Gordon Campbell on ministerial transparency, presidential lies (and Bob Dylan)
Minister gets inadequate advice from departmental officials, gets caught out. That’s embarrassing, but hardly of lasting impact…
Immigration
Gordon Campbell on why deportation decisions should be transparent
Kicking the problematic cases upstairs for the Minister to operate as some kind of ‘last chance saloon’ is to turn the deportation decision into a lottery.
Gordon Campbell on why we shouldn’t buy into NZF’s pledge list of values
Signing a compulsory pledge to respect an arbitrary list of “values” is nothing other than neo-colonial bullying.
Gordon Campbell on racial profiling at Immigration New Zealand
So Immigration New Zealand has been using racial profiling to guide its decisions on which kinds of immigrants it should deport. Oh sure, they’re saying […]
Gordon Campbell on the fake scare about international students
Shock horror. International students pay fees, spend money, work part-time and pay tax in the NZ economy, and ultimately some of them stay on!
Gordon Campbell on the politics of fear and neglect
This week, National leader Bill English is claiming that farmers could face a $50,000 cost increase from Labour’s water tax plans. Another phantom fear.
Gordon Campbell on our refugee intake, and Uber’s woes
On figures released this week, there are currently 65.6 million people worldwide who have been displaced from their homes by war, famine or other external […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s anti-immigration gambit, and Israel
Evidently, Labour wants to branded itself with swing voters as an anti-immigration party making concerned noises about the festering irritations of living and working in Auckland.
Gordon Campbell on the government’s (lack of a) response to Trump
It is unfortunate, but hardly a surprise that Bill English and his Cabinet colleagues should have been left gormlessly uncertain about the impact of the […]
Gordon Campbell on NZ as an escape hatch for US survivalists
Nice to see that former Internal Affairs Minister Nathan Guy has regained his memory about signing off on Peter Thiel’s bid for citizenship.
Gordon Campbell on Havelock North’s water issues, and extreme vetting
Having belatedly advised Havelock North about the pollution of their water supply, local authorities seem to prematurely see light at the end of the tunnel
Gordon Campbell on the rise of the far right, and battle bots
In his victory speech at the Cannes film festival this week, the British film director Ken Loach warned that the rise of far right parties […]
Gordon Campbell on having an extradition treaty with China
Reportedly, an extradition treaty with China is now on the table, although – thankfully – Prime Minister John Key has also indicated that a lot […]
Gordon Campbell on the banning of a leading Iranian film-maker
For the past fortnight, New Zealand has been obsessing on the reputational risk to this country of being seen as a tax haven – despite […]
Gordon Campbell on the SIS crying wolf, the Syrian end game and Max Edwards RIP
In the wake of the Cullen/Reddy review of the security services – and the suggested extension of their powers – it seems healthy to highlight […]
Gordon Campbell on our underfunded Syrian refugee intake, and dairy industry carnage
Once again, our little show pony Prime Minister is prancing around the world offering to take in refugees – from Syria, from Nauru – while […]
Gordon Campbell on the Dotcom extradition decision
Inevitably – and with justification – Kim Dotcom has already lodged an appeal against yesterday’s District Court decision that he is eligible for extradition to […]
Gordon Campbell on the rejection of a Pakistani polio worker
Too bad that the New Zealand Immigration and Protection (hah!) Tribunal don’t know how to use Google. If they did, their bizarre decision to send […]
Gordon Campbell on John Key’s do’s and don’ts list when it comes to detainees
Since Prime Minister John Key plainly has trouble with the leadership thing, maybe we should keep it simple for him. So, here’s a list of […]
Gordon Campbell on the John Key smear attack, Russia’s sports doping and Allen Toussaint
The rationale behind Prime Minister John Key’s smear attack against Labour yesterday (and the subsequent walkout from Parliament) was obvious enough. When you’re in a […]
Gordon Campbell on Australia giving us the flick
Nice bloke, but you wouldn’t want him to run the country. Once again, the failings of John Key on the world stage have been cruelly […]
Gordon Campbell on our apparent inability to stand up to Australia
If you fight your bullies, the TV series Freaks and Geeks suggested, it can be painful at the time… but you earn respect and they […]
Gordon Campbell on the Chris Brown furore
Thank goodness Dame Tariana Turia has been able to inject a bit of common sense into the Chris Brown visa issue – her argument being […]
Gordon Campbell on our response to the Syrian refugee crisis
The full scale of the New Zealand government response to the Syrian refugee crisis – reportedly, the world’s biggest humanitarian challenge since the post-war formation […]
Gordon Campbell on the lack of leadership on refugees
Image: Lyndon Hood – Cartoons: Refugees, Flags and What I Stand For John Key still doesn’t get it. At least he’s now talking about raising […]
Gordon Campbell on Refugees, the Flag and Bo Diddley
There’s a simple statistical reason why New Zealand should increase its refugee intake. Our UN quota has remained static – or fallen slightly – over […]
Gordon Campbell on the government’s response to the refugee crisis in Europe
The government’s refusal to accept an emergency intake of refugees from the hundreds of thousands now pouring into Europe is pretty shameful. This country makes […]
Gordon Campbell on Labour’s pandering to the redneck vote about refugees, and the SIS charm offensive
Labour’s readiness to play “Gotcha” politics over the 27 incidents where refugee status were first granted and then revoked is pretty shameful. According to documents […]
Gordon Campbell on the plight of dairy, anti-Chinese sentiments and Pluto
Where now for dairy farmers? On RNZ this morning, Economic Development Minister Stephen Joyce was portraying the carnage of plunging global dairy prices, declining Fonterra […]
Gordon Campbell on lessons for Labour from the UK election
If the polls were right – and the pollsters kept telling us how accurate they’d been in 2010, and even Nate Silver was getting the […]