Here’s me adopted triplet grandpooklets at 9 am one sunny morning, 8 January 2019.
Little River is up on the blocks. Big Bruv Shadow (born a week before the other two) is doing fine; bold as brass (I reckoned he’s a boy).
But River’s “twin” Summer is already growing bigger & despite my entreaties to the adults to “Feed River, feed River” the little one seems to get ignored at times.
I worried just a tad about the runty one, as ya do, when ya a grandparent. But she did ok in the end. All made it to young adult pukeko.
Your little family of pukeko and the rest have seen you through the lockdowns and given real pleasure, and filming their progress joy.
Opposite us we have a natural park with trees and a stream on its boundary and a wet area which has been protected. It is a designated dog walking park, and we would watch the various breeds joy in running free on the grassy area. The birds would take to the trees and when the visitors were gone, they would all appear again. There is always something happening.
The most rewarding part of it has been gaining the trust of the Whanau Pook pukekos, Patricia. That's been videoed with a 2 megapixel vidcam in an old Sony Ericsson 3G mobile.
I'm right above them, looking down on them leaning the vidcam over the fence.
But with each new "batch" of pooklets, Bluey gets his trustmeter set to zero by Nature. Doesn't matter how long he's known & trusted me, 3 years by then, if I went thru the gate & approached these pooklets, this young he'd attack me.
David Slack from More Than A Feilding <subslack@substack.com>
“It really was quite a dazzling kind of inverted political wizardry to get bike riding cast as an act of smug entitled indulgence, and a driver’s love for their double cab ute as tortured victimhood.”
<<<<From the moment they unveiled the drawing it felt like a Diva’s sweep of the arm: OK you mewling grizzling cyclists, you want a bridge?? Here's a bridge!! Here's the most bridge a bike bridge ever had. How lavish do you eternally moaning guts-achers want it? How about this lavish? Hey, no, don't get up we've got some more lavish to trowel all over youse.
LOL! Now let's see what hard working New Zealanders think of your dopey Greta delusions. Sure would be a shame if this over-the-top bullshit got your dopey climate crisis ideas tanked.>>>>
Once again, even suggesting this bridge was a priority in regards to climate change for Auckland when there are large swathes of non-inner city Aucklanders with abysmal, unaffordable or non-existent transport alternatives after decades of bad town and transport planning is a stretch.
Addressing that transport inequality should be the priority in terms of climate change mitigation. That's a complex issue that's not going to get simpler by being ignored.
Beyond the completion of CRL that is increasingly the case.
No one has ignored climate change as an issue for transport in Auckland and it's just stupid to say that it has been.
The Waitemata Bridge was not on the horizon of projects that people opposed in the actual budget consultation. The big ones that tends of thousands of people opposed in the actual consultation that the Minister was supposed to rely on for his prioritisation were Mill Road and Penlink. Penlink survived and Mill Road didn't.
That the Minister is still stuffing around with the NLTP rather than actually following what was consulted on shows that he just doesn't support cycling. The cycling projects that will be completed in Auckland in the next decade are largely well underway already – and they are in the south of CBD except for New Lynn to Avondale.
Just a cursory look through the RLTP will show you all of this in the detail you so clearly need.
I am on the AT list for consultation and keep track of local projects out south.
The AT consultation process that informs them of support and aids in prioritisation is flawed. The demographics of those responding is unlikely to reflect the access and affordability issues of badly served and lower income households. Non participation is not a fault of AT, but their failure to recognise it and mitigate that bias is.
"More than a third of Aucklanders live within 500 metres of a frequent public transport service, yet the majority of us still choose to use our private motor vehicle for most of our trips" – that's a pitiful amount to justify the following :
"Road pricing (or congestion pricing) is another important area of regulatory change. The current way Aucklanders pay for using their roads does not incentivise them to be used in the most productive way, or support climate change outcomes."
Guess which households will be hit by those congestion or road pricing charges? The ones who have to live in areas poorly served by public transport services because of housing unaffordability, and who have no other option but to use the car for commuting, often over long distances. They are already the ones hit hardest by the Auckland fuel tax, and also those unlikely to have transport costs to work paid for by their employer. The continual financial hits on the lowest income households by the failure to address these connecting policies and effects will continue unless AT recognises them.
I strongly support their walkable neighbourhoods and cycleways initiatives, but consider there should be a recognised difference between recreational community facilities, and those that actually are commuter alternative transport options, that do enable people to get out of cars for essential trips.
In terms of climate change mitigation, AT needs to look at poorly served communities and do their own research, to figure out how to serve them and not rely on consultation to identify those possible projects. Climate action must include climate justice or climate equity.
If AT was serious about climate change then only those commuter centred projects for badly served 2/3 of the Auckland population would be undertaken until equality of access was markedly improved.
That doesn't mean that "recreational" projects are stopped or postponed, just that funding needs to come from existing alternative methods, such as developers or local ratepayer targeted rates. If 75% of local ratepayers support the project, which is likely because it will not only enhance their community, but most likely improve their capital values, then the project can be funded and go ahead.
AT consultation is of course a legal requirement under NLTP. They demonstrate at the front who engaged and why. Disability groups and disadvantaged groups all get a focus and they are assisted in this by the Council.
AT, Council, and Kainga Ora put in extensive engagement into disadvantaged areas outside of that.
AT already did a major access improvement for PT with their implementation of high frequency buses on key routes. They can't have zero fares unless the government funds them to do so, due to the PTOM model which government has chosen not to change.
Gen Zero, Greater Auckland and others with a climate focus all put in detailed submissions, and they usually get a significant chunk of hearing time.
AT already do climate change mitigation projects. Their most recent was jacking up Tamaki Drive by a metre since it's been regularly flooded and cut off. Complementing that of course was the cycling routes under construction all the way from Glen Innes through to the CBD.
Been there, participated in consultation. Friends that I met are still involved, and working on projects.
I see the demographics at the workshops and presentations, and I also know the technique of going to the same identied representatives to gather the views of tangata whenua.
One of my close friends, a vocal and enthusiastic participant in the 'protest' ride over the bridge, also used climate change as a reason for the project. Despite the fact that his use of the bridge – which he would undertake because of the pure enjoyment of the experience – would require a car-ride of 40km each way to get there. He meant for other people of course, including the North Shore woman who stood up in the meeting and said she wanted the bridge crossing because she didn't want to use the ferry to transport her $11,000 e-bike because it might get damaged and she also had no guarantee that a ferry would be available when she got to the wharf so she might have to wait. (Apparently, timetables are not a thing on the Shore).
I also understand that processes may be more efficient in the central city in regards to community consultation and implementation. I live in Franklin, where after a typical AT consultation (where I was able to solicit and provide a large number of household responses) we were successful to be allocated a public transport service in a small community of rapid residential growth. Our local board representative, who represents us, but lives in another community that was unsuccessful due to the low response (and at that time, low growth pattern) publicly said how annoyed he was that our community got transport and his didn't. The consequent service offered – connecting up to the train station in town – started at 10.45am daily and ended at 4.45pm. Not suitable for daily commutes of workers or schoolchildren. What I consider a set up to fail scheme. Unfortunately, the residents of the community utilised it regardless, and I am happy to say it remains.
Those who know how the system works, make it work for them. Fair enough. They then assume that if anyone, anywhere else wants something, all they have to do is the same. But for those underrepresented, it is not knowledge or understanding or lack of wanting improvements, it is often lack of time, resources, experiences of not being heard in other forums.
