Daily Review 16/05/2016

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 pm, May 16th, 2016 - 50 comments
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Cameron slater john key

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 …

50 comments on “Daily Review 16/05/2016 ”

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  1. dukeofurl 1
    16 May 2016 at 6:08 pm

    18 states have voted Democratic in six consecutive elections with 242 electoral votes

    13 states have voted GOP since 1992 with 110 votes

    Democrats have also won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential contests.

    The democrats only have to get an extra 28 votes to win ( Florida would give 29) or a combination from the 19 swing states.

    Trump nightmare over, back to sleep now.
    http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2013/nov/10/george-will/george-will-paints-dire-electoral-picture-gop-says/

    • Colonial Viper 1.1
      16 May 2016 at 6:35 pm

      Awesome, Killary for President.

    • AmaKiwi 1.2
      17 May 2016 at 5:15 pm

      @ dukeofurl

      “Since 1992” is the flaw in this logic. The mood of society has changed . . . worldwide. In case you hadn’t noticed, non-mainstream candidates and parties are making deep inroads everywhere to say nothing of numerous civil wars.

      Bernie Sanders is not dropping out because his primary objective is revolution, not the White House. You never heard that “since 1992.”

  2. weka 2
    16 May 2016 at 6:14 pm

    Philip PAtston on diversity fail at Auckland Writers Festival, and a pretty good explanation of why intersectionality is crucial,

    I was disappointed but not surprised that a diversity debate at the Auckland Writers Festival yesterday turned out to be an ethnicity debate, with a little parlance about binary gender thrown in for good measure.

    When I asked at the end why in 2016 a diversity debate’s scope would be so narrow (apart from author Victor Rodger mentioning a fa’afafine character in one of his novels), after a resounding applause from the audience, I was met with varying levels of defensiveness, including:

    “There are only four of us.”
    “Well, I may be gay or disabled.” (If you are, why not say so?)
    And finally, from the chair, “This debate was about ethnicity, so it’s my fault.”
    But if you read the description on the website, it was neither billed nor described as an Ethnicity Debate.

    The pity about omitting other aspects of diversity from the narrative — non-binary gender, sexual, functional, relational, age, religious, lifestyle etc — is that you remove the reality that all ethnicities include these other aspects as part of their collective identities. Instead, ethnic diversity remains heteronormative, binary gendered, middle-aged, functionally common, monoganormative and so on.

    And the “vanilla-ising” of society is perpetuated

    http://linkis.com/www.bloglovin.com/bl/jm2DU

  3. weka 3
    16 May 2016 at 6:22 pm

    According to this research hallucinations can actually improve cognitive function,

    http://www.thepaepae.com/wp-uploads/2016/05/chickenhallucination.jpg

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      16 May 2016 at 6:32 pm

      dreaming seems pretty important for improving cognitive function…and what are dreams if not a kind of hallucinations?

      • Anne 3.1.1
        16 May 2016 at 6:46 pm

        Some of them are quite funny. I used to dream about my car. On one occasion I decided (in my dream) to go for a holiday, but every time I went to put something in the car a piece of it would be missing. Eventually there was nothing left but the passenger seat, steering wheel and the floor of the car. Everything else was gone. 😯

      • NZJester 3.1.2
        16 May 2016 at 6:52 pm

        Unfortunately the National government has smashed most peoples dreams and are giving us nightmares!
        No wonder everyone is turning into mindless drones!

      • McFlock 3.1.3
        16 May 2016 at 6:57 pm

        actually, looking at someone IRL who has significant hallucinations, I think it’s more the other way around – hallucinations are a type of waking dream.

        The visions can be cued up almost like dreams, a careless word or discussion about something interesting or just particularly abstract to the situation at hand can bring about hallucinations that are relevant, but often slightly tangential.

        Sucks initially, because you’re as confused as they are, but once you learn it becomes more about anchoring them back here – not confronting or challenging, just anchoring. Still significant suckage to deal with, but better than before.

        • weka 3.1.3.1
          16 May 2016 at 7:23 pm

          That makes a lot of sense.

