‘Controversial application to pull millions of litres a day from Blue Spring withdrawn’
The company behind a controversial application to take 6.9 million litres of water a day from Putaruru’s Blue Spring to send offshore has withdrawn its application.
The company, owned by a majority of overseas investors, had ambitions to be the largest bottling plant in the Southern Hemisphere and applied for a 15-year consent with the hope of opening the bottling plant by 2019.’
Does anyone know the name of this company?
Oravida?
Coca Cola?
Nongfu Spring?
Turns out that Blue Water Springs is owned by a trust which is in turn owned by WALKER DAVEY SEARELLS LIMITED.
Share holder listings of said company are a bunch of people from canterbury by the looks of it, and if you go even deeper those people appear to have their fingers in many pies.
Looks like they’ve abandoned their latest get rich quick scheme, good job, sick of dodgy dealings like the water exporting, the current laws surrounding it are criminal.
That is actually quite a thoughtful piece from Simon Wilson on The Spinoff. The Herald have repackaged it with a headline more in keeping with the editorial line they taken since the election. if you read through the article it actually takes a pretty different tack than the headline would suggest.
Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
I think that the best the left can hope for is Lab/NZFirst and the Greens doing C & S but thats a very long shot
By crikey, chris73 is right; it almost does seem like it was a done deal from the get go!!!! I too am more confident!!!! ‘Cause the talks!!! They’re going on longer!!!! Yeah, the best the left can hope for, even hope for when hoping real hard is you know, A VERY LONG SHOT!!!
Crikey!!! Got to say!!! Cheers Chris73. Keep your chin up!
Well one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong but I promise that I’ll be humble in victory…well until someone from the left posts something mean
Considering the back and forth negotiations between NZF and Nats and Labour: I’m thinking that Labour is pushing on NZF so that an NZF-Nat government will have to include a lot of the policies that are shared between NZF & Labour.
Then, once in government, if the Nats try to pull back, there will always be the possibility of NZF voting with Labour and the GP against the Nats.
So, a Nat-NZF government could be good for the left in the medium to long term.
…it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
Well, duh. The people who voted NZ First imagining they were voting for a change of government have to be the most self-delusional voters in the country.
“Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go”
That is what I have been saying for ages – well before the election.
Yeh! Rain on the roof tonight.
Been awhile…. was thinking it might be heading for a la nina summer…. so Great to get some juice in the tank before hand!
Probably because there are much much more cars on the road than in 2014. I read somewhere that there were in excess of 150,000 more registered cars this year than last and I know new and used sales have been through the roof in the last 3-5 years. So its not really surprising.
Speaking of police and road tolls… this year has seen a huge jump in deaths during police pursuits.
2008 was the highest with 6 deaths, this year we are at 16 deaths so far.
My contribution is this: lowering the alcohol limit was another cynical cheap manoeuvre by the Govt to make it look like they were doing something. The stats they used were all bullshit, because if you checked out the places they took the stats from, the accidents never lowered in number after the change of alcohol limit. In all those countries they also increased the number of checkpoints. It was that increase in checkpoints that brought about the lower accident rates, not the change in alcohol limit.
Good old NZ has not only lowered the alcohol limits: by underfunding the Police, NZ has also lowered the number of alcohol checkpoints for drivers.
How bloody stupid can any one country get?
We know that there have been fewer checkpoints – those stats have been released.
When will they release the stats about alcohol in relation to fatalities? I bet alcohol has not diminished as a factor. It has probably increased. That would be such a surprise, but it will probably be brushed under the carpet rather than publicised.
I don’t pretend to know the outcome of these so-called negotiations but with comments from Peters such as “For months and months, in fact for years, they all campaigned together, hugging each other, embracing each other, and loving each other. We didn’t.”, one gets the feeling such public displays of contempt for the Greens and Labour do not bode well for anything but NZ First and National.
In fact Labour may well be better throwing the prick to the National Party wolves by denouncing any further talks deflating his bargaining power to nil and leaving Winston to be their poodle.
“Had Enough” looks like it meant same old same old!
That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.
No they dont – ffs you are a spinner. Why do you hate the greens? Is it their love of the environment and papatūānuku, is it their opposition to inequality and promotion of fairness – only the mad bad and sad hate the greens – what are you?
No BM is being quite honest. I interpret his comment above as a good example of the difference between interest and values driven politics.
Right wingers (ACToids and Libertarians aside) tend to be quite pragmatic about their politics; prioritising things according to what will maximise their personal interests. And in most instances they’ll be interested in protecting systems and privileges they know already work for them.
The Greens by contrast tend to frame their politics much more in terms of broad ideas and collective values. Greenies have a vision of a different, hopefully better world. For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
Therefore it’s quite reasonable for BM to look from where he stands, and think he’s seeing a ‘religion’.
