How To Get There 27/10/19

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, October 27th, 2019 - 14 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 …

14 comments on “How To Get There 27/10/19 ”

  1. Robert Guyton 1

    As a result of some anxiousness around the local body election results smiley, I'm experiencing an upsurge of creative thinking and hunger for action, along with connecting with others similarly driven. All sorts of opportunities have dropped into my lap as a result; connections through the internet and visits to my garden, chance meetings in the street and so on. So today on How to get there, I'd like to share some of those that are around trees and forests and the role they are playing and will increasingly play, in recreating the world. The first "clip" is the most significant for me; an elegant explanation of why it's not useful to regard ourselves, we humans that is, as "bad" or a blight on the planet and how we can and will (here's hoping) reverse the trend and make good our destiny (the crowd goes wild!). Akiva Silver is a young nurseryman who loves chestnut trees. He grows tens of thousands of them every year and makes his living from selling them across the USA. Here's how his book, "Trees of power: ten essential arboreal allies", begins:

    My friend Mark and I paddled down the Clarion River in

    Pennsylvania. We were dressed in full buckskin. Our clothes

    were made from hides we had brain-tanned ourselves. We

    carried longbows of hickory and ash that we had made. Flint-tipped

    arrows of viburnum wood filled our quivers. Our minds were filled with

    vision. To gather all of our food, live in a shelter we made without tools,

    sit by a fire lit by no match, and become one with the wilderness. We de-

    spised civilization and revered nature. Every morning and evening was

    a fully attuned meditation to the forest around us. We had trained for

    this trip for years, learning ancient primitive skills, spending thousands

    of hours in the woods.

    Our camp was far from where any hiker would discover us, tucked

    back on the mountain under a canopy of rhododendron and red maple.

    It was the month of May. I had just left Rochester, New York. Living

    in the suburbs, I was craving the wilderness, desperate for her truths.

    The town was dirtied everywhere by the hands of people. Houses, wires,

    fences, garbage, streets, electric lights, cars: It was all in the way of what

    I thought was real.

    As the days went by on our camping trip, I slowly began to realize

    how quiet it was there. It was too quiet. When I left Rochester, it had

    been bursting with the life of spring. The dawn chorus of birds had

    been overwhelming during my morning sits. But here in the wilderness,

    under an endless canopy of red maple, it was silent. Maybe I would see

    a robin or two at dawn, maybe a chipmunk. In Rochester, in the heart

    of the suburbs, I had been encountering thousands of birds, foxes, rac-

    coons, deer, mink, opossums, skunks, squirrels, coyotes, and many other

    creatures on a daily basis. Here in the “wilderness,” it was silent.

    This was the beginning of my realization that people are not bad.

    We can be helpful or destructive to wildlife populations. It all depends

    on how we focus our energy, on what we do to the soils and how we

    influence plant communities.

    The hills along the Clarion River where we camped were covered in

    close to 100 percent red maple. Those red maples had seeded in at just

    the right time following a heavy logging operation 50 to 80 years ago. If

    someone had taken the time to plant just a few specific trees at the time

    of disturbance, then I would have been in a very different forest. Leav-

    ing that land alone following disturbance had its own dramatic effect.

    Choosing to do nothing with a piece of land is a big choice that carries

    significant consequences.

    We live at a time where there is widespread disturbance all around us.

    The ground is open and waiting for seeds. We can bemoan the tragedies

    that nature has endured or we can cast seeds and plant a future. We can

    and do influence the ecosystems around us more than any other species.

    That influence can come through reckless destruction, blind abandon-

    ment, or conscious intent. This book is about making the choice to

    participate in nature through conscious intent by working with trees.

    • weka 1.1

      Lovely.

      That shift to humans being part of nature and taking our place in regeneration will be the game changer.

      • Robert Guyton 1.1.1

        I agree, weka. We've made a mess but can clean it up. It won't be the same as it was in most parts, but it was inevitable we'd find ourselves in this position (in my opinion) and what we do from here on in is what matters. The new version will be novel and that's what the universe yearns for smiley

  2. Robert Guyton 2

    I tried eating hosta for the first time this week. I fried a fat spear in butter and it was very good indeed. Coincidentally, I've just finished planting a hundred or so hosta throughout my forest garden and now I know I've created a edible perennial crop that will be part of our diet from here on in. This article describes that situation and gives some nice background to the plant.

