The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has directed dozens of wastewater disposal wells within an approximate 500-square-mile radius of the epicenter the Oklahoma earthquake to shut down.
The commission says about 35 wells are included in the directive, which was issued following the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Saturday morning about nine miles northwest of Pawnee in north-central Oklahoma.
The number of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 900 last year.
Commission spokesman Matt Skinner says the wells were directed to shut down due to scientific links that the increase to the underground disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production induces earthquakes. The commission has previously asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes.
The earthquake ties the record for the strongest earthquake in recorded Oklahoma history. No major damage was reported, and there was one minor injury.
‘Rowarth is a strong believer in agricultural science and business forces, and has crossed swords with advocates of organic agriculture, anti-GM technology, and some environmentalists seeking to restrict agricultural production.[3][4] In her inaugural professorial address at Waikato she argued science and agricultural degrees were more valuable than those in the arts.[5’
Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.
In agricultural science there will be scientists who consider that you can increase production while looking after the environment. But many farmers will have to do more than they currently do in terms of water management, and protection of water courses. They can certainly manage it in Netherlands or Denmark, both of whom have very intensive agriculture.
Similarly not all academics take Jane Kelsey’s view point when it comes to trade.
Did you listen to the interview? Prof. Rowarth advises against jumping to conclusions then does exactly that.
She is a professor of agribusiness. I suggest she leaves forensic pathology and hydrology to the experts in those fields, and she can stick to counting sheep.
Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.
There is a need for lesser groupthink in science,and a greater need for challenging thinking, the former enhancing the stagnation of science in the 21st century.
I am certain the Dutch and the Danes are well ahead of New Zealand on water management. It is much more in their national ethos, having visited both countries. They have a different view of their national ecosystem than we do.
Perhaps being settled on the land and farming it for hundreds of years gives a longer term view point. In contrast many New Zealand farmers do not see their lands as a long term holding.
We after all cleared our country of bush not much more than 100 years ago, and that was still a large scale enterprise right up to the 1960’s. So careful nurturing of a highly modified ecosystem is a relatively new perspective for New Zealand.
Netherlands: “This is two per cent more than the previous year. The number of dairy cattle saw a small increase to reach 1.49 million animals.” 2010 figures.
Number of dairy and beef cattle in NZ = 9.5 million animals.
ie 6.3 times the number of animals.
Size of Holland 41,543 km² area under agriculture 55% = 22,500 km²
Size of New Zealand 268,021 km area under agriculture 42% = 112,000 km²
i.e. area under agriculture in NZ is 5 times that of the Netherlands. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS
NZ’s agriculture is more intensive than Netherlands.
Netherlands has 7 million livestock units (LSU). Each LSU is equivalent of a diary cow. They have over 3 million cattle, about 60% dairy, now (2015) being 1.75 million. The rest are basically pigs. Basically no sheep.
So I would say Netherlands is more intensive than New Zealand.
Stock Unit Conversion Ratios for Survey (Economic Service Conversions):
Beef Cattle Cattle Equivalent* Stock Units
M.A. Cows 1.0 =5.5
Heifers 2.5 Yr 1.0 =5.5
Heifers 1.5 Yr 0.8 = 4.4
Heifers Weaner 0.6 = 3.5
6 m
it hasn’t copied very clearly for some reason but in nz a su is a 55 kg ewe so a cow is 5 times that
The Netherlands use diary cows as the stock conversion unit. New Zealand uses sheep as the stock conversion unit. Different priorities for each country!
“This probably contributed to the limited imposition of mandatory controls to-date in the Netherlands where until 2002, only farms with stocking densities in excess of 2.5 LU/ha are subject to mandatory controls (ie, about half the national herd). In contrast, in Denmark, mandatory controls apply to all farms, although here average stocking densities are only about 0.9 LU/ha and the global nature of pollution problems are less intense (and hence less costly to address) than in the Netherlands.”
If half of Netherlands cows are on farms with stock rates above 2.5 SU per hectare that means it is likely to be a similar stock rate to NZ.
Of course the NZ climate means more grass growth than the Netherlands, so that supports a higher stocking rate, but also more responsibility required on water management.
“Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.”
Not from the University of Waikato, mate. It is known as a hotbed of Neo-Liberalism They are so myopic you think they are all Cyclops from Greek mythology.
She is talking crap. Visit Lake Ngaroto, 30 years ago when I used to sail our small sailboat kids used to SWIM in the lake. I visited it last December 1st time for over 25 years it is now toxic big warning signs don’t go near the place. That has not been caused by cracks in the ground or drought. it is polluted by cow shit and piss. and there wasnt the bird life there that was there 30 years ago. Possibly they had all fucked off as they have fucked this place and are flying to the next place to fuck up.
Rowarth is insulting out intelligence when she comes out with that crap. That is not a scientific diverse viewpoint, as her opinion is based on nothing but right wing fucking Dogma nothing more and nothing less.
Perhaps the next time I go to Pak-N-Slave they may give me a professorship instead a voucher for discounted petrol.
I sailed on Ngaroto back then, and I still occasionally sail there now. Koi carp have destroyed all weed, so swans have gone.. Lake is probably closer to collapse as you say. Billions of fish of the wrong species (Koi carp), some shags and some ducks…
A pity the way that Academics now seem to be bought two a penny…
The mirror image from the graph clearly illustrates how the government deficit is reflected into a private sector surplus. If the government is spending more than it is taxing, it is stimulating the economy, not taking away from it.
The lesson to be leaned from these is that it’s not the private sector that funds the economy. It’s government and that seems to apply even though it’s the private banks creating the money.
