Well put, was listening to the whining on RNZ this morning, nothing funny at all about family and animal lives being disrupted…but, I have not heard the air raid siren wind up like that since Auckland Chamber of Commerce rep Michael Barnett and Queenstown business reps performances during COVID lockdowns.
A debate over transport included an emotional speech from Dunedin’s non-driving mayor Aaron Hawkins as he spoke about the impact of the Canterbury floods on people's lives…..
….In a nod to his own non-driving, Hawkins admitted it was inconvenient not to drive.
But that was less inconvenient than being separated from family, friends, business and social connections by the sort of weather events witnessed in Canterbury over recent days.
“Oh God, sorry,” the mayor said, visibly emotional,
He wanted to acknowledge those flood-affected communities, “because that is what we are talking about when we talk about seeing more frequent and more intense extreme weather events as a result of having a less stable climate”.
…..The projects in the 10-year-plan include park and ride facilities at Mosgiel and Burnside ($10.3 million), a parking management and guidance system ($9.5m), a harbour arterial route ($16.6m), a bus lane for Princes St ($6.6m), and bike hubs ($2.5m)
Worsening climate is baked in now whatever Hawkins does at a local level about emissions reduction. No reason not to do it of course – but a lot of money will have to go into mitigation and retreat. Otherwise we will have a social disaster as people can no longer afford insurance and are wiped out financially, physically and emotionally by floods, droughts, etc.
Hawkins popularity has gone right down because people don't like the reality of changing habits to mitigate climate change such as giving up heavy reliance on cars .
Most people are complaining about congestion and lack of car parks many who supported Hawkins just to keep the ultra right Vandervis out have now changed their allegiance.
Vandervis continues to play the victim in his obsessive drive to become mayor by being anti everything pulling every publicity stunt he can.
No it's because I know his politics his connections.Lee wants to sell off all council owned companies.
His over the top complaints cost rate payers millions in Deltas unauthorized developments in Queenstown and Christchurch forcing the council to sell of those developments at fire sale prices.
Don't know about "ultra right", but here's Dunedin city councillor and mayoral candidate Lee Vandervis on climate change (in 2013).
Dunedin Mayoral Hopefuls Do The (Climate) Denial Twist
Lee Vandervis couldn’t wait to show me his graph that explained the cyclic nature of global temperature patterns stretched out over 5 million years. “What we really should be worried about”, he said gravely, “is global freezing.”
People (and the climate) can change. Maybe Cr Vandervis is just misunderstood?
I know many hundreds of dunedinites from dunners and the mood has definitely changed.I have been involved in dunedin politics probably longer than you have been a live.
I’ll have to take your word for it and even though yours is a ‘ironclad argument’, it is in dire want and need of factual evidence to replace your anecdotal hearsay.
If you follow the news down here,that is what many folk are thinking.Hawkins is not up too it,may well move into central politics(Green party)with even less affect. As for Lee I think that boat has sailed,to disruptive.Their will be a new mayor and Deputy after next elections.
Give us a link with something more substantial, please. A poll, a survey, something a little more tangible. I have no idea what I should imagine with “many folk”; tens, hundreds, thousands, some, a few?
Google is your friend,their is plenty over the last couple of years,by the way when did a many become a few, do I have to school you about local body politics. But my point is my view and as I have little data per month* I wont be bothering to link,an further to that I'm not good at it,so mute point,sorry.
*.. only cell phone tethering.Oh I'm trying to learn,computers do my head in,so as stated above"sorry"
No , Google is not my friend; I can find whatever I like, based on all the info Google has on me. You didn’t give any helpful hints either to start a search.
I like to draw attention to the fact that stories, messages, memes and what have are started and spread on the internet by people with an agenda and/or personal bias. For this reason, I cannot take personal anecdote from an anonymous commenter seriously and nor should I or anybody else here, for that matter.
If someone wants to spout a personal opinion on Hawkins, they are free to do so, within the rules of this site. However, they cannot speak for or on behalf of others or make unsubstantiated claims about a ‘change of personal opinion’ as if these are facts!
Not sure Hawkins popularity has changed much. The water thing was a bit of a hit, but the griping about carparks from VdV and a couple of other councillors isn't making a dent.
I suspect Hawkins will do another term as mayor (to prove it wasn't luck) then go to central government.
"Good to hear a personal view……..I'm not going to get into an argument with (comment/mod),only too say read what was said and have a look at links already provided by others.
