Of course you fail to mention that any Left Wing project that gets fairly elected in Latin America will be instantly made to suffer terribly through all kinds of nefarious mean and ways by the neo liberal imperilaists and their cronies, so neither you nor I can ever know how any Left Wing project would either sink or swim on their own merits or lack of such…but the same cannot be said of failures of the extreme and brutal Right wing Governments from those same regions, whom your liberal governments supports….
"Participation of the United States in regime change in Latin America involved US-backed coups d'état aimed at replacing left-wing leaders with right-wing leaders, military juntas, or other authoritarian regimes"
Seriously? The Northern Pathway for a cyclists' harbour crossing? It's an eyesore totally destroying what is an iconic Auckland view of the existing Harbour Bridge.
A bridge for cyclists and walkers could have benefits. Reduce traffic on the already struggling Auckland Harbour Bridge. Reduce carbon emissions. Joggers and walkers would keep fit. A tourist attraction with a few cafes along the way. The Green Party would be a more likely coalition party as the government would be seen as delivering on reducing emissions. Employ people in the building. The cost means the project could be started sooner than later.
Some sort of two way vehicle lane would need to be constructed in the project as a back up for essential vehicles were a major closure of the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge to occur.
I have no argument with that. Totally agree. My point is, however, that this design in this place totally destroys what has become an iconic Auckland landmark. An absolute cockup.
edit
Sounds sensible to the core Treetop. I recommend that it go up for government tick and then be costed. Where would it start and finish Treetop? If close enough to the present but further enough to diminish traffic from just near the present bridge, it could use present motorway for approach.
Could the approach be up Curran Street, turn into Sarsfield Streeet and then from a point there across to Chelsea by the Sugar Refining and through the Chelsea Heritage Park which sounds nice.
It could have a pillar near with ladder-path down to Watchmans Island which could have some hardy bushes planted there and be a stopping off spot for picnics etc which would probably please the locals as it has deteriorated over the years.
Then over to Chelsea and join up with Colonial Road. Or alternatively it might go to Hinemoa Park and up to Birkenhead.
Or could it go off Tamaki Drive at the end of Mechanics Bay (not owned by Ports of Auckland) and go across to Bayswater and up Bayswater Avenue or up Norwood Road, perhaps with an exit that goes off at Stanley Point to the naval base at Devonport, which would be good quick access for them.
Let’s stop worrying about the aesthetics. Let us have a serviceable bridge that doesn’t cost too much, and we will love it. And perhaps we can paint it a different colour every five years or so, while we are giving it a regular maintenance check. Think safety, longevity and if you don’t like the aesthetics make little models of what you would like, or paintings, and make a feature of that to sell to people. The difference of opinion can be taken to extreme and people could design one made of live willow branches or something. But keep practical – it is people who wanted Mediterranean aesthetics who got the leaky buildings thing going. Let’s be wary of looks, and go to the foundations and materials and wind resistance etc etc.
That was an example of how citizens have to put their minds to visioning practical things they want. We can't just set up wishlists and hope government will do the right thing. We must take part in government, go forward with government not just be supplicants being handed things by the 'kindly and wise' PTB.
What is it we want. where, and who and what will it serve? How much, is there an easier cheaper way? Who will be disadvantaged and how much? How can that be mitigated? We can get through the decision barrier that those with power are in. Make a mistake and they can be out of a job, or no further contracts; decision might be to put if off for further study and information, and keep getting the largesse of the moment.
Yeah, I look at this picture and just think, instead of building a biking bridge alongside, just build a whole new, spectacular bridge alongside with biking lanes on it. Then demolish the crappy old one.
Yes the Chelsea refinery…couple of ships a month maybe?
I'm no bridge expert but my guess is that flatter bridges are cheaper to build, more stable, and are probably much better on fuel consumption for users.
Oh weelll sounds okay. I am just exercised at the moment about all the things that those in power are going to build – it seems cost is no worry, and of course they will be interesting things, not like tiny houses or affordable homes for people to rent/buy. Sorry to bite as it is probably a secret wish of mine and for many of us that we could for once make something happen that needs to. Has anyone thought of a stadium that converts to bed sitting rooms after 10 pm for instance. Hah hah.
Good point about the real urgency being ignored on affordable housing and other even less glamourous stuff than that, water infrastructure, etc, seemingly in favour of big, visible projects like this.
However, if we are determined as a nation to dramatically increase or population then transport infrastructure planning is also vital. It is something we have always done very, very poorly.
I don't even mind about cost, I just want it done once and done right. Maybe some of these hotshot Covid refugees who have returned home in their tens of thousands can set us straight!
What about cyclists crossing by ferry as part of the transport structure so you are not left to the profitable constraints of ferry owners as the Waiheke Islanders have suffered? I fondly remember the ferries from Bayswater chugging across the water. They did so in a regular pattern and could be relied on for time for those working on the other side – the City or North Shore.
There could even be uber-boaters but they would have to be watched for seaworthiness. Or they could be boat owners who ran themselves to work and took regular passengers with them on a season ticket arrangement. They would be given the sort of tax allowances that the rentier landlords and house owners get now.
And what do other people in cities by the sea do? We seem to look at dysfunctional USA for models of how to mistreat people. Can we look away to other countries, probably European or perhaps Singapore and Hong Kong, for the clued-up cities on how they run things effectively at reasonable cost?
I'm not sure why a couple of light composite tubes can't be slung underneath for cycle traffic – one for each direction. Must be cheaper than new crossings, and not disruptive to existing use.
Funny how confirmation bias works. I thought for you suggest compost-able tubes for cyclists. Probably cheaper and more user friendly than other solutions.
Ad I think you want to use semaphore signals to wake people up to what is coming and needed for the future. But you are apparently prepared to do that by demolishing systems and structures while they are still needed. Bad as Roger Douglas you are. That comment yesterday about Marsden Point close-down did not convince me of the practicality and far-seeing nature of whatever committee you are on.
Like most motorways the Auckland Harbour Bridge doesn't lend itself to being retrofitted for bikes and pedestrian traffic, The traditional answer has been to construct separate cycleways to the side. And this is being done on the Southern and Western motorways. But the Harbour Bridge presents a unique problem.
There was a plan to build a sky-path for cyclists and pedestrians under or beside the main carriageway. But it proved to be a hugely complicated and expensive engineering project.
The engineering nightmare that was the sky-path has been ditched.
Taking a lane for a bikeway is not practical.
The new plan is for a new and separate bike and pedestrian bridge to be built beside the existing bridge.
When he was Prime Minister John Key announced the construction of $7 billion road tunnel under the harbour.
This plan did not survive the change in government
With a price tag of $250 million and a delivery date of 5 years, I doubt whether this latest plan for a pedestrian and cycle bridge would survive a change of government either.
A fare free busway with an option for bicycle stowage is a far cheaper solution and can be implemented immediately. All of the infrastructure is already there
"He also revealed that Waka Kotahi has considered getting bikes across the bridge using gondolas and a dedicated ferry or bus service. However, all those options were rejected."
He is Michael Wood, Minister of Transport.
It was your big suggestion here on Sunday, I suggest you make an OIA request.
On Sunday you also said "There will not be a three month bike lane trial. There will not even be a one week bike lane trial."
And yet that Herald story also quotes the Minister as saying
"With the new bridge five years away, Wood also said he had asked Waka Kotahi to present him with options for a cycling and walking lane on the current bridge now. This would involve a trial conversion of an existing vehicle lane or lanes."
and
"Waka Kotahi will continue to work on how to provide safe temporary trials of using lanes on the existing harbour bridge for cyclists and pedestrians," Wood said.
This latest proposal has succeeded in uniting cyclists and truckers, (and possibly everyone in between) in opposing the proposed bike pedestrian bridge.
Because when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.
At least now we know what we all don't like, and we all don't like this.
Auckland harbour cycle and pedestrian bridge facing criticism from both sides
A cycling advocate says building an entire bridge from the ground up – at a cost of at least $780 million – is totally unnecessary when cyclists and walkers could just have a lane on the existing Auckland harbour bridge.
