Definitely.
Will always be necessary in the hard-to-reach ranges and mountains.
Looking forward to Labour and Greens committing budget to pedt-free New Zealand in their next budget.
Um no ad
Reflexively you have assumed aerial poison perhaps means 1080? Brodifacoum is a cumulative poison that concentrates up the food chain. brodifacoum has a role in local eradication but has a very high incidence of secondary poisoning limiting its safety.
No poison is nice aerial poison is indiscriminate. mindless cheerleading is what the nats want for their battle of the birds, we need to be putting lots more money in the pot and using ground control much more.
Do you dispute DOC’s statement that “The benefits of using brodifacoum to eradicate rats from offshore islands are now well documented in terms of species recovery.”?
A question that you’d need contributions from people with various types of expertise to be able to answer, something which a government dept like DoC is well placed to arrange. I take it from your question that DoC has arrived at the answer “Yes?”
[with some noted caveats] The benefits of using brodifacoum to eradicate rats from offshore islands are now well documented in terms of species recovery. In most cases, any short term losses of individuals of native species are offset by the longer term benefits of removing the rats.
Pyscho.. I want to know what you think based on the toxicology , not DOC’s assessment of “best bang for buck”. Do you perhaps think our opinion should be discounted?. Read the link and let us know if YOU think chucking this stuff out of a chopper is a good idea.
If great care is taken not to drop huge loads of it into pristine lakes. Even when great care is taken, huge loads of it will be dropped into pristine lakes…
” About 700kg of bait being ferried by helicopter to Indian Island in Dusky Sound for a rat eradication programme was lost over Anchor Island.
Anchor Island is pest free and home to the endangered kakapo, saddleback and mohua. As a precaution, two kakapo had been moved to Chalky Island.
“A full review of the safety procedures and practices is under way to ensure such an incident does not occur again,” Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson said yesterday.
The 700kg of brodifacoum cereal bait pellets, about 15% of the total necessary for the operation, was being transported beneath a helicopter from Anchor Island, where they were stored, on Thursday when the load detached in flight.”
“A full review of the safety procedures and practices is under way to ensure such an incident does not occur again,”
Maybe it could consider not storing huge quantities of pesticide on a pest-free island being used for restoring native wildlife? There’s a reason why the military doesn’t put ammo and fuel storage in the middle of a camp, perhaps DoC could learn something from that.
Yes the truck tipped over at the punch bowl. Anticoagulant was detectable in paua for months (for as long as they were checking im pretty sure), indefinite shellfish ban for that area at the time.
Some slightly more technical info here: http://www.issg.org/pdf/publications/Island_Invasives/pdfHQprint/3FisherP.pdf
With pest control it’s best to read the scientific data and sift the wheat from he chaff- even some of the studies are of dubious worth. DOC press releases are pure PR.
Bottom line is they are badly underfunded and politicized. If you are buying in to the cheap and nasty rotational aerial poisoning swaying and waving of hands in the air, you are selling us short.
Sorry last bit not aimed at you RG, im saying don’t accept widespread aerial poison as a given, it’s the low cost low outcome option. Not a solution or even a decent stop gap.
keepcalm, I agree with you there. The rodent situation is, in my view, “unsolvable”, on the “mainland” at least, given the resilience of the animals, our relationship with them and other factors (climate change, economic projections, political changes etc.) The balance of the flora and fauna changed significantly sometime back and now we are in the “New Wild” phase, where conventional, ‘destroy that pest’ thinking is redundant and wasteful of resources. There is a place for protection of species, but it’s not the broad-scale, extermination-based thinking we are now “enjoying” in this country. That culture leads to collapse, imo. There is however, another way… 🙂
xanthe – are you going to suggest an environmental issue that The Greens could champion, as you alluded recently? I’m very keen to know which single environmental issue you believe would have the appeal to get The Green Party into Government.
Robert: I am shocked that the Greens support aerial broadcast poisoning and that they do not challenge the lie that it is “eradication” when it clearly is ongoing control. I would not have a clue what the total number of votes the Greens shed over this but this is clearly an issue which is highly polarizing and Greens are continuing to hemorrhage (ironically) over this
Currently animal pest control in Aotearoa New Zealand involves the extensive use of poisons in ground and aerial operations because they are generally cost e ective means of controlling animal pest species. Modern technology allows more precise distribution of aerial poison such as 1080 than in the past, and the amount of poison per hectare has been reduced while still maintaining e ectiveness.
However, the use of poisons on a large scale, particularly near people’s homes, poses ecological risks and raises community concerns. The Green Party Environment policy aims to minimise the use of all persistent, environmentally damaging, or non- sustainably produced poisons, especially when using aerial distribution, and we strongly support research and promotion of other pest control methods. 1080 poison is widely used to control pest species as it degrades relatively rapidly and is not bio- accumulative. Nonetheless it is acutely toxic to a number of non-target animals including dogs and native wildlife, is considered inhumane by many, and there may be as yet undiscovered long-term toxicological e ects arising from its widespread use.
The Green Party aspires to see indigenous biodiversity and farm animal health maintained and enhanced, and eradication and control of pest animals achieved with minimal use of poisons, and without the use of genetically modi ed organisms. We recognise that currently it is not feasible to stop all use of poisons for animal pest control without unacceptable adverse impacts on biodiversity and forest health. However, we believe that current and developing integrated ground control methods o er opportunities, and that increased research and development will extend alternatives to aerial 1080 over time that are both affordable and effective.
The Green Party will:
1. In general, and wherever practical, support replacing poisons with humane and safe biological and physical controls.
2. Continue to support a ban on the release or eld trial of genetically engineered organisms into the environment (see our Agriculture and Rural A airs policy for further details).
3. Promote, support and fund ground-based methods of pest control by a properly trained workforce in preference to aerial poisoning wherever they could reasonably achieve the desired conservation outcomes, especially in areas of lowland forest, around farms, near people’s homes (i.e. closer than 200 m) and near waterways that supply human and stock drinking water.
4. Establish and fund comprehensive ground control training schemes for people willing and able to do this physically demanding work.
5. Signi cantly increase funding for both research and implementation of innovative, safe and humane methods of ground based pest control.
6. Where possible, eliminate the uncontrolled use of bio-accumulative and persistent poisons for animal pest control.
7. Support greater involvement of local communities in maintaining and enhancing local biodiversity, and promote and fund a multi-agency approach to integrated animal pest control. Such an approach will include educating the community on biodiversity values, threats and pest control methods, and engaging the public in community-led ground based control programmes.
8. Coordinate and fund agencies to develop pest control schemes in collaboration with industries harvesting pest animals (e.g. the fur and textiles industry), in areas where pest animal harvesting and conservation outcomes can both be achieved.
9. Support poison-free integrated animal pest control in partnership with the local community, whānau, hapū and iwi. These areas will be regularly monitored to transparently assess the e ectiveness of control methods to ensure that desired biodiversity outcomes are being met and control methods improved.
10.Investigate a strategy to progressively increase the proportion of ground control and progressively decrease the proportion of aerial control with the purpose of ensuring increased pest control coverage and e ectiveness, and increased use of alternatives to aerial poison. The strategy will be regularly reviewed to ensure conservation outcomes were clearly being improved.
Thanks, weka. I feel xanthe’s exploiting the opportunity for reasoned debate here on TS, choosing instead to rig the discussions for her own end, whatever that might be. Of course, xanthe’s as welcome to do that as anyone else, but should expect derision when it becomes apparent that he/she is not sincere. I recall your challenging her about a seeming anti-Green stance and I don’t think that was misplaced.
Nope i did not raise the greens , you did robert.
As for their policy (thanks weka) i continue very much underwhelmed. but thats a side issue that i did not start here.
I certainly did not set about “exploiting the opportunity for reasoned debate here on TS, choosing instead to rig the discussions for her own end” thats just ad holmium bullshit (sorry robert) IMHO.
My purpose has been clear and consistent to prompt readers to understand the toxicology of brodifacoum and make their OWN view of it’s suitability for chucking out of a chopper.
Sneaky, xanthe. I mentioned The Greens regarding another issue altogether:
I think you are behaving subversively here and your comments “smell” wrong 🙂
you seem to be getting somewhat close to telling lies about GP policy. I’ve posted the GP policy above so people can make up their own minds, but please take care not to misrepresent their stance and what they intend.
I agree that under current conditions predator free mainland NZ is a pipe dream. BUT.
Back in 1988 the first big pest eradication was titled “The Battle for Breaksea island”. And indeed, if we want to be predator free we need to be on a war footing.
So if you got every 18 year old in the land and conscripted them in a conservation army for 18 months and waged war on rats, mice, stoats, rabbits, ferrel cats and wild dogs, then it could be done. Campbell Island tells us we can clear an area of 120sq/km in a single go quite easily. With 60-80,000 “troops” who knows how much we could clear!
With unlimited manpower to build fences, setup trap lines and generally fight the good fight, it could be done.
And actually, I think it would be an amazing thing to bequeath to the future, a country over run with birdlife.
I have read the link. It says this stuff is highly toxic, which strikes me as something one would actually look for in a pesticide. Do you have some argument for why that wouldn’t be a desirable feature of a pesticide?
Apologies for the careless terminology. What constitutes a pest is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and a matter of indifference to the toxic substance.
I have and can’t see the answer to my question. Perhaps you could just explain clearly. Also, you haven’t answered other direct questions I’ve put to you, and I’d appreciate that you do, for the sake of not appearing evasive – “hit and run” and “spray and walk away” are not admirable tags to acquire.
It is your opinion yes. And the thing about opinions is that they’re of value only to the person who holds them. What actually counts for something is what you can argue for. So far, I haven’t seen you make any argument whatsoever, hence my attempts to find out exactly what point you’re trying to make.
I am not trying to “make a point” I want to know what people think about “spreading about” brodifacoum having reviewed the toxicology.
I actually feel that citizens should access neutral quality information https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodifacoum#Toxicology
And have an opinion outside of supporting one faction or another. So far there has been very little (apart from Robert, thanks!) evidence of grappling with the toxicology. there seems to be a feeling that we should just trust DOC cause they know better.
forget point scoring. What (having read the link) do you think about spreading brodifacoum about.
I think it would be very foolish to “spread brodifacoum about.” It’s highly toxic to mammals, cumulative in the animals that consume it (and that consume them) and slow to break down in the soil. However, it also sounds like it’s a very effective means of getting rid of mice, rats and possums from a defined area, so it’s unsurprising DoC would use it for that purpose. As long as they’re taking steps to avoid “spreading it about” beyond that defined area (which they are), I have no problem with it at all.
Pscho: brodifacoum is not a poison to “spread about” its use should be ( usually is) within fairly strict limits due to cumulative poisoning up the food chain.
The pixie dust to sprinkle everywhere to salve your middle class conscience would be 1080.
Hopefully the incoming Labour govt will toss the whole stinking mess of psudo-science and PR spin out and put our people to work on actually doing the job!
Sneer all you like. The country puts a lot of money and expertise into figuring out the best way of trying to keep native species from going extinct, and according to that assembled and often-reviewed expertise, this is it. You could argue the experts are wrong, in which case you’re likely to lose the argument, or you could argue that trying to preserve native species is pointless, in which case you’re likely to be in a small minority. Either way, yes I do enjoy a good night’s sleep thanks.
So someone else’s argument is likely to be better than mine so I better watch out?
Convincing corner you are arguing there.
Declaring war on nebulous concepts is a way of making shallow thinkers feel good about themselves.
Has the war on terror eradicated terrorism?
“Sneer all you like. The country puts a lot of money and expertise into figuring out the best way of trying to keep native species from going extinct, and according to that assembled and often-reviewed expertise, this is it. You could argue the experts are wrong, in which case you’re likely to lose the argument, or you could argue that trying to preserve native species is pointless, in which case you’re likely to be in a small minority. Either way, yes I do enjoy a good night’s sleep thanks.”
I think you will find that a big reason 1080, Brodifacoum etc are used in the way that they are is because of cost. There are other effective, less problematic methods that also get used (e.g. trapping) but cost more. It’s a misrepresentation of what is going on in NZ to claim that poison is the best, when neoliberal obsession with business models and cuts to DOC are also a factor.
So it’s not so much that the experts are wrong, but that they have their own contexts to work in and their own belief systems about what should be done. Presenting that as ‘the experts are always right’ is sloppy debate.
There are other effective, less problematic methods that also get used (e.g. trapping) but cost more.
Those other methods tend not just to cost more, but also to have very poor scalability. I expect the next government will fund DoC better, and that may well allow more trapping and less use of poisons in some areas, but it will remain a minor part of the programme.
…‘the experts are always right’ is sloppy debate.
It would be, yes. The experts aren’t always right, eg we both disagree with the experts on certain matters of nutrition. In that case, people have made compelling arguments for how the experts have got it wrong. In this case, I’m not seeing any arguments for why we shouldn’t just assume the expertise DoC has called on has given it the best advice available.
Scalability is just as easy with trapping as other methods, except for cost. If you know how to set up, run and maintain a trap line in one forested valley, you can pretty much do that in every similar landscape in NZ.
One argument about DOC (which I just made) is that they’re operating in a specific context and culture. The context is that they’re short on money. The culture is one that sees all non-natives as inherently bad.
The short on money thing is fixable, and there are plenty of pro-conservation people in NZ that would choose non-poison methods were that supported. Many already do and if you look closely you’ll find that all over the place there are people doing trap lines off their own bat. It beggars belief that DOC are so slow to work proactively with those groups. Some of that is cultural e.g. DOC see themselves as the owners of the conservation estate (am generalising here), and they take a kind of siloed approach.
It’s also blatantly obvious now that DOC are hugely compromised by government in terms of being a fundamentally conservation organisation hence their support for projects like the Ruataniwha Dam or the Queenstown/Milford tunnel. It’s demonstrable that DOC, as an organisation, have very distinct cultural frameworks, and it’s not solely about the science or evidence.
As for the non-native thing, here’s a good example. For decades DOC took the position that gorse and broom were evil and to be eradicated no matter what. Not that DOC are the only ones like that, councils are similar. Meanwhile, regenag people started working in different ways with landscapes including using gorse as a nursery crop to restore native forest. You can look at Hugh Wilson’s work on this at the Hinewai Reserve on the Banks Peninsula, but there are multiple examples now to the extent that DOC itself now offers this as advice on one way landscapes can be restored to native.
So we know that DOC have a very specific culture and world view around conservation that isn’t always supported by the evidence. Had DOC not had that world view they would have been doing experiments alongside the hippies 30 or 40 years ago and we’d be vastly ahead on reforestation than we are now. Even now, spray the fuck out of it is still the default in most places. That will change but it’s the attitudinal stuff that is getting in the way, not best practice or unbiased science.
Scalability is just as easy with trapping as other methods, except for cost.
That’s true of most things that are poorly scalable. It would be possible to do pest control in hundreds of thousands of hectares of poorly-accessible bush using people with traps, just like it’s possible to dig railway cuttings using people with shovels. But we don’t, because it would be a needlessly expensive way of doing them. Cost-effectiveness isn’t something invented by neo-liberals.
that’s not the situation though. Sure we can use 1080 drops in select places that are hard to reach, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead we are now using 1080 on easy to access farmland and conservation estate.
The comparison with building roads with shovels is inaccurate because trap lines are effective, that’s why many people still use them. Lots of conservation estate could be managed using trap lines. It would also create jobs and give people who want it access to living in some pretty amazing places.
For instance, at the moment possums are controlled by 1080, other baits, and trapping. Of those only trapping gives usable fur (there’s some animal rights issues to be sorted there). Afaik currently trappers are plucking which means the carcasses get left in the bush providing an excellent food source for rats and stoats. Non-1080 baits do the same I think. Or councils and private land owners are paying teams to bait and/or trap to control numbers and again the bodies are being left in place. This is not that smart.
What we could be doing instead is setting up a fur, pelt and meat industry that also controls possum numbers, provides jobs, uses the resource instead of treating it like garbage, and get people into the bush. That’s much more of a sustainable process than what we are doing now.
Eradication of possums in NZ can’t be done by poison btw, nor the rest of the pest-free aims. It’s well known that the only way we will become pest-free is if multiple biological methods are developed across a number of species. Personally I think that’s science fiction and instead of basing policy and conservation on that, we should be doing best practice at control with the aim of preservation of local ecosystems. This means that you design for each catchment. What works in the Dunedin hills is going to be different than Milford Sound which is different than West Coast river valleys.
I’m not averse to 1080 in selected situations, because I know it works, but this wholesale and increasing use is ideologically driven. At best it can be argued that DOC are doing what they can under neoliberal govt, but it’s not even close to best practice.
The comparison with building roads with shovels is inaccurate because trap lines are effective, that’s why many people still use them. Lots of conservation estate could be managed using trap lines. It would also create jobs and give people who want it access to living in some pretty amazing places.
Trap lines work – they just cost a hell of a lot more as you point out in your last line.
Now, are they actually as effective as poison drops? I haven’t seen anything to indicate that they are.
What we could be doing instead is setting up a fur, pelt and meat industry that also controls possum numbers, provides jobs, uses the resource instead of treating it like garbage, and get people into the bush. That’s much more of a sustainable process than what we are doing now.
It’s only sustainable if you want to keep the possums and, well, we don’t. Of course, unless the research on making all of the possums sterile pans out, we’ll probably be keeping them.
And then there’s the health issue of using possum meat as food as it can be seriously unhealthy.
but this wholesale and increasing use is ideologically driven.
Those are all good points and I don’t have any problem with the government putting up money to have more trapping in easily-accessible areas (if, the big if that Draco points out, it is actually more effective than poison drops – how useful is it for reducing rat populations, for instance?). That still leaves us with huge swathes of conservation land that’s not easily accessible but would require large numbers of people to manage via trapping. Use of 1080 in those areas has to be large-scale because the problem is large-scale and we don’t have credible alternatives.
The Waitakere Ranges Ark in the Park is a really large scale operation, using poisons. They don’t sound keen on the gas-fired traps as a replacement system until they see really good successful precedents. Helluva lot of fundraising effort otherwise.
Lots of different groups manage different lines – thousands of volunteers.
Result is lots of super-rare birds reintroduced. Many from Tiritiri.
Even the potential for Kiwi!
Right next door to the city with 1/3 of NZ’s population, and dead rats and possums by the tonne.
“Trap lines work – they just cost a hell of a lot more as you point out in your last line.”
Depends on how you measure it, but I’m not saying that they cost a hell of a lot more. I think you would be surprised at the value of trapping cf to poison.
“Now, are they actually as effective as poison drops? I haven’t seen anything to indicate that they are.”
Again, it depends on what you are measuring. Yes, trapping can be very effective. So is napalm. Using hyperbole to make a point, which is that there are a range of issues here not just this number counting. So in any given catchment you need to look at a range of things that are disrupting ecosystems and causing species extinction. I think NZ has a serious problem with habitat destruction, and 1080 is a kind of sop to that, it says we’re not going to protect nature properly so we’ll do some ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff until the silver bullet arrives (biological).
“It’s only sustainable if you want to keep the possums and, well, we don’t. Of course, unless the research on making all of the possums sterile pans out, we’ll probably be keeping them.”
Yes, so let’s find long term solutions for control that aren’t coming from a slash and burn attitude.
“And then there’s the health issue of using possum meat as food as it can be seriously unhealthy.”
