Gerrymania

Written By: - Date published: 7:37 am, July 31st, 2012 - 80 comments
Categories: disaster - Tags:

What is it with this government and convention centres? The international convention market is dying. The Nats are already doing a bargain with the cancer in the heart of Auckland called SkyCity to build one there that won’t be worth its cost to build. Now, they want to build another convention centre in Christchurch to compete for that dying market. It’s just one thing that’s wrong with Gerrymania.

There’s the mad $500m covered stadium. Christchurch has just built a $30m stadium (that was meant cost $20m). They can’t fill it – a quarter-final home game for the Crusaders had 5,000 of the 21,000 seats empty. So why build a 35,000 seat stadium for $500m (before inevitable cost blow-outs)? Stadiums lose money. Big expensive, unneeded stadiums lose lots of money. Just ask Dunedin.

You could build 2,000 homes or more on existing land for the cost this silly stadium.

Then, there’s the transport plan. Or, rather, the lack of one. The only gesture towards transport is replacing the destroyed bus interchange with a new, bigger one that – while hopefully having the advantage that buses going in won’t have to try to cross buses going out on a busy road – while actually be further from the new CBD. The opportunity to remake a truly modern city with smart transport was missed. Sure, it’s pretty and compact and merely being built of modern materials with modern design practices will make it better to live in but if you more or less ignore how people will move in or out of it, then you miss the crucial ingredient in making it really liveable.

The ‘frame’, the green space is nice but lets be honest about its purpose. The Christchurch CBD already had too much retail space before the earthquakes. With 10% of the population gone, the CBD doesn’t need to be rebuilt as big. That should mean big reductions in the value of the land (which could, in turn, lead to building of apartments and low rise retail, creating a vibrant environment). Instead, the taxpayer is going to buy out all the surplus land at present value – protecting the value for both the landlords who get bought out and those who remain. And the only one who pays is the taxpayer. Funny that nothing so generous was done for red-zoners. I guess that’s because they’re not Gerry’s corporate mates.

I also thought the glitzy launch full of boozing bigwigs was completely inappropriate. They were acting like they had solved Christchurch when there is no plan for the future of the suburbs and even the CBD plan has no work programme behind it. It stank of elitism. For the first time ever, I’m recommending watching Close Up for Mike Coleman’s comments to Sainsbury on the rebuild plan. He is utterly scathing. The strongest language I’ve ever heard from a man of the cloth: “All Gerry Brownlee does is deny there’s a housing crisis, an insurance crisis, there’s an EQC crisis, that there’s real estate problems. There seems to be no disaster at all, apart from the things that he wants to see. And that’s champagne in settings like this, at big functions like this.

80 comments on “Gerrymania ”

  1. Carol 1

    And here is a print report for the CloseUp segment on the ChCh plan:

    http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/champagne-unveiling-new-cbd-does-nothing-homes-4996190

    Housing needs of residents being neglected? Never fear. Gerry says it’s just a plan and not to be alarmed by that protest. “Alarm” is not my response.

    “It’s’ not anything that is laid out with a work programme to deliver it. That comes later.”

    Brownlee said he can understand how the protesters feel because they want things done more quickly.

    But he said any suggestion that the residents have been abandoned or are not a priority is quite wrong.

    “We have lots of people trying to work through this issue which is largely the repair of properties in the TC3 areas.”

    “Don’t be alarmed by that protest. It’s people asking for progress because they want this city to be better.”

    Gerry understands how the protesters feel? Really? Too much champers talking there, Gerry!

  2. This article in the ODT during their stadium debate sums up the study

    http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/46073/why-future-doesn039t-need-stadiums

    There is also plenty of evidence that jobs in convention centres actually cost the economy as the gross earnings per employee are too low – it is peasant wages.  Stadiums are just vast loss making anachronisms.  This country has invested more than $2Bn in stadiums in the past five years – what is the return on that investment – If Dunedin’s stadium is anything to go by it wil be about -15% once cost of capital and depreciation are added in.

    Meantime we send our skilled work offshore -no money to support the Hillside Workshops building railway stock instead it is happy to subsidises Chinese manufacturers.

    And watch what happens to the Tiwai when they decide to close that -there wont be any “subsidy” for that enterprise even though it earns billions for the national economy.  Nothing!

    It seems National has no problem subsidising the consumption side of the economy but won’t provide any support for the productive side. 

  3. ghostwhowalksnz 3

    Whats mentioned in the footnotes is the big ‘buyback’ of private land to create a ‘green wedge’.

    In reality this is to boost the coffers of property owners as there is a ‘glut’ of vacant commercial land. I can imagine a few extra small parks on the scale of existing Latimer square would be helpful but this excess of green space at vast cost- which is hidden from prying eyes for the meantime
    I imagine this too will be the club this used to force the council to sell up its assets so they can pay for the property owners bailout.

    First the insurance company bailouts and now the commercial property owners as well. Crony Capitalism 301

    • Populuxe1 3.1

      And yet there are a lot of smaller property owners who have only now just found out that their single commercial properties, many of which have heritage value, are right where Gerry et al want to put their stadium and are not very happy about it.

      • Te Reo Putake 3.1.1

        Isn’t most of the land for the proposed stadium owned by Dave Henderson, the mayor’s mate? I heard last night mention of putting money into ‘Soul Square’, Henderson’s High St development, as well. I haven’t kept up with the saga of how the council bought a whole lot properties off him at ridiculous money a few years ago, but this sounds like more of the same.

        • Populuxe1 3.1.1.1

          He may have owned a substantial amount of it, but his holdings are mostly Council owned now. I’m talking about much smaller businesses and owners.

