Does NZ Labour’s leader want to win the 2023 General Election? if so on what terms…even in a good result the outcome will likely be tighter than the proverbial. It is all or nothing for the Natzos and Act with their deep pockets and media channel dominance.
Fer crissakes, all Chippy needed to do was say… sounds good–if we lead the Govt. we will look at how it can be done–hint Chris–wealth tax/Sugar tax…his Cap’n’s call is proving deadly already it seems.
the party wants to win but they picked a leader who thinks showing strength is knee capping his own party. It's August 8, we still haven't seen a single policy from Labour.
He has no idea how to win over middle NZ and centrist voters, he has smugly rejected and ruled out any ideas his party or the wider left has to address cost of living and inequality and while doing so repeats his tired meaningless slogan about "bread and butter" issues while ruling out bread and butter reforms.
He's demoralised his party and painted into a corner, he has no right to be making captain calls about policy, the party choses the policy not the leader, but he's basically ruled out the party doing literally anything.
His hero and inspiration seems to be Keir Starmer, apparently his advisors saw the polls in the UK and thought UK labour was doing well in the polls because of its leader, no UK labour is doing well in the polls DESPITE it's leader, the Tory's have buggered the UK so badly UK labour could have a literal pot plant as leader and it'd still be 14% ahead.
Hipkins has neither the charisma or excitement of Ardern nor the political intelligence or electoral intuition of Clark.
Labour has announced a partnership with world's biggest asset management company BlackRock:
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins made the announcement in Auckland this morning, saying the government is partnering with Blackrock to launch the fund with the goal of making New Zealand the first country in the world to reach 100 percent renewable electricity.
While the move to 100% renewable is laudable, the involvement of an multinational investment firm with questionable practices is potentially an issue. More PPP means more profits for BlackRock at the expense of the tax payer. So much for ending adherence to Neo-liberalism.
Bivona cited BlackRock’s ongoing investments in fossil fuels like coal, which would undermine the company’s credibility. He also said BlackRock refused to support a Bluebell campaign against chemical group Solvay aimed at stopping the Belgian company from discharging industrial waste from its facility in Rosignano, Italy, into the Mediterranean Sea.
As a result of these failings, Bivona demanded that CEO Larry Fink be replaced. He also urged BlackRock’s board to ensure the company stays away from ideological convictions in climate and energy policy. “This issue should not be BlackRock’s mission to promote energy policy or to promote any public debate on environmental or social issues,” he told CNBC.
“Every big problem needs a face and a name,” the speaker said at the private event hosted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. “The worst offender out there is BlackRock and Larry Fink.”
Since then, the attacks have been unrelenting. And Fink, founder of the world’s largest investment and risk management firm, has throttled back on the urgency with which he pushes companies to confront climate change. The resolute language in public letters to CEOs is gone. And BlackRock executives have begun waving away the climate targets they once committed to helping the world meet as irrelevant to the current moment.
the firm props up the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $260 billion in investments in corporations that are propelling our climate catastrophe. It has nearly $6 billion invested in civilian gun manufacturers and retailers and an astounding $36 billion invested in military weapons’ companies.
They apparently like the financial scene, and think the total required to make us renewable in energy supply is $42B, so its others and or partners for the rest – $2B start-up from them. One wonders if that includes Onslow, or renewables and batteries.
The play by Labour appears to get buy in from National to make it bi-partisan.
Their own may be find something of scale, that is realisable.
Worryingly they include the faux solution of hydrogen:
Evidence clearly indicates that the marketing hype surrounding blue hydrogen as a clean energy source is based on false and misleading claims – also known as greenwashing – partially based on unproven assumptions about the long-term viability of carbon capture and storage. More importantly, despite the false pretense that blue hydrogen is carbon-neutral, producing blue hydrogen is actually a carbon-intensive process that perpetuates our reliance on fossil fuels, and therefore provides little or no benefit for transitioning to a carbon-free future.
