New Zealand political discussion thread

[Libertas Vel Mors]

This is very bad news.
New Zealand mental health crisis has worsened under Labour
The government has legitimately tried here, with a big focus on 'wellbeing' and more funding for the mental health system, but it just hasn't been enough. At least suicide rates didn't go up last year, though 2019 was the worst year.

Labour also campaigned heavily in 2017 on reducing child poverty, and fortunately the recent news is better there.
All measures of child poverty trending downwards
The previous data didn't show this, so when I saw it a while ago I was pleasantly surprised. This is pre-Covid data, unfortunately the situation is likely worse now (though our economy has held up very well given the global circumstances). Labour's early Families Package and changes to welfare benefits are the likely cause of this change. However even now, most of the government's working group's own recommendations to increase welfare benefits have not been enacted, so that is disappointing.

In the absence of any changes in governmental policy that would be responsible, why make the assumption that mental health has anything to do with politics in the first place? And why make the assumption that government has either the ability or responsibility to interfere in that field in the first place?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

I admittedly don't know too much about New Zealand politics, but this David Seymour guy doesn't sound like he should be taken seriously.

Lol, he's right. New Zealand is 17% Maori and 72% White. It's not a Polynesian country any more than Australia is, or Canada or the US are Native American countries. Should we rename France France-Faransa (Arabic name for France) because 13% of the population is Muslim? Hell, almost as many (15%) New Zealanders are Asian as Maori -- should we make Xīnxīlán (Mandarin) another official name for the country, for the purpose of representation? And even if it was a Polynesian country, why would that make a renaming the right thing to do?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

I admittedly don't know too much about New Zealand politics, but this David Seymour guy doesn't sound like he should be taken seriously.

Lol, he's right. New Zealand is 17% Maori and 72% White. It's not a Polynesian country any more than Australia is, or Canada or the US are Native American countries. Should we rename France France-Faransa (Arabic name for France) because 13% of the population is Muslim? Hell, almost as many (15%) New Zealanders are Asian as Maori -- should we make Xīnxīlán (Mandarin) another official name for the country, for the purpose of representation? And even if it was a Polynesian country, why would that make a renaming the right thing to do?

I don’t think France was founded by a treaty between Arabs who already lived there and settlers from away.

It was founded by Romans making a treaty with Franks. Should we rename France France-Francia then, for a better analogy?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

I admittedly don't know too much about New Zealand politics, but this David Seymour guy doesn't sound like he should be taken seriously.

Lol, he's right. New Zealand is 17% Maori and 72% White. It's not a Polynesian country any more than Australia is, or Canada or the US are Native American countries. Should we rename France France-Faransa (Arabic name for France) because 13% of the population is Muslim? Hell, almost as many (15%) New Zealanders are Asian as Maori -- should we make Xīnxīlán (Mandarin) another official name for the country, for the purpose of representation? And even if it was a Polynesian country, why would that make a renaming the right thing to do?

I don’t think France was founded by a treaty between Arabs who already lived there and settlers from away.

It was founded by Romans making a treaty with Franks. Should we rename France France-Francia then, for a better analogy?

Do I even have to explain why this comparison is wrong?

If you're going to say that Franks are described by France, but Maori not by New Zealand, then I resoundingly reject that comparison.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

I admittedly don't know too much about New Zealand politics, but this David Seymour guy doesn't sound like he should be taken seriously.

Lol, he's right. New Zealand is 17% Maori and 72% White. It's not a Polynesian country any more than Australia is, or Canada or the US are Native American countries. Should we rename France France-Faransa (Arabic name for France) because 13% of the population is Muslim? Hell, almost as many (15%) New Zealanders are Asian as Maori -- should we make Xīnxīlán (Mandarin) another official name for the country, for the purpose of representation? And even if it was a Polynesian country, why would that make a renaming the right thing to do?

I don’t think France was founded by a treaty between Arabs who already lived there and settlers from away.

It was founded by Romans making a treaty with Franks. Should we rename France France-Francia then, for a better analogy?

Do I even have to explain why this comparison is wrong?

If you're going to say that Franks are described by France, but Maori not by New Zealand, then I resoundingly reject that comparison.

Franks are extinct since centuries, Maoris are not.

Okay. Brazil still has many extant indigenous minorities. Should we rename Brazil after one of those indigenous groups, or give it multiple names, one to represent every group, to represent that?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

If you set a criterion of Treaty + Significant Minority, half the world would have to change their names. Counting the 14th Amendment/Reconstruction legislation as a treaty, should we rename the United States to be the United States/New Africa? Should we rename Morocco to better represent the Berbers? Algeria? Mauritania?

[Libertas Vel Mors]

What's wrong with keeping everyone in lockdown until herd immunity is reached through vaccination? Ardern has all the power here. F the economy, I care about human lives, dammit!

The economy affects human lives.