David Seymour on foreign workers … "“There are local industries crying out for a workforce they can’t find here and workers in Pacific Island countries with very little, if any, Covid-19 crying out for work."
David, have you not heard of the free market? Supply and demand? Tell your employers to adjust their supply side to attract the demand side for the jobs – this is the nature of free market business. And if the business can't handle it then the business fails.
Free market David, free market – have you heard of it?
It looks like the Government has folded (see Stuff) but with strings attached. Companies will be required to cover the cost of managed isolation currently estimated at $4722 per person, pay the workers a minimum of $22.10 an hour and be required to pay workers for a 30-hour working week while in isolation. It now remains to sort out the usual rorts like deducting extortionate accommodation costs for 3rd world conditions. It will be interesting to see which employers prefer to engage a NZ resident workforce.
In an attempt to make that kind of work more attractive to New Zealanders, the government has offered up to $200 a week in accommodation costs, and bonuses for those who stayed in the job for six weeks or more.
Not enough. The government has treated seasonal, and semi-skilled workers as if they are pieces of equipment, to be left on a shelf and available and ready whenever required. But people lose heart and strength, literally as exercise gurus say, when not able to work regularly. Even machinery goes rusty when left on the shelf, especially in damp conditions, as has been stated about much of NZ housing.
My idea is to raise the workers' status including the parents, pay them a benefit when not required for paid jobs, give them the task of keeping fit going to the gym regularly, helping out with volunteering to keep active and engaged – then you have the people ready willing and able with a good positive attitude.
It's a big task for government to stop being shitty and negative and stand-offish to the ordinary person, but hey we are the salt of the earth and it is time the key tappers and theory modellers gave us our rightful space – the real wealth creators who do the work and the building of a nation. End of rant.
2000 migrant workers form the Islands allowed in for seasonal work.
Must be paid the living wage of 22.10 an hour. Was that ever stipulated for Kiwis? Quarantine paid for by employer, and wage paid for while in Quarantine. And the workers need to have a return ticket when arriving.
Well it seems Act is getting somewhere, NZ workers….oh well.
That living wage stipulation is hilarious. The obvious reason kiwis were deemed useless was their insistence on reasonable money.
So now the 'hard done by' employers will have to put up or shut up. This may also drive the price locals can demand for horticultural work up. See, it used to be islanders were exploited badly and too scared to stick up for themselves. Now, the government's stuck up for them.
Having islanders making some money to help themselves and folks back home, while NOT being exploited. This to me is a great change. I can't really see what the problem is. Locals can make noise or move on if the employer's shit.
Through this action New Zealand's labour government has driven down the income and prosperity of our lowest paid, and acted against the interests of the working people.
The whole situation is appalling and stinks. Make these crappy businesses meet free market conditions, as they themselves vote for and support (while it advantages them only, the hypocrites), instead of catering to their nanny state intervention crying when it disadvantages..
Bad form Labour – you need to change the name of your party to the Employers Party
Many questioning about allowing Pacific Island workers into the country.
We need to remember that those countries part of NZ past, being former colonies. Nz has a tradition of having workers from the pacific as part of financial support to the region. I am all for it that employers should be scrutinized to make sure they are not just trying to look at cost measures when asking for workers from the Pacific.
In all that, is someone looking at equal pay and conditions for NZlaenders? Having to travel 2000 or 200 KM to get to a job is actually the same in a sense when looking at rent and travel, leaving family behind.
It is true from my observation however, that a quite a number of younger people of all colors and backgrounds have neither the work ethic nor will they see things through for longer than a couple of days. Hard work in the orchards will not cut the mustard if some sit on the bum looking at a screen is preferred.
Our first settlers came from all over. At one point there was I believe back when the whalers came here more Americans than most other nationalities. As far as I know there was no particular recruitment from the various islands to NZ. There was recruitment by British business to various pacific islands – like CSR recruiting from India to Fiji. So yeah the British and French may owe some reparations to the various pacific nations as they do to us. But frankly I haven't seen the British exchequer opening it's purse for it's poor showing in enforcing the Treaty of Waitangi and refunding wealth stripped from here when we were a colony . We could ask Boris though?
Actually, I've looked up some of the details, they went to Fiji as indentured labour between 1875 and 1916. The conditions weren't pretty but they did receive some payment and could return to India (in theory) after 5-10 years. Apparently a good number did go back. The main instigators were the Governor of the colony of Fiji a Brit and the Australian owned CSR.
So the government's offered $1000 bonus for working in horticulture (longer than 6 weeks) and up to $200 per week towards accommodation costs. The only question I have as a potential worker is the stand-down period when the work dries up – does this negate any benefit?
The worker side of me approves of the improving prospects.
The sensible side of me thinks this is nuts. A handout for employers who have failed to provide their own sweeteners for local workers. A handout for landlords, again, for overpriced rentals.
Employers should be made to at least match the living wage. That rate which must now be paid to the 2000 islanders coming to work here.
WTB…a mate has for some time been on the Jobseeker benefit and has participated in occasional seasonal/casual/part time work. He has a good relationship with his case manager at the local WINZ office and so long as he keeps them informed of what work he does where for how much, he keeps his benefit but has it abated if he goes over the limit. No stand down period….be silly up here when so many jobs are seasonal.
(He has just secured a full time job…so has officially gone off the benefit…but if that job folds he does not expect a stand down.)
Archive zraid3 decided to drop a disk. Had to reboot to get it un jammed. Shut down to pull the disk. It is used as part of the immediate backup system for TS amongst other things. It was VERY slow to stop. Restarted
Drive was ok. Got another set of cables. Shutdown, updated cables and reinserted drive a bit later. Disk rejoined the array. Then dropped out some time later.
I'll pull the disk drive card later tonight and test that. I suspect that there is a heating problem there. It uses a passive radiator that is wrong way up in my case. I may need to find an exterior fan to pull heat from the stale air in that part of the case.
"Employers should be made to at least match the living wage. That rate which must now be paid to the 2000 islanders coming to work here."
I wonder how much of that living wage will end up in the workers hands….the examples of clawing back and downright extortion that already occur in the industry dosnt bode well for those actually doing the work benefiting
You think the employers will give with one hand, and take back with the other then? Could do that with accommodation etc – so they might not be out of pocket at all, or very much.
