Mark Mitchell Police Minister tweeted a response to Brian Tamaki’s response to Luxon’s trip to India in March 2025. (With 110  delegation joining him -Business leaders & a Kapa Haka Group-funded by the Govt ) Including Mark Mitchell and other MPS. Brain Tamaki  made  responded to Luxon’s being anointed, participating in a Hindi Nationalist Political Ideology in a Hindu Temple. Mark Mitchell called Brian Tamaki’s opinions as being ‘Un Christian like. Not Kiwi like’ The mainstream propaganda machine as they do jumped on the bandwagon attacking Brian Tamaki on  what he could see as being a Spiritual Surrender.

Brian Tamaki has drawn public attention of Luxon participating in the Hindu Ceremony  but Mark Mitchell neglected to say that he too was at the ceremony.  Brian Tamaki added that “Bowing down to Inia cant be just diplomatic, its Spiritual Surrender.” My research through official channels described Hindu Nationalism as a Political Ideology with 30 Core Idols. In some large Hindu temples there are a hundred or more so called  Gods, which are idols, some are animate and others are not

February 2025 Mitchell and Luxon had attended another Hindu Festival. Chris Hipkins has also attended Hindu Ceremony. Hipkins and Luxon danced together at the Due Drop Inn celebrating Hindu festivities. In  eg Hamilton * Wellington * Dunedin *Palmerston North hosted Hinduism showcasing India Diversity. India’s Independence Day was celebrated by Mark Mitchell, Luxon * Indias High Commissioner Neeta Bhushan * Counsel General Madan Mohan Sethi * ACT Party MP Parmjeet Parmar * Labour Hipkins & MP  Priyanca Radhakrishnan & India Hindu Nationalism  community leader in NZ

Since 2018 there has been a 22% increase of people identified as having Indian Heritage (292,-092) 2023 Govt  Census. All sounds like peaceful unity with the foundation of Diversity- equity – Inclusion. Warm and fuzzy get in and celebrate time… But is it really? . Why was Brian Tamaki publicly stating that “Luxon was walking through a Deadly Doorway?

Isolating myself as a Researcher from these Echo Chambers led me to Narendra Modi being elected in 2014. And Modi joining the RSS when he was a young man, and still praises the RSS. The world is listening much more to Modi these days. As he speaks on the global stage about Unity-Diversity and Philosophies originating from India , embracing these political ideologies on the global stage

Of course Narendra Modi India’s PM and Modi’s Party  (The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). is being embraced by the UN  and a large number of UN Members States  with Modi increasing, expanding Digitalization Payments Interface growing rapidly across other UN Member States. However since Modi took office as PM of India in 2014 there have been many reports by various Human Rights Organization about Modi’s failings to stop increasing attacks on minority groups-particularly Christians.

The dramatic increase of Christians being harassed, discriminated against, killed. Christians in prayer meeting being mob attacked by Hindu mobsters and Christian Pastors,  churches and homes being ransacked. Often police not officially recording complaints about the persecutors. And Christians unjustifiable put in prison under Modi Anti-Conversion laws of vague content (Context)

Over the years there have Statements from Human Rights Advocators (Human Rights Orgs). UK Parliament. US Congress..- European Justice & Law Centre and others. The UN Human Rights Commission have received Statements right up to recently calling for urgency  for Modi to get rid of his Anti Conversion Laws that are being used by the State and radical Hindu Nationalist Mobs to attack Christians . This is a major concern for Religious Freedom (Modi party’s Hindutva ideology) But these Human Rights violations a increasing, escalating. For Christians and minority groups in India Modi’s  Fire continues to burn like wildfire and Modi fails to fane out the flames. Majority Hindu Nationalist Population wins him votes, so he continues to be in power.

The UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council have not passed one specific resolution focusing solely on Modi’s India, response from Modi Govt is one of defense.. The UN Human Rights Council itself through a secret voting onto the UNHRC and Trade Voting consequently means that the worst Human Rights Offenders in the world get voted onto the UN Human Rights Council. Therefore have failed Christians worldwide – with the murdering, assassinated-harassed-discriminated against- unjustifiable imprisoned for following their faith…the Vandalism of  Churches and Christian homes. As Christian live in fear but refuse to give up on their Christian faith.

BBC reported 21/12/2021 ‘Indian Christians Fear Attacks * being jailed over Anti-Conversions Laws. Pastors prevented from holding prayer meetings. Refers to Modi strong Anti Conversion Law as critics call it ‘draconian’. Hindu who decide to convert to Christianity must give 2 months prior notice to local officials. So theses Officials can investigate the reasons for allowing this to happen… being Jailed over Conversions.

Reference is made to attacks on Christian Pastors and being prevented from holding Christian Services. Refers to Modi BJP Party and his strong religious conversion law. Critics call it ‘Draconian’. Includes Jail terms ups to 10 years, and / or denial of Govt Benefits to those whom convert from Hinduism to Christianity. It was reported that every decision to convert to Christianity requires a notification to local officials 2 months prior to thus, and officials will then investigate the reasons before allowing it to happen. There was much fear of Modi’s proposed law on Anti Conversions which was sent to be unconstitutional.

Archbishop Machado  said that Christian attacks and the discourse around Anti Conversion Act Bill was clearly aimed at Christians. 9^th May 2024 Narendra Modi Indias PM of the BJM Party was reported to be using & abusing religious minorities particularly Christians this was during the last electioneering event . Once again Modi was locked in to win the election. Modi’s influence with Business Elite and the propaganda of the Hindu Nationalist Ideology (Hindutva was reported to be a very important part of the electioneering. (Thus portraying once again that Hinda is a land of Hindu Political Ideology of many Idols &  Gods). India the land of the Hindu’s and the need for Hindu Political Ideological Unity across India. With State Level BJP Party. A State slewed with Anti Conversion Laws of Anti Christianity.

UN Human Rights Council are well aware of the many described evidential massive systematic dangers under Modi’s BJP Govt and its wide Hindutva movement and their Social /Political dominance. The making of ideological promises for electoral gain, the increasing violences against Christians escalating . 13/11/2023 Members of the US Congress continue to call attention to the escalating violations of Human Rights (Religious Freedoms) under Modi’s Indian rule under Hindu Nationalism, the religiously motivate repression & violence & operations by NGO’s  included the following statement and this is not the first one made.

Refers to Modi ‘s Visa being revoked by the US in 2005 and Modi’s BJP leadership of being a self avowed Hindu Nationalist. Concerns referred to Art 25 of the Indian Constitution stating that all persons are entitled to freedom to practice and propagate their own religion in a manner that does not adversely affect public order. And Section 295 of India’s Penal Code  ‘criminalizes the destruction or damage of houses of worship’ in 2021 *2022 * 2023 * 2024 and 2025. April 2024 the US State Dept stated that Modi Govt had taken minimal steps of action to identify, punish official and perpetrators that have committed Human Rights abuses against Christians in India

Many of Indians Citizens suffer such abuses- serious restrictions on Internet freedom – Freedom Of Expression- Media Freedom- with threats of violence against journalists * persecution of journalist *unjustified arrest * censorship and an enforcement/ threat to enforce criminal libel laws to limit freedom of expression. In India under Modie Govt there is a substantial interference with peaceful assembly and freedom of association

The US State Dept’s 2023 Report on International Religious Freedoms documents attacks on Christian leaders, disruption of Christian & Muslim services *vandalization of Christian Churches’ and Christian homes. 2024 Report of the Secretary of State Antony Blinken reported that he is seeing a concerning increase in Modi’s Anti Conversion Laws referring to Hate Speech * Demolition of Homes & place of Worship and minority faith communities. Violence against Christians at a societal level sometimes with impunity with religious – Christian repression.