  4. Tigger 4

    Convention centers appear to have replaced cycle ways as National’s go-to ‘big idea’. They’re so visionless, so one-track that it is sad. And dangerous. Wait till mid-2013 when the economy has tanked and Gerry starts pulling out parts of this plan. Christchurch, you’re stuffed. It’s a tragedy.

  5. vto 5

    Having slept on it my initial reaction remains, plus others …

    1. The plan is simply too big. Too much buy-up taking 5 years to negotiate alone. (so there we go folks, gotta wait 5 years to get this mildly underway). Timeframes too long meaning an incoming government or council or world event will scuipper the plans. It is just too much for a govt bureaucracy to undertake.

    2. Relying on a government and/or council approach. Ha. I try not to be scathing about the limits to govt and council acilities these days but frankly I cannot see organisations like these completing this. There is no incentive. Wage and salary earners rarely act with the same accuracy and determination as private owners. Christchurch city council has already shown its uselessness at this with the Turners & Growers site, the Sydenham square site and other David Henderson pruchases. Any privtae investors wanting to develop around these projects is going to want to see action in the ground by government etc to be certain about their promises and abilities before turning the soil themselves.

    3. The bloody gigantic convention centre is right smack bang in the middle of the best part of town. No locals will go there, just convention goers and tourists, and that don’t sound like a vibrant city to me. Quite why it gets that importance lordy knows.

    4. The bloody stadium will never see the light of day. The ratepayers will see to that. What a gross overspend and subsidy to private business interests. What is it that rugby does not get about paying its own way?

    5. The point about buying up land to shore up property vaules is smack on the mark. Property values were set to drop off a clif reflecting the lack of demand and oversupply. Now the tax and rate payer are going to shore up these values.

    6. Notice the lack of residential? One tiny block of showcase housing. Say no more.

    7. Notice too that the Avon River Park is to be funded by “philanthropists”. Every other sector gets CCC and govt and other help, but not the one thing that local residents want. Say no more.

    As someone who has been heavily involved in central Chch for many years and is trying to do so again, I think they have taken a wrong track. Too big. Too much uncertainty. Timeframes which are too long. I, and I suspect many others, will watch from the sidelines to see whether they can do what they say (rare) before commiting my own valuable years to their grandiose schemes.

    The original Council plan was a great deal better for all the reasons outlined above, applied in reverse.

    Oh well. Maybe we too will move elsewhere until all this gets underway ……

    • Rich 5.1

      I suspect it’s all cover for the real plan, which is to remodel Christchurch city centre after Manukau: a big Westfield with associated car parking, council offices and a police station/court complex to deal with the underclass.

      • gareth 5.1.1

        Yep those big malls are a disaster for a city centre, they suck all of the foot traffic off the main street causing small operators who can’t afford the rent in the mall to die off as walk in’s plumit then before you know it the main street is just a collection of empty shops, dodgy lenders and takeaways.
        All the nicer cities/towns to visit are ones that still have vibrant main streets with a mix of chain stores and locally operated shops, cafes etc…. Napier is one of my favorites…

    • NickS 5.2

      7. Notice too that the Avon River Park is to be funded by “philanthropists”. Every other sector gets CCC and govt and other help, but not the one thing that local residents want. Say no more.

      What the fuck? Sure, accept some donations, but that green space is worth it’s weight in gold for it’s urban planning advantages.

      And yeah, I agree with you fully, this is a fucking disaster for Christchurch.

    • Draco T Bastard 5.3

      Wage and salary earners rarely act with the same accuracy and determination as private owners.

      Bollocks. If wage and salary earners aren’t acting responsibly it’s probably due to the business owners cutting corners and preventing them from doing so.

      • vto 5.3.1

        Well we will have to disagree there Draco. Although bear in mind that acting responsibly is different from acting with accuracy and determination. My point is that an owner works and acts in a different manner than an employee. Their end goals are entirely different so it stands to reason that they will act in different manners. That is not to bag on employees, merely to state that expecting employees (of government and Council in this instance) to act in the manner required to get this central city plan going is expecting the wrong thing.

  6. Glg 6

    VTO have you forgotten that other national mantra? Public Private Partnerships. A way to billed a city for years and years to come. Don’t forget a quote of Gerrys a few months ago, when he said no we won’t be selling assets in CHch, it will be “a much more elegant solution”. Be afraid, be very afraid.

    • vto 6.1

      Yes Glg, public private partnerships … what that says to me is an opportunity to get something done with more guarantee of income and less carry of risk. Think I might have to don a suit and tie and go enter the Bob and Gerry circus tent …….

    • ghostwhowalksnz 6.2

      The private sector will get ‘bonus shares’ in the Council controlled business in return for selling big bits of vacant land

  7. Glg 7

    And kiss some butt. A small donation to the cause wouldn’t be forgotten either.

  8. fatty 8

    This is socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. Centralised control of business, whereas the needs of the people (such as housing) is left to the market…and the public gobble it up like hungry pornstars.
    This is not set up for the people, this city plan is for capitalist accumulation for the few based on business and sport. If this plan was for the people then this plan wouldn’t exist, housing would be the priority.
    This vomit inducing video is offensive to anyone with a brain http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10823289

  9. Pascal's bookie 9

    Surprise!!

    http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/city-blueprint/7383419/Council-asset-sales-on-the-cards

    ”The council is going to have to find a lot of funds,” Brownlee said.

    He then congratulated the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce for putting options on the table that he thought the city council should consider.

    The business group has been encouraging the council to consider the sale or partial sell down of its assets to lower the level of debt it is going to take on to finance its share of the city’s reconstruction.

    • Draco T Bastard 9.1

      Yep, more economic theft from the many by the rich. Exactly as predicted.

