Here's just one illustration of how we in New Zealand are shameful laggards in de-fossilising our transport: Norway new vehicle sales are around 60% pure battery, and another 20% plug-in hybrid. In the overall fleet, pure battery and plug-in hybrids are up to about 20%. Dino-juice is well on its way out, in Norway.
We really need to sort out issues such as the scheduled application of road user charges to electric vehicles at the end of this year. Applying RUC of nearly 8 cents/km to electric vehicles would remove any fuel cost savings from going electric. I recently took on a project that's turned into fairly regular part-time employment, which is a 100km round-trip for me.
So instead of using my dear old Landie, I went looking for something a bit … more environmentally and fiscally and socially aware. (No, public transport is nowhere even remotely close to viable for this commute). I could just barely make the range of a second generation Leaf work, if I plugged in to charge at work. But I ended up getting a Honda Fit hybrid, and the petrol cost is less than just the RUC costs alone would be on a Leaf if they end up imposed on schedule, without even considering the charging cost.
In terms of new electric vehicles, there's a lot more choice coming at us really fast. At the moment, the lowest price new EV in NZ is the MG ZS ev, at just under $50k. But BYD are saying they are planning to sell their EA1 in Oz for under 35k dingodollars, so probably around the $40 mark here.
Camrys are much bigger than I like for daily use. I've still got the Landie for the big jobs, few as they may be.
I was a bit wary of potential reliability with the Fit, but everything I found online indicated the only real issues were with control software in the earliest models, which were quickly sorted with a software update.
I came close to going for a Prius plug-in, but the extra size and budget stretch needed, and that the pure-electric range would only cover about 1/4 of my km and the open road economy wasn't as good as the Fit, combined to tip it to the Fit. Besides, Prius. But if the pure-electric range covered my daily needs, then I would probably have gone for the Prius PHV, Prius image issues and size notwithstanding.
But jeez, I didn't think driving on pure electric would be as nice as it is. Wafting along at 50kmh or 90kmh with zero engine noise or vibration – it's bliss. It's super disappointing it only lasts a km or two on the flat before the engine has to fire up again. If that BYD EA1 actually does land here under $40k, I might end up breaking a lifetime habit of buying cheap cars and driving them til they're dead ten-ish years later, and spring for one.
Toyota Yaris 1.6 hybrid car or suv. Under $30k does 2.3litres to 100k ( that's about a third of the normal petrol usage – doesn't need to be plugged in. But I think they might be difficult to get hold of.
"There’s an EV mode but don’t get too excited. The owner’s manual suggests there’s a maximum electric-only range of only 1km (yep, a single, miserable kilometre…) and that it could be as little as a few hundred metres."
I have a larger toyota hybrid that uses about 60% of petrol a non hybrid uses and that's better than their literature suggests. I struggled to make sense of the article?? Toyota suggest the yaris uses about 1/3 of the petrol equivalent so that shouldn't be too far out? I'm not clear about why the article talks about only going 1km – seems kinda irrelevant. Otherwise it's up to the next in the range the Corolla.
Hybrids seem to be quite a good intermediate stage especially for people at the far end of the current battery distance ranges.
It's a middle class dilemma. I don't know what the average spend is on a car in NZ – from a quick look I can't find it. But I'd wager it's well under $20k and may be under $15K, The used hybrids and EVs at this price range are fairly old and and have issues (real or imagined) with range and/or battery life. Buyers who can't afford to make a bad economic decision are leery of them. You might, as Ad suggested, find a reliable used Camry hybrid or similar in this price range that you are prepared to take a punt on in terms of battery life. It will be years though before used Kia and Hyundai hybrids and the like turn up at this price, and the same issues will apply.
But even the middle class is being rorted – the price of new hybrids and EVs has been cynically jacked up sky-high. So that they make no economic sense for the buyer because the fuel savings don't cover the higher purchase price. And sitting in the background is inflated housing prices and the huge mortgages that have to be serviced – how long before this sucks middle class discretionary spending out of other sectors, or are people just expected to pile up more personal debt to save the planet with a flash EV?
I significantly stretched my usual budget and spent $10.5k on a 2014 model with 92500 km. I found precisely zero online chatter about battery degradation on Honda hybrids, unlike the plethora of online chatter about degradation in Prius Ni-MH batteries and Leaf batteries.
Even if the battery does degrade significantly, it's only going to have a tiny effect on fuel economy. It will still eliminate all the fuel waste sitting at lights, most of the fuel waste in stop-start traffic. It still has the Atkinson cycle engine, and the electric motor will still cover for the lowish torque at low to medium engine speeds characteristic of Atkinson cycle engines. It just won't be able to store quite as much from regenerative braking and going down hills, but that's only a small part of how it enables better economy.
Interesting facts Andre – every bit of info about EVs is new to me and I hope I will gradually get informed. Though can't afford one and am attached to old 1989 Toyota which I have insured for about $1000, third party.
It's a new language, eh.
I'm hoping when the time comes to replace my current suzuki 50cc, there will be some suzuki electric equivalents in a similar price range – currently the electrics I have searched online have been about twice the price. But I long for the day I can tootle around town without the engine noise, lol
Lack of engine noise will mean pedestrians having to be specially careful. Get forgetful and the car wil be onyou before you think to look, having not heard.
Mine is quiet but you do get used to looking for people who haven't heard. Much like the overseas tourists that used to be around Wellington looking the wrong way around before they step out.
I drive a black Leaf. My friends call it the Black Ninja, the way it sneaks up on people at the curb. One is therefore careful lest the paintwork be blemished. Later Leafs I believe make noises to alert pedestrians of their presence. I have toyed with the idea of recording my son-in-law's Harley and piping that through external speakers mounted in a pipe where the exhaust would be……
I have heard that some common hybrids can have the battery unit checked and as its made up of a number of cells they can find the cells that are worst of and only replace them
This is what the Prius looks like and others will be similar
I was wondering why they didn't do that. For some, a new battery costs as much as a new car. A cell servicing every 20,000km would be an affordable alternative.
I've looked into replacing cells they have to be the same age you can't just put new cells in.you can buy reconditioned complete packs for about a third of the new price.
They are fairly easy to change out the complete pack but the dealer's charge $1200 plus for an hrs work and will only put in new batteries.
Sorry Weka but in the box where my name appears it keeps reverting to tricledrownk no matter how many times I correct it.any suggestions on how I can correct this.i clear the box restore even the auto name feature comes up as Tricledrown then it reverts back to Tricledrownk.
Let's see if we can sort this out. What device are you using and what browser?
Can you please clarify if you can manually edit your name each time (and the problem is that it won't 'stick')? I'm seeing comments from you in the past week as Tricledrownk and Tricledrown. Why is that?
