Open Mike 04/02/2019

100 comments on “Open Mike 04/02/2019 ”

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1. Dennis Frank 1

   4 February 2019 at 7:46 am

   Folks may be surprised to hear that Don Brash has become a socialist. Well, he didn’t actually say so, but this morning I saw him telling Duncan Garner that he was advocating “needs-based funding”. That’s about as socialist an economic principle as you will ever be able to find, eh?

   They were discussing the idea Shane Jones has for developing Maori land. Apparently much of it is too poor in quality to be viable. I doubt that assumption is valid. Toss a permaculture task force at it and in twenty years you will probably be astonished to discover it has become the most productive land in the region!

   Anyway, old Don has been invited to talk to Ngapuhi about how to do economic development. I hope he isn’t too dry for them…
   • McFlock 1.1

     4 February 2019 at 9:52 am

     “To each according to their need” is given lipservice by most on the political spectrum – it’s the “from each according to their ability” Brash balks at.
   • halfcrown 1.2

     4 February 2019 at 10:15 am

     It is also a pity that once again Garner was selective in his news item, as there was no mention of the 140 million in corporate welfare Ardern after being advised against by Treasury is giving to that parasite Jackson. No doubt so he can win the contract for making the Television version of “Bored with The Rings” for that other parasitical tax avoiding outfit called Amazon.
     Garner foaming at the mouth about “Our Tax Money” As far as I am aware it is a loan whereas the money to Jackson is like GONE, for good with little if any return to NZ. But of course, it will be argued that it be spent on producing jobs, tourists etc. However, the so-called benefits to NZ are questionable if Amazon is involved and Jacksons pass record of employment plus the added strain additional tourist which we don’t need will have on our infrastructure and the environment.
     • greywarshark 1.2.1

       4 February 2019 at 12:16 pm

       I wish that Jackson wasn’t the object of so much scorn and detestation. He has been instrumental in doing much for NZ creative industry but he has earned creatives’ hostility for not being welfare oriented. Because he has made something, opened up something for NZ which has to operate on capitalist lines he is a figure to despise?

       Corporates are multi-headed and amorphous, it’s hard to focus dislike intensely but Jackson stands at the head of his enterprise and cops it all. The unions did their usual stupid thing, forced the flipper of the Golden Goose so that it swam away from them. They needed to be like ducks, keeping calm and paddling like hell to get the best deal they could.

       Then they went all emotional and soggy running to an Australian union expecting solidarity. We know what that was like – Australian ground might look firm but step onto it and it’s either boggy and sucks you in or has potholes that you will fall into. They would look after their own interests first and did no good for us IIRC.
   • A 1.3

     4 February 2019 at 10:45 am

     I seriously doubt Don Brash has assessed the land. More likely he thought his own interests would benefit from millions in govt money and got in asap to lay the foundation for the handout.
   • Cinny 1.4

     4 February 2019 at 10:50 am

     Question please…..

     Was on the news that Maori are getting this money because they are struggling to get loans from banks to develop/improve their land.

     Does anyone know the reason please why banks are reluctant to lend them money?
     • Chris T 1.4.1

       4 February 2019 at 11:00 am

       I know when individual Iwi members want to put houses on it they struggle, as they technically don’t own the land so there is no person/corporate entity to put up against the loan if it all goes tits up.

       Probably the same reason, but not certain.
     • Andre 1.4.2

       4 February 2019 at 11:08 am

       Hopefully someone with more direct knowledge of the current situation will clarify. But on the strength of your question and a vague memory of reading about problems getting loans due to ownership structures of Maori land, I googled bank lending maori land ownership, and there’s a whole bunch of stuff came up.

       The Maori Land Court says the process really shouldn’t be any different to any other loans, whereby everyone with an interest in it needs to agree.

       https://www.maorilandcourt.govt.nz/your-maori-land/using-your-maori-land/finance-and-mortgages/

       But it seems that in the real world even when one person has sole title to a block of maori land there have still been difficulties. Possibly it’s a case of banks seeing the maori ownership aspect of it and immediately dropping it in the too hard basket.

       https://www.nzherald.co.nz/wairarapa-times-age/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503410&objectid=11156445
       • Wayne 1.4.2.1

         4 February 2019 at 2:01 pm

         This is something I did work on the past. The issue is that the security (mortgage) can not be readily realised in the event of default. Who are the potential buyers on a mortgagee sale?
         Historically Maori Affairs was the lender on a lot of Te Ture Whenua land, but even then when there were relatively few owners. These days land which say 5 or 6 owners in the 1950’s now has hundreds of owners. There are trust mechanisms to deal with this but it still can be difficult.
         Presumably Shane will develop an entity to be the lender.
         • Wayne 1.4.2.1.1

           4 February 2019 at 8:17 pm

           Sorry for the pretty rough grammar on that post, done on an iPhone!
           • Cinny 1.4.2.1.1.1

             4 February 2019 at 9:05 pm

             All good Wayne, the value is in the information you provided, worries about any grammatical errors. Thanks again 🙂
     • greywarshark 1.4.3

       4 February 2019 at 12:21 pm

       I think it is because they won’t put the land itself up as security and even then banks might not consider its market value highly.

       https://budgeting.thenest.com/borrow-money-using-land-security-21232.html
     • Cinny 1.4.4

       4 February 2019 at 3:23 pm

       Thanks everyone for the links and info.

       Wayne, cheers for your valuable opinion, made much sense for me 🙂

       There are many properties and businesses on leasehold Maori land around Motueka. So was using that as a comparison. At a guess and judging by their appearance many of these dwellings would have built around the 1950’s, rather than recently.

       The way I was looking at it was…. shouldn’t anyone getting a loan for anything have to provide security.

       If the banks aren’t playing fair then surely setting up a different lending entity would help people in that situation.

       As long as the new lending entity has procedures in place should default occur then surely it shouldn’t be a problem.
     • veutoviper 1.4.5

       4 February 2019 at 4:15 pm

       Cinny, I’ve come late to this but thought I would mention that the same discussion has been had over on Pete George’s blog so here is the link to the relevant post.

       https://yournz.org/2019/02/04/waitangi-inclusion-protest-and-handouts/

       The land ownership issues start about halfway down with a comment by Alan W but forget his and look at Gazza’s reply to him and the ones that follow. similar replies to here but worth a look.
       • Cinny 1.4.5.1

         4 February 2019 at 6:17 pm

         Fantastic VV, thanks beautiful lady, will check it out 🙂
         • veutoviper 1.4.5.1.1

           4 February 2019 at 6:56 pm

           How are those younger “cinnys” ? Back to school yet? And Mum taking some breathes before getting back into work etc? So want to continue to hear their life as OWT would say “going forward”, LOL. Big hugs to you all.
           • Cinny 1.4.5.1.1.1

             4 February 2019 at 10:05 pm

             Big hugs right back at ya 🙂

             Thank goodness for living 15 mins from gorgeous beaches and a fantastic river 🙂 School holidays would be hard work and rather expensive without such amazing natural resources, it really would. So grateful to live where we do.

             Miss 11 is back on Thursday, Miss 14 on Friday 😉

             I’ve an extra week after they go back, before returning to work, gives me time to discover my misplaced sanity, am sure it’s round here somewhere…lmao !

             Absolutely will continue sharing as they keep going forward.

             Lmao the funniest thing this summer was their insistence to take a massive blow up flamingo to the lagoon on a breezy day.

             Miss 14 was like, don’t worry mum I won’t let it blow away….

             So when it took off down the beach running over rather fancy looking tourist sunbathers, I was too busy rolling around on the ground laughing to help her. Crikey it was funny, never seen that girl move so quick 🙂

             Big loves to you and yours from me and mine 🙂
     • patricia bremner 1.4.6

       4 February 2019 at 7:16 pm

       Banks have rules about loaning to “Multiple Owners”. You can get a mortgage for two or sometimes three, but more? NO. Reason, it is hard for them to pin down the liable party.
       Also early laws favoured any owners above Maori owners, who had to prove title in the then Maori Land court.
   • Puckish Rogue 1.5

     4 February 2019 at 11:58 am

     So Ngapuhi are more open to ideas than Massey Uni, good for them
   • alwyn 1.6

     4 February 2019 at 12:12 pm

     ” Apparently much of it is too poor in quality to be viable”.
     Jones at least has never said any such thing. H claims that it is not developed or utilised properly because of the form of ownership it has.
     It could be productive and Jones has said that much of it is in fact quite viable.
2. SaveNZ 2

   4 February 2019 at 9:23 am

   Pro growth lobby group ‘greater Auckland’ are gushing about

   Growing Auckland without growing traffic

   They claim that Seattle has decreased traffic over the years.

