Dunedin South as Next Fox River Dump Disaster?

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, August 10th, 2019 - 75 comments
Categories: climate change, local government, sustainability - Tags:

If we thought the devastation and mess caused by a flood ripping through the old dump at Fox Glacier village was bad, just wait until a decent storm punches through the old dump of New Zealand’s fifth largest city on its coastline. It’s getting close.

Dunedin is now preparing to have the massive Kettle Park dump exposed to the sea.

It was previously a sand dune system, and has encroached into the sea over the last century.

But it looks like the sea wants it back.

It’s not like they weren’t warned. In 2015 the whole of South Dunedin underwent massive flooding, not assisted by poorly maintained DCC stormwater drains. I am aware of people whose houses were devastated by that storm that are still gradually recovering.

South Dunedin is also on average home to some of the poorest and most deprived people in New Zealand.

It’s not the paradise first advertised.

I no longer care whether it’s called climate change or the weather. I’m sure there are differences of timescale.

As The Otago Daily Times noted in 2017, most of South Dunedin is under threat from sea level rise, and some of it is under sea water table already.

If this rubbish dump gets exposed, the next thing to go will be the entire racecourse.

After which it’s harder to stop a whole bunch of houses with people in them getting less viable.

Cities that prepare for managed retreat with big plans that help their citizens move will have a better chance than most.

Here comes the next warning.

75 comments on “Dunedin South as Next Fox River Dump Disaster? ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Dukeofurl 1
    10 August 2019 at 10:03 am

    Nows the time to build a curtain wall between the sea and the old dump while is a straightforward exercise with ground on both sides. Once you have the sea on one side it becomes more difficult and costly. Plus design it so when the sea does encroach further the wall is self supporting.

    Starting now means the work can carry on over a number of years to fit the budget timeline.

    • cleangreen 1.1
      10 August 2019 at 4:13 pm

      Build a curtain wall?

      Try thinking again; – as we remember Japan did this along the north east coast of japan remember?

      Then a Tsunami came to wipe those cities out,remember?

      Better to try and prepare to evacuate the residential areas away from the coasts of NZ while we have time.

      Watch the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011: Facts and Information

      https://www.livescience.com/39110-japan-2011-earthquake-tsunami-facts.html

      • Dukeofurl 1.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 4:54 pm

        Curtain wall will still stop the rubbish being swept away if your tsunami came knocking but unlikely .This is Dunedin coast not East coast of North Island with offshore trench like Japan.

        Flooding the park isnt really a problem , no above ground structures to destroy. The pictures show a small bluff from park to beach , which is a help.

        • cleangreen 1.1.1.1
          11 August 2019 at 8:45 am

          'Live on hope' – good luck with that as the whole world is in peril now no matter where you be.

          As the world gets hottter those plates will expand and seas will become warmer with many tidal storms that today we have not seen yet..

          Carry on = Live on hope.

  2. Poission 2
    10 August 2019 at 10:13 am

    from the ODT.

    No action on beach erosion

    Sir,- A few weeks ago you drew the attention of the public to the state of the beach between St. Clair and St. Kilda. In the meantime the authorities in charge have done nothing, but thousands of tons of sand have disappeared, and the beach is an eyesore, as it is strewn with lupins and marram grass, showing that the sandhills are fast disappearing.

    There is no doubt that some parts of our suburbs will be in a very bad state if the sandhills disappear as quickly during the next six months as they have done during the last six weeks.- I am, etc., E. L. Macassey.

    – ODT, 8.8.1919

    https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/100-years-ago/dominions-forces-thanked

  3. AB 3
    10 August 2019 at 10:48 am

    "Cities that prepare for managed retreat with big plans that help their citizens move"

    Ideally – but 'devil take the hindmost' is much more likely to be what happens. We've spent decades internalising a culture of seeking private gain by any legal means available irrespective of the consequences for others. It isn't going to suddenly reverse itself.

  4. weka 4
    10 August 2019 at 11:05 am

    That's a very old landfill. Presumably there's not hard base under it, which means the sea will be coming up from underneath as well.

    The problem with the loss of protection on that beach has been known for over ten years. At the other end of the beach they started losing the seawall because of changes in wave and tide patterns. That was directly under the road that runs along the front of the esplanade shops and homes. From memory it was similar. Wave action removed the sand and once the stones are exposed they start to move and things can change rapidly.

