NZ Herald | 12 March 2015 The Prime Minister has previously promised to resign if it is proven that the GCSB carries out mass surveillance of New Zealanders. His critics say that the latest Snowden revelations do indeed show that. So, should he resign? John Key’s biggest critic at the moment seems to be international…
The Intercept | 10 March 2015 New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal. The country’s eavesdropping agency, Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, is carrying out the surveillance across the Asia-Pacific region…
BreakingViews and NZCPR | February 24 2015 As decision time looms with the proposal to merge the five Hawke’s Bay councils into one super council based in Napier, a new group has formed in Hastings to fight amalgamation. Hastings Against Amalgamation is holding an initial meeting at the Havelock North Community Centre on Tuesday, February 24…
The Intercept | 4 March 2015 New Zealand’s electronic eavesdropping agency is spying on its neighbors and sharing communications it intercepts in bulk with the National Security Agency through a controversial Internet mass surveillance system, according to newly revealed secret documents. Government Communications Security Bureau, New Zealand’s equivalent of the NSA, has been sweeping up…
Otago Daily Times | 11 Feb 2015 The brutality of Islamic State is nothing more than a mirror to our own deep-seated violence in the region, writes Richard Jackson. The latest atrocity by Islamic State forces in Iraq in which a captured Jordanian pilot was burned to death has provoked an understandable wave of commentary.…
Stuff | 1 March 2015 Secret death panel planned Families of soldiers killed in the line of duty fear the truth behind battlefield deaths could be covered up under controversial laws being considered. The new law is being debated as Kiwi troops prepare to depart for Iraq to join the fight against Islamic State. Under…
NZ Herald | 26 Feb 2015 There’s been widespread sceptism and outrage in response to the Government’s announcement that New Zealand troops will be sent to Iraq. This can be seen most clearly in my aggregation of reactions in two blog posts: Top tweets about the NZ Govt decision to go into Iraq and Cartoons…
NZ Herald | 24 Feb 2015 Prime Minister John Key has launched an angry counter-attack over Labour leader Andrew Little’s opposition to the deployment of troops to Iraq, saying Mr Little needs to “get some guts” and questioning whether he would make the right decisions for New Zealand. Mr Key said Mr Little knew the…
NZCPR | 19 Feb 2015 Noosa, a seaside township of some 30,000 residents on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, was established as a local authority in 1910. In 2008, following the recommendations of the Local Government Reform Commission, it was disestablished by the Queensland Government and amalgamated into a Sunshine Coast Council. A total of 157 councils…
Muriel Newman | NZCPR | 12 Feb 2015 Waitangi Day was an opportunity to reflect on our past and our future. There was a time when we were predominantly a nation of just two cultures – Maori and European. Nowadays New Zealand is a nation of peoples from all over the globe – Maori, European,…