And a trucking leader says the priorities are backwards – a new harbour crossing for vehicles should be first, not a few cyclists.
Of course there is, (as there always is), ideologues that can be counted on to endorse something like this. The good thing is that at least the spokesperson for this minority are honest in admitting that the proposed bike pedestrian bridge is nothing to do with relieving or even addressing Auckland's traffic woes.
Auckland harbour cycle and pedestrian bridge facing criticism from both sides
"I think we're underestimating the fact that people will use it just for the joy of being able to walk over the water, to stop in the middle of the bridge, take photos, to go over on a jog in the morning, walk their dog, take their kids over… I think people are underestimating how popular a bridge like that would be."
National Party candidate makes world news headlines for his revenge porn scandal .
Collins looks like a goner.She looked 10 years older last night on TV desperately avoiding any responsibility when questioned last night
Collins big talking at the recent queenstown conference where Bazant was one of the headline acts a rising star the new young face of the National Party .Has turned into a complete disaster.
[putting you on the ban list. Really happy to let you out when you reply to this mod note. I need to have a conversation with you, so you will need to check replies to your comments before I will end the ban. I will keep an eye out for your comments in the Trash.
Former or ex-National Party candidate, to be more precise.
Collins’s responsibility lies with the future of the Party, not so much the past, which cannot be undone. She has the top-secret review reports; she knows what needs to be done. A real Leader has what it takes to do what needs to be done. Crickets.
Nicola Willis, please step forward and up, and save the Party from more self-inflicted embarrassment and pain.
These scandals are useful as an opportunity for an outsider to snatch a glimpse into the fetid mind of the National party politician…..confirming what we already know is their primary thought pattern, just nasty shit.
Thanks Ghost and Grey for your messages about the Vaccine Stab number yesterday. I got a call in but no reply as yet. In no hurry anyway would rather it went to someone younger who may be more vulnerable.
Depending upon what group you are in you might not want to get too excited about getting any reply at all before summer arrives.
If you are in the most at risk group, the immediate frontline workers, it appears that only about 60% of them have had even a first dose. In the next category, the household members of the most at risk people, less than 50% have had a first dose.
Group 2, which is the frontline health workers, people living or working in long-term residential care, older Maori and Pacific people and those over 65 living in Counties Manakau has only had about 40% who have received a first dose.
For those of us who are over 65 but aren't Maori or Pacific people only about 4% have had a first dose. These were the ones who were supposedly going to be able to get vaccinated starting at the beginning of last month remember. That date of course then slipped back and appears to be slipping further.
The Government Health Ministers seem to be quite happy. ""Our plan to vaccinate New Zealanders is on track," Dr Ayesha Verrall". Well I suppose she would say that. She has been vaccinated.
Ashley Bloomfield is also quite happy about the situation it would seem.
"Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Thursday he's happy with the progress.
"I think what we're seeing is ongoing increased uptake amongst our priority groups."
Meanwhile, while the vast majority of us haven't been vaccinated, our Government is going to allow people in from Melbourne next week without any form of quarantine. The people involved chose to go there. Either stay there or go into quarantine when you get back should be their options. When the elderly, like me, have had a chance to get vaccinated they can open up the borders. Until then to hell with it.
In the meantime you probably shouldn't get too excited about getting anything. My local DHB said early this week that they had no idea when vaccination might be available. My Medical Centre also say they haven't been told anything and they have no idea what is going on.
my BiL and his wife – both in their forties and in no group of anything – had their vaccination last week in Whangarai as walk ins.
His mother and father, both in their seventies, she is Pakeha and he is Maori, have yet to get a notification of being even on some list, they are in Whakatane.
Here in Rotorua, who knows.
i agree that the border should be closed again until a few more people here have had their jab.
As for those that don't want the jab, who cares, leave them be, and vaccinated those that want to be vaccinated.
No sign of vaccination for my 90 year old Parents (one with hypertension & diabetes).
In most Anglosphere Countries, the elderly were placed in the second group to be vaccinated rather than thrown in with over 65s in general in Group 3 … with the really high-risk over 80s (those with comorbidities) right at the front of the Group 2 queue … we apparently do things differently here …
Meanwhile, widespread complacency around the threat posed by the new dangerous Covid variants continues unabated.
Auckland resident Andrew Johnson aired his concerns after he arrived at the city's CBD vaccination centre for his first jab at the Atrium on Elliott shopping centre on Monday.
Entering from Albert St as opposed to the Elliott St entrance, the 41-year-old was shocked when he realised he was walking past potentially infectious MIQ residents in the exercise area at the Crowne Plaza hotel, which was in the same building complex as the shopping mall.
His comment is a rubbish reckon from a guy exercising his white privilege to have a whine and get it reported in the Herald, the home of the relentless middle class whinge about everything.
So what if it is next to an MIQ facility? Journalists in their stampede to get the next alarmist reckon from a know nothing have forgotten to ask the most basic of questions – like has anyone, anywhere in NZ in the past year, ever caught covid by walking past a MIQ hotel? The answer of course is NO.
It is interesting they’ve removed from earlier stories his complaint that no one was being scanned, something in my experience of getting vaccinated (twice now) is simply an outright untruth.
You could criticise that it is hard to get to if you are disabled and poorly signposted/a bit hard to find from the advertised Elliot street entrance, but no some wally get to have a free bitch about… nothing really.
Sanctuary I don't know how your comment sits in with the recent media release about the aerosol effect of people just passing by with the more infection strain.
And has everyone noted how there isn't a new super infectious strain in Victoria. It seems to have been a fib by the pollie in charge feeling the heat of failure. It is such a hot country, Australia.
swordfish Sorry to hear about your parents waiting. I hope they have better neighbours now.
As for the way that Covid 19 treatment has slid back it probably means that it is back with the backsliders down in the bowels of the MoH. When the leaders were appearing before cameras they would have been on their toes. Now the MoH has taken to printing an enormous number of leaflets and full page adverts in the papers and probably on tv?
Trouble is that people don't know what to think, don't read the papers, or have time – it is a very passive approach that is so efficient for man/womanpower but not for the actual outcome of message received by those who need it the most. What do generic managers do when there is a human mass outbreak of sickness? Sit at their computers and work out the odds for people dying for each possible method used, and then work out the 'mean' figure showing the least financial cost?
Well I can't remember which media I read that there was not a new strain in Victoria but it was wrong. So should I start wearing my mask all the time when mixing? Seriously I should I suppose. And the epidemiologist Baker says that all the border workers and others involved haven't been vaccinated – still thousands to go. And what about GPs, we heard that they have been neglected. Really, if you take your eye off government they wander off into the woods and get lost!
No, the nightmare continues unfortunately. We thought it was all over right at the start of November last year when their violent intensely anti-social neighbour moved out, swapping houses with what we believe was his grandmother … massive relief for everyone (including other neighbours) … he was now living more than an hour away & the older lady was extremely quiet (so my Parents feeling safe, no enforced chronic sleep deprivation, no intense stress … & peace of mind for the first time in 3 years) … but only lasted 6 weeks … gave everyone a real shock when he suddenly turned up in the early hours of Boxing Day nonchalantly inflicting his usual anti-social behaviour / noise / aggression as if nothing had changed.
My 90 year old Mother has had to be hospitalised twice since Oct 2020 for very high blood pressure & low oxygen saturation levels (bordering on mini-stoke territory) from extreme stress & sleep deprivation (both his violent explosions/noise & his kids (increasingly dropped there) running wild at all hours … really raucous relentless in-your-face noise levels right through to late at night, Parents can't escape it even in rooms away from dividing-wall with doors closed) …
… She almost died in Wellington Hospital the day after the 2020 Election … but on Election Day was more concerned about casting her vote for the Labour Party she'd spent her life both supporting & being active within rather than worrying about her own health.