The private banks create money when they make a loan and then the look for reserves. If the reserves aren’t available in the private sector then they go to the Reserve Bank which will always loan them the money necessary to get their reserves up. Of course, the amount of reserve currency created is far less than the bank credit created when the bank makes the loan.
It’s that bank credit that’s behind house price inflation.
Has there been any in depth analysis of the relationship between the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1998 by Bill Clinton, and the subsequent rampant debt fuelled binge that the private banks have facilitated as a result?
I am fairly certain that had Glass-Steagall not been repealed, we wouldn’t be having this crisis today. It’s not a long bow to draw given that the true owners of the “big four” banks in NZ are JP Morgan, Citigroup, HSBC and National Nominees, who coincidentally are the strongest Wall Street players.
Has there been any in depth analysis of the relationship between the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1998 by Bill Clinton, and the subsequent rampant debt fuelled binge that the private banks have facilitated as a result?
Not as far as I know. There’s been plenty of speculation about it though.
Our own present debt binge is related to its demise but it’s more because of the neo-liberal ideology.
These cases of animal terrorism are becoming really concerning. Either sheep, deer or “cattle” are breaking into the bore head of town water supplies and then falling to the bottom of the well contaminating what everyone drinks. Cattle are too wide and would probably get wedged part way down, so that rules them out as they wouldn’t think its worth it. Which town will be hit next though…
if they government took the land under the public works act and then put the sections under the houses into a 1000 years lease scheme the land value would not matter.
No under the public works the owner still gets paid , but it would mean the government would have to take a lose, that way a house could be sold for build price and new owners would pay the rates on the land plus a lease rate.
Paula Bennett, for example: the taxpayers I know are disgusted, not that she got a cheap government loan, but that she prevented others from following in her footsteps.
The modern Tory: always wanking on about “teach a man to fish”, then buying up all the fishing rights and offering lease terms on the gear.
if the gov took $2k a year in income of each house , keeping in mind they could fit two to three houses were one mc mansion sits, then they would recover the money eventually.
@BM – I think that’s the problem with the ‘market’ forces. Market forces are not going to build affordable houses. They are building large houses for an incoming migration market with money external from NZ local wages.
@ BM I agree about the Hickey’s example but he was talking about the 70’s. I don’t believe he was advocating exactly the same type of development now.
In any event these days in Auckland you have to forget about separate houses on 400m2 sections and develop in the way I describe above-anything else is simply unaffordable….except for well-heeled investors of course who are incredibly buying 50% of what comes on the market.
“For a 100m2 house with garage you’d need at least 400m2 to make it livable.”
Only if you have designers with limited imaginations, and very little experience of designing homes in limited spaces.
Japanese architects have been doing smaller homes for years, and are very adept at designing comfortable homes in small areas.
Unfortunately, in NZ we have planners, councils, architects and builders who have little experience and whose idea of “added value” rests in imported materials, and larger spaces.
Around where I live the 2bdr MDH units are selling like hot cakes. For 124 m2 on only180m2 of land you can expect to shell out $520K. That’s not affordable.
The units are all cramped together like sow stalls. The development is several kilometres away from any amenities. That’s walking distance for able bodied folks only and if you have a spare 40 minutes to do the round trip to the shops. Thats 40 minutes from where we live, it would be 50 minute from the sow stalls. All units have parking availability for two cars because it’s expected that occupants would need two cars.
It’s fine to build small houses if people want them but development needs to be intelligent and environmentally sustainable and that’s a job for the council as much as central government to determine. Our MDH building is mushrooming in the northern burbs of Wellington. We’ve yet to see any good planning. Our council has only stood by uselessly and let these projects go ahead, many on a non notified basis.
Have a seen a few horse float conversions lately, wonderful ideas. Not really suitable for a family. Perfect for freedom camping, ideal for any whom have land but don’t want to do the whole building permit thing, mobile home it is after all.
Kids need room to play outside, if they are pushing apartments for families one would hope there would be decent parks and reserves near by for them to play in. Community food gardens located near by would be a wise idea too.
30mins of fresh air surrounded by green (trees, grass etc) has proven benefits for peoples health.
The smaller house building boom of the 70’s, those dwellings still had a decent piece of land in which people could grow their own food and let their children play etc, room for a lemon tree and a rotary clothesline.
The thing with apartments, they are marketed as cheap living, but in the long run, you can’t have solar panels, catch your own water or grow food, you won’t have a fire for heating the house and hot water. It all adds up in the grand scheme of things, and when you want to have kids you would probably sell it and move, as well apartments are difficult to resell especially if they only have one bedroom.
I loved apartment living in Wellington and Auckland, but no way could i have done it with a family. In saying that i would choose an apartment over a car, all depends on affordability
Agreed. There are many that are so disillusioned with what the neo-liberal culture has done to democracy and quaint old ideas like citizenship and the so-called political representatives (our MPs) that go with it.
Let alone things like our language (going forward; ‘learnings’, etc.)
Winston’s riding on it, and I suspect the People’s Pary will do much the same.
Christ …. just check out the state of people like Paula Bennett, Steven Joyce on yesterday’s ‘The Nation’ (and countless other incidents of his bullcrap), Wayne (Jeez Wayne); and even others like the wannabe noble Chris Finlayson – let alone Rebecca Kitteridgge FFS!!. All once half decent people – no no more, no anyhow.
Maybe Trump’s seen as the trigger needed to get us all to the lowest common denominator before we wake the fuck up. Doesn’t say much for the human race though.
Going Forward …. is that like Coming Back?
Learnings …. are they like those facile things we charge immigrants for at $30K a pop?
