chris bishop
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Openness and transparency
Written By: - Date published: 12:20 pm, June 8th, 2021 - 117 comments
On the weekend Andrea Vance gave the Government a bit of a serve about its record on openness and transparency. But a deeper dig into the issue suggests that the cause may have nothing to do with the Government’s preferences and everything to do with the volume of information requests made by the opposition.
Chris Bishop is tilting at Covid windmills
Written By: - Date published: 12:35 pm, May 26th, 2021 - 32 comments
Right now, in terms of our Covid response, New Zealand is in a unique position. It has no community spread of Covid and its level of restrictions is the most permissive in the world. But this does not stop Chris Bishop from trying to double guess the handling of the pandemic.
About Trevor Mallard
Written By: - Date published: 8:20 pm, May 5th, 2021 - 67 comments
- Trevor Mallard has made a concerted effort to change the tone of Parliament. But last night got caught in a bickering match with National.
The politics of the Covid vaccination roll out
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, April 12th, 2021 - 91 comments
Poor National. Faced with a Government response to Covid that has been superb it is reduced to criticising the Government for not rolling out the Covid vaccine quickly enough.
The Covid India issue
Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, April 9th, 2021 - 29 comments
This is a desperately difficult issue. India is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases. And faced with the prospect of quarantine beds being overrun if current trends continue the Government has taken the step of banning people entering the country if they have been in India during the two weeks prior to travel.
Much ado about nothing
Written By: - Date published: 8:39 am, March 13th, 2021 - 18 comments
Chris Bishop is claiming credit for Labour finishing a deal whereby the party rented premises to Parliamentary Services for the use of Gillian Anderson MP at a level well below market rates.
Pandemic to endemic covid-19
Written By: - Date published: 9:30 am, February 13th, 2021 - 84 comments
Back in May, I wrote a post “Covid-19: may be endemic“. That is looking like it is more and more likely. The depth of infection in world populations means that recombinant variants are likely. Vaccines and previous immunity will reduce the death rates and infection rates. But won’t stop reinfection. Human behaviour will keep covid-19 as an endemic disease.
Chris Bishop goes woof woof on variant ‘B.1.1.7’
Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, December 28th, 2020 - 43 comments
I realise that this would normally be our silly season, but it seems a bit macabre with the northern winter death toll. But nothing really excuses Chris Bishop for being a complete dickhead in barking for immediate offshore testing for travellers from the UK. It is pointless. The government are a bit more sensible. They’re instituting an extra test at our border.
Banning Rambo weapons not a knee-jerk
Written By: - Date published: 5:35 am, March 21st, 2019 - 185 comments
Passing stringent gun controls is far from a knee-jerk reaction to the Christchurch massacre – our politicians of all stripes have procrastinated over this ever since the 1990 Aramoana massacre. We already have the 13 recommendations of the 2017 Law & Order committee that were rejected. Let us at the very least now accept those.
- Gesta Gertrudis: Volume I
Introducing my new D&D character, taking the place of Annalax: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2021/01/07/the-adventures-of-annalax-a-compendium/ Gertrude von Amleth: Level 8 Human Bard (Glamour)STR: 10DEX: 17CON: 13INT: 18WIS: 4CHA: 20Will Power: 13 Cantrips: Vicious Mockery, Prestidigitation, Minor IllusionFirst Level Spells: Comprehend Languages, Healing Word, Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, Dissonant WhispersSecond Level: Heat Metal, Silence, ...6 hours ago - What’s the carbon footprint of a wind turbine?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sara Peach Dear Sara, Wind turbines are an absolute joke. Has anyone actually figured out the amount of carbon emissions emitted for the entire process from initial construction of the components and land development (construction machinery emissions)? — Mike ...14 hours ago - Throw the landlords out!
The Spinoff this morning has a horrific cartoon from the Side Eye about how people are being locked out of owning their own home. Along the way, it points out that the only people who benefit from this crisis are property investors, and that there's remarkably few of them: only ...17 hours ago - People could live in those ghost houses, Jacinda Ardern
You can understand why Jacinda Ardern is somewhat hesitant to do more about tackling the housing crisis. After all, making houses affordable would effectively mean that billions of dollars of paper wealth would be wiped from people's books. And with a considerably larger percentage of the voting public owning property ...18 hours ago - One way of fixing itYesterday, in response to upcoming industrial action, DHBs decided to take the nurses' union to court, claiming they weren't doing enough to guarantee safe staffing levels during the strike. The core issue in the strike is... safe staffing levels, so there's a heavy dose of irony there. And its a ...19 hours ago
- 5,000 employed under LabourThe quarterly labour market statistics have been released, and outperformed expectations again, with unemployment dropping to 4.0%. There are now 117,000 unemployed - 5,000 fewer than when Labour took office. Which, given the pandemic, is a pretty spectacular performance. Throw in a drop in underutilisation and increased wages, and it ...19 hours ago
- Member’s DayToday is a Member's Day. First is the committee stage of Andrew Bayly's racist, anti-immigrant New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income (Fair Residency) Amendment Bill. Labour has sadly decided to back it - apparently they value the votes of dying, racist NZ First voters more than those of their own ...20 hours ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 4 August 2021
Housing Bernard Hickey: Here’s all the levers the Govt is not pulling to fix our housing catastrophe Chloe Swarbrick (Herald): UN-enshrined human right to housing eclipsed by investor greed Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): ‘Way too many hoops’: First Home Grant payouts fall short Toby Morris (Spinoff): The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: Locked out Claire ...23 hours ago - Playing Skadi: The Amazon Identification Debate
As I noted in a previous post, Amazon have released the first image of the upcoming Second Age series. Much like their map-leak from a couple of years ago, it is clearly intended to get the geekier elements of online Tolkien fandom in a lather. And much like a ...1 day ago - An increasingly hysterical base and the National “Leadership”team: far too similar in mindset, o...
