While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
"KiwiBuild buyers of studio and one-bedroom homes will be able to sell or rent their property after one year instead of three.".
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
Census figures show that 15 per cent of women who were born in 1965 had not had children by the time they were 40.
Allowing for about 7 per cent of women who are biologically infertile, Statistics NZ experts Bill Boddington and Robert Didham estimated in 2007 that voluntary childlessness increased from less than 1 per cent of women born in 1936 to almost 10 per cent of women born 30 years later.
“For those born just 10 years later in 1975, indications are around one in four may remain childless,” they said.
“Studies suggest that few women consciously make the decision to remain childless early in life. On the contrary, deciding not to have children happens as a consequence of other life events, like education, career, mortgages, change in family and partners.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants…
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
Or Jeff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm
Or the earthworks projects cropping up in arid/semi-arid regions all over, as illustrated by John D Liu.
Am finishing up on an article about water and hoped to find some localised examples if they are there…
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
Pay freeze for 6000 Fonterra workers
story
Embattled dairy co-operative Fonterra has slapped a pay freeze on its top-earning executives.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell has emailed staff that all salaried employees on individual contracts earning more than $100,000 will not be getting annual pay increases in the year ahead.
According to the 2018 financial report, more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military experts have proposed giving artificial intelligence control over the nuclear launch button. @mchorowitz weighs in on the risks: "…training an algorithm for early warning means that you’re relying entirely on simulated data.” https://t.co/szRrKG6N7Lpic.twitter.com/it62C27Y9q
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
Ms. Warren’s new climate plan explicitly adopts ideas from Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, who focused his presidential campaign on combating climate change but dropped out last month after it became clear he was unlikely to qualify for the next primary debate.Ms. Warren met with Mr. Inslee last week in Seattle, according to two people familiar with their discussions.
“While his presidential campaign may be over, his ideas should remain at the center of the agenda,” Ms. Warren wrote in her new climate plan.
Mr. Inslee released six detailed climate plans, totaling over 200 pages, which were widely praised by environmental policy experts for their rigor. He said he hoped they would help “raise the ambition” of other candidates’ climate policies, and he has since had conversations with several candidates about how to incorporate his ideas into their plans, said his former campaign spokesman, Jared Leopold.
In her new proposal, Ms. Warren adopts Mr. Inslee’s plan to eliminate planet-warming emissions from power plants, vehicles and buildings over 10 years, and adds an additional $1 trillion in spending to subsidize that transition. The spending would be paid for, she says, by reversing the Trump administration’s tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
"Reinstate funding for programmes – like night classes – that support adult learners to adapt to the changing world." https://www.labour.org.nz/education
One more Russian diplomat died, the eighth in the past three years. 68-year-old Sergei Kirpichenko, Russian Ambassador to Egypt, died today in a Cairo hospital. https://t.co/TqcLLT4uWN via @Vedomosti
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
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As you're probably aware, the draft bill outlining the proposed legal cannabis regime to be put to a referendum late next year was published yesterday, and has already attracted a flurry of comment. It's notable that a good deal of the comment is about proposals that aren't actually new.A minimum ...
One of the big problems in New Zealand climate change policy is the government working at cross-purposes with itself. It wants to reduce fossil fuel use, but encourages oil and gas exploration. It wants to reduce transport emissions, but then builds enormous new roads. The problem could be avoided if ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzAccording to the United Nations, food shortages are a threat ...
Last year, the government announced it was ending offshore oil exploration by no longer issuing new permits. The idea was that the industry would then die off as permits expired. Except almost immediately the government revealed its bad faith, by saying they would extend permits and alter conditions to keep ...
The government introduced the Education and Training Bill to Parliament yesterday. Its a massive bill, which replaces both existing Education Acts, as well as various other bits of legislation (including some which are still proceeding through the House). I'll leave the serious analysis to teachers and people who actually know ...
Amelia SharmanThere’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to micro-credentials, those bits of bite-sized learning that can help workers stay on top of technological change. What’s a micro-credential? While definitions vary, micro-credentials can be understood as short courses that allow people to learn new skills or have an existing competency recognised. ...
All Smiles Now: Claire Szabo is taking up her presidential role after serving as the CEO of Habitat For Humanity. Which is absolutely perfect! After KiwiBuild was so comprehensively mismanaged by Phil Twyford, the party has not only elected a new president from a thoroughly respectable not-for-profit, but one who ...
While much of the NZ left has transitioned to postmodern and identity politics in relation to transgender ideology, there are some very good articles about that deploy Marxist methodology in relation to this subject. The one below is from the British marxist group Counterfire and appeared on their site here ...
by Daphna Whitmore At Golden Oaks, a luxurious country retreat in the Hudson Valley, pregnant women have the best care money can buy. From the organic food, personalised exercise programmes, private yoga instruction and daily massages Golden Oaks looks like a country lodge for the upper class. Set some time ...
When Labour was running for election in 2017, it felt it needed to demonstrate "fiscal responsibility" and signed itself up to masochistic "budget responsibility rules". It was a fool's errand: the sorts of voters who demand fiscal responsibility are also the sorts of voters who believe that labour can never ...
Writing in Stuff, Joel MacManus looks at what we need to do to meet the Zero Carbon Act's targets. The core of it:1. Convert 85 per cent of vehicles on the road to electric. 2. Eliminate fossil fuels from all industrial heating up to 300 degrees Celsius. 3. Double our ...
Professors Janet Hoek and Richard Edwards, Emeritus Professor Phil Gendall, Jude Ball, Dr Judith McCool, Anaru Waa, Dr Becky FreemanRecent media reports have presented conflicting evidence on youth vaping in NZ. While some NZ school principals report concerns about increasing vaping on school grounds and confiscating vapes, ASH Year ...
“America the Beautiful!”, staunch defender of democracy, freedom and… a whole lot of despotic tyrants that play nice with what is called “the Washington Consensus.” America is indeed capable of immense good, but like any Nation, and most assuredly any aspirant to the mantle of Empire, great, immense evil. All ...
Image credit:The beginner’s guide to blogging I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is ...
1080 is used to control pests in NZ. Its use is contested by a noisy few. A new report claims high levels of 1080 in rats washed up on a beach. Flora and Fauna of Aotearoa (F&F) won’t name the laboratory that did their testing. It has sparked a hunt ...
What Kind Of Empire? The thing for Kiwis to decide is what kind of empire they want to belong to. The kind that, while offering its own citizens democratic rights, demands absolute obedience from its “friends”? Or, the kind that, while authoritarian at home, takes a relaxed attitude to the ...
It hasn't been a good week for the Conservatives, pollwise. All major recent polls are showing their lead shrinking.Comparing each pollster's current (between 29/11 and 22/11) and previous most recent poll.Com Res - Conservative lead down 3 points.You Gov - Conservative lead down 1 point.Kantar - Conservative lead down 4 ...
Within quick succession, Countdown maths wizard and twitterer Rachel Riley, alleged comedian David Baddiel and prominent lawyer Andrew Julius have all expressed very similar opinions / ideas:
These #3billboards are going round London today, organised by ex-Labour people, horrified by what their party has become. Their principles haven’t changed, they’re ...
So, there have been a bunch of bad polls out for Labour, and even the Leftie's friend, Survation, have recently given the Conservatives a rip-snorting 11% lead. You Gov's much vaunted MRP poll - which pretty much nailed the result in 2015 - is currently predicting a comfortable majority for ...
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to declare a climate emergency:The European parliament has declared a global “climate and environmental emergency” as it urged all EU countries to commit to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The vote came as scientists warned that the world may have already crossed ...
Pure Fear: Worse than Heroin, this drug’s addictive power was terrifying. People under its influence didn’t drift off to Elysium. Nor did it persuade inadequate individuals that they could conquer the world. No, this drug – pure crystal methamphetamine, “P” for short – unlocked the gates of Hell itself. It ...