Unhealthy how? I was thinking petfood though.
“but this wholesale and increasing use is ideologically driven.
[citation needed]”
Not sure what you mean there. I just spent a number of comments outlining the attitudinal issues in conservation in NZ. They’re pretty well known. Am happy to talk about them if you want to debate the points.
Depends on how you measure it, but I’m not saying that they cost a hell of a lot more. I think you would be surprised at the value of trapping cf to poison.
More jobs = costs more.
And need a citation as to the comparability between poison use and trapping.
Again, it depends on what you are measuring.
Deaths of pests per dollar spent.
I think NZ has a serious problem with habitat destruction, and 1080 is a kind of sop to that, it says we’re not going to protect nature properly so we’ll do some ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff until the silver bullet arrives (biological).
Totally agree. Under National DOC has been run into the ground, and now needs to maintain its income BY LEASING OUT CONSERVATION LAND FOR MINING*
sorry for shouting so loudly – but NZ needs to wake up to the this ecological vandalism. Vandalism that is being perpetuated by a barbaric government, supervised by the “watchful” eye of a compliant department, that is supposed to be acting to protect our forests and native fauna; not destroy it.
Here is an ex-DOC worker being arrested for trying to protect the land she had worked to conserve for 15 years. https://twitter.com/hashtag/protectkarangahake?src=hash
* see the link to the Application Guide for permits to mine on conservation land issued by DOC.
About 40 years ago I was a possum trapper – the devastation that I saw Possums cause to native bush was absolutely staggering – unless there is absolutely convincing evidence that 1080 is very very bad I don’t see an alternative .
My view on 1080 is that some people were told that Radiated tooth paste and skin care products were good for ones health in the 1950 s until peoples teeth started falling out and they were dying of cancer its a poison there are many examples like this in our past .
Its is not wise to try to eradicate something it is better to control it them.
A tax free bounty on these pest would provide income for the youth and the poor we would be killing 2 birds with one stone as the saying goes.
All the remote areas we put hired workers in there still 2 birds with one stone.
The helicopter companys will still get there income flying these workers in to the remote areas. But the big powerful chemical company’s will lose out ie foreign interest whom only care about there profits. I refrained from swearing in this post
Pretty standard stuff. A basic principle of right-wingers is “A society in which I’m among the wealthy must by definition be a meritocracy and therefore should be run for my benefit.”
I have succumbed to Jane Kelsey’d blandishments again* and put up what is arguably an unpaid election advertisement (see the It’s Our Future logo on the right) on the party positions about the TPPA.
So I have also activated the authorisation statement at the bottom of the site that directs all enquiries related to electoral law to me.
I will of course treat all such enquiries with a balance between discretion and transparency, and between action and education. Which means that if I think that something oversteps the bounds you only have to point it out and it will be handled rapidly.
But if I think that someone is just taking the piss then I am quite likely to educate on the principle in public and at a personal level, but subject to those irritating privacy restraints that someone fettered me with.
* How does Jane do that? Probably because she asks and provides the two things required – a decent image and a link to something worth reading..
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt challenges Jacinda
“Obviously, unlike other institutions, we won’t require support for Zero Fees, as we’ve already achieved that objective. This letter is a request to Central Government to support our extensive construction program so that we can offer students free accommodation. That will help us maintain our student numbers and take a little pressure off the housing crisis in our larger cities.”
And free accommodation along with free study is a good incentive to move people south and out of Auckland. Therefore, it could be worth paying that little more?
Streamline effect to enable the Jacindaroller to roll even faster and miss nothing in its path. Even her body guard is described as Hipster.-shaven head. Built for speed and– ,I could -and can go on-
If Coleman was in the Mafia his gang name would be ‘Numbers’. As soom as he opens his mouth I just stop listening. Too many numbers all at once sends me into numerical overdrive. Do his numbers ever actually stack up or does he just pluck them out of the bubble floating ar’ Q/A ably mediated by Corrin, lol!, when he said after “the break we will be back with Michelle and Josie” So I didn’t see what happened at the end of that particular debacle. I have to remove all sharp objects within reach whenever I even catch a glimpse of our prehistoric Boag.
Coleman seemed to do better than yesterday – his voice not so croaky and a bit more comfortable anyway. [At 6:06] “I get dozens of letters from people who are uh absolutely pleased with the care they are getting”, is less impressive than Coleman seems to think it is; given the thousands who attempt to access that health system every year. His main goal seems to be to interject; “that’s not true” into any statement that Clark makes.
There is one policy that most parties seem to favour, albeit with different time frames.
It is, in my opinion, the worst idea that any of them has. It is also the one policy that should be dropped by everybody. There would be no better way to waste billions on something that is obsolete before it has even started than light rail.
Read this and then vote for any party that will refuse to put 19th century technology into a 21st century world. Light rail is an antiquated and pointless idea. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/96306106/pattrick-smellie-are-we-planning-for-a-transport-future-that-wont-exist
We need more roads in the middle of Auckland and we need more carparks in the middle of Auckland and we need more carparks at the bus stations on the outskirts of Auckland so people can park their cars and ride on buses to the centre of Auckland. And we need more high rise apartment blocks in the middle of Auckland.
And when that’s all done there will be no point in getting in cars to come to the middle of Auckland because the only thing there will be roads, carparking buildings and apartment blocks.
I don’t think you have thought through what autonomous vehicles really mean.
People, at least those living in a city won’t need to own a private vehicle. You will simply summon an autonomous vehicle when you want to go somewhere.
That vehicle will take you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go.
At the moment people take their private vehicle from their home to a parking area. It then stays there, unused, until they need it again. I have seen claims that the average private car sits idle for 96% of the time.
There will be no need for large parking areas at bus stations. In fact there won’t be any bus stations.
Neither will there need to be carparks in the centre of Auckland for people at work. After all, they won’t have taken their own car to work. They will have taken an anonymous AV which is available for someone else to use as soon as they exit it.
There will still need to be some parking space. This will be for AVs which are waiting for a call and/or recharging their batteries. The space required will be only a tiny fraction of the space currently consumed by private vehicles which must all be parked in such a manner that a particular vehicle can be retrieved rather than the one that is nearest the outside.
At the moment I would guess, and it is only a guess on my part, that for each parking place in a car park for a vehicle that is 2m * 4.5m you need, allowing space for the vehicle, and space on each side of it for people to get in and out and the lanes used by vehicles to get around the parking area not the 9m2 the car requires but probably about 30-35m2.
Why bother driving yourself? Why bother having to park the thing? Why bother having to maintain it? Call a car when you want one.
Can I help it if you dream you are Buck Rogers and want a jetpack?
I’ll bet you were one of those people who said the smart phone would never catch on.
In the meantime electric cars are now here. The battery technology is now making them at a similar price to internal combustion vehicles.
To give a brief answer to your comment.
Works now.
Sure it does, and if you already have sunk all the investment in it you will probably keep it going. It is getting a new system, at a cost of billions when the technology is obsolete that is foolish.
Poorest affording it.
Yes, but there are enormous subsidies to hold the fares down, and the system is heavily subsidised by the people who drive on the roads. I often visit Paris, and I travel on the Metro. It is cheap and frequent. However the subsidies are enormous and I believe that the subsidies are more than 4 billion euros/year.
I see no reason why AVs need cost anymore than the unsubsidised cost of a bus or light rail fare.
I’ll get one.
But I don’t want to get one. I shall be only too happy to get rid of my privately owned cars. I don’t want to own one. I just want to get convenient, comfortable transport when I need it. AVs and a smart phone will be all I will need.
Those autonomous vehicles will be joining together on light rail for longer trips. As that is the most efficient way to get them from A to B. Except for the last mile. A motorway, even for AV’s, is a costly waste of space.
I can’t see how he thinks people are going to want to car pool en masse every single day to work and not want larger, safer, cheaper, more regular, more efficient, and smoother forms of rapid public transport.
“larger, safer, cheaper, more regular, more efficient, and smoother forms of rapid public transport”
They will be larger.
There is no reason at all that they would be safer.
There is equally no reason why they should be cheaper.
AVs don’t have a schedule, regular or otherwise. They will travel exactly when you want them, not when some bureaucrat says they should run.
They will not be more efficient. A small vehicle carrying one person is better than a very large one carrying 5.
The will not be smoother. My car is certainly a smoother ride than one of the Wellington units.
They will not be faster. An AV will go from where I am to where I want to go. They won’t ramble around picking up all and sundry along the way.
My God!. You talk like a Green MP.
From a scan of these articles I would suggest that you are talking about a totally different technology than I am.
These vehicles they are talking about are basically rental cars such as we have today. They require the hirer to drive them. I am talking about AVs that drive themselves.
There is absolutely no need to connect them up into a train. I want to go from point A to point B now, not when a group of people want to travel the same route.
You should also bear in mind that AVs will be able to travel much closer together than current cars with a driver. They will not have to follow the 2 second rule as the technology will enable them to communicate with other vehicles in their vicinity.
You are out of date.
No I’m afraid it is the technology listed by you that is out of date. It still expects that the cars concerned will have human drivers around a town.
“days of a private car”.
Of course they are. That is what I want to see. I don’t want to own a car. I just want a cheap option that will carry me where I want to get when I want to go there. That is what the AV will provide.
“only ICE cars are “. I don’t think there will be any ICE cars in 20 years time. There won’t need to be any private ones either.
And the roads will be much, much safer.
Autonomous vehicles will be the public transport. Much more convenient and likely to be much cheaper as well.
What do you think happens to most of the buses outside of the peak hours? The either sit around unused or they carry half a dozen people in a vehicle built for 40. AVs certainly won’t be any less efficient will they?
AVs should be able to carry, individually, more people on a trip at peak time than at less busy times. If more people want to travel they could stop and pick up another passenger along their route. The way they are called would let the system know where every vehicle is and where it is going.
The customer could be allowed the option of sharing if they want to. Give them a cheaper fare if they are willing to share the AV.
AVs will be much cheaper than a taxi. They don’t need a very expensive driver do they?
Private cars are very little used. As I noted just above a standing time of 96% has been reported. They are very inefficient and one of the reasons why people will be willing to give up their private car.
alwyn
“Private cars are very little used”? Except, of course, for those reduced to living out of their vehicle – the current housing crisis would be much worse if that wasn’t an option. Also, even standing still; they do act as additional storage space for those with small homes (especially for families – do you know how much room a pram takes up even when it’s folded away?).
Quite what this has to do with the topic I am talking about is unclear.
On the other hand anyone who has a garage will have a lot of extra space to use.
I’m sure you will get rid of your car, convert the garage and offer it free to someone living in their car. There, everyone will be better off.
You are, unfortunately, probably correct.
The curse of too many possessions. I regret to say that I am as guilty as most people.
Your comment gets the prize for the most realistic comment.
Her chances look awfully slim.
The only electorate poll I have seen, by Maori TV, had her in third place, just behind the Maori Party candidate and at only about a third of the vote for the sitting Labour MP.
I think her theme song might as well be. “So long, its been good to know you but I’ve got to be drifting along.”
Where was she last year when Sue Moroney was working on her 26 week paid parental leave bill which English vetoed because there was too much support for it. Oh, I remember, she was too busy illegally buying guns online and getting fired from her job…
Note the comment seems to have been that the first priority would be to clean up waterways and that it would only be if there was money left over that the local council could use it for other things.
You have given me the best laugh I have had all day.
You expect a local Government organisation to give up a source of income just because the excuse given for imposing a tax has vanished?
so labour has just been playing wedge politics on water and are lying shits. trucks par ruc s for the road use if its not enough raise that don’t fucking lie to sneak a tax in
Which would be all well and good, if local councils received some of that money for road maintenance. But they don’t and here in the Whanganui district a $2 million a year black hole in the rural road maintenance budget is directly attributed to the increasing numbers of heavy vehicles servicing the rural sector.
According to the Timaru Herald article, when contacted on Friday, Parker, the Labour spokesperson on water, said revenue would primarily need to be distributed to regional councils to clean up waterways.
However, money left over could be given to local councils, which would “decide what to do with it”, he said.
“He was happy to discuss possibilities for leftover revenue after the election, he said.
This was immediately misconstrued.
Following the revelation at the meeting, visibly surprised National candidate Andrew Falloon said it was the first time he’d heard a Labour politician say “the money might not be spent on cleaning up waterways”.
“Because it’s sort of the entire point of it, I thought.”
Whether Falloon was “visibly surprised”, or aurally challenged, or cognitively so, up to the reader. We couldn’t believe he deliberately misinterpreted Labour’s Parker, could we?
bwaghorn – Beware of news and articles in papers, too many vested interests.
But I gather you are a farmer, for them Labor is not an option anyway as social policies will never sit well with farmers. For them the world stops at the gate and to hell with everybody else. As long as the dosh is good who cares about the rest.
Pretty weak tinkering here from Labour. They’re going to have to do a lot better than this in order to convince me they’re committed to stable communities where people don’t live in fear of a letter from the landlord. For Labour to not move on the default lease term (afaik currently there isn’t one at all!) is very disappointing.
The Greens are much better on this and Opportunities quite bold and strong in recognising the current problem.
Set a default of three years for fixed-term tenancies on the standard tenancy form, while maintaining the provision for both parties to opt out and set the term of their choice
So actually, Labour and the Greens agree on dumping the 42 days notice option, abolishing leasing fees, limiting rent increases to a maximum of one per year, and requiring the formula for any increases to be specified in the lease agreement. The “default” position of a 3 year fixed term tenancy seems pretty meaningless if there’s a provision for both parties to opt out and set their own term. And allowing tenants the right to renewal of lease agreements sounds good, but again doesn’t offer any more protection than Labour, because both parties are saying there should be a minimum 90 days notice period if a lease agreement is being terminated. Labour specifies that there has to be a genuine reason (which is not required in law at present) and it also gives an avenue for leasers to make small alterations to a property, so long as its returned to the original state when they leave and has a healthy homes policy to support landlords providing insulation and heating.
The three year default would be a significant change which would help reset the behaviour of landlords from one of amateur speculator to professional service provider.
When a tenant with a family goes to an agent now all they get put in from of them is a shitty one year lease at best and sometimes not even that, just a casual agreement. And that’s it, if they ask for a longer lease they immediately be seen to be trouble for the landlord who wants all the flexibility. In a tight market people are forced to take these because you might not get another place close to you child’s school etc and the competition is high you having to have battled just to get that short lease put in front of you.
How is a family supposed to make planning decisions around jobs, schools, and their own savings plan toward more security in home ownership on one year revolving leases?
If a lease length was default at 3 years it would become accepted behaviour creating more stability in high rental communities and the onus would be on the landlord to have to move away from that length.
Except if a default 3 year lease is:
a) only “default” if the parties don’t agree to another lease term (ie, if the landlord chooses to offer a 3 year term), and
b) even then, not guaranteed because of the right to 90 days’ notice with a specified reason,
then I don’t see that it actually means much.
a) The point is that currently there’s no official default and if there is an unofficial one it’s either casual or one year. This is not acceptable to families who require much more certainty. What the ‘landlord’ offers right now isn’t enough and negotiations to get a longer lease and more certainty for your kids is met with silence. A 3 year default would then give the tenant with a family that certainty from the start of the discussion which the landlord would then have to negotiate down from in order to keep the flexibility they so crave at the expense of young families and community security.
b) If a landlord wants to break a lease with 90 days notice then they’ll have to pay the tenant out of that lease which would be a lot longer than it is currently.
It’s a really, really, really big deal for tenants with young families to have to shift in this environment and there are an increasing number of tenants and communities which require more stability than is currently the case.
Right now I would kill for a 3 year fixed term tenancy. At least that would mean living only in a constant state of mild anxiety vs severe anxiety over if I’m going to be homeless come January.
And from reading the (almost predictable) comments from landlords in the Stuff article- having no clue about being a landlord, can someone please explain to me how Labours/Greens proposed tenancy laws could possibly necessitate a major sell of private rentals and/or major increase in rents? The usual scaremongering or what? Are property managers panicking over the plan to ban letting fees perhaps?
Exactly Kay. With a fixed three year term you can begin to plan for your future without worrying that your immediate future might involve costly and stressful house hunting scenarios.
This would help tens of thousands of families and single people plan forward rather than worrying about the present.
Most tenants are given 90 days notice to depart, it is the law. The only time 42 days notice can be applied is if the owner or their direct family are moving into the property or if the property has sold and the purchaser requires vacant possession. Most tenants that need to move because the property has sold receive way more than 42 days notice simply because the change of owner/sales procedure takes longer than that.
The current tenancy duration term is as long as both parties agree to, 10 years if they wish. Landlords steer clear of fixed term agreements and tend towards periodical agreements (casual) because regardless of circumstances a landlord is legally stuck with the duration of the term, 1, 5 or 10 years if both parties agreed. The tenant is not, after 6 months into a 10 year term they need only claim they can’t afford it or they’ve had a job offer down country and there is not an adjudicator in the country that won’t break the lease for them.
In most Real estate agencies the property management division is close to a break even dept. A nuisance in boom sales times and keep the doors open godsends when nothing is selling. The average of about 8% on the rent income is usually split around 50/50 between the property manager and the agency. To make the job viable in regional areas (average rent 275 pw) a manager needs to look after about 80+ properties. It’s at about that level that 40 hours a week won’t equate to the manager doing a good job for the tenant or owners. I think it’s a broken model and personally support across the board licensed private property managers that don’t share the revenue 50/50.
It is for this reason that we have seen the rise of letting fees and more frequent property inspections. Sideline income generators for revenue strapped Property Management departments.
I think annual rent rises rather than the current potential for 6 monthly will just double the ask for those that currently do it 6 monthly….. I think very few landlords jack rents up every 6 months. Who gets a rent rise letter every 6 months? I don’t know of anyone.
The Tenancy Tribunal is a forum for both landlords and tenants to have their case heard. It could be easily argued that adjudicator delivered orders favour the tenants’ argument. eg:
Tenant: “I’d like to end this fixed term tenancy”
Adjudicator: “No worries, give 21 days notice.”
Landlord: “I’d like to end this fixed term tenancy”
Adjudicator: “No way buddy.”
That said, while considering this landlord/tenant situation I think it’s worth bearing in mind that 95% of hearings are instigated by landlords and 5% by tenants. The huge majority of hearings are due to unpaid rent and damaged properties.
What all three parties seem to be looking at is replicating the commercial lease structure, ie the ADLS lease structure which is the NZ default commercial lease, into the residential context.
This structure gives tenants and landlords a lot of certainty and generally keeps commercial rent returns (so either lower rental or capital value) below residential. Hence the wide boys tend to gravitate to residential ownership, or the higher risk side of commercial. Getting commercial discipline into the residential market and giving the cowboys the flick, is a very good idea.
The ADLS model is good for commercial, but would need some major changes to make it work in residential. For instance it’s really difficult for a tenant to get out of a lease in term, it’s the tenant’s responsibility to find another tenant suitable to the landlord, can be difficult and expensive. It’s also quite hard for a landlord to get rid of a tenant. This works ok in commercial because everyone wants stability.
While residential tenants want the same stability, sometimes tenants will want to be able to get out of a lease pretty quickly when personal circumstances change, like with jobs or relationships. The ADLS model will require some very careful adjustment to maintain a workable balance of aspirations, rights and responsibilities between landlord and tenant.