          There’s a whole branch of the psych survivor movement that says it’s better to treat the content of hallucinations as meaningful and relevant rather than dismissing them as well hallucinations. Not that they’re literal truth but that they do have meaning for the person experiencing them, they’re not random, and that working on th assumption of meaning makes life better for the person experiencing them. R D Laing did some good work originally from the pysch treatment perspective.

        • Colonial Viper 3.1.3.2
          16 May 2016 at 7:23 pm

          Ahhhh had never thought of it in that way before, very handy, thanks.

        • McFlock 3.1.3.3
          16 May 2016 at 10:10 pm

          Well that’s seems to be the case in the person I know. Other people or causes might have different sources for their illusions.

    • McFlock 3.2
      16 May 2016 at 6:47 pm

      lol

      that particular hallucination was possibly a “dream” of the chicken’s subconscious – wishful thinking 🙂

      • weka 3.2.1
        16 May 2016 at 6:53 pm

        It made me think of ts, but funnily enough it’s from an article about Slater 😉

        • McFlock 3.2.1.1
          16 May 2016 at 7:10 pm

          lol

          I can see that, at least he’s good for provoking a discussion about dreams vs hallucinations 🙂

  4. NZJester 4
    16 May 2016 at 7:24 pm

    Heritage New Zealand has been ordered to pay almost $120,000 to an oil company after it lost a court battle over the burial place of Treaty of Waitangi signatory Wiremu Kingi.

    If this sort of thing is happening before the TPP is in place, what can we expect once it is passed?
    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/304009/heritage-nz-ordered-to-pay-oil-company-120k

    • left for dead 4.1
      16 May 2016 at 8:20 pm

      Yes, over all the noise i heard that , or at some of that content on Nat Rad hope the can afford too appeal. The community needs better protection, some sort of fund with qualified lawyers at hand, it is after all our space.

    • Jenny Kirk 4.2
      16 May 2016 at 8:58 pm

      This IS dreadful ! How can any hapu or iwi (let alone a body like Heritage NZ) expect to be able to defend its rohe and cultural heritage against mineral exploration with this sort of precedent-setting.

      And NZJester suggests it will be worse under the TPPA. I’ve just been reading up on a bit more of TPPA – thinking we’d all have another opportunity to really express displeasure about it at the select committee process, but that is just an “exercise” in futility. According to Prof Jane Kelsey :
      “From past experience, the select committee process is a cosmetic exercise anyway, because the government has a majority. Even if it wanted to propose changes, the committee has no power. The Cabinet can ratify the treaty while the hearings are still proceeding, …”
      This is on – http://itsourfuture.org.nz/explanation-of-nzs-treaty-making-process/

    • Et Tu Brute 4.3
      17 May 2016 at 12:35 pm

      But you missed the point where it was not established the oil company would go near the burial site and Heritage New Zealand was deemed to be protecting more than just the historical site, but also the wider context of the valley.

  5. Paul 5
    16 May 2016 at 7:58 pm

    Auckland’s housing crisis worsens: RNZ Checkpoint

    • Scythe 5.1
      16 May 2016 at 11:25 pm

      It’s distressing how many people in this country live in utter shitholes, but they should stop reproducing like rats. Condoms aren’t expensive, you can get a prescription from your doctor.

      • Gangnam Style 5.1.1
        16 May 2016 at 11:28 pm

        Ugh! Seems like I have Seen this comment before. Back to the gutter with you!

      • McFlock 5.1.2
        16 May 2016 at 11:36 pm

        Like rats, you say? Interesting. Maybe put your thoughts into a movie, call it “the eternal beneficiary”. Send the worst ones into camps where they can concentrate on getting work, because work makes you free. They can study from an inspirational text about your struggle for wealth. We can figure out a title later.

        Oh, wait. This is embarrassing. You’re embarrass yourself.

  6. Paul 6
    16 May 2016 at 8:07 pm

    More evidence of what life is like in John Key’s New Zealand.

    • Graeme 6.1
      16 May 2016 at 9:36 pm

      Good chance that cabin is owned by the local council. The site has been earmarked for the convention centre, which is going nowhere, and the distraction thats put the Council is in the mess it is with building consents.