Fuming and foaming about the fact their Party lost most recent NZ Election, the barrage, even four years on, from their supporters has not lost any signs of abating. Partly because they claimed high support in the past which gave them an unearned sense of “Right to Rule” and ...2 days ago - Racist party wants to ban Maori word2 days ago
- Dawn raids, continuing exploitation
by Don Franks Beginning in 1974, New Zealand police armed with dogs repeatedly accosted Pacific Nation people, in their homes, in the early morning. The operations were carried out to arrest alleged visa overstayers. After these raids some of the adult victims were deported, their children being placed in state care ...2 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Radical reform coming to a supermarket near youThe supermarket sector is finally about to receive some serious government intervention. Following a scathing report from the Commerce Commission, it’s now almost inevitable that the Labour Government is going to have to introduce some major changes to this vital but uncompetitive retail sector. And these moves are likely to ...2 days ago
- Thinking is Power: The problem with “doing your own research”This is a re-post from the Thinking is Power website maintained by Melanie Trecek-King where she regularly writes about many aspects of critical thinking in an effort to provide accessible and engaging critical thinking information to the general public. The phrase “do your own research” seems ubiquitous these days, often by those who ...2 days ago
- Air pollution exposure is shifting from outdoor to indoor – here’s why
Nicola Carslaw, University of York and David Carslaw, University of York You may have seen the before-and-after-lockdown photos of major cities that appear to show dramatic changes in air quality. In one, the India Gate war memorial in New Delhi is barely visible amid the smog. Then, during lockdown, ...2 days ago - Curiouser and Curiouser: The First Image Out of Amazon’s Second Age Series
Courtesy of Twitter, we now a release date for the upcoming Amazon LOTR/Second Age series: 2nd September, 2022. Which just happens to be the 49th anniversary of Tolkien’s Death. We also have the first image from the series: Very pretty. A figure in white robes looking out over ...2 days ago - Our brains perceive our environment differently when we’re lying downDavid I. Shore, McMaster University You’re agitated by the sound of a mosquito buzzing around your head. The buzzing stops. You feel the tiny pinprick and locate the target. Whack! It’s over. It’s a simple sequence, but it demands complex processing. How did you know where the mosquito was ...2 days ago
- Incentives workHuh. It turns out that incentives to buy EVs and lower their price relative to fossil vehicles work: The first month of the "feebate" saw a huge spike in electric vehicle sales, which nearly quadrupled. There were 1944 pure EV and hybrid light vehicle new registrations during July, according ...2 days ago
- NZ Politics Daily: 3 August 2021Opinion polls, government, political parties Claire Trevett (Herald): Poll should be death knell for Judith Collins but a Covid hangover is hitting for PM Jacinda Ardern (paywalled) Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern not bothered by result as Labour plummets to 43 percent Zane Small (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll: Judith ...2 days ago
- New technology offers insights on Southern Ocean’s carbon secretsThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Kristen Pope The Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica makes up less than a third of the global ocean surface, yet scientists believe it “plays an outsized role in the climate system,” according to a 2021 journal article in Geophysical Research Letters. Water and currents from other ...2 days ago
- The government is breaching the right to housingHousing is a human right, one which the New Zealand government accepts through its adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. And now the Human Rights Commission has stated the obvious: we're breaching it: Successive Governments have breached New ...3 days ago
- Mass vaccination event wasn’t a shambles3 days ago
- Climate Change: A $3.5 billion mistakeIn May last year the government increased the ETS fixed price option to $35, as a prelude to moving to an auction-based system with a cost-containment reserve. At the time, carbon prices were $25 - hard up against the previous price cap - so it must have looked impossibly high. ...3 days ago
- Neither Passionless, Nor Zombies.
Once Again With Feeling: What the parties on both sides of the aisle need to understand, however, is that New Zealanders are not passionless, and they are certainly not zombies. They are voters – and they want change. Now.I NEVER BOUGHT Gordon McLauchlan’s Passionless People argument. The book was published ...3 days ago - NZ Politics Daily: 2 August 2021NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS AND READERS I’m very pleased to bring back the “NZ Politics Daily” email service today. During the break I’ve been able to secure some funding so that a research assistant can help put the service together. I will, however, need to find more money to make the service sustainable. ...3 days ago
- Collins is crushing her own credibilityEven before Judith Collins became overlord of the National Party, you could tell there was a huge ideological divide between her questionable values and those of the party’s former leaders. And just over a year after becoming the opposition's de facto leader, that chasm between Crusher and what her party ...3 days ago
- Legal Beagle: The New New Prohibition
In the decades leading up to the 18th Amendment, the case for the prohibition of alcohol was made repeatedly. The harms of alcohol were substantial, and the US experience was worse than most. The victims made the case, and campaigners made the case for those who couldn’t speak for themselve. ...3 days ago - Let’s talk about sex self ID
Speak Up For Women have toured New Zealand in the last month speaking on the proposed law change that would allow people to change their birth certificate sex by a simple declaration. It was a great opportunity to meet with hundreds of people and exchange ideas. Here is the talk: ...3 days ago - 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #31Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 25, 2021 through Sat, July 31, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’, State of the climate: 2021 ...3 days ago
- July ’21 – NZ blogs sitemeter ranking
Image credit: Nicole MamaNYC I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. ...4 days ago- The Adventures of Annalax: Volume XXVI
Session Fifty-Six Annalax’s schemes were, alas, put on hold at the start of the session, due to a horrifying discovery of a mangled body outside the town brothel. The victim had been hideously mutilated, complete with faux-antlers being driven into their skull. And, sure enough, a crowd was ...4 days ago- 2021 Reading Log: July (+ Writing Update)
Completed reads for July: The Caesars, by Emperor Julian the ApostateThe A.B.C. Murders, by Agatha ChristieFive Little Pigs, by Agatha ChristieThe Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vols 2-4 of 6) The Works of Poe is the six volume 1896 edition, edited by Stoddard. The library was missing the first ...5 days ago- Clouds study finds that low climate sensitivity is ‘extremely unlikely’
This is a re-post from Carbon Brief by Ayesha Tandon It is “very likely” that the way clouds change as the world warms will drive further temperature rise, a new study finds. The response of clouds to a change in global temperature – known as the “cloud feedback” – plays a ...5 days ago- Are We Nudging Enough?
Inside the Nudge Unit by David Halpern, provides new insights into behaviour which New Zealand public policy is steadily taking into consideration.Have you noticed that the defaults or first choices in the website of a commercial entity favour the business’s goal? Fill in their forms and, as like as not, the ...6 days ago- Ending royal corruption in Scotland?
Earlier in the week, The Guardian reported that England's monarch had been secretly having laws amended to carve out exemptions for herself, using a procedure called "crown consent". Its a corrupt holdover from the days of absolute monarchy, and something which has no place in a modern democracy, or even ...6 days ago- Government must ban synthetic fertilisers
6 days ago- Ending conversion “therapy”
The government has introduced a bill to outlaw homophobic conversion "therapy": Practices intended to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, also referred to as gay conversion therapy, will become a criminal offence under legislation announced today. Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi said today the ...6 days ago- The Sin Of Cheapness.
Commodities, Commodities, Everywhere - And None Of Them Are Cheap! No less an authority than the Commerce Commission has determined that New Zealanders are paying too much for their food and groceries. An apparent aversion to aggressive competition has led the dominant players to match one another’s’ prices rather than better ...6 days ago- Should We Trust The Science – Or Ourselves?
