Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Tuesday 19 March 2024

pn921. March 2024 Polls on Government Performance

 


Dr Bryce Edwards, director of VUW's Democracy Project,  had this to say about the latest polls on Government performance -  "Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls."

The sum of the polls, however, (see table) shows government to be in a relatively  secure position, and the Opposition to be in deep water.

 

The Talbot Mills, Roy Morgan and IPOS polls showed Government to be less secure than the overall results suggest.  

On performance and whether the country was heading in the right or wrong direction the polls were uncomplementary: The Taxpayers' Union showed that, after a brief "right" start, in March the scale had tipped to negative.  More people disapproved of government than approved. IPOS's score of 4.5 out of 10 had 37% of those polled signalling poor perforrmance, the highest since 2017, and Talbot Mills showed 40% in the right direction, down 3% since February. and  48% in the wrong direction, up 7% since February.

On the preferred PM question National did even worse. Talbot Mills showed Luxon on 24%, down 3, and Labour's Hipkins close behind on 23%. The Taxpayers' Union result for Luxon was similar, but the scores for his deputies, Act's Seymour and NZ First's Peters, were up.  It was thought that their strong performance overshadowed that of Luxon and contributed to his poor result. The exposure of Luxon's non-declaration of his housing assets would also not have helped his public image.

The public's main concerns (IPOS poll) were inflation and the cost of living, 59%, minus 3%, followed by housing 33%, up 2%, Hospitals and health care 33%, plus 1%, the Economy 25%, plus 1%, and crime, law and order 27%, down an astonishing 10%.  The attention to divisive issues such as the Treaty of Waitangi and the Māori Housing Authority by the Government's coalition parties would appear not to have helped goverment's image. 

It's a long way to go to the next election, time enough for Luxon to improve his image as a leader and for National's policies to show results. It's time also when both Labour and the Greens can improve their images and offer the country a genuinely different set of policies to those being pursued by Government.

If National were to move to the right, influenced by its coalition parties or remain a centre-right-party, and Labour were to move to the left instead of adopting its curent middle of the road position, the country would have a real choice at the next election.

-- ACW



Sunday 28 January 2024

pn920. Fiji's Coalition Government Looks Very Fragile

Lydia and Sitiveni. 
The largest party in Fiji's Parliament is Oppositon party Fiji First, the party of former PM Voqere Bainimarama and former Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum.  

Government is made up of a coalition of three parties, the largely i'Taukei (ethnic Fijian)-supported People's Alliance (PAP), the National Federation Party (NFP)  supported by many Indo-Fijians, and a rump taukei-nationalist SODELPA party. 

At the last 2022 election PAP and the FPF party needed the three SODELPA MPs to form the government and for a while it looked the three were not unaminous about joining the Coalition.  There was one dissenting MP, probably Aseri Radrodro who has been very much in the news lately, mainly because of his sordid affair, "brutal sex and sharing drugs, with Lynda Tabuya while on an official government visit to Sydney. Aseli's wife was a few rooms down the hotel corridor while the two entangled.   

Lynda, a former Hibiscus Queen, now 52, divorced with six children, is the Deputy Leader of the Coalition and Minister of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation. Aseli was Minister of Education until he was sacked a few days ago for "disobedience"on a matter unrelated to his dalliance  by PM Sitiveni Rabuka. 

SODELPA insists he be reinstated and Rabuka says he may be reinstated "sometime." Whether this will satisfy SODELPA is as yet unknown. They could accept it or shift their support to Fiji First bringing down the government.   The Fiji Government looks very fragile.

Another incident adding to the fragility is the dismisal of Assistant Deputy of Public Prosecutions British-born and long Fiji resident Elizabeth Rice  by the acting Director of Public Prosecutions, illegally appointed John Rakuka, because she is "white". He is supported by Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, who want  an i'Taukei as Assistant DPP. 

Ms Rice is taking the matter  to court for wrongful dismissal. What makes this situation even more serious is that Ms Rice was about to prosecute Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum for misconduct and her replacement is far less likely  to win the case which would be a victory for Fiji First and yet another display of the Coalition government's instability.

