How To Get There 10/3/19

Written By: - Date published: 6:51 am, March 10th, 2019 - 54 comments
Categories: Deep stuff - Tags:

 

This post is a place for positive discussion of the future.

An Open Mike for ideas, solutions and the discussion of the possible.

The Big Picture, rather than a snapshot of the day’s goings on. Topics rather than topical.

We’d like to think it’s success will be measured in the quality of comments rather than the quantity.

So have at it!

Let us know what you think …

54 comments on “How To Get There 10/3/19 ”

  1. Robert Guyton 1

    Meekness isn’t weakness.

    “We are living in a time of extreme delusion, disorientation, and dishonesty,” Havrilesky notes later in the essay. “At this unparalleled moment of self-consciousness and self-loathing, commercial messages have replaced real connection or faith as our guiding religion. These messages depend on convincing us that we don’t have enough yet, and that everything valuable and extraordinary exists outside of ourselves.

    “It’s not surprising that in a culture dominated by such messages, many people believe that humility will only lead to being crushed under the wheels of capitalism or subsumed by some malevolent force that abhors weakness. Our anxious age erodes our ability to be open and show our hearts to each other. It severs our ability to connect to the purity and magic that we carry around inside us already, without anything to buy, without anything new to become, without any way to conquer and win the shiny luxurious lives we’re told we deserve. So instead of passionately embracing the things we love the most, and in doing so reveal our fragility and self-hatred and sweetness and darkness and fear and everything that makes us whole, we present a fractured, tough, protected self to the world. Our shiny robot soldiers do battle with other shiny robot soldiers, each side calling the other side ‘terrible,’ because in a world that can’t see poetry or recognize the divinity of each living soul, fragility curdles into macho toughness and soulless rage. All nuance is lost in a fearful rush to turn every passing though or idea or belief into dogma.

    https://www.terriwindling.com/.a/6a00e54fcf738588340240a46b03e1200d-pi

    • WeTheBleeple 1.1

      There is a lot to digest there.

      The subtext of the messaging that ‘we don’t have enough’ is that we may be judged not enough. Thus, we may be alone. So we adorn ourselves with enough to be enough as it is something, something is more than the desperation of nothing, but it is never enough.

      A lack of real leadership led us down the garden path (allowing media via merchants to drive the narrative).

      When we seek (physical/monetary type) security is it that we seek an escape from (emotional) insecurity? The community cohesion that once allowed us to brave the wild is seriously fractured. As an evolutionary construct (social animal) this fracturing may cause an underlying dis-ease.

      The outlet for existential angst, retail therapy!

      • Robert Guyton 1.1.1

        You’d hope that being led down the garden path would be a good thing!
        I’m always happy to lead people down mine, in fact this week I’ve eased the Wellington Vintage Car Club, a cycling club from the central South Island and a host of Italian, French, Israeli and Kiwi couples, singles and teams, down the convoluted paths of my forest garden and none felt deceived, so far as I could tell 🙂

        • WeTheBleeple 1.1.1.1

          As I wrote the phrase into the sentence its ill fit was apparent so I left it as an ironic hook hehe. And it caught one… 😉

          I was asked a plant question in a garden recently and went on a plant rant and was told I might use the gardens to teach by a tutor listening. As I’m only now in the first year of restoring a bulldozer damaged landscape to glory I thought it would be at least several years to be in a position to use my garden to go plant ranting.

          To do a long performance I used to use various memory techniques… I thought anchoring specific plants/landscape features to specific material might be a great tool to allow a more conversational ‘free flow’ as you go, while ensuring critical information is included. And a specific route through the landscape might then allow a specific sequencing of relevant materials.

          How do you do it Robert? Do you have a format or just wing it? What stuff do people most commonly want to know?

          • Robert Guyton 1.1.1.1.1

            Hi, WTP.
            Coffee, mainly, black and strong, 3 minutes before we start. I have a principle (just the one 🙂 or practice, rather, of trying never to repeat myself, by taking winding and previously unexplored paths, following the lead of others and being at least as curious as my audience. In the garden, it’s very easy; “Wow, look at those egg-capsules, I’ve never seen those before!!!”, that sort of Botanic Man bubbling. In front of a static/seated audience (I’m addressing 80 farmers, 40 of them from America, on Tuesday night, as they eat their wonderful organic meal at a restaurant in the city) I hop about a fair bit, zigging and zagging, trying to keep it light and thought-provoking and wring a few laughs where I can (beard jokes work for me). If it’s the forest garden I’m talking about, I just start and go till the time’s up, but with these farmers, I’m constructing a mind-map and projecting a few photos as markers – much of the material I’ve been asked to cover is well off from gardening, and I don’t like to flounder, having suffered a spectacular failure early in my speaking career; best thing that ever happened to me 🙂 I don’t use written notes. For garden groups inside a hall, a series of photos of plants is all that’s needed and all are easy to extrapolate from, into any area at all. My problem sometimes, is getting back to the point, if there was one in the first place. Was this what you meant, WTP?
            Questions from visitors to my garden are too varied to characterise, as we get people from all over the globe, most of whom have seen video or read about the forest garden before arriving, often in their country of origin. I’m always hoping to meet someone who’s met, say, Masanobu Fukuoka, Sepp Holzer or someone like that, and often I do, so there’s that, as well as getting to share ideas with people who are living interesting lives and doing meaningful things. The two Israeli women who were here last week are planning to buy land in Portugal and forest garden it, so talking, late into the nights, with them was rewarding.