For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
And yet your dislike of them is not so strong that you wouldn’t welcome them in government if that was to help National get themselves out of a hole of their own making? Do you think they’ll just be doormats in a National Green government? Easy pushovers that will just be there to provide National with voting fodder in the House and let them carry on their merry way in government?
BM is confusing the Greens with the Con jobs. Speaking of ones faith, BM take a line from Joyce and his thumbs up. That was a significant indication Joyce has got this.
Yeah every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party even if that meant working with the Khmer Rouge… sometimes BM ,… you really just don’t GET IT , …. do you.
On a lighter note ,… one of my fav bird-songs out in the wops.
New Zealand Birds: Grey Warbler singing in a tree – YouTube
Video for grey warbler song you tube▶ 0:19
Yes! – as a kid I used to fish in the rivers and these little fellas would be a cheerful sound during those long hot summers with the bees and cicadas high up in the Tea trees,..
Ever seen a poor little warbler frantically darting back and forward feeding a huge shining cuckoo chick relentlessly demanding more?
I often wonder, when will the warbler get wise?
Such a beautiful song.I had a cat I called the grey warbler after I heard my mother exclaiming to a friend on the phone about the grey warblers singing
“That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.”
What are you on about? The Greens have always said they’d work with any party on policy. And have done exactly that.
Well, one way of looking at the relative levels of dislike is that Winston is negotiating with National, but not with the Greens. And he is not exactly being complimentary about the Greens at the moment.
You may recall that Winston said there would be consequences for the Greens calling him a racist. That is not to say he won’t go left. He may well do so. But I would say it will be essentially with Labour, with the Greens on a confidence and supply deal.
I guess the Greens would have to get something for confidence and supply, but it will be small beer. The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government. They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
However, none of this might happen. Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag. If a National New Zealand First government is seen to do well, then they could get another term.
I personally think Winston will stay in Parliament till 2023, so he will want another win. In 2023 Winston will be 78, pretty much as Sir Walter Nash was when he retired.
Winston has said he doesnt hold grudges so holding one against the greens is nonsense. He’d have plently against the gnats if he was going that way. No, just more spin in afraid.
” The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government ”
…………………………………..
Yes , – but come on Wayne – the same principle could just as easily be applied to ACT being locked into a right govt , – could you really picture ACT going into coalition with Labour ?!!?
Of course not ! – or even NZ First for that matter.
And speaking of ACT ,… that coat tailing one man band party at what is it 0.7 % of the vote? ,…. I notice Peters doesn’t particularly like the little degraded neo liberal party one bit …
And if Peters goes with National,… with his latest of change on how this country has been run for the last 30 years both economically and socially,…
Somehow I don’t think even National gets out alive this time round.
The neo liberal hegemony is shattered as of Thursday , 12 / 10 /2017.
No, in fact the “neo-liberalism hegemony” is here to stay for a good deal longer. New Zealand, irrespective of who is the govt, is not going to going to withdraw from all its international commitments in trade, investment, etc. The changes will be on the margins.
In fact neither governing option is going to increase taxes or nationalise anything. They are locked into a govt that is around 30% of GDP, with local govt adding another 5%. So “neo-liberalism” as you put it, is here to say under any likely govt come Friday.
If you want the end of neo-liberalism, you need the Greens to get at least 20%, probably more.
From the margins. Doesn’t matter if you slice that pie down the middle , its always the margins. Now when Jeremy Corbyn presented his manifesto , and articulated in the slogan ‘ for the many , not the few’…
Just what do you think that was alluding to ?
More privatization , more low wages , more foreign ownership , more under-funding of infrastructure , more flat tax rates and lower wage earners paying disproportionately more ?
Come on Wayne,… stop hedging ,… you jolly well know whats coming as do the rest of us who can see the writing on the wall.
Oh ,… and btw , … I support the Greens because I was brought up in the rural , Labour because in general I’ve always been a worker and NZ First because I believe in balanced nationalism.
Add all that together ?
And you’ve got quite an eclectic stance for various reasons. One of them being egalitarianism .
Finally Wayne says something I can agree with.
None of the parties in parliament are really looking to end neo-liberalism – at best the Greens want to soften its nastiest bits.
None of the parties are really proposing a responsible government like northern European-style social democracy with top tax rates around 50%, removal of GST, comprehensive taxes on capital, and a comprehensive fully state-funded social welfare, health and education system.
True and its the long haul for us after 3 decades of crap. As well , those Scandinavian country’s never really rushed headlong into neo liberalism , then again ,… they wouldn’t have trucked the same sort of lying deceit in bringing it in , either.
They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
No we don’t even if we do end up with National/NZ1st government.
Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag.
If NZ1st goes with National the election will most probably be in 2018 and we’ll most likely end up with a Labour majority government. That’s how bad National and NZ1st get along.
