climate change
Categories under climate change
- COP26 (1)
- ETS (119)
- polycrisis (1)
The best carbon capture device is a tree
Written By: - Date published: 11:06 am, July 10th, 2024 - 18 comments
The Government is hoping that Carbon Capture and Sequestration will reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emission levels. But it is refusing to protect forests and trees, which are the best Carbon Capture and Sequestration devices going.
Mountain Tui: New Zealand deserves better than marketing
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, July 7th, 2024 - 6 comments
Last week the Coalition Govt said they were doing away with the name “fast-track.” This is a Govt of professional lobbyists so I am not surprised by their attunement to marketing. “Fast-track” became bad for business. The name had to go. They have also weakened regarding fast-track because of opposition.
The implications of UK Labour’s success for NZ Labour
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, July 7th, 2024 - 79 comments
What should New Zealand Labour learn from UK Labour’s success in the recent election?
Ferry sweary
Written By: - Date published: 9:08 am, June 27th, 2024 - 45 comments
The Government is in a rather precarious position relating to the contract to replace the ageing Cook Straight ferries, which clearly need replacing.
National announced more subsidies in farming for capital gains
Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, June 13th, 2024 - 19 comments
National and their minion parties just announced another massive $400 million R&D subsidy for agricultural greenhouse gases by taxpayers for the low profit industry of pastoral farming. This joins the other large and hidden subsidies levied on tax and rate payers to support rural and state roads capable of sustained heavy agricultural and forestry trucks.
Haere ra He Wake Eke Noa
Written By: - Date published: 1:42 pm, June 13th, 2024 - 21 comments
It was always going to happen but it still rankles that an attempt to get farming to at least confront the damage it causes to the climate is being put on hold.
Respect existence or expect resistance
Written By: - Date published: 11:08 am, June 9th, 2024 - 16 comments
Yesterday’s Greenpeace’s War on Nature protest in Tamaki Makaurau suggests growing unity on the left and an increasing determination to stop the Fast Track Projects Bill from being passed.
Is our investment in defence value for money?
Written By: - Date published: 4:31 am, May 29th, 2024 - 30 comments
Defence cost us more than $6.7 billion in 2023/24. Why does our small, remote country have such a costly defence force? Is it fit for purpose – and in 2024, what is that purpose?
The Luxon Government’s War on Nature
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, May 25th, 2024 - 10 comments
“But the truth is that real gains only ever come out of a mobilised civil society and achieving a mobilised civil society is exactly what we have to do.”
– Russel Norman
Speech time
Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, May 21st, 2024 - 6 comments
In the past week Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins have both delivered future vision themed speeches. With some dramatic contrasts.
Power cuts or Powerdown?
Written By: - Date published: 10:33 am, May 10th, 2024 - 60 comments
Powercuts in a wealthy country like New Zealand don’t make us third world. It’s bog standard neoliberalism which has both impeded upkeep of our infrastructure and blocked meaningful climate transition. Third world is when you can’t afford to fix, maintain and futureproof society. Neoliberalism is when you do that by choice.
2.5C and our choices: the bad news and the good news
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, May 9th, 2024 - 10 comments
The Guardian published a major report yesterday on what top climate scientists are saying about the climate crisis.
In defence of Julie Anne Genter
Written By: - Date published: 9:01 pm, May 2nd, 2024 - 203 comments
Yesterday in Parliament Julie Anne Genter lost her cool when Matt Doocey misrepresented what the last Government’s NLTP priorities were. Should she be sanctioned? Or should she get a medal for pointing out that Doocey was totally wrong?
The best of climate communication
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, April 30th, 2024 - 6 comments
Environmentalist and journalist Bill McKibben nails it in two minutes.
What does this Government have against the environment
Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, April 24th, 2024 - 5 comments
It is almost as if the environment was really cruel to senior members of the Government when they were kids. But whatever the reason this Government appears to be intent on wrecking the local environment with a degree of vengeance and stupidity not seen before.
Towards Banana Republic Status
Written By: - Date published: 10:25 am, April 17th, 2024 - 27 comments
There is a bill before Parliament right now that has the potential of blowing a rather big hole in our reputation as an open and transparent democracy.
A sustainable environment should be a human right
Written By: - Date published: 9:18 am, April 10th, 2024 - 47 comments
James Shaw’s attempt to create a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is expected to be voted down soon by Parliament. But the New Zealand Supreme Court as well as the European Court of Human Rights have shown a willingness to recognise a right to a sustainable environment that some politicians refuse to.
What if climate collapse comes much sooner than we expected?
Written By: - Date published: 6:07 am, April 8th, 2024 - 91 comments
“It is simply mind-boggling,” said Prof Michael Meredith, science leader at the British Antarctic Survey. “In sub-zero temperatures such a massive leap is tolerable but if we had a 40C rise in the UK now that would take temperatures for a spring day to over 50C – and that would be deadly for the population.”
