I still don't fully understand why – when ordinary, everyday people going about their ordinary, everyday lives can comprehend climate change and all that it means for the planet – the governing leadership continue to live in Cloud Cuckoo land.
If they are so s**t dumb why in God's name are they being elected to these positions?
It's because if the voters really woke up to how much of their lifestyle choice (referred to by them as necessity) would actually be taken away from them by politicians (as leaders) taking very affirmative action on such matters, they would probably learn to base their opinions on cold or hot hard FACT.
So really easy to use the various elected reps as whipping boys/girls to blame for all manner of ills (usually out of their control) to manage.
Convenient also to vote, as if serious about carbon issues, but hoping like anything that the politicians DON'T take too firm a stand which might burst the good folk's personal and community bubble, or restrict them in any way from doing what they are used to doing, which is mainly creating hot air of their own.
I liken Skippy Granny and her burnt offerings to Parliament House as similar to blaming the guy at the liquor store who sold me a six pack, for the noisiness of the dudes down the road throwing a party.
Powerful, not really. And about as symbolic as throwing old paint tins at them because someone imagined an "extra" hour of daylight brought about by the introduction of daylight saving had caused the paint on their house to crack and blister.
Last night's poll results should worry the government. Labour needs to stay above 40%, and it has failed to do so.
There are heaps of people who I know personally who would be screwed over by a National government, cut adrift by a toxic mixture of small state ideology, and the Calvinist culture of paying eternal penance for a small mistake made.
This government has been dissapointing and underwhelming, but a National government, backed up with ACT, and possible the New Conservatives, plus the Maori Party, would be a disaster for anyone who is poor, sick, in need of a home, a union member, etc.
" It's MMP. One party does not 'need' to stay over 40% if it has viable coalition partners "
Based on these last C.B polls they still have too reach 60 seats too govern or too be in serious contention of forming a government
Last nights numbers and it is trends that are more important would have the Labour party and its friends short of a majority but the numbers are excruciatingly close.
"Identifying statistically meaningful trends in New Zealand politics can be difficult, given the paucity of public polling, but after dramatically different results earlier this year both TV outlets are now consistent in showing an erosion of support for Labour and Ardern "
Hear hear, especially the party that used to speak for the working person. They need to get above 40% so as not to rely on unpleasant coalition partners.
Unless, of course, they are happy to not be transformational: e.g. CGT, reform of fishing industry, housing for the less well off, effective diminishing of child poverty.
Billions of surplus dollars and benefit rates still can't be returned to pre Ruthanasia levels.
The want of a mandate never troubles the loathsome reptiles of the Right – who imposed Rogergnomics on us without so much as a by-your-leave. There's a comeuppance due for that – a rebalancing towards a democratic rather instead of a plutocratic society.
a leader (or in contemporary politics, a party) should seek the support of the people rather than favouring his ‘great’ allies or partisans is that the ambitious ‘great’ regard themselves as his equals, and therefore wish to displace him. They will demand ever more offices and goods as the price of their continued support. Attempts to satisfy them will necessarily fail and, in failing, add to the leader’s enemies. A leader can satisfy his people, however, because ‘the end of the people is more decent (onesto) than that of the great, since the great want to oppress and the people want not to be oppressed’.
Sadly I think he'd be right at home. But I think he'd have liked the enlightenment and the European spring. He got tired of the self-appointed nobles screwing up his hard work.
That poll doesn't take the yesterdays announcement of a massive spend on infrastructure into account yet so this poll is premature to rely upon now.
Labour needs to get some lost transport services back in operation now and most glaring at us all is the low use of rail in all provinces, that generate our wealth like Gisborne/HB and others.
I agree – restoring a more sustainable transport network makes sense on so many levels. But it has to make it past the peripatetic malice of a neoliberal civil service – pragmatic good sense rarely gets a look in.
Yes Stuart, We have been fighting for the rail service from Napier to Gisborne now for 19yrs and three rail companies later, Tranzrail, Toll Rail, and finally Kiwi rail,
We are still there going gang busters to get the rail up and running again, and it is very challenging when the trucking lobbyists have such power and influence in Wellington but finally this government are showing promise.
If the trends had continued every time someone had said "if these trends continue" based on a few early data points, we'd all be dying from SARSebolaStrepMadCowDisease.
Politicians who want to keep their jobs look for mandates.
There is nothing radical about raising benefit rates. Employment Contracts Act and wine, lamb and dairy products from Aotearoa costing less overseas than here is radical.
Quite tricky boosting benefit rates when you're a party of the workers, let alone those who see themselves as the 'middle class'. If beneficiaries voted more then the calculations might be different.
But presentation of a policy can make all the difference. Raising benefit rates will offset health problems, disease etc. Bringing back educational opportunities and skills training boosts work-ready people etc. The positive advantages of a healthy happy working society are known, the people need support to get on their feet though; the government and country can't have the good society without showing the sensible planning and support for all the people to reach a place where they can be full participants in the enterprise economy.
By the time you have come out with all of that the wealthy's eyes glaze and they say with irritation – get on with it then.
"Raising benefit rates will offset health problems, disease etc. "
Do you have evidence that this is the case? I suspect you just presume this is the case or you will refer to some vague generalised study to support your argument.
Gosman it makes perfect sense that if 'raising benefit rates' means more money in citizens pockets which will allow better health of those citizens, because they have extra funds to buy medicines for early treatment of any medical problem they face.
Look up "Preventive medicine" to see the logic please.
I have a disability Gosman that occurred when I was exposed to chemicals and early intervention would have saved me from a now known long term chronic disability.
Do you see the logic there?
If I was able to fund early treatment my health would have been fine today but because at the time of my injury I had no funding to get early treatment so I suffered since with a long term chronic disability.
Oh sometimes "studies" are an unethical waste of time. Like the death rate from being forced off a plane in the south Atlantic without a parachute and rescue vessel.
Bridget thanks for the study it was not surprising to see that the Canadian model proved the worth of giving a sustainable income that saved hospital costs.
I was actually chemically poisoned inside the CBC 12 story building at the corner of Front street and John St at the foreshore of Lake Ontario in Toronto.
I was one of 40 communication and building contractors who suffered from chemical over-exposure because the building was not fitted with central ‘ventilation yet’ and the building had no opening windows to get air into the building so when we got sick most workers never had funds to get medical treatment only available in the US at that time.
My friends over in Toronto now have a clinic to treat workers with Chemical poisoning too at Womens college hospital bless them;
My Point being that if i was funded with a trip to a US clinic then my health would most certainly have been restored then and that was the power of funding people with what it would do to facilitate proper medical care.
Since being back home in Napier in 1998 I have been paying for my medical treatment from chronic chemical poisoning ever since.
The huge NZ Precariat consists of poorly-paid workers who live on both welfare and badly-paid work. Switching between the two as rubbish jobs run out, or working and still needing food grants and other assistance (I know plenty of people in this position).
The division between "working" and "welfare" is not that clear for many people these days.
That is the problem, they stopped being being a workers party with the tory reforms in the '80s. Firmly a middle class outfit despite the platitudes about dealing with children living in poverty.
"If beneficiaries voted more then the calculations might be different." That is as cold, heartless and cynical as I expect from the Laura Norder, 'Crusher' type.
This is both inspiring (that MSD has some level of innovation in it) and deeply offensive. I can see where they are coming from..but…the gamification of budgeting the unbudgetable… ffs!
Inspired by "free" cash giveaways by payday lenders, a government digital start-up is trialling paying people to complete money skills lessons.
The Ministry of Social Development's Spring digital start-up is designed to improve the money skills and wellbeing of "hard to reach" families who are struggling financially, but aren't seeking help from budgeting agencies.
In return for completing online learning tasks Spring users earn "SpringCoin" which they can swap for vouchers to spend at Countdown, Pak n' Save, Four Square, The Warehouse and Z Energy.
I can just imagine the dumbed down task completion process brought to you by the same organisation that paid tens of thousands for phamplets so devoid of intelligence they disclose nothing at all.
What really rips my nighty is that a businesses will make govt bank doing this when the money needs to go to the people who need it. Please excuse me for a few..I need to unclench my jaw.
Better jaw, jaw, than war, war! And if you look at the way people are being deliberately denied the basics of life they need, it is a sort of war.
For instance the care workers having a little strike over the swingeing conditions at the Masonic Fancy Name care facility in Lower Hutt? and are conducting it with Et Tu support. Some of the workers are being offered? an employment agreement where they get hours of work, some sort of basic roster, but also there's more…they have to be on call for whenever the facility has need of them.
In essence they can't live their human lives, they are at the behest of their employer and can't make plans to do anything with family, friends, appointments, rest and recovery as needed, high days and holidays, which can all have to be curtailed by a demand to work and be on call within a 24/7 basis. The managers don't work those hours for that money, no way.
Flexible, malleable, plasticine workforce is what the employers can demand under our callous neoliberal no-regulations political system set up to allow despots to take control of their workers lives. And large numbers of NZ people don't care, they are not affected. They are going on one of those cruises in fullpage advertisements of the papers, it's SEP.
It's not news, and other places have decided it's harmful to their democracy. By all means have public polls, just not funded by those with an interest in sensationalising them.
Who gets to decide which polls are okay or not? Will you stop political parties from carrying out polling to determine whether their political approach is working?
Publishing polls, not conducting them. The Electoral Commisison would be a logical body to do that on behalf of everyone in our context.
Media and parties would still have a go at spinning a narrative around the results, but the media outlets would be under less pressure to favour commercial imperatives over editorial standards.
It used to work here until the plutocrats decided to cheat everyone. In the old state broadcasting days the unprofessional bias that characterises muppets like Garner would have cost him his job – nowadays he probably has to be an empty-headed Tory sycophant just to keep his job.
Yeah that gave me a chuckle. Down 1% from the last CB poll is plummeting? They haven't noted that National has "plummeted" too – down 1% from the last poll.
Perhaps plummets is code for the way that Labour is allocating money for better services, infrastucture but not as much as some would like, ie they are distributing not full-sized 'plums' but 'plummets'! In our convoluted world, every word can have two meanings. Let's choose this one!
German software giant SAP has apologised to New Zealand after a massive data breach revealed the details of gun owners’ names, addresses and firearms.
“As part of new features intended for the platform, security profiles were to be updated to allow certain users to be able to create citizens records,” a spokesperson explained.
“A new security profile was incorrectly provisioned to a group of 66 dealer users due to human error by SAP… We unreservedly apologise to New Zealand Police and the citizens of New Zealand for this error.”
You've never worked in IT have you? If the NZ Police outsourced this to SAP they should have insisted on detailed security testing by SAP. On top of this they should also have performed User acceptance testing of the system changes by their own IT team which should have focused on areas like this. The NZ Police and by default this government) cannot get away from the ownership of this stuff up so easily.
Bah – sounds like it's you that's never worked in IT Gosman. Neither a statement in the non-functional specifications about security, nor User Acceptance Testing (UAT) are any guarantee that breaches won't occur. Normally UAT doesn't go anywhere near the sort of actions that can result in exploiting weaknesses. An even a well-designed system is still susceptible to human error on the developer or admin side – which SAP seem to be saying it was.
Your reflexive finger-pointing at the government is oh so childish and ideological. Perhaps instead the lesson is that the private sector is inherently wasteful, inefficient, lazy and sloppy because profit-taking rots their brains and makes them behave badly? Or maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration – though the evidence would seem to point that way at least in part.
This was a standard set up of a new security group. As part of testing this set up I would expect it to be checked that the people in the group did not have more rights than they should have. This should be looked at from both a Security testing point of view AND Acceptance testing. Acceptance testing should always be carried out by members of the organisation receiving the service (or at least ownership of the testing should be kept within the receiving organisation).
New things can start out clean and sharp, but as things seem to be going well and no-one is looking too hard, the organic things comes in and they age. As we age and our bodies renew themselves but not as they were Scotty, bits of our chromosomes? drop off and we end up looking well-used. The private sector has probably been assessed by some acute observer, who has found that within say five years anything is only 80% as good as within it's first six months. And with no regulations, or poorly enforced ones, private enterprise will sink to its lowest level of quality that enables the highest efficiency and profit.
…they should have insisted on detailed security testing by SAP. On top of this they should also have performed User acceptance testing of the system changes by their own IT team which should have focused on areas like this.
They should, and for all we know they did. Nobody's yet come up with a UAT plan that guarantees nothing can go wrong.
This is not some obscure edge case scenario. From all accounts this was the incorrect set up of a new security group which allowed members of that group to access data they shouldn't have been able to see. That is basic level stuff.
She's responsible for all those bald or #1 pates running NZ business?
I bet she's also responsible for the lack of ties, to show that subtle informality of expensive business suit with the hard-working lack of tie image. And the brown pointy shoes!
Where is Bob Jones when we need his dress sense code?
Ha, ha Wensleydale – great comment. My random reading of some Facebook media pages would somehow indicate that most of the hoi poloi who do comment certainly think along such lines. It often makes me want to throw my keyboard at the screen. So far I've resisted the urge.
The Minister of Police is responsible for ensuring the Police's IT systems are up to scratch and not vulnerable.
So, you believe Nash is to blame for not inspecting SAP's update code for this app before allowing them to install it? Or is he to blame for allowing the Police to outsource app development rather than requiring them to develop software in-house?
Many people of the Right, as well as of the Left, seem to think that the chain of command is a straight line to the top but they forget about or overlook management and institutional(ised) processes and procedures. No wonder so many ‘discussions’ here are anything but.
Nonetheless this was a very serious error; someone senior needs to take responsibility. I agree it doesn't warrant the resignation of the Minister, but clearly the oversight of this project has failed. A head needs to roll.
Data security around gun ownership is paramount if legal gun owners are to have any confidence in the system and this incident has been severely compromising.
I'm with Gosman on this. This kind of security breach was predicted months ago by a highly qualified friend. For legal gun owners this is of critical concern, it takes no imagination to see what would happen if gun ownership details were to ever get into the wrong hands.
This represents a serious hit on the credibility of the new gun ownership regime. A regime closely identified with Arden herself.
The list went out to gun retailers like Tipple – no surprise it leaked – nothing to do with the government though. Those anti-terrorist powers? People handing out lists of guns and addresses probably qualify.
To be fair it was the gun dealers themselves who were largely shocked at what they were seeing and reported it to the authorities immediately.
It is wholly unconvincing for the govt to minimise this incident. This was not some obscure bug or oversight, it was a flat out configuration error of the most basic kind. If this is the level of professionalism and testing going on in this project then some hard oversight questions need to be asked.
