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<channel>
	<title>Last Straw &#187; Aotearoa New Zealand</title>
	<atom:link href="http://last-straw.net/tag/aotearoa-new-zealand/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://last-straw.net</link>
	<description>The weblog of Christiaan Briggs</description>
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			<item>
		<title>Congratulations New Zealand</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/congratulations-new-zealand/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/congratulations-new-zealand/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:08:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Climate change]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Copenhagen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Key]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NZ National Party]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=3311</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[You can rest assured that when your grandchildren ask you what you did when you were warned of man-made climate change you voted into government a bunch of self-centred old men and financiers trying to squeeze every last dollar from their investments in outdated industries who then went to Copenhagen and committed New Zealand to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/congratulations-new-zealand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>‘You are being shagged by a rear parrot’</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/you-are-being-shagged-by-a-rear-parrot/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/you-are-being-shagged-by-a-rear-parrot/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:26:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BBC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Film]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2411</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sirocco the Kakapo, a native parrot of New Zealand, gets frisky. An extract from Stephen Fry’s and Mark Carwardine’s new BBC documentary, Last Chance to See:

(via Frogblog)
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/you-are-being-shagged-by-a-rear-parrot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The best government money can buy</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/the-best-government-money-can-buy/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/the-best-government-money-can-buy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:52:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bribery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Corruption]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2404</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When a government as deeply corrupt as the U.S. retains the label of democracy you really have to wonder if the word still has any meaning.
No Right Turn on how bribery—otherwise known in the U.S. as “campaign contributions”—has turned health care reforms into a fascist money-making venture for private insurance companies.
Bringing this into a New [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/the-best-government-money-can-buy/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Whanganui or Wanganui but why not Whanganui/Wanganui</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/whanganui-or-wanganui-but-why-not-whanganuiwanganui/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/whanganui-or-wanganui-but-why-not-whanganuiwanganui/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:22:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Race]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wanganui]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Whanganui]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2383</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I’m in Aotearoa New Zealand for a couple of weeks and driving about provided me with the great privilege of catching up with the sea of enlightenment that is NZ talkback radio, in this case the lovely Leighton Smith. Flipping through the channels I just had to stop and listen to one of Smith’s callers complaining [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/whanganui-or-wanganui-but-why-not-whanganuiwanganui/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ National/ACT government wants option to commit war crimes</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-wants-option-to-commit-war-crimes/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-wants-option-to-commit-war-crimes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:13:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ACT New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[International relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Morality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NZ National Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War crimes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wayne Mapp]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2376</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on the NZ National/ACT government’s opposition to a new bill that would make it a national criminal offence for any New Zealand political leader to “plan, prepare, initiate or execute an act of aggression” in violation of the UN Charter.
… when Wayne Mapp says he doesn’t want our foreign policy to be subject to [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-wants-option-to-commit-war-crimes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ National/ACT government snouts in the trough</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-snouts-in-the-trough/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-snouts-in-the-trough/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:57:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ACT New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inequality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NZ National Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2372</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on the NZ National/ACT government giving themselves a pay rise during a recession and refusing to justify it.
It’s much the same situation here in the UK. Politicians have a deep sense of entitlement and non-accountability when it comes to raising their income and expenses levels, but are quite happy to spend millions [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-snouts-in-the-trough/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What happens when the hang ‘em high brigade call the shots</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/what-happens-when-the-hang-em-high-brigade-call-the-shots/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/what-happens-when-the-hang-em-high-brigade-call-the-shots/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:05:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2274</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Economist has an interesting story this week illustrating how sex offender laws in the U.S. have run amok and are not only making matters worse but are destroying the lives of many innocent people in the process.
Plonkers with ballots + self-serving polticians = perversion of justice.
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/what-happens-when-the-hang-em-high-brigade-call-the-shots/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Joe Karam</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/joe-karam/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/joe-karam/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:43:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[David Bain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe Karam]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=2007</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Joe Karam, instrumental to David Bain’s not guilty verdict, after 13 years:
Karam [said] he joined the Bain case in 1996, when he “very naively believed all I would do was take my concerns to the authorities who would take over from there. Unbelievably, they didn’t — they thought I was the enemy.”
“What I’ve really been [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/joe-karam/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Shattering the myth of egalitarianism in Australia (and NZ)</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/shattering-the-myth-of-egalitarianism-in-australia-and-nz/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/shattering-the-myth-of-egalitarianism-in-australia-and-nz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Culture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Australia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boris Frankel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Income equality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Age]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Equality Trust]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Spirit Level]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1853</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Boris Frankel in Melbourne’s The Age:
Here is some good news. Just as the Great Depression inspired significant social reforms, so the current “great world recession” is producing a spate of overdue reform proposals. Some of these proposals have emerged in Britain, one of the most unequal societies in the developed world. While Australia ranks as [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/shattering-the-myth-of-egalitarianism-in-australia-and-nz/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>National trying to manufacturer a crisis over ACC</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/national-trying-to-manufacturer-a-crisis-over-acc/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/national-trying-to-manufacturer-a-crisis-over-acc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:51:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free market ideology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NZ National Party]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Privatisation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1678</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s part of the NZ National Party’s DNA to make democratically funded services appear inadequate, so that people lose faith in such services and turn to the private sector.
