New Zealand Listener Issue 15, 2023

Google the words “Māori housing” and the first site that pops up is Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Further down, you’ll find the work of government agencies. What you won’t see is the great work being undertaken across Aotearoa by whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori rōpū and the bespoke housing solutions for Māori by Māori. In many places, when the subject of Māori housing is raised, people automatically default to papakāinga or emergency and social housing. While we celebrate and acknowledge all the amazing mahi that happens in these spaces, we need to change the narrative. At the recent biennial National Māori Housing Conference in Rotorua, speakers from across the motu talked on a range of topics, including the whakapapa of homelessness, Māori off-site manufacturing and Māori-inspired urban design…

I was self-employed for 25 years and sometimes had to deal with workaholics (“Not getting the message”, March 18). After getting too many evening communications, I told my clients that I switched my laptop off (and later my phone to silent) just before the 6pm news. If anything urgent arose after that time, they were very welcome to ring (or text). Nobody ever did. Not once. I also had to work on my own tendencies. Instilling boundaries on your workday, especially if you’re in a high-pressure job or self-employed, can be difficult, but it’s essential if you’re to retain your wellbeing. What’s needed are deliberate techniques to limit work time in these days of carry-everywhere devices. Leaving work devices at work is one of these techniques, or putting them where you won’t…

“Always get married in the morning. That way, if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.” – Mickey Rooney“I’ve known Stuart [Nash] for 10 years or so – he’s not a malicious person, but he’s just unbelievably hapless.”– Act leader David Seymour“The trick is to be grateful when your mood is high and graceful when it is low.” – Richard Carlson“Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.” – Truman Capote“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” – Virginia Woolf“We’re having company over today, so naturally my husband is helping me prepare by looking for the soil-testing kit that he bought over a year ago.”– on Twitter“Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door…

1. Who was Charles Dodgson better known as? ❑ Mark Twain❑ Lewis Carroll❑ George Eliot❑ Saki 2. Ireland national rugby centre Bundee Aki was born where? ❑ Ireland❑ England ❑ Samoa❑ New Zealand 3. Who is the usual current Test captain for the NZ men’s cricket team? ❑ Neil Wagner ❑ Tim Southee❑ Martin Guptill❑ Tom Latham 4. If you were sanguine in the traditional medical system of four humours, what did you have excess off? ❑ Blood ❑ Black bile ❑ Yellow bile ❑ Phlegm 5. Which famous singer’s parents were named Basil and Eva? ❑ Paul McCartney ❑ Mick Jagger ❑ Dolly Parton ❑ Cher 6. Who wrote the Biggles flying ace series? ❑ PG Wodehouse ❑ Captain WE Johns ❑ Jack D Hunter ❑ Frederick E Smith 7. What year did NZ women win the right to vote? ❑ 1861…

Australia’s fast track to acquiring nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and Britain puts a gulf between it and its close security ally, New Zealand. It’s not just because of the cost of the vessels – up to A$368 billion ($395 billion) over the next 30 years – but also because Australia is shifting its decades-long focus on the defence of the mainland to one of projecting lethal force into far-distant waters, the realm of China. All this is occuring with the barest of public debate and a lean case put forward by the Albanese Labor government. The move will further embed Australia with the US military and, by implication, draw it deeper into the US foreign policy web – especially as it relates to the US defence of Taiwan, should Beijing attempt…

The noise at Albert Park, central Auckland, was extraordinary – a cacophony of horns, drums, biscuit tins, loudhailers and voices. Whether it was festive or intimidating depended on which side of the barrier you stood. Outside were the people making the noise, there to drown out the British antitransgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, aka Posie Parker. Inside, outnumbered 20 to one, were the people Keen-Minshull had invited to a public place to hear her ideas, such as they are. Women were the majority in both crowds, but the inside group was notably older. It included antivaxxers, fringe political figures and men who could reasonably be characterised as neo-Nazis, along with people who didn’t seem to be any of those. I worried for them when Keen-Minshull arrived and a few counter-protesters pushed aside the barriers…