Aotearoa / New Zealand

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/54887137

Sāmoa Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schmidt says Pacific ties with Australia have moved beyond friendship, describing the relationship as one built on family, people and shared opportunities.

“We are no longer friends, we are family now,” Schmidt told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during leaders’ talks in Brisbane on Wednesday.

The meeting brought together Albanese with the prime ministers of Sāmoa, Tonga and Papua New Guinea, as Pacific leaders discussed security, climate change, labour mobility and the role of sports in strengthening regional connections.

...

The talks came as Pacific leaders prepare for further regional discussions including the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Palau next month and climate talks ahead of COP later this year.

Albanese also said Pacific leaders would soon release a joint statement on China’s recent missile test in the region, reinforcing the importance of Pacific countries working together on regional peace and security.

...

Meanwhile, New Zealand will explore joining Australia and Fiji's new defence pact, days after its signing was followed by China firing a nuclear-capable missile into the South Pacific.

The Government of New Zealand announced ... it would engage with both countries "on the possibility of joining" the Ocean of Peace Alliance, with a final decision to be made by Cabinet, followed by the usual process for treaties through Parliament.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon welcomed the alliance, signed by Australian PM Anthony Albanese and his Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka in Suva on Monday ... It is Fiji's first military alliance and Australia's fourth – following the ANZUS Treaty with New Zealand and the US, and a bilateral treaty signed with Papua New Guinea last year.

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Web Archive link

I went to sign up for Club+ cause they said my card would stop working soon. Just as a side, I copy and pasted the terms of service and privacy policy into chat jippity and asked it if anything was strange. Looks like we're allowing them to build up and share/sell a pretty rich profile including license plate data and facial recognition.

Might be worth it to have a read beforevblindly clicking through.

Also, if you play minecraft this site can be useful: https://pooworld.co.nz/

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/54735613

China on Monday test-fired an intercontinental missile from a submarine in the southern Pacific Ocean, the first such launch in two years, drawing immediate criticism from regional powers.

In a statement, the People’s Liberation Army Navy, or PLAN, said a nuclear-powered sub fired a “strategic missile carrying a dummy warhead” just after midday Beijing time. The launch was “not directed at any specific country or target,” and the missile “landed precisely within the designated waters,” the Navy said, without specifying where these were.

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Speaking Monday, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said he was “deeply concerned” by the latest missile test, which he described as “not consistent with regional stability and peace in the South Pacific.”

Regional governments, including New Zealand, were informed of the test shortly before it happened, Mr. Peters said.

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The missile was fired into the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, a region established by the Treaty of Rarotonga, to which China is a partial signatory. Protocol III of the treaty, which Beijing endorsed in 1987, calls on signatories “not to test nuclear explosive devices” within the zone, which stretches from Australia to French Polynesia in the east and New Zealand in the south.

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Speaking in Fiji, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong also criticized the test, saying it risked “destabilizing the region.”

Monday’s launch comes in the wake of a “rapid military build-up by China” that is lacking in “transparency and reassurance as to intent,” Ms. Wong added, and “underscores the imperative of countries of the region to work together to ensure that it is Pacific countries who determine our futures.”

Ms. Wong was in the Pacific island nation to finalize a security pact and mutual defence treaty between Suva and Canberra, part of a strategy by Australia in recent years to reassert itself as a regional security guarantor sparked by concerns over China’s growing influence with Pacific nations.

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Separate to Monday’s missile test, the PLAN also kicked off military exercises with Russia off the coast of Qingdao, in east China’s Shandong Province.

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Web Archive link

Archived

Ballistic missile tests and the presence of the Chinese Navy will become a “persistent” feature in the Pacific as Beijing ramps up its military might, New Zealand officials warned in an internal document obtained by AFP.

“We anticipate that Chinese actions, such as the transit of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) task group through the Tasman Sea in February and China’s firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific in September 2024, will be a persistent feature of our strategic environment,” reads the report, obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

The 15-page document, dated December 2025, was drafted by New Zealand’s Defence Force and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade while Wellington was monitoring a Chinese naval flotilla in the Philippine Sea. It was briefed to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, alongside his ministers of defense, foreign affairs, and intelligence.

“New Zealand officials are in close contact with Australian counterparts and maintain operational oversight of these vessels,” the report notes.

China has poured billions of dollars into its defense sector in recent years, a trend that has unnerved several regional governments.

[...]

Wellington’s anxieties over Chinese military movements had already intensified following the deployment of three Chinese warships to the Tasman Sea, located between Australia and New Zealand, in February 2025.

The vast majority of the report provided to AFP was heavily redacted for privacy, national security, and confidentiality reasons.

In the unredacted sections, officials noted that Beijing’s February 2025 deployment into the Tasman Sea complied with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

[...]

