1) It’s entirely appropriate that members of the community who have concerns about the environmental, social and heritage impacts of development are able to have their say.
2) You’re talking about a cafe on a beach, not a vital infrastructure project needed to develop the economy.
Remember, the your line is that the RMA is holding back economic growth, not that it’s allowing community objections to cafes built in heritage buildings next to iconic beaches.
If anyone’s done research into this, do flick it through us. The Left is going to need to get its research and its lines on the RMA in order very soon.
habitat and biodiversity are THE key questions facing the world
leaders and partys come and go but if we destroy some or all of the vital principles of physical wellbeing on the plas net then humanity will be living living in a sh*thole
no apologies for the non-bleatway non complex terminology and argument
– 51,768 resource consents were processed through to a decision, up 7.7%
from 48,045 in 1999/00
– 0.69% (357) of resource consent applications processed were declined
compared to just under 1% declined 1999/00
– 4.1% (2,129) of resource consents were publicly notified compared to 5.2% in
1996-97 and 5% notified in 1999/00
– 1.5% (768) of resource consents were notified to affected parties only (limited
notification)
– 73% of all resource consents were processed within statutory time limits
compared to 76% in 1996-97 and 82% in 1999/00
– 1.0% (543) of resource consent decisions were appealed to the Environment
Court, unchanged from 1999/00
However, he seems to be arguing the the RMA isn’t effective enough at protecting the environment although it has become much more efficient since it’s inception.
The cafe was an entirely poor example and not what the National party had in mind when changing the RMA. A better example would be the wind farm in Otago.
Fact is it will get passed as National has the numbers easily. The left can choose to merely try and block it but I see that as a mistake. Instead they should see what they can add to the changes in the RMA that prevent environment destruction and to ensure the RMA doesn’t lose focus the community democracy aspect. Where there is the potential for trouble is with the Maori party. Which likely will oppose any changes in RMA policy in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Incidentally the Labour party had no policy on the RMA. There’s was to keep it as it was. The Greens wished to strengthen the RMA. http://www.greens.org.nz/node/18156
National needs to be careful. On one hand its pointless leaving the RMA as it is. Where they need to be focus is that the changes can’t afford to lose its community democracy aspects or its environmental aspects. On the other hand anything that can speed up the process is a good thing.
I don’t think the changes National wish to bring are all doom and gloom for the left. I also think its an opportunity for the left to make a case for the RMA to be strengthen to ensure environmental protection without necessarily hurting the streamlining of the RMA. It just depends how the left handle it I suppose.
Gingercrush: interesting read of the Nats RMA policy. Thanks. I guess some of the items which might speed up the process might be a good thing. But the Priority Processing might be a problem. Does Priority equal bulldozing a project through, as the cartoon above would suggest?
I tend to agree with ginger in that there’s no need for Labour to be the type of opposition National has been.
The National party’s support of the repeal of section 69 is the one conspicuous exception I can think of (and they don’t like to talk about that one) to the way they performed in opposition.
Labour can and should be a constructive opposition party and work to achieve positive outcomes wherever possible regardless of the position they find themselves in, much as the Greens have done – from outside of government – with considerable success.
You mean like calling for cross-party agreement on electoral reform? So easy to be reasonable and inclusive when the numbers aren’t on your side anymore.
Not sure where you’re coming from with that Billy.
I’m not saying the government is obliged to listen, I just think the opposition should make an honest attempt at trying to work with the govt if possible rather than outright oppose everything the govt does 180 degrees.
The Nats showed they were capable of this with the repeal of sec 59 and the Greens do it all the time. I’m just saying I’d like to see Labour take this approach where they can legitimately do so.
What I mean Felix is that, given their behaviour when in government (over the EFA in particular), any call by Labour for cross party consensus on issues is going to ring a little hollow.
Billy: From what I understand, the Nat’s were totally opposed to both increasing the accounting transparency for political donations and increasing the election accounting period.
Since those were the two things that Labour was adamant had to change, there was a basic conflict. I’d expect that the same would happen when the law gets changed next time. While the Nat’s and Act were happy to attack anonymous trusts and ask NZF to open up their books, I noticed that they were reluctant to do the same for their trusts.
The area that there was room to move on in 2007 was the role of the 3rd parties, labelling etc. The Nat’s preferred to play a opposition role on those as well – probably because they didn’t like having to make their large donors become non-anonymous.
To be perfectly frank, I’d expect Labour to oppose major changes to those first two, and (if changed) resolve to change them back to transparency and realistic election periods when they have the numbers.
I thought they were looking to repeal the EFA go back to the 1993 Electoral Act but were going to take the sections in relation to donations from the EFA and insert them into the 1993 ACT.
RMA halted the progress of Project Aqua. Now that would have been worthwhile. No power cuts for the next few years.
RMA halted progress on Water Taxis around Tauranga Harbour in 2002/2003. Water Taxis would have been an ideal addition to the transport network in Tauranga, but due to “oil spill risks” “disturbance to wildlife” the Water Taxi business was doomed to failure.
Remedial work needed urgently on a Dam in the Hunua Ranges in 2003 delayed it by nearly a year
RMA is now causing issues with a skateboard park in Titahi Bay
RMA caused a headache for the Te Rauparaha Arena – which is finally open and is a bloody fantastic venue. Much better than the echolocaters nightmare that is TSB Arena.
Need I say more? Its amusing its Nactional that have to tidy up their mess… Labour at least attempted to work with it, but Nactional “Oh NO, it’s TOO hard”
OT: Is anyone else wondering how Key as “Tourism Minister” and Joyce being the CEO of “Jasons Travel Media” could be portrayed elsewhere? Would JTM benefit from such an arrangement? Could JTM be poised to publish insider information based on information Key would pass on to Joyce?
hs: From what I understand of the Nat’s policy on the EFA (there is bugger all of it).
They were planning on repealing the EFA and as you say heading back to the 1993 Act. After that they have said they’d either amend the EFA 1993 or add a new Act – but unspecified on what.
They haven’t specified what they’d do to legislate the enormous problems with the 1993 act. Personally I’d suspect that they will just drop back to the 1993 Act and do some tinkering after 6 months or a year. That would allow them to use the anonymous trusts to refill their coffers. If they hit any opposition to their ideas, then I’d expect them to leave it on the 1993 Act over the next election.
After all they did write the 1993 act to favour themselves in the first place. There is no benefit for them to fix their corrupt electoral law.
Jasper – Where do you live? Because I’m guessing its not where project aqua would have ruined your land. Project Aqua is perfect example of how the RMA works for communities. Need you say more? Yes. A skateboard park hardly an important piece of infrastructure, more like an eye sore to cater for a fad and then you mention some arena where consent was granted, so yes you do need to say more.
I’m not sure, I thought I read somewhere that they were definitely going to keep the bits in relation to transparency of donations – although guess we’ll have to wait and see and I would hope there’s more important things on the agenda in the short term.
