Daily Review 24/01/2019
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5:30 pm, January 24th, 2019 - 68 comments
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AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...5 days ago - Minimum wage ‘increase’ is an effective cut
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Returning to the model that was failing for most polytechnics and Institutes of Technology is not the answer. ...2 days ago
- Release: National buries 1019 planned homes
It’s been revealed that National has cancelled 60 percent of its housing projects planned before mid-2025 amidst housing woes. ...3 days ago
- Release: Rule-Czar bill a right-wing power grab
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...3 days ago
- Release: Why not both? Luxon shuns Waitangi celebrations
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is running away from problems of his own creation, with his decision not to go to Waitangi. ...3 days ago
- Govt’s ‘free speech’ legislation stokes fear, not freedom
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...3 days ago - Release: Nicola Willis spirals country deeper into recession
The economy shrank 1% this quarter and New Zealand has tumbled into the depths of a recession of Nicola Willis’ making. ...3 days ago
- Release: Hikes for company directors but not ordinary Kiwis
Working people are going backwards while company directors are being given huge pay hikes. ...4 days ago
- ECE no place to cut corners
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...4 days ago
- Release: Strengthening Justice Services for New Zealanders
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...5 days ago
- Release: Labour will continue fight against destructive projects
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...5 days ago
- Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...5 days ago
- Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...5 days ago
- Release: Visa changes let migrant workers be paid less
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...5 days ago
- Release: Nightmare before Christmas for Nicola Willis
With more debt and a larger deficit, Nicola Willis’ reputation is in tatters after her failure to return the Government’s books to surplus. ...5 days ago
- Warning to Fast-Track Applicants – ‘Exploit the Whenua, Face the Consequences’
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...5 days ago
- Release: Govt cuts wages for lowest paid NZers… again
For the second year running, the government has effectively cut wages for the lowest paid workers in New Zealand. ...6 days ago
- Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt shirking responsibility for rate hikes
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...6 days ago
- Luxon’s ‘localism’ strikes again
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...6 days ago
- Release: Govt breaks promise on EV chargers
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...6 days ago
- Greens call for end to subsidies for Methanex
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...6 days ago
- Govt child poverty targets allow for increase in poverty
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...1 week ago
- Release: Four weeks annual leave under threat
The Government’s attack on workers continues with news it is scrapping work on the Holidays Act. ...1 week ago
- Govt’s emissions plan for measly 1% reduction
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...1 week ago
- Greens stand in solidarity with Whakaata Māori on sad day
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...1 week ago
- Sanctions regime to create more hardship for families
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...1 week ago
- Govt gifts renters housing anxiety for Christmas
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...1 week ago
- Release: National Party urged to support modern slavery legislation
Labour is urging the Prime Minister to walk the talk and support legislation combating modern slavery. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour has lost confidence in the Speaker
The Speaker of the New Zealand Parliament made an unprecedented decision on the government amendment to the Fast Track Approvals Bill last night. ...2 weeks ago
- One year on, still no progress on new ferries
Today’s announcement from the Government on its plan for new ferries throws more uncertainty on the future of the country’s rail network. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Nicola Willis’ smaller ferries will cost more
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...2 weeks ago
- Bill to sanction unlawful occupation of Palestine
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...2 weeks ago
- Release: Labour fully supports greyhound racing ban
The Government has done the right thing in moving to ban greyhound racing. ...2 weeks ago
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Happy 109th to Django Reinhardt, one of the most important jazz guitarists of all time.
(dude had only two functional fingers on his left hand)
https://twitter.com/thefindingeye/status/1088248846474452993
That dude is off the chain! [couldn’t resist 🙂 ]
Fun fact, in tribute to Django Reinhard the Allman Brothers Band’s Dickey Betts attempted to write a song that could be played using only two fingers on the left hand.
It made my collection of four thousand all-time rock classics (few from after the early nineties). The long original version, I mean. It really hums along, and climbs the heights too. I never really considered Betts as a guitarist, actually, having become a fan of the Allmans before Duane died on his motorbike. Same fate for Les Harvey of Stone the Crows same year (I think), and he was even better than Duane!! I actually bought a Django album back then, but it was too jazzy so didn’t keep it. You’re right that Betts deserves credit, for sure!
One of the many examples of why we have a housing crisis: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110119264/mahana-property-owner-fined-10k-for-illegal-alterations
The Kiwi “can do” “no 8” values only exist if the wee officious bureaucrats allow them.
… if the wee bureaucrats allow it.