As the rate of measles infection, and of deaths, continues to climb in Samoa, antivaccination activists infectious disease proponents seem intent on doubling down on their claims about vaccination. (Check pretty much any news-media FB post about measles & you’ll see exactly what I mean.) Unfortunately, some of them have ...
Samoa are experiencing a devastating measles epidemic. It is possible that 2-3% of the population will ultimately be infected by the time it is over. Hopefully the mass immunisation campaign currently under way can mitigate some of this, for many it is too late. The first question many people ask ...
Meghan Murphy is a Canadian writer and journalist She runs the Feminist Current website which she founded in 2012. She was a keynote speaker for the Feminism2020 conference in Wellington this month. When Massey University cancelled the original venue booking Feminism2020 was hosted in Parliament by MP David Seymour. Meghan ...
Text and photos by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Colombia has lived through one week of protests against the economic measures taken by president Duque. What looked like a protest that would fizzle out after its first day on November 21st is still going strong. Part of the reason for the continuance ...
Around a million billion pass through you each second, almost all originating from our sun, but few of them are likely to interact with you enroute. I was reading in a physics magazine earlier in the week about the nature of neutrinos. These are extremely numerous elementary particles, but only ...
By Pallab GhoshThere’s value in covering new research advances, even when the underlying science is unsettled. But there are also risks.The recent announcement that scientists discovered water on the planet K2-18b, 110 light years away, prompted a media swoon. News stories, including a piece written by me, billed ...
I wrote this review a couple of years ago when I was still in the process of getting my head around the politics of transgenderism, and specifically the claim that intersex conditions lend support to the notion that sex is ‘socially constructed’. Since writing this review I have come across ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzHow much does our use of air travel contribute to the ...
Minor planet/asteroid (2309) Mr. Spock is named not for the character in Star Trek, but for a cat that was itself imperturbable, logical, intelligent and had pointed ears. In a preceding blog post I introduced one of my favourite asteroids, (2472) Bradman, and also mentioned (6581) Sobers amongst a few ...
Today the death toll from measles in Samoa rose to 32. All but four of the dead were less than 5 years old. Absolutely terrible, heartbreaking, news. That statistic alone should be enough to give the lie to the common claim by antivaccination activists plague enthusiasts that “measles is a ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh It is late here in Bogotá, almost 11.30pm on Monday the 25th of November as I write this. The day began full of hope with yet more massive marches throughout the country, a mix of the International Day of Non-Violence Against Women and the National Strike. ...
Anti-fluoride activists are rubbing their hands in glee over what they claim is “yet another study” showing fluoride harms the brains of children. But their promotion relies on IQ relationships which the paper’s authors acknowledge disappearing when outliers or other factors are considered. And they completely ignore other relationships ...
The feature below is the conclusion of A History of Economic Thought, whose author was a leading Marxist economist in Russia in the early 20th century, Isaac Ilyich Rubin. The book arose from a course he ran at Moscow University following the Russian Revolution. First published in Russian in 1929, ...
There are many thousands of asteroids with formal names, some humdrum but other more noteworthy (depending on your predilections). One of my favourites, the name of which I was involved in suggesting, is (2472) Bradman, named for the Australian cricketing great. As a minor planet (synonym: asteroid) spotter, I have ...
Tory manifesto: big on austerity, low on promise, non-existent on delivery. The Tories: the party so big on ambition they couldn't be arsed writing a manifesto. MLK: "I have a dream!"BJ: "I'll just have a nap." Labour: Broadband!Tories: Narrow minds! Labour have hope, dreams and ambition. The Tories will save ...
The Ministry of Health has announced that “people under the age of 50 travelling from New Zealand to Samoa, Tonga, Philippines and Fiji” are now on the list of national priorities for MMR vaccination. Given the outbreaks of measles in Samoa, Tonga, Philippines and Fiji, the Ministry of Health is ...
Hong Kong has been protesting for six months for, demanding democracy, human rights, and an end to police violence. Today, they went to the polls in district council elections - a low-level of government with virtually no power, similar to community boards in New Zealand. But while the positions themselves ...
Text and photos by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh On Friday 22nd of November a curfew came into effect and troops were deployed on the streets, here in Bogota. It was the first time since September 1977 that a curfew had been imposed on the city. The decision was a cynical pre-planned ...
Meanwhile, while the government is planning to restore voting rights to prisoners, National is promising to turn our prisons into US-style slave-labour camps:The Opposition is proposing compulsory education, training or employment for prisoners who are serving sentences of two years or more. [...] On Sunday, National Party Leader Simon Bridges ...
Excerpts from Being and Being Bought, by Kajsa Ekis Ekman Spinifex Press, 2013. Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book. This is the second part of a synopsis and brief commentary of the book by Daphna ...
Dalmeet Singh ChawlaIn 2008, psychologists proposed that when humans are shown an unfamiliar face, they judge it on two main dimensions: trustworthiness and physical strength. These form the basis of first impressions, which may help people make important social decisions, from who to vote for to how long a ...
Claas Kirchhelle, University of Oxford; Adam Roberts, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Andrew Singer, Centre for Ecology & HydrologyAntibiotics are among the most important medicines known to humankind, but we are running out of this crucial resource. Decisive action is needed if we are to retain access to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said that New Zealand's Cook Islands High Commissioner, Tessa Temata, has died over the weekend. Ms Temata, 52, died in Palmerston North and had returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. She was the first New Zealand High Commissioner to the Cook Islands of Cook Island ...
A new defence report has mapped out how New Zealand's soldiers will navigate rising seas, and a year after the Defence Force announced its need to prepare for climate change. In the “Responding to the Climate Crisis” report, the Force restates its operational plan and sets goals to tackle climate ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, has called for awareness to be raised and more stringent biosecurity checks to be put in place for African Swine Fever (ASF), a widespread virus that is uncontrolled in most of Asia and a serious ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Human Rights A critical step has been taken to end gender based violence against women and girls in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Human Rights Jenny Marcroft MP has welcomed the passing of the first reading of the Crimes (Definition of Female ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says it's time to recognise market forces haven't led to the expected reduction in Māori smoking rates and try a new approach. The Party had recently invoked the agree to disagree clause in their Coalition Agreement with the Labour Party, and will not support ...
Live from the Whanganui Opera House, on the final day of the 2019 Labour Party Conference, Jacinda Ardern announced the largest investment in school property in 25 years. ...
The Coalition Government will be banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, ahead of next year’s general elections. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament and passed under urgency – emphasising the need for such restrictions to safeguard our democracy. The bill introduces a new requirement that party secretaries and ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones opened Taipā's $19 million bridge recently, improving transport infrastructure in the Northland region. The two-lane bridge is 107m long with a 2.5m-wide shared walking and cycling path, and will reduce the congestion that the old one-lane bridge was notorious for. The project had also included ...
The Overseas Investment Office have rejected the application of Mercury Agriculture LP, which is 92 per cent controlled by Canadian interests, to purchase more than 2000 hectares of South Canterbury and Otago land. Mercury wanted to buy 2000ha at Rangitata, 1494ha near Ashburton, 816ha near Cromwell and 212ha near Temuka. ...
This weekend was Labour's 103rd Party Conference! We welcomed over 500 of our Labour whānau in red to Whanganui, where we reflected on the last two years in Government, and looked ahead to 2020 and beyond. We know the long-term challenges facing New Zealand won't be tackled overnight, but we're making ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced that the Provincial Growth Fund will invest $9.6 million to seal the final unsealed section of State Highway 43 from Stratford to Taumarunui. The Minister said sealing the 12-kilometre gravel section of the highway – also called the “Forgotten World Highway” - through ...
Former Finance Minister and former chair of the Tax Working Group, Sir Michael Cullen, has voiced his support for New Zealand First’s decision to oppose the planned increase in tobacco excise tax. In an interview with The Weekend Collective, he said that increasing the price was no longer effective in ...