Christian communities reported that local Police aided mobs that worshipped in Churches * stood  by as Hindu Nationalist Mobs attacked  them, then arrested the victims on charges under Modi Anti-Conversion law. Other reports between 2024- and have stated that the Govt led by the November 2025  Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have reinforced discrimination under nationalist policies which has added to more violence against Jews, Christians anyone who is not of Hindu Nationalism

Modi India Anti Conversion Laws have been referred to many times at UN Human Rights Level. The now official law is a license to attack Christians  (Namely Freedom Of Religion Laws’ which intends to stop Hindu’s from converting to Christianity or other religions. Forbids conversion by allurement-force fraud’ It’s a premeditated bucket of cold sick of vague content.

However those that wish to convert to Christianity must first gain official permission. Religious leaders must report conversions or face imprisonment. Justifying further brutalities on Christians  and other minority groups by Hindu Nationalist mobs. Also now longer prison terms for those that are persecuted for converting to Christianity or any other religion that is not of the Hindu Nationalist Political Ideology

6/1/2024 Le Mode News France. Hindu Nationalist extremists ruthlessly hunt down Christians in India .In Indian States controlled by the BJP  Modi led govt. The Anti Conversion Law definition of Allurement is crippling and very broad. But Modi’s Law defines this as “the offering of any temptation * gratification * easy money * free education * any reputed school run by a religious body other than Hinduism * conversion also allures to a better lifestyle’ all criminal under Modi Anti Conversion Law. Also targeting Christian Organization that provide food and basic needs to the poor. (World Vision

In his March 2023 update on India’s anti-conversion laws, Luke Wilson, a researcher for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), writes that “India’s enforcement of state-level anti-conversion laws suggests the legislations’ intent is to prevent conversions to disfavored religions — such as Christianity and Islam — and not to protect against coerced conversions.”

International Christian Concern (ICC) regularly sees how these anti-conversion laws make minority religious life in India difficult. ICC works with many pastors attacked by mobs during service because the singing and worship could lead a Hindu to convert to Christianity. Similar mob raids also happen outside church services, sometimes targeting church community outreach programs like food or clothing distributions… 24 Jan 2024 —

The Indian government has banned World Vision India, one of the country’s largest Christian voluntary organizations due to Modi’s FCRA Norms.. World Vision India -Christian NGO India is accused of Hindu Nationalism Cultural murder… Christian relief and development agency with more than 40 years experience in working with the poorest of the poor.

In 2022, a total of 11,290 persons involved in the farming sector (5,207 farmers and 6,083 agricultural labourers) have died by suicide in India, accounting for 6.6% of total suicide victims in the country. . 22/5/202 Diarrhea, Dehydration, Hunger, Exhaustion”: India’s Rural Poor Suffer Most Under Lockdown. Modi’s slogan ‘Good Days are coming’ was coined during India’s elections in 2014.. his party would benefit the poor.

Concerns have been raised by various local and international organizations, church leaders, and human rights groups about an increase in anti-Christian violence and persecution in India since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  The Modi Regimes persecutions of Indian Christians since Modis regime took power in 2012 has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world for Christians.

Revisiting Brian Tamaki’s words- opinions and whatever he said about Luxon’s 110 Delegation trip to India with Mark Mitchell Police Minister by his side and other MPs. I personally conclude through my research that Brian Tamaki was too light on his words. It is shocking, evil what is happening to Christians and minority groups in India. Draconian and totalitarian with millions of people starving on the poverty line, the poor of the poorest. .. 2024 Modi launched his Farm Outreach a decade ago as deaths and debt mount up, as what is seen as Goodwill by Modi Govt is evaporating

Luxon * Mark Mitchell Police Commission and other MPS that attended the Hindu Political Nationalism Ideological anointing shame on you all… You all knew about the violence against Christians and Minority Groups.. you knew of the increasing violence against the, You knew of the statements  received by the UN Secretary General and the UN Human Rights Council. This I call Un-Christian like- Un Kiwi Like- Obviously not wanting the NZ Public to know the truth about Modi Govt.   (https://zenit.org/2025/11/12/a-500-increase-in-attacks-against-christians-in-india/)  A 500% increase in attacks against Christians in India 12^th November 2024. Indian Christian leaders explain that violence against Christians has intensified since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014.