Beijing’s December deployment to the Philippine Sea was “consistent with the incremental expansion of China’s maritime security presence in the South Pacific over the past decade,” the text adds.

“Beijing has deployed a wide range of military vessels to the region, including, but not limited to, hospital ships, large amphibious vessels supporting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, and space event support ships.”

[...]

TIL The Spinoff has a YouTube channel

There's quite a bit of fuckery with the billing. When I take the dollar amount listed as "Total Charges" and divide it by the total kWh listed under "EA Levy" I get $0.27 per kWh. That includes day rate, lines fees, and all the other easy-to-understand charges.

Last thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

cross-posted from: https://no.lastname.nz/post/3327112

This website is adjacent to the area I work in with Manuka Honey.

Looking for investors with this slop.

I'm afraid that local Iwi will be sucked into the grand and outlandish returns that they are claiming for products that dont yet exist

A bite sized action comedy about two secret agents is hoping to be a catalyst to help learners of te reo Māori overcome the barrier of whakamā.

Anthony Butters creates and stars in the self-funded show Te Tari Tūtai, which is intertwined with his own journey with te reo.

He didn't grow up with te reo and wasn't in a position to study full-time, instead he taught himself through books, podcasts and TV shows.

"I wished there was something that was kind of pure entertainment for entertainment's sake that was in te reo that I could just watch and absorb and consume.

"We have so many amazing resources, but they are either educational or they are very high level. And I just thought, wouldn't it be great if there was something that was entertaining, but it was at a very simple level, but not for kids either, there's resources for children. So there's all these amazing resources, but I felt like there was just a gap for people my age, grown-ups, who can't take a year off to study full-time."

Episode 1 here on Youtube, 2 mins long. Te reo audio but it's got English speech bubbles so you can understand it even if you don't speak te reo.

I'm delighted to see this plonker finally see some consequences.

I personally feel like he's been skirting the line of domestic terrorist for some time now.

Chinese ballistic missile tests and naval forays will become a "persistent" feature of the Pacific as Beijing expands its security presence, New Zealand officials said in an internal document.

...

The warning was issued in a December 2025 report by New Zealand's Defence Force and Ministry of Foreign Affairs while they were monitoring a People's Liberation Army navy (PLA-N) flotilla in the Philippine Sea.

"New Zealand officials are in close contact with Australian counterparts and maintaining situational awareness of these vessels," said the document obtained by AFP under freedom of information laws.

"More broadly we anticipate that Chinese actions, such as the PLA-N task group that transited the Tasman Sea in February and China's launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile into the Pacific in September 2024, will be a persistent feature of our strategic environment."

The 15-page report was sent to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his ministers for defence, foreign affairs and intelligence.

China has directed billions of dollars into defence in recent years, a trend that has unnerved some governments despite Beijing insisting its aims are peaceful.

...

Web Archive link

Canvas starts on the 18th of July, less than 3 weeks away. It's an annual event where we place one pixel at a time and work together to create a masterpiece.

Here are efforts from previous years:

• 2025
• 2024
• 2023

2024 and 2025 have canvas atlases to tell you about the different parts.

Looking for ideas on what to do for this year. Full plans or just suggestions for items to incorporate are appreciated!

What data sovereignty means for New Zealand organisations, why the Cloud Act matters and why 'local cloud' does not guarantee legal protection.

I'm sorry if this looks like shameless self-promotion, but I'm interested to know what people in this community make of the post.

The closing date for submissions is 11.59pm, Thursday, 02 July 2026

https://www3.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/54SCJUST_SCF_27DD41AB-ACD3-4AFA-A59F-08DEB151B1C7/summary-offences-move-on-orders-amendment-bill

Last thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

On level nine of one of the older blocks at Wellington Hospital, plastic patients lie in the beds, and one room is taken up by half a plane.

This is the simulation and skills centre, and it's designed to give medical staff hands-on experience with all kinds of scenarios - from operating theatre to air transfer, complete with turbulence.

Life Flight runs the planes, and they're staffed by ICU doctors, tasked with bringing patients from other centres into Wellington to access treatments not available at the hospital in their own region.

They're considering moving towards rates based on land value, rather than land+improvements. Land value tax seems to be all the rage lately.

I knew it. I said it. The gender bill was the big distraction for fracking penguin breeding grounds

There's a question I have about incidents like this.

If the road is closed, and will be for a matter of hours as the crash analysis process is worked through, why isn't there a procedure to get stuck vehicles off the motorway, by allowing them to turn around and drive up the on ramp?

Five hours is an appalling amount of time to be stuck.

Last thread here

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

• Something interesting that happened to you
• Something humourous that happened to you
• Something frustrating that happened to you
• A quick question
• A request for recommendations
• Pictures of your pet
• A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
• Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?