Federated Farmers need to cut the crap

Written By: - Date published: 1:09 pm, September 20th, 2017 - 98 comments
Categories: Economy, Environment, farming - Tags: , , , , ,

The organisation Federated Farmers continued their fear campaign today in a Herald editorial. Their anonymous spokesman made their demand that “Farmers should know they are still appreciated“.

Of course, in the Federated Farmers usual style, their unsophisticated propaganda managed to avoid actually discussing the underlying issues, the similarities between the urban and the rural landscapes, and the differences in the responses of the people living and working in them.

Both rural and urban landscapes have had a massive intensification of creatures living there over the last decades. This has increased the drain on resources like water and the amounts of crap and other waste made by these creatures, human and cow. Ultimately both were caused by policy decisions made by our government, overseas governments  and the background of a steadily increasing world population of creatures.

In farming, since I last started worked in the industry 40 years ago, animal sizes have increased dramatically as more dairy and beef has replaced sheep and a lot of cropping. The intensive farming techniques have extended into regions of the country that were climatically off limits by the use of irrigation, the use of feed pads and supplementary feeds, and a host of other techniques. This has had the effect in those areas of simultaneously consuming vast amounts of fresh clean water available especially during dry periods, and increasing the leaching of both the waste from farming practices and the existing soil minerals.

Consequently over the last few decades we have seen falling water volumes in aquifers and waterways and the water quality in both has been getting progressively worse. But this isn’t a new problem, it is just a more intense problem across the whole rural sector.

Something that anonymous FF spokeman in the Herald editorial reluctantly pointed out in their demands for more respect.

It is true that environmentalists have convinced the great majority of urban dwellers that the country’s waterways are seriously polluted and dairy farming is the principal culprit.

Farmers do not deny it but they would like some recognition of the efforts many of them are making.

Dairy farms have agreed to fence off 98 per cent of their land adjoining waterways.

I’d add that of even more significance was that all of the milking sheds and even feed lots now treat to one degree or another treat their runoff waste before discharging it. When the farmers actually fence off the waterways it will alleviate more of the issue. However they are a long way from that at present. It won’t actually stop most of leaching of leached pollutants into the ground water or the waterways, but it’d help.

It will give a better chance of reducing to accretion rate to closer to something that natural water filtering systems can deal with and start to reduce the downstream costs, both to other farmers and to the towns and urban areas who have to live with the leachates. Speaking as someone who trained in earth sciences and had an opportunity to analyse ground water samples from the Waikato 40 years ago, what is currently in progress doesn’t have a shit show of actually preventing the pollution problems from farms or to clean up the accumulated crap that showed up in my samples that long ago.

However after that rare burst of candour, the anonymous FF spokesman at the Herald proceeded to demonstrate where what I consider to be the major issue with the “rural-urban” divide lies (my italics).

All farmers – not just those in the dairy industry – have a part to play in helping revive our rural rivers.

And urban dwellers, too, need to recognise they also have an impact on waterways.

No-one should doubt the impact we are all having on rivers and streams.

You hardly need to convince urban or provincial town dwellers and businesses of that.

Unlike farmers we already pay monthly charges to deal with waste and to minimise their impact on natural resources. We have done so for generations.

They are called water bills, sewerage bills, and through our organisations like councils and council organisations we pay considerably for having and growing the infrastructure to deal with it. They are pretty steep charges that suck into our available incomes and profits. They are used to ensure that the use of natural resources and the resulting waste of all of the creatures, humans and pets, in the cities and towns is minimised. Somehow unlike the farmers grumbling in Morrinsville or Federated Farmers we do this with far less wailing and gnashing of teeth, and we definitely don’t demand the respect of others for doing it like the current whinging from some farmers calls for.

Over the last 18 years that I have owned my apartment in central Auckland, these particular costs have tripled as the city has been steadily improving its practices. It has dealt with a far higher degree of intensification than farming, and much of it has been demanded by increasing environmental standards from the government.

Most towns and cities across New Zealand could say the same. Regardless of rising or falling populations or the vagaries of business we pay for a better environment because we don’t want to live in squalor and disease. Unlike many farmers we mostly can’t just export the problem downstream.

That even this expense hasn’t been enough in many urban areas because of the forced population growth. We’re not only having to pay for what we are doing now, we’re also having to pay for the capital works to future inhabitants and businesses. The resident population in just central Auckland has increased at least five fold in the same 18 years. This puts a great strain on the existing and even upgraded infrastructure.

Having a National party in government who seem to often act as Federated Farmers legislated body hasn’t helped. Both seem to like getting freebies from other people paying for their messes. The National government by screwing up Auckland governance and then dumping 40 thousand extra migrants into Auckland for the last 5 years without paying for them hasn’t helped Auckland – see Mike Lee on the subject. Such abrupt changes in policy just make forward planning considerably more difficult. At least the farmers usually get considerable warning of future policy changes.

Yet the struggle of urban areas and towns to control their use of resources and waste appears to be a topic that the pontificating anonymous Federated Farmers spokesman at the Herald is blithely unaware of. Instead like all terrorist groups trading on fear they prefer to make up some lost in the past fantasy to justify their blatant denigration for other people.  FFS: those signs at Morrinsville like “Pretty Communist”  are so 1950s that it was like looking at someone having a long drop over a river.

If farmers had spent, even proportionally, the kind of money that the residents and businesses of Auckland and every urban and town has over the last 30 years on improving their water usage and waste systems, then they would deserve the respect. But under the warding influence of Federated Farmers trying to beat up a rural vote to prevent real change, they don’t even come close.

We mainly hear the whining of Federated Farmers and their acolytes wanting to rest on their very limited laurels, and to not continue the struggle to minimise the costs of intensification on future generations. We get their government targeting rural standards that accept dangerous levels of leaching and water contamination, and where numbers point to real problems, they just stop measuring it.

It is worth re-reading John McCrone’s piece from Stuff “NZ Irrigation and its guilty secrets” where he looked at both sides of irrigation in the Canterbury irrigation schemes. For me the long-term problem is in the corruption of the basic science and is highlighted in these segments.