  10. Kevyn 10

    From paper “Post-disaster Housing Reconstruction: Are there common threads in the successes and failures that New Zealand can learn from?” currently in peer-review. Following are the costs per taxpayer compared with other extreme natural disasters in other OECD countries, column 5 is per homeowner/ratepayer. Why are we the only country that punishes local residents for having built in the wrong place?

    (per registered taxpayer)
    1 – Economic Cost
    2 – Private Property Damage
    3 – Emergency, welfare, housing assistance
    4 – Infra-structure repairs (taxpayer)
    5 – Infra-structure repairs (ratepayer)
    6 – Nett Central Government Expenditure

    Christchurch 10500 6667 1600 633 6810 388
    Japan Tsunami 6686 4011 1203 998 485 1917
    Kobe 2769 886 499 409 783 811
    Italy (1980) 1531 918 1148 149 620 1265
    Katrina 965 386 434 165 616 599
    Andrew 819 574 410 62 320 472
    Northridge 418 167 146 40 392 186

    Footnotes
    column 1 – NZ = property damage $20bn + sundry insurance costs $5bn + infrastructure damage $3bn + CERF (nett) $3.5bn as estimated by Reserve Bank of New Zealand (Bollard & Hannah, 2012).
    column 1 – The contribution from re-insurers ($3700 per taxpayer) is included as part of the economic cost, however the New Zealand Treasury considers that amount to be a benefit to the New Zealand economy.
    column 2 – This cost is actually funded from property owners savings and insurance but is shown as a per taxpayer amount for comparative purposes.
    column 4 – Central Government share of infrastructure repair costs.
    column 5 – Local government share of infrastructure repair costs.
    column 6 – Total spending by central government less GST collected on disaster spending, reprioritised Government spending within the disaster region and petrol taxes collected within the disaster region during the rebuild .

  11. The bus station is for the tourists and the convention centre and stadium for crowd control – remember New Oleans.

    • Populuxe1 11.1

      Actually the bus station is probably for people who take the bus. Jus’ sayin’

    • MrSmith 11.2

      or should that be for social control Dave

      • Colonial Viper 11.2.1

        the stadium will never be completed.

        • Draco T Bastard 11.2.1.1

          /agreed

          The land will be paid for, the building started and then it’ll be left as an uncompleted shell at some point as people realise that there’s more important things than watching rugby and idolising the rich.

          • Populuxe1 11.2.1.1.1

            I hope you get sufficient comfort out of you amazing arrogance and snobbery. God forbid people liking things that you don’t – where will it end?!?!

            • Draco T Bastard 11.2.1.1.1.1

              Got nothing to do with liking but to do with economics. When people realise that the stadium can’t be built without cutting out something they think is more important then it won’t get built.

  12. Roy 12

    If New Zealand is to have an international convention centre at all, it should be somewhere people would actually want to visit anyway, like Queenstown. However, while I don’t think the international convention market will ever die completely, it is definitely shrinking and convention centres are a stupid investment. We can’t get around the fact that it is long, expensive trip to visit New Zealand.

    • fatty 12.1

      Conventions create temporary, part-time, low paid work which perpetuates poverty and increases inequality. They are part of the problem, not the solution

  13. Fortran 13

    The Convention Centre can have some Pokies in it make a profit like Sky City.

    • Colonial Viper 13.1

      The Convention Centre plans can be razed to the ground, which will make the country a lot of money.

  14. NickS 14

    The original council plan was so much smarter, mixing residential, retail, commercial, green areas and transport in a way that could have made the central city very liveable, rather than this stale, half-life of a central city that’s for merely visiting and working that CERA’s put forward.

    On the stadium – Stupid idea, CHCH doesn’t have the population to support it, nor does the Canterbury region and large, indoor venues are already provided for. Definite white elephant. Stupid location too.

    On the sports centre – what happened to using the Red-Bus depot site? Hagley has massive traffic issues and there’s little room for parking, that isn’t already taken up via workers and those living in the area. And with the bus depot now slated to be a fair bit away from it, I don’t see it as being easy to get to.

    On the Bus Depot – it was placed in the central city for a good reason you idiots, as so to make it very convenient for residents to use. And while placing it at the edge of the central city does have some slight traffic routing advantages, without connecting shuttle services covering the whole central city, it’s going to become rather inconvenient.

    On the Convention Centre – White Elephant. Also what the fuck is wrong with rebuilding at the old site? Especially as the new location eats up the current central library site, and takes up rather important frontal locations in the square that could be better deployed as retail, for bars, cafe’s and have been commercial shows and get-rich-quick/self-help bullshit artists.

    On the height restrictions – good luck trying to fill those office buildings, top floors will likely go unfilled, and the shift of many office sites elsewhere into lower height buildings means that rents that don”t meet the market will lead unto fun.

    On building design – Gone is the original plan of preserving and recreating some of the character of the old city, replaced with “cheapest build” mentality it seems, so say hello to more glass and concrete monoliths and goodbye to the more human masonry, brick and wood. Let alone more organic architecture.

    On the Green Belt -What. The. Fuck? Totally useless on the edge of the central city, more so as one big band. Needs to be split up into multiple small parks as others have said. Combined with the lack of residential areas to, it’s going to be a bloody ghost land. Ideally you’d use smaller parks as the centre point for clusters of mixed residential/retail, or as public courtyards.

    On the Avon Park – great, but why exactly does it have to be funded via donations? As from an urban planning perspective it’s worth it’s weight in gold and from a land-stability perspective, it’s a great way of keeping buildings off land prone to flooding and lateral spreading.

    On the Cultural Centre – Great! Only problem, where the fuck is the central library?

    On the Omissions – No mention of the Arts Centre, nor of what they’re going to do vis the strip of bars or the gaggle of great cafes and niche shops and bars etc that thrived along high street and the city mall. Nothing about managing the entertainment seeking populace either.