            • WeTheBleeple 1.1.1.1.1.1

              “My problem sometimes, is getting back to the point, if there was one in the first place. Was this what you meant, WTP?”

              Exactly that. A system to ‘anchor’ that allows for free communication while being able to return to the main topic/s readily. Too many ways to get distracted when you love ecology yet a garden ramble is the best with a highly passionate teacher…

              I can combine all that love for the topic and an audience with extensive ecology and entertainment experience to deliver something special – or I can meander into a self dug hole…

              The guy who taught me to garden trained with David Bellamy, so though not a direct connection, there’s that. We have a PDC tutor (Fin) who worked directly with David Holmgren. Lucky aye.

              I was privileged to hang out with Charles Mitchell and corresponded a bit. He’s a bloody legend, just not as famous. So much knowledge he just kept handing out along with this or that plant/seed/cutting idea… He was the scientist and ‘whitebait farmer’ on country calendar. If councils/iwi want to ramp up the whitebait in their area sing out, though unfortunately we lost Charles, I was paying attention.

      • Bruce 1.1.2

        i spend a bit of time with people who have nothing. i used to feel guilt about how much i had. but then i worked out they dont know about having excess they have everything they need and have not been seduced by consumption. and they are very happy indeed, even in hardship, its life they love and boy do they enjoy it.
        bamboo race carts whoopee , try google Akha swinging .

      • Incognito 1.1.3

        Good comment!

        The outlet for existential angst, social media and the internet, among the usual materialism, consumerism and counter-cultures (e.g. decluttering).

  2. Ant 2

    Michael Leunig’s whimsical animation “How to get there” reflects the understanding that “there is here,” that landmarks gained merely open further enticements, that for a being possessed of a mind that can reflect on infinity “there” cannot be more than a temporary achievement… (Mandela’s mountain top revealing glimpses of higher peaks; Emerson’s much loved “life is a journey, not a destination;” Goldsmith’s “parenthesis in eternity” and Ram Dass’s “will it ever be the big ice cream cone in the sky? Will it ever be an eternal ice cream cone?”)

    It is fortunate that infinity stretches in two ‘directions’. Compelled to look outwards and onwards we amass experience, stretch the mind and make progress – not all of it favourable. But here and there beings of enlightenment have said we are to look in the other direction: ‘it is within you will find the kingdom’ urged the Nazarene while the Buddha weighed in with “identification with things temporal leads to recurrent suffering.”

    Whilst competition (and survival of the fittest) drives organic evolution and produces a dazzling variety of forms suited to the most diverse environments in humans it has been taken to unwholesome behavioural extremes: doping (athletics), match fixing (cricket) and more seriously the full range of environmentally destructive acts attendant upon putting production and economic growth ahead of habitat care and looking after one another.

    Scale back competition, make it less intense? You may as well say to rugby players “guys there’ve been too many injuries just lately. Please play the game more gently.”

    No. There has to be a major orientational shift. The competitive consciousness needs to be superseded by the cooperative one. But how to satisfy our adrenalin-hungry natures fuelled by intrinsic aggression? At sea on a sinking vessel bitter enemies have little trouble working cooperatively to save the ship. What greater and more worthy challenge could there be than working together on a thousand fronts to save the earth and its myriad life forms?

    • Robert Guyton 2.1

      A visitor to our home commented that he practices generous giving and yes, receives as a result but accepts generosity from others so that he can, in turn, give out even more.

      • greywarshark 2.1.1

        We are brought up in competition. School is all about competition. The schools I went to were obsessed with sporting competition. Teaching you how to train yourself to link into your nature and genetic bounty and ability to learn and grow mentally was not the main thing.

        Now we have humanities being dropped from university courses in favour of the questing, curious science courses that operate in a bubble of pure curiosity and novelty; a dangerous attitude which lays aside the human as being primitive, antique, undeveloped, archaic, naive, pantheistic, pre-industrial and unsophisticated. But the ability to develop and acquire sophistication does not necessarily lead to anything but a surface understanding of life, merely clever skills and use of abstract ideas.

        It leads to hubris which leads to selfishness and self-worship as in Ayn Rand’s books and thought. Having thought of a part-truth she exalted it beyond its true value. (By the way has anyone come across Ruth Dudley Edwards who writes amusing books that encompass crime and human systems. In Murdering Americans she goes into PC and Ayn Rand.)