When I look at the residential rental environment around Queenstown, with it’s sudden economic and social changes, I can see real pros and cons of longterm residential leases.
The ADLS model is good for commercial, but would need some major changes to make it work in residential. For instance it’s really difficult for a tenant to get out of a lease in term, it’s the tenant’s responsibility to find another tenant suitable to the landlord, can be difficult and expensive. It’s also quite hard for a landlord to get rid of a tenant. This works ok in commercial because everyone wants stability.
this is standard procedure in Germany where a standard notice period is usually 3 month at a minimum. I have on several occasions found tenants for a flat i was leaving early usually for reasons of work. You can organise this in a way of x amount of potential future tenants presented and the Landlord needs to accept one of these. Essentially, don’t be an unreasonable fuckwit. IF i present you with three potential tenants that are good, in work, can pay the bond, accept one. Full stop.
As for landlords in commercial properties giving you a hard time, don’t ever get an Indian landlord. No phone, no email, realtor not happy to be contacted, lease runs out, can’t get a new lease, landlords lawyer suddenly not his lawyer anymore, accountant suddenly not his accountant anymore and landlord is in India, till when? oh who knows. Then suddenly during the busiest time in your year landlord waltzes in, shoves 10.000$+ invoices in your hand of ‘stuff i have forgotten to invoice you over the last two years – all of these invoices on paper, handwritten, no GST number nothing”, btw he did that to all the businesses, and if you don’t want to pay that you move. what you do? go tot he tenancy tribunal? Btw, that busy little fringe, now its dead, cause we and some of the others ‘moved’.
So, here we are currently looking at new premises as i really hate to be blackmailed. I pay my dues and that is that. Would i rent a premise that is also listed for sale? No.
NZ needs to pull its head out of the sand and understand that its crap laws in regards to tenancy – residential and commercial – are costing it money. Its losing businesses, its stopping businesses from forming, and its just bullshit.
as much as i like this country, renting anything is literally just torture and a waste of money, its effectively cheaper to stay at home and do fuck all. And for some reason or another the country is ok with it. Go figure.
A latter-day Roosevelt must, like the original, look at monetary reform. Now as then, the problem is how to avoid too much liquidity in the boom and too little in the bust. But this may be impossible so long as money creation — and destruction — remains in the hands of private, profitmaking banks. Only a tiny fraction of the money supply consists of physical cash minted by central banks. The bulk is bank deposits, claims on private financial institutions created when those institutions issue loans.
So in exuberant times, the money supply expands too fast, causing resource misallocation and impossible expectations about future incomes. When the mood changes, banks create too little money to keep activity buoyant, credit issued in the boom goes bad, and debt deflation sets in.
So even the Financial Times is starting to question our banking system and how it works – or, rather, doesn’t.
Michelle Boag was certainly very jittery on Q+A this morning. She kept (ridiculously) trying to equate Labour with Trump(!) and must have said “haven’t done their homework” a dozen times. The last time she said this on the show was when she so obviously hadn’t done her homework and tried to insist that Labour’s water policy would lead to cabbages costing $18.
Nice to see Ms Smug and Dismissive looking so rattled.
Boag is not a very attractive woman to be attempt a glowing English supporter. Not attractive in speech or delivery. Reckon she would be a shoe-in fox Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of OZ. She knows she is on a lost cause.
I saw that it was Boag and Pagani and just couldn’t be bothered watching that video; Right and Righter. She really compared Ardern to Trump? Wow. If we’re doing Trump comparisons, then Key is a much better fit; disregard for truth, excessive wealth (though Trump’s was largely inherited), hair fixation, strangely charasmatic (to many), sociopathic tendencies, non-political politicians. Both with a penchant for dismissing employees; “You’re Fired” vs “The Smiling Assassin”.
The debate segments themselves were good, though the online version glitches a bit around the adbreaks, but I doubt I missed much.
She was careful not to name Ardern, but repeatedly said Labour were being Trumplike (her view is that they’re “big on the what but not the how”, “haven’t done their homework” and are making big promises that they will have to back away from once elected). It’s a pretty desperate ploy… She actually admitted at the end that she didn’t know who was going to win the election.
There is video, but I couldn’t stomach watching it. Also a longer summary, but I thought this from Henry Cooke (at 11:22am) was pithier
That was a phenomenal press conference. Paula Bennett said drug dealers have “fewer” human rights than others and the Prime Minister said it was good that NZ did not have a written constitution.
You have to wonder if those drug dealers also include; alcohol and tobacco sellers, such as supermarkets and bottlestores. Of course they won’t, even though they too are; “creating a string of victims behind them”.
Appalling stuff from National – shouting out to the lowest common denominator and showing a total lack of concern, respect or understanding of human rights.
You don’t need to abuse human rights to tackle crime – quite the opposite in fact.
It fits very well with National’s way of thinking such as “social investment”. Identify ‘the prima facie culprits’ and target them hard with all the force of the law. If this means violating their human rights or invoking National Security, for example, so be it. There are a few obvious issues with this approach but none of these will concern National voters – prisoners are barred from voting [bad pun]. The allegedly-apparent political interference in (some) police matters is another reason to be extremely wary about this erosion of citizens’ rights in New Zealand.
Perhaps some private prisons need more profit. In any case, this women is just about as bad as it gets.
I would challenge her on the notion that a group (even if despised) can have basics rights taken away. If it looks and feels fascist, perhaps it is.
Keep an eye out for the film American Made. It has been reviewed this morning by Simon Morris and sounds an absolute gas. Its background is the reality of the USA’s outrageous, no-holds-barred meddling in everything around Regan’s time and Clinton’s. Lots of ironic laughter and the absence of concern about principles left home in a quiet, dark cupboard will be the right approach. Has Tom Cruise. In theatres September 29.
And another one about India and Britain interaction. Sounds amazing. At age 68 Queen Victoria who apparently was not the stuffy moralistic person broadcast to the public, decides to learn Urdu and the finer points of curry dinners.
Victoria and Abdul (Queen Victoria by Judi Dench) from September 14
It is estimated that the 47.4 inches of rainfall in 4 days on Clear Creek equates to a 40,000 year event #houwx#hounews#txwx— Jeff Lindner (@JeffLindner1) September 1, 2017
Now I know this has nothing to directly do with the election but there has been from 1 Sept a further insidious removal of government services from street level & the provinces
The IRD in Napier has been closed until further notice.
The IRD has closed all after hours drop boxes – so cheques, returns & the like cannot be dropped in after hours which is really unhelpful to all those people who do drop them in after hours.
The reason given for Dunedin & no doubt all the others is:
“For safety reasons the after-hours Drop Box at our Dunedin office will be closed permanently and no longer available from 1 September 2017.”
Despite the above the drop boxes have been in use forever without apparently any problems.
The IRD has also removed the GST form from their website so it cannot be downloaded and filled out manually. (and possibly other forms). I’m not even sure that is legal.
Their agenda is clear : they want everyone forced to register with the Mylogin services so that they and the wider government have the ability to track our email addresses and us electronically. And some how unaccountable call centres will do the rest.
The IRD have acknowledged in the past that there is a significant group of taxpayers who actively do not wish to deal with the IRD electronically but of course this is not acceptable to our right wing governments who do not want anyone to have any personal privacy.
And while I’m on the subject of Napier ( happy to hear from a local re this) quite a significant population area now has no IRD street access and a main police station that is only open until 7.00 pm every day.
Nact doesn’t support the provinces!!
Safety seems to be the buzzword for withdrawing services by government and their mercenaries while enforcing expensive and time consuming nitpicking actions on the public.
Somewhere along the line the government is going to feel so unsafe that they will close down everything. Are we going to put up with that I ask?
The grim tale of America’s “subprime mortgage crisis” delivers one of those stinging moral slaps that Americans seem to favor in their histories. Poor people were reckless and stupid, banks got greedy. Layer in some Wall Street dark arts, and there you have it: a global financial crisis.
Dark arts notwithstanding, that’s not what really happened, though.
Mounting evidence suggests that the notion that the 2007 crash happened because people with shoddy credit borrowed to buy houses they couldn’t afford is just plain wrong. The latest comes in a new NBER working paper arguing that it was wealthy or middle-class house-flipping speculators who blew up the bubble to cataclysmic proportions, and then wrecked local housing markets when they defaulted en masse.
Wow must have upset someone high up the food chain in the government with my humane and Intelligent ideas to help reduce our prison population they must think I’m making a personal attack on there intelligent well no I’M not.
But my viewers can make up there own minds on whats intelligent and whats not.
Is it intelligent to carry on fulling our jails is it intelligent to copy or be coned to implement other larger Societies failing policy’s. Or is it intelligent to be original and make our own policy’s that suit our unique society.
They poured on the intimidation today but I’M use to it. Miss Paula Bennett just confirmed my statements made in my other post on how some people in the justice department view our Human rights and privacy rights national just keep digging that hole deeper and deeper.
Now there is someone in that outfit whom is really crafty or fucken stupid.
This is why I have said that the real people that run the government are public servants
and all these ideological dick heads that will fight the changes need to fix our Society need to get kicked out or our Society’s systems will not change fast enough to fight climate change and poverty in our Great Country.
Some of my fellow bloggers on this site that have been involved in politics for 30 years or more are skeptical of some of the public servants in the Bee hive so people take note of what they say. SO TO SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENTS and SOCIETY. PARTY VOTE GREEN
Look who had their stickys all over the Kenyan the, since overturned [result], presidential election.
A firm that worked for Donald Trump and which once claimed ties to a pro-Brexit campaign group is now reportedly working for Kenya’s incumbent president.
Cambridge Analytica’s mission statement is simple. On its website, the firm says it “uses data to change audience behaviour.” Most notably, the company was hired by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and has been given some credit for Trump’s electoral success.
Kenya’s Supreme Court on Friday overturned last month’s presidential election, citing voting irregularities, and ordered a new election within 60 days. It declared President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election null and void.
It is the first time a presidential election in East Africa’s economic hub has been nullified. Supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga, 72, danced and cheered in the streets, and said they felt vindicated because he had contended that he lost because the electronic tally had been hacked.
Gee thanks Bearded one. That is a pretty concise compelling argument in favour of paying for water with the intention of reducing pollution.
One graph alone should disturb doubters. And the ECan commissioners have a lot to answer for.
Wonder if they will finally be removed by a Labour/Green Government?
Yes that’s the reason I back water charges it changes the perception of water frown worthless to something we will treasurer as water should be treasured as a life giving force it is
FWe have to plan these water policies so no one can manipulate them so the few will benefit at the cost of the many water should benefit all people the same .I have seen the fishery turn into a big mess and people were given practical big checks to accept what the systems the government wanted to put in place and what we got was not ideally suited to preserve our fisheries
“Richard Griffin of Nelson is a highly experienced former journalist.
He served as Chief Press Secretary and Senior Media Advisor to Rt Hon Jim Bolger and was RNZ’s longest serving political editor.
He has been instrumental in the strategic planning of organisations in New Zealand’s primary production and tourism sectors and the pharmaceutical and banking industries.”
“Suzanne Mary (Sue) Wood, born in Onehunga in 1948, served as the president of the New Zealand National Party from 1982 to 1986, the first woman to hold the post.
She had been a teacher, journalist and swimming coach.
Her term as president included the latter years of the Third National Governmentof Robert Muldoon, the 1984 general election, and the associated constitutional crisis.
Wood stood as the party candidate for Onehunga in the 1980 by-election and in the 1981 general election; she was then teaching at Onehunga High School.
In 2002 she stood in the seat of Mana, being defeated by Labour MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban.
Although she held a relatively high party-list ranking of 19, National’s poor overall result in the 2002 election meant that she failed to enter Parliament.
She was the campaign manager for Auckland Future in 2016.[1]”
IMO – these FACTS arguably help explain why National broadcaster Radio NZ present paid PR shill$ like Matthew Hooton to present as ‘political commentators’?
IMO – particularly during an election, it’s a ‘conflict of interest’, particularly if paid PR shill$ have particular political parties as clients.
If you can’t see that these are crony appointments to the Board of National Radio – which is supposedly meant to be independent of political influence….
·independence – broadcasters should not be subject to political influence or dominated by commercial pressures, and should be enabled to act in the public interest; and
·quality – the provision of quality services in terms of individual programmes, channel schedules and the total range of services offered to and valued by audiences.
what evidence have you or Penny Bright demonstrated of political corruption?
All Penny showed was a qualified Chair with political links. A Chair of a national public entity without political links cannot be effective in governance.
His model however assumes the Greens will perform worse on Election Day than in current polls. Which might just be wrong this time (given the Greens are down to their core support rather than riding the crest of a late wave as in previous Elections – ie solid base support rather than froth (hard to be sure though))
ScottGN
That is a good point. One thing no political poll captures (that I know of – maybe Horizon with being online rather than via phone), is the voting intentions of those overseas. This is a part of the electorate the GP strongly targets, and have preformed well with in the past (eg picking up an extra seat last election):
The Green Party’s share of the party vote (10.7%) is the second-highest it has achieved, entitling it to 14 seats in Parliament, one more than on election night before the counting of special votes.
Thanks for the analysis as always swordfish. It is a shame it was posted at eleven on a Sunday night, so might be missed by many – hopefully you can cut and paste it in a dedicated poll thread later. I found this interactive graph while looking about for the Reid Research results (doesn’t seem to be updated on their site yet), that gives the ability to see each polling companies results separately, which I like:
http://www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/history-document/
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. “
Well, even Winston Peters was a wee toddler back then but somebody should send this to Paula Bennett and their National MPs with a take-home message like those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it or something rather.
Good education might even increase the quest for power but at the same time we may be better prepared to deal with such when we are better educated. Basically, good education can lift us all and hopefully (!) get us in better shape and a better place overall.
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While the south of New Zealand has been struggling with too much rain in recent days, here in the north we are so very short of it (though Saturday’s forecast looks promising). Basically, we have had almost none since Christmas.As someone who relies on rain to wash the car, ...
Former National Party MP Jami-Lee RossIt comes as no surprise that Jami-Lee Ross has been named as one of the defendants in the X2 $100,000 National Party donations case currently before the courts. Click bait journalists who were chaffing at the bit to discredit the former senior whip had already ...
Stand Clear! Winston Peters is encouraging voters to think of RNZ as belonging to “The Media Party”. He wants them to see it as a politically partisan institution with its own, vicious attack-dogs in the electoral fight. If he succeeds, it will be, and probably should be, the end of ...
"You're going to need a longer runway" Gratton et al explore the ongoing effects of upward-creeping temperatures on aviation in Greece in the period since 1955 at a range of airports in that country. For longer runways impacts are measurable but with little impact on operations. For airports with shorter runways, ...
In mid-December the Israeli secret police, the Shin Beit, revealed it had arrested dozens of Palestinian left-wing activists, including members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), in the previous few months. Among those arrested was one of the central leaders of the PFLP, Khalida Jarrar. As ...
Former National Party chief whip Jami-Lee Ross is one of the four people charged over National's multiple fraudulent donations. How unsurprising. Meanwhile, just days ago National leader Simon Bridges was trying to pretend the charges were nothing to do with his party. Yeah, right. When your chief whip effectively publicly ...
If you've been watching FYI for a while, you'll have noticed that the police have a bad habit of demanding ID from requesters. They have apparently been repeatedly told to stop doing this by the Ombudsman, but we all know what law enforcement thinks of the law, so thye keep ...
Collateral Damage: For the Green Phoenix to be reborn, the funeral pyre so patiently assembled by its identity politicians over the course of many fractious years – but with growing intensity over the past three – first has to be ignited. The terrible probability, of course, is that, in setting ...
If you follow politics in New Zealand you've likely noticed that the right wing have been going on and on about the Coalition Government failing to reduce poverty. In fact they’ve been incessantly claiming, in the absence of any conclusive data, that poverty has been getting worse.Yesterday, NewstalkZB reported:Mike Hosking: ...
The Herald reported over the weekend that an Auckland business owner is being targeted with asset forfeiture laws over a workplace death:A workplace fatality has seen police use a law usually associated with drugs and organised crime to seize millions of dollars in assets from a business owner because of ...
Just days after talking about how people feel "squeezed" and promising tax and service cuts as a "solution", National is talking about cancelling a rise in the minimum wage if elected: National is considering scrapping the Government's planned minimum wage increase if it wins this year's election, the party's finance ...
Nobody thinks about the next century anymore. That at least is Sci-Fi writer William Gibson’s observation (in this BBC 4 short interview, starting at 1:43:50 ). He calls it “Futures Fatigue”, but isn’t judgemental about it. Gibson notes that in the 20th century speculation about the 21st (and beyond) was common. Now ...
A Labour government desperate for the numbers crawls into bed with Winston Peters. Winston ignores the law and secretly takes money under the table from someone. When it is exposed just months out from an election, he is investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. That's what happened back in 2008. ...
So the Serious Fraud Office has another secret $100,050 National Party donation before the Courts in a major scandal that looks set to quash any chances Simon Bridges had of winning the 2020 election.Yesterday, Newsroom reported:The Serious Fraud Office prosecution of four people over donations to the National Party involves ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Iceberg twice the size of Washington, D.C., breaks off Pine Island glacier in Antarctica Story Highlights: The Pine Island ...
Prof Philippa Howden-ChapmanHousing policy is building up to be the key election issue again. In this blog I reflect on the importance of the role of the New Zealand Government in improving access to affordable housing. I look at what the Government has been doing to increase quality public housing ...
Writing on The Spinoff, Danyl Mclauchlan argues that we have a vacuum in our political system, in that there is no longer an anti-establishment party anymore:I think there’s a vacuum in our political system. There are obvious problems with the status quo but no real critics offering reform. It’s a ...
Stuff today has a piece about the government discovering it has been oversubsidising polluters for a decade under the Emissions Trading scheme:The Government is pledging to urgently fix an issue within the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), after it emerged some polluters are likely being over-compensated with taxpayer-funded carbon credits. [...] ...
The Marlborough District Council, tired of public scrutiny, wants to increase the amount it charges for LGOIMA requests:The cost of requesting official information from Marlborough's government agency could almost double after a jump in "fishing expeditions". Charges could be raised from $60 to $100 an hour for information supplied by ...
When Winston Peters was caught money laundering donations and stalking journalists, the Greens were conspicuous by their silence. It was another example of how getting along with their government partners was eroding their values and their own reputation. It was obviously unsustainable, and so now James Shaw has finally spoken ...
I am among the most pro-free speech people I know. I don’t doubt there are others more strident than me, but I’m certainly up there. And my support for freedom of expression isn’t limited to opposition to government-imposed restrictions. It extends to a belief that employers should have limited powers ...
With over 69,000 confirmed cases and 1,600 deaths, here’s your round-up of the latest coronavirus news. New disease and virus have now officially been named On the 11th February, the WHO Director General announced a new name for the disease: COVID-19 which is short for coronavirus disease 2019. The naming ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 9, 2020 through Sat, Feb 15, 2020 Editor's Pick ANALYSIS-Climate change opens up 'frontier' farmland, but at what cost to the planet?Climate change could expand farmland globally by ...
After cross-examination Jones knew he would lose the defamation case he took against film maker Renae Maihi. That’s why he threw in the towel. The weight of evidence was clearly against the old tycoon with the defense presenting fifty articles to confirm Jones’ racist views.Being unable to harass somebody into ...