There is a lot of online chatter about hybrid battery degradation – most of it is simply ignorant. If they were so bad would you see so many taxis in Auckland that are hybrid? There are heaps of Prius, Aqua, and Corolla etc. around now. I have had a hybrid (2005 Prius) for 8 years now (1st NZ owner with 37k on the clock – now 150k). It has been the most reliable car I have ever owned and the only battery replacement has been the auxiliary which was 15 years old. Still returns 4.5 l /100km as it did when first bought. Basically halved my emission profile. Now looking to upgrade to something even more efficient.
Again there is virtually no public transport around here and we have to travel regularly at least 150k (300k return) way beyond the range of a Leaf. Friend had one for a while but was lucky enough to upgrade to a Tesla. I have to admit I had some difficulty with the 10th commandment* on first sight.
Yep, it is rare for a Prius battery to crap out. Most of the articles that went into actual detail showed the car was doing Star Trek mileages, and/or extreme temperatures.
But still, I took the complete absence of complaints about Fit batteries to be a good sign, when compared to the cornucopia of complaints about such rare problems that occurred in the Prius batteries.
Andre – I don't want to down the argument for EV but there are 2 glaring issues:
1/ what is NZ going to do with some 2.5 million cars that actually cannot be converted but became instant trash
2/ Batteries, the amount of raw material -Lithium, nickel and cobalt are the key metals used to make those batteries – is being mined in poor countries the activity is devastating on the environment. The issue of disposal is not solved. Funny how this is being advertised as a environmentally better solution. This is ruining the environment in larger proportions and faster. But of cause its not at our doorstep.
My take is nothing really has changed, the emperor has new clothes and we now poison the soil until we cant grow food anymore. The drive to self destruction has not been broken at all. The run for profits is selling the average punter that buying an extraordinary expensive car is so much better. But really it isn't.
The 2.5 million existing ICE vehicles will end the same way as all almost all the other vehicles disposed of up til now. They will be crushed and/or shredded, and sent off to be recycling.
Battery recycling is entirely feasible, and is starting to become an actual thing now that significant quantities of end-of-life batteries are becoming available. Here's just one effort: https://insideevs.com/features/441524/tesla-jb-straubel-future-battery-recycling/ There's plenty more going on, you just need to make a very minimal effort to educate yourself.
If you had actually fully read my original post, you might have come to the last paragraph where I specifically addressed the cobalt and nickel issues. A lot of the new EVs use battery chemistries that don't use cobalt or nickel. The most popular alternative is lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), as used in BYD vcars and trucks and buses and dome of Tesla's made in China models.. These weren't preferred a few years ago because of lower energy density, but with improvements in battery technology they are now better than the best cobalt and nickel batteries were just a few years ago. As well as being much longer lasting.
Middle class dilemma now, everyone's dilemma eventually if we want to let catastrophic climate change happen. Someone has to step up and effect change. Or not I guess, and we let everything burn to the ground. Are we going to take this seriously or not?
(It will be a long time before I can afford an EV, I'm relying on the middle classes to bring the price down).
(It will be a long time before I can afford an EV, I'm relying on the middle classes to bring the price down).
i guess that will be the problem if the middle class has got no money to spend on an overpriced EV. In my circle of people i know absolutly no one who owns a car that has cost more then 5 grand, if people do own a new car its Lease plan via work.
That is what i hope is that the people who drive gasguzzlers now for work in work vehicle will get the EVs first, and that that hopefully brings the price down for all. If it does not, which also would not surprise me those that are not in a rich enough class to afford one of these vehicles will have to content with a. walk (for those that can), b. cycle (for those that can), c. public transport (where it exists) and the rest is shit outta luck.
I suspect the issue isn’t going to be ev affordability but lack of other solutions. PT, cycle infrastructure, relocalising services and work, train network, and so on.
I guess it will be both. A large number of cars in NZ are business cars, i expect these to be EV when that becomes mandatory. Then there are those that already have them or will upgrade and can either afford it outright, or slap the car on the mortgage.
how the lower income to poor people are to afford these vehicles i have no idea.
I know a few people that are scared of this day for exactly this reason. But i expect the government to give tax incentives to those that can afford these cars to reaise 'interest' and 'uptake' and then for those that can't afford it, sucks to be them.
We will end up affording them same as we do with ice cars now, second hand resale and imports.
But I don’t think we can see how it will work because it hasn’t happened before and we will have to transition off the kind of car use and reliance we have now into a different kind of society. Not many people with good vision on that, relatively. Yet.
I am staggered that over 20,000 extra cars were put on our roads in May alone. Weka's link is all gung-ho about sales, but gives no figure for the number of old cars taken off the road.
I doubt if that number would get to 10,000. Can anyone reassure me?
If we are constantly putting far more cars onto the roads than we are taking off, the matter of how many are hybrid is irrelevant. We will always be worsening our carbon footprint.
And gridlock will spread everywhere. Not even national's big road-building programmes will prevent gridlock everywhere.
Nobody seems to be doing any planning or intervention on how many vehicles are being put onto our roads each year compared to how many are taken off .
Sheer stupidity, unless I am wrong in assuming that fewer vehicles are being taken off.
As far as I can tell, all those graphs show increasing numbers of vehicles, with no indication of whether we are taking any vehicles off the road at all.
Changing to more fuel-efficient vehicles does not help our carbon footprint if we are constantly putting more vehicles onto our roads than we are taking off.
There is information about new registrations in LTSA data, as well as some downloadable datasets.
If you're just guesstimating, then basically you can look at the charts with new and renewed registrations, particularly light passenger vehicles. The line (total vehicles) is going up, but if the "existing" point for 2015 is lower than the "new plus existing" in 2014, then some cars have gone off the road.
EVs are spiking, but as a proportion of the fleet larger engined "light passenger vehicles" have also increased regularly over 40 years. I'm thinking SUVs.
But EV tech seems to be maturing quickly, and buses are increasing in number quickest of all, so, it's not all bleak. But it is complex, and easy to focus on the wood instead of all the trees.
It's difficult to find because it's a particularly niche piece of data, and there are many twigs to examine, and sometimes one needs to be familiar with data collections and the mindset of data collators to know how to search for a particular twig.
Most things are available, it's just a case of figuring out who has it and where to find it and how to get it. Organisations literally have people highly trained at doing exactly that. And nosy fellows like me watching them do it.
If you go to Weka's link, select "2019 annual fleet statstics", and "view sections", you can download a pdf report and an xlsx workbook. I believe you're after sheet 5.1 in the workbook.
BUT
the report is more helpful. There are more cars with bigger engines, but per capita travel in those vehicles is lower and the CO2 emissions of those vehicles is also lower than older vehicles.
I bought a 4-door 1.2 litre Suzuki Swift new for $20k 3 years ago. It runs on the smell of an oily rag and compares well in terms of emissions with somewhat larger EV's. Suzuki now make a hybrid Swift which I think is $26k new and has even lower emissions.
Hi Andre, it is laudable that car manufactures offer EV's.
I have some questions though.