Why the Climate Strike matters (in case we are still thinking the crisis isn’t urgent)
Written By: - Date published: 9:54 am, April 5th, 2024 - 7 comments
All those climate scientists talking about temperature recently? This is what it means for us, right here, right now, and for the rest of our lives
Strike!
Written By: - Date published: 9:12 am, April 5th, 2024 - 30 comments
Please choose life today and support the strike in any way you can: attend in person, share information on social media, talk to people you know today about why it matters.
Greenpeace: Luxon bulldozes on in war on nature with 90-day ‘hit list’
Written By: - Date published: 3:17 pm, April 2nd, 2024 - 5 comments
Greenpeace is calling the Government’s new policy priority list “the next onslaught in the war on nature” following Christopher Luxon’s announcement this morning.
A year on From Gabrielle: are we any further on?
Written By: - Date published: 10:13 am, April 1st, 2024 - 26 comments
Veteran climate activist Cindy Baxter writes about the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle on her home town and the challenges of resiliency planning going forward.
F*ck
Written By: - Date published: 6:10 am, March 22nd, 2024 - 89 comments
We can see NACTF’s current fuckery as being part of the same dynamic. The job cuts, mining and oil drilling, attacks on disabled people and beneficiaries, the threat to news media, stealing from the poor to give to the rich, the war on nature, all of these are contained within the climate/ecology crises, and arise out of the same condition
Amateur hour
Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, March 16th, 2024 - 11 comments
Government members of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee have managed to vote to support a Labour amendment that would make electric vehicles more attractive but submit a report to Parliament that suggested that the amendment had been lost.
Catherine, Princess of Wales
Written By: - Date published: 9:56 am, March 13th, 2024 - 18 comments
meanwhile…
A sad lament from the serial left
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 pm, February 13th, 2024 - 103 comments
Attacking leftists attempts to expose the Atlas Network of right-wing think tanks, Chris Trotter offers this gem “Morally speaking, is taking money from oil companies really all that distinguishable from giving money to oil companies every time we fill up our petrol tank?”
Simeon Brown works to make transport system less sustainable
Written By: - Date published: 2:10 pm, February 10th, 2024 - 6 comments
This week we have seen National confirm it will cancel the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax and this will cause the cancellation or suspension of many projects designed to address congestion. And it has been confirmed that axing the clean car discount has seen sales of electric vehicles plummet. And that electric vehicles will shortly pay more to use the road than petrol vehicles.
Are Road User Charges for every vehicle actually fair?
Written By: - Date published: 8:01 am, January 22nd, 2024 - 99 comments
New Zealand is one of the most car-reliant and petroleum-reliant countries on earth. So how we are taxed to travel on land has huge equity implications.
Why does National hate EVs?
Written By: - Date published: 2:17 pm, January 17th, 2024 - 71 comments
At a time when we need cool heads and leaders who understand the enormity of the problem that is climate change and the consequences of getting our response right we are getting this retrograde culture war from people who should know better.
Peak NZ Liberal
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, December 23rd, 2023 - 69 comments
As National dismantles with speed some of the institutional reforms made by the last Labour Government the concern is that we may have witnessed the peak in progressive influence.
National’s complete indifference to climate change
Written By: - Date published: 9:05 pm, December 18th, 2023 - 18 comments
This is the only possible explanation. As well as celebrating all things car National has a pathological hatred of cycleways and walkways and public transport.
- Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on Tuesday, March 18
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...7 days ago - Gordon Campbell On Luxon’s Survival Chances, And The India FTA
Whenever Christopher Luxon drops a classically fatuous clanger or whenever the government has a bad poll – i.e. every week – the talk resumes that he is about to be rolled. This is unlikely for several reasons. For starters, there is no successor. Nicola Willis? Chris Bishop? Simeon Brown? Mark ...1 week ago - It’s been done before: pay for more defence spending with debt
Australia, Britain and European countries should loosen budget rules to allow borrowing to fund higher defence spending, a new study by the Kiel Institute suggests. Currently, budget debt rules are forcing governments to finance increases ...1 week ago - Feedback on work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
The NZCTU remains strongly committed to banning engineered stone in New Zealand and implementing better occupational health protections for all workers working with silica-containing materials. In this submission to MBIE, the NZCTU outlines that we have an opportunity to learn from Australia’s experience by implementing a full ban of engineered ...1 week ago - Big deal
The Prime Minister has announced a big win in trade negotiations with India.It’s huge, he told reporters. We didn't get everything we came for but we were able to agree on free trade in clothing, fabrics, car components, software, IT consulting, spices, tea, rice, and leather goods.He said that for ...1 week ago - A Return to a US Gilded Age?