I also think the focus of many local boards in areas of lower-income households have additional priorities that take precedence: access to healthcare, safety, crime etc. So, even the local board members elected in on three year terms, don't have the time to learn and advocate in transport and planning in the same way as others without those concerns.
But I have never spoken to anyone else who – quite rightly – looks to make improvements in their own neighbourhood and undertakes to consult and eventually present on a project – who takes the time to look around and say, "You know what? There are neighbourhoods that have a greater need for this money. Are we able to get this funding by using targeted rates and/or some other method?".
The system is not set up to address the inequality that already exists.
It functions effectively yes, but my perception is that it continues to contribute to the divided nature of Auckland communities, and the laughable concept of "liveable city" where there are so many deprived neighbourhoods.
(Sorry, moderators, just noticed the error in username – should be Molly)
I saw this in the ODT yesterday, which sparked some thoughts but I was a bit tired from my second jab to string them together. Seeing it this morning; republished on the RNZ website for a wider audience, I feel that I should try express my own counterview:
Ellison said a more commonly used title in the south was Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu, which encompassed both major land masses…
On the wider subject of changing the names of settlements and natural features, he said Ngāi Tahu had their own process to do similar work in the south, which was more gradual than what the Māori Party suggested.
Firstly, a huge caveat that as Ngāpuhi/ Ngāpākehā, my own hapū are outsiders to Te Waipounamu iwi politics ourselves, though there are some commonalities. And if you keep your eyes and ears open, you pick things up.
My initial reaction was mild amusement at the author of the piece using; Ngāi Tahu to describe Ōtākou marae kaumatua Edward Ellison, in an article arguing for listening to Te Waipounamu kōrero. There's a bit of a north/ south gradient on this; where the Ng is replaced by a K (eg Rūnanga becoming Rūnaka). Historical reasons trace back to the invasion of Kāti Māmoe lands by the northern Ngāi Tahu who, over decades of conquest and assimilation largely supplanted the existing political structure, but not exterminating the common people, thus eventually becoming the present day Kāi Tahu. Though I have even heard Kāti Tahu, way up in the southwest of Murihiku, so perhaps Ka'i Tahu would be a better spelling there (though that looks more Samoan than Māori!).
It is far more common to hear; Te ika a Māui, for the northeastern island of the Aotearoan archipelago, than Aotearoa. Sometimes you hear; Te waka a Māui & Te puka a Māui too, for; Te Waipounamu & Rakiura respectively, though it's not very common, especially for everyday usage where you want to be clearly understood. But I am rarely out at Ōtākou marae (last time would have been Puaka/Matariki a couple of years back), so I can not say for sure what the most prevalent terms are there.
But speaking of gradual process for name changing, a lot of takata Kāi Tahu, would argue that the process has been too slow. This was a mere 5 years ago:
Nigger Stream, near Arthur’s Pass, will now officially be named Pūkio Stream after a native grass (Carex Secta) found in the area.
Niggerhead, which is above Lake Sumner, will be called Tawhai Hill after a species of native Beech Tree found in the South Island.
Nigger Hill, to the east of Arthur’s Pass, will be renamed Kānuka Hills after a species of native tea tree that grows in the area.
Anyway, I am getting fairly long here, so I will just link to this Godferey piece from a month back, which covers much of what I would additionally say:
The early European explorers understood the power of naming, hence their international effort to remake the world in the English language.
Māori understand the same imperative, and enough Māori accept Aotearoa as the name for New Zealand that its historic fidelity no longer matters.
Been wondering when Te Waipounamu would come up. How many people in the North Island know what it means?
I liked Ellison’s style. Due given to TPM, pointing gently to the problems, standing in his own people’s power and their process without making a fuss about it.
Kai Tahu I know whakapapa to not only Kai Tahu but variously to iwi and hapu that predate Kai Tahu, the longer history of Te Waipounamu. I will be interested to hear what they have to say.
That the South Island is known by southern Māori as Te Waipounamu, & the North Island as Te Ika-a-Maui (with both having various other Māori names too) has always made me a bit leery about calling the whole country Aotearoa – The Land of The Long White Cloud I always understood was a reference to the North Island only.
When this topic would surface on another blog, I used to say, only half-jokingly, a better option might be to come with a hybrid
Māori+English word for our country.
My preference was for Kiwiland. The main reasons being that’s a combo word of both languages, & New Zealanders overseas, Māori & Pākehā have been collectively called Kiwis for what must be at least a century now.
However, Aotearoa seems to have now been accepted by various governments & by government departments like Internal Affairs, who’ve had this Māori name apearing on our passports for many years now.
Dunno what’s wrong with my broadband connection (to this site & others) this morning. Sites are agonisingly slow to connect & open, & even trying to type in the address & comments field here take an interminable anount of time.
I like Aozearoa as a hybrid word myself; Gezza, though it hasn't caught on at all. You should read Godferey's Guardian piece, he goes into some detail about the history of the use of Aotearoa (you could even argue that is just Northland as Kupe is reputed to have landed there; though accounts, as always, differ between iwi).
The hyphens make Te Ika-a-Māui, fairly cumbersome to write, but Te IkaaMāui just looks wrong. I have recently (in the past few years) heard it being referred to as Te Ikanui, though sometimes that seems to be just Auckland (the Big Fish, as pacific equivalent of the Big Apple?), and others the whole northeastern island. I guess that hybrid word is still evolving. I have also seen variations on simply translating New Zealand into Te Reo as something like; Whenua Hou-moana, which may or may not go anywhere. It is very difficult to predict future language usage.
I will read that Guardian piece now, Forget now. The bb connection was so slow most of this morning I’d given up on the internet.
Seems to be working fine again now.
Funny you should mention the too-long NI name. I feel the same way. I’d have liked them just to be called, colloquially, Te Ika (or Teika) , & Pounamu.
Rakiura is already just Rakiura to me, altho if someone asks “Where?”, I’ll reply “Stewart Island”.
Yes that Guardian article is eminently readable. The writer has a nice, easy & engaging writing style. I did find it interesting & I have come to the same conclusion about Aotearoa being now the most commonly accepted Māori country-name word for the whole of New Zealand.
One of my former hesitations about it was the likliehood that many English-speaking visitors might mispronounce it as Ayo tee ah rower, instead of Ow tear roar.
I was going on long enough already, so I did gloss over the whole Waitaha issue; Weka. Essentially, Kāti Māmoe did the same thing as Ngāi Tahu later did; of settling Te Waipounamu from the north by war and marriage, Before then, there were many iwi, of which Waitaha is the best known with oral histories (fragmented and partially lost now) going back to around 1000 BCE in which they claimed to have discovered the southern islands including; Te Waipounamu, Rakiura, and ngā Moutere Tītī. Though the earliest tales are more legendary than history.
The specific Waitaha iwi (as opposed to Waitaha as a generic term for all pre-Māmoe Te Waipounamu inhabitants) was located primarily around the Waitaki river. To this day, some there will call themselves Kaitaha rather than Kāi Tahu, though not so much around outsiders, especially the Ngāi Tahu descended rangatira. Canterbury Kāi Tahu have also somewhat appropriated the name to refer to their own province (and thus bolster their mana within the iwi) for example; Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (Canterbury University), is in Ōtautahi, not Oamaru.
It's not easy to compress a thousand years of still debated and controversial poorly documented history/ archeology into a couple of paragraphs, and wasn't entirely on topic – so I left it out. It is interesting though.