Best shot for the Greens is to stay out and regroup on C&S. If the Greens don’t get C&S they will struggle in 2020 because they will have no media oxygen for the term.
Best shot for NZF on straight political grounds is to get as many Cabinet seats they can and gut National by going into coalition with them and making National look more and more like a nationalist version of Labour.
The NZF task is to recover, supplant Labour, and kill the Greens inside one term. They can only do that if they go with National and score massive policy goals.
Nah, the Greens are best off in a formal coalition, with 1-2 ministers and a further 1-2 associate ministers getting screen time and getting things done. The Greens are better off doing that than confidence and supply, as in coalition they will get more of their policy enacted, and show that they really have been the most competent party all along.
Is there really any party, apart from NZF, that Peters hasn’t had a few sharp words for? Neither ACT nor the MP received ringing endorsements that I recall. Maybe Dunne escaped his ire – and maybe not.
Don’t know if Peters said anything but he didn’t like Dunne at all apparently – part of the reason Dunne said he retired is that based on the polls, whatever happened, Peters would freeze him out of government.
Yeah, like we can see the great attempts that Act made to be friendly to the Alliance.
You are just being political fool. There are plainly some divides that are far too wide to cross.
In the case of National, there is the basic argument that they have NEVER managed to initiate moves to improve or even attempted to improve the general environment in NZ in any meaningful way. Instead this last National government has presided over attempts to mine National parks, swap pristine forest for cutover crap, made a mockery of most of the environmental standards by redefining them to worse levels being acceptable, given as much help as possible to the most polluting industries in NZ, deliberately sabotaged the already inadequate ETS, and attempted several times to remove the restraints of the RMA on polluters. I’m not even going to go near their track record on climate change apart from saying that National lies about what they intended to do becasue their actions don’t go anywhere near even their pitiful backtracking on their undertakings in the previous National government.
And those are just the ones I remember in the time it took me to tap that out…
What track record is there for a green party to trust? Perhaps if National get back into power again, they could try to think about what they need to do to make other parties to trust them at all. Because they look to me to be just about the most untrustworthy pack of arseholes in politics when it comes to the environment.
That is interesting for astrological purposes, but if the embryo isn’t biologically attached to the wall of the womb… …futures-market tax-revenue should not be registerable. Bible-classes back in schools but with the Canons the Catholics ditched – the Wisdom of King Solomon should be supported from the womb-cell-wall and beyond.
Green Charter suits cross-bench support. While many or most Green policy workers would support the general gist of TOP policy on tax etc, the consensus requirement dilutes the policy down to main-stream-digestible. The policy roll of Green Caucus is to play the inter-party cooperation-card, overruling the internal-policy-consensus-barrier. Good luck, Caucus.
It’s a significant leap in the dark to presume Green policy workers support TOP tax policy. That tax policy is designed to be flat, Green policy is more likely to be progressive.
Could be tough ride if Winston were to decide to go with National.I get the feeling National might “quietly” still try to continue to fight hammer and tong to not need to re-enter Pike River mine.There’s so many questions that i feel remain unanswered in regard to why it’s hasn’t happened already?.In this sense, its also good that Winston isn’t the type of person to quickly rush-in in choosing who to decide to form the next government with.Pike River family feelings demand that Winston wouldn’t dare to be irresponsibly careless
Tough decision.Seem to me on the one side,in regard to National Winston must know he’s dealing with politicians some of which are perhaps bloody hard to trust.With Labour and the Greens it seems,to me, that there’s people who don’t bother to even hide disdain of Winston.
If Winston wont hurry,the media is right there,busily trying their best to make it seem real bad that he wont rush the job.If Winston did rush-in, and as such ended up making a real boo boo in doing so,soon enough the media would also still be double quick to report how bloody stupid that was
Reading what WILD KATIPO said above. I also feel Winston at least helps to provide our NZ Government some sort of balance.Sad that sometimes we New Zealander wont give any credit, where perhaps at least “some” credit is due
I feel some Labour/ Green supporters don’t “help” to make it such an easy choice,for Winston either, in regard to making a decision of running-in with the left side.Some folk sometimes seem (to me) mad as hell that Winston isn’t quick to throw his whole hand over toward their corners Christmas wish-list
‘It’s World Homeless Day and as the housing crisis grips the country, emergency housing providers are popping up around the country to meet soaring demand.
One Auckland church, Faith Family Connect, is even converting offices into bedrooms and says a growing number of homeless have high mental health needs.
They’ve been full up since early last year, so they’re doubling capacity to 30.
They’ve even rented a house across the street, but are still forced to turn desperate people away.
Senior Pastor Carla Perese says there are “families that are living in the parks just down the road”.