“Pure” Science: The lesson to be drawn from the history of science, however, is that knowledge is always and everywhere embedded in culture. That the one cannot be separated from the other. Culture can empower knowledge, or suppress it; advance it or divert it to the utmost wickedness. Knowledge goes where it’s told. “TRUST ...6 days ago- Kids set free to roam on their own feel more confident navigating in adulthood
Vanessa Vieites, Rutgers University The distance from home that kids are allowed to roam and play has shrunk significantly over the last 50 years. That’s largely due to parents’ concerns over safety, especially in cities. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has further restricted children’s independent activity. As a Ph.D. ...6 days ago- Running into Trouble: COVID-19 in Japan during the Tokyo Olympics
Dr Leah Grout, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael Baker * The 2020 Olympic Games were originally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The delayed event has now opened, with the opening ceremonies held on 23 July 2021 and competitions scheduled to take place through 9 August 2021. ...6 days ago- Simon Bridges cannot be trusted
You may recall former National Party leader Simon Bridges gaining a lot of public attention last month after claiming he was a witness to a gang fight. The former Crown Prosecutor made a huge song and dance about it all over Facebook and Twitter while also attacking the Government with ...6 days ago- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #30, 2021
88 articles Physical science of climate change, effects Energetics of surface melt in West Antarctica Ghiz et al. The Cryosphere Open Access pdf 10.5194/tc Quantifying the Mechanisms of Atmospheric Circulation Response to Greenhouse Gas Increases in a Forcing–Feedback Framework Zhang et al. Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli ...6 days ago- Hate Speech law is unworkable
Make a submission to stop this mess being codified into law The Free Speech Union is urging people to make submissions to halt the proposal putforward by the Ministry of Justice for hate speech laws. The FSU state: “[T]he proposals put forward by the Ministry of Justice are dangerously vague ...6 days ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – How the Government has fuelled rampant increases in wealth
Jacinda Ardern’s household wealth increased by an estimated $290,000 over the last year. Although she earnt nearly half a million dollars from her job, her windfall was solely due to the value of her Auckland house increasing. And by her own policy designs, it’s a capital gain which is untaxed. ...7 days ago- Climate Change: The other Tiwai scam
Newsroom has a good piece this morning about the government's consultation on industrial free allocations, revealing that Fletcher Building is getting an extra $5 million a year ($7 million at today's prices) due to miscalculated carbon subsidies. That's bad, and it needs to be stopped by resetting emissions baselines to ...7 days ago- End the Tiwai scam
A little over a year ago, Rio Tinto was pleading povery, claiming its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter was unprofitable, and threatening to close it unless it got a government handout to keep it running. Their bluff worked, and we ended up paying the BluffGeld by giving them lower electricity prices ...7 days ago- Holes in the Tundra: Why Burping Cows Are the Least of Our Worries.
7 days ago- Piers Morgan – Arsehole of the Week
1 week ago- Climate change and tornadoes: Any connection?
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson Climate change may be the existential threat of our lives, yet when it comes to in-your-face weather, tornadoes are in a class of their own. Fortunately, human-warmed climate isn’t making violent U.S. tornadoes any more frequent. However, climate change may ...1 week ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Labour’s sacrificing of the poor
Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson like to think of themselves as leftwing politicians. So why aren’t they prioritising and championing the vulnerable at the bottom of society? Since Covid hit they have chosen economic policies that benefit the rich while pushing more into poverty. Increasing inequality was thrown into stark ...1 week ago- Climate Change: Just predatory delay again
Another day, another story arguing that climate change is Just Too Hard for farmers, and that they should be given more time to wait for a magic technological solution which will cut emissions while allowing them to continue doing exactly what they're doing at the moment. Today, the magic Technological ...1 week ago- A note on the “jihadi bride.”
I ruffled a few feathers by referring to Gerry Brownlee as a “buffoon” during a radio interview this week. The subject in question was the involuntary repatriation of Suharya Aden and her children to NZ after Australia cancelled her citizenship. Brownlee was blathering about her being a terrorist security threat, ...1 week ago- Militaries plunder science fiction for technology ideas, but turn a blind eye to the genre’s socia...
Will Slocombe, University of Liverpool Military planning is a complicated endeavour, calling upon experts in logistics and infrastructure to predict resource availability and technological advancements. Long-range military planning, deciding what to invest in now to prepare armed forces for the world in thirty years’ time, is even more difficult. ...1 week ago- Still the same question
The Independent Police Conduct authority has found another case where police used excessive force in making an arrest: A police officer broke a woman’s arm with a baton before dragging her out of her car by the hair following a chase. The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found the ...1 week ago- The Danger from the Extreme Right
Like other readers, no doubt, I recently experienced a “believe it or not” moment, when I read an account of a crowd at a recent Trump rally cheering the news that the US Women’s Football Team had been beaten at the Olympic Games. The reason for the cheering was, apparently, ...1 week ago- Aggressive marketing has driven the rise of the double-cab ute on New Zealand streets — time to hi...
Kirsty Wild, University of Auckland and Alistair Woodward, University of Auckland “Explore your inner beast.” That was the slogan used last year to sell the Ford Ranger. At 2.4 tonnes, that’s a lot of “light” truck, but the stakes are rising. This year, the 3.5 tonne Ram 1500 “eats ...1 week ago- Why calling ordinary Kiwi cyclists ‘elitist’ just doesn’t add up
Timothy Welch, University of Auckland Something strange has happened to the perception of cyclists and cycling in the more than 200 years they’ve been around. Once a novelty, bike riding has moved from being a critical transport mode to a children’s pastime to now being popularly perceived as an ...1 week ago- How do Olympic athletes stack up against invertebrates? Not very well
Caitlyn Forster, University of Sydney and Eliza Middleton, University of Sydney Olympians spend years training to be the best of the best. Scientists and sportspeople have spent decades researching the mechanics of the human body to ensure our elite athletes are always reaching higher, faster and stronger. But how ...1 week ago- Zebra Ethics: The Amazon Second Age Series and Lessons from Game of Thrones
Today I stumbled across a genuinely interesting reddit article, which looks at the (positive) influence Game of Thrones may have on the upcoming Amazon Tolkien series: https://www.reddit.com/r/LOTR_on_Prime/comments/oqvi81/amazons_the_lord_of_the_rings_show_going_got/ Essentially, the argument is that the framework of Tolkien’s Second Age material inherently lends itself to “Machiavellian Thriller” stories, rather than to ...1 week ago- The War over Sex and Gender: Kathleen Stock talks to the Free Speech Union
Speakeasy #1: Free Speech and the War over Sex and Gender from Free Speech Union on Vimeo. ...1 week ago- Why governments will have to consider the costs of long COVID when easing pandemic restrictions
Richard Meade, Auckland University of Technology With governments worldwide under pressure to ease pandemic restrictions as vaccination rates rise and impatience with border restrictions grows, new threats become clearer. One of the costliest, it is now feared, could be a tsunami of “long COVID” cases. Long COVID is a ...1 week ago- Taxpayers' Union gets destroyed
The Taxpayers’ Union scored another own goal yesterday when they decided to have a go at well-known journalist David Farrier (not to be confused with David Farrar) over Government funding he’d received to make a documentary.While that slinging match isn’t really worth reporting on, being that it was mainly just ...1 week ago- Gender-specific health programs address important issues, but risk creating new biases
Matthew Jenkins and Victoria Chinn, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Gone are the days when health programmes were designed to simply punish or reward people to encourage behaviour change. We now know lasting behaviour change is more complex and nuanced, and this has prompted a proliferation ...1 week ago- Fossil tooth fractures and microscopic detail of enamel offer new clues about human diet and evolut...
Ian Towle; Carolina Loch, and Thomas Loho, University of Auckland Teeth can tell us a lot about the evolution of prehistoric humans, and our latest study of one of our species’ close relatives may finally resolve a long-standing mystery. The genus Paranthropus is closely related to ours, Homo, ...1 week ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – “Year of the vaccine” at risk
A consensus is emerging that the Government has generally managed the Covid crisis very well over the last 18 months, but they have dropped the ball when it comes to the crucial vaccine rollout. This was nicely encapsulated in opinion polling last week showing that while 69 per cent of ...1 week ago- Profiteering politicians delegitimise parliament
Why aren't politicians interested in actually solving the housing crisis? Because virtually the entire political class is making massive profits from it: MPs have pocketed $50 million in capital gains from their property interests in the last year amid a growing housing affordability crisis, a Stuff analysis has found. ...1 week ago- Democracy wins in Samoa
Over three months ago Samoa had an election, in which the people voted out the incumbent Human Rights Protection Party and voted in the opposition FAST Party. The incumbent Human Rights Protection Party ignored the results and clung to power, hoping to get their patsy head of state to call ...1 week ago- Climate Change: The solution farmers don’t want us to talk about
RNZ this morning has a piece asking Can NZ really meet its methane emissions targets?. Posing it as a question like this frames it as difficult, more of the "but its too hard!" whine from farmers. But its not hard at all. Pretty obviously, we can meet methane reduction targets ...1 week ago- A Conversation That Never Happened.
