One of the modern mysteries of the current government is how Kelvin Davis went from being one of the most effective Members of the NZ Labour party while in opposition to one of its biggest liabilities when in government. His handling of the Corrections portfolio is risible. His answers to Guyon Espiner on Morning Report today were simply pathetic.
I don’t know how you can claim that when he did not even read a report on his area of responsibility (that has apparently been available since November) till last week.
I can claim it with the content of his response….the decision was based on the evidence of best practice.
Whether the projection of the number of incarcerations had deteriorated further had no bearing on that.
Would it be better for him to be able to say he had read that particular report before the decision?…of course, even if only for optics…would the content of that report have impacted the decision?….it would have only reinforced the need for the the decision taken.
Not particularly…I have no idea what reports/studies he HAS read (or any other politician for that matter) and as stated the latest report only reinforces the need to work on reducing prison musters.
I actually agree with the policy of smaller prisons rather than large ones however that doesn’t mean he is excused from reading reports about predicted increases in prison populations before he makes important decisions on what to do. I would at least expect him to read the report and re-evaluate his position based on the information.
It would make very little difference whether he had read the report or not. The government had a significant body of material that warned them of the negative consequences of their oil and gas decision, but they made it anyway. Arrogance is becoming a key characteristic of this government.
For once I agree with Baba Yaga, it was a stupid decision that won’t cut our CO2 emissions by one µg, but it will limit NZ’s future energy options with needless and possibly avoidable costs of importing fuel. We will run out of natural gas soon, it’s 50% cleaner burning than other fossil fuels. What a waste.
We will probably end up burning more coal and wood.
And your evidence for changing track towards renewables meaning we have to buy more fossil fuel offshore is? And burning more wood and coal?
Half of this argument is changing how people think about consumption, not stupid arguments over keeping consumption at the same level. Feeding into idiots like baba yaga and his fake attempt to be blissfully ignorant of the the impact of that mentality is producing. Is a bloody painful and tired debate – one which I might add we have had on this site for a very long time.
Time to accept we have to change, or take responsibility for being the person who supports the destruction of human habitation. Those are the choices at this stage. Between a wrecker or not.
Don’t worry yourself on behalf of the oil companies,
Aparently, they are getting everything they wanted
The Austrian player also reiterated that the New Zealand government’s decision to not issue any new offshore exploration permits would have no impact on existing permits and rights, meaning that if OMV drills a discovery well it can be converted into a production licence.
Chief financial officer Reinhard Florey said recently: “We are in a very good position in New Zealand. We’re having around 50% of all available exploration licences in New Zealand.
“So even if there would be a tender of licences right now, we would not go for it because we have sufficient licences for the next 10 years, 15 years to explore. So we don’t see any impact on our business, not on the production as well as on the exploration activities.”
Meanwhile government regulators have tied up the Greenpeace protest vessel Taitu to the wharf on pain of massive fines if they put to sea.
And Greenpeace Aotearoa Director Russel Norman and climate activist Sara Howel have been convicted in the courts of breaching the Anadarko Amendment against protesting offshore oil exploration.
I’m finding it interesting seeing which ministers are doing well and which are being quite arrogant.
I thought Grant Robertson which have got a bit drunk with power but no he’s making a good fist of finance and Kris Faafoi is doing well in consumer affairs and then compare them to the arrogance shown by Twyford or the incompetence by Curran as examples
In Twyfords defence, he does best work when he puffed up like a chicken, or he has himself under the pump.
As for Curran, I think myself and others questioned her ability, long before labour came to power. So that should not be a surprise to no one.
Look on the bright side, if you can only think of two it’s way better than the last government who had arrogance and incompetence across it’s whole cabinet.
Well David Clarks not living up to the pre election hype either (Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up) , Littles apparent problem of not being able to talk to Winston before announcing policy, Nash is making some missteps (especially over briefing papers) and that’s not even counting what NZFirst have been up to
I also want to point out I don’t think any of the Labour MPs are stupid (well maybe Curran), they just seem to be not sure of what they’re doing
I refer back to my previous (vague) idea of a quick-fire training course for MPs before they’re allowed to do things in that being a minister is damn important yet its all about the on the job training which, to me anyway, seems horribly inefficient
We are better served with talented amateurs, rather than trained idiots who think they know what is best. I’m all for them making some mistakes, and we should let new governments and ministers make mistakes, and only punish them if they do not learn. We have a good mechanism for that – elections.
You should go to Wellington Puckish Rogue, and get why we don’t want the ministers trained by people in and outside that environment. And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.
“And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.”
Well no we don’t want that but its like the mistakes a minister makes can have extremely negative repercussions so maybe theres a middle ground that could be found
A small training session set up by senior National and Labour MPs thats not about policies but how to ask questions etc
Maybe even instead a rule book for incoming speakers written by Lockwood Smith and vetted by Labour and the Greens so as not to get another dud speaker…
I dunno it just doesn’t seem right that you have the most important jobs in the country and you learn it by on the job training only
Fair enough. I’ll watch some more. I still find it odd that he’s deputy PM given he presents poorly.
But you may be right and he’s the solid performer behind the leader.
I also thought about Bennett and wondering how come she’s where she is given her incompetence. But I’m happy for her to stay there and for Bridges to stay front and centre as well.
Don’ t doubt that he is…(after all hes been an MP for some time) but as Anne noted (and I agreed) he dosn’t appear confident in interview situations, particularly ones expected hostile…(and for PRs observation, that was something unmet as an opposition MP)…..and none of this is necessarily indicative of his competence in his portfolio(s), though it certainly will be painted thus by the opposition.
I agree Pat.Kelvin Davis is passionate and dedicated to what he truly believes in. I was thinking this morning that seeing as Guyon is so proud oh his mastery of Te Reo that Kelvin should just answer him in Te Reo. I believe that he would be very articulate using it.
The Government is setting out to reduce the prison population so the reported predicted increase will be a way to measure their success. What if the prisoner population stays around 10,000? Will this mark a huge success? And how come the Report predict that the 3,000 now on remand will become 6,000? Remember those on remand have not yet been convicted and for some who are convicted, they have already served the prison sentence on remand.
You may well be correct however it is the fact that Kelvin Davis is not all over this subject which is of concern. He’s doing an appalling job and this is from someone who thought he was great at holding the last government to account and scored numerous hits against them. It’s like he’s been replaced with some incompetent boob.
Perhaps Kelvin Davis ought to do what National did for nine years and refuse to appear on Morning Report, and only be interviewed by pro-government sycophants and then only when he feels like it?
The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them.
Anyone who has listened to him at private functions where no media are present would know he is a actually a very capable speaker and on top of his portfolios, but it does not come across in the public arena.
“The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them”
Thats the impression I get too….is a lack of self confidence in an interview situation ….and we have more than enough overconfident/arrogant politicians so it is not unwelcome.
Didn’t seem to be a problem when he was opposition, I thought he came across quite well (I mean I disagreed with what he was saying but he spoke well and was quite effective)
maybe there are other things going on for him. Of course you’d want him to crack preferably on the news. Real people do these jobs mate and they live real lives – stop being a creep.