But as with the freshwater NPS, good science at the bottom has a way of becoming diluted by economic expediency as soon as it rises up the chain. Jenkins gives the example of nitrate limits agreed for North Canterbury’s Hurunui catchment.

“The current [gross nitrate] load is about 693 tonnes per year. The science advice ticked that it should stay at 693. The zone committee draft recommendation was it should be 693. Dairy NZ lobbied the ECan commissioners and it was raised to 832. Then it went to RMA hearing processes where it was raised again to 963.”

Massey University ecologist Dr Mike Joy is even more blunt in his view that the “farming within limits” talk is largely government spin.

Joy says the new national freshwater standards are so loose that pretty much every river in the country already meets the required targets. However the NPS is achieving this by tricks like measuring rivers against gross toxicity levels rather than ecosystem health levels.

So nitrate limits have been set at 6.9mg/l, which is where fish die by poisoning. But Joy says algal mats flourish at just 0.5mg/l. And algal mats cause wild swings in dissolved oxygen as they switch from blooming growth during the day to dormant respiration at night.

And even more of an issue long-term:-

Joy says he can cite any number of cynical ploys like this. Cadmium build up in soils, a consequence of long-term superphosphate use, is an issue that vanished overnight when farmland was made exempt from national contamination classification.

But there is a philosophical and generational difference along with the lying billshit is neatly summed up in this:-

But Kiwis seem happy to just live with such problems, because the official line from the NPS is the country’s rivers and lakes are “stable or improving”, says Joy. “It really is a failure of democracy.”

The reply from the irrigators is that New Zealand water is clean in that it has not got the same kind of chemical and industrial pollution of a lot of other countries. Nitrogen and phosphorous may knock over native wildlife and turn water holes soupy green, but they are not directly harming people.

However Joy says he thinks it is simply that New Zealanders do not realise how far the degradation of their waterways has gone, not that they don’t care.

So the water debate feels far from settled. It could just be that New Zealand is also extreme in its polarisation of views – the gap between the hard green lobby and the old settler conviction that New Zealand is an empty country begging to be made productive.

So the question is if we want the waterways and aquifers to have a excessive biological industry taint that requires all water gets costly treatment for biological and heavy metal contamination before humans and animals can drink or swim in it?

This is a downstream issue for most cities and towns in NZ.  Just think of the processing plant that Auckland or Hamilton require to decontaminate water taken from the Waikato river. With water and waste contamination, the costs spread far downstream of the polluting point

Really do we want to repeat the mistakes made by other societies?

Drivel like the Herald editorial completely misses the point, instead making calls to past deeds while ignoring misdeeds of farming. It simply doesn’t help to whinge like this:-

But farming remains one of this country’s essential industries – and as such farmers doing the right thing deserve to remain high in New Zealand’s esteem.

Respect and esteem is something that has to be earned and anyone with any knowledge following the way that Federated Farmers and National have been fiddling the standards and doing little (while trying to look like they are doing a lot) are quite aware of it.

Besides there are a number of industries in NZ that can truly point to their value to the NZ economy and are way faster growing with much less limited environmental impacts.  The revenue from just the top 200 companies in my tech sector has jumped from being little two decades ago to nearly $9.4 billion dollars last year, almost entirely in exports. It also employs nearly as many people as the entire farming sector. The same applies to tourism  with its $12 billion (see “Tourism roars past dairy as NZ’s biggest export earner“), and it employs even more.

In my view, the key difference with these urbanites and town dwellers and these growing employers industries compared to some of the dinosaurs like Federated Farmers is that we are keenly aware of the costs of degrading our environment and are willing to pay for keeping it clean. Apparently Federated Farmers and their political party National would prefer to stall and fudge the numbers while not doing very much or paying much.

It simply doesn’t engender much respect from me, nor I suspect from many urban dwellers and businesses faced with increasing water, sewerage and infrastructural bills from council to deal with our intensification and to clean up where we live.

Farming could do with getting some more people into organisations like Federated Farmers who actually understand the issues of urban and town environments and who stop trying to trade on the past and present economic glories that hare resulting in a ecological wasteland around industrial farming. We share this land, rural, provincial and urban NZ. And we share with millions of offshore visitors each year. Farmers don’t own the country. While there are some smart and aware farmers out there. It doesn’t appear that many of them get into their organisations like Federated Farmers or the National party. Perhaps they should try.

 


Anyway, enough of my ranting. Enjoy Jim Hubbard’s take on the water irrigation debate.

 

98 comments on “Federated Farmers need to cut the crap ”

  1. tc 1

    Great post. Does the 6% of GDP farming contributes justify the impact it’s having and the environmental cost it expects the rest of NZ to pick up the tab for.

    I often see cows wading through the Waipa, which joins the waikato at ngaruawahia.

    Bottoms up auckland enjoy the clean taste of chemicals inserted to ensure you don’t get Giardia, Hepatitis etc as farming is the backbone of the NZ economy according to national….yum.

  2. tracey 2

    Thanks Lynn

    Can we also remember that we all “help” farmers in many ways

    R and D subsidies
    Leaving them out of ETS has saved them money others have not ( eg forestry)
    Buy their produce
    Help fund the roads their food travels on

    And remember the English family has long standing direct and indirect links to Fed Farmers.

  3. Ad 3

    The John McCrone piece is good, especially re Tasmania.

    I would feel more supportive of irrigation schemes if there was no dairy production involved, and if Federated Farmers and Fonterra could be trusted to act in the interests of us all and of our whole country.

    From their actions over the last decade pursuing cheap volume and bulk commodity supply, that trust is pretty hard to find.

    The new Tasman dam will be a good fresh test of diversified use of irrigation farming.

  4. tracey 4

    Speaking of holding in high esteem, what about teachers?

    • In Vino 4.1

      Tracy, surely you understand that belonging to and supporting a union disqualifies one completely from any kind of esteem!