Yes, it was on TV1 this evening. It seems it is the bureaucrats who are causing the KiwiBuild delays. It’s holding back the builders and property developers from getting involved. Twyford is going to free up the regulations so they will hopefully come on board.
Not the least surprised. It wouldn’t be the first time these bureaucratic little Hitlers with a modicum of power have trashed govt initiatives. In saying that, I readily concede both Nat. and Lab. led governments have been affected.
Anyone who has worked for the Public Service in any capacity will know what I’m talking about,
Be nice to blame the faceless bureaucrats Anne. But sadly the government’s KiwiBuild travails are pretty much self inflicted.
I know what some faceless bureaucrats are like ScottGN. I worked with a few but not in the building industry. I do accept it was a problem Labour should have been alerted to well in advance of implementation.
Its not the first time Labour has found itself in hot water over a policy plank due to lack of due diligence when cobbling the policy together. However it should be a problem that can be overcome.
There are many opinions on the govts “travails” with Kiwibuild, it just depends on which ones you choose to run with.
Maybe Kat but I pretty much can promise you that Kiwibuild’s inherent failings are not the fault of pen-pushers in Council offices up and down the land. Labour needs to own this and try and move the dial. Twyford and his ministry could at least try and get to grips with what makes the building industry tick. Why is he surprised that builders and developers are only really interested in the big builds? They all clip the ticket on every set of taps and shower head and everything else they install for fucks sake.
With regards your comments on Kiwibuild, what makes the building industry “tick” is precisely the point as it is mainly the threat of sustained, long-term economic and urban transformation that is fueling opposing and negative views at the moment. Especially from the opposition and poodles in the media. This govt will continue to build houses one way or another.
Scott, I have to say from agonising personal experience that dealing with our dearly beloved Auckland Council is not something i would wish on even my worst enemy.
Having dealt with them over a personal subdivision I was creating by knocking a piece off the property I live on, I was dragged through a series of events over a 2 year period which created for me and my wife the most angst we have collectively experienced in our 35 years together.
The little tin Hitlers in that meandering rabbit warren called ‘council offices’ led us on a protracted and unnecessarily troublesome journey that could have been achieved in a third of the time. They charged us for every single minute they interacted with us, and that was on top of the regular set charges which are written down in their little book of words and numbers.
They were unhelpful, difficult, arrogant, contradictory, threatening, ignorant, unapproachable, hard to contact and a dozen other things which I am disinclined to list here. It cost us somewhere between 40 and 50 thousand in council costs and fees just to subdivide off a 467 sq metre section.
Usurious, uncaring and fucking disgraceful as a public service. You can’t go anywhere else. They’ve got you, and they let you know that in all they do and say.
Thus – I heartily concur with those who say that tiny little puffed up bureaucratic numpties are probably the major cause of road blocks in the Kiwibuild process.
So what you’re saying is any kiwi should be able to do What they like even if it’s possibly unsafe, unsound and let the buyer beware.
Regulations are there to pull up cowboys like him, especially when an indoor fire is in the mix. Note there’s no mention of what an inspection revealed……if ones been done at all.
I can quote family member good builder now retired as to bureaucracy and housing. The right regulations properly implemented are what is needed. (Auckland based.)
WE USED TO DO THINGS PROPERLY IN THE 1930’S=1970’S WHY DID THINGS CHANGE ????
Creeping bureaucracy and red tape. Theory over practice became the norm. Lack of proper training in the building trade as apprenticeships were given the heave ho. We the sheeple are the masters of our own demise. Thats what happened.
I certainly agree with that, but most of the problem is that the council services are money-making but not customer-focused. The worst of both worlds.
You get charged through the nose in order to sit on your arse and wait.
In this particular case, though, I have no sympathy. If you can’t work within the plan, you don’t just ignore the consent issue.
If it can be shown that the building work is up to standard then what is the problem, why are we sanctioning punitive fines just for the sake of rules. This is the creeping web of bureaucratic autocracy that is infecting the spirit of people in New Zealand and quashing any form of self reliance.
So a house plan is submitted and consent is given. The house is under construction and the builder discovers a window, door or wall is in the wrong place or should be changed, enlarged, made smaller or removed. That just can’t be done on site like it once was, it has to be redrawn and the amended plan submitted for consent with an extra fee before modification on site.
We have become a nation of comfortably numb sheeple.
Aside from planning issues, the purpose of the consenting process is to show that the building work is up to standard.
Although there was that time when accredited persons were permitted to carry out inspections. But it didn’t work out too flash.
