Take note New Zealand. The logistics and geographies in the Greenpeace International article below are different, but the principles are the same. Flying harms nature. The GHG emissions from flying are not just the flight, but all the additional infrastructure and processes that are used in the trip. Neolib flight economics means that airports and airlines need to keep increasing revenue, which means more airport and more flights, which means more GHGs. The explanations from sustainability and regenerative experts are at Maybe We Shouldn’t Take the Plane.
Sorry people who are aching to get the borders open so they can travel freely again. Mass flight travel is directly against climate action and preventing the ecological crises. Maybe in the future we will have the technology for a lot of flying again, but we don’t currently and right now the imperative is to stop burning fossil fuels.
And tourism sector: give it up and adapt like the rest of us. It’s not the end of the world. Climate change and ecosystem collapse will be. Instead of trying to revive a dinosaur industry, put the energy into developing the New Zealand version of the What Needs to Happen list in the Greenpeace article below.
Just stop mass flying. There are plenty of other exciting and useful things for humans to be getting on with.
Earlier this month, activists from Greenpeace Spain installed a 12 metre long train model in the Barcelona-El Prat airport to protest the impact of the airline sector and the planned expansion of the airport.
The expansion of the Barcelona-El Prat airport would cause tremendous damage to precious wetlands and cost 1.7 million euros. Businesses and representatives promoting this project would like people to believe that opposing the expansion will hurt the city and its inhabitants. It is not true. No city can prosper based exclusively on a “low cost” tourism model that negatively impacts the population with more expensive rents while devouring public resources.
This train model was designed to highlight the shocking lack of rail connectivity among European countries and across the continent. It will travel across Europe in the coming months.
With the arrival of summer in Europe, the easing of restrictions means a return to travel throughout the continent. However, of the people who are lucky enough to be able to travel, many folks have no choice but to resort to the car or plane for their vacations due to the lack of trains. We urgently need European governments to invest in a geographically robust and accessible railway system for everyone everywhere, not just those routes with the highest demand.
In Eastern and Northern Europe, for example, distances are big and alternatives still need to be designed and delivered. If Europe truly wants to be united, train travel time between places like Bucharest (Romania) and Sofia (Bulgaria), the capitals of the two largest countries in Eastern Europe, should be 5 hours, not 11 hours with multiple transfers.
Investing in trains is a key to fighting the climate emergency while connecting Europeans and other travelers with their cities and countries in a sustainable way. But diminishing connections has forced people to use more polluting means of transport.
The European Commission has declared 2021 the “European Year of Rail”, highlighting the essential role of the train in fighting the climate crisis. Traveling by plane pollutes up to 20 times more than travelling by train. Greenpeace demands that EU institutions and national governments be consistent with their climate objectives and promote a system whereby the train — already climate-friendly, safe — is an affordable alternative to short-haul flights and the car.
Create at least 30 new day and night connections between European countries by 2025
Improve the compatibility of trains between countries so that journeys between different European territories are possible
Make the train easier and more affordable by eliminating subsidies to airlines, e.g. introducing a kerosene tax. End short-haul flights when there is a competitive train alternative in terms of time and price
Ensure train operators have compatible sales systems so that buying a train ticket is as easy as buying a plane ticket
Facilitate access to trains for all people, including those who travel with their bicycle or pet.
Mobility For All is working in collaboration with allies to promote the benefits of alternative mobility for improved city life for all city dwellers, whatever their background or socioeconomic status.
We're in transitional mode. Folks will have to get their heads around it, but BAU thinking will tempt them into seeking a back to normal route next year.
By May 2019, the number of known electric aircraft development programmes was closer to 170, with a majority of them aimed at the urban air taxi role. US/UK startup ZeroAvia develops zero-emissions fuel-cell propulsion systems for small aircraft, and tests its HyFlyer in Orkney supported by £2.7 million from the UK government.