How long this can go on is unclear but at this stage the signs are that the Coalition could well lose the next election.

Note: The sex and drug story has been poorly reported by the Fiji media but has been well covered in social media's Victor Lal's Fijileaks and Graham Davis's Grubsheet.   Check them out if you want the nitty-gritty.

Earlier signs of instability. https://bowergroupasia.com/fijis-political-situation-remains-fragile-almost-six-months-into-new-government/

-ACW


pn919. Understanding Fijians

 Fijian language and culture: from Ronald Getty: Fijian-English Dictionary, 2009.

From his introduction (my emphases) :

Fijian conversation is very sensitive as to who is talking to whom. Relationships of regions, tribes, clans, extended families and nuclear families are all relevant but usually invisible to outsiders. There are privileges, courtesies and taboos that depend on those relationships. Some people may not speak with certain others, brothers and sisters for example or in some cases, children and a parent. Virtually everyone is related to everyone in some way that determines the conditions of mutual speech. Formal Fijian speech has an overload of verbiage with protocol and politesse. It may border on a mannered preciosity that can be quite boring.

Still today, though, Fijian patterns of thinking and feeling are very different from anything foreigners might expect. Fijian culture and social interconnections are difficult if not impossible for an outsider to penetrate. Fijian openness is never as open as it would seem. Questioning a Fijian on any sensitive issue is rather like peeling an onion. Layers are removed but nothing much is revealed at the inside.

Fijians usually pretend their thoughts and feelings are congruent with those of a stranger or a foreigner. They avoid disclosing potential discord of their different motivation, different social aims, very different manners and private behaviour. And some can be masters at hiding their self-interest. The Fijian smile presents a disarming front. The smile serves to charm, disarm, and put the visitor at ease. Sometimes it is a mask for dissimulation and manipulation. More often perhaps, it may be genuine, especially in the case of children.

A Fijian individual living in a traditional Fijian context exists within a social system that is much more structured than a European usually experiences. Within Fiji, the system leaves little room for an individual to act independently of the group. At the same time, for the individual, that system can be helpful and supportive emotionally. Emphasis is on human relationships, extended family, and clan, and to a lesser extent, the tribe and territory, and quite importantly, their church with their own Fijian versions of Christianity. But these social involvements and committments can be preoccupations that limit an individual’s development as an individual and dissipate the personal resources. Social demands can exact enormous amounts of time, effort, energy, even money, food and other consumables.

Commoners have been restrained by their elders and by their chiefs who with very few exceptions, have little education, and all too often, are marked by self-interest. Young people are discouraged from expressing opinions or openly asserting themselves as individuals. Still now, Fijians hardly dare “talk up” directly. Many men, especially, have been very considerably repressed. From early childhood all Fijians are taught severely not to ask questions and not to speak their minds. It is understandable that Fijians might become secretive about their own feelings and thoughts. They have had so little personal privacy.

It is not easy to understand Fijians and the common fallacy of foreigners is to think they do.

pn918. Links to articles about the Kingitanga Hui

 

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/21/john-campbell-i-saw-peace-joy-and-10000-people-uniting-to-say-no/

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/20/be-maori-kiingi-tuuheitia-gives-closing-speech-at-national-hui/

https://thestandard.org.nz/which-side-are-you-on-2/


Friday 19 January 2024

pn916. Leaked ministry doc warns Bill could break spirit and text of Treaty


The Tino Rangatiratanga flag, also known as the national Māori flag,
is used to represent the Māori people of New Zealand. In 2009, the Tino Rangatiratanga flag
 was selected as the national Māori flag after a nationwide consultation. It was first revealed
 on Waitangi Day in 1990.
 Wikipedia
NZ News Māori affairs correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui reports a proposed Government Bill which, if passed, could break the spirit and text of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Note: In  signing the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori chiefs ceded kāwanatanga (sovereignty) to the Crown but not rangatiratanga.