Yep I’m sure you’d prefer that however your rightwing agenda is not the subject.
Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer? Politics? Masculinity? No, sport is the answer imo – the hunt – stupid pack behaviour and bully antics hiding deep insecurities.
I still think that Labour didn’t expect to get into power and so had the luxury of saying damn near anything they liked while in opposition but are now finding out its a different kettle of fish having to implement their pre-election promises
The dirty gnats are still finding their feet so it’s no wonder they are floundering so badly – for instance I doubt the public know ANY opposition member portfolios – I don’t know any, even Steven bridges – that’s for sure lol
But they are making the changes I wanted, unlike the Nats who mostly seem to sweep things under the carpet…….
I guess like anyone in anew job there is a bit of a learning curb. I was aware of this when labour was in opposition and the lost experienced people like king and cunliffe. There is very little previous ministerial experience in labour currently. But they will get that on the job.
I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford. I think he’s working his butt off on two very difficult port folios with crusher braying at him (ridiculous the idea that he could have solved the housing crisis in 5 minutes)
Honestly thanks for outlining the concerns about Twyford.
It is a huge project they are undertaking ie building more affordable homes +++++it’s like any big project until you start it, you can’t really know what you are facing. Know this from my own home renovation projects. Even if you really shot up before hand things somehow unfold in unforeseen ways (I won’t bore you with the details here)……
The kiwi build apprenticeship thing is going ahead, heard some announcement about it very recently, but new apprentices will not yet have the experience to do the work. Yes the thing about fast tracking migrants for the job doesn’t fit with what they said about cutting back on migration (although they still may achieve that reduction). But needs must.
Twyford has signed off some great transport gains for Auckland (rail links), set up kiwi build, he I think is responsible for getting unoccupied houses eg owned by Auckland transport available for those needing emergency accommodation (better than motels) and he also got off his arse and phoned gluckman about the science behind meths testing.
So it might look a bit messy, but he’s working hard towards his targets, getting some smalls gains and setting it up so it’s good to go. After all it’s a massive task he has got
The big problem facing Twyford is, as you say, Kiwibuild is a huge undertaking with a lot riding on it, like a big gamble kind of thing, in that if he succeeds he (and Labour) will gain the kind of kudos Michael Joseph Savage received and can then look at three terms in office, at least (yeah its that big)
But if Kiwibuild fails he (and again Labour) will likely get the opposite reaction and all that entails
And at this stage it’s too early to tell. It might not be quite as black and white either, eg in areas outside Auckland kiwi build probably has more chance of success as the housing situation is quite as bad and the scale is less…….
I am reminded of what jacinda ardearn said (and I was sitting in the gallery when she said it) “I rather be the govt that tried and didn’t quite get their, than the govt that didn’t try at all” or words to that effect
It can’t succeed unless they use Savage’s funding model.
He’s just burnt a truckload of credibility trying to accommodate foreign investors – who will then limit his success just when he needs to push on through to a higher order of magnitude.
@exactly Stuart Munro and the foreign workers also undermining Labour’s so called Kiwi jobs and foreign buyers now even be bought in the mix to buy up the land and profit from it, or quasi private COO type companies be virtually given away public land in secret deals that are not providing much affordable housing aka HCL and if the buyers end up being foreigners or new residents who then rent them out after the withholding period, and the renters need more accomodation supplement to pay for the rising rents in the aforementioned Kiwibuild houses, it is gonna be a joke.
The NZ way seems to be market forces needing government money propping it up in a Kind of quasi public money for private profits. Not a nice story.
If they want to get Kiwibuild to succeed they need to use local and resident builders even if they have to train them on mass themselves, use local land and probably not sell them at all, as the city needs cheap rentals the most. Then use the rents to make more, exactly how private developers do it, only the profit goes back to the state to make more rentals!
I’m saying that Kiwibuild was/is being touted as a new rendition of the quarter acre dream, a continuation of Michael Joseph Savages ideas for state housing, a home and back yard for the kids to play in
All the marketing shows pictures of detached houses or town houses. Even the Kiwibuild logo is a house. Apartments are nowhere to be seen in the feel good PR images
It is interesting to see which Labour MPs are showing themselves in power, I mean Grant Robertson is doing quite well in that I thought he might have been one of the ones to get a bit arrogant but no hes doing well and Kris Faafoi is making a good fist on consumer affairs, again without the arrogance
Now compare those two that’re getting on with the job with someone like Twyford or Curran for example
“On 12 March, an explosion in Unit 1 was caused by the ignition of the hydrogen, destroying the upper part of the building. On 14 March, a similar explosion occurred in the Reactor 3 building,.”
actually I did edit the wikipage (simply pointing out the main differences between the two explosions, volume of material ejected and height of ejection) , it (the edit) lasted about five minutes.
Well the Lie must have begun with Tepco who controlled the initial analysis, Why this lie continues, lazyness?, ignorance? I really dont know ,
Huh – well Andre followed up with the tech analysis. You seem to be basing your opinion on your eyesight and limited knowledge of what you think a hydrogen explosion should look like. That is not evidence of a big lie.
Personally I think fukishima is such a massive disaster and cover up for real and the effects of that CONTINUING leakage of radiation into the ground and thus the sea are only now becoming known. That is where evidence of a big lie will be found imo.
Oh? Why is a hydrogen explosion not a satisfactory explanation?
Considering the enormous range of concentrations that hydrogen is explosive at, I don’t find it even slightly surprising that there could be a huge difference in the energy released by explosions in identical chambers. One could have exploded while there was still very little hydrogen while the other may have developed a much higher concentration before the explosion.
Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted, it seems the explosions were because the hydrogen was vented into the maintenance halls.
“Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted,”
Exactly! The video evidence clearly shows they were not.
think for a moment about the mechanics of how you might produce a vertical column of approx 1 kilometer (by comparison to the vent towers) of a great volume of material (observed falling) and then consider the dynamics of a hydrogen explosion (very fast!) in a light containment (the upper floor of the building)
reactor three was not “similar” to reactor one, certainly hydrogen explosion can be observed in both cases ( detonation, shock wave, bright flash) but what occurred after that was fundamentally different.
There’s plenty of reasons why there might be a much larger plume from one explosion than the other.
For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).
Or there may be simple differences in the geometry and construction of the maintenance halls that accounts for the differences seen.
If both explosions were initiated by hydrogen that escaped from the containment vessel, which was generated in both cases by superheated steam reacting with zirconium inside the vessel, why is calling them “similar” a lie?
“For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).”
Well if that was the case the wikipedia would say something like “the observed differences was due to the large amount of explosive material stored in the upper level of reactor three”
But that scenario does not address the major difference which is the vertical velocity and volume of the ejecta.
And I have some experience of physical objects being moved around by rapidly expanding gases, in experiments where everything we could think of was tightly controlled. And there were some pretty wild variations in outcomes even with initial conditions set to be as identical as possible.
