The Lowe-down
George Lowe along with fellow NZer Ed Hillary – attended the 5th anniversary Everest celebrations in London, as one of 7 remaining members of the 1953 expedition. Lowe was the recipient of Hillary’s now…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Edge-ucation on Offer
Arab students are increasingly choosing NZ as an education destination, according to a Gulf News report. Education Minister Trevor Mallard cited the schooling system’s pioneering nature and relative affordability, as well as the country’s reputation as a…
Mrs Speaker …
“Just how a conservative and largely white electorate came to support an outspoken transgendered woman – of Maori (that is, indigenous non-white) descent, no less – is the story behind the remarkably engaging documentary Georgie Girl.” Annie…
Christchurch the New Bondi?
Kiwis are coming home to roost according to latest Australian immigration statistics that reveal a dramatic brain-drain reversal: NZers are returning home from Australia at a greater rate than they are arriving. The SMH…
Rats Have Rights Too
Native rats (kiore) on Little Barrier Island were saved from a scheduled DOC extermination by local tribe Ngatiwai, who claimed them as taonga. The rats, now almost extinct on mainland NZ, pose a threat to tuatara…
Educational Skin Flick
Ta moko features in a Pacific Islanders in Communications documentary for PBS currently screening around the world. Skin Stories explores the art of tattooing, and its cultural significance, in Samoan, Hawaiian and Maori tradition.
Sweating in the Name of
Ex-pat Kiwi Richard Stevens likes to do more than his bit for charity. The Belfast resident hopes to raise £2,000 for the Save the Rhinos fund by running both the Belfast and London marathons…
NZ Firm on Pacific Principles
Drawing on NZ’s historical role in the setting up of the UN charter and as an advocate of multilateralism, Helen Clark (described as “one of Tony Blair’s closest foreign political allies”) told the Guardian that the…
Little Brother
New Zealand ranks near the top in an international index ‘Ranking the Rich’, published by Foreign Policy and the Centre for Global Development, gauging how rich nations help out poorer nations. NZ toppped the list with The…
Frankly Fascinating
Mike Moore’s A World Without Walls hailed as a fascinating, candid and paradoxical account of ideals versus bureaucracies in Foreign Affairs magazine. “When all is said and done, believes democratically elected governments and markets will respond…
Possum Bourne Mourned
Rally champion Peter “Possum” Bourne, who died April 30th (aged 47), has been praised as “a humble man with rare ability, a relentless competitor who inspired a new generation of drivers.” “The most successful rally driver in…
Te Maori ki Te Ao – Paratene on Patriarchy
In an interview with SMH, Whale Rider star Rawiri Paratene discusses patriarchy – both within and outside of Maoridom – and the universal appeal behind the heart and award-winning film. “I think Maori stories well told can…
Pavlova Paradise?
Observer offers a how-to guide to buying property in NZ in its assessment of the global property market’s latest hot spot. According to their sources, “screen gods and goddesses are buying up idyllic island…
Nearest Neighbours Worlds Apart?
Gerard Henderson makes a pre-ANZAC Day assessment of current Aussie-Kiwi relations. “The Australia-NZ commercial relationship has never been healthier … However, the trans-Tasman economic co-operation has been accompanied by an increasing disagreement on security issues. The NZ…
Byow! Cartoonist With Cut Through Remembered
John Kent, well-known political cartoonist, lecturer and illustrator, died on April 13 aged 65. Born in Oamaru, Kent’s work was a familiar feature in Private Eye, Guardian, Daily Mail, The Sun and, finally, The…
Evolutionary Edge
Soil-analysis undertaken in a NZ cave has uncovered a rich and previously unknown evolutionary heritage. A team of scientists have found DNA traces of an extinct animal and from plants alive 3,000 years before the first human…
Napier Goes Ga-ga for Gingko
Ron Massey, of Napier Council, thinks the city’s onto an export winner after its successful growing of high-grade gingko trees. The Chinese herb is currently the trendiest pill to pop, supposedly offering dramatically increased energy and cognitive…
Lest We Forget in Troubled Times
Due to the current world climate, ANZAC services in Australian and NZ this year carried particular emotional resonance CNN remembers an event “marked by both countries as a tragic turning point in their national development.” The Age: “In…
Protecting Shared Heritage
The NZ and Australian governments are making a combined application to the World Intellectual Property Organisation to protect the use of the word Anzac. Both countries have legislated against the unauthorised use of the word at…
Australasian Appeal
“Out US and UK, in Australia and New Zealand.” Indian emigrants and students are favouring a move Down Under over the traditional destinations of old, thanks to easier entry procedures and cheaper education facilities.