WakeUpNZ

RESEARCHER Cassie

Here is some background history on Rudolf Steiner Schools. Steiner Schools are built on the philosophy and the founding of anthroposophy. The first school was opened in response to Emil Molt the owner, managing director of the  Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Company in Stuttgart Germany. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union Waldorf (Steiner ) Schools began to proliferate in Central & Eastern Europe, many walso opened in Asia and in particular in China

UNESCO (UN Cultural, Scientific and Educational Organization of the UN) support, promote Steiner (Waldorf) Schools. Waldorf is Steiner Schools. Many UN Nation States report the ideals, ethical principles of the Waldorf-Steiner School movement corresponds to UNESCO. UNESCO sponsored an exhibition on these schools at the 44^th Education Congress in Geneva

Steiner-Waldorf report that ‘the Indigenous Waldorf Education is fully recognized and supported by  the UN (UNESCO)  Inclusive Waldorf schools today: what can we build on and what is necessary in the 21st century? The self-governing Waldorf school intended by Steiner offers the framework for implementing inclusion, enabling a participatory, open-minded education for children and adolescents in the 21st century . It is reported that UNESCO Associated Network of Schools links Educational institutions worldwide around one global common goal. Supporting international intercultural dialogue in the minds of children and young people. This is described as ‘Sustainable Developmental and Quality Education.

The Freunde der Erziehungskunst  *Our ambition is to invite Waldorf Schools worldwide to become part of the UNESCO network as UNESCO Associated Schools (ASP network) as there are many commonalities in the ideals and values of UNESCO and the practice in Waldorf Schools.   *We would like to implement a network of Waldorf UNESCO Associated Schools to connect the Waldorf UNESCO Associated Schools worldwide, to exchange experiences, knowledge and good practices with schools and communities. You can find a list of Waldorf UNESCO Associated Schools worldwide. Stating the following:-

*We take part in initiatives of the UNESCO e.g. UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative that aims to rethink education and shape the future. The initiative is catalyzing a global debate on how knowledge, education and learning need to be reimagined in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity.                      *With the international students campaign Waldorf-One-World-Day, the Freunde der Erziehungskunst established a project that contributes to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the related 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  Steiner School philosophy of Anthroposophy is a spiritual philosophy; not a religion. https://www.waldorf-salzburg.at/ – Waldorf Campus Salzburg – Rudolf Steiner Schule © 2024)

https://schools2030.org/  Catalyzing School-Driven Holistic Learning Innovations to Achieve SDG4 by 2030. Schools2030 launched in 2020 and works in over 1000 government schools and community learning centres across ten countries: Schools2030 is collecting data from assessments, through our evaluation work with technical partners, and through our research projects, to build a body of evidence that can inform teaching practices and policy-decisions the world over. All Schools2030 methodologies, toolkits and data are/will be made freely available on our website to support transformative education agendas across the world. (https://schools2030.org/)

Are Steiner Schools inclusively entering  Universal Education 2030???  UN Agenda 2030 Education last year did not  match up with what the Steiner School curriculum in NZ , however both the Universal Education 2030 (UN) like Steiner Schools do both follow a spiritual type guidance.. an enlightenment rather than a Christian religious format???? Eeem I suspect that UNESCO is trying to infiltrate, embed itself in the Steiner School movement worldwide. ??? (A guess-estimate)

RESEARCHER: Cassie

WakeUpNZ

SILENCING SCIENCE  SHAUN HENDY

https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/silencing-science?srsltid=AfmBOoqXNQ6ayh42KQpDVHOhLhHupy5vxmgUuKPAYXgxyRmoK0ignPIa

The nuclear meltdown at Fukushima … the Fonterra botulism scare … the Christchurch earthquakes – in all these recent crises the role played by scientists has been under the spotlight.