Lets say we have some
As at 31 May 2021
As at 31 May 2021Vehicle TypeTotal5,493,773AGRICULTURAL MACHINE2,849ATV8,109BUS32,796GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY806,577HIGH SPEED AGRICULTURAL VEHICLE144MOBILE MACHINE23,500MOPED31,618MOTOR CARAVAN48,229MOTORCYCLE167,758PASSENGER CAR/VAN3,505,856SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLE3,315TRACTOR45,923TRAILER NOT DESIGNED FOR H/WAY USE980TRAILER/CARAVAN816,119
If the point you're trying to make is that there are lots of other kinds of vehicles that are also fossil-fueled, all I can suggest is pick whatever class of vehicle you're interested, and search for electric [whatever kind of vehicle you're interested in].
Come on ACT and/or the Green Party! Time to do some virtue signalling and expose this to loads of sunlight and oxygen. Or do you have something to hide as well …?
My understanding of l(L)iberal was those that saw Corbyn as an anti-semite, Assange as treacherous, keepers of the status quo. Kinda like conservatives on the left side of politics.
Small el liberal in NZ historically has meant socially liberal people who vote on the left.
Large el L liberal is a political position and theory that most people here aren’t even aware of. Adrian and others use it as a pejorative and label designed to corral. I don’t find it particularly helpful because it’s often inaccurately applied.
the people you refer to are what I would call centre lefties.
liberal also has a more modern meaning, basically socially liberal but comfortable with neoliberal economics so long as progress can be made. Eg the term liberal feminism is used to mean feminists who want equal pay but don’t act to end the patriarchy.
"the people you refer to are what I would call centre lefties" …aahhh No, the people referred to as 'Liberals' are Centrists, which is it's own quite defined and distinct ideology.
And we know this because as we have seen with our own eyes, the way the Third Way Centrists in the UK and the establishment Centrist Dems defended their ideology against the actual Progressive Left as aggressively as any political ideologue we have seen in action recently in western politics.
These Free market Liberal Imperialists and their media arm are a more immediate threat and major obstacle at present to any Progressive Left project taking root anywhere in the West than the Right IMO, thereby making them a serious threat to the survival of our planet.
Not sure how many leftish people thought assange was "treacherous". Or even Corbyn as personally being anti-Semitic (although the party as a whole seemed to have a problem that was never addressed).
meh.
Why does the left have so many labels?
So people on the left know who to hate.
……work was still being done to figure out next steps and chief executive Naomi James said they were in talks with central government about ways to create jobs, or repurpose the site.
"That could be anything from imports of other products, green energy and fuel opportunities through to the solar farm….."
I'm not a pitiless shit happy to see such social damage, I am hopeful that these highly skilled workers may find a place at the proposed solar farm.
This is my hope.
That the transition from a fossil fuel economy is done in a just way.
This transition must happen.
Or don't you accept the need for us to move away from fossil fuels?
We should be making the most of this opportunity to make the solar farm a reality.
I share my pity with the Mayor of Dunedin for those affected by the Southland floods, and, the even much greater social damage caused if we don't embrace a just transition.
While we have our own refinery we could potentially refine our own crude which i think atm is exported take that ability away and we are totally dependent on a foreign country for our fuel , not good in my view for a people who still have some way to go before we can transition to other fuels and noone knows whats arround the corner etc .Neither would there be much in the way of jobs in a solar farm once its up an running you could prob run the whole shebang with a couple of technicians an a couple of robots to keep the panels clean .
zouch. Walks on the field at a high point, walks off to find all that's come back.
Almost as bad as that woman who tweeted about AIDS in Africa before getting onto a 12 hour flight there, and getting off the flight to find out she'd been fired (she was back with the company within a few years, so not exactly a career-ender then, either).
Still, as long as he hasn't been turning up to EDL rallies or David Irving book signings recently, he should be ok. Most people know that depressed teens say stupid shit sometimes.
But there seems at the same time to be a youth worship – the young green Councillor will come up with some amazing magic and practical answer to all convoluted problems that will enable the Great Forward Leap into a Better Future.
Who has found the Covid vaccine booking 0800 number, I have searched for ages and followed every direction to my DHB and still no number. Somebody really does need a kick up the arse for anything complicated in doing this.
You can always contact your GP to get the latest information. If you haven't one then I think you should look for a group practice where appropriate for you. They do try to help you with your health problems if they run good management.
There's a link on the MOH covid website to the various DHb's and what they are doing. What I don't get is why they are making such a meal out of it.
I'm Capital & Coast and they are wasting money sending out invitations etc. The Flu shot doesn't have a lot of admin for the person being stabbed so why don't they use a similar system.
Just print up a bar coded form with a few rip off bits similar to an electoral voting form – you go in on your allocated day with address/age proof -fill out background information – give them bit one get stabbed and scanned then give them bit two to scan when you go in for the second shot. Immuno/other groups get the form from their Doctor.
Just allocate days to go by initial letter of surname or something similar.
Then at the end just check up on the numbers where there is only one scan. It's an exercise in getting shots into arms not in trying to collect and store ready to be hacked the personal details of everyone – which seems to be a health department obsession.
100 years since WW1 and big spending on updating our Memorial to that War. In Key's time. Easier to direct people's attention to those memories of the past which have a hold on people's consciousness. But there was WW2 so much closer that took my birth father who served bravely, and the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan war – and …? Enough to think about and should be top and front in our minds. But no, sort of slid under the carpet. And that is a discomforting place to be.
Turoa Karatea frequently scratches himself until he bleeds, but time is running out for him to get compensation for a condition he says was caused by Agent Orange. Will a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry finally deliver for Karatea and other Vietnam veterans before the last of the veterans die?
Ahh, my sister has phoned it through to me but she only got it because her husbands mate passed it on to them. It all seems very clandestine, very secret squirrel stuff.
Anyway it is 080026 88 22, pass it own but carefully like Richie Mounga organising his backline. And just another moan, if this is one of the most important numbers in NZ history why isn’t it a simple one like any company with a competent info department manages to get. I think I can see why the Government is giving health a bloody good kicking.
Lives lost, scarred people, lost revenue to the area because of lack of objective informed direction from government agencies and lost mana for the people there and all NZ.
Eight adventurers died on the submarine volcano. Another 16 would later succumb to horrific burns, inhalation and blast injuries. And 25 survivors were left with lifelong physical and mental recoveries from the explosion.
Despite tourist companies leading visitors onto New Zealand's most active volcano for decades, some stakeholders' health and safety obligations were unclear.
RNZ can now reveal the confusion went right to the top.
Small government good, effective government bad – say the neoliberalists! Just like the pig farm idea introduced by Roger Douglas. (Can he be deknighted now we feel benighted)? Animal Farm was run by pigs who promised and made rules that they gradually altered till what the animals got was the opposite of what they had been told.
Israel's Health Ministry says a small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in Israel were likely linked to their vaccination.