“A Life Set to Music”
Edwin “Ted” Carr – “grand old man of NZ music” – has died aged 76. At times a conductor, teacher, dancer and animator, Carr achieved his greatest fame late in life as a composer….
A View from the Right
Robert Darwall proffers an aggressive and provocative outsider analysis of NZ’s economic reforms in April’s Policy Review. “Steep cuts in welfare programs and the most radical shake-up of labor law outside Margaret Thatcher’s Britain. On these South…
Edge and Ivory
Professor Malcolm Grant joins fellow NZer John Hood (newly appointed Oxford VC) in taking over Britain’s ivory towers from the top. Currently the pro-vice-chancellor at Cambridge University, Grant will take the reins as the new provost of…
Creative Curriculum
A Times article deploring the state of the British education system holds up its New Zealand counterpart as the benchmark for quality and creativity. “Look at New Zealand, which manages to incorporate dance into maths classes, drama…
NZ Provides Aid To Iraq
The NZ government is contributing NZ$3.3 million in humanitarian aid to war-torn Iraq. The announcement by Foreign Minister Phil Goff came just days after the U.S and its allies commenced war in the Middle East. The…
Mike Moore: A View from the Top
Former PM Mike Moore speaks to the Independent about his latest publication, A World Without Walls. The book deals with his experiences as director-general of the WTO; his greatest challenges, mistakes, and success stories, from Seattle forward….
Sir Ed on “Knocking the Bastard Off”
The Guardian interviews Sir Edmund Hillary in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of his Mt Everest ascent. “He talks about his experiences with the bluff modesty of a Boys’ Own adventure hero Perhaps…
Waking Up the Establishment
Nancy Wake, NZ-born heroine of the WW2 resistance movement, interviewed in SMH, recovering after a heart attack in hospital. At 90 Wake has become an honoured permanent resident and “something of a tourist attraction” at the…
Passengers May Remove Their Safety Belts?
The effects of war and the SARS crisis on tourism and travel may be looming for global airlines, but presently Air NZ is bucking the global downturn. The carrier recently reported a half-yearly net profit of…
An End to Sheep Jokes?
NZ’s sheep population is at an all-time low, plummeting from 70 million in 1982 to less than 40 million. Cows and fruit – particularly wine grapes – have gradually replaced the woolly icons as more lucrative…
Enough with the Pavlova War
“ANZAC sibling rivalry must end,” says High Court judge Michael Kirby. Kirby has proposed a common passport, currency and tax system to honour the 2015 centenary of Gallipoli. Visiting Australian Treasurer Peter Costello: “A single Anzac currency…
Inappropriation?
Shock-boxer Mike Tyson has paid a dubious tribute to Maori culture by having a moko-inspired design tattooed around his left eye. New York Post: “‘It was meant to be Maori-ish,’ one source said of the…
The Taxman Only Rings Once
An end to double-taxation in Australasia seems imminent after meetings between Australian Treasurer Peter Costello and NZ Minister of Finance Michael Cullen. The removal of “triangular-tax” is expected in the near future, in a move sure…
Dear Mr President…
West Coast resident Margie Beamsley paid Wellington’s Dominion Post $5,000 to print her anti-war plea to President Bush. The open letter was passed on to the White House by the US ambassador to NZ and…
Long Time Coming
NZ military veterans have applauded a court ruling that a former French serviceman died of leukaemia as a direct result of exposure to radiation at Moruroa. France has consistently denied that any harm was caused by…
Bush Backlash Begins Down Under
A global wave of protests against America’s proposed war on Iraq began in New Zealand, with thousands taking to the streets across the country. In Auckland, a Greenpeace plane with a banner reading “No war, peace now”…
Principaled Principal
NZer Graham Cherry, director of the Baghdad International School, intends to stay on in Iraq despite repeated warnings for Westerners to leave. Cherry: “I have no plans to leave. The school is open. I don’t want…
Million Mark
NZ’s population is expected to hit the 4 million mark in the next few months, according to the latest figures released by Statistics New Zealand. Last year the population grew by .5% on account…
Clark Talks Creative Countries
