The Panel with Niki Bezzant and Peter Elliott (Part 1)
They discuss the enormous queue of New Zealanders waiting for specialist appointments and a petition calling on the Government to ban the use of engineered stone.
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NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Tairāwhiti Stands With Palestine protest calls for Government sanctions on Israel
Messages from the community about what is happening in Gaza were placed inside bottles addressed to East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick as part of a Gaza protest rally in Gisborne on Saturday. 'New Zealand signed on to the Geneva Conventions in 1950 and has been party to multiple protocols to protect civilian populations since. International law is a code of conduct between nation states,' Luiten said. 'You don't get to pick and choose when to apply it. What is happening in Gaza is not a tragedy. It's a crime against humanity. In the circumstances, the Government's lack of response amounts to complicity. 'Whānau in Egypt are throwing bottles of food into the Mediterranean in the hope they will reach starving whānau in Gaza. We are sending our messages in a bottle to Dana in the hope that she, too, will be moved to do her bit to end the deliberate starvation in Gaza.' In response to the calls to sanction Israel, the Israeli embassy in New Zealand gave a statement. 'Israel deeply regrets every innocent life lost. Israelis know this pain personally. Hundreds of our own civilians were murdered, and dozens have been held hostage by Hamas for over 680 days, deliberately abused and starved by the terrorists,' the ambassador's statement read. 'To describe Israel's actions as 'crime against humanity' or 'deliberate starvation' is wrong and misleading. These claims are copied from Hamas propaganda. We should remember that Hamas is a terror group designated under New Zealand law, which systematically embeds fighters and weapons among civilians, precisely to drive up casualties. 'The tragedy in Gaza stems from Hamas waging cruel war from hospitals, schools, and crowded neighborhoods – not from Israel's defence of its people. Israel has facilitated unprecedented aid: over 2 million tonnes of supplies and 230 million ready-to-eat meals. 'Hamas has seized fuel, stolen aid and food shipments and sold them, and starved the hostages it still holds. Starvation is not Israel's policy; it is Hamas's weapon. 'Sanctioning Israel would not promote peace. It would reward Hamas's atrocities, embolden further terrorism, and 'punish' the region's only democracy. If groups in New Zealand want to make a real difference, they should pressure Hamas – still holding Israeli hostages and treating 2 million Palestinians as human shields – to lay down its weapons, release the hostages and leave Gaza. That is the real path to possible peace process.' Kirkpatrick said she was 'just as appalled' by the situation in Gaza as anybody. 'The situation in Gaza is horrific, and the humanitarian crisis is particularly galling for all of us,' Kirkpatrick said. 'The October 7 attacks by Hamas were abhorrent, but the response has gone too far. It is time for a ceasefire, not further military action. We need food and aid to reach Gaza, not more soldiers and missiles.' Kirkpatrick said the New Zealand Government had called for a ceasefire and had sent millions in aid. Dana Kirkpatrick talked about the Government's policy on Palestine. Photo / Mark Mitchell 'Our Government has consistently called on both sides to respect international law, including the protection of civilians and vital infrastructure such as hospitals,' she said. 'New Zealand has also sent $37.25 million in aid to address urgent humanitarian needs. The best course of action now is the immediate resumption of humanitarian assistance, and for both parties to engage to restore a ceasefire.' New Zealand was working with other nations to help broker peace, Kirkpatrick said. Cabinet will make a formal decision in September on whether New Zealand should recognise a state of Palestine. Father Mark Field, parish priest at Star Mary's Star of the Sea in Gisborne, said parishioners were praying for those in Gaza and could also donate to the charity Caritas. Photo / Liam Clayton On Facebook, Tairāwhiti Catholic highlighted a message from Father Gabriel Romanelli of Gaza's only Catholic parish, Holy Family Church, located in northern Gaza. In July, an Israeli strike hit the church, killing three people. 'We remember the people of Palestine in our prayers every Sunday,' Gisborne parish priest Father Mark Field said. 'The plight of the Catholic parish in Gaza is something that we are naturally very concerned about. Our Parish Council has discussed ways that we can be more involved.' Field said they had encouraged parishioners to contribute through Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand – a New Zealand and international Catholic charity that helped in areas affected by war and disasters.
