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newsletter #40 for Monday, August 21st, 2023

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Plants are now another vehicle to implement co-governance

Indigenous Biodiversity is part of the new Resource Management Act. It calls for co-governance arrangements between local governments and tangata whenua to identify and manage “Significant Natural Areas”. NZ First and ACT have pledged to scrap the NPSIB (National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity 2023).

Isn’t Auckland now a “grown up” city that can lose the “transport training wheels” imposed by the Beehive?

Auckland Transport is a Council controlled organisation meant to operate at arm’s length from Council. Because of this, the Council has relatively little control over how decisions are made. The Beehive gets overly involved in Auckland Transport and may ignore what Council may actually want or need. It’s abnormal for cities’ transportation policies to be so politicised by democratic central governments.

NZ First courts the anti-mandate vote

NZ First under Winston Peters emerges as a staunch anti-mandate group and commits to hold a thorough COVID inquiry. Polling showing NZ First could get back into Parliament suggests the so-called Freedom vote is bigger than many realised. The refusal of other politicians to engage this demographic has opened the door for NZ First to walk through.

The mission of the Centrist and NZ News Essentials

A free news service focussing on things that matter when it comes time to vote in New Zealand. News in NZ is often a sales job of one side of a contested narrative. Our aim is to expose the various games and make sure both sides get airplay. Like the acorn that grows into the mighty oak tree, we intend to grow into a news source with the reach of the current big players. We will distil the deluge down to a manageable volume. Does it serve anyone to have 400 articles on Jacinda Ardern resigning?

Are the youth abandoning Labour?

Recent polls reveal, surprisingly, that young Kiwis are leaning more towards National than Labour. That hasn’t stopped the Government passing a bill lowering the local election voting age to 16 under urgency. Doesn’t the convenient reasoning for lowering the voting age apply to a lot of other things?

Folic acid mandated for non-organic flour

Starting August 2023, non-organic wheat flour gets folic acid added. Minister Ayesha Verrall’s 2021 policy announcement aimed to reduce birth defects through folic acid fortification. Opponents argue synthetic folic acid used for fortification is not the same as naturally occurring folates and may cause health problems. This is another central government choice being made for the people.

I can give you a six-word formula for success:

Think things through, then follow through.

-Edward Rickenbacker

NZ News Essentials Ltd.

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