The church has always offered refuge to the homeless, but Pastor Perese says demand has never been so great.
“Our hearts are broken over this situation and that’s why we continue to do this,” she told Newshub.
Pastor Perese has even opened up her own home and has people staying in the spare room.
The church says the removal of state homes at nearby Glenn Innes and soaring rental costs are big contributors.’
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The state of the current economy may be similar to when National left office in 2017.In December, a couple of days after the Treasury released its 2024 Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update (HEYFU24), Statistics New Zealand reported its estimate for volume GDP for the previous September 24 quarter. Instead ...
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It’s Friday and time for another roundup of things that caught our attention this week. This post, like all our work, is brought to you by a largely volunteer crew and made possible by generous donations from our readers and fans. If you’d like to support our work, you can join ...
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The Government has unveiled a bold new initiative to position New Zealand as a premier destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) that will create higher paying jobs and grow the economy. “Invest New Zealand will streamline the investment process and provide tailored support to foreign investors, to increase capital investment ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins today announced the largest reset of the New Zealand science system in more than 30 years with reforms which will boost the economy and benefit the sector. “The reforms will maximise the value of the $1.2 billion in government funding that goes into ...
Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. In the Prime Minister’s State of the Nation Speech in Auckland today, Christopher Luxon laid out the path to the prosperity that will affect all aspects of New Zealanders’ lives. ...
The latest set of accounts show the Government has successfully checked the runaway growth of public spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “In the previous government’s final five months in office, public spending was almost 10 per cent higher than for the same period the previous year. “That is completely ...
The Government’s welfare reforms are delivering results with the number of people moving off benefits into work increasing year-on-year for six straight months. “There are positive signs that our welfare reset and the return consequences for job seekers who don't fulfil their obligations to prepare for or find a job ...
Jon Kroll and Aimee McCammon have been appointed to the New Zealand Film Commission Board, Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “I am delighted to appoint these two new board members who will bring a wealth of industry, governance, and commercial experience to the Film Commission. “Jon Kroll has been an ...
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A host of new appointments will strengthen the Waitangi Tribunal and help ensure it remains fit for purpose, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says. “As the Tribunal nears its fiftieth anniversary, the appointments coming on board will give it the right balance of skills to continue its important mahi hearing ...
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Forest & Bird will continue to support New Zealanders to oppose these destructive activities and reminds the Prime Minister that in 2010, 40,000 people marched down Queen Street, demanding that high-value conservation land be protected from mining. ...
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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, Friday 24 January appeared first on Newsroom. ...
‘Controversial application to pull millions of litres a day from Blue Spring withdrawn’
The company behind a controversial application to take 6.9 million litres of water a day from Putaruru’s Blue Spring to send offshore has withdrawn its application.
The company, owned by a majority of overseas investors, had ambitions to be the largest bottling plant in the Southern Hemisphere and applied for a 15-year consent with the hope of opening the bottling plant by 2019.’
Does anyone know the name of this company?
Oravida?
Coca Cola?
Nongfu Spring?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11931545
Mwhahahahahaaa……
The warning shots across the bows has started to be heeded.
BEFORE the new govt has been formed.
You don’t come here to this country and start thinking you can just help yourself, mate….
Turns out that Blue Water Springs is owned by a trust which is in turn owned by WALKER DAVEY SEARELLS LIMITED.
Share holder listings of said company are a bunch of people from canterbury by the looks of it, and if you go even deeper those people appear to have their fingers in many pies.
Looks like they’ve abandoned their latest get rich quick scheme, good job, sick of dodgy dealings like the water exporting, the current laws surrounding it are criminal.
https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/954339/shareholdings
Far out access to information in the digital age is so freaking awesome 😀
You beauty!
More aimless speculation from right wing writers on the Herald.
What would a Greens-National deal mean for New Zealand?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931383
That is actually quite a thoughtful piece from Simon Wilson on The Spinoff. The Herald have repackaged it with a headline more in keeping with the editorial line they taken since the election. if you read through the article it actually takes a pretty different tack than the headline would suggest.
Ok..will do
🙂
Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
I think that the best the left can hope for is Lab/NZFirst and the Greens doing C & S but thats a very long shot
I am confident that a Labour Greens NZ First Coalition will happen…. Relentlessly Positive 🙂
By crikey, chris73 is right; it almost does seem like it was a done deal from the get go!!!! I too am more confident!!!! ‘Cause the talks!!! They’re going on longer!!!! Yeah, the best the left can hope for, even hope for when hoping real hard is you know, A VERY LONG SHOT!!!
Crikey!!! Got to say!!! Cheers Chris73. Keep your chin up!