Most likely due to BlackRock’s substantial fossil fuel company investments:
The short answer is that the fossil fuel industry sees hydrogen as a way to keep on drilling and building new infrastructure. Friends of the Earth has tracked how the industry has successfully deployed its PR and lobbying machines over recent years to get policymakers thinking that hydrogen is a catch-all climate solution. Research by climate scientists (without fossil fuel links) has debunked industry claims that hydrogen should be a major player in our decarbonised future, though hydrogen extracted from water (using renewable energy sources) could – and should – play an important role in replacing the dirtiest hydrogen currently extracted from fossil fuels. It may also have a role in fuelling some transportation like long-haul flights and vintage cars, but the evidence is far from clear. However, with billions of climate action dollars up for grabs in the US alone, expect to see more lobbying, more industry-funded evidence and more hype.
MBIE released a set of reports two weeks ago about the NZBattery Project which included evaluations of a number of alternatives to the Lake Onslow project.
They'll turn their mind to funding it once they've got to the optimum proposal.
However if National get in and all NZBattery Project work is stopped, there will be no reserve power problem to solve. The people who pay for the days when there's no wind, lots of cloud and low dam levels will of course be us through the spot market, and the 4 Gentailers are going to cream us soooo bad.
Is New Zealand at the point where we start to accept that we can't bring ourselves to tax more and so not enough tax to fix+build the big stuff, so we are always and henceforth going to need private capital to achieve the big stuff?
That would also mean we accept the increased inequity and poorer public services because of our reticence to expect those who have financially benefited from society to pay their share. Seems that Labour has made their decision. It is about political will and they don't have it when it comes to legislating fairness. Happy to commission reports on the unfairness, but no will to doing anything about it.
This governments' practice has been to go into debt instead.
We can't forget that this has been the most interventionist government since the first Labour government. The key stat is 3.4% and we owe that to government debt paid out as wage subsidy and other benefits at speed.
Intervention isn't, in and of itself, a good thing, it needs to be targeted well and it needs to have a goal to support everyone, and on this measure this government would get a C. For all the talk when given the option of correcting the adherence to 'free market' and financialised interventions/solutions, this government has preferred to stick with failed neo-liberal thinking and policy.
In this particular case it will mean significant and essential energy infrastructure will be owned by international investors.
There were very few countries who subsidised their economy as deeply as ours – and they did so because ours is a narrow and small economy with very tight path dependencies, very low private savings, and in all very vulnerable.
They borrowed deeper than we've seen any NZ government borrow since WW2, in a time of real crisis, a crisis far deeper than the GFC and really only comparable to the Great Depression.
The only reason we haven't felt a Great Depression take hold here is because of the scale of broadly beneficial redistribution. There are no austerity politicians left; you only find Keynesians in economic foxholes.
That is the opposite of 'neo liberal' thinking whatever that is.
Wondering where to start with this uninformed..drivel.Decided this might suffice-'There were very few countries who subsidised their economy as deeply as ours – '
Subsidising the economy is not the same as subsidising people. One supports individuals, the other, business entities. Income support was administered through employer claims and this led to potential fraud which could have been obviated by directly subsidising individuals via IRD.
It was a fine enough systems but the usual groups were adversely affected:
The outcomes evaluation said more firms survived than otherwise would have, had the wage subsidy scheme not been in place, and companies largely complied with obligations to pass subsidy payments to workers.
It didn’t result in “widespread adverse consequences”.
However, because it was a firm-based scheme, payments were less likely to reach people in more precarious jobs – “support was relatively low for female, Māori, Pacific peoples, and young workers”.
Neo-liberal thinking is that which prefers financialised markets, eg Emissions Trading Scheme, over legislation, eg Carbon Tax. It is the kind of thinking that maintains the system of Profit-Seeking supremacy that has got us into this ecological and societal crisis of seemingly unstoppable climate change.