Kāwanatanga derived from the English word "governor". Kāwanatanga was first used in the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835.[1] Kāwanatanga reappeared in 1840 in Article 1 of the Treaty of Waitangi, where the Māori text "te Kawanatanga katoa" corresponds to the English text "all the rights and powers of Sovereignty".
Rangatiratanga
chieftainship, right to exercise authority, chiefly autonomy, chiefly authority, ownership, leadership of a social group, domain of the rangatra, .
  1. the right of Maori people to rule themselves; self-determination.
    "the constitution reaffirms the principle of rangatiratanga"

Further reading

Thursday 18 January 2024

pn915. The dramatic exodus of brown women from parliament

.

Elizabeth Kerekere, Golriz Gharahman
and Kiri Allan
 (Design: Archi Banal) 

The Spinoff Daily, Wednesday January 17.

By Madeleine Chapman


Elizabeth Kerekere, Golriz Gharahman and Kiri Allan have all left politics in dramatic fashion in the past 12 months.


If your workplace isn’t designed for you to succeed, you won’t. And parliament is no friend to women or people of colour.

There are some jobs that only particular people can do, or at least do well. It takes a certain patience and temperament to be a good teacher. You can’t be a surgeon with nervous jitters. And unfortunately for those with poor eyesight, flying planes is out of the picture. But in a capitalist world it’s understood that everyone who can, should work, and therefore everyone should be equally able to do most jobs.

But that’s just not true.

Wednesday 17 January 2024

pn914. A useful summing up of the Fiji political scene

 East Asia Forum, ANU      -     17 Jan 2024


Fiji’s tenuous grip on political stability

Author: William Waqavakatoga, University of Adelaide


After its December 2022 election, Fiji got a new prime minister for the first time in more than 15 years. A new government was formed with Sitiveni Rabuka, leader of the People’s Alliance party, replacing Frank Bainimarama of the FijiFirst party. One democratically elected former coup leader was swapped out for another.

The key challenge for the Rabuka government has been to hold together an effective coalition. The coalition has held despite tensions and on 1 January 2024, the Rabuka government exceeded the longest term of any Fijian government that came into office through a peaceful transfer of power.

The government’s suspension of a number of senior officials and public remarks about constitutional changes prompted the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) to raise concerns less than one month after the government was sworn in. RFMF Commander Major General Jone Kalouniwai cited the ‘guardian’ role of Fiji’s military — a vague and controversial section of the military-driven 2013 constitution that charges the RFMF with responsibility for the ‘well-being’ of Fiji and its people.

The dramatic parliamentary exit of Bainimarama and his former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, followed by several resignations by FijiFirst members of parliament in early 2023, set the political scene alight.

Notable changes by the Rabuka government included the repeal of the controversial Media Industry Development Act and the iTaukei Land Trust (Budget Amendment) Act (known as ‘Bill 17’), new appointments of permanent secretaries and to statutory boards, the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the reinstatement of the Great Council of Chiefs. The evolution of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the involvement of the revived Great Council of Chiefs in politics will be of particular interest in 2024 given FijiFirst’s opposition to these measures.

The highlight of 2023 was the acquittal of Bainimarama and suspended police commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho on charges that they interfered with the investigation of a corruption complaint filed by the University of the South Pacific in 2020. This may have triggered what Rabuka described as his intention to replace Attorney-General Siromi Turaga with Minister for Lands and Mineral Resources Filimoni Vosarogo.

The plan was thwarted after the Fiji Law Society informed Rabuka that Vosarogo was disqualified from holding the office of attorney-general because of an adverse disciplinary finding during his time as a practising lawyer. The RFMF also weighed in on the proposed appointment, possibly foreshadowing future military involvement in government decisions.

Sayed-Khaiyum was also charged with abuse of office but the case was delayed due to his medical travel abroad. Sayed-Khaiyum resigned as FijiFirst general secretary in December 2023.

The return to Fiji of University of the South Pacific Vice-Chancellor Pal Ahluwalia was another notable event of 2023. In 2021, Ahluwalia had been controversially detained and deported. Also notable was the return of the ashes of academic Brij Lal to Fiji. Bainimarama’s military government had arrested and deported Professor Lal, arguably Fiji’s foremost historian, in 2009 after he criticised the government.