        Now it is competition to have things, to make a show, to come up to a standard which requires a majority of waking minutes to maintain it and doesn’t include time for reflection or discussion of how we feel, and how we think we should feel and relate to the wider world.

        Do we have/make time for consideration of gratitude to the spiritual source of our consciousness? Meals are graceless now, Sunday is not spent as a time of rest and relaxation, we are doings instead of beings. There needs to be more balance.

        I appreciate the space to come here and talk about being and also about doing. And to value a little time to be and think alone and then enjoy being with others who are in the same mind to achieve balance, how to get it and how to take it into the future,. Also how to use discrimination sensibly; to discriminate at present is not PC and that thought was introduced for good reason, but we need to learn how to discriminate wisely.

        • Stuart Munro. 2.1.1.1

          Sadly I think the humanities did it to themselves for the most part. Post-Marxist rubbish like post modernism couldn’t foot it in philosophy and so it cultivated niches in language and literature, rendering those subjects almost worthless. We need a new synthesis, but the humanities are not presently capable of it.

          • greywarshark 2.1.1.1.1

            Oh thanks for that Stuart M I might have to come back to you on this matter for thoughts.

          • WeTheBleeple 2.1.1.1.2

            As an artist I found the English component of my uni studies frustrating nonsense. Going over and over some poor dead sods words extracting hidden meanings where there was none. Deifying drudgery…

            I was glad to hit the science department, here was knowledge!

      • greywarshark 2.1.2

        Being able to accept generosity is an art I think. Today quite often if something is offered to another, it may be rejected or taken in a graceless way. And this is because we are supposed to be self-sufficient and some people have exalted ideas about themselves; being above and better than others. Being offered something by another not considered part of our class, is demeaning and to accept it is to put oneself in the class of a beggar. And beggars and people in need are to be looked down on.

        Farmers for instance, when in strife sometimes go through agonies at having to accept social welfare. They have been so dogmatic and prejudiced all their lives against people receiving welfare, and full of pride and hubris in themselves. They have never understood that some people need it always, others to boos

        Being able to accept kindness and be thankful and gracious about it, is actually good training for being kind to others oneself. A pass-it-on experience.

        • KJT 2.1.2.1

          Irrigation subsidies, Myocoplasma Bovis eradication, agricultural research, drought relief and tax free capital gains, obviously don’t count as welfare, for farmers?

  3. Molly 3

    Been busy with renovations for a while now, and still a few months to go. But have been considering holding some community meetings – in Fed Farmers territory – about the issues of climate change, the need for transition etc.

    Rather than a talk and Q&A structure, would design it around the New Economics Foundation Democs process, where information is provided and discussed in participatory groups. (Sorry can’t find the link to that at present, have downloaded the docs at home. Basically, it provides a series of cards relating to the issue that allows those around the table to glean new facts and discuss how it will impact). For robust conversations, the ability to critique and question will remain, but will be limited by equitable time management for all partcipants, and unanswered questions will be researched and results posted online after the meetings.

    I would be able to come up with quite a few facts etc using the IPCC and NASA reports etc. but thought it would be more valuable if there was a broader input of ideas and facts that people thought relevant or important to include. Particularly, around NZ, our farming industry and our current emissions trajectory and recent actions both positive and negative. I know my exposure to the issues of climate change and the impact of it was triggered only by my habit of randomly selecting books from the non-fiction section of the library in an effort to find something to read before my-then toddlers took off. Everyone here can no doubt provide a story of the moment they knew that this issue was bigger than they had previously understood.

    If anyone would like to contribute, it would be appreciated. Very much.

    • WeTheBleeple 3.1

      What I’d want to see on the table:

      The increase in, and mitigation of, drought and flood conditions. The concept of on-site water storage and earthworks to mitigate not only weather, but restore stream and river flow, aquifer recharge, and lend reprieve from public backlash on water allocation.

      Restoration of tree shelter for animals – where landscapes are stripped of trees.

      Erosion control – how steep before tree crops are a better idea than stock.

      The collective experiences, wisdom and information of many farmers discussing such issues would be invaluable – so am definitely in favor of online publishing of the process.

      • Molly 3.1.1

        Recent Landcare meetings in the area, have reassured farmers that their methane emissions are not impactful as methane dissapates much faster than carbon dioxide. For a local community who are not yet engaged with the issues around climate change, very strong National support, and very strong in climate denial – the leap to possible changes is a leap too far, and will be strongly resisted.

        The idea is to present facts and considerations in a manner which allows for open discussion, and by doing so, inculcate both individual awareness, and voter pressure for change to happen at a political level. I am relying on informed farmers themselves to come up with solutions, and would rather put energy into getting the discussion going at a community level. Local discussion on climate change is almost non-existent, or dismissive. The influence of the farming community on politics at both local and national representation level is considerable.

        I have a limited knowledge (very) of WordPress, but can use it to put up information about the process and provide a framework for other participants or communities to use.