……..from somebody who actually lives in Dunners. Is that right
edit
Exactly right AB. Oh hell, can some authorities really grasp the enormity of problems, and make plans to help the unfortunates to make reasoned withdrawal plans? Some of these people's houses on low lying areas need to be used as rentals now, while the owners seek permanent places on higher ground, and prepare for a loss on their lower house when it must be abandoned.
The local councils could build expertise in helping larger houses be converted to two or three sub-units, build granny flats at rear, subdivide or cross lease larger sections.
But most of all check with Master Builders or other reliable source on your choice of builder. They are dropping out leaving people in deep trauma. I suggest have a small basic plan that allows for built-on rooms side or over, with Council approval so that foundations are secure. Think about privacy from close neighbours too, Council might not care.
It is notable that the Southland floods were preceded by months of drought, a phenomonen, which in the link you provided, is called the 'Noah Effect', but which I suspect will soon become to be called the 'New Normal'.
By ‘Noah Effect’ we designate the observation that extreme precipitation can be very extreme indeed, and by ‘Joseph Effect’ the finding that a long period of unusual (high or low) precipitation can be extremely long.
The government has been warned that closing down the country's only oil refinery could expose New Zealand to fuel security risks.
The Energy Minister said these risks are not significant, but a consultant's report to the government says the opposite.
The risks centre on reconfigured supply chain, meaning the country would hold significantly less fuel because it held no crude awaiting processing.
Let's NOT go for a system based on 'best practice', best efficiency, and without unexpected outcomes not allowed for, and a childish belief that everything will turn out all right if we just rely on our allies, friends and regular friendly business partners. Here is another opportunity to abandon the country's best interests gummint – leave us wide open as you so often do, no probs, we'll manage, the Little Smart Country with a big mouth!?
For us more risk averse older types, jettisoning the capability for local refining is a big step. The refinery will be decommissioned with various cleanups needed and no quick route back to refining crude. I am close to Marsden Pt by geography and personal contacts. Operators knew something was up last year when fresh catalyst vital to the process, and worth millions was not re-ordered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_reforming
One of Muldoon’s Think Big projects is basically going to be a storage unit with a pipe to Auckland. Marsden B was never fully commissioned, and the last recent Refining NZ CEO buggered off because the Board would not entertain revising B into solar and other green energy.
The retail petrol companies have certainly done well out of Refining NZ–gifted to them by one Roger Douglas and friends.
How we deal with roading will also be interesting… where will our bitumen come from?
Personally I believe it's a mistake as is stopping natural gas production.
What we should do is look to ban imports and have very tight nationalized production here with world leading environmental standards at the ability to use price control to reduce usage.
Stopping local production is effectively just 'off shoring' our emissions looks good on paper here globally speaking at absolute best neutral at worst we start importing say coal on a bunker oil burning ship…
Marsden Point's closure fits very well with the Government's climate change policies.
We will be entirely at the mercy of international markets and prices for all kinds of petroleum products from kerosene, aviation fuel, the different petrols, diesel, bunker oil, and all the way to plastics and tar. And TBF that's a good thing: those regular crises will be largely unhedged apart from some overseas reserve contracts – contracts which mean little in a genuine crisis a we've seen from the Covid vaccine distributions.
So every time there's an oil supply crisis or price spike, those combustion engine alternative debates get fresh alerts in neon lights.
We're in a completely different context to Think Big, which was all about increased energy self sufficiency following the oil spikes of the late 1970s.
Most Tier 1 construction companies are replacing their light truck fleets to prepare for the Climate Commission targets. Won't happen all this year, but they know that if they don't demonstrate they are going Net Zero, they just aren't going to win the next job.
Those are the people that use the trucks to transport those great wind farm components. I'm building one at the moment.
So no, your causal chain doesn't have any bearing on the reality on the ground.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Tuesday night that the virus was moving "faster than any other strain we've dealt with".
"We're seeing transmissions in settings and circumstances we've never seen before," he said.
His comments came as a new positive case was identified in a Victorian who had travelled to New South Wales and back again, prompting a whole raft of new exposure sites.
For the first time, health officials have seen four or five cases where people were infected by strangers by casual contacts.
Victoria's Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said the interactions were "very fleeting contact" and quite different to what Australia is used to seeing…
"What we're seeing now clearly is people who are, they're brushing past each other in a small shop, they're going around a display home, they're looking at phones in a Telstra shop," he said.
So. if money supply tightened then inflation might go up? And might inflation being low be part cause of those without personal debt having a field day and those with debt in 'credit' cards, be most subject to the other inflation rise in housing and food?
