Politics

Psychoactive Substances Bill Committee named

Posted 3:03pm Sunday 26th May 2013 by Bella Macdonald

Associate Minister of Health Peter Dunne announced the Psychoactive Substances Bill Committee on Friday 17 May. The committee is to be chaired by Otago University Associate Professor of Medicine Richard Robson, and has been put in place to determine a safety testing regime for “legal high” Read more...

Budget provokes outrage and apathy among students

Posted 3:03pm Sunday 26th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

An OUSA-run forum on the Government’s budget resulted in yawns for many on Monday. Speakers from the youth wings of most parliamentary parties were generally ambivalent, although Finance Minister Bill English’s latest effort attracted criticism from even the Government’s most ardent supporters. Read more...

Budget 2013: Nothing new for impoverished students

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 19th May 2013 by Josie Cochrane

It appears the National Party is waiting until election year 2014 to give New Zealand’s domestic tertiary students any excitement in the Government’s annual Budget. Student allowances will continue to exist only for younger students and people studying for their first degrees. Students aged Read more...

Ex-Critic editor puts up pointless, doomed bill

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013 by Jack Montgomerie

Green Party list MP Holly Walker has introduced a Private Member’s Bill for the next ballot at Parliament, which aims to reinstate student allowances for postgraduate students. However, with little hope of majority support, the bill appears to be purely symbolic. In 2012, the government Read more...

"Pay off your fucking loans" - Govt

Posted 5:49pm Sunday 14th April 2013 by Gerard Barbalich

Economically-minded students will be disappointed to discover that the Government has scrapped the voluntary repayment bonus for student loans, effective from 1 April 2013. While the incentive was in place, borrowers who repaid more than the minimum amount required had a 10% bonus credited to that Read more...

Asset Sales Delayed by Water and Wind Claims

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Staff Reporter

In a move that is bound to have special resonance for students, the government has decided to delay the controversial partial sale of Mighty River Power (MRP). Following a Waitangi Tribunal report that was delivered to the government on August 23, but is yet to be made public, the sale is now Read more...

QUAN dethrones COMO as Most Failed Subject

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Bella Macdonald

Full table of pass rates by subject available here: >>University of Otago Pass Rates by Subject 2009-2011 Picking papers has become even easier at the University of Otago after figures stating the average pass rate for each subject were released under the Official Information Act (OIA). Read more...

Alcohol gets its reform on, but not really.

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Staff Reporter

After months of debate, research, and whatever else it is that Members of Parliament do, they finally dealt with New Zealand’s binge drinking culture by making absolutely no changes at all. In the first effort to create change by changing nothing at all Justice Minister Judith Collins Read more...

Parliament gets FABULOUS!

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Zane Pocock

Labour MP Louisa Wall’s Marriage Amendment Bill, which aims to legalise gay marriage, passed its first reading in a landslide 80-40 conscience vote on the night of August 29. The vote drew a packed public gallery at Parliament, and with many tuned into Parliament TV social media outlets went Read more...

“Treatygate”

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Callum Fredric

Critic has obtained documents from controversial race campaigner Louis Crimp, setting out a plan for a $2million campaign aiming to make New Zealand a “colourblind” (racially neutral) state. The campaign will be split into two distinct “brands”, known as “Treatygate” and “Colourblind State”. Read more...