We really should be more challenging on the Left. Challenge the bullshit at every opportunity.
We could probably even begin referring to the current Cabinet … supposed Ministers of the Crown with warrants as ‘flanges’.
flange/flan(d)ʒ/
noun
a projecting flat rim, collar, or rib on an object, serving for strengthening or attachment or (on a wheel) for maintaining position on a rail.
You pick which amongst our Ministers is the flat rim, which is the collar and which is the rim. I know some are capable of multitasking (even Paula Bennett can be referenced as saying she has a variety of ‘levers to pull’).
Yes, so maybe roll on Donald fucking Trump. We’re nearly there already
For years i watched the weekends political shows but now i just can’t be bothered listening to their shit. gut instinct told me in 2008 that the nats were dirty garbage so that’s what i go on now(gut instinct) , that and getting my facts from a more trustable places than a pollies gob.
as for trump . he’s a barnacle on on the arse of a dead whale so i’m getting the pop corn and sitting back
CV looks on the money here in regard to US electorate in contrast to TRP Met a few What you would call liberal yanks recently and they just can’t vote for Hilary
Police prioritise a break in on Jami-Lees caravan over what I would call a home evasion (a burglary while the family was asleep) just 900m away from the caravan aka mobile electorate office.
Well, it seems to shock nobody because it is what we have come to expect.
There will be silence form our usual trolls, unless one of them can reveal the stunning information that the occupants of the burgled house are in fact P-smoking illegal immigrants claiming fraudulent benefits while working illegally.
(Home invasion, not evasion..)
Relax, no thinking involved with this, Bill Gates is here to save you.
Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates Sr., has long been involved with the eugenics group Planned Parenthood, a rebranded organization birthed out of the American Eugenics Society. In a 2003 interview with PBS’ Bill Moyers, Bill Gates admitted that his father used to be the head of Planned Parenthood, which was founded on the concept that most human beings are just “reckless breeders” and “human weeds” in need of culling (http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_gates.html).
Who perpetrated this fraud? There is no doubt that it was Wakefield. Is it possible that he was wrong, but not dishonest: that he was so incompetent that he was unable to fairly describe the project, or to report even one of the 12 children’s cases accurately? No. A great deal of thought and effort must have gone into drafting the paper to achieve the results he wanted: the discrepancies all led in one direction; misreporting was gross. Moreover, although the scale of the GMC’s 217 day hearing precluded additional charges focused directly on the fraud, the panel found him guilty of dishonesty concerning the study’s admissions criteria, its funding by the Legal Aid Board, and his statements about it afterwards.
As demonstrated by the Warner debacle, our own elected officials won’t stand up and defend us let alone take multinationals to task.
The last few days have seen the emergence of an unlikely hero in Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner. Undeterred by threats and bullying from the US Treasury she has demanded that Apple pay €13bn of back tax it has avoided thanks to a sweetheart deal with the Irish government. In spite of corporate bluster and inevitable future legal action, Vestager can act tough because her job is to ensure that there is fair competition in the European market. Quite an achievement for somebody who is in the Brexiteers’ hate group of “faceless bureaucrats”
[…]
The US Treasury has been swift to attack Brussels’ attempts to ensure that a fair rate of tax is paid, getting its retaliation in first in the form of a report last week accusing the commission of acting like a “supranational tax authority”. This is a classic example of an economic rival deliberately undermining cooperation between European partners to benefit its own multinational corporations. We should celebrate the fact that the European commission is acting to protect citizens against excessive corporate power. In the global economy the real division is not between nation states but between citizens and corporations.
[…]
Soon after the referendum, MEPs voted overwhelmingly for a series of measures including a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB), a single set of rules on taxable profits for companies operating within the EU, which can stop tax wars between nations and a race to the bottom in terms of tax rates. George Osborne’s response to this post-Brexit? An announcement that he planned to reduce corporation tax to 18%. When it comes to tackling corporate tax dodging, give me faceless bureaucrats and MEPs over Tories and their corporate cronies any day.
I have personally seen young people end up on the edge of real criminality on account of a first offence of driving while forbidden.
It doesn’t take long – coupla chances to get the licence ($80 fee mind you) – up in court again – $500 fine plus $130 costs courtesy of some off this planet JP (probably a millionaire sold-up) – against a guy who gets $180 a week – non-payment – community work – breach (transport difficulties) – prison. Doesn’t take long at all.
It’s important that people know that even after three months suspension for demerit points there’s a $72 fee for ‘reinstatement’ of driver licence. Why ? That’s an impossible impost for so, so many poor people. So, they drive. After their suspension has expired. What the fuck can they do ? Kids to get to school etc etc etc. Perfectly legal of course……as long as you’ve got a lazy 72 bucks.
Then they get busted. Driving while fucking forbidden again. Even though their 3 month suspension has well expired. The suspension lives on for want of 72 fucking dollars. It goes on and on and round and round and there’s real criminality looming here.
All because people do not have the money for fuck sake. Poverty in the victims is criminal then. Fuck……don’t we pay big time for our vile judgment and our pathetic stupidity ? Another person doing time in the slammer, kids fucked up, wife/mother despairing, because they’ve offended a $6,000 a week District Court Judge and a vile hungry-for-revenge society they ‘represent’ ?
House sales are down, but prices are still going up. That’s the latest message from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, but some analysts suggest the board is presenting an incomplete picture of a market on the decline.