This'd be the Labour Party with its tacit No Eviction policy & its affluent, Woke New Middle Class activist base romanticising people like the intensely anti-social Underclass Neighbour while systematically demonizing & scapegoating elderly poorer Pakeha, including lifelong Labour voters. Unfortunately, being white they're members of the ID Politics 'out-groups' currently being quietly but rapidly transformed (largely by Pakeha from financially-privileged backgrounds) into 2nd class citizens.
Or, to put it another way, those Pakeha who have disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation forcing those Pakeha (& other non-Maori) who haven't to do all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering … as they go about establishing this Brave New Woke World, bereft of universal human rights, equal citizenship & other core principles of liberal democracy.
Ironic given my Parents history of marching against Springbok Tours (1960 / 76 / 81) & my Mother being one of the first Pakeha to learn Te Reo in a formal educational setting (as a teenager at a Wellington Educational Institute's night classes in 1948). At the age of 90 she now gets to enjoy relentless stress from an extremely violent Maori man (who never has to suffer any consequences = because Colonisation) & his clearly deeply dysfunctional family while the ex-boarding school Woke Cadre get to ostentatiously posture & pose as heroic "anti-racists" (according to deeply warped Critical Race Theory dogma) while continuing to enjoy all the inherited fruits of Colonisation (while also bravely ensuring they're living at least 20 miles away from the mayhem they've helped to create through crude social housing policies in previously peaceful, community-minded & for the most part Labour-voting neighbourhoods).
I am bitter about this too swordfish. See it all the time, where people are trying to transform the world that has been mostly good but they want to trash it and start again on a different set of tracks. We are to be derailed and left in a siding to stew in our own juice.
They don't try to clean the bad up, keep the good and change habits to improve society, they just want to trash the lot and start again FGS. It took centuries and many people worked all their lives to get civilisation to the present era, at a level that decent people could be happy about.
Now this type of activist person likely meditate when they get distressed and remove themselves from the everyday, and come back with fantastical ideas that they have absorbed in overwhelming belief. Their drive is similar to that of economists to change humans' behaviour to fit their models. I don't think they really like people though they profess to be 'caring and concerned'; again like economists they are in love with their models and designs, people's and the planet's actual needs are often at opposite positions.
"Or, to put it another way, those Pakeha who have disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation forcing those Pakeha (& other non-Maori) who haven't to do all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering … as they go about establishing this Brave New Woke World, bereft of universal human rights, equal citizenship & other core principles of liberal democracy."
Or as one person I read recently put it, this wokeist cult looks more and more like rich white people, lacking a moral narrative and purpose for their wealth, assuaging their guilt by punching down on poor whites.
This woke idea that everything is oppression, starting with marxist oppression of all workers, the patriarchal oppression of all women, the white supremacist oppression of all people of colour – and now god help us the biological oppression of gender – has consistently taken what starts out as a good idea and degenerates it into corrosive, toxic soup, undermining social cohesion and trust.
Which you have to think, is well understood, by those who create and promote them, to be the purpose of these ideologies .
"…all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering" – awful. As for "punching down on poor whites" – words fail me.
Can't help wondering if overall long-term social cohesion and resilience might be strengthened by sharing the fruits of society just a little bit more equitably – is that idea too 'woke'; too PC?
The Root Causes of Health Inequity Health inequity, categories and examples of which were discussed in the previous chapter, arises from social, economic, environmental, and structural disparities that contribute to intergroup differences in health outcomes both within and between societies. The report identifies two main clusters of root causes of health inequity. The first is the intrapersonal, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic mechanisms that organize the distribution of power and resources differentially across lines of race, gender, class, sexual orientation, gender expression, and other dimensions of individual and group identity (see the following section on such structural inequities for examples). The second, and more fundamental root cause of health inequity, is the unequal allocation of power and resources—including goods, services, and societal attention—which manifest in unequal social, economic, and environmental conditions, also called the social determinants of health.
“System Conditions”, System Failure, Structural Racism and Anti-Racism in the United Kingdom: Evidence from Education and Beyond Racism in any society is fuelled by a number of factors, often acting independently of each other, or, at times, in concert with each other. On the one hand, anti-racism efforts rely on the alignment of four “system conditions” to stand a chance of successfully engaging and tackling racism. On the other hand, where these “system conditions” are not present, or where they are not in sync, this leads to “system failure”—a situation where racism is writ large in society and in the institutions therein, and where anti-racism efforts are severely hampered. Drawing on evidence from within the education sector and elsewhere in UK society, this paper examines how a lack of alignment between “system conditions” hampers anti-racism efforts, and simultaneously reinforces racism in society and in institutions—leading to gridlock or “system failure” around anti-racism.
Maybe just knowing one's place makes for a happier life, not to mention a good night's sleep which (we can all agree) has value beyond measure.
Why do I get the impression you're not too keen on "sharing the fruits of society just a little bit more equitably" with low income / poorer Pakeha ? (who comprise more than half of the bottom income quartile).
Ever stopped to wonder about health stats for poorer Pakeha & Asians ? You know, the kind of people who, unlike the Woke & their affluent older relatives, can't afford private health insurance (and quite possibly oppose it on principle) & are destined to be the sacrificial lambs forced by the Woke to the back of the surgery queue with CRT's Health "Equity" dogma. How do you think their stats compare to affluent Pakeha, to middle class Maori, to Poor Maori ? No you've never wondered about that, have you, sweetheart … no orgy of self-congratulatory virtue-signalling, no social media prestige enhancement amongst your little clique to be derived from that sort of non-Woke Social Justice.
As always, socio-economic privilege is vastly more consequential than any putative "white privilege" … but that's of no use to old frauds like you, is it. By aggressively promoting the existence of the latter to the exclusion of all else, affluent Woke phoneys get to have their cake & eat it … ostentatiously playing the role of morally good progressives while scapegoating poorer whites & quietly consolidating their own power & privilege.
Really quite Reactionary … in so many ways the antithesis of the genuine Left.
So spare me your fake morality, spare me your bullshit.
Why do I get the impression you're not too keen on "sharing the fruits of society just a little bit more equitably" with low income / poorer Pakeha ? (who comprise more than half of the bottom income quartile).
Honestly swordfish, don't know why you get that impression – imho the 'sharing' should be based on need ("From each accordingto his ability, to each according to their need" – Marx), but selfishness and greed ensure that disadvantaged groups are pitted against each other.
No you've never wondered about that, have you, sweetheart … no orgy of self-congratulatory virtue-signalling, no social media prestige enhancement amongst your little clique to be derived from that sort of non-Woke Social Justice.
You appear to be a bit of a mindreader – explains your "old frauds", "affluent Woke phoneys", "fake morality" and "bullshit" jibes. Fwiw I’m not naturally aggressive, and there’s no need for me or anyone else to promote “white privilege“, aggressively or otherwise. I don't have any health insurance, and yes, I was lucky enough to have a privileged start – both parents were teachers in the NZ public education system, and I did relatively well out of that system myself.
Wishing you and your parents all the best for the rest of your evening.
Funny you should ask… the 70 year old, physically disabled Better Half has visited the local hospital twice in the past month. Once through A&E and once for a specialist appointment. We expected to be asked about and/or offered Te Jab both times, but alas, no.
Despite the hospital being slap bang in the middle of 'jab any one who'll stand still long enough' central…not one medical professional seem to think it was an issue.
We didn't see a single sign promoting Te Jab either.
Looks like the world has been misled about the effectiveness of hydroxychloriquine in the early stages of Covid19 treatment. Perhaps those who instantly rejected its use because Trump may be feeling a bit embarrassed which is probably nothing compared to the feelings of the hundreds if thousands of Covid19 victims who could well have been helped and probably survived.https://c19hcq.com/
Still, these things need to be properly researched, investigated, and trialled before jumping to conclusions. What applies to the large general population may not apply to smaller sub-groups of patients, which complicates trials. Common sense is not a scientific-clinical argument and there’s usually a little more to it to justify the effort, expense, and ethics for undertaking (large) trials with sometimes very ill people.