        • RuralGuy 3.1.1.1

          The Landcare meetings you’ve referred to was meeting facilitated by Landcare Trust for the ICCC members and secretariat to test their ideas for their report for the minister due in April. You’ll find the slide packs and content on the ICCC website. The meetings were invite only to select farmers and rural professionals, and weren’t open to the public.

          I attended one of these meetings, mainly to understand the fiduciary risk to my farms. In attendance was Harry Clark, Lisa Tumahei, David Prentice and Suzi Kerr from the ICCC.

          If you think you’re better capable of communicating the risks of climate change, and the policy instruments the minister could enact to charge farmers for their emissions than the ICCC heavyweights, then be my guest.

          Reading your post after having heard directly from the ICCC members, I think you’ll be in for a shock when the report comes out in April as it was the ICCC that was at pains to point out the significant differences between short and long lived gases. A quote of interest was “over reducing methane emissions is a direct subsidy from the rural community to a lethargic and lazy urban community” (David Prentice -ICCC chairperson)

          • greywarshark 3.1.1.1.1

            Oh dear. “A lethargic and lazy urban community”, from the ICCCCC – I put an extra one in there for good luck, it looked like a horseshoe – it might be true of some people but most urban people are not l&l. Generalising like that just shows lazy prejudice and speaking to the apparently feral genetic slant the rural community show the urban whenever farmers are criticised.
            See anything you can do, urbans do it better!

            Try actually studying the problem and see how rural and urban can move in synchronisation to remediation otherwise what we’ll get is an endless loop of –
            (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO23WBji_Z0

          • Pat 3.1.1.1.2

            will be interesting to see if that quote is included in a month or so when they release their report

            • RuralGuy 3.1.1.1.2.1

              I have no doubt that you won’t see the quote, but I’m pretty confident you’ll see a policy package that treats short and long lived gases differently.

          • Molly 3.1.1.1.3

            The Landcare meeting referred to was one held locally, in a very conservative and climate denying district. The presentation was not by an ICCC representative, but a local who reports to the local newspaper on environmental issues and farming. Verification of that is reinforced with personal interaction with our local representatives.

            Thanks, for providing information about the national Landcare approach and the engagement with the ICCC. But that was not the meeting I was speaking of.

            The idea was not to replace or duplicate information, but to give locals a chance for face to face discussions with other locals about climate change. More informing their opinions, rather than changing someone else’s. I think most people, when informed and motivated are able to come up with long term sustainable changes themselves, rather than having them externatlly imposed and feeling resistance even if the changes are necessary.

            ” The meetings were invite only to select farmers and rural professionals, and weren’t open to the public.”
            Community meetings with such indepth discussion, are not being provided. And so the voting public continues to vote for politicians and policies that will not solve the issue, or even give reference to it. To open the Overton window wider, the ICCC need not only to inform recognised stakeholders, but start engaging with the public.

            BTW, I think the comment below from greywarshark, is a suitable critique. And the excuse of the “urban community”, is one I have heard often in my local area. It seems to lack any self-awareness, and is problematic that it comes from the ICCC chairperson.

        • KJT 3.1.1.2

          One of the issues is how measures such as de-stocking, reducing high input ratios (Feed and fertiliser) shelter belts, field rotation, and reduced number of milkings can, in many cases, improve the long term profitability of farming.

          Probably need an expert (farmer) understanding to communicate these well. But it is worth raising them as discussion points.

          Not all farmers are in it to sell for capital gains. Some actually like farming.

          My inclination, as a Greeny, is not to force farmers, or anyone else, to be more sustainable, but to assist them with the necessary transitions. There are at least as many farmers looking for a long term sustainable future in farming, as there are, “get rich quick, and get out” ones.

          • Pat 3.1.1.2.1

            “Objectives of the group
            The BERG’s objectives were to:

            increase industry, government, and public understanding of the current and future sources and drivers of biological emissions, and the potential to reduce their impact
            build an agreed and robust understanding of what can be done to reduce biological emissions, and the costs and opportunities involved
            build trust and confidence between New Zealand’s primary industries and government agencies.
            What was not in scope?
            The BERG did not have the mandate to develop policy or to make recommendations about policy. However, as part of building a portfolio of evidence, the group commissioned analysis to estimate the costs and barriers of hypothetical policy options.

            The BERG did not commission any analysis that considered different ways of accounting for methane as a short-lived greenhouse gas. ”

            https://www.mpi.govt.nz/protection-and-response/environment-and-natural-resources/biological-emissions-reference-group/

    • greywarshark 3.2

      Molly I discovered a site referring to the Rural Business Network and wonder if they would be useful to co-ordinate with. Have put reference to a coming talk in Whangarei that I think might be getting towards providing information and discussion as you envisage.

      • Molly 3.2.1

        Thanks grey. I had a quick look at the Northland event and Dr Warren Parker, but so far my experience of attending such Landcare meetings etc, is that they are often focused on the ability to continue as much as possible, business as usual.