Well one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong but I promise that I’ll be humble in victory…well until someone from the left posts something mean
You’ll be needing this, chris:
http://www.crowbusters.com/recipes.html
This sounds a bit more palatable: http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/humble-pie-191988
“one of us is going to be right and one of us is going to be wrong”
Funnily enough you’re right, and therefore always wrong, both at the same time. lol
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/312/563/05d.jpg
Considering the back and forth negotiations between NZF and Nats and Labour: I’m thinking that Labour is pushing on NZF so that an NZF-Nat government will have to include a lot of the policies that are shared between NZF & Labour.
Then, once in government, if the Nats try to pull back, there will always be the possibility of NZF voting with Labour and the GP against the Nats.
So, a Nat-NZF government could be good for the left in the medium to long term.
Interesting tactical approach …. could work nicely.
…it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go
Well, duh. The people who voted NZ First imagining they were voting for a change of government have to be the most self-delusional voters in the country.
National/NZFirst would be a change of government
“Got to say the longer the talks go on the more confident I am that National will be returned to power, it almost seems like it was a done deal from the get go”
That is what I have been saying for ages – well before the election.
Fascinating!!!
Yeh! Rain on the roof tonight.
Been awhile…. was thinking it might be heading for a la nina summer…. so Great to get some juice in the tank before hand!
Chris how about we make a bet. Loser makes a donation of $100 to the Salvation Army for Auckland’s homeless and presents proof.
I bet Labour will form the next Government.
And the longer it has gone on the more convinced I am that this will happen.;
Tell you what, if you’re right I’ll do that and if I’m right you donate $100 to these guys: http://www.dogwatch.nz/
What about a human charity. I’m ok about dogs but there are so many people with significant needs right now.
Arn’t you certain Labour will form the next government? If you are then the Salvation Army will get $100 so no problem
Unless you have doubts…
Careful your $100 could be the kiss of death. That is if Labour actually want it??
In my experience, done deals from the get-go are over almost immediately because there’s nothing to discuss.
In 2014 the road toll was dropping.
It has since strted to climb again.
Why?
These were articles in 2014.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283173
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11283273
http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Documents/The-road-toll-2014Q2-v2-final.pdf
Probably because there are much much more cars on the road than in 2014. I read somewhere that there were in excess of 150,000 more registered cars this year than last and I know new and used sales have been through the roof in the last 3-5 years. So its not really surprising.
Checkpoint covering it now
Less police resources being allocated.
More blood on this government’s hands.
Yeah – no [personal responsibility for the people speeding or drink driving etc
Yes ,… and speaking of ‘ personal responsibility ‘ ,.. where is this govts sense of that regards Police numbers , huh ?
Speaking of police and road tolls… this year has seen a huge jump in deaths during police pursuits.
2008 was the highest with 6 deaths, this year we are at 16 deaths so far.
http://www.transport.govt.nz/research/roadtoll/annualroadtollhistoricalinformation/
A bit of perspective.
The per-capita figure shows it’s not falling. The raw-numbers increase is another reflection of National’s insane immigration policy.
What part of those statistics are you looking at?
My contribution is this: lowering the alcohol limit was another cynical cheap manoeuvre by the Govt to make it look like they were doing something. The stats they used were all bullshit, because if you checked out the places they took the stats from, the accidents never lowered in number after the change of alcohol limit. In all those countries they also increased the number of checkpoints. It was that increase in checkpoints that brought about the lower accident rates, not the change in alcohol limit.
Good old NZ has not only lowered the alcohol limits: by underfunding the Police, NZ has also lowered the number of alcohol checkpoints for drivers.
How bloody stupid can any one country get?
We know that there have been fewer checkpoints – those stats have been released.
When will they release the stats about alcohol in relation to fatalities? I bet alcohol has not diminished as a factor. It has probably increased. That would be such a surprise, but it will probably be brushed under the carpet rather than publicised.
The deaths-per-100,000 population and per-10,000 vehicles columns. Looking at those, the low 2013-2014 figures are a blip.
I don’t pretend to know the outcome of these so-called negotiations but with comments from Peters such as “For months and months, in fact for years, they all campaigned together, hugging each other, embracing each other, and loving each other. We didn’t.”, one gets the feeling such public displays of contempt for the Greens and Labour do not bode well for anything but NZ First and National.
In fact Labour may well be better throwing the prick to the National Party wolves by denouncing any further talks deflating his bargaining power to nil and leaving Winston to be their poodle.
“Had Enough” looks like it meant same old same old!
That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.
You are not making sense.
No they dont – ffs you are a spinner. Why do you hate the greens? Is it their love of the environment and papatūānuku, is it their opposition to inequality and promotion of fairness – only the mad bad and sad hate the greens – what are you?
Edit added your wee reason did you – how cute.
It is that they challenge his privilege and wealth.
They make him look and feel useless – hes just a knocker, not a positive person or someone who adds value. Sad.
I dislike the Greens because they’re a religious movement, and not a political party.
