Some notes from Kawaiicon 3's first day: rodger.donaldson.gen.nz/archives/202...

@ellearmageddon.bsky.social wirh some words of inspiration at #kawaiicon We can change the world, we do it in small steps, making each thing just a little better

Legend @ellearmageddon.bsky.social keynoting #Kawaiicon in a respirator mask and shirt that says TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

Meta's own reports show it relies on $Bs from scam ads Facebook + Instagram + WhatsApps sent to users most likely to click on them. Reuters exposed 5 years of Meta practices that allowed scammers to target users. Meta didn't remove accounts as they funded AI work. arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...

NZ Professional Firefighters Union keep responding to David Seymour’s lies about the state of fire trucks. #nzpol

Many thanks @kawaiicon.bsky.social folk for all the welcomes and especially for the Kawaiicon livestream. 📺 on 🖥️ or � Life hasn't paused for me to attend all of today so I've caught what I can in person and am now back home to watch more interesting #Kawaiicon talks. 🏡

In my late teens and early 20s I was involved in a lot of protests that sometimes included peaceful occupations of offices such as MOE, university admin and once a uni library (including overnight stays). Even the steps of Parliament for a day in 1996. I was only trespassed once, for a feminist…

Hey #nzpol This may help in understanding why our Atlas-captured, climate change-denying coalition govt is so very hellbent on prioritising coal oil and gas (& nitrates + cow farts) over the abundant potential of renewables in AoNZ. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Coalition of cruelty still "laser focused on the cost of living" and planning to force unhoused people away from where all the (defunded) social services are #nzpol

Several protesters were trespassed from Fendalton Mall for attempting to hold the government to account for their non-actions #NZPol www.psna.nz/press-releas...

it's not a con without some technical difficulties #kawaiicon

Lifeline has been trying to get a meeting with the Minister for the past year to no avail. There's money for landlords, tobacco companies, and dodgy guys like Mike King, but when it comes to saving lives this government doesn't give a fuck #nzpol www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...

Thank God there’s a NZ leader doing something significant about climate change wrecking havoc on the world atm Head in sand Climate Minister Simon Watts puts finger in air & replies “Can we be sure about anything in life?’ What a toser. How on any level is that an answer on climate change? #nzpol

Tense cricket watching tonight with NZ v WI! So close and NZ win by 3 runs. Match could have gone either way. My man of the match would be NZ's Chapman but West Indies batters were impressive too. Both sides hit so many 6s and 4s. Great entertainment! 🏏

It's not just about the messenger. You've got to have the right message.

My Hi I'll be at Kawaiicon post got disrupted by an earthquake #eqnz so I'll try again. The quake didn't make me pause but maybe the WiFi cut out? Anyway lovely catching a few friends at preReg and looking forward to next two days of #kawaiicon

Don't give them ideas

Nothing like a little shake to let you know #kawaiicon is kicking off in the morning and it wasn’t even the 200W of sound from my talk 🤣

If a well known person hires a hit man to kill someone, I guess all the NZ media will have headlines like “Auckland executive admits hiring man for ‘Extermination Services” “Auckland business executive admits to receiving commercial extermination services from man”

Underage girls cannot consent, @nzherald.bsky.social. And if the sexual service were “commercial”, then not only was she raped by a man, she was trafficked by someone for that purpose.

So let’s get this straight. Lifeline is unfunded by govt & needs $2 million. But govt just hands $24 million to Gumboot Friday and is happy to give millions to the bloody Michelin Guide for tourism puffery of dubious value. Everything this govt does is run on vibes. www.1news.co.nz/2025/11/06/l...

PRESS RELEASE The Fast-Track Amendment Bill which passed its first reading in parliament today is a savage escalation of the Luxon Government’s war on nature. #nzpol www.greenpeace.org/aotearoa/pre...

#NZpol "Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey was not personally aware that PSN had written to him" and then basically said it's HNZ's problem, see ya later guys... got other problems to sort out... like tax breaks... and tobacco lobbyists... busy day an' all, can't stop now...

New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate of all the 38 countries in the OECD #nzpol

See, knew I was missing something :D We have another event: Cahoots & Chill! The badass folks of @cahoots.nz will be running a chill space for women and gender minorities on Friday night. There will be cool vibes, comfy chairs, and nerdy activities. Come hang! kawaiicon.org/con-events/#...

It's PRE REG DAY! Don't be on time - cause we are running late :D Pre-reg will start closer to 1pm. So grab some lunch, then come by MFC after 1pm!

