Remilk, an Israeli pioneer of bio-brewing “dairy-identical” proteins, has just announced plans to build a large plant on Zealand with an output equivalent to the milk from 50,000 cows a year. It estimates its process, compared with farming, will use 1 percent of the land, generate 4 percent of the greenhouse gases and use 5 percent of the water.
ReMilk’s big leap into commercial production is well-backed by investors. A few months ago, it raised US$120 million in its Series B funding. It’s in good company. Perfect Day, Real Deal Milk, Change Foods, Imagindairy, Formo and betterland foods are just some of the other companies abroad making rapid progress on animal-free and climate compatible dairy foods.
Rod's referring to "the Danish island." I thought Abel Tasman named this country after a Dutch province, but perhaps the name gets around a fair bit. Anyway, Muldoon told the nation to wean itself off traditional dependency on Britain, so it switched to dependency on China instead. Rod's pointing to a way traditionalists here could get off switching from one tit to another and become independent instead.
But why would ReMilk invest in Kalundborg, a town of 16,000 people in Danish dairy country 100km west of Copenhagen? Because for some decades the town and its businesses have been on a journey towards deep sustainability. In doing so, they are very strategic, highly collaborative and fully commercial long-term thinkers and doers.
The town calls its project The Symbiosis because waste products, surplus energy and other by-products from some 20 businesses become inputs for others. Just in the past five years, these relationships have saved 4 million cubic metres of groundwater by using surface water, cut CO2 emissions by 586,000 tonnes and recycled 62,000 tonnes of residual materials.
Danes smart, kiwis dumb. No, I take that back. Kiwi capitalists, National & Labour parties – the establishment – dumb.
Since 2015, Symbiosis members have cut their CO2 emissions by 80 percent and the local energy supply has become CO2 neutral. The main power plant, owned by Ørsted, is the largest in Denmark and once the largest coal-fired one, now runs on biomass. It supplies electricity and heat to local homes and businesses, and steam to two local pharmaceutical plants. The relationships in The Symbiosis are all commercial and mutually-beneficial ones negotiated between the parties.
They extend well beyond the industrial park to include the likes of some farmers, a soil remediation company, a fish processing plant, recycling facilities, other businesses and the municipal government. This large commercial community is renowned for its high degree of trust and collaboration…
Our resource use, production systems and supply chains remain unrelentingly linear and wasteful. Thankfully, though, we have some pioneers. One is the Sustainable Business Network, which recently launched the country’s first Circular Economy Directory; another is Āmiomio Aotearoa, a circular economy research project at Waikato University. A third to watch is the Ngāwha Innovation and Enterprise Park under construction outside Kaikohe in the Far North.
Thank you Frank. We need more of these Circular economies and less of the Contact Acts race to the bottom model.
Learning to see money as an exchange mechanism and resources as finite.
Investing needs to be in areas that sustain not destroy.
Every industry changes and the thinking evolves pressured by better ways, and people drive that change in spite of the diehards.
The Ngawha Industrial Park got $20m for the Provincial Growth Fund, so this government can claim it. The western and central Far North need all the help that they can get.
The most complete agricultural research-led city we have is Palmerston North, where Massey University has massive research foundations and spinoffs that rotate around DairyNZ and Fonterra's global R&D headquarters.
The rate of patent growth and spinoff production is remarkably small for what is put into it. And there's not a native tree in sight for many kilometres.
Well, let's see the minister in charge actually doing so to the media & public! I recall Anderton promoting regional development, so it ain't as if mainstreamers are incapable of seeing the need – it's more as is there's a problem with the doing.
Nothing wrong with govts marketing their achievements as models & exemplars of how to make progress. I've had the distinct impression with this govt that pandemic focus has too much distracted them from general governance – they need to get a balanced perspective on things. No point deferring pr, then doing a boast in election year. Embed perception of achievements in the public mind now.
Many Maori have been held back over the years from better jobs because of that saying. Unwilling to convey at interview how good they were and what skills they have.
Some of the fault lies with a western style of interview but I've seen really good people miss out many times on jobs they should have got and incompetent people who can promote themselves at interview well get the job instead.
Ok, thanks. I wonder why the spelling got changed. That must have happened in the 18th century, presumably. Map-makers, English, not Dutch. Map used by Cook.
From the "Win Friends and Influence People (not)" file:
Russia's Foreign Minister, Lavrov really upset the Israelis by claiming that Hitler had Jewish origins. The point of the claim was to make a case that Ukrainian president Zelensky could also be a Nazi, despite having Jewish ancestors.
Up until now Israel had remained neutral with respect to the Ukraine conflict due to co-operation between Israel and Russia with respect to the local conflicts that Israel has an interest in. However, this sort of comment from Lavrov probably is the most inflammatory thing he could say to swing Israel behind in Ukraine.
Given Israel's own military expertise and innovation forged in existential conflicts against much larger forces over the last 70 years, Russia probably doesn't need Israel sharing its knowledge with Ukraine, arming them with weaponry, or offering training to Ukrainian forces.
The actions of Israel itself towards the Palestinians leans more towards ethnic cleansing than moral rectitude
They are certainly forgiving of Zelensky's terrible gaffes.
Likud MK Yuval Steinitz said it “borders on Holocaust denial.”