With a link address like that, it's obviously a thoroughly unbiased collection of the latest peer-reviewed research on the topic and no conflicts of interest /sarc
That is not how you approach a pandemic though, there isn't time to do comprehensive research on treatments, you use whatever works. Off-label drug treatments are a key part of rolling out rapid medical counter measures in a pandemic. The safety research has already been done as many of these medications have been in use in the general population for decades. So all you really need to do is run trials.
"…Logistics convoys and retreating HAF were subsequently hunted down and remotely engaged by the unmanned combat aerial vehicles or the lethal autonomous weapons systems such as the STM Kargu-2 (see annex 30) and other loitering munitions. The lethal autonomous weapons systems were programmed to attack targets without requiring data connectivity between the operator and the munitions…"
Possibly the first recorded case of an autonomous Robot deliberately killing humans.
BTW a Kargu-2 is a quadcopter armed with a powerful anti-personnel fragmentation device (i.e. a very large hand grenade) that uses machine learning and algorythms to autonomously select and attack targets.
Who cares about Asimov's Laws of Robotics, or indeed, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) principles of robotics?
And who will use it ?There are only a few who live within 5km of the bridge, and of those who commute daily. I also note that the areas within 5km are some of the most expensive housing in Auckland, great for those who live in Manukau, Albany out west etc. who have to battle with very limited public transport. Nice to see our government have policies for the few – the same few who are benefitting from the housing situation pocketing over $432k from June 19 to June 20.
I also noticed that last weeks demonstration was less diverse than the PGA Championship held in Kiawah Is just out from Charleston North Carolina- Even Efeso Collins noted this.
So Existing bridge for vehicles, tunnel for trains and buses, small briddge for cycling and walking? Wow, NZTA really have protected the harbour bridge for cars only…
Defends of the bridge it could have less carlanes more space for dedicated pt lanes etc.
The very short term trick is to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible given shorter travel times equate to lower emissions. Tbf if govt were serious they would make public transport free, increase frequency and perhaps dedicate a bridge lane to the busway… that and really push hybrid or full electric cars. They are immediate things that will be of some benefit while infrastructure work is completed.
Its going to be a good 5-10 years before meaningful infrastructure is completed
At certain times but I'd suggest it would be insignificant… sure some will convert but between weather and distance to even get to the bridge on cycle would preclude most…
Would get plenty of use on weekends holidays etc but its not a solution for commute based congestion. That needs rail or bus more hubs more park n rides increased frequency etc
Bridge structure is at capacity and I suspect putting an additional lane on one side would present problems around balance, weight perhaps not not biggest issue more likely wind pressure etc… its amazing how much those outer lanes flex and move…
oh well, parole for "public toilet rapist Daniel Peter Moore's'
i wonder what the victim got? Some counselling sessions?
Moore's former partner, Nicola Allen, only had confirmation of the sex offender's release when contacted by the Otago Daily Times.
"I'm actually utterly appalled he's been let out," she said.
The board described Moore's sex attack as "opportunistic", but Allen said she had always believed it had been premeditated.
The man was sitting in his vehicle in the car park drinking RTDs and smoking before the rape took place……………..
On April 20, 2018, Moore followed his victim to the toilets and grabbed her around the throat as he forced her inside the cubicle.
He then subjected her to a half-hour ordeal during which he told her it was the first time he had raped anyone.
The woman later told police she was convinced Moore was going to kill her once he had finished.
In a statement read in court at sentencing, she said she had transformed from a cheerful and optimistic person to paranoid and fearful.
but fear not, while in prison he 'bettered himself',
While jailed, Moore had worked in the construction yard, prompting "very positive reports" about his attitude.
He had also undertaken tertiary study and had an ambition to become a civil engineer, Judge Ellis said.
Seriously? And the women? Just some 'collateral damage' being done by someone opportunitistic? I wonder if she got any taxpayer funded job skills and tertiary study?
maybe that is what needs to be done, these guys get fuck all in prison, no work, no study, nothing, and the funds saved will go towards the victim and her trauma counselling, her work rehabilitation and some tertiary studies.
Ian Powell on TDB has some interesting points on what goes in the health system here. And I don't have to go far in before I get goosebumps about what we will have if the Grand Leap Forward goes forward to a centralised hospital system with a Grand Computer System that Rules Over All.
Broadly speaking the prevailing leadership culture in New Zealand’s health system is managerialism which involves decision-making through a very narrow lens that is management rather than clinically and patient-centred driven. Within district health boards (DHBs) this can be alleviated by the closer proximity between senior managers and health professionals and largely overcome where there is sufficient oxygen to enable genuine engagement between them. The more distributed the engagement at all levels the more clinically and fiscally effective it is.
But with the Ministry of Health it is different. There is no equivalent proximity and the managerialism takes the form of a top-down, more distant, bureaucratic centralism leadership culture. When it comes into conflict over specific issues with a DHB that has progressed strongly in the direction of genuine engagement then it is a recipe for, at best, negative tension.
The dirty bureaucratic politics was a smear campaign falsely claiming that CDHB’s increasing operational financial deficit was due to financial mismanagement by its senior management team. To succeed it was necessary to destroy the consensus reached between CDHB and the Health Ministry in 2018.
From California to Ireland to Spain, when the housing bubble burst – to keep the prices up and reduce the supply the bulldozers were brought in to level new unsold houses. Sometimes even whole new sub-divisions to artificially limit supply.
We need urgent legislation to prevent that obscenity being repeated here.
There needs to be a law that no new home be allowed to be demolished while there is still homelessness in this country.
Half finished apartment blocks and new housing estates that were never occupied litter the landscape in Europe and North America just waiting to be bulldozed. No doubt this is how the housing bubble will burst here as well.
Before we reach that place. legislation needs to be enacted that no new dwelling will be allowed to be demolished and sent to a landfill on pain of confiscation by the state.
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Peru votes for its fifth president in five years.
Marxist Castillo v hard right Fujimori.
Neck and neck.
Not a recipe for stable government.
Covid would not have helped with stability.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/443817/peru-tops-covid-19-deaths-per-capita-stats-after-revision
…Aaahh…good ol' Ad, you are like The Standards ghost of Thatcher for Free market Liberlisim…No turning back!!
Pedro Castillo Can Help End Neoliberalism in Peru
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/pedro-castillo-peru-libre-keiko-fujimori-runoff-election-june-6-neoliberalism
Neither Peruvian candidate result will last a year.
Bolivian hard left looks now identical to the right locking up opponents and weaponising the judiciary.
Both states heading for failure.
Of course you fail to mention that any Left Wing project that gets fairly elected in Latin America will be instantly made to suffer terribly through all kinds of nefarious mean and ways by the neo liberal imperilaists and their cronies, so neither you nor I can ever know how any Left Wing project would either sink or swim on their own merits or lack of such…but the same cannot be said of failures of the extreme and brutal Right wing Governments from those same regions, whom your liberal governments supports….
even Wikipedia has a serious list…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America
"Participation of the United States in regime change in Latin America involved US-backed coups d'état aimed at replacing left-wing leaders with right-wing leaders, military juntas, or other authoritarian regimes"
Contents1.1Argentina
"The "soft line" was, in Nixon’s words, to "make the economy scream." The "hard line" was simply to aim for a military coup."
https://chomsky.info/secrets04/
Seriously? The Northern Pathway for a cyclists' harbour crossing? It's an eyesore totally destroying what is an iconic Auckland view of the existing Harbour Bridge.
This is complete dumbfuckery of the highest order.
It's clear a new bridge is needed, but lets sort and build a proper replacement for the existing bridge which is multi use and fit for purpose.
A bridge for cyclists and walkers could have benefits. Reduce traffic on the already struggling Auckland Harbour Bridge. Reduce carbon emissions. Joggers and walkers would keep fit. A tourist attraction with a few cafes along the way. The Green Party would be a more likely coalition party as the government would be seen as delivering on reducing emissions. Employ people in the building. The cost means the project could be started sooner than later.