Fair enough Billy. I too think Labour could have handled a lot of things a lot better in the last few years.
Of course they can’t “call for” inclusion as you put it, they’re not in govt and that’s that. As I said, the National govt has no obligation to work with them.
I does strike me as interesting though, that the deal with the maori party is seen as a safety valve on National’s left to be used when ACT wants to go too far right.
In many areas Labour’s policy is probably closer to National’s than either ACT or the maori party. If Labour are smart they’ll recognise the opportunities this presents and not cut off their nose(s) to spite their face(s).
I suspect though, that politically Labour wants to create the impression of more distance from National so we’ll probably see expediency take precedence over principle as usual.
And yes, if the local marae wants to erect something that will interfere with your quality of life then you should make a submission. Why wouldn’t you?
Nothing wrong with community democracy Tane – too often though the RMA was used to block projects that the bulk of the community supported.
The main benefactors of the RMA seem to have been the legal profession.
There are legitimate situations where a non-majority of the community have a right to block a project which has a very high impact on them. I think there are a few cases where you’re right, but that they’re mostly to do with wind turbines which oddly seem to face about five times the scrutiny of other projects. Not In My Back Yard, right? 😉
nah it’s true Felix, people who actually live in the affected areas are forever choosing to degrade their own quality of life. they just don’t seem to get how fly-by-night developers really have everyone’s best interests at heart.
On Close Up tonight the theme was about the RMA being used by competitors to block the building of a Supermarket over a period from 1987? to now. Court cases, appeals the lot. Many details of contention did not directly affect the complainants. eg Possible road problems 1 km down the road from the proposed site.
Competitors appealing for competitive reasons is not the same as appeals because I am directly affected. I suppose that part of the RMA should be tidied up?
Indeed Iammac. Thing is Nationals legislation will not put in effect the likes of Brett Dale is saying. Its mainly streamlining and changing what someone can appeal, argue, make a statement against. That is its intention. How strong it goes to where it could damage to the environment etc largely depends what role Act will play and what if any concessions can be made by National to get the left on board. One thing is I can’t see the Maori Party being happy with changes to the Act in regards to the Treaty. That should prove interesting.
At the end of the day. For now at least any plans National will bring should still ensure environment concerns and private citizens will still have a say.
Another thing is that often in terms of housing developments etc. That goes back to the council. For instance, here in Merivale and St Albans Christchurch. Often people will will make an argument in terms of the damage demolishing an older building will have on the heritage of these two suburbs. These two suburbs vote National in a big way. Thing is, this is barely a government matter, rather a council matter. The council sets the RMA process for such matters. Thus, if people want change in this area. Go to the council.
Here, I tend to agree that constant bulldozing of heritage/older houses is having a detrimental affect in St. Albans and Merivale. Personally I would like to see it changed so any housing before 1940 must get additional consent.
—-
Anyway, National’s RMA changes should not mean concerns over the environment or cultural/heritage concerns can’t be addressed. It will however mean people can’t use the RMA for commercial purposes ie. Iammac’s example. Likewise the bill is to make it easier for consents and streamlining the RMA for large infrastructure projects. The left have legitimate concerns that the bill will mean changes that put less relevance in terms of the environment and cultural/heritage concerns and community democracy.
If you are that concerned about the changes National will bring. Do not block the bill or protest. Only protest after you’ve had a say. These changes will require three readings in the house it will too need to go to select committee. That is where the left can influence it and make changes to the bill. This is also where the public gets their say. Also a lot of the RMA comes down to your local council.
For instance, if you’re concerned about building developments in your area. Ie. someone has purchased a 1910 era building and wish to demolish that and put in a new building development. Use the consent process to have your say. The sad thing is under current and new legislation, likely you are unaware of changes in your community.
Most importantly, go to your council and ask them to enact changes preventing the widespread demolishing of older/heritage buildings. And have your say when it comes to council elections. Its disgusting that while 70+% vote in a National election yet barely over 50% or hell in some places less than 50% vote in council elections. A disturbing figure. Councils are hugely influential in terms of what can and can’t be built in your area. And there are plenty of candidates wanting to change these areas.
hs: I suspect that there is probably nothing higher on the Nact’s agenda.
After all it takes time to get legislation through, and NACT is probably going to need all help it can get for the next election. It wasn’t exactly a tremendous victory.
Of course the nact’s higher standard is to not have a level playing field (I couldn’t resist that)
Why do you insist on saying that Iprent. You want something not impressive. Take a look at 2005. That wasn’t impressive in the slightest. Had National gained 3% we would have had a National-led government. 2005 was the closest election since 1993. 2011 already proves interesting because New Zealand First’s 4% could go anywhere. 2008 was close to an extent. But not as close as the left likes to think. And anyone thinking 2011 is cakewalk for the left are delusional. Do you really think National wants a single term in government?
As for the EFA. Well it needs rid of. Sure National will likely play to its own favour. But the EFA is a disgusting piece of legislation, that should never have passed and why anyone continues to defend it is beyond me.
—-
And I’ll say it right now, National will continue to be the government in 2011.
“On Close Up tonight the theme was about the RMA being used by competitors to block the building of a Supermarket over a period from 1987? to now. Court cases, appeals the lot. Many details of contention did not directly affect the complainants. eg Possible road problems 1 km down the road from the proposed site.
Competitors appealing for competitive reasons is not the same as appeals because I am directly affected. I suppose that part of the RMA should be tidied up?”
Yes lanmac, I watched that story – and I’ve read about it in repeated Herald articles over the years, although my recollection of those articles is blurry.
It worried me watching that story tonight, but I’ve been thinking about that further. I think there is an element of the story that hasn’t come out – or at least, hasn’t been widely commentated on.
My thoughts are this – the building is basically completed, it just hasn’t been fitted as there was a court injunction or similar that stopped progress.
The possible implication to me is that, given consent was issued and building started in the first place, there was some flaw with the initial consent that bought the process to a halt.
There may be relevant issues with the RMA to be dealt with, but a possible alternative or complementary factor would appear to me to be that Foodstuffs, despite all the suits and lawyers, failed to follow the RMA process completely – in fact possibly attempted to short-cut it. What other reason would there be for overturning a consent once issued? If that is the case, then the company can only blame themselves. I may do some research on the background.
Yes the regulation may be a little on the tight side – but given what we are going through in the financial markets currently, anyone pushing unfettered process and ACT’s “flexbility for companies to do business” message has limited credibility without a very strong and comprehensive case. So far we haven’t seen that case, just lots of anecdotes.
There were clear majorities on the left, to the point where HC could cherry pick largely compatible coalitions to get the required majorities in the house. Remember that number of electorate seats won doesn’t matter. What matters is seats in the house.
2005 was a knife edge election and so was 2008. In the end both came down to just a few seats in the house to get a majority. Effectively NACT have hoovered all of the conservative vote apart from that fragment still remaining to UF since 2002. Effectively there is no centre parties any longer since NZF has probably gone into a dissolution like the Alliance did. The only reason that NACT won was because they destroyed NZF electorally.