“War is always a terrible thing… but every comparison between a regular war, as difficult as it is, and the extermination of millions of Jews in gas chambers in the framework of the Final Solution is a complete distortion of history,” he said in a statement.
A number of Religious Zionism MKs also criticized Zelensky, with the far-right opposition party’s leader, Bezalel Smotrich, slamming the Holocaust comparisons and accusing the Ukrainian leader of trying “to rewrite history and erase the involvement of the Ukrainian people in the extermination of Jews.”
Yes, I realise my post could branch off into the Palestinian issue.
I am not well qualified to comment on that so won’t, other than to say that Israel and Russia co-operate around Syria. So, I guess, from a Palestinian perspective, any breakdown between Russia and Israel has to be positive for them if it means Israel has to focus more of its own resources on its issues with Syria.
To reach Gorge River head south from Haast & walk for a couple of days. Chris Long gives us a glimpse into life as a child there:
One of my earliest memories is of helping Mum and Dad collect sedge-grass seed to make flour. Sedge grass grows along the sides of the airstrip and on each spiky stalk is a marble-sized seed that looks a bit like a light brown, fluffy ball. We would dry the seeds in a metal camping pot behind the chimney of our wood fire. Once they were dry, Mum would grind them into flour. If we had wheat, she would also dry and grind that to make heavy wholegrain flour and I would watch intently as she mixed some of it together with the sedge-grass flour, yeast, salt and water in her stainless- steel bowl to make a thick brown dough. Mum would leave the dough to rise for an hour while she stoked the fire with dry wood and placed a large aluminium camp oven on top of the firebox to preheat.
Then she’d bake the bread for two hours in a round enamel baking pan, turning it over just before it was done to finish cooking the top. The bread from that camp oven smelled so good and tasted delicious with its thick, crunchy crust. We didn’t always have much to put on the bread when I was young, but we might have some butter or jam or canola oil and that was extra exciting. We always had Vegemite because hunters would leave it in the hut next door.
We also ate bull kelp. The huge ten-metre swells that come straight from the Southern Ocean regularly tear clumps from the rocks and after a big storm we would always search the beaches for freshly washed-up kelp. My favourite way to eat it was to dry 30-centimetre lengths behind the fire for a few days until it was crunchy. I loved the salty flavour that tasted like the sea. Mum would also grind it up to make kelp powder, which I see is now very expensive in some shops. Dad liked to make a pudding out of fresh kelp tentacles chopped into three-centimetre lengths that floated in a milky broth.
Almost all the food we ate in the early years came from the wilderness around Gorge River. This was not only because we wanted to be self-sufficient but also because with an income of just $2000 a year we couldn’t afford to fly food in from the supermarket by plane.
While Mum did most of the gardening, Dad would do the fishing (with me always by his side). Whenever the weather allowed, he would set a gill net in the river mouth at low tide, and he would retrieve it the next morning. A net is more efficient than a fishing rod at Gorge River and in summer he would usually return with a few yellow-eyed mullet or a big kahawai in the bucket. During the winter months it’s harder to catch fish in the river and he would often have to go to the south end of the airstrip to catch ‘kelpies’ (blue-striped wrasse) on a hand line in the rock pools on the incoming tide. Some days he would stand down there surrounded by crashing waves for hours through the middle of a cold southerly storm just to catch us enough fish for dinner. He would never give up.
I saw the tv story on NZ's remotest family years ago. Chris has since become a globetrotter, travelling to 66 countries so far. His dad dropped out of medical school & travelled in India before settling in the hut in 1980. His mum was a microbiologist. Both his parents have since had their autobiographies published.
As it happens the reason why Robert found Gorge River is because I told him about the place and gave him a map of the area. An old 1 inch to the 4 mile map titled Cascade.
Robert grew up in Toowoomba and is the cousin of a very old friend of mine. We met in Auckland sometime around 1976 just after I got back from a season tramping and climbing in the SI. We naturally connected and spent the evening looking at maps. He asked a lot of questions and it was when I suggested to him that the Cascade River was really the last major SI river without a road bridge anywhere along its length that I think he became intrigued by the area. I had also seen the mining company hut at the mouth of the Gorge River and showed him a picture of it.
He left a day or so later and I never heard much more of him until 2001 when I had taken a break from work that summer and was travelling down the West Coast on my own. Spent a night at Haast and decided it might be interesting to visit. The two day walk down the coast is a very cool tramp (read – major boulder hop). When I finally got to GR it was late in the day and the tide was full slack, so I waded chest deep across the lagoon entrance and plodded dripping wet the 60m or so up to their home.
Robert was in his little workshop at the entrance, looked up, immediately recognised me – and said 'So you want your map back?'
Stayed a couple of days before returning to the road end via a much more challenging route up the GR, crossing over into the upper Cascade and pack-floating down the three major gorges.
During the winter months it’s harder to catch fish in the river and he would often have to go to the south end of the airstrip to catch ‘kelpies’ (blue-striped wrasse) on a hand line in the rock pools on the incoming tide. Some days he would stand down there surrounded by crashing waves for hours through the middle of a cold southerly storm just to catch us enough fish for dinner.
The memory most clearly stuck in my mind was fishing for those exact same kelpies on those rocks one evening with their son Christian, who was about 10 at the time. We both used handlines and within about 20 min had at least 6 fish for dinner and breakfast.