A demonstrator for the German Scylax E10 10-seater should fly in 2022. It should be used by FLN Frisia Luftverkehr to connect East Frisian islands with its 300 km range and 300 m short takeoff and landing distance. On 10 June 2020, the Velis Electro variant of the two-seat Pipistrel Virus was the first electric aircraft to secure type certification, from the EASA. Powered by a 76 hp (58 kW) electric motor developed with Emrax, it offers a payload of 170 kg, a cruise speed of 170 km/h, and a 50 min endurance. Pipistrel plans to deliver over 30 examples in 2020, to be operated as a trainer aircraft.
On 23 September 2020, Gothenburg-based Heart Aerospace presented its ES-19 design, a 19-seat all-electric commercial aircraft planned to fly by mid-2026. With a conventional aluminium airframe and wing, its planned range is 400 km and expects to operate from runways as short as 800 m. Initially targeting airlines operating in the Nordic countries, Heart has received "expressions of interest" for 147 ES-19 aircraft worth about US $1.3 billion (or $8.8 million each) from at least eight airlines.
On 22 March 2021, Toulouse-based Aura Aero announced the development of its ERA (Electric Regional Aircraft), a 19 passenger electric aircraft, planned to be certified in 2026.
So the good news is that transition is here to stay. Bad news is that the political left (current govt here) remains addicted to neoliberalism. I suspect the PM believes too many voters are addicts. Democracy, the numbers game…
Well, a neoliberal would point to the market, right? So if demand suffices, some entrepreneur will figure out how to supply, and the price will determine who & how many choose to take what's on offer.
If, on the other hand, folks were to switch to Green socialism, economics would be driven by the common good. Makes electric vehicles & trains more likely.
The crux is that electricity to power anything comes from the grid as a common good, and private providers of electricity are currently negligible in proportion to that. A social shift via high-tech design could tilt that proportion into balance.
where would NZ get the electricity from to power aircraft?
In the wider scheme of things air travel does not consume all that much energy. I agree with Dennis – the future of short haul is electric and it's probably going to arrive sooner than imagined.
I've nothing against trains and public transport generally – but the ability to travel is woven into the modern world. The idea that NZ should return to an era when only the very wealthy could afford the time and cost to leave our shores by sea, is a retro-grade one in my view.
NZ is in fact one of the most isolated places on earth, pick up a globe and rotate it so that this country is at the polar-centric middle – we're surrounded by ocean. I'd estimate that 95% of humanity lives on the other side of the planet to us. I keep wanting to write a sentence here that includes 'hemit kingdom' – but you get my gist.
Climate science and inaction strongly suggests that the window of green BAU has passed. We'll be lucky if we get trains in a reasonable time frame.
Wasn't too sure if Denis was saying yaay e-planes, or pointing out that e-planes aren't a serious possibility. We will have some, but I can't see us replacing all the FF planes without increasing emissions in the short term, and doing it in a reasonable time frame (next five years)
I wasn't expressing personal approval or disapproval of the tech, merely reporting it. Re your query at 1.1.2.2, seems that you didn't see my answer as an explanation so I'll try to reframe it.
Regardless of any current limit on power availability, price rules the supply & demand equation until/unless govt intervenes in the market.
Consequently those who offer electric plane rides, and those who accept the price of those on offer, will use available energy from the grid if the plane can't generate enough for the flight. Whether the grid supplies terminals for the plane to recharge from depends on service provider & their commercial contract – if that forces up prices for the poor, c'est la vie. Govt will have to ensure the poor can afford electricity somehow – or fake that…
It will come from both Manapouri and the NZ Battery Project in Lake Onslow. That will provide the replacement base load for Huntly, and also enable more wind farms offshore.
other opinions say that freeing up the Tiwai usage won't cover getting our current 20% fossil fuels to renewables alongside the increased demand from converting land transport to EV.
By the end of 2024, when Tiwai Point is due to close, electric vehicles will make up little more than 2% of our total national fleet. That's functionally nothing.
Just one windfarm alone – Turitea – will generate enough electricity for over 230,000 cars.
But let's take it to a logical extreme.