   Quick look why at reviews…
   Things like

   SEATTLE

   “I’m a big fan of the Link Light Rail! We landed at SeaTac and were able to take the Link directly to the Westlake Station, which is right in the heart of downtown near Pike Place. Tickets were very easy to buy and just $2.50, compared to a $40+ Uber ride. The interior of the Link was very clean and had AC.”

   AUCKLAND

   NZ last time I checked it was over $200 for a family of four to go one way to the airport from Devonport and actually you couldn’t do it as they trains did not run overnight or early in the morning).

   Costs a family of 4 $40 in HOP cards to start the journey and you can’t get a child HOP without a 72 hour process… then you face bewildering journeys which don’t interconnect, are slow and expensive. Putting in the infrastructure will do nothing if, like Kiwibuild, it is overpriced, a hodge podge leaking public money and assets and not what people want or need but what lobbyists want to profit from and ram through.

   I would advocate that the bigger issue for Auckland is not airport travel but transport for the residents to get around and to keep quality people here and get productivity up!

   SEATTLE

   “The system is clean and easy. I bought an ORCA card at the airport and charged it each day with the $8.00 unlimited rides. Works great and considering it’s a more than 15 mile ride from the airport to downtown? Worth it!

   The trains are clean and well lit, as are the stations. It’s new but I noticed no graffiti and no litter. Even the underground stations are easy. Everything is completely handicap-accessible.”

   AUCKLAND

   As far as I am aware not possible to get $8 unlimited rides per day….. it often takes up to 5 times longer if you use buses which is the dominant mode of transport and even with the planned rail links which are taking years to build the transport links barely cover many areas of Auckland and seem very concentrated in a central areas of 1+ million dollar suburbs.

   Meanwhile those who have been forced further out of Auckland due to the pro growth/ relaxing zoning which has delivered the promised affordable housing (sarcasm) many workers in Auckland now have hours of commute needed which is not fixed by the new transport advocated as it doesn’t cover all the outer cheaper areas of Auckland. So those commuters are still left with few transport options in spite of paying their petrol taxes and rates, and their options will still be slow, expensive and inflexible now with no relief in many areas planned for decades.

   SEATTLE

   “As a woman who often travels on her own, my priorities are safety (including security being accessible), cleanliness, and timeliness (when in Seattle, I’m often there to visit a friend… and so I want to feel confident in texting him when I’ll arrive, etc). I’ve never had any moment of feeling unsafe while on the Link Light Rail, and I’m usually arriving or leaving late at night. Definitely a positive aspect of the travel experience.

   The Link Light Rail is also an inexpensive and convenient way to get around. The light rail runs often, on a timely schedule, and doesn’t cost much at all to get to/from Downtown or a variety of other stops. Plus? It saves the sanity of myself, my colleagues (we often have meetings in Seattle), or my best friend (who would otherwise probably be talked into driving me to the airport). ;)”

   AUCKLAND

   In Auckland Britomart has got rid of the conductors so now graffiti and thieves are apparently openly mugging lap tops from the formally well staffed Britomart where you used to be able to get on, pay cash and just enjoy your easy journey which sounds like is no longer in Auckland…

   SUM UP

   … love how the pro growth lobby always have these wonderful examples of other cities whose experience seem to bare no reality to the NZ options and even with the spend of public transport are not going to work if their customer service, pricing and speed are not up to scratch with clearly with the culture of those involved in AT and the corruption in transport in NZ is high.

   Transport in NZ has become about profiteering and lobbying and big tenders and so forth rather than spending on the actual transport and the actual quality of staff once they get the infrastructure built.

   Once they get the infrastructure built they have so many over runs to big construction and banks that they then spend all the ratepayers and taxpayers money on middle men, consultants and fat cats and bad IT who advise them to make it up by starving the actual service of quality and overpricing and under delivering it.

   That’s what needs to be fixed. The culture and the lobbyists and the one dimensional thinking of profiteering people and those that echo that.
   • Sacha 2.1

     4 February 2019 at 10:08 am

     Link for people who want to read it for themselves: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2019/02/04/growing-auckland-without-growing-traffic/
     • SaveNZ 2.1.1

       4 February 2019 at 10:55 am

       Be aware that greater Auckland premises seemed to be largely owned by Patrick Reynolds… https://www.businesscheck.co.nz/ltd/9429036736348/

       The same guy that put himself forward to be on the Auckland Transport board while 2 democratically elected councillors are forced off the board.

       https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11736212

       Presumably owning multiple multi million dollar houses around Grey Lynn and Westmere that require little commute gives Patrick and his mates at “Greater Auckland” an insight into commuter woes and poverty… sarcasm… and getting $41k from Auckland Transport in fees is not a conflict of interest nor his approach to get himself an unelected position on the AT board.

       “Patrick Reynolds, of the Transport Blog, has applied for an observer role on the board, despite the blog stating it “is not associated in any way with Auckland Transport”.

       [lprent: Umm an interesting smear
       1. When I checked at Greater Auckland, I saw that Patrick Reynolds blogs there about every month for most of this year. There is nothing that indicates ownership. Like this site there have been a lot of different people contributing posts over the last decade.

       2. Your link was for his company and listed an address. Nothing in the link indicated that he owned it. So on the face of your ‘evidence’ that would be a simple lie. It is exactly the same as saying that I own The Standard because I’m listed as the administrative and technical contract for the domain name that we rent. Or that my partners house that is on the domain docs is owned by me – which it isn’t.

       3. Had to hunt for the link. He applied to be an observer in 2016. The way you wrote your comment made me assume that this was current.

       4. Somehow you failed to mention or quote that:-

       Reynolds is seeking a customer focus committee board observer role – a non-voting and unpaid position.

       (my italics). Quite how you got to an unpaid position being paid 41k per year says more about your motives than it does for Mr Reynolds. But I’m going to treat that as a direct deliberate lie since you explicitly stated that he was getting paid and then selectively quoted another part of the article.

       5. Another part of the article was also informative and not mentioned or quoted by you in what looks like another deliberate omission (bearing in mind that at the time he was only applying for observer status).

       Reynolds said if he got a board role “I would likely cease posting on the blog, or only do so with full disclosure and approval of the board. Like all boards there is a confidentiality agreement to adhere to.

       . This hardly sounds like any kind of intent to deceive if he got the position. And it is accordance with the stated policy of the site (which seems to have remained constant) – see point 6.

       6. So lets look at what is currently on the About at Greater Auckland

       We’re not associated in any way with Auckland Transport.

       and

       Greater Auckland has a policy of only publishing or discussing information that is either:
       already available in the public domain, or
       willingly provided by agencies or individuals as the owners of the intellectual property, or
       supplied to contributors under the provisions of the Official Information Act, or
       original research.

       and

       The opinions expressed in posts are solely the opinions of the individuals writing, at a particular point in time. They are not the opinions of Greater Auckland, or of any other organisations with which the authors are affiliated, or of the employers of the authors.

       So I suspect that he wasn’t given observer status. A quick search doesn’t find any. And as a sloppy idiot you didn’t appear to have even bothered to check.

       I’d also point out that being interested in an issue like architecture and urban planning (or in my case politics) and wanting to know more about what is going on is hardly an offence against the public. In my case I occasionally attend political conferences for Labour, Greens, Mana and NZ First as ‘media’. I sometimes turn up at court and council meetings. And if I got interested enough in AT, they’d find me knocking on their door as well. This is hardly abnormal. There are a pile of others who also do these kinds of public oversight. But if you want to do it, then you need to learn not to deliberately lie about facts.