        From basic Google search, on Dr Parker and climate change, his perspective is often still from an economic and business perspective, rather than an information one. Identifying opportunites for growth and diversification, without looking at the impacts climate change will have on other aspects of farming life and community.

        Would be interested to hear from any farmers here, on the information that changed their minds on the significance of climate change, and how they are discussing it within their community. Grassroots discussions based on facts, rather than authoritative interpretations made palatable.

        • greywarshark 3.2.1.1

          OK Molly. It is good to know the various disseminators in the community and their position about sensible farming and climate change etc.

          We had Mike Joy here in Nelson for a talk on water and full house and 20 people hoping for late people’s seats. So everyone knows about him. Then the step from knowing to getting leaders doing intelligent stuff, getting rid of soft plastic supermarket bags is part of Future Thinking; Now 101.

          Good to hear what you are doing. It would be a good network to have an alert and practical person in each town and city sector – sort of Activists Hive – reporting on comings, goings and successful promotions, events, actions, changes. Trying to keep in touch, encompassing things over the whole country and feeding in news from overseas about findings, information rather than meetings and politics. Mainly sticking to the knitting and letting others feel the shock and horror of the latest sayings from the Great Gargantuans there; (I’ll also throw in Swift’s Brobdingnag).

          To some extent this post is a bit like that. I am hoping that people will stick to the knitting of community here and ways and how to be while we are being. If we don’t get together and think, someone with no imagination or understanding or love of fellow human beings and life will pull off our butterfly wings as part of some business or personal scheme and we will die out.

          • Molly 3.2.1.1.1

            Hi grey, I do get re-energised to a degree by reading these Sunday posts, which is important.

            At an individual level I think we all have circles of influence that can include friends and family and I think individual changes we make are positive for us as individuals, and influential in those circles as they see how our actions are mirroring our values.

            I also believe that an individual – on issues of high concern – have the ability and moral duty to participate – to a degree – on democratic processes and movements in regard to those issues, and should give some portion of their time to those things. But given the nature of our current democratic choices and resultant changes that have been made in regards to climate change – this too, is ineffective by itself as there are still people in power – and voters who elect them – that are committedly resistant to effective change.

            Unless we devote some time to finding a way to create an environment to support systematic change, we will be constantly pushing against well resourced and powerful institutions and individuals, and we will be expending energy that will be best used elsewhere in implementation.

            In previous community conversations, we have had to deal with resistance to the inclusion of Māori pre-settler history, in historical projects and commemorations, so I am anticipating a similar level of hostile reaction in this instance. However, this is offset by a possibility of others creating connections with currently isolated people who don’t have a local forum for discussion on the issue of climate change.

            If there can be a challenge to status quo thinking by participants themselves in their own communities after participating in a conversation, then although the change will be small and slow, I am hoping it will be more sustainable. And then, pressure will build on our local representatives for effective change.

            I also think that face-to-face conversations are important in change facilitation, and not as effective when delivered in other mediums.

            • greywarshark 3.2.1.1.1.1

              Molly
              Could small meetings to discuss some definite subject be held, and also to keep up withe the latest findings in climate change, and the latest local applications of the new tech or approaches? Perhaps they could happen centrally before other important meetings, ie before Council meetings,
              or such. The face to face thing has to be organised, with something solid to take away from it.

  4. Robert Guyton 4

    I saw Michael Leunig walking up the steps of the cathedral in Dunedin and surprised myself by greeting him spontaneously, “Hi, Michael!” as though he was an old friend. He was a little startled by my familiar manner, I think, but responded with a kindly, “Hello”.

  5. Heather Grimwood 5

    The urgency of the coming week is to join with the wise young folk still at school in their plea for urgent action to defray climate change.
    These hapless young beings, only too aware of what lies ahead if concerted radical measures are not taken immediately, are at our mercy. Our avarice, laziness and at least thoughtlessness and lack of critical thinking has wreaked the havoc.
    Everyone of us can this day, at no monetary cost decide to spurn the ‘throwaway’ culture that’s arisen, resist the power of advertising, grow at least a little of our own food , refuse to use weedkillers, walk, and use bus or rail where possible to name a few remedies.
    We can also apply our minds to creating or adapting to new ways that enable the stability required for existence.

  6. greywarshark 6

    Living Wood Fair, Takaka, Golden Bay in April. See if there is something for you and try to get there.
    13-14 April 9am-6pm East Takaka Rd, East Takaka, Takaka 7183, NZ

    https://www.thebigidea.nz/events/222384-living-wood-fair

    https://permaculture.org.nz/content/living-wood-fair (with map)

    https://www.facebook.com/livingwoodfairnz/

    https://itson.co.nz/2019/18345-living-wood-fair-2019

    http://www.backpackerboard.co.nz/work_jobs/new-zealand-jobs77854.html
    (Volunteers to help set up the Fair.)