🙄
BM disapproves of a political party not doing what he wants so he closes his eyes and lo, it’s not a political party any more.
No BM is being quite honest. I interpret his comment above as a good example of the difference between interest and values driven politics.
Right wingers (ACToids and Libertarians aside) tend to be quite pragmatic about their politics; prioritising things according to what will maximise their personal interests. And in most instances they’ll be interested in protecting systems and privileges they know already work for them.
The Greens by contrast tend to frame their politics much more in terms of broad ideas and collective values. Greenies have a vision of a different, hopefully better world. For them it’s an article of faith that their values driven policies are a good thing, even if they cannot point to any proven existing examples of them working in action.
Therefore it’s quite reasonable for BM to look from where he stands, and think he’s seeing a ‘religion’.
I don’t have a problem with him expressing his personal views on religion. The statement that the Greens aren’t a political party is daft.
Redlogix’s statement that Green policies are an article of faith without evidence of success, is also batty.
True, I just couldn’t be bothered going there again 😉
Except that we can.
They arent and your fear is unfounded. I don’t believe thats the real reason anyway – come on be brave tell the truth bm.
And yet your dislike of them is not so strong that you wouldn’t welcome them in government if that was to help National get themselves out of a hole of their own making? Do you think they’ll just be doormats in a National Green government? Easy pushovers that will just be there to provide National with voting fodder in the House and let them carry on their merry way in government?
BM 5.1.2.2
10 October 2017 at 6:29 pm
I dislike the Greens because they’re a religious movement, and not a political party.
Really ? Oh , you mean all the Wicca and the pagan stuff ?
A bit like the National party and ACT whose God is Mammon ?
BM is confusing the Greens with the Con jobs. Speaking of ones faith, BM take a line from Joyce and his thumbs up. That was a significant indication Joyce has got this.
It’s National that are the religious movement. They believe that greed, usury, lies and corruption are actually good.
om mani padmi hom ..
Yeah every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party even if that meant working with the Khmer Rouge… sometimes BM ,… you really just don’t GET IT , …. do you.
On a lighter note ,… one of my fav bird-songs out in the wops.
New Zealand Birds: Grey Warbler singing in a tree – YouTube
Video for grey warbler song you tube▶ 0:19
These delicate little birds warble and nest in my garden. I watched one today for as long as it let me – they move about constantly. Magic.
Yes! – as a kid I used to fish in the rivers and these little fellas would be a cheerful sound during those long hot summers with the bees and cicadas high up in the Tea trees,..
They were really as you say , magic ! 🙂
They’ve started singing in my garden in central Wellington the last couple of years. That’s a cheer to the soul.
Ever seen a poor little warbler frantically darting back and forward feeding a huge shining cuckoo chick relentlessly demanding more?
I often wonder, when will the warbler get wise?
Such a beautiful song.I had a cat I called the grey warbler after I heard my mother exclaiming to a friend on the phone about the grey warblers singing
The grey Warbler got my vote today. I love them.Had a fledgling Shining cookoo for a couple of days down in the wetland. Absolute magic.
🙂
“That’s probably why he hates the Greens they make a mockery out of what MMP’s supposed to be all about.
Within reason every party should be flexible enough to be able to work with any other party in the political spectrum, if you cant do that you have no place in an MMP environment.”
What are you on about? The Greens have always said they’d work with any party on policy. And have done exactly that.
Why do you think Winston Peters dislikes the Greens?
You are talking nonsense……
Why do you think Winston loathes National?
Because he doesn’t like their policies, or positioning. He’s a conservative. Left wing is always going to be a problem for him.
although, I’d add, he’s a centrist too, so anything from the edge is going to challenge his basic position and beliefs.
So hows this coalition supposed to work?
Lots of people know how to work with people who are different than them.
According to Maharey the other day, last time Peters was in coalition with Labour he was good at his job.
Its pretty obvious ,.. there was a question put to Peters and he more or less ‘lumped the Greens in with Labour’ because of the MOU.
Its a right wingy thingy to try and create a wedge here and twist reality.
“How does the coalition work”
With Clendon and Kennedy as translators between the two parties.
Well, one way of looking at the relative levels of dislike is that Winston is negotiating with National, but not with the Greens. And he is not exactly being complimentary about the Greens at the moment.
You may recall that Winston said there would be consequences for the Greens calling him a racist. That is not to say he won’t go left. He may well do so. But I would say it will be essentially with Labour, with the Greens on a confidence and supply deal.
I guess the Greens would have to get something for confidence and supply, but it will be small beer. The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government. They have to support whatever Labour and New Zealand First agree on, because the alternative is a National New Zealand First government.
However, none of this might happen. Winston might decide that his best deal is with National in any event.