1 week ago- Graham Adams: Parliament is in recess but Kris Faafoi is too busy to discuss proposals for hate-spee...
The Minister of Justice appears to have gone into hiding. Graham Adams provides an update on how the public debate on hate speech regulation is going, especially in terms of whether political opinion should or shouldn’t receive an exemption from new laws. It fell to RNZ to break the ...1 week ago- Engineering A Miracle: Can Judith Collins Reprise Rob Muldoon?
Miracle Worker? But Judith Collins and National cannot regain power by simply hoping for the worst. Elections are won by politicians like Rob Muldoon, who persuade the voters that the incumbent government is the worst choice.WAITING FOR THE MIRACLE, as Leonard Cohen observed, is an agonising test. Especially if its ...1 week ago- Hearing loss and social isolation – the silent burden
Feature image: this picture was chosen as it illustrates two elderly people in each other’s company. Tying in with the theme of hearing loss and social isolation, this depicts the importance of connection to each other and the world in which we live. Charlotte Gordon* Untreated hearing loss is a ...1 week ago- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #30
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 18, 2021 through Sat, July 24, 2021 The following articles sparked above average interest during the week: Extreme rainfall in China: over 25 inches falls in 24 hours, leaving 33 dead, As scientists have ...1 week ago- Capitalists in Space
. . Billionaire Richard Branson did it. Also-billionaire, Jeff Bezos, did it. Both will be the first money-hoarders into space (or sub-orbital near-space, to be more specific). Also-also-billionaire, Elon Musk – not content with sub-orbital ‘jaunts’ – has expressed a desire to go Full Interplanetary and personally colonise Mars. Meanwhile, ...1 week ago - The Adventures of Annalax: Volume XXVI
- How the TIA helped three Kiwi mums into careers
As we secure our recovery from COVID-19, we’re helping more Kiwis get the skills they need for work. The Training Incentive Allowance, which supports people into training or to transition into new careers, is one way we’re doing this. We chatted with three people who know first-hand the difference this ...22 hours ago - Green Party welcomes conversion therapy prohibition bill
The Green Party welcomes the announcement by Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi to introduce a bill to prohibit conversion therapy used against Rainbow communities. ...6 days ago - Green Party welcomes Commerce Commission’s draft findings, cautions against wait and hope solution...The Green Party welcomes the findings of the Commerce Commission’s report on competition in the retail grocery sector, which takes aim at the duopoly formed by Woolworths NZ and Foodstuffs. ...7 days ago
- Building back betterIt’s a three-week recess in Parliament – so, no bills are going through the House and no select committees are meeting. But the hard work of our ministers continues, and many of our MPs are back in their electorates, taking the opportunity to meet with local communities and businesses about ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for a Warrant of Fitness for rental homesThe Green Party is launching a petition today calling on the Government’s Healthy Homes Standards to be backed up with a proper Warrant of Fitness (WoF) for rental homes. ...2 weeks ago
- Foreign Minister to take part in ASEAN-related meetings
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will today begin a suite of meetings with her ASEAN and East Asia Summit counterparts, starting with the 11th East Asia Summit (EAS) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting tonight. That will be followed by the ASEAN-New Zealand Ministerial Meeting on Thursday 5 August and the 28th ASEAN Regional ...11 hours ago - Arts and heritage venues get helping handA new round of funding to support capital projects will help keep our arts and heritage sector alive and vibrant, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan announced today. “Communities work hard to raise funds for arts, culture and heritage related capital projects as they add significant value ...16 hours ago
- Foreign Ministers welcome opening of New Zealand High Commission in ColomboNew Zealand and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministers, Nanaia Mahuta and Dinesh Gunawardena, have welcomed the opening of the New Zealand High Commission in Colombo next week. The Foreign Ministers, who met virtually yesterday, spoke about the opening of the High Commission as a major milestone in the bilateral relationship. Both ...16 hours ago
- New Zealand to increase NZDF commitment to the United Nations Command, Republic of KoreaThe New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) will deploy three additional personnel to the Republic of Korea, increasing the size of its contribution to the United Nations Command and its Military Armistice Commission from nine to 12 personnel. “Increasing the size of our deployment to the Republic of Korea ...19 hours ago
- Wages up, unemployment downThe Government’s efforts to secure the recovery has seen more Kiwis in jobs and higher wages, with unemployment falling to pre-COVID levels and more people in work. Stats NZ figures show unemployment rate fell to 4 percent in the June quarter from 4.6 percent in the March quarter, the lowest ...20 hours ago
- Poroporoaki: Dr Kihi Ngatai OSMMauao tiketike tūmokemoke mai ana ra koe, papakitia ana e ngā tai kawenga roimata o te motu. E Ngāti Ranginui, mo tō manuhuia kua tīkapea i te rangi. E Ngai Te Rangi, mo tō manutaki kua riro i te hau o Aitū kikini, E Ngāti Pukenga mo tō manutaiko, kua ...21 hours ago
- Government support screen industry with funding for sound stages in West AucklandAuckland Film Studios in West Auckland has received funding for a major expansion through the Government’s Infrastructure Reference Group’s (IRG) COVID-19 Response Fund. The Government is investing $30 million of a total $35 million project to construct two 2,000sqm sound stages and development of further workshops and offices, to expand ...2 days ago
- Protecting unique land for generation nextThe Government is boosting legal protection for critically important natural habitats on private land, Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan says. “An $8 million investment over four years will see Queen Elizabeth II National Trust Ngā Kairauhī Papa (QEII) work with government agencies, councils and others to provide legal protection of ...2 days ago
- New Zealand’s support for Fiji’s COVID-19 response continues with vaccine delivery, operational ...Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced further support for Fiji, including funding support for nursing staff and 100,000 doses of vaccines due to arrive in country today. “Our thoughts remain with Fiji during this incredibly challenging period,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “New Zealand has funded 100,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine ...2 days ago
- Poroporoaki: Dr Hōhepa (Joe) MasonKo koe tēnā e te hurumanu e Hōhepa, te tōwenetanga a te iti, te māpihi herenga mahara o te tini, ka tauawhi tonuhia koe e to iwi ki te uma pupuri ai. Me pēhea he kupu kia koutou kua puta i nga ākinga a nga tau kua hori, kua waia ...2 days ago
- Finance Minister and RBNZ Governor agree to update MOU on macro-prudential policyFinance Minister Grant Robertson and Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr have updated the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on macro-prudential policy to further protect the financial system and support the Government’s housing objectives. “This change will ensure that the Reserve Bank has the flexibility to respond to emerging financial stability risks ...2 days ago
- Government commits further assistance for drought and flood-affected rural communitiesFarmers and growers affected by this year’s drought or floods in Marlborough, Tasman, West Coat, Canterbury, Otago and the Chatham Islands will have access to Rural Assistance Payments (RAPs) from today, Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni has announced. “The Government is committed to easing the financial pressures on ...3 days ago
- Cook Islands youth lead Language WeekThe Cook Islands Language Week theme for 2021 highlights the vital role language plays in maintaining young people’s links to their Pacific home, said Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio. “The Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki ‘Āirani – Cook Islands Language Week – theme is ‘Ātuitui’ia au ki ...3 days ago
- Government offers formal apology for Dawn RaidsA formal and unreserved apology for the Dawn Raids The Government will offer education scholarships as part of the apology Manaaki New Zealand Short Term Scholarship Training courses Support Pacific artists and historians to develop a comprehensive written and oral account of the Dawn Raids Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has ...4 days ago