  15. Why are cities so important? David Harvey and Richard Wolff interviewed.
    http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12474

  16. Wayne 16

    Presumably the old AMI stadium was insured, as with the convention centre. I guess the bulk of the money for the new replacements will come from insurance payouts, not taxpayers or ratepayers. Anyway are you seriously suggesting a city the size of Christchurch should not have a stadium.

    The Library is going to front the square, its in the documents. The plan doesn’t have to design bars etc, its an overall outline. Investors and businesses will actually build the commercial buildings.

    If you look at the green belt it actually has a whole lot of campus type buildings, esp between the hospital and the Polytech. That will attract a whole bunch of intersting businesses, and can leverage an innovation precint. Mayor Bob has some very interesting ideas on this.

  17. mike e 17

    Wayne 75 million doesn’t come close to $500+ million required for an indoor stadium.
    Facts right wayne

  18. Wayne 18

    The Dunedin stadium cost $200 million for 30,000 seats, but that is clearly more than $75 million.

    • Colonial Viper 18.1

      So the Christchurch Stadium is going to be 30,000 seats like the Dunedin stadium is it?

  19. millsy 19

    Why doesnt the private sector build a convention centre? The seem OK at putting up hotels, apartment blocks, shopping malls etc without government involvement (apart from consents, etc), why is there a supposed ‘market failure’ in building a convention centre?

    • Draco T Bastard 19.1

      Because convention centres lose money. Why is the government so keen on building them? IMO, because the capitalist class still want them to prove that they’re “special”.

      • Colonial Viper 19.1.1

        The stone statues of Easter Island.

      • Populuxe1 19.1.2

        By “capitalist class” I’m assuming you mean anyone with a job that doesn’t involve going down a coal mine – except that coal miners have professional associations and unions and are supported by the vast breadth of service industries with their own professional associations and unions.

        • Colonial Viper 19.1.2.1

          except that coal miners have professional associations and unions and are supported by the vast breadth of service industries with their own professional associations and unions.

          wtf is up with you?

          Did you notice who held the clear balance of power and fear in the operation of Pike River? That’s right buddy, the corporate employers.

          • Populuxe1 19.1.2.1.1

            What the fuck has that got with the premise which basically is that I’m sick of your bigoted class consciousness and general misery leading you to make sweeping generalisations and misrepresentations about human beings based on the minimum grain of truth for justification, and no one calling you out on how hateful and childish it is.
            It’s completely irrelevant if conference centres lose money – all public facilities do. And it’s not just the financial elites who have conferences, not by a long shot, so kindly can the bullshit unless you’re going to back it up with real world examples and cite sources.

            • ropata 19.1.2.1.1.1

              and how dare anyone criticise the holy writ of Brownlee.
              it is inspired by our infallible corporate overlords

              hail Pope Gerry

            • Colonial Viper 19.1.2.1.1.2

              It’s completely irrelevant if conference centres lose money – all public facilities do

              What fun/useful/socially oriented family or citizen or community events is the conference centre going to organise and hold for free or near free?

              You know, since public pools, public libraries, public schools, museums and art galleries tend to have those really fundamentally for-the-public-good characteristics.

              Because otherwise you are FULL OF SHIT

              • Populuxe1

                I love it when you get all self-righteous about what constitutes a useful member of the community, CV. Because of course public pools, libraries, schools, museums and art galleries never charge for anything, do they – they never have to secure funding by renting out their spaces for private events or charging users for services or anything like that do they. Because you are the expert on the public good and contributing there to, although as you gleefully tell us you actually do sweet fuck all aside from moaning on here about the collapse of civilisation.

                • ropata

                  basically a library or a swimming pool would be used every day by thousands of people

                  a new conference centre or stadium would be used only occasionally and cost ten times as much

                  no brainer

            • NickS 19.1.2.1.1.3

              It’s completely irrelevant if conference centres lose money – all public facilities do. And it’s not just the financial elites who have conferences, not by a long shot, so kindly can the bullshit unless you’re going to back it up with real world examples and cite sources.

              /facepalm

              The problem with the current proposal for me comes down to it’s size and it’s location, not the fact they’re rebuilding it.

              Frankly, the market in NZ for large convention centres is non-existent and so such a large building with one sole purpose would have difficultly remaining in the black financially. While rising air-fares (in the long term + carbon costs) and NZ’s remote location make the economics of holding large global conferences here problematic.

              As for the location, it occupies economically and culturally valuable space in the square, which would be far better suited to other uses. In short, unless the land at the old site is well and truly stuffed, it’s probably better to site the new convention centre there, as it was fairly well sited vis hotels and traffic.

              On “It’s completely irrelevant if conference centres lose money – all public facilities do” – lolwut? It’s a private facility, not a public one idiot, that merely hosts conventions rather than serves as a multi-use facility, and in that context it does matter if it looses money. Otherwise someone else has to bail it out. As for libraries et al, these are facilities the public pays for directly via rates or indirectly via rent and provide cultural and recreational spaces. And pools can generally pull their own weight easily if well sited.

  20. What is it with this government and convention centres? The international convention market is dying.

    This may come as a shock, but lots of people in NZ work in professions and their professional associations have conferences. They tend to lack interest in forging new lives as hippies, and they expect the country’s main centres to have conference facilities.

    • Draco T Bastard 20.1

      So why aren’t they building them then?

      • Psycho Milt 20.1.1

        Hilarious to see all the freshly-minted user pays evangelists on this thread. It must be a prick for the socialists when you guys turn up at council meetings to demand that the people who want to use libraries, swimming pools, sports fields etc pay for them themselves.

        • felix 20.1.1.1

          ‘… to demand that the people who want to use libraries, swimming pools, sports fields etc as part of their business pay for them themselves.’