So I don’t see a problem with describing those two explosions as “similar”, given the root causes of the two are the same. Given that there were likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions at the time of initiation, substantial differences in the appearance of the aftermath seems more likely than not.
Well thats the assumption you are steered towards by the description as “similar”
Best not question that assumption eh
easier to postulate “likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions” without any evidence and no such “differences” ever having been outlined.
I suggest you familiarize yourself with the differences between Detonation and Deflagration.
Ok, let’s take your new bit of theorising at face value (at a grand total of two comments it doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention). And no, I can’t be bothered trying to dig up a rebuttal of it.
So then the explosion at reactor 1 was the result of a known hazrd of pressuried water reactors (superheated steam reacting with zirconium cladding to produce hydrogen). Then reactor 3 explosion was due to a different but also well known hazard of pressurised water reactors. But somehow, probably due to technical differences of opinion among experts, the reactor 3 explosion is being misattributed to the same known hazard of pressurised water reactors as the explosion at 1.
How does this difference of opinion turn into a lie, let alone the foundations of some kind of conspiracy theory? Whether it was in fact a steam explosion or a hydrogen explosion doesn’t change the arguments against using that pressurised water reactor design.
How many times did Bridges say ‘spray and walk away’ this morning on Espiners show. I counted three but could have missed a few. AND he didn’t answer Guyons question as to whether he would forgo the Winter Allowance. I heard this morning that 140 people had opted out of it. Did you hear that Si. As for his amazement at Kelvin not having read report on figures on inmates rising the should just look to his right and ask the ever incompetent Paula Bennett to comment on this. When did she ever read ANYTHING? Going out on a limb here. NEVER?
Kelvin Davis performed well with the struggling Guyon this morning. Davis kept saying to the non responsive RNZ dummie, that Labour are not going to build mega prisons, but will develop ways to release prisoners on remand, and those suffering with Mental health problems. Thereby reducing the number of persons in prison.
Do not be misled by devotee TROLLS who suck on the incoherence of Simon Bridges.
Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.
While we are concentrating on banning plastic bags that are polluting our oceans and environment, can we also ban using components of plastic in our vehicle tyres please?
As “synthetic tyres” today now have the very same chemicals inert in them also as all plastics have.
Many benzene components are included in our commonly used tyres and these tyres have black carbon dust
Worse is that the carbon tyre dust that is emitted from one truck with 32 tyres will shed 100 times the plastic dust (cancer causing) more than just one car.
This toxic carbon tyre dust have been found its way to our artic ice caps.
Tyre black carbon dust has now been found to have been carried from our road pollution ‘runoff’ and transported in heavy rain into our roadside water ducts and water ‘sheds’ and then sent out to the rivers and coast to be transferred to the Antarctic ice caps by the prevailing ocean currents.
Scientists have found that the black carbon dust that may include tyre dust settles on the ice caps and accelerates the melting of our ice caps now.
Tyre particles are now known to travel far greater distances than previously known now.
Paper bags are the go. Ban the plastic bag! Too late to tax it as the oceans are dying! Oh that will upset investors so probably the government would prefer to kill the ocean rather than tackle taxing a company for polluting or even worse a foreign company, (but fine for ordinary commuters with petrol tax.).
@Fireblade – the Stuff tracker is a good idea but should show how many homes have been demolished to make way for the Kiwibuild aka the truth, they start with a negative as the National government booted out loads of vulnerable people to make these stylish new houses which if you look at Hobsenville and Tamaki are being marketed around $800k – well beyond what any renter or working or even middle class family can afford! Then put the houses into price banks… what they used to be $350k, now the 3 bed houses are $650k and going up… The other issue is that banks don’t like to lend on unstable jobs and so many jobs now are unstable…everything is harder because banks can afford to be choosy.
The WOF looks like a joke when they are now housing emergency families in demolition houses when the whole idea was to promise affordable safe houses! Before they fell into the Natz lies they should have looked a bit closer at the demographics of Auckland and what was driving up the prices! I know Labour and Greens trying to do the right thing, but +practicality+ needs to be looked at not just the latest +flash reports+ that clearly are a little amiss aka the staggering price increases of new builds…. lack of affordable houses… lack of rentals in any form… jobs still paying the same as a decade ago… It’s what they said about the wage trickle down in the 1980’s, never happened now we have the housing trickle down – is labour being fooled by their own liars again?
Thanks Andre a pleasure, view this scientific literature for clarity as the NZ document focuses on the amount of road tyre dust particles which is now very alarming to us all.
Then I Quote; from scientical reseach here at Alfred Weagner Institute.
This is just one sample of research that is recently discovered and as we agee particulates are from various sources we know clearly in NZ studies road dust from tyres is a hazard to be now taken seriously now.We now have to call these particles from tyres as “Microplastics ” as the scientists are.
Read the recent NZ publication also to see the NZ ageement that tyre wear now causes mass amounts of road dust pollution.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
The tiny fragments of plastic ranged from types widely used in packaging such as polyethylene, to paints, nylon, polyester and cellulose acetate which is commonly used in making cigarette filters
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light. Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles. Scientists said they could not yet say whether the particles released from melting sea ice stayed in the Arctic
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments.
Gunnar Gerdts, whose laboratory made the measurements, said: ‘Using this approach, we also discovered plastic particles that were only 11 micrometres across.
‘That’s roughly one-sixth the diameter of a human hair, and also explains why we found concentrations of more than 12,000 particles per litre of sea ice – which is two to three times higher than what we’d found in past measurements’, he said.
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles.
WHAT ARE MICROPLASTICS AND HOW DO THEY GET INTO OUR WATERWAYS?
Microplastics are plastic particles measuring less than five millimetres (0.2 inches).
They have hit the headlines over recent years, as improper disposal has resulted in tonnes of waste making its way into the ocean.
Each year, tonnes of plastic waste fails to get recycled and dealt with correctly, which can mean they end up in marine ecosystems.
Although it’s unclear exactly how they end up in the water, microplastics may enter through simple everyday wear and tear of clothing and carpets.
Tumble dryers may also be a source, particularly if they have a vent to the open air.
Plastics don’t break down for thousands of years and it is estimated that there are already millions of items of plastic waste in the oceans. This number is expected to rise.
Studies have also revealed 700,000 plastic fibres could be released into the atmosphere with every washing machine cycle.
Current water systems are unable to effectively filter out all microplastic contamination, due to the varying size of particles.
The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s tap water is contaminated with plastic, research published in September 2017 revealed.
The US has the highest contamination rate at 93 per cent, followed by Lebanon and India, experts from the University of Minnesota found.
France, Germany and the UK have the lowest levels, however, they still come in at 72 per cent.
Overall, 83 per cent of water samples from dozens of nations around the world contain microplastics.
Scientists warn microplastics are so small they could penetrate organs.
Bottled water may not be a safer alternative, as scientists have found contaminated samples.
Creatures of all shapes and sizes have been found to have consumed the plastics, whether directly or indirectly.
Previous research has also revealed microplastics absorb toxic chemicals, which are then released in the gut of animals.