  5. weka 5

    Bloody good post.

    “Dairy farms have agreed to fence off 98 per cent of their land adjoining waterways.”

    Would love to see them back that up. What does it even mean? In the absence of detail (intentional I’m sure), I’ll take that as more evidence that Federated Farmers can’t be trusted, at all. I think farmers are important, but FF can get fucked. And the majority of farmers, who aren’t represented by FF, need to start stepping up and doing their own PR. Because so many people have just had enough.

    Someone said recently (was that you Ad?) that when the govt changes a whole bunch of lobbying doors will close to organisations like FF. Good. It will be interesting to see how much of the culture changes as a consequence.

    • Ad 5.1

      Well, I hoped so.

    • tracey 5.2

      FF will still have a swipe card to 9th floor dont you worry. Does the Poverty Action group?

    • Macro 5.3

      This “boast” is, as Mike Joy pointed out, in an interview with Kathryn Ryan the other day, all well and good, but actually pure bullshit.
      The 90% of waterways the farmers are talking about are the major rivers and lakes but it is the tributaries to these waterways that run through farms – the small streams and drains that remain unfenced and into which farm effluent pours. The spreading of manure over pasture may seem like a very good way of using the sewage from cowsheds but it just goes straight into the drains and streams and water courses that run over farms and ultimately into our rivers and lakes.
      There is no way to reduce this runoff other than reducing our already overpopulated herd size.

  6. One Anonymous Bloke 6

    The farmers don’t feel appreciated? What about the poor lawyers?

  7. “Farmers should know they are still appreciated“.

    Oh, the poor dears. After everyone’s finished letting farmers know they’re appreciated, could you all come by to tell me how great I am? I’m feeling very put-upon at the moment…

  8. Ad 8

    I’m hearing support for Labour solely on the basis of their water policy from some pretty conservative people I know – Act voters, wine growers, professional tour operators, drystock farmer relatives, foresters.

    Curious to hear people voting well outside of their direct economic interests of tax and GDP, into a really specific environmental field that has never has electoral traction before.

    • tracey 8.1

      Ad

      I have heard those murmurs before but seemingly when in the ballot box they revert to type or the extra 15 bucks a week. Hopefully this time is different.

  9. tracey 9

    Am wondering if Conor English really believes he struck out on his own and risked a stable salary… you know given who his brother is…

    https://www.celebrityspeakers.co.nz/conor-english/

    • greywarshark 9.1

      He definitely is omnivorous or whatever, he has been all round the world trading his Kiwi sincerity, and this is great from a ‘struggling’ family of 12 children. How soon does it take to make a small city if you have families, all of whose children live, maintain two-figure yields?

      I liked that bit showing his sharpness, “He has flown in Lear jets with people who actually have money, whilst working on an attempted takeover of the largest dairy company in Kazakhstan.” That would be an interesting story. Was he going to sell the idea of a socialist co-operative business model to a country that was
      recently under the Soviet Union? It’s a funny old world.

  10. ianmac 10

    Beef cattle used to be stocked at the rate of 1 beast equal to 5 sheep.
    Dairy cattle ratio must be much higher. Can’t find the figures but must be double that. Maybe 1 dairy cow equal as high as 10 sheep. Big effect in Canterbury.

    • lprent 10.1

      Somewhere in the things I read today there was a comment that the increase in the intensity, numbers and types of livestock over the last few decades as had the same environmental impact (presumably just the foot pressure, drinking, peeing and crapping parts) as adding about 90 million people.

      I’d love to find a numbers source for that. But a hasty back of the envelope calculation said that it was in the right order of magnitude. The biggest impact are hoof impact and concentration of nitrates.

      • tc 10.1.1

        Yes I recall a country calendar where a northland farm had ditched the Dairy model and was running a music festival (northern Bass I think) and regenerating the land.

        The line ‘once the cloven hooves stopped you could almost hear the land breath’ stuck with me as it was heartfelt and came from a former Dairy Farmer.

        Another example of it doesn’t have to be so damaging there are better ways.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.2.1

          Try this instead: present some peer-reviewed evidence to support your case, and please not a set of personal anecdata. You claim to be doing the right thing, you’ve fenced off every single drainage ditch and stream and river on your property; can you say that about your neighbours?

          A Taranaki dairy farmer has been fined $66,000 dollars for allowing his stock effluent disposal pump to leak into a stream.

          Taranaki doesn’t meet Ministry requirements.

          • Jimmy 10.1.2.1.1

            I can only speak for myself fella, but absolutely 100% fully fenced and riparian planted council compliant.
            Do you want a copy of my compliance encyclopaedia, nah that probably photoshopped right?

            • One Anonymous Bloke 10.1.2.1.1.1

              Just to be clear, I didn’t ask whether you are “compliant” – that’s just the letter of the law. I asked whether all the streams and ditches are fenced off too.

              I do recall the days when riparian planting was being disparaged as an environmentalist plot. Not that long ago either. Good to see the Green Party’s influence despite the bogeyman rhetoric.

              Every farmer who comments here claims to be doing the right thing, but the fact is your public face is that ‘Socialistic’ fool in Morrinsville, or the protest organiser spewing racist shite on RNZ.

              Not to mention all the cash farmers donate to the malnutrition and human rights abuse party.

              • Jimmy

                Yes all streams and ditchs fenced off, no stock access to water at all!
                If you are asking my own personal experience with riparian planting,
                I was against it for the first couple of years, well not against exactly, but just not bothered, extra cost, time etc.
                But now 10 years on, the farm looks great, and the plants have been a “Buzz” to watch mature.

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  Yep: vote Green: they understand farming better than you do.

                  • Jimmy

                    Gawd *citation needed*

                    • One Anonymous Bloke

                      Always in the lead, on everything from pesticides to Climatology to water quality.

                      You get dragged along behind regardless. Why not be ahead of the curve instead of being “against it for the first couple of years”.

                    • greywarshark

                      Can’t see what you are complaining about Jimmy, you sound so green you must be invisible on your farm.

