….The wildfires that swept across Bastrop County in autumn 2011 were the worst in Texan history. They burnt 140 square kilometres of forest and destroyed around 1700 houses. The state climatologist, John Nielsen-Gammon of Texas A&M University, is reluctant to attribute the event to climate change, stressing that droughts are a regular feature of the Texan climate. He nonetheless describes the combination of extreme drought and record-breaking temperatures as “off the charts”.
George Marshall writing for New Scientist.
Marshall Noted that, while he found that there were pockets of extremes of belief in Climate Change, from denial to conviction.
“Generally”, the main response he encountered from Texans, was to, deliberately avoid talking about the issue.
Generally, though, my questions about climate change were met with polite embarrassment and a swift change of topic. Escobar could not recall a single discussion about climate change in relation to the Bastrop fires. Nor could the mayor, the editor of the local newspaper or the head of the chamber of commerce. The topic appears to have been actively excluded from public discourse.
George Marshall writing for New Scientist.
“Even among Republicans I think there’s a lot more belief in this than people are willing to say out loud. They just can’t talk about it.”
Gerald North professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M
This reluctance to talk about climate change evidenced by the citizens of Texas, is for the same reasons that Shearer and Norman don’t talk about it. Talking about climate change would mean having to agree do something meaningful about it. If it were a country, Texas would be the seventh biggest emitter in the world, so any talk of cutting back, makes for some very unpalatable conversation for Texans.
Jenny, how about you produce some evidence that Norman is ignoring climate change? Several people pointed out to you the other day that Norman still talks about climate change, and that there are other people in the GP whose job it is to talk about CC and keep it on the agenda (links were provided). Rationales for the strategy were also provided.
It’s fairly ridiculous to say that Norman is ignoring climate change. Just because someone doesn’t dance to your tune doesn’t mean they’re not dancing.
You also stated the other day that the Green Party no longer opposes deep sea oil extraction. I’d like to see some evidence for that too (I provided links to show the opposite)
Telling lies about the GP, or making misleading statements about Norman’s actions and motives, doesn’t help your cause IMO.
Dr RUSSEL NORMAN to the Prime Minister: What policy directives has he given his two Ministers attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha?
I did not say that the Greens do not “oppose” deep sea oil extraction. What I am saying is that it is one of the things that the Greens are prepared to negotiate away in a coalition deal with Labour. You can still be opposed to something but agree not to do anything about it.
And nobody has been able to point to any recent speech by Russel Norman where he manages to force the words “climate change” out of his mouth, (or pen).
Of course he talked about it with James Hansen in 2011, but he couldn’t have avoided that one.
I might mention that this was some time ago.
I also might mention that since then we have had a National election in which the Greens deliberately decided not campaign on climate change, and barely even mention it . (If they mentioned it at all). I am told this was decided, “so as not to scare the horses”.
(The same sort of CCI strategy was also agreed in the US presidential elections.
Unfortunately for Obama and Romney an unprecedented superstorm disrupted this CCI election campaign making them both look like idiots.)
In your opinion weka. Will the Greens in a continuation of the policy of 2011 continue with their decision to Ignore Climate Change in the 2014 election campaign?
“Already the Greens have agreed not to challenge Deep Sea Oil drilling”
I think this might be the fourth time in the last few days that I have asked you for a citation for that statement. If you can’t produce one, then I am going to assume you made it up (hence I used the word ‘lie’). I see in other comments you have responded, but again without any evidence. It is of course entirely fine that you personally believe that the Greens will badly compromise on this issue, but personal belief is a completely different thing than the Greens having already agreed not to challenge Deep Sea Oil drilling, which is what you have said they did.
In fact, google “deep sea oil” and the “green party” news for the past few days and you will have examples of them challenging deep sea oil 🙄
In your opinion weka. Will the Greens in a continuation of the policy of 2011 continue with their decision to Ignore Climate Change in the 2014 election campaign?