Māori are natural storytellers. On the marae we use stories to tell our history, to teach the next generation life lessons and to let people know, in our most creative of ways, who we are and where we have come from. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First has invoked the ‘Agree to Disagree’ provisions of the Coalition Agreement because it cannot support the announced 11.46 percent increase in the tobacco excise from 1 January 2020. “Studies show that the automatic tobacco excise increases are having less effect ...
Taupō-based company Geo40 has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger. Its chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne. Geo40 was founded in 2010 to find ...
Crown research institute AgResearch Ltd, as part of its Future Footprint plan, had intended to relocate top scientists and support staff — particularly those focused on sheep genetics and genomics — from Invermay to Lincoln. However, those plans seem to have been shelved at the request of the Coalition Government. ...
Ten engineering firms in Southland are receiving a total of $2.13 million in Provincial Growth Fund funding to lift productivity and create new jobs. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced in Invercargill that the 10 engineering and manufacturing firms would receive funding to assist them with buying equipment that ...
The number of new residents to New Zealand is the lowest it has been in nearly two decades and it has earned the ire of the immigration industry. The industry alleges that 'Trump-style extreme vetting' is being put in place aimed at keeping a lid on immigration numbers. June Ranson, ...
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is one step closer to modernising its fleet after the United States State Department recently approved the sale of five new C-130J Hercules aircraft to New Zealand. Arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, in Fort Worth, Texas, will provide the aircraft, but as a "foreign military ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones wants to create a log barging facility at Hicks Bay and turn the area into a Special Economic Zone. The move would be part of protecting New Zealand's forests from being depleted by India and China, he said. It follows his announcement last week to strengthen ...
New Zealand First supports the changes recommended by the Winter Grazing Taskforce to improve animal welfare outcomes through the winter months, and the establishment of a pan-sector action group to implement them. New Zealand First Primary Industries Spokesperson Mark Patterson says the report highlights areas of concern about the animal ...
Former prime ministers Helen Clark and Sir John Key, formerly from the Labour and National parties respectively, have joined forces in support of New Zealand First’s plan to relocate Auckland's port to Whangārei. While Ms Clark and Sir John spent their political careers on opposite sides of the political divide, ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is in Japan for the Foreign Ministers' meeting of the G20 grouping of countries as one of nine "invited" countries. He has used the opportunity to cast a spotlight on the plight of Pacific countries, calling out countries which still offered subsidies or Government assistance to ...
It's been a great week of progress: we've celebrated Children's Day, we've made communities safer with 1800 new police, and we've seen almost 90% of eligible schools take up Government funding to scrap school donations - taking pressure off the families of more than 416,000 students. ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The Government will further strengthen New Zealand’s wood processing sector as part of our focus on ‘value over volume’ in our forestry industry, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Minister Jones will today meet with forestry representatives in Northland to signal new measures to help the ...
New Zealand First are celebrating the announcement of an investment of $3.5 million into five new trapping devices. These are a range of bait and trap devices, all designed to be left unattended for long periods of time. NZ First conservation spokesperson Jenny Marcroft says that this latest development will ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Police New Zealand First is proud to have delivered on a key Coalition Agreement commitment to adding 1800 new frontline police, with the graduation of Recruit Wing 332 in Porirua today. Law and Order Spokesperson Darroch Ball says increasing police numbers and boosting their resources was one ...
Jenny Marcroft, Spokesperson for Conservation New Zealand First is proud to announce the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) has allocated $3.5 million to develop innovative predator control approaches which will reduce the need for repeated 1080 use. $19.5 million of PGF funding was announced for Predator Free 2050 Limited in February ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has welcomed the first reading of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 2021 (APEC 2021) Bill in Parliament today. The temporary bill supports New Zealand’s security preparations for hosting the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum ...
The Government will fund the bulk of the cost of a rural water supply for the Ohakea community affected by PFAS contamination, Environment Minister David Parker announced today at a meeting of local residents. This new water scheme will provide a reliable and clean source of drinking water to the ...
I have had the opportunity to be briefed on the details of the volcanic eruption of Whakaari/White Island, off the coast of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. The eruption happened at 2.11pm today. It continues to be an evolving situation. We know that there were a number of tourists ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Civil Defence Peeni Henare have today confirmed initial Government support of $100,000 for communities affected by the severe weather that swept across the South Island and lower North Island over the weekend. The contribution will be made to Mayoral relief funds across the ...
New Zealand's High Commissioner to the Cook Islands, Tessa Temata, died in Palmerston North over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said today. Ms Temata, 52, had recently returned to New Zealand for medical treatment. "On behalf of the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, we extend ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford today announced construction is underway on Wellington commuter rail upgrades which will mean more frequent services and fewer breakdowns. The upgrades include converting the Trentham to Upper Hutt single track section to a double track, with a new signalling system, upgraded stations and level crossings, and ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark and Minister for Climate Change James Shaw have announced the release of a Defence Climate Change Implementation Work Plan, titled Responding to the Climate Crisis: An Implementation Plan. The plan sets out a series of recommendations based on the 2018 New Zealand Defence Assessment, The ...
A medium-scale adverse event has been declared for the South Canterbury district, which will see up to $50,000 in funding made available to support farming communities which have been significantly affected by recent heavy rain and flooding in the area, says Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “Two weeks of solid rain ...
Thank you Professor Juliet Gerrard and your team for the comprehensive and extremely helpful report and recommendations. Thank you too to all the stakeholders and interested parties who have contributed ideas and thinking to it. “Making best practice, standard practice” is a great framework for change and the action plan ...
The Government will phase out more single-use plastics following the success of its single-use plastic bag ban earlier this year and the release today of a pivotal report for dealing with waste. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed the Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealandreport, released by her Chief Science Advisor ...
International education continues to thrive as the Government focuses on quality over quantity, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. The tuition revenue from international education increased to $1.16 billion last year with the average tuition fee per student increasing by $960. The total number of international students enrolled in New Zealand ...
Health Minister Dr David Clark says new appointments to DHBs represent a significant changing of the guard, with 13 new chairs including four Māori chairs. Today 76 appointments have been announced to complement elected board members, as well as eight elected members appointed as either chair or deputy chair. Four ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fletcher Tabuteau, is travelling to Germany, Poland, Austria, and Spain next week to bolster New Zealand’s political and trade relationships in Europe. While in Spain, Mr Tabuteau will represent New Zealand at the 14th Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Madrid. “New Zealand strongly supports ...
“I’ve spoken to Minister Faafoi, who has apologised for his poor handling of this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said. “I have confidence in Kris as a hardworking and effective Minister, but this should have been dealt with in a much clearer manner, and I’ve made my views on that very clear ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters met with Tongan Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pohiva Tu'i'onetoa in Wellington today. The pair signed a Statement of Partnership setting out joint priorities for cooperation out to 2023. “We welcomed Prime Minister Tu'i'onetoa on his first visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister. Tonga ...
The Minister of Police Stuart Nash says his sympathies are with the family of a man who died after being shot by Police in Kurow. “Initial reports are that Police were called by a family member to help the man who was threatening to harm himself,” Mr Nash says. “However ...
Ethnic communities will be able to plan and deliver more community initiatives thanks to an increase in Government funding, Minister for Ethnic Communities Hon Jenny Salesa said today. “Ensuring Aotearoa New Zealand is a place we can all be proud to call home has been a key priority of our ...
Healthier waterways, better productivity and farmer wellbeing are front and centre in a new project involving more than 1000 Southland farmers and growers. Minister of Agriculture Damien O’Connor today announced that the Thriving Southland Change and Innovation Project is the first region-wide extension programme supported by the $229 million Sustainable ...
Work to look after nature and restore freshwater quality in Te Hoiere/Pelorus River catchment is getting a significant boost, thanks to new Government funding support Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage announced in Canvastown today. “Every New Zealander should be able to swim in their local river without getting sick, and ...
Eight Queen’s Counsel have been appointed under a process that includes the new criterion of a commitment to improving access to justice, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. “The new criterion was included this year. It emphasises that excellence and leadership in the profession can be seen through a wider, community ...