It's quite probable that the damage in this instance has been contained; but we cannot know for certain. Worse still we cannot have much confidence that another such mistake will not happen, and next time the consequences might be much worse.
I repeat … consider the consequences of a major leak of gun ownership details to fall into criminal hands.
I agree it shouldn't have happened, but it was a usergroup assignment error rather than an essential configuration error. SAP screwed up and ticked the wrong box. They didn't e.g. allow sql injection on the form. It's not a globally-accessible hole, it's overprivileging people who were meant to get more access anyway.
So yes it should have been picked up before release, but I'm not sure how high up that user group change would go. I would have thought the cops would have done some user poking before handing out access to the new group, but this isn't exactly a ministerial-level issue.
Yes someone ticked the wrong box. That should have been picked up before it went live, no if's no buts. I understand the nature of the error, remember I wrote software for large industrial processes most of my career … often on live, running machines. So I'm vividly aware of how easily mistakes happen and I'm not a judgmental person by nature.
BUT this is the equivalent of a simple software error that could cause an industrial accident, causing damage and death. The leadership on this project should have understood that making a simple config error should NOT lead to a major failure. There should have been multiple layers of protection in place to prevent this from happening. At the prices these guys charge it would the least I would expect.
But it's an error that applied to a tenth of a percent of users who had a higher privilege level anyway. It's like if I, in a lowly security hat, had accidentally dragged access to the finance office over to all upper-middle level managers, rather than just the finance manager. Sure, it's something to bollock me over, but one wouldn't expect them to go wandering in the dead of night. Unlike if I'd dragged it over to 20k students and they all got a notification of the change.
Not sure what to make of the disagreement over who and how many accessed it, though. If someone's telling lies about the degree of the problem, that's when the shit in this case should start trickling up.
jfc. Best case scenario there is that he and his team are clueless about the politics around both #metoo and the alt right/left conspiracy theories of paedophilia. Not to mention having a sexual predator as current president. Or they don't care. Which makes them incompetent. And creepy.
Brexit news – a really interesting video from Channel 4 News. The sight of the PM rolling plasticine with schoolchildren in an effort to show himself a man of the people, in touch with all levels of society is insulting to those concerned about his tragic lack of concern about the country. And he has been caught out making promises that are totally the opposite to what is the Tory declared policies. He is just a moving mouth being carried by a bulky body like a battering ram at the portals of reason and responsible UK policy.
Does Boris Johnson understand his own Brexit deal? and there is a look at Labour – what are they saying themselves and doing?
Channel 4 are having to run a video with some mute partial and some vocal – the mute filled in with explanatory text! Channel 4 faces yet another accusation of political bias
Why are NZ media now today having a blackout on the ‘COPS 25 Climate change conference’ going on today in Madrid Spain, – with 125 countries attending along with NZ diplomatic representation?
Today the National opposition are claiming our PM Jacinda Ardern spends to much time on the world stage; so is that why this media blackout is all about?
I came across this personal input from someone who has visited Assange regularly. Haven't read it all myself yet – am passing it on for information of those who care. (Published 27 Sept 2019)
Does this look dangerous to you? Is it those for the environment that is practical for its purpose v those who like uniform green deserts as the bees call grass (or would if they could translate buzz to language)?
However, Auckland Transport have sent Dee a letter outlining the legal requirements for berms, which include restrictions from planting anything edible or having vegetation more than 60cm tall, and must have shallow roots. Isn't that nice Auckland Transport organising everything for us as they picture how we should be. Do they seem ubiquitious?
But I thought a berm went between the road and the footpath, that's where mine is. And children have been chalking all over the footpath – surely there is a law against that!
So, if a 1% fall in Labour (and National) CB poll results is 'plummeting' then our banks' interest rates have plummeted, our unemployment rate has plummeted, crime victimisation has plummeted, use of plastic bags has plummeted, ownership of military style weapons has plummeted.
If a rise in 1% or more is 'rocketing', a fair antonym for 'plummeting', then Mana in Mahi numbers are rocketing, both business and consumer confidence (Q 6 answer in the House today) are rocketing, with 80,000 new jobs employment is rocketing, wages at 4% have sky-rocketed, primary produce revenue has rocketed, support for school maintenance is rocketing.
The Court name suppression thing is definitely due for an overhaul. Here is an example in a bizarre case. It is hard not to get paranoid these days – there seem to be so many who are trying to take people down in some way.
A victim of the former financial executive caught stealing rabbits says he spent thousands of dollars on alarms, flood lights and security cameras to protect his surviving animals.
"He stole six of my rabbits, most of which were pets, one of which was a mother with a litter that subsequently died," the man told the Herald.
"It broke my heart, and to have him get name suppression for so long … it made me sick."
The argument that this is an OK hand sign doesn't fit the context. I'd have said that a thumbs up signal would have been more appropriate to express approval. The signal connected to the wearing of a Trump support hat is a good reason why William Wood has been a wise enough 17 year old to drop this photo.
Bloody hell! The last thing we want here. OK those kids are still young and impressionable, but if that is what they are impressed by, then there is no way we want them anywhere near the seat of government. Palmerston North – do your duty.
Bridges said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made the same hand gestures as well: "I don't think there is a lot in it, it's not a biggie".
Bridges is a liar and he is sick to infer the prime-minister is sympathetic to white supremacist ideology because that is exactly what he is doing no matter how strenuously he tries to deny it.
That saying that you can never hit bottom when the stupidity of people is measured is a counter to the ideal of a democracy where everyone has an education and is capable of making reasoned decisions on behalf of themselves and/or the country. It is a conundrum.
This caught my eye. Baldwin Street in Dunedin has been in contention with a street in Wales for being the steepest in Guinness Book records. The use of Lime scooters in Dunedin's Baldwin St is already under scrutiny as the company and police try to curb reckless behaviour on the street. 11 January 2019 One person has already been filmed riding down the steepest street in the world since the scooters arrived a day ago.
Not sure the scooters are as dangerous as idiots who can't drive cars. Especially front wheel automatics – they never change down, and start wheelspinning near the top. Then the drivers shit themselves because they get psyched out and fail to simply reverse down a straight slope.
But then I have to bloody slalom between the tourists every day as they wander all over the road, oblivious to traffic on a steep hill. Even though it's advertised as a steep road. Vexes me greatly.
Police in Dunedin have found that some people find begging lucrative and the street a place to live and sleep and prefer it. How common is this in Dunedin?
Some were choosing the street, despite having accommodation options available, as they could make up to $200 a day from begging and the cruise ship season marked a notable increase in the practice, he said.
As a person now having had four separate diagnoses for cancer, all successfully treated, under successive governments, I welcome this move.
I hope that all parties will support this agency in its set up and work. Cancer, like any disease, has no respect for political affiliation, income or social views.
A woman was reported as missing in India by her family. She was being brutally raped, murdered and burned.
Three policemen have also been suspended for failing to act quickly when the woman’s disappearance was registered by her family on Wednesday, with the officers instead suggesting she had just gone off with a man and turning the family away from the police station. Before she was attacked, the woman had called her family at about 9pm to say her scooter was immobile and she was stranded by the road and scared.
Noticeable in the story is how quickly the men decided to pick off this woman on her own, tell her lies, pretend to be helpful and treat her with consideration when all the time they had decided to use her in a vile way, and protect themselves from justice or vengeneance. Also the way that the police wished to have nothing to do with this crime. Perhaps it is regarded as unclean, something that a decent man would not be involved with. It speaks volumes about the sexism and classism in India, and they may also be a shame-based society, as appears so often in the Middle East.
It is not the first time that a really horrific sexual attack on a woman in India has made the news; some men descended on a student travelling in a bus with her boyfriend which ended with her death. In a village some young girls were hanged from a tree, I think for having been raped which was felt to bring shame on the village.
A young and trusting NZ woman was murdered while visiting India some years ago. A taxi driver took her to a hotel with a similar name to the one she had booked so she was misled and disoriented. A little while afterwards she disappeared. Her father became alarmed and went to India to look for her. After some serious detective work her body was found. A group of men were involved in scams involving female tourists. Some of the women had had sex with them, and the men no doubt had found their roles lucrative and satisfying. This young woman would not have been available for sex. The father had a number of trips to India to first find her and bring her home, and then to have the men brought to justice.
With all the Indian men coming to this country there will be a percentage of the young men who have this awful blankness in their moral sense towards women. We should be aware of this, and also about unacceptable factors in some arranged marriages. An educated man may use himself as a lure for a family with funds seeking a good marriage for their daughter, who will pay a bride price or dowry. After the marriage she may suffer an unfortunate accident, leaving the man a widower. He can then look for another wife, and repeat the practice, and his family would secure a good boost to their wealth from such a practice.
Remember though greywarshark, that a lot of these Indian men end up as New Zealand Corrections ("prison") Officers and managers, employed or formerly employed by both the Dept of Corrections and SERCO.
Chatting with some of them in a "business end" environment, they will insist that both actions and in-actions bring consequences, and that women "ask for it" going out non-escorted at night, or by being too flirtatious.
Perhaps more laws could be introduced by the National Party (if they get in next year) to make it illegal in New Zealand to be a woman alone under such circumstances.
You see, there can be a law constructed and tailor made for just about any situation. It just takes the will power and the right amount of insistence.
Why challenge the viewpoint of so many Indians with a population which is now around 1.4 billion?
Probably most of them will tell you that there is both safety and legitimacy in numbers.
I recognise your cognition karol121. So many people can't be wrong eh. And India very religious, lots of parades and flowers. But what about the heart and meaning of the belief, can it be put aside when it suits?
Just musing. Women need to be aware of the enduring wish to take male 'privilege' over any social controls. And then too their own wish to be admired that shows up in choice of clothes etc. Add to that the inability to understand other's feelings and thoughts even when we speak the same language; communication classes teach how we misunderstand often.
I think I read somewhere that all great changes are brought about by a small group. So that makes it easy to control the pace of change and who by. Thank god for the young ones getting onto pressing for change. I don't think we are bigger conformists than many other cultures but it is stunning how we go on with rationalisations, lazy thinkers, self-centred, materialists out of balance.
Lazy thinking and out of balance for materially gainful purpose.
I've been guilty of that occasionally myself, greywarshark.
Most societies are preconditioned to reassertion and re-enforcement of belief and even perceived ideas, fueled with the concept of majority being the more right (whatever that "right" is at any one time).
Difficult to escape from it. Political democracy based on largest vote validates the notion that we at least (often begrudgingly) accept it as a pre-condition.
On challenges using younger generational ideas, I think that (when not used as a destructive weapon of choice) a clash of cultures is both natural and healthy.
Challenging the beliefs of others when what they assert leaves many questions unanswered, but not doing so deliberately to one's own detriment.
An alt choice to avoid one to one head banging, blamelessly deliberating on just y people do and y they don't.
Or lighten up except where absolutely necessary and remember how long traces stay in the body. We have had cases of airline staff still hung over in the early morning as they make their way to the airport for early starts.
More self-control and appreciation of what the body can stand, and what fitness the job requires would make people limit their drug taking.
Except that impairment tests also catch basic fatigue and generalised incompetence, which I suggest are more frequent and more serious dangers when people are operating heavy machinery.
They never run short of punitive bullshit. They'll demand your social media access or test clothing for P residues or introduce spurious psych questionnaires – none of it relevant to the work.
Females are dropping their standards of behaviour along with other things. Women will not be able to complain about being put upon in a sexual way as more and more stories of irresponsible and immoral behaviour from them comes out in the media.
There has been a female teacher in Marlborough who has brazenly assaulted boys there for a while until finally someone brought the story out; and she was/is married. This sports coach is married also. She sounds a nasty piece of work.
Water polo coach at prestigious South African school engaged in sexual misconduct with 'at least five pupils'
Married teacher and former model Fiona Viotti slept with her students and sent them explicit photos and videos, which were circulated on social media and even made their way to PornHub.
The 30-year-old resigned from the $15,730-a-year (R150,000) Bishops Diocesan School in Cape Town in October amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old student.
Ms Viotti, the niece of former Springboks coach Nick Mallett, reportedly sent threatening messages to the student via WhatsApp when he tried to break off the relationship.
Assertive and occasionally sexually aggressive woman are nothing new.
It is generally recognised that when push comes to shove, in relation to sexual harassment allegations over recent times (more especially in relation to the workplace) most complaints do usually get taken on face value, almost as if those reviewing such complaints are trying to indirectly lend support to the myriad of woman who've had a justifiable reason to make an allegation, but who either haven't come forward or haven't been able to come forward.
But complaints by males against females in this regard, are very often simply disregarded or treated as being silly.
Essentially, I guess we all need to ask ourselves just what if any real damage is caused by woman adopting an active (as opposed to passive role). To my mind, none. Simply a challenge to ideals or beliefs held by many, and a change of perspective perhaps.
That is in relation to sexual assertiveness, but in relation to predatory sexual behaviour, well that is entirely a different matter.
I recall reading of one case where a woman teacher deliberately conceived a child, apparently in an attempt to emotionally trap a young male student.
But I also recall reading where younger school boys were engaged in "upskirt" photo sessions of a relatively attractive teacher, and where she was really surprised by the behaviour revealed to her later. But boys will be boys, and I bet that many of them thought that Christmas had come early with such trove of pics, until they got caught pink handed.
In relation to minors, consider both the sexually transmitted diseases aspect and the conception aspect. Most girls aren't physically capable of any healthy form of child bearing during adolescence and are unlikely to be emotionally prepared, most boys aren't psychologically geared up to early fatherhood.
There are many other ramifications as well. Teacher crush yes, teacher promoting bed romp, no. Very naughty.
In relation to both male and female promiscuity and any "lowering" of a standard, perhaps simply a connected 21st century alteration is all it is.
For the record, I am male by the way.
What's important is putting things into perspective in relation to human physiology and especially comfort mechanisms born out of one of the most basic, inbuilt human drivers, which is that of procreation, or continuation of the species. Along with all of the ramifications, whether they be pleasurable or whether they arrive with undesired complications.
We do have to make big changes and accelerat the changes to a carbon neutral World. Not spend billion producing MORE CARBON.
We need export dollars to change our society to carbon neutral we can not kill the golden goose. The least disruptive move is to chase Green transport and green energy at the same time do things to minimise our farmers carbon footprint. Aotearoa is in the best location to make a society Carbon neutral in the World.