[…]
But for real estate consultant Ross Kay, figures like benchmark prices and year-on-year sales comparisons obscure what’s truly happening in Vancouver: the rapid deflation of an overvalued market that had been propped up by foreign buyers.
wags lazy sunday thought is this;
they are talking up Kawaraus property market the bit at the moment. now the last time kawarau property took off was right before the last crash,
Be careful out there
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
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Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
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My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
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The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita, University of Sydney In his latest book, Jewish Life in Medieval Spain, Jonathan Ray focuses on the tumult of the 14th century in Spain – a time of the plague, civil strife and war between the two largest ...
While creating a slate of world-class shows, Whakaata Māori also developed a generation of world-class creatives. Television is an odd word. It mixes the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, and its most literal meaning is “far-off sight”. In the contemporary and living language of te reo Māori, “whakaata” as a ...
Yesterday the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza. This significant step and the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza prompted an urgent debate in the New Zealand Parliament. Leader ...
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Apples are available year-round, but the wide variety on offer involves intensive scientific research – and large-scale commercialisation. What’s beautiful, red, sweet and crunchy? Tony Martin’s favourite kind of apple: Sassy. The CEO of apple and pear breeding organisation Prevar, Martin’s fondness for Sassy represents professional success as well as ...
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The Deputy Chairperson of the Finance and Expenditure Committee is calling for public submissions on the Budget Policy Statement 2024. The Budget Policy Statement 2024 (BPS) sets out the Government's priorities for the 2024 Budget. It explains the approach ...
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Housing crisis worsens.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11703301
with sad impacts
http://i.stuff.co.nz/life-style/home-property/83791016/The-baby-or-the-house-Auckland-house-prices-force-couples-to-choose
what you call worsening is the property developers’ delight.
Just fracking peachy.
/
12:25 p.m.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has directed dozens of wastewater disposal wells within an approximate 500-square-mile radius of the epicenter the Oklahoma earthquake to shut down.
The commission says about 35 wells are included in the directive, which was issued following the 5.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Saturday morning about nine miles northwest of Pawnee in north-central Oklahoma.
The number of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes has skyrocketed in Oklahoma, from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 900 last year.
Commission spokesman Matt Skinner says the wells were directed to shut down due to scientific links that the increase to the underground disposal of wastewater from oil and gas production induces earthquakes. The commission has previously asked producers to reduce wastewater disposal volumes.
The earthquake ties the record for the strongest earthquake in recorded Oklahoma history. No major damage was reported, and there was one minor injury.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/5f6fef94c4354ac3a43267858c4bb7c4/latest-oklahoma-governor-crews-assess-structures?utm
This one is singing from the same Tory, “fuck the country” songbook. Can see why she was head-hunted.
Watch out here comes another flock of pigs
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11701859
“That’s just one scientists opinion, like lawyers I can find another…” to paraphrase the PM.
That’s the songbook with such hits as “There is no industrial farming in new zealand” and “Four chlorinations in one day”
Lol ‘counting the faeces’ and ‘a pill son will heal ya’ are on there too arent they
From Wikipedia
‘Rowarth is a strong believer in agricultural science and business forces, and has crossed swords with advocates of organic agriculture, anti-GM technology, and some environmentalists seeking to restrict agricultural production.[3][4] In her inaugural professorial address at Waikato she argued science and agricultural degrees were more valuable than those in the arts.[5’
She has history.
She appears often as a useful scientist for the dairy industry.
Follow the money.
http://m.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=11669052
Ms Rowarth over at Pundit.
http://pundit.co.nz/blogs/jacqueline-rowarth
Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.
In agricultural science there will be scientists who consider that you can increase production while looking after the environment. But many farmers will have to do more than they currently do in terms of water management, and protection of water courses. They can certainly manage it in Netherlands or Denmark, both of whom have very intensive agriculture.
Similarly not all academics take Jane Kelsey’s view point when it comes to trade.
I don’t consider those in denial of reality to be academics.
Did you listen to the interview? Prof. Rowarth advises against jumping to conclusions then does exactly that.
She is a professor of agribusiness. I suggest she leaves forensic pathology and hydrology to the experts in those fields, and she can stick to counting sheep.
Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.
There is a need for lesser groupthink in science,and a greater need for challenging thinking, the former enhancing the stagnation of science in the 21st century.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/18/we-need-more-scientific-mavericks
and fewer selfies.
http://www.pnas.org/content/113/34/9384/F1.medium.gif
They can certainly manage it in Netherlands or Denmark, both of whom have very intensive agriculture.
Thank you for your admission that it’s not being done here.
Wayne must be advocating for subsidies and indoor farming too, as that’s what would help the danes and the dutch
I am certain the Dutch and the Danes are well ahead of New Zealand on water management. It is much more in their national ethos, having visited both countries. They have a different view of their national ecosystem than we do.
Perhaps being settled on the land and farming it for hundreds of years gives a longer term view point. In contrast many New Zealand farmers do not see their lands as a long term holding.
We after all cleared our country of bush not much more than 100 years ago, and that was still a large scale enterprise right up to the 1960’s. So careful nurturing of a highly modified ecosystem is a relatively new perspective for New Zealand.
Actually, the clearing began about 900 years ago – when Māori got here.
The Danes and the Dutch have competent government, of course they’re ‘well ahead’.
Key’s is an aspirational approach, instead of doing things he professes to want them. It makes for good sound bites and lousy results.
It’s frankly astonishing that an educated country like NZ suffers such a lame, low, lying, sleazy, non-performing government.
They will drown in their own filth before too very much longer.
Netherlands: “This is two per cent more than the previous year. The number of dairy cattle saw a small increase to reach 1.49 million animals.” 2010 figures.
Number of dairy and beef cattle in NZ = 9.5 million animals.
ie 6.3 times the number of animals.