                      It could be that many of the farmers we have writing in seemingly very upset and angry are just misunderstood. We think they are writing to say they have a complaint. It is possibly just a typo, and we all have those, and they are saying they are compliant. It’s not easy to be green says Kermit.

        • lprent 10.1.2.2

          I always find it interesting that people don’t think about where things wind up.

          In this particular case in your link to the Cambridge area, I’d have to say that the article was selective billshit. Sure some of the added carbon from plant fixation and some of the other minerals and nutrients stay in the topsoil as part of their cycles. But some always escapes.

          But as long ago as 1980, the ground water in the bores from farms around Cambridge had far higher than natural levels of nitrates, phosphates, and certain heavy metals like cadmium. Most of this was easily identifiable as being added recently because of the different isotopes apparent using XRF. I measured it then as part of a geochemistry lab work.

          The nitrates were by far the worst as you can see from this 1994 paper. But it is a systemic problem that has been going on for a long time and shows few or no signs of getting much better.
          http://www.enviroknowledge.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Publications/Nitrate-in-ground-water-in-the-Waikato-Region-FLRC-1994-PDF.pdf

          It is a major issue throughout the Waikato area.
          https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/Environment/Natural-resources/Water/Groundwater/Monitoring-groundwater-quality/Nitrate-contamination-of-groundwater/

          It is also completely invisible to seat of their pants scientific dimwits like the Marc Gascoigne trying to argue from analogy rather than getting of their lazy arse and measuring it. Hell he seems to be not able to do basic accounting of the nutrients that any farmer should be doing and try to figure out what they are using rather than putting into downstream and down below.

          Could you please at least try to actually use some intelligence in your replies? Trying to convince me that you are a witless fool who doesn’t understand the basic science of your profession doesn’t exactly engender respect.

        • lprent 10.1.3.1

          Thanks. I have dealt with the Ropere Consulting maths before. I think that it is reliable. Especially since they used the DairyNZ’s own numbers.

          Mike Joy is trying to figure out the pollution effects. He is probably correct, but the case for arguing just on the water is a hell of a lot simpler and a more immediate problem. It is on soils that are going to cause really bad leachate problems fast.

      • Melanie Scott 10.1.4

        Check interview on RNZ National yesterday. Can’t remember whether it was Nine to Noon or some other programme later in the day. (I was driving at the time.) An interviewee was talking about the impact on the planet of humans and domestic/agricultural animals versus wild animals – the impact of the latter was only 2% currently, versus the former (humans and domestic/agricultural animals – 98%). He said that the environmental impact of the number of dairly cows in NZ currently was equivalent to 140 million humans, in terms of effluent production.

        Re the Morrinsville debacle. Many of those ‘dressed down’ farmers and their supporters who apparently don’t have to worry about water taxes in their region but are concerned for their colleagues in the Mackenzie Basin. That’s because they are the same people. There are many very wealthy Waikato farmers who bought land in the South Island and developed it into those big high density dairy farms. They are not struggling cow cockies who get their hands dirty every day, (they have managers to do that.) Same goes for the Wairarapa, many of their wealthy dairy farmers have also been developing farms in the South Island. How do I know? I have relatives in both areas who are both dairy farmers, farm advisers and joint owners of networks of these huge industrial dairy enterprises.

        Labour needs to do more research into exposing the above. Big debt is also involved in starting and maintaining these enterprises. The bio threat of new diseases being spread around these farms owned by the same people is also a concern as we have recently seen.

        • greywarshark 10.1.4.1

          Interesting Melanie Scott. We wonder why we get such little traction with our ideas and even proven scary stats, but the traction from the big wheels on the farm machinery has greater torque than our talk!

    • Exkiwiforces 10.2

      You are almost on money in regards to stocking rates and also most of those sheep/ cattle producers were into mix cropping as well as part the rotation system on those old school Canterbury farms. In some cases stock or mix cropping was a afterthought depending on how market futures was going.
      Any dairy farms in the Canterbury region were for the town supply only and were usually close too town as well. This so called dairy boom is just one big Ponzi scheme that will go tits up regards of the so called water tax, especially when dairy farmers are exported NZ dairy cows and know how to its major market, just like the Kiwifruit producers once did many moons ago or when war breaks out in Northern Asia. In the end the real winners are going to those farmers who didn’t convert their farms to dairy farms. I don’t have anytime for dairy farmers who are farming in NZ dry areas such as Canterbury, Central Otago and Hawkes Bay etc.

      Anyway another excellent post Lynn.

  11. KD 11

    Really great post LPRENT, as was the interview with Dr. Mike Joy on National Radio last Sunday. It was truly one of the best interviews I have ever heard. If I could link it here I would, but I’m not that adept. It is worth looking up (National Radio, Sunday Morning, Dr. Mike Joy) and listening to. It will probably make you feel like crying, it did me.

  12. greywarshark 12

    Drinking water and arsenic made worse by irrigation is big news around the world.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41002005
    and
    http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2015/07/13/battling-the-largest-mass-poisoning-in-history/

    Also I came across this. Monkeys outsmarting themselves, sounds familiar.
    http://www.sciencemag.org/news/sifter/tool-using-monkeys-threaten-shellfish-population-thailand

  13. bwaghorn 13

    ”They are called water bills, sewerage bills, and through our organisations like councils and council organisations we pay considerably for having and growing the infrastructure to deal with it”

    does anyone know if a farmers council rates are used to help mitigate their effect on the environment .

    iv’e linked the below story only because it shows the rates paid by one farmer.

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/68316559/farmers-downgrade-waipa-district-councils-gold-standard

    • Jimmy 13.1

      The rates I pay too the NPDC for the pleasure of owning my 100% fully fenced and effluent compliant (council came yesterday to test water quality) dairy farm, is just in excess of $12,000.
      For this money I get, No rubbish collection, No sewerage treatment, No water.
      I do get a road, but that’s about it, oh and a shiny art centre in NP that I have never been too, they tell me it’s nice.
      So in my opinion this article is just as much bullshit as the one it intends to denegrate.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 13.1.1

        Reality check: the NPDC annual plan lists the following Council Services.