Rabuka, also serving as Minister for Foreign Affairs, facilitated Kiribati’s return to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). His February 2023 meeting with the leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Benny Wenda, contrasted with his predecessor’s stance. Rabuka and Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea have been appointed as special envoys by the Melanesian Spearhead Group to address the West Papua issue with the Indonesian government.

The Rabuka government has recalibrated Fiji’s relationship with China, with a marked shift towards longstanding Western partners. Rabuka stated the AUKUS security pact would ‘not affect the Rarotonga Treaty nor the Non-Proliferation [of Nuclear Weapons] Treaty’. Rabuka reiterated the phrase often used by Pacific leaders — ‘friends to all, enemy to none’ — advocating for the Pacific as a ‘zone of peace’.

The announcement of a planned new Fiji Embassy in Jerusalem appeased the government’s mostly conservative base. Fiji’s vote in October 2023 at the United Nations against a humanitarian truce in Gaza faced strong opposition from Rabuka’s coalition partner the National Federation Party. The RFMF also raised concerns for its potential impact on Fijian soldiers engaged in peacekeeping duties in the Middle East.

The vote underscored Rabuka’s pro-Israel stance. A permit for a ‘Free Palestine’ march in November was denied by Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration Pio Tikoduadua, drawing criticism from his own supporters and from advocacy groups. But successful pressure on Rabuka led Fiji to vote in favour of an immediate humanitarian ceasefire at the United Nations in December 2023.

Rabuka’s professed satisfaction with Japan’s plans to release over one million tons of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean over the coming decades also drew condemnation. Fiji’s parliament had unanimously supported the PIF leaders’ desire to safeguard the Pacific Ocean and preserve its resources.

The government faces future challenges and its performance will be closely scrutinised. If one of the minor parties falls out of favour with the coalition, a motion of no confidence in the prime minister could lead to Rabuka’s downfall.

Rabuka’s decision making appears ad hoc, often catching his own coalition off guard with his announcements. But Rabuka’s unpredictable nature may be linked with his desire to secure a lasting legacy as a politician and statesman.

Tuesday 2 January 2024

pn913. Tributes to the great Australian journalist John Pilger



From his native Australia to the UK and USA, East Timor,  Iraq, Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Israel ....

"Pilger exposed atrocity, war crimes, abuse of power, dispossession, hypocrisy and dirty tricks around the world in a life of fearless truth telling. May he rest in peace." - Quentin Dempster.

In addition to railing against Western foreign policy throughout his career, Pilger was a staunch critic of Australia's treatment of its Indigenous peoples.  

He was also a visible supporter and friend of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who he said had launched a "moral revolution in journalism".

Leading the tributes to Pilger on social media, former ABC journalist Quentin Dempster wrote on X: "John Pilger. Friend of mine, of Julian Assange and of the truth. A sad end to a bad year."

Read The Guardian obituary, details activities across the world 

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/jan/01/john-pilger-obituary

Read Consotium News, tributes by many journalists 

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/01/tributes-pour-in-for-john-pilger/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=e6a0d4b2-edee-498c-897d-7e4f9bdb421a




Sunday 31 December 2023

pn912. New sovereignties and old divisions shaping Pacific politics by Kerryn Baker*


Reconciliation set the scene in 2023 in the Pacific. In January, newly elected Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, also chair of the Pacific Islands Forum at the time, visited Kiribati, seeking to convince the government not to leave the Forum.

After Rabuka officially apologised on behalf of the Forum, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau confirmed that the country would remain. This marked a promising turn after the Pacific’s peak regional body faced turmoil when five Micronesian states moved to exit in early 2021. A press statement from the Kiribati government referred to it as ‘the restoration of unity in the Blue Pacific family’. Yet some cracks in the unity of the Blue Pacific remain, as the events of 2023 suggest.