But more important is the present politics in Te Tai Tonga electorate, which you best believe that any kaumatua worth the title will be hip deep in. The present TTTonga MP is Labour's Rino Tirakatene following the 1996 campaign-trail death of his father (RT senior) and heir apparent to the Tirakatene political dynasty. RT beat Katene o Te Pāti Māoriin 2011 and has held the TTTonga seat ever since (though not as long as his Grandfather or Aunt yet).
However, in 2020 RT's (still large majority) win in TTTonga found TPR's Tākuta Ferris in second place (Green Party's ex-coleader Turei being 2nd in 2017). With the gap between Tirakatene-Sullivan and RT being over a decade long, the name Tirakatene is no longer quite as synonymous with Southern Māori MP as it used to be. Especially if TTTonga urban Māori voters start seeing a resurgent TPM as being more representative of their needs than the Labour party.
So a bit of quiet knobbling of a campaign generating favourable publicity for TRP by Te Waipounamu marae leaders is not to be taken without a grain of salt.
Something that's perhaps apt to get lost in any likely hullaballoo over the suggestion to rename English cities, towns & place names is that not all those places necessarily had he ingoa Māori (a Māori name)nin the first place.
Just as Māori often named places & prominent landmarks after their ancestors, or a significant characteristic of the area (eg Kaikōura), the English, Irish, Scots & other later settlers did so too.
There were several small Māori settlements & villages in & around what is now Wellington City & its coastal environs when the Pākehā settlers first began arriving.
The main Pākehā settlement was originally called Port Nicholson, from where the area now known as Pōneke has most likely derived as a loan word. None of those original Māori settlements amounted to the sizeable city of Wellington which built and named subsequently.
I would therefore argue that Wellington should remain the name of our capital city. However, I have no problem with accepting the name Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the Great Harbour of Tara) because Tara, a Northern tribes great sailor, explorer & rangatira found it spent some time there.
Repeat of my comment on one of yesterday's threads:
Narcissists never reflect on what they say or write. They have the ability to block off all memory of their failures and misdiagnosis. It enables them to continue to misguide people with their false reckons…
Anyone who has been on the receiving end of a full blown narcissist will know how destructive they are. The police have an obligation to isolate Tamaki before he further undermines the vaccination programme.
Leo Molloy and Brian Tamaki belong to the same bike club? They both organised this and should be called out for not upholding an over riding health order.
The Police have at times not helped the Government by standing back too much. Both men and their committee should have been told 'Do this and you will be fined as you are defying the Director of Health." Now they should be served.
There is a growing meme that we are being locked down to give the Government huge powers. When the Police do not enforce health orders, what hope is there for compliance from those in society who think their freedoms overide all else?
Or folk who believe their version of religion is the one, and the Old Testament verses direct their behaviour through a self appointed Apostle.
Leo Molloy ended up in court previously for ignoring lock down rules, so this was a huge "so there" from him imo.
N.B. Both these men should pay back any Government assistance they have claimed!
We either have health orders or we don't in a pandemic. The police should enforce the rules where it is patently obvious people intend to break them. Those involved in organising this should face fines at the very least, to help pay for any resulting testing and tracing.
Or at least they should be given a serve by all of us doing as I am.. calling them out as selfish ignorant egomaniacs who could not wait one more week.
The Police are trying to keep people reasonable in their behaviours, but that is bound to fail with unreasonable people, and increases the liklihood of further protests.
This has been a big Police failure in my opinion. It has made a mockery of the rules right when we are likely to beat this again. That would not suit some agendas though would it? Poto Williams was also missing in action here.
Brian and Leo.. Pay back any Covid assistance!!!!!
Leo Molloy is a former arsehole racehorse jockey turned former arsehole veterinarian turned arsehole publican and arsehole restaurateur. In other words, the perfect host for the clientele he attracts to his establishment at the Viaduct Basin. I had the misfortune of encountering him a couple of times in his veterinary student days.
If you really want to know more, here's a profile. But trust me, that knowledge won't enrich your life in any way. Possibly the telling of it might, tho.
As I recall, Ardern also said the Raglan case was unvaccinated and that three household contacts who were vaccinated have not yet developed symptoms. Test results not mentioned, probably not back yet. Comforting to hear that vaccination appears to protect close contacts from the delta strain.
I'm impatient for a booster shot and hoping Brian and Leo will have a road to Damascus moment.
Thank you Patricia (4.4). Agree wholeheartedly with your comments.
As far as I'm concerned, the police failed the people of Auckland yesterday, not only once, but twice. Apart from being seen to do nothing at the Tamaki protests, they were absent (apart from two police cars), during a wild motorcycle ride through the main streets of Auckland's CBD yesterday afternoon, with motorbikes not only taking over the main road, going through red traffic lights, but also riding on footpaths, while adults and children waited to cross the road. Some riders were not wearing protective headgear, while others rode on two wheels!
Why isn't the NZ police force protecting this country's citizens? Massive failures on their part in two very public incidences, both in Auckland.
You must understand that the sum total of all the gangs in NZ are probably better armed and organised than police and army combined. For as long as they remain divided you're probably safe.
Perhaps the powers that be are ignoring him. Don't know how useful that will be.
It is interesting that the newly infected in hospital appear to be the unvaccinated, and perhaps they did not want to over shadow that by drawing attention to him, as events have overtaken things with the Raglan and Hamilton East being involved with new cases.
I still feel Robertson would be within his rights to ask for a refund to cover the Policing and any fallout.
Weekly testing is required. Enforcing when unvaccinated no travel out of a level 3 zone would minimise the spread. The reality is that some people will not get vaccinated at all.
Raglan; I think surfing, Huntly; I think coal fired electricity. Do you have any basis for your assumption gangs were involved; Pataua4life? The list of locations of interest outside Auckland just looks like the truckers route to and from Palmerston North. Also:
One case is in Raglan and the other is in Hamilton East…
The Ministry said the Raglan case is currently self-isolating and will be moved to a quarantine facility. They were tested on 1 October after feeling unwell and their infectious period is determined to be from 27 September.
This person has three household contacts who are also isolating.
The second case is a known contact of the Raglan case and was also tested after becoming unwell.
The only times I've been to Hamilton East, I was visiting whanau at the university. It didn't strike me as having a large gang presence. Though that was a while ago now.
You can almost be "100% sure this spread is gang related?"
I can be almost 100% sure that you are taking a wild guess and actually have nothing to go on for the assumption.
I am 100% sure you are simply using the opportunity of covid reaching Hamilton East and Raglan to try to make some pathetic point about the government. Using Mike Hosking's signature ending gives the comment the stamp it deserves.
Bullshit. Raglan's gang population is all Mongrel Mob and they don't tend to get on very well with the dominant gangs in Huntly. I can be 100% sure that Pataua4life is full of shit.
That's one PoV, and it's your right (and privilege) to alter comments and/or moderate accordingly.
I hold a different PoV, and can only speculate as to why our views differ. Regardless of one's PoV, being truly blind to skin colour remains an uncommon form of colour blindness to this day, imho.
Rereading: Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin One day in 1964 John Howard Griffin, a 44-year-old Texan journalist and novelist, was standing by the side of the road in Mississippi with a flat tyre. He saw a group of men approaching him. Griffin assumed the men were heading over to assist him but instead they dragged him away from his car and proceeded to beat him violently with chains before leaving him for dead. It took Griffin five months to recover from the assault.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I moved your comment to OM because it’s off topic, and there’s enough going on that fast thread already. The whiteness thing is a conversation for another place, and perhaps another day, but feel free to continue to explire it in OM.
Thanks weka, all good – imho 'skin colour privilege' is a matter of fact, and it amazes and confuses me that (some) intelligent people feel the need to deny this.
