New Zealand's long history of amateur landlordism has created a little third world in our own country.
Problems were difficult to uncover with little resource available to police landlords' behaviour, and little incentive for tenants to come forward, (Salvation Army's Queenstown community ministries director Lieutenant Andrew Wilson) said.
"It's a vicious cycle. Particularly for vulnerable communities like our migrants and our low income earners. Their house is the only thing that might be secure for them and so to risk making a complaint to their landlord or to the property manager or whoever, risks that house over their head.
Little fiefdoms are created by ordinary, power-hungry people, many of whom are completely unsuited to public function. NZ landlord's unregulated behaviour allows for a dangerous power imbalance.
Tenancy reform should go much further. Not only should houses for rent have a warrant of fitness, but those renting and managing them should too. It is wrong for the government to rely on tenants to police the actions of their landlords, and masters.
I'd like to see the entire system favor people buying their own home especially the vulnerable. Unable to see someone who is able to borrow to purchase property + rent it out at exploitative levels with occassional maintanence grudgingly chucked in as adding value to society.
I looked at this. As far as I can make out these are the "working poor" who are being stuck with this. But I can't see why the state should stick up social housing for them, because that is a straight and large subsidy to employers from the taxpayers.
Maybe the employers need to pay much better wages or accept that their "business" is not actually viable? Or we could use local bed taxes or differential rates on hospitality providers to fund the housing.
The min wage atm is 20NZD plus kiwi saver, holiday pay, sickness leave. so 800 before tax a week. Median Rent is 570. NZD for pretty much any shitter. You have yet to heat your house, pay for your commute, eat a meal and buy some pants. Mind you wont' do that cause the money will not stretch that far.
The government nor the bosses will ever be able to pay more then the landlord will charge.
So the best the government can do is use some of the taxes that it collects from these same poor min wage workers and provide low income housing.
I mean we can spend several hundred million on Jeff Bezos movies (in the name of money), on the Americas Cup (in the name of money) and other assorted crap for rich people. Many whom not pay any taxes at all – see Jeff Bezos and any of the Americas Cup tossers. Or is offering freebies and tax incentives/write offs for tax avoiders only something to discuss when its National who does it?
Carbon intensity in the developed world has been declining gradually for a decade or so now – it would drop a lot faster if the trad environmentalists would get out of the way and let the rest of us get the job done.
[TheStandard: The site’s chief censor moved this comment to Open Mike as being ‘off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in’. Which of course is a dishonest excuse for not wanting to have a debate they don’t want to have.]
Carbon intensity in the developed world has been declining gradually for a decade or so now – it would drop a lot faster if the trad environmentalists would get out of the way and let the rest of us get the job done.
Red, no mention of "the trad environmentalists" (that I could see) in that great (v. positive) "RenewEconomy" link (thanks) – could you expand on how you see "the trad environmentalists" getting in the way of "the rest of us" implementing VPPs and large battery projects? Are there perhaps some "trad environmentalists" in Aussie who are opposed to solar VPPs and large battery initiatives, or is it as simplistic as "trad environmentalists" bad, you (presumably) and "the rest of us" good?
Can't help wondering if "trad environmentalists" are, on average, at least as keen on renewables and big batteries as "the rest of us", and if (for some reason) you're seeing a division where none exists. Apologies in advance for any misinterpretation on my part, it's just that to me your comment read as being from someone who's a little pissed off at "trad environmentalists". Personally I think they're still a useful part of the mix – the environment needs a bit of ‘traditional’ TLC more than ever, imho.
And the reason why I'm throwing rocks at the 'trad environmentalists' is their Malthusian insistence that we're all doomed, when the exact opposite is the case. It's science, tech and heavy industry – for all of the manifest flaws and imperfections they have at present – which are delivering on projects like the one I linked to above. And in doing so heading us in the right direction. But as I pointed out in my short series earlier in the year, there is only one way to get carbon to zero (or negative as is really required) and the trads are standing obdurately in the way of achieving this.
It is of course a point that's so irksome to them that this perfectly relevant comment gets moved off the post – but I'm accustomed to that now.
I might also add a personal note that the lithium needed for these batteries comes from somewhere. As I finish typing this I'm going to go back to work (yes we commission 24hrs/7 days) to get another crucial part of the plant ready for feed tomorrow. It involves mixing literally tonnes of concentrated sulphuric acid with a dry powdery like material in a somewhat exothermic reaction – and the responsibility for getting this right sits with myself and one of the process engineers. Wish us luck.
Chances are YOU will live your life out in relative comfort and safety, but the question is will the generations after you?
Mind, we may all become Fremen and drink our piss and get vaporised rather tehn buried, but for now we seem to be loosing.
So really everyone needs to work together. Unless one values technology above humanity then we could turn the world into the matrix, where humans are the batteries for machines. 🙂
Maybe we are all just replicants?
Unless one values technology above humanity then we could turn the world into the matrix, where humans are the batteries for machines.
Maybe you could consider it like this – that technology creates the platform on which human progress – our humanity as you name it – develops. Take away the energy density and materials that we now have, and we immediately revert back to pre-industrial world and the same social conditions. And I have zero rosy-eyed illusions about what that would mean – especially for women everywhere.