The Green Party are not ignoring CC. Multiple links have been provided to you in the past few days that prove this. I can’t predict what will happen in 2014, but in general I support the Greens’ approach of focussing on what will win them the most seats at the next election. I don’t think CC is the most pressing issue for them to focus on if it means that they have less MPs as a result. A Labour/GP coalition with less MPs will be farless effective for the environment, including CC issues, than one where the GP is strong.
btw, comparing the Green Party’s approach to the US elections and Obama/Romney would have to be one of the stupider things I’ve seen lately. There is an obvious difference between a party that has worked hard to combat climate change, including spending years getting and keeping it on the public agenda, and US centrist parties who haven’t really taken any real action on CC at all. The GP can spend less time on CC now, to their advantage, because they’ve put so much time and effort into it. And it’s not like they’ve stopped everything on CC, which what you keep implying.
“In my opinion the horses need to be scared.”
On this we are agreed. I just don’t think it’s the job or responsibility of the GP to do this at this point. Time for others to step up.
“Already the Greens have agreed not to challenge Deep Sea Oil drilling, or the opening of the Deniston plateau for strip mining coal for export. As a condition of entering into coalition with the Labour Party.”
I ask you, Will the Green Party will let these two things stand, to get into government?
I and all those concerned about climate change await your answer.
All the evidence is that to secure cabinet positions, serious action against climate change is off the table.
There is no evidence Jenny, you are expression a belief about something in the future, but that belief is not based on anything concrete. I and others have repeatedly asked you to post something that supports your statement that the GP have already agreed to not challenge deep sea oil as a way of gaining cabinet seats. You haven’t, because you can’t. You made shit up about the GP, you lied.
I have no idea what the GP will do once part of govt, maybe they will compromise some things around CC as part of the bigger picture. We know that has already happened and the reasons why. Here is Toad’s comment yesterday –
The Greens’ preference is and always has been for a carbon tax and a regulatory regime rather than an ETS. There was a strong internal debate within the Greens over whether to support Labour’s ETS legislation or not – many Green MPs and activists considered it far too weak a response to climate change, but eventually the decision was made that it was better to support some response than oppose Labour’s ETS and have no response at all, given that the ETS was the only response on the table.
The strength of the response to climate change post-2014 really comes down to how the numbers stack up in a Labour-Green Government. If Labour have twice the number of MPs as the Greens, we probably won’t get much stronger response than Labour’s 2008 ETS legislation, as the Greens simply won’t have the bargaining power. If the numbers are closer to equal, expect a much stronger response
But your argument is getting tedious. Really, what you are doing is using the GP in a reality-manipulative way, as a way of pushing your agenda that CC (as you define it) is the most important issue we face and that we should all be following your lead. Those of us that don’t are Climate Change Ignorers according to you. You see the world in black and white – people who think CC is the most important thing and those that think it’s unimportant. There are other credible and useful ways of understanding the world.
Pascal’s bookie said it in the other thread: “what mandate do you have to claim to speak on behalf of everyone who cares about climate change?”
As an aside, I think the GP and its policies and directions should be open to critique. I just think it needs to be done with intelligence and using facts that are real not made up.
Toad is a long serving Green activist who blogs at g.blog about various environmental and social issues. Toad is also vocal on Frogblog and here at The Standard, which makes your claim that you’ve not heard of him/her rather silly.
I often struggle to find anything I disagree with what Toad writes.
Although I agree that Climate Change is the most pressing issue facing the world, weka is right that the Green party and its policies and directions should be open to critique. That critique should be based in reality and use verifiable facts. Unfortunately your argument does neither of these things Jenny.
And nobody has been able to point to any recent speech by Russel Norman where he manages to force the words “climate change” out of his mouth, (or pen).
This just makes you look foolish and ignorant! Try not to do that Jenny, it doesn’t make for good reading.
Dr Russel Norman: How can we ask the rest of the world to make the necessary cuts to avoid out-of-control climate change, when we ourselves are refusing to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, and we have the second-largest increase according to the United Nations?