His natural self-composure, competence and ease in the landscape made me realise that while I was comfortable visiting – he was totally at home. That growing up with the natural world, encountering hardship and risk, learning to accept and manage this was something most children in the modern world are very much missing out on.
While Robert had clearly chosen to turn away from modernity as much as he could, they were never hermits. They enjoyed my visit as much as I did, and there was never a sense of rejecting the outside world. Indeed they saw many visitors, trampers, pilots and fishermen during the course of a year. During periods of rough weather they would be isolated physically – but never socially or intellectually. Part of their success I think is this realisation that they could control their relationship with the outside world, but not sever it entirely. Indeed they recognised their ongoing dependence on it.
When I was there they had just started installing solar and were moving beyond the early primitive stage of their life. The children were going to leave home one day, and they understood the need to make that transition possible for them. Of course both parents were highly educated and had diligently worked to pass much of this on.
Interesting comment Dennis – I could write a great deal more about that visit. Of all the things Robert and Catherine did, I suspect their children would be what they could be most proud of.
This archived story from 12 years back includes the visitor thing (something strange happened to the photo in the archive process). Having the airstrip adjacent is remarkable – wonder what originated that. Did he tell you?
Great story Red. As someone who has tramped the "major boulder hop" with a friend from the Cascade River to Gunn's Camp in 1985 (and then up the Deadman's Track to Glenorchy) I can relate to this. We heard about Robert on the way, I think when we stayed in the Gorge River hut.
Robert’s son Christian Long, who wrote the book quoted by Dennis above, was interviewed on RNZ a few weeks ago-I think it was on nine to noon-it was really interesting and backs up your post as to his self-composure and that the family never really tried to leave civilisation behind. Indeed Christian went to Mount Aspiring college here in Wanaka for a year.
I've watched a few videos on this family with some envy. Not sure if it's covered in the book but I wonder how he has, or if he requires permission to occupy this hut and live on the land. Assuming he doesn't own either.
So there must have been a caretaker living there once upon a time! The tramper's hut is adjacent – a separate building – photo of that on the DOC website. The airstrip gets used regularly (according to the Longs) by those who can afford to fly in – they probably stay in that hut. Not many squatters achieve long-term habitation, eh?
Thank for that info Dennis. That really is quite incredible. Amazing that no-one has taken the pip somewhere along the line and booted them out. Good on them, they have made the most of it.
I remember a film about the takeover of Greece by an army coup that likened the left wing in Greece as a cancer that needed cutting out.
The title escapes me now but the central image of a cancer invasion really stayed and should serve as a warning , too, that the use of allusion and comparative imagery is a two-edged sword.
Words are a sword according to how they are arranged.
That is why I said ''it seems''. But other sources are saying similar if you have a look around. I guess all will become clear if Putin goes off the scene in a few days and the other guy takes his place as is speculated.
Pipsqueak has problems: "I have a problem with poverty, I have a problem with people lacking opportunity…"
"Where does that come from," Swarbrick interjected, "that comes from that inequality." But Seymour disagreed saying, "No, it comes from having an education system that is not engaging kids, it comes from having an infrastructure funding regime that makes it hard to get homes built and it comes from a lack of investment and innovation that creates high paying interesting jobs that are globally connected."
Those three groups that are causing his problems: education bureaucrats & teachers stuck in the 19th century, politicians & capitalists providing too little funds, and capitalists lying down on the job instead of investing & innovating.
Which rather points to another problem he's got. Inability to tell the media that these groups are making his life difficult. Could be that he doesn't want to alienate them? Obfuscate instead. Problem: obfuscating makes voters think he's Labour. Poor bugger, he's surrounded by them. It's like a boxthorn thicket. Perceptive viewers probably thought he was mental. "Hey, dude's just advocating more neoliberalism like National & Labour. Why would anyone think he could do it any better?" Still, if he can split the neoliberal vote three ways, he's providing a classic re-run of divide & rule – which will appeal to conservatives. Chloe didn't notice.
If she had, pointing out that almost 40 years of neoliberal failure produced the inequality problem would have impressed plenty of viewers. They would reflect on it later: "Hmm, things have indeed got worse since the mid-1980s." They'd been getting worse under Muldoon too, however. It's the system, not the ideology.
Useful reminder from Minister Roberston this morning on the recycling of proceeds from the Emissions Trading Scheme into the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
This will fund the programmes required to meet the targets set by the Climate Commission. The big polluters paying in will be the likes of Fonterra and BP and whomever now owns Z.
It will work very much like the National Land Transport Fund for transport projects, where fuel excise and road user charges are fully dedicated to transport investment. ie can't be robbed for other projects.
It's going to generate $4.5 billion to 2025.
I'd expect we'd get quite a bit more detail in the budget beyond the first go from Ardern's initial 'emissions reduction plan' which seems to have mostly gone on subsidising new electric cars. Ideally we'll get a first list of projects.
Not quite sure how it will work together with other funds like NLTF and Green Infrastructure Finance. Nor exactly which Department will administer and choose the projects. Likely the Infrastructure Commission will have a strong say, hopefully not MfE.
But if you want to think big and bold, here's a big new funding pot to grab.
