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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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’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
"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 ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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.
edit
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT03vCaL-F0
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!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-whuXHSL1Pg
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