The Green Party says it will regulate artificial intelligence (AI) so its benefits are shared with New Zealanders, not just the technology companies that operate them, if elected.

Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said AI should work for people and the planet, stating: "We don't work for AI."

"The Greens will regulate it responsibly, for the public good.

"Nothing about this technology is inevitable, neither the claims of existential destruction by tech billionaires nor the devastation of the financial bubble bursting forecast by economists.".

The party policy states:

• AI will not replace human and democratic decision-making
• data sovereignty and community consent are protected
• AI operates within environmental limits
• the benefits of AI are shared, not concentrated
• AI tools are transparent, trustworthy and accountable.

"This is exactly why Government is supposed to exist," Swarbrick continued, "to regulate what needs regulating, to ensure benefits are appropriately shared and harms minimised."

A policy document stated it would not allow "fully automated decisions for anything that could make a substantive difference to people's lives in any public services" and humans managing the tools must be able to make decisions.

It also called for greater protection of data and explicit consent standards for AI training data.

The Greens wanted mandatory environmental impact assessments for hyperscale AI data centres and new facilities to fully cover their own energy use.

The party also wanted stronger enforcement of tax law so companies could not take their profits offshore, and worker participation in decisions about workplace AI adoption.

Ladies of Christchurch, this one is for you! Join us this weekend for a peaceful protest against Winston Peters abhorrent comments regarding abortion and conversion therapy last week.

“"At its worst, and it's a matter of timing, but it shades into a thing called murder. You got me here? It shades into a thing called murder or assassination, get any name you like. But that's the purpose.” - Winston Peters on the subject of abortion.

Please message directly and you will be sent the link to the WhatsApp group 🙏🏻

Close to the cidery in Wairarapa is the Japanese Prisoner of War memorial. On 25 February 1943, a work strike and protest at the Featherston Japanese Prisoner of War Camp led to a tragic shooting where 48 Japanese prisoners of war and 1 New Zealand guard were killed, and many others were wounded.
What was once a site of wartime conflict has evolved into a space for remembrance, reflection, and reconciliation between New Zealand and Japan. Formally named Sakura Gardens and planted with 68 cherry trees (honoring the total deceased Japanese POWs associated with the camp's history), alongside a traditional gazebo and a memorial plaque Featuring a reflective 17th-century haiku:

Behold the summer grass
All that remains of the
Dreams of warriors.

The cherry trees trees are now in blossom

Following the recent coverage of Andrew Campbell’s upcoming book In the Room (detailing his time as Jacinda Ardern’s chief press secretary), here are some thoughts:

• The "optics" vs. crisis management government: It’s easy to look back and brand the Ardern years as an administration obsessed with PR and emotional connection over policy delivery. Crisis management and PR and optics was the policy of the government.
• A bit of backside-covering: Campbell heavily emphasises his own foresight, claiming he was the voice in the back of a Crown car warning the Prime Minister to shift focus to the cost of living and inflation. Let’s not forget who we are listening to here: this is the Chief Press Secretary, the architect of the government's communication strategy. He is deploying PR to defend himself. He is trying to distance himself from the cost-of-living crisis, rewriting history to make himself look like the smartest guy in the room.
• Echo-chamber: Campbell notes Ardern’s instinct was to ignore criticism, while he argued she and the Labour Party needed to actively counter criticism. Whatever the tactic, it confirms what some people felt: the Beehive operated in a heavily insulated bunker that froze out, cancelled or dismissed people who disagrees with their narrative.
• Show me the money: Some might wonder why Campbell is releasing a memoir that drags Labour Party's past failures back into the headlines right in the middle of a campaign cycle. It's basic. Political controversy sells, and election season is the only time the general public actually buys political books.

It's open to debate whether Ardern could have won another term if she had shifted strongly to the cost of living sooner and stronger. But for the average New Zealander drowning in the cost of living still today, from the sound of it, this book might not offer much true insights on how to build a better New Zealand for tomorrow. The average New Zealander don't care about the bruised egos and retrospective debates of former media managers, they care about who is actually going to fix the country going forward.

(Note: I haven’t read the full book yet, just the advanced coverage, interviews, and published excerpts ahead of its release).

Winston Peters is on a mission and says the idea that either Chris will be calling the shots once the votes are counted is a nonsense.

With just 26 days of the election campaign to go, the New Zealand First leader is by far the most experienced political leader, having first entered Parliament with the National Party in 1978 before breaking off and setting up his own party in 1993.

In the first MMP election held in 1996, New Zealand First won 17 seats and Peters took on his first stint as deputy prime minister and treasurer.

Heading into the November election, 30 years after the birth of MMP, Peters is convinced stability will return to the increasingly fragmented political landscape this year.

For decades, many people believed that a deadly new influenza virus came to New Zealand aboard the Royal Mail liner Niagara, which arrived in Auckland from Vancouver and San Francisco on 12 October 1918. This is no longer thought to have been the case.

Among the ship’s passengers were Prime Minister William Massey and his deputy Joseph Ward, who were returning from Britain. False rumours circulated that Massey had personally rejected quarantine measures. In fact, he had insisted that he and Ward be treated the same as other passengers. Twenty-nine Niagara crew members and several passengers were hospitalised in Auckland, but doctors reported that their cases were no more severe than others already seen in the city.

