The Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill replaces the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) 2011.
The PTOM had aimed to increase competition and curb costs by requiring councils to contract out public transport to a separate company.
However, a 2020 review by KPMG and Mott MacDonald found it had failed to achieve its aims, with commerciality even falling by up to 12 percent in major centres like Auckland, Wellington and Otago. Driver unions had long complained it also kept wages and conditions for drivers down.
The new law would allow councils to directly own and run public transport services themselves.
It also allows recruitment of migrant drivers.
Simeon Brown responded as it he had not read the 2020 report and said
it would only increase costs, would not increase efficiency and reliability, and would see services degrade.
"This government thinks everything should be operated by the government and not be outsourced to the private sector, and they don't even believe in competition," he said.
How can the bill even support competition when it takes away the requirement for competition to even be considered?"
The former requirement of councils to prefer the lower tender, drove down wages and conditions and left cities without bus services – failure to deliver on the contract.
Evidence clearly shows the cost savings and better services from privitisation are imaginary.
Similarly, in 2007, Roland Zullo found in his research that governments gained no immediate or long-term economic benefit from contracted bus services. This finding was substantiated in 2009 by Suzanne Leland and Olga Smirnova who found that privately owned and managed transit systems are not more efficient or more effective than government owned agencies.
Some of the explained real life results can be explained thus:
Their study suggests that under private production, incentives exist to reduce costs at the expense of quality. Under this framework, incentives work as follows:
1.With private ownership, the manager has incentives to reduce costs through quality deterioration. The manager does not need authorization from the government, which will bear the political costs of quality reduction. To give the manager incentives to innovate to increase quality, the manager would need to negotiate price increases with the government to ensure compensation for his investment. Most likely, this negotiation will not result in a full appropriation of benefits from the innovation, which reduces the manager’s incentives to innovate.
2.Under government ownership, incentives work in the opposite direction. Because the manager is government-employed, he will take into account potential quality erosion when considering the implementation of cost-reducing innovations. In addition, the public manager will need government permission for any innovation he wants to undertake (either quality improvement or cost reduction). In the absence of a pay-for-performance scheme, the public manager will not fully benefit from the results of innovation.
Overall, private ownership offers more incentives for cost reduction, but these incentives can induce quality erosion. Ensuring quality under privatization requires increased oversight, which can blur the line between public and private ownership (Guttman, 2000; Bozeman, 1987). As the difference between public and private ownership disappears, the potential for cost savings from private ownership may disappear as well.
Gets even worse for water. Note our semi-privatised power companies have been doing the same thing here – taking on debt to pay dividends to share holders.
Telecom's public image may take another hit as an audio clip of Theresa Gattung circulating on the internet has the chief executive admitting to the company "not being straight up" with customers.
"Think about pricing. What has every telco in the world done in the past? It's used confusion as its chief marketing tool. And that's fine," said Gattung in a speech recorded on March 20.
"You could argue that that's how all of us keep calling prices up and get those revenues, high-margin businesses, keep them going for a lot longer than would have been the case.
There has been 30 years of experimentation and research now which shows it is a failure in most cases.
The Privatised Water Industry in the UK. An ATM for investors.
This paper aims to critically evaluate the privatised water & sewage industry in England. We find that the public-owned sector in Scotland delivers the service just as efficiently, albeit at a lower cost to consumers. Our econometric analysis suggests that the 40% increase in real household bills since privatisation was mainly driven by continuously growing interest payments on debt, contrary to the regulator attributing them to growing costs and investments. Finally, we show that the accelerating debt levels are primarily the result of disproportionate dividend pay-outs, which exceeded the privatised companies’ cash balances in all but one year since 1989. We conclude that the way the industry operates may no longer be sustainable and seems to disadvantage consumers greatly without their knowledge, as there is a fog of misleading statements by the companies and the regulator.