I have been trying to figure out the logic of Trump’s tariff policies and apparent desire for a global trade war. Although he does not appear to comprehend that tariffs are a tax on consumers in the country doing the tariffing, I can (sort of) understand that he may think ...1 week ago - France is prominent in efforts to shape Syria’s future, again
As Syria and international partners negotiate the country’s future, France has sought to be a convening power. While France has a history of influence in the Middle East, it will have to balance competing Syrian ...1 week ago
- “Capital poor”
One of the eternal truths about Aotearoa's economy is that we are "capital poor": there's not enough money sloshing around here to fund the expansion of local businesses, or to build the things we want to. Which gets used as an excuse for all sorts of things, like setting up ...1 week ago - Pictures Tell The Story
National held its ground until late 2023 Verion, Talbot Mills & Curia Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)If we remove outlier results from Curia (National Party November 2023) National started trending down in October 2024.Verion Polls (Red = Labour, Blue = National)Verian alone shows a clearer deterioration in early ...1 week ago - High-impact climate risks, low-probability? Think again
In a recent presentation, I recommended, quite unoriginally, that governments should have a greater focus on higher-impact, lower-probability climate risks. My reasoning was that current climate model projections have blind spots, meaning we are betting ...1 week ago
- Daddy
Daddy, are you out there?Daddy, won't you come and play?Daddy, do you not care?Is there nothing that you want to say?Songwriters: Mark Batson / Beyonce Giselle Knowles.This morning, a look at the much-maligned NZ Herald. Despised by many on the left as little more than a mouthpiece for the National ...1 week ago - Monday 17 March
Employers, unions and health and safety advocates are calling for engineered stone to be banned, a day before consultation on regulations closes. On Friday the PSA lodged a pay equity claim for library assistants with the Employment Relations Authority, after the stalling of a claim lodged with six councils in ...1 week ago
- Luxon announces start of India trade deal talks
Long stories shortest in Aotearoa’s political economy: Christopher Luxon surprises by announcing trade deal talks with India will start next month, and include beef and dairy. Napier is set to join Whakatane, Dunedin and Westport in staging a protest march against health spending restraints hitting their hospital services. Winston Peters ...1 week ago - In a divided world, momentum behind negotiations grows
At a time of rising geopolitical tensions and deepening global fragmentation, the Ukraine war has proved particularly divisive. From the start, the battle lines were clearly drawn: Russia on one side, Ukraine and the West ...1 week ago
- Mercury Lane, and Auckland Transport’s habitual failure
When the City Rail Link opens (circa 2026), all signs point to it immediately being a huge success. It will be transformational for Auckland, with ripple effects across the city. Thousands of people an hour will pour in and out of the new and upgraded stations. So, as well as ...1 week ago - Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix at 6am on March 17
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, Newsroom-$, Politik-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, ...1 week ago - 2025 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 9, 2025 thru Sat, March 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published by category and sorted by number of articles included in each. We are still interested ...1 week ago - Maxing out – next steps for progressives
Max Harris and Max Rashbrooke discuss how we turn around the right wing slogans like nanny state, woke identity politics, and the inefficiency of the public sector – and how we build a progressive agenda. From Donald Trump to David Seymour, from Peter Dutton to Christopher Luxon, we are subject to a ...1 week ago - Bernard’s Soliloquy for the week to March 16
The Government dominated the political agenda this week with its two-day conference pitching all manner of public infrastructure projects for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest in our political economy this week: The Government ploughed ahead with offers of PPPs to pension fund managers ...1 week ago - Eating Like Kings
You know that it's a snake eat snake worldWe slither and serpentine throughWe all took a bite, and six thousand years laterThese apples getting harder to chewSongwriters: Shawn Mavrides.“Please be Jack Tame”, I thought when I saw it was Seymour appearing on Q&A. I’d had a guts full of the ...1 week ago - David now turns to Rodney with a stricken face
So here we are at the wedding of Alexandra Vincent Martelli and David Seymour.Look at all the happy prosperous guests! How proud Nick Mowbray looks of the gift he has made of a mountain of crap plastic toys stuffed into a Cybertruck.How they drink, how they laugh, how they mug ...1 week ago - Fact brief – Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming?
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is waste heat from industrial activity the reason the planet is warming? Waste heat’s contribution to global warming is a small fraction of ...1 week ago
- On why complaining about incompetent David Seymour’s School Lunches is the only rational respo...
Some continue to defend David Seymour on school lunches, sidestepping his errors to say:“Well the parents should pack their lunch” and/or “Kids should be grateful for free food.”One of these people is the sitting Prime Minister.So I put together a quick list of why complaint is not only appropriate - ...1 week ago - Whistling Past The Graveyard.