Size of Holland 41,543 km² area under agriculture 55% = 22,500 km²
Size of New Zealand 268,021 km area under agriculture 42% = 112,000 km²
i.e. area under agriculture in NZ is 5 times that of the Netherlands.
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.AGRI.ZS
NZ’s agriculture is more intensive than Netherlands.
Macro,
Netherlands has 7 million livestock units (LSU). Each LSU is equivalent of a diary cow. They have over 3 million cattle, about 60% dairy, now (2015) being 1.75 million. The rest are basically pigs. Basically no sheep.
So I would say Netherlands is more intensive than New Zealand.
they rear them in fucking sheds mate
are you sure this is for nz
Stock Unit Conversion Ratios for Survey (Economic Service Conversions):
Beef Cattle Cattle Equivalent* Stock Units
M.A. Cows 1.0 =5.5
Heifers 2.5 Yr 1.0 =5.5
Heifers 1.5 Yr 0.8 = 4.4
Heifers Weaner 0.6 = 3.5
6 m
it hasn’t copied very clearly for some reason but in nz a su is a 55 kg ewe so a cow is 5 times that
The Netherlands use diary cows as the stock conversion unit. New Zealand uses sheep as the stock conversion unit. Different priorities for each country!
The Netherlands use diary cows
are the cows learning academies public or privately funded?
“This probably contributed to the limited imposition of mandatory controls to-date in the Netherlands where until 2002, only farms with stocking densities in excess of 2.5 LU/ha are subject to mandatory controls (ie, about half the national herd). In contrast, in Denmark, mandatory controls apply to all farms, although here average stocking densities are only about 0.9 LU/ha and the global nature of pollution problems are less intense (and hence less costly to address) than in the Netherlands.”
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/agriculture/pdf/dairy_xs.pdf.
The Netherlands dairy LU/ha is 2.0
Whereas in NZ the national dairy stocking rate is approaching 3 LU/ha overall (approaching 4 in some larger Canterbury operations)
http://www.dairynz.co.nz/media/1327583/nz-dairy-statistics-2013-2014-web.pdf
If half of Netherlands cows are on farms with stock rates above 2.5 SU per hectare that means it is likely to be a similar stock rate to NZ.
Of course the NZ climate means more grass growth than the Netherlands, so that supports a higher stocking rate, but also more responsibility required on water management.
“So I would say Netherlands is more intensive than New Zealand.”
quite obviously with NZ having a LU/ha stocking rate (and considerably more cows) almost 50% higher, you would say wrong.
“Presumably you accept that it is OK that there is a diversity of viewpoints, and that Universities will have on their staff people who reflect this diversity.”
Not from the University of Waikato, mate. It is known as a hotbed of Neo-Liberalism They are so myopic you think they are all Cyclops from Greek mythology.
She is talking crap. Visit Lake Ngaroto, 30 years ago when I used to sail our small sailboat kids used to SWIM in the lake. I visited it last December 1st time for over 25 years it is now toxic big warning signs don’t go near the place. That has not been caused by cracks in the ground or drought. it is polluted by cow shit and piss. and there wasnt the bird life there that was there 30 years ago. Possibly they had all fucked off as they have fucked this place and are flying to the next place to fuck up.
Rowarth is insulting out intelligence when she comes out with that crap. That is not a scientific diverse viewpoint, as her opinion is based on nothing but right wing fucking Dogma nothing more and nothing less.
Perhaps the next time I go to Pak-N-Slave they may give me a professorship instead a voucher for discounted petrol.
I sailed on Ngaroto back then, and I still occasionally sail there now. Koi carp have destroyed all weed, so swans have gone.. Lake is probably closer to collapse as you say. Billions of fish of the wrong species (Koi carp), some shags and some ducks…
A pity the way that Academics now seem to be bought two a penny…
How the Government Deficit Helps the Economy
We can also point to Keith Rankin’s The Global Debt Crisis which shows the same thing.
The lesson to be leaned from these is that it’s not the private sector that funds the economy. It’s government and that seems to apply even though it’s the private banks creating the money.
The private banks create money when they make a loan and then the look for reserves. If the reserves aren’t available in the private sector then they go to the Reserve Bank which will always loan them the money necessary to get their reserves up. Of course, the amount of reserve currency created is far less than the bank credit created when the bank makes the loan.
It’s that bank credit that’s behind house price inflation.
Has there been any in depth analysis of the relationship between the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1998 by Bill Clinton, and the subsequent rampant debt fuelled binge that the private banks have facilitated as a result?
I am fairly certain that had Glass-Steagall not been repealed, we wouldn’t be having this crisis today. It’s not a long bow to draw given that the true owners of the “big four” banks in NZ are JP Morgan, Citigroup, HSBC and National Nominees, who coincidentally are the strongest Wall Street players.
Glass Steagal forced banks to separate their standard banking saver focussed operations and their high risk investment derivatives banking operations.
Not as far as I know. There’s been plenty of speculation about it though.
Our own present debt binge is related to its demise but it’s more because of the neo-liberal ideology.
A search for “Glass Steagel 2008” reveals arguments on both sides. Go figure.
Stiglitz argues the main effect was “indirect”.
These cases of animal terrorism are becoming really concerning. Either sheep, deer or “cattle” are breaking into the bore head of town water supplies and then falling to the bottom of the well contaminating what everyone drinks. Cattle are too wide and would probably get wedged part way down, so that rules them out as they wouldn’t think its worth it. Which town will be hit next though…
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/health/hopes-pahiatuas-water-will-soon-be-safe/
LOL
Bernard Hickey nails it here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11703478
NZ has to get over “big house syndrome” and build 80m2 houses (probably terraces of 3-4 houses) and apartments of 60m2.