But, but, but…….neo-lib is all good isn't it even when it is not, so why listen to reason or read objective results? /:sarc
Neo-lib wormed it's way into many unseen to the general public areas in public institutions/life that it really needs to have detailed investigations when aspects come up for renewal/review as well as an all out approach on the areas we as consumers are aware of.
(She checks notes to find the aspect she is always banging on about…..)
Did they really need expensive consultants to demonstrate the obvious? Extraction of passive income by the owners/shareholders of the new private entities tends to produce one of two outcomes – lower quality (bus services) or higher prices (private hospitals). Sometimes it leads to both.
If we weren't in the middle of an election campaign with multiple policy launches per day, the $1.1 billion deal from government to Auckland to buy out properties and remediate a whole regions worth of civil infrastructure would be surely worthy of note.
"A cost-sharing agreement between the Government and Auckland Council will see the Crown contribute $877 million towards Auckland’s recovery following the Anniversary Day floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, earlier this year.
In addition to the $877 million which will come from the National Resilience Plan, Auckland Council has submitted an application for further recovery funding which is being reviewed by Waka Kotahi. Auckland Council estimates it will receive about $200 million from this process to help restore the transport network. This would bring the total Crown funding Auckland may receive to up to $1.1 billion."
I'm presuming that Auckland Council will approximately match that with its own contribution.
We can now see how much it is going to cost New Zealand taxpayers and ratepayers to continue to prop up this country through massive storm after massive storm event.
That's before the walls start to really break on South Dunedin, or the flood+surge overtops Westport's defences, or a direct cyclone wipes Gisborne off the map.
It's not being catastrophist to now expect more disasters.
I sincerely hope that the buyouts will be capped.
As a ratepayer (and taxpayer for that matter), I don't really want to be paying for 10 million dollar clifftop properties – buying out owners who have recklessly over-developed a fragile site
I'd like to see a straightforward land swap (if you had a 600 m2 site which is red-stickered (or whatever the new category is) – you get a 600m2 site elsewhere in a managed retreat spec'd development. It's up to you and your insurance company to either rebuild or relocate your existing house. If you don't want to live there – you can sell the new site – and buy wherever you please.
I'm all for helping out people in need. Much less keen on helping out millionaires.
Rewriggling a stream in the south of England to restore natural flow and reduce the risk of flooding.
Alan Stewart, a professor of ecology at the University of Sussex, said past construction of straightened, artificial canals to transport vessels had increased the risk of flooding, noting that Lewes had a “devastating” flood in 2000. The flood destroyed about 100 properties, including homes and businesses, and led to six days of power cuts.
Stewart said removing artificial river banks and allowing streams to create their own natural winding courses was ultimately the most sensible approach to reducing flood risk.
[You seem like a typical troll trying to derail a comment with a lazy illegible YT link and an equally intelligible comment. This is your warning – Incognito]
So Weston you are commenting by linking to a shouty You Tube video that I had to click away from as it just seemed to be saying '3.4%' all the time (& an enigmatic comment of Not what they seem?) with a scientific study from the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams.
I find this positioning concerning as if they are some how considered to be peers?
What does your comment mean and can you summarise the YT vid so we don't need to be subjected to this stuck record commentary of '3.4%'?. I have my suspicions that the link may be anti all sensible measures placed around Covid transmission.
The mainstream media talking heads were claiming the death rate from the virus was 3.4% while Trump was claiming it was under 1%. Leading to the talking heads claiming Trump was touting mis/disinformation. Yet (as shown in the vid/link) it turned out the WHO and the talking heads were wrong and it was under 1%.
So (as shown in the vid/link) it seems the talking heads and the WHO were the ones spreading mis/disinformation.
[please provide evidence for your claims here. No, you can’t use that video as a source. I want credible sources (imo you will need multiple sources), and explanations from you on each point, short quotes to back that up, and links. I’m not willing to accept video/audio as I want to limit my time on this and your claims should be easily backed up in text.