Up to standard like the “leaky buildings fiasco”……that planning worked well didn’t it.
The permitted codes might have been shit but ultimately, it was the inspection processes that failed.
Officials tend to play by the book so the “shit codes” were given the tick in practice.
Nah, this case is more than that – they asked to build a barn and instead built a house. Logburner emissions, plumbing, power, even access and road use – you can’t just increase the population density of a property and pretend it affects nobody else.
The only problem I have with that case is that the fine wasn’t ten times bigger. Ten grand is probably within the budget estimate for the illegal house.
Dude’s about to find out just how big the fine could be.
A man has admitted to doubling the floor area of a house without getting building consents for the work.
Failing to get consents means Manawatū District Council is unable to check if Richard James Easther’s work complies with the Building Code, the Palmerston North District Court heard on Tuesday.
[…]
He did extensive work on the house between 2011 and 2018, putting in a new kitchen, bedroom and covered deck, as well as other internal renovations.
He effectively doubled the floor area of the house, but failed to get any building consents for the work.
[…]
Easther is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
He faces a fine of up to $200,000.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/110078659/man-faces-massive-fine-for-doubling-houses-floor-area-without-consent
Who said there is any pretending and how does a fine solve anything. The reality is the barn is most likely a reasonably built building affording shelter and a home to humans. Has to be more aesthetic in that particular environment than a Keith Hay type box or some cheep move on.
Barns don’t tend to have a kitchen, bathroom, mezzanine, logburner, and chimney.
Times might have changed since the last time I was on a farm, though.
Yes times have changed, what were once American style barns that gave shelter to hay, chickens, model T fords and the occasional cow hand are now country lifestyle-block homes.
That’s a conversion. Barns are non-residential buildings.
Friend says he isn’t allowed to put in his own gib. Has to be a register builder ffs. One eg of many I’m sure.
Re putting in own gib, could that be for warranty reasons?
Of course he can put up his own gib.
https://www.building.govt.nz/projects-and-consents/planning-a-successful-build/scope-and-design/choosing-the-right-people-for-your-type-of-building-work/owner-builder-obligations/
“So what you’re saying is any kiwi should be able to do What they like even if it’s possibly unsafe, unsound and let the buyer beware….”
No, and in this particular case if the building is shown to be unsafe, unsound and dangerous then it should be pulled down. But its most likely not and that is the point.
Once all the linings are up then how can you tell if the wiring and plumbing are sound? Electricity is so dangerous.
We had a garage built and there were 11 checks that had to be done by council (IIRC) although the builders were able to work around that so that a lot of the checks could be done on the same day – something like 3 or 4 visits. And that was just for a garage!
Yeah, the risks of the improper installation of heating and sanitary services – house fires, scoldings, legionella, hepatitis, campylobacter etc, etc, are a fucking doddle.
/
Just burst pipes every ten years or so are a bit of a nuisance. That was from dodgy grey piping installed in the 1980s about.
Lolz Mahana $$$ JS, funny, will have to check out the clip.
Beautiful spot mind you.
Fancy the National Party being “blindsided.” Blinkered perhaps?
“The National Party and a female MP whose text to disgraced MP Jami-Lee Ross triggered a police investigation appear to have been blindsided by the move.
Ross revealed on Tuesday police had approached him about the text in which he said the woman told him he deserved to die. ……”
“….National had no idea police were investigating till Ross dropped his bombshell on Tuesday – and has confirmed that the female MP at the centre of the investigation had been just as much in the dark.
She has not responded to messages and National said she would not be commenting.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110119860/police-inquiry-into-text-to-jamilee-ross-text-takes-national-by-surprise
Which woman was that one ?
That is not very nice obviously a bit sour about the relationship breakdown ?
Wonder if there will be a by-election down south before this is over?
I am amazed it took so long to investigate. These sorts of complaints usually take a week or so to finalise.
Tracy Watkins article says that National was aware of media reports of an investigation so I don’t really know how they could have been blindsided by the revelations that police were investigating?
“National had no idea police were investigating till Ross dropped his bombshell on Tuesday – and has confirmed that the female MP at the centre of the investigation had been just as much in the dark.
She has not responded to messages and National said she would not be commenting.
A party spokesman said it was aware of media reports of an investigation but had not heard from police.”
“the female MP at the centre of the investigation had been just as much in the dark.”
It’s these sorts of gratuitous details of the affair we just don’t need to have splashed all over the newspapers!
Aye.
I think she may have familial connections to police force.