Is 'white privilege' really a divisive term? [28 June 2021] This shows a failure in the proper communication of the meaning of the term “white privilege”. As many have pointed out, it does not mean white people are not disadvantaged, their lives are not hard, or they have not suffered, it just means their skin colour is not an impediment in their lives.
The relevance of ‘white privilege‘ to the “Who are these angry Aucklanders?” post may elude some, but there have been several examples of ‘COVID anger’ directed at Auckland minorities. Admittedly focused more on cultural practices/habits than skin colour, but they can be so devilishly difficult to disentangle.
A look at the issue of natural (by infection) immunity and vaccination immunity.
Some nations with 80% vaccination have effective 90% immunity because of infection (whether past infection or that currently going through their schools).
With lock down going on, it's time to look at support for small business on rent costs.
Last year arbitration was all Winston Peters would agree to, but it's the large businesses that can afford the legal costs.
What about
Level 4 – the tenant pays 25%, the landlord receives 33% – the government provides 8% (4% gratis and 4% as an interest free loan the business pays back).
Level 3 – the tenant pays 33%, the landlord receives 50% – the government provides (8% gratis and 8% as an interest free loan)
Level 2 – the tenant pays 50%, the landlord receives 66% – the government provides 8% gratis and 8% as an interest free loan)
Of course essential businesses that operate at Level 4 not included, nor those "office" staff firms that still earn income by having people work at home.
Apart from limiting government assistance to small businesses only, another way to limit cost on government is to have the total rent paid be 25%, 33% or 50% in the cases of larger commerical landlord firms.
Many owners of commercial properties are stuck in loans. So essentially the government must / should provide legal framework that would allow a landlord to be able to wipe some of the rent without risking his own repayments to the bank.
Another legal framework that will be needed is one that allows people to get out of leases that are kaputt forever. It can't be considered good practice that these people sell their homes to pay a lease for a business that due to no fault of their own can't be run anymore. If they can get out of these leases, they then have a chance to move on and do / start something else more suited to these interesting times we are living in.
Bankruptcy brings a lot of other things with it, so personally would not ever go for it.
The point is that these people who got stuck – say travel agencies – have long leases left. If you lease a business in a busy fringe you don't do that for a year or two, some leases are very long. Also, there is the re-lease, how long will it take for a property to find new takers? So essentially everyone who must drop out will try to buy themselves out of the lease. I.e. offer a certain amount a year or two of full lease and hope it is enough and will be accepted.
Now they did not do anything to deserve to lose their business, a pandemic is a pandemic, what can you do. But they should also not left in limbo, trying to deal with it on their own and without much success.
We must get used to 'for lease' signs when we venture out in the future.
Most smaller leases will have personal guarantees which make company structures or bankruptcy to avoid lease liabilities tricky. Pretty much pay up and the landlord wins.
….allow a landlord to be able to wipe some of the rent without risking his own repayments to the bank.
….the government must / should provide legal framework that would allow a landlord to be able to wipe ALL of the rent without risking his own repayments to the bank.
In 1914 and again in 1931 the government did exactly that.
…..by 1931, it was clear that further intervention was necessary to prevent widespread foreclosures and mortgagee sales…..
….Although mortgage relief was frequently discussed at some length by contemporary commentators, and by some historians in the 1950s and 1960s, it has been relegated to a few lines at most in more recent works.’
…..This Act also extended to lessees [renters] the same protection
that had been granted to mortgagors,
The modification of mortgage conditions was not new in New Zealand. A ‘mortgage moratorium’ had been imposed as a war measure in 1914,
Brian Tamaki has led a protest demanding no more lockdowns. Tamaki is tapping into the hardhship that lockdowns cause.
Only a full mortgage and rent moratorium can ease the hardship that lockdowns cause SMEs and family households.
If past government could do it once, (and in fact did it twice). Why can't the current government?
It is not like the big mostly Australian owned banks who take $3.5 billion out of our economy every year can't afford it.
Why is everyone else's income effectively slashed in lockdown but their's is not?
Under level the 4 lockdown in Auckland, elimination was close to being achieved before it was lifted early before it had finished its job. The lockdown was lifted early before it had done its job, because of the political pressures and the hardships caused at the flax roots of society.
Caving in to the Brian Tamakis of this world and to the National Party and various other right wing lobbies, The Prime Minister has said there will be no return to level 4 lockdown. Right Wing commentators and pundits have celebrated this announcement, as the end of the government's 'elimination strategy'.
The government in reply have denied this. The reality is, until we reach at least 90% vaccination coverage, to save lives and protect our health system from being overwhelmed, Full Level 4 Lockdown which has been our most effective measure to date, must remain part of the tool kit.
If hospitalisations and deaths start to rise, and a return to level 4 becomes necessary. A full mortgage and rental moratorium for the period of the lockdown, is in my opinion, the only way to make another major lockdown stick.
We need to share the pain with those who can most afford it.
I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Portugal
With 85% of the population vaccinated, Portugal is running out of people to jab.
And rather than go for booster shots, the surprisingly humane submarine captain, placed in charge of the vaccine roll-out who appears on TV in his military fatigues, is more concerned with getting the vaccine to unvaccinated former Portuguese colonies.
What a Guy.
We need someone like that here. Someone who can see the bigger picture. That it is not just about us, but it is also about that part of the world that we owe a duty of care to. In our case the smaller Pacific nations in our region.
Now that employers have got their demand to lift restrictons on bringing in temporary migrant workers from the Pacific Islands. An outbreak here could be spread back home with devastating results. Especially in countries that don’t have the same level of health infrastructure we have here.
Eric Crampton writes – This week’s Budget Policy Statement was disappointing. There are a few things I’d have thought we could all have agreed on. They seem pretty basic. If the Reserve Bank is still using monetary policy to push against inflation, fiscal stimulus is a pretty bad ...
Michael Bassett writes – The Labour Government lost the 2023 election when its support halved from 2020. It deserved to lose on economic grounds alone. Covid lockdowns that went beyond the prudent and wrecked livelihoods in the name of saving lives; an orgy of careless spending of borrowed ...
Happy Easter. 🙂As with last week’s review I’ll begin today with the the view from the right. Which last week seemed cloudy, and lacking in the ideal accoutrements for depth perception. Hosking’s Hall of Heroes.Donald Trump: 7/10 He floated and made a fortune and got a bond reduction with more time ...
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
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EDITORIAL:By Pip Hinman and Susan Price Meta, the giant social media corporation, has “unpublished” Green Left’s longstanding Facebook page, which had tens of thousands of followers. We had been regularly posting stories, videos and photographs on the page from our consistent reporting of the news and views that seldom ...
Richard Shaw’s latest book, The Unsettled, explores the truth behind his and other Pākehā families’ ‘settler’/’pioneer’ histories and considers what to do with them. In this excerpt Shaw reveals how, once family facts come to light, the places around us look and feel different as our view of our place ...
The comedian and Celebrity Treasure Island champion takes us through his life in television, including trying to find his mum a man, the lasting impact of the 3B cream ad and his love for a certain Sticky TV presenter. James Mustapic’s closest collaborator is his mum Janet, who has been ...
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The Government has confirmed the problematic Performance-Based Research Fund will be reviewed over the course of the year, as part of a wider review into the university funding system. The upcoming Quality Evaluation component has subsequently been cancelled with funding to be allocated based on the last evaluation which was ...
Rachel Hunter sold out a Christchurch school hall for a mysterious sounding ‘Community Event’. Alex Casey went along to find out what it was all about. Former international supermodel Rachel Hunter is sitting cross-legged on stage between HEAT PUMP 3 and HEAT PUMP 4. It’s a school night in St ...
