Environment on the edge

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, April 20th, 2014 - 41 comments
Categories: capitalism, China, energy, Europe, infrastructure, Mining, sustainability, uncategorized - Tags:

On Al Jazeera NewsHour this morning, there were two reports on environmental issues in different parts of the planet.  Both stories focus on the tension between pursuit of economic “growth” and the destruction of the environment.  In one country the cultural heritage of a small town is also under threat. In both countries, there are attempts to develop renewables, without changing the whole system.

environment closing-down-sale

The first is on the increasing pollution in China as their economy “grows” – ‘Chinese battle to make land fertile again’.  China does seem to take environmental issues seriously, as they attempt to invest in renewable technologies, even while their pursuit of economic “growth” pulls the country in the opposite direction.

People in China are increasingly having to deal with the environmental cost of their rapid economic growth.

A government report says nearly one-fifth of farmland in mainland China is polluted. The report was based on a study undertaken from April 2005 to last December on more than 2.4 million square miles of land across the country.

The study says 16.1 percent of China’s soil and 19.4 percent of its arable land is contaminated. It says heavy metals cadmium, nickel and arsenic are the top pollutants.

The report blames industrial and agricultural activities – things like factory waste, the improper use of fertilizers and pesticides, and irrigating land with polluted water.

[…]

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride reports from Zhejian Province, in eastern China, about a scientist looking to make the land fertile once more.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the authorities are planning to destroy a centuries old village and turn the area into a vast coal mine – “German countryside under threat from coal use”.

Atterwasch, near the country’s border with Poland, is around 700-years-old. Its residents and those of neighbouring villages want to stop coal producers from uprooting their communities.

Environmentalists also oppose increased coal use, as it is has higher emissions levels than other forms of energy.

Al Jazeera’s Nick Spicer reports from Atterwasch near Germany’s border with Poland.

On youtube *

The argument is that the coal is needed in the short term to aid the development of renewables, as a replacement for their nuclear power industry, which is being wound down.

And as this struggle between the “economy” as usual, and the urgent need to develop renewables continues, the environment is a commodity on the edge.

John Key sold environment

* I’ve forgotten how to embed more than one yt video in a post.

41 comments on “Environment on the edge ”

  1. RedLogix 1

    The study says 16.1 percent of China’s soil and 19.4 percent of its arable land is contaminated. It says heavy metals cadmium, nickel and arsenic are the top pollutants

    And we allow Chinese food into our local market with no testing because?

    • Paul 1.1

      Didn’t you know the neoliberal mantra?
      Get rid of red tape, it’s unpc, nanny state, blah blah.
      Hence no regulations.

      And Pike River, CTV, Leaky Buildings, Forestry deaths……

      • RedLogix 1.1.1

        Yeah but the thing is the Chinese have the unmitigated gall to ban Fonterra products on completely bogus ‘food safety’ grounds.

        The reality is that a relatively complex testing regime popped up a false positive result as a result of a fairly minor one-off production issue. Despite some uncertainty and delays that arose because of this uncertainty – Fonterra did eventually respond to the problem with a precautionary recall.

        The recall was made more complex than desirable because of some IT issues largely beyond Fonterra’s control. (It’s a huge, complex and very high-tech industry and the goal-posts are constantly moving).

        As far as I can see Fonterra did everything it could have done in response to the problem as it presented to them – yet for some opaque and unjustified reason the Chinese continue to use this incident to ban some products and – while their own toxic shit continues to be freely imported into this country with zero testing.

        This asymmetry of power is looking more and more like neo-colonialism all over again.

      • Martin 1.1.2

        it’s called a free [nmarket] for all clusterf**k

    • Bill 1.2

      And we allow Chinese food into our local market with no testing because?

      Probably for much the same reason that we allow Japanese seafood and goods into the country with no testing; the health effects are far enough away in terms of years, that the authorities can shirk any sense of responsibility. (Could say the same about all that asbestos that was (is?) flying around Christchurch….)

      • RedLogix 1.2.1

        Good point. Why is it that all our export customers demand the highest possible food safety standards from us – while we accept any old shit they feel like sending us with absolutely no testing?