To try to make the NACT coalition stable at the centre, they had to reach to the MP. Well just have a close look at the party voting in the maori electorates. The MP has to be able to show benefits to voters to get them to repeat that vote. Those concessions will cause problems in NACT. If they get stalled, it is likely that the MP will withdraw to protect their vote. The NZLP is a very good campaigner in those seats – just ask the MP politicians.
2008 has a high likelihood of being the highpoint of the conservative vote. That is assuming that Labour sticks close to the centre, which I think that they will Goff/King is a pretty clear signal. There isn’t likely to be any faction fighting in the NZLP, too many of us will work to ensure that there isn’t.
Frankly I’d be surprised if the NACT’s manage to get a second term, after all they’re trying for Labour-lite, and I’ve never actually noticed many NACT’s that would be happy settling for that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they fail to survive this term. They only just scraped over the line which leaves things wide open for waka jumping exercises.
BTW: Of the NZF voters more than 70% are likely to go left rather than right. You’re not talking entrepreneurs here. Look at the NZF party vote in the Moari electorates, and look at it against the age demographic in general seats. They aren’t the votes of the affluent with tax grievances.
Competely disagree. Labour needed both the Greens and the Alliance. United only brought 1 seat. And at the time New Zealand First was poisoned and so they could not go there. National has chosen to work with the Maori party and United Future. They don’t have to they choose to. You keep talking about waka-jumping and where are these waka-jumpers going to come from? That argument hardly washes nor makes sense.
Also don’t make the mistake in believing lower income people don’t vote National.The provinces in particular put a lie to that.That New Zealand First vote can and will go several ways. Yes one assumes the majority will vote Labour. But 70% is perhaps too much.
You also make the presumption the National party is somehow going to break up or stuff up. Neither of those should be presumed. Like I said National want long-term governance. They’re hardly going to break up and no one has been able to say why or how they’ll break up. They won’t go far to the right. But movement to the right will not necessarily hurt them at the polls.The 2005 election showed that the difference between the right and the left wasn’t that much.
The left have a problem too. The Greens. Its always a factor. With the centre gone at this stage anyway. Labour is dependent on the Greens. Surely as much a fear factor for a number of people in this country as Act. We haven’t seen a situation yet where the Greens have held the power. If ever Labour gets in and must have the Greens vote and there isn’t an additional larger party in there to keep it going too left. You have to ask whether this country will tolerate it. National could campaign on this and it could do damage. And I do believe there are elements that are very scared of the Green party. I even think Labour are very wary to ever be so reliant with the Greens.
As for Labour now it doesn’t have Clark leading. We don’t know how much a difference that will make. If pollings go down for Labour. That is going to bring murmurs in that party. You talk about them being stable now. But if they’re at a point where the polls are telling a story of likely defeat. You will see blood. They’ve been sensible so far. But if National does well, Labour will burn themselves just like National did in the early 2000s.
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The sensible left realise that National has worked itself out well and has a set a platform that could point to a long-term and successful arrangement. The hard left or the irrational left point to problems but rather hope that National will self-destruct. Its a viewpoint one should be wary of. In New Zealand there is a long history that any government will typically last two terms or more. The exceptions are 1951 and 1974. National has been 4-5 years rebuilding its base and more importantly capturing that centre. They have now got the Maori party onboard. National is looking at coalitions that will result in more support.There is danger in being reliant on Act and using the Maori for a more centrist approach. But if successful this could be long-term.
I disagree with this election being National going Labour-lite. In 2005 they were very right and they garnered 39%. They pushed tax cuts. What happened between 2005-2008? Labour delivered tax cuts. Who did Labour go to for confidence and supply? They didn’t go to the left, they went to New Zealand First and United Future. If the 2005 election told us anything. It was Labour who moved. National did move you’re quite right. They got rid of the right rhetoric something they always had to do. Yes they too moved to the centre. They kept the best of what Labour delivered sure. But there are many elements National polled on that still largely point to a right-wing agenda. How far right can they move? Not that far sure.
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The voting public is smarter than we think. In 1999 they voted left sure, that was the only route it could go after a very tired right-wing government. 2002 they knew Labour would win, they didn’t like what they saw in National. But the electorate knew too much power for Labour was dangerous. Thus a far stronger vote for the centre. 2005 you saw the left and right fighting over very small territory. I dare say this was anyone’s game and the electorate didn’t quite trust National thus Labour got it in the end.
2008 the electorate proved itself again by not allowing the Maori party to be kingmaker.
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Ack its nearly 3am. And once again something that should take a paragraph ends up being several and poorly punctuated with horrid grammar so to sum up.
Yes its possible Labour can win in 2011. But its just as likely if not more likely National will win again in 2011. I say National because I actually see a different route for 2011. I see National digging further into the cities. The Left should hold hope in winning again in 2011. But don’t pin it off National making mistakes or moving to the right. And don’t think its a walk in the park. Labour knows it won’t be that. I just don’t understand why the left blogosphere can’t comprehend that.
MMP – all electorates vote every party, they just do it with different percentages. Labour won in 1999 largely because of the rural votes.
In 1999 and 2002, NZF would be difficult to work with, but could have been pulled into a left-leaning coalition if required. Every MMP election throws up a range of parties to form coalitions. What I’m arguing is that there are usually a lot more votes for them on the leftish side on average than the right.
National appears to be as internally factional as Labour was in its worst days. It looks like it is only the need to win elections cohesively that hasn’t caused the party breakouts that the NZLP has already done. It was almost liberating for the NZLP because it meant that there was a high degree of internal cohesiveness. With the Nats it has in the past tended to show up in not doing changes when required. I don’t think that it will be much different this time.
The greens are almost getting mainstream these days. It is only the voters on the right that are susceptible to scare tactics about them. They’re unlikely to change their minds, but they’re also unlikely to vote left either. People that will vote for the greens are getting older and therefore more numerous. They are also entering the NZLP. The fear factor is getting less. Act on the other hand still has quite a lot of fear factor including on the right.
It won’t be a walk in the park to win in 2011 – lots of work to do. But it is a *lot* harder to remain popular in government than it is to get kudo’s in opposition. Government is an exercise in the dismal science, especially when carrying the superannuation burden. It means that there is a lot of room to point out flaws in decisions, and Labour is very good at it.
In the end the right didn’t get an overwhelming victory, it got a narrow victory. That just doesn’t leave a lot of room for maneuvere.
The NACT’s screwing up. Yep – I expect that, they always have. But basically like any government they will do so – it is the nature of government. In their case I’d just expect it will come earlier rather than later. Because of the blogs I’d also expect that it will be harder to manage the spin.
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AN OPEN LETTER FOR SIGN ON BY ORGANISATIONS AND MOVEMENTS ACROSS THE WORLD, ALLIED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST INEQUALITY. This letter was released at the UN Political Forum on 9 July, where the Sustainable Development Goal on inequality was reviewed. The purpose of the letter is to call out the ...