The comparison between Robertson's grasp of the way forward and Luxon's griping speech with no concrete suggestions. The Herald and other Publications "moved on", and have enlarged on Robertson's take.
I think the next Poll might show a slackening in the slide. The answers you wanted are rolling in Ad.
If Roberston goes the usual Labour-Green way of big spending promises way into the future, versus National's way of short term tax cuts, National will win the next election.
It's not whether Robertson is generating an answer, it's whether he has the right question.
The American Taliban strikes again, and why elections matter.
The US Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe vs. Wade, and if Alito's comments are any guide is pretty open on turning back the clock on decriminalising homosexuality and getting rid of same-sex marriage.
Does anyone know why Winston Peters has been been trespassed from the Parliament grounds for a period of two years?
Are all people known to have simply visited the area at the time of the protests also being trespassed? I presume all those known to have actually occupied the area for days have received the same order.
If occupying the grounds was illegal, is merely visiting there punishable in a lesser way by a trespass order?
The Green Party has removed a rule which requires one of its co-leaders to be male, which the party says affirms its commitment to provide leadership opportunities for non-binary and intersex people.
The party originally had a requirement to have one male co-leader and one female co-leader. One co-leader still needs to be female, however now the other person can be of any gender. They have also included a rule that one co-leader is Māori.
The move was part of constitutional considerations decided at a special general meeting. It was also decided to adopt a te ao Māori organisational framework within the party, create a new party council to provide leadership and to formally recognise the role of Green Party members who are on local councils.
So it's the end of the era in which the Greens envisaged gaining broad public support. Life on the margins of politics is their terminal choice. Sad. Their learning around the consequences of using an extreme-left posture has been zero – all the periods when they rose above the initial 7% of 1990 were proven to be a bubble, blown away by a fresh political wind a few years later.
Can they survive as the Cinderella party, perpetually dependent on ugly sisters for a role in govt? Possibly – that depends on other minor parties failing to become centrist or the dumb & dumber mainstreamer parties exhibiting sufficient competence to impress centrists again. The pc vote is only worth a few per cent so it's an own goal.
Niche marketing. Doesn't really work in politics, where traditionally the broad church ethos prevails – that's why Labour & National copy each other all the time.
So late the year before last they censored an 80 yr old feminist & I decided not to renew my membership. Discriminating against women is stupid.
Now they're sending the signal that they want to discriminate against men too. As if men hadn't already been alienated by years of petty drivel from the Greens! Apparently they felt there weren't enough nails in the male vote coffin.
It has never talked to males in the language they understand. It hasn't even tried to do that. Okay, I'll concede that Rod Donald did eventually figure it out – but Russel Norman never did & James only does so on pragmatism – not via lingo – and that isn't sufficient (due to him not doing centrist framing). Female Green leaders have also been blind to the problem, of course.
Tonal, mainly. I suspect it emerged from biological signalling originally. Operates similarly to emotional intelligence (which most men lack). But I agree that the two points you made are part of the whole.
If one co-leader is required to identify as a female – they could end up with 2 blokes. It will be interesting to see how they define "female". I bet they won't be able to define "woman".
constitution currently uses the term female (which isn't defined), and doesn't say anything about identifying. Am very interested to see what the new wording is.
Greens are tracking at 9% and would need a managerial fuckup of 2017 proportions not to get more seats than last time.
Their vote is so solid they could constitutionally require every candidate to be a trans-sexual dolphin sucking harpooned whale blood and they'd still poll 9%.
I tend to agree. Mostly it's about whether current Labour voters will go Green in 2023, and that will be affected by many factors including those outside of the GP's control. eg how well Ardern and Labour are doing.
I am someone who has voted left my entire life starting with Values, been a Green Party member off an on, and done a stint as a branch co-convener. I am a grey hair who tried to do the mahi and contribute, not just talk. But in recent years I have lost confidence in the party and its leadership and consider it has lost its way.
I have progressively pulled back as it has continued to disappoint as it has shot itself in the foot again and again.
I then switched my energy to XR but it imploded.
I continued to vote Red/Green but can't anymore.
When the total focus should have been on climate collapse Davidson was reclaiming the C word. Gender issues are important but I sense that the Greens will be be pleased with their focus on gender/sex issues while the world drowns or goes up in flames around them.
I now have no party to vote for. Labour are unrepentant neoliberals who habitually over-promise and under-deliver while the Greens for me have become a joke. I tried to hang in there Weka, I really did.
I will vote on climate at the next election, there's just no question for me of not voting and allowing Labour or National to have all the power.
Gender issues are important but I sense that the Greens will be be pleased with their focus on gender/sex issues while the world drowns or goes up in flames around them.
This makes me wonder what you see? Is it what is in the MSM? The membership emails? The MP speeches or twitter or FB? Gender/sex is a pretty small part of what they do. Climate is a huge part of what they do.
Nice limb you've parked yourself out on the end of. Will the next poll saw it off? Put it this way, if the Green vote holds up they will feel vindicated, and you could be right. In that case I would reserve judgment until the poll after that. Folks often take a while to digest political changes. They mull stuff over awhile. I do agree that the sea-level news would tend to spook more people into supporting the Greens though.
Someone needs to tell the Russians it is not a good idea to smoke in an ammunition factory. Especially one that produces critical ammunition and components for the Russian war effort.
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The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
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 ...