- Speech to Dawn Raids ApologyTēnā koutou katoa, Kia orana kotou katoatoa, Fakaalofa lahi atu ki mutolu oti, Tālofa nī, Mālō nī koutou, Ni sa bula vinaka, Fakatalofa atu, Noa'ia 'e mauri, Kam na mauri, Malo e lelei, Sioto'ofa, Mālō lava le lagi e mamā ma le soifua maua, Oue tulou, tulou atu, tulouna lava ...4 days ago
- Bridging the gap – last piece of Northcote Safe Cycle Route now completeThe opening of two bridges over Auckland’s Northern Motorway is the last link of a cycling and walking route which provides a safe, active alternative for students and commuters, Transport Minister Michael Wood said today. Michael Wood cut the ribbon for the completion of the Northcote Safe Cycle Route, at ...4 days ago
- Progress in establishment of Aged Care CommissionerRecruitment for an Aged Care Commissioner will start next month, to ensure greater oversight of New Zealand’s aged care sector. “This sector is responsible for supporting a large and often vulnerable population. While most people are able to access quality care, there have been cases where that care has fallen ...5 days ago
- New record number of homes consentedIn the year ended June 2021, the actual number of new dwellings consented was 44,299, up 18 percent from the June 2020 year. In June 2021, the seasonally adjusted number of new dwellings consented rose 3.8 percent. In June 2021, 4,310 new dwellings were consented, an increase of 3.8 per ...6 days ago
- Communities backed to tackle wilding pinesTwelve community projects across New Zealand will receive a share of $2 million to carry out wilding pine control, Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor announced as part of Biosecurity Week. “Wilding pines are a serious problem that threaten many of the unique landscapes that New Zealanders value. Community groups and trusts ...6 days ago
- Health Minister Andrew Little responding to the New Zealand Nurses Organisation's rejection of ...I was advised last night that the result of the ballot of Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa New Zealand Nurses Organisation members have rejected the latest proposal to settle their collective agreement. Let me be clear: the proposal was one they put to the Government. The Nurses Organisation rejected their ...6 days ago
- Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation introduced to ParliamentLegislation has been introduced to Parliament to protect against practices intended to change or suppress someone’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. Introducing the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, Minister of Justice, Kris Faafoi, said the measures proposed were aimed at ending conversion practices which don’t work, are widely ...6 days ago
- New kaupapa Māori mental health and addiction services to support people in central North IslandNew mental health and addiction services rolling out across the central North Island will improve outcomes and equity for Māori, Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) Peeni Henare says. Today the Minister met with providers of the new kaupapa Māori primary mental health and addiction service, Poutama Ora, which will ...6 days ago
- New school site for booming West AucklandThe Government will build on a new school site in West Auckland to cope with rapid population growth in the area, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. The Ministry is working with existing local schools to determine how the 1.5-hectare site at 279 Hobsonville Point Road will be used to support ...6 days ago
- Trans-Tasman travel window to close at midnight tomorrowA further 500 MIQ rooms released for managed returnees from NSW Further Government actions announced today are balanced to provide more certainty for Kiwis wanting to return from Australia, while continuing to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, acting Minister for COVID-19 Response Ayesha Verrall says. The actions were foreshadowed last ...7 days ago
- Govt investing millions in Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti schoolsNapier Boys’ and Girls’ High Schools are among those set to benefit from a $16.5 million investment in the Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti region, Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash announced today. The Government has set aside money in Budget 2021 to accelerate five projects in Napier, Hastings, Havelock North ...7 days ago
- Game changing Jobs for Nature investment for NorthlandConservation Minister Kiri Allan has announced Jobs for Nature funding for a portfolio of projects that will create ‘game changing’ gains for nature and communities across Northland/Te Tai Tokerau as part of the Government’s acceleration of the economic recovery from COVID. “This portfolio of 12 projects will see over $20 ...7 days ago
- Third COVID-19 vaccine receives provisional approvalNew Zealand’s regulatory authority Medsafe has granted provisional approval of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older, Acting Minister for COVID-19 Response Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. New Zealand secured 7.6 million doses (enough for 3.8 million people) of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through an ...7 days ago
- Bowel-cancer screening programme is saving livesMore than 1000 New Zealanders have had bowel cancer – New Zealand’s second-most-common cause of death from cancer - detected under the Government’s National Bowel Screening Programme, Health Minister Andrew Little said today. More than 1200 New Zealanders died from bowel cancer in 2017. The screening programme aims to save ...7 days ago
- Govt welcomes draft report on the retail grocery sectorThe Commerce Commission’s draft report into the retail grocery sector is being welcomed by Government as a major milestone. “I asked the Commerce Commission to look at whether this sector is as competitive as it could be and today it has released its draft report for consultation,” Commerce and Consumer ...7 days ago
- Christchurch’s Youth Hub ‘set to go’ thanks to further Government fundingConstruction of New Zealand’s first, purpose-built centre for youth well-being is ready to get underway thanks to an extra $2.5 million of COVID-19 response funding, Housing Minister and Associate Minister of Finance, Megan Woods announced today. “The Christchurch Youth Hub is about bringing together all the things young people need ...7 days ago
- Next step to protect Milford Sound PiopiotahiExpert group lays out plan to better protect iconic UNESCO World Heritage site Milford Sound Piopiotahi and its surrounds Funding confirmed for dedicated unit and Establishment Board to assess the recommendations and provide oversight of the process from here Milford Opportunities Project a test case for transformational change in tourism ...1 week ago
- Funding for projects to reduce waste from construction and demolitionThe Government has announced funding for projects in Auckland and the lower North Island to help reduce construction and demolition waste. “Construction is the main source of waste sent to landfill, and much of this could be reduced, reused and recovered,” Environment Minister David Parker said. “The Government is funding ...1 week ago
- Speech at the launch of the National Hepatitis C Action PlanTēnā koutou katoa. Thank you Anglesea Pharmacy and Te Manawa Taki for hosting this event. As a doctor, I saw first hand the impact of hepatitis C. I met Moana in 2019; she came to the infectious diseases outpatient clinic at Wellington Hospital having tested positive for hepatitis C. Like ...1 week ago
- Plan to eliminate hepatitis C as a major health threat by 2030A plan to eliminate hepatitis C in New Zealand, reducing liver cancer and the need for liver transplants, has been released today by Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall. “Around 45,000 New Zealanders have hepatitis C, but only around half know they have it,” said Ayesha Verrall. “Symptoms often ...1 week ago
- School upgrades and new classrooms for West Coast, Tasman and CanterburyA funding injection from Budget 2021 to complete four shovel ready projects and new classrooms at six schools and kura will provide a real boost to local communities, Minister Dr Megan Woods announced today. “This Government has committed to providing quality fit for purpose learning environments and 100,000 new student ...1 week ago
- Warmer Kiwi Homes smashes annual targetThe Government's highly successful insulation and heating programme, Warmer Kiwi Homes, is celebrating a key milestone with the completion of more than 38,000 insulation and efficient heater installs in the year to the end of June, smashing its target of 25,000 installs for the year. “The Warmer Kiwi Homes scheme ...1 week ago