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The Environment Committee is currently hearing submissions on the Zero Carbon Bill, and Stuff is reporting on the submissions. Today, they're covering yesterday they heard from "NZ" Steel:NZ Steel has told MPs it may be forced to close with the loss of thousands of jobs if changes aren't made to ...
Students are striking against climate change on September 27. And this time, they're asking everyone to join them:Students are taking to the streets, beaches and parks on 27 September, and we're inviting everyone to join us. That's right, this is an intergenerational issue, and you're all invited to put pressure ...
Peter McKenzie has a piece on Newsroom this morning about how local body politics is awash with property developer cash. 70% of all the donations in the 2016 Wellington mayoral election came from property developers. And its pretty obvious what they want in exchange:That’s particularly important in local government, according ...
Source: Unknown, twitter user Recently, I wrote a (relatively) short paper titled as above, to explore what self-determination could like in a practical sense. Maybe I’m a bit of an international trade truther or something, but I absolutely believe trade is at the heart of achieving peace and self-determination. Since ...
In the 1960s, after I had graduated with a first-class Oxford postgraduate law degree, I joined the British Foreign Office as the top entrant of my year. There, I worked for a couple of years on European affairs and was eventually posted to the Embassy in Brussels. After this exposure ...
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...
I heard a 45 minute interview with Monica Lewinsky talking to TED’s Chris Anderson on BBC Radio 4 over the weekend, and have listened to it another two times out walking. I recommend it. Highly. Man, I am so impressed with how this woman has integrated her life experiences and ...
Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind: how good intentions and bad ideas are setting up a generation for failure, London, Penguin, 2019, 352pp; reviewed by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s book The Coddling of the American Mind is a timely book, whose ...
When the Justice Committee reported back on the Administration of Justice (Reform of Contempt of Court) Bill, free speech advocates breathed a sigh of relief. As originally introduced, the Bill reitered the ancient offence of "scandalising the court" - basicly, a special sedition law protecting judges from criticism. The select ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. Since then - crickets. Which raises the obvious question: are they actually going to do this, ...
Back in March, the Ministry of Justice conducted a public consultation exercise on whether to hold a review of the Official Information Act. 285 people submitted on it. Now, Stuff has trawled through those submissions, and the case for reform is strong:The Justice Ministry asked Kiwis what they thought was ...
National's prisoner voting ban has gone down as one of the worst laws in New Zealand history. Passed after a farcical debate (including this farcial speech from ACT MP Hilary Calvert), it has subsequently been found to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act by the High Court, Court ...
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...
by Daphna Whitmore US social psychologist and author Jonathan Haidt spoke on 1 August in Auckland to a crowd of around one thousand people. He is best known for his bookThe Coddling of the American Mind which examines the new climate of trigger warnings and acute sensitivity of Gen Z. ...
What an extraordinarily depressing experience it is to be compelled to watch, at 12,000 miles distance, the contortions and machinations of the British political class as they set about their determined attempt to overturn the decision taken by the British people that they wish to leave the European Union. The ...
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...
by Don Franks Way back when British guitar virtuoso Joe Brown was a beginning session guy he got to back a visiting American artist. Young Joe was an able technician but had yet to learn some points of professionalism. Part way through “Five foot high and rising” Joe tired of ...
Since scientists started studying climate change, they have warned that it will reduce food production. And now, its happening:The climate crisis is damaging the ability of the land to sustain humanity, with cascading risks becoming increasingly severe as global temperatures rise, according to a landmark UN report compiled by some ...
The Abortion Legislation Bill just passed its first reading, 94-23. Its a far bigger margin than I expected, even allowing for the Winston factor, and it reflects the overwhelming support there is in this country for reform. but that support isn't a new thing - it has existed for literally ...
The Justice Committee has called for submissions on the Referendums Framework Bill. The Bill does what it says on the label - establishes a framework for referenda. Things you may want to address in your submission: Whether the bill should apply only at the 2020 election, or whether it should ...
The Thompson and Clark / MBIE spying scandal continues to result in fallout, this time in the form of a report on the implementation of MBIE's "Operation Exploration", its internal operation to enforce the infamous Anadarko Amendment which criminalised protests against the oil industry. MBIE's enforcement operation was tainted by ...
So, Winston Peters is defending his last-minute demand for a referendum on abortion by claiming he was "blindsided" by the bill. Really? The bill is a government bill. It has been working through the cabinet approval process since December last year. As part of that process, NZ First was consulted, ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...
Last week, the ongoing democracy protests in Hong Kong saw a pro-Hong Kong student assaulted at the University of Auckland. The Chinese consulate in Auckland followed this up with a press release "express[ing] its appreciation to the students for their spontaneous patriotism" - effectively condoning the assault and inciting further ...
Only those who close their eyes and minds to the evidence can still be in any doubt that we are facing a climate change crisis. The evidence is conclusive that the world is not only getting inexorably hotter, but also that the rising temperatures are creating a number of other ...
Rural communities are wailing about forestry conversions "taking land out of production" and putting it into locking up carbon. Its driven purely by economics: there's more money and lower costs in carbon than in sheep or beef, and if carbon prices rise, there'll be more net money than dairy even. ...
This week, the government introduced its (underwhelming) Abortion Legislation Bill. And despite having negotiated the text of the bill through the coalition process, Winston Peters is now suggesting that he will demand a referendum on it:NZ First leader Winston Peters has hinted that his party may only support the Government's ...
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to pass on information to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques now that the period for submissions has been extended to 27 September. ...
An application was filed in the Employment Relations Authority in Wellington today, seeking an injunction to prevent the Board of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation from removing the President from office. ...
The Government’s commitment to support literacy and numeracy training in the workplace is a strong signal from Government on recognising the importance of upskilling, reskilling and increasing productivity alongside their commitment to address the challenges ...
“The infrastructure sector sees a major role for the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission/Te Waihanga in lifting the nation’s sagging infrastructure performance,” says Paul Blair, incoming CEO of Infrastructure NZ. ...
The AA is calling on the Government to bring forward critical highway projects while time is spent properly developing the plans for a rapid transit system in Auckland. ...
Between 2015/16 and 2017/18, DHBs spent $280 million treating patients due to adverse drug reactions, reveals the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in its latest briefing paper on health productivity . ...
The Pay Equity Coalition Auckland (PECA) is pleased the gender pay gap has decreased slightly. Statistics released today show the gap is now 11.9%, nearly 2 percent less than last year. ...
The Council of Licenced Firearm Owners (COLFO) is urging firearms owners to make sure they pass on any information they have to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on Christchurch Mosques before submissions close tomorrow (Friday). ...
The big electricity companies consider solar energy “disruptive” and want pricing to suppress it. In contrast, advocates of local energy say that solar, energy efficiency, and other local energy solutions are the cheapest ways to reduce carbon emissions. ...