You will also need to explain what you mean by ‘death rate from the virus’ as well as the time periods you are referring to.
If you can’t do that then retract your claims.
The claims are:
that many MSM reported the death rate from covid was 3.4%
that Trump claimed it was <1%
that many MSM said Trump was spreading mis/disinformation
that the WHO was spreading mis/disinformation in the virus death rate
Mod note. Because I warned you recently about not treating TS like FB and I had to use my own time to fact check your claims, if you waste my time on this again I will ban you until well after the election. We have an expectation here of a high level of debate and evidence.
You are in premod and none of your comments will appear on the front end until you attend to this.
Seeing as you won’t take the vid/link as evidence, I can’t be bothered so I will retract.
[that’s not a retraction. A retraction would be something like “I made claims I am unable to back up, so I will retract them”. Further, you seem to not understand why evidence matters.
That and saying you can’t be bothered tells me that you have little respect for debate here. This is the third time you have been warned about this and wasting moderator time in the past week or so. You seem to have no intention of changing how you comment here.
ban extended to 1 year, after follow up comment in Trash and looking at moderation history. You patently don't respect moderation here, repeatedly waste moderator time, and you've had plenty of warnings.
Weka that vid i posted came from a piece by Matt Taibbi called " Mashup the covid lie that started it all "
Esentialy MT is piggy backing on an article by Matt Orfalea called "Memory Hole : the original covid lie "
Both articles [ behind a paywall ] refer to an original estimate by the WHO in early 2020 that the death count from covid was likely to be 3.4 % when in fact as established down the track it was less than 1% which was what Trump claimed back then which in turn was what pretty much ALL the MSM used to beat him up with .!! Trump was correct and the media sock puppets were wrong .
If you read the original article weka you will see all of Orfaleas info is credible and well documented .
Incidentaly The Chairman made no "claims " he merely interpreted the vid as in "my take " [ did you miss his first two words ?? ]
Even if you did mis read what he actually said are you suggesting its some kind of HEROSY that someone question a so called " expert or experts " seems to me there's not an expert on the planet who doesnt get something wrong at some stage .
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
[please supply the two links you are referring to and read the mod note below. – weka]
Mod note: it’s not my job to look for links you claim back up your argument. It’s your job. It’s like you didn’t understand anything I have explained to you about moderation. Or you don’t care. Either way, banned two weeks for wasting moderator time.
this is a youtube link with zero explanation. We have long said this isn't ok. What we need is an explanation by the commenter of two things: what the video is about, and what the commenter thinks about it.
When you put up a link with no useful comment it lowers the quality of debate because we can't see what the video is about and most people aren't going to watch it.
As Shanreagh pointed out, the video is constructed in such a way as to put most people off.
We are also resisting letting TS be turned into FB. We're here for the political debate, not memery.
If instead, you had written an explanation like you have today, the debate would have gone much differently.
You also need to link if you are going to reference articles, it doesn't matter if they are behind a paywall.
We require debate here to be robust and evidence based. Everything I am writing here is about that, none of it is about the content of what your comments. By that I mean, if you put the effort into explaining your position and doing basic things like linking, then you won't get moderated.
2. The Chairman has a history of making misleading statements in his comments. He's been warning about this multiple times. He's copped a ban for wasting moderator time (again, read my link above).
In addition, he made the same mistake as you whereby his comment didn't explain anything for others.
He did indeed make the same claims as in the video and could have provide back up for those claims but refused to and instead doubled down.
He also has a history of litigating moderation, and I'm not willing to waste my time on that any more.
3. You said,
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
No-one has been censored here. TS lets people say most things so long as they can do so within the boundaries of robust debate. The Policy (written long before I was a mod),
We encourage robust debate and we’re tolerant of dissenting views. But this site run for reasonably rational debate between dissenting viewpoints and we intend to keep it operating that way.