All the country's that have produced the least carbon are going to suffer the most from Global warming and Sea level rising. Hence they should be compensated for their losses. The cost will be a drop in the Ocean compared to the wealth Western nations have harvested from the World.
Small island countries in the Pacific are demanding greater commitments at this week's Madrid climate talks, saying what's been done so far is far from enough.
For example, the Pacific Island states have been facing higher numbers than the global average, which is of course very alarming for them because they're low-lying For example, the Pacific Island states have been facing higher numbers than the global average, which is of course very alarming for them because they're low-lying
The A growing economy is a waste off time if you can not breathe the Air. A clean and green environment. Keeping our clean seas and Awa is of the utmost importances to our mokopuna future.
Pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog.
Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, with “transformational” change now necessary to stave off the impacts of global heating and environmental collapse, warned Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the European Environment Agency
Marginal efficiency gains are not enough – they are not working to bring down emissions,” he said. “There is also a higher cost to marginal efficiency gains, if we keep investing in that. If we focus on making current technologies more efficient, there are limits. If we stick to what we know, it may seem easy but it doesn’t work in the long term.”
The EEA scored 35 key measures of environmental health, from greenhouse gases and air pollution, waste management and climate change to soil condition and birds and butterfly species, and found only six in which Europe was performing adequately.
“Incremental changes have resulted in progress in some areas but not nearly enough to meet our long-term goals,” said Bruyninckx. Further marginal changes would grow only more expensive, he predicted, making large-scale change necessary. “We already have the knowledge, technologies and tools we need to make key production and consumption systems such as food, mobility and energy sustainable
Here is a fool who is trying to force other Nato countries to pour billions of dollars into weapons that kill poor people and thinks his achievement is great. This Orange Redneck should be kicked out of Office. I can see all the dirtiest tricks he is pulling to load his coffers up with hundreds of billions shorting the stock market ect. I know who is to blame for bad shit happening to me TRUMP. THE world need to spend billion to protect our mokopuna future fool
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cited increased spending commitments on defence by European allies and Canada, saying: "Nato is the most successful alliance in history because we've changed as the world has changed."
On Tuesday, he said those nations had added $130bn (£100bn) to defence budgets since 2016, and that this number would increase to $400bn by 2024. Mr Trump has frequently and forcefully criticised how much other allies spend on defence
Ya trump is going to get what he deserves kicked out of The White House the whole World is amazed at the way he is using the most powerful job in the world to line his hip pockets.
That's is cool Taramaki Makaru starting A new Aotearoa thing of collecting food waste.
There is a lot of things that mitigates the production of green house gases that has been used for 20 years around the world that Aotearoa could start doing.
Yes that is awful I bet he was brown.
Im busy getting my mokopuna ready for school and dropping them off mind my grammar.
Climate crisis is 'challenge of civilisation', says pope
Pontiff calls on COP 25 leaders to show political will to safeguard healthy
The climate emergency is a “challenge of civilisation” requiring sweeping changes to economic systems, but political leaders have not done enough, the pope has said in a message to governments meeting at the annual climate summit in Madrid.
“We must seriously ask ourselves if there is the political will to allocate with honesty, responsibility and courage, more human, financial and technological resources [to the climate crisis],” he said, in the pontifical message, which was welcomed by activists.
Climate crisis: what is COP and can it save the world?
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“Numerous studies tell us it is still possible to limit global warming. To do this we need a clear, far-sighted and strong political will, set on pursuing a new course that aims at refocusing financial and economic investments toward those areas that truly safeguard the conditions of a life worthy of humanity on a healthy planet for today and tomorrow.
This is what Global Warming is doing to our environment burning it.
New Zealand's glaciers are turning red – and it's because of Australia's bushfires
By Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN
Glaciers in Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand's South Island have turned pinkish-red from dust and particles blown over from Australia's bush fires.
Travel photographer and blogger Liz Carlson snapped the pictures of the discolored snow-capped glaciers on November 28 while on a helicopter flight around Mount Aspiring National Park, in New Zealand's South Island.
"After we flew deep into the park around the Kitchener Glacier, I could really see how red it was, and it was shocking, I've never seen anything like it before," Carlson told CNN. Ka kite Ano link below.
Awsome a new engineering centre at a university in Taramaki Makaru I hope that heaps of Pacific people will get a great education from the $280 million facilities.
Te ohu I read that there was a problem with the Whare returning. Yes they play tangata whenua against each other I see it all the time. And yes the Rangatahi are not as respectful to Te kau matuta as when I was younger.????????????.
Looks like the winner of Matariki is making his views on the way Tangata Whenua are being treated .
That's awesome Maori business Ono pop up Shop is going Mana that gives me a sore face.
The world must cut polluting our futures environment we must cut the world’s carbon footprint in half within 10 years or our earth that is a miracle will turn in a hell hole.
Paris climate deal: world not on track to meet goal amid continuous emissions
Slowdown this year in rising greenhouse gases does not negate long-term trend, finds carbon budget analysis
Carbon dioxide emissions rose weakly this year as the use of coal declined but natural gas took up the slack, a comprehensive study of the global “carbon budget” has found.
The rise in emissions was much smaller than in the last two years, but the continued increase means the world is still far from being on track to meet the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change, which would require emissions to peak then fall rapidly to reach net-zero by mid-century.
Emissions for this year will be 4% higher than those in 2015, when the Paris agreement was signed. Governments are meeting this week and next in Madrid to hammer out some of the final details for implementing the Paris deal and start work on new commitments to cut emissions by 2030. But the new report shows the increasing difficulty of that task.
Future Proofed: KiwiRail needs to become an all-electrically-powered, broad-gauged, and comprehensively re-equipped state-owned enterprise with state-of-the-art locomotives and rolling-stock. An infrastructure project of massive proportions and prodigious expense is required. But, when it is completed, New Zealand will have a sustainable, twenty-first century transportation network, capable of carrying both passengers ...
Back in December, the government purchased Ihumatāo. Officially the purchase was for a housing project, but whether any houses actually get built (and who will own them) is subject to negotiation. And now, the Auditor-General has ruled the purchase unlawful: The deal struck by the government and Fletcher Building ...
Speculation about the National Party’s leadership has died down, after a fortnight of rumours and overt positioning by supposed challengers to Judith Collins. She lives on as leader for a bit longer, and Christopher Luxon and Simon Bridges have been put in their place. National now desperately needs to focus ...
The government is planning to reform the health system. But in the leadup, they've issued new guidance for DHB members, gagging them from criticising the government: A new code of conduct banning health board members from making “political comment” may have been timed to dull criticism of imminent changes ...
Susan St John & Terry Baucher The bright line test has been extended to ten years. Tax deductibility for the cost of a mortgage for landlords is to be removed. These steps are a start, but there is more to be done. In Susan and Terry, we have two advocates ...
As New Zealand and Australia celebrated its close ties with the opening of the Trans-Tasman Covid-19 bubble, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta today was looking a little further north. Shortly after those first flights had taken off, reminding us all of the world beyond our shores, Mahuta gave just her second ...
Recently I was told I needed to go to the Youtube channel of Dr Sam BaileyA and watch one of her videosB. So I did. This particular video is called The Truth About Virus Isolation, and yes it’s on Youtube, and no I’m not linking directly because I refuse to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Peter Sinclair This edition of Yale Climate Connections’ “This Is Not Cool” video explores the “disinformation ecosystem” in and beyond the issue of global climate change. “How did we get here?” independent videographer Peter Sinclair asks rhetorically at the start of the ...
Once upon a time, the left fought for the universal right to freedom of speech. Today, many self-proclaimed progressives cheer on the censorship of their political opponents. But it’s not just right-wingers who suffer from cancel culture. The left itself is often the primary victim. Dan Kovalik is a labour lawyer, peace ...
For Our Own Good? Police officers knocking on New Zealanders’ doors on account of what they might think, or what they have said, is more likely to make the rest of us think we are living in Nazi Germany – not drawing lessons from it. The disharmony such heavy-handed state ...
by Don Franks Details of proposed new hate speech laws have been revealed in a December Cabinet paper obtained by Newsroom. The paper, seeking to “strengthen the protections against hate speech”, would extend existing provisions against incitement and hate speech. It would also move hate speech offences from the Human Rights Act to ...
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Apr 11, 2021 through Sat, Apr 17, 2021 Not having had a chance to garner much attention by the time last week's review was published, the last article in that batch - First-Ever Observations From ...
Every year in April, the trees start changing colour, the clocks go back an hour, and the national greenhouse gas figures are released and promptly forgotten. They take fifteen months to prepare, so by the time they come out it’s very easy for commentators to point out that they are ...
While checking my spam folder (before yeeting the contents permanently) I noticed that I’d been sent a bunch of email ‘newsletters’ from the group “Voices for Freedom.” Out of interest I opened one, just in case the contents were worth a post or two – & indeed they were. The ...
Humans are hard-wired to classify, categorise and compare, or in other words, to taxonomize. We may be born tabula rasa but quickly are taught that the world is divided into types of things, subtypes of those and assorted other categories. The operative term is “taught” rather than “realise.” Taxonomies are ...
The Labour Government received plaudits this week for its historic announcement that it will ban the live export of animals by sea. It’s said to be a world first. The decision comes after years of pressure, which increased after last year’s tragedy when the ship Gulf Livestock 1 left New ...
As one does on a Friday evening, I yesterday made a point of heading along to the Dunedin Public Library’s event, Mystery in the Library. This was a panel of local crime-fiction writers, and a follow-up to a similar one in April 2019 (no prizes for guessing why ...
Now is about the time that the Government is getting its Budget Strategy togetherIn the week before the budget – the 2021 one is to be delivered on Thursday 20 May – there is a strange ritual in which all the commentariat and lobbyists (who are not necessarily distinct from ...
Climate Change Minister James Shaw has admitted that the government is not doing enough on climate change: Appearing on Breakfast alongside Greenpeace director and former Green Party leader Russel Norman, the current Greens co-leader was asked: “Are you as Government living up to promise of delivery implicit in those ...
We can all agree that a free press (and free media more generally) are important factors in a well-functioning democracy. But I am beginning to wonder if they provide us with an unalloyed benefit. I am an avid consumer of daily news – whether delivered by the press or by ...
Yes They Can - So Why Don't They? In matters relating to child poverty, homelessness, mental health, climate change and, of course, Covid-19, the answers are right in front of the Government's collective nose - often in the form of reports it has specifically commissioned. Why can’t Jacinda and her ...
Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek, Anaru Waa, George Thomson, Nick Wilson (author details*) We congratulate the NZ Government on its proposed Action Plan for the Smokefree Aotearoa 2025 goal. Here we examine the evidence for three key ideas outlined in the plan: permitting tobacco products to be sold in only ...
Punished, But Not Prevented: Though bitterly contested by those firmly convinced that the Christchurch Mosque Shootings represent something more than the crime of a Lone Wolf terrorist, the Royal Commission’s finding that no state agency could have prevented Brenton Tarrant from carrying out his deadly intent – except by chance ...
The Government has announced it intends making sex self-identification possible this year, as a priority. That would mean anyone could change the sex documented on their birth certificate by a simple declaration that they “identify” as the opposite sex. Speak Up For Women have launched a campaign encouraging New Zealanders ...
The travel bubble with Australia has not brought room for others to come into the MIQ system from overseas. Instead, spaces are being decommissioned. Why? The system is leaky. The government cannot afford to let riskier people into those spaces, because the system can’t handle them. My column in Insights ...
A Second Term Labour-led Government in New Zealand,a new Biden-led Administration in the US, a continuance of the Johnson Government in the UK: different approaches to major issues, same global problems – and discontent rising. Some warranted, some unwarranted, but as each emerges from the Covid pandemic, what ...
I will update this post as new information comes to handWhat has happened? Recently the vaccine safety watch dogs in Europe noted reports of unusual types of blood clots in people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine. This prompted investigations across many countries to ascertain what, why, and ...
Alex Ford, University of Portsmouth and Gary Hutchison, Edinburgh Napier UniversityWithin just a few generations, human sperm counts may decline to levels below those considered adequate for fertility. That’s the alarming claim made in epidemiologist Shanna Swan’s new book, “Countdown”, which assembles a raft of evidence to show that ...
Just like last year, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will happen virtually instead of in person in Vienna. Contrary to last year, the organizers decided early on to hold their conference online and planned for it accordingly (quite a difference to last year's scramble where they switched ...
Time for a strange rant. A very strange rant. But bear with me, because this is serious business. A True Story, by Lucian of Samosata is not Science-Fiction. What on earth am I talking about? Well, it was one of those Wikipedia rabbit holes. I was reading ...
By Kate Evans for UndarkOne of New Zealand’s most spectacular fossil sites originated 23.2 million years ago. It was formed in a valley dotted with small volcanoes, when rising magma deep below the Earth’s surface came into contact with groundwater. Lava and water don’t mix — they explode. The ...
A Thorn In Their Side: As Chair of the Auckland Regional Council, Mike Lee made sure Auckland’s municipal resources remained in Aucklanders’ hands. Not surprisingly the neoliberal powers-that-be (in both their centre-left and centre-right incarnations) hated this last truly effective standard-bearer for democratic-socialist values and policies.MIKE LEE is the closest ...
It’s always something of a shock to come across a page run by a health-focused business that contains substantial misinformation. This one left me gobsmacked, given the sheer number of statements that are demonstrably untrue. And while a fair bit of the content is prefaced by the statement that it’s ...
Previously (9 February) I wrote about how business consultants Ernst & Young were used to do a hatchet job on the former senior management team at Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB). While this hatchet job was planned in 2019 its gestation was much longer. Its underlying causes involved differences in ...
Flying beneath the radar of guilt Fight or Flight: How Advertising for Air Travel Triggers Moral Disengagement(open access) by Stubenvoll & Neureiter not only takes an interesting approach to decomposing the effects of airline travel advertisements but also helps us to understand the general psychological landscape of our often conflicted ...
Yesterday I got told to “do some research” &, by extension, to think critically. The biologist in me cringed a little when I read it (and not because of the advice about doing research). Biology teachers I know suggested that perhaps everyone should take the NCEA standard that ...
Lis Ku, De Montfort University Since the onset of the pandemic, everyone from newspaper columnists to Twitter users has advanced the now idea that extroverts and introverts are handling the crisis differently. Many claim that introverts adapt to social distancing and isolation better than extroverts, with some even suggesting that ...
A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this blog post by New Zealand’s “Plan B” group. While initially this group opposed the government’s use of lockdowns to manage covid19 outbreaks in this country, they seem to have since moved on to opposing the rollout of vaccines against ...