“Bugger the pollsters!”WHEN EVERYBODY LIVED in villages, and every village had a graveyard, the expression “whistling past the graveyard” made more sense. Even so, it’s hard to describe the Coalition Government’s response to the latest Taxpayers’ Union/Curia Research poll any better. Regardless of whether they wanted to go there, or ...1 week ago - Jane Kelsey – Transforming neoliberalism
Prof Jane Kelsey examines what the ACT party and the NZ Initiative are up to as they seek to impose on the country their hardline, right wing, neoliberal ideology. A progressive government elected in 2026 would have a huge job putting Humpty Dumpty together again and rebuilding a state that ...1 week ago
- Ain’t No Use
See I try to make a differenceBut the heads of the high keep turning awayThere ain't no useWhen the world that you love has goneOoh, gotta make a changeSongwriters: Arapekanga Adams-Tamatea / Brad Kora / Hiriini Kora / Joel Shadbolt.Aotearoa for Sale.This week saw the much-heralded and somewhat alarming sight ...1 week ago - Bernard’s Pick ‘n’ Mix on Saturday, March 15
Here’s my selection1 of scoops, breaking news, news, analyses, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from around Aotearoa’s political economy on housing, climate and poverty from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$2, The Press−$, Newsroom3, NZ Herald, Stuff, BusinessDesk-$, NBR-$, Reuters, FT-$, WSJ-$, Bloomberg-$, New York Times-$, The Atlantic-$, The Economist-$ ...1 week ago - Is the New Zealand Healthcare System Doing Badly?
By international standards the New Zealand healthcare system appears satisfactory – certainly no worse generally than average. Yet it is undergoing another redisorganisation.While doing some unrelated work, I came across some international data on the healthcare sector which seemed to contradict my – and the conventional wisdom’s – view of ...1 week ago - Europe can still prevent a Russian victory
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he knew that he was upending Europe’s security order. But this was more of a tactical gambit than a calculated strategy ...1 week ago
- Labour draws a clear line in the sand on National’s privatisation binge
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Over the last year, I’ve been warning about Luxon’s pitch to privatise our public assets. He had told reporters in October that nothing was off the cards:Schools, hospitals, prisons, and ...1 week ago - Australia’s disaster response should build resilience
When ASPI’s Cyclone Tracy: 50 Years On was published last year, it wasn’t just a historical reflection; it was a warning. Just months later, we are already watching history repeat itself. We need to bake ...2 weeks ago
- Making it up as they go along
1. Why was school lunch provider The Libelle Group in the news this week?a. Grand Winner in Pie of The Yearb. Scored a record 108% on YELP c. Bought by Oravida d. Went into liquidation2. What did our Prime Minister offer prospective investors at his infrastructure investment jamboree?a. The Libelle ...2 weeks ago - Arbitrary or worse
Back in December, Lands Minister Chris Penk rejected proposals to recognise the proper names of Manawatū and Pito One. Both proposals were strongly supported by their communities and so recommended by Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa / New Zealand Geographic Board. Despite this, Penk rejected them. I was curious about ...2 weeks ago
- The problems with PPPs
Here’s the excellent explainer on PPPs from over at that this chat was based on.Government's Investment SummitThis week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme.Greater ...2 weeks ago - South Korea has acted decisively on DeepSeek. Other countries must stop hesitating
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was were right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country ...2 weeks ago
- PPPs are more expensive, slower & riskier than Govt DIY
Previous big infrastructure PPPs such as Transmission Gully were fiendishly complicated to negotiate, generated massive litigation and were eventually rewritten anyway. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesLong stories shortest: The Government’s international investment conference ignores the facts that PPPs cost twice as much as vanilla debt-funded public infrastructure, often take ...2 weeks ago - Friday 14 March
Woolworths has proposed a major restructure of its New Zealand store operating model, leaving workers worried their hours and pay could be cut. Public servants are being asked how productive their office is, how much they use AI, and whether they’re overloaded with meetings as part of a “census”. An ...2 weeks ago
- Weekly Roundup 14-March-2025
Midway through March already? The years flying by. Here’s some things we saw this week that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt took a look at AT’s Upper Harbour Bus changes. For Wednesday we had a guest post by Malcolm McCracken exploring what ...2 weeks ago
- Bookshelf: technology, globalisation and civilisational decline