It's not a binary choice between 'technology' and 'humanity' – both are entwinned together. Of course any arbitrary 'good thing' can become an evil when taken to an extreme – that we always must guard against. I'm perfectly happy to concede that technology absent an informed and principled social fabric can become a 'matrix-like' tyranny of it's own. We see this already in the trend toward unchecked and ubiquitous surveillance. But the correct response doesn't involve smashing all the cameras and machines – the manifest failure of the Luddites is the example that leaps to mind.
So really everyone needs to work together.
Yes. I've been kind of saying this all along – I appreciate hearing it from others too.
Another point is that renewable energies would not be explored and developed without the insistence of 'trad environmentalists'.
They drive political and social change through activism. Emissions spewing industry does not change because they want to – the profit motive explicitly prevents that. They change because they have to – due to public and political pressure.
But are all "trad environmentalists" devotees of Malthus? You have such good ideas and intentions that it's difficulkt to reconcile these with your confrontational style of commenting – a style that you probably share with a few of those "trad environmentalists".
For example, what do you want to achieve by suggesting that (all? most?) "trad environmentalists" "are standing obdurately in the way of" your one and "only one way to get carbon to zero"? How do you think that style enhances your comments; how might it might help to win few of the obdurate trad environmentalists to your cause?
Or do you believe all "trad environmentalists" are lost causes, to be ridiculed and pilloried as useless millstones to 'progress'? In which case, best of luck with fashioning the millstone which (whether you recognise it or not) is a hinderance to others at least considering your ideas and opinions.
You have such good ideas and intentions that it's difficulkt to reconcile these with your confrontational style of commenting
Can you not see that being arbitrarily kicked off a thread for manifestly dishonest reasons is just another form of confrontation?
Complaining about my 'tone' is frankly a bit rich, when at the same time I see trad environmentalists shutting down nuclear power plants in Germany and increasing that country's carbon emissions as a direct result. That is so frankly delusional I'm bound to pillory and ridicule those who would defend this Malthusian style of thinking. The idea that resources are finite turns out to be paradoxically wrong. Our adaptive abilities should be obvious, though they clearly are not. We’ve been adapting to resource scarcity for millennia, and the idea that we would stop today, at the pinnacle of our development so far, is a peculiar one.
The Simon–Ehrlich bet provides academics with plenty to argue over, but the larger trend is unambiguous – resources are becoming more, not less, abundant in relation to the labour time it takes to “buy” them. The period since 1900 has been marked by world wars, famines and depressions. Yet population grew at an average rate of 1.33 per cent per year and the five-metal basket of commodities grew more abundant at an average rate of 1.75 per cent per year. Adding the increase in population and the increase in abundance indicates a combined rate of around 3.08 per cent, indicating a doubling of abundance every 23 years. These figures are a salutary reminder to those who, like Paul Ehrlich, see resource constraints as limiting economic progress.
Can you not see that being arbitrarily kicked off a thread for manifestly dishonest reasons is just another form of confrontation?
RL, don't know what you're trying to achieve by describing someone as acting "arbitrarily" for "manifestly dishonest reasons", but please consider that it might not have the desired effect. We're all in this pig’s-breakfast together – it's going to take heaps of good will and cooperation, yesterday and now, to spare future generations the consequences of our current catastrophic trajectory.
'Trad' and other environmentalists are keen on protecting (even regenerating) natural ecosystems that have been degraded due to habitat destruction, be it by unsustainable resource extraction, pollution or other encroachments. They too deserve our support, and thanks, for at least some of their efforts, imho.
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DmK Thanks for the enquiring commentary. We need to interrogate the 'technology and engineering' will fix all proponents. I find so little concern for ordinary humans and our ability to carry on with human lives that I am sensitive to this matter and have little time to concentrate on the truth or value of the programs being instigated.
Enormous effort and ingenuity will go into finding technology solutions to the climate crisis – and much of this will be driven by the potentially staggering profits to be made by whomever owns and commercialises the technology. It might save us, or it might not. It might save us, but in doing so push all the existing inequalities of market-based economies to stratospheric levels because of the enormous economic power that would accrue to those who own the salvation technology – and the absolutely abject weakness of everyone else.
Personally, I think that expecting the same driver (profit/endless capital accumulation) that got us into this climate crisis to also get us out of it, is a touch incautious. I think it is more likely that any salvation consists of pitching us from this crisis into a new, different one. But we are not in a position to turn our backs on whatever technology throws up, and it's going to be a very rocky ride.
As the wiki entry notes, the big issue with compressed air storage are the intertwined issues of efficiency and thermal management.
in short, compressing air raises its temperature. A lot of the energy that goes into the compressor ends up as the raised temperature. If the stored compressed air simply cools to the environment, that heat energy is just lost. There are schemes to try to capture and store that heat, but at best they might raise the round-trip efficiency to 70%, but AFAIK no large installations have actually come anywhere near that efficiency yet.