There were plenty of opportunities for the government to maintain aspects of the COVID response, eg rent freeze, to really help people up and help our society turn towards a more equal one again but they are seemingly happy enough with the status quo of increasing inequality. Happy to rule out restoration of the tax policies or rates of the Keynesian era too I might add.
It was telling that the initial support from the Labour government excluded beneficiaries, who were basically abandoned going into our first lockdown with no financial support to prepare for the lockdown or the arrival of covid in their community. Not surprising I guess all things considered.
I'm gutted by today's announcement, it just feels like cementing in centre left neoliberal denial of the kind of transition we actually need.
Really appreciating your comments in recent times arkie, just the consistent analysis and counterpoints.
A story about an MP who was shot, when a teenager, in a Northland drug deal.
Nothing there to disqualify him as an MP, or to vilify him in the media. But … imagine if we change one small detail. The MP, the teenager … is brown. I think we all know how that story would be covered.
Funny that. Was talking with others today about all the non-news we are bombarded with on almost a daily basis. I consider this to be one of them. I don't know how old Court is but there would be few people under the age of 50 who did not at some time in their youth come into contact with marijuana.
But yes, racism would have reared its ugly head if he happened to be brown or black.
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A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
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 ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend. “You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and ...
“Our exporters should, therefore, be deeply concerned that the Fast-track Approvals Bill was not assessed for consistency with any of our free trade commitments prior to being introduced to the House,” says Gary Taylor, Chief Executive of the Environmental ...
NZCTU President Richard Wagstaff is calling on all political parties to support the new Member’s Bill from Labour’s workplace relations and safety spokesperson Camilla Belich MP that would ensure negligent companies are held accountable when their employees ...
A historian with an uncanny track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go very wrong for him. ...
A historian with a track record of predicting US election winners tells RNZ's Sunday Morning that President Biden looks to be on track for another term, but things could still go wrong for him. ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Does NZ Labour’s leader want to win the 2023 General Election? if so on what terms…even in a good result the outcome will likely be tighter than the proverbial. It is all or nothing for the Natzos and Act with their deep pockets and media channel dominance.
Free Dental…“won’t be drawn”
“He accepted the conversation about dental care should be included in the wider discussion on improving health outcomes but would not be drawn on his level of support for making dental care free.” Chris Hipkins Herald Aug.6
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/greens-propose-using-wealth-tax-to-fund-free-dental-care/F5OGFFTC3VFWPINKYHJ4RICSR4/
Fer crissakes, all Chippy needed to do was say… sounds good–if we lead the Govt. we will look at how it can be done–hint Chris–wealth tax/Sugar tax…his Cap’n’s call is proving deadly already it seems.
the party wants to win but they picked a leader who thinks showing strength is knee capping his own party. It's August 8, we still haven't seen a single policy from Labour.
He has no idea how to win over middle NZ and centrist voters, he has smugly rejected and ruled out any ideas his party or the wider left has to address cost of living and inequality and while doing so repeats his tired meaningless slogan about "bread and butter" issues while ruling out bread and butter reforms.
He's demoralised his party and painted into a corner, he has no right to be making captain calls about policy, the party choses the policy not the leader, but he's basically ruled out the party doing literally anything.
His hero and inspiration seems to be Keir Starmer, apparently his advisors saw the polls in the UK and thought UK labour was doing well in the polls because of its leader, no UK labour is doing well in the polls DESPITE it's leader, the Tory's have buggered the UK so badly UK labour could have a literal pot plant as leader and it'd still be 14% ahead.
Hipkins has neither the charisma or excitement of Ardern nor the political intelligence or electoral intuition of Clark.
He's just a third rate Starmer.
https://waateanews.com/2023/08/08/verrall-rules-out-universal-free-dental-care/
“First thing’s first, but not necessarily in that order.”