    And the Rural Business Network – Positioning for a Different Future talk series.
    (This is a group putting farmers in the picture and showing them new ways
    of looking at the farming practices to cope with the present and future problems.)
    This featured talk is in Whangarei 21 May 2019 only $20, but the Network may be holding more talks enabling all to get informed.

    dr-warren-parker-positioning-for-different-future/whangarei

    Info: https://my.youngfarmers.co.nz/civicrm/event/info%3Fid%3D852%26reset%3D1

    At the other end of the country – taking an interest in rural things in Mackenzie
    22 April there is the Highland A&P Show 8am-6pm

    mackenzie-highland-a-p-show/fairlie

    • Cinny 6.1

      Cool, I’m going to forward those links to our local paper, thanks for that info Grey.

      Edit… Link forwarded 🙂

      Looks like a primo day out, yay, girls are with me that weekend, might see you there 🙂

      • greywarshark 6.1.1

        Wow Cinny that was quick. I don’t know if I will be there as I am working on some other matters at minute. Will let you know later as I think you are interested. Am busy making contacts and seeing if I can push my barrow.

        Thinking of water. Did you see the alternative scheme thought up to the Waimea-Lee Valley Dam? The dam has now gone through third reading in Parliament. Voting in Council I think 9 to 5. Originally dreamed up in 1970 so still mired in last century planning and ideas as much of our stuff is. Cost now estimated at about $100 million and regarded dispassionately I think, as not cost/efficient.

        This link to alternative water system for Waimea. Pond system I think they call it.
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/105877331/irrigators-group-revives-reservoir-scheme-as-alternative-to-waimea-dam

  7. greywarshark 7

    On Inequality – why and how to lessen it.

    Bryan Gould’s Inequality Means Less Freedom

    ,,,[2004] Nuffield College whose Warden at that time was Professor A.B. (later Sir Tony) Atkinson. He was a renowned economist and the world’s leading authority on inequality, its causes and consequences….

    Sir Tony was able to show that levels of inequality vary from country to country and from time to time. Countries whose governments deliberately counteract inequality show a lesser degree of inequality, not surprisingly, than those where the interests of the wealthy and privileged prevail without restriction.

    He demonstrated that a market economy will always show a natural tendency for the rich to get richer and for the poor to get (comparatively) poorer. This because the return on capital is almost always faster than the growth of the economy as a whole, so that an increasing proportion of any new wealth created goes to those who already have money and own assets. In New Zealand, we can see this demonstrated by the increasing share taken by profits and the decreasing share of wages in our economy over recent years.
    http://www.bryangould.com/inequality-means-less-freedom/

    • RedLogix 7.1

      Gould finishes up: We have a long way to go – and may even be heading in the wrong direction – if our goal is a society that is both free and equal.

      In this there is an implicit question that I’ve been struggling with for some time. Inherently you cannot have both freedom of action AND equality of outcome at the same time.

      People are innately different in many different dimensions, and given an equal freedom to act they will always head off in their own directions and with quite different abilities. On the other hand if you want to impose (by some vast bureaucracy perhaps) equal outcomes on everyone, this must be a tyranny that erases all freedom of action.

      The two concepts stand in contradiction to each other.

      Actually BM in his blunt fashion asked this question some weeks back by asking in relation to inequality “what is the problem you are trying to solve?” In other words exactly why is inequality a problem?

      It’s worth asking. Setting aside the obvious deprivation of absolute poverty, and that once a person moves beyond roughly U$10k pa income there is not much measurable improvement in life satisfaction … once the majority of poor have moved out of deprivation, the question is worth asking … why is extreme inequality actually bad for us?

      Unlike BM I think there is a reason why it is detrimental, but it’s not obvious. In particular the answer is not necessarily economic. It’s more likely psychological or spiritual in nature. This is indicated by the nature of the measurable pathologies associated with inequality.

      This suggests a re-framing of the question Gould poses, “how can we retain the necessary freedom of human innovation and action that markets provide and at the same time address the very real ethical and social harm that gross levels of inequality creates? “

      • Pat 7.1.1

        it can be summed up in one word….a word you will find frequents policy and economic theory….confidence. Inequality undermines this and therefore the functionality of any society

      • KJT 7.1.2

        A certain amount of inequality is inevitable.

        No one will ever be willing to take on the training required or the intensity of, my job for an average wage, for one.

        However, no one ‘earns’, 100 times the average wage.

        You will find agreement for “equality of opportunity” amongst many, but the overly wealthy, who want to keep their advantage, “thanks very much”.

        Inequality over a certain level has always led to dysfunctional societies. Usually after several generations of inherited wealth. Successful capitalist societies rose after they short circuited the dead-weight of inherited wealth. China most notably, in recent history, though I don’t entirely approve of the method used. The USA did, twice, the Revolution, and the New deal (90% Taxes on millionaires, inheritance taxes, antitrust laws, etc).

        Inheritance, and other wealth taxes are necessary for good capitalism. Forcing people to earn their ‘own’ money.