Step up Labour and the Greens?
It’s not just the big house but the big piece of land that goes with it.
Step up Labour and the Greens?
Unless they can get the cost of the section down, they’re wasting their time and most importantly taxpayers money.
No one is going to build a 80-100 sq meter house on a $400,000 dollar section, it’s a complete waste of such a valuable resource.
That’s the big difference between now and 40 years ago, the section price, unless section prices radically drop in value, nothing is going to change.
if they government took the land under the public works act and then put the sections under the houses into a 1000 years lease scheme the land value would not matter.
You mean not pay for the land, just take it.?
No under the public works the owner still gets paid , but it would mean the government would have to take a lose, that way a house could be sold for build price and new owners would pay the rates on the land plus a lease rate.
but it would mean the government would have to take a lose
The government doesn’t take a loss, the loss is all the tax payer.
How to you think tax payers would feel, knowing they’re subsidizing other people into their own house.
Would they vote for a government that does that?, I think I’d be pretty safe in saying they wouldn’t.
Paula Bennett, for example: the taxpayers I know are disgusted, not that she got a cheap government loan, but that she prevented others from following in her footsteps.
The modern Tory: always wanking on about “teach a man to fish”, then buying up all the fishing rights and offering lease terms on the gear.
if the gov took $2k a year in income of each house , keeping in mind they could fit two to three houses were one mc mansion sits, then they would recover the money eventually.
I suppose the government could issue bonds to compensate. No doubt land rentals would cover the interest, and eventual withdrawal, of the bonds.
@BM – I think that’s the problem with the ‘market’ forces. Market forces are not going to build affordable houses. They are building large houses for an incoming migration market with money external from NZ local wages.
@BM You build apartments or four two-storey 80-100m2 terraces (meaning a building footprint of 40-50m2) on the (say 500m2) $400k section.
Land value per housing unit is then reasonable.
The article from Bernard Hickey was about stand alone houses.
For a 100m2 house with garage you’d need at least 400m2 to make it livable.
400m2 section in Auckland is $400k +.
@ BM I agree about the Hickey’s example but he was talking about the 70’s. I don’t believe he was advocating exactly the same type of development now.
In any event these days in Auckland you have to forget about separate houses on 400m2 sections and develop in the way I describe above-anything else is simply unaffordable….except for well-heeled investors of course who are incredibly buying 50% of what comes on the market.
“For a 100m2 house with garage you’d need at least 400m2 to make it livable.”
Only if you have designers with limited imaginations, and very little experience of designing homes in limited spaces.
Japanese architects have been doing smaller homes for years, and are very adept at designing comfortable homes in small areas.
Unfortunately, in NZ we have planners, councils, architects and builders who have little experience and whose idea of “added value” rests in imported materials, and larger spaces.
Disclaimer: I didn’t read the article.
Around where I live the 2bdr MDH units are selling like hot cakes. For 124 m2 on only180m2 of land you can expect to shell out $520K. That’s not affordable.
http://www.woodridge.co.nz/Hillside1
The units are all cramped together like sow stalls. The development is several kilometres away from any amenities. That’s walking distance for able bodied folks only and if you have a spare 40 minutes to do the round trip to the shops. Thats 40 minutes from where we live, it would be 50 minute from the sow stalls. All units have parking availability for two cars because it’s expected that occupants would need two cars.
It’s fine to build small houses if people want them but development needs to be intelligent and environmentally sustainable and that’s a job for the council as much as central government to determine. Our MDH building is mushrooming in the northern burbs of Wellington. We’ve yet to see any good planning. Our council has only stood by uselessly and let these projects go ahead, many on a non notified basis.
@ Rosie…that’s why they have to be 80m2 now. That’s how they do it in many other big cities around the globe.
Have a seen a few horse float conversions lately, wonderful ideas. Not really suitable for a family. Perfect for freedom camping, ideal for any whom have land but don’t want to do the whole building permit thing, mobile home it is after all.
Kids need room to play outside, if they are pushing apartments for families one would hope there would be decent parks and reserves near by for them to play in. Community food gardens located near by would be a wise idea too.
30mins of fresh air surrounded by green (trees, grass etc) has proven benefits for peoples health.
The smaller house building boom of the 70’s, those dwellings still had a decent piece of land in which people could grow their own food and let their children play etc, room for a lemon tree and a rotary clothesline.
The thing with apartments, they are marketed as cheap living, but in the long run, you can’t have solar panels, catch your own water or grow food, you won’t have a fire for heating the house and hot water. It all adds up in the grand scheme of things, and when you want to have kids you would probably sell it and move, as well apartments are difficult to resell especially if they only have one bedroom.
I loved apartment living in Wellington and Auckland, but no way could i have done it with a family. In saying that i would choose an apartment over a car, all depends on affordability
Is there a reason why the comments are no longer appearing? Just wondering if it’s my computer or something else?
There’s a few other things going on too (site is slow, avatars have changed, replies tab coming and going). I’m guessing that Lynn is making changes.
Do you think there are comments that have never appeared? There was only one in moderation (released now, but not yours).
Trump tied with Clinton
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-tied-latest-poll-reuters-ipsos-us-election-2016-a7223241.html
does it make me a bad person to want to see trump win , just so i can see what happens,
You are not the only one I have heard say just that B Waghorn.
Agreed. There are many that are so disillusioned with what the neo-liberal culture has done to democracy and quaint old ideas like citizenship and the so-called political representatives (our MPs) that go with it.
Let alone things like our language (going forward; ‘learnings’, etc.)
