Posts by Damian Christie
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Russ - you and I have randomly ended up standing next to each other at a few stand out moments - the Flaming Lips being the best example I can recall right now. Over the years I've had many many choice moments, from the Smashing Pumpkins playing in the sunshine back when you could take your beer anywhere, to Underworld mashing up 'Rez' with 'You can't always get what you want', 'Janes Says' as the sun went down... but yeah, nah, not this year for me at least. Have a good one for me :)
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@Tony - don't quote me on this, because it has been a bit of a moveable feast with the summer hols and all but:
PAREKURA HOROMIA, LABOUR
STUART NASH, LABOUR
CRAIG FOSS, NATIONAL
CHRIS TREMAIN, NATIONAL@81st - what a great idea, sounds perfect for a bit of filming, thanks for the heads up.
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Hey Tony - just turn up, would love to see you there. We are going to be at the Gin Trap on Sunday the 24th of January, filming starts at 7pm but get there half an hour before that (or come a couple of hours early and make a day of it...)
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Damian Christie visits Pulau Weh, in North West Sumatra, a divers' paradise which has benefited fom the opening up of Aceh after the Boxing Day Tsunami, and talks to Ben Stokes and Sarah Kemsley of Dive Safari Asia
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Damian Christie talks to Chief Censor Bill Hastings about being the longest currently serving Chief Censor in the World and other fun facts.
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Damian Christie talks Simon Fisher, one of the people behind the NZ arm of the NZ Atheist Bus Campaign
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Definitely working okay at this end Paul.
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In the actual transcript he says "If its a Maori prayer it would stay but because its a Christian prayer i would chuck it out"
Yeah actually if you listen, um, properly, he says "if it's a Maori prayer it'd stay but because it's a Christian prayer 'oh well chuck that one out', you know."
He's paraphrasing the argument he sees from other people to ditch something because of its Christian roots - and of course he's pretty open about his Christianity these days - whereas if it was in Maori, he says, people wouldn't be so quick to call for its dumping because it would be un-PC or anti-cultural etc to do so.
But other than that, a great extrapolation by you into suggesting the well-known Christian Dave Dobbyn is embarking on an Islamic crusade after spending time with Zaoui. Awesome. You should really consider calling Leighton with that theory.
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Posted on behalf of David Shearer
Thanks for the many comments that my blog has generated. I want to emphasise a couple of points in reply and hopefully address some the issues.
My key point is we should aim to get emergency aid more directly to those affected and let those people make the decisions about what they most need. It really follows on from principles behind longer development such as the Grameen Bank, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Yunis, where poor people negotiate loans of cash to improve their lives. Yes, they have to repay it, but the important aspect is that they personally make the decision on how that money is spent.
My other main point is that our Pacific community is all around us and we tend to overlook its reach into the Pacific Islands. Obviously money already flows back in the form of remittances; my point is that we need to look more closely at how NZ might be able to work with organisations, such as churches, women’s groups, educational institutions and others that stretch across the Pacific when disasters strike.
On accountability issues that were raised, these are good points. But nearly all aid agencies globally fund local organisations to carry out work on the ground and there are longstanding arrangements of accounting for how those local organisations work and report on money spent. This is nothing new, the question is how can we tap into it.
I’ve worked for many aid agencies for a long time and they often do great work. But it’s important to look for ways to reach people more directly and effectively. With our Pacific population all around us in NZ, it seems that we could be working more closely with them.
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Yeah those are my thoughts too Steve. It's not like David has just stepped into parliament after 40 years at the district health board or something...
David has just emailed me a post - his registration into PAS doesn't sem to be working for some reason at our end, I'll post it now.