Twenty years after it invaded, the US is finally leaving Afghanistan. What's surprising is that it took them so long - its been clear for over a decade that their presence there was pointless and just pissing people off. But imperial pride leads to exactly this sort of stupidity. Their ...
The government has announced that it will ban the export of livestock by sea. Huzzah! A vile, cruel and unconscionable trade will be ended! But there's a catch: the ban won't kick in until 2023, giving farmers two ful years to continue to profit from extreme animal cruelty. But why ...
Today is unexpectedly a Member's Day - the Business Committee granted it early in the year, to make up for time list to government business. First up is a two-hour debate on the budget policy statement, with questions to Ministers, replacing the general debate. Then its the second reading of ...
. . Two stories which appeared almost side-by-side on RNZ’s website. Parent, Miranda Cross, was quoted as saying; “I think the expectations are that we can at least send our kids to school where they will receive an education.” An American parent would probably demand; “I think the expectations are ...
Time for reviewing something a bit different. Move over Tolkien adaptations, hello Japanese splatter movie. Specifically, a certain 2009 movie called Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. I watched this one a few days ago with some acquaintances, never having seen it before, and not being familiar with the manga ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD An above-average Atlantic hurricane season is likely in 2021, the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane forecasting team says in its latest seasonal forecast issued April 8. Led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach, with coauthors Dr. Michael Bell and Jhordanne Jones, the CSU ...
How seriously does the Māori Party take issues of corruption and the untoward influence of big money in politics? Not very, based on how it’s handling a political finance scandal in which three large donations were kept hidden from the public. The party is currently making excuses, and largely failing ...
The annual inventory report [PDF] of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing a significant increase in emissions: (Note that this is UNFCCC accounting, not the weird fudged figures the Climate Change Commission is using). Emissions increased by almost 2 million tons in 2019, from 80.6 MT ...
The melody from the classic movie Wizard of Oz echoes as Jacinta Ruru explains what inspired her to attend university, and her ambition to help create a more just society in Aotearoa. Jacinta, who affiliates to Raukawa and Ngāti Ranginui, specialises in the research areas of indigenous peoples and the law. ...
Stuff reports that National is refusing to back the Climate Change Commission's recommendations, which is apparently a Bad Thing: The National Party says it can’t support the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions unless changes are made. If National maintains this position when ...
Driven, accountable, unafraid to test limits and connected to the communities she serves are traits that come to mind when thinking about Dr Anne-Marie Jackson. (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) She specialises in Māori physical education and health research disciplines while incorporating tikanga Māori and Te ...
This is my first post for a while. I have been a bit overwhelmed by other work in the last several weeks, with teaching and other commitments, and the blog has sadly suffered. But I’m still here. This morning, while sitting in a car in the permanent traffic jam through ...
Predatory Morality: Is geopolitical consultant, Paul Buchanan, right? Does the rest of the world truly monitor New Zealand’s miniscule contribution to the international arms trade so closely? Are foreign chancelleries truly so insensitive to their own governments’ complicity in the world’s horrors that they expect all other sovereign states to ...
Anna Källén, Stockholm University and Daniel Strand, Uppsala University A middle-aged white man raises his sword to the skies and roars to the gods. The results of his genetic ancestry test have just arrived in his suburban mailbox. His eyes fill with tears as he learns that he is “0.012% ...
March 2021 The housing crisis right now in New Zealand is one of our biggest contributors to income and wealth inequality. “With the explosive increase in sales and prices, those with houses have their income and/or wealth rapidly increasing, and those who are not on the property ladder are falling ...
Samoans went to the polls on Friday, and delivered a stinging blow to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi one-party state. Pre-election Malielegaoi's Human Rights Protection Party had controlled 44 of 49 seats in Parliament, while using restrictive standing orders to prevent there from even being a recognised opposition in ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly consider a new Report from a European think tank that aims to identify an optimal COVID-19 response strategy. It considers mortality data, GDP impacts, and mobility data and suggests that COVID-19 elimination appears to be superior ...
Something I missed on Friday: the Māori Party has been referred to police over failure to disclose donations over $30,000. Looking at the updated return of large donations, this is about $320,000 donated to them by three donors - John Tamihere, the National Urban Māori Authority, and Aotearoa Te Kahu ...
Stormy Seas: Will Jacinda Ardern's Labour Government stand behind the revolutionary proposals contained in He Puapua – the 20-year plan devised by a government appointed working group to realise the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand?“GETTING AHEAD of the story” is one of the most ...
We have not been fans of the Climate Change Commission’s draft report. New Zealand has an Emissions Trading Scheme with a binding cap, and a declining path for net emissions in the covered sector. Measures taken within the covered sector cannot reduce net emissions. NZU not purchased by one sector get ...
For several decades under Labour and National-led governments New Zealand has claimed to have an independent (and sometimes autonomous) foreign policy. This foreign policy independence is said to be gained by having a “principled but pragmatic” approach to international relations: principled when possible, pragmatic when necessary. More recently NZ foreign ...
This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
For once, I have written my submission on a bill with enough time to spare to both enocurage any of you who wants to make a submission to do so as well, and to give you time to spot the typos in mine.Louisa Wall's Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate ...
A friend found a concerning FB post (see below – this is a public post & so I have not redacted the name) & – as you do – immediately queried it with Southern Cross Life & Health Insurance as well as sending the screenshot to me¹. We both read ...
Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While others ponder whether Luxon really has what it takes ...
I tēnei tau i Waitangi, I whakahua ake te Tira o Te Mātāwaka o te Pātī Kākāriki i tā rātau aronga matua, ki te waihanga I tētahi Manatū Hauora Māori, mā Māori te kawe, mā Māori ngā whakahaere. Ko tā te tira; Kua rongohia ngā karanga a ngā Tangata Whenua, ...
During Waitangi this year the Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka caucus announced their priority for an independent Māori Health Authority. We have heard the call from Tangata Whenua wanting any authority to be independent, and properly resourced. ...
The Greens welcome $6.6 million from the Government’s $455 million programme to increase access to mental health and addiction services for our Pasifika communities in Auckland and Wellington. ...
The Green Party is putting a Member’s Bill into the ballot today which will be a significant step towards overhauling the Social Security Act by embedding a tikanga Māori framework into the welfare system. ...
The Green Party have reaffirmed their strong commitment to the union movement in Aotearoa New Zealand by renewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with E Tū. ...
Soon, more kids in Aotearoa will have access to the in-school mental health support that has boosted the resilience of tamariki and whānau in Canterbury. ...
The Green Party supports the open letter released today by a cross-sector coalition calling for the Government to treat all drug use as a health issue, to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
More than one million people will be better off from today, thanks to our Government’s changes to the minimum wage, main benefits and superannuation. ...
On Wednesday morning, Minister of Health Andrew Little and Associate Minister of Health (Māori) Peeni Henare are announcing major health reforms. You can watch the announcement live here from 8am Wednesday. ...
New research into the probability of an Alpine Fault rupture reinforces the importance of taking action to plan and prepare for earthquakes, Acting Minister for Emergency Management Kris Faafoi says. Research published by Dr Jamie Howarth of Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington today, shows there is a ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Defence Minister Peeni Henare today announced that New Zealand is deploying a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft in support of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions on North Korea. The Resolutions, adopted unanimously by the UNSC between 2006 and 2017, ...
The Transmission Gully Interim Review has found serious flaws at the planning stage of the project, undermining the successful completion of the four-lane motor north of Wellington Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minister Michael Wood said. Grant Robertson said the review found the public-private partnership (PPP) established under the ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today that Australian Foreign Minister Hon Marise Payne will visit Aotearoa New Zealand for the first face-to-face Foreign Ministers’ Consulations since the COVID-19 pandemic began. “Australia is New Zealand’s closest and most important international partner. I’m very pleased to be able to welcome Hon Marise ...
Hundreds more families who were separated by the border closure will be reunited under new border exceptions announced today, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said. “The Government closed the border to everyone but New Zealand citizens and residents, in order to keep COVID-19 out, keep our economy open and keep New ...
Hon Nanaia Mahuta, Foreign Minister 8.30am, 19 April 2021 [CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY] Speech to the NZCC Korihi Pō, Korihi Ao E rongo e turia no Matahau Nō Tū te winiwini, Nō Tū te wanawana Tū Hikitia rā, Tū Hapainga mai Ki te Whai Ao, Ki te Ao Mārama Tihei Mauri ...
The Government is supporting a new project with all-wool New Zealand carpet company, Bremworth, which has its sights on developing more sustainable all-wool carpets and rugs, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced. The Ministry for Primary Industries is contributing $1.9 million towards Bremworth’s $4.9 million sustainability project through its Sustainable Food ...
New Zealand is providing further support to Timor-Leste following severe flooding and the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced today. “Our thoughts are with the people of Timor-Leste who have been impacted by the severe flooding and landslides at a time when the country is ...
A ceremony has been held today in Gisborne where the unclaimed medals of 28 (Māori) Battalion C Company soldiers were presented to their families. After the Second World War, returning service personnel needed to apply for their medals and then they would be posted out to them. While most medals ...
New Zealand has today added its voice to the international condemnation of the malicious compromise and exploitation of the SolarWinds Orion platform. The Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau, Andrew Little, says that New Zealand's international partners have analysed the compromise of the SolarWinds Orion platform and attributed ...
An expert consenting panel has approved the Queenstown Arterials Project, which will significantly improve transport links and reduce congestion for locals and visitors in the tourism hotspot. Environment Minister David Parker welcomed the approval for the project that will construct, operate and maintain a new urban road around Queenstown’s town ...
Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash says a landmark deal has been agreed with Amazon for The Lord of the Rings TV series, currently being filmed in New Zealand. Mr Nash says the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) secures multi-year economic and tourism benefits to New Zealand, outside the screen ...
The Government welcomes the findings from a rapid review into the health system response to lead contamination in Waikouaiti’s drinking water supply. Sample results from the town’s drinking-water supply showed intermittent spikes in lead levels above the maximum acceptable value. The source of the contamination is still under investigation by ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the start of construction on the New Zealand Upgrade Programme’s Papakura to Drury South project on Auckland’s Southern Motorway, which will create hundreds of jobs and support Auckland’s economic recovery. The SH1 Papakura to Drury South project will give more transport choices by providing ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karanga maha o te wa, tēnā koutou, tēna koutou, tēna tātou katoa. Ki ngā mana whenua, ko Ngāi Tahu, ko Waitaha, ko Kāti Māmoe anō nei aku mihi ki a koutou. Nōku te hōnore kia haere mai ki te ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood today marked the completion of upgrades to State Highway 20B which will give Aucklanders quick electric bus trips to and from the airport. The State Highway 20B Early Improvements project has added new lanes in each direction between Pukaki Creek Bridge and SH20 for buses and ...
The Government is putting in place a review of the work being done on animal welfare and safety in the greyhound racing industry, Grant Robertson announced today. “While Greyhound Racing NZ has reported some progress in implementing the recommendations of the Hansen Report, recent incidents show the industry still has ...
The infringement fee for using a mobile phone while driving will increase from $80 to $150 from 30 April 2021 to encourage safer driving, Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said too many people are still picking up the phone while driving. “Police issued over 40,000 infringement notices ...
Pacific people in New Zealand will be better supported with new mental health and addiction services rolling out across the Auckland and Wellington regions, says Aupito William Sio. “One size does not fit all when it comes to supporting the mental wellbeing of our Pacific peoples. We need a by ...
New measures are being proposed to accelerate progress towards becoming a smokefree nation by 2025, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced. “Smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke kills around 12 people a day in New Zealand. Recent data tells us New Zealand’s smoking rates continue to decrease, but ...
More children will be able to access mental wellbeing support with the Government expansion of Mana Ake services to five new District Health Board areas, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Health Minister made the announcement while visiting Homai School in Counties Manukau alongside Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Associate ...
The Government’s COVID-19 response has meant a record number of people moved off a Benefit and into employment in the March Quarter, with 32,880 moving into work in the first three months of 2021. “More people moved into work last quarter than any time since the Ministry of Social Development ...
A stocktake undertaken by France and New Zealand shows significant global progress under the Christchurch Call towards its goal to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online. The findings of the report released today reinforce the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach, with countries, companies and civil society working together to ...
Racing Minister Grant Robertson has announced he is appointing Elizabeth Dawson (Liz) as the Chair of the interim TAB NZ Board. Liz Dawson is an existing Board Director of the interim TAB NZ Board and Chair of the TAB NZ Board Selection Panel and will continue in her role as ...
The Government has announced that the export of livestock by sea will cease following a transition period of up to two years, said Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “At the heart of our decision is upholding New Zealand’s reputation for high standards of animal welfare. We must stay ahead of the ...
WORKSHOP ON LETHAL AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS SYSTEMS Wednesday 14 April 2021 MINISTER FOR DISARMAMENT AND ARMS CONTROL OPENING REMARKS Good morning, I am so pleased to be able to join you for part of this workshop, which I’m confident will help us along the path to developing New Zealand’s national policy on ...
For the first time, all 18 prisons in New Zealand will be invited to participate in an inter-prison kapa haka competition, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. The 2021 Hōkai Rangi Whakataetae Kapa Haka will see groups prepare and perform kapa haka for experienced judges who visit each prison and ...
The Government has introduced the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill, designed to boost New Zealand's ability to respond to a wider range of terrorist activities. The Bill strengthens New Zealand’s counter-terrorism legislation and ensures that the right legislative tools are available to intervene early and prevent harm. “This is the Government’s first ...
Coal boiler replacements at a further ten schools, saving an estimated 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Fossil fuel boiler replacements at Southern Institute of Technology and Taranaki DHB, saving nearly 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Projects to achieve a total ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of Cassie Nicholson as Chief Parliamentary Counsel for a term of five years. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel is the principal advisor and Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). She is responsible for ensuring PCO, which drafts most of New Zealand’s legislation, provides ...
Every part of Government will need to take urgent action to bring down emissions, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw said today in response to the recent rise in New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions. The latest annual inventory of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions shows that both gross and net ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says Aotearoa New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financial sector to disclose the impacts of climate change on their business and explain how they will manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The Financial ...
Exceptional employment practices in the primary industries have been celebrated at the Good Employer Awards, held this evening at Parliament. “Tonight’s awards provided the opportunity to celebrate and thank those employers in the food and fibres sector who have gone beyond business-as-usual in creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work ...
