Archive for March, 2010
The scars of Tui Mine
Written By: - Date published: 11:56 pm, March 15th, 2010 - 18 comments
My Granddad grew up in Te Aroha near Tui Mine. The mining ruined a large swathe of the land and toxic tailings were left behind which polluted the river and turned a large patch of bush into a desert – it is a scar on the face of my Granddad’s mountain which looks over his grave. As I write this I can hear him reciting this poem:
Andrew Little eyes New Plymouth
Written By: - Date published: 4:42 pm, March 15th, 2010 - 19 comments
I didn’t actually realise that the fact that Andrew Little is considering standing for Labour in New Plymouth in 2011 was news to anyone. I would think that New Plymouth is a natural seat for him.
Farrar’s analysis makes the old mistake of looking at the party votes instead of the candidate votes.
Prenderghastly
Written By: - Date published: 3:33 pm, March 15th, 2010 - 32 comments
First it was the Wellywood sign, now it’s a statue of a guy standing in a giant pile of manure while holding aloft a golden testicle.
And you thought the only Mayor who delighted it making their constituency look stupid was Tim Shadbolt.
Lorraine Kerr, National Standards & Schools Money
Written By: - Date published: 12:22 pm, March 15th, 2010 - 19 comments
Lorraine Kerr, head of the NZ School Trustees Association is one of National’s few supporters on National Standards. She says a survey of boards of trustees gives her a mandate for this position, with only four boards opposing the Standards. Now, she has been forced to admit that only 14 schools were included in the survey result.
Child offending up with higher unemployment
Written By: - Date published: 10:55 am, March 15th, 2010 - 8 comments
The Herald has a little shock piece on child offending: “5-year-old sex offender on crime list“. Of course, what the offence was isn’t mentioned and there’s good reasons why children aren’t held legally responsible for their actions. There is an interesting sentence though: “Although the numbers are slightly up on the previous year, they are […]
National Parks, not National’s parks
Written By: - Date published: 9:31 am, March 15th, 2010 - 82 comments
Forest and Bird has obtained information that Prime Minister John Key is looking to mine Paparoa National Park [pictured right], Great Barrier Island, and areas surrounding the Thames township. The final details of the discussion doc will be decided at Cabinet today. Mr Key, you’re in for a fight on this one.
Auckland Super City and the American Revolution
Written By: - Date published: 8:56 am, March 15th, 2010 - 6 comments
Much of the power in the new Super City will be held by council controlled organisations. These organisations will be responsible for approximately 75% of Auckland services and their unelected directors will have free rein to make important city decisions. The organisations will have no obligation to consult and no responsibility to the public if things go wrong.
Open mike 15/03/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 15th, 2010 - 11 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Search upgraded (yet again)
Written By: - Date published: 12:47 am, March 15th, 2010 - 4 comments
My absence this weekend from moderation and posts has partially been because of going to the excellent Fabian seminar today. However it has largely been due to trying to get a workable search system running. One that didn’t bring the whole server crashing around my ears every few months and cut the issue of everyone having to stop receiving data for up to a minute when someone used search. One that allowed comments to be accessed as easily as posts.
It looks like it is finally working correctly, but I’d like feedback on any errors that show up.
Updated: Several different server and site updates.
GST hike = tax cut for rich only
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 pm, March 14th, 2010 - 50 comments
The numbers of National’s tax money go round leaked to the SST. I have worked out who wins and who loses. Key claimed that no-one will be worse off and the bulk will be much better off but 10% are worse off and 80% get next to nothing (without even counting the rent hikes). The elite get $100 in net tax cuts for every $1 the typical Kiwi gets.
Tax cut bizzaro world
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, March 14th, 2010 - 16 comments
Under National’s proposed tax cuts and GST increases someone on the average wage of $48,000 comes out about $5 to $10 per week ahead. But 70% of Kiwis have incomes under $40,000. Their tax cuts will barely compensate them for the GST increase. How can National go on claiming that “the vast bulk of New Zealanders will be better offâ€?
What’s a decade between friends?
Written By: - Date published: 9:09 am, March 14th, 2010 - 29 comments
Deborah Coddington writes:
“In 1994, not long after Rodney Hide became leader of Act,…”
Umm, Hide became leader in 2004. To be fair, the rest of Coddington’s piece offers a pretty good examination of Act’s fundamental problems.
