Douglas Brown

There are over 11,000 homeschooling kids in NZ. Most are overwhelmingly successful in their educational outcomes. But yesterday, @EricaStanfordMP, in an incredibly undemocratic move, snuck major changes to homeschooling law into a Bill after it had gone through Select Committee. By doing this, the Minister has ensured that none of the parents of those 11,000 children has had the opportunity to submit to Parliament about the proposed changes. The Minister is simply giving the Secretary for Education untrammelled power over the educational lives of those families, without their input, and in an underhanded way, by allowing for the introduction of regulations about homeschooling as the Secretary wishes. The Ministry has not shown that there is a need for this. Instead, it is simply barrelling through with changes without even telling homeschoolers about them. In fact, they flat out refused to meet with homeschoolers, despite that community's efforts to engage with them. If they had met, they could have found out that there is no need for any changes. This sort of underhanded, undemocratic behaviour is appalling, especially coming from a @NZNationalParty Minister. Erica Stanford could have been upfront about this and put the changes in the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill from the start. Instead, she is making a last-moment change when she thinks outside scrutiny has passed. The proposed amendments to this Bill relating to homeschooling are an outrageous affront to democracy. This is not tinkering around the edges; they are a fundamental change to a system that has worked brilliantly for decades. @Parmjeet_Parmar, you must not let this go unanswered by the @actparty. What has it come to, when the National Party, whose values include Individual freedom and choice, Personal responsibility, Limited government, and Strong families and caring communities, act in this sneaky, anti-democratic manner? Or is it an Erica Stanford problem? First the U16 Social Media ban, which will require every NZer to prove their age and identity in order to use social media, and now this. Either way, it seems that there is a real problem here. beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/…

There are over 11,000 homeschooling kids in NZ. Most are overwhelmingly successful in their educational outcomes. But yesterday, @EricaStanfordMP, in an incredibly undemocratic move, snuck major changes to homeschooling law into a Bill after it had gone through Select Committee. By doing this, the Minister has ensured that none of the parents of those 11,000 children has had the opportunity to submit to Parliament about the proposed changes. The Minister is simply giving the Secretary for Education untrammelled power over the educational lives of those families, without their input, and in an underhanded way, by allowing for the introduction of regulations about homeschooling as the Secretary wishes. The Ministry has not shown that there is a need for this. Instead, it is simply barrelling through with changes without even telling homeschoolers about them. In fact, they flat out refused to meet with homeschoolers, despite that community's efforts to engage with them. If they had met, they could have found out that there is no need for any changes. This sort of underhanded, undemocratic behaviour is appalling, especially coming from a @NZNationalParty Minister. Erica Stanford could have been upfront about this and put the changes in the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill from the start. Instead, she is making a last-moment change when she thinks outside scrutiny has passed. The proposed amendments to this Bill relating to homeschooling are an outrageous affront to democracy. This is not tinkering around the edges; they are a fundamental change to a system that has worked brilliantly for decades. @Parmjeet_Parmar, you must not let this go unanswered by the @actparty. What has it come to, when the National Party, whose values include Individual freedom and choice, Personal responsibility, Limited government, and Strong families and caring communities, act in this sneaky, anti-democratic manner? Or is it an Erica Stanford problem? First the U16 Social Media ban, which will require every NZer to prove their age and identity in order to use social media, and now this. Either way, it seems that there is a real problem here. beehive.govt.nz/sites/default/…

"I think it's going to be very worthwhile for our community to get the insights of people in the gambling and gaming industry. I realize there's a whole legal controversy over the exact definition of gaming and all that, which we've covered quite a bit on the show. But it's fair to say that prediction markets are certainly—especially in this regulatory environment—moving in a direction where more and more lines are being offered that increasingly look like or resemble or have historically been part of gaming ecosystems. Especially if those kinds of lines prove to be lucrative, then I think it will not be especially surprising if we wind up over time having prediction markets being regulated like gaming and facing many of the same political and moral and cultural hurdles that the gaming industry has faced." — @pjchougule