Ardern backs students striking for climate change

Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, March 15th, 2019 - 70 comments
Categories: australian politics, climate change, democratic participation, disaster, Environment, global warming, jacinda ardern, Judith Collins, labour, science - Tags:

As is usual this morning I woke up listening to Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report.

Two of the stories highlighted to me the problem humankind is having grappling with climate change.

The first mooted New Zealand having a space hub for private rockets engaged in sending uber rich tourists to outer space for the experience and talked how it may be possible in ten years.

The second was about a ten billion dollar project to have an elite rugby competition.

They both jarred.  Imagine burning all that fuel or wasting all that money for so little.  And ten years may be all the time we have to address climate change.

The response of some of our politicians has been underwhelming.  National has been typically obstructionist as exemplified by this from Judith Collins:

National Party MP Judith Collins was dismissive of the protest action.

“Their little protest is not going to help the world one bit,” she said.

Chris Hipkins was meh.  As was ALP leader Bill Shorten, who thought the kids should strike after hours.

But Jacinda has come out in support.  In comments that have been reported by Reuters but not locally for some reason she has said this:

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave her support on Wednesday to a youth movement urging government action to tackle climate change ahead of protests by students across the world later this week.

Thousands of school children in Australia and New Zealand intend to skip school and protest on Friday as part of similar action by students worldwide taking their cue from 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

“Don’t underestimate the power of your voice,” the 38-year-old Ardern told local organizers of the protests and students during a live debate at a college in Wellington.

“Too often we make this assessment that to make an impact we have to be of voting age. That is not the case,” she said.

She correctly said that whether students should be striking during school time was a decision for them and their parents.

And she noted the change in tone of the debate from denial to obstruction.  Again from Reuters:

Ardern said great strides had been made in attitudes towards climate change over the years.

 

She said she was booed by an audience 10 years ago for speaking about climate change, which she has described as her generation’s “nuclear free moment”.

“Now people are not debating whether we should do something. Now they are just debating how fast or what we need to do. And that is a big change,” she said.

“What we do now needs to last to 2050 and beyond. So we have a much higher chance of doing that if we bring everyone with us,” she said.

I hope many do decide to take part in this most crucial of movements.  And realise the importance of politics.  And the need for progressives to win this battle against obstructionist and conservative opposition.

Details of the strikes can be found here.

70 comments on “Ardern backs students striking for climate change ”

  1. Incognito 1

    Perhaps the PM wanted to avoid ‘addressing’ Kiwis more directly and creating a perception of ‘official’ endorsement or approval.

  2. Cinny 2

    All the best to the youth of NZ and the rest of the world, who have painted signs and organised protests, makes me feel very proud they are speaking out about the future of our planet.

    Looking on the FB there will be thousands attending in some cities (thanks for the link).

    If people are worried about their safety, then don’t, no doubt they will be joined by adults who feel the same and the media will be there. In fact they will probably be safer at the protests then walking home from school.

    Any wise teachers whose students will be involved could turn it into a learning module on democracy and climate change.

    Looking forward to the coverage on the news tonight.

    • marty mars 2.1

      + 1 Yes spoke to my 11 year old son about this last night. He is adamant he wants to do this action. We discussed protesting and I described the anti tour protests I did and why I did them. So proud of my boy being interested in this action.

  3. Observer Tokoroa 3

    Youth – And Climate Change

    I have absolutely no idea why National Supporters want to burn our kids in Oil, and Pollution and Climatic Disaster.

    The National Supporters want their Kids to skip school and watch ugly games – where they can get their heads bashed in and mashed.

    So it’s okay to be stupid if you are an adult National School Teacher.

    That Great National Goof – Mrs Judith Collins – has spoken : Dismissive as ever about the student Strike for common Climatic sense, She announced today : “Their little protest is not going to help the world one bit,”

    Mrs Collins in her endless years of pretending to be a politician has never done anything to help the world – ever. She is a destroyer. Look at what she has done to New Zealand this past 10 years. And the many years before that.