    Just found this from 2008

    Accepting the eventual inundation of Kettle Park and a "managed retreat'' from properties in the St Kilda area are two of the more controversial methods suggested to deal with the erosion of Dunedin's beaches.

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dcc-tackles-beach-erosion

    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/st-clair-beach-now-rock-garden

    Given we're at the beginning stages of sea level rises, changes in coastal patterns, and frequent big weather events, I'm guessing they will have to remove the dump. I hope they make that decision quickly, which financial assistance from central government if needed.

    There are also all the other dumps in Dndn near coast or waterways. I think South Dunedin has the potential to be our first big climate refugee town, but the dump issue is going to be widespread across NZ. We've been really bad at where we throw our 'waste'.

    • Graeme 4.1
      10 August 2019 at 11:44 am

      The Queenstown / Central Otago landfill at Victoria Flats could be really interesting if the mass movement areas along the Nevis fault let go and the Kawarau backed up again. But that'd probably make Queenstown very interesting too.

      • weka 4.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 11:54 am

        how much quake planning went into that landfill? I always seems odd to me to put dumps next to waterways.

        • Graeme 4.1.1.1
          10 August 2019 at 12:16 pm

          The landfill was rammed through with considerable haste as the old one at Tuckers Beach was a disaster and in front of very flash properties. It did have the best views of any dump in the world though, across the Shotover River to Coronet Peak. Most of the other options were either way too small, 200 km away, or much worse

          When the mass movement areas were discovered during the Clyde hydro investigations and axed any hydro development on the Kawarau, the perceived wisdom in Queenstown was that the hydro development were axed because of the protests from the Queenstown business community. The hydro scheme would have destroyed the rafting industry on the Kawarau.

          Roll forward 10 years to the establishment of the new dump in early 90's and any contrary views were shut down hard and fast.

          • weka 4.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2019 at 12:22 pm

            so no hazard assessment from quakes? I assume they looked at whether the containment would hold in a quake, but do you mean they didn't look at what would happen to the river?

          • Dukeofurl 4.1.1.1.2
            10 August 2019 at 2:14 pm

            Is next to Peregrine wines bottling plant but closer to the river?

            The Council is very vague on location just saying 'between Victoria Bridge and Nevis Bluff'. Google maps doesnt show even a sign on the raodside but aerial views show some sort open excavation

  5. weka 5
    10 August 2019 at 11:08 am

    Here's the interactive sea level rise map for South Dunedin if anyone wants to play around with looking at how sea level rise will interact with the beach issues.

    https://www.otago.ac.nz/centre-sustainability/research/environment-people/otago634591.html

  6. Graeme 6
    10 August 2019 at 11:19 am

    Otago Datum is msl +100m to avoid negative numbers around Dunedin. There's a lot of services in the mid to high 90's and out on the Taieri plain a lot of land in high 90's. That includes a large part of the airport at Momona.

    Kettle Park will be just one of many issues that Dunedin will have to deal with. Sewerage is pumped out to sea not far from there and the associated infrastructure is all at very low level.

    • weka 6.1
      10 August 2019 at 11:56 am

      "Otago Datum is msl +100m to avoid negative numbers around Dunedin."

      What does that mean?

      • Graeme 6.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 12:03 pm

        Surveyor / engineer speak. Elevations are measured from an assumed origin point for convenience, in Otago's case it's 100m below msl as elevations well below have to be dealt with and negative numbers make calculations tricky, especially back in the day when they were done manually.

        • weka 6.1.1.1
          10 August 2019 at 12:20 pm

          not quite sure if I'm getting that. If I look at a map and see a hill as being 500m, it's not 500m above sea level, it's actually 400m?

          • lprent 6.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2019 at 1:05 pm

            How elevations are presented can (and often is) different from how they are measured.

            I have only a passing acquaintance with this area – but it is kind of fascinating.

            Surveyors measure more than just land. They also will measure below mean sea level because there are features like reefs in the tidal area.

            Surveyors are also the profession who measure things that ships can hit – like the tops of underwater volcanoes. And it is a profession that started long before computers or scuba gear, so they use an 0 point that was well below the humans ability to hit anything.

            The elevations on maps are just as arbitrary. Perhaps the best way to describe what mean sea level is would be to say something like "msl is an arbitrary elevation point that was selected at some arbitrary point in time for a given country or area for the purposes of doing measurements from.

            The rest of the country or area was measured from that point, peak to peak and peak to valley. – with a lot of cross-checking to discover the inevitable mistakes.