          • Populuxe1 20.1.1.1.1

            Ah no, what about teachers – are they in “business”? They have conferences. So do surgeons. All sorts of charities and NPOs have conferences.
            And in any case, people do use libraries as part of their business, and certainly professional athletes use sports fields and swimming pools as part of their “business”.
            Really you have no ground to stand on.

            • felix 20.1.1.1.1.1

              lol yeah it’s for teachers and charities.

              • Populuxe1

                Yes, among others – that’s what the “public” means in “public facilities”. I would point out that a lot of small businesses have conferences also.

                • Draco T Bastard

                  Yep, they’ve been having them for years at hotels, motels, racing clubs and other such places. Now all of a sudden we need dedicated convention centres paid for and maintained by the public.

                  This smells fishy to say the least.

                  • Populuxe1

                    In case events of the last two years have passed you by, we have sweet fuck all of any of those left in Christchurch.

                    • Draco T Bastard

                      Still doesn’t mean that you need a convention centre.

                    • Populuxe1

                      Quite right. Fuck the whole city and everyone in it as an object lesson.

                    • Colonial Viper

                      Don’t be an asshole populuxe.

                      You’d have some credibility batting for the people of Christchurch if you were advocating for hundreds of millions to be spent on restoring and upgrading basic services to neighbourhoods and incentivising small employers to reopen, start up and lift hiring.

                      Instead you are going to bat for a fucking useless white elephant where most of the public monies spent will be sucked up by big construction corporates based outside of Christchurch.

                      I mean, WTF

            • Colonial Viper 20.1.1.1.1.2

              IQ has dropped substantially around here recently.

              The convention centre is going to be a money losing white elephant. That’s why, as usual, the private sector wants the tax payer to carry it.

              • Populuxe1

                That’s probably because your cloth cap is on too tight and the chip on your shoulder may be contributing as well.

          • Psycho Milt 20.1.1.1.2

            I’ve never owned a business. Is user pays the new watchword for leftists, or is it just a “four legs good, two legs bad” thing?

            • Colonial Viper 20.1.1.1.2.1

              You are smart enough to determine if something is a rort on the taxpayer with monies going purely to benefit private construction companies and land owners, right?

              For fuck all social benefit in return?

              Or do you just like repeating catchy bullshit.

      • Populuxe1 20.1.2

        If they pay taxes, they will be building them.

        • Colonial Viper 20.1.2.1

          Bullshit. Its the tax base of NZ which is going to be paying. Socialisation of costs for the benefit of a few private interests. The motto of a National Government.

          • Psycho Milt 20.1.2.1.1

            Socialisation of costs for the benefit of a few private interests.

            Funny, that’s exactly what the libertarians say about libraries and swimming pools. You guys really do have a lot in common.

            • Colonial Viper 20.1.2.1.1.1

              *facepalm*

              I guess you’re one of those people who doesn’t believe in the social and community benefits of learning centres like libraries.

              WTF do you know about “libertarian” philosophy anyway? You’re just repeating neoliberal slash taxes for the wealthy bullshit and calling it some fancy name.

              • Huh? You’re the one peddling user pays here, guy. I love the fact my taxes and rates go towards publicly funded infrastructure like libraries, parks, schools and convention centres. The idea that public infrastructure shouldn’t exist unless those using it pay the full cost is a shit one.

            • felix 20.1.2.1.1.2

              I’m fast going off the idea of public swimming pools since I discovered that they’re primarily used by professional athletes.

    • felix 20.2

      ‘…and they expect the country’s main centres to have conference facilities paid for by everyone else’

  21. Zaphod Beeblebrox 21

    The poor ratepayers of ChCh are going to be paying for the upkeep of a lot of open space. All that open space will have to be maintained, unless you want it to be taken over by weeds. The Rec/open space dept is going to need a lot of expansion.

    Large stadiums are also expensive to maintain. And they need refurbishment every 20 years. Who the hell is going to pay for its upkeep for 2 rugby tests and 10 super rugby games every year? The NZRU? I don’t think so.

  22. Treetop 22

    I wonder what a Feng Shui expert would make of the plans for the Christchurch CBD?

    No harm in consulting one, apart from the cost.

    • Zaphod Beeblebrox 22.1

      Actually from the look of it- its morte likley they consulted the ghost of Ebenezer Howard. Planners still have the obsession with the 18th Century Garden City.