It can be important to understand that terms may have different meanings in different contexts. As that piece explains the RBNZ has done a lot of spending to help make the govts deficit spending happen fluidly. This is called a cost, but in practice its only the RBNZ which issues these monies anyway. If you understand the RBNZ spending as the countries house hold chore roster, then that cost here means it has recorded more chores being completed recently. That should also align with the temporary decision to purchase a lot of output in the form of a wage subsidy, while the govt budget is typically mostly focused on buying public goods. The salient point for why this analogy is a better understanding of 'cost' here is that people understand that recording too many items on their chore roster doesn't bankrupt them into being unable to record additional chores.
In terms of inflation its going to be important to understand its a phenomenon of general price increases and not of relative changes in the price of different goods and services. Yes, this makes it contentious how to measure inflation as the aggregate price of which identified bundle of goods.
But it seems reasonable to expect inflation to go up only once the level of spending starts to push on productive capacity to deliver. At that point businesses might increase prices or they might further if wage increases cause a loss of their margins. The salient point being inflation will be caused by something which causes many businesses to decide to put their prices up.
It just doesn't seem that businesses pay much attention to the money supply when adjusting their prices.
Its more important to understand that the RBNZs bond purchases dont directly add money to the economy…and that any 'cost' depends upon what happens offshore and the relationship between the NZD and the major tradeable currencies…if and when those actions impact the cost of debt financing in the future are largely out of our hands.
"Its more important to understand that the RBNZs bond purchases dont directly add money to the economy…"
In what sense? These are the transactions,
1) the govt (usually the DMO) sells bonds to primary dealers, removing money from the economy in exchange for a bond and allowing the buyer to specify a price at which they buy.
2) the RBNZ buys these bonds on the secondary market, using its intrinsic spending capacity, and providing that money back to the bond seller. This usually happens at a small capital loss to the RBNZ so the primary dealers get a small profit for acting as intermediaries here.
3) At some similar time the treasury will spend the borrowed funds. If that happened before 1 then potentially the same funds were used for step 1 (in some sense).
But the point is that the RBNZ bond purchase directly put spending ability in the economies hands including a net profit on the DMO's initial borrowing.
Nic theNzer Could the Reserve Bank set up its own system for supplying credits to a government department or agency providing cheap housing loans to specific young adults rather than trying to influence banks in certain ways to do this. It is indirect and not very effectual. As the banks do not find it a good market, there is market failure here, and could the RB step up with a limited amount of capital to start to fill this gap?
Yes absolutely. I believe there are still provisions in the act where the finance minister can demand the RBNZ provides loans to the govt directly, for 6 months time frame. That the govt was not doing this was highlighted by Grant Robertson before QE was initiated.
Further with some changes in legislation the RBNZ could alternatively provide treasury with an unlimited overdraft on its account in the payments system.
But banks and other primary dealers seem quite willing to participate in this given the miniscule risk small profit terms.
Thats in terms of govt spending.
In terms of housing loans, yes, thats basically how student loans work. Though the govt would probably need to look at the credit conditions it lends on a lot closer. As the BNZ bank failure showed there should be an independent regulator somewhere in the mix.
The bond purchases are from institutional investors and increases their collateral but not their spending ability as that collateral remains within the RBNZ reserve accounts…the only spending capacity that leaks into the system is through the minimal commissions to the approved traders and increased private bank lending promoted by the reduced interest rates…assuming the economy can service the additional lending and has a purpose for it and the banks are confident their capital is not at risk.
On the Government side (fiscal) the increased borrowing capacity theoretically will lead to greater government spending into the economy but we know how slow that spending is getting out the door….especially when you have one eye on interest rates and debt serviceability.
And meanwhile you are reducing the spending capacity of savers with the reduced interest earnings on investment
So its in a M3 vs M1 sense. But even in this case those payments all increase spending power. If at step 2 the institution sells for a depositor then there is a credit to their M3 account. If its for the institution then that institution holds more cleared funds eventually if they are not spent that becomes profit to be paid out.
And of course 3 is crediting accounts also raising M3.
Finally M1 is a component of M3 anyway.
So your statement which I quoted is simply incorrect.
Sure along with money in circulation. But thats simply irrelevant to your claim. When the RBNZ makes a bond purchase the digital equivalent of cash becomes property of a non-government institution and its spending ability goes up. This refutes your statement.
Except as collateral in the reserve accounts it is not available to inject into the market.
You refute nothing….the RBNZ has bought approximately 50 billion in bonds in just over a year (roughly 15% of GDP) …..where is it? It is not circulating in the economy, it is sitting within the RBNZ reserve accounts….an asset swap, as the RBNZ themselves stated. Collateral.