Robert Kaplan’s book Waste Land: A World in Permanent Crisis paints a portrait of civilisation in flux. Drawing insights from history, literature and art, he examines the effect of modern technology, globalisation and urbanisation on ...2 weeks ago
- Birds and Bees Grounded
Sexuality - Strong and warm and wild and freeSexuality - Your laws do not apply to meSexuality - Don't threaten me with miserySexuality - I demand equalitySong: Billy Bragg.First, thank you to everyone who took part in yesterday’s survey. Some questions worked better than others, but I found them interesting, ...2 weeks ago - Shit Yourself Happy
Hi,I just got back from a week in Japan thanks to the power of cheap flights and years of accumulated credit card points.The last time I was in Japan the government held a press conference saying they might take legal action against me and Netflix, so there was a little ...2 weeks ago - The Hoon around the week to March 14
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: on the week in geopolitics, including Donald Trump’s wrecking of the post-WW II political landscape; andHealth Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Lisa ...2 weeks ago
- Bernard’s pick n’ mix at 6am for Friday, March 14
Here’s my selection of the top scoops, news, analysis, deep-dives, features, interviews, Op-Eds, editorials and cartoons from RNZ, 1News, The Post-$$$, The Press-$$$, Newsroom & NZ Herald on Friday, March 14.Top Six at 6amExclusive: 'Shake-up is necessary' - NZME's biggest shareholder backs board cleanout NZ Herald-$$$’s Shayne CurrieGovt considers gett… ...2 weeks ago - Snapshots from Tokyo
Hi,I just got back from a short trip to Japan, mostly spending time in Tokyo.I haven’t been there since we shot Dark Tourist back in 2017 — and that landed us in a bit of hot water with the Japanese government.I am glad to report I was not thrown into ...2 weeks ago - Why I Regret Going Paid On Substack
I’ve been on Substack for almost 8 months now.It’s been good in terms of the many great individuals that populate its space. So much variety and intelligence and humour and depth.I joined because someone suggested I should ‘start a Substack,’ whatever that meant.So I did.Turning on payments seemed like the ...2 weeks ago - Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2025
Open access notables Would Adding the Anthropocene to the Geologic Time Scale Matter?, McCarthy et al., AGU Advances: The extraordinary fossil fuel-driven outburst of consumption and production since the mid-twentieth century has fundamentally altered the way the Earth System works. Although humans have impacted their environment for millennia, justification for ...2 weeks ago
- For a waterbombing reserve, adapt ADF aircraft
Australia should buy equipment to cheaply and temporarily convert military transport aircraft into waterbombers. On current planning, the Australian Defence Force will have a total of 34 Chinook helicopters and Hercules airlifters. They should be ...2 weeks ago
- Join us at 5pm for this week’s Hoon
Photo by Gareth Davies on UnsplashKia oraCome and join us for our weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm today.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with myself , plus regular guest , and special ...2 weeks ago - Indonesia has cut funding for counterterrorism programs. Australia should step in
Indonesia’s government has slashed its counterterrorism (CT) budgets, despite the persistent and evolving threat of violent extremism. Australia can support regional CT efforts by filling this funding void. Reducing funding to the National Counterterrorism Agency ...2 weeks ago
- Drawn
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Resource Management (Prohibition on Extraction of Freshwater for On-selling) Amendment Bill (Debbie Ngarewa-Packer) The bill does exactly what it says on the label, and would effectively end the rapacious water-bottling industry ...2 weeks ago
- Fabian Fundraiser – Twilight Time
Twilight Time Lighthouse Cuba, Wigan Street, Wellington, Sunday 6 April, 5:30pm for 6pm start. Twilight Time looks at the life and work of Desmond Ball, (1947-2016), a barefooted academic from ‘down under’ who was hailed by Jimmy Carter as “the man who saved the world”, as he proved the fallacy ...2 weeks ago
- It’s time to rethink foreign aid
Foreign aid is being slashed across the Global North, nowhere more so than in the United States. Within his first month back in the White House, President Donald Trump dismantled the US Agency for International ...2 weeks ago
- Thursday 13 March
Nicola Willis has proposed new procurement rules that unions say will lead to pay cuts for already low-paid workers in cleaning, catering and security services that are contracted by government. The Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill passed its third reading with support from all the opposition parties and NZ ...2 weeks ago
- Personal Link: The Cool One is Gone.
Most KP readers will not know that I was a jazz DJ in Chicago and Washington DC while in grad school in the early and mid 1980s. In DC I joined WPFW as a grave shift host, then a morning drive show host (a show called Sui Generis, both for ...2 weeks ago
- Who Are You?