Pumped hydro storage in contrast easily achieves routinely efficiencies greater than 70%, with over 80% common. It also uses much more established technology. These factors which is why almost all electricity storage worldwide is pumped hydro. New Zealand is blessed with lots of suitable topography and water sources for pumped hydro. So it's seems unlikely there will be much by way of compressed air or battery storage her in NZ (except for a bit of local grid stabilisation).
Outside of NZ, it appears thermal storage in conjunction with concentrating solar is the second biggest storage technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_energy_storage_power_plants . Compressed air to me looks like the best fit with wind energy, at least until there's some kind of massive breakthrough in battery tech.
I've got a question… maybe someone with a better understanding of the issues can explain.
As I understand it if an employee say steals $20 from the till it can be a criminal matter ie theft as a servant but if an employer steals an employees legally entitled wages this is an employment matter?
Surely now we have a Lab majority govt its time to make wage theft a criminal offence? I read so many stories about wage theft and it seems a torturous process to get any resolution and when caught and finally fined the protagonists melt away.
Making it a criminal matter on the same footing as theft by a servant will sort alot of the scumbags out given delay and obfuscation wont protect them any longer.
I think this interacts with company limited liability and bankruptcy law. Owners and directors are only responsible for a companies debts as long as they are running it responsibly.
Wages are of course a debt which the company carries until pay day arrives.
There are also potential issues with how the inability to pay wages arose. Its possible for example a major contract collapsed or was unpaid leading to sub contractors being unable to pay their employees.
Its certainly possible to have criminal convictions for certain types of employment violations. For example prostitution is legal in NZ but someone may still be prosecuted for employing underage people.
I think there are situations where employing with no intention of paying will be criminal. Just you need to prove intent in such cases and they are already at the severe end of violations.
Its also important to understand with company law that the company and its officers are different entities and companies don't make decisions, their officers do.
Did you notice the original comment is followed by one more saying thanks. Its like I managed to explain there are some complexities to think about and it seems in a way that allows them to be reasoned about, as the questioner subsequently does.
What is your (futile) attempt to post a contradiction contributing? Maybe you should go a post a reply on twitter or something where it can be properly appreciated?
There doesn't seem to be any reason, other than tradition, that allows employers to hang onto things like holiday pay redundancy etc. IMHO they should have to pay these amounts over to the IRD as they are accrued or the worker becomes eligible not leave them as an employer liability. It would lessen worker loss and give employers a better view of their cash. Rather than have employees giving interest free loans and losing out badly if there is business failure.
My wife and my children have all had wages, PAYE, student loan payments either not paid to them or not forwarded to IRD.
In this day and age these payments to IRD should be paid same day as wages – it is not the employers money it s the workers. This would help identify dodgy and problematic employers much, much earlier.
I find Murdoch is consistently really good at going deep – not always going for the most obvious connection, but making something visually intriguing to keep the audience's attention while going for the less obvious connection that has a stronger punch.
RNZ’s “Redline” programme I heard today was verging on 50s scaremongering such were the number of hearsay comments, unattributed speakers, and lightly examined assertions.
Understand this? ~~~ Investment News for financial advisers in New Zealand … https://investmentnews.co.nz
7 days ago — AMP Wealth NZ has officially pushed back the long-awaited investment shift to a BlackRock-managed passive strategy into the September quarter. The change …
Get your bargains here in the basement of the world!
And Tether – getting money in return for 'milk tokens' – Money has gone mad. Let's face it. The ultimate drug, and the derivatives are even more hallucinatory!
Why don't we know more about this. Are they visitor visa's with no family exemption attached so they cannot be used for a holiday. Are they residency visas in which case should they not be issued after any investment and local jobs have occurred?? If they are people wanting to undertake projects etc are they then going to want to drag all their own people in? Any obligations to train the locals? Any ban on buying existing land buildings and business. According to the stuff story none of them want to invest unless they can actually come here. I really can't see what's in it for the locals except more colonisation.
Colour me suspicious but isn't MOBIE stuck in the neo lib dark ages?
Noticing a tendency for you do say something is wrong without explaining how. Moved this comment to OM to circumvent this becoming a problem. Maybe invest a bit more time in sharing your own thinking.
(and we don’t have like/dislike buttons on TS for a reason).
OK to use the thumbs-up emoji on it's own, or in combination with text, imho, but I'd be wary of using the OK hand emoji.
Quite like using the smiley-winky-laughie emojis since they were made available (presumably for a reason.) If others don't like thumbs up/down, then there's always:
+1 … +10 … +100, etc.
^ … ^^ … ^^^ … ^^^^ … ^5 … ^ this, or (just) this, etc.
A blast from the past – we really are spoilt for choice these days. Time for some gdr.
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Among the many other problems associated with Musk/DOGE sending a fleet of teenage and twenty-something cultists to remove, copy and appropriate federal records like social security, medicaid and other supposedly protected data is the fact that the youngsters doing the data-removal, copying and security protocol and filter code over-writing have ...
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tuneBird fly high by the light of the moonOh, oh, oh, JokermanSong by Bob Dylan.Morena folks, I hope this fine morning of the 7th of February finds you well. We're still close to Paihia, just a short drive out of town. Below is the view ...