Your being confused by monetary aggregates not behaving in the economy as expected. The turnover rate of money can and does change. For obvious reasons in the last year savings rates went up significantly and that is where the govt income boost ended up. It turned out in net that the balance was about right and there has only been a small decrease in employment. But knowing how these transactions work its absolutely clear non-govt institutions spending power went up. Just because your idea about how spending works is wrong doesn't mean the aggregates are wrong.
Thanks Nic the NZer. I'll read that a number of times, and pick up different points each time, and finally I won't see through the glass darkly as the saying goes.
If housing Cost's were put back in the CPI inflation would measured at 3 to 4% and the Reserve bank would have to put interest rates up to counter the oversupply of money.But then in an anaemic world economy it would make it harder for NZ to trade as our $ would go up as well. Making exports dearer.
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The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Williams Veazey, ARC DECRA Research Fellow, University of Sydney DavideAngelini/Shutterstock In the 2007 film The Bucket List Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mohan Singh, Professor of Agri-Food Biotechnology, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne., The University of Melbourne Tanja Esser/Shutterstock Australia’s vital agriculture sector will be hit hard by steadily rising global temperatures. Our climate is already ...
The Acumen Edelman Trust barometer reported that New Zealand’s political trust score now sits below the global average, a topic explored in a recent discussion paper by Maxim Institute. ...
Greenpeace Aotearoa executive director Russel Norman says, "The Fast-Track Bill is the most damaging piece of environmental legislation any Government has introduced in living memory. People are angry, and it’s time to march." ...
The school lunches programme has been retained – and will be extended to some preschoolers. So how is it going to cost $107 million less? To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. The minister with many hats David Seymour wears a number of hats, but this week ...
“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird. But not just any bird: the bird. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jack Marley, Environment + Energy Editor, UK edition DPVUE .images/Shutterstock Your home was probably designed for a climate that no longer exists. As long as humanity continues to burn fossil fuel, padding the heat-trapping blanket of gases in Earth’s atmosphere, the ...
A senior lawyer has filed a complaint about tikanga becoming a required law school module. Law lecturer Carwyn Jones explains what he’s getting wrong. “…the first law of Aotearoa, a law that served the needs of tangata whenua for a thousand years before the arrival of tauiwi.”– Ani Mikaere ...
In 2019, an Auckland woman woke up from surgery to find that she had undergone a treatment she didn’t consent to. She tells Alex Casey about her experience. From her very first period at the age of 14, Laura experienced “debilitating” levels of pain that forced her to withdraw from ...
Opinion: Could former co-leader James Shaw still make a difference to working with National? The post How the Greens could be contenders appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: What if we got rid of our existing drug laws and replaced them with a new law that legalised and carefully regulated all psychoactive substances, from cannabis to MDMA, methamphetamine and LSD to magic mushrooms? And which also included legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine. “Wow,” you might ...
In the gloom following director-general Al Morrison’s job cuts in 2013, the Department of Conservation restructured its operations arm. Eleven conservancy districts were whittled into six new “conservation delivery” regions, under which the Rēkohu/Wharekauri/Chatham Islands area, comprising 40 scattered islands more than 800km east of Christchurch, was tethered to the ...
One of th e country’s top litigation lawyers says New Zealand is seeing a lift in court action between companies. Chapman Tripp partner Justin Graham, who oversees a team of around 80 litigation specialists, says the courts are now so log-jammed that it’s taking over two years to get cases ...
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Comment: Concerns about the state of the economy are creeping up to the top of firms’ list of challenges. That’s evident in both surveys and the tone of our recent client discussions. Skimming the past few weeks of eco-news, it’s not hard to see why. – Retail card spending fell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel “through to 2050 and beyond”. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuel’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
I guess thats it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125308161/andrew-little-rejects-pike-river-families-plan-to-recover-more-evidence
No it clearly is not. The next steps will be to drill the bore holes and analyse the evidence.
So sorry… "should have added within the mine."
The Emperor has no clothes
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/political-beliefs-masquerading-as-science
That is a very penetrating article. Thanks.
Some related reading,
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=47506
Paul Krugman presents mainstream hubris.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=47555
Why the present mainstream view still presents only a very narrow perspective on deficit hawks.
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/?p=47579
What do deficit hawks think about criticism of their policy failures?
Interesting indeed.
More than interesting….fundamental.