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 New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
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. ...
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 ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
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: ...
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 ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
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Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
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Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
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Economist Rod Oram:
Rod's referring to "the Danish island." I thought Abel Tasman named this country after a Dutch province, but perhaps the name gets around a fair bit. Anyway, Muldoon told the nation to wean itself off traditional dependency on Britain, so it switched to dependency on China instead. Rod's pointing to a way traditionalists here could get off switching from one tit to another and become independent instead.
Danes smart, kiwis dumb. No, I take that back. Kiwi capitalists, National & Labour parties – the establishment – dumb.
Rod visited that last one, a model regional development, and goes into a bit of detail about it. Welcome good news! https://www.newsroom.co.nz/rod-oram-old-zealand-teaches-new-zealand-to-use-its-natural-resources-fully-without-waste
Thank you Frank. We need more of these Circular economies and less of the Contact Acts race to the bottom model.
Learning to see money as an exchange mechanism and resources as finite.
Investing needs to be in areas that sustain not destroy.
Every industry changes and the thinking evolves pressured by better ways, and people drive that change in spite of the diehards.
The Ngawha Industrial Park got $20m for the Provincial Growth Fund, so this government can claim it. The western and central Far North need all the help that they can get.
The most complete agricultural research-led city we have is Palmerston North, where Massey University has massive research foundations and spinoffs that rotate around DairyNZ and Fonterra's global R&D headquarters.
The rate of patent growth and spinoff production is remarkably small for what is put into it. And there's not a native tree in sight for many kilometres.
this government can claim it
Well, let's see the minister in charge actually doing so to the media & public! I recall Anderton promoting regional development, so it ain't as if mainstreamers are incapable of seeing the need – it's more as is there's a problem with the doing.
Nothing wrong with govts marketing their achievements as models & exemplars of how to make progress. I've had the distinct impression with this govt that pandemic focus has too much distracted them from general governance – they need to get a balanced perspective on things. No point deferring pr, then doing a boast in election year. Embed perception of achievements in the public mind now.
The kumara does not sing of its own sweetness, as Shane Jones often said.
Many Maori have been held back over the years from better jobs because of that saying. Unwilling to convey at interview how good they were and what skills they have.
Some of the fault lies with a western style of interview but I've seen really good people miss out many times on jobs they should have got and incompetent people who can promote themselves at interview well get the job instead.
Before you get to the interview, you have to get through the first filter first and be shortlisted and selected …
That too.
Zealand is the large Danish island that Copenhagen is on.
Zeeland is the Dutch province.
Ok, thanks. I wonder why the spelling got changed. That must have happened in the 18th century, presumably. Map-makers, English, not Dutch. Map used by Cook.
From the "Win Friends and Influence People (not)" file:
Russia's Foreign Minister, Lavrov really upset the Israelis by claiming that Hitler had Jewish origins. The point of the claim was to make a case that Ukrainian president Zelensky could also be a Nazi, despite having Jewish ancestors.
Up until now Israel had remained neutral with respect to the Ukraine conflict due to co-operation between Israel and Russia with respect to the local conflicts that Israel has an interest in. However, this sort of comment from Lavrov probably is the most inflammatory thing he could say to swing Israel behind in Ukraine.
Given Israel's own military expertise and innovation forged in existential conflicts against much larger forces over the last 70 years, Russia probably doesn't need Israel sharing its knowledge with Ukraine, arming them with weaponry, or offering training to Ukrainian forces.
Israel may have had a change of heart about supporting Ukraine.
https://youtu.be/_CoeRNJFcgo
Great if this is true. The recent comments by Lavrov may have made the decision a lot easier for them.
Going back to 2018 before this conflict…
Rights groups demand Israel stop arming neo-Nazis in Ukraine – Israel News – Haaretz.com
I imagine also the U.S is leaning on its dependencies to come to their…'party'.
Probably a bit outshone by the fact that Putin is behaving more like a Nazi than anyone else.
Hmmm
The actions of Israel itself towards the Palestinians leans more towards ethnic cleansing than moral rectitude
They are certainly forgiving of Zelensky's terrible gaffes.
“War is always a terrible thing… but every comparison between a regular war, as difficult as it is, and the extermination of millions of Jews in gas chambers in the framework of the Final Solution is a complete distortion of history,” he said in a statement.
A number of Religious Zionism MKs also criticized Zelensky, with the far-right opposition party’s leader, Bezalel Smotrich, slamming the Holocaust comparisons and accusing the Ukrainian leader of trying “to rewrite history and erase the involvement of the Ukrainian people in the extermination of Jews.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-lawmakers-tear-into-zelensky-for-holocaust-comparisons-in-knesset-speech/
And of course the Palestinians and Jews for Peace were singularly unimpressed
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/palestinians-slam-zelenskys-speech-knesset
https://www.jpost.com/bds-threat/article-700881
Yes, I realise my post could branch off into the Palestinian issue.
I am not well qualified to comment on that so won’t, other than to say that Israel and Russia co-operate around Syria. So, I guess, from a Palestinian perspective, any breakdown between Russia and Israel has to be positive for them if it means Israel has to focus more of its own resources on its issues with Syria.