Applications are now invited from all councils for a slice of government funding aimed at improving tourism infrastructure, especially in areas under pressure given the size of their rating bases. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has already signalled that five South Island regions will be given priority to reflect that jobs ...
Tēnā koutou e ngā maata waka Tenā koutou te hau kāinga ngā iwi o Te Whanganui ā TaraTēnā koutou i runga i te kaupapa o te Rā. No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa. It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Graeme (Peters, ENA Chief ...
The Construction Skills Action Plan has delivered early on its overall target of supporting an additional 4,000 people into construction-related education and employment, says Minister for Building and Construction Poto Williams. Since the Plan was launched in 2018, more than 9,300 people have taken up education or employment opportunities in ...
An innovative new Youth Justice residence designed in partnership with Māori will provide prevention, healing, and rehabilitation services for both young people and their whānau, Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Whakatakapokai is located in South Auckland and will provide care and support for up to 15 rangatahi remanded or ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Porter, Senior Fellow (Indigenous Programs), The University of Melbourne Cultural warning: This article contains names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This article also contains links to graphic footage of police violence. This month marks 30 years ...
It was a day in court that shot former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters back into the Wellington spotlight on Tuesday. It’s one of few public appearances since his New Zealand First party failed to return to Parliament six months ago, writes political editor Jo Moir. Immaculately dressed in suit, ...
Opinion - Speculation about National's leadership has died down, writes Bryce Edwards: Judith Collins lives on as leader, but the party desperately needs to rebuild. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terri Seddon, Professor of Education, La Trobe University Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge has launched a six-month review into teacher education. The aim is to return Australian students to the top of international rankings in reading, maths and science by 2030. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Staff, PhD Candidate, Australian National University “Suffragette white” is proving to be a popular fashion choice for women who want to make a statement. Most recently, former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate donned a white jacket in her appearance before a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Yates, Assistant Professor, General Practice, Bond University Although the country’s vaccine rollout is not progressing entirely as planned, thousands of Australians continue to receive their COVID vaccines every week. As a general practitioner administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, I find it strange ...
In meeting virtually with President Joe Biden and 39 other world leaders, PM Jacinda Ardern should press home the need to confront the current global economic model based on limitless growth. ‘It has failed us,’ says Wise Response chair, Prof. Liz ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gail Iles, Senior Lecturer in Physics, RMIT University Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February — took off from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ann Kayis-Kumar, Associate Professor, UNSW When Debbie (not her real name) lost her main client and was left without a reliable income, the sole trader sold her home and adjoining investment unit to pay off her debts and ensure she had the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gail Iles, Senior Lecturer in Physics, RMIT University Yesterday at 9pm Australian Eastern standard time, the Ingenuity helicopter — which landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover in February — took off from the Martian surface. More importantly, it hovered for about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Frédérik Saltré, Research Fellow in Ecology for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Of all the weak targets ever adopted by Australian governments, one of the weakest has to have been an unemployment rate “comfortably below six per cent” in last year’s budget. ...
The Transmission Gully interim review has found serious flaws at the planning stage of the 27km highway, “undermining” the successful completion of the four-lane motorway north of Wellington, according to Infrastructure Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minister Michael Wood. Grant Robertson said the review found the public-private partnership (PPP) established ...
With less than 1% of Auckland Transport’s senior leaders of Pacific descent, Justin Latif asks what the council-controlled organisation is doing to turn that around.“It’s just a battle to be heard.”Kim* is of Pacific descent, has held a variety of roles across local government, and is very familiar with the ...
The Council of Trade Unions has today formally written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Nanaia Mahuta and the Minister for Trade, Hon. Damien O’Connor calling on them to take action to halt ratifying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership ...
Two important omissions in the ministry's process for the sale and purchase of the land at Ihumātao means the deal is "unlawful" until it is validated by Parliament. ...
Last month, David Seymour MP and Nicola Willis MP wrote separately to our Office about the Government’s purchase of land at Te Puke Tāpapatanga a Hape (commonly referred to as Ihumātao). They had concerns about: $29.9 million of the appropriation ...
Kate Winslet descends on television once again to deliver a career-best performance in a cop drama that doesn’t quite deserve it, writes Sam Brooks.Let’s be up front about this: Kate Winslet is one of the greatest actors of her generation, and the reason you’re interested in Mare of Easttown at ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Speculation about the National Party’s leadership has died down, after a fortnight of rumours and overt positioning by supposed challengers to Judith Collins. She lives on as leader for a bit longer, and Christopher Luxon and Simon Bridges have been put ...
Responding To The Auditor-General’s Finding That The Government's $30 Million Ihumātao Deal Was Unlawful, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union Spokesman Louis Houlbrooke Says:“Today we learn that the Government didn’t just capitulate to illegal occupiers ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has had a busy two days. Hard on the heels of echoing the title of a book edited by academic writer Manying Ip to headline an important policy speech, she was announcing the visit here this week of Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne for ministerial ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Porter, Senior Fellow (Indigenous Programs), The University of Melbourne Cultural warning: This article contains names and images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This article also contains links to graphic footage of police violence. This month marks 30 years ...
"Hamilton City Council cannot justify contributing $10 million to an inland lagoon resort while it’s increasing rates by 8.9 percent," says New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “If the proposal makes good business ...
It’s embroidery, but not as you know it. Lema Shamamba’s intricate stitchwork features machine guns, severed limbs, people crying – and the logos of the global tech giants she holds responsible.CW: Violence, sexual assaultLema Shamamba fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo when armed militia started killing people in her ...
Covid-19 exacerbated existing levels of material and emotional hardship for people on low core benefit rates, a new study has found. Dr Louise Humpage, a sociologist at the University of Auckland who conducted the study in collaboration with Child ...
With consummate timing, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has stirred up another controversy days ahead of the first visit of her Australian counterpart, Marise Payne. New Zealand, she says, doesn’t want to use Five Eyes as the first point of contact on a range of issues that existed outside of its ...
Australia Week: The first day of the travel bubble was big news, so Tara Ward stayed home and watched it happen on the television. To mark the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble, The Spinoff is casting an eye across the ditch all week – read our Australia Week content here.The trans-Tasman ...
This year will be the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup of greyhound racing. The Silver Collar is described by the Auckland Greyhound Racing Club as a ‘gruelling’ and ‘stamina-sapping affair,’ raced over an ‘extreme’ 779 meters, which is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Howarth, Senior lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The Alpine Fault marks the boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates in the South Island of New Zealand.Author provided The chances of New Zealand’s Alpine Fault rupturing in ...
Last week in Wellington, a man was convicted of rape for removing his condom during sex without consent. For Frankie Bennett, who was subjected to a similar assault, it’s validating – but now we must stop using euphemisms to describe sex crimes. In 2018 I was “stealthed”; a man I was ...
Tuesday, 20 April 2021: Greenpeace has today launched a new petition calling on the New Zealand Government to ban seabed mining from the waters of Aotearoa. The petition calls on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to give New Zealand another world ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s contentNZ-China relations: Mahuta Speech Tim Watkin (Pundit): Taniwha New Zealand shows its foreign policy ...
Kiwi Seafarers working internationally have been forgotten by the New Zealand government, their request for support keeps being ignored and their status as essential workers continues to be overlooked. Many Kiwi Seafarers are stuck outside of New Zealand ...
A small number of people have developed blood clots after receiving two types of the Covid-19 vaccine. Mirjam Guesgen explains what’s going on and how different countries are responding.What’s this I hear about blood clots and Covid-19 vaccines?Some people who received the AstraZeneca and Janssen vaccines are developing severe, in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Reid, DECRA Research Fellow, Macquarie University Army ants (Eciton burchellii) are known for their vast foraging raids. Hundreds of thousands of ants flow like a river from their nest site, scouring the jungle as they prey on anything unable to escape ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Kewley, Director, ARC Centre for Excellence in All-Sky Astrophysics in 3D, Australian National University It will take until at least 2080 before women make up just one-third of Australia’s professional astronomers, unless there is a significant boost to how we nurture ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Kenny, Professor, Australian Studies Institute, Australian National University Forget last week’s healthy 5.6% unemployment rate. It might be “comfortably below” the Coalition’s 6% threshold for commencing “fiscal repair” (another term for unpopular spending cuts), but the government is under unforeseen political ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Last week, the chief executive of Pfizer said anyone who receives its COVID-19 vaccine will probably need to have a third dose within 6-12 months after being fully immunised, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Doctor of Botany, The University of Melbourne Native deciduous trees are rare in Australia, which means many of the red, yellow and brown leaves we associate with autumn come from introduced species, such as maples, oaks and elms. One native ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ilan Noy, Chair in the Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington What have we lost because of the pandemic? According to our calculations, a lot — and many of the worst hit countries and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University The good news from new research conducted by the Australian National University for Social Ventures Australia and the Brotherhood of St Laurence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Webb, Dean, Graduate Research, University of Canberra In this series we pay tribute to the art we wish could visit — and hope to see once travel restrictions are lifted. She’s called Maman, and she emerged into the world in 1999, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for April 20, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz8.00am: Concerns euthanasia patients may take unapproved drugs, suffer prolonged deathAn investigation into how prepared New Zealand is to introduce euthanasia, following last year’s referendum, has uncovered concerns ...
The global movement to take leading academics out of lecture theatres and into pubs to present their latest research is returning to Auckland. Tonight, 20 University of Auckland lecturers will host talks in 10 local bars. The topics range from the search for alien life to the risks of vaping ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mahuta moves away from Five Eyes in major speech, new research shows raised risk of Alpine fault quake, and trans-Tasman bubble opens on emotional day.Foreign minister Nanaia Mahuta has sought to continue a ‘best of both worlds’ approach to the ...
Business & Investing: The opening of the Tasman for tourists pushes Auckland Airport shares up, with Air NZ also benefiting; Plus Tilt Renewables wins bigger Mercury-PowAR deal ...
Graeme Lay on the problem of downsizing for the elderly Books, books, books: novels. short stories, poetry, anthologies, biographies, histories ... For many elderly people books are a treasured part of their households. Shelves and shelves of them; they're an integral part of our past. We remember when we bought ...
New Zealand is focusing purely on its own adaptations challenges - 'Impacts in My Backyard' - rather than the brutal climate impacts already being felt elsewhere. It's a gaping hole in our strategy, writes Dr Luke Harrington. We Kiwis are more concerned than ever about the significant and growing challenges of a ...
If history is any indication, we would expect the Covid pandemic to increase suicide rates. Dr Dennis Wesselbaum explains how that could be the case. New Zealand is the ninth happiest country in the world as reported in the 2021 World Happiness Report. Yet at the same time, New Zealand has the ...
From Wellington to Glasgow and home again, netball coach Gail Parata is helming the national champion Pulse side, and can call on her old room-mate for help. Dame Noeline Taurua and Gail Parata have a long relationship, once built on deception. Now among the best netball coaches in the world, the ...
Pilots and cabin crew can spend 20 days a month in isolation in order to link New Zealand to the rest of the world - but the hardest part is not feeling welcome when they come home. Matthew Scott reports. Touchdown in Hong Kong. In different times, pilots and ...
New research shows that the risk of the big one hitting the South Island’s spine is far higher than previously thought, write Ursula Cochran and lead researcher Jamie Howarth.Calculating the chance of an earthquake on a particular fault currently relies on the long geological earthquake record, which is both notoriously ...
A new TVNZ drama tells the story of a fictitious gang trying to go straight. Despite being funded as part of a major initiative to get Māori stories to screen, Vegas reinforces some centuries-old stereotypes, writes Leonie Hayden. Episode one of the new drama Vegas aired last night on TVNZ. ...
Australia Week: Nothing tests our mateship with Australia like the disputed delicacies both countries claim as their own. In the interest of diplomatic relations, Alice Neville sets the record straight.To mark the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble, The Spinoff is casting an eye across the ditch all week – read ...
An old-style Marxist's withering takedown on contemporary leftists - even likening today's left liberals with neoliberals - has lessons for our economic and political debate, writes Oliver Hartwich ...
A carefully worded speech on NZ-China relations from Nanaia Mahuta nevertheless carried some telling notes about how the Government plans to navigate the Great Power divide, Sam Sachdeva writes Nanaia Mahuta may lack the bombast of Winston Peters, but her greater willingness to stick to the MFAT-approved script makes it ...
Trans-Tasman quarantine-free flights are back on - as New Zealand's vaccination rollout's been described as shambolic, and Australia's as a failure. On the week that our travel bubble opens up with Australia, both sides of the Tasman have been criticised for falling behind in their vaccine roll outs. New ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra As Scott Morrison gradually pivots his climate policy towards embracing a target of net zero emissions by 2050, he is seeking to distinguish the government from “inner city” types and political opponents who’ve been marching ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Peter Dutton has begun his tenure as defence minister by delivering a very public slap to his most senior military adviser, chief of the Australian Defence Force Angus Campbell. Dutton’s overriding of Campbell’s initial command ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Blakely, Professor of Epidemiology, Population Interventions Unit, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne Coinciding with the Trans-Tasman travel bubble starting today, over the past week there have been murmurings Australia could ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By George Wilson, Honorary Professor, Australian National University The US Congress is considering a proposed law to ban the import and sale of kangaroo parts. Backed by a campaign called Kangaroos Are Not Shoes, the bill is aimed at stopping Nike, Adidas and ...
By Praneeta Prakash in Suva Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says a breach in protocol in relation to the 53-year-old woman now testing positive of covid-19 should not have happened. The woman who was working as a maid in a border quarantine facility developed symptoms last Thursday, but continued working ...
The Pacific Newsroom Vanuatu’s capital island of Efate has gone into covid-19 lockdown for three days after a body was found on a beach near Port Vila. The body, which tested positive for covid, was that of a Filipino crewman from the British-flagged liquified petroleum gas carrier Inge Kosan, a ...
While the trans-Tasman bubble today is “a significant day” for New Zealanders, any moves to open the borders to other countries will need to be be based on hard evidence, the prime minister says. After months of discussions, the trans-Tasman bubble is officially open. The prime ministers of New Zealand ...
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk The local West Papua action group in Dunedin has met Taieri MP Ingrid Leary and raised human rights and militarisation issues that members believe the New Zealand government should be pursuing with Indonesia. Leary has a strong track record on Pacific human rights issues having worked ...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-02/bushfire-victim-nsw-nymboida-climate-change-protest/11757082
Simple, effective and powerful.