That’s an impressive firehosing of irrelevant information.
I found precisely one mention of tyre dust in your DailyMail link, in the context of a phrase saying ‘hmm, we don’t really know where this stuff is coming from, maybe tyre dust, dunno?’
That rcaforum pdf was an impressive compilation of the composition of roadside dust contaminants and microdetail about their composition. But it was remarkably devoid about the hazards presented by the different contaminants. For instance, the section dealing with tyre dust failed to show any details around particulate size distribution, which is a critical bit of information in assessing the hazard. Although it did mention about less than 5% was small enough that it might become mobile again once it had settled on the ground. Nor did it contain any mention of uptake of these particles by marine life.
Meanwhile, scaremongering by joining together irrelevant factoids is how we end up with debacles like the meth-house testing scam.
mad heka duplicity alien was crowing in the Wairarapa Times Age yesterday morning that Winston Peters had been “FIRED” [sic] from the am show and was on two week suspension. Now he wont go back and merkin and dunnycan are really spitting the dummy. and besides what sort of juvenile language is that from a supposed adult.
why has politics in New Zealand descended into this sort of cocakamamie cross between reality teevee and womens weakly with the provincial rags as a support cast?
and for good measure Question time in the house has become a farce. if you dont believe me then watch and see for yourself. the nationals are like this pack of nitwitted drongos. One Brett Hudson asked a question to which he had just been given the answer.
The courts have finally got that case of including money loaned as some ones income in there assesment of money received fraudulently from winz they have ruled to clear the dept Ka pai.
There you go same day one week apart the only difference is the new Auckland fuel tax and no traffic jam today who said a fuel tax won’t decrease traffic.
Business conferenced allways go’s down in winter and what’s happening around Papatuanukue with trade won’t help plus most businesses are right-wing voters smitten that they lost the election.
Wow they found the Mokopunas lost in the Thailand caveing network that’s awesome I had my doubts but they are saved. Many thanks to the all the tangata who are part of the search team that found the Mokopunas.
There you go men behaveing badly at the basketball game between the Australian and the Philippins come on guys the whole Papatuanukue is watching you.
. Ka kite ano
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The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Stokan, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County If you live in one of the most economically deprived neighborhoods in your city, you might think the government is directing a smaller share of public funds to your community. ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
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‘Targeting.” Crawl on broken glass for your entitlement.
Speak of the Devil….
What’s happening?
One of the modern mysteries of the current government is how Kelvin Davis went from being one of the most effective Members of the NZ Labour party while in opposition to one of its biggest liabilities when in government. His handling of the Corrections portfolio is risible. His answers to Guyon Espiner on Morning Report today were simply pathetic.
While his presentation was poor his reasoning was sound enough
I don’t know how you can claim that when he did not even read a report on his area of responsibility (that has apparently been available since November) till last week.
I can claim it with the content of his response….the decision was based on the evidence of best practice.
Whether the projection of the number of incarcerations had deteriorated further had no bearing on that.
Would it be better for him to be able to say he had read that particular report before the decision?…of course, even if only for optics…would the content of that report have impacted the decision?….it would have only reinforced the need for the the decision taken.
Guyon is over excited by a misperceived ‘gotcha’
Aren’t you the slightest bit concerned that he hadn’t seen the report until last week?
Not particularly…I have no idea what reports/studies he HAS read (or any other politician for that matter) and as stated the latest report only reinforces the need to work on reducing prison musters.
I actually agree with the policy of smaller prisons rather than large ones however that doesn’t mean he is excused from reading reports about predicted increases in prison populations before he makes important decisions on what to do. I would at least expect him to read the report and re-evaluate his position based on the information.
It would make very little difference whether he had read the report or not. The government had a significant body of material that warned them of the negative consequences of their oil and gas decision, but they made it anyway. Arrogance is becoming a key characteristic of this government.
Projecting much baba yaga.
All opinion, no substance.
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/94123/document-reveals-mbie-advised-energy-and-resources-minister-megan-woods-limit-oil-and-gas
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/104465563/government-warned-oil-decision-could-have-chilling-effect-in-investment-in-taranaki
I’ll post more if you want.
For once I agree with Baba Yaga, it was a stupid decision that won’t cut our CO2 emissions by one µg, but it will limit NZ’s future energy options with needless and possibly avoidable costs of importing fuel. We will run out of natural gas soon, it’s 50% cleaner burning than other fossil fuels. What a waste.
We will probably end up burning more coal and wood.
*Sigh* really.
And your evidence for changing track towards renewables meaning we have to buy more fossil fuel offshore is? And burning more wood and coal?
Half of this argument is changing how people think about consumption, not stupid arguments over keeping consumption at the same level. Feeding into idiots like baba yaga and his fake attempt to be blissfully ignorant of the the impact of that mentality is producing. Is a bloody painful and tired debate – one which I might add we have had on this site for a very long time.
Time to accept we have to change, or take responsibility for being the person who supports the destruction of human habitation. Those are the choices at this stage. Between a wrecker or not.
Global warming is a concern but not urgent to people facing wars, famines, ecological collapses, overfishing, depletion of soil and bees.
@Baba Yaga
Don’t worry yourself on behalf of the oil companies,
Aparently, they are getting everything they wanted
Meanwhile government regulators have tied up the Greenpeace protest vessel Taitu to the wharf on pain of massive fines if they put to sea.
And Greenpeace Aotearoa Director Russel Norman and climate activist Sara Howel have been convicted in the courts of breaching the Anadarko Amendment against protesting offshore oil exploration.
Guyon always plays the ‘gotcha game. He is predictable pain.
He enters interviews with a predetermined stance.
Sniggering Gyno would have a more difficult job springing his little traps if pollies made at least some effort not to make liars of themselves.
Listen to his responses and tell me that is what you should expect from a Minister of the Crown
https://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018651731
I’m finding it interesting seeing which ministers are doing well and which are being quite arrogant.
I thought Grant Robertson which have got a bit drunk with power but no he’s making a good fist of finance and Kris Faafoi is doing well in consumer affairs and then compare them to the arrogance shown by Twyford or the incompetence by Curran as examples
In Twyfords defence, he does best work when he puffed up like a chicken, or he has himself under the pump.
As for Curran, I think myself and others questioned her ability, long before labour came to power. So that should not be a surprise to no one.
Look on the bright side, if you can only think of two it’s way better than the last government who had arrogance and incompetence across it’s whole cabinet.
Should we mention the spy?
Too soon?
Well David Clarks not living up to the pre election hype either (Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up) , Littles apparent problem of not being able to talk to Winston before announcing policy, Nash is making some missteps (especially over briefing papers) and that’s not even counting what NZFirst have been up to
I also want to point out I don’t think any of the Labour MPs are stupid (well maybe Curran), they just seem to be not sure of what they’re doing
I refer back to my previous (vague) idea of a quick-fire training course for MPs before they’re allowed to do things in that being a minister is damn important yet its all about the on the job training which, to me anyway, seems horribly inefficient
I thought Nash was one of yours 😉
We are better served with talented amateurs, rather than trained idiots who think they know what is best. I’m all for them making some mistakes, and we should let new governments and ministers make mistakes, and only punish them if they do not learn. We have a good mechanism for that – elections.