Some sort of two way vehicle lane would need to be constructed in the project as a back up for essential vehicles were a major closure of the existing Auckland Harbour Bridge to occur.
I have no argument with that. Totally agree. My point is, however, that this design in this place totally destroys what has become an iconic Auckland landmark. An absolute cockup.
Aesthetically it can go horribly wrong. Just like the initial lane capacity of the bridge.
edit
Sounds sensible to the core Treetop. I recommend that it go up for government tick and then be costed. Where would it start and finish Treetop? If close enough to the present but further enough to diminish traffic from just near the present bridge, it could use present motorway for approach.
Could the approach be up Curran Street, turn into Sarsfield Streeet and then from a point there across to Chelsea by the Sugar Refining and through the Chelsea Heritage Park which sounds nice.
It could have a pillar near with ladder-path down to Watchmans Island which could have some hardy bushes planted there and be a stopping off spot for picnics etc which would probably please the locals as it has deteriorated over the years.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/aucklander/news/who-watches-the-watchman/J3GJ4L5ROPNKCJ6N72E7WPQWZ4/
Then over to Chelsea and join up with Colonial Road. Or alternatively it might go to Hinemoa Park and up to Birkenhead.
Or could it go off Tamaki Drive at the end of Mechanics Bay (not owned by Ports of Auckland) and go across to Bayswater and up Bayswater Avenue or up Norwood Road, perhaps with an exit that goes off at Stanley Point to the naval base at Devonport, which would be good quick access for them.
Let’s stop worrying about the aesthetics. Let us have a serviceable bridge that doesn’t cost too much, and we will love it. And perhaps we can paint it a different colour every five years or so, while we are giving it a regular maintenance check. Think safety, longevity and if you don’t like the aesthetics make little models of what you would like, or paintings, and make a feature of that to sell to people. The difference of opinion can be taken to extreme and people could design one made of live willow branches or something. But keep practical – it is people who wanted Mediterranean aesthetics who got the leaky buildings thing going. Let’s be wary of looks, and go to the foundations and materials and wind resistance etc etc.
Gee you are asking the wrong person about the position of the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I have only had one return trip on it to Brown's Bay in 1978.
That was an example of how citizens have to put their minds to visioning practical things they want. We can't just set up wishlists and hope government will do the right thing. We must take part in government, go forward with government not just be supplicants being handed things by the 'kindly and wise' PTB.
What is it we want. where, and who and what will it serve? How much, is there an easier cheaper way? Who will be disadvantaged and how much? How can that be mitigated? We can get through the decision barrier that those with power are in. Make a mistake and they can be out of a job, or no further contracts; decision might be to put if off for further study and information, and keep getting the largesse of the moment.
Yeah, I look at this picture and just think, instead of building a biking bridge alongside, just build a whole new, spectacular bridge alongside with biking lanes on it. Then demolish the crappy old one.
this looks like a very expensive band aid.
Never understood why the clearance is so high. The upper Waitemata has a few yachts and the Chelsea sugar works up there and that's it.
Spirit of adventure ?visiting replica sailing tall ships super yachts etc and if you,re the daring type you can fly youre plane through there !!
We need to be able to sail our AC75 under it
To allow access to the deep water wharf at Birkenhead and the Chelsea sugar refinery.
Yes the Chelsea refinery…couple of ships a month maybe?
I'm no bridge expert but my guess is that flatter bridges are cheaper to build, more stable, and are probably much better on fuel consumption for users.
Muttonbird Should there be an opening end, where water is deep enough for large vessels?
yes.
My thoughts exactly
Oh King Muttonbird waving his hand expressively – I don't like that bridge take it away – scrap it. Build me another better one. Pfffttt.
Weeelll. I'd be interested to know what the tunnel costs are. It seems a given we are going to build one.
Am assuming the idea there is existing bridge takes northbound traffic and tunnel taels southbound + rail.
If that were the case there'd be room for bike/pedestrian on the existing bridge so no need for the stand alone???
Also the existing bridge isn't going to last forever, unlike a lot of bridges in the world.
My idea was to abandon the tunnel and just build a bridge fit for road/rail/cycle/ pedestrian which will last 200 years.
Oh weelll sounds okay. I am just exercised at the moment about all the things that those in power are going to build – it seems cost is no worry, and of course they will be interesting things, not like tiny houses or affordable homes for people to rent/buy. Sorry to bite as it is probably a secret wish of mine and for many of us that we could for once make something happen that needs to. Has anyone thought of a stadium that converts to bed sitting rooms after 10 pm for instance. Hah hah.
Good point about the real urgency being ignored on affordable housing and other even less glamourous stuff than that, water infrastructure, etc, seemingly in favour of big, visible projects like this.
However, if we are determined as a nation to dramatically increase or population then transport infrastructure planning is also vital. It is something we have always done very, very poorly.
I don't even mind about cost, I just want it done once and done right. Maybe some of these hotshot Covid refugees who have returned home in their tens of thousands can set us straight!
What about cyclists crossing by ferry as part of the transport structure so you are not left to the profitable constraints of ferry owners as the Waiheke Islanders have suffered? I fondly remember the ferries from Bayswater chugging across the water. They did so in a regular pattern and could be relied on for time for those working on the other side – the City or North Shore.
There could even be uber-boaters but they would have to be watched for seaworthiness. Or they could be boat owners who ran themselves to work and took regular passengers with them on a season ticket arrangement. They would be given the sort of tax allowances that the rentier landlords and house owners get now.
And what do other people in cities by the sea do? We seem to look at dysfunctional USA for models of how to mistreat people. Can we look away to other countries, probably European or perhaps Singapore and Hong Kong, for the clued-up cities on how they run things effectively at reasonable cost?
I'm not sure why a couple of light composite tubes can't be slung underneath for cycle traffic – one for each direction. Must be cheaper than new crossings, and not disruptive to existing use.
Funny how confirmation bias works. I thought for you suggest compost-able tubes for cyclists. Probably cheaper and more user friendly than other solutions.
But could you get your yacht under the tubes Margaritte 1.43pm?
We need to be able to sail our AC75 under it. What is it by the way?
Separating the structures means NZTA can replace main bridge with tunnel, providing for all modes.
Makes good sense.
And of course it's a powerful anti combustion engine signal just days from Climate Commission plan.
Good operationally and excellent politically.
Maybe the govt can put Phil Twyford in charge..
And have that skinny little thing the only surface crossing?
All other commuters banished to the underground like Wells' Morlocks?
Nope. Build a huge state of the art 10 (or 8) lane bridge reflecting 21st Century New Zealand, with rail and cycle capacity.
Ad I think you want to use semaphore signals to wake people up to what is coming and needed for the future. But you are apparently prepared to do that by demolishing systems and structures while they are still needed. Bad as Roger Douglas you are. That comment yesterday about Marsden Point close-down did not convince me of the practicality and far-seeing nature of whatever committee you are on.
Don't worry about it, it is only an announcement
Like most motorways the Auckland Harbour Bridge doesn't lend itself to being retrofitted for bikes and pedestrian traffic, The traditional answer has been to construct separate cycleways to the side. And this is being done on the Southern and Western motorways. But the Harbour Bridge presents a unique problem.
There was a plan to build a sky-path for cyclists and pedestrians under or beside the main carriageway. But it proved to be a hugely complicated and expensive engineering project.
The engineering nightmare that was the sky-path has been ditched.
Taking a lane for a bikeway is not practical.
The new plan is for a new and separate bike and pedestrian bridge to be built beside the existing bridge.
When he was Prime Minister John Key announced the construction of $7 billion road tunnel under the harbour.
This plan did not survive the change in government
With a price tag of $250 million and a delivery date of 5 years, I doubt whether this latest plan for a pedestrian and cycle bridge would survive a change of government either.
A fare free busway with an option for bicycle stowage is a far cheaper solution and can be implemented immediately. All of the infrastructure is already there
Why don't we do this?.