The left should not think in that case 2020 is automatically in the bag. If a National New Zealand First government is seen to do well, then they could get another term.
I personally think Winston will stay in Parliament till 2023, so he will want another win. In 2023 Winston will be 78, pretty much as Sir Walter Nash was when he retired.
Winston has said he doesnt hold grudges so holding one against the greens is nonsense. He’d have plently against the gnats if he was going that way. No, just more spin in afraid.
” The dripping of such morsels can be be done because the Greens are essentially locked into a left government ”
…………………………………..
Yes , – but come on Wayne – the same principle could just as easily be applied to ACT being locked into a right govt , – could you really picture ACT going into coalition with Labour ?!!?
Of course not ! – or even NZ First for that matter.
And speaking of ACT ,… that coat tailing one man band party at what is it 0.7 % of the vote? ,…. I notice Peters doesn’t particularly like the little degraded neo liberal party one bit …
And if Peters goes with National,… with his latest of change on how this country has been run for the last 30 years both economically and socially,…
Somehow I don’t think even National gets out alive this time round.
The neo liberal hegemony is shattered as of Thursday , 12 / 10 /2017.
Wild Katipo,
No, in fact the “neo-liberalism hegemony” is here to stay for a good deal longer. New Zealand, irrespective of who is the govt, is not going to going to withdraw from all its international commitments in trade, investment, etc. The changes will be on the margins.
In fact neither governing option is going to increase taxes or nationalise anything. They are locked into a govt that is around 30% of GDP, with local govt adding another 5%. So “neo-liberalism” as you put it, is here to say under any likely govt come Friday.
If you want the end of neo-liberalism, you need the Greens to get at least 20%, probably more.
How do you eat a pie , Wayne?
From the margins. Doesn’t matter if you slice that pie down the middle , its always the margins. Now when Jeremy Corbyn presented his manifesto , and articulated in the slogan ‘ for the many , not the few’…
Just what do you think that was alluding to ?
More privatization , more low wages , more foreign ownership , more under-funding of infrastructure , more flat tax rates and lower wage earners paying disproportionately more ?
Come on Wayne,… stop hedging ,… you jolly well know whats coming as do the rest of us who can see the writing on the wall.
Oh ,… and btw , … I support the Greens because I was brought up in the rural , Labour because in general I’ve always been a worker and NZ First because I believe in balanced nationalism.
Add all that together ?
And you’ve got quite an eclectic stance for various reasons. One of them being egalitarianism .
Don’t even try to pigeon hole me.
Finally Wayne says something I can agree with.
None of the parties in parliament are really looking to end neo-liberalism – at best the Greens want to soften its nastiest bits.
None of the parties are really proposing a responsible government like northern European-style social democracy with top tax rates around 50%, removal of GST, comprehensive taxes on capital, and a comprehensive fully state-funded social welfare, health and education system.
True and its the long haul for us after 3 decades of crap. As well , those Scandinavian country’s never really rushed headlong into neo liberalism , then again ,… they wouldn’t have trucked the same sort of lying deceit in bringing it in , either.
New Right Fight – Who are the New Right?
http://www.newrightfight.co.nz/pageA.html
No we don’t even if we do end up with National/NZ1st government.
If NZ1st goes with National the election will most probably be in 2018 and we’ll most likely end up with a Labour majority government. That’s how bad National and NZ1st get along.
Best shot for Labour is coalition with NZFirst.
Best shot for the Greens is to stay out and regroup on C&S. If the Greens don’t get C&S they will struggle in 2020 because they will have no media oxygen for the term.
Best shot for NZF on straight political grounds is to get as many Cabinet seats they can and gut National by going into coalition with them and making National look more and more like a nationalist version of Labour.
The NZF task is to recover, supplant Labour, and kill the Greens inside one term. They can only do that if they go with National and score massive policy goals.
Nah, the Greens are best off in a formal coalition, with 1-2 ministers and a further 1-2 associate ministers getting screen time and getting things done. The Greens are better off doing that than confidence and supply, as in coalition they will get more of their policy enacted, and show that they really have been the most competent party all along.
Is there really any party, apart from NZF, that Peters hasn’t had a few sharp words for? Neither ACT nor the MP received ringing endorsements that I recall. Maybe Dunne escaped his ire – and maybe not.
Don’t know if Peters said anything but he didn’t like Dunne at all apparently – part of the reason Dunne said he retired is that based on the polls, whatever happened, Peters would freeze him out of government.
Yeah, like we can see the great attempts that Act made to be friendly to the Alliance.
You are just being political fool. There are plainly some divides that are far too wide to cross.