Rescue pup Coltrane is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Coltrane’s human, Troy, for his support. Dog name: ColtraneAge: 2Breed: Labrador x InSinkeratorIf rescued, where from? Like his (human) dad, ...
When I next saw James, he was wiping his nose on a paper towel, the kind you get from beside a kitchen sink. The weather had suddenly turned, so he was wearing a dark jacket and an absurd little scarf that I thought made him look years older. Embarrassingly, I ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
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Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
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Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
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The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
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The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
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Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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For their small fan club.
Here’s me adopted triplet grandpooklets at 9 am one sunny morning, 8 January 2019.
Little River is up on the blocks. Big Bruv Shadow (born a week before the other two) is doing fine; bold as brass (I reckoned he’s a boy).
But River’s “twin” Summer is already growing bigger & despite my entreaties to the adults to “Feed River, feed River” the little one seems to get ignored at times.
I worried just a tad about the runty one, as ya do, when ya a grandparent. But she did ok in the end. All made it to young adult pukeko.
https://i.imgur.com/GMiRUC6.gif
Your little family of pukeko and the rest have seen you through the lockdowns and given real pleasure, and filming their progress joy.
Opposite us we have a natural park with trees and a stream on its boundary and a wet area which has been protected. It is a designated dog walking park, and we would watch the various breeds joy in running free on the grassy area. The birds would take to the trees and when the visitors were gone, they would all appear again. There is always something happening.
The most rewarding part of it has been gaining the trust of the Whanau Pook pukekos, Patricia. That's been videoed with a 2 megapixel vidcam in an old Sony Ericsson 3G mobile.
I'm right above them, looking down on them leaning the vidcam over the fence.
But with each new "batch" of pooklets, Bluey gets his trustmeter set to zero by Nature. Doesn't matter how long he's known & trusted me, 3 years by then, if I went thru the gate & approached these pooklets, this young he'd attack me.
Kia ora Gezza. I'm still a fan of your wildlife videos and I'm glad you've found a new home for them.
😀 Hey, Snowy 👋🏼
Really good to see you. ❤️ ☘ 🐧
David Slack from More Than A Feilding <subslack@substack.com>
“It really was quite a dazzling kind of inverted political wizardry to get bike riding cast as an act of smug entitled indulgence, and a driver’s love for their double cab ute as tortured victimhood.”
<<<<From the moment they unveiled the drawing it felt like a Diva’s sweep of the arm: OK you mewling grizzling cyclists, you want a bridge?? Here's a bridge!! Here's the most bridge a bike bridge ever had. How lavish do you eternally moaning guts-achers want it? How about this lavish? Hey, no, don't get up we've got some more lavish to trowel all over youse.
LOL! Now let's see what hard working New Zealanders think of your dopey Greta delusions. Sure would be a shame if this over-the-top bullshit got your dopey climate crisis ideas tanked.>>>>
Once again, even suggesting this bridge was a priority in regards to climate change for Auckland when there are large swathes of non-inner city Aucklanders with abysmal, unaffordable or non-existent transport alternatives after decades of bad town and transport planning is a stretch.
Addressing that transport inequality should be the priority in terms of climate change mitigation. That's a complex issue that's not going to get simpler by being ignored.
In the RLTP 2021-20131, most the public transport improvements occur in the south.
https://at.govt.nz/media/1986141/final-regional-land-transport-plan-2021-2031-web-version.pdf
Beyond the completion of CRL that is increasingly the case.
No one has ignored climate change as an issue for transport in Auckland and it's just stupid to say that it has been.
The Waitemata Bridge was not on the horizon of projects that people opposed in the actual budget consultation. The big ones that tends of thousands of people opposed in the actual consultation that the Minister was supposed to rely on for his prioritisation were Mill Road and Penlink. Penlink survived and Mill Road didn't.
That the Minister is still stuffing around with the NLTP rather than actually following what was consulted on shows that he just doesn't support cycling. The cycling projects that will be completed in Auckland in the next decade are largely well underway already – and they are in the south of CBD except for New Lynn to Avondale.
Just a cursory look through the RLTP will show you all of this in the detail you so clearly need.
I am on the AT list for consultation and keep track of local projects out south.
The AT consultation process that informs them of support and aids in prioritisation is flawed. The demographics of those responding is unlikely to reflect the access and affordability issues of badly served and lower income households. Non participation is not a fault of AT, but their failure to recognise it and mitigate that bias is.
"More than a third of Aucklanders live within 500 metres of a frequent public transport service, yet the majority of us still choose to use our private motor vehicle for most of our trips" – that's a pitiful amount to justify the following :
Guess which households will be hit by those congestion or road pricing charges? The ones who have to live in areas poorly served by public transport services because of housing unaffordability, and who have no other option but to use the car for commuting, often over long distances. They are already the ones hit hardest by the Auckland fuel tax, and also those unlikely to have transport costs to work paid for by their employer. The continual financial hits on the lowest income households by the failure to address these connecting policies and effects will continue unless AT recognises them.
I strongly support their walkable neighbourhoods and cycleways initiatives, but consider there should be a recognised difference between recreational community facilities, and those that actually are commuter alternative transport options, that do enable people to get out of cars for essential trips.
In terms of climate change mitigation, AT needs to look at poorly served communities and do their own research, to figure out how to serve them and not rely on consultation to identify those possible projects. Climate action must include climate justice or climate equity.
If AT was serious about climate change then only those commuter centred projects for badly served 2/3 of the Auckland population would be undertaken until equality of access was markedly improved.
That doesn't mean that "recreational" projects are stopped or postponed, just that funding needs to come from existing alternative methods, such as developers or local ratepayer targeted rates. If 75% of local ratepayers support the project, which is likely because it will not only enhance their community, but most likely improve their capital values, then the project can be funded and go ahead.
AT consultation is of course a legal requirement under NLTP. They demonstrate at the front who engaged and why. Disability groups and disadvantaged groups all get a focus and they are assisted in this by the Council.
AT, Council, and Kainga Ora put in extensive engagement into disadvantaged areas outside of that.
AT already did a major access improvement for PT with their implementation of high frequency buses on key routes. They can't have zero fares unless the government funds them to do so, due to the PTOM model which government has chosen not to change.
Gen Zero, Greater Auckland and others with a climate focus all put in detailed submissions, and they usually get a significant chunk of hearing time.
AT already do climate change mitigation projects. Their most recent was jacking up Tamaki Drive by a metre since it's been regularly flooded and cut off. Complementing that of course was the cycling routes under construction all the way from Glen Innes through to the CBD.
I know this, Ad.
Been there, participated in consultation. Friends that I met are still involved, and working on projects.
I see the demographics at the workshops and presentations, and I also know the technique of going to the same identied representatives to gather the views of tangata whenua.
One of my close friends, a vocal and enthusiastic participant in the 'protest' ride over the bridge, also used climate change as a reason for the project. Despite the fact that his use of the bridge – which he would undertake because of the pure enjoyment of the experience – would require a car-ride of 40km each way to get there. He meant for other people of course, including the North Shore woman who stood up in the meeting and said she wanted the bridge crossing because she didn't want to use the ferry to transport her $11,000 e-bike because it might get damaged and she also had no guarantee that a ferry would be available when she got to the wharf so she might have to wait. (Apparently, timetables are not a thing on the Shore).
