Dear Aunty, What do you get if you put two members of Te Pāti Māori on a desert island?

Three parties.

I’m not saying JT, Debbie and Rawiri overplayed their hands by expelling Mariameno and Tākuta, but their hand includes a pair of twos, Mr Clown and an expired Snapper card.

Dear Aunty, What does it tell us about psychometric testing when the former deputy police commissioner managed to ace all of his at the same time he was doing the stuff that has landed him in court?

The psychology profession can’t even agree whether Jung was right. It has never shown that recruitment pop quizzes are more valid than astrological readings. What testing is brilliant for is picking think-alikes. Psychometric tests are an inclusivity disaster that we pay for by taking taxpayers’ money away from cancer drugs and needy kids.

Much more in Josie's column for The Post.

Josie was on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle to discuss reports that1.2 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year, National is promising to increase KiwiSaver contributions, new polls about capital gains tax, and Air NZ.

Josie was on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle to talk about schools publicly committing to upholding the Treaty, new polls show government support is down and a split on capital gains tax, and the Supreme Court has ruled that Uber drivers are employees.

The facts are encouraging.

The world installed 15 times more solar capacity in 2024 than the International Energy Agency (IEA) had predicted in 2015. Ten years ago, the IEA predicted that by 2040 the world would emit 50 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year. Now its forecast has dropped to 30 billion tons. In the past 10 years, we’ve cut projected emissions by more than 40%.

These facts have led Bill Gates to state that, while climate change is a serious problem, it won’t be the end of civilisation. He’s calling for change – away from a primary focus on emissions and global temperatures – to making the top priority improving people’s lives.

I work for an aid charity that prioritises the Pacific, because we live here too. It’s where we can make the most difference. It’s also the most aid-dependent region in the world per head of population, and at the front line of climate change. In Kiribati, rising sea levels contaminate fresh water. We put in desalination units. These kinds of initiatives are known as “adaptation and resilience.” With aid resources desperately stretched, we have to make a choice between adapting or reducing emissions.

Adaptation is a higher priority than net zero for these communities because it makes economic sense. A study by the World Resources Institute looked at 320 adaptation and resilience investments across 12 countries totalling $133 billion. It found that every dollar invested generated more than $10 in benefits over 10 years.

Read Josie's column in the Post on COP30.

Josie joined Heather du Plessis-Allan and Trish Sherson on the Huddle on Newstalk ZB to discuss the government's announcement that funding will be withheld from the Cook Islands off the back of their China partnership.

ANZ has announced a significant profit increase.

And Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi have been expelled from Te Pāti Māori after weeks of political infighting.

Listen here.