        Parks and Open Spaces
        Transportation
        Stormwater Drainage
        Flood Protection and Control Works
        Solid Waste and Kerbside Collection
        Water Supply
        Wastewater Treatment
        Emergency Management and Business Continuance
        Community Partnerships
        Govett-Brewster Art Gallery
        Puke Ariki and District Libraries
        Venues and Events
        Regulatory Services
        Economic Development
        Civic and Democracy Services
        Management of Investments and Funding
        Major Projects 2016/17

        Jimmy tells lies of omission.

        What’s your feeble excuse Jimmy? Been voting National for so long lying just comes naturally?

        • Jimmy 13.1.1.1

          Jesus just be an arsehole why don’t you, most things on that list are not applicable to me, as I don’t live in the Urban area.

          So Parks and open spaces, nice if it wasn’t over 50kms away I could enjoy it!

          Transportation, transporting who and what? Nothing that I’m using.

          Stormwater drainage, I’m guessing that’s for the people that live in the city, nobody but me is paying for stormwater on this farm.

          Flood protection and control, again that’s my cost on this farm.

          Solid waste and kerbside collection, my cost nobody picking up rubbish here.

          Wastewater treatment, my cost, septic tank and 3stage pond system.

          You get the idea, farmers pay plenty and get no services in return.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 13.1.1.1.1

            Last farm I was on had a huge rubbish tip just up the hill from the river. Tucked away out of sight, of course. Lovely people and everything.

            What do you do with yours?

          • greywarshark 13.1.1.1.2

            Jimmy
            Complain to your council, don’t come bitching here. Do you want someone to hold you hand as you go to make your case. You do know that it is a collective fund for the whole area that you pay into along with the others?

            It’s not a privatised fund where your instalments add up and eventually you will get a small bridge over your stream properly built. But then maybe there should be something like that. Work out a plan as to how the council can do this. You may just be a little guy and they tend to get ignored by all in power. Get some neighbours together and ride a tractor into their offices. Get your girlfriend to go in naked on a horse with a long wig and tell them the roads are so bad you can’t use your car and you’re at your wit’s end.

            You might get arrested and kept overnight in a cell and enjoy a nice chat with your local constable. A cheap night out. Your girlfriend will be given some clothes by the local ladies who will feel sympathy with her. Life can be on the up and up in your area.

            • Jimmy 13.1.1.1.2.1

              Me personally very happy, not bitching at all, just trying to be involved in a NZ discussion, try not to be a cock!

          • Draco T Bastard 13.1.1.1.3

            Transportation, transporting who and what? Nothing that I’m using.

            So, you don’t use the roads to go shopping?
            Don’t use them to send your produce off the farm (must be really expensive paying for all those helicopters).

            Flood protection and control, again that’s my cost on this farm.

            I suspect that it would be costing you a lot more if the council weren’t doing anything about it.

            You get the idea, farmers pay plenty and get no services in return.

            BS

            You wouldn’t be able to farm without all the services that you use apparently without even realising it.

            • Jimmy 13.1.1.1.3.1

              I understand the services provided and don’t mind paying rates, I’m just pointing that their is a difference between services provided and $ amount paid between the rural and urban communities.
              I’m sure you can see this.

      • Ian 13.1.2

        Your on to it Jimmy
        Aquifers are now fully recharged after winter rain. City folk pay their waterbills,sewerage bills ,rates etc but it’s no where near enough as city infra structure is failing bigtime. Townsfolk are going to have to front up with massive dollars to catch up with what farmers are doing. Mike joy is a tool and and a disgrace to science.
        I pay my dues to the apolitical organisation, federated farmers and have never been a member of a political party.

        • One Anonymous Bloke 13.1.2.1

          Townsfolk are going to have to front up with massive dollars to catch up with what farmers are doing.

          Newsflash: we already did. Massive costs to separate stormwater and build proper water treatment facilities.

          • Jimmy 13.1.2.1.1

            You already did?
            Not if you are in Auckland you didn’t!

            • lprent 13.1.2.1.1.1

              We did and we keep having to do it.

              We have National to thank for adding population in excess of the existing rate payers to pay or even have time to build capacity for them arriving. National are cheap arseholes who like getting freebies at other peoples expense.

              Perhaps you should actually read my post rather than jerking off your silly ideas into type.

              What happens when you keep having about 40,000 more people added to a city every year just from offshore? This government that the rural sector helped to foist on us has now been doing that to Auckland for the last 4 years. Since they got in we have added more than the current population of Hamilton to the city just from nett migration from offshore.

              And that doesn’t even count the migration from the provinces and rural sector to the city.

              Auckland city has no control over either. If we did then we’d be a damn sight more selective than to accept the poor quality migrants National seems to find acceptable. Sure we can make most migrants productive eventually. We just can’t do it fast enough for them to pay for our growth.

        • Psycho Milt 13.1.2.2

          Mike joy is a tool and and a disgrace to science.

          You just blew any credibility you had right there.

    • lprent 13.2

      does anyone know if a farmers council rates are used to help mitigate their effect on the environment .

      Yes. Amongst other things, directly or indirectly via regional councils they make the resource planning, provide the testing and enforcement, provide much of the drainage systems where natural ones are available, deal with natural drainage systems that blocked, deal with straying stock, provide effluent drainage sites fro stock carrying trucks, and a host of other services that I can’t currently remember.

      Plus of course they maintain the kilometres of road that keep the individual farms accessible. Up at our old farm there was a 3 kilometre gravel road that was put in for just 3 farms. In the lower part of the farm there was 1.5 kilometre road that we shared with a farm on the other side of it. We used both.

      I tried to figure out how much road I pay for in Auckland on rates. Works out to about 12 metres length.