I still don't fully understand why – when ordinary, everyday people going about their ordinary, everyday lives can comprehend climate change and all that it means for the planet – the governing leadership continue to live in Cloud Cuckoo land.
If they are so s**t dumb why in God's name are they being elected to these positions?
Because they are bought and paid for by the mining, gas and coal industry – both Labour and Liberals.
Not Shit Dumb – more like corrupt and craven.
https://www.marketforces.org.au/politicaldonations2019/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-01/donations-australia-federal-politics-foreign/10768226
https://www.lockthegate.org.au/big_miners_dig_deep_for_political_parties_donations_registrar_shows
…etc…
It's because if the voters really woke up to how much of their lifestyle choice (referred to by them as necessity) would actually be taken away from them by politicians (as leaders) taking very affirmative action on such matters, they would probably learn to base their opinions on cold or hot hard FACT.
So really easy to use the various elected reps as whipping boys/girls to blame for all manner of ills (usually out of their control) to manage.
Convenient also to vote, as if serious about carbon issues, but hoping like anything that the politicians DON'T take too firm a stand which might burst the good folk's personal and community bubble, or restrict them in any way from doing what they are used to doing, which is mainly creating hot air of their own.
I liken Skippy Granny and her burnt offerings to Parliament House as similar to blaming the guy at the liquor store who sold me a six pack, for the noisiness of the dudes down the road throwing a party.
Powerful, not really. And about as symbolic as throwing old paint tins at them because someone imagined an "extra" hour of daylight brought about by the introduction of daylight saving had caused the paint on their house to crack and blister.
Granny Skippy and her burnt offerings
Last night's poll results should worry the government. Labour needs to stay above 40%, and it has failed to do so.
There are heaps of people who I know personally who would be screwed over by a National government, cut adrift by a toxic mixture of small state ideology, and the Calvinist culture of paying eternal penance for a small mistake made.
This government has been dissapointing and underwhelming, but a National government, backed up with ACT, and possible the New Conservatives, plus the Maori Party, would be a disaster for anyone who is poor, sick, in need of a home, a union member, etc.
It's MMP. One party does not 'need' to stay over 40% if it has viable coalition partners.
" It's MMP. One party does not 'need' to stay over 40% if it has viable coalition partners "
Based on these last C.B polls they still have too reach 60 seats too govern or too be in serious contention of forming a government
Last nights numbers and it is trends that are more important would have the Labour party and its friends short of a majority but the numbers are excruciatingly close.
Can you please link to an article discussing the trends. Haven't seen that yet.
"Identifying statistically meaningful trends in New Zealand politics can be difficult, given the paucity of public polling, but after dramatically different results earlier this year both TV outlets are now consistent in showing an erosion of support for Labour and Ardern "
This from Curwen Ares Rollinson commenting in 2017.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/03/22/on-recent-opinion-polling/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116582920/ardern-still-standing-but-shaken-by-duo-of-poor-polls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2020_New_Zealand_general_election
Everything before the word "but" is accurate.
When polls get frequent as the election approaches, pay more attention. But at the moment it's more about creating a narrative than genuine reporting.
Hear hear, especially the party that used to speak for the working person. They need to get above 40% so as not to rely on unpleasant coalition partners.
Unless, of course, they are happy to not be transformational: e.g. CGT, reform of fishing industry, housing for the less well off, effective diminishing of child poverty.
Billions of surplus dollars and benefit rates still can't be returned to pre Ruthanasia levels.
Given the polls at the moment if they go down that route they won't have a mandate for that level of radical change.
The want of a mandate never troubles the loathsome reptiles of the Right – who imposed Rogergnomics on us without so much as a by-your-leave. There's a comeuppance due for that – a rebalancing towards a democratic rather instead of a plutocratic society.
a leader (or in contemporary politics, a party) should seek the support of the people rather than favouring his ‘great’ allies or partisans is that the ambitious ‘great’ regard themselves as his equals, and therefore wish to displace him. They will demand ever more offices and goods as the price of their continued support. Attempts to satisfy them will necessarily fail and, in failing, add to the leader’s enemies. A leader can satisfy his people, however, because ‘the end of the people is more decent (onesto) than that of the great, since the great want to oppress and the people want not to be oppressed’.
Macchiavelli
Be fascinating to see what Machiavelli would make of current politics.
Sadly I think he'd be right at home. But I think he'd have liked the enlightenment and the European spring. He got tired of the self-appointed nobles screwing up his hard work.
That poll doesn't take the yesterdays announcement of a massive spend on infrastructure into account yet so this poll is premature to rely upon now.
Labour needs to get some lost transport services back in operation now and most glaring at us all is the low use of rail in all provinces, that generate our wealth like Gisborne/HB and others.
I agree – restoring a more sustainable transport network makes sense on so many levels. But it has to make it past the peripatetic malice of a neoliberal civil service – pragmatic good sense rarely gets a look in.
Yes Stuart, We have been fighting for the rail service from Napier to Gisborne now for 19yrs and three rail companies later, Tranzrail, Toll Rail, and finally Kiwi rail,
We are still there going gang busters to get the rail up and running again, and it is very challenging when the trucking lobbyists have such power and influence in Wellington but finally this government are showing promise.
Fingers crossed we hope.
If the trends had continued every time someone had said "if these trends continue" based on a few early data points, we'd all be dying from SARSebolaStrepMadCowDisease.
Leaders don't need mandates.
Politicians who want to keep their jobs look for mandates.
There is nothing radical about raising benefit rates. Employment Contracts Act and wine, lamb and dairy products from Aotearoa costing less overseas than here is radical.
Quite tricky boosting benefit rates when you're a party of the workers, let alone those who see themselves as the 'middle class'. If beneficiaries voted more then the calculations might be different.
But presentation of a policy can make all the difference. Raising benefit rates will offset health problems, disease etc. Bringing back educational opportunities and skills training boosts work-ready people etc. The positive advantages of a healthy happy working society are known, the people need support to get on their feet though; the government and country can't have the good society without showing the sensible planning and support for all the people to reach a place where they can be full participants in the enterprise economy.
By the time you have come out with all of that the wealthy's eyes glaze and they say with irritation – get on with it then.
"Raising benefit rates will offset health problems, disease etc. "
Do you have evidence that this is the case? I suspect you just presume this is the case or you will refer to some vague generalised study to support your argument.
It's nice to see you have such an open mind, Gossie.
It's how the talking points get in. 🙂
Yes Wensleydale – it is nice,
Gosman it makes perfect sense that if 'raising benefit rates' means more money in citizens pockets which will allow better health of those citizens, because they have extra funds to buy medicines for early treatment of any medical problem they face.
Look up "Preventive medicine" to see the logic please.
I have a disability Gosman that occurred when I was exposed to chemicals and early intervention would have saved me from a now known long term chronic disability.
Do you see the logic there?
If I was able to fund early treatment my health would have been fine today but because at the time of my injury I had no funding to get early treatment so I suffered since with a long term chronic disability.
Except I asked for any studies on the topic not anecdotal evidence.
Oh sometimes "studies" are an unethical waste of time. Like the death rate from being forced off a plane in the south Atlantic without a parachute and rescue vessel.
This research by Evelyn Forget "The Health Effects of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment"
https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/cpp.37.3.283
Now go away and shut the fuck upwops
trying not to react with abuse
Bridget thanks for the study it was not surprising to see that the Canadian model proved the worth of giving a sustainable income that saved hospital costs.
I was actually chemically poisoned inside the CBC 12 story building at the corner of Front street and John St at the foreshore of Lake Ontario in Toronto.
I was one of 40 communication and building contractors who suffered from chemical over-exposure because the building was not fitted with central ‘ventilation yet’ and the building had no opening windows to get air into the building so when we got sick most workers never had funds to get medical treatment only available in the US at that time.
My friends over in Toronto now have a clinic to treat workers with Chemical poisoning too at Womens college hospital bless them;
My Point being that if i was funded with a trip to a US clinic then my health would most certainly have been restored then and that was the power of funding people with what it would do to facilitate proper medical care.
Since being back home in Napier in 1998 I have been paying for my medical treatment from chronic chemical poisoning ever since.
The huge NZ Precariat consists of poorly-paid workers who live on both welfare and badly-paid work. Switching between the two as rubbish jobs run out, or working and still needing food grants and other assistance (I know plenty of people in this position).
The division between "working" and "welfare" is not that clear for many people these days.
Yet look at public sentiment. Our overlords continue to succeed at pitting the 99% against one another.
Absolutely – their master stroke.
And you are right that more beneficiaries voting would be a great move in the right direction.
That is the problem, they stopped being being a workers party with the tory reforms in the '80s. Firmly a middle class outfit despite the platitudes about dealing with children living in poverty.
"If beneficiaries voted more then the calculations might be different." That is as cold, heartless and cynical as I expect from the Laura Norder, 'Crusher' type.
Hey I'm not the one doing the arithmetic.
Labour needs to stay above 40%, and it has failed to do so.
It has? One poll known for underestimating Labour's support says so, which isn't much of a basis for you to boldly assert that as a fact.
This is both inspiring (that MSD has some level of innovation in it) and deeply offensive. I can see where they are coming from..but…the gamification of budgeting the unbudgetable… ffs!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/117867859/government-trial-to-use-tricks-of-payday-lenders-to-incentivise-money-education
I can just imagine the dumbed down task completion process brought to you by the same organisation that paid tens of thousands for phamplets so devoid of intelligence they disclose nothing at all.
What really rips my nighty is that a businesses will make govt bank doing this when the money needs to go to the people who need it. Please excuse me for a few..I need to unclench my jaw.
Better jaw, jaw, than war, war! And if you look at the way people are being deliberately denied the basics of life they need, it is a sort of war.
For instance the care workers having a little strike over the swingeing conditions at the Masonic Fancy Name care facility in Lower Hutt? and are conducting it with Et Tu support. Some of the workers are being offered? an employment agreement where they get hours of work, some sort of basic roster, but also there's more…they have to be on call for whenever the facility has need of them.
In essence they can't live their human lives, they are at the behest of their employer and can't make plans to do anything with family, friends, appointments, rest and recovery as needed, high days and holidays, which can all have to be curtailed by a demand to work and be on call within a 24/7 basis. The managers don't work those hours for that money, no way.
Flexible, malleable, plasticine workforce is what the employers can demand under our callous neoliberal no-regulations political system set up to allow despots to take control of their workers lives. And large numbers of NZ people don't care, they are not affected. They are going on one of those cruises in fullpage advertisements of the papers, it's SEP.
"Labour plummets"
Yet another great argument for the disestablishment of tvnz and the creation of public funded news service
An argument against allowing media companies to buy polls that they then feel a need to stir some drama from. Don't some countries ban them?
Yes, ban news that you don't like the look of. That works well in places like China (for the ruling party at least).
Working pretty well in the USA as well Gos.
How does it work in the USA?
Deliberate misrepresentation of facts is probably a good place to start.
Attributing quotes to one person when they came from another done purely to cast doubt over a candidates political campaign.
There are plenty. I can make you up a list when I get home tonight if required.
So no government imposed ban then.
It's not news, and other places have decided it's harmful to their democracy. By all means have public polls, just not funded by those with an interest in sensationalising them.
Who gets to decide which polls are okay or not? Will you stop political parties from carrying out polling to determine whether their political approach is working?
Publishing polls, not conducting them. The Electoral Commisison would be a logical body to do that on behalf of everyone in our context.
Media and parties would still have a go at spinning a narrative around the results, but the media outlets would be under less pressure to favour commercial imperatives over editorial standards.
Show me a country where that works
It used to work here until the plutocrats decided to cheat everyone. In the old state broadcasting days the unprofessional bias that characterises muppets like Garner would have cost him his job – nowadays he probably has to be an empty-headed Tory sycophant just to keep his job.
Stuart well said Garner is a plonker now.
"Labour plummets"
Yeah that gave me a chuckle. Down 1% from the last CB poll is plummeting? They haven't noted that National has "plummeted" too – down 1% from the last poll.
'Plummeted' by a fraction of the margin of error. #pffft
Perhaps plummets is code for the way that Labour is allocating money for better services, infrastucture but not as much as some would like, ie they are distributing not full-sized 'plums' but 'plummets'! In our convoluted world, every word can have two meanings. Let's choose this one!
xanthe Fully agree with you 100% at 4
'Time for creation of public funded news service'
Will someone in the Government take responsibility for this screw up?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117596483/privacy-breach-has-police-shut-down-gun-buyback-website
Why would they?
You've never worked in IT have you? If the NZ Police outsourced this to SAP they should have insisted on detailed security testing by SAP. On top of this they should also have performed User acceptance testing of the system changes by their own IT team which should have focused on areas like this. The NZ Police and by default this government) cannot get away from the ownership of this stuff up so easily.
I don't care.
The user-error occurred at SAP, they apologised and acknowledged their mistake. Do you make a habit of assuming responsibility for others actions?
Do you think it is okay for government to outsource responsibility for data protection?
Do you make a habit of assuming responsibility for others actions?
Careful arkie, some of what was sprayed before gosman walked away, might leave a stain on yr clothes.
Bah – sounds like it's you that's never worked in IT Gosman. Neither a statement in the non-functional specifications about security, nor User Acceptance Testing (UAT) are any guarantee that breaches won't occur. Normally UAT doesn't go anywhere near the sort of actions that can result in exploiting weaknesses. An even a well-designed system is still susceptible to human error on the developer or admin side – which SAP seem to be saying it was.
Your reflexive finger-pointing at the government is oh so childish and ideological. Perhaps instead the lesson is that the private sector is inherently wasteful, inefficient, lazy and sloppy because profit-taking rots their brains and makes them behave badly? Or maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration – though the evidence would seem to point that way at least in part.
This was a standard set up of a new security group. As part of testing this set up I would expect it to be checked that the people in the group did not have more rights than they should have. This should be looked at from both a Security testing point of view AND Acceptance testing. Acceptance testing should always be carried out by members of the organisation receiving the service (or at least ownership of the testing should be kept within the receiving organisation).
New things can start out clean and sharp, but as things seem to be going well and no-one is looking too hard, the organic things comes in and they age. As we age and our bodies renew themselves but not as they were Scotty, bits of our chromosomes? drop off and we end up looking well-used. The private sector has probably been assessed by some acute observer, who has found that within say five years anything is only 80% as good as within it's first six months. And with no regulations, or poorly enforced ones, private enterprise will sink to its lowest level of quality that enables the highest efficiency and profit.