            At any given time MSL may or may not approximate the actual local mean sea level because that is different in different places.

            Of course it is a bit different now. We could just measure from radar, lidar or laser from the air or satellites. But your average surveyor doesn't have one of those in their pocket or truck.

            Don't get me started on the arbitrary coordinate systems in use. For a start the earth isn't a sphere. It bulges. But also countries started to survey prior to agreeing on ordinate systems and there are differences between them. We have a NZ grid that is used for this country. So does everywhere else. The conversions are all slightly inexact because of underlying assumptions and small calculation or rounding errors in the past.

            Plus of course even the global standards change. Just read this

            The World Geodetic System (WGS) is a standard for use in cartography, geodesy, and satellite navigation including GPS. This standard includes the definition of the coordinate system's fundamental and derived constants, the ellipsoidal (normal) Earth Gravitational Model (EGM), a description of the associated World Magnetic Model (WMM), and a current list of local datum transformations.[1]

            The latest revision is WGS 84 (also known as WGS 1984, EPSG:4326), established in 1984 and last revised in 2004.[2] Earlier schemes included WGS 72, WGS 66, and WGS 60. WGS 84 is the reference coordinate system used by the Global Positioning System.

            I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time doing translators from local ordinate systems into WGS84….

            It really pays not to ask these questions. You could wind up down the rabbit hole like I did 🙂

            • weka 6.1.1.1.1.1
              10 August 2019 at 3:50 pm

              Ha ha, I'm still glad I asked though.

              "The elevations on maps are just as arbitrary. Perhaps the best way to describe what mean sea level is would be to say something like "msl is an arbitrary elevation point that was selected at some arbitrary point in time for a given country or area for the purposes of doing measurements from."

              It's standardised though? How is that a problem if it's a constant and used across the country? What I thought Graeme was saying is that Otago uses its own reference point, which made me wonder about the height of mountains that sit half in Otago and half in another province using a different reference point

              • Graeme …
                10 August 2019 at 6:34 pm

                What you see on topo maps and Google Earth is in terms of msl. The Otago Datum is only used for engineering and surveying. Generally when a datum or origin below msl is chosen (most of NZ use datums at msl) it's because there's land, and services below msl. This is definitely the case in Otago with parts of South Dunedin and Momona being below msl.

                • weka …
                  10 August 2019 at 9:09 pm

                  hmm, tl'dr is I can ignore the original point about 'datum' because I'm not an engineer or surveyor?

                  • Graeme …
                    11 August 2019 at 9:05 am

                    tl'dr Large and /or important parts of Dunedin are below sea level to start with. And we know it's going to get worse.

                    • weka …
                      11 August 2019 at 9:45 am

                      thanks, I already knew that. I was trying to understand what you meant by,

                      "Otago Datum is msl +100m to avoid negative numbers around Dunedin. There's a lot of services in the mid to high 90's and out on the Taieri plain a lot of land in high 90's. That includes a large part of the airport at Momona."

                      What I'm getting from the conversation is that Datum is a thing that lay people don't particularly need to understand for this conversation.

                    • Graeme …
                      11 August 2019 at 12:01 pm

                      The adoption of a datum below msl is the first part of engineering around the problem of being very low. Question is whether Dunedin continues with those efforts to engineer around the problem with sea walls, and eventually continuous pumping, or changes direction and gets out of the low lying areas and abandons them to nature.

                      The eastern Christchurch experience could be a guide to how this is could happen.

            • Paul Campbell 6.1.1.1.1.2
              10 August 2019 at 8:56 pm

              besides MSL is a fiction …. it's rising

  7. Dukeofurl 7
    10 August 2019 at 1:36 pm

    I have the free version of the NZ Topo maps on my tablet ( PC as well) . Its essentially the old paper topographical maps 1 in to 1 mile ( now the closest scale ! :50,000) which had lots of rural surface features.

    The touch screen means you can find the elevation at any particular point – not to surveyor standard- but close to the harbour in South Dunedin is 3m, further back is lower , 1m. So its not a lot freeboard as of course the mean sea level can be quite a bit lower than the sea level can reach. Spring tides combined with the shape of Otago harbour allowing the wind blowing from Port to the city to push the tide up on days with low bariometric pressure. A sea wall probably prevents sea inundation happening more often than it could, but the sea water still travels up stormwater drains or prevents the heavier rainfall draining away.