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  • Let Them Eat Sausage Rolls: Hipkins Tries to Kill Labour Again
    Sometimes you despair. You really do. Fresh off leading Labour to its ugliest election result since 1990,* Chris Hipkins has decided to misdiagnose matters, because the Government he led cannot possibly have been wrong about anything. *In 2011 and 2014, people were willing to save Labour’s electorate ...
    17 hours ago
  • Clued Up: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    “But, that’s the thing, mate, isn’t it? We showed ourselves to be nothing more useful than a bunch of angry old men, shaking our fists at the sky. Were we really that angry at Labour and the Greens? Or was it just the inescapable fact of our own growing irrelevancy ...
    22 hours ago
  • JERRY COYNE: A powerful University dean in New Zealand touts merging higher education with indigeno...
    Jerry Coyne writes –  This article from New Zealand’s Newsroom site was written by Julie Rowland,  the deputy dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland as well as a geologist and the Director of the Ngā Ara Whetū | Centre for Climate, Biodiversity & Society. In other ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.
    Ain't nobody gonna steal this heart away.For the last couple of weeks its felt as though all the good things in our beautiful land are under attack.These isles in the southern Pacific. The home of the Māori people. A land of easy going friendliness, openness, and she’ll be right. A ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Speaking for the future
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.MondayYou cannot be seriousOne might think, god, people who are seeing all this must be regretting their vote.But one might be mistaken.There are people whose chief priority is not wanting to be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • How Should We Organise a Modern Economy?
    Alan Bollard, formerly Treasury Secretary, Reserve Bank Governor and Chairman of APEC, has written an insightful book exploring command vs demand approaches to the economy. The Cold War included a conflict about ideas; many were economic. Alan Bollard’s latest book Economists in the Cold War focuses on the contribution of ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    2 days ago
  • Willis fails a taxing app-titude test but govt supporters will cheer moves on Te Pukenga and the Hum...
    Buzz from the Beehive The Minister of Defence has returned from Noumea to announce New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting and (wearing another ministerial hat) to condemn malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government. A bigger cheer from people who voted for the Luxon ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • ELIZABETH RATA: In defence of the liberal university and against indigenisation
    The suppression of individual thought in our universities spills over into society, threatening free speech everywhere. Elizabeth Rata writes –  Indigenising New Zealand’s universities is well underway, presumably with the agreement of University Councils and despite the absence of public discussion. Indigenising, under the broader umbrella of decolonisation, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the skewed media coverage of Gaza
    Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website. If he did, Peters would find MFAT celebrating the 25th anniversary of how New Zealand alerted the rest of the world to the genocide developing in Rwanda. Quote: New Zealand played an important role ...
    2 days ago
  • “Your Circus, Your Clowns.”
    It must have been a hard first couple of weeks for National voters, since the coalition was announced. Seeing their party make so many concessions to New Zealand First and ACT that there seems little remains of their own policies, other than the dwindling dream of tax cuts and the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 8-December-2023
    It’s Friday again and Christmas is fast approaching. Here’s some of the stories that caught our attention. This week in Greater Auckland On Tuesday Matt covered some of the recent talk around the costs, benefits and challenges with the City Rail Link. On Thursday Matt looked at how ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • End-of-week escapism
    Amsterdam to Hong Kong William McCartney16,000 kilometres41 days18 trains13 countries11 currencies6 long-distance taxis4 taxi apps4 buses3 sim cards2 ferries1 tram0 medical events (surprisingly)Episode 4Whether the Sofia-Istanbul Express really qualifies to be called an express is debatable, but it’s another one of those likeably old and slow trains tha… ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 8
    Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro arrives for the State Opening of Parliament (Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)TL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:New Finance Minister Nicola Willis set herself a ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand’s Witchcraft Laws: 1840/1858-1961/1962
    Sometimes one gets morbidly curious about the oddities of one’s own legal system. Sometimes one writes entire essays on New Zealand’s experience with Blasphemous Libel: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2017/05/09/blasphemous-libel-new-zealand-politics/ And sometimes one follows up the exact historical status of witchcraft law in New Zealand. As one does, of course. ...
    2 days ago
  • No surprises
    Don’t expect any fiscal shocks or surprises when the books are opened on December 20 with the unveiling of the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU). That was the message yesterday from Westpac in an economic commentary. But the bank’s analysis did not include any changes to capital ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #49 2023
    113 articles in 48 journals by 674 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Diversity of Lagged Relationships in Global Means of Surface Temperatures and Radiative Budgets for CMIP6 piControl Simulations, Tsuchida et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0045.1 Do abrupt cryosphere events in High Mountain Asia indicate earlier tipping ...
    3 days ago
  • Phone calls at Kia Kaha primary
    It is quiet reading time in Room 13! It is so quiet you can hear the Tui outside. It is so quiet you can hear the Fulton Hogan crew.It is so quiet you can hear old Mr Grant and old Mr Bradbury standing by the roadworks and counting the conesand going on ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • A question of confidence is raised by the Minister of Police, but he had to be questioned by RNZ to ...
    It looks like the new ministerial press secretaries have quickly learned the art of camouflaging exactly what their ministers are saying – or, at least, of keeping the hard news  out of the headlines and/or the opening sentences of the statements they post on the home page of the governments ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Xmas  good  cheer  for the dairy industry  as Fonterra lifts its forecast
    The big dairy co-op Fonterra  had  some Christmas  cheer to offer  its farmers this week, increasing its forecast farmgate milk price and earnings guidance for  the year after what it calls a strong start to the year. The forecast  midpoint for the 2023/24 season is up 25cs to $7.50 per ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Modern Maori myths
    Michael Bassett writes – Many of the comments about the Coalition’s determination to wind back the dramatic Maorification of New Zealand of the last three years would have you believe the new government is engaged in a full-scale attack on Maori. In reality, all that is happening ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Dreams of eternal sunshine at a spotless COP28
    Mary Robinson asked Al Jaber a series of very simple, direct and highly pertinent questions and he responded with a high-octane public meltdown. Photos: Getty Images / montage: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR The hygiene effects of direct sunshine are making some inroads, perhaps for the very first time, on the normalised ‘deficit ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: Oh, the irony
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – Appointed by new Labour PM Jacinda Ardern in 2018, Cindy Kiro headed the Welfare Expert Advisory Group (WEAG) tasked with reviewing and recommending reforms to the welfare system. Kiro had been Children’s Commissioner during Helen Clark’s Labour government but returned to academia subsequently. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Transport Agencies don’t want Harbour Tunnels