Test
Labour has announced a partnership with world's biggest asset management company BlackRock:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/495339/watch-government-announces-2-billion-climate-infrastructure-fund
While the move to 100% renewable is laudable, the involvement of an multinational investment firm with questionable practices is potentially an issue. More PPP means more profits for BlackRock at the expense of the tax payer. So much for ending adherence to Neo-liberalism.
General BlackRock facts:
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-to-know-about-blackrock-larry-fink-biden-cabinet-facts-2020-12
https://www.dw.com/en/esg-investing-blackrock-ceo-larry-fink-draws-investor-fire-over-greenwashing/a-64170771
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/06/blackrock-esg-climate-woke/
https://corporateaccountability.org/blog/blackrock-for-2022-corporate-hall-of-shame/
Must surely be a continuity line between this announcement and Prime Minister Ardern and Damien O'Connor met with Blackrock in June last year.
While NZ$2b isn't more than 3-4 energy projects, it's not to be sneezed at and is a great win for New Zealand.
Congratulations to Prime Minister Hipkins and to Jacinda Ardern for opening the door to dialogue.
They apparently like the financial scene, and think the total required to make us renewable in energy supply is $42B, so its others and or partners for the rest – $2B start-up from them. One wonders if that includes Onslow, or renewables and batteries.
The play by Labour appears to get buy in from National to make it bi-partisan.
Their own may be find something of scale, that is realisable.
Worryingly they include the faux solution of hydrogen:
https://www.fractracker.org/2023/02/the-truth-about-blue-hydrogen/
Most likely due to BlackRock’s substantial fossil fuel company investments:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/07/hydrogen-clean-fuel-climate-crisis-explainer
Nice we work Arkie. Hydrogen is largely bollocks.
I'm not a huge fan of"the market" but in this case sensible investors are plumping in droves for electric not hydrogen power.
Who meets the cost of the reserve power?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/132700541/2-billion-fund-cant-solve-the-problem-in-getting-to-100-renewables
MBIE released a set of reports two weeks ago about the NZBattery Project which included evaluations of a number of alternatives to the Lake Onslow project.
They'll turn their mind to funding it once they've got to the optimum proposal.
However if National get in and all NZBattery Project work is stopped, there will be no reserve power problem to solve. The people who pay for the days when there's no wind, lots of cloud and low dam levels will of course be us through the spot market, and the 4 Gentailers are going to cream us soooo bad.
Before you diss them, check out whether Meridian, Woodside, Ngai Tahu and Mitsui would waste so much money on this scale of project.
https://www.murihikuregen.org.nz/our-mahi/southern-green-hydrogen-project-sgh/
Everyone thinks everyone else's solution is wrong. Until it starts to look worthwhile supporting with $100m in budget 2023.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/300883020/budget-2023-100-million-for-green-hydrogen-in-southland
Go for it be sceptical. But then don't be surprised if Kiwis surprise you.
Do they do tunnels??
I'd be more interested if they did dental.
Had a dentist once that was definitely capable of a tunnel 🙃
A Crown Infrastructure Project then 🙂
https://www.crowninfrastructure.govt.nz/irg/contracted-projects/
Dental infrastructure!
Is New Zealand at the point where we start to accept that we can't bring ourselves to tax more and so not enough tax to fix+build the big stuff, so we are always and henceforth going to need private capital to achieve the big stuff?
That would also mean we accept the increased inequity and poorer public services because of our reticence to expect those who have financially benefited from society to pay their share. Seems that Labour has made their decision. It is about political will and they don't have it when it comes to legislating fairness. Happy to commission reports on the unfairness, but no will to doing anything about it.
This governments' practice has been to go into debt instead.
We can't forget that this has been the most interventionist government since the first Labour government. The key stat is 3.4% and we owe that to government debt paid out as wage subsidy and other benefits at speed.
Intervention isn't, in and of itself, a good thing, it needs to be targeted well and it needs to have a goal to support everyone, and on this measure this government would get a C. For all the talk when given the option of correcting the adherence to 'free market' and financialised interventions/solutions, this government has preferred to stick with failed neo-liberal thinking and policy.