       What I am concerned about is that you dropped these defamatory false facts here. I can see 6 reasons to ban you for stupidly putting this site at legal risk for the sake of what looks like a deliberate unsubstantiated smear. So one month each as an educational experience. I hope you enjoy that as much as felt giving them to you. See you in July (or not). But I’d suggest that you never put me at legal risk again, or you’ll get a permanent boot for being a stupid arsehole. ]
       • Sacha 2.1.1.1

         4 February 2019 at 11:02 am

         What makes you think that having an official address registered on the companies register means that you own it?
       • Sacha 2.1.1.2

         4 February 2019 at 11:06 am

         “2 democratically elected councillors are forced off the board”

         – a proposal by the new mayor which a majority of councillors supported (or it could not have happened). Ironically, done to reduce potential conflicts of interest which seem to exercise you so much in others.
         • SaveNZ 2.1.1.2.1

           4 February 2019 at 11:35 am

           [deleted]

           [lprent: Repeats some deliberate lying defamation. ]
           • OnceWasTim 2.1.1.2.1.1

             4 February 2019 at 1:44 pm

             “I’m afraid I can’t help pointing out the discrepancy and why Auckland is such a transport basket case and how the money is just frittered away with these idiots.”
             I can’t help pointing out that Patrick Reynolds and someone like Simon WIlson should convene a Q+A over a Chardonnay or a decent little red and smashed avocado on toast – perhaps even drop a Jolly Green Giant together (going forward).
             Aucklanders really do deserve themsleves sometimes.

             The other day I pointed out a link (primarily for @ Gleangreens and others interest on light rail).
             Not a gambler, though I’d be prepared to bet a light rail solution will be pushed for on a gauge that’s incompatible with existing infrastructure.

             I suppose tho’ there could be a few architecturally- designed ‘hubs’ at various places, and its possible a few homeless (if properly designed) might use them to doss down.

             Greater AUckland, or Transport Blog, or however they want to ‘re-image’ from time to time do have some good ideas and proposals that are well reasoned.
             Just a shame they’re such wankers really
             • Gabby …

               4 February 2019 at 2:02 pm

               Central government would have to come to the party though timbo. Gfoffloffle can’t have ratepayer money being wasted on useful things.
               • OnceWasTim …

                 4 February 2019 at 2:46 pm

                 High time they did. Although if and when they do, I hope it’s not just to enable the egos and muppetry of the smashed avocados who haven’t yet seen fit to ask those that probably elected them what they think and want.
                 But in any event, I’m sure it’ll all be gorgeous darling, until it goes tits up.

                 (I did try and reply differently and in tune with a genuine desire for a discussion – oooops ‘conversation’ @ Gabby. Unfortunately, my fingers are somewhat phatter than they once used to be and I suspect it was all lost when a key was hit )

                 Let’s CELEBRATE small mercies though shall we?
                 Greater Auckland, or Transport Blog or the Toblerone are really gorgeous aren’t they? and the do spend an enormous amount of work-life-balanced hours contributing to the greater good.
             • SaveNZ …

               4 February 2019 at 2:50 pm

               They were better as transport blog, when they rebranded as Greater Auckland, it’s now two central Auckland wankers pontificating, but officials are so dumb in NZ they still think GA have some insights, when in reality their views (like comparing Seattle to Auckland transport) have no bearing on reality and they probably never use public transport to get to work, and live minutes away for their commute from their multimillion dollar abodes (or at least Patrick Reynolds) seems to!

               How about they commute daily from Kare Kare like Mike Lee then they can realise there is a problem as their plan doesn’t go there but developers still get to knock down 500 year old Kauri for parking in Titirangi with their relaxed zoning ideas and the masses of cars, pollution, erosion, environmental destruction, unaffordability and flooding follows the council !
               • OnceWasTim …

                 4 February 2019 at 3:04 pm

                 In some ways I ‘spose you should count yourself lucky – there’s an entire regional council (aided and abetted by a local one) that got captured.

                 Seattle/San Francisco figured highly in that scenario too by way of comparisons and justifications for demolishing a perfectly functioning transport system for one that for me (and a shitload of others) is nw unusable. AND I thought it would all be ‘fixed’ by end of year 2018.

                 I hope some of those responsible have the cheek to stand for re-election again, but really most of it was down to the unelected holding tickets that needed clipping
             • lprent …

               4 February 2019 at 4:52 pm

               Personally I really don’t think that we need any more transport types like light rail in the mix.

               They already have the heavy rail Onehunga line that gets almost all of the way there. It shouldn’t be that hard to extend it (the bridge would probably be the hardest bit), and there is a hell of a lot of freight to and from the airport industrial area these days.

               Trying to retrofit trams into the Auckland road system is just a disaster waiting to happen. You’d have to bump most of the parking in Dominion Road and bowl over a lot of the housing to put in carparks (or just get rid of the shops). And you still have to get over the upper Manakau. And the way that it is being planned seems to be based on having lots of stops to service locals. Which is fine as a feeder line. But totally useless if you actually want to get to the airport. Frankly is you wanted to do the local feeder corridor, then just boot the cars off Dominion Rd and make it buses only. It’d make more sense, you’d get less screaming, and it’d only take a few months.

               I (unfortunately) have to do this running too and from the airport a bit too frequently in the last few years. The last thing I’d want after a 30 odd hour trip back from Europe or a 10 hour from Singapore would be to waste another couple of hours getting home. Especially with the kind of luggage I have to carry wit electronics and test equipment. Sure Dominion Road is just half a kilometer up the road. But it is on the other side of Newton Gully, and you can count the number of buses that cross that during a day on one hand (if there are any left that is).

               The trip would be to take the slow tram to Britomart, then a bus without luggage capacity to the K Rd end of Ponsonby Rd. It’d be a couple of hours of further pain. It’d be faster

               As I’ll get a taxi and get home 15 minutes after leaving the airport. Or a shuttle and get home in 30 minutes without having any more luggage aggravation.

               I really do wish that some of the fools commenting on light rail in the inner suburbs would just look at what is involved and stop trying to say that we want it. It would have been good 30 years ago when the traffic was a third of what it is now. These days it will just be another disaster of yet another decade of roadworks.
               • Shadrach …

                 4 February 2019 at 5:02 pm

                 Loud applause. Well said, probably the best summation of the issue I’ve seen.
                 • Jenny - How to get there? …

                   4 February 2019 at 10:02 pm

                   What I have been saying for months.

                   I am suspicious of the whole light rail thing.

                   North Wharf tram is a good example of what it is actually all about.

                   A cutesy but impractical public transport option, built at public expense, but a good selling point for the customers the developers hope to attract to their gentrification project. When the time comes to flogging off the hastily built apartment buildings and condos. – “Oh look darling a tram, just like San Francisco”.
                   After a while when everyone has got over the cute retro tram and the developers have moved on, everyone loses interest. Starts running only on weekends and then monthly then not at all. Maybe a few diehard locals try to resurect the tram as a heritage project, but the costs in labour and time and money and compliance are way too high for voluntary amateur tram enthusiasts.

                   Part of the propaganda for light rail down Dominion Road was that it would be part of a public transport network to the airport. But actually when I pressed the supporters of this project I discovered that their plans only extended to the end of the line stopping at Three Kings where a park and ride would be built
               • OnceWasTim …

                 4 February 2019 at 6:14 pm

                 /agreed.
                 The light-rail to the airport proposal is a very Auckland-centric way of looking at it.
                 I haven’t been down Dominion Road in over ten years but I imagine it’s a nightmare by now.
                 It all seems a bit short-sighted to me when we’re thinking about pushing population out to the regions (Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua), and then as you mention – the freight aspect.
                 It’s as if Auckland International Airport is only for Aucklanders when it’s a regional/national airport.
                 As you say, extend from Onehunga or Puhinui even. (Haven’t been near there in a while either but I imagine the ‘forward thinking, best practice’ planners have been busy putting obstacles and development in the way of a rail corridor which would once have been pretty easy).
                 As a Wellingtonian, thank god there are CHC-SIN flights if and when needed
                 • In Vino …

                   4 February 2019 at 7:23 pm

                   As sniggering non-Aucklander, I have no hope, because none of the current schemes are going to work with roads gridlocked.
                   Problem: Look at the number of new cars (including 2nd-hand imports) that are going onto our roads every year compared to the smaller number of cars coming off our roads. At the current rate, we are all doomed to Auckland’s gridlock within years.
                   The car sales industry must be a very powerful lobby group, because nobody has had the courage to point out the obvious: cars are far too cheap, and we truly need fewer of them.
                   Stem the flood of cheap cars!
                   Right wing propaganda will be deafening, but we need to cut emissions anyway.
                   • OnceWasTim …

                     4 February 2019 at 8:17 pm

                     I can’t find the link I thought @ Cleangreen might be interested in from the other day, but I thought there was potential for something like it in Auckland, AND elsewhere (e.g. Tauranga -airport or Papamoa, and on to Te Puke)
                     Tram-trains was the name I was trying to retrieve from my aging mind:
                     https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=b-JXXOrxNM2_9QP6rpqIAQ&q=tram-train&btnK=Google+Search&oq=tram-train&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0l5j0i30l5.573.4479..5092…0.0..0.342.2292.0j7j3j1……0….1..gws-wiz…..0..0i131.az8PNrycWdI