This Thursday 6 Nov, from 7pm is #GiveOUTDayNZ. The Rainbow NZ Charitable Trust will be matching all donations you give to us then (up to $10,000) so it's a really important fundraising opportunity. Here's a reminder of what the Festival is all about www.wellingtonpridefestival.com/news-1/giveo...

The wonderful Indigo Bloom tattoo studio (super queer, very good with fat bodies) is doing a tattoo flash raffle and proceeds are going to us! Full details here www.indigobloomtattoo.nz/flashraffle

Our time in the Human Rights Review Tribunal finally finished yesterday. This has been a long four and a half years in the making, and a long time spent in court too. We want to thank everyone who stood with us www.wellingtonpridefestival.com/news-1/updat...

... #NZPol

Auckland businessman isn't the Andrew formerly known as a prince but he's not an innocent either. Does he deserve to have charges dropped re commercial sex with girl under 18Y? We don't know details but story focuses on him without any concern for her situation. 🤔 www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Where's the #AltText on images for blind and low vision readers? @benfineman.bsky.social Digital inclusion requires attention to #accessibility HT @manningkrull.bsky.social manningkrull.com/digital-phil...

Too many politicians will claim to be progressive and then refuse to take a stand on trans rights. You can’t be progressive while denying an entire group of people basic human rights. Mamdani proved when you do the right thing, you win. He fought for the trans community and they embraced him.

If you're just waking, it's been a good night for Democrats across the US, with voters rejecting Trump nationwide. 🎉 Mamdani's comfortable win in New York, on the highest turnout since 1969, provides further proof that you don't have to pander to the right to win. news.sky.com/story/zohran...

Quick, somebody tell David Seymour. A US state not that much bigger than New Zealand has voted to tax high earners to fully fund school meals for ALL students. #nzpol

Just leaving this here: "YES. I AM A SOCIALIST AND I'M PROUD OF IT. YEAH-THERE YOU GO. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. BRING IT ON, AND I'M VERY PROUD TO SAY TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF THE WAIRARAPA THAT THEY ELECTED A PROUD SOCIALIST AS THEIR MP." KIERAN MCANULTY, LABOUR MP. #NZPol

You think it being hard to find staff in Queenstown, and being the most expensive place in NZ for real estate might be related? Surely not. #nzpol

It doesn't get said enough that Nats have built just 45 State houses since coming into government, no one is being housed in your ghost houses Bishop and now you want to hunt people off the streets? Where worse can you send them, the sewers where you slither? #NZPol

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n... Horrible fckers, Mr Luzon and his government , aren’t they? #nzpol #auspol

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... They bully their way in. They don't give a fuck about others. They get upset over nothing. They attack indigenous residents. This hornet was probably introduced by the ACT party so they could have a mascot. #NZPol #NZEnvironment

Policy nerds and climate activists may wish to download and start reading this unpleasant pile of tosh from NZ Govt on how it proposes to weaken Aotearoa's laws and policies on Responses to #ClimateChange. Not ignore it and hope it will go away but close. #NZpol environment.govt.nz/what-governm...

Welp, time to reset the giant novelty counter again environment.govt.nz/news/governm...

Anyone know what Winston Peters was threatening when he said "watch this space" after removing the RSE guidelines about consent, LGBTQIA and gender? Are we all going to show our genitals or birth certificates to be allowed to wee in a public toilet? #nzpol

Six months after ICE apprehended 47 people, including nine kids, in Hays County, Tex., County Judge Ruben Becerra says DHS has ignored his attempts to get answers: “We’re not told why they took them, and we’re not told where they took them. By definition, that’s a kidnapping.”

Wow. “If it was anybody else, we’d arrest him tomorrow,”Justice Department aide said of Trump. “A handful of documents found by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago were so sensitive that even a senior Justice Dept official didn’t have authorization to see them.” No rule of law without equality under the law.

If you're in Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau, here are tips on constructing your own hornet traps to catch the pests www.stuff.co.nz/home-propert...

Asked how important water safety was for avoiding tragedies, NZ PM Luxon said it was “really important”. Nek minute, ACC cuts funding to Water Safety NZ, as it hadn't seen a “measurable reduction in drowning injury claims”. Do survivors not put in claims? #NZpol www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

Excellent thread about Parihaka, which is far more fitting reason to remember remember the 5th of November.

Highly recommended 2023 doco by Annie Goldson on 1970s-80s avant-garde NZ theatre / cabaret troupe Red Mole, who flew the coop in 1978 to New York to continue the experimentation in Gotham's most hard-bitten, end-of-days state of decay. (Screening on Neon).