This was perhaps exacerbated by the stresses that so many young Israeli men are experiencing as they battle the horrific, blood-thirsty Palestinians that threaten Israel. /sarc
But an analysis by Deloitte also showed such an investment would reap economic rewards, with a growth in GDP of up to $23b, and thousands of jobs created.
One of the most important pieces of data, however, was a projection on how the investment would impact ratepayers – and likely what councils will be concerned about the most…
By foregoing the reforms, it showed the cost burden on ratepayers would be extremely lopsided. Some could end up paying nearly $14,000 a year in their water bill, while others would pay just $1,900. But if reforms did go ahead, and if two to four entities were created to oversee the water network, the bill would instead be a lot more evenly split amongst ratepayers. The highest average bill would end up being just $1,600 while the lowest average would be around $800.
My present bill is I think no more than $200 pa. And what does the master grinder Deloitte consider our water would be profitable for? And are we still virtually giving it away to overseas exploiters?
In a lot of urban areas the "water" bill is mostly for sewage disposal. Watercare in Auckland does a pro rata from the water meter volume (78.5% homes and 95% for apartments) to have a volume for the waste disposal network. The waste disposal cost is 1.75 X that of water per 1000L plus a fixed yearly charge
The pure water supply is around 25% of account ( inc GST)
"The United States is all for more development and investments in the Islands, but that investment should adhere to international standards for environmentally and socially sustainable development, and should be pursued transparently, with public consultation.
How would nuclear bombing part of the Marshall Islands repeatedly by the USA fit in with that worthy-sounding set of guidelines and principles?
The purpose of Operation Crossroads was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships. Testing in the islands began at Bikini Atoll with the Shot Able test, on July 1, 1946. … These were also the first U.S. nuclear detonations since the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs dropped over Japan. https://www.atomicheritage.org/location/marshall-islands
Tom Lehrer was writing about the nuclear bomb tensions back in the 1960s – oh we have come a long and reasoned way since then! Remember this is satire about the serious backdrop to all the flimflam that we hear from our 'betters' amongst our good leaders looking to advance Humanity and Peace.
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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 ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. 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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne I covered the May 2 United Kingdom local government elections for The Poll Bludger. The Blackpool South parliamentary byelection was also held, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna Grant-Smith, Professor of Management, University of the Sunshine Coast The federal government has announced a “Commonwealth Prac Payment” to support selected groups of students doing mandatory work placements. Those who are studying to be a teacher, nurse, midwife or social ...
We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+. If you love a dark comedy: Bodkin (Netflix, May 9)An English podcaster, an Irish podcaster and American podcaster walk into a pub and…make a TV show? ...
By Eleisha Foon, RNZ Pacific senior journalist A Pacific regionalism academic has called out New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS and says the security deal “raises serious questions for the Pacific region”. Auckland University of Technology academic Dr Marco de Jong ...
How worried should we be about the cloud? This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. I currently have a few thousand unread emails languishing in my inbox, mostly old marketing newsletters and piles of unread science journal press releases. I have a similar number ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nuurrianti Jalli, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies College of Arts and Sciences Department of Languages, Literature, and Communication Studies, Northern State University Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Southeast Asian governments not only have to deal with the virus but also with the false ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Murakami Wood, Professor of Critical Surveillance and Securities Studies, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa The skyline of Riyadh, the capital and largest city of the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia.(Shutterstock) There is a long history of planned city building by both governments ...
The LIVE Recording of A View from Afar podcast will begin today at 12:45pm May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment of ...
The Boil Up’s Lucinda Bennett considers the oyster – from freshness to pearls to the joy of shucking your own. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. In Carmen Maria Machado’s short story ‘Eight Bites’, a woman begins her last supper before bariatric surgery with “a cavalcade ...
Asia Pacific Report A group of 65 Auckland University academics have written an open letter to vice-chancellor Dawn Freshwater criticising the institution’s stance over students protesting in solidarity with Palestine. They have called on her administration to “support” the students who were denied permission to establish an “overnight encampment” by ...
The Student Volunteer Army is on the march, generating approximately 1.6 million hours of volunteering from roughly 35,000 secondary school students in just five years. For Rebekah Brown, the pathway to volunteering started with her singing coach. With a passion for the arts, the suggestion to volunteer at Acting Antics, ...
Keeping up with online communication can be exhausting, so Fran Barclay enlisted the help of Meta’s new ‘intelligent assistant’ to respond to all her messages. Could her mates tell the difference? For centuries, technology has ruled the ways in which we communicate. From the dawn of written language, to the ...
Jamie Arbuckle, a councillor who has become an member of parliament, says he has settled into having two roles so comfortably he's going to keep both pay cheques. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luis Gómez Romero, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory, University of Wollongong Fifty years ago, Australian feminist Anne Summers denounced “the ideology of sexism” governing over so many women’s lives. Unfortunately, sexism is as lethal today as it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jose Antonio Lara-Hernandez, Senior Researcher in Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images The COVID-19 pandemic and the hybrid work patterns it fostered have changed the way we think about office space, and central business districts in general. While fears ...
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Cricket tragics and I am one, will be delighted about NZs current performance at Lords.
Yes especially Devon Conway
Black Caps v England: Devon Conway produces magical debut century at Lord's | Stuff.co.nz
Early days I know, win this test and maybe the UK press will stop asking questions about the ODI final.
Stolen as it was.
The UK press are referring to him as 'from South Africa'
I'm sure that when they ever mention Ben Stokes they always refer to him as "New Zealand player Ben Stokes".
I mean surely they would? Wouldn't they?
No surprises there.
While not untrue, I wonder if they did the same about Kelvin Peterson. Before he fell out with his team mates of course.
Nice to see we found some batsmen that actually do what they are supposed to do, and actually score more than 30.
Here's just one illustration of how we in New Zealand are shameful laggards in de-fossilising our transport: Norway new vehicle sales are around 60% pure battery, and another 20% plug-in hybrid. In the overall fleet, pure battery and plug-in hybrids are up to about 20%. Dino-juice is well on its way out, in Norway.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/06/02/norways-plugin-ev-transition-continues-83-3-share-in-may-with-ford-mustang-mach-e-overall-bestseller/
We really need to sort out issues such as the scheduled application of road user charges to electric vehicles at the end of this year. Applying RUC of nearly 8 cents/km to electric vehicles would remove any fuel cost savings from going electric. I recently took on a project that's turned into fairly regular part-time employment, which is a 100km round-trip for me.
So instead of using my dear old Landie, I went looking for something a bit … more environmentally and fiscally and socially aware. (No, public transport is nowhere even remotely close to viable for this commute). I could just barely make the range of a second generation Leaf work, if I plugged in to charge at work. But I ended up getting a Honda Fit hybrid, and the petrol cost is less than just the RUC costs alone would be on a Leaf if they end up imposed on schedule, without even considering the charging cost.
In terms of new electric vehicles, there's a lot more choice coming at us really fast. At the moment, the lowest price new EV in NZ is the MG ZS ev, at just under $50k. But BYD are saying they are planning to sell their EA1 in Oz for under 35k dingodollars, so probably around the $40 mark here.