…they should have insisted on detailed security testing by SAP. On top of this they should also have performed User acceptance testing of the system changes by their own IT team which should have focused on areas like this.
They should, and for all we know they did. Nobody's yet come up with a UAT plan that guarantees nothing can go wrong.
This is not some obscure edge case scenario. From all accounts this was the incorrect set up of a new security group which allowed members of that group to access data they shouldn't have been able to see. That is basic level stuff.
Labour are also directly responsible for climate change, the unrest in the Middle-East, ebola, the Australian bushfires and male-pattern baldness.
That Jacinda. She's a menace.
She's responsible for all those bald or #1 pates running NZ business?
I bet she's also responsible for the lack of ties, to show that subtle informality of expensive business suit with the hard-working lack of tie image. And the brown pointy shoes!
Where is Bob Jones when we need his dress sense code?
Bob Jones only emerges from his crypt during a full moon.
Lol W-dale
Ha, ha Wensleydale – great comment. My random reading of some Facebook media pages would somehow indicate that most of the hoi poloi who do comment certainly think along such lines.
It often makes me want to throw my keyboard at the screen. So far I've resisted the urge.
Will someone in the Government take responsibility for this screw up?
That depends. Was someone in the government responsible for it?
Ummm… yeah. The Minister of Police is responsible for ensuring the Police's IT systems are up to scratch and not vulnerable.
Bit more Ministerial/operational separation in that portfolio than others.
Police Managers not immune, however.
No. On matters like this the Minister is ultimately responsible.
No – The Minister relies on "advisers so he takes his responsibility from advisers not himself.
Or do you want less "informed consent” to be your National Party policy Mr Gosman?
I'm not a National party supporter so why would I want it to be National Party policy?
That didn’t really answer the question, did it?
The Minister of Police is responsible for ensuring the Police's IT systems are up to scratch and not vulnerable.
So, you believe Nash is to blame for not inspecting SAP's update code for this app before allowing them to install it? Or is he to blame for allowing the Police to outsource app development rather than requiring them to develop software in-house?
No, he's responsible for the fact the NZ Police DIDN'T do these checks properly (if at all).
Many people of the Right, as well as of the Left, seem to think that the chain of command is a straight line to the top but they forget about or overlook management and institutional(ised) processes and procedures. No wonder so many ‘discussions’ here are anything but.
Nonetheless this was a very serious error; someone senior needs to take responsibility. I agree it doesn't warrant the resignation of the Minister, but clearly the oversight of this project has failed. A head needs to roll.
Data security around gun ownership is paramount if legal gun owners are to have any confidence in the system and this incident has been severely compromising.
If only Nash hadn't allowed his coding skills to get so rusty. Let's not even get started on his weapons handling.
If it is SAP it is a config set up not a code change that caused this issue.
Gosh… gun dealers now have access to gun owners addresses, guns owned, etc. Goodness what next!!
Ambulance officers will probably soon have access to all their patient's medical information… This is an outrage!!
And bank details
You had better shut down every business in NZ then, because they have access to people's bank account no's too…
I'm with Gosman on this. This kind of security breach was predicted months ago by a highly qualified friend. For legal gun owners this is of critical concern, it takes no imagination to see what would happen if gun ownership details were to ever get into the wrong hands.
This represents a serious hit on the credibility of the new gun ownership regime. A regime closely identified with Arden herself.
The list went out to gun retailers like Tipple – no surprise it leaked – nothing to do with the government though. Those anti-terrorist powers? People handing out lists of guns and addresses probably qualify.
My friend advises me that far more than one person has seen this data.
Gosman is right, security had to be the primary concern here, and someone needs to be held accountable for this failure at a very senior level.
Seems to me that this indicates gun dealers shouldn't be trusted with higher privileges than other people.
To be fair it was the gun dealers themselves who were largely shocked at what they were seeing and reported it to the authorities immediately.
It is wholly unconvincing for the govt to minimise this incident. This was not some obscure bug or oversight, it was a flat out configuration error of the most basic kind. If this is the level of professionalism and testing going on in this project then some hard oversight questions need to be asked.
It's quite probable that the damage in this instance has been contained; but we cannot know for certain. Worse still we cannot have much confidence that another such mistake will not happen, and next time the consequences might be much worse.
I repeat … consider the consequences of a major leak of gun ownership details to fall into criminal hands.
I agree it shouldn't have happened, but it was a usergroup assignment error rather than an essential configuration error. SAP screwed up and ticked the wrong box. They didn't e.g. allow sql injection on the form. It's not a globally-accessible hole, it's overprivileging people who were meant to get more access anyway.
So yes it should have been picked up before release, but I'm not sure how high up that user group change would go. I would have thought the cops would have done some user poking before handing out access to the new group, but this isn't exactly a ministerial-level issue.
Yes someone ticked the wrong box. That should have been picked up before it went live, no if's no buts. I understand the nature of the error, remember I wrote software for large industrial processes most of my career … often on live, running machines. So I'm vividly aware of how easily mistakes happen and I'm not a judgmental person by nature.
BUT this is the equivalent of a simple software error that could cause an industrial accident, causing damage and death. The leadership on this project should have understood that making a simple config error should NOT lead to a major failure. There should have been multiple layers of protection in place to prevent this from happening. At the prices these guys charge it would the least I would expect.
Definitely would expect better from the vendor.
But it's an error that applied to a tenth of a percent of users who had a higher privilege level anyway. It's like if I, in a lowly security hat, had accidentally dragged access to the finance office over to all upper-middle level managers, rather than just the finance manager. Sure, it's something to bollock me over, but one wouldn't expect them to go wandering in the dead of night. Unlike if I'd dragged it over to 20k students and they all got a notification of the change.
Not sure what to make of the disagreement over who and how many accessed it, though. If someone's telling lies about the degree of the problem, that's when the shit in this case should start trickling up.
Ban overseas companies use for data collection should do this..
Does it really matter?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12290412
Wow…Colin Craig actually won something!
Yeah, but it's an apology from Jordan Williams. It's about as genuinely useful as a balsa wood chair. Sometimes, even when you win… you lose.
Creepy – Biden is just getting stranger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsNQ6v1Vxuk&feature=em-uploademail&ab_channel=SecularTalk
Biden will not drop out. He needs to be kicked out.
jfc. Best case scenario there is that he and his team are clueless about the politics around both #metoo and the alt right/left conspiracy theories of paedophilia. Not to mention having a sexual predator as current president. Or they don't care. Which makes them incompetent. And creepy.
Brexit news – a really interesting video from Channel 4 News. The sight of the PM rolling plasticine with schoolchildren in an effort to show himself a man of the people, in touch with all levels of society is insulting to those concerned about his tragic lack of concern about the country. And he has been caught out making promises that are totally the opposite to what is the Tory declared policies. He is just a moving mouth being carried by a bulky body like a battering ram at the portals of reason and responsible UK policy.
Does Boris Johnson understand his own Brexit deal? and there is a look at Labour – what are they saying themselves and doing?
Channel 4 are having to run a video with some mute partial and some vocal – the mute filled in with explanatory text!
Channel 4 faces yet another accusation of political bias
A hilarious interview CNN with Tom Walker who acts the Jonathan Pie character.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-MFQBwTNQQ
Why are NZ media now today having a blackout on the ‘COPS 25 Climate change conference’ going on today in Madrid Spain, – with 125 countries attending along with NZ diplomatic representation?
Today the National opposition are claiming our PM Jacinda Ardern spends to much time on the world stage; so is that why this media blackout is all about?
https://www.matconlist.com/2019/12/25th-un-climate-change-conference-cop-25-madrid.html
Not quite sure about the timezones but I think COP25 is only just starting. RNZ and TVNZ are both carrying pieces.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/-no-time-and-reason-delay-un-secretary-general-calls-climate-action
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/404689/world-leaders-urged-not-to-cop-out-of-climate-action-in-madrid
Yes Weka
I am shocked that the media never sent a pre-amble out to get us ready for watching the event opening.
But even switching the TV one to TV 3 at 6pm still nothing about it on the main news .
So they only put it up on the website page and not on the TV screen?
Then I feel that if they had screened it from morning time they could have fronted the PM to ask; “PM Ardern are you attending the COP25 Conference?
I came across this personal input from someone who has visited Assange regularly. Haven't read it all myself yet – am passing it on for information of those who care. (Published 27 Sept 2019)
https://arena.org.au/assange-behind-bars-by-felicity-ruby/
That is hard reading.
Even if he did what he is accused of doing in Switzerland, surely folk must realise enough is enough.
Or is it that folks round these parts have chosen a side, and cast a willing ignorance to this person's plight.
I also sincerely wonder whether I am not left enough to accept BIG government, and all the evil it does, that Assange helped to reveal?
Foreign donations to political parties to be banned under urgency.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/404707/government-to-ban-foreign-donations-to-political-parties-and-candidates
Excellent, now all we need to do is get rid of domestic donations and implement only state funding of political parties.
In the interests of democracy.
Does this look dangerous to you? Is it those for the environment that is practical for its purpose v those who like uniform green deserts as the bees call grass (or would if they could translate buzz to language)?
However, Auckland Transport have sent Dee a letter outlining the legal requirements for berms, which include restrictions from planting anything edible or having vegetation more than 60cm tall, and must have shallow roots. Isn't that nice Auckland Transport organising everything for us as they picture how we should be. Do they seem ubiquitious?
But I thought a berm went between the road and the footpath, that's where mine is. And children have been chalking all over the footpath – surely there is a law against that!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/first-up/audio/2018725109/neighbours-at-war-over-planted-garden-berm-in-manly-auckland
So, if a 1% fall in Labour (and National) CB poll results is 'plummeting' then our banks' interest rates have plummeted, our unemployment rate has plummeted, crime victimisation has plummeted, use of plastic bags has plummeted, ownership of military style weapons has plummeted.
If a rise in 1% or more is 'rocketing', a fair antonym for 'plummeting', then Mana in Mahi numbers are rocketing, both business and consumer confidence (Q 6 answer in the House today) are rocketing, with 80,000 new jobs employment is rocketing, wages at 4% have sky-rocketed, primary produce revenue has rocketed, support for school maintenance is rocketing.
Fuller figures for Labour's achievements can be found here. https://www.labour.org.nz/progress-2yrs-2019
The Court name suppression thing is definitely due for an overhaul. Here is an example in a bizarre case. It is hard not to get paranoid these days – there seem to be so many who are trying to take people down in some way.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12290404
A victim of the former financial executive caught stealing rabbits says he spent thousands of dollars on alarms, flood lights and security cameras to protect his surviving animals.
"He stole six of my rabbits, most of which were pets, one of which was a mother with a litter that subsequently died," the man told the Herald.
"It broke my heart, and to have him get name suppression for so long … it made me sick."
The National Party's bright young future https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12290162
Watch out, Simon.
The argument that this is an OK hand sign doesn't fit the context. I'd have said that a thumbs up signal would have been more appropriate to express approval. The signal connected to the wearing of a Trump support hat is a good reason why William Wood has been a wise enough 17 year old to drop this photo.
He'll also learn to watch his back………..
Bloody hell! The last thing we want here. OK those kids are still young and impressionable, but if that is what they are impressed by, then there is no way we want them anywhere near the seat of government. Palmerston North – do your duty.
C'mon cut the kid some slack, he is at least wearing a red tie…
Even if one of his mates is a redneck, surely that is better than the likes Jo Hayes.
You mean like this guy in a suit wearing a red tie?
Yeah Jo Hayes is pretty bad – but if he associates with low life – chances are his ideas are pretty similar. So no I don't cut him any slack.
From the link:
Bridges is a liar and he is sick to infer the prime-minister is sympathetic to white supremacist ideology because that is exactly what he is doing no matter how strenuously he tries to deny it.
How low can he go.
has anyone considered how abnormal it is for a 17 year old to wish to be an MP….at 17?
That saying that you can never hit bottom when the stupidity of people is measured is a counter to the ideal of a democracy where everyone has an education and is capable of making reasoned decisions on behalf of themselves and/or the country. It is a conundrum.
This caught my eye. Baldwin Street in Dunedin has been in contention with a street in Wales for being the steepest in Guinness Book records. The use of Lime scooters in Dunedin's Baldwin St is already under scrutiny as the company and police try to curb reckless behaviour on the street. 11 January 2019 One person has already been filmed riding down the steepest street in the world since the scooters arrived a day ago.
Not sure the scooters are as dangerous as idiots who can't drive cars. Especially front wheel automatics – they never change down, and start wheelspinning near the top. Then the drivers shit themselves because they get psyched out and fail to simply reverse down a straight slope.
But then I have to bloody slalom between the tourists every day as they wander all over the road, oblivious to traffic on a steep hill. Even though it's advertised as a steep road. Vexes me greatly.
Police in Dunedin have found that some people find begging lucrative and the street a place to live and sleep and prefer it. How common is this in Dunedin?
Some were choosing the street, despite having accommodation options available, as they could make up to $200 a day from begging and the cruise ship season marked a notable increase in the practice, he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404723/housing-pressure-making-otago-residents-increasingly-vulnerable
probably no coincidence, as "cruise ship season" is the summer combined with the christmas period.
So yeah – more people on the streets in dunedin.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1912/S00015/cancer-control-agency-to-drive-improved-care.htm
As a person now having had four separate diagnoses for cancer, all successfully treated, under successive governments, I welcome this move.
I hope that all parties will support this agency in its set up and work. Cancer, like any disease, has no respect for political affiliation, income or social views.
A woman was reported as missing in India by her family. She was being brutally raped, murdered and burned.
Three policemen have also been suspended for failing to act quickly when the woman’s disappearance was registered by her family on Wednesday, with the officers instead suggesting she had just gone off with a man and turning the family away from the police station. Before she was attacked, the woman had called her family at about 9pm to say her scooter was immobile and she was stranded by the road and scared.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/01/protests-india-woman-gang-raped-burned-to-death-hyderabad
Noticeable in the story is how quickly the men decided to pick off this woman on her own, tell her lies, pretend to be helpful and treat her with consideration when all the time they had decided to use her in a vile way, and protect themselves from justice or vengeneance. Also the way that the police wished to have nothing to do with this crime. Perhaps it is regarded as unclean, something that a decent man would not be involved with. It speaks volumes about the sexism and classism in India, and they may also be a shame-based society, as appears so often in the Middle East.
It is not the first time that a really horrific sexual attack on a woman in India has made the news; some men descended on a student travelling in a bus with her boyfriend which ended with her death. In a village some young girls were hanged from a tree, I think for having been raped which was felt to bring shame on the village.