The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
After twenty years Napier residents have endured heavy sleep and health disruptive noise and air pollution from freight trucks gridlock operations to and from the Napier port and other regions. ...
The EMA says much is riding on the board and chief executive of the new National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) announced by Infrastructure Minister Hon Shane Jones today, with a difficult task ahead to deliver on its purpose. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the introduction of workplace standards by the State Services Commission that make it clear public services should expect positive and safe workplaces. ...
The Financial Services Federation (FSF) - the voice of responsible lenders and leasing companies - and FinCap - working with consumers facing financial hardship - are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this Thursday 22 August in Auckland. It will ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...
A group of students, including some Youth MPs, have been banned from Parliament for a year, after singing a waiata in the public gallery in support of the Ihumātao hīkoi. ...
National MP Nick Smith has lodged a serious accusation against Parliament's Speaker calling him "biased" after once again being booted out of the debating chamber. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people again took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the government – the 11th straight weekend of demonstrations that began in June over a proposed extradition bill. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target – to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lewis Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide I swear by Hypatia, by Lovelace, by Turing, by Fisher (and/or Bayes), and by all the statisticians and data scientists, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Just when we thought Australia was getting serious about shifting priorities away from the Middle East to its own neighbourhood, the prime minister has announced another Middle East step up. Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Keogh, ARC DECRA Fellow, Queensland University of Technology In the last three months, the Australian Classification Board has “refused classification” for at least four video games – effectively banning them in Australia. The latest is zombie-survival shooter DayZ. Despite being previously ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle The Heart Foundation now recommends full-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt or reduced-fat options as part of its updated dietary advice released yesterday. This moves away from earlier advice that recommended only reduced-fat ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Paris Georgia co-founders Paris Mitchell Temple and Georgia Cherrie.This week’s podcast features a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who has died aged 73 of cancer, leaves a political and personal legacy as a man of courage, conviction and congeniality. The support that Fischer as National Party leader ...
One part telenovela, one part family drama, one part addictive love story. Sam Brooks reviews Jane the Virgin, the great show with an unfortunate name that should be your next Netflix binge.The following piece contains very mild spoilers for Jane the Virgin.While watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, ...
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects.Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last. Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Tara Ward taste-tests the best hot chips in the country. Everyone loves a hot chip because they’re a) hot, and b) a chip, but there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad chip experience. A ...
Sky Network Television has written down the value of large parts of its business and scrapped paying a dividend as it changes direction to counter falling pay TV subscribers. ...
Strict word limits for Māori translations of local body election candidate profiles is a form of "institutional racism" and should be changed, a candidate says. ...
ACT Party leader David Seymour's voluntary euthanasia bill has cleared another stage in Parliament with a suite of changes aimed at securing support. ...
A finalist for New Zealander of the Year for her work with Māori smokers is at war with academics because her research is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris. Guyon Espiner reports. ...
Keith Rankin’s Chart Analysis Auckland Māori exodus after 2014The 2018 census has had such a low compliance rate, that it really acted as a large convenience sample (therefore a biased sample) of the New Zealand population. (See my Census Survey from March 2018.) Despite the assurances we are getting, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Lecturing councils won’t work for Labour either Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Nice pointers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University As the abortion decriminalisation bill gradually makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation With the advent of online ancestry DNA testing, and advancements in genetic screening for various medical aliments, we’re able to know more than ever about the genes that make us who we are. But is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Galligan, Associate professor, University of Southern Queensland If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How was maths discovered? Who made up the numbers and rules? – Bianca, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Borroz, PhD candidate in international business and comparative political economy, University of Auckland India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has settled into lunar orbit, ahead of its scheduled Moon landing on September 7. If it succeeds India will join a very select club, now ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Twyford and Parker propose new urban development policy statement, Tamihere unveils transport plans, and Māori King issues challenge on child abuse.For a lead today, a nudge towards one of those deeply dense announcements that could end up having a huge ...
Just like its National predecessor, this Labour-led Government is trying to lecture councils into growing the 'right' kinds of cities without giving them the funding tools or help to do it. ...
Part three of our debate on the state of New Zealand fiction continues as Chris Else, whose opening essay was strongly rebutted last week by Catherine Robertson, returns to put the boot in once more. ...
This morning the five shortlisted songs for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award were announced. Here, exclusively for The Spinoff, the finalists discuss each other’s nominated songs.Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club on ‘The Barrel’ by Aldous Hardingit’s such a beautiful stunt to witness. breaking just before the cliff edge. the ...
A group is currently holding seminars around NZ which appear to be based on misinformation about vaccines. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris fact checks some of their claims. ...
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads - they need to move on from simply being "competitive" to make a serious impression on the world football stage. ...
Countless stories from women who have a right to be safe on campus still go unanswered, writes Kate Hannah, deputy director equity and inclusion, Te Pūnaha MatatiniDespite the hashtags and the headlines, universities in New Zealand seem to have largely avoided facing up to their own “#MeToo moment”. It is ...
The government’s plan to avoid another ‘fiscal hole’ fiasco has an unlikely fan: the chief economist of the corporate think tank New Zealand Initiative. Eric Crampton explains what else it could do.Have you ever driven past one of those stores that mostly sells blinds but calls itself ‘Not Just Blinds’ ...
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alex Braae casts his eyes over the Otago Regional Council contest.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about ...
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...
In the driver’s seat 
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...4 hours ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...5 hours ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 7 hours ago
Donald Trump seems to be eager to start a war with Iran, and naturally Australia is yapping at its heels like a good little vassal. The UK also asked New Zealand to get involved, but fortunately, we had a good excuse: we simply didn't have the toys available:Britain asked New ...12 hours ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...2 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...2 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...3 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...4 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...5 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...6 days ago
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Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...7 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...1 week ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 1 week ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...6 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...3 hours ago
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lol very clever. The scary thing is what is after.
about time too. silly bloody RMA. another hand brake on progress.
We live in hope. As soon as the act is dropped the better.
Yeah, that whole community democracy thing… total drag eh guys?
Nothing wrong with community democracy Tane – too often though the RMA was used to block projects that the bulk of the community supported.
The main benefactors of the RMA seem to have been the legal profession.
“…too often though the RMA was used to block projects that the bulk of the community supported.”
Name 5.
Bet you can’t without:
contradicting “Nothing wrong with community democracy”
or using weird defintions for: “RMA was used to block ” or “bulk of the community supported”.
PB… first one that came to mind was the Piha cafe
Lukas.
1) It’s entirely appropriate that members of the community who have concerns about the environmental, social and heritage impacts of development are able to have their say.
2) You’re talking about a cafe on a beach, not a vital infrastructure project needed to develop the economy.
Remember, the your line is that the RMA is holding back economic growth, not that it’s allowing community objections to cafes built in heritage buildings next to iconic beaches.
3) Resource consent was granted.
Aren’t 98% of consents granted without contest?