You should go to Wellington Puckish Rogue, and get why we don’t want the ministers trained by people in and outside that environment. And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.
“I thought Nash was one of yours”
No we’re good thanks 🙂
“And putting aside ideological capture – be it left or right I’m sure we agree we don’t want that.”
Well no we don’t want that but its like the mistakes a minister makes can have extremely negative repercussions so maybe theres a middle ground that could be found
A small training session set up by senior National and Labour MPs thats not about policies but how to ask questions etc
Maybe even instead a rule book for incoming speakers written by Lockwood Smith and vetted by Labour and the Greens so as not to get another dud speaker…
I dunno it just doesn’t seem right that you have the most important jobs in the country and you learn it by on the job training only
“Jami-Lee Ross seems to be setting something up”
Nah. Has already blown his load in the waiting room.
In the Jaws of the Dragon ?
He needs to lift his game but I’m not sure he can.
I agree he dosnt interview well…that dosnt necessarily mean he cant do his job competently….unlike say Paula Bennet who did neither
Fair enough. I’ll watch some more. I still find it odd that he’s deputy PM given he presents poorly.
But you may be right and he’s the solid performer behind the leader.
I also thought about Bennett and wondering how come she’s where she is given her incompetence. But I’m happy for her to stay there and for Bridges to stay front and centre as well.
Time will tell how competent he is behind the scenes…having said that, hes not the personality type youd want as party leader imo.
In person Davis is very well spoken and fluent in Te Reo. Probably just an off day
Don’ t doubt that he is…(after all hes been an MP for some time) but as Anne noted (and I agreed) he dosn’t appear confident in interview situations, particularly ones expected hostile…(and for PRs observation, that was something unmet as an opposition MP)…..and none of this is necessarily indicative of his competence in his portfolio(s), though it certainly will be painted thus by the opposition.
I agree Pat.Kelvin Davis is passionate and dedicated to what he truly believes in. I was thinking this morning that seeing as Guyon is so proud oh his mastery of Te Reo that Kelvin should just answer him in Te Reo. I believe that he would be very articulate using it.
Actually Davis hides behind TeReo to disguise his abject ignorance.
The Government is setting out to reduce the prison population so the reported predicted increase will be a way to measure their success. What if the prisoner population stays around 10,000? Will this mark a huge success? And how come the Report predict that the 3,000 now on remand will become 6,000? Remember those on remand have not yet been convicted and for some who are convicted, they have already served the prison sentence on remand.
You may well be correct however it is the fact that Kelvin Davis is not all over this subject which is of concern. He’s doing an appalling job and this is from someone who thought he was great at holding the last government to account and scored numerous hits against them. It’s like he’s been replaced with some incompetent boob.
Perhaps Kelvin Davis ought to do what National did for nine years and refuse to appear on Morning Report, and only be interviewed by pro-government sycophants and then only when he feels like it?
The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them.
Anyone who has listened to him at private functions where no media are present would know he is a actually a very capable speaker and on top of his portfolios, but it does not come across in the public arena.
“The problem with Kelvin Davis is not his lack of competence (his past history is testament to that) it is his lack of confidence when facing hostile opponents either of the journo or politico variety. He needs some expert training how to cope with them”
Thats the impression I get too….is a lack of self confidence in an interview situation ….and we have more than enough overconfident/arrogant politicians so it is not unwelcome.
“lack of self confidence”
Didn’t seem to be a problem when he was opposition, I thought he came across quite well (I mean I disagreed with what he was saying but he spoke well and was quite effective)
maybe there are other things going on for him. Of course you’d want him to crack preferably on the news. Real people do these jobs mate and they live real lives – stop being a creep.
I’d prefer him to do the honourable thing and resign before he cracks up
Yep I’m sure you’d prefer that however your rightwing agenda is not the subject.
Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer? Politics? Masculinity? No, sport is the answer imo – the hunt – stupid pack behaviour and bully antics hiding deep insecurities.
“Why do rightwingers try to hunt out weakness, and even create perceived weakness, to drop someone and make them suffer?”
Like left wingers and their partners never do it themselves
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10411294
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11235412
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12066885
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11161586
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/settle-petal-ron-mark-told-off-for-sexist-remark.html
I still think that Labour didn’t expect to get into power and so had the luxury of saying damn near anything they liked while in opposition but are now finding out its a different kettle of fish having to implement their pre-election promises
Lol yes you mean opposition 101.
The dirty gnats are still finding their feet so it’s no wonder they are floundering so badly – for instance I doubt the public know ANY opposition member portfolios – I don’t know any, even Steven bridges – that’s for sure lol
Huh, Marty, you mean Simon Joyce don’t you?
At least bill Collins has gone lol
But Judith Bennett and Paula English are still there.
You are probably right about that pr.
But they are making the changes I wanted, unlike the Nats who mostly seem to sweep things under the carpet…….
I guess like anyone in anew job there is a bit of a learning curb. I was aware of this when labour was in opposition and the lost experienced people like king and cunliffe. There is very little previous ministerial experience in labour currently. But they will get that on the job.
I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford. I think he’s working his butt off on two very difficult port folios with crusher braying at him (ridiculous the idea that he could have solved the housing crisis in 5 minutes)
“I can’t really understand why so much criticism of Twyford.”
Well off the top of my head (without googling) Labour made promises about housing including but not limited to:
Kiwibuild using apprenticeships which look to being dropped for foreign workers
Cutting back immigration but now allowing more foreign workers (see above)
Kiwis building the houses now looks to be either pre-fabs (not that i’m opposed to them) or simply buying the houses off developers
The houses being touted now looking like including apartments when it was described as homes for families (and all that entails)
The time frames for said houses being pushed back
The costs for the home raising
The easiest way for Twyford to shut National up is to start producing houses and at the moment i think 18 have been announced to be built
Kiwibuild was a major pre-election promise so of course National was going to attack it, especially given all of the above
Honestly thanks for outlining the concerns about Twyford.
It is a huge project they are undertaking ie building more affordable homes +++++it’s like any big project until you start it, you can’t really know what you are facing. Know this from my own home renovation projects. Even if you really shot up before hand things somehow unfold in unforeseen ways (I won’t bore you with the details here)……
The kiwi build apprenticeship thing is going ahead, heard some announcement about it very recently, but new apprentices will not yet have the experience to do the work. Yes the thing about fast tracking migrants for the job doesn’t fit with what they said about cutting back on migration (although they still may achieve that reduction). But needs must.
Twyford has signed off some great transport gains for Auckland (rail links), set up kiwi build, he I think is responsible for getting unoccupied houses eg owned by Auckland transport available for those needing emergency accommodation (better than motels) and he also got off his arse and phoned gluckman about the science behind meths testing.