Sprung! Former NZ First president, Lester Gray, chats with RNZ's Guyon Espiner in the carpark of a Tauranga shopping centre.(Photo supplied anonymously to NZ First and The BFD.)IT’S CLEAR THAT an important aspect of Jacinda Ardern’s political success is her willingness to seek – and take – advice. This ...
Ruth Cunningham, Charlotte Paul, Andrew MoorePublic health responses to infectious diseases such as COVID-19 require us to draw on our common humanity and be explicit about our values. Recognising this will help us make good decisions in difficult situations so that, for example, the need to impose restrictive measures ...
The Helen Clark Foundation has released its report on the housing crisis, and found that house-hoarders are to blame for it:Property investors are to blame for New Zealand's high house prices, a new research paper published by the Helen Clark Foundation says. [...] McArthur said previous attempts to address housing ...
The Abortion Legislation Committee has reported back on the Abortion Legislation Bill and recommended that it be passed with some amendments. Unfortunately, the latter include even more hoops to jump through for those seeking abortions after 20 weeks, including a time-wasting requirement to consult a second doctor. No-one casually seeks ...
Brexit is likely to be a disaster for the UK (how sad, never mind). But now that they're out of the EU, the latter has finaly taken the opportunity to blacklist one of their key tax havens:The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU ...
I’m not quite sure of what to make of the new figures for COVID-19 (as we must now call the novel coronavirus – though I’m not sure the capitalisation is correct) from Hubei province:Image from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-51495484The spike yesterday is a consequence of a using a different way of ...
Bob Jones has dropped his defamation case against Renae Maihi. Good. But at the same time, it perfectly exposes what the case was all about: not protecting Jones' reputation, but punishing someone who had dared to criticise him, and deterring others from doing the same. This rich pompous asshat dragged ...
As I've done for the past few years, I'm curating and presenting The Listening Lounge, the talk programme at Splore. On the morning of Saturday the 22nd at the Living Lounge stage, the korero goes like this.Yes, we're talking about drugs again, not just because I'm professionally interested in drug ...
What Were They Thinking? RNZ's CEO Paul Thompson (left) and Jim Mather, Chairman of the RNZ Board of Governors, attempt to justify the debacle arising out of their attempt to downgrade RNZ Concert to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee at Parliament on Thursday, 13 February 2020.WHAT IS ...
Dame Tariana Turia with former PM John KeyWhat is it about Tariana Turia’s grudge against the Labour Party? Not content with attacking the Government over Whānau Ora funding, which was increased by $80 million in 2019, she has now made it personal by saying that Jacinda Ardern is out of her ...
Back in 2017, right after being elected, Jacinda Ardern promised that there would be no new mines on conservation land. Since then, her government has done nothing to make that happen, and now the policy has been officially "parked" for the election:West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O'Connor says the "no new ...
So the guy who advocated for public burning and beheading feels offended because someone called him a racist!Perhaps Bob Jones hasn't heard of the very old saying; Live by the sword, die by the sword?I mean for someone who often writes opinionated nonsense about Maori; this is a ridiculous case ...
The government today announced a major support package aimed at reducing homelessness. A thousand new transitional housing places, more support for people to find homes (or not lose them in the first place), all good stuff. The one problem with it is that they're going to start charging people in ...
Courtroom Drama: There is no off-switch in a courtroom. Neither is it possible to turn the page in disgust. Ill-formed and ill-defended opinions will be exposed ruthlessly and unapologetically. As Shakespeare put it: “Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.” Sometimes the ...
As of today, the novel coronavirus spreading in China is called COVID-19. Why does it matter? Around the office, we’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks about how 2019-nCoV needed its own name. First, it was getting annoying calling it by the above designation, and ‘novel coronavirus’ doesn’t ...
by Philip Ferguson Last month B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, reported: “In 2019, Israeli security forces killed 133 Palestinians, including 28 minors. Of the casualties, 104 were killed in the Gaza Strip, 26 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three within ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2) (Brett Hudson)Its basicly more "tough on crime" nonsense (its already illegal for unlicensed people to own guns) designed to wedge NZ First against its arsehole base. ...
In 2015 the world agreed to the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Each country would offer a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) "that it intends to achieve", and "pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving [it]". And every five years, they'd improve on it, ratcheting up ambition until ...
In theory, the emissions trading scheme should reduce emissions. Making polluters pay for permits to pollute lets them save money by reducing pollution, giving them a financial incentive to do the right thing. But right from the start the ETS was broken with a system of free allocation, so polluters ...
Irish voters went to the polls on Saturday in parliamentary elections, and perhaps delivered a political revolution. Since independence, Irish politics has been dominated by two parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Basicly patronage networks with indistinguishable policies, their cleavage isn't ideology, but who killed whose father or grandfather in ...
Once again the Aotearoa Bike Challenge is on us, and once again I’m participating. In principle this is not hard because it does not represent a significant switch in behavior for me. I already bike nearly every day. The Bicycle The fascinating thing about cycling is the realisation that this ...
Lately there has been a great deal of misinformation regarding the origins and purpose of Skeptical Science. As John Cook wrote nearly a decade ago, Skeptical Science is primarily a website that debunks climate misinformation with peer-reviewed science. Despite the ever-worsening impacts from climate change, with record after record being broken in ...
Under Attack: By sacking not only RNZ Concert’s presenters, but also its producers and librarians, and reducing the station to an automated purveyor of classical music in-between parliamentary broadcasts, RNZ’s CEO, Paul Thompson, wasn’t simply announcing an operational shake-up, he was declaring war on one of the most important guardians of ...
Story of the Week... Editorial of the Week... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Reviews... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Australian smoke plume sets recordsThe recent wildfires in Australia sent one of ...
The Global Protest to #FightInequality was powerful – thankyou and what next? Dear allies, We started the decade with a huge protest to #FightInequality that was heard around the world, including the 1% at Davos. Watch and share the highlights on facebook and twitter. A huge thank you. Together we ...
The Ministry of Health have announced a package that might ensure NZ will never experience another measles epidemic. While at the time of writing the details are still limited it appears that the important limitations in our current programme have been acknowledged and the intent is to address them. Great ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly summarise our assessment of the highly uncertain new coronavirus threat. Given its potential to become a severe and prolonged global pandemic, a precautionary response now means activating all components of our pandemic plan, with a particular focus on ‘keep ...
When Labour was running for election, Jacinda Ardern famously said that climate change was "my generation's nuclear free moment". The implication was that her government would take the problem seriously, and act swiftly to reduce emissions. The reality:New Zealand will emit a million more tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2020 ...
James Renwick is Professor of Physical Geography at Victoria University of Wellington. He studied at Canterbury and the University of Washington and has worked on diverse aspects of climate science, including global atmospheric circulation and Antarctic sea ice. In December 2019 he was appointed to the New Zealand Climate Change ...
by Philip Ferguson Exit polls are showing a three-way virtual tie between the main parties in the south of Ireland. Sinn Fein, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are all on just over 22%. FG on 22.4, SF on 22.3, FF on 22.2. Exit polls indicate that over 30% of 18-24 ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sun, Feb 2, 2020 through Sat, Feb 8, 2020 Editor's Pick New Report Details How Fossil Fuel Industry's Climate Destruction Also Exacerbates Human Rights Abuses"Even in the face of the ...
In a previous post I described briefly when and how the Starlink satellite chains – recent launches by Space-X in a scheme to bring 5G internet connectivity to the whole globe – could be seen from New Zealand with the naked eye. Here I provide an update and predictions for ...
Keeping The Faith: This Government’s broad, new, heavily moderated, progressive faith does not require a prime minister with the powers of a medieval pope. Jacinda’s regime has no need of subterranean torture chambers to ensure compliance. A gift for diplomacy and the ability to inspire her fellow human-beings is all ...
Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian has penned a column which chastises the left wing of the Labour party for daring to retain principles and ideals, qualities - it seems - that should be jettisoned in pursuit of power.Never mind that Freedland was an ardent Remainer, that is to say, one ...
Today New Zealand First made a pledge to campaign at the election to fund St John Ambulance the 90 per cent it has asked for. Government funding would allow St. John’s to achieve fully funded status. Leader of New Zealand First, Rt Hon Winston Peters publicly declared his determination to deliver ...
Darroch Ball MP, Spokesperson for Law and Order Newly released Police data shows once again the number of fleeing drivers have continued to skyrocket with a record 512 incidents occurring in December – almost tripling the number of incidents occurring just ten years ago, says New Zealand First Law and ...
While the Provincial Growth Fund has provided $2 million to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia, Regional Economic Minister Shane Jones said he is greatly concerned that there are “issues” in implementing the projects. The Minister said the immediate solution was to pipe water from a bore ...
Mark Patterson MP, New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland NZ First is calling on Rio Tinto to accept its responsibilities to the Southland community and enable the immediate removal of the toxic Aluminium Dross from the Mataura Paper Mill site. New Zealand First List MP for Clutha-Southland, Mark Patterson ...
The Coalition Government has announced that a further $500,000 will be given to help residents in Southland and Otago to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. It follows prior government assistance of $200,000 earlier this month where the Southland Mayoral Relief Fund received $100,000 to support communities impacted by ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones was on RNZ’s Morning Report talking about the recent droughts in the Northland region and what the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is doing to alleviate its impact. The PGF recently announced a funding of $2 million for temporary water supplies to Kaikohe and Kaitaia, ...
Speaking to The Country’s Jamie Mackay, New Zealand First MP and Cabinet Minister Shane Jones talks water storage, plant-based meat imitation, and superstar Hollywood director James Cameron. While water storage may have its critics, Minister Jones defended the scheme by saying: “unless we invest and continue to invest” in this ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones is accusing northern iwi leaders of selling out Māori by voting for ideologically-driven court cases rather than practical steps to increase water supply. “I just think that iwi leaders who think that water issues are going to be solved by perpetually fighting in the ...
A dairy owner in St Kilda, Dunedin was delighted to hear that an attempted robbery of his establishment was foiled by a government-funded security system. Sean Lee was delighted at how well the anti-theft smoke system worked. When a knife-wielding man entered the store, the shop assistant immediately pressed a ...
Customs says it stopped more than three tonnes of illegal drugs coming into New Zealand last year. This includes 1,180kg of methamphetamine, 329kg of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine precursors, which could have been converted into 246kg of methamphetamine, 739kg and 6469 pills of MDMA or Ecstasy and 60kg of cocaine. Offshore, ...
Hon. Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Up to $2 million will be allocated from the Provincial Growth Fund to set up temporary water supplies in Kaikohe and Kaitaia where drought is biting hard, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Drought conditions in Northland have led to ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Law and Order New Zealand First welcomes the deployment of an Eagle Police helicopter in Christchurch in what is a step towards fulfilling its long-standing goal to increase the use of police helicopters for the front line, particularly in addressing the scourge of fleeing drivers. Christchurch leads ...
It may have been the first sitting week of 2020, but our Government is already in full-swing - managing a strong economy, investing in infrastructure, and working to break the cycle of homelessness. Read below for all that, and more... ...
In a heated debate in Parliament, National's Deputy Leader Paula Bennett claimed that “nearly 1600 patched gang members have been added” since the Coalition Government took power. To illustrate her point, she altered a chart used by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to show her government’s progress in housing to instead ...
Speech by the Rt Hon Winston Peters at Parliament’s Opening 2020 "We all need insurance" This year New Zealanders are going to have a clear choice to make That choice is between: Optimism versus pessimism; More progress versus back to the future; Investment versus divestment; Unity versus division. New Zealand ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has slammed the Board of Auckland Airport following the airport's runway closing twice within two weeks due to maintenance. Around 2,000 passengers were affected by last week’s runway closures, according to 1NEWS. Another maintenance closure on January 24 saw two international flights and three domestic flights ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Broadcasting New Zealand First supports the commissioning of a business case to assess the viability of a new public media entity. “A strong media environment is critical for a healthy democracy. New Zealand First is a strong supporter of a diverse, independent media,” New Zealand First broadcasting spokesperson ...
Pounamou and technology industries in the West Coast region are set to receive more than $2 million in Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) funding. This was announced by the Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau during Waitangi Day commemorations in Hokitika. He said $800,000 would be given to Development West ...
Clayton Mitchell MP, New Zealand First spokesperson for Labour and Industrial Relations Unemployment and wage growth numbers released by Stats NZ today demonstrate a labour market in good shape with unemployment falling to 4.0%, the underutilisation rate falling to an 11 year low, and wage growth at a 10-year high ...
Hon. Ron Mark, New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence New Zealand First Spokesperson for Defence Ron Mark, welcomes the official opening of Te Rau Aroha, a new museum at Waitangi Treaty Grounds as part of our Coalition Agreement. “It is a great honour to be part of an effective Government ...
Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, Deputy Prime MinisterGood morning,Let us start with important acknowledgements.First, this special day, in remembrance of the 28th Maori Battalion, is also to honour all those men and women who have risked their lives in the service of our country.Second, special guest Robert ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand will look to build on its relationship with the United Kingdom and recommit to the European Union, after the country officially left the continental union recently. The Minister said New Zealand already cooperates closely with Britain on defence and security issues and has ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit two of New Zealand’s most important Pacific partners, Fiji and Australia, next week. The visit to Fiji will be the first by a New Zealand Prime Minister in four years and comes during the 50th anniversary of Fijian independence and diplomatic relations between our ...
Justice Minister Andrew Little and New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball, have today announced the appointment of the Chief Commissioner of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), the location, and the membership of the Establishment Advisory Group. Colin Carruthers QC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of the CCRC for an ...
Māori Development Minister Hon Nanaia Mahuta and Agriculture Minister Hon Damien O’Connor co-announced the first horticultural finalists for the Ahuwhenua Trophy celebrating excellence in the Māori agricultural sector. The three finalists are Ngai Tukairangi Trust from Mt Maunganui, Otama Marere Trust from Tauranga, and Hineora Orchard Te Kaha 15B Ahuwhenua ...
A new kete of resources to strengthen support for students with dyslexia will provide extra tools for the new Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) as they start in schools, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Minister launched the kete in Wellington this morning, at the first of three induction ...
The Government continues to make progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the First Reading of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill and its referral to the Social Services and Community Select Committee. “Now is the opportunity for landlords, tenants and others who want ...
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Hon James Marape will visit New Zealand from 21-25 February, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “New Zealand and Papua New Guinea have a warm and friendly relationship. I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Marape here and strengthening the relationship between our two countries,” ...
Thousands of children have begun receiving a free lunch on every day of the school week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. The Government’s free and healthy school lunch programme is under way for 7,000 students at 31 schools in Hawke’s Bay / Tairāwhiti and Bay of Plenty / Waiariki, extending ...
The Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni today announced a new approach that continues to broaden the Government’s social sector focus from a narrow, investment approach to one centred on people and wellbeing. Minister Sepuloni said redefining the previous approach to social investment by combining science, data and lived experience ...
The Government is strengthening the Protected Disclosures Act to provide better protection for whistle blowers, Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins said today. “The Protected Disclosures Act is meant to encourage people to speak up about serious wrongdoing in the workplace and protect them from losing their jobs or being ...
Nǐn hǎo (Hello in Mandarin). Xīn Nián Kuài Lè (Happy New Year in Mandarin) Néi Hóu (Hello in Cantonese). Sun Nin Fai Lok (Happy New Year in Cantonese) Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Thank you for your invitation to attend this celebration today. I would like to acknowledge ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ...
Kia ora. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou katoa. Nau mai haere mai ki te Whare Pāremata. E ngā mana whenua ki tēnei rohe Taranaki Whānui, Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Raukawa – kei te mihi, kei te mihi, kei te mihi. E ngā mana, e ngā ...
Tougher penalties for gun crime are a step closer with the passage of firearms reform legislation through another stage in Parliament. The Arms Legislation Bill has tonight passed its Second Reading. “The changes have one objective - to prevent firearms falling into the wrong hands,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. ...
Introduction Mr Speaker We all know why we are here today. It has been a long journey. The journey did not actually begin on 15 March 2019. It began on 30 June 1997. Almost 23 years ago, Justice Sir Thomas Thorp told us what was wrong with our firearms legislation. ...
The Government’s work to put trades and vocational education back on the agenda took another major step forward today with the passing of the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Bill, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “This is a watershed day for trades and vocational education. These law changes formalise ...
Speeding up the return of Christchurch regeneration activities to local leadership is behind the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today by Minister Megan Woods. “As we approach nine years since the February 2011 earthquake in Canterbury, and with the transition to local leadership well underway, the time ...
Hundreds of New Zealanders and international visitors will be able to get back out into nature with the Milford Track partially reopening next week, after extensive assessments and repairs, the Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The popular Great Walk has been closed since 3 February after an extreme ...
Up to 110 new EV chargers nationwide in cities and regions 50 electric vehicles for ride-sharing The Government is helping deliver more infrastructure and options for low emissions transport through new projects, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. Tauranga, Nelson, Levin, New Plymouth and Oamaru are just some ...
New Zealanders are increasingly better off under this Government as wages rise and families have more disposable income, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ reported today that average household disposable incomes after housing costs rose 4.9% in 2019. This was the highest rise in four years and came as ...
All New Zealanders need to have their voices heard at work to ensure we have an inclusive and productive economy. Today we introduce a Bill to do this for workers in the New Zealand screen industry, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says. “The Screen Industry Workers Bill will ...
The Government has announced further help for the Southland and Otago regions to speed up recovery efforts from the floods. “I’ve approved Enhanced Taskforce Green (ETFG), making $500,000 available to help with the clean-up in Fiordland, Southland, and the Clutha district in Otago,” Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said. ...
Following the announcement that more than 340 schools will be funded to run events promoting vocational education, the Government has announced it will fund a further 257 events to be run by employers and industry. “These industry-run events will allow more than 30,000 students to connect with more than 2,000 ...
Today the Government is making progress on a fairer and more secure rental market for renters and landlords with the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill in Parliament. “This Bill includes a series of reforms to improve the wellbeing of the 609,700 households that live in rented homes, and ...
A Government programme to wipe out pea weevil has achieved a world first, with Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor today announcing the successful eradication of the noxious pest from Wairarapa. This means the nearly four-year ban on pea plants and pea straw was lifted today. Commercial and home gardeners can again grow ...
Southland residents hit by flooding caused by heavy rainfall can now access help finding temporary accommodation with the Government activating the Temporary Accommodation Service, Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare announced today. “The Temporary Accommodation Service (TAS) has been activated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to help ...
“Is that it?” That’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s response to Simon Bridges’ much-hyped economic speech today. “Simon Bridges just gave the most over-hyped and under-delivered speech that I can remember during my time in politics,” Grant Robertson said. “It’s not surprising. Simon Bridges literally said on the radio this morning ...
A trial deployment of the Police Eagle helicopter in Christchurch will test whether the aircraft would make a significant difference to crime prevention and community safety. “The Bell 429 helicopter will be based in Christchurch for five weeks, from 17 February to 20 March,” said Police Minister Stuart Nash. “The ...
The Government has kept up the pace of its work to promote New Zealand’s trade interests and diversify our export markets, with visits to Fiji and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker. Building momentum to bring the PACER Plus trade and development agreement ...