Ianmac: 99% are granted without contest, and half of the applications that are contested are allowed after the case has been heard.
I assume the 0.5% are held up indefinitely or cancelled.
Surely the important stat is what % of projects are blocked by value? That way, a blocked cafe is not the same as a blocked power station.
Does anyone have that stat?
Ianmac: I seem to recall that about 95% are granted without public consultation, thereby putting the lie to this entire line of argument.
L
If anyone’s done research into this, do flick it through us. The Left is going to need to get its research and its lines on the RMA in order very soon.
habitat and biodiversity are THE key questions facing the world
leaders and partys come and go but if we destroy some or all of the vital principles of physical wellbeing on the plas net then humanity will be living living in a sh*thole
no apologies for the non-bleatway non complex terminology and argument
habitat and biodiversity are far too important to be left to rugged individuals with a chainsaw, bulldozer and some sort of pissweak vision
From Rod Oram’s 2007 paper on the RMA:
However, he seems to be arguing the the RMA isn’t effective enough at protecting the environment although it has become much more efficient since it’s inception.
The cafe was an entirely poor example and not what the National party had in mind when changing the RMA. A better example would be the wind farm in Otago.
http://national.org.nz/files/2008/RMA.pdf – Not nearly as scary as some people make it out.
Fact is it will get passed as National has the numbers easily. The left can choose to merely try and block it but I see that as a mistake. Instead they should see what they can add to the changes in the RMA that prevent environment destruction and to ensure the RMA doesn’t lose focus the community democracy aspect. Where there is the potential for trouble is with the Maori party. Which likely will oppose any changes in RMA policy in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Incidentally the Labour party had no policy on the RMA. There’s was to keep it as it was. The Greens wished to strengthen the RMA.
http://www.greens.org.nz/node/18156
National needs to be careful. On one hand its pointless leaving the RMA as it is. Where they need to be focus is that the changes can’t afford to lose its community democracy aspects or its environmental aspects. On the other hand anything that can speed up the process is a good thing.
I don’t think the changes National wish to bring are all doom and gloom for the left. I also think its an opportunity for the left to make a case for the RMA to be strengthen to ensure environmental protection without necessarily hurting the streamlining of the RMA. It just depends how the left handle it I suppose.
Gingercrush: interesting read of the Nats RMA policy. Thanks. I guess some of the items which might speed up the process might be a good thing. But the Priority Processing might be a problem. Does Priority equal bulldozing a project through, as the cartoon above would suggest?
I tend to agree with ginger in that there’s no need for Labour to be the type of opposition National has been.
The National party’s support of the repeal of section 69 is the one conspicuous exception I can think of (and they don’t like to talk about that one) to the way they performed in opposition.
Labour can and should be a constructive opposition party and work to achieve positive outcomes wherever possible regardless of the position they find themselves in, much as the Greens have done – from outside of government – with considerable success.
Felix,
You mean like calling for cross-party agreement on electoral reform? So easy to be reasonable and inclusive when the numbers aren’t on your side anymore.
Not sure where you’re coming from with that Billy.
I’m not saying the government is obliged to listen, I just think the opposition should make an honest attempt at trying to work with the govt if possible rather than outright oppose everything the govt does 180 degrees.
The Nats showed they were capable of this with the repeal of sec 59 and the Greens do it all the time. I’m just saying I’d like to see Labour take this approach where they can legitimately do so.
What I mean Felix is that, given their behaviour when in government (over the EFA in particular), any call by Labour for cross party consensus on issues is going to ring a little hollow.
Billy: From what I understand, the Nat’s were totally opposed to both increasing the accounting transparency for political donations and increasing the election accounting period.
Since those were the two things that Labour was adamant had to change, there was a basic conflict. I’d expect that the same would happen when the law gets changed next time. While the Nat’s and Act were happy to attack anonymous trusts and ask NZF to open up their books, I noticed that they were reluctant to do the same for their trusts.
The area that there was room to move on in 2007 was the role of the 3rd parties, labelling etc. The Nat’s preferred to play a opposition role on those as well – probably because they didn’t like having to make their large donors become non-anonymous.
To be perfectly frank, I’d expect Labour to oppose major changes to those first two, and (if changed) resolve to change them back to transparency and realistic election periods when they have the numbers.
I thought they were looking to repeal the EFA go back to the 1993 Electoral Act but were going to take the sections in relation to donations from the EFA and insert them into the 1993 ACT.
RMA halted the progress of Project Aqua. Now that would have been worthwhile. No power cuts for the next few years.
RMA halted progress on Water Taxis around Tauranga Harbour in 2002/2003. Water Taxis would have been an ideal addition to the transport network in Tauranga, but due to “oil spill risks” “disturbance to wildlife” the Water Taxi business was doomed to failure.
Remedial work needed urgently on a Dam in the Hunua Ranges in 2003 delayed it by nearly a year
RMA is now causing issues with a skateboard park in Titahi Bay
RMA caused a headache for the Te Rauparaha Arena – which is finally open and is a bloody fantastic venue. Much better than the echolocaters nightmare that is TSB Arena.
Need I say more? Its amusing its Nactional that have to tidy up their mess… Labour at least attempted to work with it, but Nactional “Oh NO, it’s TOO hard”
OT: Is anyone else wondering how Key as “Tourism Minister” and Joyce being the CEO of “Jasons Travel Media” could be portrayed elsewhere? Would JTM benefit from such an arrangement? Could JTM be poised to publish insider information based on information Key would pass on to Joyce?
hs: From what I understand of the Nat’s policy on the EFA (there is bugger all of it).
They were planning on repealing the EFA and as you say heading back to the 1993 Act. After that they have said they’d either amend the EFA 1993 or add a new Act – but unspecified on what.
They haven’t specified what they’d do to legislate the enormous problems with the 1993 act. Personally I’d suspect that they will just drop back to the 1993 Act and do some tinkering after 6 months or a year. That would allow them to use the anonymous trusts to refill their coffers. If they hit any opposition to their ideas, then I’d expect them to leave it on the 1993 Act over the next election.
After all they did write the 1993 act to favour themselves in the first place. There is no benefit for them to fix their corrupt electoral law.
Jasper – Where do you live? Because I’m guessing its not where project aqua would have ruined your land. Project Aqua is perfect example of how the RMA works for communities. Need you say more? Yes. A skateboard park hardly an important piece of infrastructure, more like an eye sore to cater for a fad and then you mention some arena where consent was granted, so yes you do need to say more.
Lynn
I’m not sure, I thought I read somewhere that they were definitely going to keep the bits in relation to transparency of donations – although guess we’ll have to wait and see and I would hope there’s more important things on the agenda in the short term.
Tane:
Why should other people have a say in what you do?
Perhaps I should put in a submission against the local Marae when it wants to erect something?
Fair enough Billy. I too think Labour could have handled a lot of things a lot better in the last few years.