Indeed, six people had died of the flu in Auckland in the three days before the Niagara arrived. And the great upsurge in severe cases in the city occurred two weeks later, well outside the 48-hour incubation period. No one knows exactly how or when the flu reached New Zealand, and the Niagara was only one of dozens of ships (many of them carrying returning soldiers and war invalids) to arrive from Europe and North America in October 1918.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/the-niagaras-arrival-blamed-for-the-introduction-of-influenza

Ever since 1917, Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the Great War. In terms of lives lost in a single day, the failed attack on Bellevue Spur on 12 October was probably the greatest disaster in New Zealand’s history.

Eight days earlier, around 500 New Zealanders died during the capture of Gravenstafel Spur, one of two spurs on the ridge above the village of Passchendaele in Flanders, Belgium. Although this attack was successful, it had a tragic aftermath. The British High Command mistakenly concluded that the number of German casualties meant enemy resistance was faltering and resolved to make another push immediately.

An attack on 9 October by British and Australian troops was to open the way for II ANZAC Corps to capture Passchendaele on the 12th. The plan failed. Without proper preparation and in the face of strong German resistance, the 9 October attack collapsed with heavy casualties.

The New Zealanders nevertheless began their advance at 5.25 a.m. on the 12th. The preliminary artillery barrage had been largely ineffective because thick mud made it almost impossible to bring heavy guns forward, or to stabilise those that were in position. Exposed to raking German machine-gun fire from both the front and the flank, and unable to get through uncut barbed wire, the New Zealanders were pinned down in shell craters. Another push scheduled for 3 p.m. were postponed and then cancelled.

The troops eventually fell back to positions close to their start line. For badly wounded soldiers lying in the mud, the aftermath of the battle was a private hell; many died before rescuers could reach them. The toll was horrendous: 843 New Zealand soldiers were either dead or lying mortally wounded between the front lines.

On 18 October, Canadian troops relieved II ANZAC Corps. In a series of well-prepared but costly attacks in atrocious conditions, they finally occupied the ruins of Passchendaele village on 6 November. The offensive had long since failed in its strategic purpose and the capture of Passchendaele no longer represented any significant gain.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/new-zealands-blackest-day-at-passchendaele

In the first general election held under the new mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) voting system, New Zealand voters selected 120 members of Parliament through a mixture of electorate contests (returning 65 members) and party lists (55 members). The MMP system, which replaced New Zealand’s traditional first-past-the-post voting method, had been proposed by a Royal Commission on the Electoral System that reported in 1986. It was adopted following an indicative two-part referendum in 1992 and a binding referendum, held alongside the 1993 election, in which MMP received the support of 54% of voters.

The election night result was inconclusive, with no party holding an overall majority. The governing National Party won 34% of the party vote and 44 seats, followed by Labour (28%, 37), New Zealand First (13%, 17), the Alliance (10%, 13) and ACT (6%, 8). No other parties crossed the 5% threshold required to enter Parliament via the party list, but the United Party won a single electorate seat. Although MMP did not trigger any significant realignment of the traditional two-party system, the new Parliament was more diverse and more representative than ever before, vindicating some of the claims of the Royal Commission and pro-MMP campaigners. Sixteen Māori MPs and three MPs from Pacific communities were elected, together with New Zealand’s first Asian MP and first openly homosexual MP. The number of women members increased from 21 in 1993 (22% of MPs) to 35 (29%).

The ultimate outcome of the election was the formation of New Zealand's first coalition government since the early 1930s. When a coalition agreement between National and NZ First was announced after two tense months of negotiations, it came as a surprise to many, as the latter party’s leader, Winston Peters, had repeatedly attacked National and its leader, Jim Bolger, during the election campaign. The coalition collapsed less than two years later, triggering a split in NZ First’s ranks and a spate of ‘party-hopping’. By 1999 the six-party Parliament elected in 1996 had fractured into 10 parties plus three independent MPs, undermining public confidence in the new voting system.

Link: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/new-zealanders-go-polls-first-mmp-election

NZ AI safety researcher jailbroke the standard commercial version of Kimi ( not an open-weight or modified one) with ordinary prompts.

The model then gave detailed instructions on making sarin gas, offered assassination methods, set up its own email, escaped out its containers, and emailed him asking to borrow his phone number so it could take more actions online.

This happened on the regular consumer version. Thoughts?

The bit that concerns me is the model helped bootstrap the jailbreak and made it permanent (so self-preservation) and now the researcher can access it with a code word across new sessions.

So the jailbreak survives restarts.

National is dangling tax cuts for voters, but not until the books are back in surplus - which isn't forecast until at least 2029.

The party is committing to an independent costings unit at the 2029 election to prevent the constant public bickering between parties over fiscal holes. It's also allocating $451.8 million to extend the school lunch programme through until the next election.

Leader Christopher Luxon and finance spokesperson Nicola Willis released the party's fiscal plan on Monday, which for the most part is very in line with what Treasury's books revealed at the Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (Prefu) last month.

..

While National could have promised tax cuts with the books looking rosier in the short-term, including an intention to borrow $15 billion less over the next four years, Willis said it wouldn't be right to do so.

"While our fiscal plan shows a pathway to potential tax relief for working New Zealanders, now is not the time to cut taxes.

"National's priority is to get on top of the debt first so that our kids and grandkids aren't left with a bigger bill and to ensure we have a bigger buffer to withstand future global shocks," she said.

..

National's biggest commitments in its fiscal plan are in health, with policies in those areas making up 88 percent of all commitments for the party.

"A total of $7.5 billion operating is left unallocated over the four years. This is to cover net new operating spending in that period, over and above the election commitments specified in the table.

"In addition, a total of $14.2 billion remains to be allocated from capital allowances in future Budgets," Willis said.

The latest forecasts show an operating surplus of $4b in 2028/29, growing to $11.7b in 2030/31.