(To forestall the inevitable complaints about scarce resources, the EA1 uses LFP batteries, ie nickel and cobalt free. Now if only they could change to rare-earth free motors such as the induction motors Tesla and Audi use on some of their products, or other designs such as the Mahle magnet-free wound-rotor wound-stator design)
Is 8c the intended or current RUC? Who came up with that?
Is Norway paying for its transition by selling oil?
Did you consider a reliable sedan hybrid like a Toyota Camry?
We're all going to have to make the same choices you made, so it's useful to see your choice criteria.
Plenty of couples get into spreadsheets for it. Eyeroll.
Camrys are much bigger than I like for daily use. I've still got the Landie for the big jobs, few as they may be.
I was a bit wary of potential reliability with the Fit, but everything I found online indicated the only real issues were with control software in the earliest models, which were quickly sorted with a software update.
I came close to going for a Prius plug-in, but the extra size and budget stretch needed, and that the pure-electric range would only cover about 1/4 of my km and the open road economy wasn't as good as the Fit, combined to tip it to the Fit. Besides, Prius. But if the pure-electric range covered my daily needs, then I would probably have gone for the Prius PHV, Prius image issues and size notwithstanding.
But jeez, I didn't think driving on pure electric would be as nice as it is. Wafting along at 50kmh or 90kmh with zero engine noise or vibration – it's bliss. It's super disappointing it only lasts a km or two on the flat before the engine has to fire up again. If that BYD EA1 actually does land here under $40k, I might end up breaking a lifetime habit of buying cheap cars and driving them til they're dead ten-ish years later, and spring for one.
Toyota Yaris 1.6 hybrid car or suv. Under $30k does 2.3litres to 100k ( that's about a third of the normal petrol usage – doesn't need to be plugged in. But I think they might be difficult to get hold of.
"There’s an EV mode but don’t get too excited. The owner’s manual suggests there’s a maximum electric-only range of only 1km (yep, a single, miserable kilometre…) and that it could be as little as a few hundred metres."
https://evcentral.com.au/2020-toyota-yaris-hybrid-review/
I have a larger toyota hybrid that uses about 60% of petrol a non hybrid uses and that's better than their literature suggests. I struggled to make sense of the article?? Toyota suggest the yaris uses about 1/3 of the petrol equivalent so that shouldn't be too far out? I'm not clear about why the article talks about only going 1km – seems kinda irrelevant. Otherwise it's up to the next in the range the Corolla.
Hybrids seem to be quite a good intermediate stage especially for people at the far end of the current battery distance ranges.
It's a middle class dilemma. I don't know what the average spend is on a car in NZ – from a quick look I can't find it. But I'd wager it's well under $20k and may be under $15K, The used hybrids and EVs at this price range are fairly old and and have issues (real or imagined) with range and/or battery life. Buyers who can't afford to make a bad economic decision are leery of them. You might, as Ad suggested, find a reliable used Camry hybrid or similar in this price range that you are prepared to take a punt on in terms of battery life. It will be years though before used Kia and Hyundai hybrids and the like turn up at this price, and the same issues will apply.
But even the middle class is being rorted – the price of new hybrids and EVs has been cynically jacked up sky-high. So that they make no economic sense for the buyer because the fuel savings don't cover the higher purchase price. And sitting in the background is inflated housing prices and the huge mortgages that have to be serviced – how long before this sucks middle class discretionary spending out of other sectors, or are people just expected to pile up more personal debt to save the planet with a flash EV?
I significantly stretched my usual budget and spent $10.5k on a 2014 model with 92500 km. I found precisely zero online chatter about battery degradation on Honda hybrids, unlike the plethora of online chatter about degradation in Prius Ni-MH batteries and Leaf batteries.
Even if the battery does degrade significantly, it's only going to have a tiny effect on fuel economy. It will still eliminate all the fuel waste sitting at lights, most of the fuel waste in stop-start traffic. It still has the Atkinson cycle engine, and the electric motor will still cover for the lowish torque at low to medium engine speeds characteristic of Atkinson cycle engines. It just won't be able to store quite as much from regenerative braking and going down hills, but that's only a small part of how it enables better economy.
Interesting facts Andre – every bit of info about EVs is new to me and I hope I will gradually get informed. Though can't afford one and am attached to old 1989 Toyota which I have insured for about $1000, third party.
It's a new language, eh.
I'm hoping when the time comes to replace my current suzuki 50cc, there will be some suzuki electric equivalents in a similar price range – currently the electrics I have searched online have been about twice the price. But I long for the day I can tootle around town without the engine noise, lol
Lack of engine noise will mean pedestrians having to be specially careful. Get forgetful and the car wil be onyou before you think to look, having not heard.
There are moped riders who think they are invulnerable. They'd be a hazard, like cyclists.
But then they have a spill, and realise we're about the squishiest people around. Besides, at least we have reggo plates.
Mine is quiet but you do get used to looking for people who haven't heard. Much like the overseas tourists that used to be around Wellington looking the wrong way around before they step out.
I drive a black Leaf. My friends call it the Black Ninja, the way it sneaks up on people at the curb. One is therefore careful lest the paintwork be blemished. Later Leafs I believe make noises to alert pedestrians of their presence. I have toyed with the idea of recording my son-in-law's Harley and piping that through external speakers mounted in a pipe where the exhaust would be……
I have heard that some common hybrids can have the battery unit checked and as its made up of a number of cells they can find the cells that are worst of and only replace them
This is what the Prius looks like and others will be similar
I was wondering why they didn't do that. For some, a new battery costs as much as a new car. A cell servicing every 20,000km would be an affordable alternative.
Think I'll wait for Toyotas solid state battery versions.
Plenty of companies do that. Easily found just by searching a phrase such as nz hybrid battery replacement.
Here's just the first one that popped up: https://hybridcore.co.nz/hybridcore-shop/
I've looked into replacing cells they have to be the same age you can't just put new cells in.you can buy reconditioned complete packs for about a third of the new price.
They are fairly easy to change out the complete pack but the dealer's charge $1200 plus for an hrs work and will only put in new batteries.
Tricledown, you've been repeatedly making a typo in your username, which means that a moderator has to do some work for your comment to appear.
You're now in premod, which means your comments won't appear at all until I've seen you acknowledge this mod note and agree to take more care.
Let's see if we can sort this out. What device are you using and what browser?
Can you please clarify if you can manually edit your name each time (and the problem is that it won't 'stick')? I'm seeing comments from you in the past week as Tricledrownk and Tricledrown. Why is that?
There is a lot of online chatter about hybrid battery degradation – most of it is simply ignorant. If they were so bad would you see so many taxis in Auckland that are hybrid? There are heaps of Prius, Aqua, and Corolla etc. around now. I have had a hybrid (2005 Prius) for 8 years now (1st NZ owner with 37k on the clock – now 150k). It has been the most reliable car I have ever owned and the only battery replacement has been the auxiliary which was 15 years old. Still returns 4.5 l /100km as it did when first bought. Basically halved my emission profile. Now looking to upgrade to something even more efficient.