It’s been an eventful week as always, so here’s a few things that we have found interesting. We also hope everyone had a happy and relaxing Waitangi Day! This week in Greater Auckland We’re still running on summer time, but provided two chewy posts: On Tuesday, a guest ...
Queuing on Queen St: the Government is set to announce another apparently splashy growth policy on Sunday of offering residence visas to wealthy migrants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, February 7:PM Christopher ...
The fact that Waitangi ended up being such a low-key affair may mark it out as one of the most significant Waitangi Days in recent years. A group of women draped in “Toitu Te Tiriti” banners who turned their backs on the politicians’ powhiri was about as rough as it ...
Hi,This week’s Flightless Bird episode was about “fake seizure guy” — a Melbourne man who fakes seizures in order to get members of the public to sit on him.The audio documentary (which I have included in this newsletter in case you don’t listen to Flightless Bird) built on reporting first ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Karin Kirk The 119th Congress comes with a price tag. The oil and gas industry gave about $24 million in campaign contributions to the members of the U.S. House and Senate expected to be sworn in January 3, 2025, according to a ...
Early morning, the shadows still long, but you can already feel the warmth building. Our motel was across the road from the historic homestead where Henry Williams' family lived. The evening before, we wandered around the gardens, reading the plaques and enjoying the close proximity to the history of the ...
Thanks folks for your feedback, votes and comments this week. I’ll be making the changes soon. Appreciate all your emails, comments and subscriptions too. I know your time is valuable - muchas gracias.A lot is happening both here and around the world - so I want to provide a snippets ...
Data released today by Statistics NZ shows that unemployment rose to 5.1%, with 33,000 more people out of work than last year said NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi Economist Craig Renney. “The latest data shows that employment fell in Aotearoa at its fastest rate since the GFC. Unemployment rose in 8 ...
The December labour market statistics have been released, showing yet another increase in unemployment. There are now 156,000 unemployed - 34,000 more than when National took office. And having thrown all these people out of work, National is doubling down on cruelty. Because being vicious will somehow magically create the ...
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National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
Labour is relieved to see Children’s Minister Karen Chhour has woken up to reality and reversed her government’s terrible decisions to cut funding from frontline service providers – temporarily. ...
It is the first week of David Seymour’s school lunch programme and already social media reports are circulating of revolting meals, late deliveries, and mislabelled packaging. ...
The Green Party says that with no-cause evictions returning from today, the move to allow landlords to end tenancies without reason plunges renters, and particularly families who rent, into insecurity and stress. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
For the Government, 2025 will bring a relentless focus on unleashing the growth we need to lift incomes, strengthen local businesses and create opportunity. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today laid out the Government’s growth agenda in his Statement to Parliament. “Just over a year ago this Government was elected by ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes students back to school with a call to raise attendance from last year. “The Government encourages all students to attend school every day because there is a clear connection between being present at school and setting yourself up for a bright future,” says Mr ...
The Government is relaxing visitor visa requirements to allow tourists to work remotely while visiting New Zealand, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis, Immigration Minister Erica Stanford and Tourism Minister Louise Upston say. “The change is part of the Government’s plan to unlock New Zealand’s potential by shifting the country onto ...
The opening of Kāinga Ora’s development of 134 homes in Epuni, Lower Hutt will provide much-needed social housing for Hutt families, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I’ve been a strong advocate for social housing on Kāinga Ora’s Epuni site ever since the old earthquake-prone housing was demolished in 2015. I ...
Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay will travel to Australia today for meetings with Australian Trade Minister, Senator Don Farrell, and the Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum (ANZLF). Mr McClay recently hosted Minister Farrell in Rotorua for the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Ministers’ meeting, where ANZLF presented on ...
Everything you missed from day five of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard eight hours of submissions.Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.It was another work from home day for the Justice Committee, the only people in Room 3 being security guards, committee ...
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In its eagerness to appease supporters of Israel, the media is happy to ride roughshod over due process and basic rights. It’s damaging Australia’s (and New Zealand’s?) democracy.COMMENTARY:By Bernard Keane Two moments stand out so far from the Federal Court hearings relating to Antoinette Lattouf’s sacking by the ...
“The reality is we’re getting poorer. The government this year is leaning heavy on chasing economic growth, which is absolutely the right thing to do.” ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Vegetarian by Han Kang (Granta, $28) Han Kang’s astounding novel was based on an ...
This new docuseries about two single comedians looking for love is also a joyful celebration of female friendship. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. “How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright ...
A new poem by Freya Turnbull. Hunger Song – After Kaveh Akbar (Untitled With Hunger And Matcheads) I hold my age in ripped fishnet hold an empty vessel oldyoung body cracks like gunshot like killa i was a father ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominik Koll, Honorary Lecturer, Australian National University View of the Pacific Ocean from the International Space Station.NASA Earth must have experienced something exceptional 10 million years ago. Our study of rock samples from the floor of the Pacific Ocean has found ...
Troy Rawhiti-Connell reviews Kia Tupu Te Ara, a documentary chronicling the meteoric rise of Aotearoa’s groundbreaking metal band. “Two brothers attempt to storm the world of thrash metal with the Māori language, despite the fact they’re both still teenagers,” reads the synopsis of Kent Belcher’s documentary, Kia Tupu Te Ara. ...