What is the first duty of scientists in a crisis – to the government, to their employer, or to the wider public desperate for information? And what if these different objectives clash?

In this penetrating BWB Text, leading scientist Shaun Hendy finds that in New Zealand, the public obligation of the scientist is often far from clear and that there have been many disturbing instances of scientists being silenced. Experts who have information the public seeks, he finds, have been prevented from speaking out. His own experiences have led him to conclude that New Zealanders have few scientific institutions that feel secure enough to criticise the government of the day.

https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/04-11-2016/science-experts-waikato-jacqueline-rowarth

Are New Zealand’s scientific experts really dead – or just resting?

Shaun Hendy

Guest writer

The row over Jacqueline Rowarth’s strange suggestion that the Waikato River is one of the world’s five cleanest reveals a need for more scientists to be heard in public, not fewer, writes Shaun Hendy.

In post-Brexit Britain, failure to heed the warnings of economists on the risks of leaving the EU has spawned many a thinkpiece on the death of the expert. Indeed, experts might be forgiven for ending it all after a British scientist who pointed out that the moon causes the tides was called out by a UKIP MP and accused of fear-mongering. Britain may have once ruled the waves, but now finds itself ruled by folk who find waves a little bit confusing.

Here in New Zealand, we know full well that the tides are caused by the decision of the previous Labour government to extend daylight saving. And with minds untroubled by tidal forces, Kiwis have had time to contemplate a deeper question:

Why are our rivers full of shit?

Traditionally Kiwis worry less about whether their experts are dead than whether they left a forwarding address before they moved to Australia. Sure enough, when more than 5,000 people became sick thanks to the contamination of Havelock North’s water supply in August, our experts made themselves rather scarce.

When Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chair, Fenton Wilson, was asked by Radio New Zealand about his Council’s reports concerning the woefully unhealthy state of the nearby Tukituki river, he said “I don’t have any of that information to hand.” When it was put to him that recent flooding may have driven contaminated water into one of the town’s aquifers, Wilson speculated that “speculation is not helpful at this time”.

Did we really not have any scientists who could speak knowledgably on whether contaminated surface water could have gotten into Havelock North’s groundwater?

Remarkably, science confirms that remnant populations of such scientists do still reside in New Zealand. They work for the government, and as I wrote in Silencing Science earlier this year, they are the sorts of experts we almost never hear from.

Check them out in happier times, speculating wildly at their Te Papa workshop last year on “Groundwater-Surface Water interaction”. Unfortunately the last thing a government scientist is allowed to do is to speak – I mean, speculate – about something that actually affects the public.

And who needs an expert when helpful prime ministers can always find you another with a different point of view?

Cue Jacqueline Rowarth, the newly minted chief scientist at our Environmental Protection Authority, who, before taking the job, was telling the public that the Waikato River is “one of the five cleanest rivers in the world”

Rowarth, previously a professor of agribusiness at the University of Waikato, was hired by the EPA to use her “expertise to explain our science, so people can have trust and confidence in the decisions we make”, according to EPA chief executive Dr Allan Freeth.

This may have sounded like a good plan at the time, but Rowarth’s stance on water quality has had other experts increasingly alarmed.

New Zealand Freshwater Sciences Society president Marc Schallenberg said that Rowarth’s “comments concerning the condition of the Waikato River are not only false, but distract from the important work being done to improve water quality in New Zealand”.

Bryce Cooper, a water quality expert at NIWA, said, “Water quality in its [the Waikato River’s] lower reaches ranks in the bottom half of 500 sites nationally for key indicators such as nitrogen, phosphorus, E.coli (a measure of faecal contamination) and water clarity.”