Winston’s riding on it, and I suspect the People’s Pary will do much the same.
Christ …. just check out the state of people like Paula Bennett, Steven Joyce on yesterday’s ‘The Nation’ (and countless other incidents of his bullcrap), Wayne (Jeez Wayne); and even others like the wannabe noble Chris Finlayson – let alone Rebecca Kitteridgge FFS!!. All once half decent people – no no more, no anyhow.
Maybe Trump’s seen as the trigger needed to get us all to the lowest common denominator before we wake the fuck up. Doesn’t say much for the human race though.
Going Forward …. is that like Coming Back?
Learnings …. are they like those facile things we charge immigrants for at $30K a pop?
We really should be more challenging on the Left. Challenge the bullshit at every opportunity.
We could probably even begin referring to the current Cabinet … supposed Ministers of the Crown with warrants as ‘flanges’.
flange/flan(d)ʒ/
noun
a projecting flat rim, collar, or rib on an object, serving for strengthening or attachment or (on a wheel) for maintaining position on a rail.
You pick which amongst our Ministers is the flat rim, which is the collar and which is the rim. I know some are capable of multitasking (even Paula Bennett can be referenced as saying she has a variety of ‘levers to pull’).
Yes, so maybe roll on Donald fucking Trump. We’re nearly there already
For years i watched the weekends political shows but now i just can’t be bothered listening to their shit. gut instinct told me in 2008 that the nats were dirty garbage so that’s what i go on now(gut instinct) , that and getting my facts from a more trustable places than a pollies gob.
as for trump . he’s a barnacle on on the arse of a dead whale so i’m getting the pop corn and sitting back
Wheres Boston Curtis? Would the new Boston Curtis please stand up.
Real Clear Politics has Clinton 3.9% ahead on the average of polls but dropping.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
CV looks on the money here in regard to US electorate in contrast to TRP Met a few What you would call liberal yanks recently and they just can’t vote for Hilary
a sample of 3?
Recent Polls
Saturday, September 3
Reuters/Ipsos (4-way) Clinton 39, Trump 39, Johnson 7, Stein 2 ……………. Tie
Reuters/Ipsos (2-way) Clinton 39, Trump 40 ……………………………………… Trump +1
LA Times/USC (2-way) Clinton 42, Trump 45 …………………………………….. Trump +3
>
Friday, September 2
IBD/TIPP (4-way) Clinton 39, Trump 39, Johnson 12, Stein 3 ……………………….. Tie
IBD/TIPP (2-way) Clinton 44, Trump 43 …………………………………………………Clinton +1
>
Thursday, September 1
USA Today/Suffolk (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 35, Johnson 9, Stein 4 … Clinton +7
USA Today/Suffolk (2-way) Clinton 48, Trump 41 ………………………………. Clinton +7
Rasmussen Reports (4-way) Clinton 39, Trump 40, Johnson 7, Stein 3 … Trump +1
>
Wednesday, August 31
FOX News (4-way) Clinton 41, Trump 39, Johnson 9, Stein 4 ………………. Clinton +2
FOX News (2-way) Clinton 48, Trump 42 ……………………………………………. Clinton +6
Reuters/Ipsos (4-way) Clinton 40, Trump 38, Johnson 6, Stein 2 ………… Clinton +2
Reuters/Ipsos (2-way) Clinton 40, Trump 39 ………………………………………. Clinton +1
Economist/YouGov (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 37, Johnson 7, Stein 3 … Clinton +5
Economist/YouGov (2-way) Clinton 47, Trump 42 ……………………………… Clinton +5
>
Tuesday, August 30
PPP (D) (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 37, Johnson 6, Stein 4 ……………………. Clinton +5
NBC News/SM (2-way) Clinton 41, Trump 37, Johnson 11, Stein 5 ………. Clinton +4
>
Monday, August 29
Monmouth (4-way) Clinton 46, Trump 39, Johnson 7, Stein 2 ……………. Clinton +7
Monmouth (2-way) Clinton 49, Trump 42 ………………………………………….. Clinton +7
,b>LA Times/USC (2-way) Clinton 44, Trump 44 …………………………………………. Tie
>
Friday, August 26
Gravis (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 41, Johnson 4, Stein 1 ……………………… Clinton +1
>
Thursday, August 25
Quinnipiac (4-way) Clinton 45, Trump 38, Johnson 10, Stein 4 ……………….. Clinton +7
Quinnipiac (2-way) Clinton 51, Trump 41 ………………………………………………. Clinton +10
Rasmussen Reports (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 38, Johnson 9, Stein 2 …… Clinton +4
Reuters/Ipsos (4-way) Clinton 39, Trump 36, Johnson 7, Stein 3 …………….. Clinton +3
Reuters/Ipsos (2-way) Clinton 42, Trump 35 …………………………………………… Clinton +7
>
Wednesday, August 24
Economist/YouGov (2-way) Clinton 47, Trump 44 …………………………………… Clinton +3
Economist/YouGov (4-way) Clinton 42, Trump 38, Johnson 6, Stein 4 …….. Clinton +4
>
Tuesday, August 23
NBC News/SM (4-way) Clinton 43, Trump 38, Johnson 11, Stein 5 …………… Clinton +5
And, then, of course, there are the crucial Swing-State Polls …
chur dude
Police prioritise a break in on Jami-Lees caravan over what I would call a home evasion (a burglary while the family was asleep) just 900m away from the caravan aka mobile electorate office.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/83833401/cops-show-up-immediately-to-burglary-at-mps-office-but-take-more-than-24-hours-to-attend-home-breakin-nearby
Unoccupied Nat party caravans over families and children, disgraceful.