If all light vehicles in New Zealand were electric (say in 2060 with a running start and dumploads of subsidy), our current total electricity demand would increase by around 20 percent, EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority) estimates. Enough renewable electricity infrastructure is being built that, added to our existing network, will easily accommodate a larger EV fleet, especially with off-peak charging.
Personally, I'd call time on the Bluff Smelter. Have seen articles looking at hydrogen fuel cells for planes, not keen on hydrogen sourced via oil industry, but using power overnight when the grid is at a trough to separate water could be promising.
Where? Wind, solar, geothermal, the tide that rushes thru Cook Straight lots of sources – but before we deal with aircraft let's start by taking the power from Tiwai and use it to shut down some coal and gas fired generation.
There are also efficiencies we can't get because of the way power companies 'compete' in the market – imagine we installed extra generation capacity in the Clyde dam and let its lake fill when the wind blows – at the moment those two power sources compete because they are owned by different companies, there's no oppurtunity for efficiency because – profit
also issues of energy returned on investment. There are natural limits to all those techs, and we keep talking about them as if the limits don't exist.
and yes, use the Tiwai freed up energy to get to 100% renewable. Then EV public transport and freight, then personal EVs, increase in population etc. I can't see how we can do green BAU and perpetual growth and decrease GHGs at the same time (we're burning fossil fuels to make most of that infrastructure)
To be fair, i would be happy with a steam train, if only we could get someone in government to finally look at trains for heavy goods and passenger transport as a reliable, affordable, and accessible tool to transport masses of people and goods. .
I would also to be happy if every major road would have a cycle lane tacked on to it, not to cycle on the bloody motorway but on a dedicated line on either side of the motorway.
And above all i would be really rejoicing if that give a way of taxpayers funds so that a few well to do and rich heeled people can buy themselves and their children some EV were to be cancelled and that money rather be spend on free bus and train tickets for people who need it and who don’t have any other option of transport. They can pay for that shit themselves, after all everyone who does ride a bus, or a train or a bike is not getting any hand outs from the Kitty of the taxpayers. Surely we can do better then that.
"It goes like this: fewer is used to refer to number among things that are counted, as in "fewer choices" and "fewer problems"; less is used to refer to quantity or amount among things that are measured, as in "less time" and "less effort."
Personally I mostly travel overseas when I am working. That means from 1991 to 2013 I didn't bother doing it at all – and had an expired passport for most of that time. From 2015 to 2019, I spent about a quarter of my time offshore in multiple work deployments of between 2 weeks and 6 weeks at a time. It was part of the job that I took in 2014.
Currently I am not planning on travelling offshore again. It offers little to me personally. I see the things that I expect to see – because I can read and look at video. And being overseas wastes a lot of my limited time. Not just the 30 hour trip of my longest jaunt, but also that travelling causes a lack of hardware and fragile connectivity that limits my real international connectivity.
Because I live on an international network of people I work with, information that I feeds my mind and helps my creativity, and access to the markets that we provide products and services for. As a geek, that is what I do for a living and for just my own pleasure.
If I want to relax and have a break – I can do it here without living with hundreds of others in a tube, and thousands in a terminal. For me, getting away from people is a holiday.
Never really understood the attraction some people have for clustering like sheep on a 'holiday'.
Ages ago I heard someone say that contemporary tourists resemble runaway slaves – their gaiety and excitement like a defence against the knowledge of certain re-capture and return to bondage. Probably a nasty and elitist thing to say – but I kind of see the imagined resemblance.
Was there an improvement in train services under NZF?
Did train accuracy and speed improve for passengers in Auckland or Wellington? No.
Did Auckland gain another metre of rail for shifting passengers off roads? No – in fact CRL was started under National.
Was there a big shift from road to rail in freight? No.
Was there a big shift from diesel to electric rail freight? No. Not even dual-engine trains for the new South Island replacements.
They helped regain the Wairoa-Napier line, but the Ohai-Invercargill line is ready to close, the West Coast branch lines are near-dead, the Christchurch-Westport line is close-to-defunct, Northland line remains mothballed, nothing happened to the port in Whangarei.