If you are predisposed to think that the science of tides was fabricated 400 years ago in preparation for Project Fear, then you may also be tempted to dismiss these water quality experts as having a vested interest in spreading alarm in order to keep themselves employed.

But if you actually want to be better informed about our rivers, you do need to hear from scientists like Cooper and Schallenberg – and, yes, Rowarth too. Because this is how science works. Scientists make claims, present their evidence, and wait for the judgement of their peers.

Better that we know how Rowarth views the evidence than not. Now those views are in the open, they can be scrutinised and critiqued.

Rowarth herself has now gone quiet, joining the ranks of New Zealand’s silent scientists. When Rowarth was asked to comment on her views by Radio New Zealand, the EPA replied, saying, “it would be inappropriate for her to comment on statements she made while employed in a previous role.”

So New Zealand’s experts aren’t yet extinct. Not quite.

On a calm day, if you listen very carefully, you can almost make out what they are saying.

The Spinoff’s political coverage is powered by the generous support of our members. If you value what we do and believe in the importance of independent and freely accessible journalism – tautoko mai, donate today.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/79716207/the-high-public-cost-of-muzzling-scientists  The high public cost of muzzling scientists

Shaun Hendy

May 06, 2016

Workers decontaminate a building near the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in 2011. At the time, New Zealand government agencies responsible for nuclear research refused to talk to the media, leaving people in the dark about whether the country faced any risks.KYODO / Not-For-Syndication

OPINION: To whom is the first duty of a scientist in a crisis – to the politicians who fund them, the employer who pays them, or the wider public, desperate for information? In the course of writing my new book, Silencing Science, I have found that scientists’ duty to the public often comes last.

The Canterbury and Christchurch earthquakes, for example, put New Zealand science on the spot. Cantabrians wanted to know why them? Why now? And what might happen next?

These were not easy questions for scientists to answer. There was a lot that wasn’t known about the geological structures that lay below the city, and even in the best of times, the forecasting of aftershocks is an uncertain business.

But it was much more difficult than it should have been. Scientists at Crown Research Institute GNS Science were focused on briefing officials to ensure that government had the best information. Others found themselves challenged by officials when they tried to disseminate aftershock forecasts, lest they undermine the recovery. Communications were supposed to be channelled through the joint emergency operations centre, but science had a low priority and the centre became a bottleneck.

These problems extend well beyond the Canterbury earthquakes.

After explosions at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, Kiwis were left without expert advice on the risks from radioactive fallout. Our government agencies responsible for nuclear research refused to talk to the media, only issuing terse written statements days after the event that radiation would not reach our shores.

In the days following Fonterra’s product recall after its botulism scare, the country’s leading food safety experts were muzzled because of the commercial risks, leaving the public in the dark.

In 2014, more than 150 New Zealand scientists confirmed in a survey that they had been prevented from talking to the media by their employers or for fearing of losing their funding.

Scientists at our Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are particularly vulnerable. NIWA, the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research, refuses to provide advice on climate change policy, but at the same time consults for the oil and gas industry. “How as a CRI scientist can I ever speak out against an industry that my CRI serves? I just cannot,” wrote one scientist under the protection of anonymity.

Scientists who do speak out can find themselves the victims of misinformation campaigns orchestrated by corporate lobbyists. Some are even criticised by their own colleagues for violating unwritten rules that govern who can speak for science.

The silence of New Zealand’s scientists means that the government freely ignores the advice of its own science advisor. Sir Peter Gluckman, the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, has found that his advice falls on deaf ears when it stands to hurt the profits of big business.

The Royal Society of New Zealand, our peak scientific body, is paid to advise the government. When one of the Society’s expert panels recently recommended that the government take urgent action to reduce carbon emissions, Climate Change Minister, Paula Bennett, simply said: “I hope it sparks more innovation and discussions on how we achieve this.”

And its advice is as easily silenced as it is dismissed. Last year one Royal Society advisory panel was shut down before it could report at the request of the government

The Prime Minister has a science advisor. I believe it is time that the public had one too. This is why in Silencing Science, I call for New Zealand to establish a Parliamentary Commission for Science.