Today's Herald story briefly mentions this;
"He also revealed that Waka Kotahi has considered getting bikes across the bridge using gondolas and a dedicated ferry or bus service. However, all those options were rejected."
He is Michael Wood, Minister of Transport.
It was your big suggestion here on Sunday, I suggest you make an OIA request.
On Sunday you also said "There will not be a three month bike lane trial. There will not even be a one week bike lane trial."
And yet that Herald story also quotes the Minister as saying
"With the new bridge five years away, Wood also said he had asked Waka Kotahi to present him with options for a cycling and walking lane on the current bridge now. This would involve a trial conversion of an existing vehicle lane or lanes."
and
"Waka Kotahi will continue to work on how to provide safe temporary trials of using lanes on the existing harbour bridge for cyclists and pedestrians," Wood said.
I personally have a lot of time for Michael Wood.
If Michael Wood can get 20 thousand commuters to give up one lane of the motorway for a bikeway he has my support.
Anything but this eyesore.
A camel is a horse designed by a committee
This latest proposal has succeeded in uniting cyclists and truckers, (and possibly everyone in between) in opposing the proposed bike pedestrian bridge.
Because when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.
At least now we know what we all don't like, and we all don't like this.
Of course there is, (as there always is), ideologues that can be counted on to endorse something like this. The good thing is that at least the spokesperson for this minority are honest in admitting that the proposed bike pedestrian bridge is nothing to do with relieving or even addressing Auckland's traffic woes.
If anyone deserves a new bridge in their town, it is the people of Ashburton.
'Why should Auckland get everything?': Residents of flood-ravaged Ashburton frustrated by city's second bridge (msn.com)
National Party candidate makes world news headlines for his revenge porn scandal .
Collins looks like a goner.She looked 10 years older last night on TV desperately avoiding any responsibility when questioned last night
Collins big talking at the recent queenstown conference where Bazant was one of the headline acts a rising star the new young face of the National Party .Has turned into a complete disaster.
[putting you on the ban list. Really happy to let you out when you reply to this mod note. I need to have a conversation with you, so you will need to check replies to your comments before I will end the ban. I will keep an eye out for your comments in the Trash.
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03-06-2021/#comment-1796295
Former or ex-National Party candidate, to be more precise.
Collins’s responsibility lies with the future of the Party, not so much the past, which cannot be undone. She has the top-secret review reports; she knows what needs to be done. A real Leader has what it takes to do what needs to be done. Crickets.
Nicola Willis, please step forward and up, and save the Party from more self-inflicted embarrassment and pain.
These scandals are useful as an opportunity for an outsider to snatch a glimpse into the fetid mind of the National party politician…..confirming what we already know is their primary thought pattern, just nasty shit.
Did Collins say in the last month or two that there were no more scandals and that the party was united?
Keeping a straight face while holding a dud poker hand once again.
Mod note above.
Treetop and Tricledrown – different.
Thanks Ghost and Grey for your messages about the Vaccine Stab number yesterday. I got a call in but no reply as yet. In no hurry anyway would rather it went to someone younger who may be more vulnerable.
Depending upon what group you are in you might not want to get too excited about getting any reply at all before summer arrives.
If you are in the most at risk group, the immediate frontline workers, it appears that only about 60% of them have had even a first dose. In the next category, the household members of the most at risk people, less than 50% have had a first dose.
Group 2, which is the frontline health workers, people living or working in long-term residential care, older Maori and Pacific people and those over 65 living in Counties Manakau has only had about 40% who have received a first dose.
For those of us who are over 65 but aren't Maori or Pacific people only about 4% have had a first dose. These were the ones who were supposedly going to be able to get vaccinated starting at the beginning of last month remember. That date of course then slipped back and appears to be slipping further.
The Government Health Ministers seem to be quite happy. ""Our plan to vaccinate New Zealanders is on track," Dr Ayesha Verrall". Well I suppose she would say that. She has been vaccinated.
Ashley Bloomfield is also quite happy about the situation it would seem.
"Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said on Thursday he's happy with the progress.
"I think what we're seeing is ongoing increased uptake amongst our priority groups."
Meanwhile, while the vast majority of us haven't been vaccinated, our Government is going to allow people in from Melbourne next week without any form of quarantine. The people involved chose to go there. Either stay there or go into quarantine when you get back should be their options. When the elderly, like me, have had a chance to get vaccinated they can open up the borders. Until then to hell with it.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/06/coronavirus-60-percent-of-group-labelled-high-risk-still-yet-to-get-first-covid-19-vaccine-dose.html
In the meantime you probably shouldn't get too excited about getting anything. My local DHB said early this week that they had no idea when vaccination might be available. My Medical Centre also say they haven't been told anything and they have no idea what is going on.
my BiL and his wife – both in their forties and in no group of anything – had their vaccination last week in Whangarai as walk ins.
His mother and father, both in their seventies, she is Pakeha and he is Maori, have yet to get a notification of being even on some list, they are in Whakatane.
Here in Rotorua, who knows.
i agree that the border should be closed again until a few more people here have had their jab.
As for those that don't want the jab, who cares, leave them be, and vaccinated those that want to be vaccinated.
Agree on all points.
No sign of vaccination for my 90 year old Parents (one with hypertension & diabetes).
In most Anglosphere Countries, the elderly were placed in the second group to be vaccinated rather than thrown in with over 65s in general in Group 3 … with the really high-risk over 80s (those with comorbidities) right at the front of the Group 2 queue … we apparently do things differently here …
Meanwhile, widespread complacency around the threat posed by the new dangerous Covid variants continues unabated.
it seems that there really is no co-ordination or anything really. Again, have all old people in Auckland be vaccinated?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-auckland-vaccination-centre-metres-away-from-miq-facility/KJFR5UM5YGLDN65B4WA3P2P6PI/
#8 wire….
His comment is a rubbish reckon from a guy exercising his white privilege to have a whine and get it reported in the Herald, the home of the relentless middle class whinge about everything.
So what if it is next to an MIQ facility? Journalists in their stampede to get the next alarmist reckon from a know nothing have forgotten to ask the most basic of questions – like has anyone, anywhere in NZ in the past year, ever caught covid by walking past a MIQ hotel? The answer of course is NO.
It is interesting they’ve removed from earlier stories his complaint that no one was being scanned, something in my experience of getting vaccinated (twice now) is simply an outright untruth.
You could criticise that it is hard to get to if you are disabled and poorly signposted/a bit hard to find from the advertised Elliot street entrance, but no some wally get to have a free bitch about… nothing really.
did actually not care much about his whinge but his age.
the conversation up top is in regards to age groups and vaccination groups and the reigning confusion about it.
Sanctuary I don't know how your comment sits in with the recent media release about the aerosol effect of people just passing by with the more infection strain.
And has everyone noted how there isn't a new super infectious strain in Victoria. It seems to have been a fib by the pollie in charge feeling the heat of failure. It is such a hot country, Australia.
swordfish Sorry to hear about your parents waiting. I hope they have better neighbours now.
As for the way that Covid 19 treatment has slid back it probably means that it is back with the backsliders down in the bowels of the MoH. When the leaders were appearing before cameras they would have been on their toes. Now the MoH has taken to printing an enormous number of leaflets and full page adverts in the papers and probably on tv?
Trouble is that people don't know what to think, don't read the papers, or have time – it is a very passive approach that is so efficient for man/womanpower but not for the actual outcome of message received by those who need it the most. What do generic managers do when there is a human mass outbreak of sickness? Sit at their computers and work out the odds for people dying for each possible method used, and then work out the 'mean' figure showing the least financial cost?
Well I can't remember which media I read that there was not a new strain in Victoria but it was wrong. So should I start wearing my mask all the time when mixing? Seriously I should I suppose. And the epidemiologist Baker says that all the border workers and others involved haven't been vaccinated – still thousands to go. And what about GPs, we heard that they have been neglected. Really, if you take your eye off government they wander off into the woods and get lost!
