Melanie Nelson has been deep diving into David Seymour’s very dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill and reveals how its real aim is to embed ACT’s libertarian agenda into our legislative process to the detriment of the public good.

You can find out more about Melanie and her highly researched writing here:

I attended The Child Poverty Post Budget Hui yesterday and managed to catch up with economist Bernard Hickey for his take on the 2025 Willis budget. He is so informed and such a good communicator. If you don’t read or listen to any other analysis make sure you listen to his one.

Please take 20 minutes to understand that we don’t have a debt problem. What we have is an ideology problem.

The quote of the day, for me, came from a young speaker from Kelston Boys High School.

He framed robbing women of pay equity in terms of mothers who are struggling to pay the bills while striving to give their kids a better chance in life. He put it poignantly:

“You can’t put down mothers and expect their children to rise up and do well.”

Such insight from a such a young man. It took my breath away.

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We live in a world where social media is expanding exponentially and dominated by tech giants such as Facebook, Google or X, who collect your data in order to exploit it. Which is why New Zealand developer Selwyn Manning has created PodTalk.live a community platform for Kiwis, like you and I, to allow us to talk with each other in a safe internet environment.

I recently spoke with Selwyn about his new platform because I’m interested in promoting local solutions that help us claw back control of our lives from the huge Multinational Corporations.

To give you a bit of background about Selwyn; among his many accomplishments he has a Masters Degree in Communication Studies with Honours from AUT University, and was editor, director, and former chair of the board of directors of Scoop Media Ltd. He was appointed as establishment chair of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre (2007-2009), and chair of AUT University’s school of communications Industry Advisory Board (2012-2013),

These days Selwyn provides analysis, assessment, and evaluation of the political environment specific to New Zealand, Australia, the economies and island states of the Asia-Pacific region with a specialisation in the analysis of geopolitics, cyber-security, and, intelligence issues.

He is the author of the book: I Almost Forgot About The Moon – the disinformation campaign against Ahmed Zaoui, and director of the documentaries Morality Of Argument – sustaining a state of being nuclear free, and, Behind The Shroud – juxtapositioning the frailties of intelligence and trade craft.

His work has caused ministerial inquiry, legislative and regulatory change, and has been the foundation of Parliamentary debate.

So Selwyn Manning is a trusted name, and if you are interested in the safe online discussion space he has created, please go to the url PodTalk.Live , register for free, and check it out.

( Please note I am not profiting from Podtalk.live or promoting it for money. I am simply recommending that you check out a clever Kiwi .)

My Head2Head interview series is made possible because of my paid subscribers. (thank you )

For $9 ( inc gst ) a month - less than a cup of coffee a week - you can not only help me speak truth to power and give a voice to those who have none, but also gain access to my premium posts, documentaries and podcasts plus join a great bunch of intelligent New Zealanders who want to make a difference, in our chat room