What we’re not prepared to accept are pointless personal attacks, or tone or language that has the effect of excluding others. We are intolerant of people starting or continuing flamewars where there is little discussion or debate. This includes making assertions that you are unable to substantiate with some proof (and that doesn’t mean endless links to unsubstantial authorities) or even argue when requested to do so. Such comments may be deleted without warning or one of the alternatives below may be employed. The action taken is completely up to the moderator who takes it.
You have both been given the opportunity to meet the debate standards of the blog. If you can't do that, then stop making the claims of fact. If you are unclear on what evidence is required, then ask.
Please take the time to understand that the problem here is lack of debate etiquette.
Please also understand that taking up moderator time is the quickest way to a ban. It's taken me 25 mins to do all the various things around moderating your comment today, and I am not going to do that again.
But The Chariman the report of the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams were about non pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing, distancing etc. I feel that as anything about so called % rates was not mentioned in the reports
In short:
Covid measures WERE EFFECTIVE including lockdowns, contact tracing & masks
So not sure why the topic was raised by Weston, well I do, to derail any learning about effective measures especially those that were top of the anti-vaxx hit list. Such as mask wearing and distancing…why I do not know.
They were measures to help the individual as well as the people they came into contact with. I've never understood why, even if you felt you were unlikely to spread or catch covid you would not mask or distance to help others. Seems quite selfish to me.
mod note: please be more careful with your grammar and formatting. Your second sentence is hard to understand and then you presumably put your own words in quotation.
Covid measures WERE EFFECTIVE including lockdowns, contact tracing & masks
[ok, but you didn’t provide a link at the time you quoted. Three day ban for yet again quoting without linking and for thus wasting moderator time – weka]
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Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julien Cooper, Honorary Lecturer, Department of History and Archaeology, Macquarie University Julien Cooper The hyper-arid desert of Eastern Sudan, the Atbai Desert, seems like an unlikely place to find evidence of ancient cattle herders. But in this dry environment, my new ...
The sector says it’s hopeful her replacement Paul Goldsmith will be able to throw it a lifeline, after six months with a minister deemed missing in action, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign ...
The government can't just rely on axing public sector jobs and has to do more to cut spending, says the chief economist at a free market think tank. ...
Rock The Vote NZ, known for its advocacy for minor party unity and its role within the Freedoms NZ Coalition during the 2023 General Election, celebrates this merger as a strategic enhancement of its operational strength and outreach. ...
Nearly everyone has experienced the frustration of something you use breaking and being difficult or expensive to fix. Proposed legislation could change that. It’s been raining on and off all Sunday afternoon but people are lining up outside a building in a corner of Gribblehirst Park in Sandringham, Auckland. In ...
What does a forever relationship look like when you don’t believe in marriage? And how do you celebrate it? This essay is part of our Sunday Essay series, made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.I’m going to do it, right now. I’m going to say ...
It’s not that long ago Eliza McCartney was seriously wondering if the Paris Olympics would be her pole vaulting swansong. After years of being hounded by injury after injury, the Rio Olympics bronze medallist was still confident she would compete at her second Olympics in Paris in July, unless something ...
FICTION 1 Take Two by Danielle Hawkins (Allen & Unwin, $36.99) There’s commercial fiction, like this book, and then there’s quality fiction, quality writers, quality literature; the forthcoming Auckland Writers Festival is full of quality, and ReadingRoom has two tickets to give away to the following events: Paul Lynch (Dublin ...
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You can’t have missed the Gallipoli story as the movies, documentaries, essays and books capture what it was like for New Zealand troops in their eight-month campaign on the Peninsula. But this Anzac Day the Auckland War Memorial Museum has published a book that sheds light on a little-known aspect of the ...
The Prime Minister has committed to resuming direct flights to Thailand. But it’s not a promise he will be able to deliver on anytime soon. The post Prime Minister jumps the gun in Thailand appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
ACT wants more people in prison.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/election-2023-prison-numbers-will-balloon-if-act-elected-at-cost-of-1-billion-david-seymour-says.html
I guess cracking down on spending doesn't apply to throwing more Maori in jails.