- Exemption granted for Wallabies to enter NZBledisloe Cup rugby will be played in New Zealand after the Australian rugby team received an economic exemption to enter New Zealand. Travel between Australia and New Zealand was suspended on Friday for at least eight weeks following the worsening of the COVID outbreak across the Tasman. New Zealanders have ...1 week ago
- Minister of Foreign Affairs makes three diplomatic appointmentsForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today announced three New Zealand Head of Mission appointments. They are: Mike Walsh as Ambassador to Iran Michael Upton as Ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union Kevin Burnett as Ambassador to Indonesia Iran “Aotearoa New Zealand has a long-standing and constructive relationship with Iran, despite a ...1 week ago
- Enhanced Task Force Green Approved for West Coast and MarlboroughThe Government has activated Enhanced Task Force Green (ETFG) in response to the West Coast and Marlborough floods, Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “To assist with the clean-up, up to $500,000 will be made available to support the recovery in Buller and Marlborough which has experienced ...1 week ago
- Govt support for upgrade of Eden Park players facilitiesMinister for Sport and Recreation Hon Grant Robertson has announced funding to upgrade the players facilities at Eden Park ahead of upcoming Women’s World Cup events. Eden Park is a confirmed venue for the Rugby World Cup 2021, the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, and a proposed venue for matches of ...1 week ago
- Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 5 August
Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...2 hours ago - Newsroom daily crossword, Thursday 5 August
...2 hours ago - Why even ‘wealthy’ New Zealanders are avoiding the dentist
It’s no surprise that poorer New Zealanders aren’t seeking dental treatment when they need it. But what about those who live in the country’s most prestigious suburbs? If you own a house in Takapuna, one of Auckland’s hottest housing markets, you’re sitting on a property that’s worth more than a million ...2 hours ago - I really want to move to Wellington, but Wellington is making it really hardLaura Walters always intended to head for Wellington, a city she loves, when she moved back to New Zealand. But the reality is proving challenging. I’ve been trying to get excited about moving back to the city that for so long lived up to its status as the coolest little capital. Now, ...2 hours ago
- How skipper Sulu has revived the Mystics
Mystics captain Sulu Fitzpatrick has been the driving force in her netball side's success this season. As they go into the national league's grand final this weekend, those closest to her share why when Fitzpatrick leads, you can’t help but follow. If you’re wondering what’s been the key to the ...2 hours ago - No place for cars in cities of the future
We cannot know exactly how a sustainable city will look and function. But we do know we can't get there by continuing to rely on the personal car. Comment: No one knows what the world will look like in a generation. The cities our parents and grandparents grew up in are, in ...2 hours ago - Couples split by immigration raise money to go to court
Families split by tightening of immigration and border restrictions are calling for a review of partnership visa criteria Adam Gibbons hasn’t seen his fiancée for almost 18 months, and he’s yet to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s why he was outside Parliament on Monday, ...2 hours ago - What's behind NZ's slow vaccine rollout?
The greatest obstacle to a speedy rollout in NZ is supply and the Government can't tell us why. ...2 hours ago - Mystery delay to National Party donations trial
Almost three years after a rogue National politician raised concerns about donations to the party, and just a month before the MP himself and others were due to face trial over the claims, proceedings have been mysteriously delayed The long-awaited trial of former MP Jami-Lee Ross and three others accused ...2 hours ago - Book of the Week: Auckland rhapsody
It's powerful and heartbreaking, but is it a novel or for real? The front cover of Rosetta Allan’s third novel, Crazy Love, features a Warholesque photograph of a gaunt young man sitting against a concrete wall. On the back cover, we learn he is a fictional character called Billy. In ...2 hours ago - ACT can drag National back to viability
Two poll results give faint hope to a political party now listless and languishing. National needs to sort out first what it stands for, then choose the leader best suited to selling that message to NZ, writes Peter Dunne. ...2 hours ago - Home owners fix mortgage rates as employment strengthens
With wages rising and employment strengthening, all eyes are on the Reserve Bank to hike interest rates ...2 hours ago - Banning conversion therapy
We don't know how much of it is going on, but we're going to ban it anyway. How necessary is conversion therapy legislation, and could fish hooks in the wording trip parents up? Late last month the Government unveiled long-awaited legislation which would ban conversion practices - so-called 'gay conversion therapy' ...2 hours ago - We need to start vaccinating people in their 20s and 30s, according to the Doherty modelling. An epi...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Bennett, Chair in Epidemiology, Deakin University Lukas Coch/AAP Last week the federal government announced 70% of over-16s would need to be vaccinated for COVID-19 restrictions to be eased. And this week, Melbourne’s Doherty Institute published the modelling informing this. ...9 hours ago - Prime Minister turns down cameo on RuPaul's Drag Race series
The Prime Minister turned down a chance to star in RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under as a guest judge. ...10 hours ago - Politics with Michelle Grattan: Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers on promoting vaccine uptake and a ‘m...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the lead up to the 2019 election, the Shorten opposition attacked the government’s planned 2024 tax cuts, and promised to curb negative gearing and halve the capital gains tax discount. Last week, the Albanese ...10 hours ago
- Cash or freedoms: what will work in the race to get Australia vaccinated against COVID-19?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Scott, Professor, The University of Melbourne The race to vaccinate Australians is heating up as the supply of vaccines starts to increase and lockdowns continue. Labor this week suggested a A$300 cash payment for people fully vaccinated by December. Meanwhile, ...12 hours ago
- Would a $300 vaccination payment work? There are reasons to doubt itSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Crosby, Professor, Monash University photopixel/Shutterstock If the proposed A$300 payment to each Australian who is fully vaccinated works, it might be at the expense of getting Australians hooked on incentives, and there are reasons to think it might not ...12 hours ago
- Tiwai Point: Latest document release reveals government concerns about Rio TintoNewly released documents show officials believed Rio Tinto wanted to sideline the clean-up of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. ...13 hours ago
- RIP, Bernadino – you were disgusting and we loved youAs the news breaks that the spew-inducing spumante of her youth is being discontinued, Emily Writes reflects on the end of an era.This post was first published on Emily Writes Weekly.The year is 2001. You’re wearing a denim mini from Glassons with the waistband cut off so you look like Mariah ...15 hours ago
- Mungo ancestral remains reburial proposal disrespects the Elders’ original visionSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Westaway, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland Gilberto Olimpio/Unsplash, CC BY Plans are underway to rebury the remains of more than 100 Aboriginal people, including the remains of Mungo Man and ...15 hours ago
- Could drinking 6 cups of coffee a day shrink your brain and increase dementia risk?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lachlan Van Schaik, PhD candidate, School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, La Trobe University Shutterstock Research Checks interrogate newly published studies and how they’re reported in the media. The analysis is undertaken by one or more academics not involved with ...15 hours ago
- ‘I don’t think the police would do much’: new research shows racism during COVID is rarely rep...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alanna Kamp, Lecturer in Geography and Urban Studies, Western Sydney University Shutterstock It’s not “new” news that Asian Australians are experiencing high rates of racism during the pandemic. However, existing data under-represent the true extent of COVID-related racism. The vast ...16 hours ago