Three freelance writers have been awarded grants to work on their ambitious journalism projects. In January, The Spinoff announced the Vince Geddes In-Depth Journalism Fund, supported by the Auckland Radio Trust (ART). The fund was established to provide much-needed financial and editorial support to talented freelance journalists, empowering them to ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga China has confirmed details of its meeting with Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown for the first time, saying Beijing “stands ready to have an in-depth exchange” with the island nation. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters during his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ 2023 strategic foreign policy assessment, “Navigating a shifting world”, accurately foresaw a more uncertain and complex time ahead for New Zealand. But already it feels out of date. The ...
Our parliamentary throuple may be the longest running in the country, but cracks are showing. Gabi Lardies wonders if differing attachment styles may be to blame. Though no one ever anticipated happiness or roses in the three-way coalition, the relationship has wobbled on for over a year without breaking up. ...
As Mike White’s dark satire returns for a third season, we look back on some of The White Lotus’s most memorable characters. The White Lotus looks like a dream holiday, but this resort is anything but paradise. Set in an exclusive five star hotel resort, HBO’s award-winning series is a ...
Analysis: Would the last scientist to leave the building please turn out the lights? Because the confirmation of Robert F Kennedy Jr as US Secretary of Health suggests we’re heading back to the dark ages.It’s a sad irony that President John F Kennedy propelled America into the space age; now his nephew ...
The crux of my message today is that New Zealand needs to bend two curves. One is the long-term economic growth trajectory, which needs to bend upwards to expand our productive capacity and national real incomes. The second is our net public debt ...
Away from the tense scenes on the paepae, under a closely guarded canvas tent, te iwi Māori do the real work of Waitangi: talking. We were invited inside to listen. ...
The Jono & Ben star is self-aware and surrounded by extraordinary women in Three’s latest local comedy series. The first episode of Vince, written by and starring Jono Pryor, opens with intrigue, a loincloth and a man in the middle of some kind of breakdown. As the titular character, a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Barclay, ARC Future Fellow and Professor, Macquarie University Wikimedia “1,000 Letters and 15,000 Kisses” screamed the headline in an 1898 edition of the English newspaper, the Halifax Evening Courier. Harriet Ann McLean, a 32-year-old laundry maid, was suing Francis ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lena Wang, Associate Professor in Management, RMIT University Supplied/AppleTV+ The highly anticipated season two of Severance, released in weekly instalments, has continued to draw interest among viewers around the world. A gripping psychological thriller, this TV series provides an extreme ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jude MacArthur, Senior Lecturer, School of Critical Studies in Education, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Phil Walter/Getty Images Seven new charter schools are opening their gates, and ACT leader and Associate Education Minister David Seymour – the politician responsible for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ben Kilby, PhD candidate in Education, Monash University Charles Parker/ Pexels , CC BY If your young child asks “what’s the meaning of life?” you might laugh it off (how cute!) or freeze in panic (where do I even begin?). It’s ...
New Zealand's long history of amateur landlordism has created a little third world in our own country.
Little fiefdoms are created by ordinary, power-hungry people, many of whom are completely unsuited to public function. NZ landlord's unregulated behaviour allows for a dangerous power imbalance.
Tenancy reform should go much further. Not only should houses for rent have a warrant of fitness, but those renting and managing them should too. It is wrong for the government to rely on tenants to police the actions of their landlords, and masters.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446016/number-of-overcrowded-costly-rentals-in-queenstown-area-reaches-pre-covid-19-levels
I'd like to see the entire system favor people buying their own home especially the vulnerable. Unable to see someone who is able to borrow to purchase property + rent it out at exploitative levels with occassional maintanence grudgingly chucked in as adding value to society.
I looked at this. As far as I can make out these are the "working poor" who are being stuck with this. But I can't see why the state should stick up social housing for them, because that is a straight and large subsidy to employers from the taxpayers.
Maybe the employers need to pay much better wages or accept that their "business" is not actually viable? Or we could use local bed taxes or differential rates on hospitality providers to fund the housing.
The min wage atm is 20NZD plus kiwi saver, holiday pay, sickness leave. so 800 before tax a week. Median Rent is 570. NZD for pretty much any shitter. You have yet to heat your house, pay for your commute, eat a meal and buy some pants. Mind you wont' do that cause the money will not stretch that far.
The government nor the bosses will ever be able to pay more then the landlord will charge.
So the best the government can do is use some of the taxes that it collects from these same poor min wage workers and provide low income housing.
I mean we can spend several hundred million on Jeff Bezos movies (in the name of money), on the Americas Cup (in the name of money) and other assorted crap for rich people. Many whom not pay any taxes at all – see Jeff Bezos and any of the Americas Cup tossers. Or is offering freebies and tax incentives/write offs for tax avoiders only something to discuss when its National who does it?
If this writer is too tired, she should just stop.
Plenty more will take her place.
Her endless, pointless, meandering self-pitying melancholy has no use.
