Latest news with #SteveMaharey
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
NZ universities urged to stand up for Harvard over Trump's international student ban
Harvard University could be barred from taking on foreign students. File photo. Photo: AFP/Maddie Meyer New Zealand universities must stand up for Harvard as the Trump administration attempts to stop it from enrolling international students, a local law professor says. The Trump administration last week barred the elite Massachusetts-based Ivy League university from taking on foreign students , although a judge has blocked the move until Harvard's case is heard in court . Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused the university of "fostering violence, anti-Semitism, and co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party". Harvard has rejected the allegations and said the attempt to ban international enrolments was illegal. Waikato University law professor Al Gillespie said New Zealand universities must stand up for Harvard. "You've got to make sure that the freedoms for universities to teach things in ways which are sometimes unpalatable, are defended, and that that role of critic and conscience is underlined," he said. "There's often a tendency right now to push back on views which are unpopular, and in a liberal democracy that must be resisted." Former Massey University vice-chancellor and Labour minister Steve Maharey said New Zealand universities also had to defend themselves as places that championed diverse thought. "I think one of the things we can do here is to uphold that, and make sure that we're seen as a country that still values the university and not just some narrow version of it, and certainly not one that agrees with the government of the day. "Of course there'll be people who will agree, but there'll be people who won't agree, and that's what should be going on at a university, there ought to be that dialogue. We ought to defend that." Maharey expected universities would speak out and write letters of support to Harvard. They should also prepare to welcome the world's brightest students who may decide against studying in the US, he said. "If the US becomes an unlikely place for a top student to want to come to, then of course other countries are going to benefit from that because they might get a share of those outstanding students. "We ought to keep the door open and say 'if you can't go there, then you ought to come here'." Universities New Zealand, which represents the country's eight universities, declined to comment. - additional reporting by Reuters Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
15-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters blasts behaviour in Parliament as ‘degradation'
'For a long time, we have warned that the standards have begun slipping in the House,' former Labour Minister Steve Maharey also wrote in a Herald article last year. 'From relaxing the dress standards in our House to now having utter disorder and the worst of offensive words uttered in Question Time – no matter which side of opinion you're on – and with no reaction or repercussion. How should we as politicians expect the people of New Zealand to view us all now?' The country had 'out-of-control MPs who flout the rules and intimidate others with outrageous hakas and offensive language and now getting banished for weeks', Peters wrote, in reference to the privileges committee recommending 21-day suspensions for Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi over a haka. A seven-day suspension was also recommended for the party's Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke. 'This is not democracy. These are the seeds of anarchy', Peters wrote. The octogenarian also blasted the dress of MPs wearing 'T-shirts and sneakers, hats and sunglasses and jerseys – and even occasionally barefooted'. 'What have we as so called 'respectable parliamentarians' become? Parliament has morphed into an embarrassment to the very people we are here purporting to represent. 'It is an outrage. And New Zealanders have a right to be outraged.' He blamed the House and the press gallery for then 'collectively' ignoring the behaviour. 'And what do we as a House and even those in the political press gallery do? Collectively sit back and cower and hope no one notices, hope no one says the wrong thing. 'Where are the standards of democracy that we all as a county together once fought for and stood up for? To accept this drop in standards is to accept that we have given up.' Our House of Representatives has become a House of Chaos. For a long time we have warned that the standards have begun slipping in the House - as former Labour Minister Steve Maharey also wrote about in a Herald article last year. From relaxing the dress standards in our House… — Winston Peters (@winstonpeters) May 14, 2025 He had never seen 'the level of degradation' of the country's democracy in his many years of politics, Peters wrote, and New Zealanders should be 'more fearful than outraged'. 'We are in danger of losing this battle for decency, values, and the principles our country was built on. Standards must be restored, and now. Before it's too late.' Peters' post follows comments on Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning by National MP Judith Collins calling for 'civility' in the House after the decision by the Privileges Committee – which she chairs – to suspend the three Te Pāti Māori MPs.
NZ Herald
05-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Listen to The Country online: Political roundup with Steve Maharey
Today on The Country radio show, host Jamie Mackay catches up with former Labour cabinet minister Steve Maharey for a political update at home and abroad. On with the show: Toby Williams: Federated Farmers' meat and wool chairman welcomes the Government's commitment to halt the locking up of high-quality farmland in carbon forest. However, he says loopholes remain.