I also understand that processes may be more efficient in the central city in regards to community consultation and implementation. I live in Franklin, where after a typical AT consultation (where I was able to solicit and provide a large number of household responses) we were successful to be allocated a public transport service in a small community of rapid residential growth. Our local board representative, who represents us, but lives in another community that was unsuccessful due to the low response (and at that time, low growth pattern) publicly said how annoyed he was that our community got transport and his didn't. The consequent service offered – connecting up to the train station in town – started at 10.45am daily and ended at 4.45pm. Not suitable for daily commutes of workers or schoolchildren. What I consider a set up to fail scheme. Unfortunately, the residents of the community utilised it regardless, and I am happy to say it remains.
Those who know how the system works, make it work for them. Fair enough. They then assume that if anyone, anywhere else wants something, all they have to do is the same. But for those underrepresented, it is not knowledge or understanding or lack of wanting improvements, it is often lack of time, resources, experiences of not being heard in other forums.
I also think the focus of many local boards in areas of lower-income households have additional priorities that take precedence: access to healthcare, safety, crime etc. So, even the local board members elected in on three year terms, don't have the time to learn and advocate in transport and planning in the same way as others without those concerns.
But I have never spoken to anyone else who – quite rightly – looks to make improvements in their own neighbourhood and undertakes to consult and eventually present on a project – who takes the time to look around and say, "You know what? There are neighbourhoods that have a greater need for this money. Are we able to get this funding by using targeted rates and/or some other method?".
The system is not set up to address the inequality that already exists.
It functions effectively yes, but my perception is that it continues to contribute to the divided nature of Auckland communities, and the laughable concept of "liveable city" where there are so many deprived neighbourhoods.
(Sorry, moderators, just noticed the error in username – should be Molly)
I saw this in the ODT yesterday, which sparked some thoughts but I was a bit tired from my second jab to string them together. Seeing it this morning; republished on the RNZ website for a wider audience, I feel that I should try express my own counterview:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/452781/ngai-tahu-leader-let-s-not-rush-name-change
Firstly, a huge caveat that as Ngāpuhi/ Ngāpākehā, my own hapū are outsiders to Te Waipounamu iwi politics ourselves, though there are some commonalities. And if you keep your eyes and ears open, you pick things up.
My initial reaction was mild amusement at the author of the piece using; Ngāi Tahu to describe Ōtākou marae kaumatua Edward Ellison, in an article arguing for listening to Te Waipounamu kōrero. There's a bit of a north/ south gradient on this; where the Ng is replaced by a K (eg Rūnanga becoming Rūnaka). Historical reasons trace back to the invasion of Kāti Māmoe lands by the northern Ngāi Tahu who, over decades of conquest and assimilation largely supplanted the existing political structure, but not exterminating the common people, thus eventually becoming the present day Kāi Tahu. Though I have even heard Kāti Tahu, way up in the southwest of Murihiku, so perhaps Ka'i Tahu would be a better spelling there (though that looks more Samoan than Māori!).
It is far more common to hear; Te ika a Māui, for the northeastern island of the Aotearoan archipelago, than Aotearoa. Sometimes you hear; Te waka a Māui & Te puka a Māui too, for; Te Waipounamu & Rakiura respectively, though it's not very common, especially for everyday usage where you want to be clearly understood. But I am rarely out at Ōtākou marae (last time would have been Puaka/Matariki a couple of years back), so I can not say for sure what the most prevalent terms are there.
But speaking of gradual process for name changing, a lot of takata Kāi Tahu, would argue that the process has been too slow. This was a mere 5 years ago:
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/decisions-made-north-canterbury-place-names
Anyway, I am getting fairly long here, so I will just link to this Godferey piece from a month back, which covers much of what I would additionally say:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/29/a-neat-trick-critics-aim-to-shift-aotearoa-debate-but-historical-fidelity-no-longer-matters
Interesting and thought provoking, thanks.
Been wondering when Te Waipounamu would come up. How many people in the North Island know what it means?
I liked Ellison’s style. Due given to TPM, pointing gently to the problems, standing in his own people’s power and their process without making a fuss about it.
Kai Tahu I know whakapapa to not only Kai Tahu but variously to iwi and hapu that predate Kai Tahu, the longer history of Te Waipounamu. I will be interested to hear what they have to say.
That the South Island is known by southern Māori as Te Waipounamu, & the North Island as Te Ika-a-Maui (with both having various other Māori names too) has always made me a bit leery about calling the whole country Aotearoa – The Land of The Long White Cloud I always understood was a reference to the North Island only.
When this topic would surface on another blog, I used to say, only half-jokingly, a better option might be to come with a hybrid
Māori+English word for our country.
My preference was for Kiwiland. The main reasons being that’s a combo word of both languages, & New Zealanders overseas, Māori & Pākehā have been collectively called Kiwis for what must be at least a century now.
However, Aotearoa seems to have now been accepted by various governments & by government departments like Internal Affairs, who’ve had this Māori name apearing on our passports for many years now.
Dunno what’s wrong with my broadband connection (to this site & others) this morning. Sites are agonisingly slow to connect & open, & even trying to type in the address & comments field here take an interminable anount of time.
I like Aozearoa as a hybrid word myself; Gezza, though it hasn't caught on at all. You should read Godferey's Guardian piece, he goes into some detail about the history of the use of Aotearoa (you could even argue that is just Northland as Kupe is reputed to have landed there; though accounts, as always, differ between iwi).
The hyphens make Te Ika-a-Māui, fairly cumbersome to write, but Te IkaaMāui just looks wrong. I have recently (in the past few years) heard it being referred to as Te Ikanui, though sometimes that seems to be just Auckland (the Big Fish, as pacific equivalent of the Big Apple?), and others the whole northeastern island. I guess that hybrid word is still evolving. I have also seen variations on simply translating New Zealand into Te Reo as something like; Whenua Hou-moana, which may or may not go anywhere. It is very difficult to predict future language usage.
I will read that Guardian piece now, Forget now. The bb connection was so slow most of this morning I’d given up on the internet.
Seems to be working fine again now.
Funny you should mention the too-long NI name. I feel the same way. I’d have liked them just to be called, colloquially, Te Ika (or Teika) , & Pounamu.
Rakiura is already just Rakiura to me, altho if someone asks “Where?”, I’ll reply “Stewart Island”.
Yes that Guardian article is eminently readable. The writer has a nice, easy & engaging writing style. I did find it interesting & I have come to the same conclusion about Aotearoa being now the most commonly accepted Māori country-name word for the whole of New Zealand.
One of my former hesitations about it was the likliehood that many English-speaking visitors might mispronounce it as Ayo tee ah rower, instead of Ow tear roar.
I was going on long enough already, so I did gloss over the whole Waitaha issue; Weka. Essentially, Kāti Māmoe did the same thing as Ngāi Tahu later did; of settling Te Waipounamu from the north by war and marriage, Before then, there were many iwi, of which Waitaha is the best known with oral histories (fragmented and partially lost now) going back to around 1000 BCE in which they claimed to have discovered the southern islands including; Te Waipounamu, Rakiura, and ngā Moutere Tītī. Though the earliest tales are more legendary than history.
The specific Waitaha iwi (as opposed to Waitaha as a generic term for all pre-Māmoe Te Waipounamu inhabitants) was located primarily around the Waitaki river. To this day, some there will call themselves Kaitaha rather than Kāi Tahu, though not so much around outsiders, especially the Ngāi Tahu descended rangatira. Canterbury Kāi Tahu have also somewhat appropriated the name to refer to their own province (and thus bolster their mana within the iwi) for example; Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (Canterbury University), is in Ōtautahi, not Oamaru.