      So the cabins, which have always been pretty grotty, have got grottier because they are only there until something happens. A lot have been already removed.

      Interesting to see the headline in the article that video was in http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/304026/wealthy-against-queenstown-development-minister

      Smith is quoting a submission on SHA proposal that was the equivalent of 100 x 250m2 sections in Coatesville, say next door to Mr Gibbs. It didn’t meet the SHA criteria anyway, as it wasn’t adjacent to existing residential developments or services.

      The issue in Queenstown isn’t lack of zoned land, there’s quite a bit zoned at Hanley Downs, which the developer is getting the density increased to get more out of it. And any greenfield development will be $800 000 for a house because they can and will sell them for that, and as many as they can build.

      The solution to the girl in the cabin’s problem isn’t zoning more land, it’s building higher density and smaller on land that’s already zoned. But that’s hard because the developer can’t make the same profit, and the cashflow isn’t there consistently in a rental model. Someone, employers? government? council? will have to stump up some cash to make it happen. Then the cycle passes and the problem goes away and we go through it all again the next cycle, and the next. Same thing happens with the DHB and our hospital.

      By the way Mr Smith is going with his dog whistles, we’re going to have a NZ First MP next year.

      • weka 6.1.1
        16 May 2016 at 9:51 pm

        His comments on RNZ this evening connecting up the problems the council is having with its building consent process with the housing shortage and ta da they will need a commissioner was pretty unsubtle. I hope Southlanders give them a good slap down.

        • Graeme 6.1.1.1
          16 May 2016 at 10:36 pm

          Yeah, it’s hard to tell if they are talking just the building consent side, which would just be a MBIE manager short term, like Christchurch City, or a ECan like situation, which is a commissioner. ECan style solution would be scary, $800 000+ ticky tacks on every flat piece of land in the basin. And still nowhere for the workers to live.

          The current council here is distracted, often by government dictates (bloody convention centre and it’s associated rezoning), and councillors seem quite overwhelmed by it all. And there’s no one making a play for mayor (incumbent’s outa there….) or council.

          Another thought is that it’s all a distraction from last weeks debacle, but this issue has been building for a while.

          • weka 6.1.1.1.1
            16 May 2016 at 11:04 pm

            Do you know if the changes to the the Local Government Act a few years ago are having an impact?

      • Pat 6.1.2
        16 May 2016 at 10:46 pm

        so in effect you are saying its a problem the market will not solve……..much like Auckland…and a publicly funded building program is required.

        • Graeme 6.1.2.1
          16 May 2016 at 11:17 pm

          There’s a lot of businesses here who are trying to socialise their staffing costs and pushing for someone else to provide staff accomodation. Most of the big employers had staff accomodation until 90’s when it was sold off or developed. At that end of the market something has to be done, and probably will be this cycle. This proposal might have legs http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/383346/school-site-cheaper-housing The hard part will be sustaining it, but if the existing High School goes to the Housing Trust http://www.qlcht.org.nz it should be sustainable.

          The private sector has no trouble building and selling houses here, there’s an insatiable demand and huge churn as well. But the demand is from people moving to the district or holiday houses, some of which are bloody flash. 10 years ago it was said that we turn over half our population every two years. I haven’t seen it change in that time.

          • weka 6.1.2.1.1
            16 May 2016 at 11:22 pm

            Queenstown could look at establishing housing and work for long term locals and thus stabilise its population a bit. Might have to look at sustainability rather than relying on the tourism cash cow though.

            • Graeme 6.1.2.1.1.1
              16 May 2016 at 11:49 pm

              The issue is with people who have been here up to 0 – 5 years, or less than a cycle. Everyone want to come and live here for the “lifestyle”, and a lot take from the community but don’t stay long enough to contribute back to the community. There are actually very few who have been here several generations. That sort of demographic makes for some different issues, and require quite different solutions.

              After 35 years here your community gets quite small and tight and a parallel community of transient people lives around you that you have very little to do with.

              The sustainable economy thing has been done to death and all that comes up is different sorts of tourism or cyclical development. Everything else gets stuffed by the high value of land, and the demand for that land. If we keep trying to put more and more people in this tight valley eventually there won’t be any more room and building more or doing it differently doesn’t make it cheaper, but actually everything gets more expensive. Maybe we are at or past that point now.

              the same thing could be said for Auckland too.