So it might look a bit messy, but he’s working hard towards his targets, getting some smalls gains and setting it up so it’s good to go. After all it’s a massive task he has got
The big problem facing Twyford is, as you say, Kiwibuild is a huge undertaking with a lot riding on it, like a big gamble kind of thing, in that if he succeeds he (and Labour) will gain the kind of kudos Michael Joseph Savage received and can then look at three terms in office, at least (yeah its that big)
But if Kiwibuild fails he (and again Labour) will likely get the opposite reaction and all that entails
Agree or.
And at this stage it’s too early to tell. It might not be quite as black and white either, eg in areas outside Auckland kiwi build probably has more chance of success as the housing situation is quite as bad and the scale is less…….
I am reminded of what jacinda ardearn said (and I was sitting in the gallery when she said it) “I rather be the govt that tried and didn’t quite get their, than the govt that didn’t try at all” or words to that effect
It can’t succeed unless they use Savage’s funding model.
He’s just burnt a truckload of credibility trying to accommodate foreign investors – who will then limit his success just when he needs to push on through to a higher order of magnitude.
@exactly Stuart Munro and the foreign workers also undermining Labour’s so called Kiwi jobs and foreign buyers now even be bought in the mix to buy up the land and profit from it, or quasi private COO type companies be virtually given away public land in secret deals that are not providing much affordable housing aka HCL and if the buyers end up being foreigners or new residents who then rent them out after the withholding period, and the renters need more accomodation supplement to pay for the rising rents in the aforementioned Kiwibuild houses, it is gonna be a joke.
The NZ way seems to be market forces needing government money propping it up in a Kind of quasi public money for private profits. Not a nice story.
If they want to get Kiwibuild to succeed they need to use local and resident builders even if they have to train them on mass themselves, use local land and probably not sell them at all, as the city needs cheap rentals the most. Then use the rents to make more, exactly how private developers do it, only the profit goes back to the state to make more rentals!
“The houses being touted now looking like including apartments when it was described as homes for families (and all that entails)”
Are you saying families in many cities around the world do not live in apartments?
I’m saying that Kiwibuild was/is being touted as a new rendition of the quarter acre dream, a continuation of Michael Joseph Savages ideas for state housing, a home and back yard for the kids to play in
Not apartment blocks
Was/is it?
Don’t recall anyone touting that all homes would be detached houses on quarter acre blocks.
The policy in 2012 included apartment blocks.
Before the election the policy included apartments and terraced houses.
Where was the kiwibuild policy touted as a rendition of the quarter acre dream?
I’m not talking policy, I’m talking the “feelz”
Got any examples?
All the marketing shows pictures of detached houses or town houses. Even the Kiwibuild logo is a house. Apartments are nowhere to be seen in the feel good PR images
(google image search “kiwibuild”)
Certainly not just quarter acres though
As for the logo… a bit of projection there I think.
Simple solution Gos, stop listening to Guyon! he is a dork.
Guyon’s a dork because Kelvin Davis came across as a right plonker???
Guyon’s never been anything else.
actually i agree gos about kelvin being a plonker, but that doesn’t excuse Guyon or his presence on morning report.
Look on the bright side we could have had Greg Oc’onnor for minister of corrections! eeeek
Maybe someone’s vetting his reading list too closely gozzer.
It is interesting to see which Labour MPs are showing themselves in power, I mean Grant Robertson is doing quite well in that I thought he might have been one of the ones to get a bit arrogant but no hes doing well and Kris Faafoi is making a good fist on consumer affairs, again without the arrogance
Now compare those two that’re getting on with the job with someone like Twyford or Curran for example
Yeah ( breathless) so true wow good spotting onto it yeah nah maybe not really no rubbish boo.
A sympathetic interview.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/shows/2018/07/one-addict-s-story-of-being-evicted-by-housing-nz.amp.html
Poto Kingi has been told by HNZ she cannot apply for a home for three years after being evicted for meth (not cooking).
They tell her to go to a boarding house where the temptation of meth will be all around her. Choosing not to use she couch surfs instead.
here is an example of a mass lie
from wikipwdia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster#Units_1,_2,_and_3
“On 12 March, an explosion in Unit 1 was caused by the ignition of the hydrogen, destroying the upper part of the building. On 14 March, a similar explosion occurred in the Reactor 3 building,.”
I invite you to consider the evidence
here is footage from reactor one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
and reactor three
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
These explosions are NOT “similar” there clearly is a fundamentally different process at reactor 3 explosion.
why the lie? and how has this lie continued in the face of video evidence?
Why don’t you edit the Wiki page and correct the “lie”? Anyway, who’s doing the lying, according to you?
actually I did edit the wikipage (simply pointing out the main differences between the two explosions, volume of material ejected and height of ejection) , it (the edit) lasted about five minutes.
Well the Lie must have begun with Tepco who controlled the initial analysis, Why this lie continues, lazyness?, ignorance? I really dont know ,
What I do know is that hydrogen explosion alone does not explain what is observed in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
You seem to be speaking with definitives – how do you know so much about hydrogen explosions?
ignorant comment marty. what do you know?
Huh – well Andre followed up with the tech analysis. You seem to be basing your opinion on your eyesight and limited knowledge of what you think a hydrogen explosion should look like. That is not evidence of a big lie.
Personally I think fukishima is such a massive disaster and cover up for real and the effects of that CONTINUING leakage of radiation into the ground and thus the sea are only now becoming known. That is where evidence of a big lie will be found imo.
Oh? Why is a hydrogen explosion not a satisfactory explanation?
Considering the enormous range of concentrations that hydrogen is explosive at, I don’t find it even slightly surprising that there could be a huge difference in the energy released by explosions in identical chambers. One could have exploded while there was still very little hydrogen while the other may have developed a much higher concentration before the explosion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_safety
Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted, it seems the explosions were because the hydrogen was vented into the maintenance halls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zirconium_alloy#Oxidation_of_zirconium_by_steam
“Even the assumption the explosions were in identical chambers is unwarranted,”
Exactly! The video evidence clearly shows they were not.
think for a moment about the mechanics of how you might produce a vertical column of approx 1 kilometer (by comparison to the vent towers) of a great volume of material (observed falling) and then consider the dynamics of a hydrogen explosion (very fast!) in a light containment (the upper floor of the building)
reactor three was not “similar” to reactor one, certainly hydrogen explosion can be observed in both cases ( detonation, shock wave, bright flash) but what occurred after that was fundamentally different.
There’s plenty of reasons why there might be a much larger plume from one explosion than the other.
For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).
Or there may be simple differences in the geometry and construction of the maintenance halls that accounts for the differences seen.
If both explosions were initiated by hydrogen that escaped from the containment vessel, which was generated in both cases by superheated steam reacting with zirconium inside the vessel, why is calling them “similar” a lie?
“For instance, depending on maintenance operations, one of the halls may have had a large quantity of some sort of maintenance supplies that ignited, that either wasn’t present or wasn’t ignited in the other (because of a lower energy initial explosion).”