The Papakura-Pukekohe electrification is underway, but now they have a daily passenger service to Hamilton with no plans for electrifying the full route.
Your claim struggles.
Though the same struggle holds for Labour and the Greens.
Prebble saved rail, then ran with them. When I was young Chinese politicos referred to such folk as the "running dogs of capitalism". Maybe the only time the communists actually called a spade a spade eh?
And with all that gold in their pockets weighing them down, would've been easy to catch them on the run with pitchforks, like the Italian peasants did to the fascist overlord running thro the fields in that movie 1941. Kiwis are such nice folk they didn't even bother to discover how much dosh Prebs invested in his sell-off…
Personally I would like to see the government (whichever) investigate how to make rail for goods more user friendly in NZ
Invercargill to Dunedin to Timaru to Christchurch to Picton to Nelson plus West Coast to Christchurch with logistics hubs so more freight moved by rail and less trucks on the road, or at least on the main highway
Smaller unloading facilities at places like Oamaru, Ashburton and Blenheim but it would take talking to a lot of different entities and businesses to even begin this kind of undertaking
Yep. Seen it constantly on my main road into New Plymouth from the fringe where I live, during the five years I've been here. Logging trucks around one every few minutes. Similarly-sized other truck & trailer combos, about the same rate. Some are even triads (two trailerloads joined). Sometimes three of them in a row. Most headed for the nearby port. Road gangs doing repairs every few months.
Need to get some Japanese Consultants and learn how to do things properly, Jacinda should fly to Japan and take Michael Wood with her and see how a country with a proper rail system works. Labour's idea of a silly little trolley set to Auckland Airport is a joke.
Japan has 25+ times the population. I think you will find that makes a huge difference, mainly in the fact that the fares would be 25 times greater here.
I have loved every overseas trip I have made. Even with lost luggage, flight delays and huge airports the size of a city, and teeming crowds of people. To see wonderful sights and scenery (New Zealand is not the only beautiful country), to soak up the ancient history, experience different cultures and people. It opens one up to that big wide world out there which is very different to a rather insular New Zealand.
Saying all that, New Zealand is the best place to come back home to.
Having travelled around Europe a bit over recent years, I can highly recommend the train.
They have the advantage of economies of scale of course, so can make train journeys viable.
The high speed trains (up to 300kph) are fantastic, and are often faster than planes, especially when check in and waiting around is taken into account for air travel.
We travelled from Frankfurt to Avignon by train (approx 850km). It took about 7 hours. We had a lot more freedom than on a plane and could enjoy the sights out of the window.
In contrast, a plane trip was going to require us to fly to London first, stay overnight, then fly to Avignon from there.
Agree spent quite a bit of time in Japan 20-30 years ago, the trains are great, you get no where in a car unless you have plenty of time and like looking at buildings especially in Tokyo.
Yes rail travel overseas is generally a great experience. Rail is unfortunately a bit of a lost cause in NZ. We built a cheap system (narrow gauge) and we will never be able to upgrade it to a wider one… it's just too expensive to do it (and they knew it from the beginning).That's what happens when you are a small under populated Country at the end of the Earth with no money. We had to settle for cheap and nasty and now we are stuck with it.
NZ doesn’t need to change KiwiRails operating gauge of 3ft 6in Cape Gauge. What needs to happen is to increase the loading gauge ie axle weights & the width of the wagons & locomotives.
Both the WA & QLD Rail Networks used 3ft 6in Cape Gauge & show the way what can be done. To Pax Rail with High Speed Tilt Railcars, Tilt Trains incl Electric Tilt Trains for Inter- Regional Urban Services and if you increase the Axle Weights for Trains. Then this flows onto the Freight Sector with longer Freight & Heavier Trains which would make it even more competitive with Road Freight.
Heck even Japan uses 3ft 6in Cape Gauge Rail as well.