    • Sanctuary 1.3

      Just BTW – I have been told that at the moment, Talley’s is the only brand that you can guarantee has no Chinese sourced veges in it’s frozen vege lines. I carefully check all labeling, and I won’t buy any food manufactured or sourced from China. I am the last person in the world you could accuse of being a food obsessed hippy, but I am a believer in “trust but verify”.

  2. tc 2

    Some would say that battle is being lost in large parts of NZ where rivers run black with cow shit, pastures can’t hold a decent rain or any form of drought without impacts as dairy farmers have pillaged the topsoil levels over the last few years expecially.

    • karol 2.1

      Agreed, even while the government does currently support some sustainable farming initiatives. Such initiatives seem to be marginal and don’t really change the dominant approach to agriculture in in.

      Article from NZ Farmer a couple of days ago:

      Farming industries will match the Government’s funding of $9.9 million over three years with $8.7m of their own money in the latest round of Sustainable Farming Fund (SFF) projects to improve agriculture.

      Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy said the 31 new SFF projects ranged from water-quality issues to climate change.

      “The one common factor is they will deliver real economic and environmental benefits to New Zealand’s primary industries,” Guy said. “They are driven from the grassroots and will make a real difference to regional communities.”

      Guy seems more focused on the “real economic and environmental benefits” to industry, than on the long term issues of sustainability and livable environments for Kiwis in general.

      • weka 2.1.1

        Quite agree karol.

        “projects to improve agriculture”

        Therein lies the problem. Agriculture in the context of the global economy is inherently unsustainable. It doesn’t matter how much you tinker with nitrogen levels or if you put dairy cows in sheds, the whole thing will always degrade the environment and require fossil fuel inputs. It’s going to get worse too, because as population increases the kind of unsustainable agriculture we have been doing pre-dairy boom that could have lasted quite some time, will simply be inadequate.

        ‘Improving’ agriculture is about manipulating the environment and the perception of the environment in order to keep making money. While there will be good people using those funds to do some interesting things, the whole thing is based on premises that don’t fit any meaningful definition of sustainability. And as you mention karol, it’s mostly about economic sustainablity, not environmental, and it’s for the benefit of the industry.

        Fortunately we do have real models and practices of sustainable farming, and in NZ there are people making good headway with these. At the point that the industrial farming model falls over due to pollution, drought, AGW etc, I expect the people with 2 or 3 decades of actual sustainable farming practice will be able and willing to step up and share what works.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.2

        Guy seems more focused on the “real economic and environmental benefits” to industry, than on the long term issues of sustainability and livable environments for Kiwis in general.

        That would be true of National in general and probably some in Labour.

  3. “The argument is that the coal is needed in the short term to aid the development of renewables, as a replacement for their nuclear power industry, which is being wound down.”

    We will hear a lot of this type of argument as desperation takes hold and the profits slip. To me it smacks of “to save the village we must destroy the village”. I also think it is a lie, in that the coal is not used to aid the development of renewables at all but rather, to continue the machine and the generation of profits.

    • RedLogix 3.1

      In other words by fritzing around for several decades doing nothing, we’ve let the safe window of opportunity to change to renewables slip by.

      The fuckers who sowed confusion and doubt over this for so long – will one day be identified and dealt with.

      For me personally what hurts the most is this – that the extraordinary forest and alpine landscapes of NZ – places I have spent so much time in, places where the colours and textures, the unique and complex web of ancient life – all this stands to be lost forever.

      And while I can intellectually understand the perils and import of climate change on the whole of humanity – the threat to this taonga makes me angry and bitter.

      • marty mars 3.1.1

        Yep I agree with that Red – I’ve been portering up the Heaphy and what landscapes and ecosytems, what life!!! It fills the heart and soul – if we could get the movers and shakers up there as in drop them off and let them survive (acceptable losses included) perhaps they would see our world differently, in some small ways through our eyes, with our wonder – but one thing those fuckers don’t have is empathy, they can’t walk in anyone elses shoes or see from their point of view – they are absolutely and totally selfish – so no, it is up to us to try and get as many people as possible out there to see the wonder of our country, our land, our place.

        • RedLogix 3.1.1.1

          I’ve been portering up the Heaphy and what landscapes and ecosytems, what life!!! It fills the heart and soul

          You very fortunate bastard marty. I hope that one night we’ll finish up sharing a quiet and remote hut.