New York Times interviews PM Helen Clark about her role as arts benefactress. As the self-appointed minister of “arts, culture and heritage,” Clark has given the creative industry a much-needed injection of funding and promotional support. Clark:…
Te Reo on TV
The government has announced an increase of $7.075 million per annum for the Maori Television Service. MTS will eventually reach 86% of the population. “It is important to note that this is a greater level of coverage…
Antarctic Tribute
A NZ foundation dedicated to the preservation of early Antarctic exploration is to erect a unique memorial museum to Norwegian explorer Carsten E. Borchgrevink. The UN-backed Global Resource Information Database (GRID) wants to preserve Borchgrevink’s cabin -…
A Breath of Fresh Air
The Human Rights Watch International Festival seems an unlikely place for a feel-good flick, but Georgie Girl is reportedly putting a smile on otherwise grim film-going faces. Boston Herald calls the story of NZ MP Georgina…
Biculiterature
The US readers’ magazine Pages (‘the magazine for people who love books’) focuses on literature from Aotearoa-NZ in its monthly global focus. Contributing editor Bethanne Kelly Patrick focuses on biculturalism and asks, “Maoris and Pakehas are…
Epilogue Written to a Life of Words
NZ lost one of its edgiest inhabitants with the death of Janet Frame from acute myeloid leukemia on January 29. Frame, the author of 11 novels, 5 collections of short stories, a poetry collection,…
“The Boot” Remembered
Rugby fans around the world farewell Don “the Boot” Clarke, an incomparable All Black legend. Business Day calls him “an icon for a generation of NZers,” while The Australian remembers his match-winning conversion against France at Athletic Park…
Leading the field
“Never before has technology played such a pivotal role in bringing an animal back from the brink, setting the stage for computer-based rescues of endangered species elsewhere.” SMH feature documents the radical efforts of NZ scientists and conservationists…
Scholarly Send-off
The Times pays tribute to W.J.B Owen, academia’s pre-eminent Wordsworth scholar. Born in NZ in 1916, Owen forged a distinguished career in England and Canada. “Owen was a scholar’s scholar – meticulous, exact, exhaustive and always reliable…
Farewell to Leading Lady
The death of NZ’s acting doyenne Davina Whitehouse has been mourned at home and abroad, with obituaries appearing in The Boston Globe and The Independent. Her prolific career spanned stage, film, and television, and…
Giovanni Intra Remembered
We are diminished to report the death of Giovanni Intra in New York City on December 17th 2002. Giovanni, artist, critic, gallerist went east to stir up the LA art scene and established the gallery, China…
Environmental Oxymoron
NZ’s possum epidemic has made unlikely bed-fellows of environmentalists and fur-trappers. New Scientist looks at a globally unique situation, where groups such as WWF actively support the trapping of an animal for its fur and meat as…
Cleaner Greener NZ
The Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions came one step closer to enforcement after its ratification by the NZ and Canadian governments. Although both countries are relatively minor industrial polluters their signatures are vital in making up the…
The Big Break-up
“Somewhere east of New Zealand, where Gondwana’s break-up may have started some 130 million years ago, with New Zealand splitting from Australia, ‘the last resources of mankind’ could be awaiting discovery. So say a crew of German…
A Strange Breed
“Because of the congenial climate and lack of pollution, Godzone politicians are generally taller and stronger than those cloned overseas. Nestled at the bottom of the world, gravity is stronger and extra strength is required to stand…
“Not Just the Land of Lamb and Honey”
“It’s more than just a big farm in the South Pacific, it’s a modern, sophisticated economy with some real niche products.” Gulf Business cover feature highlights the increasingly diverse interaction between NZ and the UAE. In the…
IE (International Exploration) Browser
“David Lewis was the most wonderfully fantastic scallywag I have ever met. His love for the ocean can only be balanced by the love of beautiful women for him” (Dick Smith). David Lewis -…
Brothers in Farms
“So if the grass is always greener in NZ, let’s colonise it.” SMH reader’s opinion column ‘heckler’ proposes the immediate annexation of NZ as a quick and cheap solution to drought-proofing Australia (currently experiencing…
