Publisher or postman?

On the proposed regulation of social media platforms In the wake of the Christchurch Mosques terror attacks on 15 March 2019, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that social media platforms must take responsibility for the material that they distribute, that they are the publisher, not the postman. More specifically, We will look…

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Capital Gains Tax

Sir Michael Cullen’s Tax Working Group report came out yesterday. I was asked by Chris Keall to comment for an article in the New Zealand Herald in which I was positive about the recommendations.  The key points are (noting I’m not a tax expert): The Capital Gains Tax (CGT) looks fair. If you earn a dollar,…

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Arch Angel

I have been given the Angel Association of New Zealand’s supreme award for 2018, the Arch Angel Award. This is a huge honour for me, and came as a complete surprise. I want to thank all of the people who have co-invested with me and helped me along the way, and especially the amazing NZ…

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That safety pin

I wear a safety pin on my jacket. It’s not because my jacket needs to be held together, nor do I have an infant in nappies at home, nor because I used to be a punk — I never was. I wear my safety pin to show support for vulnerable people. I’ve done so since…

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Risk appetite in government

I recently participated in a “Procurement Hackathon” event run by the Chris Webb and Jane Kennedy at Department of Internal Affairs in Wellington.  Rolled into this event was the launch led by Minister Clare Curran of the DIA Marketplace, which is starting life as a directory of third-party pre-approved services, many of them SaaS, that…

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My week on @AotearoaPeople

Last week I was the curator of the @AotearoaPeople Twitter account.  I covered a lot of areas of interest to me. The tweet stream follows. I hope you enjoy it! Jump to: Monday: Intro, my whanau, and our charitable trust Tuesday: Lexicography and words Wednesday: Tech, startups, and investment Thursday: The future of government Friday:…

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Better Rules Hack : Start a Business

At the start of Tech Week this year, I participated in the Better Rules Hack that was organised by Legal Hackers NZ and the DIA’s Service Innovation Lab. This was a big deal for me – after being involved in organising over 25 Startup Weekends and facilitating 16 of them in several countries, this was…

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Abe Lincoln, sharpening axes, and startups

I was having office hours today with one of the startups I work with, and asked the founder how he was going on sales.  He responded by saying that things were slow, as he was preparing thoroughly for the next phase.  He quoted Abraham Lincoln: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and…

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Hate and the Internet

I was part of a panel today run by InternetNZ on Hate and the Internet.  The event was framed as follows: There is increasing discussion about hate speech and the issues associated with the publishing and circulation of hateful content online. But what is hate speech? And what does it mean in a New Zealand…

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