Again there is virtually no public transport around here and we have to travel regularly at least 150k (300k return) way beyond the range of a Leaf. Friend had one for a while but was lucky enough to upgrade to a Tesla. I have to admit I had some difficulty with the 10th commandment* on first sight.
* Thou shalt not covert thy neighbours donkey.
Yep, it is rare for a Prius battery to crap out. Most of the articles that went into actual detail showed the car was doing Star Trek mileages, and/or extreme temperatures.
But still, I took the complete absence of complaints about Fit batteries to be a good sign, when compared to the cornucopia of complaints about such rare problems that occurred in the Prius batteries.
Andre – I don't want to down the argument for EV but there are 2 glaring issues:
1/ what is NZ going to do with some 2.5 million cars that actually cannot be converted but became instant trash
2/ Batteries, the amount of raw material -Lithium, nickel and cobalt are the key metals used to make those batteries – is being mined in poor countries the activity is devastating on the environment. The issue of disposal is not solved. Funny how this is being advertised as a environmentally better solution. This is ruining the environment in larger proportions and faster. But of cause its not at our doorstep.
https://www.automotiveworld.com/articles/risky-business-the-hidden-costs-of-ev-battery-raw-materials/
My take is nothing really has changed, the emperor has new clothes and we now poison the soil until we cant grow food anymore. The drive to self destruction has not been broken at all. The run for profits is selling the average punter that buying an extraordinary expensive car is so much better. But really it isn't.
The 2.5 million existing ICE vehicles will end the same way as all almost all the other vehicles disposed of up til now. They will be crushed and/or shredded, and sent off to be recycling.
Battery recycling is entirely feasible, and is starting to become an actual thing now that significant quantities of end-of-life batteries are becoming available. Here's just one effort: https://insideevs.com/features/441524/tesla-jb-straubel-future-battery-recycling/ There's plenty more going on, you just need to make a very minimal effort to educate yourself.
If you had actually fully read my original post, you might have come to the last paragraph where I specifically addressed the cobalt and nickel issues. A lot of the new EVs use battery chemistries that don't use cobalt or nickel. The most popular alternative is lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), as used in BYD vcars and trucks and buses and dome of Tesla's made in China models.. These weren't preferred a few years ago because of lower energy density, but with improvements in battery technology they are now better than the best cobalt and nickel batteries were just a few years ago. As well as being much longer lasting.
Middle class dilemma now, everyone's dilemma eventually if we want to let catastrophic climate change happen. Someone has to step up and effect change. Or not I guess, and we let everything burn to the ground. Are we going to take this seriously or not?
(It will be a long time before I can afford an EV, I'm relying on the middle classes to bring the price down).
i guess that will be the problem if the middle class has got no money to spend on an overpriced EV. In my circle of people i know absolutly no one who owns a car that has cost more then 5 grand, if people do own a new car its Lease plan via work.
That is what i hope is that the people who drive gasguzzlers now for work in work vehicle will get the EVs first, and that that hopefully brings the price down for all. If it does not, which also would not surprise me those that are not in a rich enough class to afford one of these vehicles will have to content with a. walk (for those that can), b. cycle (for those that can), c. public transport (where it exists) and the rest is shit outta luck.
10,000 new car sales in May.
Compared to 11,200 used import sales. (Edit).
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/110693/passenger-car-sales-posted-their-own-set-new-records-may-buyers-choosing-larger-and
I suspect the issue isn’t going to be ev affordability but lack of other solutions. PT, cycle infrastructure, relocalising services and work, train network, and so on.
I guess it will be both. A large number of cars in NZ are business cars, i expect these to be EV when that becomes mandatory. Then there are those that already have them or will upgrade and can either afford it outright, or slap the car on the mortgage.
how the lower income to poor people are to afford these vehicles i have no idea.
I know a few people that are scared of this day for exactly this reason. But i expect the government to give tax incentives to those that can afford these cars to reaise 'interest' and 'uptake' and then for those that can't afford it, sucks to be them.
We will end up affording them same as we do with ice cars now, second hand resale and imports.
But I don’t think we can see how it will work because it hasn’t happened before and we will have to transition off the kind of car use and reliance we have now into a different kind of society. Not many people with good vision on that, relatively. Yet.
It will be interesting to watch, that is for sure.
I am staggered that over 20,000 extra cars were put on our roads in May alone. Weka's link is all gung-ho about sales, but gives no figure for the number of old cars taken off the road.
I doubt if that number would get to 10,000. Can anyone reassure me?
If we are constantly putting far more cars onto the roads than we are taking off, the matter of how many are hybrid is irrelevant. We will always be worsening our carbon footprint.
And gridlock will spread everywhere. Not even national's big road-building programmes will prevent gridlock everywhere.
Nobody seems to be doing any planning or intervention on how many vehicles are being put onto our roads each year compared to how many are taken off .
Sheer stupidity, unless I am wrong in assuming that fewer vehicles are being taken off.
But I bet I am right!
for comparison
https://www.transport.govt.nz/statistics-and-insights/fleet-statistics/sheet/vehicle-fleet
As far as I can tell, all those graphs show increasing numbers of vehicles, with no indication of whether we are taking any vehicles off the road at all.
Changing to more fuel-efficient vehicles does not help our carbon footprint if we are constantly putting more vehicles onto our roads than we are taking off.
I feel more cynical than ever.
Not sure it's cynicism, as such.
There is information about new registrations in LTSA data, as well as some downloadable datasets.
If you're just guesstimating, then basically you can look at the charts with new and renewed registrations, particularly light passenger vehicles. The line (total vehicles) is going up, but if the "existing" point for 2015 is lower than the "new plus existing" in 2014, then some cars have gone off the road.
EVs are spiking, but as a proportion of the fleet larger engined "light passenger vehicles" have also increased regularly over 40 years. I'm thinking SUVs.
But EV tech seems to be maturing quickly, and buses are increasing in number quickest of all, so, it's not all bleak. But it is complex, and easy to focus on the wood instead of all the trees.
I thought the saying was that one could not see the wood for the trees..
We need as least as many cars coming off the road as we are putting on to just start breaking even and making progress with EVs.
It seems we have no real indication of how many cars are coming off our roads.. and I suspect that if we did, we would cringe.
To interrupt the flow of cheap imported cars would provoke the ire of the entire right-wing pro-market economy sector.
Is this why it is so hard to find figures for just how many cars are coming off our roads?
It's difficult to find because it's a particularly niche piece of data, and there are many twigs to examine, and sometimes one needs to be familiar with data collections and the mindset of data collators to know how to search for a particular twig.
Most things are available, it's just a case of figuring out who has it and where to find it and how to get it. Organisations literally have people highly trained at doing exactly that. And nosy fellows like me watching them do it.
