Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, June 11th, 2011 - 52 comments
A little over a year ago the biggest single protest march in this country since 1938 put the final nail in the coffin of the Nats’ amateur hour plans to mine our most precious conservation land. Or so we thought…
Written By: - Date published: 3:00 pm, November 29th, 2010 - 23 comments
It seems I’m not alone in feeling outrage at attempts to bury any sensible debate on the shape and extent of New Zealand’s coal operations
Written By: - Date published: 8:58 am, May 29th, 2010 - 25 comments
The Dominion Post has revealed that only hours after criticising National’s plans to mine on Great Barrier, Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye was seeking advice from Key and Brownlee’s offices on what to say to the media. Kaye has previously admitted to having had Key sign off on her original opposition but this latest revelation …
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, May 10th, 2010 - 10 comments
If, as seems increasingly likely, the Government drops its plans to desecrate the best of schedule 4 land, will it be cause for celebration? In a word, no. Kathy at Greenpeace weblog examines Brownlee and his wet dreams
Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, May 6th, 2010 - 29 comments
I don’t read Kiwiblog often. DPF is capable of interesting political commentary or detailed policy wonkery on occasion, but most of the time it is editorial cut and paste jobs, troll farming, or postcards from his latest holiday. Ho hummm. Even a casual reader such as myself, however, can’t help but notice that National’s eternal spinster is having a pretty appalling week.
Written By: - Date published: 2:42 pm, May 4th, 2010 - 19 comments
When you’re that far on the backfoot, it’s not hard to teeter further. The CTU has today come out against the Government’s mining plans; a position even Brownlee admits is “a bit of a surprise” given the union’s membership includes miners. What’s the score now? I say time for a quick tally. We’ve got the …
Written By: - Date published: 10:19 am, May 3rd, 2010 - 32 comments
Most of this country’s mineral wealth lies under private land, according to the government’s own figures. So, why are the Nats so determined to override public opinion and let their mining allies dig up our precious protected lands? Simple: mining on private land means paying a lease to the owner. Mining on public land is cheaper: we’re played like chumps for bigger profits.
Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, May 1st, 2010 - 119 comments
Wow! An incredible 50,000 people have turned out in Auckland this May Day to protest the Government’s plan to open protected land to mining. I can’t think of another demonstration in New Zealand on this scale. If this isn’t the final nail in the coffin of the mining plan, then the Key Government has a serious death wish.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, April 26th, 2010 - 22 comments
Remember back in 2007 when Gerry Brownlee took some really bad PR advice and unfathomably released a video entitled “Sexy Coal”? It was bound to come back and bite him; it’s the 21st century after all. What’s particularly salacious is that Lucy Lawless is doing the biting….
Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, March 11th, 2010 - 13 comments
Solid Energy has been caught out commissioning future leaders to pen fantasy stories in school hours. The company is inviting high school students in key coal-mining areas to submit an essay on: “The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealandâ€.
Written By: - Date published: 8:55 am, March 2nd, 2010 - 11 comments
Over at Pundit Claire Browning points out that the National government is trying to get away with a huge con. They promised not to privatise state assets (in their first term), but now they are effectively privatising the biggest asset of them all…
Written By: - Date published: 2:58 pm, February 11th, 2010 - 38 comments
Written By: - Date published: 2:02 pm, December 5th, 2009 - 18 comments
Depressing reading in this piece by George Monbiot on Canada: So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation turning itself into a corrupt petro-state. Canada is slipping down the development ladder, retreating from a complex, diverse economy towards dependence on a single primary resource, which happens to be the dirtiest …
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, December 4th, 2009 - 20 comments
[Post reproduced with permission from No Right Turn] This is a picture of the north-western part of Mount Aspiring National Park, which the government wants to dig up. There’s a full album here. As can be seen, it is a rather distinctive area, flowing from lowland forest like that pictured to the barren subalpine red …
Written By: - Date published: 11:14 am, August 29th, 2009 - 51 comments
The Conservation Minister, Tim Groser is quoted today: “If you can extract wealth from that [conservation land], that’s what we should do.” Stuff and goes on to label any opposition to this clear intent as ‘emotional hysteria’. While it was obvious that Brownlee was indulging in dishonest double-speak with his ‘stocktake’ earlier this week; we …
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