We live in a country which has abandoned the Billion Dollar pushbike bridge across the Auckland Harbour and has been totally incapable of putting "light rail" into our biggest city. What makes anyone think that our WHOLE rail system can be upgraded?
There is simply not enough BILLIONS available to even start as we are well behind the eight ball with our enormous "Covid" debt. Anything else at all would require vastly more debt.
A suggestion would be to utilize sail and its wind power in our supply chain somewhere. Rail is nice, but it is slow to get started. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t, but it does seem we could be moving freight by wind power before we got rail consented or even funded. Look at the 5 year shemozzle over light rail. And that’s not an ambitious project compared to much of what is being discussed.
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A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
Despite having no bars or other designated spaces for lesbians, Auckland boasts a small but mighty lesbian museum. So how did it get here? The past 18 months has brought increasing hostility towards the queer community across Aotearoa. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull’s anti-trans rally in Tamaki Makaurau last March led to a ...
Poneke Antifascist Coalition has invited Wellingtonians to stand in solidarity with the Kanak people at 12pm today outside the French Embassy in Wellington. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Layton, Visiting Fellow, Strategic Studies, Griffith University Drones are the signature technology of the Ukraine war. A few miniature aircraft designs were used in the war’s early days, but an incredible array of drones have now evolved. There are different types, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Slee, Associate Professor, Clinical Academic Neurologist, Flinders University Francisco Gonzelez/Unsplash Migraine is many things, but one thing it’s not is “just a headache”. “Migraine” comes from the Greek word “hemicrania”, referring to the common experience of migraine being predominantly ...
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We're in transitional mode. Folks will have to get their heads around it, but BAU thinking will tempt them into seeking a back to normal route next year.
So the good news is that transition is here to stay. Bad news is that the political left (current govt here) remains addicted to neoliberalism. I suspect the PM believes too many voters are addicts. Democracy, the numbers game…
where would NZ get the electricity from to power aircraft?
Well, a neoliberal would point to the market, right? So if demand suffices, some entrepreneur will figure out how to supply, and the price will determine who & how many choose to take what's on offer.
If, on the other hand, folks were to switch to Green socialism, economics would be driven by the common good. Makes electric vehicles & trains more likely.
The crux is that electricity to power anything comes from the grid as a common good, and private providers of electricity are currently negligible in proportion to that. A social shift via high-tech design could tilt that proportion into balance.
We need to privatise straight away ring Fay Richwhite.asap.
where would NZ get the electricity from to power aircraft?
In the wider scheme of things air travel does not consume all that much energy. I agree with Dennis – the future of short haul is electric and it's probably going to arrive sooner than imagined.
I've nothing against trains and public transport generally – but the ability to travel is woven into the modern world. The idea that NZ should return to an era when only the very wealthy could afford the time and cost to leave our shores by sea, is a retro-grade one in my view.
NZ is in fact one of the most isolated places on earth, pick up a globe and rotate it so that this country is at the polar-centric middle – we're surrounded by ocean. I'd estimate that 95% of humanity lives on the other side of the planet to us. I keep wanting to write a sentence here that includes 'hemit kingdom' – but you get my gist.
Climate science and inaction strongly suggests that the window of green BAU has passed. We'll be lucky if we get trains in a reasonable time frame.
Wasn't too sure if Denis was saying yaay e-planes, or pointing out that e-planes aren't a serious possibility. We will have some, but I can't see us replacing all the FF planes without increasing emissions in the short term, and doing it in a reasonable time frame (next five years)
I wasn't expressing personal approval or disapproval of the tech, merely reporting it. Re your query at 1.1.2.2, seems that you didn't see my answer as an explanation so I'll try to reframe it.
Regardless of any current limit on power availability, price rules the supply & demand equation until/unless govt intervenes in the market.
Consequently those who offer electric plane rides, and those who accept the price of those on offer, will use available energy from the grid if the plane can't generate enough for the flight. Whether the grid supplies terminals for the plane to recharge from depends on service provider & their commercial contract – if that forces up prices for the poor, c'est la vie. Govt will have to ensure the poor can afford electricity somehow – or fake that…
"In the wider scheme of things air travel does not consume all that much energy"
We don't have enough renewable generation for existing usage and the upcoming EVs. Where will the additional power come from?