        The wealthy, as history has shown, have two choices, contribute to the society that made them wealthy, or, face the pitchforks.

        • RedLogix 7.1.2.1

          Up to about three years ago I would have written exactly the same response myself KJT. And I’m not even in that much disagreement with it.

          But as I said above, beyond considerations of deprivation and poverty, inequality is more about the steepness of the social gradient and how we subconsciously perceive this, than it is about ‘fair outcomes’.

          For instance globally across all societies there is a very close correlation between GINI coefficients and young male violence. The obvious reason is that young men typically look to maximise their socio-economic status in order to attract the most desirable partner into their lives. (And women run the same script as well, just in the other direction typically selecting for the most successful male they can attract.)

          But when the rungs on the social ladder become too far apart, and or removed altogether, they lose confidence in the orthodox system and resort to other non-socially sanctioned means to bolster their status. Such as crime, gangs and the like. Or as in the NZ case when neo-liberalism smacked us all, they became dramatically more prone to suicide.

          I’m not discounting the role re-distributive policies can play in reducing the problem; but at the same time I’d strongly argue we need to better understand the roots of the problem we are trying to solve here. There is already a lot of good information out there, that goes well beyond narrow neo-marxist calls to ‘smash capitalism’.

          • KJT 7.1.2.1.1

            I thought I already made it pretty obvious that I favour a functional democratic ‘mixed’ economy, as the only model that has been proven to work so far.

            However, our Governments have been taking us towards a dysfunctional extreme since the 80’s.

            And. We still have the problem that a mostly capitalist system requires exponential growth, to function.

            You are not going to get a democratic country to vote for a solution, where the poor bear all the costs, of adaptation. Nor are we going to get solutions, when people, in bad faith, trying to retain privileged positions, block any attempts to solve the problems. With propaganda, outright lies and bullshit.

            Even the mild attempt to reverse some of the, repeated tax cuts, those of us on higher incomes have had since the 80’s, with a CGT, has been met with a storm of hypocrisy and greed.

            Same with the perfectly sensible decision, to put the oil industry on notice.

            • RedLogix 7.1.2.1.1.1

              Again we’re pretty much on the same page with your first three paras at least.

              has been met with a storm of hypocrisy and greed.

              No question the system was distorted to privilege some positions; but assuming that resistance to change is entirely motivated by malice is not the whole story; and not even a very useful version of it.

              I think I’ve made this point before; if you want people to move from one position to another, you have to sell them the idea that the journey will be worthwhile, that they will be better off in some fashion.

              You can be quite creative and subtle about this; indeed if you appeal to their better natures the outcomes can be surprising. People do change, they will move from a base motives to broader, higher level ones, given a realistic vision and pathway to get there.

              But if you scold them and tell them they’re greedy hypocrites … guess what?

              • KJT

                Redlogix.

                I know enough of ‘them’ as I can put on a Kings accent and a suit, and “pass” when I want to, to know that being ‘nice’ isn’t going to make ‘them’, look out for the good of anyone but themselves.

                There are well off people who want change for the better, for everyone, I’m one of them.
                Those I will get alongside and talk to.

                It is a waste of time talking to those, who will only respond to the pitchforks.

                The only use James, Gosman and Alwyn have, is they help us to sharpen up, and reach those not commenting, who have somewhat of an open mind.

            • Sam 7.1.2.1.1.2

              New Zealand has always been an egalitarian society. It was an inevitable process that we would go from an egalitarian society to a more diverse melting pot. The communists started with a classless society so they literally chopped off all the heads of capitalists, land owners and so on. But if you go to China today you will find leaders and princelings. The sons of the princelings are well fed, well educated. They are bright because there father is bright and there mothers are also revolutionaries who is another bright woman and they have all the connections and Chinese people are doing marvellously as bankers and financiers, developers in real estate.

              Lee Chung is an energy specialist in hydro. He pushed for the Three Gorges Dams and I think his children are in China Electricity. So his children are bright and they probably deserve the job, if they were not well connected then they may have never been recognised and then they’re just one of 1.3-1.5 billion Chinese.

              I don’t know if any of you know anyone in Auckland who needs an elevator lift up, if we don’t identify bright young people and give them responsibility early then they will be just like every other 1.6 million Jafas. Now a days you don’t even need to be academically gifted to go to university because people can just buy there way in. So those students who do achieve a scholarship means that they ARE bright AND gifted otherwise they wouldn’t have got one.

