Thursday 14 February 2019
1) All polytechnics are to merge under a major government reorganisation of the vocational education sector.
The facts:
The Labour-led government will set up a new national body – the NZ Institute of Skills and Technology - which will control all of the current 16 independent polytechnics. The institutes of technology and polytechnics sector is currently undergoing a crisis, with plummeting student numbers and rising deficits. The cause of this significant drop in student numbers has been put down to the record low unemployment rate. The argument goes, that young people are choosing employment over study and training due to the strong employment market.
Analysis:
The proposed merger of all of New Zealand’s polytechnics is a bold move by the government. Labour has taken an ongoing crisis in the vocational education sector and has utilised this crisis to push through radical reforms. However, it is still open to question whether a centralised model will deliver better education for polytechnic students?
A highly-centralised model of administering the current 16 polytechnics could lead to a more planned and efficient model of education delivery. And savings could be made. However, centralised administrative control more-often-than-not also goes along with heightened bureaucratic control. And so, the voices of polytechnic students, staff, and the wider population may end up being squashed.
Hundreds of jobs could be loss in the process of the governments restructuring of the vocational education sector. And the likely loss of jobs will be of concern to polytechnic workers and employee representatives including the TEU – The Tertiary Education Union.
So, will these bold reforms lead to the government’s vision of a system of training and skills development that is “more flexible and more nimble”, and that will “get people with the rights skills into the right jobs much faster?”
2) Islamophobic attack in Dunedin
Facts:
A woman in Dunedin has told the local media that she witnessed an attack on three Muslim women in the city last week. The women said she saw three skinheads attempt to pull the hijabs off the women. The skinheads allegedly hurled racist abuse at the three Muslim women. The woman was disappointed that no one other than her intervened to stop the attack.
Analysis:
Hate-fuelled crimes are seldom reported in Dunedin. And specific attacks on Muslims seem to be very rare. However, we live in a period where politics based on racism, xenophobia and religious bigotry has become normalised.
New Zealand is certainly not immune from the rise of nationalist and xenophobic politics internationally. And various international alt-right figures are becoming well-known here. For example, more moderate alt-right figure such as Milo Yiannopoulos and Jordon Peterson are becoming popular amongst a layer of youth in New Zealand. And of course, the Trump presidency will have had some impact in normalising xenophobic attitudes in New Zealand.
This reported attack on three Muslim women in Dunedin may be an isolated incident. But racism, anti-Islam bigotry and xenophobia are all too present in this country. Therefore, the reportage of such bigoted attacks may well become more common.
3) Press freedom under attack in the Philippines
The facts:
The head of a news website critical of the Philippine’s government has been arrested at her headquarters in Manila. The Philippine’s government has accused the CEO of Rappler news site of "cyber-libel" over a news article on a businessman's alleged ties to a former judge. Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte has had Rappler in his sights, accusing the news outlet of "fake news”.
Press freedom advocates see the Duterte regime as engaging in a war against freedom of the media
Analysis:
Philippine’s President Rodrigo Duterte is acting to squash his country’s democratic and political freedoms. His regime is now well known for its brutality, which include the President’s campaign to have both drug dealers and drug users killed by police and by vigilantes.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the authoritarian nature of his regime, Duterte remains popular with large layers of the Philippine’s population. Duterte is a populist nationalist in the mould of Trump. He has gained mass support through his get tough on crime polices, and his ostensible advocacy for the poor majority in his country.
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This political roundup by John Moore is an extension on the five-minute breakfast political roundup that John gives on Radio One Dunedin, Monday to Friday at 9am.
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