They're already there.
The Land Transport Management (Regulation of Public Transport) Amendment Bill replaces the Public Transport Operating Model (PTOM) 2011.
Simeon Brown responded as it he had not read the 2020 report and said
The former requirement of councils to prefer the lower tender, drove down wages and conditions and left cities without bus services – failure to deliver on the contract.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/08/parliament-passes-bus-driver-pay-legislation-under-urgency.html
Evidence clearly shows the cost savings and better services from privitisation are imaginary.
Similarly, in 2007, Roland Zullo found in his research that governments gained no immediate or long-term economic benefit from contracted bus services. This finding was substantiated in 2009 by Suzanne Leland and Olga Smirnova who found that privately owned and managed transit systems are not more efficient or more effective than government owned agencies.
https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/High-Costs-of-Privatization.pdf
Some of the explained real life results can be explained thus:
Their study suggests that under private production, incentives exist to reduce costs at the expense of quality. Under this framework, incentives work as follows:
1.With private ownership, the manager has incentives to reduce costs through quality deterioration. The manager does not need authorization from the government, which will bear the political costs of quality reduction. To give the manager incentives to innovate to increase quality, the manager would need to negotiate price increases with the government to ensure compensation for his investment. Most likely, this negotiation will not result in a full appropriation of benefits from the innovation, which reduces the manager’s incentives to innovate.
2.Under government ownership, incentives work in the opposite direction. Because the manager is government-employed, he will take into account potential quality erosion when considering the implementation of cost-reducing innovations. In addition, the public manager will need government permission for any innovation he wants to undertake (either quality improvement or cost reduction). In the absence of a pay-for-performance scheme, the public manager will not fully benefit from the results of innovation.
Overall, private ownership offers more incentives for cost reduction, but these incentives can induce quality erosion. Ensuring quality under privatization requires increased oversight, which can blur the line between public and private ownership (Guttman, 2000; Bozeman, 1987). As the difference between public and private ownership disappears, the potential for cost savings from private ownership may disappear as well.
https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/High-Costs-of-Privatization.pdf
So there was evidence to show that the 2011 approach was wrong and they did it anyway …
Gets even worse for water. Note our semi-privatised power companies have been doing the same thing here – taking on debt to pay dividends to share holders.
And let us not forget
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/gattung-admits-telcos-not-being-straight/CVL6FXSNGGNID32ZGUPGWPQHTE/
Telecom's public image may take another hit as an audio clip of Theresa Gattung circulating on the internet has the chief executive admitting to the company "not being straight up" with customers.
"Think about pricing. What has every telco in the world done in the past? It's used confusion as its chief marketing tool. And that's fine," said Gattung in a speech recorded on March 20.
"You could argue that that's how all of us keep calling prices up and get those revenues, high-margin businesses, keep them going for a lot longer than would have been the case.
There has been 30 years of experimentation and research now which shows it is a failure in most cases.
https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/21097/20/21097%20YEARWOOD_The_Privatised_Water_Industry_in_the_UK_2018.pdf
The Privatised Water Industry in the UK. An ATM for investors.
This paper aims to critically evaluate the privatised water & sewage industry in England. We find that the public-owned sector in Scotland delivers the service just as efficiently, albeit at a lower cost to consumers. Our econometric analysis suggests that the 40% increase in real household bills since privatisation was mainly driven by continuously growing interest payments on debt, contrary to the regulator attributing them to growing costs and investments. Finally, we show that the accelerating debt levels are primarily the result of disproportionate dividend pay-outs, which exceeded the privatised companies’ cash balances in all but one year since 1989. We conclude that the way the industry operates may no longer be sustainable and seems to disadvantage consumers greatly without their knowledge, as there is a fog of misleading statements by the companies and the regulator.