Despite a conciliatory tone at the 2023 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in the Cook Islands, there was evidence of ongoing divisions. Nauruan President David Adeang walked out when the appointment of the Secretary-General — expected to go to former Nauruan president Baron Waqa — was placed on the agenda for discussion. While other leaders insisted it was not a slight and reiterated their support for Waqa’s appointment, the Nauruan delegation did not return. Waqa was eventually confirmed as Secretary-General, but Nauru’s walkout highlighted enduring tensions in the Forum.

Thursday 28 December 2023

pn911. A Substantial Review of Fiji's Coalition Government by Prof. Vijay Naidu: an Excellent Analyis

Prof. Vijay Naidu
The Coalition Government’s Report Card
 24 December, 2022 to December 23, 2023

Any assessment of how well or how poorly the current Coalition Government has performed in its first full year of ruling Fiji will obviously depend on one’s political standpoint.

The following is my assessment, as a semi-retired academic who supported a change in government, of the Coalition Government’s performance.

For measuring its performance over the last 12 months, Nobel laureate Professor Amritya Sen’s capability approach can be productively used. The yardsticks would include the freedoms enjoyed by citizens, the extent to which choices are available to them, and whether there are enabling environments in the home, in workplaces and in the various other activities in which citizens engage.

I begin with an evaluation of the leadership of the government, followed by decisions relating to academic matters, and then the Prime Minister’s own appraisal of their achievements in the first 100 days of governing the country. My critical comments will be shared at the end.

Monday 18 December 2023

pn910.Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Māori

 

 

This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that Luxon plans to roll back the progress made here over the past 40 years in race relations:

…. They include commitments to review the work of the Waitangi Tribunal; curb the use of Māori in the titles of Crown agencies; dis-establish the Māori Health Authority; repeal the right of councils to establish Māori wards without referendum; repeal the law giving Ngai Tahu two seats on Environment Canterbury; repeal Three Waters, including regional co-governance committees; repeal replacement laws for the RMA, which includes Māori representatives on regional planning committees; remove a Treaty clause from Oranga Tamariki legislation; and a pledge to overturn a recent Court of Appeal decision on the foreshore and seabed.

While moves against the principles of the Treaty are firmly the domain of Act and New Zealand First, most of the other policies listed are National’s.

Oh, and the government is also trying to ensure that schoolteachers don’t get paid for upskilling themselves in te reo. None of the items on the expanding anti-Maori hitlist were dropped in out of the sky. Most of them were the culmination of decades of hard work carried out in good faith by able representatives of Maori and the Crown. With breath-taking arrogance, Luxon and his pals are planning to erase those decades of progress, with a stroke of the pen.

Wednesday 13 December 2023

pn907. Prof. Richard Shaw on treating people equally: Equal treatment, unequal outcomes

 

Richard Shaw

Opinion: We don’t all start out in life from the same place, writes Richard Shaw, and that is why treating people equally can mean unequal outcomes.

Following the formation of the National-ACT-New Zealand First government, there has been a good deal of noise about the importance of treating everyone the same.

Taranaki, confiscated land

This sort of thing happens periodically in a country which is generally pretty poor at recognising just how often people are not treated equally.

In fact, depending on whether or not they meet certain eligibility criteria, we treat people differently all the time. It’s a banal fact of life.

People over the age of 65 receive publicly funded superannuation; those yet to reach that age do not. Tertiary students are able to access interest free loans (to fund their study) that aren’t available to other people. People holding mortgages on investment properties will shortly be able to get tax relief that other types of mortgage holders aren’t eligible for.

A less banal example: Professor Lisa Marriott’s research shows than someone convicted of tax evasion is much less likely to receive a custodial sentence than a person who commits welfare fraud, even though the monetary value of their misdemeanours is often vastly greater.

For some reason, however, it is different treatment on the basis of ethnicity that fires some people up - especially when it comes to Māori.

So it’s important to remind ourselves that, historically, Māori have often been treated differently – and almost always to their detriment.

Saturday 2 December 2023

pn906. Marhall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati less than two metres above sea level, the height of our new Prime Minister


Christopher Luxon is nearly two metres tall.
Christopher Luxon is nearly two
metres tall.
 