Cheers, Grey.
No, the nightmare continues unfortunately. We thought it was all over right at the start of November last year when their violent intensely anti-social neighbour moved out, swapping houses with what we believe was his grandmother … massive relief for everyone (including other neighbours) … he was now living more than an hour away & the older lady was extremely quiet (so my Parents feeling safe, no enforced chronic sleep deprivation, no intense stress … & peace of mind for the first time in 3 years) … but only lasted 6 weeks … gave everyone a real shock when he suddenly turned up in the early hours of Boxing Day nonchalantly inflicting his usual anti-social behaviour / noise / aggression as if nothing had changed.
My 90 year old Mother has had to be hospitalised twice since Oct 2020 for very high blood pressure & low oxygen saturation levels (bordering on mini-stoke territory) from extreme stress & sleep deprivation (both his violent explosions/noise & his kids (increasingly dropped there) running wild at all hours … really raucous relentless in-your-face noise levels right through to late at night, Parents can't escape it even in rooms away from dividing-wall with doors closed) …
… She almost died in Wellington Hospital the day after the 2020 Election … but on Election Day was more concerned about casting her vote for the Labour Party she'd spent her life both supporting & being active within rather than worrying about her own health.
This'd be the Labour Party with its tacit No Eviction policy & its affluent, Woke New Middle Class activist base romanticising people like the intensely anti-social Underclass Neighbour while systematically demonizing & scapegoating elderly poorer Pakeha, including lifelong Labour voters. Unfortunately, being white they're members of the ID Politics 'out-groups' currently being quietly but rapidly transformed (largely by Pakeha from financially-privileged backgrounds) into 2nd class citizens.
Or, to put it another way, those Pakeha who have disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation forcing those Pakeha (& other non-Maori) who haven't to do all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering … as they go about establishing this Brave New Woke World, bereft of universal human rights, equal citizenship & other core principles of liberal democracy.
Ironic given my Parents history of marching against Springbok Tours (1960 / 76 / 81) & my Mother being one of the first Pakeha to learn Te Reo in a formal educational setting (as a teenager at a Wellington Educational Institute's night classes in 1948). At the age of 90 she now gets to enjoy relentless stress from an extremely violent Maori man (who never has to suffer any consequences = because Colonisation) & his clearly deeply dysfunctional family while the ex-boarding school Woke Cadre get to ostentatiously posture & pose as heroic "anti-racists" (according to deeply warped Critical Race Theory dogma) while continuing to enjoy all the inherited fruits of Colonisation (while also bravely ensuring they're living at least 20 miles away from the mayhem they've helped to create through crude social housing policies in previously peaceful, community-minded & for the most part Labour-voting neighbourhoods).
Glad I got that off my chest … longtime coming … thanks for providing me with the opportunity, Grey
I am bitter about this too swordfish. See it all the time, where people are trying to transform the world that has been mostly good but they want to trash it and start again on a different set of tracks. We are to be derailed and left in a siding to stew in our own juice.
They don't try to clean the bad up, keep the good and change habits to improve society, they just want to trash the lot and start again FGS. It took centuries and many people worked all their lives to get civilisation to the present era, at a level that decent people could be happy about.
Now this type of activist person likely meditate when they get distressed and remove themselves from the everyday, and come back with fantastical ideas that they have absorbed in overwhelming belief. Their drive is similar to that of economists to change humans' behaviour to fit their models. I don't think they really like people though they profess to be 'caring and concerned'; again like economists they are in love with their models and designs, people's and the planet's actual needs are often at opposite positions.
I have a few things to say about my feelings on https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-05-06-2021/#comment-1796469
"Or, to put it another way, those Pakeha who have disproportionately inherited the wealth from Colonisation forcing those Pakeha (& other non-Maori) who haven't to do all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering … as they go about establishing this Brave New Woke World, bereft of universal human rights, equal citizenship & other core principles of liberal democracy."
Or as one person I read recently put it, this wokeist cult looks more and more like rich white people, lacking a moral narrative and purpose for their wealth, assuaging their guilt by punching down on poor whites.
This woke idea that everything is oppression, starting with marxist oppression of all workers, the patriarchal oppression of all women, the white supremacist oppression of all people of colour – and now god help us the biological oppression of gender – has consistently taken what starts out as a good idea and degenerates it into corrosive, toxic soup, undermining social cohesion and trust.
Which you have to think, is well understood, by those who create and promote them, to be the purpose of these ideologies .
"…all the Penance, all the sacrificing, all the suffering" – awful. As for "punching down on poor whites" – words fail me.
Can't help wondering if overall long-term social cohesion and resilience might be strengthened by sharing the fruits of society just a little bit more equitably – is that idea too 'woke'; too PC?
Maybe just knowing one's place makes for a happier life, not to mention a good night's sleep which (we can all agree) has value beyond measure.
Why do I get the impression you're not too keen on "sharing the fruits of society just a little bit more equitably" with low income / poorer Pakeha ? (who comprise more than half of the bottom income quartile).
Ever stopped to wonder about health stats for poorer Pakeha & Asians ? You know, the kind of people who, unlike the Woke & their affluent older relatives, can't afford private health insurance (and quite possibly oppose it on principle) & are destined to be the sacrificial lambs forced by the Woke to the back of the surgery queue with CRT's Health "Equity" dogma. How do you think their stats compare to affluent Pakeha, to middle class Maori, to Poor Maori ? No you've never wondered about that, have you, sweetheart … no orgy of self-congratulatory virtue-signalling, no social media prestige enhancement amongst your little clique to be derived from that sort of non-Woke Social Justice.
As always, socio-economic privilege is vastly more consequential than any putative "white privilege" … but that's of no use to old frauds like you, is it. By aggressively promoting the existence of the latter to the exclusion of all else, affluent Woke phoneys get to have their cake & eat it … ostentatiously playing the role of morally good progressives while scapegoating poorer whites & quietly consolidating their own power & privilege.
Really quite Reactionary … in so many ways the antithesis of the genuine Left.
So spare me your fake morality, spare me your bullshit.
Honestly swordfish, don't know why you get that impression – imho the 'sharing' should be based on need ("From each according to his ability, to each according to their need" – Marx), but selfishness and greed ensure that disadvantaged groups are pitted against each other.
You appear to be a bit of a mindreader – explains your "old frauds", "affluent Woke phoneys", "fake morality" and "bullshit" jibes. Fwiw I’m not naturally aggressive, and there’s no need for me or anyone else to promote “white privilege“, aggressively or otherwise. I don't have any health insurance, and yes, I was lucky enough to have a privileged start – both parents were teachers in the NZ public education system, and I did relatively well out of that system myself.
Wishing you and your parents all the best for the rest of your evening.
Is anyone finding when they go to a screening or specialist appointment if they are asked if they have had a Covid vaccination?
Funny you should ask… the 70 year old, physically disabled Better Half has visited the local hospital twice in the past month. Once through A&E and once for a specialist appointment. We expected to be asked about and/or offered Te Jab both times, but alas, no.
Despite the hospital being slap bang in the middle of 'jab any one who'll stand still long enough' central…not one medical professional seem to think it was an issue.
We didn't see a single sign promoting Te Jab either.
Looks like the world has been misled about the effectiveness of hydroxychloriquine in the early stages of Covid19 treatment. Perhaps those who instantly rejected its use because Trump may be feeling a bit embarrassed which is probably nothing compared to the feelings of the hundreds if thousands of Covid19 victims who could well have been helped and probably survived.https://c19hcq.com/
Still, these things need to be properly researched, investigated, and trialled before jumping to conclusions. What applies to the large general population may not apply to smaller sub-groups of patients, which complicates trials. Common sense is not a scientific-clinical argument and there’s usually a little more to it to justify the effort, expense, and ethics for undertaking (large) trials with sometimes very ill people.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/world/2021/06/coronavirus-vitamin-d-supplements-likely-useless-against-covid-19-for-most-study.html
did you look at my link?