But, but, but…….neo-lib is all good isn't it even when it is not, so why listen to reason or read objective results? /:sarc
Neo-lib wormed it's way into many unseen to the general public areas in public institutions/life that it really needs to have detailed investigations when aspects come up for renewal/review as well as an all out approach on the areas we as consumers are aware of.
(She checks notes to find the aspect she is always banging on about…..)
Energy costs review of the Bradford changes…..
Did they really need expensive consultants to demonstrate the obvious? Extraction of passive income by the owners/shareholders of the new private entities tends to produce one of two outcomes – lower quality (bus services) or higher prices (private hospitals). Sometimes it leads to both.
If we weren't in the middle of an election campaign with multiple policy launches per day, the $1.1 billion deal from government to Auckland to buy out properties and remediate a whole regions worth of civil infrastructure would be surely worthy of note.
"A cost-sharing agreement between the Government and Auckland Council will see the Crown contribute $877 million towards Auckland’s recovery following the Anniversary Day floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, earlier this year.
In addition to the $877 million which will come from the National Resilience Plan, Auckland Council has submitted an application for further recovery funding which is being reviewed by Waka Kotahi. Auckland Council estimates it will receive about $200 million from this process to help restore the transport network. This would bring the total Crown funding Auckland may receive to up to $1.1 billion."
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2308/S00159/government-and-auckland-council-agree-cost-sharing-arrangements.htm
I'm presuming that Auckland Council will approximately match that with its own contribution.
We can now see how much it is going to cost New Zealand taxpayers and ratepayers to continue to prop up this country through massive storm after massive storm event.
That's before the walls start to really break on South Dunedin, or the flood+surge overtops Westport's defences, or a direct cyclone wipes Gisborne off the map.
It's not being catastrophist to now expect more disasters.
I sincerely hope that the buyouts will be capped.
As a ratepayer (and taxpayer for that matter), I don't really want to be paying for 10 million dollar clifftop properties – buying out owners who have recklessly over-developed a fragile site
I'd like to see a straightforward land swap (if you had a 600 m2 site which is red-stickered (or whatever the new category is) – you get a 600m2 site elsewhere in a managed retreat spec'd development. It's up to you and your insurance company to either rebuild or relocate your existing house. If you don't want to live there – you can sell the new site – and buy wherever you please.
I'm all for helping out people in need. Much less keen on helping out millionaires.
Plan now or pay later.
Councils begin the task of assessing the cost of the expected rise in sea/river outlet levels on their infrastructure replacement.
https://www.thepress.co.nz/a/nz-news/350058087/more-3b-worth-christchurchs-public-assets-risk-due-climate-change?utm_source=stuff_website&utm_medium=stuff_referral&utm_campaign=stuff_skybox&utm_id=stuff_skybox
Too late we're paying now.
Our safest city for seismic+climate risk is Hamilton.
Every other city has very high risks now that are near impossible to plan out of.
Yes. We’ve had 30-35 years to work this out. The pandemic is one thing. But to be making this up on the fly is inexcusable.
Rewriggling a stream in the south of England to restore natural flow and reduce the risk of flooding.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/24/rewriggle-room-lewes-river-channel-project-new-wetland-cockshut-chalk-stream-flood-risk
Thread.
(1/17)
@drsimonwilliams
Our MAJOR new @royalsociety report out TODAY Evidence shows COVID measures together = EFFECTIVE
Key findings:
Distancing/lockdowns=MOST EFFECTIVE measure
FACEMASKS consistently found to be EFFECTIVE
Strong evidence for contact tracing apps
https://royalsociety.org/topics-policy/projects/impact-non-pharmaceutical-interventions-on-covid-19-transmission/
https://twitter.com/drsimonwilliams/status/1694484949666038044
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1694484949666038044.html
Not what they seem ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5DYknp9cc
[You seem like a typical troll trying to derail a comment with a lazy illegible YT link and an equally intelligible comment. This is your warning – Incognito]
So Weston you are commenting by linking to a shouty You Tube video that I had to click away from as it just seemed to be saying '3.4%' all the time (& an enigmatic comment of Not what they seem?) with a scientific study from the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams.
