbling my way through all the endless old blokes from ages ago, trying and failing to connect with some rude nude dude holding a stone. That was until we were presented … Read more
Rachel Smalley’s recent column on the supposed horrors of plastic surgery was a diabolical piece of bodyshaming. For those who’ve recently had surgery, it cut particularly deep. But as Casey McPike explains, a friend of hers found a way to make lemonade out of the bitter column. Rachel Smalley is intelligent, she’s successful, she supports charities. … Read more
As visitor arrivals reach unprecedented levels and our environment and infrastructure buckle beneath the pressure, Don Rowe argues that it’s time tourists paid their fair share. New Zealand has the highest rate of threatened species in the world. Birds, dolphins, bats – you name a family, we’ve got a species on the precipice of extinction. Our rivers … Read more
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Last year I was a Sandringham resident and caught the 233/243/249 to and from work. There’s nothing special about this route or those buses. Once a week I would need to get to the North Shore after work and I would … Read more
The WikiLeaks founder spoke to audiences in Melbourne and Auckland on Sunday night via video-link from his Ecuador embassy redoubt in London – this time without power drills and Kim Dotcom. The last time Julian Assange was beamed in to a public event in New Zealand, the country was screaming slack-jawed down the final furlong … Read more
With Treat Her Right campaigning to implement the Equal Pay Act of 1972 and close the wage gap in New Zealand, Alex Casey compares the progress of the bill to the career of Karl Urban, also born in 1972. The year was 1972. Karl Urban was born. House parties everywhere were enjoying delicious cheese hedgehogs. … Read more