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National intends to sell another strategic asset

Written By: - Date published: 4:13 pm, September 14th, 2017 - 37 comments

National again intends to sell off publicly owned assets for its own ideological reasons. This time it’s Landcorp farms, thus depriving the government of another avenue for leading the way on environmental protection for farmers and climate change action.

A meeting in Wanaka

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, September 13th, 2017 - 162 comments

Ad reports on a recent meeting in Wanaka where David Parker addressed farmers face to face on Labour’s water policy.

The Government is misrepresenting the effect of the Ruataniwha Dam decision

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, July 9th, 2017 - 21 comments

The Government has responded to the Supreme Court decision which puts a halt on the Ruataniwha Dam by claiming wrongly that the protected land was of low quality and by stating that a law change, possibly retrospective, will occur.

No one owns water, apart from corporations who sell it …

Written By: - Date published: 12:43 pm, May 22nd, 2017 - 27 comments

The Herald has reported that ordinary New Zealanders are paying 500 times as much for water as corporations who export it.

Protecting our biggest export income earner

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 am, May 2nd, 2017 - 51 comments

Tourism Export Council: “The National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (NPS-FM) in its current form is nothing more than a PR-stunt from Government who continue to ignore scientists and expert opinion re the state of our freshwater. The NPS-FM does not address the serious problems facing our waterways and, in fact, will make them worse.”

Another reason for water pricing

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, March 28th, 2017 - 19 comments

The Government will be embarassed by another example of a corporation planning to extract ten billion litres of fresh water a year essentially at no cost which has arisen.

NRT: “Too hard”

Written By: - Date published: 2:05 pm, March 20th, 2017 - 54 comments

No Right Turn: “The real barrier to National … acting on this is because that “no-one owns water, first come, first served” policy disproportionately benefits one group and allows them to profiteer from a public resource while destroying its value to others. That group is farmers – and they donate to the National Party.”

The Nats’ new ‘swimmable’ rivers aren’t

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, February 28th, 2017 - 15 comments

Under the new standards we have up to a 1 in 6 risk of serious infection at the times that we actually swim in rivers, and Smith is trying to hide this fact by fudging around with year-long averages. David Parker’s analysis yesterday was bang on.

100% Pure takes another hit

Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, December 18th, 2016 - 85 comments

Stuff this morning: “Lord of the Rings actor says NZ tourists shocked by polluted ‘sewer’ Middle-earth”

TPP: An epitaph for self-interested treaties done in secret

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 am, November 23rd, 2016 - 39 comments

The misogynist buffoon, under-skilled charlatan and ignorant bigot that the Americans have elected to be their constitutional monarch for the next four years appears to have effectively killed the constraint of trade agreement known as the TPP. From a freer trade advocate, avid exporter, and labour movement supporter with a touch of green :- Good riddance.

NZ Tech

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, October 21st, 2016 - 45 comments

The top 200 tech “exporters” are now turning over NZD 9.4 billion. This year revenue increased by more that NZD 1 billion. Which is pretty phenomenal bearing in mind the sluggish world economy. It meant that they grew an additional 3000 odd highly paid jobs in just those top companies. Even this intellectually bereft government isn’t proving to be too much of a hindrance to tech business.

Why we need to stand with Standing Rock

Written By: - Date published: 2:33 pm, October 6th, 2016 - 25 comments

For seven months the next movement of social and environmental justice and resistance has been growing. We should be paying attention.

A MPI boondoggle subsidy for Wairarapa land speculators?

Written By: - Date published: 9:17 am, September 21st, 2016 - 23 comments

You have to wonder about the quality of some of the economic process control that goes on for National’s politically important subsidies to the farming industry. A economic review of a Wairarapa Water application for second stage feasibility funding from the Irrigation Acceleration Fund for the “Black Creek” and “Tividale” irrigation schemes makes it look like government funded boondoggle.

Abrupt climate change: CO2 equivalent now at 485 ppm

Written By: - Date published: 1:23 pm, August 26th, 2016 - 76 comments

We are now at 485 ppm CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas concentrations, up from 250 ppm in the 1700s. And climbing fast.

“Flushing flows”

Written By: - Date published: 4:46 pm, August 24th, 2016 - 14 comments

A new phrase is about to enter NZ’s clean green image lexicon.