I find this positioning concerning as if they are some how considered to be peers?
What does your comment mean and can you summarise the YT vid so we don't need to be subjected to this stuck record commentary of '3.4%'?. I have my suspicions that the link may be anti all sensible measures placed around Covid transmission.
My take on the vid/link Weston posted.
The mainstream media talking heads were claiming the death rate from the virus was 3.4% while Trump was claiming it was under 1%. Leading to the talking heads claiming Trump was touting mis/disinformation. Yet (as shown in the vid/link) it turned out the WHO and the talking heads were wrong and it was under 1%.
So (as shown in the vid/link) it seems the talking heads and the WHO were the ones spreading mis/disinformation.
[please provide evidence for your claims here. No, you can’t use that video as a source. I want credible sources (imo you will need multiple sources), and explanations from you on each point, short quotes to back that up, and links. I’m not willing to accept video/audio as I want to limit my time on this and your claims should be easily backed up in text.
You will also need to explain what you mean by ‘death rate from the virus’ as well as the time periods you are referring to.
If you can’t do that then retract your claims.
The claims are:
Mod note. Because I warned you recently about not treating TS like FB and I had to use my own time to fact check your claims, if you waste my time on this again I will ban you until well after the election. We have an expectation here of a high level of debate and evidence.
You are in premod and none of your comments will appear on the front end until you attend to this.
Seeing as you won’t take the vid/link as evidence, I can’t be bothered so I will retract.
[that’s not a retraction. A retraction would be something like “I made claims I am unable to back up, so I will retract them”. Further, you seem to not understand why evidence matters.
That and saying you can’t be bothered tells me that you have little respect for debate here. This is the third time you have been warned about this and wasting moderator time in the past week or so. You seem to have no intention of changing how you comment here.
You are banned for six months. – weka]
ban extended to 1 year, after follow up comment in Trash and looking at moderation history. You patently don't respect moderation here, repeatedly waste moderator time, and you've had plenty of warnings.
Weka that vid i posted came from a piece by Matt Taibbi called " Mashup the covid lie that started it all "
Esentialy MT is piggy backing on an article by Matt Orfalea called "Memory Hole : the original covid lie "
Both articles [ behind a paywall ] refer to an original estimate by the WHO in early 2020 that the death count from covid was likely to be 3.4 % when in fact as established down the track it was less than 1% which was what Trump claimed back then which in turn was what pretty much ALL the MSM used to beat him up with .!! Trump was correct and the media sock puppets were wrong .
If you read the original article weka you will see all of Orfaleas info is credible and well documented .
Incidentaly The Chairman made no "claims " he merely interpreted the vid as in "my take " [ did you miss his first two words ?? ]
Even if you did mis read what he actually said are you suggesting its some kind of HEROSY that someone question a so called " expert or experts " seems to me there's not an expert on the planet who doesnt get something wrong at some stage .
For heavens sake weka how can you expect reasonable discussion on a subject if you're gonna come down on someone like a ton of bricks you sounded to me like some sort of censorship police unfortunate cause i thought you were the fairest .
[please supply the two links you are referring to and read the mod note below. – weka]
Mod note:
Please read the bolded note in your comment and respond to that before commenting again.
Please also read this post before commenting again, and let me know when you have read it and that you understand it.
https://thestandard.org.nz/moderation-notes-in-election-year/
You are in premod until I see those two things completed. This means your comments won't appear in the front end until this is sorted.
weka : the two links respectively are : taibbi@substack.com and http://www.censorednews.substack.com I have read and understood your moderation post .
thank-you. Can you please provide the correct URL for your first link. What you have given is an email address.