A young and trusting NZ woman was murdered while visiting India some years ago. A taxi driver took her to a hotel with a similar name to the one she had booked so she was misled and disoriented. A little while afterwards she disappeared. Her father became alarmed and went to India to look for her. After some serious detective work her body was found. A group of men were involved in scams involving female tourists. Some of the women had had sex with them, and the men no doubt had found their roles lucrative and satisfying. This young woman would not have been available for sex. The father had a number of trips to India to first find her and bring her home, and then to have the men brought to justice.
With all the Indian men coming to this country there will be a percentage of the young men who have this awful blankness in their moral sense towards women. We should be aware of this, and also about unacceptable factors in some arranged marriages. An educated man may use himself as a lure for a family with funds seeking a good marriage for their daughter, who will pay a bride price or dowry. After the marriage she may suffer an unfortunate accident, leaving the man a widower. He can then look for another wife, and repeat the practice, and his family would secure a good boost to their wealth from such a practice.
Remember though greywarshark, that a lot of these Indian men end up as New Zealand Corrections ("prison") Officers and managers, employed or formerly employed by both the Dept of Corrections and SERCO.
Chatting with some of them in a "business end" environment, they will insist that both actions and in-actions bring consequences, and that women "ask for it" going out non-escorted at night, or by being too flirtatious.
Perhaps more laws could be introduced by the National Party (if they get in next year) to make it illegal in New Zealand to be a woman alone under such circumstances.
You see, there can be a law constructed and tailor made for just about any situation. It just takes the will power and the right amount of insistence.
Why challenge the viewpoint of so many Indians with a population which is now around 1.4 billion?
Probably most of them will tell you that there is both safety and legitimacy in numbers.
I recognise your cognition karol121. So many people can't be wrong eh. And India very religious, lots of parades and flowers. But what about the heart and meaning of the belief, can it be put aside when it suits?
Just musing. Women need to be aware of the enduring wish to take male 'privilege' over any social controls. And then too their own wish to be admired that shows up in choice of clothes etc. Add to that the inability to understand other's feelings and thoughts even when we speak the same language; communication classes teach how we misunderstand often.
I think I read somewhere that all great changes are brought about by a small group. So that makes it easy to control the pace of change and who by. Thank god for the young ones getting onto pressing for change. I don't think we are bigger conformists than many other cultures but it is stunning how we go on with rationalisations, lazy thinkers, self-centred, materialists out of balance.
Lazy thinking and out of balance for materially gainful purpose.
I've been guilty of that occasionally myself, greywarshark.
Most societies are preconditioned to reassertion and re-enforcement of belief and even perceived ideas, fueled with the concept of majority being the more right (whatever that "right" is at any one time).
Difficult to escape from it. Political democracy based on largest vote validates the notion that we at least (often begrudgingly) accept it as a pre-condition.
On challenges using younger generational ideas, I think that (when not used as a destructive weapon of choice) a clash of cultures is both natural and healthy.
Challenging the beliefs of others when what they assert leaves many questions unanswered, but not doing so deliberately to one's own detriment.
An alt choice to avoid one to one head banging, blamelessly deliberating on just y people do and y they don't.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117903936/how-will-you-vote-law-to-legalise-personal-cannabis-revealed
How is this going to affect work place pre employment testing ?
nice point. They might actually have to start introducing impairment tests.
Or lighten up except where absolutely necessary and remember how long traces stay in the body. We have had cases of airline staff still hung over in the early morning as they make their way to the airport for early starts.
More self-control and appreciation of what the body can stand, and what fitness the job requires would make people limit their drug taking.
Except that impairment tests also catch basic fatigue and generalised incompetence, which I suggest are more frequent and more serious dangers when people are operating heavy machinery.
I bit of hear say I got the other day is affco (talleys)are importing Asian freezing workers .
One of the excuses is that a lot of applicants fail or refuse pre employment tests.
They never run short of punitive bullshit. They'll demand your social media access or test clothing for P residues or introduce spurious psych questionnaires – none of it relevant to the work.
Fess up if it was one of you, or at least enlighten me with your knowledge.
C'mon you guys (and gals),
Tell me. Who REALLY shot JFK?
Females are dropping their standards of behaviour along with other things. Women will not be able to complain about being put upon in a sexual way as more and more stories of irresponsible and immoral behaviour from them comes out in the media.
There has been a female teacher in Marlborough who has brazenly assaulted boys there for a while until finally someone brought the story out; and she was/is married. This sports coach is married also. She sounds a nasty piece of work.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12290564&ref=clavis
Water polo coach at prestigious South African school engaged in sexual misconduct with 'at least five pupils'
Married teacher and former model Fiona Viotti slept with her students and sent them explicit photos and videos, which were circulated on social media and even made their way to PornHub.
The 30-year-old resigned from the $15,730-a-year (R150,000) Bishops Diocesan School in Cape Town in October amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old student.
Ms Viotti, the niece of former Springboks coach Nick Mallett, reportedly sent threatening messages to the student via WhatsApp when he tried to break off the relationship.
Assertive and occasionally sexually aggressive woman are nothing new.
It is generally recognised that when push comes to shove, in relation to sexual harassment allegations over recent times (more especially in relation to the workplace) most complaints do usually get taken on face value, almost as if those reviewing such complaints are trying to indirectly lend support to the myriad of woman who've had a justifiable reason to make an allegation, but who either haven't come forward or haven't been able to come forward.
But complaints by males against females in this regard, are very often simply disregarded or treated as being silly.
Essentially, I guess we all need to ask ourselves just what if any real damage is caused by woman adopting an active (as opposed to passive role). To my mind, none. Simply a challenge to ideals or beliefs held by many, and a change of perspective perhaps.
That is in relation to sexual assertiveness, but in relation to predatory sexual behaviour, well that is entirely a different matter.
I recall reading of one case where a woman teacher deliberately conceived a child, apparently in an attempt to emotionally trap a young male student.
But I also recall reading where younger school boys were engaged in "upskirt" photo sessions of a relatively attractive teacher, and where she was really surprised by the behaviour revealed to her later. But boys will be boys, and I bet that many of them thought that Christmas had come early with such trove of pics, until they got caught pink handed.
In relation to minors, consider both the sexually transmitted diseases aspect and the conception aspect. Most girls aren't physically capable of any healthy form of child bearing during adolescence and are unlikely to be emotionally prepared, most boys aren't psychologically geared up to early fatherhood.
There are many other ramifications as well. Teacher crush yes, teacher promoting bed romp, no. Very naughty.
In relation to both male and female promiscuity and any "lowering" of a standard, perhaps simply a connected 21st century alteration is all it is.
For the record, I am male by the way.
What's important is putting things into perspective in relation to human physiology and especially comfort mechanisms born out of one of the most basic, inbuilt human drivers, which is that of procreation, or continuation of the species. Along with all of the ramifications, whether they be pleasurable or whether they arrive with undesired complications.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
We do have to make big changes and accelerat the changes to a carbon neutral World. Not spend billion producing MORE CARBON.
We need export dollars to change our society to carbon neutral we can not kill the golden goose. The least disruptive move is to chase Green transport and green energy at the same time do things to minimise our farmers carbon footprint. Aotearoa is in the best location to make a society Carbon neutral in the World.
Ka kite Ano
I have a hunch the SIS sandflys are going to try and set me up on fulse charges today very soon
All the country's that have produced the least carbon are going to suffer the most from Global warming and Sea level rising. Hence they should be compensated for their losses. The cost will be a drop in the Ocean compared to the wealth Western nations have harvested from the World.
Small island countries in the Pacific are demanding greater commitments at this week's Madrid climate talks, saying what's been done so far is far from enough.
For example, the Pacific Island states have been facing higher numbers than the global average, which is of course very alarming for them because they're low-lying For example, the Pacific Island states have been facing higher numbers than the global average, which is of course very alarming for them because they're low-lying
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/117952697/pacific-nations-demand-greater-climate-commitments-from-the-world
The A growing economy is a waste off time if you can not breathe the Air. A clean and green environment. Keeping our clean seas and Awa is of the utmost importances to our mokopuna future.
Pursuing economic growth at the expense of the environment is no longer an option as Europe faces “unprecedented” challenges from climate chaos, pollution, biodiversity loss and the overconsumption of natural resources, according to a report from Europe’s environmental watchdog.
Europe was reaching the limits of what could be achieved by gradual means, by making efficiencies and small cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, with “transformational” change now necessary to stave off the impacts of global heating and environmental collapse, warned Hans Bruyninckx, executive director of the European Environment Agency
Marginal efficiency gains are not enough – they are not working to bring down emissions,” he said. “There is also a higher cost to marginal efficiency gains, if we keep investing in that. If we focus on making current technologies more efficient, there are limits. If we stick to what we know, it may seem easy but it doesn’t work in the long term.”
The EEA scored 35 key measures of environmental health, from greenhouse gases and air pollution, waste management and climate change to soil condition and birds and butterfly species, and found only six in which Europe was performing adequately.
“Incremental changes have resulted in progress in some areas but not nearly enough to meet our long-term goals,” said Bruyninckx. Further marginal changes would grow only more expensive, he predicted, making large-scale change necessary. “We already have the knowledge, technologies and tools we need to make key production and consumption systems such as food, mobility and energy sustainable
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/04/dont-pursue-economic-growth-at-expense-of-environment-report
Here is a fool who is trying to force other Nato countries to pour billions of dollars into weapons that kill poor people and thinks his achievement is great. This Orange Redneck should be kicked out of Office. I can see all the dirtiest tricks he is pulling to load his coffers up with hundreds of billions shorting the stock market ect. I know who is to blame for bad shit happening to me TRUMP. THE world need to spend billion to protect our mokopuna future fool
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cited increased spending commitments on defence by European allies and Canada, saying: "Nato is the most successful alliance in history because we've changed as the world has changed."
On Tuesday, he said those nations had added $130bn (£100bn) to defence budgets since 2016, and that this number would increase to $400bn by 2024. Mr Trump has frequently and forcefully criticised how much other allies spend on defence
Ka kite Ano link below
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50653597
Kia Ora 1 News.
I don't think Pharmac should change drug brands on people that's playing with people's lives.
I not impressed with Trumps actions either.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Tauranga Whenua the gold Kiwi fruit looks great from here the gold Kiwifruit is a great export product in big demand.
Its awesome that heaps of people want to learn Te reo Maori in Taramaki Makaru.
The government discriminated against Tangata Whenua and other cultures is crap. Some are still doing it right this minute.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Ya trump is going to get what he deserves kicked out of The White House the whole World is amazed at the way he is using the most powerful job in the world to line his hip pockets.
That's is cool Taramaki Makaru starting A new Aotearoa thing of collecting food waste.
There is a lot of things that mitigates the production of green house gases that has been used for 20 years around the world that Aotearoa could start doing.
Yes that is awful I bet he was brown.
Im busy getting my mokopuna ready for school and dropping them off mind my grammar.
Ka kite Ano
COP 25: UN climate change conference
Climate crisis is 'challenge of civilisation', says pope
Pontiff calls on COP 25 leaders to show political will to safeguard healthy
The climate emergency is a “challenge of civilisation” requiring sweeping changes to economic systems, but political leaders have not done enough, the pope has said in a message to governments meeting at the annual climate summit in Madrid.
“We must seriously ask ourselves if there is the political will to allocate with honesty, responsibility and courage, more human, financial and technological resources [to the climate crisis],” he said, in the pontifical message, which was welcomed by activists.
Climate crisis: what is COP and can it save the world?
Read more
“Numerous studies tell us it is still possible to limit global warming. To do this we need a clear, far-sighted and strong political will, set on pursuing a new course that aims at refocusing financial and economic investments toward those areas that truly safeguard the conditions of a life worthy of humanity on a healthy planet for today and tomorrow.
Ka kite Ano
Link for above post my devices is being stuffed with I thank the Pope for protecting our mokopuna future.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/05/climate-crisis-is-challenge-of-civilisation-says-pope
This is what Global Warming is doing to our environment burning it.
New Zealand's glaciers are turning red – and it's because of Australia's bushfires
By Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN
Glaciers in Mount Aspiring National Park on New Zealand's South Island have turned pinkish-red from dust and particles blown over from Australia's bush fires.
(CNN)One of the most startling consequences of the bushfires that are still raging across Australia, is that they have turned some of New Zealand's famed glaciers red and pink.
Travel photographer and blogger Liz Carlson snapped the pictures of the discolored snow-capped glaciers on November 28 while on a helicopter flight around Mount Aspiring National Park, in New Zealand's South Island.
"After we flew deep into the park around the Kitchener Glacier, I could really see how red it was, and it was shocking, I've never seen anything like it before," Carlson told CNN. Ka kite Ano link below.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/05/australia/australia-bushfires-new-zealand-glaciers-scn-scli-intl/index.html
Kia Ora 1 News.
There are not many people who can not be turned rotten Kris.
Mana Wahine.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Awsome a new engineering centre at a university in Taramaki Makaru I hope that heaps of Pacific people will get a great education from the $280 million facilities.
Te ohu I read that there was a problem with the Whare returning. Yes they play tangata whenua against each other I see it all the time. And yes the Rangatahi are not as respectful to Te kau matuta as when I was younger.????????????.
Looks like the winner of Matariki is making his views on the way Tangata Whenua are being treated .
That's awesome Maori business Ono pop up Shop is going Mana that gives me a sore face.
Ka kite Ano
The world must cut polluting our futures environment we must cut the world’s carbon footprint in half within 10 years or our earth that is a miracle will turn in a hell hole.
Paris climate deal: world not on track to meet goal amid continuous emissions
Slowdown this year in rising greenhouse gases does not negate long-term trend, finds carbon budget analysis
Carbon dioxide emissions rose weakly this year as the use of coal declined but natural gas took up the slack, a comprehensive study of the global “carbon budget” has found.
The rise in emissions was much smaller than in the last two years, but the continued increase means the world is still far from being on track to meet the goals of the Paris agreement on climate change, which would require emissions to peak then fall rapidly to reach net-zero by mid-century.
Emissions for this year will be 4% higher than those in 2015, when the Paris agreement was signed. Governments are meeting this week and next in Madrid to hammer out some of the final details for implementing the Paris deal and start work on new commitments to cut emissions by 2030. But the new report shows the increasing difficulty of that task.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/04/paris-climate-deal-world-not-on-track-to-meet-goal-amid-continuous-emissions