Onslow College in Wellington will get 20 new classrooms for more than 400 students, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. The much-needed investment will relieve growth pressure the school has been experiencing for some time. Seven existing classrooms which have deteriorated over time will also be replaced, bringing the total ...
More than 250 young New Zealanders will add international experience to their education, thanks to the latest Prime Minister’s Scholarships for Asia (PMSA) and Latin America (PMSLA), Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. This round of scholarships supports 252 recent graduates or current students to undertake study, research or internships ...
Consumers will benefit from a more competitive, transparent retail fuel market as a result of changes the Government will be making in response to the findings of the Commerce Commission’s study of the fuel sector. “We accept the Commission’s findings and, as the Prime Minister has said, we’re ready to ...
Five new cancer medicines have now been funded this year, meaning thousands of people have more treatment options PHARMAC has today announced that it has approved two new medicines for funding – fulvestrant for breast cancer and olaparib for ovarian cancer. This follows earlier decisions on advanced lung cancer treatment alectinib, ...
The Minister of Local Government, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will consider making changes to local electoral legislation before the 2022 elections to fix the problems that have arisen where elections are settled by a coin toss. The Minister says the recount process in the Murupara- Galatea ward at ...
New Zealand will sign up to new international maritime regulations to reduce ship emissions and lift air quality around ports and harbours, Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter announced today. Subject to completion of the Parliamentary treaty examination process, New Zealand will sign up to Annex VI of MARPOL, an ...
New legislation to transform our urban areas and create sustainable, inclusive and thriving communities will tomorrow be introduced to Parliament, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford said. “The Urban Development Bill gives Kāinga Ora-Homes and Communities the tools it needs to partner with councils, communities, mana whenua and private developers to ...
Today’s launch of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029 provides the foundation for long-lasting changes to early learning, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. “Early learning will be one of the Government’s top education priorities going into 2020,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
Major decisions made by the Government will now be considered under a climate change lens, Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. “Cabinet routinely considers the effects of its decisions on human rights, the Treaty of Waitangi, rural communities, the disability community, and gender – now climate change will ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins today announced the appointment of Māori education specialist Dr Wayne Ngata and Business NZ head Kirk Hope to the Board of the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). Dr Alastair MacCormick has been reappointed for another term. “Wayne Ngata, Kirk Hope and Alastair MacCormick bring a great deal ...
The next phase of the Pike River Re-entry project is underway, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little says. “Fresh air will be pumped into the Pike River Mine drift this week, following acceptance of the plan for re-entry beyond the 170m barrier by New Zealand’s independent health and ...
New Zealand consumers will have greater certainty about their insurance cover when they need to make claims as a result of proposed government changes. “Insurance is vitally important in supporting consumers and businesses to be financially resilient when unexpected events happen,” Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi said. ...
The Crown is providing an opportunity for the hapu of Ngāpuhi to rebuild its framework from the ground up for collective negotiations to deal with its historical Treaty claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little and Minister for Māori Development Nanaia Mahuta announced today. The Crown is also ...
A Bill enabling referendums to be held with the 2020 General Election has passed its third reading. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Act is important for upholding the integrity of New Zealand’s electoral process. “The Government has committed to holding a referendum on legalising recreational cannabis at the next ...
The first release of public information on the two referendums to be held at next year’s General Election was made today with an informative new Government website going live. Additionally, the draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill has been released, showing the strict controls on cannabis that will apply if ...
The Government is taking action to protect New Zealand from foreign interference in our elections by banning foreign donations to political parties and candidates, Justice Minister Andrew Little announced today. Legislation will be introduced to Parliament this afternoon and passed under urgency. “There’s no need for anyone other than New ...
Governments and tech companies are holding a two-day workshop, hosted by YouTube/Google in Wellington, to test the Christchurch Call Shared Crisis Response Protocol. The workshop aims to refine and strengthen the response in the event of a terrorist attack with online implications. Companies, governments, civil society experts and NGOs will ...
The new independent Cancer Control Agency has formally opened today, delivering on the Government’s plan to improve cancer care in New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister of Health David Clark marked the occasion by announcing the membership of the Advisory Council that will be supporting ...
Small businesses who deal with government departments are set to be paid faster and have improved cash flow as a result, under a new strategy released today. The Government is backing recommendations from the Small Business Council (SBC) and has agreed to implement three initiatives immediately to support business and ...
The Education and Training Bill 2019, introduced in Parliament today, proposes the biggest education changes in decades and is an important step towards improving success for all our learners, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said. “The Bill’s rewrite of education legislation is long overdue. Indeed one Education Act, parts of which ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio will travel to Bali to represent New Zealand at the 12th Bali Democracy Forum that will be held on the 5-6 December. “The Forum is a valuable opportunity for Asia-Pacific countries to share experiences and best practice in building home-grown democracy and fostering ...
Looking back on 10 years of wild, weird and wonderful food stories in Aotearoa.It’s been a hell of a decade for food here in New Zealand. Sure, there have been tedious trends aplenty – the rise of bloody kale, bloody coconut oil, bloody poké bowls – but the following list ...
What the hell are you meant to give the person who has everything? Don’t worry, Sam Brooks has you covered with the gift guide for that person in your life.It’s that time of year again – that time of the year when you have to think about your sociopathic friend. ...
Wellbeing may be at the centre of government strategy, but too many children and whānau are remaining on the outer, cautions The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP). In a series of report cards released today, the RACP’s Aotearoa NZ President, ...
"You get this sudden depressurisation, same as sort of taking the top off of a soft drink bottle or pulling the cork out of a bottle of champagne. It depressurises and the materials underneath rise very, very quickly." ...
Looking back on 10 years which saw New Zealand’s media transform from a position of near-limitless power and influence to the deeply humbled reality of today. At the end of 2009 I had resigned from my first good job, convinced that print media was finished. The good job was as editor ...
Sending in armed police is exactly how not to defuse a situation where a person is highly distressed and suicidal, writes someone who has been in a similar situation herself.Last week a man was shot by police. There’d been a call for help – he was suicidal, had a weapon ...
Report into 2017 general election tipped to be published shortly; and higher benefits, more state housing needed to combat child poverty - Children's Commissioner. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed that her Cabinet is in agreement that it "is not viable" for the North Island's main port to remain in Auckland. ...
Anyone watching the news coverage of the debate over Auckland's port would think a move to Northland is a real prospect. It's not, writes Bernard Hickey, who sees it purely as a political oxygen machine for NZ First. ...
Local party members have today selected Jake Bezzant as National’s candidate in Upper Harbour for the 2020 Election. Mr Bezzant is replacing Paula Bennett, National’s Campaign Chair, who isn’t seeking re-election in Upper Harbour but will stand as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jean-Philippe Deranty, Professor, Macquarie University Hardly a week goes by without a report announcing the end of work as we know it. In 2013, Oxford University academics Carl Frey and Michael Osborne were the first to capture this anxiety in a paper ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asha Bowen, Head, Skin Health, Telethon Kids Institute Antibiotic-resistant infections already cause at least 700,000 deaths globally every year. Although the phenomenon is most concerning for serious infections people are admitted to hospital with, antibiotic resistance means common bacterial infections could one ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Physical Culture, University of Waikato Recently, several elite sportswomen have spoken out about toxic sport culture and the damage it does to their long-term health. Mary Cain went from being the fastest and the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Reid, Professor Emeritus of Education, University of South Australia Since the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) began in 2000, published results have sent commentators and politicians in some countries into meltdown. The release of the 2018 test results last ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Eric Keys, PhD Researcher, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University This is the second article in a series to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Melbourne Transportation Plan. Transport models are often singled out as a barrier to providing more sustainable ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Toohey, Professor of Law, University of Newcastle An important part of the World Trade Organization will cease to function from midnight. December 10 is when the terms of two of the remaining three members of its Appellate Body expire. It is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aaron Burton, Lecturer in Media Arts, University of Wollongong Fans of Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece Blade Runner returned to cinemas last month for an unusual milestone: history catching up with science fiction. Blade Runner opens in Los Angeles, in November 2019. Furnaces ...
Welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Death toll from Whakaari eruption likely to rise, cabinet agrees Auckland port must move, and expensive Christchurch stadium details released.A tragic death toll from the eruption of Whakaari/White Island is likely to rise. The number of those killed is currently five at the time ...
Aerial reconnaissance missions have flown over Whakaari-White Island since the eruption on Monday afternoon and there are no signs of any survivors, police say. ...
The British people have a chance to stop the new age of hostility and belligerence before it is fully unleashed in the country's most significant election in 40 years, writes Neal Curtis. ...
The world number one in long drive golf, Kiwi Phillis Meti, wants to see equal pay for women, and more Maori and Polynesian girls striking the ball ...
How can we protect our privacy online in the face of increasingly clever marketing and retailing ploys? Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Marcin Betkier has some thoughts. ...
Commercial media, a business that requires public trust and goodwill, is in a tough financial position right now. Gaurav Sharma says that’s in part because of its poor job of reaching immigrant communities, in the first of a new monthly column for The Spinoff.Let’s start with a test, about references ...
We don’t normally see these eruptions coming, no matter how much we would like to. Many systems are already ‘primed’ for such events, but the triggers are poorly understood, writes Shane Cronin of the University of Auckland.As of Monday night five people have been confirmed dead, 18 had been rescued ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shane Cronin, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of Auckland Five people have been confirmed dead, 23 have been rescued and several remain unaccounted for after a sudden volcanic eruption on Whakaari/White Island off the east coast of New Zealand. The island is ...
One person is dead, 23 have been rescued and potentially two dozen people are unaccounted for on Whakaari/White Island, after it erupted on Monday. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are to be commended for their leadership on the Upper North Island port issue, Waterfront 2029 Spokesperson Michael Goldwater said today. The Prime Minister today announced that ...
In partnership with the JR McKenzie Trust and University of Otago, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has today released the annual Child Poverty Monitor at childpoverty.org.nz which shows more bold and sustainable action is needed. ...
Today’s child poverty figures , revealing that nearly 150,000 children are living in material hardship in New Zealand, show the need for tax relief says the Taxpayers’ Union . ...
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) welcomes the 2019 Child Poverty Monitor report , and says more can be done to help families who have need of welfare assistance. ...
A rescue operation is under way on Whakaari/White Island in the Bay of Plenty, with reports of up to 20 people injured, some critical.What’s going on?Whakaari/White Island, New Zealand’s most active cone volcano, located 48km off the eastern coast of the Bay of Plenty, is erupting. Large plumes of steam ...
Auckland bus operators are enraged at the inconvenience to passengers affected by continued bus driver strike action. Even those operators not directly affected by strikes are appalled at the behaviour of First Union and Tramways Union and their ...
The publication of the Child Poverty Monitor 2019, released today, is a reminder of the need to accelerate efforts to lift our children / tamariki out of poverty. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniela Kaleva, Associate Head Research and Scholarship, Australian Institute of Music Review: Farnace, composed by Vivaldi, Pinchgut Opera When a performance of Farnace was cancelled at the theatre of Ferrara after the artistic failure of Vivaldi’s opera Siroe re di Persia in ...
OPINION: In the fifth part of the series with our partners at Flick Electric Co to help you make better energy choices, Flick’s Nikki Cockburn breaks down the sources of our electricity.So we know that regardless of which power company we’re with, the electricity we use is at the mercy ...
The recent accident near Kaikoura, where two Malaysian children and their parents were killed in a head-on collision with a truck, was easily preventable, says the car review website dogandlemon.com . ...
Former Auditor-General Martin Matthews is petitioning Parliament to reopen his case, claiming MPs "held a gun to his head" to force his resignation. ...
Auckland Council recently announced a citywide food scrap collection scheme that will be kicking off in 2021. Most of us already know the main gist of composting, but what’s happening to this waste? What will I have to pay? And can I opt out if I don’t need it?New Zealanders ...
Central and local government, including Auckland Council, have been debating the future of the Ports of Auckland but there seems to be something missing in the debate - how much more greenhouse gases will Aotearoa emit if we move the port from the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW Westpac can expect a bumper turnout of shareholders at its annual general meeting in Sydney on Thursday, many of them angry at its alleged role in facilitating child exploitation in the Philippines, its 23 million ...
More than a billion dollars has wiped off the value of New Zealand's biggest company this morning following the surprise resignation of A2 Milk's chief executive. ...
Cindy Baxter is at COP25 – her 17th climate change conference – and for the first time, New Zealand is one of the good guys. But are we?As we head into the second week of the climate talks in Madrid, I’ve been reflecting over the first week, and the strange ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David King, Senior Lecturer, The University of Queensland Growing up, no one ever gave me the rundown on how or what I should do to keep my penis clean […] I’ve never read any reliable answer beyond washing it with water. ...
You’ve probably never heard of him, but an artist called Cavetown is coming to Auckland in January for a show that’s already sold out. We explain where he came from, how this happened, and why you should be listening.What, pray tell, is a Cavetown?Cavetown is the stage name of Robin ...
Three glaze recipes to take your festive feast from ho-hum to ham-azing.In the middle of November, my aunt suggested in our family WhatsApp group that Christmas lunch should go meat-free in acknowledgement of climate change. I froze at my desk where I’d taken a moment to procrastinate. While I support ...
The Climate Change Minister James Shaw says he is hopeful the final hurdles can be cleared for fixing the final rules of Paris Agreement before it kicks in next year. ...
"Youllbefine, Rockmaster, Cossack Warrior and now Valtteri are the four horses who have been killed on New Zealand race tracks in just three weeks" said Frances Baker, Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) spokesperson. ...
Former finance minister Steve Joyce says an NBR journalist told him its columnist Matthew Hooton had ‘gone completely troppo’ in a column about to be published by the business website about the MP. ...
A truly ambitious solution would keep jobs in Southland, delivering on the promise of the Zero Carbon Act to make NZ all but carbon neutral by 2050, writes Nicola Gaston in a post co-authored with Sally Brooker, Justin Hodgkiss and David Williams of The MacDiarmid Institute.Tiwai Point is in the ...
The housing market is heating up ahead of the holidays, with positive signs of growth, according to ASB's latest quarterly housing confidence survey. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called the latest childhood poverty statistics released by the Children’s Commissioner as appalling for a first world nation and has called upon the Government to do more. Matthew Tukaki, the Councils Executive ...
The next phase in the Democrats’ plan to impeach US President Donald Trump begins at 9am Monday morning Washington DC when the House judiciary committee meets to consider a report from the intelligence committee – and hear academic argument on the way forward. The judiciary committee is expected to draft ...
Open mike 04/09/2019 
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On 27 September, Greta Thunberg addressed a crowd of 500,000 at the School Strike for Climate in Montreal, saying: “You are a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And Sweden is also a nation that is allegedly a climate leader. And in both cases, it means absolutely nothing. Because ...3 days ago
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Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
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All the best to the government today in their relaunch of Kiwibuild.
A very interesting test for the new Minister.
While more state houses is the priority (greatest need) there are budget cost barriers to this being the sole emphasis.
Kiwi Build is limited by lack of demand – how many first home buyers are there and how many of them can afford new homes?
They can fix this by extending it to those whose first home is a flat or apartment and who intend to start a family – equity into a first family home. Also rent to buy and shared equity (debt is cheap and people are paying the money back – so the cost is an asset in the books) – which gets around people struggling to get a deposit together.
They should also consider
1. those unsold being used as emergency housing for those on state house waiting lists
2. the empty nesters looking to downsize before they retire (but these should be considered only if there is not sufficient uptake from first family home buyers – behind them the landlord class).
Or they could say…
.so not really a Home..more a nice opportunity for investors, who may well be couples who then want to move on to a family home. However what is even the point of the government encouraging this sort of thing? How is this helping anyone struggling to find secure housing? How is this recalibration an out of control housing market.