    National and its weird Politicians do not want a A strike for Common sense on Climate. They are making $Billions for themselves. They Hate The Youth.

    John Key (the Disaster), and Billy English ( the Dope ) announced several times that NZ Youth are “Hopelessly Useless.” Ref 1917 Oh Yeah – you two Nitwits !

    • gsays 3.1

      “I have absolutely no idea why National Supporters want to burn our kids in Oil, and Pollution and Climatic Disaster”

      C’mon, it’s because of the fear that any real action may effect their bottom line.

  4. Rapunzel 4

    And as finally mentioned with a lot of vitriol being in evidence from lots of media commentators, one recalled all the times the he and other pupils were encouraged to go on school days to welcome back various sports teams and that incl at the railway station the Wellington team with the Ranfurly Sheild.
    Seemed to be no problem with that being an issue.

  5. Ad 5

    Most respectfully Mickey, can we get some actual young people to talk on this?

    • Dennis Frank 5.1

      I’m with the PM on this – and we were told by a respondent here not long ago that blogs have been sidelined by the twitteratti, so that would explain why there’s no evidence that anyone young comments here.

  6. esoteric pineapples 6

    “Well, the simple answer is mass denial. We know from history that human beings are not very good at accepting a truth. It’s only human to want to deny it because it is a terrible situation. We all do this in our personal lives. You know, there is something coming up which we know is true but for a while we pretend is not true. So I think that is the main problem here.”

    “The point here is that we are not going to be dealing rationally with this problem. I mean, the idea that we are all going to just suddenly wake up and decide to do the right thing is a bit of a liberal illusion. I think the most predictable path, is that we are going to slide into fascism. And the reason for that is because the elites are going to attempt to protect their interests in the face of ever greater stress. And when that happens, you get authoritarian solutions. We have seen that around the world in the last ten years, and increasingly the rich and powerful will fund right wing movements and they will start to hollow out democracy, because their main interest is protecting their won wealth and power. Obviously this is a completely suicidal mission because it is only going to end in their own destruction anyway, but you can see the logic of it. And what that means for people who are progressive or claim to be liberal, is that you have got to make a choice. Because it is not going to get any easier with every year that goes on. Either we are going to sort this thing out with some major distress and upheaval, or we are going to go into a complete social hell.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=220tv9Jktmg&feature=share

    • AB 6.1

      “elites are going to attempt to protect their interests in the face of ever greater stress”

      This is a grim view, but I can’t help seeing it as a strong possibility.
      It took the great depression and 50 million deaths in WWII to shake capitalism sufficiently to give us a 35-year respite (1945-80) from its excesses. And that respite was temporary and easily overturned from the 1980’s onwards.
      Is there any reason to think it will be easier this time around? How many deaths will it take from the climate crisis before elite interests can be set aside?

    • Philj 6.2

      In Wellington, the Pollies spoke, Robertson and Shaw and were met with modest support. Nicola Young represented National. She proclaimed that she wasn’t an expert in this field, but clarified the situation by saying, as a ‘ mother of four children’ she was concerned in finding a solution that would be in line with other countries. Or words to that effect. She was booed at one point and shouted down. It was sad and exhilarating to witness the passion at this gathering. One placard read, ” why get edumacated wenn guvment duznt lissen to the edukated? “

    • Incognito 6.3

      Ok, about those so-called elites. They are “the few”, for starters, meaning there are only a very few of them.

      They were not born on Krypton, they don’t have super-human powers, they are not mutant X-Men, and they have the same DNA and are of the same flesh & blood as we are.

      If the non-elite, if we collectively disagree with the “elite” and their wishes go against our wishes then it should be no contest.

      So, the question is where does their imaginary power come from and where does it rest? How can they (en)force us to go against our own wishes and best interest? What magical powers do they use?