Reminder: Fabians Auckland seminar today
Written By: - Date published: 7:57 am, March 14th, 2010 - 1 comment
As previously posted, there is a Auckland seminar running this afternoon on options for the future direction of the New Zealand economy. Bold Choices for a Better Future is the provocative first seminar in the Resilient Economy Series, entailing a pragmatic 360Ëš view of the economy, its problems and their possible solutions.
Go along and argue in real life about some of the same issues that are argued over here.
Open mike 14/03/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 14th, 2010 - 8 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Herald’s “democracy lockout” campaign – pick it up!
Written By: - Date published: 5:44 pm, March 13th, 2010 - 5 comments
On Monday this week the front page of the Auckland Herald’s print edition announced that the paper was going to run a campaign to fight what it called “the lockout of democracy” in the Super City. There was nothing on the Herald website all week, which seems odd if it was a real campaign. On […]
Wage gap is the John Key credibility gap
Written By: - Date published: 10:34 am, March 13th, 2010 - 46 comments
There’s a nickname for John Key that’s picking up currency from both Left and Right around the blogosphere: ‘smile and wave’. The one thing Key can be depended on is to turn up grinning in some cheesy photo op. All his promises fall by the wayside. Meanwhile, 276,000 Kiwis are jobless, the wage gap with Australia keeps widening, and so does Key’s credibility gap.
Stupid competition
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, March 13th, 2010 - 30 comments
We keep hearing, from the Key government, statements about education that make no logical or factual sense at all. Here are two examples. Help me choose — which is the stupider statement, and why?
Open mike 13/03/2010
Written By: - Date published: 5:38 am, March 13th, 2010 - 10 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Glenn Beck’s theatre of the absurd
Written By: - Date published: 4:53 pm, March 12th, 2010 - 35 comments
Check out this video of Fox News talk host Glenn Beck. It’s a compilation of his week-long series on how “America is burning to the ground”.
I think he’s trying to argue that Barack Obama is plotting some sort of communist-inspired coup, but it’s hard to know what he’s on about between his confused rants about “THE MACHINE” and the paranoid blackboard scrawlings.
Dying newspaper’s last gasp
Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, March 12th, 2010 - 33 comments
You’ll have seen the government’s furious response to the Sunday Star Times “commission[ing] people masquerading as terrorists to attend Super 14 Games”.
It’s irresponsible as hell, but more than that it’s desperate and sad. It’s the last gasp of a dying newspaper.
Make that man a minister
Written By: - Date published: 11:50 am, March 12th, 2010 - 42 comments
British American Tabacco’s Graeme Amey has the brazen lie down pat. The guy quit smoking himself but wants Kiwis to keep smoking and dying to make his company profits. When asked why he quit he said “it was just a personal choice”. But why? “It was just a personal choice”. Yeah. Was that personal choice […]
Bill Ralston: fringe rightie
Written By: - Date published: 10:32 am, March 12th, 2010 - 22 comments
We all knew Bill Ralston had become a nutty fringe right-winger despite how much he likes to play the slighted liberal.
But his decision to start a Facebook group attacking public broadcasting, and to do so with two nutty Objectivists (one of whom did National’s 2008 billboard campaign) is quite refreshing.
Radicals are a pain
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, March 12th, 2010 - 28 comments
Looking at the leaders for the Fabians seminar on Sunday, it looks to me like it is going to be quite interesting because it is likely to focus more on incremental rather than radical methods. One of the major issues to me with the existing ‘debate’ on economic matters has been the level at which it is ideologically driven rather than based on the actual economy. The main problem with the ‘debate’ are impatient radicals from all sides.
Save Radio NZ dethrones Key
Written By: - Date published: 9:38 am, March 12th, 2010 - 14 comments
Who would have thought that a Facebook group advocating to keep Radio NZ funded and commercial-free would overtake Prime Minister John Key’s fan group for number of members? Well, yesterday at 9.30, just over three weeks since it was founded, the Save Radio New Zealand group reached 18,973 members, passing Key’s 18,972. That gives a […]
The cruelest cuts
Written By: - Date published: 8:29 am, March 12th, 2010 - 8 comments
Cuts to prisoner rehabilitation, night classes, and the Super Gold Card aren’t about saving money. The government is only too happy to sign blank cheques for stupid projects like Transmission Gully and the Holiday Highway on the vaguest cost estimates. No, these successful policies are having the financial life bled out of them because they contradict National’s ideology.
