Daily review 13/05/2021

Written By: - Date published: 5:30 pm, May 13th, 2021 - 20 comments
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Daily review is also your post.

This provides Standardistas the opportunity to review events of the day.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Don’t forget to be kind to each other …

20 comments on “Daily review 13/05/2021 ”

  1. Forget now 1

    What is kurdish for chutzpa? I don't fancy their chances, but you certainly can't fault; International Student Rescue Mission (MRSI) founder and president Zhian Eli's ambition!

    There were 4000 children living in emergency accommodation in New Zealand, Mrs Eli said.

    “Iraq and Syria have [an] excuse for displaced children because they are in a war. What’s New Zealand’s reason?”…

    She was seeking 25% of the funding for the project from each of the city council, Housing New Zealand, and Work and Income.

    The remaining 25% would be raised by the MRSI from national and international donors.

    She had advice from builders that 10 identical houses could be built within three months.

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/funding-sought-build-homes-refugees-others

    So, say; ten houses at a rough $100,000 each (give or take – depending on where is the land on which they are proposing building), for a round million. Of which, Eli wants the; DCC, HNZ (/Kainga Ora), & WINZ to put up a $250,000 each. In the week before the budget is announced.

    Maybe if they are a standard house design that has successfully built elsewhere, and the DCC wants to use it as a PR exercise, they might get planning permission within 3 months. As for the builders actually following through on their 3month build schedule once they have the deposit in their bank account?

    • Spa 1.1

      I think $100,000 per unit is a bit optimistic.

      • Forget now 1.1.1

        Yeah, probably so; Spa, especially since the cheaper land is in danger of more flooding over the next century with rising sea levels. So the DCC will be unlikely to be keen to allow new residences there, in opposition to their planned retreat from the shoreline. The houses would have to be pretty small for families to reach that target too.

        It did make the maths easy though.

        • Spa 1.1.1.1

          Fair enough, I'm not sure where the original quote comes from but I am a fan of "roughly right rather than precisely wrong" or something along those lines.

    • Forget now 3.1

      Yeah, I saw that myself earlier in the evening, greywarshark. What was it a 15second karakia? It probably took longer to; standup, leave, then be called when it was clear to walk back into the room after the prayer, than the karkia itself took. I'm an atheist myself, but I will sit through grace or other religious rituals if it gives others comfort; that's just basic manners.

      This seemed more headline grabbing showboating, and to be fair; it appears to have achieved its goal.

      • greywarshark 3.1.1

        I feel as you do FN – sit through grace or other religious rituals as basic manners – though I am not completely gracious as i start squirming if it goes on for too long, even when I go to church. But I try and can handle and welcome, short prayers invoking the Great Spirit to kindly guide the meeting to positive outcomes. Seems reasonable.

        I think this is an example of redneck colonialism coming out in present generations in Taranaki, home of Parihaka and fertile farmlands. He has been a property valuer for some decades and now is into electricity so is one of those rational men who deal with real things. Some of them care about human feelings and emotions and some think that's a lot of piffle.

    • greywarshark 4.1

      I see young people protesting about starting sea transport but they need to think of jobs for the future, what they could work at in the district and how the barge is a smart idea for transporting their produce. Holding placards doesn't feed you or your family.

      Can it he done sustainably? Why don't they form a research group and liaise with the barge-idea group and find the latest methods of limiting pollution from this type of operation elsewhere?

      • weka 4.1.1

        it doesn't actually say what the environmental issues are.

        • McFlock 4.1.1.1

          yeah.

          Seems to bisect the beach pretty definitively, comparing it with google's satellite view. Certainly much more severely than the river seems to.

          On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be particularly enormous. Although the access road seems to be significantly wider than the existing highway it connects to?

        • Sabine 4.1.1.2

          But later in the day Shyla-Drew Taiapa, whose grandfather Joseph Akuhata-Brown was a founding member of Te Rimu Trust, said whānau strongly opposed a port or barging facility on the Matakaoa rohe.

          "The impacts of a port or a barging facility will be detrimental to our environment.

          "Our moana not only sustains us by providing us with kai, it is also a place where we take our whānau and our tamariki to learn and to teach."

          Matakaoa was a place that sustained their mental, cultural and spiritual wellbeing, she said.

          Local hapū Te Whānau a Tūwhakairiora and Te Whānau a Te Aotaki had developed their own economic plans for the community, which included maintaining and sustaining an abundant marine estate, she said.

          "The proposal of a barge or port facility undermines the health of our marine estate, which is already at a critical state, but it also undermines our economic aspirations that are based on our marine estate.

          i think they state quite well what the impact will be. Also, if this barge is to be used to transport logs, that beach and its road to it will be fucked and unusable. It will be in essence an 'industrial' port for logs.