                     Apparently Manchester or somewhere like that are considering it, but maybe something like Auckland CIty to Puhinui, then across to Auckland Airport – but then I haven’t been along Puhinui Road in over 15 years. From what I can see, it’d be about 5 or 6 kms – surely not beyond the realms of a team of engineers, planners and associated ticket-clippers
               • Psycho Milt …

                 4 February 2019 at 6:49 pm

                 I had to visit Uni of New South Wales in Sydney last November, and the street outside the apartment I rented was closed for the construction of a tram station. No on-site parking for the apartment’s guests for the duration. I asked them how long they were stuck with a big construction project right outside my bedroom window, and they shrugged. Been going on for ages, will continue going on for ages. The only certainties are further missed deadlines and cost over-runs. No indeed, certainly isn’t good for business but everyone’s resigned to it. Every local I spoke to had nothing but curses for the project. Can’t for the life of me see why the government is keen to set up its own version of that in Auckland.
                 • lprent …

                   4 February 2019 at 7:26 pm

                   If I was looking at doing a light rail project or dedicated bus roads, the very first thing I’d do is to start constructing multi-level parking off the roads. There is nothing quite as unproductive as the cost of main artery roads clogged with parking. If you force the on-street parking off the main roads you usually nearly double the road width. Which makes it easier to build the transport changes.

                   Cars aren’t going away because you need them as shopping baskets and to go and visit family and friends. The trick is to make sure that there is actually accessible and cheapish parking that doesn’t just chew up public spaces like congested roads.

                   And cars are often getting used less. We have a 1993 Toyota Corona as our sole car at present (we’re eying up the next one now for maintenance costs). The Corona burns its miles either going to Bethells, Rotorua, the airport and the supermarket (the latter is because it is almost impossible to be at home when deliveries are made and shopping is best done by hand at 9pm Sunday night). It seldom if ever commutes. For that I have a e-bike (worth more than the car and much lower running and maintenance costs) and my partner mainly works at home. We have two parking spaces downstairs here. That is where the car lives and it gets filled about every 5 weeks.

                   Sure you can dial up a car and then ride 3-4 kilometres down to get it. But often hiring a car in Auckland feels like it is always Queens birthday weekend. Too much paper work, expensive and a lot of work. Not to mention that they don’t have any safe place to park the bike while I head off to Rotorua.
               • Sacha …

                 4 February 2019 at 7:46 pm

                 Like so much other transport policy, this has not been communicated properly to the public. Some key points I’ve learned:

                 – This is much less about the airport than has been made out.

                 – There is not enough roadspace in the central city to fit many more buses from Dominion Rd or anywhere else.

                 – Even after the CRL comes into service, the current rail network cannot carry enough trains to add new airport *and* northwest *and* north shore lines. A major reason is that Auckland runs freight and passengers along the same tracks.

                 – Another high-capacity network must be built over the next few decades, but there is not enough extra land set aside for trains either. However, light rail can fit down existing roads and replace busways like the northern one (which was future-proofed to do that).

                 A useful post on the whole thing: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/12/06/a-brief-history-of-the-light-rail-project/
                 • OnceWasTim …

                   4 February 2019 at 8:42 pm

                   “This is much less about the airport than has been made out.”
                   Seems that way to me too.
                   It also seems to me that along the rail corridors (looking at google Earth), there is sufficient space for ‘third railing’ in many places as additional capacity is required.
                   • Sacha …

                     4 February 2019 at 10:38 pm

                     There is funding right now to add a 3rd rail at the main pinchpoint but apparently it would take more than that to support all future freight and passenger movements.
                 • lprent …

                   5 February 2019 at 9:09 am

                   This is much less about the airport than has been made out.

                   Sure. Unless you’re looking at an slow and leisurely dawdle while the tram makes innumerable stops. This isn’t hard to figure out.

                   But that still leaves the problem of transport to and from the airport unanswered. In November that was about 1.8 million passengers in total.

                   https://corporate.aucklandairport.co.nz/-/media/Files/Corporate/Monthly_Traffic_Reports/2018/AIA-Monthly-Traffic-Update-November-2018.ashx?la=en&hash=3B72E875216A04ADBA80FB353DCEF595FA54656F

                   Remember that these are people carrying luggage that really don’t fit well in trams. All of those people need transport somewhere and they add a base load of passengers steadily all day (unlike a commuter pattern).

                   Trying to sell a tramway as a solution to that is simply stupid.

                   There is not enough roadspace in the central city to fit many more buses from Dominion Rd or anywhere else.

                   That is why the CRL is going in. That is the key to opening up the public transport around town. But much of that commuter transport is going to be heavy rail.

                   There is currently a problem with buses. But really the issue isn’t those. The real problem is having cars taking up half of the road. This is pretty obvious when you look at the speed and capacity of Northern busway.

                   Dominion Road is a 4 lane highway. It was designed that way when it was built for both car and (I think) dual tramway. See the old routes
                   https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Auckland-Isthmus-tramlines.jpg

                   And trams have problems because they rely on tracks being laid. It is inflexible and a real construction problem to put in on already busy roads. You’re still going to have buses for the cross roads. Wheeled transport is way easier to use outside of the heavy rail routes.

                   Capacity? FFS…

                   All of those old tram roads were designed for extra width with two car lanes and (I think) dual tram lines.

                   Those roads currently have two problems. They have parking on both sides mostly added in after the tramways were removed. And they have cross roads with lights. But they actually have a lot of wasted capacity that mainly requires regulation to use.

                   Get rid of the parking first. Then get limit or even rid of the cars so that buses can use two lanes each way – or bowl a few shops to put in stations.

                   They’d better with zero parking, limited car traffic and dedicated bus lanes and bridges rather than lights.
               • greywarshark …

                 5 February 2019 at 11:55 am

                 lprent – transport ideas with user background to back them up. Good.
                 People waffling on about nostalgic ideas that might or might not have worked back in the day…. Bad.

                 Now is now. Everything is just as hard to carry forward AND implement as it used to be. Then they, whoever, didn’t manage to get their good ideas through. Now it is essential we stick to what is possible, and choose the best, with some additions worth incorporating from the other good but losing plans, and go rolling forward with the most satisfactory allowing for the practical not theoretical.

                 Theories are what our economic system works on – that is why it doesn’t work for lots of people. Can’t we learn fast and straighten up and fly right!
       • Sacha 2.1.1.3

         4 February 2019 at 11:13 am

         “getting $41k from Auckland Transport in fees is not a conflict of interest nor his approach to get himself an unelected position on the AT board.”

         We have had this exact conversation before. How could being contracted by particular teams in the organisation as a professional photographer help someone get appointed to a board sub-committee or otherwise influence policy? Having relevant background expertise and a history of civic engagement on the matter is a path to appointment.

         I agree that declaring the other relationship is the right thing to do.
         • SaveNZ 2.1.1.3.1

           4 February 2019 at 11:38 am

           I think it was his statement that they have nothing to do with AT on their blog that was this issue.

           [lprent: And you can show that he actually got an observer position? The issue is that you are putting this site at risk with your factual lying. ]
           • Sacha 2.1.1.3.1.1

             4 February 2019 at 4:35 pm

             @lprent – Reynolds does have an unpaid appointed position on that sub-committee as you noted above. He has earned money via unrelated contracts with the agency for photography based on his specialised professional skills and reputation as a recorder of urban form. There is no evidence either fact is related.

             Oh and he “teaches at [the] School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland” according to his LinkedIn profile, which might help a person secure a position on a specialist committee.
             • lprent …

               4 February 2019 at 5:09 pm

               Reynolds does have an unpaid appointed position on that sub-committee as you noted above

               I had a look on the AT site in the few minutes over a late lunch. Couldn’t see anything. AT should really make that more visible.

               But good to know – the chance that he did have the position was why I added the other relevant parts of the article and the About at GA. Being an observer doesn’t exactly dip into the nefarious possible collusion region. After all those colluders in the mainstream media do this all of the time for pay (from their employers) and their observer status is both encourages and protected by legislation.

               I think that what me annoyed with this particular smear was the sloppiness of what was presented. As soon as I saw the word ‘observer’, I was wondering how that was a paid position. It seemed unlikely to be so. The second irritation was that any such unpaid position was straight voluntary public service because they aren’t involved in the decision making process. And then I looked at the ‘ownership’ evidence presented which was just ridiculous.