Commenting at the COP28 (UN climate change summit) meeting in Dubai, on the new National government's plans to allow new marine oil and exploration,  Palau President Surangei Whipps spoke of NZ and the challenges facing Pacific islands countries:

“As a Pacific island country. I believe that New Zealand should understand better than any other country. 

"We have Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, all their islands are less than two metres above water.

“I mean, if you’re a Pacific island nation, and you don’t understand that, I don’t know, I don’t know how, what else we can say. It’s just tragic to be hearing these kinds of actions by the New Zealand government.

Tuesday 28 November 2023

pn905. Gordon Campbell's excellent summary of new government's policies.

 


Want to know what it's policies are on employment, taxes, poverty, Māori, housing, farming, transport.................A detailed Must Read. Click here.


Saturday 25 November 2023

pn904. The empty table. Winston Peters, Chris Luxon and David Seymour. Look at them.


Pieces from John Campbell's article. Click here.

“The government you elect is the government you deserve,” said Thomas Jefferson. And this is the government we elected.

I keep returning to that photo they posted, the first time they all met together.

It was art imitating life. Everything in that photo is empty. The room. The walls. The table. The glasses (which are still upturned because Winston hasn’t yet given Chris and David permission to use them). And the men, too, as it turned out. Empty of ideas.

Dreams? Not really.

  • In the New Zealand First agreement, some .. is listed under the heading “Equal Citizenship”, which seems outrageous in a country in which Māori die an average of seven years younger than non-Māori, experience persistent inequities in health, are more likely to leave school with low or no qualifications, and are over-represented in the criminal justice system to such a great extent that they make up 52 percent of the prison population.

There is a kind of re-colonising here. The net effect seems deeply regressive. “I’m really proud of the negotiations,” Chris Luxon said on Thursday afternoon. But is he proud of this? Really?

  • Child poverty not a priority

Aspiration? Not for the poor. There are no poverty reduction targets (or discussion of them) in either agreement. ... Nothing in the coalition agreements suggests the plight of children in poverty is even seen.

  • It may be that today’s most substantive announcements about responding to poverty come in the form of punishing the criminality that’s disproportionately likely to arise from profound childhood disadvantage. “Three strikes will be back”, David Seymour said. “Prison capacity for adult and youth offenders will be expanded.”

https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/11/25/john-campbell-i-hoped-to-be-surprised-actually-im-amazed/


--ACW

Friday 24 November 2023

pn903. The National, ACT and NZ First government and Māori


The new government will support a Treaty Principles Bill based on existing ACT policy through to select committee.

Race relations in Aotearoa loomed large during the election campaign, with the Treaty of Waitangi and co-governance hot topics.

That is reflected in the agreements that were signed today, with the parties deciding to pull back on a number of policies relating to Māori introduced by the Labour government.

Co-governance in the delivery of public services will go under the new government.

Developments in te ao Māori will include:

Wednesday 22 November 2023

pn902. ‘We and us': Pacific Games battle begins as opening ceremony lights up Honiara

 

‘We and us': Pacific Games battle begins as opening ceremony lights up Honiara

10:46 am on 20 November 2023 
Cultural performers strutting their stuff at the opening ceremony of the 17th Pacific Games in Solomon Islands.

Cultural performers strutting their stuff at the opening ceremony of the 17th Pacific Games in Solomon Islands. Photo: RNZ Pacific / Junior Maealasia

The Pacific turned up on Sunday night at the newly built National Stadium in Honiara as the 2023 Pacific Games was officially opened in a ceremony befitting the region's premier sports event.

With the theme of 'Iumi Na Iumi' meaning 'We and Us,' the opening ceremony, witnessed by 10,000 fans who packed the stadium and hundreds and thousands who watched the televised coverage around the Pacific and more across the globe on social media platforms, was a splendid welcome that lifted the spirits of everyone watching.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare welcomed one and all, thanked those who had financially supported the preparations and declared the Games open as contingents from across the Pacific Oceans celebrated.

The Solomons put up a display that exemplified the diverse cultures of the nation and signalled the country was happy to be hosting over 5,000 athletes and officials from across the 24 countries participating.