          I see the need for investment, but this investment is not gonna help anyone.

          • Forget now 4.1.1.2.1

            Shane Jones said if he was re-elected next year, he will push for special legislation to allow logs from the East Coast to be taken away by barges to Northland.

            https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/404187/local-iwi-wary-of-hicks-bay-log-barge-proposal

            Shane Jones wasn't re-elected (yay!), and no one has introduced any "special legislation" about this AFAIK; so they are really flogging a dead barge-horse on this one. Those; "forest owners forced to send their logs south to Gisborne or Napier" might be better advised to put their influence behind restoring the railway up to the cape, though NZrail don't seem too keen on that.

          • Rosemary McDonald 4.1.1.2.2

            SH35 is pretty much fucked as well. We've taken our Bus over some of the most challenging public roads in NZ. Only a few have forced a turnaround. SH 35 heading north from Gisbourne with the intention of yet again 'doing the Cape' road through to Opotiki…road was so horribly shit with lumps and slumps and potholes that we turned around. Left hand side heading south…the direction the fully laden logging trucks travel…was even worse with pretty much a metre in from the tar seal completely buggered.

            Forestry is pretty much all that can be done commercially with the steep eroding land in some of this region and the logs are not going to fly themselves out. Barging them out from a small facility makes some sense. The deep water is close to land in that area so a loading facility can be in close.

            I see the Trust's intentions are good…and get the concerns of the naysayers also. It's a special part of the country and should be cared for…but there also needs to be some way for the locals to make a buck.

            Such infrastructure does not necessarily damage the environment to the point of depleting the kaimoana. Wheelchairs and wharves making happy 'crip' fishing and some of our catches have been outstanding.wink

            • Sabine 4.1.1.2.2.1

              I don't live there, so i don't have a say, but i am firmly with those that say no.

              WE could have trains. WE should have trains. And we need to look at other reveneue then just growing cheap pine for overseas needs.

              So yeah, nah, nah.

              • Rosemary McDonald

                That 'cheap pine' used to feed our construction industry before the lure of overseas markets and wood chip gained dominance. Those trees for building had to be looked after, with locals employed to doing pruning and thinning to ensure straight knot-free timber. These would go off to a local sawmill to be dried/treated and cut into usable sizes.

                Have a look at your local building supply company for the knotty shit 4x2s they are demanding top dollar for these days.

                Where is the timber needed to build houses for our homeless going to come from?

                • Forget now

                  Pine trees do grow in other parts of the country too RMcD. Though, if as you say, they have been let go to get too gnarled for building timber, that'll be another decade until a properly maintained crop can be harvested? I don't know that much about tree-farming.

                  Though Sabine, NZRail is right to be daunted by the task of rebuilding and maintaining a coastal stretch of track when they are unsure of where the shore will be in a couple of decades. So it would be up to the government to prod/ subsidize them into action.

                  • Sabine

                    it is a daunting task, but it is a task that would future prove our needs for transport, and it would create jobs that are sorely needed, good, skilled jobs. Maintenance, train drivers, etc etc etc.

                    So yeah, Trains to the rescue.

                  • Rosemary McDonald

                    Pine trees do grow in other parts of the country too RMcD.

                    I live on SH1 in the FFNorth. 1st empty logging trucks head north at 4.30 am. Most of the logs feed the mill in Kaitaia or head down to Whangarei for export. At a rough guess there would be thirty truck and trailer loads per day. At least. At yet, the roads up here are nowhere near as degraded as what we found on SH 35. (I guess it has a lot to do with ground stability. Kinda why growing pine helps with the erosion on the East Coast.) A few, from goddess knows where, have been put in the ground around here for the ever growing avocado industry. Hundreds of thousands of treated timber posts…along with the water consumption from the Te Aupouri Aquifer…the leaching of chemicals from these posts could very well cause major devastation into the future.

                    The returns from avos are much quicker though than the returns from growing building- quality trees.