Labour needs to get a spine. When did the government decide to guarantee employers a work force of their choosing at rates that please the employer.
Imagine if individuals expected the government to supply then with a job of their choosing at a rate that suits them. Those sixty shearers where slipped in under the radar. They could train those – slower work rate at first but it would pick up.(stuff story)
However, if we have a genuine shortage then best they are from the Pacific.
But the real kicker in the story is allowing anyone who is here on a visa to apply according to some list at MSD. ( anyone know where this is? I can't find it) There was a story the other day that there are some 267000 people here on various visas. That's about 15% of the adult workforce.
A few things, Viticulture/ Horticulture export earnings are over 6 billion dollars, thats a lot of vaccines, PPE gear, cancer drugs, medical specialists, computers and all the other things that we need and demand. Overseas exchange earnings are not something that Grant can conjuror up at the click of his fingers,. Imported shit has to be paid for.
We in NZ are in the lucky position of being very good at growing very good produce, so much so that it outstrips our supply of labour to grow and pick it. Without the earnings we would be so much worse off as a country and instead of the constant complaints about what are isolated instances of bad behaviour on the part of some employers and agents just give thanks for these people who come here from less fortunate countries to increase both our well being and that of their own families and countries.
Yes the abuses are isolated, the oft quoted slavery case in HB was a family matai from the same country as what were mostly his extended family, any others complicit in it were punished.
In Marlborough at the moment the unemployment rate is in the low 2% range, a figure economists reckon is about as low as you can get, simply because there are always about that number who can't or about .5% who won't work as they turn up for 2 hours and then go home or deliberately break gear so they will be sent home to qualify as having "presented for work ". They wouldn't work in an iron lung.
At the moment a young French woman working on my place is getting $25 an hour, her mate is coming next week when the apple thinning job she is on finishes and she is currently earning $27.50 on contract. RSE workers can earn up to $35 an hour, they are rewarded for keeness and fitness. That's over at least $50,000 a year, not bad money.
I'm 71, I started at 6.30am and my cup of tea is finished so I'm back into it and I'll finish at about 7 tonight, and I do this pretty much everyday, admittedly I take a few more rests than I used to but it's called a work ethic and there are plenty of old buggers like me about here.
" give thanks for these people who come here from less fortunate countries to increase both our well being"… except that they don't increase our well being, they drive down wages.
"That's over at least $50,000 a year"… no it isn't, it is $35 /hour for a very short period. It has nothing to do with an annual salary.
"but it's called a work ethic" … please don't tell me you are one of those who think the older generations are superior to the younger generations, as Bill English so inelegantly ranted a few years back when he said "young people today are useless"… you know the ironic thing about Bill English's statement? That age group he was referring to were born into his governments, and his policies, and so are a direct result of his own actions – he caused it – good one English, ya frikkin' dickhead, thanks for nothing.
Who is the contact in Marlborough for these types of jobs. I know a couple of people who are interested. They would probably prefer a local owner over an overseas owner if there is an option. And what sort of accommodation / travel distance is involved. They are happy to camp site with limited facilities.
You are wrong. The wages are set .. minimum, living, contract etc. And now by being available for this scheme there is this new minimum benchmark of $22.
You miss the point of the whole thing, there are NO workers available, or to be correct nobody available who will work even at $30 an hour.
I'm not denigrating the young, I used to coach under 5s through to under 10s at footy ( by then they knew more than I did ) and some of those boys were pretty hardcase and constantly in trouble but the ones that put the effort in at the age at footy and even though they did a runner from school as soon as possible got themselves jobs and often in the hardest work you can think of like forestry and dairying, and now in their mid-twenties have started a family and have bought houses, even changed jobs and are builders and farm managers.
Teachers know who is going to be useless and it is only about 1 in 200, who expect others to support them with out any effort on their part. They are about all that is left of the non-working.
You sound like a perpetual complainer and one who can't count, $35 an hour is at a rate of not $50,000 a year but $72,000 and yes it may not be permanent but that suits the itinerant travellers and Uni students and others down to the ground and there are extra hours. Like all jobs, with agri work you start at a minimum rate and work your way up exactly the same as any job. Tractor operators are about $25-30 probably depending on how much gear you damage.
And what the fuck has English or any other politician got to do with those who are too lazy to get out of bed, you are a classic case of it always being somebody else's fault.
yeah nah we are kinda sailing past each other adrian… i certainly aint a perpetual complainer, but I do not like the hypocrisy of free market business people who abandon the free market principles when suits, particularly when it works to keep wages low.
wages and earnings in our country are a disgrace.
in the past, the workers share of the economic pie was a chunk greater, and it made for a much better society. Today that has been shrunk, with consequent negative effects on society
btw, english has everything to do with this issue, due to his rantings about exactly this issue as part of the last government – he was pm remember
anyway adrian, stop driving down wages in this country – it makes it harder for nzer's – you should be driving them up
push the wealth down and society strengthens and prospers
I don't think you are right on the share of the pie, VTO, a few years ago I found some grocery bills of my parents from around the time I was born, 1949-50, and you got bugger all for your money. Dad was on the standard wage for the time, about 5 quid a week at the Post Office and most people working for the Government which dominated the labour market got around that, certainly not the variation now. He always complained about how dear stuff was but I broke it down to minutes work for a loaf of bread, pound of butter etc. This was in the mid 70s as I recall and everything took about 50 to 70% more minutes to earn then than in the 70s.
VTO, I cocked that up a bit, it was a lot dearer in the early 50s by quite a bit, on reflection I was wrong on the butter, that was only about 20% dearer and as I found out later talking to the retired store owner who said that butter, milk and cheese were subsidised by the Government, which I found strange but not surprising, with the Korean War in full swing export prices were probably quite high like wool was. I would even bet that minutes worked now for basics, even butter is less than the 70s, but it would be hard to settle on a representative hourly rate. also something that didn't happen in those days much was price competition ,it all seemed to be pretty fixed.
But a huge amount of stuff then considered luxuries are just staple diet stuff now like" bought biscuits", God you were being pretty flash if you broke out the bought biscuits.
I must see if I can find the grocery bills again but she'd be a big job.
Red, there is a Regional Labour Co-Ordinator who operates out of Winz, or whatever they are called this week, 0275778440, who works in with Wine Marlborough 03 577 9299, WM will just refer you on to the RLCO.