  14. greywarshark 14

    If farmers can be taken to task for overstocking their farms and overloading the environment with poo and fertiliser, then the government could also be sued or something for encouraging immigration without the services to deal with their poo and general needs. We sure get an overdose of fertiliser from government. It affects all the senses, listening to the radio is bad enough without even looking at them.

    • Ian 14.1

      So how does sueing the govt for 40000 per year kiwis returning home work ?

      • lprent 14.1.1

        Which particular year are you talking about? Not this year nor last year.

        Is this another Farrar / National billshit myth from the years gone by? Or is it just another simple lie – the type that Nick Smith and Steven Joyce prefer?

        This was the first link I found – nett migration from the Stats Department for May 2017. My bold for the relevant sentence.

        http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTravelAndMigration_MRMay17.aspx

        Annual net migration reached 72,000 in the May 2017 year, Stats NZ said today. Migrant arrivals numbered 130,400 and migrant departures numbered 58,400 in the year ended May 2017.

        “The continued high level of net migration in the May 2017 year was driven by non-New Zealand citizens migrating to New Zealand,” population statistics senior manager Peter Dolan said. “Of the 130,400 migrant arrivals, 3 out of 4 were non-New Zealand citizens.”

        On a net basis, New Zealand citizens leaving and returning to this country almost balanced each other out in the last 12 months. There was a net migration gain of 73,300 non-New Zealand citizens in the past year.

        For fucks sake – please learn to actually look at real data before writing. Apparently holding your testicles and gently hand milking them is not the way to generate it.

        • Ian 14.1.1.1

          Where is the historical comparison ?.Traditionally a lot more kiwis were leaving than returning. Probably around 40000 not so many years ago.
          Using selective stats to abuse me is crawling pretty low

          • One Anonymous Bloke 14.1.1.1.1

            Migration timeline 1922 – 2012.

            In short, you’re wrong about this too.

          • lprent 14.1.1.1.2

            Your statement of fact was

            …40000 per year kiwis returning home…

            It was completely wrong because you didn’t give a time period.

            That your job to dig out information supporting your position since you were the one asserted that it was happening now. If you assert a fact, then in my eyes you own the statement. I regard assertions without backing or knowledge and that are simply wrong as just being an outright deliberate lies. I particularly dislike repeated myths.

            You deserved the ‘abuse’ for using false facts without checking. Perhaps the ‘abuse’ will assist you in not making the same stupid mistake again. The trick is that if you don’t know then express it as your opinion or your current belief. Don’t assert it as a fact. Because if you do, then you are fair game for the less polite amongst us.

            The ‘abuse’ you are referring to is an interesting question as well. I postulated three possible ways that you could have come up with your false fact. Which bit did you find was abusive?

            FYI: There have been a few years over the last century when returning kiwis outweighed immigration. As far as I am aware they all coincide with the beginning of severe downturns in employment in Aussie. There was one a few years ago when the aussie commodity boom with china died – it was for a short period in 2013 or 2014 I think. The only other one I am aware of was one back in the 1970s during the oil shocks and Aussie commodity boom dropped with the world economy. Before that I’d have to look.

            The nett migration for the last few years has been close to or above 70 thousand which is completely unprecedented. Because the nett migration of kiwis for the last year has effectively been zero or close to it, our current nett migration is all immigration. These can all be found on the reports from StatsNZ.

            OAB gave the link that shows nett migration in the historic sense. The sustained high nett long term migration is far above anything that NZ can sustain. It is over 1.5% increase per annum and hasn’t gone down since it hit the highest peak 2 years ago.

  15. simonm 15

    The “urban waterways are just as polluted as rural waterways” argument used by farmers is a total straw man.

    99% of NZ’s waterways are in rural areas and just 1% are in urban areas.

    Therefore, if a total of 60% of NZ’s waterways are polluted (a conservative estimate), what percentage of NZ’s rivers, streams and wetlands are contaminated and where has the damage occurred?

  16. Foreign waka 16

    Well, we now know who “owns” NZ and we saw the display of assertion and intelligent posturing (banjo anyone?)
    To really make things feeling a lot better, Mr Sweetee distributes phone numbers and some ballot boxes are being taken home.
    Hang on, I just need to look at my GPS whether I am a lot further north/west than was my impression.

  17. feijoa 17

    Err.. how much income tax do farmers pay

    Last I heard about the same as a couple on a pension…

  18. Delia 18

    Some turning violent towards Labour MPs as well it seems.

  19. gsays 19

    I had a close up experience of a dairy farm yesty.
    Was helping my brother with firewood on a local cockies farm.
    Had split a load and saw the cows coming in for the milking.
    Time to leave as we were using the race they were on to get out. (Very wet underfoot here in the manawatu)

    Sods law, I had ‘traction issues’, and took 1/4 of an hour to get free.
    Any how, long story short, drove gently through this herd on the race and through the feed lot. Some really big cows amongst them too.

    Shit everywhere, really hard to comprehend how the faeces and urine is managed. Especially when it is multiplied out with the increase and intensification of dairying recently.

    Having said all that I am very wary of the idea of dairy farmer=bad.
    As was witnessed in morrinsville recently, the notion of ‘townies don’t appreciate farmer’s stuck in the craw, therefore I am mindful of generalising about farmers.

    • lprent 19.1

      I spent 6 months working as a farmhand for a town supply back in the 1970s (and 6 months on a sheep station) when I was deciding if I wanted to go into farming as a vocation. I have traipsed those races myself. High gumboots and a shuffle style of walking to stop the shit flicking up is the way. I’d hate to take a vehicle on them unless it was a bike or 4wd.

      The whole point about the post is that in my view the time for freebies for farmers effectively funded by other taxpayers should be well and truly over. The intensification of farming means that those farms are far more polluting and resource hungry now than they were back then.

      Paying for resources used and cleaning up should be just as much a cost of living and business just as it has been for decades is for townies. If a particular business isn’t capable of paying for their resources and cleaning up after themselves, then that business is freeloading on the backs of whoever has to clean up the mess and should be shutdown. Crafar farms comes to mind.