Otago Daily Times
7 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Bill banning protest outside homes passes first hurdle
By Giles Dexter of RNZ Legislation to make protesting outside someone's home an offence has passed its first reading at Parliament. The bill would apply to demonstrations directed at a specific person outside their private residence, considering factors including how 'unreasonable' the protest is. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori opposed the bill, expressing concerns it could override the right to freedom of protest, and there were existing tools police could use. Standing in for Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, James Meager said the bill would be a welcome relief to many MPs, officials and other individuals who had been targeted. He said the bill was a balance of rights and freedoms. "The protection of New Zealanders' privacy is fundamentally important in our society, as is the ability to protest. The government upholds both of these values." Meager said the public's right to protest was protected by the Bill of Rights Act, but demonstrations outside homes could impede on someone's right to privacy. "Unreasonable, disruptive intrusions into people's private spaces are simply unacceptable." The government believed existing legislation did not clearly reflect the importance of privacy in the context of demonstrations, meaning police had difficulty in applying offences like disorderly behaviour. The offence would only apply if the protest was targeted at a specific person outside their private residence, meaning marches that passed by someone's house would not be covered. Time of day, duration, the demonstrators' actions, noise levels and distance to the premises would also be factors in determining the offence. Despite Labour leader Chris Hipkins earlier expressing his concerns that protest had become personalised, his party did not support the bill. Labour's justice spokesman Duncan Webb said the bill "chips away" at free speech rights, and New Zealand could not call itself a liberal democracy while passing legislation that prohibited demonstration. "The point of political action is to disrupt. It is not to be nice, it's not to be convenient. Protest is disruptive, that's what a protest is." Webb acknowledged other MPs have experienced people acting inappropriately outside their residences, but the legislation was targeted to suppress political action. "If that's your problem, the easy fix is actually to fix the offence of disorderly behaviour, and make it clear that disorder that flows into a private premise can in fact still amount to that offence." The Green Party also opposed the bill. MP Celia Wade-Brown said threats to people's safety or their families' safety were unacceptable, but the new offence had a disproportionate punishment. "Three months in prison, $2000 fine, this is not a parking ticket." Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said if police felt they could not apply existing legislation to remove someone behaving unreasonably outside another's home, then police should "check their practice." Speaking in support of the bill, ACT's Todd Stephenson accepted there were two competing rights in the legislation, but the Select Committee phase would be a chance for a discussion about how the balance could be struck. "It's worthwhile at least going through the Select Committee process and uncovering what powers the police do or don't have currently, but they're saying they don't have sufficient powers." Casey Costello from New Zealand First said it was a "sad, sad indictment on our democracy" that the legislation was even needed. "We know we have politically motivated groups who will purposely release private residential addresses of elected officials, of businesspeople, in order to invoke an intimidatory approach to dealing with decisions." She disagreed it was a limitation on protesting, but a protection for people's privacy. "It is absolutely reasonable to say that we will ensure that voices can be heard, but my children, my mother, my family will not have to bear the price of the decisions or the public position that I hold," she said. The Justice Committee will now consider the bill and report back within four months.
NZ Herald
8 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Auckland Council approves first step for two million new homes, higher building density
'We need to intensify to make the best use of the City Rail Link, and we have to stop the city from sprawling out wide. Overall, this makes a lot of sense,' Brown said. Transport Minister Chris Bishop (left) and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown are on the same page over more intensive housing in Auckland. It was also the council's chance to stop building on floodplains, the mayor said. All but two councillors – Mike Lee and John Watson – voted to approve the draft replacement plan for consultation with Local Boards, iwi, neighbouring councils and government ministries. The plan will return to councillors on September 24 for a decision between adopting the new proposal or continuing with Plan Change 78, which addresses the MDRS. Given the strong support shown today, it's highly likely councillors will opt for the draft replacement plan. If so, it will proceed to public consultation at the end of October, with submissions closing before Christmas. There are now rules in the plan for hazards such as coastal erosion. Photo / Alex Burton Councillor Richard Hills, who chaired today's policy and planning committee meeting, said addressing natural hazards was a huge win for his hard-hit community on the North Shore, which two-and-a-half years ago asked for urgent help. Under the current Unitary Plan, the council has been unable to downzone properties impacted by natural hazards, but will be able to with the new plan. 'Through negotiation [with the Government], we can remove the MDRS, we can deal with hazards,' Hills said. Waitākere councillor Shane Henderson said: 'This is great. It's a significant step forward for our city. For a city that has had decades of shameful planning decisions that have left us with a huge hole, the Unitary Plan was the first step out of that hole, and here is another step.' Henderson, a critic of special character areas that value villas and bungalows, said some progress had been made, but the plan still restricted new homes in places where they made most sense and acted as wealth protection for people who live there. Albert-Eden-Puketāpapa Ward councillor Christine Fletcher said she could not see any science behind the ridiculous two million homes figure. The new plan addresses flooding issues in Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell She wanted to hear from Local Boards and iwi, but said the real meeting would come next month, when serious decisions would have to be made. 'Let's face it. Aucklanders over the past five years have had a pretty shitty time, and this is going to create more uncertainty,' Fletcher said. Council planning director Megan Tyler clarified that the plan for two million homes represents 'enabled capacity', not 'feasible capacity', in response to Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson's question about whether infrastructure could support the proposed target for intensification. Senior planner John Duguid noted that the two-million-home target would stretch well beyond a 30-year timeframe, noting the infrastructure demands would be driven by population growth. Among the proposed changes are: 10-storey and 15-storey developments will be allowed within a 10-minute walk of some train stations, rapid bus stations and the edge of town centres. There will be 44 such 'walkable catchments'. An increase in the amount of land zoned for three-storey, dense housing. Terraced housing and low-rise apartments will be increased in height from five to six storeys, with more permissive height-to-boundary rules. These rules will apply to a further 11 town centres. Height limits will be raised to six storeys along more major transport corridors. 12,000 properties will be 'downzoned', making new developments on them harder or not permitted at all, because they are at risk of 'natural hazards' such as coastal erosion and flooding. 'Special character' designations will disappear in some parts of the city. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