Dunno about a URL but you'll find Matt Taibbi's stuff under Racket News
Mod note: it’s not my job to look for links you claim back up your argument. It’s your job. It’s like you didn’t understand anything I have explained to you about moderation. Or you don’t care. Either way, banned two weeks for wasting moderator time.
as to your criticisms of moderation, you don't seem to understand why and how we moderate, so I will explain.
1. your comment here https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-24-08-2023/#comment-1965724
this is a youtube link with zero explanation. We have long said this isn't ok. What we need is an explanation by the commenter of two things: what the video is about, and what the commenter thinks about it.
When you put up a link with no useful comment it lowers the quality of debate because we can't see what the video is about and most people aren't going to watch it.
As Shanreagh pointed out, the video is constructed in such a way as to put most people off.
We are also resisting letting TS be turned into FB. We're here for the political debate, not memery.
If instead, you had written an explanation like you have today, the debate would have gone much differently.
You also need to link if you are going to reference articles, it doesn't matter if they are behind a paywall.
We require debate here to be robust and evidence based. Everything I am writing here is about that, none of it is about the content of what your comments. By that I mean, if you put the effort into explaining your position and doing basic things like linking, then you won't get moderated.
2. The Chairman has a history of making misleading statements in his comments. He's been warning about this multiple times. He's copped a ban for wasting moderator time (again, read my link above).
In addition, he made the same mistake as you whereby his comment didn't explain anything for others.
He did indeed make the same claims as in the video and could have provide back up for those claims but refused to and instead doubled down.
He also has a history of litigating moderation, and I'm not willing to waste my time on that any more.
3. You said,
No-one has been censored here. TS lets people say most things so long as they can do so within the boundaries of robust debate. The Policy (written long before I was a mod),
https://thestandard.org.nz/policy/
You have both been given the opportunity to meet the debate standards of the blog. If you can't do that, then stop making the claims of fact. If you are unclear on what evidence is required, then ask.
Please take the time to understand that the problem here is lack of debate etiquette.
Please also understand that taking up moderator time is the quickest way to a ban. It's taken me 25 mins to do all the various things around moderating your comment today, and I am not going to do that again.
But The Chariman the report of the Royal Society and Dr Simon Williams were about non pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing, distancing etc. I feel that as anything about so called % rates was not mentioned in the reports
So not sure why the topic was raised by Weston, well I do, to derail any learning about effective measures especially those that were top of the anti-vaxx hit list. Such as mask wearing and distancing…why I do not know.
They were measures to help the individual as well as the people they came into contact with. I've never understood why, even if you felt you were unlikely to spread or catch covid you would not mask or distance to help others. Seems quite selfish to me.
mod note: please be more careful with your grammar and formatting. Your second sentence is hard to understand and then you presumably put your own words in quotation.
The quote was directly from the Dr Williams report (para 17).
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1694484949666038044.html
[ok, but you didn’t provide a link at the time you quoted. Three day ban for yet again quoting without linking and for thus wasting moderator time – weka]
mod note.
Mod note
What is it about pigs like Orfela that appeals to soft-headed pricks like yourself?
(Orfela's content nsfw)
@receiptmaven
Matt Orfalea made the most offensive video about Martin Luther King, Jr. I have EVER seen. It's vile. Repugnant. Racist.
@BernieSanders just hired him as a member of his video team. MLK's famous "I Have a Wet Dream" speech
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1183455116827021316/photo/1
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1183448789333532673
@receiptmaven
·
Oct 16, 2019
These are just some of the pictures Matt Orf used on his videos about Hillary Clinton:
https://twitter.com/receiptmaven/status/1184085027199602688
Joe90 I am amazed looking back that antis were able to make people doubt the efficacy of commonsense provisions around the transmission of a virus.
That several measures taken together were effective shows that the Swiss Cheese Model of prevention had much going for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/coronavirus-swiss-cheese-infection-mackay.html