Who are you?Who, who, who, who?Who are you?Songwriter: Peter Townshend. Read more ...2 weeks ago - IMF calls for Capital Gains Tax or land tax
Long stories shortest: The IMF says a capital gains tax or land tax would improve real economic growth and fix the budget. GDP is set to be smaller by 2026 than it was in 2023. Compass is flying in school lunches from Australia. 53% of National voters say the new ...2 weeks ago - 5 Reasons Labour Are Doing Well
Last year in October I wrote “Where’s The Opposition?”. I was exasperated at the relative quiet of the Green Party, Labour and Te Pati Māori (TPM), as the National led Coalition ticked off a full bingo card of the Atlas Network playbook.1To be fair, TPM helped to energise one of ...2 weeks ago
- Visualizing daily global temperatures
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink Good data visualizations can help make climate change more visceral and understandable. Back in 2016 Ed Hawkins published a “climate spiral” graph that ended up being pretty iconic – it was shown at the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year – and ...2 weeks ago
- How Russia will reassess its ties with North Korea after Ukraine
An agreement to end the war in Ukraine could transform Russia’s relations with North Korea. Moscow is unlikely to reduce its cooperation with Pyongyang to pre-2022 levels, but it may become more selective about areas ...2 weeks ago
- Government’s Investment Summit
This week, the Government is hosting a grand event aimed at trying to interest big foreign capital players in financing capital works in New Zealand, particularly its big rural motorway programme. Financing vs funding: a quick explainer The key word in the sentence above is financing. It is important ...2 weeks ago
- Gordon Campbell On Winston Peters’ Battle Against The Phantom Legions Of The Woke
In a month’s time, the Right Honourable Winston Peters will be celebrating his 80th birthday. Good for him. On the evidence though, his current war on “wokeness” looks like an old man’s cranky complaint that the ancient virtues of grit and know-how are sadly lacking in the youth of today. ...2 weeks ago
- Haul from the 2025 Regent Booksale
As noted, early March has been about moving house, and I have had little chance to partake in all things internet. But now that everything is more or less sorted, I can finally give a belated report on my visit to the annual Regent Booksale (28th February and 1st March). ...2 weeks ago - The threat spectrum
Information operations Australia has banned cybersecurity software Kaspersky from government use because of risks of espionage, foreign interference and sabotage. The Department of Home Affairs said use of Kaspersky products posed an unacceptable security ...2 weeks ago
- My life as a dog
2 weeks ago - Understanding ’ndrangheta operations in Australia
The ’ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, plays a significant role in the global cocaine trade and is deeply entrenched in Australia, influencing the cocaine trade and engaging in a variety of illicit activities. A range of ...2 weeks ago
- How to fight back against Trump’s tariffs
In the US, the Trump regime is busy imposing tariffs on its neighbours and allies, then revoking them, then reimposing them, permanently poisoning relations with Canada and Mexico. Trump has also threatened to impose tariffs on agricultural goods, which will affect Aotearoa's exports. National's response? To grovel for an exemption, ...2 weeks ago
- Global & Corporate Takeover of New Zealand Continues In Plain Sight
Troy Bowker’s Caniwi Capital’s Desmond Gittings, former TradeMe and Warehouse executive Simon West, former anonymous right wing blogger / Labour attacker & now NZ On Air Board member / Waitangi Tribunal member Philip Crump, Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon who used to run vaccine critical, Treaty of Waitangi critical, and trans-rights ...2 weeks ago - Fixing school lunches
The free school lunch program was one of Labour's few actual achievements in government. Decent food, made locally, providing local employment. So naturally, National had to get rid of it. Their replacement - run by Compass, a multinational which had already been thrown out of our hospitals for producing inedible ...2 weeks ago
- New procurement rules hurt low-income workers
New draft government procurement guidelines will remove living wage protections for thousands of low-paid workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff. “The Minister of Finance Nicola Willis has proposed a new rule saying that the Living Wage no longer needs to be paid in ...2 weeks ago
- Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day. First up is the Auckland Harbour Board and Takapuna Borough Council Empowering Act Amendment Bill, a local bill to alter the purposes for which some land in Auckland can be used. Following that is the third reading of Camilla Belich's Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment ...2 weeks ago
- The US dividing Russia from China? Forget about it
The Trump administration’s effort to divide Russia from China is doomed to fail. This means that the United States is destroying security relationships based on a delusion. To succeed, Russia would need to overcome more ...2 weeks ago
- Wednesday 12 March
Māori workers now hold more high-skilled jobs than low-skilled jobs with 46 percent in high-skilled jobs, 14 percent in skilled jobs, and 40 percent in low-skilled jobs. Resource teachers of literacy and Te Reo Māori are “devastated” by a proposal from the Education Minister to stop funding 174 roles from ...2 weeks ago
- Power of persistence: Australian technology addresses challenge of space monitoring
Knowing what is going on in orbit is getting harder—yet hardly less necessary. But new technologies are emerging to cope with the challenge, including some that have come from Australian civilian research. One example is ...2 weeks ago
- Maximising the value from our investment in the City Rail link
This is a guest post by Malcolm McCracken. It previously appeared on his blog Better Things Are Possible and is shared by kind permission. New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project, the City Rail Link (CRL), is expected to open in 2026. This will be an exciting step forward for Auckland, delivering better ...2 weeks ago
- Luxon wants media to celebrate National’s homelessness achievements more
“The reality is I'm just saying to you I'm proud of the work we're doing. We're doing a great job”, said Luxon, pushing back at Auckland Council’s reports of rising homelessness and pleas for help. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories shortest: Christopher Luxon denies his Government caused a ...2 weeks ago
- Winston Peters vs the world
In a speech that channelled Trump-style rhetoric but stuck to old Peters themes, the NZ First leader mixed nationalism, culture war grievances and economic blame, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. An ‘outright litany’ of grievances Winston ...20 hours ago - Will the $2.7b cost of tertiary courses be enough?