               Net effect was that I couldn’t stand behind that pile of trash and view it as fair opinion. It was just defamation.
3. Mirabile Dictu 3

   4 February 2019 at 9:51 am

   New Zealand must now declare that it will not engages in more trade talks with the UK unless it gives a binding commitment to ensuring there will be full regulatory alignment on the island of Ireland.
   Brexit will lead to English soldiers on the streets in Ireland again if the backstop is ignored.
   The Good Friday Agreement brought to an end a period which saw 3500 people killed in the UK because of tensions arising from its constitutional make-up. The GFA is underpinned by both parts of Ireland operating within the Single Market and the Customs Union.
   The London government thinks it can avoid its responsibilities under this International Agreement which came into effect with referendums on both parts of Ireland on the same day in 1998.

   Minister David Parker must publicly make it clear that any post Brexit trade deal with the UK is conditional on the GFA being fully supported by the legally binding terms of the backstop.
   • Mirabile Dictu 3.1

     4 February 2019 at 1:34 pm

     Foreign Affairs and Trade are calling fore submissions on the trade agreement with the UK. Next week is the deadline.

     “Share your views
     We want to hear from as many people as possible on a future free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

     Your comments will inform our overall approach to a future agreement. For more information about an agreement, see here.

     https://www.haveyoursay.mfat.govt.nz/share-your-views“
     • Gabby 3.1.1

       4 February 2019 at 1:59 pm

       MFAT are raring to show that the poms aren’t the most piss useless negotiators ever in history.
       • SaveNZ 3.1.1.1

         4 February 2019 at 2:38 pm

         Can NZ send another arrogant drunk to negotiate on our behalf like the TPPA that costs jobs, the environment, ignores climate change and sells off our assets for nothing or peanuts while protecting big polluting business? Yes we can be worse negotiators than the Brits.
   • Wayne 3.2

     4 February 2019 at 2:10 pm

     Why will the lack of a backstop lead to soldiers being deployed?
     The UK has zero incentive to do anything on the Irish border. No controls, no checks. To intents an open border. The EU wants Ireland to treat the border as a hard border. They might formally say “yes” to Brussels but in practice actually do nothing.
     So what if goods and services go over the border with no impediment. They will basically all stay within the island.
     • Psycho Milt 3.2.1

       4 February 2019 at 2:51 pm

       The Tories have no interest in a hard border, sure. Their interest is only in freeing themselves of the EU’s inconvenient (to Tories) environmental and human rights rules, to which a border’s irrelevant. However, a lot of the people who voted Leave did so exactly because they want a hard border with the EU to prevent freedom of movement, and they’re not likely to look kindly on May telling them that actually the government’s leaving an open border with the EU because migration control isn’t a priority.

       So, yeah, totally – no-deal Brexit almost certainly means a hard border around the UK’s Irish colony, which in turn means the Good Friday agreement is toast, which in turn means British soldiers back on the streets.
4. veutoviper 4

   4 February 2019 at 9:57 am

   Sometime yesterday, The Daily Blog put up a notice advising they would be publishing an exclusive interview with Jami-Lee Ross this morning at 7am and this is now up on TDB.

   “TDB’s mental health blogger, Hadley Grace Robinson-Lewis, sat down with Jami-Lee Ross to discuss mental health, harassment allegations and the politics behind his fight with National”

   https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/02/04/exclusive-tdb-interview-with-jami-lee-ross/

   IMHO this interview gives a fairly raw and detailed perspective from Ross himself about what happened last year in terms of his mental health, the breakdown of his relationships including with Simon Bridges and the National Party, the role of Paula Bennett, Sarah Dowie and the other unnamed women in the Newsroom article, the late night/early morning text, and the pressures leading to his eventual being taken into compulsory mental health care for a short period of time.

   This is very much a mental health story told from the perspective of someone who has recently experienced an episode, with also some clarification of the political aspects.

   It is not an easy read, repetitive at times, but I am pleased that editing has been left to a minimum as this could well have distorted the content and perspective being conveyed.

   [And for those who think this is all just a sex scandal story which should no longer be news or discussed as some of you have, don’t bother reading it. Ditto If you are looking for those aspects as you will be disappointed.]
   • ianmac 4.1

     4 February 2019 at 8:16 pm

     Thanks Veutoviper for the link. Jamie is telling it from his point of view and naturally puts his own perspective. The interview does have a ring of authenticity though and could be a position anyone could find themselves in.
     It is very hard to admit that you need help. You could easily fear that once “weakness” is admitted, then those around as friends or employers, would retreat and never trust/respect you again.
     Wonder what will happen to Jamie?
5. A 5

   4 February 2019 at 10:44 am

   Dunno about anyone else but when I hear the term “beads and blankets” my very first thought is **** you too. Really he needs better advice.

   https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/110349877/simon-bridges-likens-spending-on-maori-land-to-beads-and-blankets
   • marty mars 5.1

     4 February 2019 at 11:47 am

     Yeah me too. He has poor political judgment and that’s being complimentary.
   • Psycho Milt 5.2

     4 February 2019 at 2:01 pm

     Jesus Christ, someone clap a hand over his gob before he starts talking about going to Waitangi to “smokum peace pipe.”
6. marty mars 6

   4 February 2019 at 12:06 pm

   Don’t give this racist a platform ffs

   “If we’re going to solve these issues of racism we have to understand it,” Waitangi organiser Rueben Taipari says.

   “We may have to confront those issues in order to create a better future for our children. So the best place to understand that discussion is from the man himself.”

   https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/don-brash-guaranteed-protection-at-waitangi-speech.amp.html

   Rubbish. If you don’t know what he thinks you haven’t been listening mate – open your bloody ears.
   • veutoviper 6.1

     4 February 2019 at 1:12 pm

     Cool down, e hoa. Its called free speech.

     Its not often I agree with Maui, but he/she put it well yesterday on OM under the thread at 9:

     “Disagree, better to invite the devil in and see what he wants, rather than having him pissing on your tent from the outside. Well played Reuben.”

     I did not see the AM show this morning where Brash was interviewed (see Dennis Frank @1 above), but Brash was interviewed by Suzie Ferguson on Morning Report this morning where she challenged him to apply his principles of equal treatment (no special Maori representation on local councils, boards, no separate Maori seats in Parliament etc) to all the other situations of inequality such as the fact that Maori are twice more likely to be imprisoned for crimes than pakeha etc. Worth a listen (8+ minutes)

     https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018680956/don-brash-at-waitangi-i-m-going-to-listen

     I just hope that he goes, there is no big protest etc, he speaks, and then he is ignored.
     • marty mars 6.1.1

       4 February 2019 at 1:18 pm

       No it isn’t free speech at all imo it is hate speech. I’m not interested in the appeasement angle.
       • marty mars 6.1.1.1

         4 February 2019 at 1:49 pm

         Annette Sykes is someone I rate very highly

         and as she says, “Hmmm Im not sure I want this Waitangi to focus any time on the kind of words of hate and privilege this man invokes… Pakeha Allies like Waitangi Network Andrew Judd are more deserving of my time.”

         maui on this blog I don’t rate at all although like brash they are entitled to their opinion.
         • marty mars 6.1.1.1.1

           4 February 2019 at 2:21 pm

           Brash summed up.

           “But a strongly-held opinion doesn’t always go hand in hand with a depth of knowledge.”

           https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/26-12-2018/summer-reissue-how-did-a-77-year-old-white-guy-become-the-go-to-media-voice-on-maori-issues/
           • marty mars 6.1.1.1.1.1

             4 February 2019 at 4:35 pm

             Tautoko

             But Tino Rangatiratanga supporter Te Ao Pritchard and Dr Brash and Mr Tamaki are coopting the hard work done by Māori to create a safe space for Māori to discuss their concerns.

             “We’re saying don’t bring hate speakers. It’s not about understanding their point. It’s about being really clear, like our legacy holders – Whina Cooper said ‘Not one more acre, not one more time are we going to let people trample us and take our whenua.’ Not one more racist. Not one more hate speaker. Not one more person who undermines tino rangatiratanga,” she says.

             https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MjEwMzA/Te-Tii-accused-of-opening-door-to-hate-speech
       • veutoviper 6.1.1.2

         4 February 2019 at 2:01 pm

         Fine, but I am more worried about your BP and health – and two beautiful children who need/want their Dad to be around a lot longer. Forget Brash. He is not worth it.