In the case of National, there is the basic argument that they have NEVER managed to initiate moves to improve or even attempted to improve the general environment in NZ in any meaningful way. Instead this last National government has presided over attempts to mine National parks, swap pristine forest for cutover crap, made a mockery of most of the environmental standards by redefining them to worse levels being acceptable, given as much help as possible to the most polluting industries in NZ, deliberately sabotaged the already inadequate ETS, and attempted several times to remove the restraints of the RMA on polluters. I’m not even going to go near their track record on climate change apart from saying that National lies about what they intended to do becasue their actions don’t go anywhere near even their pitiful backtracking on their undertakings in the previous National government.
And those are just the ones I remember in the time it took me to tap that out…
What track record is there for a green party to trust? Perhaps if National get back into power again, they could try to think about what they need to do to make other parties to trust them at all. Because they look to me to be just about the most untrustworthy pack of arseholes in politics when it comes to the environment.
Winston dosen’t hate the Greens, one only needs to watch Parliament to know that.
Sure their views differ on ‘extraction’ but he dosen’t hate them, media have sowed that seed.
Was he not talking about both major parties? Nats, ACT, UF and the Maori Party on one side and Labs and Greens on the other?
And there goes reproductive autonomy.
/
https://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2017/10/09/health-and-human-services-wants-to-defined-life-as-beginning-at-conception/
That is interesting for astrological purposes, but if the embryo isn’t biologically attached to the wall of the womb… …futures-market tax-revenue should not be registerable. Bible-classes back in schools but with the Canons the Catholics ditched – the Wisdom of King Solomon should be supported from the womb-cell-wall and beyond.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11931383
good read on the greens and the nats and other things
He got TOP’s tax wrong though.
Green Charter suits cross-bench support. While many or most Green policy workers would support the general gist of TOP policy on tax etc, the consensus requirement dilutes the policy down to main-stream-digestible. The policy roll of Green Caucus is to play the inter-party cooperation-card, overruling the internal-policy-consensus-barrier. Good luck, Caucus.
It’s a significant leap in the dark to presume Green policy workers support TOP tax policy. That tax policy is designed to be flat, Green policy is more likely to be progressive.
Budget Debate Flashback from 24 May this year…. Winstons speech… food for thought and entertaining as
Woohooo ! – Go Winnie !!! Sock it to them !!!
Well, I feel better after that. Winston really showed his grasp of the fundamentals of good governance. I will sleep more hopefully tonight..
Could be tough ride if Winston were to decide to go with National.I get the feeling National might “quietly” still try to continue to fight hammer and tong to not need to re-enter Pike River mine.There’s so many questions that i feel remain unanswered in regard to why it’s hasn’t happened already?.In this sense, its also good that Winston isn’t the type of person to quickly rush-in in choosing who to decide to form the next government with.Pike River family feelings demand that Winston wouldn’t dare to be irresponsibly careless
Tough decision.Seem to me on the one side,in regard to National Winston must know he’s dealing with politicians some of which are perhaps bloody hard to trust.With Labour and the Greens it seems,to me, that there’s people who don’t bother to even hide disdain of Winston.
If Winston wont hurry,the media is right there,busily trying their best to make it seem real bad that he wont rush the job.If Winston did rush-in, and as such ended up making a real boo boo in doing so,soon enough the media would also still be double quick to report how bloody stupid that was
Reading what WILD KATIPO said above. I also feel Winston at least helps to provide our NZ Government some sort of balance.Sad that sometimes we New Zealander wont give any credit, where perhaps at least “some” credit is due
I feel some Labour/ Green supporters don’t “help” to make it such an easy choice,for Winston either, in regard to making a decision of running-in with the left side.Some folk sometimes seem (to me) mad as hell that Winston isn’t quick to throw his whole hand over toward their corners Christmas wish-list
‘It’s World Homeless Day and as the housing crisis grips the country, emergency housing providers are popping up around the country to meet soaring demand.
One Auckland church, Faith Family Connect, is even converting offices into bedrooms and says a growing number of homeless have high mental health needs.
They’ve been full up since early last year, so they’re doubling capacity to 30.
They’ve even rented a house across the street, but are still forced to turn desperate people away.
Senior Pastor Carla Perese says there are “families that are living in the parks just down the road”.
The church has always offered refuge to the homeless, but Pastor Perese says demand has never been so great.
“Our hearts are broken over this situation and that’s why we continue to do this,” she told Newshub.
Pastor Perese has even opened up her own home and has people staying in the spare room.
The church says the removal of state homes at nearby Glenn Innes and soaring rental costs are big contributors.’
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/10/church-full-to-bursting-with-homeless-as-demand-soars.html
New figures show 98 free-market affordable homes have been built under the government’s Auckland Housing Accord.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/341219/auckland-housing-accord-dismal-failure-on-affordability
What a farce!
http://norightturn.blogspot.co.nz/2017/10/a-dismal-failure.html
Yes , saw that today … that’s just disgusting.
Absolutely disgusting.