“The National Party and a female MP whose text to disgraced MP Jami-Lee Ross”
Shouldn’t that read, “The disgraced National Party and the disgraced female MP whose text to disgraced MP Jami-Lee Ross…”?
46.6 degrees in Adelaide.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-24/sa-heating-up-with-records-expected-to-be-broken/10745220
And BOM is warning that businesses in Melbourne May need to power down overnight if Victoria is to escape widespread heat related power outages tomorrow.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/watchdog-widens-warnings-on-power-as-victoria-swelters-20190124-p50tat.html
That’s not unusual for Melbourne to have what they cal “brown outs” since they flog off the power companies under old Kennett. When I was based in Melbourne from 2009 to the end of 2011 they happened a lot during the summer and to be quite frank the wife and while glad to get out of that shit hole called Melbourne.
Trump’s approval rating has slumped below 40% on fivethirtyeight’s aggregated tracking. And today he got totally owned by Nancy.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Only the bigliest growth figures, too.
https://twitter.com/betsy_klein/status/1088080875319934978
I would not expect federal employees to keep working for much longer either. Maybe using the military to put down mass strikes is the national emergency Chump has in mind?
Wonder if it’s part of a master plan to privatise certain govt dept’s?
Nahh, it’s a ham fisted attempt to sow confusion and obstruct the FBI investigation, and postpone his inevitable impeachment. Drumpster is a total crook but so is half of the US government, and they don’t want to be investigated either
Bannon did say during the campaign that they were going to remake the US economy and government .
https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1088261486324170753
Interesting……
Simon Black, Sovereign Man, is offering to pay rent of employees affected by the shutdown.
Meanwhile, … out on the tundra something strange is happening … that sorta… just shows how myopic things seem at times…
https://youtu.be/jzlpK5g5quk?t=338
Please can someone who remembers seeing that simple and telling image or chart rather than shows outlines of the countries of the world and the livable days at certain temperatures from yellow to dark red.
Please can you tell me where on this blog you saw it, give me link? I think I need it to remind me each day of what is important to keep in mind.
This?
https://twitter.com/ClimateHuman/status/1084906996967460864
edit:
this post
The Northern Australian Monsoon has finally arrived, mth and half late. So go figure and the gap between the a good season and a bad season is getting smaller weather you are in the Northern or the in the South.
Here on the Whanganui coast we’re experiencing equinox like (Oct-Nov) gales coming out of the NW rather than the SW.
They’re sucking the heat and moisture out of the ground and making gardening tough.
Yeah, I notice the storms of late in NZ are a little unusual for this time of the yr. Until the Monsoon turned up all our winds were coming from the west, south west instead of the Nth west through to the Nth East as we would expect for our Northern Wet Season.
Then we have the Polar blasts in the Norther hemisphere as well.
Not good atm.
Stop whinging about your gardening. One volcano caused the sunsets to be red and hazy continually as far away as England for fives years and caused a mist of the same to last even longer, globally.
One volcano.
Dwarfing anything man could ever do.
Krakatoa – The Great Volcanic Eruption – YouTube
Or try Mt St Helens.
Minute by Minute: The Eruption of Mount St. Helens – YouTube
The USG Volcanic Survey calls bullshit on your assertion.
Which emits more carbon dioxide (CO2): Earth’s volcanoes or human activities?
Research findings indicate unequivocally that the answer to this frequently asked question is human activities.
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vsc/file_mngr/file-154/Gerlach-2011-EOS_AGU.pdf
I call bullshit on your assertions.
For one you still haven’t explained the many ice ages and the warm period of Europe. Until you can do that , go talk to a woolly mammoth. Ask em how it happened. Then get back to me.
Earth cycles , bud.
And there aint nothing you , Al Gore or the Bilderbergers can do about it
Thats the problem with you woke humanist lefties… using anything and everything to further your agendas. I can tell you right now you have more to fear from this than any deep olive oil fried somewhere – in – the – future calamity that you try to postulate.
Atomic Bomb Explosion – YouTube
Except for the fact that the Milankovitch cycles that drive glaciation show that we should be, in fact, very slowly going into a new ice age…
Human fingerprints on climate change rule out natural cycles
With some weather events Mammoths died so quickly they still had grass held in their trunks – as did many other animals. Sometimes the changes appeared to be rapid , other times not. So it seems those cycles are not regular cycles and differ in speed of onset / duration .
Heartily recommend Simon Winchester’s ‘Krakatoa, the day the world exploded’.