Greta is better.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Carbon intensity in the developed world has been declining gradually for a decade or so now – it would drop a lot faster if the trad environmentalists would get out of the way and let the rest of us get the job done.
[TheStandard: The site’s chief censor moved this comment to Open Mike as being ‘off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in’. Which of course is a dishonest excuse for not wanting to have a debate they don’t want to have.]
A grid stabiliser battery system would be great for a wind power dominated system.
Not a replacement for days of low wind, but a very important feature. Lot more useful than just leaving it to the spot market.
Red, no mention of "the trad environmentalists" (that I could see) in that great (v. positive) "RenewEconomy" link (thanks) – could you expand on how you see "the trad environmentalists" getting in the way of "the rest of us" implementing VPPs and large battery projects? Are there perhaps some "trad environmentalists" in Aussie who are opposed to solar VPPs and large battery initiatives, or is it as simplistic as "trad environmentalists" bad, you (presumably) and "the rest of us" good?
Can't help wondering if "trad environmentalists" are, on average, at least as keen on renewables and big batteries as "the rest of us", and if (for some reason) you're seeing a division where none exists. Apologies in advance for any misinterpretation on my part, it's just that to me your comment read as being from someone who's a little pissed off at "trad environmentalists". Personally I think they're still a useful part of the mix – the environment needs a bit of ‘traditional’ TLC more than ever, imho.
And the reason why I'm throwing rocks at the 'trad environmentalists' is their Malthusian insistence that we're all doomed, when the exact opposite is the case. It's science, tech and heavy industry – for all of the manifest flaws and imperfections they have at present – which are delivering on projects like the one I linked to above. And in doing so heading us in the right direction. But as I pointed out in my short series earlier in the year, there is only one way to get carbon to zero (or negative as is really required) and the trads are standing obdurately in the way of achieving this.
It is of course a point that's so irksome to them that this perfectly relevant comment gets moved off the post – but I'm accustomed to that now.
I might also add a personal note that the lithium needed for these batteries comes from somewhere. As I finish typing this I'm going to go back to work (yes we commission 24hrs/7 days) to get another crucial part of the plant ready for feed tomorrow. It involves mixing literally tonnes of concentrated sulphuric acid with a dry powdery like material in a somewhat exothermic reaction – and the responsibility for getting this right sits with myself and one of the process engineers. Wish us luck.
the point is not that WE are all doomed,
the point is some are.
Chances are YOU will live your life out in relative comfort and safety, but the question is will the generations after you?
Mind, we may all become Fremen and drink our piss and get vaporised rather tehn buried, but for now we seem to be loosing.
So really everyone needs to work together. Unless one values technology above humanity then we could turn the world into the matrix, where humans are the batteries for machines. 🙂
Maybe we are all just replicants?
Working Together:
https://utahstories.com/2019/06/solar-farms-present-opportunity-for-sheep-ranchers-in-utah/
Unless one values technology above humanity then we could turn the world into the matrix, where humans are the batteries for machines.
Maybe you could consider it like this – that technology creates the platform on which human progress – our humanity as you name it – develops. Take away the energy density and materials that we now have, and we immediately revert back to pre-industrial world and the same social conditions. And I have zero rosy-eyed illusions about what that would mean – especially for women everywhere.
It's not a binary choice between 'technology' and 'humanity' – both are entwinned together. Of course any arbitrary 'good thing' can become an evil when taken to an extreme – that we always must guard against. I'm perfectly happy to concede that technology absent an informed and principled social fabric can become a 'matrix-like' tyranny of it's own. We see this already in the trend toward unchecked and ubiquitous surveillance. But the correct response doesn't involve smashing all the cameras and machines – the manifest failure of the Luddites is the example that leaps to mind.
So really everyone needs to work together.
Yes. I've been kind of saying this all along – I appreciate hearing it from others too.
Another point is that renewable energies would not be explored and developed without the insistence of 'trad environmentalists'.
They drive political and social change through activism. Emissions spewing industry does not change because they want to – the profit motive explicitly prevents that. They change because they have to – due to public and political pressure.
But are all "trad environmentalists" devotees of Malthus? You have such good ideas and intentions that it's difficulkt to reconcile these with your confrontational style of commenting – a style that you probably share with a few of those "trad environmentalists".
For example, what do you want to achieve by suggesting that (all? most?) "trad environmentalists" "are standing obdurately in the way of" your one and "only one way to get carbon to zero"? How do you think that style enhances your comments; how might it might help to win few of the obdurate trad environmentalists to your cause?
Or do you believe all "trad environmentalists" are lost causes, to be ridiculed and pilloried as useless millstones to 'progress'? In which case, best of luck with fashioning the millstone which (whether you recognise it or not) is a hinderance to others at least considering your ideas and opinions.
You have such good ideas and intentions that it's difficulkt to reconcile these with your confrontational style of commenting
Can you not see that being arbitrarily kicked off a thread for manifestly dishonest reasons is just another form of confrontation?