With a link address like that, it's obviously a thoroughly unbiased collection of the latest peer-reviewed research on the topic and no conflicts of interest /sarc
That is not how you approach a pandemic though, there isn't time to do comprehensive research on treatments, you use whatever works. Off-label drug treatments are a key part of rolling out rapid medical counter measures in a pandemic. The safety research has already been done as many of these medications have been in use in the general population for decades. So all you really need to do is run trials.
Why would the site owners use a dodgy registrar?
https://fraud-reports.wikia.org/wiki/Tucows
https://who.is/whois/c19hcq.com
Here is something to cheer everyone up on a Friday –
https://undocs.org/S/2021/229
Page 77:
"…Logistics convoys and retreating HAF were subsequently hunted down and remotely engaged by the unmanned combat aerial vehicles or the lethal autonomous weapons systems such as the STM Kargu-2 (see annex 30) and other loitering munitions. The lethal autonomous weapons systems were programmed to attack targets without requiring data connectivity between the operator and the munitions…"
Possibly the first recorded case of an autonomous Robot deliberately killing humans.
BTW a Kargu-2 is a quadcopter armed with a powerful anti-personnel fragmentation device (i.e. a very large hand grenade) that uses machine learning and algorythms to autonomously select and attack targets.
Who cares about Asimov's Laws of Robotics, or indeed, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) principles of robotics?
@weka – apologies for lack of response on Twitter, am now completely locked out. Will provide screenshot once I have access again.
Damn. Will catch up when you’re out.
If they build a bigger Auckland harbour bridge won’t the traffic increase?
Well if we are all to drive electric vehicles in the future – and grow our population – then yes we will need a bigger bridges and roads.
Build a bridge that takes bikes, feet, skateboards, scooters, trains, maybe buses, maybe taxis, and increase ferries 😈
I don't disagree with you, but i don't see it happen really.
And who will use it ?There are only a few who live within 5km of the bridge, and of those who commute daily. I also note that the areas within 5km are some of the most expensive housing in Auckland, great for those who live in Manukau, Albany out west etc. who have to battle with very limited public transport. Nice to see our government have policies for the few – the same few who are benefitting from the housing situation pocketing over $432k from June 19 to June 20.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/auckland-house-prices-defy-covid-herne-bay-homes-make-almost-seven-times-more-money-in-one-year-than-average-city-worker/Q5KFBQBTTWIBLIFJPLUBKZJOTM/
I also noticed that last weeks demonstration was less diverse than the PGA Championship held in Kiawah Is just out from Charleston North Carolina- Even Efeso Collins noted this.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/new-auckland-harbour-bridge-second-standalone-bridge-for-cyclists-pedestrians-confirmed/CM4653SLAHKBUFBNWD5XPGN3N4/
Good pint about the lack of diversity.
I am surprised at the traction this story has gathered since the protest. Incredible the power of enraged lycra.
NZTA are in advanced planning for a tunnel, not a new traffic bridge.
So Existing bridge for vehicles, tunnel for trains and buses, small briddge for cycling and walking? Wow, NZTA really have protected the harbour bridge for cars only…
Defends of the bridge it could have less carlanes more space for dedicated pt lanes etc.
The very short term trick is to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible given shorter travel times equate to lower emissions. Tbf if govt were serious they would make public transport free, increase frequency and perhaps dedicate a bridge lane to the busway… that and really push hybrid or full electric cars. They are immediate things that will be of some benefit while infrastructure work is completed.
Its going to be a good 5-10 years before meaningful infrastructure is completed
If they build a cycle /pedestrian only bridge will that reduce the vehicle traffic on the existing bridge?
At certain times but I'd suggest it would be insignificant… sure some will convert but between weather and distance to even get to the bridge on cycle would preclude most…
Would get plenty of use on weekends holidays etc but its not a solution for commute based congestion. That needs rail or bus more hubs more park n rides increased frequency etc
Why can't they just put a cycleway clip on on the existing bridge? Light weight. Doesn't have to be a major drama.
Bridge structure is at capacity and I suspect putting an additional lane on one side would present problems around balance, weight perhaps not not biggest issue more likely wind pressure etc… its amazing how much those outer lanes flex and move…
oh well, parole for "public toilet rapist Daniel Peter Moore's'
i wonder what the victim got? Some counselling sessions?
but fear not, while in prison he 'bettered himself',
Seriously? And the women? Just some 'collateral damage' being done by someone opportunitistic? I wonder if she got any taxpayer funded job skills and tertiary study?
maybe that is what needs to be done, these guys get fuck all in prison, no work, no study, nothing, and the funds saved will go towards the victim and her trauma counselling, her work rehabilitation and some tertiary studies.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/tokyo-olympics-kiwi-medallist-lorraine-moller-says-inclusion-of-transgender-athletes-at-games-derails-womens-sport/UJZMLCP56LQILO7JX2SANUEIVE/
t
this headline is misleading. Not banned, just banned from competiting with women
BSA complaints material I think. Pretty bad article too. Like they can’t say trans woman and trans man.
Didn't see that.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125332758/pike-river-families-launch-court-action-against-sealing-of-the-mine
Ian Powell on TDB has some interesting points on what goes in the health system here. And I don't have to go far in before I get goosebumps about what we will have if the Grand Leap Forward goes forward to a centralised hospital system with a Grand Computer System that Rules Over All.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/06/04/guest-blog-ian-powell-dirty-politics-in-action-smear-campaign-in-new-zealands-health-system/
Broadly speaking the prevailing leadership culture in New Zealand’s health system is managerialism which involves decision-making through a very narrow lens that is management rather than clinically and patient-centred driven. Within district health boards (DHBs) this can be alleviated by the closer proximity between senior managers and health professionals and largely overcome where there is sufficient oxygen to enable genuine engagement between them. The more distributed the engagement at all levels the more clinically and fiscally effective it is.
But with the Ministry of Health it is different. There is no equivalent proximity and the managerialism takes the form of a top-down, more distant, bureaucratic centralism leadership culture. When it comes into conflict over specific issues with a DHB that has progressed strongly in the direction of genuine engagement then it is a recipe for, at best, negative tension.
At worst it can degenerate into dirty bureaucratic politics as was experienced by Canterbury DHB (CDHB) in its escalating conflict with the Health Ministry over the recovery response to the devastation of the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010-11. This is discussed in detail in my two online articles published by the Democracy Project: https://democracyproject.nz/2021/04/15/ian-powell-a-very-bureaucratic-coup-part-one/ and https://democracyproject.nz/2021/05/19/ian-powell-a-very-bureaucratic-coup-part-two/.
The dirty bureaucratic politics was a smear campaign falsely claiming that CDHB’s increasing operational financial deficit was due to financial mismanagement by its senior management team. To succeed it was necessary to destroy the consensus reached between CDHB and the Health Ministry in 2018.
And here it comes.
Housing market: Risk of sharp correction rising – BNZ economists (msn.com)
From California to Ireland to Spain, when the housing bubble burst – to keep the prices up and reduce the supply the bulldozers were brought in to level new unsold houses. Sometimes even whole new sub-divisions to artificially limit supply.
We need urgent legislation to prevent that obscenity being repeated here.
There needs to be a law that no new home be allowed to be demolished while there is still homelessness in this country.
Half finished apartment blocks and new housing estates that were never occupied litter the landscape in Europe and North America just waiting to be bulldozed. No doubt this is how the housing bubble will burst here as well.
Before we reach that place. legislation needs to be enacted that no new dwelling will be allowed to be demolished and sent to a landfill on pain of confiscation by the state.
London:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/mar/12/buyer-led-development-what-the-schemes-look-like-now
Ireland:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531852/Exorcising-Irelands-ghost-estates-Demolition-begins-housing-projects-built-economic-boom-left-country-300-000-homes.html
Spain:
http://www.30y3.com/markel-redondo-tu-casa-es-mi-casa-2/
US:
http://business.time.com/2011/08/01/bulldoze-the-new-way-to-foreclose/