It's not easy to compress a thousand years of still debated and controversial poorly documented history/ archeology into a couple of paragraphs, and wasn't entirely on topic – so I left it out. It is interesting though.
But more important is the present politics in Te Tai Tonga electorate, which you best believe that any kaumatua worth the title will be hip deep in. The present TTTonga MP is Labour's Rino Tirakatene following the 1996 campaign-trail death of his father (RT senior) and heir apparent to the Tirakatene political dynasty. RT beat Katene o Te Pāti Māori in 2011 and has held the TTTonga seat ever since (though not as long as his Grandfather or Aunt yet).
However, in 2020 RT's (still large majority) win in TTTonga found TPR's Tākuta Ferris in second place (Green Party's ex-coleader Turei being 2nd in 2017). With the gap between Tirakatene-Sullivan and RT being over a decade long, the name Tirakatene is no longer quite as synonymous with Southern Māori MP as it used to be. Especially if TTTonga urban Māori voters start seeing a resurgent TPM as being more representative of their needs than the Labour party.
https://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2020/electorate-details-71.html
So a bit of quiet knobbling of a campaign generating favourable publicity for TRP by Te Waipounamu marae leaders is not to be taken without a grain of salt.
Something that's perhaps apt to get lost in any likely hullaballoo over the suggestion to rename English cities, towns & place names is that not all those places necessarily had he ingoa Māori (a Māori name)nin the first place.
Just as Māori often named places & prominent landmarks after their ancestors, or a significant characteristic of the area (eg Kaikōura), the English, Irish, Scots & other later settlers did so too.
There were several small Māori settlements & villages in & around what is now Wellington City & its coastal environs when the Pākehā settlers first began arriving.
The main Pākehā settlement was originally called Port Nicholson, from where the area now known as Pōneke has most likely derived as a loan word. None of those original Māori settlements amounted to the sizeable city of Wellington which built and named subsequently.
I would therefore argue that Wellington should remain the name of our capital city. However, I have no problem with accepting the name Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the Great Harbour of Tara) because Tara, a Northern tribes great sailor, explorer & rangatira found it spent some time there.
Brian Tamaki should be arrested immediatly.
What an idiot undoing the hard work of millions of NZers.
He should pay for the damage he has caused if that means stripping all his assets so be it.
The govt and people of NZ have lost 100's of millions to keep covid out undone by a nut job narcissist.
Totally agree, and now he's planning more of the same, we should not be pandering to this nutjob, it's beyond comprehension.
Repeat of my comment on one of yesterday's threads:
Narcissists never reflect on what they say or write. They have the ability to block off all memory of their failures and misdiagnosis. It enables them to continue to misguide people with their false reckons…
Anyone who has been on the receiving end of a full blown narcissist will know how destructive they are. The police have an obligation to isolate Tamaki before he further undermines the vaccination programme.
Perhaps the police should spray them with a dye so they can be recognised in the wild.
And so hospitals can triage them to a tent in the car park if they need treatment
Leo Molloy and Brian Tamaki belong to the same bike club? They both organised this and should be called out for not upholding an over riding health order.
The Police have at times not helped the Government by standing back too much. Both men and their committee should have been told 'Do this and you will be fined as you are defying the Director of Health." Now they should be served.
There is a growing meme that we are being locked down to give the Government huge powers. When the Police do not enforce health orders, what hope is there for compliance from those in society who think their freedoms overide all else?
Or folk who believe their version of religion is the one, and the Old Testament verses direct their behaviour through a self appointed Apostle.
Leo Molloy ended up in court previously for ignoring lock down rules, so this was a huge "so there" from him imo.
N.B. Both these men should pay back any Government assistance they have claimed!
We either have health orders or we don't in a pandemic. The police should enforce the rules where it is patently obvious people intend to break them. Those involved in organising this should face fines at the very least, to help pay for any resulting testing and tracing.
Or at least they should be given a serve by all of us doing as I am.. calling them out as selfish ignorant egomaniacs who could not wait one more week.
The Police are trying to keep people reasonable in their behaviours, but that is bound to fail with unreasonable people, and increases the liklihood of further protests.
This has been a big Police failure in my opinion. It has made a mockery of the rules right when we are likely to beat this again. That would not suit some agendas though would it? Poto Williams was also missing in action here.
Brian and Leo.. Pay back any Covid assistance!!!!!
Damn straight!
Watching that dangerous bloody dkhead Tamaki on One News at 6 I couldn’t believe the police hadn’t arrested the beggar!
Who is Leo Molloy? The name means nothing to me.
Ardern says that it's an operational matter for police, but that the investigation is ongoing:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300421687/live-33-new-community-covid19-cases-32-in-auckland-1-in-waikato
Leo Molloy is a former arsehole racehorse jockey turned former arsehole veterinarian turned arsehole publican and arsehole restaurateur. In other words, the perfect host for the clientele he attracts to his establishment at the Viaduct Basin. I had the misfortune of encountering him a couple of times in his veterinary student days.
If you really want to know more, here's a profile. But trust me, that knowledge won't enrich your life in any way. Possibly the telling of it might, tho.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/lifestyle/2019/06/meet-leo-molloy-the-angriest-man-in-the-viaduct.html
Thanks for that, Tamaki is in his bike group.
As I recall, Ardern also said the Raglan case was unvaccinated and that three household contacts who were vaccinated have not yet developed symptoms. Test results not mentioned, probably not back yet. Comforting to hear that vaccination appears to protect close contacts from the delta strain.
I'm impatient for a booster shot and hoping Brian and Leo will have a road to Damascus moment.
Thank you Patricia (4.4). Agree wholeheartedly with your comments.
As far as I'm concerned, the police failed the people of Auckland yesterday, not only once, but twice. Apart from being seen to do nothing at the Tamaki protests, they were absent (apart from two police cars), during a wild motorcycle ride through the main streets of Auckland's CBD yesterday afternoon, with motorbikes not only taking over the main road, going through red traffic lights, but also riding on footpaths, while adults and children waited to cross the road. Some riders were not wearing protective headgear, while others rode on two wheels!
Why isn't the NZ police force protecting this country's citizens? Massive failures on their part in two very public incidences, both in Auckland.
You must understand that the sum total of all the gangs in NZ are probably better armed and organised than police and army combined. For as long as they remain divided you're probably safe.
The Molloy and Tamaki bike gang members are not well armed.
He's not the only one.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300420894/mourners-at-large-funeral-procession-in-aucklands-henderson-reminded-of-level-3-rules
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/lockdown-breach-more-than-50-seen-lining-auckland-street-for-tangi/
Perhaps the powers that be are ignoring him. Don't know how useful that will be.
It is interesting that the newly infected in hospital appear to be the unvaccinated, and perhaps they did not want to over shadow that by drawing attention to him, as events have overtaken things with the Raglan and Hamilton East being involved with new cases.
I still feel Robertson would be within his rights to ask for a refund to cover the Policing and any fallout.
The truckie that was infectious in Palmie was apparently also unvaccinated.
How the fuck is it still happening that we have a closed internal border to control covid, yet we are allowing unvaccinated people to cross it?
Weekly testing is required. Enforcing when unvaccinated no travel out of a level 3 zone would minimise the spread. The reality is that some people will not get vaccinated at all.
Look at the places of interest in the Waikato.
Raglan, Huntly etc.
Given that the PM has been reluctant to give any details I can almost be 100% sure this spread is gang related.