It is hard work in vineyards in that being outside all day in Marlborough with the bloody wind and pretty hot temperatures from now on, and it's hard because it is boring and repetitious generally although not heavily physical, but cheaper than a gym because boy you will get fit if you survive the first few days, like any ag work.
There are plenty of other jobs about , just stay away from bloody Talleys. Nelson/ Motueka has a lot of fruit picking etc but all the travelling kids like to go there.
Actually no, it's not. I spent a few years when my kids were little working on a local vineyard. Pruning, thining, picking. Through out the year; we only got paid for the hours we worked of course.
What was hard and what eventually convinced me to give it up was the poor conditions we were expected to work under. No washing facilities, no toilet, we provided our own tea/coffee and sat under the grapevines at smoko and lunch. If it was raining it was truly miserable. Often we were expected to work following the tractor spraying god only knows what poison.
My fellow workers were housewives and school leavers so I just don't believe they're more unwilling to work now than they were then. Unless conditions are even worse now than they were then.
I suspect NZ school leavers are not the preferred employee. We all actually know why.
What do you pay Adrian? What if your worker is sick do you still pay them? Do you provide washing facilities, lunch room? morning and afternoon tea? What is the with hold period after spraying?
"It is hard work in vineyards " Actually no, it's not.
What so employers lie in order to keep NZer's out.
From ads for vineyard jobs in Malborough.
"Our local employer has a variety of vineyard work with immediate start available. This work involves wire dropping, shoot thinning and some development work. To be successful in this position you must have a good level of fitness as work can be physically challenging."
"Fit and keen We unfortunately have no seats left in the vans."
"To be successful, candidates must be physically fit and fine with being on their feet all day. Remuneration Details:$18.90 Per Hour
"To be successful, candidates must be able to work long hours outdoors and on their feet.$18.90 per Hour plus 8% Holiday Pay"
Doesn't feel like unfit people can get jobs or that the labour shortage has had an impact on pay rates in Malborough.
Thats the starting rate, those that are keen and fit quickly earn more. It is after all an unskilled job with no qualifications needed and most who are pushed into it by WINZ or who ever don't last more than a few days. A few hours of following someone else teaches the basics, it's not rocket science FFS , most fit kids in the school holidays earn quite good money like the one who worked for me, but then he played sport and was a tramper. Fitness is pretty much essential for any job, to expect to turn up at a job and be breathless from exertion walking from the car to the office and expecting rocket scientist wages is bloody dreaming.
Don't think anyone is expecting a rocket science salary.
"Rocket scientists in the United States make an average salary of $125,085 per year or $60.14 per hour. People on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $79,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $195,000."
However if the minimum starting wage is not attracting people to work, and there is not enough people to pick the apples/grapes, and the whole industry is at risk wouldn't the free enterprise market response be to lift the minimum starting wage to attract more people.
Nope the industry response is to call locals lazy bludgers, who watch TV and play computer games all day, to denigrate the very New Zealanders for years and years that they now would like to help them out, to see contract rates as the only way for an employee to earning a living income. This approach is somehow supposed to attract people to work in the industry.
Doesn't really seem to be working does it? When being a barista (which you also have a low opinion of) is a more attractive job then maybe the problem isn't the young people.
Some orchards have lifted the starting rate and some orchards who moan about losing there staff are having them pinched by other orchardists offering them more. It is one of the reasons RSE is so attractive – the workers have no freedom to go to another employer – definitely not market forces at work there.
Have you ever thought that after 15 years or so of publicly telling New Zealanders they are useless that no-one wants to work for your industry anymore?
It is a lot different, transportable loos are compulsory on remoter sites, smoko rooms are a lot more common, distancing is policed and rentry times are adhered to, the sprays are a lot more "gentle "under the Sustainable winegrowing regime we have to follow. Labour inspectors are about a lot and we have yearly compliance WineNZ checks on everything.
Some of the "housewives " that I knew 10-20 years ago have moved up the ladder into management and drive around in flash utes but it is now a serious career pathway and Polytech and Uni degrees dominate for those viticulture jobs. And all the school leavers are now serving that bloody awful coffee stuff.
We pay reasonably well, last winter I had a young neighbour , just out of school waiting for Uni to re-open after Covid who told me to stop putting his hourly rate up because he felt he would have to work faster , I told him he got more because he was doing a good job and I didn't want him to go faster as I wanted a good job, he ended up on a bit over $ 25 an hour and he set his own hours. Suited me. Most work is on Casual Agricultural for tax etc, because the bloody bureacacy for anything else requires a monthly form filling for at least 12 months even if someone only worked for a few weeks under a "permanent "regime, the pay is the same but less tax is deducted under Casual. The hard bit of vineyard work as I said is being outside, not a lot of kids can handle it, but the local ones are really good if they have been bought up on farms or playing outside etc.
That is the rate, no it may not be permanent but most permanent jobs are about $22 to $25 or $45,700 to $ 52, 000 a year, but they do require experience and capability so starting is probably minimum.
It's easy, multiply the hourly rate by 40 then by 52. If you think multiplication is bullshit then I doubt if you could get a job anywhere.
An excellent and thought provoking article in the Lon Review of Books on the Corbyn project with much of relevance here to the discerning reader, I commend people to read it!
"While the final list of attendees has yet to be determined, Newsroom understands New Zealand may be excluded over concerns it is not doing enough to reduce emissions."
“Despite Jacinda Ardern’s 2017 remarks promising to treat climate change as “this generation’s nuclear-free moment” and the Government’s intention next week to declare a climate emergency, New Zealand has one of the worst climate records of industrialised nations.”
Government (justifiably) under fire from multiple directions
Can anybody give me a good reason why – when one goes to the MSD site and clicks into jobs available one is required to register? I can think of many poor reasons. The other mainstream job sites don't ask for that. What do you think they are trying to hide?
It’s not an overly well designed website (my partner works at MSD, I’ll let her know), but you don’t have to register. Go to the job search button a bit further down or try following link:
Thanks for that. Once I had gone there I managed to get through to it through the main website but it still required quite a path to get to it. You'd think the big button labeled "find a job" would be right up front and centre in red.