Complaining about my 'tone' is frankly a bit rich, when at the same time I see trad environmentalists shutting down nuclear power plants in Germany and increasing that country's carbon emissions as a direct result. That is so frankly delusional I'm bound to pillory and ridicule those who would defend this Malthusian style of thinking. The idea that resources are finite turns out to be paradoxically wrong. Our adaptive abilities should be obvious, though they clearly are not. We’ve been adapting to resource scarcity for millennia, and the idea that we would stop today, at the pinnacle of our development so far, is a peculiar one.
https://www.humanprogress.org/luck-or-insight-the-simon-ehrlich-bet-re-examined/
RL, don't know what you're trying to achieve by describing someone as acting "arbitrarily" for "manifestly dishonest reasons", but please consider that it might not have the desired effect. We're all in this pig’s-breakfast together – it's going to take heaps of good will and cooperation, yesterday and now, to spare future generations the consequences of our current catastrophic trajectory.
'Trad' and other environmentalists are keen on protecting (even regenerating) natural ecosystems that have been degraded due to habitat destruction, be it by unsustainable resource extraction, pollution or other encroachments. They too deserve our support, and thanks, for at least some of their efforts, imho.
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DmK Thanks for the enquiring commentary. We need to interrogate the 'technology and engineering' will fix all proponents. I find so little concern for ordinary humans and our ability to carry on with human lives that I am sensitive to this matter and have little time to concentrate on the truth or value of the programs being instigated.
Enormous effort and ingenuity will go into finding technology solutions to the climate crisis – and much of this will be driven by the potentially staggering profits to be made by whomever owns and commercialises the technology. It might save us, or it might not. It might save us, but in doing so push all the existing inequalities of market-based economies to stratospheric levels because of the enormous economic power that would accrue to those who own the salvation technology – and the absolutely abject weakness of everyone else.
Personally, I think that expecting the same driver (profit/endless capital accumulation) that got us into this climate crisis to also get us out of it, is a touch incautious. I think it is more likely that any salvation consists of pitching us from this crisis into a new, different one. But we are not in a position to turn our backs on whatever technology throws up, and it's going to be a very rocky ride.
Storage in the GWhs.
https://www.hydrostor.ca/projects/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed-air_energy_storage
As the wiki entry notes, the big issue with compressed air storage are the intertwined issues of efficiency and thermal management.
in short, compressing air raises its temperature. A lot of the energy that goes into the compressor ends up as the raised temperature. If the stored compressed air simply cools to the environment, that heat energy is just lost. There are schemes to try to capture and store that heat, but at best they might raise the round-trip efficiency to 70%, but AFAIK no large installations have actually come anywhere near that efficiency yet.
Pumped hydro storage in contrast easily achieves routinely efficiencies greater than 70%, with over 80% common. It also uses much more established technology. These factors which is why almost all electricity storage worldwide is pumped hydro. New Zealand is blessed with lots of suitable topography and water sources for pumped hydro. So it's seems unlikely there will be much by way of compressed air or battery storage her in NZ (except for a bit of local grid stabilisation).
Outside of NZ, it appears thermal storage in conjunction with concentrating solar is the second biggest storage technology. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_energy_storage_power_plants . Compressed air to me looks like the best fit with wind energy, at least until there's some kind of massive breakthrough in battery tech.
The possibilities of gravity storage other than pumped hydro look pretty damn intriguing, too.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/batteries-storage/gravity-energy-storage-will-show-its-potential-in-2021
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_battery
Well the Easter Bunny is away at present.
I've got a question… maybe someone with a better understanding of the issues can explain.
As I understand it if an employee say steals $20 from the till it can be a criminal matter ie theft as a servant but if an employer steals an employees legally entitled wages this is an employment matter?
Surely now we have a Lab majority govt its time to make wage theft a criminal offence? I read so many stories about wage theft and it seems a torturous process to get any resolution and when caught and finally fined the protagonists melt away.
Making it a criminal matter on the same footing as theft by a servant will sort alot of the scumbags out given delay and obfuscation wont protect them any longer.
Anyone able to explain why it wouldnt work?
This is from a few years ago and a different country but it still true here.
I think this interacts with company limited liability and bankruptcy law. Owners and directors are only responsible for a companies debts as long as they are running it responsibly.
Wages are of course a debt which the company carries until pay day arrives.
There are also potential issues with how the inability to pay wages arose. Its possible for example a major contract collapsed or was unpaid leading to sub contractors being unable to pay their employees.
Thanks, could legislate around that right? Business circumstance/failure is very different to systematic under payment etc
Its certainly possible to have criminal convictions for certain types of employment violations. For example prostitution is legal in NZ but someone may still be prosecuted for employing underage people.
I think there are situations where employing with no intention of paying will be criminal. Just you need to prove intent in such cases and they are already at the severe end of violations.
Its also important to understand with company law that the company and its officers are different entities and companies don't make decisions, their officers do.
You seem to be conflating unwillingness to pay wages with inability to do so. These are going concerns.
No, I am highlighting that a similar inability to pay wages can result from either intent or be outside of control.
You doubt that our justice system can take the distinction into account? Otherwise it's a red herring.
Did you notice the original comment is followed by one more saying thanks. Its like I managed to explain there are some complexities to think about and it seems in a way that allows them to be reasoned about, as the questioner subsequently does.