It would be modelled on Dr Jan Wright’s Parliamentary Commission for the Environment. It would be independent of the government of the day, and would have the power to investigate claims of scientific misconduct, while protecting whistle-blowers.

Unlike the role that Sir Peter Gluckman has played, the Commission’s mandate would not extend to matters of science funding and policy. This would allow it to maintain the trust of scientists and the organisations they work for.

The Commission would have the responsibility and resources to ensure that the public and Parliament was well advised in times of crisis. It would also procure advice from the science community on matters of long-term importance for the well being of New Zealanders, such as public health and climate. It would challenge the government where it saw scientific advice being ignored.

The public is demanding greater transparency from the science community, something that our current scientific institutions cannot, or will not, provide. A Commission for Science would forge a new relationship between scientists and an increasingly frustrated public.

A Commission will ensure that science is silent no more.

Shaun Hendy is the Director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems and Networks, and a Professor of Physics at the University of Auckland

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/scientists-gagged-by-funding-fears-says-professor/XQMFULP6TOMVPKCDF4CX5Q3NYE/?c_id=1&objectid=11635689

A prominent professor says New Zealand needs a commission for science as many scientists are being gagged.

Professor Shaun Hendy, a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize, this week launches his book Silencing Science, in which he lays out concerns in the scientific community

VA prominent professor says New Zealand needs a commission for science as many scientists are being gagged.

Professor Shaun Hendy, a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize, this week launches his book Silencing Science, in which he lays out concerns in the scientific community

Journalists were finding it harder to get comment from scientists, he said, and scientists in many cases were constrained by strict media policy or fear of jeopardising funding.

“Scientists anxiously watch the Government’s Budget announcements every year, and many worry that speaking out or challenging Government policy will put science funding at risk,” he told the Herald.

His book follows a 2014 report by the New Zealand Association of Scientists, which he formerly presided over, that found 40 per cent of the scientists it surveyed said they had been prevented from making public comment on a controversial issue due to policy or fear of losing funding.

Professor Hendy claimed Crown research institutes were increasingly under pressure to find private funding, so had tight, corporate-like policies filtering what scientists could say to journalists.

“This is not to say that publicly employed scientists shouldn’t work with the private sector, but in a science community that is as thinly spread as New Zealand’s, it can mean that in times of crisis we simply run out of experts who are free to speak.”

He proposed a Commission for Science, responsible to Parliament rather than the Government, which could investigate complaints from whistle-blowers and increase transparency

But Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce rejected the notion scientists were being muzzled, saying the only potential issue was where contracted research was involved.

“In general terms, you’d have to say New Zealand has a very robust scientific communication environment; there are lots of issues that scientists speak on, as they should, and they get the opportunity to do so.”

In discussions with the research community about new potential guidelines around public engagement, the Royal Society of New Zealand found only a few comments around constraints, president Professor Richard Bedford said.

Mr Joyce said a commission was not needed, arguing the interests of science and scientists were already served by the democratic process

The Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, said New Zealand had a strong science advisory system, with groups such as the Parliamentary Library and the Royal Society, which he described as “fiercely independent” of Government.

His own role was independent, he said, but was largely around providing evidence for policy, “rather than policy for science”.

“Science, policy and society is a three-way thing: science does not make policy, and in fact the worst thing we can do as scientists is exhibit hubris and think we know what policy-making is all about.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gagging-science-its-worldwide/2SZHMUKY66W6LN2KZZVWKS7PRY/?c_id=1&objectid=11652351

Gagging science: ‘It’s worldwide’

By Jamie Morton

Multimedia Journalist·NZ Herald·

8 Jun, 2016

Deranged’ policy has experts scared to speak up, doctor says.

Claims that New Zealand scientists are being silenced is something seen around the world, says a renowned author, doctor and outspoken science commentator visiting Auckland this year.