Open mike 12/03/2010
Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, March 12th, 2010 - 29 comments
Open mike is your post. It’s open for discussing topics of interest, making announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose. Comment on whatever takes your fancy. The usual good behaviour rules apply (see the link to Policy in the banner). Step right up to the mike…
Nats resort to plants to help Tolley
Written By: - Date published: 11:54 pm, March 11th, 2010 - 57 comments
Let’s face facts. Anne Tolley is a dangerous minister. She is undermining the education system at every turn and the damage will last lifetime. But is National doing the responsible thing and removing her from the portfolio? No. In fact, a guest poster reports they’re so desperate to help her out that they’ve got plants in her audiences to ask patsy questions.
Education cuts good for kids in bizarro Tolley world
Written By: - Date published: 4:30 pm, March 11th, 2010 - 20 comments
Have a listen to Education Minister Anne Tolley on Morning Report today trying to explain the $25 million cut to the education budget.
It really was a shocker, even for her.
ACT gerrymanders Auckland for the rich
Written By: - Date published: 3:05 pm, March 11th, 2010 - 23 comments
The Local Government Commission released its final ward boundaries for Auckland today and the result is a city gerrymandered by ACT to favour the interests of the rich.
That’s the verdict from No Right Turn, who’s crunched the numbers and discovered a systematic bias for the Right.
Race and the law
Written By: - Date published: 1:30 pm, March 11th, 2010 - 31 comments
The light sentences handed down to most of the group that killed Navtej Singh have caused consternation within the NZ Indian community. With the Human Rights Commission today releasing a statement on worrying trends of racism in NZ, now is a terrible time for the legal system to be sending all the wrong messages.
Arch-bishop on our national shame
Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, March 11th, 2010 - 30 comments
When a guy who was imprisoned and tortured by Idi Amin calls the conditions in which prisoners are kept in New Zealand “a source of shame and disgrace” you know we have problems. Unfortunately, it has become acceptable in this modern political environment to view prisoners as less than human
- The neoliberal attack on the Treaty of Waitangi
Opinion: The Government, led by a run-of-the-mill-corporatist, a garden-variety populist and a 10-a-penny libertarian has been considering the future of a singular and unique treaty that is at the heart of what is so special about Aotearoa New Zealand. In the guise of the Treaty Principles Bill, these politicians will ...3 days ago - A long, personal and painful read for the minister called Goldie
Analysis: At least 15 times in its urgent report on the proposed law to tighten Māori marine customary rights, the Waitangi Tribunal called out one person The post A long, personal and painful read for the minister called Goldie appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- East Coast forestry industry facing the axe
“Absolutely impossible” consent conditions are causing some East Coast forestry companies to “bleed money” and this could force them to move offshore.Forestry harvesting has already ground to a halt in some areas of Tairāwhiti, part of the fallout after the district was hit by devastating cyclones Hale and Gabrielle last ...3 days ago
- Brussels still sprouting same old stale economic plans
Opinion: EU plan reflects a deep-seated distrust of market forces and an over-reliance on state-driven solutions The post Brussels still sprouting same old stale economic plans appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- ECan pushes plan change that ‘entrenches water exploitation’
Critics pan a proposed fix after a Supreme Court decision upended how water consents are considered in Canterbury The post ECan pushes plan change that ‘entrenches water exploitation’ appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 17 September
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp');Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions.The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 17 September appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- Red tape earns quarrying spot on Jones’ critical minerals list
Controversy and consenting issues put sand and aggregate on the draft critical minerals list, alongside the likes of cobalt and vanadium The post Red tape earns quarrying spot on Jones’ critical minerals list appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 17 September
The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 17 September appeared first on Newsroom. ...3 days ago
- Up close and friendly with Vietnam’s war resistance Củ Chi tunnels
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By David Robie in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam’s famous Củ Chi tunnel network was on our bucket list for years. For me, it was for more than half a century, ever since I had been editor of the ...3 days ago - Another assassination attempt, baseless claims about pets, and Taylor Swift: the US election is wild...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jared Mondschein, Director of Research, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney It has not yet been a week since the debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump – in which the Democrat was widely held to have bested the Republican – and ...3 days ago