Well, it seems to shock nobody because it is what we have come to expect.
There will be silence form our usual trolls, unless one of them can reveal the stunning information that the occupants of the burgled house are in fact P-smoking illegal immigrants claiming fraudulent benefits while working illegally.
(Home invasion, not evasion..)
agreed
VAXXED, the movie
https://youtu.be/DIMEV6ButQw
Interview with Dr Andrew Wakefield
https://youtu.be/UFPoer4Gu_E
oh god no please save me from another endless vax /anti vax circular argument
Relax, no thinking involved with this, Bill Gates is here to save you.
Bill Gates’ father, William H. Gates Sr., has long been involved with the eugenics group Planned Parenthood, a rebranded organization birthed out of the American Eugenics Society. In a 2003 interview with PBS’ Bill Moyers, Bill Gates admitted that his father used to be the head of Planned Parenthood, which was founded on the concept that most human beings are just “reckless breeders” and “human weeds” in need of culling (http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_gates.html).
http://www.naturalnews.com/035105_Bill_Gates_Monsanto_eugenics.html
Shhhh, don’t let the lizard-people know you’re onto them.
“eugenics group Planned Parenthood”
Well now I’m definitely going to take you seriously. 🙄
😆
It’s all true! I seen it!
Oh god, an anti-vaxxer.
🙄
Mr. Andrew Wakefield.
FIFY.
Thats better than Dr, right?
That depends on the circumstances by which one becomes the other. Being struck off for fraud, for example.
+100 UT…thanks for those links ….very sobering …and Wakefield truly is an impressive man with remarkable courage
🙄
…who will be suing the BMJ any day now…
British Medical Journal, 2011.
Cling to your straw!
Who knew.
As demonstrated by the Warner debacle, our own elected officials won’t stand up and defend us let alone take multinationals to task.
The last few days have seen the emergence of an unlikely hero in Margrethe Vestager, the European competition commissioner. Undeterred by threats and bullying from the US Treasury she has demanded that Apple pay €13bn of back tax it has avoided thanks to a sweetheart deal with the Irish government. In spite of corporate bluster and inevitable future legal action, Vestager can act tough because her job is to ensure that there is fair competition in the European market. Quite an achievement for somebody who is in the Brexiteers’ hate group of “faceless bureaucrats”
[…]
The US Treasury has been swift to attack Brussels’ attempts to ensure that a fair rate of tax is paid, getting its retaliation in first in the form of a report last week accusing the commission of acting like a “supranational tax authority”. This is a classic example of an economic rival deliberately undermining cooperation between European partners to benefit its own multinational corporations. We should celebrate the fact that the European commission is acting to protect citizens against excessive corporate power. In the global economy the real division is not between nation states but between citizens and corporations.
[…]
Soon after the referendum, MEPs voted overwhelmingly for a series of measures including a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB), a single set of rules on taxable profits for companies operating within the EU, which can stop tax wars between nations and a race to the bottom in terms of tax rates. George Osborne’s response to this post-Brexit? An announcement that he planned to reduce corporation tax to 18%. When it comes to tackling corporate tax dodging, give me faceless bureaucrats and MEPs over Tories and their corporate cronies any day.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/31/faceless-eu-bureaucrats-tories-corporate-cronies-margrethe-vestager-apple-brexit
This is consummate common sense from NZ First ! I cannot speak too highly of it. Indeed it would get my vote ! Electorate, a repeat of the by-election, AND party. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/312507/nz-first-calls-for-ncea-drivers-licence-plan
I have personally seen young people end up on the edge of real criminality on account of a first offence of driving while forbidden.
It doesn’t take long – coupla chances to get the licence ($80 fee mind you) – up in court again – $500 fine plus $130 costs courtesy of some off this planet JP (probably a millionaire sold-up) – against a guy who gets $180 a week – non-payment – community work – breach (transport difficulties) – prison. Doesn’t take long at all.
It’s important that people know that even after three months suspension for demerit points there’s a $72 fee for ‘reinstatement’ of driver licence. Why ? That’s an impossible impost for so, so many poor people. So, they drive. After their suspension has expired. What the fuck can they do ? Kids to get to school etc etc etc. Perfectly legal of course……as long as you’ve got a lazy 72 bucks.
Then they get busted. Driving while fucking forbidden again. Even though their 3 month suspension has well expired. The suspension lives on for want of 72 fucking dollars. It goes on and on and round and round and there’s real criminality looming here.
All because people do not have the money for fuck sake. Poverty in the victims is criminal then. Fuck……don’t we pay big time for our vile judgment and our pathetic stupidity ? Another person doing time in the slammer, kids fucked up, wife/mother despairing, because they’ve offended a $6,000 a week District Court Judge and a vile hungry-for-revenge society they ‘represent’ ?
Nobody seems to know wtf is going on.
House sales are down, but prices are still going up. That’s the latest message from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, but some analysts suggest the board is presenting an incomplete picture of a market on the decline.
[…]
But for real estate consultant Ross Kay, figures like benchmark prices and year-on-year sales comparisons obscure what’s truly happening in Vancouver: the rapid deflation of an overvalued market that had been propped up by foreign buyers.
http://vancouversun.com/business/real-estate/mixed-messages-in-vancouver-real-estate
wags lazy sunday thought is this;
they are talking up Kawaraus property market the bit at the moment. now the last time kawarau property took off was right before the last crash,
Be careful out there
Thanks for the intel
Testing
[no sign of today’s OM, so seeing if commenting will make it appear like on Saturday (though then I could see the post just not the comments).]