      • weka 3.1.2

        “And while I can intellectually understand the perils and import of climate change on the whole of humanity – the threat to this taonga makes me angry and bitter.”

        Completely with you there on that one, and what marty says about heart and soul.

    • weka 3.2

      “The argument is that the coal is needed in the short term to aid the development of renewables, as a replacement for their nuclear power industry, which is being wound down.”

      Susan Krumdiek was talking to Kim Hill last weekend, and she made the point that we need to stop using coal and then focus on renewables, but we are doing it the wrong way round: focussing on renewables with the idea that we will stop using fossil fuels. Only that’s not happening – renewables are increasing, and fossil fuel use is not decreasing, which is why we just need to stop using them now.

  4. Jenny 4

    Coal is the number 1 global cause of climate change. The word’s pre eminent climate scientist late of NASA James Hansen made the determination that if we can’t stop coal, it is all over for the climate.

    While a lot of the debate here has been about what China is doing. We can’t do much about that. But we can do something here. And what we do here could have an influence beyond our borders, maybe even in China. As Professor Gluckman says on the government website:

    “The collective wisdom of the scientific community is that action is needed now….

    “New Zealand is a small emitter by world standards – only emitting some 0.2% of global green house gases…..

    our impact will be symbolic, moral, and political”

    Sir Peter Gluckman Chief Science adviser to the Prime Minister.

    In the same vein as the country’s top science advisor Greenpeace puts it this way, “We must think globally, and act locally.”

    The open cast coal mine planned by Bathurst Resources on the Denniston Plateau is set to be the biggest expansion in coal mining in this country’s history.

    If we are ever to set a moral symbolic and political example for the world that Professor Gluckman calls for, then there can be no quarter given. The question of the Bathurst Coal Mine at Denniston can not be ignored, or excused, or bargained away, – it must be stopped!

    • bad12 4.1

      i wonder how many down the ‘Coast’ saw the latest weather ‘event’ as the Easter message of what coal extraction will likely bring them in terms of climate change…

      • Jenny 4.1.1

        “i wonder how many down the ‘Coast’ saw the latest weather ‘event’ as the Easter message of what coal extraction will likely bring them in terms of climate change…”
        bad12

        A very good question

        And a question that I think that a lot of Coasters must be asking themselves.

        It would be pretty hard to ignore. In one of the most ironic dramatic events several buses transporting Stockton Coal Mine employees were reportedly knocked over by the high winds.

        Luckily no one was hurt, but I wonder, after this brush with extreme weather, what these workers views on climate change and coal mining are?

        In the wake of the devastation wreaked on the West Coast you would think that this would be something our so called “investigative journalists” would be seeking to determine.

        I wonder what these workers views on climate change and coal mining are?

        Stuff.co.nz
        m.stuff.co.nz/national/9952521/Chaos-as-storm-strikes
        Regional fire commander Brendan Nelly said several buses were blown over as they attempted to transport workers home from Stockton Mine, … because of high winds

  5. Sanctuary 5

    The trouble is no one seems to be able to come up with CO2 reduction solutions that are politically feasible in a democratic society. For example, over at hipster HQ that is Publicaddress, all the combined IQs of the best and brightest of Grey Lynn and Pt Chev could recently come up with to address global warming was to punish the lower sorts for liking a bi-annual week in Bali or Brizzy by making the airfares so eye-wateringly expensive that no one can afford an overseas holiday. Hipsters abhor package deals and can afford and prefer much more authentic, longer, higher quality and expensive holidays and therefore the hoi pilloi can go jump. Chardonnay socialist and Green Presbyterian solutions to global warming more often than not have a worrying streak of distainful middle class puritanism when it comes to global warming. Yet for all the hot air expended, aircraft contribute only 9% of the CO2 produced by the transport sector, with 77% coming from cars and trucks.

    But parking the shroud waving defeatism and obvious class warfare of the hipster elite response, politically it just would never happen. The tourism sector, the airlines, and last but by no means least the general public voters would never, ever allow it.