         And BTW I also rate Annette very highly. Maui not so, but every now and then …
         • marty mars 6.1.1.2.1

           4 February 2019 at 2:05 pm

           Sweet you’re concerned but please don’t be, I insist.
       • One Two 6.1.1.3

         4 February 2019 at 2:19 pm

         Brash has showm is colours over an extended time period…

         There is no reason he should be provided any such platform to distract and deflect , which is what he has been doing for decades…

         Brash and his ilk are the problem…they can’t ever be part of a solution…

         He should be sidelined until time runs out on him…
7. Dv 7

   4 February 2019 at 12:47 pm

   Re the unruly brits
   2are in court, re roofing scam. Don’t seem to Able to get a lawyer　ｈａ．

   One is on run, hasn’t turned up to ａ　court date.
   Apparently as has name suppression ｓｏ　they can publish pic of him.
   Seems to me don’t turn up means loss of name suppression.

   Also are names picked up by immigration to stop them buggering off．
   • greywarshark 7.1

     4 February 2019 at 1:04 pm

     Time to bring back the stocks so we can see the knaves and knavesses who are playing us for fools.

     And for immigrants who transgress, a quick punishment like cleaning up the sludge from the sewage ponds for a day, with a dog to bite them if they stop, but with short breaks each hour to pee and water themselves, and then be deported.

     We are relatively kind to everyone except our own poor struggling people, let’s change that and spend money on helping them. For a start don’t use jails as punishment for minor crimes, money wasted that should go on learning skills enabling reparation, and personal goal building.

     And don’t let nasty crims from overseas cost us more money by giving them jail time. Short period of work and humiliation with some deprivation of comforts and then send them back to the ratnest that raised them.
     • veutoviper 7.1.1

       4 February 2019 at 1:22 pm

       “And don’t let nasty crims from overseas cost us more money by giving them jail time. Short period of work and humiliation with some deprivation of comforts and then send them back to the ratnest that raised them.

       Now we know who has been advising the Australian Government on their policy of sending NZers resident in Australia back to NZ if they commit crimes there regardless of how tenuous their links to NZ are. LOL
       • greywarshark 7.1.1.1

         4 February 2019 at 1:29 pm

         That doesn’t present your thinking in a good light, petty.
         • veutoviper 7.1.1.1.1

           4 February 2019 at 2:16 pm

           That whole comment does not present your thinking in a good light, grey – not just the paragraph I quoted.

           Where are you Christian principles when you start calling for stocks, dogs to bite “immigrants’ etc …
           • greywarshark 7.1.1.1.1.1

             5 February 2019 at 12:15 pm

             Christian principles? It is inappropriate to bring use that term as virtue signaling into a discussion of how to punish criminals in a different way than the present. It is necessary to try for objectivity to get an overview of what is going on in our society, and the growth of bad attitudes and conditions as times get harder.

             Clinging to past approaches and emotional attitudes that didn’t deal with problems and calling them ethical, and then calling out people who recognise the reality, is not going near to devising humane ways of dealing with chronic criminality. I think you are confusing concern about reality with being unChristian while I see it as the opposite. If a situation is bad, what can be done to change present practices is the question; not how can we wring our hands best and wish it all away. How will that help when something bad has happened, and is being repeated?
8. greywarshark 8

   4 February 2019 at 12:52 pm

   We always have to be aware of injustices, and it is a shame and a disgrace that in this Year of Our Lord 2019 there is so much venal evil around.

   If you hate injustice you will want to give a little to this woman who has not been able to bring her Court-agreed example of disgraceful conduct to Court in the given time. A decent society would rush through a law change enabling an application for extension of time in cases that clearly indicate a requirement for it.

   No Right Turn has the details.

   https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/01/this-isnt-justice.html
   • Gabby 8.1

     4 February 2019 at 1:56 pm

     Whose dumb idea was it to pursue the case, knowing about the time limit?
     • veutoviper 8.1.1

       4 February 2019 at 2:22 pm

       That is one issue among many others relevant to this disturbing case.

       That NRT blog post was two weeks ago on 21 Jan however, and I understand a lot has been going on behind the scenes within various parts of govt, NZDF etc since then.

       I expect that we will be seeing some changes to various laws over coming months to remove the anomalies that led to the ridiculous judgement that had to be made under existing law. I also doubt that the woman concerned will be required to pay the costs awarded and they will be met by other means. The PM already stepped in earlier in regard to some other much higher costs. More details about the case here in a Herald article also on 21 Jan.

       https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12193934
     • greywarshark 8.1.2

       5 February 2019 at 12:18 pm

       Good question. And second question is why there is not an avenue of redress for this woman or something being done to ensure that there is something going through the political system that can redress wrongs after statutory legal limits have been passed. Like the Ombusdsman,?

       vv may have that covered.
9. SaveNZ 9

   4 February 2019 at 1:20 pm

   Heartbreaking story – what a tragedy. You have to feel for the family, losing their two children and also suffering from permanent damage.

   https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200593

   What can you say, over someone who is 71 for what ever reason driving a truck ridiculously long hours and tailgating.

   There needs to be so much more scrutiny of truck driver industry and reduction of their long hours. This is an industry that has had too many workers bought into NZ dropping the pay rates which has lowered wages for the industry. This driver was 71 years old and maybe poverty was why he was still working long hours, who knows? Someone I knew said that when the truck firms started paying $18p/h then he knew to leave the industry (he was in his 40’s and probably highly experienced) as there was no long term prospects there for him as it became impossible to get a pay rise.

   And now there seems to be endless stories around truck accidents and the maintenance of trucks. But the police and AT don’t seem to like that story, so we hear instead accidents are caused by speeding car drivers only. Not the rise in subcontracted trucks and drivers that may have poor/fake maintenance and fake drivers licences and drivers who are working too long hours, not training and retaining people and using workers past retirement age and able to have the dash cam suspiciously stop working a few minutes before a crash….
   • greywarshark 9.1

     4 February 2019 at 1:27 pm

     Tailgating is a habit and a driving practice that is done purposefully. Has to be unlearned with a proper respect for intelligent driving rules that it pays to follow because they have scientific facts like reaction times to back them up.
   • Molly 9.2

     4 February 2019 at 4:03 pm

     Australia has addressed this issue, along with others in their COR (Chain of Reponsibility) legislation. Where poor record keeping, (deliberate or not) and the quality of driving and time management is passed up the chain of command. Companies and managers that have unrealistic or unsafe expectations of drivers’ workloads and schedules can be identified and prosecuted.

     It came into force October last year.
10. greywarshark 10

    4 February 2019 at 1:23 pm

    Christchurch water taking. This story from No Right Turn is a wake-up call. We are on a list of the most open country in the world to start up a business. It sounds like an award for The Most Gullible Country in the World. We are the country of the worm that will slide along the floor and lick your shoes clean if you have money you say you will invest in something.

    And most of the other worms just sit around drinking beer (principally water), exporting milk and wine as major industries (made of water), exporting water (the essential of life for us and everything on the planet) for no or hardly any return to us. And me I like listening to ironic humour like The Four Yorkshiremen – ‘oh we had it tough we had to lick the road clean every morning’. Humour has to be sharp to get through our complacent thick hides.

    https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2019/02/sucking-us-dryer.html
    Sucking us dryer
    Cloud Ocean Water is sucking water out of Christchurch’s aquifers for export, without paying a cent for it. Their existing water consents already pose a long-term threat to Christchurch’s water supply. And now they’re planning to take even more: Cloud Ocean …
    

    Time for some serious protest. One of the selling points for setting up business in NZ is that we are so compliant and stable politically. Perhaps clouding our spotless reputation might put off some of this business investment with a net effect that divests and devastates the country’s resources including us – we are a resource to each other and to our environment and vice versa. We stay quiet any longer, and it will be a case of our vice and no versa.
11. marty mars 11

    4 February 2019 at 2:10 pm

    Wow not sure this councillor understands his role lol

    The track to Tararua’s iconic tourist spot, the Waihi Falls, is in a bad state of repair, but one district councillor is poo-pooing the suggestion it needs to be closed for repairs.

    Instead, councillor Peter Johns said, “If people fall over it’s their fault.”
    … “This is ridiculous, next you’ll want wheelchair access,”
    … “This is like going to the beach and the sand is too hot. Do you want sprinklers? Ridiculous,”

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200582
12. Jenny - How to get there? 12

    4 February 2019 at 6:08 pm

    No body does bad faith bargaining like the National Party.