Of course they can’t “call for” inclusion as you put it, they’re not in govt and that’s that. As I said, the National govt has no obligation to work with them.
I does strike me as interesting though, that the deal with the maori party is seen as a safety valve on National’s left to be used when ACT wants to go too far right.
In many areas Labour’s policy is probably closer to National’s than either ACT or the maori party. If Labour are smart they’ll recognise the opportunities this presents and not cut off their nose(s) to spite their face(s).
I suspect though, that politically Labour wants to create the impression of more distance from National so we’ll probably see expediency take precedence over principle as usual.
Brett,
Because we all have to live here together.
And yes, if the local marae wants to erect something that will interfere with your quality of life then you should make a submission. Why wouldn’t you?
Felix:
People are making submissions on others private land, that in no way have any effect on their quality of life and that is the problem.
Really? Haven’t come across that myself.
There are legitimate situations where a non-majority of the community have a right to block a project which has a very high impact on them. I think there are a few cases where you’re right, but that they’re mostly to do with wind turbines which oddly seem to face about five times the scrutiny of other projects. Not In My Back Yard, right? 😉
nah it’s true Felix, people who actually live in the affected areas are forever choosing to degrade their own quality of life. they just don’t seem to get how fly-by-night developers really have everyone’s best interests at heart.
On Close Up tonight the theme was about the RMA being used by competitors to block the building of a Supermarket over a period from 1987? to now. Court cases, appeals the lot. Many details of contention did not directly affect the complainants. eg Possible road problems 1 km down the road from the proposed site.
Competitors appealing for competitive reasons is not the same as appeals because I am directly affected. I suppose that part of the RMA should be tidied up?
Indeed Iammac. Thing is Nationals legislation will not put in effect the likes of Brett Dale is saying. Its mainly streamlining and changing what someone can appeal, argue, make a statement against. That is its intention. How strong it goes to where it could damage to the environment etc largely depends what role Act will play and what if any concessions can be made by National to get the left on board. One thing is I can’t see the Maori Party being happy with changes to the Act in regards to the Treaty. That should prove interesting.
At the end of the day. For now at least any plans National will bring should still ensure environment concerns and private citizens will still have a say.
Another thing is that often in terms of housing developments etc. That goes back to the council. For instance, here in Merivale and St Albans Christchurch. Often people will will make an argument in terms of the damage demolishing an older building will have on the heritage of these two suburbs. These two suburbs vote National in a big way. Thing is, this is barely a government matter, rather a council matter. The council sets the RMA process for such matters. Thus, if people want change in this area. Go to the council.
Here, I tend to agree that constant bulldozing of heritage/older houses is having a detrimental affect in St. Albans and Merivale. Personally I would like to see it changed so any housing before 1940 must get additional consent.
—-
Anyway, National’s RMA changes should not mean concerns over the environment or cultural/heritage concerns can’t be addressed. It will however mean people can’t use the RMA for commercial purposes ie. Iammac’s example. Likewise the bill is to make it easier for consents and streamlining the RMA for large infrastructure projects. The left have legitimate concerns that the bill will mean changes that put less relevance in terms of the environment and cultural/heritage concerns and community democracy.
If you are that concerned about the changes National will bring. Do not block the bill or protest. Only protest after you’ve had a say. These changes will require three readings in the house it will too need to go to select committee. That is where the left can influence it and make changes to the bill. This is also where the public gets their say. Also a lot of the RMA comes down to your local council.
For instance, if you’re concerned about building developments in your area. Ie. someone has purchased a 1910 era building and wish to demolish that and put in a new building development. Use the consent process to have your say. The sad thing is under current and new legislation, likely you are unaware of changes in your community.
Most importantly, go to your council and ask them to enact changes preventing the widespread demolishing of older/heritage buildings. And have your say when it comes to council elections. Its disgusting that while 70+% vote in a National election yet barely over 50% or hell in some places less than 50% vote in council elections. A disturbing figure. Councils are hugely influential in terms of what can and can’t be built in your area. And there are plenty of candidates wanting to change these areas.
hs: I suspect that there is probably nothing higher on the Nact’s agenda.
After all it takes time to get legislation through, and NACT is probably going to need all help it can get for the next election. It wasn’t exactly a tremendous victory.
Of course the nact’s higher standard is to not have a level playing field (I couldn’t resist that)
Why do you insist on saying that Iprent. You want something not impressive. Take a look at 2005. That wasn’t impressive in the slightest. Had National gained 3% we would have had a National-led government. 2005 was the closest election since 1993. 2011 already proves interesting because New Zealand First’s 4% could go anywhere. 2008 was close to an extent. But not as close as the left likes to think. And anyone thinking 2011 is cakewalk for the left are delusional. Do you really think National wants a single term in government?
As for the EFA. Well it needs rid of. Sure National will likely play to its own favour. But the EFA is a disgusting piece of legislation, that should never have passed and why anyone continues to defend it is beyond me.
—-
And I’ll say it right now, National will continue to be the government in 2011.
“On Close Up tonight the theme was about the RMA being used by competitors to block the building of a Supermarket over a period from 1987? to now. Court cases, appeals the lot. Many details of contention did not directly affect the complainants. eg Possible road problems 1 km down the road from the proposed site.
Competitors appealing for competitive reasons is not the same as appeals because I am directly affected. I suppose that part of the RMA should be tidied up?”
Yes lanmac, I watched that story – and I’ve read about it in repeated Herald articles over the years, although my recollection of those articles is blurry.
It worried me watching that story tonight, but I’ve been thinking about that further. I think there is an element of the story that hasn’t come out – or at least, hasn’t been widely commentated on.
My thoughts are this – the building is basically completed, it just hasn’t been fitted as there was a court injunction or similar that stopped progress.
The possible implication to me is that, given consent was issued and building started in the first place, there was some flaw with the initial consent that bought the process to a halt.
There may be relevant issues with the RMA to be dealt with, but a possible alternative or complementary factor would appear to me to be that Foodstuffs, despite all the suits and lawyers, failed to follow the RMA process completely – in fact possibly attempted to short-cut it. What other reason would there be for overturning a consent once issued? If that is the case, then the company can only blame themselves. I may do some research on the background.
Yes the regulation may be a little on the tight side – but given what we are going through in the financial markets currently, anyone pushing unfettered process and ACT’s “flexbility for companies to do business” message has limited credibility without a very strong and comprehensive case. So far we haven’t seen that case, just lots of anecdotes.
gc: I keep saying that because you need to look at the 1999 election and 2002 elections for what a clearcut victory looks like under MMP.
http://1999.electionresults.govt.nz/e9/html/e9_partI.html
http://2002.electionresults.org.nz/partystatus.html
There were clear majorities on the left, to the point where HC could cherry pick largely compatible coalitions to get the required majorities in the house. Remember that number of electorate seats won doesn’t matter. What matters is seats in the house.