IF confidence is lost there is nothing else to maintain that which underpins society
Waiting for the first Canterbury farmer to refuse ,"Socialistic" handouts from the ,"pretty socialist".
Waiting…..
Well put, was listening to the whining on RNZ this morning, nothing funny at all about family and animal lives being disrupted…but, I have not heard the air raid siren wind up like that since Auckland Chamber of Commerce rep Michael Barnett and Queenstown business reps performances during COVID lockdowns.
Wonder how those plains formed in the first place.
O yeah been happening for centuries.
Aren't they good stout English plains brought from Merrie England by good stout English Yeomen gentleman farmers then?
Internet comment of the day.
Though to be fair, there is going to have to be huge amounts spent on flood protection and proofing in the years ahead.
Maybe they could reinstate some of those wetlands that were drained…
Wonder who gets to pay for that..
Free market insurance companies will refuse to cover flood prone areas as they have done in the past
KJT, Lol Lol.
For every time there is a purpose under heaven,
A time to cry
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/300322473/oh-god-sorry-dunedin-mayor-gets-emotional-on-climate-change-and-floods
Dunedin 's cycleways around the harbour from Port Chalmers all the way around to Portobello are outstanding assets for its citizens.
Not if they get inundated by water as most of the cycle way is low laying.
They have been built up for sea level change this century.
You have a look at how high the tide gets around the harbour now it just needs a moderate wind and parts are covered at higher tides.
No cyclists on the road during those times.
I'm there tomorrow I'll have a look.
How much did they raise the path? High tide and the right wind used to see waves coming over the top at Mac Bay.
The rebuild looked like it was over a metre from the original.
I could just ask Fulton Hogan I guess.
I’d love to know. It was such a great thing to build, and am curious what they decided was optimal height.
Worsening climate is baked in now whatever Hawkins does at a local level about emissions reduction. No reason not to do it of course – but a lot of money will have to go into mitigation and retreat. Otherwise we will have a social disaster as people can no longer afford insurance and are wiped out financially, physically and emotionally by floods, droughts, etc.
Hawkins popularity has gone right down because people don't like the reality of changing habits to mitigate climate change such as giving up heavy reliance on cars .
Most people are complaining about congestion and lack of car parks many who supported Hawkins just to keep the ultra right Vandervis out have now changed their allegiance.
Vandervis continues to play the victim in his obsessive drive to become mayor by being anti everything pulling every publicity stunt he can.
Dunedin has ample car parking, and both the consultant who measured it and the Council are in agreement over that.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/council-backs-parking-consultant
Everyone who cares about climate change has to be prepared to fight their councils on it, often for years at a time.
What is “ultra right” supposed to mean here? Is that a lazy term you use for people whom you dislike and/or disagree with?
No it's because I know his politics his connections.Lee wants to sell off all council owned companies.
His over the top complaints cost rate payers millions in Deltas unauthorized developments in Queenstown and Christchurch forcing the council to sell of those developments at fire sale prices.
Lee is all about Lee no one else
That does not qualify him as "ultra right", which tends to mean something quite different and altoegther more dubious.
Don't know about "ultra right", but here's Dunedin city councillor and mayoral candidate Lee Vandervis on climate change (in 2013).
People (and the climate) can change. Maybe Cr Vandervis is just misunderstood?
Councillors united against Vandervis
Outspoken councillor costs own council $94,000 – in part down to a $12 parking ticket
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/dunedin-city-councillor-lee-vandervis-walks-out-of-meeting-over-lying-accusation/CSX4S2JB3VGB42B62Q7RJACOO4/
Any links about that?
Sacha Purely annecdotal from a very well connected Dunedinite.
In other words, unsubstantiated innuendo AKA fake news.
I know many hundreds of dunedinites from dunners and the mood has definitely changed.I have been involved in dunedin politics probably longer than you have been a live.
[fixed typo in user name again]
I’ll have to take your word for it and even though yours is a ‘ironclad argument’, it is in dire want and need of factual evidence to replace your anecdotal hearsay.
If you follow the news down here,that is what many folk are thinking.Hawkins is not up too it,may well move into central politics(Green party)with even less affect. As for Lee I think that boat has sailed,to disruptive.Their will be a new mayor and Deputy after next elections.
Give us a link with something more substantial, please. A poll, a survey, something a little more tangible. I have no idea what I should imagine with “many folk”; tens, hundreds, thousands, some, a few?
Google is your friend,their is plenty over the last couple of years,by the way when did a many become a few, do I have to school you about local body politics. But my point is my view and as I have little data per month* I wont be bothering to link,an further to that I'm not good at it,so mute point,sorry.