The Coalition Government’s investment in a strong border and disrupting transnational organised crime produced record results for stopping drugs in 2019, says Minister of Customs Jenny Salesa. The illegal drugs were seized at the New Zealand border by Customs, and overseas by Customs’ international border partners before the drugs could ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today kicked off construction of a separated cycleway alongside Tamaki Drive. A two-way separated cycleway will be built along the northern side of Tamaki Drive, between the Quay Street Cycleway extension and Ngapipi Road. There will be a separate walking path alongside. Phil Twyford said giving ...
Owner-occupiers of unit and apartments living in earthquake-prone buildings will have certainty about the financial support they’ll be eligible for with the release of criteria for an upcoming assistance scheme, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. The Residential Earthquake-Prone Building Financial Assistance Scheme will help unit owners facing ...
Temporary restrictions on travel from China will remain in place as a precautionary measure to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The restrictions which prevent foreign nationals travelling from, or transiting through, mainland China from entering New Zealand have been extended for a further 8 days. This position ...
Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today that Tairāwhiti rangatahi will benefit from an investment made by the Government’s He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) scheme. The funding will go to the Tautua Village, Kauneke programme and the Matapuna Supported Employment Programme which will fund 120 rangatahi over two years. “Both programmes work ...
All parents and caregivers need to ensure that their children go to school unless they are sick, Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin said today. “The school attendance results for 2019 show, across the board, a drop in the number of students going to school regularly,” the Minister says. “Apart from ...
A Deed of Settlement agreeing redress for historical Treaty claims has been signed by the Crown and Moriori at Kōpinga Marae on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) today, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little has announced. Moriori have a tradition of peace that extends back over 600 years. This settlement ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today with Māori King Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII officially opened the country’s newest road, the $384 million Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway. The 15km four-lane highway with side and central safety barriers takes State Highway 1 east of Huntly town, across lowlands and streams ...
The rapid uptake of life-saving new hepatitis C medicine Maviret since it was funded by PHARMAC a year ago means the elimination of the deadly disease from this country is a realistic goal, Health Minister David Clark says. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus which attacks the liver, proving fatal ...
Kaupapa Māori will underpin the Government’s new plan to deal with homelessness announced by the Prime Minister in Auckland this morning. “Māori are massively overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness, so, to achieve different outcomes for Māori, we have to do things very differently,” says the Minister of Māori Development ...
1000 new transitional housing places delivered by end of year to reduce demand for emergency motel accommodation. Introduce 25% of income payment, after 7 days, for those in emergency motel accommodation to bring in line with other forms of accommodation support. Over $70m extra to programmes that prevents those at ...
Clear requirements for ensuring customers are treated fairly by banks, insurers and other financial service providers are included in new financial conduct legislation that passed its first reading today. “The recent reviews, by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and Reserve Bank of New Zealand, into the conduct of banks and ...
The Ministry of Education is proposing a number of changes to NCEA Level One, including the merging of several subjects to be phased in over the next five years. Felix Walton looks into how, and why, these changes are happening.Why are they changing things now?They aren’t changing things now, per ...
Pacific Media Centre Chinese authorities are systematically harassing Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups even after they have left the country, according to new testimonies gathered by Amnesty International. Uyghur New Zealanders were among those interviewed, despite the threat of further intimidation. The case studies, published online today, reveal ...
A victim of the Generate KiwiSaver hack is considering legal action to seek compensation for stress and the risk of identity theft. One of the 26,000 KiwiSavers who had personal information, including their physical address, IRD number, bank statements and identification, stolen by an unknown third party has sought advice ...
Healthcare appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has upped its profit forecasts for the third time this year, with increased sales off the back of the coronavirus. The company now expects a full year net profit of between $260 and $270 million, up 1.9 percent on its previous forecast. Chief ...
Power company Genesis Energy has taken a significant financial hit and lowered its guidance, because of lower hydro generation and gas shortages. Net profit for the six months ended December fell 81.4 percent to $9.2 million, from slightly lower revenue of $1.3 billion. Lower inflows for its hydro power stations ...
Kiwibank's first half profit is down on flat revenue growth and increased operations and compliance costs. The New Zealand-owned bank's net profit fell 18 percent to $51 million in the six months to December, compared with the year earlier's $62m. "As expected the bank faced rising operating costs due to ...
The New Zealand Bar Association has urged Parliament to balance carefully the need to reform legislation in respect of sexual violence with the need to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. The Association told the Justice Select Committee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan talks with Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher about the week in politics, including the extension of the coronavirus travel ban, the royal commission into the bushfires, and labor’s stance on a compulsory superannuation guarantee ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Steen, Professor of Midwifery, University of South Australia In a new parenting podcast, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, said she used hypnobirthing techniques to help her get through severe morning sickness – a condition called hyperemesis gravidarum. She also used the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne This article is the first in a three-part series on radical ideas to solve the environmental crisis. As the Productivity Commission confirmed this week, Australia’s economy has enjoyed uninterrupted growth for ...
The Nats are accusing Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor of being slow to act on a tuberculosis outbreak in Hawke’s Bay. Is it a fair cop? OSPRI confirmed an outbreak in Hawke’s Bay in April last year, but a disease management response wasn’t put in place until October, National agriculture spokesman ...
Porirua City Council is scratching its head on how it's going to meet the costs of a $2 billion bill to bring its water network up to scratch over the next two to three decades. ...
The sentencing of Grace Millane’s killer to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years marks the end of a judicial process that can only have been extremely harrowing for her family. They had already experienced the loss of their daughter, ...
Twenty years ago, Auckland’s streets were ruled by diesel-hating narcs. Josie Adams looks back at the short-lived 0800 SMOKEY campaign.For five chaotic weeks in 2000, the Auckland Regional Council experimented with extreme, multi-level peer pressure. The goal: to get cleaner-burning fuel into Auckland cars. The method: turning citizens against each ...
The National Party donations scandal that had nothing to do with the National Party was the big news of the week. James Elliott has some thoughts on that. Simon Bridges has climbed into double digits as preferred Prime Minister in the latest political polling which is significant for two reasons. ...
Today the unnamed man found guilty of murdering Grace Millane was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 17. “One person has been locked away but are New Zealand women any safer?” asks White Ribbon Manager Rob McCann. “We certainly ...
Pacific Media Watch An Australian federal court decision upholding the legality of the police raid on the Sydney headquarters of the national public broadcaster ABC last June has dealt a major blow to the protection of journalists’ sources and poses a grave danger for the future of public interest ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Picador, $20)What is going on, Auckland? Is it just ...
A poem by US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo.The FightThe rising sun paints the feet of night-crawling enemies. And they scatter into the burning hills. I have fought each of them. I know them by name. From before I could speak. I’ve used every weapon. To make them retreat. Yet they ...
A string of toy companies are facing legal action for selling unsafe toys that pose choking hazards for young children. Yesterday, Cinevan International was fined $81,000 and another four companies are before the courts. Businesses have been using a sticker on the packaging saying 'not suitable for children under three' ...
The Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee, Gareth Hughes, is calling for public submissions on the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 20 February 2020. The Residential Tenancies Act ...
ANALYSIS:By Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It is the first visit to New Zealand by a sitting PNG prime minister since Marape’s predecessor Peter O’Neill’s trip in 2013. Marape, who rolled O’Neill ...
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Policyholders fear the sale of AMP LIfe to a Bermuda-based 'zombie fund guru' could leave them stranded because a legal gap means the FMA is powerless to protect them ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Giancaspro, Lecturer in Law, University of Adelaide When booking a luxury cruise, you generally expect relaxation and enjoyment, not forced quarantine and distress. Unfortunately, for the thousands of vacationers trapped on cruise ships in Asia the past month, what started as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Courtney Hempton, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board has this week published a report detailing the first six months of the legislation in action in Victoria. The report reveals 52 people legally ended their lives from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Blanca del Rosal Rabes, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Swinburne University of Technology Brain temperature is implicated in many common conditions including stroke, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and headaches. Changes in brain temperature can indicate there is a disease developing, but researchers ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will commit a Labor government to adopting a target of zero net emissions by 2050, in a speech titled “Leadership in a New Climate” to be delivered on Friday. The opposition leader’s embrace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy N. W. Jackson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne This is an article from I’ve Always Wondered, a series where readers send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. Send your question to alwayswondered@theconversation.edu.auWho would ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamen Franklen Gussen, Lecturer in Law, Swinburne University of Technology In 1971, a Time magazine article, titled “Should New York City Be the 51st State?”, observed: States have not only short-changed and hamstrung their cities but are themselves the least creative ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “wellbeing budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fiona Andreallo, Honorary research fellow, University of Sydney A sea of oversized hair bows bobs through primary school gates each morning. It might be dismissed as a harmless children’s fad but big bows are back, driven by current fashions, tween influencers and ...
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In today’s edition: Views on cannabis legalisation could hardly be tighter, the Papua New Guinea PM arrives in NZ, and bad light threatens cricket on the radio.A new poll published this morning finds that 46% of those surveyed would vote yes, and 44% no, with 10% undecided. That’s a markedly different ...
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A new, "true green" party hoping to break into Parliament at this year's election has been hit by resignations and allegations of questionable conduct, Newsroom's political editor Sam Sachdeva reports Fledgling political party Sustainable New Zealand has been rocked by a flurry of resignations and allegations of questionable behaviour by its ...
"To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up. We need to hear your voices." These are the words of Hildur Guðnadóttir, who recently accepted the Oscar for best original score for the film Joker at the 92nd ...
A rare visit by a prime minister of Papua New Guinea to New Zealand highlights a strong friendship, but one which could be closer, writes Johnny Blades for RNZ.Papua New Guinea’s James Marape has embarked on a state visit to New Zealand. It’s the first visit to New Zealand by ...
Plant-based food producers ‘stigmatise and demonise’ traditional agriculture, according to Jones, but those working in the new industry say it should be seen as an opportunity, not a threat. NZ First minister Shane Jones’ suggestion that plant-based food must be “stopped in its tracks” has been labelled concerning, negligent and anti-competitive ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Seen as a political narrative, the Morrison government’s handling of the coronavirus (COVID-19) fits the patterns of its approaches on border security and anti-terrorism. Stressing the central imperative is to “keep Australians safe”, it has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The coronavirus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phil Honeywood, CEO of the International Education Association ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The corona virus is presenting a major threat to Australia’s education export industry, which is highly dependant upon the China market, and a huge challenge to the universities. Phillip Honeywood, CEO of the International Education ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stacey L Rowe, PhD candidate, Monash University Today’s evacuation of about 180 passengers from the cruise ship Diamond Princess to serve another period of quarantine back in Australia has raised questions about the best way to control spread of the coronavirus. The ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tess Hardy, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Melbourne Australian supermarket giant Coles and discount chain Target this week joined an ignominious list of large corporations caught up in “wage theft” scandals. Coles confessed to underpaying salaried employees about A$20 million over ...
Parliament is now seeking public submissions on an international treaty that makes it possible to recover child or spousal support from someone who lives in another country. The Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marissa Parrott, Reproductive Biologist, Wildlife Conservation & Science, Zoos Victoria, and Honorary Research Associate, BioSciences, University of Melbourne Since July last year, bushfires have burned more than 7.7 million hectares of southeast Australia, putting many threatened species at increased risk of extinction. ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Pranav Chopra, founder and CEO of Nemi Teas.On Business is Boring this week, ...
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A failed Dunedin financial adviser is facing 12 charges relating to fraud and theft over what the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) says is a Ponzi scheme that lost investors $15.7 million. Barry Kloogh appeared in the Dunedin District Court this morning to face charges brought by the SFO over running ...
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New Zealand Cricket and media company NZME have failed to reach a deal on radio broadcast rights for next season's international and domestic matches. The current deal expires at the end of April and does not affect the remainder of this summer's broadcast schedule on Radio Sport. Radio Sport has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jianling Xie, Postdoctoral Scientist, South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute Researchers in the United States have unveiled the structure of the “spike protein” of 2019-nCoV – the virus behind the current coronavirus disease outbreak. Despite the fact that researchers have already ...
Australian national airline Qantas is cutting some trans-Tasman flights because of the expected fall in business from the coronavirus. It said it will reduce capacity by 5 percent because of a fall in demand, along with the reduction in services to China, Hong Kong and Japan. Qantas and Jetstar services ...
Open Mike 03/09/2017 
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Have a read of this.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodifacoum#Toxicology
Good to spread about for pest control?
Definitely.
Will always be necessary in the hard-to-reach ranges and mountains.
Looking forward to Labour and Greens committing budget to pedt-free New Zealand in their next budget.
You read the link? !
Indeed yes. Common knowledge.
Um no ad
Reflexively you have assumed aerial poison perhaps means 1080? Brodifacoum is a cumulative poison that concentrates up the food chain. brodifacoum has a role in local eradication but has a very high incidence of secondary poisoning limiting its safety.
No poison is nice aerial poison is indiscriminate. mindless cheerleading is what the nats want for their battle of the birds, we need to be putting lots more money in the pot and using ground control much more.
Do you dispute DOC’s statement that “The benefits of using brodifacoum to eradicate rats from offshore islands are now well documented in terms of species recovery.”?
Me? No. Has been used for local eradication under strict conditions.
Not the toxin for “hard to reach places” without concurrent control.
Good Lord. No wonder holes are being drilled.
It’s as bad as corexit.
Good to spread about for pest control?
A question that you’d need contributions from people with various types of expertise to be able to answer, something which a government dept like DoC is well placed to arrange. I take it from your question that DoC has arrived at the answer “Yes?”
DOC factsheet (pdf)
psycho…. you have read the link? ??
I read it, and your point is? That you know more than DOC because you have a Wikipedia article?
What?
There are plenty of government agencies I disagree with : D
Sure. So I’ll rock up to DOC and demand they stop using brodifacoum because Wikipedia and see how far that gets me.
Pyscho.. I want to know what you think based on the toxicology , not DOC’s assessment of “best bang for buck”. Do you perhaps think our opinion should be discounted?. Read the link and let us know if YOU think chucking this stuff out of a chopper is a good idea.
If great care is taken not to drop huge loads of it into pristine lakes. Even when great care is taken, huge loads of it will be dropped into pristine lakes…
” About 700kg of bait being ferried by helicopter to Indian Island in Dusky Sound for a rat eradication programme was lost over Anchor Island.
Anchor Island is pest free and home to the endangered kakapo, saddleback and mohua. As a precaution, two kakapo had been moved to Chalky Island.
“A full review of the safety procedures and practices is under way to ensure such an incident does not occur again,” Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson said yesterday.
The 700kg of brodifacoum cereal bait pellets, about 15% of the total necessary for the operation, was being transported beneath a helicopter from Anchor Island, where they were stored, on Thursday when the load detached in flight.”
Good grief, just what scale of disaster with this stuff is going to inevitably happen ? Thanks for that info RG.
“A full review of the safety procedures and practices is under way to ensure such an incident does not occur again,”
Maybe it could consider not storing huge quantities of pesticide on a pest-free island being used for restoring native wildlife? There’s a reason why the military doesn’t put ammo and fuel storage in the middle of a camp, perhaps DoC could learn something from that.
A truck carrying brodifacoum tipped into the sea near Kaikoura, emptying it’s load into the ocean.
Yes the truck tipped over at the punch bowl. Anticoagulant was detectable in paua for months (for as long as they were checking im pretty sure), indefinite shellfish ban for that area at the time.
Some slightly more technical info here: http://www.issg.org/pdf/publications/Island_Invasives/pdfHQprint/3FisherP.pdf
With pest control it’s best to read the scientific data and sift the wheat from he chaff- even some of the studies are of dubious worth. DOC press releases are pure PR.
Bottom line is they are badly underfunded and politicized. If you are buying in to the cheap and nasty rotational aerial poisoning swaying and waving of hands in the air, you are selling us short.
keep calm, I don’t understand your final sentence. Agree re. DoC.
Sorry last bit not aimed at you RG, im saying don’t accept widespread aerial poison as a given, it’s the low cost low outcome option. Not a solution or even a decent stop gap.
keepcalm, I agree with you there. The rodent situation is, in my view, “unsolvable”, on the “mainland” at least, given the resilience of the animals, our relationship with them and other factors (climate change, economic projections, political changes etc.) The balance of the flora and fauna changed significantly sometime back and now we are in the “New Wild” phase, where conventional, ‘destroy that pest’ thinking is redundant and wasteful of resources. There is a place for protection of species, but it’s not the broad-scale, extermination-based thinking we are now “enjoying” in this country. That culture leads to collapse, imo. There is however, another way… 🙂
xanthe – are you going to suggest an environmental issue that The Greens could champion, as you alluded recently? I’m very keen to know which single environmental issue you believe would have the appeal to get The Green Party into Government.
Robert: I am shocked that the Greens support aerial broadcast poisoning and that they do not challenge the lie that it is “eradication” when it clearly is ongoing control. I would not have a clue what the total number of votes the Greens shed over this but this is clearly an issue which is highly polarizing and Greens are continuing to hemorrhage (ironically) over this
Do The Greens support aerial broadcast of brodifacoum?
And do the other parties?
Actual Green Party policy,
“Support replacing poisons with humane and safe biological and physical animal pest controls wherever practical.”
https://www.greens.org.nz/page/conservation-policy
Long version,
Thanks, weka. I feel xanthe’s exploiting the opportunity for reasoned debate here on TS, choosing instead to rig the discussions for her own end, whatever that might be. Of course, xanthe’s as welcome to do that as anyone else, but should expect derision when it becomes apparent that he/she is not sincere. I recall your challenging her about a seeming anti-Green stance and I don’t think that was misplaced.
Nope i did not raise the greens , you did robert.
As for their policy (thanks weka) i continue very much underwhelmed. but thats a side issue that i did not start here.
I certainly did not set about “exploiting the opportunity for reasoned debate here on TS, choosing instead to rig the discussions for her own end” thats just ad holmium bullshit (sorry robert) IMHO.
My purpose has been clear and consistent to prompt readers to understand the toxicology of brodifacoum and make their OWN view of it’s suitability for chucking out of a chopper.
Putting up a link and asking for opinions and then when you get them, telling people to read the link is likely to just piss people off.
Sneaky, xanthe. I mentioned The Greens regarding another issue altogether:
I think you are behaving subversively here and your comments “smell” wrong 🙂
you seem to be getting somewhat close to telling lies about GP policy. I’ve posted the GP policy above so people can make up their own minds, but please take care not to misrepresent their stance and what they intend.
I agree that under current conditions predator free mainland NZ is a pipe dream. BUT.
Back in 1988 the first big pest eradication was titled “The Battle for Breaksea island”. And indeed, if we want to be predator free we need to be on a war footing.
So if you got every 18 year old in the land and conscripted them in a conservation army for 18 months and waged war on rats, mice, stoats, rabbits, ferrel cats and wild dogs, then it could be done. Campbell Island tells us we can clear an area of 120sq/km in a single go quite easily. With 60-80,000 “troops” who knows how much we could clear!
With unlimited manpower to build fences, setup trap lines and generally fight the good fight, it could be done.
And actually, I think it would be an amazing thing to bequeath to the future, a country over run with birdlife.
psycho…. you have read the link? ??
I have read the link. It says this stuff is highly toxic, which strikes me as something one would actually look for in a pesticide. Do you have some argument for why that wouldn’t be a desirable feature of a pesticide?
Rodenticide/mammalicide
Apologies for the careless terminology. What constitutes a pest is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and a matter of indifference to the toxic substance.