The official opposition falls into line.
https://twitter.com/francis_scarr/status/1521187952461762566
To reach Gorge River head south from Haast & walk for a couple of days. Chris Long gives us a glimpse into life as a child there:
I saw the tv story on NZ's remotest family years ago. Chris has since become a globetrotter, travelling to 66 countries so far. His dad dropped out of medical school & travelled in India before settling in the hut in 1980. His mum was a microbiologist. Both his parents have since had their autobiographies published.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/69742208/meet-new-zealands-most-remote-family
As it happens the reason why Robert found Gorge River is because I told him about the place and gave him a map of the area. An old 1 inch to the 4 mile map titled Cascade.
Robert grew up in Toowoomba and is the cousin of a very old friend of mine. We met in Auckland sometime around 1976 just after I got back from a season tramping and climbing in the SI. We naturally connected and spent the evening looking at maps. He asked a lot of questions and it was when I suggested to him that the Cascade River was really the last major SI river without a road bridge anywhere along its length that I think he became intrigued by the area. I had also seen the mining company hut at the mouth of the Gorge River and showed him a picture of it.
He left a day or so later and I never heard much more of him until 2001 when I had taken a break from work that summer and was travelling down the West Coast on my own. Spent a night at Haast and decided it might be interesting to visit. The two day walk down the coast is a very cool tramp (read – major boulder hop). When I finally got to GR it was late in the day and the tide was full slack, so I waded chest deep across the lagoon entrance and plodded dripping wet the 60m or so up to their home.
Robert was in his little workshop at the entrance, looked up, immediately recognised me – and said 'So you want your map back?'
Stayed a couple of days before returning to the road end via a much more challenging route up the GR, crossing over into the upper Cascade and pack-floating down the three major gorges.
During the winter months it’s harder to catch fish in the river and he would often have to go to the south end of the airstrip to catch ‘kelpies’ (blue-striped wrasse) on a hand line in the rock pools on the incoming tide. Some days he would stand down there surrounded by crashing waves for hours through the middle of a cold southerly storm just to catch us enough fish for dinner.
The memory most clearly stuck in my mind was fishing for those exact same kelpies on those rocks one evening with their son Christian, who was about 10 at the time. We both used handlines and within about 20 min had at least 6 fish for dinner and breakfast.
His natural self-composure, competence and ease in the landscape made me realise that while I was comfortable visiting – he was totally at home. That growing up with the natural world, encountering hardship and risk, learning to accept and manage this was something most children in the modern world are very much missing out on.
While Robert had clearly chosen to turn away from modernity as much as he could, they were never hermits. They enjoyed my visit as much as I did, and there was never a sense of rejecting the outside world. Indeed they saw many visitors, trampers, pilots and fishermen during the course of a year. During periods of rough weather they would be isolated physically – but never socially or intellectually. Part of their success I think is this realisation that they could control their relationship with the outside world, but not sever it entirely. Indeed they recognised their ongoing dependence on it.
When I was there they had just started installing solar and were moving beyond the early primitive stage of their life. The children were going to leave home one day, and they understood the need to make that transition possible for them. Of course both parents were highly educated and had diligently worked to pass much of this on.
Interesting comment Dennis – I could write a great deal more about that visit. Of all the things Robert and Catherine did, I suspect their children would be what they could be most proud of.
Wonderful anecdote…Red.
Excellent, very much appreciated!
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/serendipity
This archived story from 12 years back includes the visitor thing (something strange happened to the photo in the archive process). Having the airstrip adjacent is remarkable – wonder what originated that. Did he tell you?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/visitors-keep-coming-for-faraway-family/YMM5PIXIOKHEMVZAARG43QCEUM/
Oh, and they have a website now: http://gorgeriver.org/index.html
Great story Red. As someone who has tramped the "major boulder hop" with a friend from the Cascade River to Gunn's Camp in 1985 (and then up the Deadman's Track to Glenorchy) I can relate to this. We heard about Robert on the way, I think when we stayed in the Gorge River hut.
Robert’s son Christian Long, who wrote the book quoted by Dennis above, was interviewed on RNZ a few weeks ago-I think it was on nine to noon-it was really interesting and backs up your post as to his self-composure and that the family never really tried to leave civilisation behind. Indeed Christian went to Mount Aspiring college here in Wanaka for a year.
Epic!
I've watched a few videos on this family with some envy. Not sure if it's covered in the book but I wonder how he has, or if he requires permission to occupy this hut and live on the land. Assuming he doesn't own either.
Looks like they're allowed to live there:
So there must have been a caretaker living there once upon a time! The tramper's hut is adjacent – a separate building – photo of that on the DOC website. The airstrip gets used regularly (according to the Longs) by those who can afford to fly in – they probably stay in that hut. Not many squatters achieve long-term habitation, eh?
Thank for that info Dennis. That really is quite incredible. Amazing that no-one has taken the pip somewhere along the line and booted them out. Good on them, they have made the most of it.
It seems that cancer is suffering from Putin and is going under surgery to have Putin removed from it. Hopefully cancer makes a full recovery.
Very clever TS. Never thought to sympathise with Cancer.
Rogue cells. The body politic has them, too.
I remember a film about the takeover of Greece by an army coup that likened the left wing in Greece as a cancer that needed cutting out.
The title escapes me now but the central image of a cancer invasion really stayed and should serve as a warning , too, that the use of allusion and comparative imagery is a two-edged sword.