It will come from both Manapouri and the NZ Battery Project in Lake Onslow. That will provide the replacement base load for Huntly, and also enable more wind farms offshore.
other opinions say that freeing up the Tiwai usage won't cover getting our current 20% fossil fuels to renewables alongside the increased demand from converting land transport to EV.
By the end of 2024, when Tiwai Point is due to close, electric vehicles will make up little more than 2% of our total national fleet. That's functionally nothing.
Just one windfarm alone – Turitea – will generate enough electricity for over 230,000 cars.
But let's take it to a logical extreme.
If all light vehicles in New Zealand were electric (say in 2060 with a running start and dumploads of subsidy), our current total electricity demand would increase by around 20 percent, EECA (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority) estimates. Enough renewable electricity infrastructure is being built that, added to our existing network, will easily accommodate a larger EV fleet, especially with off-peak charging.
Personally, I'd call time on the Bluff Smelter. Have seen articles looking at hydrogen fuel cells for planes, not keen on hydrogen sourced via oil industry, but using power overnight when the grid is at a trough to separate water could be promising.
Where? Wind, solar, geothermal, the tide that rushes thru Cook Straight lots of sources – but before we deal with aircraft let's start by taking the power from Tiwai and use it to shut down some coal and gas fired generation.
There are also efficiencies we can't get because of the way power companies 'compete' in the market – imagine we installed extra generation capacity in the Clyde dam and let its lake fill when the wind blows – at the moment those two power sources compete because they are owned by different companies, there's no oppurtunity for efficiency because – profit
also issues of energy returned on investment. There are natural limits to all those techs, and we keep talking about them as if the limits don't exist.
and yes, use the Tiwai freed up energy to get to 100% renewable. Then EV public transport and freight, then personal EVs, increase in population etc. I can't see how we can do green BAU and perpetual growth and decrease GHGs at the same time (we're burning fossil fuels to make most of that infrastructure)
To be fair, i would be happy with a steam train, if only we could get someone in government to finally look at trains for heavy goods and passenger transport as a reliable, affordable, and accessible tool to transport masses of people and goods. .
I would also to be happy if every major road would have a cycle lane tacked on to it, not to cycle on the bloody motorway but on a dedicated line on either side of the motorway.
And above all i would be really rejoicing if that give a way of taxpayers funds so that a few well to do and rich heeled people can buy themselves and their children some EV were to be cancelled and that money rather be spend on free bus and train tickets for people who need it and who don’t have any other option of transport. They can pay for that shit themselves, after all everyone who does ride a bus, or a train or a bike is not getting any hand outs from the Kitty of the taxpayers. Surely we can do better then that.
Really? Steam trains use coal. Timber does not produce enough heat.
As i said. I 'would' be happy with a steam train, if that is the best we could get. Heck, we might run it on frying oil or something.
Anything would be better then what we have got now for many parts of the country.
They are about to replace the coal fired engine on the Earnslaw Steamship on Lake Wakatipu.
Was mighty fun being able to see all that polished brass and steel stoked.
But if you want to see coal fired systems in action, the Fonterra milk powder dryers are where you really see it operating at scale.
good grief. seriously good grief.
i forgot the s/ tag and i will repent.
I know it's petty, but I wish they'd said "fewer" planes.
In fact, I'd happily never fly again – ship and rail should be the transport of the future. Slow down, enjoy the journey.
Correct. According to Merriam-Webster:
"It goes like this: fewer is used to refer to number among things that are counted, as in "fewer choices" and "fewer problems"; less is used to refer to quantity or amount among things that are measured, as in "less time" and "less effort."
So we need fewer people on this planet, not more.
Quite; it didn't used to bother me as much until they put that gag in Game of Thrones.