    Todd Muller again makes his case for doing nothing about climate change.

    The anti-leadership leader.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200162

    Todd Muller while supposedly negotiating in good faith with the climate change Minister has again gone to the media to preempt the negotiations. Todd Muller restating National’s Fast Follower doctrine, first promoted by John Key.

    As James Shaw and I sat down to negotiate a framework for the establishment of an independent climate commission, I strongly advocated for our National Party principles: allowing science to paint the picture, technology leading the way, pacing ourselves at the pace of our competitors, and being relentlessly honest about the economic implications of the transition.

    Todd Muller

    Most other countries reflecting on their own domestic commitments are confronted firstly with electricity generation, which is often fossil fuel dominated. That is their challenge……

    ….with [our] electricity production already at 85 per cent renewable. We can continue to increase this, but as we approach 100 per cent renewable electricity, the last few per cent become very expensive and don’t deliver significant emissions reductions.

    Todd Muller

    This is another restatement of the Fast Follower Doctrine. Achieving 100% renewable electricity generation would be setting a global precedent, something that Todd Muller and National are vehemently opposed to.

    We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that ultimately it will be decisions made in Washington, Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi that determine the level of warming we will see over coming centuries.

    Todd Muller

    No we, shouldn’t, more reason why should be giving a lead and setting an example.
    • ianmac 12.1

      4 February 2019 at 8:20 pm

      Good faith eh? Mr Muller needs a shake up but of course he will be following instruction from up on high.
      • Jenny - How to get there? 12.1.1

        4 February 2019 at 10:42 pm

        Twice in two weeks Muller has gone to the media outlining his case in these negotiations.

        Meanwhile the Greens have refrained from making any public statement andare keeping radio silence.

        The invisibility of the Greens compared to the high profile approach of the Nats shows why the good guys don’t win.

        While the Greens play to their self imposed rule of silence which has eliminated their public presence and profile, the Nats are destroying them in public.

        As Steve Bannon told MIke Moore. Our side, we go for the head wound.

        If this farce continues the Greens silence will see them completely forgotten by the voters.
        • solkta 12.1.1.1

          4 February 2019 at 10:53 pm

          I think the Nats are looking really bad in public. CC is the news at the moment. Every night a new flood or forest fire or heatwave. With this along with cannabis law reform they stand to go down on the wrong side of history. Leave them to squirm i say.
13. Eco Maori 13

    5 February 2019 at 8:38 am

    Kia ora The AM Show cut and pasteing the AM Show on that statement Jacinda made on that % Was not on the topic you pasted her video to.??????.
    That’s cool Mark that you don’t mind parting with your money to your bank but what about the people who are struggling to put kai on the table you are still fitting into that category.
    Banker do f,all there jobs are the ones that should be taken over by artificial intelligence FIRST not a hard job but they make Billions.
    Steve In my view BANKS charging someone fees for a Product they cannot use /don’t need /fees for NO service is THEFT do you know what happens to a poor person who steals to survive jail What’s makes it worse is the banks bankers are filthy Rich and don’t need the money. DON’T try and justify their behaviour on the statement of shareholders pressure on BANKERS is a acceptable reason for their behaviour that’s just white washing things Duncan. In you view it OK for the wealthy to rip people off but the poor person throw the lot in jail. Tova someone is stirring the pot having Don Brash at the Marae there are a lot of people not happy with the way national has treated MAORI. Those % stats quoted on the show do not add up to statement made last year. Mark what you should say is Don Brash deserves to be treated with respect its not his fault he was raised with a superior view on himself.
    The Waitangi Treaty the Documents that NZ was founded on its principle should be inprinted into our laws. I no enough about the Treaty to say that move would protect our environment Wild life and all people.
    More shit stirring turning the Waitangi grounds into a cricket ground. Some mite think the Waitangi Treaty is not important. But when one looks at it from my view all the promises made by the settlers to Maori have been broken Maori were promise EQUALITY and the FACT show that phenomenon us far from REALITY when we have people under the bridges jails full to bursting point with MAORI.
    Times are changing fast as the 21st century comunacations device delivers the truth to the people. My old tipuna new its te tangata te tangata that counts ECO gets that.
    Chris that’s correct it would be in the Trillions what the crown has stolen from Maori.
    . Ka kite ano P.S I know some of my maths has been out but when I have my computer hacked and its not doing the commands I give it sometimes I don’t get time to edit my work.The morriorie are just the first Maori that arrived in Aotearoa people like duncan just use the story to damage MAORI MANA I have the first Maori blood in my vains that’s a fact
14. Eco Maori 14

    5 February 2019 at 11:07 am

    Here you go Maori history being swept under the carpet by the state systems
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-HhfbCk2oU

    Actually all the Pacific peoples history is being swept under the carpet
15. Eco Maori 15

    5 February 2019 at 11:16 am

    Another vide from Eco Maori showing our history swept under the carpet.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9nGHrLWlic
16. Eco Maori 16

    5 February 2019 at 12:39 pm

    The neanderthals who control the state in NZ the state servents don’t want to share anything hence the suppression of Maoris history. They don’t want there tamariki to know that in reality they stole from maori whenua and mana in any way they could skeem of to steal maori land they gave the land to people of maori decent who did not own the land then these people sold the land to them cheap there many other cheating ways they use to strip maori of mana . Thats a fact
    History teachers behind a new petition say the Government should seize a “zeitgeist moment” in Māori-Pakeha relations to “give young people their history”.
    The New Zealand History Teachers’ Association (NZHTA) believes too few Kiwis understand what brought the Crown and Māori together in the 1840 Treaty, or how their relationship developed over the decades since – partly because schools are not required to teach it.
    Its petition for “coherent teaching” of colonial history is borne out of years of frustration with the Government’s “failure to match actions with words”, a written statement from the association said.
    “New Zealand likes to pride itself on being at the forefront of progressive social change, and in many areas it is.
    “We have plenty of warnings from overseas of how ignorance of the past allows space for those who wish to create, exploit and exacerbate divisions in society. New Zealand, thankfully, has not chosen this path but this does not mean that there is
    nothing to be gained from raising our own veil of ignorance.”
    Ball said the ministry’s position was a “cop out”.

    “Policy was brought in to give us a highly autonomous curriculum; policy can be brought in to make the coherent teaching of our colonial past part of that.”
    He said NZHTA was not advocating for a “national story” to be taught – multiple views, including those of iwi, should be included.
    New Zealand was experiencing a “zeitgeist moment”, with more Kiwis willing to engage with te reo and New Zealand’s colonial history, Bell said.
    “I think people who have themselves an understanding of our own shared past recognise how important it is.” Ka kite ano links below

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/110346303/petition-reignites-debate-over-teaching-new-zealands-colonial-history-in-schools
17. Eco maori 17

    5 February 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Are humans intelligence well not if we let Neanderthals like snott Morrison lead us all into extinction. He backs coal power in a country with one of the driest environment in the papatuanuku world. It is well documented that thermal coal power stations use heaps of water to generate power fool. It’s well documented that solar and wind power use next to no water they don’t produce green house gases with a positive and negative check list like that even a piece of moss could pick the correct answer whats the problem .It’s the carbon barons money is make him make foolish choices and back carbon over his children future

    Tasmania is burning. The climate disaster future has arrived while those in power laugh at us
    Snott Morrison is trying to scare people about franking credits but seems blithely unaware people are already scared – about climate change
    As I write this, fire is 500 metres from the largest King Billy pine forest in the world on Mt Bobs, an ancient forest that dates back to the last Ice Age and has trees over 1,000 years old. Fire has broached the boundaries of Mt Field national park with its glorious alpine vegetation, unlike anything on the planet. Fire laps at the edges of Federation Peak, Australia’s grandest mountain, and around the base of Mt Anne with its exquisite rainforest and alpine gardens. Fire laps at the border of the Walls of Jerusalem national park with its labyrinthine landscapes of tarns and iconic stands of ancient pencil pine and its beautiful alpine landscape, ecosystems described by their most eminent scholar, the ecologist Prof Jamie Kirkpatrick, as “like the vision of a Japanese garden made more complex, and developed in paradise, in amongst this gothic scenery”.

    “You have plants that look like rocks – green rocks – and these plants have different colours in complicated mosaics: red-green, blue-green, yellow-green, all together. It’s an overwhelming sensual experience really.”