*.. only cell phone tethering.Oh I'm trying to learn,computers do my head in,so as stated above"sorry"
No , Google is not my friend; I can find whatever I like, based on all the info Google has on me. You didn’t give any helpful hints either to start a search.
I like to draw attention to the fact that stories, messages, memes and what have are started and spread on the internet by people with an agenda and/or personal bias. For this reason, I cannot take personal anecdote from an anonymous commenter seriously and nor should I or anybody else here, for that matter.
If someone wants to spout a personal opinion on Hawkins, they are free to do so, within the rules of this site. However, they cannot speak for or on behalf of others or make unsubstantiated claims about a ‘change of personal opinion’ as if these are facts!
I live in dunners.
Not sure Hawkins popularity has changed much. The water thing was a bit of a hit, but the griping about carparks from VdV and a couple of other councillors isn't making a dent.
I suspect Hawkins will do another term as mayor (to prove it wasn't luck) then go to central government.
Good to hear a personal view from somebody who actually lives in Dunners.
"Good to hear a personal view……..I'm not going to get into an argument with (comment/mod),only too say read what was said and have a look at links already provided by others.
……..from somebody who actually lives in Dunners. Is that right
edit
Exactly right AB. Oh hell, can some authorities really grasp the enormity of problems, and make plans to help the unfortunates to make reasoned withdrawal plans? Some of these people's houses on low lying areas need to be used as rentals now, while the owners seek permanent places on higher ground, and prepare for a loss on their lower house when it must be abandoned.
The local councils could build expertise in helping larger houses be converted to two or three sub-units, build granny flats at rear, subdivide or cross lease larger sections.
But most of all check with Master Builders or other reliable source on your choice of builder. They are dropping out leaving people in deep trauma. I suggest have a small basic plan that allows for built-on rooms side or over, with Council approval so that foundations are secure. Think about privacy from close neighbours too, Council might not care.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/125261794/nelson-builder-disappears-leaving-clients-thousands-of-dollars-in-the-lurch
Apr2016 https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/78954925/christchurch-couple-left-reeling-after-stonewood-mortgage-deal
Council could assist with plans and info. for building sturdy units on steep ground:
https://fraemohs.co.nz/building-on-slope/
https://designeverest.com/blog/hillside-home-projects-their-challenges/
Look at the Finnish designs we were trialling in the 1960s before we ran out of individual initiative.
https://www.designboom.com/architecture/rare-futuro-ufo-house-hits-the-market-new-zealand-11-05-2020/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/may/10/futuro-ideal-home-wasnt The oil crisis of 1973, which tripled the price of plastic, was the final nail in the coffin. And there went another piece of 1960s utopianism.
For every time there is a purpose under heaven,
What has been is been,what has done is done,there is nothing new under the sun.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/WR004i005p00909
Hi Poisson, (great name by the way)
It is notable that the Southland floods were preceded by months of drought, a phenomonen, which in the link you provided, is called the 'Noah Effect', but which I suspect will soon become to be called the 'New Normal'.
What will the government do with this piece of hard fact that can't be dithered around?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/443869/marsden-point-closure-could-expose-nz-to-fuel-security-risks-report-says
The government has been warned that closing down the country's only oil refinery could expose New Zealand to fuel security risks.
The Energy Minister said these risks are not significant, but a consultant's report to the government says the opposite.
The risks centre on reconfigured supply chain, meaning the country would hold significantly less fuel because it held no crude awaiting processing.
Let's NOT go for a system based on 'best practice', best efficiency, and without unexpected outcomes not allowed for, and a childish belief that everything will turn out all right if we just rely on our allies, friends and regular friendly business partners. Here is another opportunity to abandon the country's best interests gummint – leave us wide open as you so often do, no probs, we'll manage, the Little Smart Country with a big mouth!?
For us more risk averse older types, jettisoning the capability for local refining is a big step. The refinery will be decommissioned with various cleanups needed and no quick route back to refining crude. I am close to Marsden Pt by geography and personal contacts. Operators knew something was up last year when fresh catalyst vital to the process, and worth millions was not re-ordered.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_reforming
One of Muldoon’s Think Big projects is basically going to be a storage unit with a pipe to Auckland. Marsden B was never fully commissioned, and the last recent Refining NZ CEO buggered off because the Board would not entertain revising B into solar and other green energy.
The retail petrol companies have certainly done well out of Refining NZ–gifted to them by one Roger Douglas and friends.
Can we buy it for $1?