Personally I mostly travel overseas when I am working. That means from 1991 to 2013 I didn't bother doing it at all – and had an expired passport for most of that time. From 2015 to 2019, I spent about a quarter of my time offshore in multiple work deployments of between 2 weeks and 6 weeks at a time. It was part of the job that I took in 2014.
Currently I am not planning on travelling offshore again. It offers little to me personally. I see the things that I expect to see – because I can read and look at video. And being overseas wastes a lot of my limited time. Not just the 30 hour trip of my longest jaunt, but also that travelling causes a lack of hardware and fragile connectivity that limits my real international connectivity.
Because I live on an international network of people I work with, information that I feeds my mind and helps my creativity, and access to the markets that we provide products and services for. As a geek, that is what I do for a living and for just my own pleasure.
If I want to relax and have a break – I can do it here without living with hundreds of others in a tube, and thousands in a terminal. For me, getting away from people is a holiday.
Never really understood the attraction some people have for clustering like sheep on a 'holiday'.
I mapped out my next trip back to europe, it is going to be boat, ferry, train and motorbike. Should take about a year of two, and will be epic.
Ages ago I heard someone say that contemporary tourists resemble runaway slaves – their gaiety and excitement like a defence against the knowledge of certain re-capture and return to bondage. Probably a nasty and elitist thing to say – but I kind of see the imagined resemblance.
If you want trains Vote NZF.
Was there an improvement in train services under NZF?
Did train accuracy and speed improve for passengers in Auckland or Wellington? No.
Did Auckland gain another metre of rail for shifting passengers off roads? No – in fact CRL was started under National.
Was there a big shift from road to rail in freight? No.
Was there a big shift from diesel to electric rail freight? No. Not even dual-engine trains for the new South Island replacements.
They helped regain the Wairoa-Napier line, but the Ohai-Invercargill line is ready to close, the West Coast branch lines are near-dead, the Christchurch-Westport line is close-to-defunct, Northland line remains mothballed, nothing happened to the port in Whangarei.
The Papakura-Pukekohe electrification is underway, but now they have a daily passenger service to Hamilton with no plans for electrifying the full route.
Your claim struggles.
Though the same struggle holds for Labour and the Greens.
Was NZ First also the same party that was vilified for anything Labour fucked up?
Did anyone gave a fuck about what NZ First wanted?
NZFirst has been quite open about the need for heavy duty rail and passenger rail to some extend.
At least NZ First is not trying to sell us Tax payer funded give away for EV as an environmentally friendly solution.
Labour is a full majority government, in its second term and in its second year of that second term.
Insufficient fucks were given to NZFirst to get them back into power.
This is true too, but in saying that NZ First has advocated for trains. Go figure.
If you want a train wreck vote NZF
Ad our roads are f#$ked from heavy transport, Fay Richwhite were going to sort out NZ Rail however stripped it and ran.
stripped it and ran
Prebble saved rail, then ran with them. When I was young Chinese politicos referred to such folk as the "running dogs of capitalism". Maybe the only time the communists actually called a spade a spade eh?
And with all that gold in their pockets weighing them down, would've been easy to catch them on the run with pitchforks, like the Italian peasants did to the fascist overlord running thro the fields in that movie 1941. Kiwis are such nice folk they didn't even bother to discover how much dosh Prebs invested in his sell-off…
Prebble was a clown should have been starring in the Flintstones with Barney Rubble and Pebbles probably related.
Personally I would like to see the government (whichever) investigate how to make rail for goods more user friendly in NZ
Invercargill to Dunedin to Timaru to Christchurch to Picton to Nelson plus West Coast to Christchurch with logistics hubs so more freight moved by rail and less trucks on the road, or at least on the main highway
Smaller unloading facilities at places like Oamaru, Ashburton and Blenheim but it would take talking to a lot of different entities and businesses to even begin this kind of undertaking
Same for the North Island. We can not fix the roads fast enough for the logging trucks to come and fuck them up again.