2005 was a knife edge election and so was 2008. In the end both came down to just a few seats in the house to get a majority. Effectively NACT have hoovered all of the conservative vote apart from that fragment still remaining to UF since 2002. Effectively there is no centre parties any longer since NZF has probably gone into a dissolution like the Alliance did. The only reason that NACT won was because they destroyed NZF electorally.
To try to make the NACT coalition stable at the centre, they had to reach to the MP. Well just have a close look at the party voting in the maori electorates. The MP has to be able to show benefits to voters to get them to repeat that vote. Those concessions will cause problems in NACT. If they get stalled, it is likely that the MP will withdraw to protect their vote. The NZLP is a very good campaigner in those seats – just ask the MP politicians.
2008 has a high likelihood of being the highpoint of the conservative vote. That is assuming that Labour sticks close to the centre, which I think that they will Goff/King is a pretty clear signal. There isn’t likely to be any faction fighting in the NZLP, too many of us will work to ensure that there isn’t.
Frankly I’d be surprised if the NACT’s manage to get a second term, after all they’re trying for Labour-lite, and I’ve never actually noticed many NACT’s that would be happy settling for that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they fail to survive this term. They only just scraped over the line which leaves things wide open for waka jumping exercises.
BTW: Of the NZF voters more than 70% are likely to go left rather than right. You’re not talking entrepreneurs here. Look at the NZF party vote in the Moari electorates, and look at it against the age demographic in general seats. They aren’t the votes of the affluent with tax grievances.
Competely disagree. Labour needed both the Greens and the Alliance. United only brought 1 seat. And at the time New Zealand First was poisoned and so they could not go there. National has chosen to work with the Maori party and United Future. They don’t have to they choose to. You keep talking about waka-jumping and where are these waka-jumpers going to come from? That argument hardly washes nor makes sense.
Also don’t make the mistake in believing lower income people don’t vote National.The provinces in particular put a lie to that.That New Zealand First vote can and will go several ways. Yes one assumes the majority will vote Labour. But 70% is perhaps too much.
You also make the presumption the National party is somehow going to break up or stuff up. Neither of those should be presumed. Like I said National want long-term governance. They’re hardly going to break up and no one has been able to say why or how they’ll break up. They won’t go far to the right. But movement to the right will not necessarily hurt them at the polls.The 2005 election showed that the difference between the right and the left wasn’t that much.
The left have a problem too. The Greens. Its always a factor. With the centre gone at this stage anyway. Labour is dependent on the Greens. Surely as much a fear factor for a number of people in this country as Act. We haven’t seen a situation yet where the Greens have held the power. If ever Labour gets in and must have the Greens vote and there isn’t an additional larger party in there to keep it going too left. You have to ask whether this country will tolerate it. National could campaign on this and it could do damage. And I do believe there are elements that are very scared of the Green party. I even think Labour are very wary to ever be so reliant with the Greens.
As for Labour now it doesn’t have Clark leading. We don’t know how much a difference that will make. If pollings go down for Labour. That is going to bring murmurs in that party. You talk about them being stable now. But if they’re at a point where the polls are telling a story of likely defeat. You will see blood. They’ve been sensible so far. But if National does well, Labour will burn themselves just like National did in the early 2000s.
—–
The sensible left realise that National has worked itself out well and has a set a platform that could point to a long-term and successful arrangement. The hard left or the irrational left point to problems but rather hope that National will self-destruct. Its a viewpoint one should be wary of. In New Zealand there is a long history that any government will typically last two terms or more. The exceptions are 1951 and 1974. National has been 4-5 years rebuilding its base and more importantly capturing that centre. They have now got the Maori party onboard. National is looking at coalitions that will result in more support.There is danger in being reliant on Act and using the Maori for a more centrist approach. But if successful this could be long-term.
I disagree with this election being National going Labour-lite. In 2005 they were very right and they garnered 39%. They pushed tax cuts. What happened between 2005-2008? Labour delivered tax cuts. Who did Labour go to for confidence and supply? They didn’t go to the left, they went to New Zealand First and United Future. If the 2005 election told us anything. It was Labour who moved. National did move you’re quite right. They got rid of the right rhetoric something they always had to do. Yes they too moved to the centre. They kept the best of what Labour delivered sure. But there are many elements National polled on that still largely point to a right-wing agenda. How far right can they move? Not that far sure.
—-
The voting public is smarter than we think. In 1999 they voted left sure, that was the only route it could go after a very tired right-wing government. 2002 they knew Labour would win, they didn’t like what they saw in National. But the electorate knew too much power for Labour was dangerous. Thus a far stronger vote for the centre. 2005 you saw the left and right fighting over very small territory. I dare say this was anyone’s game and the electorate didn’t quite trust National thus Labour got it in the end.
2008 the electorate proved itself again by not allowing the Maori party to be kingmaker.
—-
Ack its nearly 3am. And once again something that should take a paragraph ends up being several and poorly punctuated with horrid grammar so to sum up.
Yes its possible Labour can win in 2011. But its just as likely if not more likely National will win again in 2011. I say National because I actually see a different route for 2011. I see National digging further into the cities. The Left should hold hope in winning again in 2011. But don’t pin it off National making mistakes or moving to the right. And don’t think its a walk in the park. Labour knows it won’t be that. I just don’t understand why the left blogosphere can’t comprehend that.
Off to work so only a couple of points.
MMP – all electorates vote every party, they just do it with different percentages. Labour won in 1999 largely because of the rural votes.
In 1999 and 2002, NZF would be difficult to work with, but could have been pulled into a left-leaning coalition if required. Every MMP election throws up a range of parties to form coalitions. What I’m arguing is that there are usually a lot more votes for them on the leftish side on average than the right.
National appears to be as internally factional as Labour was in its worst days. It looks like it is only the need to win elections cohesively that hasn’t caused the party breakouts that the NZLP has already done. It was almost liberating for the NZLP because it meant that there was a high degree of internal cohesiveness. With the Nats it has in the past tended to show up in not doing changes when required. I don’t think that it will be much different this time.
The greens are almost getting mainstream these days. It is only the voters on the right that are susceptible to scare tactics about them. They’re unlikely to change their minds, but they’re also unlikely to vote left either. People that will vote for the greens are getting older and therefore more numerous. They are also entering the NZLP. The fear factor is getting less. Act on the other hand still has quite a lot of fear factor including on the right.
It won’t be a walk in the park to win in 2011 – lots of work to do. But it is a *lot* harder to remain popular in government than it is to get kudo’s in opposition. Government is an exercise in the dismal science, especially when carrying the superannuation burden. It means that there is a lot of room to point out flaws in decisions, and Labour is very good at it.
In the end the right didn’t get an overwhelming victory, it got a narrow victory. That just doesn’t leave a lot of room for maneuvere.
The NACT’s screwing up. Yep – I expect that, they always have. But basically like any government they will do so – it is the nature of government. In their case I’d just expect it will come earlier rather than later. Because of the blogs I’d also expect that it will be harder to manage the spin.