      The answer is actually remarkably simple but clearly not that obvious although the curtain is slowly being lifted …

      I’m delighted that people protested today and drew attention to the cause – there’s growing hope.

    • Saintarnuad 6.4

      Ecoside, my goodness the extreme left climate change crowd just just love their single word phases.
      I guess by shouting and screaming abuse people are meant to listen to these flat earth climate change believers.
      Serious, if they believe so strongly that mankinds impact upon the world is so great, surely they would sacrifice themselves to save the planet.

      Perhaps an on mass euthenasia by all true followers of climate change…leed by example, in stead of just by words for a change.

      [I appreciate your modest proposal has a satirical aspect, but please do not post this sort of thing. Only warning. TRP]

    • Robert Guyton 6.5

      At this time of the day, early morning, the only sound heard on some lonely lakes, is the cry of the loon.

  7. Well , if anything, it will be a valuable life lesson in freedom of speech issues and personal involvement in politics. Now that cant be a bad thing at all. And the day they all went to demonstrate will be something they’ll always remember. As they grow they will realize the significance of that and that they can have a say and a stake in issues..The only ones who will fear this are the ones who wish to have a dumbed down, complacent and politically disinterested youth.

    So from that angle , – support.

  8. BM 8

    A far more effective action would be for these kids to walk or cycle to school, instead of Mum or Dad dropping them off in the SUV.
    But you know, OMG, hat hair and I could get wet.

    This is nothing more than a Friday afternoon off school, typical virtue signalling left wing bullshit that achieves nothing.

    • Dennis Frank 8.1

      I’m tempted to agree, but there is actually an upside to virtue-signalling. It helps youngsters to form a political identity for themselves in their formative years. That’s good, if the virtue basis is sound.

      I do agree that group-think is the obvious downside. People just have to learn from experiencing that downside. Learning from personal experience is ultimately the best kind of learning. I partly share the apprehension of the right that teachers project their moral judgments onto students, but we need to give the kids the option of using their critical factulties to evaluate & judge the bullshit within that projection.

    • RedLogix 8.2

      Haha BM. It’s something sad the way overprotective parents feel obligated to drive kids to school these days. Some of my best memories of those years come from those moments.

      Still I’m rather proud of these children, their actions today might not have any directly measurable effect, but it is powerfully symbolic. The story of the Emporerers New Clothes comes to mind.

      • BM 8.2.1

        The irony of every parent dropping their kid/kids off at school because

        It’s too dangerous to ride a bike to school as there are so many cars on the roads especially around schools!!!

        isn’t lost on me.

      • Rapunzel 8.2.2

        Exactly! After a week of allowing the youngster I have cared for all week to “scooter” a wee way to school after much pleading had me drop him a couple of streets away the returning parent (away for the week for work) said they weren’t that happy with that arrangment so it was back to “nearly to the gate” today.!

    • KJT 8.3

      Do you have to be so boringly predictable?

      Surely the right wing can afford some more interesting, mouthpieces/parrots?

    • Anne 8.4

      The kids who get dropped off to school in SUVs are the dead-beat offspring of dead- beat parents who think they own the streets, the pavements and everywhere else. They are (in the main) rich, selfish, self-serving, arrogant types who believe everyone else owes them a living. They are the kind of people you think should be running the country.

      The rest of the country’s kids catch buses/trains, ride bikes and walk to school just like my generation used to do. They are the ones who are going to be our future leaders and all hail to them! I hope they have a very successful day.

      • Molly 8.4.1

        “The kids who get dropped off to school in SUVs are the dead-beat offspring”
        Really, they are just kids getting dropped off at school. They are still forming their own personalities separate from family. They deserve some slack for having the possible disadvantage of financial security that stops them from growing.

        • Anne 8.4.1.1

          I live opposite a school where a lot of the children have parents who belong to the SUV brigade. I’ve been observing both the parents and their off-spring for years. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but my views have been confirmed many times over.