This is simply stoking the fire of NZers obsession with making money via property….
There are two of us older folk who can't see how this is right, I haven't re-watched it having seen it last night but there seemed to be "reasons", rather than need, that means tax payer monies are off, eventually, to various people's pockets from housing.
While there will be cases that are genuinely deserving the principal and immediate aim looks to be retain a home and preserve as much capital in it to hand out in your will.
Specific steps look to have been taken to achieve eligibility for a housing benefit. How many of these "arrangements" either similar to this, or via trusts to retain property ownership, are there that keep tax payer funding away from the most vulnerable NZers?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/meet-papamoa-pensioner-rebelling-against-mortgage-free-mindset
Yes that was a curious item. Not enough information to make is possible to deduce exactly what other options were available to this person as his circumstances changed in the last few years. I suspect a range of options, which would not have needed housing assistance.
The principle of needing to be mortgage free at retirement, if at all possible, should still be the goal for all New Zealanders. This will not be impossible for a large cohort both today and into the future.
I agree after watching that item it was possible to concoct a number of ways to make that something some people would choose to do over what most only think of and that is to rid themsleves of the mortgage.
We live in Tauranga and have witnessed a number of ways that those in the building sector used their access to "land" that was more than the normal plot "size" to maximise gain, pre there being any curbs on that, and how a "family" situation was exercised to exploit it. In short a lot of "young" people have "built" and sold property since 2015-16 or have occupancy and/or ownership, pending possible sale.
This has probably given people ideas, and also trusts pre elders moving to rest homes is another way that the tax payer can be funding some people's "inheritances".
so..helen clark has confirmed (on rnz/m-report) that she was unable to move on reforming cannabis laws in 2002/05 gummints – 'cos they both had a coalition agreement insisting on no reform –
this at the insistance of peter (fucken) dunne..
let's not forget that fact..eh..?
and maybe the next time the media wheel him out as some elder-statesman/expert on cannabis – he could be asked about that..?
and of course clark is gilding the lily somewhat here..
as she didn't have to go with that toe-rag..
she shafted the greens – remember..?
'history' is such a moveable feast – isn't it..?
Why do these people keep coming out of the woodwork? Both Peter and Helen should disappear from the public eye. They both left politics.
Yep, Dunne is a repulsive creature. I well remember the time he even said there was no way whatsoever even medicinal use of cannabis would be considered, EVEN IF THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTED IT.
Classic stupidity from a classically stupid little man.
Old dunny had to clear the way for his sons synthetic drugs imports . Lest we forget.
yep..!..his cynicism is/was breathtaking…
and now he dares to come out and fucken pontificate on the subject..
and the media afford him gravitas..?
(i’m looking at you – radio new zealand – you of all people – should bloody well know better…eh..?
just-stop-it..!..)
Anderton was also a bit of a dick about drugs, as I recall.
yep..!..he sure was..a total reactionary..
I agree about the selective memory. She made her choice and it was known.
another interesting historical-fact that came out of morning report..during a discussion on kiwibuild..
is that post ww2 – facing a similar crisis from returning soldiers needing housing –
nz built 10,000 state houses a year..
the obvious question being – why the fck can't we do that now..?
and an obvious answer would have to be that curse of neoliberal incrementalism – which is the philosophical-under-pinning of this govt..
and why does every ‘fix’ from them have at least a year to wait before they happen..?
the latest example being the (so-called) crack down on the money-lenders…
the usury they practice will be curtailed a bit (but not until next yr..(!)
what the fuck is up with that..?
The illusion of change: Put a future time stamp on promises and hope they are forgotten as the news cycle changes multiple times before the dates hit.
there is some truth in what you say..
and of course the apogee of that delayed-gratification tactic from labour was their first announcement of free uni-study..
dunno if ppl remember – but that first iteration of this – the policy was to kick in in their second term of gummint..
we had to elect and re-elect them first..
at the time i remember falling on the floor – laughing at their cheek/nerve..
and wondering if they could top that..
There were a couple of OK suggestions coming in on MR feedback this morning @ Mr Ure.
Things like standard pre-consented designs (which would have to have a variety of foundation types associated with them depending of terrain/geology etc.)
But also things like prefabrication, modular designs, council control-freakery over things like tiny homes, container homes, etc.
But you know ………. "Rome wasn't built in a day". It'll need an "emergency" rather than a "crisis" probably. On one of my regular jaunts north, I did notice how quickly new housing sprang up around Waiouru Army base not so long ago.
yep..!..and it is all do-able..
all it takes is the political will to make it happen…
waiting….waiting…
It wouldn't surprise me if we import all our No8 wire these days. We've certainly imported a lot of the bureaucracy
I think the critical thing was that mum and dad paid only 20 or 25 % of dads income for his State Advances loan for a new house in 1946 as limited by law. It was a quinea a week or 21 shillings and when they eventually paid it off 30 years later it was still only $2.20 cents a week.
It had only 3 power points, an attached but " öutside "toilet, with night cart collection for the first few years, it was 1954 before the street was tarsealed , 2 bedrooms and a "sunroom ", no insulation ( in the SI at that ) and only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now. They were just so proud and glad they had a house. Before the war it was almost impossible to get such a thing as a mortgage. The section cost 80 pounds, the house 450 pounds, and his pay was 5 pounds about the same as 80% of the population and the whole lot cost 106 weeks gross pay. Try doing that today, the equivilant would be about 600 weeks pay.
And more importantly the Govt of the day did not have to cope with every permanently aggravated dickhead who could climb on a social media soapbox berating everything they tried to do.
Ah yep ….. thems were the days eh? Me dear ole dad used to have to walk five miles to school everyday, and five miles home again. We were lucky to have shoes when I was a kid, and when we did, mum would have to put cardboard in them when the soles wore out.
Oh how things have improved with the advent of consumerism and the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments)
But yep, I do take your point.
"Me dear ole dad used to have to walk ……".
He lived in very easy times didn't he? My dad had to walk 10 miles uphill to school and another 10 miles uphill on the return trip. That was while he milked 90 cows both before and after school. He then did his homework by the light of a candle. They bred 'em tough in those days.
hmm reminds me of something my Gran used to say… 'when men were men and woman chopped the firewood' she was a tough nut bringing up a bunch of kids in the back of Apiti…
"the cheap imported multi-plug box. (as it happens, I'm just reconditioning one in between comments) "
You should become one of TS authors ! I love that sort of stuff
@ adrian..
'only 62 sq metres, about the size of a double bedroom these days. OMG, how would a snowflake millenial cope with such appalling conditions now'..
um..!..how does the burgeoning tiny-house movement fit into yr 'snowflake' thesis..?
and no..in those days critics actually stood on soapboxes in public places..
which is where much of the political dialogue we have online now happened..
yr point was..?
I think his point was something to do with how tough parents had to do it, and we don't know how lucky we are these days – probably as some sort of justification for our children having to be worse off than we were.
Not sure. Perhaps Adrian should answer for Himself.
I don’t suppose he’d be prepare to take any responsibility for the inevitable outcome of the consumerism and ideology that’s now in play.
(God, when I think back, and in the context of history, OH how I did it so bloody tuff! – We really DON’t know how lucky we are eh?).
Where’s Wayne when you need him to offer us all some sage advice
The point being that it was a lot easier for a government to get a roof ( and thats about all ) over a familys head and huge subdivisions could be commandeered into existance and fuck all nimbys in sight.
And as for the current generation as any real estate agent or builder will tell you a large proportion of them today want everything right now with flash as rat with a gold tooth kitchens and bathrooms or two. No wonder houses are bloody expensive.
Also as far as I can remember councils were really glad to have houses being built and families moving in so the council paid for all the services as well as roading and reserve contributions etc and not lump the full cost of such on to the price of a section inflating its price by astronomical amounts. Councils were content to get that stuff paid for over the following decades.