“What constitutes a pest is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and a matter of indifference to the toxic substance”
Eeeeeeeeekkkk !
xanthe – you seem over-wrought. Can you confirm for me that The Greens support aerial broadcast of brodifacoum, as you’ve implied at 9:26 am.
re-read my comment 9.26 thanks robert
I have and can’t see the answer to my question. Perhaps you could just explain clearly. Also, you haven’t answered other direct questions I’ve put to you, and I’d appreciate that you do, for the sake of not appearing evasive – “hit and run” and “spray and walk away” are not admirable tags to acquire.
psycho .. “I have read the link. It says this stuff is highly toxic”
I dont actually believe you have!… IMHO
It is your opinion yes. And the thing about opinions is that they’re of value only to the person who holds them. What actually counts for something is what you can argue for. So far, I haven’t seen you make any argument whatsoever, hence my attempts to find out exactly what point you’re trying to make.
Me too.
I am not trying to “make a point” I want to know what people think about “spreading about” brodifacoum having reviewed the toxicology.
I actually feel that citizens should access neutral quality information
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodifacoum#Toxicology
And have an opinion outside of supporting one faction or another. So far there has been very little (apart from Robert, thanks!) evidence of grappling with the toxicology. there seems to be a feeling that we should just trust DOC cause they know better.
forget point scoring. What (having read the link) do you think about spreading brodifacoum about.
I think it would be very foolish to “spread brodifacoum about.” It’s highly toxic to mammals, cumulative in the animals that consume it (and that consume them) and slow to break down in the soil. However, it also sounds like it’s a very effective means of getting rid of mice, rats and possums from a defined area, so it’s unsurprising DoC would use it for that purpose. As long as they’re taking steps to avoid “spreading it about” beyond that defined area (which they are), I have no problem with it at all.
Pscho: brodifacoum is not a poison to “spread about” its use should be ( usually is) within fairly strict limits due to cumulative poisoning up the food chain.
The pixie dust to sprinkle everywhere to salve your middle class conscience would be 1080.
Yes. Hopefully an incoming Labour/Green govt will give a massive boost to 1080 coverage as part of the [introduced]-predator-free programme.
Hopefully the incoming Labour govt will toss the whole stinking mess of psudo-science and PR spin out and put our people to work on actually doing the job!
Be sure to let us know as soon as you have saved the birds psycho. In the meantime pats on the back alround and a good nights sleep.
Sneer all you like. The country puts a lot of money and expertise into figuring out the best way of trying to keep native species from going extinct, and according to that assembled and often-reviewed expertise, this is it. You could argue the experts are wrong, in which case you’re likely to lose the argument, or you could argue that trying to preserve native species is pointless, in which case you’re likely to be in a small minority. Either way, yes I do enjoy a good night’s sleep thanks.
So someone else’s argument is likely to be better than mine so I better watch out?
Convincing corner you are arguing there.
Declaring war on nebulous concepts is a way of making shallow thinkers feel good about themselves.
Has the war on terror eradicated terrorism?
“Sneer all you like. The country puts a lot of money and expertise into figuring out the best way of trying to keep native species from going extinct, and according to that assembled and often-reviewed expertise, this is it. You could argue the experts are wrong, in which case you’re likely to lose the argument, or you could argue that trying to preserve native species is pointless, in which case you’re likely to be in a small minority. Either way, yes I do enjoy a good night’s sleep thanks.”
I think you will find that a big reason 1080, Brodifacoum etc are used in the way that they are is because of cost. There are other effective, less problematic methods that also get used (e.g. trapping) but cost more. It’s a misrepresentation of what is going on in NZ to claim that poison is the best, when neoliberal obsession with business models and cuts to DOC are also a factor.
So it’s not so much that the experts are wrong, but that they have their own contexts to work in and their own belief systems about what should be done. Presenting that as ‘the experts are always right’ is sloppy debate.
Absolutely agree weka
agree weka
Great conversation xanthe, weka,PM, Robert g.
Weka hits the nail with the money context thing.
Doc and others are always in a financial context.
For me, poisoning by 1080 is a painful, prolonged and unnecessarily cruel way for any critter to die.
As for the good/bad, native/introduced, rodent/bird argument, I have watched a morepork devour a nest of fantail fledglings.
” I have watched a morepork devour a nest of fantail fledglings.”
…and you didn’t intervene?
🙂
There are other effective, less problematic methods that also get used (e.g. trapping) but cost more.
Those other methods tend not just to cost more, but also to have very poor scalability. I expect the next government will fund DoC better, and that may well allow more trapping and less use of poisons in some areas, but it will remain a minor part of the programme.
…‘the experts are always right’ is sloppy debate.
It would be, yes. The experts aren’t always right, eg we both disagree with the experts on certain matters of nutrition. In that case, people have made compelling arguments for how the experts have got it wrong. In this case, I’m not seeing any arguments for why we shouldn’t just assume the expertise DoC has called on has given it the best advice available.
Scalability is just as easy with trapping as other methods, except for cost. If you know how to set up, run and maintain a trap line in one forested valley, you can pretty much do that in every similar landscape in NZ.
One argument about DOC (which I just made) is that they’re operating in a specific context and culture. The context is that they’re short on money. The culture is one that sees all non-natives as inherently bad.
The short on money thing is fixable, and there are plenty of pro-conservation people in NZ that would choose non-poison methods were that supported. Many already do and if you look closely you’ll find that all over the place there are people doing trap lines off their own bat. It beggars belief that DOC are so slow to work proactively with those groups. Some of that is cultural e.g. DOC see themselves as the owners of the conservation estate (am generalising here), and they take a kind of siloed approach.
It’s also blatantly obvious now that DOC are hugely compromised by government in terms of being a fundamentally conservation organisation hence their support for projects like the Ruataniwha Dam or the Queenstown/Milford tunnel. It’s demonstrable that DOC, as an organisation, have very distinct cultural frameworks, and it’s not solely about the science or evidence.
As for the non-native thing, here’s a good example. For decades DOC took the position that gorse and broom were evil and to be eradicated no matter what. Not that DOC are the only ones like that, councils are similar. Meanwhile, regenag people started working in different ways with landscapes including using gorse as a nursery crop to restore native forest. You can look at Hugh Wilson’s work on this at the Hinewai Reserve on the Banks Peninsula, but there are multiple examples now to the extent that DOC itself now offers this as advice on one way landscapes can be restored to native.
So we know that DOC have a very specific culture and world view around conservation that isn’t always supported by the evidence. Had DOC not had that world view they would have been doing experiments alongside the hippies 30 or 40 years ago and we’d be vastly ahead on reforestation than we are now. Even now, spray the fuck out of it is still the default in most places. That will change but it’s the attitudinal stuff that is getting in the way, not best practice or unbiased science.
Scalability is just as easy with trapping as other methods, except for cost.
That’s true of most things that are poorly scalable. It would be possible to do pest control in hundreds of thousands of hectares of poorly-accessible bush using people with traps, just like it’s possible to dig railway cuttings using people with shovels. But we don’t, because it would be a needlessly expensive way of doing them. Cost-effectiveness isn’t something invented by neo-liberals.
that’s not the situation though. Sure we can use 1080 drops in select places that are hard to reach, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead we are now using 1080 on easy to access farmland and conservation estate.
The comparison with building roads with shovels is inaccurate because trap lines are effective, that’s why many people still use them. Lots of conservation estate could be managed using trap lines. It would also create jobs and give people who want it access to living in some pretty amazing places.
For instance, at the moment possums are controlled by 1080, other baits, and trapping. Of those only trapping gives usable fur (there’s some animal rights issues to be sorted there). Afaik currently trappers are plucking which means the carcasses get left in the bush providing an excellent food source for rats and stoats. Non-1080 baits do the same I think. Or councils and private land owners are paying teams to bait and/or trap to control numbers and again the bodies are being left in place. This is not that smart.
What we could be doing instead is setting up a fur, pelt and meat industry that also controls possum numbers, provides jobs, uses the resource instead of treating it like garbage, and get people into the bush. That’s much more of a sustainable process than what we are doing now.
Eradication of possums in NZ can’t be done by poison btw, nor the rest of the pest-free aims. It’s well known that the only way we will become pest-free is if multiple biological methods are developed across a number of species. Personally I think that’s science fiction and instead of basing policy and conservation on that, we should be doing best practice at control with the aim of preservation of local ecosystems. This means that you design for each catchment. What works in the Dunedin hills is going to be different than Milford Sound which is different than West Coast river valleys.
I’m not averse to 1080 in selected situations, because I know it works, but this wholesale and increasing use is ideologically driven. At best it can be argued that DOC are doing what they can under neoliberal govt, but it’s not even close to best practice.
+ heaps. I think that’s a very balanced viewpoint weka.
Trap lines work – they just cost a hell of a lot more as you point out in your last line.
Now, are they actually as effective as poison drops? I haven’t seen anything to indicate that they are.
It’s only sustainable if you want to keep the possums and, well, we don’t. Of course, unless the research on making all of the possums sterile pans out, we’ll probably be keeping them.
And then there’s the health issue of using possum meat as food as it can be seriously unhealthy.
[citation needed]
Those are all good points and I don’t have any problem with the government putting up money to have more trapping in easily-accessible areas (if, the big if that Draco points out, it is actually more effective than poison drops – how useful is it for reducing rat populations, for instance?). That still leaves us with huge swathes of conservation land that’s not easily accessible but would require large numbers of people to manage via trapping. Use of 1080 in those areas has to be large-scale because the problem is large-scale and we don’t have credible alternatives.
The Waitakere Ranges Ark in the Park is a really large scale operation, using poisons. They don’t sound keen on the gas-fired traps as a replacement system until they see really good successful precedents. Helluva lot of fundraising effort otherwise.
Lots of different groups manage different lines – thousands of volunteers.
Result is lots of super-rare birds reintroduced. Many from Tiritiri.
Even the potential for Kiwi!
Right next door to the city with 1/3 of NZ’s population, and dead rats and possums by the tonne.
“Trap lines work – they just cost a hell of a lot more as you point out in your last line.”
Depends on how you measure it, but I’m not saying that they cost a hell of a lot more. I think you would be surprised at the value of trapping cf to poison.
“Now, are they actually as effective as poison drops? I haven’t seen anything to indicate that they are.”
Again, it depends on what you are measuring. Yes, trapping can be very effective. So is napalm. Using hyperbole to make a point, which is that there are a range of issues here not just this number counting. So in any given catchment you need to look at a range of things that are disrupting ecosystems and causing species extinction. I think NZ has a serious problem with habitat destruction, and 1080 is a kind of sop to that, it says we’re not going to protect nature properly so we’ll do some ambulance at the bottom of the cliff stuff until the silver bullet arrives (biological).
“It’s only sustainable if you want to keep the possums and, well, we don’t. Of course, unless the research on making all of the possums sterile pans out, we’ll probably be keeping them.”
Yes, so let’s find long term solutions for control that aren’t coming from a slash and burn attitude.
“And then there’s the health issue of using possum meat as food as it can be seriously unhealthy.”
Unhealthy how? I was thinking petfood though.
“but this wholesale and increasing use is ideologically driven.
[citation needed]”
Not sure what you mean there. I just spent a number of comments outlining the attitudinal issues in conservation in NZ. They’re pretty well known. Am happy to talk about them if you want to debate the points.
More jobs = costs more.
And need a citation as to the comparability between poison use and trapping.
Deaths of pests per dollar spent.
Possums would eat our forests dead within a very few short years without the 1080 drops.
I mean that I want proof that it’s driven by ideology and what that ideology is. You made statements of your belief that it was all driven by costs.
Yes, costs are an issue because there’s only limited resources available but that doesn’t appear to be the ideology driving it.
Let’s introduce a possum predator.
Totally agree. Under National DOC has been run into the ground, and now needs to maintain its income BY LEASING OUT CONSERVATION LAND FOR MINING*
sorry for shouting so loudly – but NZ needs to wake up to the this ecological vandalism. Vandalism that is being perpetuated by a barbaric government, supervised by the “watchful” eye of a compliant department, that is supposed to be acting to protect our forests and native fauna; not destroy it.
Here is an ex-DOC worker being arrested for trying to protect the land she had worked to conserve for 15 years.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/protectkarangahake?src=hash
* see the link to the Application Guide for permits to mine on conservation land issued by DOC.
About 40 years ago I was a possum trapper – the devastation that I saw Possums cause to native bush was absolutely staggering – unless there is absolutely convincing evidence that 1080 is very very bad I don’t see an alternative .
My view on 1080 is that some people were told that Radiated tooth paste and skin care products were good for ones health in the 1950 s until peoples teeth started falling out and they were dying of cancer its a poison there are many examples like this in our past .
Its is not wise to try to eradicate something it is better to control it them.
A tax free bounty on these pest would provide income for the youth and the poor we would be killing 2 birds with one stone as the saying goes.
All the remote areas we put hired workers in there still 2 birds with one stone.
The helicopter companys will still get there income flying these workers in to the remote areas. But the big powerful chemical company’s will lose out ie foreign interest whom only care about there profits. I refrained from swearing in this post
Yikes, is this satire? “Wife wants a bigger pool but Nats keep stealing ‘our’ taxes?”
OPINION:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/96402130/Damien-Grant-The-National-Government-a-Labour-PM-would-be-proud-to-lead?cid=app-iPad
A response to Grant in images:
“John Key has principles”
and now his work is done.
and to the poor of the world
I’m still gagging at Grant’s “National has a set of principles”, which include “small government” and “personal responsibility” comment.
And then I just read this article about a John Key doodle that sold for 8K plus change, as part of the Nats’ funding raising.
But the doodle really does say it all about John Key and his values of “personal responsibility”
A man whose greatest ambition is a personal monument to his time in government.
For a moment I thought were referring to the statue of Nick Smith squatting 😉
I say we need more Arts!
Damien’s an old fav on TS.
Pretty standard stuff. A basic principle of right-wingers is “A society in which I’m among the wealthy must by definition be a meritocracy and therefore should be run for my benefit.”
+111
And it’s that mindset and the fact that society does get run for their benefit that results in the collapse of society.
I have succumbed to Jane Kelsey’d blandishments again* and put up what is arguably an unpaid election advertisement (see the It’s Our Future logo on the right) on the party positions about the TPPA.
So I have also activated the authorisation statement at the bottom of the site that directs all enquiries related to electoral law to me.
I will of course treat all such enquiries with a balance between discretion and transparency, and between action and education. Which means that if I think that something oversteps the bounds you only have to point it out and it will be handled rapidly.
But if I think that someone is just taking the piss then I am quite likely to educate on the principle in public and at a personal level, but subject to those irritating privacy restraints that someone fettered me with.
* How does Jane do that? Probably because she asks and provides the two things required – a decent image and a link to something worth reading..
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt challenges Jacinda
“Obviously, unlike other institutions, we won’t require support for Zero Fees, as we’ve already achieved that objective. This letter is a request to Central Government to support our extensive construction program so that we can offer students free accommodation. That will help us maintain our student numbers and take a little pressure off the housing crisis in our larger cities.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/96396553
He’s getting his polite request in because he’s confident Jacinda’s Labour will win.
It seems that way.
Nevertheless, he has a valid point, thus a reasonable request.
Reasonably put, at least. I’m sure Jacinda will be reasonable toward Shadders and the SIT.
“I’m sure Jacinda will be reasonable…”
We’ll see.
Yes, it seems we will!
If Shadbolt’s polytech’s only competitive advantage is price, then it will rightly lose out on quality and effectiveness.
Shadbolt is barking up the wrong tree.
I don’t know if it’s their only competitive advantage, but it’s definitely been a vital marketing tool.
Why destroy, allowing them to “rightly lose out” as you put it, when we can work with to improve?
Agree. But the onus is on them. The Polytech market is rightly competitive, and should be on the quality of the graduates.
Competition. For “bums on seats” has degraded NZ Tertiary education almost beyound salvation.
An aim for excellence in all educational institutions, has changed to who can fool the most students, into enrolling.
Not to mention the waste of money going to “Managers” who add nothing but bureaucracy and cost.
Agreed. Bums on seats by itself is dumb.
They’ll be getting support for zero fees which frees up the $7.5m the community has raised previously for use in their free accomodation policy.
SIT and Invergargill still has a point of difference and an even greater range of people get to study.
It seems they require more as he is seeking more.
And free accommodation along with free study is a good incentive to move people south and out of Auckland. Therefore, it could be worth paying that little more?
Was the no-nonsense, Action Woman hairstyle worn by Jacinda on Debate night a message to viewers: “this ponytail’s not for pulling”?
Streamline effect to enable the Jacindaroller to roll even faster and miss nothing in its path. Even her body guard is described as Hipster.-shaven head. Built for speed and– ,I could -and can go on-
I think it was her sending a message that serious Jacinda is PM Jacinda.
You didn’t expect pigtails, did you?
Watching Q+A two debates this morning, Education – nicky kaye and Chris Hipkins. Then Health, coleman and Clark.
Wonder how many times coleman says 50,000 operations today.
If Coleman was in the Mafia his gang name would be ‘Numbers’. As soom as he opens his mouth I just stop listening. Too many numbers all at once sends me into numerical overdrive. Do his numbers ever actually stack up or does he just pluck them out of the bubble floating ar’ Q/A ably mediated by Corrin, lol!, when he said after “the break we will be back with Michelle and Josie” So I didn’t see what happened at the end of that particular debacle. I have to remove all sharp objects within reach whenever I even catch a glimpse of our prehistoric Boag.
Same – had to turn off once I saw Boag and heard the shrill ranting of threatened privilege
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
Coleman seemed to do better than yesterday – his voice not so croaky and a bit more comfortable anyway. [At 6:06] “I get dozens of letters from people who are uh absolutely pleased with the care they are getting”, is less impressive than Coleman seems to think it is; given the thousands who attempt to access that health system every year. His main goal seems to be to interject; “that’s not true” into any statement that Clark makes.
An 11yo gave his much to a home less guy (get tissues ready. .people are so good.. sniff…)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11916024
David Seymour thinks people are poorly paid because of unions.
No, he doesn’t think that as he knows better; he wants other people to think that. Big difference!
He’s absolutely right – people aren’t paid enough because union membership isn’t high enough.
That’s what he meant, right?
There is one policy that most parties seem to favour, albeit with different time frames.
It is, in my opinion, the worst idea that any of them has. It is also the one policy that should be dropped by everybody. There would be no better way to waste billions on something that is obsolete before it has even started than light rail.
Read this and then vote for any party that will refuse to put 19th century technology into a 21st century world. Light rail is an antiquated and pointless idea.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/opinion-analysis/96306106/pattrick-smellie-are-we-planning-for-a-transport-future-that-wont-exist
We need more roads in the middle of Auckland and we need more carparks in the middle of Auckland and we need more carparks at the bus stations on the outskirts of Auckland so people can park their cars and ride on buses to the centre of Auckland. And we need more high rise apartment blocks in the middle of Auckland.
And when that’s all done there will be no point in getting in cars to come to the middle of Auckland because the only thing there will be roads, carparking buildings and apartment blocks.
I don’t think you have thought through what autonomous vehicles really mean.
People, at least those living in a city won’t need to own a private vehicle. You will simply summon an autonomous vehicle when you want to go somewhere.
That vehicle will take you from wherever you are to wherever you want to go.