Once sold to the private sector for a pittance such services can then be used to make profits for their supporters and donors in the private sector.
It’s for [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/national-trying-to-manufacturer-a-crisis-over-acc/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>National continue to gut NZ</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/national-continue-to-gut-nz/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/national-continue-to-gut-nz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:56:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1661</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I see the National Party are kicking their little ideologically driven project of plundering NZ into a higher gear.
This time it’s the privatisation of ACC and prisons.
Thanks again to those who voted National (out of a “mood for change”).
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/national-continue-to-gut-nz/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ National/ACT government: slash and burn</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-slash-and-burn/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-slash-and-burn/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:19:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1615</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[While the rest of the world attempt to stimulate their economies with government spending, the ideologically hamstrung National/ACT government of New Zealand is arbitrarily slashing departmental budgets by 10%.1
No Right Turn:
And it looks like the slash and burn has already begun, with confirmation that the government is planning to slash 500 to 1000 people from the Ministry [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationalact-government-slash-and-burn/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ Parliament passes unbelievably crap copyright law</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-parliament-passes-unbelievably-crap-copyright-law/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-parliament-passes-unbelievably-crap-copyright-law/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:28:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Somehow copyright holders have managed to royally trump all other interests in getting an unbelievably crap copyright law through Parliament; giving New Zealand the most draconian copyright law in the world, which allows people and organisations to be disconnected from the internet simply on the basis of accusations of “copyright infringement.” No courts involved. “Guilt [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-parliament-passes-unbelievably-crap-copyright-law/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Free-market ideology is dead</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/free-market-ideology-is-dead/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/free-market-ideology-is-dead/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:31:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Argentina]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greece]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iceland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Latvia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Naomi Klein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[South Korea]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1599</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Free-market ideology is dead, and none too soon:
The pattern is clear: governments that respond to a crisis created by free-market ideology with an acceleration of that same discredited agenda will not survive to tell the tale.
I just hope the same can be said for New Zealand.
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/free-market-ideology-is-dead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A word of thanks to National and ACT voters</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/a-word-of-thanks-to-national-and-act-voters/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/a-word-of-thanks-to-national-and-act-voters/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:45:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008 NZ Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1424</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just a quick word of thanks to all those National and ACT voters out there in NZ, especially those who were in a “mood for change,” because now you’ve got it. A government of radical right-wingers, many proven untrustworthy in the 80s and 90s, ready to turn New Zealand upside down and shake.
Almost everything I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/a-word-of-thanks-to-national-and-act-voters/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Despisers of Democracy: Jenni McManus</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/despisers-of-democracy-jenni-mcmanus/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/despisers-of-democracy-jenni-mcmanus/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:25:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Despisers of democracy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1353</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is the first in a new series tracking people who find the whole democracy thing inconvenient1 and would rather those pesky citizens just shut the $%!@ up so they can get on with transferring the world’s wealth from the hands of the many into the hands of those who are actually entitled to it, [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/despisers-of-democracy-jenni-mcmanus/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>‘There’s going to be a lot of hurt for a lot of people’</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/theres-going-to-be-a-lot-of-hurt-for-a-lot-of-people/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/theres-going-to-be-a-lot-of-hurt-for-a-lot-of-people/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:14:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008 NZ Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global economics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1334</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Oh New Zealand, what have you done? Roger Douglas on election night fantasising about the mandate he thinks he has:
We have to make some changes and there’s going to be a lot of hurt for a lot of people.
What a cheek, coming from the scoundrel who lied his way into government in the eighties, unleashing an [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/theres-going-to-be-a-lot-of-hurt-for-a-lot-of-people/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>2008 NZ election: garbage in, garbage out</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/2008-nz-election-garbage-in-garbage-out/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/2008-nz-election-garbage-in-garbage-out/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:57:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008 NZ Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1153</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In a representative democracy it’s not democracy’s purpose to produce good government but to produce representative government. While I don’t expect much in the way of democracy from representative democracy1 enough New Zealanders voted against their interests on Saturday to elect into government a multimillionaire merchant banker Prime Minister and his self-interested fat cat accomplices, including some of those [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/2008-nz-election-garbage-in-garbage-out/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>I can vote!</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/i-can-vote/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/i-can-vote/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:58:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I thought I couldn’t vote because I haven’t lived in New Zealand for over three years but I was having a poke around elections.org.nz and, as a citizen, I don’t have to have lived in New Zealand in the past three years but just have passed through.