The Salvation Army says the government needs to lift the core benefits for low-income families as this Christmas will be harder in light of Covid…
Policy analyst at the charity, Ronji Tanielu, said, with the end of both the original wage subsidy and the 12-week Covid income relief payment just before Christmas, many families will struggle more. His charity is expecting a 20 percent increase in demand for food and gifts in this period.
"We're going to see traditional hardship from those who normally use our services, but also new people facing hardship … probably people that were contributing to and donating to our food banks last year are probably gonna be people that need our food bank this year," he said.
Business thinking rationally about lessening waste. We want to have an economy so can't grumble about the use of plastic at present. We need engineers who can understand the problems and get alongside the various players to help keep moving in the right direction.
It was pretty clear from the introduction of the PPP bid that it was a political issue rather than a procurement issue.
What that AG was looking at was that the process didn't follow public service guidelines for the public service. I was unsurprised at the AGs prognosis because it wasn't a simple public service procurement.
Haven't read the report – just what was reported about it. That was consistent with what I'd expect.
However I do think that the political acceptance of the entry of a late bid wasn't a good idea for either political reasons (ie the PPP and skimming aspects) or for the timely delivery of a transport project.
I also have still have issues with the light rail aspects of the project itself. Tearing up Dominion road to provide commuters with a centre of the road method of transport sounds like a crap idea – and incredibly slow for getting to the airport. It is going to take years just to do that.
Whereas booting all parked cars off dominion road, putting in full time bus lanes, and changing the traffic lights along dominion road would be both faster and less of an issue (apart from the screaming shop keepers – who should be providing parking already).
Providing a rail link to the airport sounds like completely separate question – and one that would be easier being provided by with extending the heavy rail.
Light rail along Dominion Rd was only ever intended to solve the problem of not enough space at the city centre end of the route for any more buses (see https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/?s=ccfas). It would connect all the people and places along the route, and support more intensive building there. Buses and cars would be reduced and more space given over to locals on foot and bike.
I agree it was political and the airport thing should have been treated separately. It was always a red herring, egged on by credulous Twyford.
He doubled down on the notion that the project should be about how fast someone could get all the way to the airport, hence the logic of the Canadian bid spending a fortune on putting the lines above and below ground instead of in the street where people can get to them easily. None of this is special to Auckland – plenty of examples overseas of how street-level light rail interacts with surrounding buildings and people.
The heavy rail/bus interchange to the airport at Puhinui is almost finished now. The case for a heavy rail connection to and from the airport is not good. The only reason the light rail add-on stacks up at all is because of the other places like Mangere and Onehunga it links on the way to Mt Roskill where the original line from the city centre ended in the original plans.
Where exactly on Dominion Road is the new light rail going to be running? I see pretty drawings that show the trains travelling down the middle of the road. If this is the case then how do travellers get off the train and over to the footpaths ? Especially with rows of cars travelling down the outside lanes.
I can well remember the trams in Auckland – they travelled in the middle of the road. There was a little platform on which we alighted : at busy periods of the day we had to run for our lives to get to the footpaths. In 1950 there were far fewer vehicles on the roads ; today it is nose to tail for a large chunk of the day.
Still going to be a problem even for cyclist like me. As near as I can figure it, if they put lights on them all stations on both sides, then they'd going to nearly double the number of lights for all vehicles (including bikes). Lights cause about 30-40% of my time on a bike, and I only have one – at the corner of View Road and Dominion Road.
Personally I'm looking at what I can see of it and thinking that it really isn't a great place to try to put in a dual tram line.
Yep – middle of the road. They have given a picture on what I think is the widest part of the road (and one that I cycle on most week days). Doesn't look like a lot of room to me once you stack two pedestrian, 2 bike lanes, 2 car lanes, and two tram lanes in.
I'd presume that the 13 stations on the AT design. would be some combination of steel surround and pedestrian crossing. But I haven't see a drawing of one.
I've used trams and metros in different places in the world. But Dominion Road does seem to me to be pushing it more than a bit. Getting rid of the parked cars will help free up a lot of road space. But if they still have cars and delivery trucks going down on a single lane either side they'd really need to eat into the shops on one side or another. For instance that section around Valley Road shops.
There are 13 stations – about 10 of them on dominion road.
The width of the roadway through existing town centres is a challenge, yes. Defending priority of access for walkers and cyclists over cars and trucks in those sections will be political when it progresses.
While it was a pointless, shallow, virtue signalling, slightly embarrassing (by the look on their faces) thing to do, I don't think the Black Caps are racist, or condone violence.
They had to ask the other team whether they would do it as well before announcing it. So I think we can guess how much it meant to them.
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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 ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
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 higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – 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 is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
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 is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
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 is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
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 ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report A West Papuan resistance leader has condemned the United Nations role in allowing Indonesia to “integrate” the Melanesian Pacific region in what is claimed to be an “egregious act of inhumanity” on 1 May 1963. In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Organisasi Papua Merdeka-OPM ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A key part of the Albanese government’s political strategy is to fill the news cycle with its presence and messaging. Ministers are deployed to the maximum, even when they’ve little to say. This week ...
Recent extreme weather events showed the importance of a well-functioning insurance system, says Commerce and Consumer Affairs minister Andrew Bayly. ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
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David Seymour on foreign workers … "“There are local industries crying out for a workforce they can’t find here and workers in Pacific Island countries with very little, if any, Covid-19 crying out for work."
David, have you not heard of the free market? Supply and demand? Tell your employers to adjust their supply side to attract the demand side for the jobs – this is the nature of free market business. And if the business can't handle it then the business fails.
Free market David, free market – have you heard of it?
It looks like the Government has folded (see Stuff) but with strings attached. Companies will be required to cover the cost of managed isolation currently estimated at $4722 per person, pay the workers a minimum of $22.10 an hour and be required to pay workers for a 30-hour working week while in isolation. It now remains to sort out the usual rorts like deducting extortionate accommodation costs for 3rd world conditions. It will be interesting to see which employers prefer to engage a NZ resident workforce.
So each worker will cost about $5400 before any work done.
I wonder is they offered say $4000 to NZ workers to come and work is that would attract NZers?
More public subsidising of these private businesses.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/431563/government-s-seasonal-workers-move-not-enough-but-a-good-start
Oops
I was meaning the $4000 offer should be by the fruit industry, not the govt.