At the moment people take their private vehicle from their home to a parking area. It then stays there, unused, until they need it again. I have seen claims that the average private car sits idle for 96% of the time.
There will be no need for large parking areas at bus stations. In fact there won’t be any bus stations.
Neither will there need to be carparks in the centre of Auckland for people at work. After all, they won’t have taken their own car to work. They will have taken an anonymous AV which is available for someone else to use as soon as they exit it.
There will still need to be some parking space. This will be for AVs which are waiting for a call and/or recharging their batteries. The space required will be only a tiny fraction of the space currently consumed by private vehicles which must all be parked in such a manner that a particular vehicle can be retrieved rather than the one that is nearest the outside.
At the moment I would guess, and it is only a guess on my part, that for each parking place in a car park for a vehicle that is 2m * 4.5m you need, allowing space for the vehicle, and space on each side of it for people to get in and out and the lanes used by vehicles to get around the parking area not the 9m2 the car requires but probably about 30-35m2.
Why bother driving yourself? Why bother having to park the thing? Why bother having to maintain it? Call a car when you want one.
We’ve been hearing of autonomous vehicles for a decade.
We’ve been waiting for electric vehicles for 20 years plus.
I’m still waiting for my jetpack.
Can I help it if you dream you are Buck Rogers and want a jetpack?
I’ll bet you were one of those people who said the smart phone would never catch on.
In the meantime electric cars are now here. The battery technology is now making them at a similar price to internal combustion vehicles.
As for how autonomous cards are going have a look at this story
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/17/self-driving-cars-california-regulation-google-uber-tesla
I don’t think it will be Google who actually produces the vehicles when they become common. Have you noticed, perchance, the previous position of the man who has just taken over as CEO of Ford?
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/22/ford-sack-ceo-senior-bosses-push-build-self-driving-cars
He was previously the head of the autonomous car unit.
Light rail works now, for hundreds of millions of trips.
And the poorest can afford it.
And light rail is often already fully autonomous.
You might get a little autonomous intercity freight, maybe even Uber for drunks.
Otherwise, I’ll get one when you get one.
To give a brief answer to your comment.
Works now.
Sure it does, and if you already have sunk all the investment in it you will probably keep it going. It is getting a new system, at a cost of billions when the technology is obsolete that is foolish.
Poorest affording it.
Yes, but there are enormous subsidies to hold the fares down, and the system is heavily subsidised by the people who drive on the roads. I often visit Paris, and I travel on the Metro. It is cheap and frequent. However the subsidies are enormous and I believe that the subsidies are more than 4 billion euros/year.
I see no reason why AVs need cost anymore than the unsubsidised cost of a bus or light rail fare.
I’ll get one.
But I don’t want to get one. I shall be only too happy to get rid of my privately owned cars. I don’t want to own one. I just want to get convenient, comfortable transport when I need it. AVs and a smart phone will be all I will need.
Alwyn. You are out of date.
Those autonomous vehicles will be joining together on light rail for longer trips. As that is the most efficient way to get them from A to B. Except for the last mile. A motorway, even for AV’s, is a costly waste of space.
http://81.47.175.201/livingrail/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=686:addressing-the-last-mile-combined-rail-and-car-sharing-tickets&catid=30:rail-oriented-policies&Itemid=104
Already being done. In the form of electric road vehicles that attach to a light rail train at a station.
Not to mention rail and bicycle, and probably electric golf cart type vehicles like Copenhagen.
http://www.copenhagenize.com/2014/06/bike-train-bike-connecting-bicycles-and.html
The days of a private car are numbered. It wont be long before the only ICE cars are hired, to go on holiday.
I can’t see how he thinks people are going to want to car pool en masse every single day to work and not want larger, safer, cheaper, more regular, more efficient, and smoother forms of rapid public transport.
“larger, safer, cheaper, more regular, more efficient, and smoother forms of rapid public transport”
They will be larger.
There is no reason at all that they would be safer.
There is equally no reason why they should be cheaper.
AVs don’t have a schedule, regular or otherwise. They will travel exactly when you want them, not when some bureaucrat says they should run.
They will not be more efficient. A small vehicle carrying one person is better than a very large one carrying 5.
The will not be smoother. My car is certainly a smoother ride than one of the Wellington units.
They will not be faster. An AV will go from where I am to where I want to go. They won’t ramble around picking up all and sundry along the way.
My God!. You talk like a Green MP.
From a scan of these articles I would suggest that you are talking about a totally different technology than I am.
These vehicles they are talking about are basically rental cars such as we have today. They require the hirer to drive them. I am talking about AVs that drive themselves.
There is absolutely no need to connect them up into a train. I want to go from point A to point B now, not when a group of people want to travel the same route.
You should also bear in mind that AVs will be able to travel much closer together than current cars with a driver. They will not have to follow the 2 second rule as the technology will enable them to communicate with other vehicles in their vicinity.
You are out of date.
No I’m afraid it is the technology listed by you that is out of date. It still expects that the cars concerned will have human drivers around a town.
“days of a private car”.
Of course they are. That is what I want to see. I don’t want to own a car. I just want a cheap option that will carry me where I want to get when I want to go there. That is what the AV will provide.
“only ICE cars are “. I don’t think there will be any ICE cars in 20 years time. There won’t need to be any private ones either.
And the roads will be much, much safer.
Why should they have drivers?
There’d have to be enough driverless cars to cope with the peak times because there’ll be no PT in your world.
Then they sit around unused for most of the day which is hardly a model of efficiency.
Autonomous vehicles will be the public transport. Much more convenient and likely to be much cheaper as well.
What do you think happens to most of the buses outside of the peak hours? The either sit around unused or they carry half a dozen people in a vehicle built for 40. AVs certainly won’t be any less efficient will they?
AVs should be able to carry, individually, more people on a trip at peak time than at less busy times. If more people want to travel they could stop and pick up another passenger along their route. The way they are called would let the system know where every vehicle is and where it is going.
The customer could be allowed the option of sharing if they want to. Give them a cheaper fare if they are willing to share the AV.
AVs will be much cheaper than a taxi. They don’t need a very expensive driver do they?
Private cars are very little used. As I noted just above a standing time of 96% has been reported. They are very inefficient and one of the reasons why people will be willing to give up their private car.
This works where? Rainbowponyland?
Check out Melbourne. Gold Coast. Munich.
alwyn
“Private cars are very little used”? Except, of course, for those reduced to living out of their vehicle – the current housing crisis would be much worse if that wasn’t an option. Also, even standing still; they do act as additional storage space for those with small homes (especially for families – do you know how much room a pram takes up even when it’s folded away?).
Quite what this has to do with the topic I am talking about is unclear.
On the other hand anyone who has a garage will have a lot of extra space to use.
I’m sure you will get rid of your car, convert the garage and offer it free to someone living in their car. There, everyone will be better off.
Be honest now, how many people have a car in their garage.
Most folk I know use a garage for storage.
You are, unfortunately, probably correct.
The curse of too many possessions. I regret to say that I am as guilty as most people.
Your comment gets the prize for the most realistic comment.
Cheers alwyn, there is a name for too many possessions: affluenza.
Does the possessor possess his possessions is the possessor possessed by his possessions?
Better together?
Metiria Turei seeks new mandate to stay as MP
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/338474/greens-turei-i-want-to-be-back-with-a-mandate
Her chances look awfully slim.
The only electorate poll I have seen, by Maori TV, had her in third place, just behind the Maori Party candidate and at only about a third of the vote for the sitting Labour MP.
I think her theme song might as well be. “So long, its been good to know you but I’ve got to be drifting along.”
Turei will not be silenced on poverty
Did anyone expect her to fold?
No one who has met her, or even heard her talk.
Duplicity-Allen parrots her husband and gets it wrong again in this moronic summing up of the week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11915339
Where was she last year when Sue Moroney was working on her 26 week paid parental leave bill which English vetoed because there was too much support for it. Oh, I remember, she was too busy illegally buying guns online and getting fired from her job…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/96383507/revenue-from-labours-water-levy-could-go-to-projects-such-as-roading
if this is true labour can go get fucked
Note the comment seems to have been that the first priority would be to clean up waterways and that it would only be if there was money left over that the local council could use it for other things.
if the water is cleaned up i would expect the water tax to be stopped in that area. if it really is about water which i now doubt .
You have given me the best laugh I have had all day.
You expect a local Government organisation to give up a source of income just because the excuse given for imposing a tax has vanished?
Exactly. Crisis and Leviathan.
enjoy but ill be wasting my vote on top if its true labour are just chucking the water tax into the pot .
So rate payers should continue coughing up to fix roads jiggered by heavy traffic servicing the farming sector?.
so labour has just been playing wedge politics on water and are lying shits. trucks par ruc s for the road use if its not enough raise that don’t fucking lie to sneak a tax in
Which would be all well and good, if local councils received some of that money for road maintenance. But they don’t and here in the Whanganui district a $2 million a year black hole in the rural road maintenance budget is directly attributed to the increasing numbers of heavy vehicles servicing the rural sector.
that’s the governments fault not farmers , the rucs paid in our area must be subsidising city folk if its not being spent locally.
The RUC finances state highways and ratepayers cough for local roads but hey, externalising costs is in the rural DNA.
RUC’s don’t even cover trucks use of State highways.
They are subsidised by private motorists. Which is why rail and sea struggle to compete.
Let alone paying for rural and urban roads, which are covered by ratepayers.
“User pays” is only for some, it seems.
According to the Timaru Herald article, when contacted on Friday, Parker, the Labour spokesperson on water, said revenue would primarily need to be distributed to regional councils to clean up waterways.
However, money left over could be given to local councils, which would “decide what to do with it”, he said.
“He was happy to discuss possibilities for leftover revenue after the election, he said.
This was immediately misconstrued.
Following the revelation at the meeting, visibly surprised National candidate Andrew Falloon said it was the first time he’d heard a Labour politician say “the money might not be spent on cleaning up waterways”.
“Because it’s sort of the entire point of it, I thought.”
Whether Falloon was “visibly surprised”, or aurally challenged, or cognitively so, up to the reader. We couldn’t believe he deliberately misinterpreted Labour’s Parker, could we?
bwaghorn – Beware of news and articles in papers, too many vested interests.
But I gather you are a farmer, for them Labor is not an option anyway as social policies will never sit well with farmers. For them the world stops at the gate and to hell with everybody else. As long as the dosh is good who cares about the rest.
yeah just like all unemployed are lazy good for nothings who smoke and drink all their money a?
Pretty weak tinkering here from Labour. They’re going to have to do a lot better than this in order to convince me they’re committed to stable communities where people don’t live in fear of a letter from the landlord. For Labour to not move on the default lease term (afaik currently there isn’t one at all!) is very disappointing.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96440380/labour-strengthens-renters-rights-with-limits-on-rent-rises-90-day-notices
The Greens are much better on this and Opportunities quite bold and strong in recognising the current problem.
https://www.greens.org.nz/policy/fairer-society/residential-tenancies-safe-and-secure-rentals-amendment-bill
I could party vote Green on this policy alone…
So actually, Labour and the Greens agree on dumping the 42 days notice option, abolishing leasing fees, limiting rent increases to a maximum of one per year, and requiring the formula for any increases to be specified in the lease agreement. The “default” position of a 3 year fixed term tenancy seems pretty meaningless if there’s a provision for both parties to opt out and set their own term. And allowing tenants the right to renewal of lease agreements sounds good, but again doesn’t offer any more protection than Labour, because both parties are saying there should be a minimum 90 days notice period if a lease agreement is being terminated. Labour specifies that there has to be a genuine reason (which is not required in law at present) and it also gives an avenue for leasers to make small alterations to a property, so long as its returned to the original state when they leave and has a healthy homes policy to support landlords providing insulation and heating.
The three year default would be a significant change which would help reset the behaviour of landlords from one of amateur speculator to professional service provider.
When a tenant with a family goes to an agent now all they get put in from of them is a shitty one year lease at best and sometimes not even that, just a casual agreement. And that’s it, if they ask for a longer lease they immediately be seen to be trouble for the landlord who wants all the flexibility. In a tight market people are forced to take these because you might not get another place close to you child’s school etc and the competition is high you having to have battled just to get that short lease put in front of you.
How is a family supposed to make planning decisions around jobs, schools, and their own savings plan toward more security in home ownership on one year revolving leases?
If a lease length was default at 3 years it would become accepted behaviour creating more stability in high rental communities and the onus would be on the landlord to have to move away from that length.
Except if a default 3 year lease is:
a) only “default” if the parties don’t agree to another lease term (ie, if the landlord chooses to offer a 3 year term), and
b) even then, not guaranteed because of the right to 90 days’ notice with a specified reason,
then I don’t see that it actually means much.
a) The point is that currently there’s no official default and if there is an unofficial one it’s either casual or one year. This is not acceptable to families who require much more certainty. What the ‘landlord’ offers right now isn’t enough and negotiations to get a longer lease and more certainty for your kids is met with silence. A 3 year default would then give the tenant with a family that certainty from the start of the discussion which the landlord would then have to negotiate down from in order to keep the flexibility they so crave at the expense of young families and community security.
b) If a landlord wants to break a lease with 90 days notice then they’ll have to pay the tenant out of that lease which would be a lot longer than it is currently.
It’s a really, really, really big deal for tenants with young families to have to shift in this environment and there are an increasing number of tenants and communities which require more stability than is currently the case.
Right now I would kill for a 3 year fixed term tenancy. At least that would mean living only in a constant state of mild anxiety vs severe anxiety over if I’m going to be homeless come January.
And from reading the (almost predictable) comments from landlords in the Stuff article- having no clue about being a landlord, can someone please explain to me how Labours/Greens proposed tenancy laws could possibly necessitate a major sell of private rentals and/or major increase in rents? The usual scaremongering or what? Are property managers panicking over the plan to ban letting fees perhaps?
Exactly Kay. With a fixed three year term you can begin to plan for your future without worrying that your immediate future might involve costly and stressful house hunting scenarios.
This would help tens of thousands of families and single people plan forward rather than worrying about the present.
Most tenants are given 90 days notice to depart, it is the law. The only time 42 days notice can be applied is if the owner or their direct family are moving into the property or if the property has sold and the purchaser requires vacant possession. Most tenants that need to move because the property has sold receive way more than 42 days notice simply because the change of owner/sales procedure takes longer than that.
The current tenancy duration term is as long as both parties agree to, 10 years if they wish. Landlords steer clear of fixed term agreements and tend towards periodical agreements (casual) because regardless of circumstances a landlord is legally stuck with the duration of the term, 1, 5 or 10 years if both parties agreed. The tenant is not, after 6 months into a 10 year term they need only claim they can’t afford it or they’ve had a job offer down country and there is not an adjudicator in the country that won’t break the lease for them.
In most Real estate agencies the property management division is close to a break even dept. A nuisance in boom sales times and keep the doors open godsends when nothing is selling. The average of about 8% on the rent income is usually split around 50/50 between the property manager and the agency. To make the job viable in regional areas (average rent 275 pw) a manager needs to look after about 80+ properties. It’s at about that level that 40 hours a week won’t equate to the manager doing a good job for the tenant or owners. I think it’s a broken model and personally support across the board licensed private property managers that don’t share the revenue 50/50.
It is for this reason that we have seen the rise of letting fees and more frequent property inspections. Sideline income generators for revenue strapped Property Management departments.
I think annual rent rises rather than the current potential for 6 monthly will just double the ask for those that currently do it 6 monthly….. I think very few landlords jack rents up every 6 months. Who gets a rent rise letter every 6 months? I don’t know of anyone.
The Tenancy Tribunal is a forum for both landlords and tenants to have their case heard. It could be easily argued that adjudicator delivered orders favour the tenants’ argument. eg:
Tenant: “I’d like to end this fixed term tenancy”
Adjudicator: “No worries, give 21 days notice.”
Landlord: “I’d like to end this fixed term tenancy”
Adjudicator: “No way buddy.”
That said, while considering this landlord/tenant situation I think it’s worth bearing in mind that 95% of hearings are instigated by landlords and 5% by tenants. The huge majority of hearings are due to unpaid rent and damaged properties.
What all three parties seem to be looking at is replicating the commercial lease structure, ie the ADLS lease structure which is the NZ default commercial lease, into the residential context.
This structure gives tenants and landlords a lot of certainty and generally keeps commercial rent returns (so either lower rental or capital value) below residential. Hence the wide boys tend to gravitate to residential ownership, or the higher risk side of commercial. Getting commercial discipline into the residential market and giving the cowboys the flick, is a very good idea.
The ADLS model is good for commercial, but would need some major changes to make it work in residential. For instance it’s really difficult for a tenant to get out of a lease in term, it’s the tenant’s responsibility to find another tenant suitable to the landlord, can be difficult and expensive. It’s also quite hard for a landlord to get rid of a tenant. This works ok in commercial because everyone wants stability.
While residential tenants want the same stability, sometimes tenants will want to be able to get out of a lease pretty quickly when personal circumstances change, like with jobs or relationships. The ADLS model will require some very careful adjustment to maintain a workable balance of aspirations, rights and responsibilities between landlord and tenant.
When I look at the residential rental environment around Queenstown, with it’s sudden economic and social changes, I can see real pros and cons of longterm residential leases.
The ADLS model is good for commercial, but would need some major changes to make it work in residential. For instance it’s really difficult for a tenant to get out of a lease in term, it’s the tenant’s responsibility to find another tenant suitable to the landlord, can be difficult and expensive. It’s also quite hard for a landlord to get rid of a tenant. This works ok in commercial because everyone wants stability.
this is standard procedure in Germany where a standard notice period is usually 3 month at a minimum. I have on several occasions found tenants for a flat i was leaving early usually for reasons of work. You can organise this in a way of x amount of potential future tenants presented and the Landlord needs to accept one of these. Essentially, don’t be an unreasonable fuckwit. IF i present you with three potential tenants that are good, in work, can pay the bond, accept one. Full stop.
As for landlords in commercial properties giving you a hard time, don’t ever get an Indian landlord. No phone, no email, realtor not happy to be contacted, lease runs out, can’t get a new lease, landlords lawyer suddenly not his lawyer anymore, accountant suddenly not his accountant anymore and landlord is in India, till when? oh who knows. Then suddenly during the busiest time in your year landlord waltzes in, shoves 10.000$+ invoices in your hand of ‘stuff i have forgotten to invoice you over the last two years – all of these invoices on paper, handwritten, no GST number nothing”, btw he did that to all the businesses, and if you don’t want to pay that you move. what you do? go tot he tenancy tribunal? Btw, that busy little fringe, now its dead, cause we and some of the others ‘moved’.
So, here we are currently looking at new premises as i really hate to be blackmailed. I pay my dues and that is that. Would i rent a premise that is also listed for sale? No.
NZ needs to pull its head out of the sand and understand that its crap laws in regards to tenancy – residential and commercial – are costing it money. Its losing businesses, its stopping businesses from forming, and its just bullshit.
as much as i like this country, renting anything is literally just torture and a waste of money, its effectively cheaper to stay at home and do fuck all. And for some reason or another the country is ok with it. Go figure.
Three radical ideas to transform the post-crisis economy
So even the Financial Times is starting to question our banking system and how it works – or, rather, doesn’t.
Michelle Boag was certainly very jittery on Q+A this morning. She kept (ridiculously) trying to equate Labour with Trump(!) and must have said “haven’t done their homework” a dozen times. The last time she said this on the show was when she so obviously hadn’t done her homework and tried to insist that Labour’s water policy would lead to cabbages costing $18.