    Waiting for the revolution may be fatal for the planet so we have to use the system we have. I long ago came to the conclusion global warming will only be tackled when corporations can make money out of doing so and the politicians whose campaigns they will fund can promise they won’t reduce the standard of living by making it possible for them to do so. For example, coal produces up to half of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions via thermal power stations and home heating. Whether we like or not, replacing that sort of capacity with hydro, solar and wind is not feasible. Therefore, political logic tells us that large corporations employing lots of people to build nuclear power plants as well as wind and solar is the only realistic short to medium term way for large countries to both maintain current energy consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. But a Green would rather choke on his or hers homemade organic breakfast granola mix than accept that.

    The second biggest emitter is transport. The left should not be telling a resentful Joe and Jane Sixpack that they need to pay more for petrol and that their SUV is a symbol of gauche they are. Rather, the left ought to be promoting a vision of public transport, walking, cycling, trains, electric cars and coastal shipping for the future. Instead of implying lower economic activity we should be pushing the extra jobs created locally by re-invigorating the other arms of the transport sector.

    • karol 5.1

      The solutions need to be major, and defeatism is no solution. Nuclear power is no longer seen as a solution by large sections of the public, since the Japan earthquake. As indicated in my post above, Germany is now phasing out nuclear power. This is due to the public having lost confidence in it.

      The counter to corporate power, is not to embrace it, but to enhance the power of the people. Increasing numbers of people are coming to see the importance of better public transport.

      NZ has a good base of renewables, and this can be built on as a positive for the environment, and for NZ independence.

      • Jenny 5.1.1

        “The counter to corporate power, is not to embrace it, but to enhance the power of the people.
        karol

        The first step Karol will be making a change in perception. This needs symbolic action by our political leaders that will signal that this is a pressing issue.

        Like the planned XL pipeline in America. Leadership on Bathurst Resources planned open cast coal mine in Denniston will set the agenda.

        Ask yourself karol; Why would people make changes in their own lives when they can see that the government and leaders of industry do not take climate change seriously and in fact are planning to oversee a huge increase in our green house gas emissions?

        Climate change needs to become an election issue.

        The Labour Party need to come out and say that on taking the treasury benches they will stop this project.

        The Green Party need to come out and say that they will not be letting Labour off the hook on this issue.

        If neither take a stand on Denniston it will signal that neither take climate change seriously. That business as usual will continue into the foreseeable future.

        “The solutions need to be major, and defeatism is no solution.”
        karol

        (I could not have said it better myself)

        But this will require concrete actions around concrete issues.

    • Sacha 5.2

      Where would the working class be without you, Tom.

    • Jenny 5.3

      “…aircraft contribute only 9% of the CO2 produced by the transport sector, with 77% coming from cars and trucks.”
      Sanctuary

      It would be good to see an even finer breakdown between private cars and trucks, for instance if intercity freight was moved to rail would this make a difference?
      (In the ’70s even into the early ’80s government regulation stipulated that intercity freight go by rail.)

      “The left should not be telling a resentful Joe and Jane Sixpack that they need to pay more for petrol and that their SUV is a symbol of gauche they are. Rather, the left ought to be promoting a vision of public transport, walking, cycling, trains, electric cars and coastal shipping for the future”
      Sanctuary

      Indeed.

      One of the best Left website for promoting this Left vision is Fare Free New Zealand, who advocate that the $billions set aside for environmentally destructive and expensive motorway construction be ploughed into providing free public transport. This is a quick easy fix, providing immediate measurable results. Fare Free New Zealand give many well researched real world examples of how this simple reform works. Overseas experience has shown that where this was done commuters flooded public transport leaving their cars at home. Private cars became for private use, ie trips to the beach, holidays, recreation. All commuting was done on public transport.

      “…coal produces up to half of the worlds greenhouse gas emissions via thermal power stations and home heating. Whether we like or not, replacing that sort of capacity with hydro, solar and wind is not feasible”
      Sanctuary

      This assumption is seriously debateable as any simple internet search will show you.

      One of the most reputable studies of the feasibility of removing not just coal but all fossil fuels from our economy and global society comes from Scientific American.

      A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables

      Wind, water and solar technologies can provide 100 percent of the world’s energy, eliminating all fossil fuels. Here’s how

      Scientific American October 26, 2009

      Mark Jacobson the author of the scientific study published in Scientific American, above, showed how the world could be powered by renewables. Jacobson has done it again publishing a report on how to make the State of New York, fossil fuel free.

      http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-power-the-world&page=3

      This time rather than demonstrating how the whole world could go to renewables. Jacobson has laid out a detailed plan for switching to renewables for the state of New York. For which he says:

      “……at least we now know that it’s technically and economically feasible. Whether it actually happens depends on political will.”