    Tasmanian heritage forests at risk of ‘catastrophic’ bushfires, study finds
    Read more
    Five years ago I was contacted by a stranger, Prof Peter Davies, an eminent water scientist. He wanted to meet because he had news he thought would interest me. The night we met Davies told me that the south-west of Tasmania – the island’s vast, uninhabited and globally unique wildland, the heart of its world heritage area – was dying. The iconic habitats of rainforest, button grass plains, and heathlands had begun to vanish because of climate Ka kite ano link below.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/feb/05/tasmania-is-burning-the-climate-disaster-future-has-arrived-while-those-in-power-laugh-at-us
18. Eco Maori 18

    5 February 2019 at 6:43 pm

    Kia ora Newshub simon it’s ka pai you make that statement about Maori standing on OUR own 2 feet at Waitangi yes we are very good at that but in this rat race of NZ Western Society everyone else gets a 500 meter headstart over Maori the fact of the stats point that out to be fact or are you going to say we are lazy like that other m8 of yours.
    The powerful will always take advantage of the weak the 8 people living in the garage in Tauranga.
    You No the old saying you are what you eat rings true
    We have a big link to our environment as well as the creatures in our environment with no environmental no humans full stop.?????? ¿?????????do you get it.
    ECO Feels sorrow for all the people in the North Queens land Townsville flooding.
    People are being held accountable for dumb stupid statements by social media Liam Neeson making that public statement come on we are all human.
    Yes I think that Wahine need more care during and after having a baby it’s quite stressful for Wahine and they can easily slip into prenatal depression. I have seen my daughters and partner go through pregnancy enough times to no how the system work.
    There you go the banks here will be doing the same as there m8s are doing in Australia the bankers would jump the ditch quite often and be educated by their Australian cousins on ways to rip people off.
    Maori high suicide rate in Aotearoa simon is it a fair race I think NOT I seen who gave you that line and he can retire his neolithic views like shonky and bill. Ka kite ano
19. Eco Maori 19

    6 February 2019 at 8:29 am

    It gives Eco Maori a sore face to see our old maori tohunga Hek Busby given his rightful honor and be Knighted at Waitangi Ka pai. This will help lift Maori mana all around Papatuanuku like Hek has with his great MAHI and mana.
    Hekenukumaingaiwi ‘Uncle Hek’ Puhipi Busby knighted at Waitangi
    World renowned carver and celestial navigator Hekenukumaingaiwi Puhipi Busby – or Uncle Hek as he is affectionately known to thousands of waka paddlers – has been knighted today at Waitangi.
    The name Busby comes from James Busby who helped draft the Treaty of Waitangi. Hek’s ancestor Teripi Temarua was chief of Te Rarawa. He was baptised by James Busby who became his godfather – and gave the family his name, Busby.
    His interest in waka was sparked when a team of paddlers from Hawaii arrived in Aotearoa in 1985 on a Hokule’a, a double-hulled voyaging canoe, which was retracing ancient migration routes.
    At Waitangi the Hawaiian group were welcomed by Sir James Henare whose words had a profound impact on Hek.
    “When the Hawaiians came over in 1985 he greeted them and welcomed them and I remember the words that he said: ‘this is one of the happiest days of my life’.”
    “We are very, very fortunate that we have some of these waka here in New Zealand, have some of his waka under my control,” he said.
    “Because there will be a taonga that will be treasured and treasured forever.
    Ka kite ano links below

    https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/381677/carver-and-celestial-navigator-hekenukumaingaiwi-uncle-hek-puhipi-busby-knighted-at-waitangi

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fXqSO6aG4Y
20. Eco Maori 20

    6 February 2019 at 11:03 am

    This is what tangata are we are guardians of all the gifts god has given us we do not own them we must take the utmost care of Papatuanuku mother earth and pass her on to the next generation in a pristeen condtion. Not do what the neanderthals the 00.1 % are doing and stripping all the profits from motherearth they cannot think about the next generations our mokopunas future Wake Up people we have the power to make them look after mother earth its the people its the people who have the real power not the 00.1% stand up and let our voices be heard and demarned a better future for the granchildren
    You can’t be a kaitiaki from a distance
    Mountains to Sea is a new book about New Zealand’s freshwater crisis. It is edited by Mike Joy, an outspoken freshwater scientist and policy researcher, who has brought together kōrero from 10 authors looking at what has gone wrong with te wai o Aotearoa, and how to fix it.
    Two chapters, in particular, focus on iwi perspectives on water issues, as Kennedy Warne explains, beginning with Tina Ngata’s view that restoring the environment begins with restoring relationships.

    Tina Ngata, a Ngāti Porou environmental advocate, says the ability to be effective water guardians relies on restoring a language of water interactions — te reo o te awa.
    Our ability to care for and protect rivers, lakes, and wetlands is based on our ability to hear what they are saying to us — and that’s determined by the quality of our interactions with water.
    “Water has intelligence, comprised of its nature and the multitude of life forms within it that respond to various stimuli,” she writes. “Water communicates its needs to us, and our comprehension depends entirely upon the intimacy of our relationship with it.”
    In her view, intimacy is at the heart of kaitiakitanga, and kaitiakitanga is inseparable from ahi kaa — and it is only those who live in intimate contact with their waterways who can discern their needs and make appropriate governance responses.
    As often as not, this kind of relationship to an awa involves grieving over its decline.
    Environmental damage, from a Māori perspective, is “part of a larger story of colonisation, urban migration and the loss of ancestral knowledge around care and communication with nature.” Fulfilling the role of kaitiaki can only occur when those who would speak and act for rivers are living in their rohe.
    “Rematriation” is the term she uses — an evocative word that speaks of a physical and spiritual return to Papatūānuku and the restoration of a people to their ancestral lands.
    “Rematriation acknowledges,” she writes, “that our ancestors lived in spiritual relationship with our lands for thousands of years, and that we have a sacred duty to maintain that relationship for the benefit of our future generations.
    “We must physically be beside our waterways in order to utilise them, to speak with them, to listen to them and what they are saying through their scent, through their sound, through the taste of their kai, through their levels, through the life within them (or lack thereof), in order to realise this sacred relationship.”
    You can’t be a kaitiaki from a distance, she writes. Yet this is the condition so many indigenous people find themselves in — trying to fulfil their responsibilities to the land while being physically prevented from participating in the life of the land. Social policies that forced urbanisation on a rurally-dispersed population deprived Māori of their ability to retain kaitiaki relationships and fulfil their roles.
    Ka kite ano links below.

    https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/you-cant-be-a-kaitiaki-from-a-distance/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk1J2EW-nmQ
21. Eco Maori 21

    6 February 2019 at 3:30 pm

    The late show are going to have fun tonight In America what a joke Ana to kai
22. Eco Maori 22

    6 February 2019 at 6:44 pm

    Kia ora Newshub let’s hope that the fire in Nelson is brought under control before to much damage is caused.
    It was a beautiful day for the celebration of Waitangi day at Waitangi Ka pai.
    With the President of America’s state of the Union speach Times are changing Kia kaha.
    That’s a good find the skeleton of New penguins species on the Chatham Island there needs to be a lot more money invested into archeology in Aotearoa there will be many more treasure like what was found on the Chatham Island. There needs to be more accurate carbon dating at Old Maori sites to get the correct dates because what’s recorded in the books is way out.
    Thing don’t look good in Venezuela but I am keeping my nose out of that as I don’t no enough to comment on there situation at the minute. Ka kite ano
23. Eco Maori 23

    6 February 2019 at 6:53 pm

    Kia ora Newshub It’ was a beautiful day of celebrations at Waitangi for Waitangi day. The American president state of the Union speach Times are changing Kia kaha.
    Hope that the fire in Nelson is brought under control before to much damage is caused.
    The find of new species ofpenguin fossils at the Chatham Island was cool. There needs to be more money invested in archaeology around Atoearoa the dates of old Maori sites dates are way out. Thing look bad in Venezuela but I’m keeping my nose out of that as I don’t not enough about Venezuela to comment Ka kite ano P.S the sandflys have been stuffing with my devices one again first post got wiped.
24. Eco Maori 24

    7 February 2019 at 11:19 am

    Looks like the sandflys have been stuffing with my divices I couldn’t see the first post I posted last night I checked today and dubble vison.
    Ka kite ano
25. eco maori 25

    7 February 2019 at 11:26 am

    The sandflys have been stuffing with my divices once again I couldn’t find my first post last night and this morning when I checked dubble vison Ka kite ano P.S they love stuffing with my words when I’m on the farm

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