The government is spending $2.7 billion on tertiary courses this year, but there are early signs it will not be enough to cover all the enrolments. ...22 hours ago - Anne Salmond: The Emperor’s clothes
If you want to understand where this coalition Government is coming from, with its disdain for impoverished families and hungry children, Freddy the Frog, Te Tiriti, democratic conventions and other Kiwi decencies, George Monbiot’s The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism is illuminating.The book is short and vividly written, ...22 hours ago - Alice in world No 1 land: Kiwi slalom skier’s big week
Alice Robinson is slightly disoriented. It can’t be blamed on altitude, or the weight of the World Cup medals she’s hauled in this season.When LockerRoom caught up with the Kiwi giant slalom star by video call last week, she had to think for a moment where in the world she ...22 hours ago
- No love lost as Peters and Hipkins trade barbs
Former Cabinet colleagues Winston Peters and Chris Hipkins have traded blows, after the NZ First leader accused Labour of abandoning workers, and blaming it for the recession the current government has to deal with. ...23 hours ago
- Protest against overnight healthcare cuts: ‘It’s just wrong’
Hundreds of people took to Napier's streets in protest on Sunday, campaigning against cuts to the city's after-hours health services. ...23 hours ago
- Gloriavale on Waitangi Day
Every Waitangi Day, the choir used to go and sing at the Grey District Waitangi Day Picnic at Dixon Park in Greymouth. It was always a huge event. We’d stay up all night to make thousands of iced buns, which would then be handed out to people at the picnic.I ...23 hours ago
- Luxon’s wins and compromises in India
Analysis: Christopher Luxon’s India visit proves mature relationships require compromise to achieve mutual benefits The post Luxon’s wins and compromises in India appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- In Delhi and D.C., Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters in their elements
Taking the train with Winston Peters and watching Christopher Luxon play cricket: what it's like traveling with a foreign trade delegation ...23 hours ago
- Windbag: Why is it so hard to pedestrianise upper Cuba Street?
Urbanists who want their city to have more people-friendly streets need to face up to the biggest barrier to their goal: everything takes too damn long. This coming weekend, the annual CubaDupa festival will be held on and around Cuba Street. Some 80,000 people will descend on the central precinct ...23 hours ago
- The Trump lads are abundant in New Zealand
New polling shows a global trend is very much alive here, too. Donald Trump’s historic return to the presidency was powered by one demographic more than any: support from young men – white young men, especially. One of the most remarkable realities within that trend is the gap that has ...23 hours ago
- The left must leave the past behind
Comment: Models that look to reinstate practices from last century relate to a past that has gone The post The left must leave the past behind appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- What the Royal Commission really said about the Covid response
Special report: Five years on from the first lockdown, Newsroom reads the entire 713-page Royal Commission into the Covid-19 response and examines the findings The post What the Royal Commission really said about the Covid response appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Monday 24 March
The post Daily crossword, Monday 24 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- Daily crossword, Tuesday 25 March
The post Daily crossword, Tuesday 25 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- Homecoming a comedown for the coalition
It was a tough landing back in New Zealand for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who have returned home high on successful trips to India and the US, respectively.But Kiwis have given the National-led coalition a rating of 4.2 out of 10 in the latest Ipsos ...23 hours ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Monday 24 March
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('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, Monday 24 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- Climate risk reporting could stop investors from walking
Accountancy industry expert says failing to provide financial analysis of climate-related risks can lead investors to make incorrect assumptions The post Climate risk reporting could stop investors from walking appeared first on Newsroom. ...23 hours ago
- Auckland was once a food garden managed by Māori. That knowledge could shape the future.