Well if that was the case the wikipedia would say something like “the observed differences was due to the large amount of explosive material stored in the upper level of reactor three”
But that scenario does not address the major difference which is the vertical velocity and volume of the ejecta.
Have you actually viewed the video’s of the two events?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVp2NnY16g0
simply dismissing the second event as “similar” to the first just does not work. .. look for yourself!
Yes, I did view the two videos.
And I have some experience of physical objects being moved around by rapidly expanding gases, in experiments where everything we could think of was tightly controlled. And there were some pretty wild variations in outcomes even with initial conditions set to be as identical as possible.
So I don’t see a problem with describing those two explosions as “similar”, given the root causes of the two are the same. Given that there were likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions at the time of initiation, substantial differences in the appearance of the aftermath seems more likely than not.
“given the root causes of the two are the same.”
Well thats the assumption you are steered towards by the description as “similar”
Best not question that assumption eh
easier to postulate “likely to be substantial differences in initial conditions” without any evidence and no such “differences” ever having been outlined.
I suggest you familiarize yourself with the differences between Detonation and Deflagration.
as well here is rather more plausible and well explained mechanism that could produce the observed events
http://www.fukuleaks.org/web/?p=3018
Ok, let’s take your new bit of theorising at face value (at a grand total of two comments it doesn’t seem to have attracted much attention). And no, I can’t be bothered trying to dig up a rebuttal of it.
So then the explosion at reactor 1 was the result of a known hazrd of pressuried water reactors (superheated steam reacting with zirconium cladding to produce hydrogen). Then reactor 3 explosion was due to a different but also well known hazard of pressurised water reactors. But somehow, probably due to technical differences of opinion among experts, the reactor 3 explosion is being misattributed to the same known hazard of pressurised water reactors as the explosion at 1.
How does this difference of opinion turn into a lie, let alone the foundations of some kind of conspiracy theory? Whether it was in fact a steam explosion or a hydrogen explosion doesn’t change the arguments against using that pressurised water reactor design.
Similar isn’t identical xanthy.
And you can link to the research proving this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZo_8_LI90
Ah, so you confirm that you’re talking out your arse.
Gotcha.
How many times did Bridges say ‘spray and walk away’ this morning on Espiners show. I counted three but could have missed a few. AND he didn’t answer Guyons question as to whether he would forgo the Winter Allowance. I heard this morning that 140 people had opted out of it. Did you hear that Si. As for his amazement at Kelvin not having read report on figures on inmates rising the should just look to his right and ask the ever incompetent Paula Bennett to comment on this. When did she ever read ANYTHING? Going out on a limb here. NEVER?
Deaf RNZ
Kelvin Davis performed well with the struggling Guyon this morning. Davis kept saying to the non responsive RNZ dummie, that Labour are not going to build mega prisons, but will develop ways to release prisoners on remand, and those suffering with Mental health problems. Thereby reducing the number of persons in prison.
Do not be misled by devotee TROLLS who suck on the incoherence of Simon Bridges.
Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.
“Whatever, do not go with the trapsetting nonsense of people like Guyon and other low IQ RNZ so called journos.”
agree wholeheartedly.
some time ago I decided to avoid the herald and one result was more exposure to RNZ… very disappointing.
where can I find real journalism of day to day events in NZ?
Most television and radio hosts/journalists suffer from very low IQ levels and sadly lack intelligence and have little common sense ?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201107/common-sense-is-neither-common-nor-sense
If you have 26 minutes in your day, well worth watching this interview with Seymour M. Hersh. You may remember him from such reporting as the:
My Lai Massacre
Korean Air Flight 007
Attack on pharmaceutical factory in Sudan
Dick Cheney
and the questioning of the killing of Osama bin Laden
Just to name a few. With Chris Hedges.
Brilliant interview, how ironic that RT is usually more accurate than American corporate media
That isn’t hard. After all comparing Fox News and RT is like comparing identical twins with a brain deficit causing a childish lack of judgement.
Perhaps you shouldn’t be so hard on both of these deluded siblings, each so deranged by the objects of their pathetic adulation.
I’d be very careful with RT news though ropata. That said, I like this show, and redacted tonight.
‘Rid the use of plastic bags.’
While we are concentrating on banning plastic bags that are polluting our oceans and environment, can we also ban using components of plastic in our vehicle tyres please?
As “synthetic tyres” today now have the very same chemicals inert in them also as all plastics have.
Many benzene components are included in our commonly used tyres and these tyres have black carbon dust
Worse is that the carbon tyre dust that is emitted from one truck with 32 tyres will shed 100 times the plastic dust (cancer causing) more than just one car.
This toxic carbon tyre dust have been found its way to our artic ice caps.
Tyre black carbon dust has now been found to have been carried from our road pollution ‘runoff’ and transported in heavy rain into our roadside water ducts and water ‘sheds’ and then sent out to the rivers and coast to be transferred to the Antarctic ice caps by the prevailing ocean currents.
Scientists have found that the black carbon dust that may include tyre dust settles on the ice caps and accelerates the melting of our ice caps now.
Tyre particles are now known to travel far greater distances than previously known now.
https://e360.yale.edu/features/climate-connection-unraveling-the-surprising-ecology-of-dust
http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2016/03/22/the-damaging-effects-of-black-carbon/
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/06/140610-connecting-dots-dust-soot-snow-ice-climate-change-dimick/
http://washingtonsblog.com/2014/03/realistic-ways-stop-melting-arctic-ice.html
Do any of your links mention tyre dust anywhere in them? Mind pointing out where? I had a skim through and didn’t see any.
While there’s plenty to be critical of with current tyre manufacturing and how they are used, dust is a long long way down the list of problems.
Paper bags are the go. Ban the plastic bag! Too late to tax it as the oceans are dying! Oh that will upset investors so probably the government would prefer to kill the ocean rather than tackle taxing a company for polluting or even worse a foreign company, (but fine for ordinary commuters with petrol tax.).
Kiwibuild Tracker.
Designed and built by Stuff staff. Methodology vetted by NZ Initiative economist Sam Warburton.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/105105107/how-our-kiwibuild-tracker-works
@Fireblade – the Stuff tracker is a good idea but should show how many homes have been demolished to make way for the Kiwibuild aka the truth, they start with a negative as the National government booted out loads of vulnerable people to make these stylish new houses which if you look at Hobsenville and Tamaki are being marketed around $800k – well beyond what any renter or working or even middle class family can afford! Then put the houses into price banks… what they used to be $350k, now the 3 bed houses are $650k and going up… The other issue is that banks don’t like to lend on unstable jobs and so many jobs now are unstable…everything is harder because banks can afford to be choosy.
The WOF looks like a joke when they are now housing emergency families in demolition houses when the whole idea was to promise affordable safe houses! Before they fell into the Natz lies they should have looked a bit closer at the demographics of Auckland and what was driving up the prices! I know Labour and Greens trying to do the right thing, but +practicality+ needs to be looked at not just the latest +flash reports+ that clearly are a little amiss aka the staggering price increases of new builds…. lack of affordable houses… lack of rentals in any form… jobs still paying the same as a decade ago… It’s what they said about the wage trickle down in the 1980’s, never happened now we have the housing trickle down – is labour being fooled by their own liars again?