"Tonight, we take the first step in telling our story to the whole world," Sogavare said.

Read on:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/502815/we-and-us-pacific-games-battle-begins-as-opening-ceremony-lights-up-honiara

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/502842/people-are-struggling-tikopia-continues-to-suffer-post-lola

Tuesday 21 November 2023

pn901. Professor Rajesh Chandra passes away


Professor Rajesh Chandra [Source: Fiji Government/Facebook]

This is a terrible and most unexpected loss. I taught Rajesh and Dharma in a Geography class in 1974 or thereabouts. Rajesh  made major contributions to the University of Fiji and USP. Over the years I have valued his advice and friendship. My love to Dharma, Ronil and Bhavna.  Croz Walsh

Sabha mourns loss of Professor Chandra

By Ritika Pretap, FBC

Fiji and The University of Fiji are mourning the loss of Professor Rajesh Chandra.

Professor Chandra, who served as the Foundation Vice-Chancellor of UniFiji, passed away on Thursday night after a period of ill-health.

The Sabha and UniFiji hold the late Professor in high regard, recognizing his crucial role as he assumed the Vice-Chancellor position during a critical period in the university’s history.

He played a key role in establishing a solid foundation for Fiji’s first people’s university, founded in 2005.

After three years as the VC at UniFiji, Professor Chandra experienced a turning point in his professional life when he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of The University of the South Pacific.

Professor Chandra leaves a lasting professional legacy in local, regional, and international academia.

The Sabha and UniFiji express that Professor Chandra will be remembered with high esteem by his kin and kith.

Both organizations extend their heartfelt condolences to Dr. Dharma Chandra and the grieving family.

-----------------

Friday 17 November 2023

pn900. Luxon’s embarrassing coalition negotiations by Bryce Edwards

 



Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is now being openly mocked and ridiculed by political commentators for his failure to achieve a coalition government. There are certainly signs that Luxon hasn’t managed the process well, and raising questions about competency at this early stage is a poor start to government.

The most savage criticism of Luxon is coming from the political right. Today rightwing political commentator and former National Beehive staffer Matthew Hooton has a scathing column in the Herald giving his account, obviously based on insider leaks, of how the negotiations have unfolded. Hooton paints a picture of National’s negotiations as a failure, caused by Luxon’s arrogance and hubris.

Hooton records Luxon’s criticisms immediately after the election of how previous Prime Ministers have conducted coalition negotiations and his claims that “I’ve done a lot of mergers and acquisitions”. With the exception of the Air New Zealand-Virgin alliance that broke up when he was chief executive, there is little evidence of any other mergers Luxon worked on in his business career.

Despite boasting of his business experience and relationship-building skills, Hooton says the National leader has astounded those involved in the negotiations by his cackhandedness.

After apparently not achieving much of the promised progress in the three-week period before final results came in, Hooton reports that the presumptive PM then entered talks without bothering to take his coalition partners seriously. Hooton reports, “Act, NZ First and National insiders say Luxon is a talker rather than a listener. He never asked how Act or NZ First thought negotiations should proceed, or what they wanted from them.”

Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan has also criticised Luxon’s management of the negotiations, pointing out on Monday that only the 1996 MMP coalition negotiations have taken longer: “That’s embarrassing for Chris Luxon. Because he’s the guy who’s talked up his negotiating skills, given he’s done a lot of mergers and acquisitions. And he’s the guy who set the deadline of wrapping this up in time for him to go to APEC.”

Why is this important? First impressions matter, and du Plessis-Allan suggests that Luxon and National’s reputation is suffering: “The start of a Government is a really important period. It sets up voters’ expectations for the first term, that's why Governments often write up 100 day plans. Because they want to create a sense of urgency and give the impression they’re changing things fast. Literally the opposite of that is happening right now. There is no sense of urgency, nothing's changing fast, there's no momentum.”

Why the rush? Danyl McLauchlan explains today in the Listener that Luxon “promised to introduce a mini-Budget by Christmas and he’s running out of runway to get that done. They want their ministerial offices staffed and running but they can’t hire anyone because they don’t know who has what portfolio. They’re wasting crucial time.”