How we deal with roading will also be interesting… where will our bitumen come from?
Personally I believe it's a mistake as is stopping natural gas production.
What we should do is look to ban imports and have very tight nationalized production here with world leading environmental standards at the ability to use price control to reduce usage.
Stopping local production is effectively just 'off shoring' our emissions looks good on paper here globally speaking at absolute best neutral at worst we start importing say coal on a bunker oil burning ship…
Marsden Point's closure fits very well with the Government's climate change policies.
We will be entirely at the mercy of international markets and prices for all kinds of petroleum products from kerosene, aviation fuel, the different petrols, diesel, bunker oil, and all the way to plastics and tar. And TBF that's a good thing: those regular crises will be largely unhedged apart from some overseas reserve contracts – contracts which mean little in a genuine crisis a we've seen from the Covid vaccine distributions.
So every time there's an oil supply crisis or price spike, those combustion engine alternative debates get fresh alerts in neon lights.
We're in a completely different context to Think Big, which was all about increased energy self sufficiency following the oil spikes of the late 1970s.
I hope that the next step isn't to take up Breatharianism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inedia
Our export sectors are already remarkably comparatively efficient in terms of petroleum inputs.
Our cities however are our sinkholes of inefficiency, which is why it's worth all the dreary effort to make private cars less attractive.
Oh can we expect private cars to be treated like tobacco and priced higher and higher and made more difficult to obtain can we?
The entire electrification process is fueled by fossil fuel … without security of supply the process simply cannot be brought to fruition.
No Diesel => no transport => no wind farms => no more hydro capacity built => no more rail network => no more FOOD
Most Tier 1 construction companies are replacing their light truck fleets to prepare for the Climate Commission targets. Won't happen all this year, but they know that if they don't demonstrate they are going Net Zero, they just aren't going to win the next job.
Those are the people that use the trucks to transport those great wind farm components. I'm building one at the moment.
So no, your causal chain doesn't have any bearing on the reality on the ground.
Someone may have noted this but just in case … We may have to deflate the Transtasman bubble.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/443849/victoria-authorities-consider-extending-covid-19-lockdown-over-rapid-virus-spread
The state reported six new locally acquired coronavirus cases on Wednesay taking the outbreak to 60 cases.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said on Tuesday night that the virus was moving "faster than any other strain we've dealt with".
"We're seeing transmissions in settings and circumstances we've never seen before," he said.
His comments came as a new positive case was identified in a Victorian who had travelled to New South Wales and back again, prompting a whole raft of new exposure sites.
For the first time, health officials have seen four or five cases where people were infected by strangers by casual contacts.
Victoria's Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said the interactions were "very fleeting contact" and quite different to what Australia is used to seeing…
"What we're seeing now clearly is people who are, they're brushing past each other in a small shop, they're going around a display home, they're looking at phones in a Telstra shop," he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/443894/rbnz-to-wear-cost-of-monetary-policies-and-economic-support
So. if money supply tightened then inflation might go up? And might inflation being low be part cause of those without personal debt having a field day and those with debt in 'credit' cards, be most subject to the other inflation rise in housing and food?
It can be important to understand that terms may have different meanings in different contexts. As that piece explains the RBNZ has done a lot of spending to help make the govts deficit spending happen fluidly. This is called a cost, but in practice its only the RBNZ which issues these monies anyway. If you understand the RBNZ spending as the countries house hold chore roster, then that cost here means it has recorded more chores being completed recently. That should also align with the temporary decision to purchase a lot of output in the form of a wage subsidy, while the govt budget is typically mostly focused on buying public goods. The salient point for why this analogy is a better understanding of 'cost' here is that people understand that recording too many items on their chore roster doesn't bankrupt them into being unable to record additional chores.
In terms of inflation its going to be important to understand its a phenomenon of general price increases and not of relative changes in the price of different goods and services. Yes, this makes it contentious how to measure inflation as the aggregate price of which identified bundle of goods.
But it seems reasonable to expect inflation to go up only once the level of spending starts to push on productive capacity to deliver. At that point businesses might increase prices or they might further if wage increases cause a loss of their margins. The salient point being inflation will be caused by something which causes many businesses to decide to put their prices up.
It just doesn't seem that businesses pay much attention to the money supply when adjusting their prices.
Seeing it now, 7-13 % across the board in my industry with reviews in 3-6 months
Its more important to understand that the RBNZs bond purchases dont directly add money to the economy…and that any 'cost' depends upon what happens offshore and the relationship between the NZD and the major tradeable currencies…if and when those actions impact the cost of debt financing in the future are largely out of our hands.