      Mark Jacobsen

      In energy generation New Zealand is already 70% part way there. For us, the change would be much easier than in state of New York which relies heavily on coal fired power stations.

      There are no real technical barriers, just as in New York all that is missing is the political will.

  6. Jenny 6

    “…..all that is missing is the political will.”
    Jenny

    In New Zealand you can see the same sort of Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee collusion between Labour and National over climate change that we saw between the Democrats and Republicans in the US presidential elections.

    Both Labour and National support deep sea oil drilling.[i]

    Both Labour and National support the opening of new coal mines.[ii]

    Both Labour and National supported the $130 million bail out of Solid Energy[iii]

    Both Labour and National MPs banded together in the wake of the Tacloban disaster to shout down Russell Norman who tried to read out in parliament Yeb Sano’s plea to the world to cut back on C02 pollution.[iv]

    According to James Hansen the problem of climate change “would be solvable”[v] if we phased out coal production and stopped the search for unconventional oil and gas. Hansen particularly mentioned Arctic and deep sea oil drilling both of which, Arctic oil exploration[vi] and deep sea oil drilling[vii] have been met with protest in this country.

    But both Labour and Natonal are deaf to the majority over the TPPA , Just as both Labour and National are deaf to the majority of the population who want the government to do more on climate change.[viii]

    What ever the reason for this collusion between Labour and National,
    it is not democracy. No wonder people seem to have lost faith in our democracy and are not voting in record numbers.[ix]

    [i] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10822510
    “Labour says views on mining close to Govt’s”
    David Parker was Energy Minister during the last Labour Government and said about $20 million was spent on seismic surveys to supply to big oil companies and entice them to New Zealand.

    [ii] Both Labour and National support the Denniston open cast coal mine, the second biggest open cast coal mine to be ever excavated here.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escarpment_Mine_Project

    [iii] Heavily criticised by Green Party MP Gareth Hughes who said the money to bail out Solid Energy would have been better spent on a “just transition” for the coal workers “to jobs that don’t fry the planet.”
    https://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/govt-bail-out-solid-energy-privatisation-stealth

    [iv] http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2013/11/arseholes-before-world.html
    The Labour and National MPs enraged bellowing was so deafening that Meteria Turei who was sitting right beside Russell Norman, said that she could not hear what he was saying. Leading her to ask the speaker to make a ruling for them to stop.

    [v] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM5-recP7-E#t=2656 34:00 minutes
    “The problem would be solvable If we would phase out coal emissions, which are almost entirely at power plants, and if we would leave the unconventional fossil fuels in the ground. Because the amount of conventional oil and gas is finite and of course if you keep going after it in the deepest ocean and the Arctic and the Antartic and things you could cause a problem. But if we would not do that the problem would be solvable. But it would mean phasing out coal and no unconventional fossil fuels. That’s not happening. On the contrary we are doing exactly the opposite. We are allowing and encouraging and subsidising fossil fuel companies to go after every fossil fuel they can find. Including the unconventional ones.”

    [vi] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10787694
    “A man has been arrested after seven Greenpeace protesters, including Hollywood star Lucy Lawless, clambered onto an Arctic-bound oil drilling vessel and scaled its 53-metre tower at Port Taranaki this morning.”

    [vii] http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9435423/Thousands-protest-deep-sea-oil-drilling
    “An estimated 700 gathered at Raglan’s Wainamu Beach to protest deep sea oil drilling and seabed mining as part of the nationwide Banners on the Beach campaign”

    [viii] “People want more action on climate change”
    64.4 per cent wanting Parliament to do mor
    60.6 per cent wanting the Prime Minister to do more and
    62.9 per cent saying government officials should do more.

    The news isn’t good for Prime Minister John Key, with 15.4 per cent saying he’s doing the right amount, 26.1 per cent saying he should do more, and 34.5 per cent saying he should do much more. Just 2.7 per cent want him to do less.

    Horizon August 10, 2012

    [ix] http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/election-2011/6044562/Turnout-abysmal-for-this-years-vote
    “Voter turn out abysmal”

  7. Jenny 7

    Back into moderation again, I see.