  8. marty mars 8
    10 August 2019 at 1:51 pm

    bite the bullet and dig it out while you can

    • Dukeofurl 8.1
      10 August 2019 at 2:15 pm

      Or the method the Dutch use ?
      The lowest pt of the Netherlands is 6.75 m below SL.
      https://www.holland.com/global/tourism/information/dutch-water-facts.htm
      The windmills main use was of course as pumps, an early use of wind power

      • marty mars 8.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 2:41 pm

        Nah I can't see that working – partial seawalls aren't effective and total seawalls are not possible.

        • Dukeofurl 8.1.1.1
          10 August 2019 at 5:09 pm

          The harbour side is the lowest level, harbour sea wall possible with a lock for fishing vessels.

          Coastal side could be protected by large concrete tetrahedrons to reduce wave energy as they have the small bluff created by dunes. Losing the beach is the price they would pay.
          New Plymouth has a CBD protective sea wall to disappate energy , but their beach is further away so not affected.

          • marty mars 8.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2019 at 5:13 pm

            yeah nah not doable imo – and a bit worse because of the waste of time, energy and resources – easier to move the centre of gravity of the city

            South Dunners is a funny wee spot. Mum lived there for years and before that at Ocean Grove – the sea is relentless and the city will have to adjust imo

        • Paul Campbell 8.1.1.2
          10 August 2019 at 6:08 pm

          Dunedin can build a seawall across the St Clair/St Kilda beach space, and between the islands at Port Chalmers. Once sea rise starts we have to kiss our beaches goodbye anyway, there's no reason not to put in a Dutch style wall there.

          Once you've done that we might as well reclaim a large chunk of the upper harbour to help pay for it all as the the upper harbour's health is already marginal

          • marty mars 8.1.1.2.1
            10 August 2019 at 6:16 pm

            Really? It would barely last a storm or 3 if it could be built at all and for what reason? Waste of time and energy imo as the sea will just go around it anyway

            • Paul Campbell 8.1.1.2.1.1
              10 August 2019 at 7:47 pm

              By "sea wall" I'm more thinking of a Dutch-style dike – wall to wall from Andy Bay to St Clair – we'll have to dig it down to bedrock – sure we'll lose our beaches but with global warming they're already gone

              • marty mars …
                10 August 2019 at 8:08 pm

                I doubt it will save South Dunners – easier to move it.

                • weka …
                  10 August 2019 at 8:16 pm

                  Given the sea rising from beneath Sth Dunedin, and the problem with the high rainfall events, I think so too.

                  I once made the argument that low parts of Sth Dunedin should be depopulated (people assisted into new homes), and the area converted into a nature and recreation reserve. Possibly food production too if the pollution issues were sorted.

                  If we were doing the right things re GHG emissions instead of tinkering around the edges, we could be putting creative energy in how to adapt such spaces over time with sea level rise eg how to transition from suburbs to nature space where the sea level rises over a long period of time. Swamp trees first, then harvested and seafood later?

      • weka 8.1.2
        10 August 2019 at 3:54 pm

        Is it the low level of the land that's the issue or the increasing wave action on sand and stone. Is that the same in the Netherlands?

        In South Dunedin they've got both. Sea rising up from under the suburb, and on the beach side inundation from changes in the ocean. Not sure why this started to become a problem 10 or 15 years ago.

  9. mosa 9
    10 August 2019 at 2:31 pm

    I lived in Taieri Mouth a beautiful spot just south of Dunedin for four years.

    The New Brighton Taieri coastal rd is in danger of being inundated as seal levels rise.

    Not big populations but communities that are going to have to adjust to a new normal in the years ahead.

    South Dunedin is in danger as most of the area below the hills is lower that the coast and will again be in serious trouble as climate change and increasing storms force the local residents out with no plan in place for when they are not able to ever return.

    Will the warnings be heeded before it is too late ?
    And a compensation plan be put in place when insurance is not enough.

    Christchurch is the recent example of what happens when disaster strikes.

    NO we are living in the wrong country for that !!!

  10. Paul Campbell 10
    10 August 2019 at 3:38 pm

    BTW Dunedin's lowest point is actually it's airport, it already has dikes around it ….