          Sorry it doesn’t fit in with your view but mine isn’t going to change.

          • Molly 8.4.1.1.1

            Fair enough. But reading this sounded very similar to tirades I listen to about poor people – brown mostly – and their children, and struck a nerve. Both sound equally ugly to me.

    • mac1 8.5

      ‘virtue-signalling’ is a pejorative term. Let’s get that right. It’s a form of ad hominem attack.

      What the use of it tells me more, as does much abuse, about the abuser than the target of the abuse.

      In this case, how the right just hate being told how they are ethically, morally or socially wrong.

      And these ‘kids’ are in the right, I believe. I’m going to join them at 12.30 and relive my glory days of the later Sixties when we protested the Vietnam War, Rugby Tours, Omega stations and American bases at Harewood.

      And weren’t we right then!

    • AB 8.6

      “that achieves nothing”

      This is the ‘commonsense’ view, but it’s true only in a fairly narrow sense. The protest will not directly lower C02 emissions. We will still be in the crap tomorrow despite the protest.
      The achievements will lie in what the students learn. Mainly they will learn what they are up against:
      – condescension and cynical belittling of their principles e.g. they may be accused of “virtue-signalling”, which suggests that wanting to do good in the world is never genuine, it’s just a desire to look good
      – authoritarian control by people with power. They will be told that they should be in school and they are risking their education and the possibility of getting a good job, i.e. that economic survival depends on obedience
      – deflection and undermining. They will see that calls for collective action will be undermined by scrutiny of the personal behaviour of the people advocating it. They will be told to walk to school, stop eating meat, etc. as though perfection of the self was a necessary precondition to speaking out, and that isolated, individual choices are the only option and collective action is impermissible

      If these things are learned, a great deal is achieved.

      • Anne 8.6.1

        The achievements will lie in what the students learn. Mainly they will learn what they are up against:…

        Precisely. Anyone who marched back in the late 60s, 70s and early 80s will know what that means. But in the end that generation were the winners. Let’s hope this new generation will be even more successful. The world depends on them.

        • Stuart Munro. 8.6.1.1

          Yes, this is a lot of the point. The prevailing views on “what is to be done” are often formed with surprisingly little thought, (Waynes 30% of GDP for example)but those who hold them aren’t really ready to exchange them for something better, which would require tiresome mental processing.

          The kids have some reason to be concerned, and to tell their representatives that kicking the can down the road really won’t cut it anymore. Those who will be inconvenienced are naturally annoyed, how dare their complacent democratic citizens have an opinion!.

      • Stunned Mullet 8.6.2

        Some will learn these things others, judging by a lunchtime wander on Queen Street, are learning where the best shops on Queen Street are and where the cheapest drinks and fast food is.

        • Anne 8.6.2.1

          Come on Stunned.
          I remember doing the same thing after an anti-nuclear march up Queen St. We were hungry and thirsty. Guess we were on a bit of a high after the march too. It’s not every day they get to stroll along Queen St. on a week day. Give them credit for being there and a bit of slack for enjoying themselves afterwards.

    • Saintarnuad 8.7

      Couldn’t agree more.
      Nothing more mad Marxists attempting to infect our children’s minds with a twisted manifesto.
      It’s a sickness really, as it’s no more than grooming a child, in the same mind control manner as sexual peado’s
      There are many practical ways to help our environment without infecting our children’s minds with climate extremism dogma from the far left.

      [There’s a mod note on an earlier one of your comments. Read it. You are a few words away from a lengthy ban, so pull your head in. TRP]

      • Robert Guyton 8.7.1

        “There are many practical ways to help our environment”
        Can you list some of the ways you are helping the environment, Saintarnaud?
        That would be encouraging to anyone unsure about what best to do.
        Thanks

  9. francesca 9

    Just come back from the Golden Bay High kids protest, organised by a 13 year old girl (third generation from hippie days)
    Pretty impressive, big turnout, great placards and chants, march in to town, now theyre going round the local businesses to talk to them about urgency of carbon zero , plastic etc and are going to attend and speak at the public forum of the Community Board.