    The Centre Left boom lowers again.

    [lprent: You do realise that not everything is about you and we don’t bother wasting too much time persecuting you – right? There are a number of automatic traps for spambot behaviour that spot anything suspicious and add to the moderation queue for a human to pass/reject.

    After the first accepted comment, it is usually pretty damn obvious when people get moderated. If I do it, I like to make it memorable…

    Please don’t bother wasting our time explaining this to you again. ]

    • karol 7.1

      My understanding is that comments with a lot of links, especially raw links, will go into auto-moderation. It’s a spam protection mechanism.

      • Jenny 7.1.1

        Oh the irony! Criticised for not putting in enough citations, and into moderation for putting in too many.

        • karol 7.1.1.1

          Yes. The auto-moderation is a lesser of evils – spam is an on-going issue/struggle. And automoderation doesn’t discriminate on the basis of the political views expressed by the commenter.

          I have an idea it’s the using of a lot of raw links that triggers auto-moderation, and not use of code for embedding links.

          • lprent 7.1.1.1.1

            Yep, there is a auto-catch for more than (?) 10 links in a comment. The reason for that is an older style of spam bot that leaves comments that try to dump a pile of links on the site. All comments with lots of links get inspected by a human.

            We’re getting better at killing spam. Layered defenses against them mean that I’m mostly seeing humans in the spam queue these days. A pleasant change from December.

      • Jenny 7.2.1

        “Well don’t worry Basil, provided you can remember the things that matter to you.”

        • Te Reo Putake 7.2.1.1

          Ha! Very good, Jenny.

          • Jenny 7.2.1.1.1

            Back at you TRP. I’m curious, who do you identify with in this farce, Sybil, Basil, or Polly?
            This is actually quite a good parable/parallel of the climate ignorer position. The ignorers are like Basil Fawlty who knows it is his and Sybil’s wedding anniversary but chooses to pretend not to know. Far from being a martyr Sybil decides to act in the face of Basil’s feigned ignorance, which leads to Basil’s farcical and painful efforts to try and recover the situation.

            I wonder; If “The Left” (Labour and the Greens) do a coalition deal that allows the mining of the Denniston Plateau to go ahead, and then grass roots activists on the ground go ahead with their plans to mobilise to blockade and stop it, will Labour and the Greens be like Basil Fawlty scrambling to recover the situation?

            But seriously where does the refusal to address climate change, particularly on the Left, come from?

            I can understand as carol says that poverty and inequality must be the main issues the Left should concentrate on, but I think it is more than that. I think many on the Left quail at the sheer enormity and horror and particularly the seeming intractability of the problem. And as a result have decided to leave it in the too hard basket.

            Environmentalists are split.

            “Nothing can be done!”

            Believe it or not, many environmentalists believe this.

            Scientists tell us that something could be done – but it will take a global mobilisation of humanity analogous and even exceeding the global human mobilisation that fought the Second World War.

            There seems to be no sign of that happening, so QED nothing can be done.

            The two leading protagonists in the evironmental movement debating doing nothing or fighting back are George Monbiot and Paul Kingsnorth. Their on going disagreement has been widely reported. Though I don’t agree with everything Monbiot says, in my opinion Kingsnorth is a complete and total self centred coward and treacherous defeatist, (of course Monbiot is too polite to actually say that). In many of the treatises by Paul Kingsnorth are open attacks on Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben labeling them liars and misleaders.
            (shades of lprent)

            http://beforeitsnews.com/survival/2014/04/former-environmental-activist-theres-no-point-to-it-anymore-were-screwed-2518996.html

            • karol 7.2.1.1.1.1

              I’m not sure whether you are aligning me with those who say “nothing can be done” about climate change.

              I vote Green. I will continue not to support mining on the Denniston Plateau.

              TRP’s point was a response to your comment about being in moderation, and not about being a climate denier.

  8. Jenny 8

    No particular aspersion was implied.

    More a general muse on the subject of climate change ignoring on the Left.

    More on Kingsnorth:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/magazine/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-he-feels-fine.html?hp

    Paul Kingsnorth vs.George Monbiot:

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/aug/17/environment-climate-change

    And of course we have our various incarnations of Kingsworth and Monbiot in this country.

    Pick a side

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    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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