In this particular case it will mean significant and essential energy infrastructure will be owned by international investors.
Is that really true?
There were very few countries who subsidised their economy as deeply as ours – and they did so because ours is a narrow and small economy with very tight path dependencies, very low private savings, and in all very vulnerable.
They borrowed deeper than we've seen any NZ government borrow since WW2, in a time of real crisis, a crisis far deeper than the GFC and really only comparable to the Great Depression.
The only reason we haven't felt a Great Depression take hold here is because of the scale of broadly beneficial redistribution. There are no austerity politicians left; you only find Keynesians in economic foxholes.
That is the opposite of 'neo liberal' thinking whatever that is.
Wondering where to start with this uninformed..drivel.Decided this might suffice-'There were very few countries who subsidised their economy as deeply as ours – '
No sign of NZ in the top..20!
Coronavirus bailouts: Which country has the most generous deal? – BBC News
That link is dated 8 May 2020, basically still the start of the pandemic.
Subsidising the economy is not the same as subsidising people. One supports individuals, the other, business entities. Income support was administered through employer claims and this led to potential fraud which could have been obviated by directly subsidising individuals via IRD.
It was a fine enough systems but the usual groups were adversely affected:
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/verdict-on-19b-wage-subsidy-lands-a-year-late
Neo-liberal thinking is that which prefers financialised markets, eg Emissions Trading Scheme, over legislation, eg Carbon Tax. It is the kind of thinking that maintains the system of Profit-Seeking supremacy that has got us into this ecological and societal crisis of seemingly unstoppable climate change.
There were plenty of opportunities for the government to maintain aspects of the COVID response, eg rent freeze, to really help people up and help our society turn towards a more equal one again but they are seemingly happy enough with the status quo of increasing inequality. Happy to rule out restoration of the tax policies or rates of the Keynesian era too I might add.
It was telling that the initial support from the Labour government excluded beneficiaries, who were basically abandoned going into our first lockdown with no financial support to prepare for the lockdown or the arrival of covid in their community. Not surprising I guess all things considered.
I'm gutted by today's announcement, it just feels like cementing in centre left neoliberal denial of the kind of transition we actually need.
Really appreciating your comments in recent times arkie, just the consistent analysis and counterpoints.
Poirot is investigating.
.
An Italian man has been crushed to death under thousands of wheels of a Parmesan-style cheese, authorities said.
Giacomo Chiapparini, 74, was buried when a shelf broke in his warehouse in the Lombardy region on Sunday, firefighter Antonion Dusi told AFP.
The collapse created a domino effect bringing down thousands of wheels, which weigh about 40kg (84lbs) each.
It took 12 hours to find Mr Chiapparini's body, Mr Dusi said.
Some of the wheels reportedly fell about 10m (33ft) and a local resident told Italian media the collapse sounded "like thunder".
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66429342
Holely Cheeses!
Cheesus Crust in a red washed rind
A story about an MP who was shot, when a teenager, in a Northland drug deal.
Nothing there to disqualify him as an MP, or to vilify him in the media. But … imagine if we change one small detail. The MP, the teenager … is brown. I think we all know how that story would be covered.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/act-mp-simon-court-admits-being-shot-in-the-foot-after-a-drug-deal-when-a-teenager-denies-he-was-involved-in-illicit-activity/5S45MCEGQBDJFJV5FSGE77KU5M/
Funny that. Was talking with others today about all the non-news we are bombarded with on almost a daily basis. I consider this to be one of them. I don't know how old Court is but there would be few people under the age of 50 who did not at some time in their youth come into contact with marijuana.
But yes, racism would have reared its ugly head if he happened to be brown or black.
It may change things in your mind…it makes no difference to me
Not about me, or you. See last sentence: I think we all know how that story would be covered.
Nanaia Mahuta. Murray McCully. Same job. Same treatment? Of course not.
If you are influenced by media narrative rather than the facts.