    You’d be hard-pressed to find a yard without hostas tucked away in some garden area. These leafy ground covers, which come in an array of sizes and colors, make a beautiful addition to any garden border or location where you want to keep weeds at bay. But this beautiful ornamental boasts a dirty (or lovely) little secret: It’s actually an edible.

    Hostas originate in the mountain forests of Japan where they are known as Urui and part of a class of vegetables known as “mountain vegetables.” As part of the Asparagaceae family, the hosta’s best-known edible relative found in our spring gardens stateside is asparagus. It’s typically the young, tender shoots that are harvested, and they impart a mild, lettuce-like flavor.

    https://www.hobbyfarms.com/hostas-the-leafy-green-you-didnt-know-you-could-eat/

  3. Robert Guyton 3

    I know I'm flooding the thread, but I've got an event to prepare for this morning; the Medieval Club are coming out to stay and play in our garden and big yurt and I will be involved, on and off, meeting and greeting those fully-costumed folk, so I thought I'd lay down some think-pieces here now, in case I get too distracted. I'm very interested to hear your views on these things though.

    I've bolded the statement in this next piece that I think is most interesting, on the theme of "what we do isn't all bad"

    Urban forests with Ted talk,

    Now surrounded by cities and agriculture, humans are no longer living in their “natural” habitat, argues a forest-building engineer named Shubhendu Sharma.

    But we can recreate little chunks of that habitat in just ten years our own backyards, workplaces and public spaces, he explains in the Ted Talk below:

    https://youtu.be/mjUsobGWhs8

    Sharma’s forests grow 10 times faster, are 100 times more biodiverse and 30 times more lush than typical reforestation projects.

    He used his model for manufacturing as many cars as possible per square feet of factory space and applied it to growing trees.

    His methods enable him to grow a 300-tree forest in the space of 6 parked cars.

    Amazingly, the cost of growing a forest is roughly the same as an iPhone

    https://educateinspirechange.org/nature/grow-100-year-old-self-sustainable-food-forest-backyard-just-10-years/

    • A 3.1

      That is really impressive, thanks for posting yes

      • Robert Guyton 3.1.1

        You are welcome. Tropical is different from temperate so far as speed of growth is concerned, but his approach to problem-solving is the important thing.

  4. Thanks for fitting all that in on when you have something else on today Robert. Good reading there for us.

  5. patricia bremner 5

    It is always uplifting and thought provoking to read your posts Robert
    Do not apologise for being interesting and a "go to " on Sundays

  6. How to be in 2020? We are at the end of 20 years since the millenium – how far have we advanced in trying to adjust our thinking, amend our behaviours, face our present reality and the likely scenario from the present trend line? We know that we have to change, yet if people are comfortably off, if they have convinced themselves that they are hot-shot citizens just from buying, repairing houses or renting them then selling them, then such people haven't really entered the 21st century.

    Here is the first of stuff articles with the theme How I Made My First Million. Titled 'Working hard to make his own LUCK' it is about a guy who started off in a bank, which at that time gave concessionary house loans to its staff, so he was a houseowner by 21. He reached the $1 million mark through property. He 'left a corporate career to set up startup Laybuy at the age of 56.' https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/nelson-mail/20191026/282230897478090

    As Fred Dagg sang, 'We don't know how lucky we are'. He had the chops to recognise opportunities, coming from a background that didn't have traditional approaches to work and lifestyle that kept them on the low earner level that goes with being semi-skilled' or 'unskilled', ie not skilled in the good-paying job sector. He went into the conceptual sector, where ideas that become physical are enabled with resources, with no direct physical activity being involved. He made money from trading in one of life's necessities, dwellings where people live their own private lives, and making money from money, then went to the internet where people are losing touch with their physical reality and community, and increasingly denying trade to their local area; on-line trading which is a useful adjunct, becoming the first and only stop.

    Physical work with solid matter is necessary for us to realise our own selves, but we don't think about that much, we don't do reflection, only self-congratulation. That doesn't prepare us for a collaborative, friendly and honest relationship in our communities and country for the hard times ahead. Can affluent people bear to share with others, take a cut in what they think as hard-gained assets and lifestyle? When the hard times come won't they want to buy up the lifeboats and reserve them for themselves.