      Especially since we have other growing industries like tourism using the same resources and employing far more people that can really get damaged by widespread pollution.

      As I point out in the post, I target a lot of this fear and loathing divisive shit directly on to the way that Federated Farmers and National operate. It is their way of trying to shut down debate on the subject of pollution and resource costs while trying to foist poor pollution standards on the rest of us.

      • Ian 19.1.1

        You will remember then that in the 1970’s untreated dairy effluent went into the nearest river or stream. It was not untill the mid seventies that the Govt. acted and along with catchment boards started to get farmers to clean up their act. MAF employed a multitude of advisors and a lot of progress was made in a relatively short time. Over the last 30 years Effluent disposal methods have become highly technical and non polluting.
        As a farmer it would be nice to get recognition for the effort and the negative campaign by labour directed at a small group of farmers who will get whacked with the water tax has been obscene .
        I aknowledge nitrate leaching is an issue we must deal with and we are dealing with it. WE have committed to reducing our nitrate leaching by 35 % by 2025.
        The fear and loathing divisive shit is real and your poster girl needs to look in the mirror to find out why.

        • lprent 19.1.1.1

          You will remember then that in the 1970’s untreated dairy effluent went into the nearest river or stream.

          I did point that out in a comment as being the biggest single improvement that dairy farmers had made.

          But did you realise that up until the early 60’s effluent was pumped with minimal processing out into the Manakau Harbour from Auckland. From memory Dove-Meyer Robinson kicked the ignorant C&R (National party in drag) blockheads enough to put through the rates increases required to pay for and run an effective sewerage systems.

          I can’t see any farmers lauding that – can you? I also can’t see any Aucklanders wailing and gnashing their teeth demanding respect from the rural community for removing the vast poo stain on the landscape. Unlike farmers we tend to just get the frigging problem fixed usually having the fight the National government and their damn C&R proxies here each time to get it done. Consequently it tends to be a annoying start/stop approach.

          Since it was installed the plant has had two major upgrades that I know of. It has also now had almost all of te city either hooked into it, or had subsidiary systems added for places like Owera.

          I aknowledge nitrate leaching is an issue we must deal with and we are dealing with it. WE have committed to reducing our nitrate leaching by 35 % by 2025.

          I can remember similar commitments being made in the 1980s, 90s, 00s as well as the 10s. I acknowledge that the problem is being tackled. However I don’t know of a place apart from possibly the Rotorua Lakes where there is any real evidence that groundwater is getting better. There are slightly better results for streams, however I don’t know of anywhere apart from possibly the Rotorua lakes where the main cloaca (hard to call them rivers these days)

          Instead, what I can see is that dipshit Nick Smith trying to make out that the far lower standards that he set last year (?) were in fact a improvement. Furthermore this appears to be done at the bidding of the farmers through your organisations like Federated Farmers and DairyNZ. The faux ‘consultations’ with other interested groups who use the rivers in the Fresh Water Coalition eventually led to virtually all of them walking.

          I’m afraid that farmers now own the problem because they are the ones doing the great bulk of the pollution and the ones who seem to fight tooth an nail against doing anything that actually makes it better – rather than simply slowing down the rate of increase in pollution.

          FFS if you want to be victims, then you really do need to pick up some decent lines. These are much the same ones that I have been hearing for virtually all of my adult life.

          I did those groundwater surveys in 1980. I started questioning it then. All I have seen since is that there have been attempts to fix it in the existing farming areas but the insidious problem has been spread to many other areas. Meanwhile research on other ways of fixing things like nitrate leaching or superphosphate tends to get a blaze of publicity when the research starts and then it gets quietly cut a few years later.

          • Ian 19.1.1.1.1

            Fish and game and greenpeace were never going to agree on anything and it was their decision to piss on the tent from the outside. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
            We are victims of lies,innuendo ,and a political campaign that is smashing right back into the faces of the nasty ,envious priks that are running it. Personally I am following best practice,complying with all resource consents and helping keep our local economy humming. Why Jacinda nd her motley crew want to ruin our community has me perplexed. She has not fronted up any where in the rural community to debate her plans for working groups and committees for very good reason. Labours negative ,nasty campaign is disgusting .

            • One Anonymous Bloke 19.1.1.1.1.1

              Ian, Master of Irony, Ruler of the Ethical Void. Fact-mumbler, Poet of Tripe. Blowhard.

              Speaking of negative…

            • lprent 19.1.1.1.1.2

              …to piss on the tent from the outside.

              Forest and Bird? Trampers? Whitewater rafting? Ummm Exactly how many members have left that forum? How many recreation and enviromental groups are are left?

              Effectively what is left is industry groups and the EDS who tried to start up a collaborative approach and lost all credibility doing so.

              When Nick Smith and national just ignored virtually everything in the forums report on freshwater in favour of placating the polluters, they also lost all credibility amongst anyone who was interested in conservation. Hence your farmers feelings on not holding esteem. Since the government blocked the routes to actually achieving future change largely at the behest of the farming groups like FF and DairyNZ – you are perceived to be the problem. That was your choice.

              Personally I am following best practice,complying with all resource consents

              Well after you get standards as low as possible, then why not follow them? After all, the freshwater standards that Nick Smith has put in effectively gave you have much more room to pollute eh?

              I haven’t seen billshit turn up to anything amongst unions apart from a carefully choreographed enforced one at one of the Talley’s plants. Apparently the management insisted that the workers stayed to met him.

              …to ruin our community has me perplexed.

              You mean because they want to have cleanish fresh water, rivers that have water in them, aquifiers that haven’t been drained and some attempt to actually clean up the mess that farming has been trying to make worse for decades?

              If you don’t understand that by now, then I suspect that you probably won’t ever until the water you feed your stock starts to poison them. In the meantime those downstream in the rivers, towns, cities and beaches will be having to clean up your messes and not treating you with the respect that you haven’t earned.