              • weka …
                17 May 2016 at 12:09 am

                Lots of places look over populated to me. People don’t make the connection though.

                “The sustainable economy thing has been done to death and all that comes up is different sorts of tourism or cyclical development.”

                If they’re talking tourism they’re not talking sustainable. They’re incompatible by definition.

                I’ve lived in a few different tourist towns so I know what you mean about the long term effect on community.

                • Gangnam Style …
                  17 May 2016 at 6:15 am

                  Nick Smith was talking about ex-crown land (a school), which has to be offered to Ngai Tahu first, who will then be asked/forced to provide workers housing, when they have every right to do with it what they wish. It’s all the maoris fault!

                  • dukeofurl …
                    17 May 2016 at 11:11 am

                    So they dont need more schools in and around Queenstown ?

                    • Graeme …
                      17 May 2016 at 5:32 pm

                      Big new High School being built in Frankton now, to open for start 2018 year

                  • Graeme …
                    17 May 2016 at 5:45 pm

                    I think the school proposal is to refit the existing buildings as rental / worker accomodation. This gives a very quick, and probably very good solution. The existing buildings only cover half the site.

                    Ngai Tahu are major tourist operators and landlords around Queenstown and very much set the standard around town. They are very good operators. They will benefit from better worker accomodation and are always ready to do a deal.

        • The Chairman 6.1.2.2
          17 May 2016 at 7:53 am

          “A publicly funded building program is required”

          Indeed. Increasing supply and improving standards while ultimately alleviating rent pressures.

          Whereas, introducing housing warrants would do little to help the lady from Queenstown (in Paul’s clip above). Being a high demand short supply location would most likely result in warrant associated costs being passed on, forcing her out.

          • Graeme 6.1.2.2.1
            17 May 2016 at 5:52 pm

            Two things peculiar to Queenstown, any building program has to be carefully targeted to avoid pouring petrol on the fire, more supply in some sectors would only stimulate demand, and probably square it. And those cabins have been slated for demolition for ages. Would be better to flatten it and put a portable there. This has been proposed for the Lakeview site as well and would be easily achievable as services are in place.

      • Graeme 6.1.3
        17 May 2016 at 8:27 am

        This is the SHA proposal Smith is basing his dog whistles on. The developer appealed Councils refusal to the HIgh Court and got smacked, hard.

        http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/383430/high-court-says-qldc-did-not-err

        Hope Council get full costs out of the entitled muppet. Unfortunately it’s also another step on the way to a commissioner.

        The idea that these would have sold for $450 000 is pure fantasy. Everything around them starts at $1.5 mil so these would have very quickly gone to around $800K. The Bridesdale SHA (same developer and an intriguing study of blue privilege) was also $450K at consent, but is now heading through $800K

  7. cowboy 7
    16 May 2016 at 9:52 pm

    Also on CheckPoint, Nathan Guy putting on his best Sargent Shultz ” I see nuthin” routine:

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/201800911/fishing-report-reveals-damning-criticism-of-mpi

    Thank goodness for John Campbell.

    • tc 7.1
      16 May 2016 at 11:10 pm

      Guy is a knuckle dragger quite at home in shonky’s cabal.

      That cabinet would have to be the most bent assortment of careerists, opportunists and dullards with just enough rat cunning (key, English, Joyce, Collins and findlayson) to prevent them all being bagged up and dumped in the political river to float away.

      They aren’t even hiding the agenda now, legislate, install commissioner mates and let the plunder continue.

    • Halfcrown 7.2
      17 May 2016 at 9:14 am

      Yeah, I heard that. I always thought Nathan Guy looked “vacant” and was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
      He removed all doubt with that interview with John Campbell.

  8. Ad 8
    17 May 2016 at 3:28 pm

    And we wonder why sustainability is hard.

    After one packed hall meeting, the Dunedin City Council planner withdraws support for windfarm generation at Blueskin Bay and has another think:

    http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/383532/dcc-planner-reserving-position-wind-farm

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