You'd think, eh.
@dv..Good point/question..!
Not enough. The government has treated seasonal, and semi-skilled workers as if they are pieces of equipment, to be left on a shelf and available and ready whenever required. But people lose heart and strength, literally as exercise gurus say, when not able to work regularly. Even machinery goes rusty when left on the shelf, especially in damp conditions, as has been stated about much of NZ housing.
My idea is to raise the workers' status including the parents, pay them a benefit when not required for paid jobs, give them the task of keeping fit going to the gym regularly, helping out with volunteering to keep active and engaged – then you have the people ready willing and able with a good positive attitude.
It's a big task for government to stop being shitty and negative and stand-offish to the ordinary person, but hey we are the salt of the earth and it is time the key tappers and theory modellers gave us our rightful space – the real wealth creators who do the work and the building of a nation. End of rant.
Headline in the Herald,
2000 migrant workers form the Islands allowed in for seasonal work.
Must be paid the living wage of 22.10 an hour. Was that ever stipulated for Kiwis? Quarantine paid for by employer, and wage paid for while in Quarantine. And the workers need to have a return ticket when arriving.
Well it seems Act is getting somewhere, NZ workers….oh well.
That living wage stipulation is hilarious. The obvious reason kiwis were deemed useless was their insistence on reasonable money.
So now the 'hard done by' employers will have to put up or shut up. This may also drive the price locals can demand for horticultural work up. See, it used to be islanders were exploited badly and too scared to stick up for themselves. Now, the government's stuck up for them.
Having islanders making some money to help themselves and folks back home, while NOT being exploited. This to me is a great change. I can't really see what the problem is. Locals can make noise or move on if the employer's shit.
Through this action New Zealand's labour government has driven down the income and prosperity of our lowest paid, and acted against the interests of the working people.
The whole situation is appalling and stinks. Make these crappy businesses meet free market conditions, as they themselves vote for and support (while it advantages them only, the hypocrites), instead of catering to their nanny state intervention crying when it disadvantages..
Bad form Labour – you need to change the name of your party to the Employers Party
Bad
Bad
Bad
Jacinda is a chicken when confronting the forces of so-called capitalism- book book – it will be her downfall
"Bad form Labour – you need to change the name of your party to "…
National Too?
Well it seems Act is getting somewhere, NZ workers….oh well.
If ACT mps were treated as RSE workers,their airfares and wellington accommodation would be deducted from their wages.
Poission 💡
vto, please provide a link when you quote something like that.
Many questioning about allowing Pacific Island workers into the country.
We need to remember that those countries part of NZ past, being former colonies. Nz has a tradition of having workers from the pacific as part of financial support to the region. I am all for it that employers should be scrutinized to make sure they are not just trying to look at cost measures when asking for workers from the Pacific.
In all that, is someone looking at equal pay and conditions for NZlaenders? Having to travel 2000 or 200 KM to get to a job is actually the same in a sense when looking at rent and travel, leaving family behind.
It is true from my observation however, that a quite a number of younger people of all colors and backgrounds have neither the work ethic nor will they see things through for longer than a couple of days. Hard work in the orchards will not cut the mustard if some sit on the bum looking at a screen is preferred.
I don't think most of the Pacific were our colonies. Britain's maybe.
Weren't the Colonial British the first European settlers here in NZ? Labor was recruited in the region as far back as 1870's.
Our first settlers came from all over. At one point there was I believe back when the whalers came here more Americans than most other nationalities. As far as I know there was no particular recruitment from the various islands to NZ. There was recruitment by British business to various pacific islands – like CSR recruiting from India to Fiji. So yeah the British and French may owe some reparations to the various pacific nations as they do to us. But frankly I haven't seen the British exchequer opening it's purse for it's poor showing in enforcing the Treaty of Waitangi and refunding wealth stripped from here when we were a colony . We could ask Boris though?
By 'recruited' do you mean blackbirding/kidnapping/slavery..?
Actually, I've looked up some of the details, they went to Fiji as indentured labour between 1875 and 1916. The conditions weren't pretty but they did receive some payment and could return to India (in theory) after 5-10 years. Apparently a good number did go back. The main instigators were the Governor of the colony of Fiji a Brit and the Australian owned CSR.
Lost you for a while there TS.
So the government's offered $1000 bonus for working in horticulture (longer than 6 weeks) and up to $200 per week towards accommodation costs. The only question I have as a potential worker is the stand-down period when the work dries up – does this negate any benefit?
The worker side of me approves of the improving prospects.
The sensible side of me thinks this is nuts. A handout for employers who have failed to provide their own sweeteners for local workers. A handout for landlords, again, for overpriced rentals.
Employers should be made to at least match the living wage. That rate which must now be paid to the 2000 islanders coming to work here.
WTB…a mate has for some time been on the Jobseeker benefit and has participated in occasional seasonal/casual/part time work. He has a good relationship with his case manager at the local WINZ office and so long as he keeps them informed of what work he does where for how much, he keeps his benefit but has it abated if he goes over the limit. No stand down period….be silly up here when so many jobs are seasonal.
(He has just secured a full time job…so has officially gone off the benefit…but if that job folds he does not expect a stand down.)
Archive zraid3 decided to drop a disk. Had to reboot to get it un jammed. Shut down to pull the disk. It is used as part of the immediate backup system for TS amongst other things. It was VERY slow to stop. Restarted
Drive was ok. Got another set of cables. Shutdown, updated cables and reinserted drive a bit later. Disk rejoined the array. Then dropped out some time later.
I'll pull the disk drive card later tonight and test that. I suspect that there is a heating problem there. It uses a passive radiator that is wrong way up in my case. I may need to find an exterior fan to pull heat from the stale air in that part of the case.
"Employers should be made to at least match the living wage. That rate which must now be paid to the 2000 islanders coming to work here."
I wonder how much of that living wage will end up in the workers hands….the examples of clawing back and downright extortion that already occur in the industry dosnt bode well for those actually doing the work benefiting
You think the employers will give with one hand, and take back with the other then? Could do that with accommodation etc – so they might not be out of pocket at all, or very much.
Employers, agents whoever…theres plenty of scope and history that indicates rorts of various types
Labour needs to get a spine. When did the government decide to guarantee employers a work force of their choosing at rates that please the employer.