- Papua New Guinea celebrates 49 years of independence from Australia
By Scott Waide, RNZ Pacific PNG correspondent, and Lydia Lewis RNZ Pacific journalist Papua New Guinea is today celebrating almost half a century of independence from Australia. The journey has not been easy, and the path since 16 September 1975 has been filled with challenges and triumphs, Prime Minister James ...3 days ago
- Australia’s new scam prevention draft is welcome – but it needs to be broader in scope
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohiuddin Ahmed, Senior Lecturer of Computing and Security, Edith Cowan University ParinPix/Shutterstock The federal government is stepping up its fight against scams, which last year cost Australians more than A$2.7 billion. On Friday, the federal treasury released a draft scam ...3 days ago
- Hipkins loses support in latest TPU-Curia poll
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has lost support in a new Taxpayers Union-Curia poll showing small gains for National and Labour, and mostly small losses for minor parties. ...3 days ago - What is ‘health at every size’ lifestyle counselling? How does it compare with weight-focused tr...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle Health at every size (or HAES) is a lifestyle counselling approach that promotes mindful eating and lifestyle behaviours to pursue health and wellness, without focusing on weight loss. Weight loss is ...3 days ago
- National parks and other protected areas often fail to conserve Earth’s forests, research finds
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Neal, Senior lecturer in Economics / Institute for Climate Risk and Response, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock The destruction of nature is a global crisis. Establishing protected areas of forest is a common policy governments use to tackle the problem. Indeed most ...3 days ago
- Oscar: the tragedy and beauty of Wilde’s life, and an historic moment on the ballet stage
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvette Grant, PhD (Dance) Candidate and Dance History Tutor, The University of Melbourne Benjamin Garrett and Callum Linnane star in Wheeldon’s new ballet production. Christopher Rogers-Wilson Christopher Wheeldon and The Australian Ballet’s Oscar, which had its world premiere in Melbourne on September ...3 days ago
- PNG police chief Manning declares emergency for Porgera
The National Papua New Guinea’s Police Commissioner David Manning has declared emergency orders to safeguard infrastructure and residents in Porgera due to escalating law and order issues brought about by illegal miners. Manning said police would be increasing the legitimate use of force to remove combatants in order ...3 days ago
- Watch: Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet press conference
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is speaking to reporters at Parliament after the weekly Cabinet meeting. ...3 days ago- Up close and friendly with Vietnam’s war relic Củ Chi tunnels
COMMENTARY: By David Robie Vietnam’s famous Củ Chi tunnel network was on our bucket list for years. For me, it was for more than half a century, ever since I had been editor of the Melbourne Sunday Observer, which campaigned against Australian (and New Zealand) involvement in the unjust Vietnam ...3 days ago- Government at risk of not meeting two of its nine public service targets
The government has identified education and reducing violent crime as the biggest problem areas. ...3 days ago- What would a second Trump presidency mean for the global economy?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock Donald Trump inherited a strong economy from President Obama and managed it poorly. Real GDP grew more slowly under Trump than it had under any ...4 days ago- Government extends alternative to tough literacy and numeracy tests
Students will have until the end of 2027 to get literacy and numeracy standards by internal assessment, rather than tests - two years later than planned. ...4 days ago- Experts oppose speed limits increase
A coalition of leading academics, health professionals and road safety experts have issued an open letter, urging the government to reconsider plans to increase speed limits. ...4 days ago- All hail Christian Cullen, ‘mysterious smooth guy’ of Celebrity Treasure Island
We’re one week into the new season, and a surprising and sulky breakout star has emerged. Before 2022, Dame Susan Devoy was known to most New Zealanders as a world champion squash player first, Race Relations Commissioner second, and Centrum spokesperson third. Her public image was serious and straight-laced: she ...4 days ago- A ‘forever language’ – te Wiki o te Reo Māori marks 52 years of extraordinary progress
