You are warmly invited to join the Caritas team at the Pointseven debate.

When: 6 pm, Thursday 24th August
Where: Bunny St entrance, Rutherford House, Pipitea Campus, Victoria University.

Admission free. All welcome.

‘I can smell the stinginess on your breath’ – an Oxford Union-style debate

In the style of debate that put David Lange on the international stage, six well-known New Zealand politicians, commentators and student debaters will be battling it out in Wellington later this month over the question of New Zealand’s international aid.

Is Sir Bob Geldoff right when he says that New Zealand’s aid contribution is pathetic and disgraceful? Will New Zealand be seen as an international miser over the amount of aid it gives to poor countries?

The two sides will be led by Wellington Central MP and former Aid Minister Marian Hobbs and National’s Aid Spokesperson and former diplomat, John Hayes. Joining them will be political commentators Matt Robson and Matthew Hooton along with two students from Victoria University’s debating teams.

The motion: With less than ten years to go to achieve the UN goal of halving extreme poverty, New Zealand needs to urgently commit to a timetable of giving 0.7 percent of gross national income in aid.

This event is sponsored by the Pointseven campaign and United Nations Association of New Zealand (UNANZ). For more information go to www.cid.org.nz

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On The Government's Assault On Maori

This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Audrey Young in the NZ Herald has compiled a useful list of the many ways Christopher Luxon plans to roll back the progress made in race relations over the past forty years. He has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. More