Imagine if individuals expected the government to supply then with a job of their choosing at a rate that suits them. Those sixty shearers where slipped in under the radar. They could train those – slower work rate at first but it would pick up.(stuff story)
However, if we have a genuine shortage then best they are from the Pacific.
But the real kicker in the story is allowing anyone who is here on a visa to apply according to some list at MSD. ( anyone know where this is? I can't find it) There was a story the other day that there are some 267000 people here on various visas. That's about 15% of the adult workforce.
Dont think there has been any evidence of spine…none of these problems are new or unknown and this is their 4th year in charge
After watching Ibrahim Omer deliver his maiden speech this morning, I thought union membership should be an employment condition.
A few things, Viticulture/ Horticulture export earnings are over 6 billion dollars, thats a lot of vaccines, PPE gear, cancer drugs, medical specialists, computers and all the other things that we need and demand. Overseas exchange earnings are not something that Grant can conjuror up at the click of his fingers,. Imported shit has to be paid for.
We in NZ are in the lucky position of being very good at growing very good produce, so much so that it outstrips our supply of labour to grow and pick it. Without the earnings we would be so much worse off as a country and instead of the constant complaints about what are isolated instances of bad behaviour on the part of some employers and agents just give thanks for these people who come here from less fortunate countries to increase both our well being and that of their own families and countries.
Yes the abuses are isolated, the oft quoted slavery case in HB was a family matai from the same country as what were mostly his extended family, any others complicit in it were punished.
In Marlborough at the moment the unemployment rate is in the low 2% range, a figure economists reckon is about as low as you can get, simply because there are always about that number who can't or about .5% who won't work as they turn up for 2 hours and then go home or deliberately break gear so they will be sent home to qualify as having "presented for work ". They wouldn't work in an iron lung.
At the moment a young French woman working on my place is getting $25 an hour, her mate is coming next week when the apple thinning job she is on finishes and she is currently earning $27.50 on contract. RSE workers can earn up to $35 an hour, they are rewarded for keeness and fitness. That's over at least $50,000 a year, not bad money.
I'm 71, I started at 6.30am and my cup of tea is finished so I'm back into it and I'll finish at about 7 tonight, and I do this pretty much everyday, admittedly I take a few more rests than I used to but it's called a work ethic and there are plenty of old buggers like me about here.
" give thanks for these people who come here from less fortunate countries to increase both our well being"… except that they don't increase our well being, they drive down wages.
"That's over at least $50,000 a year"… no it isn't, it is $35 /hour for a very short period. It has nothing to do with an annual salary.
"but it's called a work ethic" … please don't tell me you are one of those who think the older generations are superior to the younger generations, as Bill English so inelegantly ranted a few years back when he said "young people today are useless"… you know the ironic thing about Bill English's statement? That age group he was referring to were born into his governments, and his policies, and so are a direct result of his own actions – he caused it – good one English, ya frikkin' dickhead, thanks for nothing.
vto
Who is the contact in Marlborough for these types of jobs. I know a couple of people who are interested. They would probably prefer a local owner over an overseas owner if there is an option. And what sort of accommodation / travel distance is involved. They are happy to camp site with limited facilities.
You are wrong. The wages are set .. minimum, living, contract etc. And now by being available for this scheme there is this new minimum benchmark of $22.
You miss the point of the whole thing, there are NO workers available, or to be correct nobody available who will work even at $30 an hour.
I'm not denigrating the young, I used to coach under 5s through to under 10s at footy ( by then they knew more than I did ) and some of those boys were pretty hardcase and constantly in trouble but the ones that put the effort in at the age at footy and even though they did a runner from school as soon as possible got themselves jobs and often in the hardest work you can think of like forestry and dairying, and now in their mid-twenties have started a family and have bought houses, even changed jobs and are builders and farm managers.
Teachers know who is going to be useless and it is only about 1 in 200, who expect others to support them with out any effort on their part. They are about all that is left of the non-working.
You sound like a perpetual complainer and one who can't count, $35 an hour is at a rate of not $50,000 a year but $72,000 and yes it may not be permanent but that suits the itinerant travellers and Uni students and others down to the ground and there are extra hours. Like all jobs, with agri work you start at a minimum rate and work your way up exactly the same as any job. Tractor operators are about $25-30 probably depending on how much gear you damage.
And what the fuck has English or any other politician got to do with those who are too lazy to get out of bed, you are a classic case of it always being somebody else's fault.
Err I think this is for VTO.
I can't see the references for contacts for jobs in Marlborough. Surely there is at least on job agency matching workers and jobs.
sorry, Red.
yeah nah we are kinda sailing past each other adrian… i certainly aint a perpetual complainer, but I do not like the hypocrisy of free market business people who abandon the free market principles when suits, particularly when it works to keep wages low.
wages and earnings in our country are a disgrace.
in the past, the workers share of the economic pie was a chunk greater, and it made for a much better society. Today that has been shrunk, with consequent negative effects on society
btw, english has everything to do with this issue, due to his rantings about exactly this issue as part of the last government – he was pm remember
anyway adrian, stop driving down wages in this country – it makes it harder for nzer's – you should be driving them up
push the wealth down and society strengthens and prospers
push the wealth up and society weakens and fails
I don't think you are right on the share of the pie, VTO, a few years ago I found some grocery bills of my parents from around the time I was born, 1949-50, and you got bugger all for your money. Dad was on the standard wage for the time, about 5 quid a week at the Post Office and most people working for the Government which dominated the labour market got around that, certainly not the variation now. He always complained about how dear stuff was but I broke it down to minutes work for a loaf of bread, pound of butter etc. This was in the mid 70s as I recall and everything took about 50 to 70% more minutes to earn then than in the 70s.
VTO, I cocked that up a bit, it was a lot dearer in the early 50s by quite a bit, on reflection I was wrong on the butter, that was only about 20% dearer and as I found out later talking to the retired store owner who said that butter, milk and cheese were subsidised by the Government, which I found strange but not surprising, with the Korean War in full swing export prices were probably quite high like wool was. I would even bet that minutes worked now for basics, even butter is less than the 70s, but it would be hard to settle on a representative hourly rate. also something that didn't happen in those days much was price competition ,it all seemed to be pretty fixed.