  8. WeTheBleeple 8

    For GWS records, and others who might be interested.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7GrUo5Y11s

    Chinampa’s are extremely productive terrestrial/aquatic systems. In a New Zealand context they have considerable potential.

    e.g. flood prone areas could be converted (back) to wetlands, with chinampa style production as part of the area. In this manner high production is inclusive with ecological restoration. Production of: fish, eels, crops, timber, medicines, tourism, science, recreation, aesthetic beauty.

    e.g. estuarine chinampa/whitebait hatcheries. Chinampas horizontal to estuarine streams with floodgate inlets for aquatic species. Whitebait go to sea, get fat, and come home. I’ve seen this in operation in Raglan you could almost walk on the fish trying to get back in the ponds. Open the gate and in they pour. The chinampas are edged with sedge grasses, and then manuka and kanuka feature alongside coprosmas, flaxes and more. This is a honey production zone, wildlife refuge (predator free islands if you set em up like that), and will attract huge numbers of whitebait, eels, mullet… Put a hinaki on an entrance and fill it up.

    https://www.ruraldelivery.net.nz/stories/Eel-Farming-in-Waikato

    Unfortunately we’ve lost Charles.

    • greywarshark 8.1

      What a good memorial to a scientist doing useful, crowd-leading stuff it would be to set up a group to carry out his passions and systems!

      Think of Christchurch and all that low land on the east coast red-zoned and how it could be used to good effect. Obviously it is no good rebuilding there, but if it sits there too long, people will forget about why, and a developer will get out his calculator and whoosh.

      Instead Go Chch – Chinampas? Give them a look! (Seems good at first sight – don’t know anything except WtB does and thinks its viable. So that opinion gives it weight.)

      Brisbane got caught in a house-deluge flood torrent 2011. See how events have progressed there with lack of visionary leadership of value from those responsible for planning for the community relying on them.
      2010-2011https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%9311_Queensland_floods

      2014 https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/homes-will-be-built-on-flood-plains-lord-mayor-graham-quirk-20140204-31zlj.html

      2016 Problems for present owners unaware of vital moves:
      https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/brisbane-floods-has-your-house-slipped-into-high-risk-on-new-map-20160113-gm5c3y.html

      • WeTheBleeple 8.1.1

        Charles had little to no luck dealing with the various rules and regulations surrounding aquaculture in New Zealand. He struggled for permission to sell eel at every turn and got in trouble for it when he did. He also created brilliant simple models of anadromous fish migrations that he could back by predicting their locations at specific times. These were rejected by the status quo for ‘lack of stats’. I do not have those models unfortunately after he mentioned he’d tried submit them he died before I got to ask.

        Those glass eels are worth $US 6000 kg. But he couldn’t sell them. One time I saw Charles he was trying to raise 2K for a pellet of food. He had a farm full of the best fish and no cash. It was that stupid. The eels he raised were tested for omegas and came up around 9 x what wild stock have. Fat, oily, tasty eels. Not available to public.

        When people like him are let at a piece of land (and given time) we begin to really see what’s possible. Many of the pioneers that start with little in way of means create systems that cost little, or verge in directions that need to be traveled e.g. trying to create a food chain from nitrate runoff. It is unfortunate though, when you succeed and might realize a well earned profit, but lawmakers and status quo wont allow it.

        I was doing similar but in an ebb and flow aquaponic setup – dealing with nitrate, breeding whitebait… We met. We clicked. His wife listened for about a minute, rolled her eyes and said, “Oh God, another one.” Then she made us a lovely pot of tea and scones to fuel the rantings. 😀

        The excess water much of New Zealand receives at times, and the massive drain systems installed for dairying are an almost set up aquaculture industry just waiting for someone to kick it off. Turn excess ferts into fish. Those excess ferts will come out for decades if we stopped dairying today. We could try take on the pollution with riparian planting or turn it to profit via aquaculture and riparian plants for honey, timber, nuts, etc…

        There’s a lot more production to be had from our land than we’re currently having. And this might be done in an ecologically sound manner realizing a number of products from more diverse ecosystems.

        I understand landholders are thinking I’m an idiot and there’s not enough time in the day for all that. And they’d be right. But additional production could be handled by contractors rather than all this laid on the farmer as well.

        Riparian design for stream protection – and profitable products. Likewise the drains. Why not make more products with the already paid for nutrients.

        There is of course a stage of retrofitting, of design and redesign as we learn in different contexts. But the retrofit is coming.

        Even if they made a magic carbon catcher tomorrow, major issues caused by current agricultural practice would remain. Biodiversity loss, aquifer depletion, pollution, erosion, eutrophication, desertification.

        • WeTheBleeple 8.1.1.1

          The chinampas are remarkable in that (in the Tropics) they can yield seven crops per year. This is the most productive system known to man. In a New Zealand context, this might offset losses of returning productive land to wetland systems, where both restoration and agriculture can work hand in hand via wetlands,
          and native riparian bordered chinampa production systems.

          Some conservationists envision things ‘the way they were’, which seems to me some historical pre-man pipe dream of wilderness coating the land. But, man coats the land. While conservation estates are tremendously important; hybrid systems where agriculture works with and alongside nature for human occupied lands… these will make life on Earth considerably more pleasant (and dare I say interesting).

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  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
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    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    5 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
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    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
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    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
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    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    6 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    11 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    13 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
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    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    6 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
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    6 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
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    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
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    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
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    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
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    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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