The Royal Commission on Social Policy (1986-88) was an initiative of the Fourth Labour government. The Royal Commission was in some ways an attempt to  counter the measures the Government were taking to cut and privatise public services, remove worker protection and subsidies, and to demonstrate that there was good social policy and humane economic […]

This one day conference is presented by the New Zealand Political Studies Association (NZPSA) / Te Kāhui Tātai Tōrangapū o Aotearoa Civics and Citizenship Working Group, to discuss Civics and Citizenship. It is being held the same week as the NZPSA annual conference. Canterbury University’s Bronwyn Hayward has extended an invitation to Public Good newsletter […]

Introduction My name is Jan Rivers. I am a librarian and information management specialist and I have an interest in the public good – meaning issues pertaining to good quality public services and good quality democracy. I live in Wellington. I attended the Institution of Public Administration of NZ (IPANZ) seminar at which Minister Hipkins […]

 Changes to the NZ Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill will undermine women’s rights. Read about the issue below and then if you support the retention of women’s sex-based rights you can countersign the letter to support the supplementary order paper There is an almighty battle going on about the nature of what it […]

Notes related to presentation made on 9 May Thank you for the opportunity to present my submission on the CPTPA. My comments today support my submission. I think that the National Interest Analysis (NIA) is inadequate. The CPTPA NIA does not examine the impacts of risk to a government that decides to take democratic action. […]

Hold the date:  Friday June 22nd and Saturday June 23rd 2018 at St Andrews on the Terrace. In developing the topic for this weekend we have visited the themes around the Winter Soltice, Matariki and the lecture series and subsequent publication  of “The Greening of Christianity” by the Rev. Professor Sir Lloyd Geering. In these […]

Just feeling failed by the NZ Herald and its ability to call out supposed lies with impunity. Here is the correspondence in relation to a recent complaint. Most unsatisfactory but a waste of time to go on or not? Any advice?  The Herald’s responses to my email are in red.  I note that Mike Hosking […]

This seemed like a worthwhile way to spend an hour or so. Will the NZ Herald be willing to correct a completely inaccurate article? ( Not that this kind of response wouldn’t be legitimate on any day of the week for a dozen or more articles with similarly careless and inaccurate reporting – but this […]