    It seems even our transport agencies don’t want Labour’s harbour crossing plans. In August the previous government and Waka Kotahi announced their absurd preferred option the new harbour crossing that at the time was estimated to cost $35-45 billion. It included both road tunnels and a wiggly light rail tunnel ...
    3 days ago
  • Webworm Presents: Jurassic Park on 35mm
    Hi,Paying Webworm members such as yourself keep this thing running, so as 2023 draws to close, I wanted to do two things to say a giant, loud “THANKS”. Firstly — I’m giving away 10 Mister Organ blu-rays in New Zealand, and another 10 in America. More details down below.Secondly — ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • The Prime Minister's Dream.
    Yesterday saw the State Opening of Parliament, the Speech from the Throne, and then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s dream for Aotearoa in his first address. But first the pomp and ceremony, the arrival of the Governor General.Dame Cindy Kiro arrived on the forecourt outside of parliament to a Māori welcome. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • National’s new MP; the proud part-Maori boy raised in a state house
    Probably not since 1975 have we seen a government take office up against such a wall of protest and complaint. That was highlighted yesterday, the day that the new Parliament was sworn in, with news that King Tuheitia has called a national hui for late January to develop a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • Climate Adam: Battlefield Earth – How War Fuels Climate Catastrophe
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). War, conflict and climate change are tearing apart lives across the world. But these aren't separate harms - they're intricately connected. ...
    4 days ago
  • They do not speak for us, and they do not speak for the future
    These dire woeful and intolerant people have been so determinedly going about their small and petulant business, it’s hard to keep up. At the end of the new government’s first woeful week, Audrey Young took the time to count off its various acts of denigration of Te Ao Māori:Review the ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • Another attack on te reo
    The new white supremacist government made attacking te reo a key part of its platform, promising to rename government agencies and force them to "communicate primarily in English" (which they already do). But today they've gone further, by trying to cut the pay of public servants who speak te reo: ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • For the record, the Beehive buzz can now be regarded as “official”
    Buzz from the Beehive The biggest buzz we bring you from the Beehive today is that the government’s official website is up and going after being out of action for more than a week. The latest press statement came  from  Education Minister  Eric Stanford, who seized on the 2022 PISA ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again
    There was another ETS auction this morning. and like all the other ones this year, it failed to clear - meaning that 23 million tons of carbon (15 million ordinary units plus 8 million in the cost containment reserve) went up in smoke. Or rather, they didn't. Being unsold at ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell On The Government’s Assault On Maori
    This isn’t news, but the National-led coalition is mounting a sustained assault on Treaty rights and obligations. Even so, Christopher Luxon has described yesterday’s nationwide protests by Maori as “pretty unfair.” Poor thing. In the NZ Herald, Audrey Young has compiled a useful list of the many, many ways that ...
    4 days ago
  • Rising costs hit farmers hard, but  there’s more  positive news  for  them this  week 
    New Zealand’s dairy industry, the mainstay of the country’s export trade, has  been under  pressure  from rising  costs. Down on the  farm, this  has  been  hitting  hard. But there  was more positive news this week,  first   from the latest Fonterra GDT auction where  prices  rose,  and  then from  a  report ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago
  • ROB MacCULLOCH:  Newshub and NZ Herald report misleading garbage about ACT’s van Veldon not follo...
    Rob MacCulloch writes –  In their rush to discredit the new government (which our MainStream Media regard as illegitimate and having no right to enact the democratic will of voters) the NZ Herald and Newshub are arguing ACT’s Deputy Leader Brooke van Veldon is not following Treasury advice ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Top 10 for Wednesday, December 6
    Even many young people who smoke support smokefree policies, fitting in with previous research showing the large majority of people who smoke regret starting and most want to quit. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Wednesday, December ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Eleven years of work.
    Well it didn’t take six months, but the leaks have begun. Yes the good ship Coalition has inadvertently released a confidential cabinet paper into the public domain, discussing their axing of Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs).Oops.Just when you were admiring how smoothly things were going for the new government, they’ve had ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Why we're missing out on sharply lower inflation
    A wave of new and higher fees, rates and charges will ripple out over the economy in the next 18 months as mayors, councillors, heads of department and price-setters for utilities such as gas, electricity, water and parking ramp up charges. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Just when most ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did We Get Here?
    Hi,Kiwis — keep the evening of December 22nd free. I have a meetup planned, and will send out an invite over the next day or so. This sounds sort of crazy to write, but today will be Tony Stamp’s final Totally Normal column of 2023. Somehow we’ve made it to ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago
  • At a glance – Has the greenhouse effect been falsified?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    5 days ago
  • New Zealaders  have  high expectations of  new  government:  now let’s see if it can deliver?
    The electorate has high expectations of the  new  government.  The question is: can  it  deliver?    Some  might  say  the  signs are not  promising. Protestors   are  already marching in the streets. The  new  Prime Minister has had  little experience of managing  very diverse politicians  in coalition. The economy he  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    5 days ago
  • You won't believe some of the numbers you have to pull when you're a Finance Minister
    Nicola of Marsden:Yo, normies! We will fix your cost of living worries by giving you a tax cut of 150 dollars. 150! Cash money! Vote National.Various people who can read and count:Actually that's 150 over a fortnight. Not a week, which is how you usually express these things.And actually, it looks ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Pushback
    When this government came to power, it did so on an explicitly white supremacist platform. Undermining the Waitangi Tribunal, removing Māori representation in local government, over-riding the courts which had tried to make their foreshore and seabed legislation work, eradicating te reo from public life, and ultimately trying to repudiate ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Defence ministerial meeting meant Collins missed the Maori Party’s mischief-making capers in Parli...
    Buzz from the Beehive Maybe this is not the best time for our Minister of Defence to have gone overseas. Not when the Maori Party is inviting (or should that be inciting?) its followers to join a revolution in a post which promoted its protest plans with a picture of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • Threats of war have been followed by an invitation to join the revolution – now let’s see how th...
     A Maori Party post on Instagram invited party followers to ….  Tangata Whenua, Tangata Tiriti, Join the REVOLUTION! & make a stand!  Nationwide Action Day, All details in tiles swipe to see locations.  • This is our 1st hit out and tomorrow Tuesday the 5th is the opening ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Top 10 for Tuesday, December 4