  10. Anne 10

    Sean Plunket
    @SeanPlunket
    Happy international truancy day #schoolstrike4climate

    This dinosaur is taking it hard.

    • Rapunzel 10.1

      I have hope driving home today that Peter Williams has disappeared from that station’s morning show for good. Despite being mainly a sports reporter Brendan Telfer offered welcome relief from the bitter, bigoted stance of the show hosts that have hijacked almost the entire daytime broadcast of that station and the associated television breakfast show.
      Williams is to be away again next week, my reckon is that has to even pay small lip-service to a view other than his own may have become tiring very quickly and if he was required to allow everyone’s opinion to be fairly heard he decided it was not for him. Or maybe he is being re-trained his views that over-rode almost everything else were quite emotive much of the time and often inaccurate and not well researched to beyond the personal opinions he holds.

    • Robert Guyton 10.2

      Dinosaur?
      Coprolite.

  11. alwyn 11

    I listened to the year 13 student from Western Springs College being interviewed by Guyon Espiner this morning on Morning Report. It is online, starting at 7.14am
    He sounded perfectly sensible and knowledgeable at the beginning. However after abour 2 minutes he started making quite ridiculous comments. They were things like claiming that the arable land in the UK was being destroyed and that in less than 30 years NO food would be able to be grown there. Then he continued by claiming that reports from Canada, the US and Europe showed that there would be NO fish left in the oceans in less that 30 years. His conclusion was that we were all going to starve.

    Where has he been getting these extreme ideas? They are as foolish as Al Gore’s wild statements that the Arctic Ice cap would have totally vanished by as early as 2014. Al always credited these claims to “scientific studies” but he never told his audiences that not everyone agreed with the claims and he has never admitted that this vanishing of the Arctic Ice Cap never followed the path he claimed was inevitable.

    It appears that the headmaster at Western Springs is the major promoter of these beliefs in his (her?) students. I think the student concerned would be a great deal better off if, instead of taking the day off school and marching, he spent the time checking up on whether the stories he has been fed are supported by the facts.

    That Climate Change is a concern that must be addressed is correct. That many of the tales about the effect are fantasy but are believed by young people is something we should be worried about even more.

    • BM 11.1

      I think this is what National should have tried to stamp out during its last term.

      You can’t give extremist teachers carte blanche to fill kids heads full of lies and exaggerations, what you heard from this young boy is proof of that.

      Whoever is teaching this stuff should be driven from the teaching profession before they pollute the minds of any more kids

      Kids believe their teachers are telling them the truth, they’re teachers why would they lie? it’s a very privileged profession that has to be strictly policed otherwise we end up with this sort of nonsense.

      • mac1 11.1.1

        Better that critical thinking be taught in schools, and logic, and debate, and history, and how to conduct an argument.

        Then we might not get tripe like this generalising, ad hominem rubbish.

        “This is nothing more than a Friday afternoon off school, typical virtue signalling left wing bullshit that achieves nothing.”

      • Michelle 11.1.2

        stop blaming the teachers no wonder we don’t have enough teachers

        • BM 11.1.2.1

          We’ve got teachers coming out the wazoo, ask any newly graduated teacher how hard it is to find a teaching job.

          • Sam 11.1.2.1.1

            My reply would be Seek.co.au starting rate $50k-$80k

            supercalifragilisticexpialidocious <<< that would be $80k

            Students reply: Y and Z. No I know my ABC's next time won't you sing with me<<< that's worth $80k

            Civic duties: that’s priceless

    • We’ve put up with the fantasy that the market knows best for a couple of hundred years, alwyn. Why should a school kid over-egging things a wee bit bother you?

      • Poission 11.2.1

        Because of the incessant discourse between little endians and large endians?

