Reality Check Media

There’s a new media player in town – Reality Check Radio – and it’s taking on the mainstream (legacy) media. Improvements in online speed and data capacity is presenting a new frontier of citizen broadcasting and threatening the traditional gatekeepers of “truth”.

300 local jobs lost due to tribal infighting

by Frank Newman (this article first appeared in nzcpr.com) 

Chief of War is an action drama set in 18th-century Hawaii. The storyline is about four warring tribes uniting against a much more powerful colonial invader. Presumably, the plot will be along the lines of a heroic chief using super-human qualities to unite the proud and virtuous tribal folk in order to defeat the imperial evil to establish the utopian happily-ever-after Kingdom of Hawaii. It is actually based on some truth in that the Kingdom of Hawaii was formed in the late 18th century. The rest is fiction. The actual history following tribal unification was one of decline until Hawaii was annexed to the United States 100 years later. Needless to say, a sequel is unlikely to feature this aspect of history.  

That aside, Chief of War appears to be a good yarn commercially suited to a woke audience and Harvard University academics.

It has been billed as “the biggest Indigenous series ever made”. There is no question it is a big deal financially, with a production budget of US$340 million for the nine episodes.

Wasted votes

In the 2020 general election, 225,000 votes were cast for minor parties that failed to reach the 5% threshold to gain seats in Parliament. Those votes were in effect wasted. That was 7.8% of the total vote or nine seats of the 120 seats in Parliament.

It is therefore no surprise a great deal of attention is turning to how that wasted vote can be united into a single voting bloc.

Two groups are attempting to do exactly that.

True Lies

 

Is this true or a lie?

A 25-year-old male chess player has disguised himself as a woman to compete in a female open chess tournament. Dressed head to toe in a burka and wearing spectacles, Stanley Ormond registered himself as Millicent Awapouri.

But the daring move was exposed as the organisers got suspicious of the player's success. The president of the chess club, Bernard Walker, said: "We didn't have any suspicion at first, because wearing a hijab is normal…but we became suspicious when he won against very strong players.” 

Northland electorate may decide the next government

With both major political parties running neck-and-neck in the opinion polls, the Northland Electorate may determine who becomes the government on 14 October.  The seat is currently held by Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime, who won it from the then National Party MP Matt King. Although King retained the seat on election night, that was overturned after the counting of the special votes, giving Prime a paper-thin margin of just 163 votes! 

Matt King is again contesting the seat, but this time as the leader of a new party, Democracy NZ. He is up against Shane Jones from NZ First, and National’s Grant McCallum, a farmer from Maungaturoto. 

Response to public survey - WDC rates

Thank you to everyone who participated in our survey about the proposal by the Whangarei District Council to increase rates by 10.9%.  

The survey was promoted by random letterbox drop.

The question asked was: 

The Whangarei District Council is proposing a 10.9% rate increase for the financial year starting 1 July 2023. What do you think is reasonable?

POLL: Whangarei District Council 10.9% rate increase

Printable letterbox flyer - say no to 10.9% rate increase

Copy, paste, print, and distribute to letterboxes in your neighbourhood.

Garrick Tremain cartoon - Lipstick on a pig

Garrick Tremain is one of New Zealand's best-known artists and political cartoonists. He has a wonderful ability to capture in images exactly what people are thinking in a way that makes us laugh. You can see more of his work on his website HERE >>>. 

The Whangarei District Council wants to know what you think about a 10.9% rate increase!

 

The Whangarei District Council is proposing a 10.9% rate increase, and they want to know what you think about it. 

The rate rises would increase the average rates bill by $260 and is likely to cause rents to rise by at least $5 a week. It comes at a time when households are having to cut costs as the living cost crisis deepens. 

The Northern Advocate has the story:

Ratepayers across Northland are facing big rates rises as all four territorial local authorities are planning hikes of between 5.3 per cent and 11.4 per cent as the cost of living crisis deepens.

Northland Regional Council (NRC) is topping the bill, proposing an increase of as much as 11.4 per cent.

Whangārei District Council (WDC) comes next with an up to 10.9 per cent increase. Far North District Council (FNDC) is proposing an 8.63 per cent lift and Kaipara District Council (KDC) 5.34 per cent.

 Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said, 

“I am confident that, if anything, we will be going lower than that 5.34 per cent,”…He said he had campaigned on prudent council management and keeping costs down when he became mayor – as the council and its community headed into the difficult financial times ahead. The council’s draft 5.34 per cent proposed increase was a manifestation of this.”

The other councils in Northland need to follow Kaipara’s lead.