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    Buzz from the Beehive The new government was being  sworn in, at time of writing , and when Point of Order checked the Beehive website for the latest ministerial statements and re-visit some of the old ones we drew a blank. We found ….  Nowt. Nothing. Zilch. Not a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: A new Ministry – at last
    Michael Bassett writes – Like most people, I was getting heartily sick of all the time being wasted over the coalition negotiations. During the first three weeks Winston grinned like a Cheshire cat, certain he’d be needed; Chris Luxon wasted time in lifting the phone to Winston ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Luxon's Breakfast.
    The Prime Minister elect had his silver fern badge on. He wore it to remind viewers he was supporting New Zealand, that was his team. Despite the fact it made him look like a concierge, or a welcomer in a Koru lounge. Anna Burns-Francis, the Breakfast presenter, asked if he ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL:  Oranga Tamariki faces major upheaval under coalition agreement
     Lindsay Mitchell writes – A hugely significant gain for ACT is somewhat camouflaged by legislative jargon. Under the heading ‘Oranga Tamariki’ ACT’s coalition agreement contains the following item:   Remove Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 According to Oranga Tamariki:     “Section ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Peters as Minister
    A previous column looked at Winston Peters biographically. This one takes a closer look at his record as a minister, especially his policy record. Brian Easton writes – 1990-1991: Minister of Māori Affairs. Few remember Ka Awatea as a major document on the future of Māori policy; there is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Cathrine Dyer's guide to watching COP 28 from the bottom of a warming planet
    Is COP28 largely smoke and mirrors and a plan so cunning, you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel? Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: COP28 kicks off on November 30 and up for negotiation are issues like the role of fossil fuels in the energy transition, contributions to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 news links at 10 am for Monday, Nov 27
    PM Elect Christopher Luxon was challenged this morning on whether he would sack Adrian Orr and Andrew Coster.TL;DR: Here’s my pick of top 10 news links elsewhere at 10 am on Monday November 27, including:Signs councils are putting planning and capital spending on hold, given a lack of clear guidance ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the new government’s policies of yesteryear
    This column expands on a Werewolf column published by Scoop on Friday Routinely, Winston Peters is described as the kingmaker who gets to decide when the centre right or the centre-left has a turn at running this country. He also plays a less heralded but equally important role as the ...
    6 days ago
  • The New Government’s Agreements
    Last Friday, almost six weeks after election day, National finally came to an agreement with ACT and NZ First to form a government. They also released the agreements between each party and looking through them, here are the things I thought were the most interesting (and often concerning) from the. ...
    6 days ago
  • How many smokers will die to fund the tax cuts?
    Maori and Pasifika smoking rates are already over twice the ‘all adult’ rate. Now the revenue that generates will be used to fund National’s tax cuts. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The devil is always in the detail and it emerged over the weekend from the guts of the policy agreements National ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • How the culture will change in the Beehive
    Perhaps the biggest change that will come to the Beehive as the new government settles in will be a fundamental culture change. The era of endless consultation will be over. This looks like a government that knows what it wants to do, and that means it knows what outcomes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • No More Winnie Blues.
    So what do you think of the coalition’s decision to cancel Smokefree measures intended to stop young people, including an over representation of Māori, from taking up smoking? Enabling them to use the tax revenue to give other people a tax cut?David Cormack summed it up well:It seems not only ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #47
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 19, 2023 thru Sat, Nov 25, 2023.  Story of the Week World stands on frontline of disaster at Cop28, says UN climate chief  Exclusive: Simon Stiell says leaders must ‘stop ...
    1 week ago
  • Some of it is mad, some of it is bad and some of it is clearly the work of people who are dangerous ...
    On announcement morning my mate texted:Typical of this cut-price, fake-deal government to announce itself on Black Friday.What a deal. We lose Kim Hill, we gain an empty, jargonising prime minister, a belligerent conspiracist, and a heartless Ayn Rand fanboy. One door closes, another gets slammed repeatedly in your face.It seems pretty ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • “Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty directi...
    Buzz from the Beehive Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines  for its buzz. This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM. “Soured” ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • The Good, the Bad, and the even Worse.
    Yesterday the trio that will lead our country unveiled their vision for New Zealand.Seymour looking surprisingly statesmanlike, refusing to rise to barbs about his previous comments on Winston Peters. Almost as if they had just been slapstick for the crowd.Winston was mostly focussed on settling scores with the media, making ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • When it Comes to Palestine – Free Speech is Under Threat
    Hi,Thanks for getting amongst Mister Organ on digital — thanks to you, we hit the #1 doc spot on iTunes this week. This response goes a long way to helping us break even.I feel good about that. Other things — not so much.New Zealand finally has a new government, and ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago
  • Thank you Captain Luxon. Was that a landing, or were we shot down?
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Also in More Than A FeildingFriday The unboxing And so this is Friday and what have we gone and done to ourselves?In the same way that a Christmas present can look lovely under the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Cans of Worms.
    “And there’ll be no shortage of ‘events’ to test Luxon’s political skills. David Seymour wants a referendum on the Treaty. Winston wants a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Labour’s handling of the Covid crisis. Talk about cans of worms!”LAURIE AND LES were very fond of their local. It was nothing ...
    1 week ago
  • Disinformation campaigns are undermining democracy. Here’s how we can fight back
    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Misinformation is debated everywhere and has justifiably sparked concerns. It can polarise the public, reduce health-protective behaviours such as mask wearing and vaccination, and erode trust in science. Much of misinformation is spread not ...
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

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