If you go to Weka's link, select "2019 annual fleet statstics", and "view sections", you can download a pdf report and an xlsx workbook. I believe you're after sheet 5.1 in the workbook.
BUT
the report is more helpful. There are more cars with bigger engines, but per capita travel in those vehicles is lower and the CO2 emissions of those vehicles is also lower than older vehicles.
And buses are increasing in number.
Good stuff to go to bed on, looks like lol
I bought a 4-door 1.2 litre Suzuki Swift new for $20k 3 years ago. It runs on the smell of an oily rag and compares well in terms of emissions with somewhat larger EV's. Suzuki now make a hybrid Swift which I think is $26k new and has even lower emissions.
Hi Andre, it is laudable that car manufactures offer EV's.
I have some questions though.
Lets say we have some
As at 31 May 2021
As at 31 May 2021 Vehicle TypeTotal5,493,773AGRICULTURAL MACHINE2,849ATV8,109BUS32,796GOODS VAN/TRUCK/UTILITY806,577HIGH SPEED AGRICULTURAL VEHICLE144MOBILE MACHINE23,500MOPED31,618MOTOR CARAVAN48,229MOTORCYCLE167,758PASSENGER CAR/VAN3,505,856SPECIAL PURPOSE VEHICLE3,315TRACTOR45,923TRAILER NOT DESIGNED FOR H/WAY USE980TRAILER/CARAVAN816,119
If the point you're trying to make is that there are lots of other kinds of vehicles that are also fossil-fueled, all I can suggest is pick whatever class of vehicle you're interested, and search for electric [whatever kind of vehicle you're interested in].
Here's just my first hit for electric tractor: https://www.futurefarming.com/Machinery/Articles/2020/3/John-Deere-We-believe-in-electric-tractors-100-552869E/.
Or electric rubbish truck: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/emack-lr-electric-garbage-truck/
It is impossible to follow the money.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/pete-mckenzie-politics-rife-with-dark-money
Come on ACT and/or the Green Party! Time to do some virtue signalling and expose this to loads of sunlight and oxygen. Or do you have something to hide as well …?
Here is one for tour local Imperialist Liberals, you know who you are….
Two Centuries Of ‘The Imperialist, Warmongering, Hate-Filled Guardian’
https://www.medialens.org/2021/two-centuries-of-the-imperialist-warmongering-hate-filled-guardian/
…Guard Dogs of the Liberal status quo, always have been and still are.
Not sure we have many Liberals in NZ
Wave a stick round these parts and you'll hit half a dozen of them.
Capital L Liberal isn't really a thing in NZ.
My understanding of l(L)iberal was those that saw Corbyn as an anti-semite, Assange as treacherous, keepers of the status quo. Kinda like conservatives on the left side of politics.
Small el liberal in NZ historically has meant socially liberal people who vote on the left.
Large el L liberal is a political position and theory that most people here aren’t even aware of. Adrian and others use it as a pejorative and label designed to corral. I don’t find it particularly helpful because it’s often inaccurately applied.
the people you refer to are what I would call centre lefties.
liberal also has a more modern meaning, basically socially liberal but comfortable with neoliberal economics so long as progress can be made. Eg the term liberal feminism is used to mean feminists who want equal pay but don’t act to end the patriarchy.
Thanks weka. Yr last paragraph resonates, there is a ' blow the bridge, I'm over' or 'I'm alright, Jack' attitude to them.
"the people you refer to are what I would call centre lefties" …aahhh No, the people referred to as 'Liberals' are Centrists, which is it's own quite defined and distinct ideology.
And we know this because as we have seen with our own eyes, the way the Third Way Centrists in the UK and the establishment Centrist Dems defended their ideology against the actual Progressive Left as aggressively as any political ideologue we have seen in action recently in western politics.
These Free market Liberal Imperialists and their media arm are a more immediate threat and major obstacle at present to any Progressive Left project taking root anywhere in the West than the Right IMO, thereby making them a serious threat to the survival of our planet.
Not sure how many leftish people thought assange was "treacherous". Or even Corbyn as personally being anti-Semitic (although the party as a whole seemed to have a problem that was never addressed).
meh.
Why does the left have so many labels?
So people on the left know who to hate.
You are right about the hate.
During the height of Assange's turmoil there was a lot of hate directed at him round these parts.
The 'left' saves it's worse for it's own. Often stemming from a kinda purity Olympics.
Well, I for one don't think I ever accused Assange of being "treacherous".
I would have liked him to have faced trial for his alleged sexual assaults, though. I guess for the true left that's "po-tay-to po-tah-to" though.
They say every cloud has a silver lining.
Could this be a good news story?
From sunny Northland:
Bring it on, I say.
That's over 100 of Northlands last $100k salaries up and gone.
So it's reasonable to deduce in your glee you're a pitiless shit happy to see such social damage.
That's not very charitable of you Ad.
I'm not a pitiless shit happy to see such social damage, I am hopeful that these highly skilled workers may find a place at the proposed solar farm.
This is my hope.
That the transition from a fossil fuel economy is done in a just way.
This transition must happen.
Or don't you accept the need for us to move away from fossil fuels?
We should be making the most of this opportunity to make the solar farm a reality.
I share my pity with the Mayor of Dunedin for those affected by the Southland floods, and, the even much greater social damage caused if we don't embrace a just transition.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-02-06-2021/#comment-1796034
Instead of being dependent on imported fossil fuels, the North could be our solar energy capital.
Wouldn't you like to see that?
I took it that way at first too, but if you ignore the headline Jenny’s comment makes more sense and less callously. She’s cheering green jobs.
While we have our own refinery we could potentially refine our own crude which i think atm is exported take that ability away and we are totally dependent on a foreign country for our fuel , not good in my view for a people who still have some way to go before we can transition to other fuels and noone knows whats arround the corner etc .Neither would there be much in the way of jobs in a solar farm once its up an running you could prob run the whole shebang with a couple of technicians an a couple of robots to keep the panels clean .
Didn't Fletcher's pride itself on being a social responsible corporate?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/300323481/mainfreight-and-fletcher-building-two-very-different-wage-subsidy-stories
Responsible to shareholders not wider society.
Fletchers thanks the NZ and Oz govt for their generosity…..yeah right.
Who amongst us covered themselves in glory at 19 yrs old?
https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/cricket/black-caps/125330762/england-rookie-ollie-robinsons-sexist-and-racists-tweets-return-to-haunt-him-at-lords
His apology seems fulsome and sincere. I question the motives of the retweeter.
I've not read this but yes, I'm thankful social media wasn't a thing in my teens, or 20s for that matter, I didn't mature until well into my 30s.
zouch. Walks on the field at a high point, walks off to find all that's come back.
Almost as bad as that woman who tweeted about AIDS in Africa before getting onto a 12 hour flight there, and getting off the flight to find out she'd been fired (she was back with the company within a few years, so not exactly a career-ender then, either).