"Its more important to understand that the RBNZs bond purchases dont directly add money to the economy…"
In what sense? These are the transactions,
1) the govt (usually the DMO) sells bonds to primary dealers, removing money from the economy in exchange for a bond and allowing the buyer to specify a price at which they buy.
2) the RBNZ buys these bonds on the secondary market, using its intrinsic spending capacity, and providing that money back to the bond seller. This usually happens at a small capital loss to the RBNZ so the primary dealers get a small profit for acting as intermediaries here.
3) At some similar time the treasury will spend the borrowed funds. If that happened before 1 then potentially the same funds were used for step 1 (in some sense).
But the point is that the RBNZ bond purchase directly put spending ability in the economies hands including a net profit on the DMO's initial borrowing.
Nic theNzer Could the Reserve Bank set up its own system for supplying credits to a government department or agency providing cheap housing loans to specific young adults rather than trying to influence banks in certain ways to do this. It is indirect and not very effectual. As the banks do not find it a good market, there is market failure here, and could the RB step up with a limited amount of capital to start to fill this gap?
Yes absolutely. I believe there are still provisions in the act where the finance minister can demand the RBNZ provides loans to the govt directly, for 6 months time frame. That the govt was not doing this was highlighted by Grant Robertson before QE was initiated.
Further with some changes in legislation the RBNZ could alternatively provide treasury with an unlimited overdraft on its account in the payments system.
But banks and other primary dealers seem quite willing to participate in this given the miniscule risk small profit terms.
Thats in terms of govt spending.
In terms of housing loans, yes, thats basically how student loans work. Though the govt would probably need to look at the credit conditions it lends on a lot closer. As the BNZ bank failure showed there should be an independent regulator somewhere in the mix.
The bond purchases are from institutional investors and increases their collateral but not their spending ability as that collateral remains within the RBNZ reserve accounts…the only spending capacity that leaks into the system is through the minimal commissions to the approved traders and increased private bank lending promoted by the reduced interest rates…assuming the economy can service the additional lending and has a purpose for it and the banks are confident their capital is not at risk.
On the Government side (fiscal) the increased borrowing capacity theoretically will lead to greater government spending into the economy but we know how slow that spending is getting out the door….especially when you have one eye on interest rates and debt serviceability.
And meanwhile you are reducing the spending capacity of savers with the reduced interest earnings on investment
So its in a M3 vs M1 sense. But even in this case those payments all increase spending power. If at step 2 the institution sells for a depositor then there is a credit to their M3 account. If its for the institution then that institution holds more cleared funds eventually if they are not spent that becomes profit to be paid out.
And of course 3 is crediting accounts also raising M3.
Finally M1 is a component of M3 anyway.
So your statement which I quoted is simply incorrect.
M3 includes money NOT in circulation….for the reason outlined above
Sure along with money in circulation. But thats simply irrelevant to your claim. When the RBNZ makes a bond purchase the digital equivalent of cash becomes property of a non-government institution and its spending ability goes up. This refutes your statement.
Except as collateral in the reserve accounts it is not available to inject into the market.
You refute nothing….the RBNZ has bought approximately 50 billion in bonds in just over a year (roughly 15% of GDP) …..where is it? It is not circulating in the economy, it is sitting within the RBNZ reserve accounts….an asset swap, as the RBNZ themselves stated. Collateral.
Your being confused by monetary aggregates not behaving in the economy as expected. The turnover rate of money can and does change. For obvious reasons in the last year savings rates went up significantly and that is where the govt income boost ended up. It turned out in net that the balance was about right and there has only been a small decrease in employment. But knowing how these transactions work its absolutely clear non-govt institutions spending power went up. Just because your idea about how spending works is wrong doesn't mean the aggregates are wrong.
Thanks Nic the NZer. I'll read that a number of times, and pick up different points each time, and finally I won't see through the glass darkly as the saying goes.
If housing Cost's were put back in the CPI inflation would measured at 3 to 4% and the Reserve bank would have to put interest rates up to counter the oversupply of money.But then in an anaemic world economy it would make it harder for NZ to trade as our $ would go up as well. Making exports dearer.
The link covers what is and isn't counted in CPI measures.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.rnz.co.nz/article/9fbc0eaa-f571-46b2-bd19-fd6c1304babe
If its a case of putting back in these items at which time was CPI 'correctly' measured?
While 3-4% would be high if the RBNZ could get inflation inside the 2-3% band it would be meeting its present inflation targets.