      • alwyn 11.2.2

        It is clear that you have not the faintest idea about what Economics says about a Market economy. You were obviously never exposed to the subject of Economics during your school days.
        He is hardly a “school kid” any more though. If he is in year 13 he is probably 17 years old and nearly old enough to vote. I don’t mind “school kids” being ignorant of course. However by the age of 17 they should be old enough to think rationally. After all they won’t all be able to become Labour or Green Party MPs where thinking rationally is unnecessary.

        • te reo putake 11.2.2.1

          Oh dear, are you saying that all that Marx, Hayek, Keynes, Galbraith and even little Miltie Freedman I read at uni was a waste of time? Bugger. Should have just stuck with Ayn ‘I want my pension’ Rand I guess.

          • alwyn 11.2.2.1.1

            ” read at uni was a waste of time”.
            I’m afraid to have to say, from the evidence of what you say on the subject, that the answer is a resounding YES.
            Sad but true I’m sorry to have to say.
            Did you do better when you switched to a simpler subject, Political “Science” perhaps?

    • Macro 11.3

      Maybe he has read a
      book like this
      This is an academic publication produced in the past few years which highlights the ongoing degradation of arable land by industrialised farming practices, whereby the constant cropping of mono crops, applications of fertiizers, pesticides, and herbicides is completely destroying the biodiversity of the soil micro-organisms upon which the fertility of the soil is dependent. Farming is the single largest threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functions of any single human activity on the planet. Yes it is true, if we continue to follow current agricultural practices the ability of the Earth to sustain humanity will be severely reduced. Already over 50% of the Earth’s landmass is used for agriculture. This is under constant threat not only from shoddy agricultural practices, but from intensifying droughts and flooding. Those two scenarios are in fact not incompatible.

      • alwyn 11.3.1

        Does that book argue that within 30 years it well be impossible to grow any food at all in Britain. That was what he was saying.

        • Macro 11.3.1.1

          There are reports that do actually suggest that scenario.
          https://www.parliament.uk/documents/post/postpn265.pdf
          https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/24/uk-30-40-years-away-eradication-soil-fertility-warns-michael-gove
          https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/the-hidden-cost-of-uk-food-soil-degradation/

          Soil is an essential resource and the source of over 99% of all human and animal food calories. It can be created from by the weathering of parent rocks, as it was initially, but it can take 500-1,000 years to produce a single inch of soil this way and it will take much longer still, before repeated cycles of plant growth and decay make the soil fully fertile.

          Soil contains 25% of global biodiversity and supports an intricate ecosystem of microorganisms, invertebrates, insects and small mammals.

          Yet industrial farming has been a mining operation, plundering organic matter, damaging soil structure and destroying soil biodiversity. Soil scientists have variously claimed that the UK has only enough soil left for another 100 harvests, while globally soils are only capable of producing another 60 harvests, something still relevant to the UK given the extent to which we rely on imported food.

          This doesn’t necessarily mean that all soils will be completely exhausted within that time, but that at the current rate, the productivity of many soils will have declined so much that farmers will be unable to produce enough food for the global population, regardless of how much fertiliser they apply or the type of seeds they sow.

  12. Koff 12

    Wide coverage of the demonstrations taking place all over New Zealand which are much larger than any of the organisers expected with some very cogent arguments being made by student leaders, whatever rubbish people like BM and Alwyn are saying.. James Shaw has fronted up for a speech and Q and A at the Beehive. This is an opportunity for Jacinda to show some leadership and join the students and not leave it to Shaw, Grant Robertson and….even Nicola Willis for the Nats!

  13. indiana 13

    When I was their age, I remember being taught that the Ozone hole over the south pole was increasing exponentially and we would be burned to death by UV rays…but alas I’m still around and the population has grown, not burned out of existence.

    • Andre 13.1

      Do you recall what was done in response to that threat to stop it coming true?