Words are a sword according to how they are arranged.
Very good mac.
From your link…
'
Asked about the report Monday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it could not be confirmed.
“I have seen nothing that could help us corroborate that,” he said.
That is why I said ''it seems''. But other sources are saying similar if you have a look around. I guess all will become clear if Putin goes off the scene in a few days and the other guy takes his place as is speculated.
Be best for the world to have cancer win a battle with PooTin
Pipsqueak has problems: "I have a problem with poverty, I have a problem with people lacking opportunity…"
Those three groups that are causing his problems: education bureaucrats & teachers stuck in the 19th century, politicians & capitalists providing too little funds, and capitalists lying down on the job instead of investing & innovating.
Which rather points to another problem he's got. Inability to tell the media that these groups are making his life difficult. Could be that he doesn't want to alienate them? Obfuscate instead. Problem: obfuscating makes voters think he's Labour. Poor bugger, he's surrounded by them. It's like a boxthorn thicket. Perceptive viewers probably thought he was mental. "Hey, dude's just advocating more neoliberalism like National & Labour. Why would anyone think he could do it any better?" Still, if he can split the neoliberal vote three ways, he's providing a classic re-run of divide & rule – which will appeal to conservatives. Chloe didn't notice.
If she had, pointing out that almost 40 years of neoliberal failure produced the inequality problem would have impressed plenty of viewers. They would reflect on it later: "Hmm, things have indeed got worse since the mid-1980s." They'd been getting worse under Muldoon too, however. It's the system, not the ideology.
Useful reminder from Minister Roberston this morning on the recycling of proceeds from the Emissions Trading Scheme into the Climate Emergency Response Fund.
This will fund the programmes required to meet the targets set by the Climate Commission. The big polluters paying in will be the likes of Fonterra and BP and whomever now owns Z.
It will work very much like the National Land Transport Fund for transport projects, where fuel excise and road user charges are fully dedicated to transport investment. ie can't be robbed for other projects.
It's going to generate $4.5 billion to 2025.
I'd expect we'd get quite a bit more detail in the budget beyond the first go from Ardern's initial 'emissions reduction plan' which seems to have mostly gone on subsidising new electric cars. Ideally we'll get a first list of projects.
Not quite sure how it will work together with other funds like NLTF and Green Infrastructure Finance. Nor exactly which Department will administer and choose the projects. Likely the Infrastructure Commission will have a strong say, hopefully not MfE.
But if you want to think big and bold, here's a big new funding pot to grab.
The comparison between Robertson's grasp of the way forward and Luxon's griping speech with no concrete suggestions. The Herald and other Publications "moved on", and have enlarged on Robertson's take.
I think the next Poll might show a slackening in the slide. The answers you wanted are rolling in Ad.
If Roberston goes the usual Labour-Green way of big spending promises way into the future, versus National's way of short term tax cuts, National will win the next election.
It's not whether Robertson is generating an answer, it's whether he has the right question.
It appears we are paying for covid and inflation. Let us hope the budget has an affect.
The American Taliban strikes again, and why elections matter.
The US Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe vs. Wade, and if Alito's comments are any guide is pretty open on turning back the clock on decriminalising homosexuality and getting rid of same-sex marriage.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473
Does anyone know why Winston Peters has been been trespassed from the Parliament grounds for a period of two years?
Are all people known to have simply visited the area at the time of the protests also being trespassed? I presume all those known to have actually occupied the area for days have received the same order.
If occupying the grounds was illegal, is merely visiting there punishable in a lesser way by a trespass order?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/convoy-protest-fallout-winston-peters-says-hes-been-trespassed-from-parliament-blasts-banana-republic-decision/VYJQGFNHVBPSQ7KEUHMJNKEL4Q/
Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Winston would have been even more offended if he had not been trespassed.
Winston gets the political gift he sowed at the protest.
They just need a 4% showing in the next poll and it's HE'S BAAAAAACKK!!!
News flash!
Politicians make complete dicks of themselves….meanwhile in the real world shit happens.
This is hilarious! Winston Peters trespassed from Parliament!
Convoy protest fallout: Winston Peters says he's been trespassed from Parliament, blasts 'banana republic' decision – NZ Herald
This will be an interesting decision for the judge to make.
Gunpoint stand-off before teen burglar's finger cut off, court hears | Stuff.co.nz
Greens lunge for the pc vote:
So it's the end of the era in which the Greens envisaged gaining broad public support. Life on the margins of politics is their terminal choice. Sad. Their learning around the consequences of using an extreme-left posture has been zero – all the periods when they rose above the initial 7% of 1990 were proven to be a bubble, blown away by a fresh political wind a few years later.
Can they survive as the Cinderella party, perpetually dependent on ugly sisters for a role in govt? Possibly – that depends on other minor parties failing to become centrist or the dumb & dumber mainstreamer parties exhibiting sufficient competence to impress centrists again. The pc vote is only worth a few per cent so it's an own goal.
what's the problem exactly? (other than that you think it's a mistake politically).
what's the problem exactly?
Niche marketing. Doesn't really work in politics, where traditionally the broad church ethos prevails – that's why Labour & National copy each other all the time.
So late the year before last they censored an 80 yr old feminist & I decided not to renew my membership. Discriminating against women is stupid.