Just to prove how out of touch the act party are.
https://horizonpoll.co.nz/page/513/72-support-banning-letting-fees?gtid=7729406816510KOJ
Thanks Andre a pleasure, view this scientific literature for clarity as the NZ document focuses on the amount of road tyre dust particles which is now very alarming to us all.
http://rcaforum.org.nz/sites/public_files/documents/stormwateremissionfactors.pdf
Microplastics
Then I Quote; from scientical reseach here at Alfred Weagner Institute.
This is just one sample of research that is recently discovered and as we agee particulates are from various sources we know clearly in NZ studies road dust from tyres is a hazard to be now taken seriously now.We now have to call these particles from tyres as “Microplastics ” as the scientists are.
Read the recent NZ publication also to see the NZ ageement that tyre wear now causes mass amounts of road dust pollution.
http://rcaforum.org.nz/sites/public_files/documents/stormwateremissionfactors.pdf
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5651783/Record-concentration-microplastics-Arctic-sea-ice-five-separate-locations.html
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
The tiny fragments of plastic ranged from types widely used in packaging such as polyethylene, to paints, nylon, polyester and cellulose acetate which is commonly used in making cigarette filters
Identifying different types of microplastic and the movement of the ice could help us work out the source of these pollutants, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Microplastics are particles, fibres or fragments which range in size from just a few thousandths of a millimetre to under five millimetres.
They come from multiple sources including from the breakdown of bigger plastic items.
For example, they could come from putting synthetic clothes through the laundry which are then washed to the sea, or from car tyre friction on roads, creating a dust of the particles.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light.
Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples.
Scientists bombarded microparticles in the ice samples with infrared light. Using a mathematical method they then analysed the radiation they reflected back to identify what was in the samples
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles. Scientists said they could not yet say whether the particles released from melting sea ice stayed in the Arctic
The process, reported in a study published in the journal Nature Communications, revealed there were far more microplastics than previous assessments.
Gunnar Gerdts, whose laboratory made the measurements, said: ‘Using this approach, we also discovered plastic particles that were only 11 micrometres across.
‘That’s roughly one-sixth the diameter of a human hair, and also explains why we found concentrations of more than 12,000 particles per litre of sea ice – which is two to three times higher than what we’d found in past measurements’, he said.
They study revealed that, with its process of freezing and melting sea ice, the Arctic is important in storing and transporting the plastic particles.
WHAT ARE MICROPLASTICS AND HOW DO THEY GET INTO OUR WATERWAYS?
Microplastics are plastic particles measuring less than five millimetres (0.2 inches).
They have hit the headlines over recent years, as improper disposal has resulted in tonnes of waste making its way into the ocean.
Each year, tonnes of plastic waste fails to get recycled and dealt with correctly, which can mean they end up in marine ecosystems.
Although it’s unclear exactly how they end up in the water, microplastics may enter through simple everyday wear and tear of clothing and carpets.
Tumble dryers may also be a source, particularly if they have a vent to the open air.
Plastics don’t break down for thousands of years and it is estimated that there are already millions of items of plastic waste in the oceans. This number is expected to rise.
Studies have also revealed 700,000 plastic fibres could be released into the atmosphere with every washing machine cycle.
Current water systems are unable to effectively filter out all microplastic contamination, due to the varying size of particles.
The amount of plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans will outweigh fish by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to further recycle, a report released in 2016 revealed.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s tap water is contaminated with plastic, research published in September 2017 revealed.
The US has the highest contamination rate at 93 per cent, followed by Lebanon and India, experts from the University of Minnesota found.
France, Germany and the UK have the lowest levels, however, they still come in at 72 per cent.
Overall, 83 per cent of water samples from dozens of nations around the world contain microplastics.
Scientists warn microplastics are so small they could penetrate organs.
Bottled water may not be a safer alternative, as scientists have found contaminated samples.
Creatures of all shapes and sizes have been found to have consumed the plastics, whether directly or indirectly.
Previous research has also revealed microplastics absorb toxic chemicals, which are then released in the gut of animals.
That’s an impressive firehosing of irrelevant information.
I found precisely one mention of tyre dust in your DailyMail link, in the context of a phrase saying ‘hmm, we don’t really know where this stuff is coming from, maybe tyre dust, dunno?’
That rcaforum pdf was an impressive compilation of the composition of roadside dust contaminants and microdetail about their composition. But it was remarkably devoid about the hazards presented by the different contaminants. For instance, the section dealing with tyre dust failed to show any details around particulate size distribution, which is a critical bit of information in assessing the hazard. Although it did mention about less than 5% was small enough that it might become mobile again once it had settled on the ground. Nor did it contain any mention of uptake of these particles by marine life.
Meanwhile, scaremongering by joining together irrelevant factoids is how we end up with debacles like the meth-house testing scam.
Donald Trump and his regime of grotesques are a horror show.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are led by people like Charles Schumer….
http://normanfinkelstein.com/2018/07/01/senator-charles-schumer-architect-abettor-accomplice-of-and-accessory-to-gazas-martyrdom/
Using natural fibers will lower the plastic particles from the clothes in the washing. Less nanoparticles to be absorbed also.
Whats with this Eco Maori see that all the left political party’s need to keep up with there strong causes links below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOsM-DYAEhY&index=2&list=RDfKopy74weus
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/02/trump-fart-act-report-blows-through-washington#img-1 Ka kite ano
My latest blog post, defending the universality of the welfare state:
https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2018/07/02/of-useful-idiots-ii-the-universality-of-social-welfare-new-zealand-politics/
mad heka duplicity alien was crowing in the Wairarapa Times Age yesterday morning that Winston Peters had been “FIRED” [sic] from the am show and was on two week suspension. Now he wont go back and merkin and dunnycan are really spitting the dummy. and besides what sort of juvenile language is that from a supposed adult.
why has politics in New Zealand descended into this sort of cocakamamie cross between reality teevee and womens weakly with the provincial rags as a support cast?
and for good measure Question time in the house has become a farce. if you dont believe me then watch and see for yourself. the nationals are like this pack of nitwitted drongos. One Brett Hudson asked a question to which he had just been given the answer.
The courts have finally got that case of including money loaned as some ones income in there assesment of money received fraudulently from winz they have ruled to clear the dept Ka pai.
There you go same day one week apart the only difference is the new Auckland fuel tax and no traffic jam today who said a fuel tax won’t decrease traffic.
Business conferenced allways go’s down in winter and what’s happening around Papatuanukue with trade won’t help plus most businesses are right-wing voters smitten that they lost the election.
Wow they found the Mokopunas lost in the Thailand caveing network that’s awesome I had my doubts but they are saved. Many thanks to the all the tangata who are part of the search team that found the Mokopunas.
There you go men behaveing badly at the basketball game between the Australian and the Philippins come on guys the whole Papatuanukue is watching you.
. Ka kite ano