But a huge amount of stuff then considered luxuries are just staple diet stuff now like" bought biscuits", God you were being pretty flash if you broke out the bought biscuits.
I must see if I can find the grocery bills again but she'd be a big job.
Red, there is a Regional Labour Co-Ordinator who operates out of Winz, or whatever they are called this week, 0275778440, who works in with Wine Marlborough 03 577 9299, WM will just refer you on to the RLCO.
It is hard work in vineyards in that being outside all day in Marlborough with the bloody wind and pretty hot temperatures from now on, and it's hard because it is boring and repetitious generally although not heavily physical, but cheaper than a gym because boy you will get fit if you survive the first few days, like any ag work.
There are plenty of other jobs about , just stay away from bloody Talleys. Nelson/ Motueka has a lot of fruit picking etc but all the travelling kids like to go there.
Good luck.
"It is hard work in vineyards "
Actually no, it's not. I spent a few years when my kids were little working on a local vineyard. Pruning, thining, picking. Through out the year; we only got paid for the hours we worked of course.
What was hard and what eventually convinced me to give it up was the poor conditions we were expected to work under. No washing facilities, no toilet, we provided our own tea/coffee and sat under the grapevines at smoko and lunch. If it was raining it was truly miserable. Often we were expected to work following the tractor spraying god only knows what poison.
My fellow workers were housewives and school leavers so I just don't believe they're more unwilling to work now than they were then. Unless conditions are even worse now than they were then.
I suspect NZ school leavers are not the preferred employee. We all actually know why.
What do you pay Adrian? What if your worker is sick do you still pay them? Do you provide washing facilities, lunch room? morning and afternoon tea? What is the with hold period after spraying?
"It is hard work in vineyards " Actually no, it's not.
What so employers lie in order to keep NZer's out.
From ads for vineyard jobs in Malborough.
"Our local employer has a variety of vineyard work with immediate start available. This work involves wire dropping, shoot thinning and some development work. To be successful in this position you must have a good level of fitness as work can be physically challenging."
"Fit and keen We unfortunately have no seats left in the vans."
"To be successful, candidates must be physically fit and fine with being on their feet all day. Remuneration Details:$18.90 Per Hour
"To be successful, candidates must be able to work long hours outdoors and on their feet.$18.90 per Hour plus 8% Holiday Pay"
Doesn't feel like unfit people can get jobs or that the labour shortage has had an impact on pay rates in Malborough.
Thats the starting rate, those that are keen and fit quickly earn more. It is after all an unskilled job with no qualifications needed and most who are pushed into it by WINZ or who ever don't last more than a few days. A few hours of following someone else teaches the basics, it's not rocket science FFS , most fit kids in the school holidays earn quite good money like the one who worked for me, but then he played sport and was a tramper. Fitness is pretty much essential for any job, to expect to turn up at a job and be breathless from exertion walking from the car to the office and expecting rocket scientist wages is bloody dreaming.
Don't think anyone is expecting a rocket science salary.
"Rocket scientists in the United States make an average salary of $125,085 per year or $60.14 per hour. People on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $79,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $195,000."
https://www.zippia.com/rocket-scientist-jobs/salary/?survey=039&survey_step=step1&oneTapSurvey=true&src=survey-core-prompt
However if the minimum starting wage is not attracting people to work, and there is not enough people to pick the apples/grapes, and the whole industry is at risk wouldn't the free enterprise market response be to lift the minimum starting wage to attract more people.
Nope the industry response is to call locals lazy bludgers, who watch TV and play computer games all day, to denigrate the very New Zealanders for years and years that they now would like to help them out, to see contract rates as the only way for an employee to earning a living income. This approach is somehow supposed to attract people to work in the industry.
Doesn't really seem to be working does it? When being a barista (which you also have a low opinion of) is a more attractive job then maybe the problem isn't the young people.
Some orchards have lifted the starting rate and some orchards who moan about losing there staff are having them pinched by other orchardists offering them more. It is one of the reasons RSE is so attractive – the workers have no freedom to go to another employer – definitely not market forces at work there.
Have you ever thought that after 15 years or so of publicly telling New Zealanders they are useless that no-one wants to work for your industry anymore?
It is a lot different, transportable loos are compulsory on remoter sites, smoko rooms are a lot more common, distancing is policed and rentry times are adhered to, the sprays are a lot more "gentle "under the Sustainable winegrowing regime we have to follow. Labour inspectors are about a lot and we have yearly compliance WineNZ checks on everything.
Some of the "housewives " that I knew 10-20 years ago have moved up the ladder into management and drive around in flash utes but it is now a serious career pathway and Polytech and Uni degrees dominate for those viticulture jobs. And all the school leavers are now serving that bloody awful coffee stuff.
We pay reasonably well, last winter I had a young neighbour , just out of school waiting for Uni to re-open after Covid who told me to stop putting his hourly rate up because he felt he would have to work faster , I told him he got more because he was doing a good job and I didn't want him to go faster as I wanted a good job, he ended up on a bit over $ 25 an hour and he set his own hours. Suited me. Most work is on Casual Agricultural for tax etc, because the bloody bureacacy for anything else requires a monthly form filling for at least 12 months even if someone only worked for a few weeks under a "permanent "regime, the pay is the same but less tax is deducted under Casual. The hard bit of vineyard work as I said is being outside, not a lot of kids can handle it, but the local ones are really good if they have been bought up on farms or playing outside etc.
" That's over at least $50,000 a year"
Utter bullshit. Who do you think you're fooling.
$35 an hour is $1400 a week or $72,800 a year.
That is the rate, no it may not be permanent but most permanent jobs are about $22 to $25 or $45,700 to $ 52, 000 a year, but they do require experience and capability so starting is probably minimum.
It's easy, multiply the hourly rate by 40 then by 52. If you think multiplication is bullshit then I doubt if you could get a job anywhere.
Stop digging Adrian
Are these casual $ an hour or part-time?
Good health to you Adrian. Still able to work at 71 well done.
An excellent and thought provoking article in the Lon Review of Books on the Corbyn project with much of relevance here to the discerning reader, I commend people to read it!