McLauchlan says the speed of the negotiations “will be driving Luxon wild with frustration” but Winston Peters will be entirely comfortable: “For Peters these negotiations - the tactics, the games, the stalling, the triumphs - are the quintessence of politics.”

He also points out that, although Peters cannot leverage the threat of supporting Labour instead, “he’s demonstrating his power over his larger coalition partners, making them come to him. He is the most important person in the country, the absolute centre of attention. And he will go on like this: he always does.”

Luxon has, according to commentators, failed to grasp the power that NZ First and Act have in the negotiations. He has assumed they are captive negotiators who will essentially have to agree to whatever he offers them. Hence there have been reports of low-ball offers that both Act and NZ First have been dismissive of, if not offended by.

Seymour and Peters have outmanoeuvred Luxon, not only because they have shown they are willing to work together, but because Luxon has failed to realise that the minor parties can walk away from the negotiations, causing a new election or forcing National to form a minority government that would be even more reliant on them.

As Hooton points out today, the pressure is on Luxon to produce a deal: “It is he who must close a deal before Christmas or there will be new elections. Seymour and Peters can quite happily walk away, leaving Luxon to form a minority Government that would need to win their agreement issue-by-issue. If anything, Seymour and Peters would be more powerful if not limited by a coalition agreement and the decaying but still burdensome rules of Cabinet confidentiality and collective responsibility. Seymour and Peters understood this all along. Luxon needs them if his Government is not to be a complete circus, with the clown show of the past five weeks being repeated whenever it wants to do anything contentious. Seymour and Peters don’t need him at all.”

Does this suggest Luxon will prove to be a weak prime minister? Leftwing political commentator Chris Trotter thinks so, arguing that Luxon’s poor negotiating skills only illustrates how little power he has, and essentially Luxon now looks like “an inexperienced numpty”.

Writing for Newstalk ZB today, Trotter suggests Luxon has overplayed his hand: “Placing insultingly meagre first-offers before such men might be survivable if Luxon had come to the table, as Key did in 2008, with 45 per cent of the party vote. Turning up with this election’s 38 per cent is nowhere near so impressive.”

Trotter argues the troubled negotiations should remind the public just how poorly Luxon has performed since becoming National leader, especially compared to the likes of his mentor John Key. On becoming leader Key made audacious raids into Labour constituency and ideologies by first visiting poor parts of Auckland and then helping Sue Bradford get her “anti-smacking bill” passed.

Luxon’s record is derisory by comparison, and in his first big test all that he has achieved is the own-goal of uniting David Seymour and Winston Peters in a negotiating bloc against him. And Trotter agrees that they now hold the winning cards, and Luxon is under pressure to capitulate: “What Luxon and his colleagues have seemingly failed to appreciate is that all the pressure is on them. As the largest party, they come, not with all the cards in their hands, but with a very large clock ticking loudly in their ears. Covid and a cost-of-living crisis have made New Zealanders ill-tempered and impatient. In the minds of many, the wait for a new government has already gone well over time”.

It’s now five weeks since the election. But there is talk today of an agreement being reached, perhaps on Sunday. But it could take much longer – especially if the three parties take the offers back to their respective parties and fail to get their immediate sign-off. We already know that the big policy sticking points have been over tax and a referendum on the Treaty. These will be the big issues to watch out for, to see who has compromised.

Hooton says today that if the minor parties aren’t happy with what Luxon offers on tax and the Treaty, they will be happy to have another election and campaign on those issues – which is likely to only make them more popular.

Then there are the portfolios and baubles. All parties deny these are big issues, but they always are crucial to the minor parties. And they might prove to be a big headache for Luxon. Who does he give Deputy PM to? And Peters is rumoured to have demanded the role of Attorney General, in charge of his old foes the Serious Fraud Office.

Such dilemmas would tax even the best negotiators. And in Luxon’s case, it might well defeat him.


Dr Bryce Edwards is the Political Analyst in Residence at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the director of the Democracy Project.