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeanette King, Professor, Aotahi School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, University of Canterbury Getty Images Ko tēnei te Wiki o te Reo Māori – it’s Māori Language Week. It’s been 52 years since the landmark moment on September 14 1972, when ...4 days ago- A new play brings Trent Dalton’s Love Stories to the stage in a joyful and exuberant celebration o...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin West, PhD Candidate in Drama and Theatre Studies, The University of Queensland David Kelly/QPAC/Brisbane Festival Unapologetically sentimental, uncynically joyful, and brimming with wholeheartedness, Love Stories delivers exactly what its title promises. Adapted by Tim McGarry from Trent Dalton’s 2021 ...4 days ago- Government Shows Little Understanding Of Climate Change
TRAC National Coordinator Niall Robertson says that this line could be built a lot quicker and connect with the rebuilt NAL taking thousands of road damaging trucks off SH1, improving road safety, reducing carbon emissions and polluting particulate. ...4 days ago- Hidden craters reveal Earth may once have had a ring – like Saturn
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Tomkins, Geologist, Monash University Artist’s impression. Oliver Hull The rings of Saturn are some of the most famous and spectacular objects in the Solar System. Earth may once have had something similar. In a paper published last week in Earth & ...4 days ago- Government releases list of 35 critical minerals as part of mining strategy
"Why should we continually say we're going to import everything if we've got it here and we can turn it into an export industry," Shane Jones says. ...4 days ago- We deserve to go to school without worrying the roof will fall on us
The Ministry of Education knew the biggest building at Wellington Girls’ College wasn’t up to earthquake safety standards, but didn’t inform staff or students they were at risk. That’s not good enough, says year 12 student Orla Sweeney. Wellington Girls’ College is an all-girls school that was considered decile 10 ...4 days ago- Most people approve of compensating survivors – and more findings from new polling on the abuse i...
Polling conducted for The Spinoff shows that a majority of the public supports financial compensation for survivors – even if they don’t know much about what is in the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. An estimated 200,000 children and adults were abused in ...4 days ago- Aware and alive: Why motorcycle safety is an issue for car users too
The weather is warming up, and with it motorcyclists are dusting off their bikes and heading out on the roads. In Motorcycle Awareness Month, Z Energy is appealing to all road users to help keep motorcyclists safe. Gus Bezerra has been riding motorbikes since he was 16. “It’s nice to ...4 days ago- Auckland CBD crime just shifted elsewhere – Labour
The government is hailing a 22 percent drop in serious assaults in the Auckland CBD, but stats show crime is rising across the region. ...4 days ago- NZ could have 58,000 fewer electric cars by 2035 due to weaker carbon emissions standards
The drop will lead to two megatonnes more emissions in the next decade, clean car lobby group says. ...4 days ago- High-speed rail plans may finally end Australia’s 40-year wait to get on board
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philip Laird, Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Wollongong Japan has had high-speed rail since 1964. Blanscape/Shutterstock Australia has debated and studied high-speed rail for four decades. The High Speed Rail Authority has begun work on a project that could finally deliver some ...4 days ago- More rooftop solar in cities would help solve NZ’s energy crisis – and build disaster resilience
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Priscila Besen, Lecturer in Sustainable Architecture, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images New Zealad’s current electricity supply crisis requires immediate solutions. But we argue the government’s emphasis on importing natural gas and construction of centralised solar farms is a missed ...4 days ago- The best way to regulate AI might be not to specifically regulate AI. This is why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen King, Professor of Economics, Monash University The new wave of artificial intelligence – so-called AI – is bringing with it promises as well as threats. By assisting workers, it can raise productivity and boost real wages. By making use of ...4 days ago- What is a trained clown and what does the training look like?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Senior Lecturer in Science Communication (Pop Culture Studies), Australian National University Where do clowns come from? In popular culture, they may come from alien worlds, such as Killer Klowns from Outer Space, peer out from drains like Pennywise from Stephen ...4 days ago- Contract law changes: Simplifying or complicating?
A major union and a big business group are at odds over whether planned changes to employment law will simplify or complicate matters. ...4 days ago- Who will miss Auckland Transport the most if it goes? The most anti-AT councillors
A bill aimed at getting rid of AT might go before parliament. No one will miss AT more than the local politicians who use it as an easy blame sponge. Auckland Transport staffers pretended to take notes as the councillor lectured them about buses. Their organisation had approved a plan ...4 days ago - Watch: Christopher Luxon holds post-Cabinet press conference
Recent Comments