    The RBNZ governor is citing high net migration and profit-led inflation as factors in the bank’s hawkish stance. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere on the morning of Tuesday, December 5, including:Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr says high net migration and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Nicola Willis' 'show me the money' moment
    Willis has accused labour of “economic vandalism’, while Robertson described her comments as a “desperate diversion from somebody who can't make their tax package add up”. There will now be an intense focus on December 20 to see whether her hyperbole is backed up by true surprises. Photo montage: Lynn ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • CRL costs money but also provides huge benefits
    The City Rail Link has been in the headlines a bit recently so I thought I’d look at some of them. First up, yesterday the NZ Herald ran this piece about the ongoing costs of the CRL. Auckland ratepayers will be saddled with an estimated bill of $220 million each ...
    5 days ago
  • And I don't want the world to see us.
    Is this the most shambolic government in the history of New Zealand? Given that parliament hasn’t even opened they’ve managed quite a list of achievements to date.The Smokefree debacle trading lives for tax cuts, the Trumpian claims of bribery in the Media, an International award for indifference, and today the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Cooking the books
    Finance Minister Nicola Willis late yesterday stopped only slightly short of accusing her predecessor Grant Robertson of cooking the books. She complained that the Half Yearly Economic and Fiscal Update (HYEFU), due to be made public on December 20, would show “fiscal cliffs” that would amount to “billions of ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Most people don’t realize how much progress we’ve made on climate change
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The year was 2015. ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars was at the top of the music charts. Jurassic World was the most popular new movie in theaters. And decades of futility in international climate negotiations was about to come to an end in ...
    6 days ago
  • Of Parliamentary Oaths and Clive Boonham
    As a heads-up, I am not one of those people who stay awake at night thinking about weird Culture War nonsense. At least so far as the current Maori/Constitutional arrangements go. In fact, I actually consider it the least important issue facing the day to day lives of New ...
    6 days ago
  • Bearing True Allegiance?
    Strong Words: “We do not consent, we do not surrender, we do not cede, we do not submit; we, the indigenous, are rising. We do not buy into the colonial fictions this House is built upon. Te Pāti Māori pledges allegiance to our mokopuna, our whenua, and Te Tiriti o ...
    6 days ago
  • You cannot be serious
    Some days it feels like the only thing to say is: Seriously? No, really. Seriously?OneSomeone has used their health department access to share data about vaccinations and patients, and inform the world that New Zealanders have been dying in their hundreds of thousands from the evil vaccine. This of course is pure ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • A promise kept: govt pulls the plug on Lake Onslow scheme – but this saving of $16bn is denounced...
    Buzz from the Beehive After $21.8 million was spent on investigations, the plug has been pulled on the Lake Onslow pumped-hydro electricity scheme, The scheme –  that technically could have solved New Zealand’s looming energy shortage, according to its champions – was a key part of the defeated Labour government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER: The Maori Party and Oath of Allegiance
    If those elected to the Māori Seats refuse to take them, then what possible reason could the country have for retaining them?   Chris Trotter writes – Christmas is fast approaching, which, as it does every year, means gearing up for an abstruse general knowledge question. “Who was ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON:  Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies. Brian Easton writes The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Climate Change: Fossils
    When the new government promised to allow new offshore oil and gas exploration, they were warned that there would be international criticism and reputational damage. Naturally, they arrogantly denied any possibility that that would happen. And then they finally turned up at COP, to criticism from Palau, and a "fossil ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • GEOFFREY MILLER:  NZ’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    Geoffrey Miller writes – New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on the government’s smokefree laws debacle
    The most charitable explanation for National’s behaviour over the smokefree legislation is that they have dutifully fulfilled the wishes of the Big Tobacco lobby and then cast around – incompetently, as it turns out – for excuses that might sell this health policy U-turn to the public. The less charitable ...
    6 days ago
  • Top 10 links at 10 am for Monday, December 4
    As Deb Te Kawa writes in an op-ed, the new Government seems to have immediately bought itself fights with just about everyone. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Monday December 4, including:Palau’s President ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Be Honest.
    Let’s begin today by thinking about job interviews.During my career in Software Development I must have interviewed hundreds of people, hired at least a hundred, but few stick in the memory.I remember one guy who was so laid back he was practically horizontal, leaning back in his chair until his ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    6 days ago
  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago
  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    6 days ago
  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    1 week ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    1 week ago
  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    1 week ago
  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • Ministers visit Hawke’s Bay to grasp recovery needs
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Cyclone Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell and Transport and Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, to meet leaders of cyclone and flood-affected regions in the Hawke’s Bay. The visit reinforced the coalition Government’s commitment to support the region and better understand its ongoing requirements, Mr Mitchell says.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand condemns malicious cyber activity
    New Zealand has joined the UK and other partners in condemning malicious cyber activity conducted by the Russian Government, Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau Judith Collins says. The statement follows the UK’s attribution today of malicious cyber activity impacting its domestic democratic institutions and processes, as well ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Disestablishment of Te Pūkenga begins
    The Government has begun the process of disestablishing Te Pūkenga as part of its 100-day plan, Minister for Tertiary Education and Skills Penny Simmonds says.  “I have started putting that plan into action and have met with the chair and chief Executive of Te Pūkenga to advise them of my ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Climate Change Minister to attend COP28 in Dubai
    Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will be leaving for Dubai today to attend COP28, the 28th annual UN climate summit, this week. Simon Watts says he will push for accelerated action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement, deliver New Zealand’s national statement and connect with partner countries, private sector leaders ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday announced New Zealand will host next year’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM). “Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Nouméa, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Study shows need to remove distractions in class
    The Government is committed to lifting school achievement in the basics and that starts with removing distractions so young people can focus on their learning, Education Minister Erica Stanford says.   The 2022 PISA results released this week found that Kiwi kids ranked 5th in the world for being distracted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
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