What is your (futile) attempt to post a contradiction contributing? Maybe you should go a post a reply on twitter or something where it can be properly appreciated?
There doesn't seem to be any reason, other than tradition, that allows employers to hang onto things like holiday pay redundancy etc. IMHO they should have to pay these amounts over to the IRD as they are accrued or the worker becomes eligible not leave them as an employer liability. It would lessen worker loss and give employers a better view of their cash. Rather than have employees giving interest free loans and losing out badly if there is business failure.
heh
The thought of a reverse "theft as a servant" offence comes to mind: not stealing from the employer, but stealing for the employer.
Sorts out the owner/manager distinction, for a start.
Because employers have more power than workers.
My wife and my children have all had wages, PAYE, student loan payments either not paid to them or not forwarded to IRD.
In this day and age these payments to IRD should be paid same day as wages – it is not the employers money it s the workers. This would help identify dodgy and problematic employers much, much earlier.
Brilliant as always from Sharon Murdoch.
I find Murdoch is consistently really good at going deep – not always going for the most obvious connection, but making something visually intriguing to keep the audience's attention while going for the less obvious connection that has a stronger punch.
That one is one of them.
Welcome to neo-McCarthyism.
RNZ’s “Redline” programme I heard today was verging on 50s scaremongering such were the number of hearsay comments, unattributed speakers, and lightly examined assertions.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/red-line
I enjoyed reading this series about 20 odd years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chung_Kuo_(novel_series)
they even had the 'entertainment pod' right.
https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/2/21161517/gamer-bed-bauhutte-gaming-furniture-price-design
If we are not in fear of some undefined event, we might be in fear of what is actually happening around us. So we find a new group of people to fear.
I am afraid of our selling every little bit of NZ to foreign investors and have the PTB regard it as the Right Thing To Do!
Advert – https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/innovation-skills/capital-education?gclid=CjwKCAjwlYCHBhAQEiwA4K21m90gG90QY8LQmz7vPjrZ-7476nG5_YfZYuhMwj63ZY0X6_eq5NdcORoCPp8QAvD_BwE
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/446151/border-exemptions-visas-approved-for-14-wealthy-investors
2021 July 4 – https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-border-exemptions-visas-approved-for-14-wealthy-investors/FOZ6MDRPX7SBEEOAV77FCVZPDM/
Understand this? ~~~ Investment News for financial advisers in New Zealand … https://investmentnews.co.nz
7 days ago — AMP Wealth NZ has officially pushed back the long-awaited investment shift to a BlackRock-managed passive strategy into the September quarter. The change …
2021 May 17 https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/300309160/wealthy-investors-due-to-arrive-on-new-border-exemption
2021 May 4 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/five-wealthy-investors-granted-border-exemptions-then-residency/KQYAQUJENGTAPAP47OM3TXBKKA/
2020 Aug 17 https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/the-ultra-rich-foreign-buyers-who-are-all-about-nz-38288
Get your bargains here in the basement of the world!
And Tether – getting money in return for 'milk tokens' – Money has gone mad. Let's face it. The ultimate drug, and the derivatives are even more hallucinatory!
Why don't we know more about this. Are they visitor visa's with no family exemption attached so they cannot be used for a holiday. Are they residency visas in which case should they not be issued after any investment and local jobs have occurred?? If they are people wanting to undertake projects etc are they then going to want to drag all their own people in? Any obligations to train the locals? Any ban on buying existing land buildings and business. According to the stuff story none of them want to invest unless they can actually come here. I really can't see what's in it for the locals except more colonisation.
Colour me suspicious but isn't MOBIE stuck in the neo lib dark ages?
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Noticing a tendency for you do say something is wrong without explaining how. Moved this comment to OM to circumvent this becoming a problem. Maybe invest a bit more time in sharing your own thinking.
(and we don’t have like/dislike buttons on TS for a reason).
Noticing a tendency for you do say something is wrong without explaining how.
I don't think my comment needed much explaining unless ignorant of American war crimes committed all over the Globe.
Does my agreeing or disagreeing with a comment add much value to the discussion in itself? If not, maybe I could say nothing, or write a reason..
this is a good way of putting it. The quality of the discussion matter.
I respect the time and effort of other people reading.
Lots of people reading don't know what you are talking about. Better to explain.
OK to use the thumbs-up emoji on it's own, or in combination with text, imho, but I'd be wary of using the OK hand emoji.
Quite like using the smiley-winky-laughie emojis since they were made available (presumably for a reason.) If others don't like thumbs up/down, then there's always:
A blast from the past – we really are spoilt for choice these days. Time for some gdr.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2586816/quickstudy–emoticons-and-internet-shorthand.html
https://abbreviations.yourdictionary.com/articles/email-abbreviations.html

Gee some of the emojis and abbreviations I do not get them.
Didn’t/don't get a lot of them either, Tt, but reckon I’m improving thanks to TS
I do not get them as in not understanding the meaning.
Not always understanding how their appearance reflects the stated meaning? Me too
Talking of intimidation of academics: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300349283/eat-a-bat-and-die-vile-threats-against-wuhan-lab-conspiracybuster