They might have been cold and small on barren sections but they were pretty bloody good for the day and bugger all people were whinging who got into one and most are still standing today.
And Phillip, there is no burgeoning small house movement, it is a tiny proportion of the housing market, its size inflated by dopey TV programmes. and BTW, try and get one through any mad controlling rapacious bloody council.
there are also a lot of the younger generation who are quite happy to live in apartments/studios – near city centres – rather than being in some blighted suburb..
what you say was true a cple of yrs ago – but change is happening fast in that area..
and tiny/pre-fab etc have a whole new appeal/audience..
Interesting that you mentioned pre-fab, thats as old as European settlement , a lot of the mid to late 1800s post offices, police stations, schools and even churches were prefabs cut and made near where the timber was milled and even shipped between islands. Apparently the kitsets for the Police station in Havelock and a church in Stoke got mixed up in transit from the middle of the North Island . Its obvious when you look at them.
I was under the impression that a lot of the very small apartments in Auckland in particular are inhabited by uni students and new young immigrants from Asia where apartment living in cities is the norm. I don't think people live in them for long when families start to grow.
You’re a bit behind the times. Something like just a third of all households have children and it is falling.
Increasingly young adults are intending to not have kids and this has been a trend for a very long time.
This is pretty much what I observe in my apartment block. Most of the people amongst the 61 apartments are singletons or couples. There is just one child that I’m aware of.
Obviously I don’t know everyone in there. But the turnover of renters and owners-occupiers is pretty low these days. But of the 30% of under 35s that I know in there, very few are planning on having kids. The people over 35, couples or singles (including me), simply haven’t had kids and aren’t planning to. They also decided that quite some time ago.
The average age of people in my block would be late 40s. The apartments are about 51 square metres. This isn’t abnormal for single room apartments. Single bedroom small apartments from what I have seen tend to be owner-occupied by older people and couples – not younger people. It is a life style that allows you to spend a lot of time working and doing your own thing(s).
Most of the 2-3 bedroom small apartments are usually younger people flatting. You still do find younger couples in one bedroom apartments, but increasingly they’re being priced out.
Phillip Ure @ 4
They also commandeered existing homes (most built between the two wars) and gave some servicemen the chance to purchase them over time by way of a rent subsidy. My father was one of them. He secured a 4 bed-roomed bungalow in Mt Albert and it became the family home. It's still standing and looking better than ever.
So, the idea of a so-called rent to buy scheme is definitely not new.
cool..!..thanks for that historical background..
so of course we can do all those things here/now..
(dunno about you – but i am so tiring of the hand-wringing/meaningless-emoting..and s.f.a. actually happening..)
Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days. Also many of the houses may have been commissioned by the Government but they were built by the private sector.
Depends which requirements you're talking about.
Insulation would be a fail, but most houses from that era were solidly built. Sure, there are materials differences and maybe some new structural or fire requirements, but they weren't slapped up cheaply. Before the days of nail guns and suchlike, too.
"Most houses built in the 1950's would likely fail to meet building requirements now days"
So why are people still living in them, buying and selling them? As McFlock says the only thing these houses would fail on is insulation, and that's easily remedied.
They will still be standing long after your modern chip board / custom wood abomination that was built yesterday has degraded into a pile of mush.
So what is they were built by the private sector? Are you claiming that's a bad thing?
They were built by the private sector – Keith Hays, Neil, et al and financed through state advances loans from the government.
Do you have a reason why this couldn't be done today?
Currently renovating a circa 1910 bungalow, including removing gib and retrofitting membrane and installing insulation. Desconstructing the house in this way allows you to see how very skilled the original builders were. Using the same wood for weatherboards, architraves, scotias and windowsills. Barge board and window design, allowed for window flashing to be a flat, easily installed piece of metal. Nothing overly complicated, but very professional simple design. With the installation of R3.4 insulation in the walls, ceiling batts installed in the roof, and underfloor installation, the use of floorlength thermal curtains and pelmets should do the job of making this a home warm enough to live in without excessive heating use.
Since we are trying to do this on a limited budget, are also buying materials from TradeMe. Recent purchase was wooden cabinets for the kitchen, purchased from a property in Epsom due for demolition. Built 16 years ago, and needed to be demolished, it was an impressive spectacle, but one where the bones were riddled with materials utilised badly and unable to be rectified at all.
The old houses that are still standing, are the ones that managed to do so for fifty to a hundred years.
@ Robert – do we have working examples in NZ of swale/small earthwork systems for drought and flood prevention? Work similar to the Mulloon Institutes Natural Sequence Farming
Or Jeff Lawton's Zaytuna Farm
Or the earthworks projects cropping up in arid/semi-arid regions all over, as illustrated by John D Liu.
Am finishing up on an article about water and hoped to find some localised examples if they are there…
Great to see Shane Jones going for a much stronger government response to the DIRA legislation and the Fonterra mess.
Titirangi the vesicle of anti vaxxers
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/114994080/in-an-affluent-corner-of-auckland-a-gp-struggles-against-vaccination-disinformation
Yep. For a small suburb we've got waaaaaay more than our fair share of kooks, cranks, nutters and other weirdos.
Strange pets too.
raglan is another hot-spot for anti-vaxxers..
i am walking around looking sideways at ppl…wondering..
asking myself..
'is this one of those feckin' idjits..?'
took me ages to not read 'the testicle of anti-vaxxers' for some reason…
If this is the quality of thinking (as expressed in the attached 'debate) then there is no wonder the world is as dysfunctional as it currently is….'heavyweight' my arse.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/09/02/785708/the-economic-heavyweight-bout-of-the-year
We can ignore physics because of an ever hopeful 'innovation'
Does National deserve to win 2020 Election?
No!!! as the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Why? – firstly because National wanted to ruin every plan the Labour coalition had set up to benefit us all and look ‘winnable for the 2020 election’.
National had a dark plan as they have quietly ‘collectively been sabotaging’ and undermining the Labour/Coalition Government for the last 20 months with ‘every underhanded scheming’ to have those planted bureaucrats to wreck every plan labour/coalition had used that had even looked viable, that may have helped labour look good.
The obvious use of “bullying by Steven Joyce has been employed now, shows that Joyce has been the architect of this undermining of Government by acting against the citizens interests while also destroying the well being and health of the majority of the people.
It was only a matter of time before the rot had to show as coming out of the old rotting carcass of the old National Party as we all knew instinctively that putting Simon Bridges up as the “temporary leader was just a ploy when the big leader was lurking behind the curtains, that is Steven Joyce all over again.
the new Government are being ‘stymied by National planted stool pigeons inside our agencies.
Wreckers everywhere. Time for a purge.
Good example was the Cancer Agency release a few days ago . This was a policy in Labours manifesto at the 2017 election.
As a government they took until now to come up with a workable policy and funding.
National knew about the election promise and their mates in the public service would have passed on the outline earlier this year.
So the Nats play politics with cancer sufferers, try to steal the thunder – and this was after doing nothing for 9 years, indeed scrapping their own plan back in 2013
Yes, the swamp needs to be drained….wait, have I heard that somewhere before…..
https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/tomorrows-schools-review/
28 June 2019 Taskforce reports back to minister – 2 months ago and nothing has been released into the public domain that I can find
I see, from the Economist, that the development of infrastructure projects in the UK is nearly as stuffed up as are the ones the current New Zealand Government is proposing.
"HS2, a planned high-speed railway between London and Birmingham, faces delays of up to five years, Britain’s transport minister said. Britain’s biggest infrastructure project may now not move passengers until 2031. The expected cost has risen from £62bn ($75bn) to £81bn-88bn. A second phase, reaching Manchester and Leeds, has been delayed too; patient commuters can expect services in 2035-40."