Comment: Māori once grew enough fruit and vegetables to feed Auckland, yet these days many struggle to afford healthy food.Today, Māori and Pacific people experience more food insecurity than other ethnicities in Aotearoa, because they are likely to have less income. The places they live are often food deserts – ...23 hours ago
- View from The Hill: 5 things to look for in the budget – and why we really need another budget soo...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Jim Chalmers likes to boast, or marvel, that he is the first treasurer since Ben Chifley to deliver four budgets in a term. If Labor wins the May election, the treasurer will reckon the ...1 day ago - Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier criticises Health NZ Te Whatu Ora OIA policy
Outgoing Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has reprimanded Health NZ and called the fines for Official Information Act breaches "laughable". ...1 day ago
- The State of Winston Peters
Comment: It’s going to be a big few weeks for the Rt Hon Winston Raymond Peters.Fresh off the plane from Washington DC and a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he delivered his New Zealand First party’s state of the nation speech in Christchurch on Sunday.By week’s end, Peters ...2 days ago
- Watch: Winston Peters’ State of the Nation speech
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been repeatedly heckled while delivering a State of the Nation speech in Christchurch. ...2 days ago
- Watch live: Winston Peters’ State of the Nation speech
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has been repeatedly heckled while delivering a State of the Nation speech in Christchurch. ...2 days ago
- The House: Climate change adaptation – Parliament asks the small questions
Parliament's recent inquiry and debate on climate change adaptation asked small questions, looked short-term and inched towards reactive solutions. ...2 days ago
- An Ode to .. Lord Breen of Seymour
No news is good newsLord Breen of Seymour was taking the watersAt the Head in the Clouds Health Spa.A figure walked up the long, winding stepsTo his mountain top resort.It was the Court Surgeon.“What’s up, Sawbones?,” chuckled Lord Breen.“Why didn’t you fly up in the Royal Balloon?”“Lo,” said the Court ...2 days ago
- Green Party’s Swarbrick calls for urgent NZ action over Israel’s ‘crazy’ Gaza slaughter
Asia Pacific Report Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick called on New Zealand government MPs today to support her Member’s Bill to sanction Israel over its “crazy slaughter” of Palestinians in Gaza. Speaking at a large pro-Palestinian solidarity rally in the heart of New Zealand’s largest city Auckland, she said Aotearoa ...2 days ago
- Resourcing concerns raised as new bill proposes three-day hospital stay for mothers, newborns
A new bill proposes the minimum hospital stay offered to mothers and newborns be upped from 48 to 72 hours. ...2 days ago
- ‘Step Backwards’: Uffindell’s Equal Voting Rights Bill Challenged
The draft bill was intended to stop any move away from the principle of equal suffrage, where each person gets an equal say in electing people, Uffindell said. ...2 days ago - Local Government New Zealand crying foul over potential rates capping
President Sam Broughton said the government's proposal for a cap on rates increases would only make things worse, with Australian examples showing it would do the opposite to what the government wants. ...2 days ago
- Top Pacific diplomats ready for direct talks on Bougainville independence
By Leah Lowonbu, Stefan Armbruster and Harlyne Joku of BenarNews The Pacific’s peak diplomatic bodies have signalled they are ready to engage with Papua New Guinea’s Autonomous Government of Bougainville as mediation begins on the delayed ratification of its successful 2019 independence referendum. PNG and Bougainville’s leaders met in the ...3 days ago
- The Secret Diary of .. Luxon of India
MONDAYThe party of honoured New Zealanders were shown an old fort. “Awesome,” said Mr Luxon.He wore a gold turban, a white linen jacket, a peacock-illustrated waistcoat sewn with exquisite rubies, a white dhoti crafted from finest polyester with 1 1/2″ gold jari border, and a $625 pair of Christian Kimber ...3 days ago
- Cricket quips and Kiwi ships: Behind the scenes of Christopher Luxon’s India trip
Christopher Luxon's trip to India included the restart of trade talks, the tightening of defence ties, and more than a spot of cricket - RNZ's deputy political editor takes us behind the scenes. ...3 days ago
- Excavating a historical waka, and the story that goes with it
Six months after Vincent Dix and his son Nikau stumbled across remains of an ocean-voyaging waka while searching for driftwood on their property in Rēkohu/ Chatham Islands, the community is still buzzing over the discoveries.The big question locals want an answer to: where did the waka come, from and who ...3 days ago
- Short story: The coven, by Connie Buchanan
Leon Pritchard used to be absolutely ripped, back in the day. He exercised his muscles one by one at the gym, so that each formed its ultimate shape and could be easily seen by passing females, even at a glance. He worked hardest on his upper body and put the ...3 days ago
- What is fairy smut and why is everyone obsessed with it?
Never heard of Acotar? Unsure what makes fairies sexy? Nervous of romantasy? Bemused by the term Medievalcore? Herewith is all you need to know about the hottest publishing trend of the age. What is fairy smut? Fairy smut is a genre of fantasy romance (romantasy) that includes both fairies and ...3 days ago
- Ten years ago, Kim Dotcom made an album. It was a disaster
It was called Good Times, but the journalist who wrote the definitive story says it was anything but. This story was originally published on Chris Schulz’s Boiler Room Substack. Read Hayden Donnell’s original 2015 story, The madness and mayhem of making Good Times, here. ...3 days ago
- ‘Limitless possibilities’: Zoë Robins on escaping into The Wheel of Time’s fantasy
The local star of Prime Video’s fantasy epic takes us through her life in television, including the trauma of 2000s drink driving ads and the Tribe spinoff that time forgot. Local actor Zoë Robins is one of the many, many New Zealanders who have infiltrated huge budget behemoth television shows ...3 days ago
- The madness and mayhem of making Kim Dotcom’s Good Times
Court documents suggest Kim Dotcom spent $1,000,000 on Grammy winners, ad campaigns and the best studio in the country. So why was his much-derided album such a disaster? This story was first published in 2015 in Barkers’ 1972 magazine, and is republished here with permission. Read Chris Schulz’s interview with ...3 days ago
- The best job I ever had was painting a house
Most people would look at our house and decide painting it was a job for professionals. My mum and dad decided it was a job for their kids. I grew up in a house that was always being renovated. That’s not hyperbole, it was literally always being renovated. Just one ...3 days ago
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