- Port worker vaccinations: 'A disproportionate uptake of misinformation'Misinformation has kept 44 percent of port workers from getting even a single dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Minister Chris Hipkins says. ...16 hours ago
- Are there any weak links in New Zealand’s food chain?For the final episode of this season of Conversations That Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, we discuss the function, the friction and the potential futures of our food supply systems.Follow Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider. Over the past ...16 hours ago
- Covid-19 vaccine update: Two million doses administered in New ZealandTwo million doses of the Pfizer vaccine have been given in NZ, with the Covid-19 Response Minister saying the pandemic is not coming to an end and it is important to keep the virus out of this country. ...17 hours ago
- More People Employed – Now Wages Need To Rise
"The news that the number of people who are unemployed has decreased to pre-covid level of 4% is welcomed by the Council of Trade Unions", said CTU Economist and Director of Policy Craig Renney. "The labour market now looks as if it has ...17 hours ago - ‘A culture of acceptance of misconduct’: The MediaWorks review, explainedMaria Dew QC’s independent report on conduct and culture at the radio and outdoor advertising company was published today. Here’s what you need to know.What’s the tldr on the report?Six allegations of sexual assault were heard. Experiences of bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimation and bias on racial and gender grounds ...17 hours ago
- ‘Dancing ghosts’: a new, deeper scan of the sky throws up surprises for astronomersSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Norris, Professor, School of Science, Western Sydney University Jayanne English/EMU/Dark Energy Survey Scanning through data fresh off the telescope, we saw two ghosts dancing deep in the cosmos. We had never seen anything like it before, and we had ...18 hours ago
- Why we should share our vaccinesThis month, 7.4 million AstraZeneca doses will arrive in NZ. We should give them away, says Jo Spratt of Oxfam Aotearoa.Three weeks ago our prime minister chaired an extraordinary Apec session focused on the coronavirus pandemic, declaring at its conclusion that “our discussions moved us beyond vaccine nationalism”. This government ...18 hours ago
- Robertson relishes the patsy questions – when the Opposition quiz him, he is not quite so ebullien...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson can’t resist seeing the sunny side of the economy. When Parliament resumed this week, he was first up at question time to tell New Zealanders that – thanks to a strong export performance – the economic recovery is going well. But Robertson didn’t sound quite so ...18 hours ago - Aucklanders will fund the expansion of the screen industry as ratepayers (via their city council) an...Aucklanders will be chuffed to learn the film studios they own as ratepayers are to be given a share of the millions of dollars the government is eager to pour into the film industry. Mind you, they mightn’t be so chuffed to learn they will be financing the expansion of ...18 hours ago
- Watch live: Chris Hipkins, Megan Main give Covid-19 and vaccine updateCovid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins and joint head of Managed Isolation and Quarantine Megan Main are giving a coronavirus and vaccine update. ...18 hours ago
- CTU Urges Government To Focus On Resolving Industrial Dispute With NursesThe Council of Trade Unions is calling on the Government and Minister of Health, Hon Andrew Little, to focus on finding a solution to the current dispute with our nation’s nurses and their union, the New Zealand Nurses Organisation. "We ...18 hours ago
- Update: Petition To Ban Greyhound Racing Handover Event Has MovedThe handover event for the petition to ban greyhound racing has moved to outside the Parliamentary Library building. The event is scheduled to begin at 1pm today. SAFE and the Greyhound Protection League are delivering their 37,000 strong petition ...19 hours ago
- Lucy Blakiston’s repressed first phone memoriesThe Shit You Should Care About co-founder tells us about being the subject of high school gossip, being followed by Ariana Grande, her first phone and more in this week’s episode of FIRST.When the Shit You Should Care About Instagram went from 200,000 to a million followers in a month, ...19 hours ago
- Effects Of COVID-19 On Trade: At 28 July 2021 (provisional)Effects of COVID-19 on trade is a weekly update on New Zealand’s daily goods trade with the world. Comparing the values with previous years shows the potential impacts of COVID-19. The data is provisional and should be regarded as an early, indicative ...19 hours ago
- Auckland’s pint-sized pancake palace farewells the CBDLast week, Auckland’s much-loved hole-in-the-wall Korean pancake store closed its doors for the last time. But even after 20 years in the business, its owners aren’t ready to call it quits just yet. If there was ever a doubt about No. 1 Pancake’s popularity, the hour-long queue on its final day ...19 hours ago
- Sharp Falls In Unemployment And UnderutilisationThe seasonally adjusted unemployment and underutilisation rates fell to 4.0 and 10.5 percent, respectively, in the June 2021 quarter, Stats NZ said today. The unemployment rate continued to fall from its recent peak of 5.3 percent in the September 2020 ...20 hours ago
- More Than 10,000 New Zealanders Submit Against Proposed “Hate Speech” ChangesThe Kiwi public has responded loud and clear to the Government’s questions raised in the consultation document on proposed hate speech changes: they don’t want the Government policing their speech, says Jonathan Ayling, Campaign Manager for the ...21 hours ago
- Pacific Island Workers Welcome, But What About Those Already Here?EMA Chief Executive Brett O’Riley is calling for the Government to declare an overstayer amnesty alongside allowing more RSE workers from the Pacific Islands to come here quarantine-free from next month. "We know a large proportion of those ...21 hours ago
- Feds Heartened By QEII Funding BoostFederated Farmers is relieved to see the government put more money towards the Queen Elizabeth II Trust, to help landowner endeavours to protect and enhance areas of special native biodiversity on privately owned land. Conservation Minister Kiri Allan ...21 hours ago
- Giant bird-eating centipedes exist — and they’re surprisingly important for their ecosystemSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Halpin, Ecologist, Monash University Giant bird-eating centipedes may sound like something out of a science-fiction film — but they’re not. On tiny Phillip Island, part of the South Pacific’s Norfolk Island group, the Phillip Island centipede (Cormocephalus coynei) population can kill ...21 hours ago
- Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Radical reform coming to a supermarket near youAnalysis by Bryce Edwards. Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. The supermarket sector is finally about to receive some serious government intervention. Following a scathing report from the Commerce Commission, it’s now almost inevitable that the Labour Government is going to have to introduce some major changes to this vital but ...22 hours ago
- Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – August 4 2021Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s content Housing Bernard Hickey: Here’s all the levers the Govt is not pulling to fix ...22 hours ago
- National Party leader Judith Collins 'very happy' to call the country AotearoaJudith Collins says she is "very happy" calling the country Aotearoa and personally, is relaxed about the name. ...22 hours ago
- Church Leaders Encouraged To Tackle Rising Porn Use In Their CongregationsUK Charity, the Naked Truth Project, are tackling the damaging social and relational impact of pornography addiction within communities through releasing tickets at the weekend to an online international conference; P-Word, designed to equip churches ...22 hours ago
- 'Way too many hoops': First Home Grant payouts fall shortThe number of first home grants paid out this year is on track to be the lowest since the scheme began in 2014. ...22 hours ago
- Why Olympic skateboarding is a crime (sort of)The activity to which Max Olijnyk has devoted much of his life has been given the ultimate mainstream seal of approval, and it cuts both ways.Last Monday, I sat in Wellington Regional Hospital with our new baby on my lap and watched the first ever women’s street skateboarding event at ...22 hours ago