UK academic Ben Goldacre said concerns raised in a new book by Auckland physicist Professor Shaun Hendy – which argues many scientists feel constrained by strict media policies or fear of jeopardising funding – have popped up “all around the world”.

“In the UK, we’ve had a similar problem recently, where the Government has proposed a new policy on all science funding, where scientists won’t be allowed to lobby politicians or government with the results of their scientific research, which is obviously deranged,” said Dr Goldacre, best known for his books Bad Science and Bad Pharma.

“And obviously there are lots of individual stories of scientists having pressure put on them by funders,” he said.

“As always, I think these problems aren’t just about individual episodes where people have been silenced, and it’s not just about where somebody’s got something that might be a little bit difficult for their funder to hear, I think it’s because of a wider problem and a wider lack of respect for the importance of communicating science to the public.”

But Dr Goldacre wasn’t convinced by Professor Hendy’s suggestion in Silencing Science that the problem could be addressed by a new independent commission to represent science in policy.

“Big organisations, inevitably, are vulnerable,” he said. “They can become captured by their funders and become part of the establishment, just like the people they think they are going to come out and fight against.”

He believed the benefits of a more science-literate public, something the Government was pushing through various programmes, was “absolutely enormous”.

When somebody understands how to critically appraise, how to critically review, a piece of scientific research or a claim that is being put in front of them, then they can make much better, informed choices themselves as a citizen, about their own healthcare [and] about the policies around them.”

Asked why so many people reject scientific consensus on matters such as vaccination and climate change, he suspected the reasons varied.

“We have to accept that there are people who actually don’t care about facts,” he said. “They would make the rest of our lives a little bit easier, or less frustrating, if they could at least acknowledge that fact openly, and obviously none of them ever do.”

Dr Goldacre described himself as an “equal opportunities quack-buster” who took on anyone who misrepresented statistics, whether they were journalists, politicians, “herbal remedy peddlers” or researchers.

At present, he is running a campaign to stop drug companies and academics from withholding the results of clinical trials, and another that calls out journals for misreporting the results of clinical trials.

Dr Ben Goldacre on …

• Bad science in different countries: “It’s a bit like when you hear crappy eastern European pop trance music, and you say, ‘this is exactly the same as Italian pop trance, and French trance – it’s just that the words are a little bit different, in a different language’.”
• Appreciating science: “If you don’t understand science, then you are denying yourself access to all of the most significant intellectual achievements of the past two centuries of human history.”
• People who reject scientific evidence: “Everybody knows, from having arguments in the pub, or over dinner, that there are people who just don’t care what the facts are.”
• Climate sceptics: “What you have is a middle-aged person who chooses to ignore the scientific evidence on climate change, and who is inflicting harm on people they will never meet, 50, 100, or 150 years from now.”
• Ben Goldacre will be speaking at The Mercury Theatre in Auckland on September 24. For tickets, visit www.eventfinda.co.nz

WakeUpNZ

RESEARCHER: Cassie

WHAT’S THE CONNECTION WITH NZ AND THE PALESTIAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION?

The PFLP (Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine) is a well known Islamic Pan Arab Socialist  Marxist Leninist Terrorist Organization one of which sits under the umbrella of the Palestinian Liberation Front, responsible for untold civilian deaths  within and outside Israels borders. The PFLP on their Telegram page have stated they participated in the 7th October 2023 horrific attacks, murders, tortures, mutilations on Israeli citizens, men-women, children and babies

The PFLP are determined that there is a One State Solution ‘From The River To The Sea’. The PFLP want to establish a Communist Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. The PFLP are largely based in Gaza and the West Bank of Palestine they also operate in Lebanon and Syria

This video shares with the viewer the connection between the PFLP and a Far Left Socialist Group in New Zealand.  And the PFLP connection to the Red Army and a Global Revolution.

RESEARCHER: Cassie

https://wakeupnz.org

RUMBLE  7^TH November 2024