Still, as long as he hasn't been turning up to EDL rallies or David Irving book signings recently, he should be ok. Most people know that depressed teens say stupid shit sometimes.
I suppose the most important bit is if he can forgive himself.
Brutal irony. At the start of the test, where you may expect National Anthems there was a wee monologue about inclusivity.
Probably why his posts surfaced while he was on the field.
Memorable comments are going to be remembered by someone.
But there seems at the same time to be a youth worship – the young green Councillor will come up with some amazing magic and practical answer to all convoluted problems that will enable the Great Forward Leap into a Better Future.
Who has found the Covid vaccine booking 0800 number, I have searched for ages and followed every direction to my DHB and still no number. Somebody really does need a kick up the arse for anything complicated in doing this.
The MoH number on my Nelson card was – Healthline 0800 358 5453. Hope that works.
You can always contact your GP to get the latest information. If you haven't one then I think you should look for a group practice where appropriate for you. They do try to help you with your health problems if they run good management.
When you get the email saying its time the login link to book is in the email
The 0800 number AUCKLAND is 0800 2VAX COVID (282926)
Other areas are slightly changed number
There's a link on the MOH covid website to the various DHb's and what they are doing. What I don't get is why they are making such a meal out of it.
I'm Capital & Coast and they are wasting money sending out invitations etc. The Flu shot doesn't have a lot of admin for the person being stabbed so why don't they use a similar system.
Just print up a bar coded form with a few rip off bits similar to an electoral voting form – you go in on your allocated day with address/age proof -fill out background information – give them bit one get stabbed and scanned then give them bit two to scan when you go in for the second shot. Immuno/other groups get the form from their Doctor.
Just allocate days to go by initial letter of surname or something similar.
Then at the end just check up on the numbers where there is only one scan. It's an exercise in getting shots into arms not in trying to collect and store ready to be hacked the personal details of everyone – which seems to be a health department obsession.
100 years since WW1 and big spending on updating our Memorial to that War. In Key's time. Easier to direct people's attention to those memories of the past which have a hold on people's consciousness. But there was WW2 so much closer that took my birth father who served bravely, and the Vietnam War and the Afghanistan war – and …? Enough to think about and should be top and front in our minds. But no, sort of slid under the carpet. And that is a discomforting place to be.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/443953/maori-war-veteran-s-skin-still-peeling-50-years-after-agent-orange-exposure
Turoa Karatea frequently scratches himself until he bleeds, but time is running out for him to get compensation for a condition he says was caused by Agent Orange. Will a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry finally deliver for Karatea and other Vietnam veterans before the last of the veterans die?
Ahh, my sister has phoned it through to me but she only got it because her husbands mate passed it on to them. It all seems very clandestine, very secret squirrel stuff.
Anyway it is 080026 88 22, pass it own but carefully like Richie Mounga organising his backline. And just another moan, if this is one of the most important numbers in NZ history why isn’t it a simple one like any company with a competent info department manages to get. I think I can see why the Government is giving health a bloody good kicking.
Lives lost, scarred people, lost revenue to the area because of lack of objective informed direction from government agencies and lost mana for the people there and all NZ.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443934/whakaari-white-island-confusion-over-safety-responsibilities-at-senior-level
A super-heated, highly-acidic eruption tore across the crater without warning.
Ash concealed huge landmarks – helicopter landing pads, an old sulphur factory and a shipping container.
Eight adventurers died on the submarine volcano.
Another 16 would later succumb to horrific burns, inhalation and blast injuries.
And 25 survivors were left with lifelong physical and mental recoveries from the explosion.
Despite tourist companies leading visitors onto New Zealand's most active volcano for decades, some stakeholders' health and safety obligations were unclear.
RNZ can now reveal the confusion went right to the top.
Small government good, effective government bad – say the neoliberalists! Just like the pig farm idea introduced by Roger Douglas. (Can he be deknighted now we feel benighted)? Animal Farm was run by pigs who promised and made rules that they gradually altered till what the animals got was the opposite of what they had been told.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/443905/israel-reports-pfizer-vaccine-probable-link-to-heart-inflammation
Israel's Health Ministry says a small number of heart inflammation cases observed mainly in young men who received Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in Israel were likely linked to their vaccination.
This was perhaps exacerbated by the stresses that so many young Israeli men are experiencing as they battle the horrific, blood-thirsty Palestinians that threaten Israel. /sarc
Water, water everywhere and not a drop for drinking, buy it by the thimbleful as you can afford it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443956/mayors-split-over-key-water-reforms
Completed by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, it ramped up the estimated cost of how much work needs doing to upgrade the country's water systems.
But an analysis by Deloitte also showed such an investment would reap economic rewards, with a growth in GDP of up to $23b, and thousands of jobs created.
One of the most important pieces of data, however, was a projection on how the investment would impact ratepayers – and likely what councils will be concerned about the most…
By foregoing the reforms, it showed the cost burden on ratepayers would be extremely lopsided. Some could end up paying nearly $14,000 a year in their water bill, while others would pay just $1,900.
But if reforms did go ahead, and if two to four entities were created to oversee the water network, the bill would instead be a lot more evenly split amongst ratepayers.
The highest average bill would end up being just $1,600 while the lowest average would be around $800.
My present bill is I think no more than $200 pa. And what does the master grinder Deloitte consider our water would be profitable for? And are we still virtually giving it away to overseas exploiters?
In a lot of urban areas the "water" bill is mostly for sewage disposal. Watercare in Auckland does a pro rata from the water meter volume (78.5% homes and 95% for apartments) to have a volume for the waste disposal network. The waste disposal cost is 1.75 X that of water per 1000L plus a fixed yearly charge
The pure water supply is around 25% of account ( inc GST)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/443989/us-to-pacific-leaders-be-wary-of-funds-with-strings-attached
Antony Blinken told a virtual summit of leaders and delegates from 11 Pacific countries that economic coercion across the region was on the rise.
While making no specific mention of China, he also spoke of threats to order in the region.
"The United States is all for more development and investments in the Islands, but that investment should adhere to international standards for environmentally and socially sustainable development, and should be pursued transparently, with public consultation.
How would nuclear bombing part of the Marshall Islands repeatedly by the USA fit in with that worthy-sounding set of guidelines and principles?
The purpose of Operation Crossroads was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on naval warships. Testing in the islands began at Bikini Atoll with the Shot Able test, on July 1, 1946. … These were also the first U.S. nuclear detonations since the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” bombs dropped over Japan. https://www.atomicheritage.org/location/marshall-islands
Tom Lehrer was writing about the nuclear bomb tensions back in the 1960s – oh we have come a long and reasoned way since then! Remember this is satire about the serious backdrop to all the flimflam that we hear from our 'betters' amongst our good leaders looking to advance Humanity and Peace.
Who's Next (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdtAFIl2jhc
So Long Mom (a song for WW111) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pklr0UD9eSo
We will all go together When We Go https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frAEmhqdLFs