    One of the long term problems Dunedin will have to face is that the source of all that wonderful pristine white squeaky sand was shut down 50 years ago when the Roxburgh dam was built. We're on borrowed time as far as our beaches are concerned even if the sea stops rising

    Global warming's sea level rise means we're going to lose our beaches, estuaries, and things like cockle beds, they will take hundreds of years to reform once the sea stops rising

    • weka 10.1
      10 August 2019 at 3:56 pm

      Sand via the sea? Or where they trucking it in?

      I heard the theory that the St Clair end of the beach was deteriorating because of the Clyde Dam, but this wasn't accepted as a significant cause by the authorities and scientists/engineers at the time.

      • Paul Campbell 10.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 6:17 pm

        The sand comes down the Clutha (or rather used to) and then is brought up the coast by the northerly coastal current.

        The sand hills at St Clair/St Kilda were mined in the late 1800s/early 1900s for the concrete that built Dunedin – there was a railroad that was built down Andy Bay Rd then down Queen's Dr and then along to St Clair to recover this sand, the Kettle Park dump is how they filled in the hole. People used it as an excursion train to get to the beach at weekends – the railroad enthusiast's Ocean Beach steam railway runs on a tiny remaining section of this track.

        • McFlock 10.1.1.1
          10 August 2019 at 6:20 pm

          Oh wow didn't know about the train. Cool.

          • Paul Campbell 10.1.1.1.1
            10 August 2019 at 7:54 pm

            It's why Andy Bay Rd is so wide, and why Queens drive doesn't match the grid of the rest of the streets in St Kllda

            • weka 10.1.1.1.1.1
              10 August 2019 at 8:18 pm

              that is cool.

              I thought the sand coming round from the outlet of the Clutha was rejected as a major issue for the beach encroachments. Are you saying that it is relevant, but it's just taken a long time for the effects to be seen?

              • Paul Campbell …
                10 August 2019 at 9:08 pm

                No, I'm more saying that long term (for some unknown value of 'long') we're not getting any more sand from the Clutha. It may not be an issue right now but eventually it will be

  11. McFlock 11
    10 August 2019 at 4:06 pm

    South Dunedin was built on a marsh and the dunes have always been on the brink of failure.

    Oh, and the bulk of SouthD flooding last time was due to surface water from the surrounding hills. Plus allegations of contractors not cleaning the drains (stanchly denied by council, of course).

    Kettle park was a stupid place for a landfill, is full of hazardous shite, but on the plus side it stopped in the 1940s so probably doesn't have much plastic in it.

    • weka 11.1
      10 August 2019 at 4:08 pm

      Good point. Probably a bit of metal, which they should reclaim when they move it. Not sure how much dodgy chemicals are in it, might depend on when in the 40s.

      • McFlock 11.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 4:48 pm

        I think one of the odt reports mentioned asbestos and arsenic, but there'd be lots of lead, probably some mercury, maybe even radium and other glow in the dark stuff. The twenties and thirties were a wild and crazy time.

  12. cleangreen 12
    10 August 2019 at 4:23 pm

    I have moved out of Napier now as the next heavy sea will breach tjheir "sea wall" along the marine parade of that coast.

    Our old 1950's "Napier dump "is buried under the Highway 2 road heading north between Westshore and Bayview alongside the HB Airport a few meters from the sea, so they shouldve firtly excevated all the toxic rubbish at the site first as US did during their “superfund” Toxic sites campaign” still going on today.

    We havnt even begun in ernest yet in NZ.
    “Clean green” in NZ is a Myth.

    Stupidly NZTA management are spending millions of taxpayers funds now just on resurfacing and widening the highway 2 road that sits on soil just a meter or so above the old napier Dumpsite so wait for yet another catastrope there next.

    I now am in the hills 1600 feet up so I have now a boat there for future transport…

    • Dukeofurl 12.1
      10 August 2019 at 5:03 pm

      1931 Earthquake changed all the issue over high seas along Napiers seafront.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=12238202

      In very strong storms, sea water would smash into the front of the now Department of Conservation building on Marine Parade. Shops in Hastings St would also be flooded. -1880s

      Earthquake moved up the land around Napier 2m or so , but for Clive further around the Bay they went down 1.5m or so. problem has moved.

      Are the old ships wrecks still visible at Westshore high on the beach , which was once down at water levels?

      • cleangreen 12.1.1
        11 August 2019 at 9:06 am

        Come and see what is happening along our HB Coast for yourself Dukeofoul as the whole beach front is far changed from the way you 'descibe it as'.