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n23/james-butler/failed-vocation
"While the final list of attendees has yet to be determined, Newsroom understands New Zealand may be excluded over concerns it is not doing enough to reduce emissions."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/nz-may-be-excluded-from-climate-leaders-summit
“Despite Jacinda Ardern’s 2017 remarks promising to treat climate change as “this generation’s nuclear-free moment” and the Government’s intention next week to declare a climate emergency, New Zealand has one of the worst climate records of industrialised nations.”
Government (justifiably) under fire from multiple directions
Can anybody give me a good reason why – when one goes to the MSD site and clicks into jobs available one is required to register? I can think of many poor reasons. The other mainstream job sites don't ask for that. What do you think they are trying to hide?
@RedBaronCV
It’s not an overly well designed website (my partner works at MSD, I’ll let her know), but you don’t have to register. Go to the job search button a bit further down or try following link:
https://job-bank.workandincome.govt.nz/find-a-job/search.aspx
Thanks for that. Once I had gone there I managed to get through to it through the main website but it still required quite a path to get to it. You'd think the big button labeled "find a job" would be right up front and centre in red.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/431561/salvation-army-report-finds-social-needs-increasing-in-all-areas
The Salvation Army says the government needs to lift the core benefits for low-income families as this Christmas will be harder in light of Covid…
Policy analyst at the charity, Ronji Tanielu, said, with the end of both the original wage subsidy and the 12-week Covid income relief payment just before Christmas, many families will struggle more. His charity is expecting a 20 percent increase in demand for food and gifts in this period.
"We're going to see traditional hardship from those who normally use our services, but also new people facing hardship … probably people that were contributing to and donating to our food banks last year are probably gonna be people that need our food bank this year," he said.
Business thinking rationally about lessening waste. We want to have an economy so can't grumble about the use of plastic at present. We need engineers who can understand the problems and get alongside the various players to help keep moving in the right direction.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/431589/restrictions-stymie-re-use-of-industrial-purpose-plastic-bags
Anyone seen the Auditor General's report into the light rail procurement?
Its a slammer.
It’s an open-and-shut case.
You sure you're not being railroaded??
"right front wheel, right front wheel."
It was pretty clear from the introduction of the PPP bid that it was a political issue rather than a procurement issue.
What that AG was looking at was that the process didn't follow public service guidelines for the public service. I was unsurprised at the AGs prognosis because it wasn't a simple public service procurement.
Haven't read the report – just what was reported about it. That was consistent with what I'd expect.
However I do think that the political acceptance of the entry of a late bid wasn't a good idea for either political reasons (ie the PPP and skimming aspects) or for the timely delivery of a transport project.
I also have still have issues with the light rail aspects of the project itself. Tearing up Dominion road to provide commuters with a centre of the road method of transport sounds like a crap idea – and incredibly slow for getting to the airport. It is going to take years just to do that.
Whereas booting all parked cars off dominion road, putting in full time bus lanes, and changing the traffic lights along dominion road would be both faster and less of an issue (apart from the screaming shop keepers – who should be providing parking already).
Providing a rail link to the airport sounds like completely separate question – and one that would be easier being provided by with extending the heavy rail.
Light rail along Dominion Rd was only ever intended to solve the problem of not enough space at the city centre end of the route for any more buses (see https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/?s=ccfas). It would connect all the people and places along the route, and support more intensive building there. Buses and cars would be reduced and more space given over to locals on foot and bike.
I agree it was political and the airport thing should have been treated separately. It was always a red herring, egged on by credulous Twyford.
He doubled down on the notion that the project should be about how fast someone could get all the way to the airport, hence the logic of the Canadian bid spending a fortune on putting the lines above and below ground instead of in the street where people can get to them easily. None of this is special to Auckland – plenty of examples overseas of how street-level light rail interacts with surrounding buildings and people.
The heavy rail/bus interchange to the airport at Puhinui is almost finished now. The case for a heavy rail connection to and from the airport is not good. The only reason the light rail add-on stacks up at all is because of the other places like Mangere and Onehunga it links on the way to Mt Roskill where the original line from the city centre ended in the original plans.
Where exactly on Dominion Road is the new light rail going to be running? I see pretty drawings that show the trains travelling down the middle of the road. If this is the case then how do travellers get off the train and over to the footpaths ? Especially with rows of cars travelling down the outside lanes.
I can well remember the trams in Auckland – they travelled in the middle of the road. There was a little platform on which we alighted : at busy periods of the day we had to run for our lives to get to the footpaths. In 1950 there were far fewer vehicles on the roads ; today it is nose to tail for a large chunk of the day.
There will be traffic lights.
Still going to be a problem even for cyclist like me. As near as I can figure it, if they put lights on them all stations on both sides, then they'd going to nearly double the number of lights for all vehicles (including bikes). Lights cause about 30-40% of my time on a bike, and I only have one – at the corner of View Road and Dominion Road.
Personally I'm looking at what I can see of it and thinking that it really isn't a great place to try to put in a dual tram line.
Yep – middle of the road. They have given a picture on what I think is the widest part of the road (and one that I cycle on most week days). Doesn't look like a lot of room to me once you stack two pedestrian, 2 bike lanes, 2 car lanes, and two tram lanes in.
https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/auckland-light-rail-project/
I'd presume that the 13 stations on the AT design. would be some combination of steel surround and pedestrian crossing. But I haven't see a drawing of one.
I've used trams and metros in different places in the world. But Dominion Road does seem to me to be pushing it more than a bit. Getting rid of the parked cars will help free up a lot of road space. But if they still have cars and delivery trucks going down on a single lane either side they'd really need to eat into the shops on one side or another. For instance that section around Valley Road shops.
There are 13 stations – about 10 of them on dominion road.
https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/media/18257/dom-road-mrt-2.pdf
The width of the roadway through existing town centres is a challenge, yes. Defending priority of access for walkers and cyclists over cars and trucks in those sections will be political when it progresses.
Found this useful GA post too: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/12/06/a-brief-history-of-the-light-rail-project/
The report – full text on this page: https://oag.parliament.nz/2020/auckland-light-rail
TV 1 and NZ cricket have obviously got the message. Lets all kneel and pay homage to a racist, violent, extreme left, bunch of thugs.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
While it was a pointless, shallow, virtue signalling, slightly embarrassing (by the look on their faces) thing to do, I don't think the Black Caps are racist, or condone violence.
They had to ask the other team whether they would do it as well before announcing it. So I think we can guess how much it meant to them.