Give them 2.75 mil, let them keep their guns and what do we get for it. Covid for everyone. Happy days
Raglan; I think surfing, Huntly; I think coal fired electricity. Do you have any basis for your assumption gangs were involved; Pataua4life? The list of locations of interest outside Auckland just looks like the truckers route to and from Palmerston North. Also:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/452806/two-new-covid-19-community-cases-reported-in-waikato
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-health-advice-public/contact-tracing-covid-19/covid-19-contact-tracing-locations-interest
The only times I've been to Hamilton East, I was visiting whanau at the university. It didn't strike me as having a large gang presence. Though that was a while ago now.
Ham East is studentville, Raglan full of yuppies & small farm lifestylers, who knows wtf p4life is on about.
Huntly West has many problems resulting from poverty.
The Raglan area is by no means comparable to Pauanui.
Hamilton East has a few areas of lower socio-economic conditions.
Thirty five years of Rogernomics. Spot the connection.
You can almost be "100% sure this spread is gang related?"
I can be almost 100% sure that you are taking a wild guess and actually have nothing to go on for the assumption.
I am 100% sure you are simply using the opportunity of covid reaching Hamilton East and Raglan to try to make some pathetic point about the government. Using Mike Hosking's signature ending gives the comment the stamp it deserves.
Bullshit. Raglan's gang population is all Mongrel Mob and they don't tend to get on very well with the dominant gangs in Huntly. I can be 100% sure that Pataua4life is full of shit.
That's one PoV, and it's your right (and privilege) to alter comments and/or moderate accordingly.
I hold a different PoV, and can only speculate as to why our views differ. Regardless of one's PoV, being truly blind to skin colour remains an uncommon form of colour blindness to this day, imho.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
I moved your comment to OM because it’s off topic, and there’s enough going on that fast thread already. The whiteness thing is a conversation for another place, and perhaps another day, but feel free to continue to explire it in OM.
Thanks weka, all good – imho 'skin colour privilege' is a matter of fact, and it amazes and confuses me that (some) intelligent people feel the need to deny this.
The relevance of ‘white privilege‘ to the “Who are these angry Aucklanders?” post may elude some, but there have been several examples of ‘COVID anger’ directed at Auckland minorities. Admittedly focused more on cultural practices/habits than skin colour, but they can be so devilishly difficult to disentangle.
15 year old dies of COVID in 4 days.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-58772671
A fortnight after recovering from covid an un-vaccinated 20 year old was killed by a sinus infection.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article254580002.html
Anyone done an art auction live?
Webbs is doing their ceramics one at the moment – the tension is still there with it all online.
The Juice Media consider the Australien government AUKUS move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb5OKrYzZp8
A look at the issue of natural (by infection) immunity and vaccination immunity.
Some nations with 80% vaccination have effective 90% immunity because of infection (whether past infection or that currently going through their schools).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bamaEMftg4&t=836s
With lock down going on, it's time to look at support for small business on rent costs.
Last year arbitration was all Winston Peters would agree to, but it's the large businesses that can afford the legal costs.
What about
Level 4 – the tenant pays 25%, the landlord receives 33% – the government provides 8% (4% gratis and 4% as an interest free loan the business pays back).
Level 3 – the tenant pays 33%, the landlord receives 50% – the government provides (8% gratis and 8% as an interest free loan)
Level 2 – the tenant pays 50%, the landlord receives 66% – the government provides 8% gratis and 8% as an interest free loan)
Of course essential businesses that operate at Level 4 not included, nor those "office" staff firms that still earn income by having people work at home.
Apart from limiting government assistance to small businesses only, another way to limit cost on government is to have the total rent paid be 25%, 33% or 50% in the cases of larger commerical landlord firms.
Maybe look at rent holidays.
Many owners of commercial properties are stuck in loans. So essentially the government must / should provide legal framework that would allow a landlord to be able to wipe some of the rent without risking his own repayments to the bank.
Another legal framework that will be needed is one that allows people to get out of leases that are kaputt forever. It can't be considered good practice that these people sell their homes to pay a lease for a business that due to no fault of their own can't be run anymore. If they can get out of these leases, they then have a chance to move on and do / start something else more suited to these interesting times we are living in.
Last year arbitration was all Winston Peters would agree to,
but it's the large businesses that can afford the legal costs.This covers the basic direction to the arbitration.
https://hobec.co.nz/news-resources/2020/april/update-the-adls-lease-and-epidemics
There were mortgage holidays for residential property owners and their landlords last year.
Is it not possible for a business to declare bankruptcy because it cannot operate and void any future rent liability as per the lease?
Bankruptcy brings a lot of other things with it, so personally would not ever go for it.
The point is that these people who got stuck – say travel agencies – have long leases left. If you lease a business in a busy fringe you don't do that for a year or two, some leases are very long. Also, there is the re-lease, how long will it take for a property to find new takers? So essentially everyone who must drop out will try to buy themselves out of the lease. I.e. offer a certain amount a year or two of full lease and hope it is enough and will be accepted.
Now they did not do anything to deserve to lose their business, a pandemic is a pandemic, what can you do. But they should also not left in limbo, trying to deal with it on their own and without much success.
We must get used to 'for lease' signs when we venture out in the future.
Most smaller leases will have personal guarantees which make company structures or bankruptcy to avoid lease liabilities tricky. Pretty much pay up and the landlord wins.
….the government must / should provide legal framework that would allow a landlord to be able to wipe ALL of the rent without risking his own repayments to the bank.
In 1914 and again in 1931 the government did exactly that.
Brian Tamaki has led a protest demanding no more lockdowns. Tamaki is tapping into the hardhship that lockdowns cause.
Only a full mortgage and rent moratorium can ease the hardship that lockdowns cause SMEs and family households.
If past government could do it once, (and in fact did it twice). Why can't the current government?
It is not like the big mostly Australian owned banks who take $3.5 billion out of our economy every year can't afford it.
Why is everyone else's income effectively slashed in lockdown but their's is not?
Under level the 4 lockdown in Auckland, elimination was close to being achieved before it was lifted early before it had finished its job. The lockdown was lifted early before it had done its job, because of the political pressures and the hardships caused at the flax roots of society.
Caving in to the Brian Tamakis of this world and to the National Party and various other right wing lobbies, The Prime Minister has said there will be no return to level 4 lockdown. Right Wing commentators and pundits have celebrated this announcement, as the end of the government's 'elimination strategy'.
The government in reply have denied this. The reality is, until we reach at least 90% vaccination coverage, to save lives and protect our health system from being overwhelmed, Full Level 4 Lockdown which has been our most effective measure to date, must remain part of the tool kit.
If hospitalisations and deaths start to rise, and a return to level 4 becomes necessary. A full mortgage and rental moratorium for the period of the lockdown, is in my opinion, the only way to make another major lockdown stick.
We need to share the pain with those who can most afford it.
An interesting read:
I think there are a lot of lessons we can learn from Portugal
With 85% of the population vaccinated, Portugal is running out of people to jab.
And rather than go for booster shots, the surprisingly humane submarine captain, placed in charge of the vaccine roll-out who appears on TV in his military fatigues, is more concerned with getting the vaccine to unvaccinated former Portuguese colonies.
What a Guy.
We need someone like that here. Someone who can see the bigger picture. That it is not just about us, but it is also about that part of the world that we owe a duty of care to. In our case the smaller Pacific nations in our region.
Now that employers have got their demand to lift restrictons on bringing in temporary migrant workers from the Pacific Islands. An outbreak here could be spread back home with devastating results. Especially in countries that don’t have the same level of health infrastructure we have here.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300421229/covid19-portugal-is-running-out-of-people-to-vaccinate-so-what-comes-next