 

What if there were only 34 more whitebait harvests left?

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, August 19th, 2016 - 78 comments

Water is life not merely wadeable.

Charles Hugh Smith – The Ultimate Long Game: Autarky and Resilience

Written By: - Date published: 6:17 pm, August 18th, 2016 - 28 comments

Today, electronic numbers in electronic bank accounts are the most important things to the people who lead NZ. That’s going to have to seriously change. The country’s capacity and resources in terms of food, energy, water and cultural/social resiliency is what actually counts.

Stopping the sale of agricultural land and agri-business

Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, July 29th, 2016 - 26 comments

Australia’s national interest test applied to attempts by foreign interests to buy Australian agriland and agribusinesses is deliberately vague. New Zealand could take lessons.

“Died at some point in the recycling process”

Written By: - Date published: 6:39 pm, July 4th, 2016 - 39 comments

Imagine taking shelter on a cold night and ending up crushed or asphyxiated to death in a compressed cardboard recycling bale.

A Tale of Two Droughts

Written By: - Date published: 6:38 pm, June 22nd, 2016 - 44 comments

Climate change is now causing extreme dry weather events and is increasingly blamed for water shortages. But what we are doing on the ground has just as much influence on our experience of drought. As New Zealand farmers call for drought relief this winter, it’s time we looked at how we manage land and water, and the critical role this plays in whether humans can live with variable rainfall in the age of climate change. Here’s a stellar example from India.

Taihoa on Immigration?

Written By: - Date published: 9:42 am, June 7th, 2016 - 213 comments

Winston Peters has called for a slashing of migrant worker numbers and for screening of would be workers based on things like their attitude to women. Is it time for a taihoa on immigration or is Winston just doing a Trump?

We’re going to burn it all, until we burn it down.

Written By: - Date published: 12:11 am, May 20th, 2016 - 173 comments

What does it really mean to reduce NZ’s total fossil fuel use by 50% by 2030: a warm up discussion for an upcoming thought experiment.

Global elite plan their escape from “pleb masses”

Written By: - Date published: 11:03 am, March 29th, 2016 - 35 comments

So, Key has now come out and revealed to us how afraid the global oligarch class (and their well paid professional enablers) are. They appear to have no plans to reverse their activites to make things better for us.

It’s time to reform Fonterra

Written By: - Date published: 9:00 am, March 25th, 2016 - 49 comments

Fonterra was formed to give New Zealand an economic advantage.  Instead it is looking like the country’s biggest achilles heel.  Time to reform?

Key is on top of the dairy crisis

Written By: - Date published: 3:28 pm, March 15th, 2016 - 107 comments

Or not.

Safe As Milk

Written By: - Date published: 1:44 pm, March 14th, 2016 - 110 comments

Labour is calling for an urgent summit of the dairy industry players to avoid the looming bankruptcy of one in ten farmers. National’s response? Crisis, what crisis?

Who is ultimately responsible for NZ’s massive dairy farm debt?

Written By: - Date published: 1:11 pm, March 12th, 2016 - 82 comments

People talk of excessive borrowing in the dairy sector. Of course, the real problem is that of excessive lending.

Norman on the economy

Written By: - Date published: 8:03 am, March 12th, 2016 - 58 comments

Russel Norman was right in 2014 when he said that the Nats were daft to gamble on oil and bulk milk production, and he’s right again now to draw attention to the failures. We need a green economy!

Fonterra faces liquidity issues as rivers of “white oil” dry up

Written By: - Date published: 5:47 pm, March 8th, 2016 - 141 comments

Pundits, most residing in the National Party, just three years ago predicted the economy would surf high on “rivers of white oil” flowing from the dairy industry, but they now have cow pats splattered on their faces as Fonterra today announced another payout downgrade and signalled liquidity pressures.

Kelly interviewed by Campbell on RNZ Checkpoint

Written By: - Date published: 8:02 am, January 30th, 2016 - 24 comments

kelly-campbell

Is RBNZ ignoring deflation bogey?

Written By: - Date published: 6:52 am, January 29th, 2016 - 71 comments

Is Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler so concerned about the bogey of Auckland’s housing bubble that he is underestimating an equally nasty bogey – deflation? Deflation will certainly cure the problem of the property bubble, but that cure will be at a terrible cost.

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