- Covid-19: Wellington health officials say vaccination schedule on trackWellington's district health board says the region will finish Covid-19 vaccinations by the end of the year, and an earlier projection it would take until February 2022 is out of date. ...22 hours ago
- I’m training to become Australia’s first woman astronaut. Here’s what it takesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Ellis Hayes, Senior Lecturer in Space Research & Law / In training as Suborbital Spaceflight PoSSUM Astronaut Candidate Graduate, Swinburne University of Technology Me (top, third from right) with others from the International Space University, in front of the Shuttle Atlantis ...23 hours ago
- Pacific nations grapple with COVID’s terrible toll and the desperate need for vaccinesSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patricia A. O’Brien, Visiting Fellow, School of History, Australian National University, and Adjunct Professor, Asian Studies Program, Georgetown University Fiji now heads the grim list of Pacific nations counting their dead from coronavirus, having just passed Papua New Guinea’s toll. So far, ...23 hours ago
- COVID vaccines offer the pharma industry a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset its reputation....Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ray Moynihan, Assistant Professor, Bond University Elsa Olofsson/Unsplash Just weeks before the first COVID-19 cases emerged, Gallup published its latest poll on America’s views about business. At the bottom of the list of 25 sectors was the pharmaceutical industry. Below ...23 hours ago
- Vineyard tourism is a big source of carbon emissions. Want to help? Then buy more wineSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ya-Yen Sun, Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland Shutterstock In a non-COVID year, Australia’s vineyards host more than eight million wine tourists. While these visitors benefit wine producers and regional communities, they also generate a substantial amount of greenhouse gases. ...23 hours ago
- The Hiroshima Panels are a remarkable artistic exploration of traumaSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Hartley, Honorary Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland XIV Crows (からす) by Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, 1972 Courtesy the Maruki Gallery On August 6, 1945, the US military obliterated Hiroshima with the world’s first deployed nuclear bomb. Several days later, ...23 hours ago
- Live updates, August 4: Wellington expected to miss end of year deadline for vaccinationsWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for August 4, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz8.00am: Wellington expected to miss end of year deadline for vaccinationsThe government’s goal to offer every New Zealander a Covid-19 vaccine before the end of the year may ...23 hours ago
- The controversial Facebook page that made Bruce Smith king of the CoastWestland mayor Bruce Smith has become an unusually prominent political influencer through a Facebook page he runs. But is it all above board? Alex Braae gives him a call. If you wanted to know what was going on in Whanganui around the 1860s, a great place to start would be reading ...23 hours ago
- Seasonal worker exemption ‘insult to injury’ for overstayers
Migrant advocates are calling for an amnesty for overstayers in the wake of a Dawn Raid apology which lacked clear promises A step in the right direction, but missing a crucial ingredient - that’s how advocates for migrants’ rights describe the Government's apology for the Dawn Raids. The missing ingredient is ...24 hours ago - The Bulletin: What the new lending restrictions meanGood morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What the new lending restrictions mean, major leaky buildings class action ends abruptly, and farmers cop warnings from labour inspectorate over breaches.An MOU has been signed between the Reserve Bank and finance minister, giving the RBNZ new powers to restrict ...24 hours ago
- Let’s choose our words more carefully when discussing mātauranga Māori and scienceSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emily Parke, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Auckland www.shutterstock.com Responding to the recent controversy over mātauranga Māori and the letter he co-authored titled “In defence of science”, Emeritus Professor Michael Corballis said: “We don’t know any Māori who knows ...24 hours ago
- Tuatara are ancient, slow and endangered. But their super speedy sperm could boost conservation effo...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Lamar, PhD Researcher, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Shutterstock/Rudmer Zwerver New Zealand’s endemic tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) are the sole survivors of an ancient reptile order called Rhynchocephalia. Once widespread across New Zealand, tuatara survive in only ...24 hours ago
- Covid-19: Wellington region will be vaccinating until February 2022 – officialsWellington health officials have told the government they won't meet its preferred deadline and will still be vaccinating people against Covid-19 until late February next year. ...1 day ago
- In a corner of Canterbury, poor protection starts to bite
Two reports released in the last week suggest environmental chickens are coming home to roost. David Williams reports Eight years ago, at a Wellington conference called Valuing Nature, Victoria University of Wellington professor Jonathan Boston pointed out some glaring contradictions – and issued a warning. The John Key-led government of ...1 day ago - Newsroom daily crossword, Wednesday 4 August
...1 day ago - Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 4 August
Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...1 day ago - O for goodness sake. New Zealand owes David Tua a grovelling apologyFor nearly 30 years the boxer and Olympic medalist David Tua has been ridiculed for something he says he never said. Why has the nation never listened? George Driver writes.“O for awesome.”It is one of the most renowned quotes in Kiwi history. One letter and two words that changed a ...1 day ago
- The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: Locked outRich and poor, young and old, renters and landlords: sometimes it feels like there are parallel versions of our country. In 2021, Toby Morris’s Side Eye is exploring this theme in the series Two New Zealands. Whether it’s the wealth gap, generation gap, the rural-urban contrast, the different ways Māori ...1 day ago
- Coastal landfills are no match for rising seas
This story originally appeared in The Nation and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story As sea levels rise, the landfills along the US coasts have become a ticking environmental time bomb. So why does the federal ...1 day ago - Making Auckland's waterfront wondrous
Hundreds of millions has been poured into developing Auckland's waterfront, and there's more mega-funding to come. Is it being spent in the right place? Plans for Auckland's first new central city park in 100 years will shortly go to the council for approval. Those plans involve spending $300 million on ...1 day ago - Jess Berentson-Shaw: There's something rotten in the state of supermarkets
Kiwis are being gaslit about our health on a grand scale by people in the food industry and those in politics who help them by flying the ‘personal responsibility’ flag, writes Jess Berentson-Shaw. ...1 day ago - What's eating Kris Faafoi?
Once a shining star of Cabinet, Kris Faafoi has gone to ground as pressure mounts in his immigration and justice portfolios. ...1 day ago - Companies survive Covid – but close in the so-called recovery
New data shows increasing numbers of companies defaulting on their debts as interest rates and supply pressures rise ...1 day ago - Falcons, a love story
Pictures of awesome cars in an illustrated book on Ford Falcons Falcons were assembled in New Zealand from CKD packs, while the more specialised models, such as the GTs, were imported as complete cars. They were available in multiple body styles. They were affordable to purchase, and to repair and ...1 day ago - Time for cohousing to go mainstream
Cohousing has long been associated with 'alternative lifestyles'. But, as Mark Jennings writes, the model could increase the supply of affordable, high-quality homes in a housing market in crisis. ...1 day ago - Open season again for Indonesian military trolls and ‘fake news’ campaign on West PapuaSPECIAL REPORT: By David Robie It is open season again for Indonesian trolls targeting Asia Pacific Report and other media with fake news and disinformation dispatches in a crude attempt to gloss over human rights violations. Just three months ago I wrote about this issue in my “Dear editor” article ...1 day ago
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