        I recall it was around 1950/60's when you allude to ships partly submerged, and the '2 metre' raised areas are not there, as most ares are now below sea level of parts of our coast and inland areas, Pirimai/Onekawa/Tamatea/Greenmeadows east large residential zones of west Napier is eight ft below sea level, and ofter flood prone now the scene.now is totally different,.

        No ships seen now either, anywhere; – the last one seen was many years ago was out at Whirinaki beach.

        Westshore beach is now a deep banked 'gravel pit' seafront of rocks and fill to shore up the beachfront from sea inudation, and heavy seas, so it is not the old scene of golden sand dunes and 'shallow safe wadable water levels' of yesteryear where you could walk out to the 'Iron Pot' and 'perfume point' areas of south east westshore..

        Come and visit and see the carnage of climate change going on here.

        • Dukeofurl 12.1.1.1
          11 August 2019 at 1:31 pm

          "Pirimai/Onekawa/Tamatea/Greenmeadows east large residential zones of west Napier is eight ft below sea level"

          You are telling lies there.

          These are maps from recent Lidar mapping, the areas are ALL above sea level. – not a lot. But nothing like your false claim of being '8ft'

          https://www.pce.parliament.nz/media/1372/regional-land-elevation-maps-hawkes-bay.pdf

          Any way my story was about the beaches themselves. Its complicated

          Previously:

          Until the 1931 earthquake, when the seabed and land were lifted nearly 2m, Westshore was a thin gravel spit.

          The changing of the river mouths may have contributed to the loss of sand, and the gravel extraction near Awatoto had taken large quantities

          "https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11608509

          The breakwaters have changed considerably since my time

          • Incognito 12.1.1.1.1
            11 August 2019 at 1:44 pm

            You are telling lies there.

            Why do you say that? Why is it not simply incorrect or a “false claim”?

            • Dukeofurl 12.1.1.1.1.1
              11 August 2019 at 3:59 pm

              Good point. We all can make mistakes in these things , but its so far out of wack and the main thing , its cleangreen who does it all the time.

              I grew up in that area , my father worked for a time with the old harbour Board. Its got great memories still and I just hate it when bluffers come along and misrepresent it all.

              • Incognito …
                11 August 2019 at 4:21 pm

                Fair enough. I believe cleangreen is trying hard and well-meaning and I’m inclined to give them the benefit of doubt and a friendly and polite correction of facts is all that’s needed. However, if it continues, after a few warnings, I may have to change my thinking 😉

                This very recent comment by cleangreen is shaping my current thinking and relative ‘goodwill’ towards them: https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-11-08-2019/#comment-1645477

  13. marty mars 13
    10 August 2019 at 5:25 pm

    So many, so, so many…

    While coastal erosion and dumped rubbish are country-wide concerns, a North Taranaki town is trying to deal with both at once.

    An old landfill has been exposed at Waitara Beach and while a large portion of it is steel and concrete, plastic and other material is being washed into the sea.

    Trevor Dodunski is becoming more and more concerned with the old dump every day as more of the junk is exposed – including some form of chemical he spotted on Saturday.

    An aqua green coloured powder appears to have been revealed from the last high tide.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/114906834/old-landfill-exposed-at-north-taranaki-beach-rubbish-washed-into-ocean

    • McFlock 13.1
      10 August 2019 at 6:22 pm

      Yeah, Fox seems to just be the tip of the shitberg.

      • greywarshark 13.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 9:43 pm

        I'm wondering about Taranaki where 245T – Agent Orange stuff that was manufactured.

        https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3590458 Dioxin at Vietnam levels near pesticide plant
        10/9/2004

        In a statement yesterday, Dow AgroSciences said the study findings concerned exposure 40 years ago to operations that had long since ceased.
        No one tested had been found outside the range of what would be considered normal background levels of dioxin in other studies.
        Dow's 2,4,5-T was the most heavily used spray for gorse and blackberry on New Zealand hill country farms in the 25 years to 1987…

        Thirty-nine years after a midwife saw "horrific" deformities in babies born near a New Plymouth chemical factory, an official study has found dioxin levels in the blood of local people as high as those in people sprayed with Agent Orange in the Vietnam War….

        The latest report, by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), ends almost 40 years of official denials that the dioxin used in making 2,4,5-T at New Plymouth may have affected the health of local people…

        Men aged 50 to 64 had dioxin levels 3.9 times the average for their age group, women aged 65 and over three times the average, and women aged 50 to 64 twice the average levels.