Yep. Seen it constantly on my main road into New Plymouth from the fringe where I live, during the five years I've been here. Logging trucks around one every few minutes. Similarly-sized other truck & trailer combos, about the same rate. Some are even triads (two trailerloads joined). Sometimes three of them in a row. Most headed for the nearby port. Road gangs doing repairs every few months.
Need to get some Japanese Consultants and learn how to do things properly, Jacinda should fly to Japan and take Michael Wood with her and see how a country with a proper rail system works. Labour's idea of a silly little trolley set to Auckland Airport is a joke.
Japan has 25+ times the population. I think you will find that makes a huge difference, mainly in the fact that the fares would be 25 times greater here.
Ad so we need more trucks and more cars ?
They exist already and are used. The Blenheim one is substantial as it needs to service the Nelson province as well.
I have loved every overseas trip I have made. Even with lost luggage, flight delays and huge airports the size of a city, and teeming crowds of people. To see wonderful sights and scenery (New Zealand is not the only beautiful country), to soak up the ancient history, experience different cultures and people. It opens one up to that big wide world out there which is very different to a rather insular New Zealand.
Saying all that, New Zealand is the best place to come back home to.
Japan Rail run a pretty good operation in Japan.
A train trip from Auckland to Invercargill would take more than 20 hours.
Not if we had some high speed rail like Shinkaissen
And it would be some awesome hours spend travelling down the country.
slow travel brings many benefits.
Having travelled around Europe a bit over recent years, I can highly recommend the train.
They have the advantage of economies of scale of course, so can make train journeys viable.
The high speed trains (up to 300kph) are fantastic, and are often faster than planes, especially when check in and waiting around is taken into account for air travel.
We travelled from Frankfurt to Avignon by train (approx 850km). It took about 7 hours. We had a lot more freedom than on a plane and could enjoy the sights out of the window.
In contrast, a plane trip was going to require us to fly to London first, stay overnight, then fly to Avignon from there.
Agree spent quite a bit of time in Japan 20-30 years ago, the trains are great, you get no where in a car unless you have plenty of time and like looking at buildings especially in Tokyo.
Yes rail travel overseas is generally a great experience. Rail is unfortunately a bit of a lost cause in NZ. We built a cheap system (narrow gauge) and we will never be able to upgrade it to a wider one… it's just too expensive to do it (and they knew it from the beginning).That's what happens when you are a small under populated Country at the end of the Earth with no money. We had to settle for cheap and nasty and now we are stuck with it.
NZ doesn’t need to change KiwiRails operating gauge of 3ft 6in Cape Gauge. What needs to happen is to increase the loading gauge ie axle weights & the width of the wagons & locomotives.
Both the WA & QLD Rail Networks used 3ft 6in Cape Gauge & show the way what can be done. To Pax Rail with High Speed Tilt Railcars, Tilt Trains incl Electric Tilt Trains for Inter- Regional Urban Services and if you increase the Axle Weights for Trains. Then this flows onto the Freight Sector with longer Freight & Heavier Trains which would make it even more competitive with Road Freight.
Heck even Japan uses 3ft 6in Cape Gauge Rail as well.
Worth watching to the end. Trains are the technology of the low carbon future.
https://twitter.com/zhang_heqing/status/1452689919424425984?s=20
So let's all move to Europe, Tokyo or Shanghai where this is relevant.
We live in a country which has abandoned the Billion Dollar pushbike bridge across the Auckland Harbour and has been totally incapable of putting "light rail" into our biggest city. What makes anyone think that our WHOLE rail system can be upgraded?
There is simply not enough BILLIONS available to even start as we are well behind the eight ball with our enormous "Covid" debt. Anything else at all would require vastly more debt.
Oh we have billions to spend, it is just that for some reason we can't seem to spend them wisely, and with the future in mind. So shitty roads it is.
A suggestion would be to utilize sail and its wind power in our supply chain somewhere. Rail is nice, but it is slow to get started. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t, but it does seem we could be moving freight by wind power before we got rail consented or even funded. Look at the 5 year shemozzle over light rail. And that’s not an ambitious project compared to much of what is being discussed.