Nice to see Ms Smug and Dismissive looking so rattled.
It’s an own goal by the Nats every time they invite her on.
+100 Ed
Boag is not a very attractive woman to be attempt a glowing English supporter. Not attractive in speech or delivery. Reckon she would be a shoe-in fox Wicked Witch of the West in Wizard of OZ. She knows she is on a lost cause.
I saw that it was Boag and Pagani and just couldn’t be bothered watching that video; Right and Righter. She really compared Ardern to Trump? Wow. If we’re doing Trump comparisons, then Key is a much better fit; disregard for truth, excessive wealth (though Trump’s was largely inherited), hair fixation, strangely charasmatic (to many), sociopathic tendencies, non-political politicians. Both with a penchant for dismissing employees; “You’re Fired” vs “The Smiling Assassin”.
The debate segments themselves were good, though the online version glitches a bit around the adbreaks, but I doubt I missed much.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a
She was careful not to name Ardern, but repeatedly said Labour were being Trumplike (her view is that they’re “big on the what but not the how”, “haven’t done their homework” and are making big promises that they will have to back away from once elected). It’s a pretty desperate ploy… She actually admitted at the end that she didn’t know who was going to win the election.
There is video, but I couldn’t stomach watching it. Also a longer summary, but I thought this from Henry Cooke (at 11:22am) was pithier
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/96405356/live-on-the-campaign-trail-for-sunday
You have to wonder if those drug dealers also include; alcohol and tobacco sellers, such as supermarkets and bottlestores. Of course they won’t, even though they too are; “creating a string of victims behind them”.
Wonder not! Cui bono? And remember who pay taxes and who don’t.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/election-2017/338588/serious-criminals-have-fewer-human-rights-national
Appalling stuff from National – shouting out to the lowest common denominator and showing a total lack of concern, respect or understanding of human rights.
You don’t need to abuse human rights to tackle crime – quite the opposite in fact.
It fits very well with National’s way of thinking such as “social investment”. Identify ‘the prima facie culprits’ and target them hard with all the force of the law. If this means violating their human rights or invoking National Security, for example, so be it. There are a few obvious issues with this approach but none of these will concern National voters – prisoners are barred from voting [bad pun]. The allegedly-apparent political interference in (some) police matters is another reason to be extremely wary about this erosion of citizens’ rights in New Zealand.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/96447979/is-national-buying-into-the-doctrine-of-donald-trump
Perhaps some private prisons need more profit. In any case, this women is just about as bad as it gets.
I would challenge her on the notion that a group (even if despised) can have basics rights taken away. If it looks and feels fascist, perhaps it is.
Keep an eye out for the film American Made. It has been reviewed this morning by Simon Morris and sounds an absolute gas. Its background is the reality of the USA’s outrageous, no-holds-barred meddling in everything around Regan’s time and Clinton’s. Lots of ironic laughter and the absence of concern about principles left home in a quiet, dark cupboard will be the right approach. Has Tom Cruise. In theatres September 29.
And another one about India and Britain interaction. Sounds amazing. At age 68 Queen Victoria who apparently was not the stuffy moralistic person broadcast to the public, decides to learn Urdu and the finer points of curry dinners.
Victoria and Abdul (Queen Victoria by Judi Dench) from September 14
The Anthropocene says hi.
Now I know this has nothing to directly do with the election but there has been from 1 Sept a further insidious removal of government services from street level & the provinces
The IRD in Napier has been closed until further notice.
The IRD has closed all after hours drop boxes – so cheques, returns & the like cannot be dropped in after hours which is really unhelpful to all those people who do drop them in after hours.
The reason given for Dunedin & no doubt all the others is:
“For safety reasons the after-hours Drop Box at our Dunedin office will be closed permanently and no longer available from 1 September 2017.”
Despite the above the drop boxes have been in use forever without apparently any problems.
The IRD has also removed the GST form from their website so it cannot be downloaded and filled out manually. (and possibly other forms). I’m not even sure that is legal.
Their agenda is clear : they want everyone forced to register with the Mylogin services so that they and the wider government have the ability to track our email addresses and us electronically. And some how unaccountable call centres will do the rest.
The IRD have acknowledged in the past that there is a significant group of taxpayers who actively do not wish to deal with the IRD electronically but of course this is not acceptable to our right wing governments who do not want anyone to have any personal privacy.
And while I’m on the subject of Napier ( happy to hear from a local re this) quite a significant population area now has no IRD street access and a main police station that is only open until 7.00 pm every day.
Nact doesn’t support the provinces!!
Safety seems to be the buzzword for withdrawing services by government and their mercenaries while enforcing expensive and time consuming nitpicking actions on the public.
Somewhere along the line the government is going to feel so unsafe that they will close down everything. Are we going to put up with that I ask?
A speculation bubble inevitably collapses.
who woulda thunk it
/
The grim tale of America’s “subprime mortgage crisis” delivers one of those stinging moral slaps that Americans seem to favor in their histories. Poor people were reckless and stupid, banks got greedy. Layer in some Wall Street dark arts, and there you have it: a global financial crisis.
Dark arts notwithstanding, that’s not what really happened, though.
Mounting evidence suggests that the notion that the 2007 crash happened because people with shoddy credit borrowed to buy houses they couldn’t afford is just plain wrong. The latest comes in a new NBER working paper arguing that it was wealthy or middle-class house-flipping speculators who blew up the bubble to cataclysmic proportions, and then wrecked local housing markets when they defaulted en masse.
https://qz.com/1064061/house-flippers-triggered-the-us-housing-market-crash-not-poor-subprime-borrowers-a-new-study-shows/
joe90 There a good article in that link u gave on the subprime reality on the alt right attack on googles principles and values
Wow must have upset someone high up the food chain in the government with my humane and Intelligent ideas to help reduce our prison population they must think I’m making a personal attack on there intelligent well no I’M not.
But my viewers can make up there own minds on whats intelligent and whats not.
Is it intelligent to carry on fulling our jails is it intelligent to copy or be coned to implement other larger Societies failing policy’s. Or is it intelligent to be original and make our own policy’s that suit our unique society.
They poured on the intimidation today but I’M use to it. Miss Paula Bennett just confirmed my statements made in my other post on how some people in the justice department view our Human rights and privacy rights national just keep digging that hole deeper and deeper.
Now there is someone in that outfit whom is really crafty or fucken stupid.
This is why I have said that the real people that run the government are public servants
and all these ideological dick heads that will fight the changes need to fix our Society need to get kicked out or our Society’s systems will not change fast enough to fight climate change and poverty in our Great Country.
Some of my fellow bloggers on this site that have been involved in politics for 30 years or more are skeptical of some of the public servants in the Bee hive so people take note of what they say. SO TO SAVE OUR ENVIRONMENTS and SOCIETY. PARTY VOTE GREEN
This film by John Pilger should be seen – especially given the ongoing events on the Korean Peninsula
John Pilger – a world war has begun: break the silence
Look who had their stickys all over the Kenyan the, since overturned [result], presidential election.
A firm that worked for Donald Trump and which once claimed ties to a pro-Brexit campaign group is now reportedly working for Kenya’s incumbent president.
Cambridge Analytica’s mission statement is simple. On its website, the firm says it “uses data to change audience behaviour.” Most notably, the company was hired by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and has been given some credit for Trump’s electoral success.
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-40792078
Kenya’s Supreme Court on Friday overturned last month’s presidential election, citing voting irregularities, and ordered a new election within 60 days. It declared President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election null and void.
It is the first time a presidential election in East Africa’s economic hub has been nullified. Supporters of opposition candidate Raila Odinga, 72, danced and cheered in the streets, and said they felt vindicated because he had contended that he lost because the electronic tally had been hacked.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/09/01/kenyas-supreme-court-declares-presidential-election-result-null/624115001/
+100joe90 they haved figured out that voters can be influenced by big data company’s and that undermines democracy YESS
Thanks joe90 that link backs up what I’ve said on my other post we must fight this deception of big data all over the world.
Am I having double vision or am I seeing twins?
Rod Oram destroys the arguments against Labour’s policy for a royalty on commercial water users here.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/09/02/45811/rod-oram-a-trickle-of-problems-for-a-big-problem
Outstanding article with rich links to the OECD paper that went into NZ pollution and water regulation in depth.
Thankyou BG.
Gee thanks Bearded one. That is a pretty concise compelling argument in favour of paying for water with the intention of reducing pollution.
One graph alone should disturb doubters. And the ECan commissioners have a lot to answer for.
Wonder if they will finally be removed by a Labour/Green Government?
+100 B G
Yes that’s the reason I back water charges it changes the perception of water frown worthless to something we will treasurer as water should be treasured as a life giving force it is
FWe have to plan these water policies so no one can manipulate them so the few will benefit at the cost of the many water should benefit all people the same .I have seen the fishery turn into a big mess and people were given practical big checks to accept what the systems the government wanted to put in place and what we got was not ideally suited to preserve our fisheries
What we got quoter system that ideally suited bankers
Rattling his sabre….
Tweets by ArmsControlWonk
Confirmed.
WHISTLE-BLOWER ALERT!!
The influence, IMO, of paid PR shills at the highest levels of Radio NZ.
See for yourselves the National Party connections…..
Subject: Radio New Zealand : Board of Governors
http://www.radionz.co.nz/about/board-profile
Chair of the Radio NZ Board.
“Mr Griffin is a director of the public relations consultancy, Fraser, Griffin, Wood.”
https://www.national.org.nz/news/2016-06-03-appointments-to-radio-new-zealand-board
“Richard Griffin of Nelson is a highly experienced former journalist.
He served as Chief Press Secretary and Senior Media Advisor to Rt Hon Jim Bolger and was RNZ’s longest serving political editor.
He has been instrumental in the strategic planning of organisations in New Zealand’s primary production and tourism sectors and the pharmaceutical and banking industries.”
http://solidbusinessnz.com/company/1944292/fraser-griffin-wood-limited
Company Info
Fraser Griffin Wood Limited was formed on May 18th 2007, so this company age is now ten years and three months and eighteen days.
It is listed in the register as a NZ Limited Company.
Fraser Griffin Wood Limited registered office is located at 34 Talavera Terrace, Kelburn, Wellington , New Zealand.
Current Fraser Griffin Wood Limited directors are:
Ian Geoffrey FRASER (appointed at May 18th 2007),
Richard Andrew GRIFFIN (appointed at May 18th 2007),
Susanne Mary WOOD (appointed at May 18th 2007).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fraser_(broadcaster)
“Born in Dunedin, Fraser became well known in New Zealand as a television interviewer, working on current affairs shows from 1974-1984.
He then moved to public relations, becoming the chairman of Consultus and fronting a series of advertisements for the Bank of New Zealand.
After heading projects for New Zealand Expo in Brisbane and Seville, Fraser became chief executive of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
He moved to TVNZ in April 2002.
His wife, Suzanne Snively, is an economist and managing director of strategic and economic advice company, MoreMedia Enterprises.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Wood
“Suzanne Mary (Sue) Wood, born in Onehunga in 1948, served as the president of the New Zealand National Party from 1982 to 1986, the first woman to hold the post.
She had been a teacher, journalist and swimming coach.
Her term as president included the latter years of the Third National Governmentof Robert Muldoon, the 1984 general election, and the associated constitutional crisis.
Wood stood as the party candidate for Onehunga in the 1980 by-election and in the 1981 general election; she was then teaching at Onehunga High School.
In 2002 she stood in the seat of Mana, being defeated by Labour MP Luamanuvao Winnie Laban.
Although she held a relatively high party-list ranking of 19, National’s poor overall result in the 2002 election meant that she failed to enter Parliament.
She was the campaign manager for Auckland Future in 2016.[1]”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11224018
(Matthew Hooton)
“His wife, Cathy Wood, is the daughter of former National party president Sue Wood.”
_____________________
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate for Tamaki.
Exposing the $1.6 BILLION Tamaki GENTRIFICATION $CAM.
Your point is that there are political appointments, who are also qualified, to public sector boards.
So what.
Probably that they should appoint unqualified people like her to the Board?
Aren’t you both being a little too cute by half?
Jan Alwyn is never cute!!!
I have developed a fondness for alwyn; he’s part of the couleur locale here on, or should I say of, TS.
IMO – these FACTS arguably help explain why National broadcaster Radio NZ present paid PR shill$ like Matthew Hooton to present as ‘political commentators’?
IMO – particularly during an election, it’s a ‘conflict of interest’, particularly if paid PR shill$ have particular political parties as clients.
I think it STINKS.
Penny Bright
Are commentators on RNZ paid?
nominally i believe
If you can’t see that these are crony appointments to the Board of National Radio – which is supposedly meant to be independent of political influence….
my bold.
Steve Maharey 18 August 2004
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/television-new-zealand-and-current-broadcasting-context
what evidence have you or Penny Bright demonstrated of political corruption?
All Penny showed was a qualified Chair with political links. A Chair of a national public entity without political links cannot be effective in governance.
What do you mean “qualified”!
Political links automatically disqualify them.
Yup
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/2017/09/newshub-poll-national-and-labour-in-one-on-one-fight-for-power.html
New Newshub Reid Research poll:
National – 43.3
Labour – 39.4
NZ First – 6.6
Green – 6.1
TOP – 1.9
MP – 1
ACT – 0.6
Preferred PM
Bill English – 30.1
Jacinda Ardern – 29.9
Winston Peters – 6.9
L/G now well ahead of National in both recent polls, and genuinely could get across the line alone (here’s hoping!).
Its getting really exciting now, being that its so close will both English and Ardern try to minimize mistakes or instead go for it?
Winston Peters may not be the king maker after all, there goes his ego so what will he do?
This is really fun 🙂
The nats have already burnt the NZ1 boat. They’re committed to all or nothing.
Labgrn are already going for electoral success, using teamwork
Are the greens facing extinction?
https://theprogressreport.co.nz/2017/09/03/election-forecast-the-end-of-the-greens/
short answer: highly doubtful, but anything’s possible.
Certainly touch & go
Hovering around 5% hurdle
His model however assumes the Greens will perform worse on Election Day than in current polls. Which might just be wrong this time (given the Greens are down to their core support rather than riding the crest of a late wave as in previous Elections – ie solid base support rather than froth (hard to be sure though))
# Precarious Position
And also haven’t the Greens picked up enough special votes to get another MP in the last few elections?
ScottGN
That is a good point. One thing no political poll captures (that I know of – maybe Horizon with being online rather than via phone), is the voting intentions of those overseas. This is a part of the electorate the GP strongly targets, and have preformed well with in the past (eg picking up an extra seat last election):
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/research-papers/document/00PLLawRP2015011/final-results-2014-general-election
Newshub Reid Research (Last 4 Polls)
Early June 2017 … Late July 2017 … Early Aug 2017 …… Late Aug 2017
Nat ….… 47 ……………………… 45 ………………….. 44 ………………….. 43
Lab ….… 26 ……………………… 24 ………………….. 33 ………………….. 39
NZF ….… 9 ………………….….… 13 …………………….9 ……………….…… 7
Green …13 ………………………. 13 ……………….….. 8 …………….….….. 6
.
NRR Preferred PM
Early June 2017 …… Late July 2017 …… Early Aug 2017 … Late Aug 2017
English 26 ……………………….. 26 ……………………. 28 ……………………. 30
Little .… 7…………………….………7
Ardern 7 ………………….……….. 9 ……………….……. 26 ……………………. 30
Peters 10 ……………………..….. 12 ………………….….10 …………….….……. 7
.
.
Colmar Brunton (Last 4 Polls)
Early July 2017 … Late July 2017 …… Mid Aug 2017 …… Late Aug 2017
Nat ….47 ………………………. 47 ……………..…. 44….……….….…. 41
Lab ….27 ……………….…..…. 24…………………. 37…….…..……… 43
NZF .. 11 ……………….…….… 11 …………….……10.…….….……..… 8
Green 11 …………………….… 15 ………….…….….4.…….….…..……. 5
.
Colmar Brunton Preferred PM
Early July 2017 …… Late July 2017 …… Mid Aug 2017 ……. Late Aug 2017
English 26 ………………………… 28 ……………………. 30 ……………….……. 33
Little …. 5………………………..…. 6
Ardern ..6 ………………….….…… 6 ……………….……. 30 ………………….…. 34
Peters .11 …………………….….. 10 …………….….….…. 7 ………………..….…. 4
Comparisons (2008-17)
Newshub Reid Research (3-4 Weeks out)
CB Aug 2017 …….……. Aug 2014 ……………. Nov 2011 …….…… Oct 2008
Nat .. 43 …………………..…. 45 (- 2) ……….….…..… 53 (- 10)….…….…. 45 (- 2)
Lab .. 39 …………………..…. 26 (+ 13)…………….…. 30 (+ 9)…..….…..… 39 ( = )
NZF … 7 ……………….…….… 6 (+ 1) …………….………2 (+ 5).…….….….… 3 (+ 4)
Green 6 ………….……….……14 (- 8) ………….…….….10 (- 4).…….….……. 7 (- 1)
.
Colmar Brunton Comparisons ..…
Thanks for the analysis as always swordfish. It is a shame it was posted at eleven on a Sunday night, so might be missed by many – hopefully you can cut and paste it in a dedicated poll thread later. I found this interactive graph while looking about for the Reid Research results (doesn’t seem to be updated on their site yet), that gives the ability to see each polling companies results separately, which I like:
https://www.andrewchen.nz/polls
Silver Ferns just thrashed Australia.
Top work!
You go ladies yes let give them more publicity and more money congratulations
Dangerous National policy (?) on gangs called out by Dr Gilbert.
Also wants Bennett to resign.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11916458
is it a coincidence that those who lived through the last wave of Fascism are now dead?
Sir/Miss, what is Fascism?
A: use Google.
lol….I don’t think there is much debate about when the last period of fascism was even if you wish split hairs on definitions.
http://www.un.org/en/sections/universal-declaration/history-document/
“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere. The document they considered, and which would later become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was taken up at the first session of the General Assembly in 1946. “
Well, even Winston Peters was a wee toddler back then but somebody should send this to Paula Bennett and their National MPs with a take-home message like those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it or something rather.
the best message that could be given is at the ballot box…they will take no notice of any other kind
Despite 9 long years of National in Government I still believe in helping to educate people 😉
does education overcome a base lust for power?
Good education might even increase the quest for power but at the same time we may be better prepared to deal with such when we are better educated. Basically, good education can lift us all and hopefully (!) get us in better shape and a better place overall.
education may indeed achieve that in the round…I was was speaking of the individual
It depends on the individual, the education this person receives and a zillion other factors. I think it is a generally unanswerable question TBH.
in this case the individual is Paula Bennet (and /or Blinglish)…does that make it any easier?
A little easier …
One is never too old to learn and it is never too late to change but only if one is open to learn & change …
They say a leopard doesn’t change his spots and Paula Bennett has a penchant for leopard prints …
Bill English is an old-school conservative …
I don’t write off people easily though; it goes against my nature …
If you want a good laugh, here’s John Key announcing National’s crackdown on methamphetamine and the gangs that supply it back in 2009. How’s that war on drugs going, National?
I’m not laughing; see my comment @ 17.3 /open-mike-03092017/#comment-1378184