        A study two years ago of dioxin levels in soil around the Dow plant found higher levels in an area extending about 1km east of the factory and about 400m southwards, in line with prevailing winds.

        ESR concluded that the dioxin was spread by air in the years before 1975, when the company started incinerating its wastes.

        (So in the years before 1975 before incinerating, did it bury its wastes?)

        Some personal testimony.
        //www.methodist.org.nz/touchstone/lead_articles/2006/december_2006/dioxin_fallout

        Info: https://collection.pukeariki.com/objects/115176

  15. Exkiwiforces 15
    10 August 2019 at 6:35 pm

    Just get the Army engineers (would prefer the MoW, but since they have gone the way of the Moa) to laid out some HESCO’s, fill it with a pre- mix and cement slurry mixture, and backfill with rock? Might lose a good chunk of the beach in the process, but it would give the DCC, Regional Council and those in Wellington time on how to remove old the tip before it’s ends up like another Fox river disaster .

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesco_bastion

    • weka 15.1
      10 August 2019 at 8:22 pm

      Are those reusable?

      There's something uncomfortable about using cement (with its GHG emissions) to solve climate change fallout.

      • Pat 15.1.1
        10 August 2019 at 8:31 pm

        Cant see any significant redirecting of infrastructure away from FF that dosnt involve substantial cement input (or FF for that matter)

        • weka 15.1.1.1
          11 August 2019 at 9:49 am

          Yes, but there are lots of uses of concrete we don't need that badly and that we should be looking for alternatives for given the GHGs associated with cement.

          eg, using gabion baskets stabilise the sand dunes while they move the dump is a good idea, because it may prevent a disaster. Even better if those are reusable.

          Using concrete to building houses because of convenience probably isn't a good idea (thinking foundations here). I haven't looked at the cement uses by GHG emission amount though, so I'm speculating to provide an example.

  16. cleangreen 16
    11 August 2019 at 9:24 am

    Most city dumps like Napier had industry dumping their toxic waste all those years ago,as I should know.

    I grew up alongside the new Napier Dump on Battery Road during 1951 to 1957 and often witnessed dumping of waste tankers of ‘acetone’ https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/acetone from ‘Industrial gases’ and other industries there.
    Our pet cat fell into a pond full of white acetone and died afer from lots of bleeding boils on her back and it was painful to see.

    We must begin the retreval of all waste buried in dumpsites alll over NZ now before the story becomes more toxic to discuss.

  17. Exkiwiforces 17
    11 August 2019 at 2:21 pm

    To Weka @15.1

    Sorry for my late reply as I caught up on a few on the giggle box and I start to read a book last night.

    Yes the Hesco barriers are reusable if the are correctly put in place and whatever is use is correctly compacted and the cloth/ hessian is biodegradable. With my idea of using a pre mix and cement slurry to fill the hesco barriers may not allow them to be reused unless it’s fill with sand and backfill with rocks as another solution?

    My suggestion of using a pre mix and cement, was because our elected and non elected government officials take an awful long time to make a decision before we even consider various NGO’s/ IMG’s/ NIMBY’s sticking their two bob’s worth farther delaying the process and therefore making the whole project of moving the old dump from a simple process to a more complex process which = more delays = more money wasted and wasting time/ delays especially if private sector/ contractors are involved.

    Thence why i would like to see the MoW reform as they were a one stop shop, but the Army engineers are the next best thing to the MoW atm as they are also a one stop if Pollies still haven’t run the Army engineers farther into the ground like the bastards did into the 90’s with NZDF as a whole.

    https://www.hesco.com/

    Atm I believe cement base products and coking coal are necessary evil, until we found an alternate way of building things without effecting the environment.

    Ps. I would like to say welcome back Weka, as I did enjoy reading your posts over the years and I hope you had a good break or whatever you did while you were away from the TS.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 hours ago

  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 hours ago

  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    11 hours ago

  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    12 hours ago

  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 day ago

  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago

  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 day ago

  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 day ago

  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    2 days ago

  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago

  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago

  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago

  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago

  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    5 days ago

  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    Bowalley Road
    5 days ago

  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes – The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago

  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    6 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Post-Cabinet press conference
    Most weeks, following Cabinet, the Prime Minister holds a press conference for members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. This page contains the transcripts from those press conferences, which are supplied by Hansard to the Office of the Prime Minister. It is important to note that the transcripts have not been edited ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2023-12-09T05:48:41+00:00