              Just as an aside, I think that a lot of farmers, especially the younger ones are actually trying to do a better job and not just to the pissant standards that Nick Smith thinks are appropriate. But until they get rid of the dumb shits that are in organisations like Federated Farmers and other farming organisations who keep fighting needed changes tooth and nail, then farming will wind up with crap all over their image.

          • weka 19.1.1.1.2

            “But did you realise that up until the early 60’s effluent was pumped with minimal processing out into the Manakau Harbour from Auckland.”

            Dunedin City were pumping sewerage into the Otago Harbour up until the 2000s and out to sea at Tahuna until the last decade (yes, toilet paper on the beach when the tide was wrong). I think the difference there though is that everyone knew it was wrong and when the council went to fix it people didn’t argue about their right to not pay rates and that the shit should keep being pumped into the water.

        • weka 19.1.1.2

          How many dairy farms were there up until 1970s? How many cows? What were the stocking rates? If you want to be taken seriously on the environment, then you need to stop making disingenuous, self-serving arguments about how good farmers actually are, and start addressing the valid concerns that people have. Our stocking rates are too high, we have too many farms, and the ecosystems can’t cope. You can tinker around the edges of that all you like, but in the end there will need to be less cows and less industrial dairy farms.

          • One Anonymous Bloke 19.1.1.2.1

            *fewer 😈

          • Ian 19.1.1.2.2

            I was waiting for that. Correct there were a lot more farms,less cows and lower stocking rates. But nearly all the effluent from the milking cycle was being discharged directly into the nearest river. Literally the rrivers and streams in Taranaki and the Waikato ran green for a while after each milking. WE have come a long way,just like urban waste is now treated bigtime before it is discharged into the sea or the Manawatu river for example.
            Your valid concerns has turned into a hate campaign and people who live in glasshouses should be carefull throwing stones.
            Our cities have too many people in them, We have too many suburbs,and the infrastructure can’t cope. You can tinker around the edgesof that all you like but at the end of the day there will need to be less people and less cities.

            • One Anonymous Bloke 19.1.1.2.2.1

              Transparent avoidance and spin. Votes National then complains when infrastructure doesn’t meet demand.

              And pop! goes the weasel.

            • weka 19.1.1.2.2.2

              Again, from an ecological point of view, pouring effluent into a river isn’t necessarily a problem, it depends on how much and the flow of the river.

              Obviously it’s not ideal, but I argue this on the other side too when townies start going on about cows shitting in rivers next to National Parks. Cows have been doing that for over a hundred years and while again it’s not ideal, what’s actually at issue is whether the local ecologies can manage. Where those are high country farms with low stocking rates, it’s way less of an issue, but now we have people calling for every single water way in NZ to be fenced.

              There are small towns all over NZ that still have septic tanks with overflows that empty into water. That didn’t used to matter because the numbers of people using the systems was low. Now they’re high (thanks tourism). The issue is ecological. Your arguments are mechanical. When I see farmers, Fed Farmer especially, expressing ecological intelligence I’ll give them some pats on the back (and do already where I see that).

              “Your valid concerns has turned into a hate campaign and people who live in glasshouses should be carefull throwing stones.”

              I live in the country, in a place undergoing inappropriate dairy conversion. Land being flattened, trees cut down, overstocking, big irrigation. Don’t know yet how bad the nitrates and other pollutant issues are. So sorry, your arguments don’t wash, because I am literally seeing the country side being wrecked.

              • Ian

                every time I drive through Rolleston to Christchurch or Christchurch to Amberley I see complete and utter devastation as productive farmland is nuked for motorways ,housing,and industry. At least the dairy conversions you have as neighbours will be able to replant shelter belts, use science to mitigate problems with nitrates and the xtra people working those farms contribute to your community. In 20 years the native birds will be back if we can do this thing better.

                • Pat

                  you do know why Rolleston was sited where it is dont you?

                • One Anonymous Bloke

                  productive farmland is nuked for motorways ,housing, and industry

                  🙄

                  So your main concern is zoning changes, not environmental degradation.

            • weka 19.1.1.2.2.3

              “Our cities have too many people in them, We have too many suburbs,and the infrastructure can’t cope. You can tinker around the edgesof that all you like but at the end of the day there will need to be less people and less cities.”

              I’m totally for NZ moving to a steady state economy and stabilising population. This is why I vote Green. Am happy to have that discussion with you any time, but I’m guessing you will flounder at the first sustainability hurdle.

            • Psycho Milt 19.1.1.2.2.4

              I was waiting for that. Correct there were a lot more farms,less cows and lower stocking rates. But nearly all the effluent from the milking cycle was being discharged directly into the nearest river.

              The point of stopping the direct discharge of effluent into rivers wasn’t to enable intensification to the point where there’s no nett gain from stopping the direct discharge of effluent into rivers. The intensity has to be cut back if we’re to have clean waterways – either that or the people doing the intensive farming need to fund research and technology implementation to mitigate the effects of what they’re doing. One way or another, you’re going to have to come to the conclusion that what you’re doing is unsustainable. If a progressive government has to drag you kicking and screaming to that conclusion, so be it.

  20. gsays 20

    Couldn’t agree more.
    After all ff is just the farmers union.

    Once we have the polluters doing the right thing it is time to focus on getting the freight where it belongs: on rail or coastal shipping.
    Free the roads of trucks.

  21. Dot 21

    Thank you for your knowledgeable contribution LPRENT.
    Sadly it is likely beyond the the [ self interested] comprehension
    of a certain group of farmers.

  22. lprent 22

    Definitely worth reading. The problem isn’t the farmers. It is that they appear to be extremely susceptible to National’s scare tactic propaganda.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/97062007/on-the-eve-of-the-election-a-farmers-sons-letter-to-his-father

    Perhaps they need a blog site where this kind of crap can be discussed transparently in public

    • Ian 22.1

      I prefer to listen to Jamie Mcfadden from North Canterburyhttps://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/opinion/97029047/antifarming-ranters-enough-is-enough

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    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;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:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
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