Can’t believe I nearly missed the chance to vote: you can download [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/i-can-vote/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Please don’t let our democracy slip away NZ</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/please-dont-let-our-democracy-slip-away-nz/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/please-dont-let-our-democracy-slip-away-nz/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008 NZ Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1087</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There are a myriad of reasons I hope you don’t vote National this Saturday, such as their record on selling off the country or their keenness to send Kiwi kids off to get killed in illegal wars to curry favour, but if there’s just one reason it’s this: our democracy.
National wants to take away one [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/please-dont-let-our-democracy-slip-away-nz/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Vote for me</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/vote-for-me/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/vote-for-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:26:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Green Party]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1018</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Nice idea: the NZ Greens have a website for creating your own online billboards: voteforus.co.nz
My favourites: freedom to dance, young girl, native bush, Tuis, lakes, to glide, unspoiled beach, cabbage trees, swimming as kids, romance on the beach, the rope bridge, young lasses, earth, and, my favourite, living in harmony.
(via No Right Turn)
Update: added mine: kayaking down [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/vote-for-me/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Why the Maori seats matter</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/why-the-maori-seats-matter/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/why-the-maori-seats-matter/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:31:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=1013</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on why the Maori seats matter. Quite something.
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/why-the-maori-seats-matter/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>National NZ want to go back to majoritarianism</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/national-nz-want-to-go-back-to-majoritarianism/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/national-nz-want-to-go-back-to-majoritarianism/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:59:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Electoral politics]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=926</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I hear the NZ National Party and the NZ Herald have been fostering the idea that the party with the most votes should lead the government, even, it seems, if that party can’t form a coalition to represent the will of the majority of voters.
Suppose for a minute that we didn’t have two major parties [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/national-nz-want-to-go-back-to-majoritarianism/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ Election: Rodney Hide chasing the redneck vote</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-rodney-hide-chasing-the-redneck-vote/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-rodney-hide-chasing-the-redneck-vote/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:10:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2008 NZ Election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Race]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=823</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on Rodney Hide’s recent comments about the Maori Party and its potential to influence the next government.
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-rodney-hide-chasing-the-redneck-vote/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ election now about trust</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-now-about-trust/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-now-about-trust/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Oct 2008 06:50:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=759</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn:
Espiner agrees that the election is now all about trust, but he characterises it as trust in economic management. I’d characterise it differently. Recessions aren’t about poor macroeconomic statistics, but about people - people who are going to lose their jobs, and need to fall back on the state in their time of need. The [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-election-now-about-trust/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ National’s plans to gut the Resource Management Act</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationals-plans-to-gut-the-resource-management-act/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationals-plans-to-gut-the-resource-management-act/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:41:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=725</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on the NZ National Party’s plans to gut the Resource Management Act, and take NZ back to the Muldoon years:
How would National change this? Firstly, they would amend the definition of “environment” to include only “natural and physical resources” — so existing rights to amenity values such as peace and quiet, clean air, clean water, or [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-nationals-plans-to-gut-the-resource-management-act/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>NZ Government arbitrarily ends Treaty claims</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/nz-government-arbitrarily-ends-treaty-claims/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/nz-government-arbitrarily-ends-treaty-claims/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Sep 2008 07:14:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indigenous rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=569</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No Right Turn on the arbitrary end of all historical Treaty of Waitangi claims.
How can you put an end to seeking redress for breaches of a treaty? It’s an absurd contradiction. Either breaches exist and they need to be investigated and redressed or they don’t exist. Arbitrarily ending the formal process for these investigations to take place [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/nz-government-arbitrarily-ends-treaty-claims/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A glitch in the media matrix</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/a-glitch-in-the-media-matrix/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/a-glitch-in-the-media-matrix/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:37:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Propaganda]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=416</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The NZ Herald has published a remarkable editorial today which offers rare insight into just how well our “free” media system serves to undermine democracy, while the background story offers great insight into how much National Party politicians deplore democracy and how deplorably dishonest they can be in the lead up to an election.
As an aside: the only politicians I [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/a-glitch-in-the-media-matrix/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>A vote for National equals a vote for lower wages</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/a-vote-for-national-equals-a-vote-for-lower-wages/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/a-vote-for-national-equals-a-vote-for-lower-wages/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 08:12:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=377</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Standard points out National’s record on wages (via No Right Turn).
Vote for National to lower your wages people.
]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/a-vote-for-national-equals-a-vote-for-lower-wages/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>New Zealand Police soft on serious crime?</title>
		<link>http://last-straw.net/new-zealand-police-soft-on-serious-crime/</link>
		<comments>http://last-straw.net/new-zealand-police-soft-on-serious-crime/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:49:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Christiaan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aotearoa New Zealand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Human rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://last-straw.net/?p=371</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It appears the New Zealand Police are soft on serious crime. The U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, travels to New Zealand this weekend and I’m ashamed to say she’s able to without a promise from the NZ Police that she will be arrested and charged with war crimes, including torture and the “supreme international crime,” initiating [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://last-straw.net/new-zealand-police-soft-on-serious-crime/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