      • indiana 13.1.1

        …something about CFCs…but I’m not convinced it made much of difference because the alternative created a new issue.

        https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-aerosols-still-bad/

        • solkta 13.1.1.1

          A new issue unrelated to the ozone layer. The article even says that it worked:

          Of course, just because those deodorant sprays and shaving cream cans aren’t depleting the ozone layer

        • Andre 13.1.1.2

          The alternative didn’t create a new issue. It almost eliminated the ozone depletion problem caused by CFCs and reduced the global warming potential caused by CFCs.

          For instance, the GWP of R12 is around 10,000, while the GWP of its most common first generation HFC replacement R134a is around 1300. The now preferred refrigerant is R600a (isobutane) with zero ozone depletion potential and GWP of 3.

          But if your broader point is rather than just swapping ingredients, the better response is to reduce or even stop using pointless shit like pre-pressurised aerosol spray cans, well, yes, that’s valid.

    • solkta 13.2

      Fuck you must be slow. There was international action taken to ban CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) which were causing the problem. Since then the hole has been reducing in size.

      So science identified the problem and hence the solution and action was taken and things improved. Time for a replay with the gases that are the cause of current climate change.

      • Poission 13.2.1

        The latest assessment suggests the timeframes for recovery.

        Ozone layer changes in the latter half of this century will be complex, with projected increases and decreases in different regions. Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude total column ozone is expected to return to 1980 abundances in the 2030s, and Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude ozone to return around mid-century. The Antarctic ozone hole is expected to gradually close, with springtime total column ozone returning to 1980 values in the 2060s.

        It also reports that there is an increase in cfc 11 emissions.

        There has been an unexpected increase in global total emissions of CFC-11. Global CFC-11 emissions derived from measurements by two independent networks increased after 2012, thereby slowing the steady decrease in atmospheric concentrations reported in previous Assessments. The global concentration decline over 2014 to 2016 was only two thirds as fast as it was from 2002 to 2012. While the emissions of CFC-11 from eastern Asia have increased since 2012

        China in the frame.

        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jul/09/mysterious-source-of-illegal-ozone-killing-emissions-revealed-say-investigators

    • BM 13.3

      We were going to get incinerated in a nuclear holocaust or if we survived that die a horrible death from radiation poisoning.

      In their defence, it was looking highly likely.

  14. mosa 14

    I think the kids should be supported in this action and are prepared to speak out on polices that directly effect them now and the decades ahead.
    So many kids do walk or cycle often in congested roads and are exposed to carbon monoxide as they navigate they way to school and back.
    They have a valid reason to protest and not just sit back ad pretend it is not happening.

  15. mac1 15

    Well, I attended the local gathering. As many there at the war memorial as you’d have on ANZAC Day. Secondary, Intermediate and primary students with a hundred adults. Some of us applauded the students as they walked past to lead us into town where they walked down the footpaths to the local MPs office.

    I don’t think he showed.

    The students then chanted loudly outside his office and walked back to the central green space where they chanted some more. They walked back down the centre of the road and the increase in energy and chanting was palpable. These young people were starting to feel their collective strength.

    Great to see in small town, provincial New Zealand.

  16. cleangreen 16

    My wife and I attended a gathering in Gisborne today holding two banners saying “save our rail” and to my astonishment young folks were happily holding banners saying “Use rail and save a planet” and I was so very proud of these amazing young as they were loud and very determined to get the message heard out there.

    What was very clear is they they have had a gutsful of the slow pace of action from our politicians so I am 100% behind this splendid sector of our young among us that it has transformed my feelings about our young now that makes me feel that they are are future who will finally fix the politicians lack of action we see all the time.

    No more will Government ever ignore the young who now have a legitimate role in shaping how we go about our life from this day on.

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    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    Bryce Edwards writes –  It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played. “Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
    6 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I - Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
    6 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    7 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    8 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    11 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    13 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    14 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    16 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    2 days ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
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    1 day ago
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