Sounds about what we can expect from the hypothetical rail service being talked about from Auckland to Wellington, or the roads around Wellington that Twyford was gaily announcing the other day had been "approved" but that work couldn't possibly be started until at least 2028. Even the local Labour MPs were a bit shocked by that announcement apparently.
https://m.newsie.co.nz/news/153707-hutt-council-jumps-on-nztas-delayed-melling-interchange-project.html
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114989445/chris-hipkins-pushes-for-melling-planning-and-consenting
fake news – workers or executive? cos they ain't the same in my book
headline
story
'more than 6000 of Fonterra's 22,000 staff were on salaries of $100,000 and over.'
bloody hell..!
what am i missing here..?
fonterra is a company that collects milk – turns it into milk powder..
and sells that in bulk to the world..
so how the fuck do they justify having 6,000 top-feeders earning a hundred grand + a yr..?
(tempted to go and force-march them all to some milking sheds – to work for minimum wage – as so many workers these top-feeders leech off do..)
Perhaps you haven’t realised that engineering staff are in very short supply throughout the economy? Fonterra employs a shitload of engineers – probably about half of their staff are engineers of one form or another. It is all of that having to keep food carrying and processing equipment clean as well as dealing with high temperatures and a awful lot of equipment.
But no of course. You’re probably not really aware of anything at all about the working economy… Not something that I have ever noticed you having any understanding of.
I guess I should head off to work rather than commenting on that topic further.
Peter Ellis dies before appeal can be heard.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/115536931/convicted-civic-creche-sex-abuser-peter-ellis-dies-while-appealing-convicted
shit.
He wanted the appeal heard before his death so the media wouldn't be posting headlines about "sex abuser Peter Ellis" having died. So, naturally Stuff posts a headline saying "sex abuser Peter Ellis" has died. Fuck you, Stuff.
EDIT: “I assume” that was the reason – didn’t hear him say so.
A fair assumption, I think.
A life destroyed.
Theres more than a few people that need to have a good, long look in the mirror over this but probably won't
Not the least the parents who caused the hysteria in the first place. Be it on their heads that an innocent man's life was curtailed well before his time.
Interesting you never hear a squeak out of any of them now.
Pretty well his entire adult life was ruined before it was curtailed. Barbaric, to my mind.
@ anne..
agreed..
no they wont…and theres still a few convinced he was guilty and all the evidence in the world wont change that belief
RIP Peter Ellis.
I firmly believe he was an innocent man.
Absolutely @uncooked…
Lianne Dalziel's doing just fine, thought you'd like to know that.
Well that's a relief. I hope Goff is OK as well.
Did any of these people watch the original Terminator flick?
Two US military fucknuts more like.
Consecutive weeks of marches and protests and now they fold? The cynic in me says this is a sop and the PRC will carry on disappearing whoever they think is a trouble maker.
Hong Kong’s chief executive is to announce the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill that sparked weeks of unrest, finally meeting a key demand of the protest movement.
Carrie Lam has called a meeting of pro-Beijing politicians for later on Wednesday afternoon, at which she will describe the full withdrawal of the bill as “a gesture… to cool down the atmosphere”, the South China Morning Post quoted a source as saying.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/hong-kong-extradition-bill-china-carrie-lam-protests-latest-a9090966.html
A ray of hope on the Climate Action front in the US:
Elizabeth Warren Unveils $3 Trillion Climate Plan, Embracing Inslee’s Goals
Currently Elizabeth Warren is running neck and neck with Bernie Sanders in Second place behind Joe Biden. She has been gaining in popularity across the board and on a favourability score she actually leads Biden and Sanders with a rating of around 55%. Head to head with Trump the polls show she would win the must win States as well. Certainly with the current Trade War Trump is shedding support from his base – particularly in the Farming States where farmers are now overall Billions in debt – despite his $12B handout (mostly unsurprisngly going to large corporate farmers and not the smaller farmers who are now in serious strife).
Elizabeth is on a par with Sanders wrt progressive policies and stands out as having a well developed policy package. This latest announcement simply underlines her determination to initiate positive change in America if given the chance,
I wouldn't put too much faith in the polls.
There have been lots of good examples of them being useless.
Whilst I would tend to agree with you and I have used many examples of such in my statistics classes of yore there is growing realisation that Trump – despite an election war chest of around $24 Billions is steadily loosing favour across the country. Daily, GOP representatives are standing down, and will not seek reelection in 2020. That is not the behaviour of politicians who can see an easy run for the next hurdle.
Furthermore, there is polling being carried out almost every day by a variety of pollsters. For the past 2 years Trump's approval rating has remained fairly steady at a tad over 40% while his disapproval rating hovers at around 53 – 54%. That means his favourability rating is negative and at least -10% to -14%. That is not the rating of a successful politician, and in most circumstances does not auger well for reelection.
His Trade War with China is also not going well, and with rising prices on many commodities, that is not winning him any favours, There is also the fear of an imminent recession, and the majority of Americans think that should such occur it rests solely on the "policies" of Trump – at least 60% think he will be to blame. The average American has not had any substantial benefit from his tax cuts to the rich, so that has not curried favour either, and his inability to build even 1 mile of new Wall shows him to be incapable on that front as well. There is also growing resentment on the treatment of undocumented migrants, many who have been in the country for many years, raised families, and are productive law abiding members of society with natural born US children or partners. The breaking up of such families is seen now by many in the rural communities in which they live as highly unjust and is only cheered on by the ultra -right factions who are not representative of the majority of fair minded Americans who are appalled by the current ICE raids.
Sure he drags in his faithful followers at his incomprehensible rallies – but time and again crowd sizes are over reported and now he simply preaches to the faithful, He is not gaining support, and what support he had is slowly draining away as the reality of his bluster sinks in.
BTW I don't comment on here as frequently as I have in the past because, most of my on-line time now is spent following American politics.
Cheers for your analysis, Macro clearly more thought than I have given it.
Part of Trumps success first time round wasn't so much folk voting for him, but against his opponent.
When might the government reinstate funding for night classes & other adult community education programmes that the former National-led government canned ~10 years ago?
Ideally get this done before the 2020 election. Wouldn't cost too much; annual budget's likely less than the cost of the flag referenda.
This diplomating business is as dangerous AF.
Oh dear. Sometimes, Winston, a simple 'yes' or 'no' would suffice.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12264368
TRANSCRIPT OF FINAL MINUTES OF CALL BETWEEN HERALD REPORTER MATT NIPPERT AND DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER WINSTON PETERS:
MN: So, to the best of your knowledge, New Zealand First have not talked with Lang about him donating? Is that what you're saying?
WP: [Pause] Well, look, if a member of my party was at the racecourse one day, interpreted a conversation with him it's quite possible. But to the best of my knowledge the course on which you're going at the moment is fruitless: We have not received any money from the Wolf, as I know him as.
MN: I guess the outstanding question remains is: If this donation were offered by him, would you accept it?
WP: An outstanding question? Who do you think you're talking to? You're going to have a hypothetical, and put it to me as an outstanding question? Bulldust mate. Where do you get off? Where do you get off with that arrogant attitude? "The question remains". For you?
MN: He says he's considering donating to NZ First. Would you accept the donation? It's pretty simple.
WP: You're going to slide mate, from facts to bullshit. Right? You're not going to be able to slide from facts, with a modicum of detail, to flat-out bullshit and speculation.
MN: So you would take the money? Or you wouldn't?
WP: Get a brain mate. That's not the alternative answer, is it?
MN: It's a very straightforward question, Winston.
WP: It's not a straightforward question. It's some silly, smart-arse question by somebody who should know a whole lot better.
MN: I'm just trying to figure out where this is going.
WP: It's not going anywhere, because it started nowhere. It's built on the premise you're going to write an article, based on nothing. Because you've got a charade of details you're going to put out there. That's what it's based on.
MN: It's based on Mr Lang telling me he was planning to donate to you.
WP: Good god, what a flimsy peg you're trying to hang your story on. God.
MN: Well, I'll flick it to my editors and see if they agree with me.
WP: They probably will, the bloody morons.
MN: Winston, are you hanging up on me?
[CALL TERMINATED BY WP]
I wonder if Neve is up to date with her shots.
Miaow.