Now they're sending the signal that they want to discriminate against men too. As if men hadn't already been alienated by years of petty drivel from the Greens! Apparently they felt there weren't enough nails in the male vote coffin.
so your main objection is that this change discriminates against men?
how have men been alienated by the party in the past?
It has never talked to males in the language they understand. It hasn't even tried to do that. Okay, I'll concede that Rod Donald did eventually figure it out – but Russel Norman never did & James only does so on pragmatism – not via lingo – and that isn't sufficient (due to him not doing centrist framing). Female Green leaders have also been blind to the problem, of course.
Men speak a transactional language and view relationships and thus politics as closed & exclusive and a zero-sum game.
Women speak a relational language and view relationships and thus politics as open & inclusive and unlimited.
That it? Or are you referring to some other way of stereotyping of the sexes – there are so many to choose from.
Tonal, mainly. I suspect it emerged from biological signalling originally. Operates similarly to emotional intelligence (which most men lack). But I agree that the two points you made are part of the whole.
that's the start of an interesting post.
Yes, it would be interesting to read, but not easy to write.
Do they not grunt enough?
what would be some examples? I don't quite get what you mean other than very generally.
It's not the sort of thing one can readily give examples of. Not stereotypical stuff either. More subtle than that…
If it can't be named, how could people in the party address it?
By knowing that you need good male leadership as much as good female leadership. And selecting for both.
you haven't explained why though. Other than to say that you don't like the change and you believe that a significant number of men won't like it too.
If one co-leader is required to identify as a female – they could end up with 2 blokes. It will be interesting to see how they define "female". I bet they won't be able to define "woman".
constitution currently uses the term female (which isn't defined), and doesn't say anything about identifying. Am very interested to see what the new wording is.
https://elections.nz/assets/Party-rules/Green-Party-Rules-and-Constitution-May-2020.pdf
Here's Shaw from this afternoon,
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/james-shaw-on-green-party-constitution-changes/7VCMHFLRZ5NKV4FQR3ORWQ43XM/
Greens are tracking at 9% and would need a managerial fuckup of 2017 proportions not to get more seats than last time.
Their vote is so solid they could constitutionally require every candidate to be a trans-sexual dolphin sucking harpooned whale blood and they'd still poll 9%.
Lol, not quite, but I agree it's unlikely they would be out of parliament next election. Unless they did something like Turei's speech in 2017.
I think Denis is pointing to the idea that the Greens could grow over time. Does this policy make 20 MPs at some point more or less likely?
Depends much more on the Shaw Show in 2 weeks.
I tend to agree. Mostly it's about whether current Labour voters will go Green in 2023, and that will be affected by many factors including those outside of the GP's control. eg how well Ardern and Labour are doing.
Yeah I agree with that. Multiple influential factors at play, some cancelling each other out.
Way less likely. The Greens are going backwards.
I am someone who has voted left my entire life starting with Values, been a Green Party member off an on, and done a stint as a branch co-convener. I am a grey hair who tried to do the mahi and contribute, not just talk. But in recent years I have lost confidence in the party and its leadership and consider it has lost its way.
I have progressively pulled back as it has continued to disappoint as it has shot itself in the foot again and again.
I then switched my energy to XR but it imploded.
I continued to vote Red/Green but can't anymore.
When the total focus should have been on climate collapse Davidson was reclaiming the C word. Gender issues are important but I sense that the Greens will be be pleased with their focus on gender/sex issues while the world drowns or goes up in flames around them.
I now have no party to vote for. Labour are unrepentant neoliberals who habitually over-promise and under-deliver while the Greens for me have become a joke. I tried to hang in there Weka, I really did.
Its not an uncommon story.
what do you think the purpose of voting is?
I will vote on climate at the next election, there's just no question for me of not voting and allowing Labour or National to have all the power.
This makes me wonder what you see? Is it what is in the MSM? The membership emails? The MP speeches or twitter or FB? Gender/sex is a pretty small part of what they do. Climate is a huge part of what they do.
Nice limb you've parked yourself out on the end of. Will the next poll saw it off? Put it this way, if the Green vote holds up they will feel vindicated, and you could be right. In that case I would reserve judgment until the poll after that. Folks often take a while to digest political changes. They mull stuff over awhile. I do agree that the sea-level news would tend to spook more people into supporting the Greens though.
Details published of the horrific Malachi Rain Subecz murder case.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tauranga-child-killer-who-beat-burnt-5yo-malachi-subecz-was-his-carer/7I2CPADDM7P4A72QBXUBONVOFE/
Hard to read, but nothing compared to what that small boy to live through
This put me in mind of wee Ngatikaura Ngati. When death is a blessing. And not one person stepped between him and his murderer.
No words here.
Once again, Luxon turns up at QT in parliament with a pocket knife for the gun-fight.
Easy meat for Jacinda.
And Willis thinks that a deadpan face and a serious tone makes up for lack of hitting power in questions.
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=224833
https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=224835
Yes she knows her stuff.
Someone needs to tell the Russians it is not a good idea to smoke in an ammunition factory. Especially one that produces critical ammunition and components for the Russian war effort.
Brutal.
https://twitter.com/Glitterbeauties/status/1520031289251962881
https://www.tiktok.com/@yankaayankaa/video/7090647440138800426