    I think we urgently need to think and understood our human nature and its tendencies towards excesses of thinking and acting. I notice the practice of setting 100% targets which is utopianism, on one side, and on the other Randian selfishness and callousness, and desires for aggrandisement to meet the accepted standard of fashion, using others, people, animals, and materials of the planet.

    I thought this morning that we need to turn back to study of humanities, and away from the major emphasis being on science, and contempt for the soft 'social sciences' relating to people, behaviour, culture and past cultures.

    Hope and Reward could be the foundations of a basic understanding of our own drives. If we start off with those words and meanings of what makes us tick – what gets us out of bed in the morning and working to keep ourselves, it will be the right path. Then look for others who want the simple rewards of a good, happy life with decent standard of living in a healthy-minded community. This would be one that enables people to make their individual way with boundaries to prevent excess. And where thinking people get together for reflection on our physical world and our approaches to it and each other, philosophy becoming an important general activity starting at primary school without being religion-based. And being encouraged to think, first about actions then about likely outcomes, kids planning and working together, and finding when they can't how to achieve community. Having debates and activities and argument which would get the mind going, sorting through ideas for the best, preventing narrow, rigid fundamentalism.

  7. Ad 7

    So here's a quandary: can you make airports more sustainable? Queenstown in particular?

    Well, at least when you rebuild the runway, make it out of photocopier toner containers and crushed beer bottle glass:

    http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1910/S00519/queenstown-airports-apron-resurfacing-project-wins.htm

    Looking forward to Auckland Airport taking up the challenge for its runway rebuilds, second runway, and multiple new roads it has got going.

    It would be awesome for our glass recycling and our massive use of oil-based tarmac in roading renewals if NZTA and local councils could specify more of this.

    • Graeme 7.1

      There's a lot of pure engineering reasons for the approach as well and sustainability.

      Central Otago has huge challenges producing high performance sands with a suitable grading, particle shape and crush resistance as most of it is derived from schists which are pretty soft and produce a flat particle. So high strength sand has a glass content to make up for the deficiencies in the geology. Fortunately we produce plenty of waste glass and have just gone to a 3 bin waste system to improve the cleanliness of the glass stream, which wasn't really good enough with the old mixed stream.

      Recycled plastic is added to bitumen to improve it's performance over a wide temperature range, to stop it cracking in winter and melting in summer. There was a reason they had to re-surface the apron after a couple of years. The running surface on Frankton Road gets milled out and relaid every couple of years, it just falls to bits. The surfacing contractors and engineers have been experimenting with plastic additions for quite a while with good results. Toner cartridges evidently have the right mix of plastics, are a consistent item and readily available through replacement / recycling schemes. Chucking them in the brew deals with the nasties quite well too.
      https://www.closetheloop.co.nz/products/
      http://tonerpave.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/TonerPave_Product-Sheet_Aug14.pdf

  8. PS Robert could you drop me a line of what you think – I mentioned in last weeks How to about a collection of pieces in a Christmas booklet?

  9. From May 2019 Radionz. Plants plasticity – how they grow – hormone signals shape plants reaction to environment.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018695820/how-to-think-like-a-plant
    environment farming From Nine To Noon, 10:09 am on 20 May 2019

    How to think like a plant
    A window into the world of plant decision-making, without the benefit of a brain. British plant developmental biologist Dame Ottoline Leyser talks to Kathryn about her research which uses the hormonal control of shoot branching to investigate plant decision-making mechanisms.

    She says we face huge problems in the face of feeding a growing world population and amid increasing environmental challenges meaning that GM and genome editing techniques must be part of the solution.

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    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
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    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
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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
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    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
    4 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.
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    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
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    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
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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
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    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 ...
    5 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
    5 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
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    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    6 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
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    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...
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    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
    4 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
    9 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
    11 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
    12 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. ...
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    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, ...
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    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
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    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 ...
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    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
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    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
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    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
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    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
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    5 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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    5 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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    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
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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 ...
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    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 ...
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    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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  • 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 ...
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    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,” ...
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    6 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. ...
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    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
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    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
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    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
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    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 ...
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    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 ...
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    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
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    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
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    1 week ago

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