Well, I mean, you know, we have a broad church, but I think when you look at what the caucus puts forward and what we put forward, that’s our agreed policy. When you think about how have environmental ideas been put on the agenda, 20 years ago people stood up for climate change, and people thought they were pretty extremist back then, but they made it part of the mainstream agenda, and obviously science backed what they were saying. So I think when you look at how change happens, it does require some people to speak out sometimes. But I think Gareth’s bigger point about us putting forward a smart, green economic alternative to the current Government’s agenda is the project that we’re engaged in, and I think he’s right to identify that project.
In some ways you remind me of those people who say the Greens don’t want marijuana to be decriminalized because they aren’t in the news every other day saying as much.
I think the Greens will push hard to have climate change legislation written into various acts and policy to ensure New Zealand once again starts to lead the world on environmental issues not to mention actually doing our part to avert climate catastrophe.
Russel Norman might not raise the issue in every speech he makes, but there’s no question that he’s as dedicated as they come to reducing GHG emissions. In fact his ability in the house to show National up for their environmental failures is second to none as far as I’m concerned.
Just today, Stuff reported that Russel Norman had tabled a tweet from the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, who wrote:
Very disappointed that New Zealand will not enter #Kyoto2.
And none of those dimwitted National sycophants objected… Excellent!
Energy depletion at a time the world is making inroads into renewable energy hardly seems comparable to Climate Change that threatens billions of peoples lives.
There’s enough oil and coal in the ground to easily cook the world, that makes climate change a more serious issue.
But please, entertain me with an argument instead of just these grandiose statements of yours Colonial Viper, that seem to be without a modicum of evidence to back them up?
You’re right but here’s why you’re wrong… Contradict yourself much CV?
Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year, and has been estimated to kill around 1 million per year by 2030. In comparison I cannot find any deaths associated with peak oil.
So why don’t you put up or shut up Colonial Viper?
Justice, Peace and the Israeli State
by WILLIAM A. COOK
“As for the rights of Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those people gathered in the General Assembly today, no decision by the U.N. can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”
– Ron Prosor, United Nations Ambassador from Israel, November 29, 2012
In today’s world a tragic hero is a representative figure who stands before us as one speaking for his people, an Ambassador if you will, addressing the citizens of the world at the United Nations, enunciating the beliefs and demands of his nation as they must confront an event of great magnitude that appears to represent a reversal of their fortunes. Such a figure was Ronald Prosor, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations on November 29th, 2012, as he addressed the assembled delegates before their vote on the recognition of the state of Palestine. “No decision by the UN can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel, “he arrogantly proclaimed, thereby determining that no decision by the UN can alter the absolute dictates of the state of Israel as they have impacted the desires and hopes and dreams of the citizens of the world regarding peace and justice in the land of Palestine.
That statement must stand as an articulated hamartia, a mistake of moral blindness, capturing in its hubris the downfall of a noble nation. Before the citizens of the world, Prosor demanded that Israel alone must determine what peace and justice will be, knowing beforehand that the UN, in General Assembly, would momentarily act to question the legitimacy of Israel’s unilateral defiance of its decrees. The vote to recognize the rights of the people of Palestine, by electing it to the forum of nation states, proclaims to all that they are equal to all assembled and can use the powers vested in the UN to bring their oppressors and occupiers before the International Courts of Justice and to seek redress for the rights denied them under its charters. No longer can they be shackled to the demands of either the United States or Israel. Now they can address the UN as victims of an aggressive nation that has defied more than 160 of its Resolutions since 1948 by imposing with force conditions inimical to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which it is a signatory. …..
Jenny, climate change is a really hard problem. For a politician to engage effectively on it they have to have thought deeply about the many connective issues that span just about every portfolio. I am sure the Greens have done that thinking because it is core to what they are about. But it takes two to create meaningful dialogue, and there is not much point in Norman going there unless Shearer is prepared. Can anyone point to one deep analysis and exposition of an issue by Shearer this year? Harsh perhaps, as he’s been trying to get briefed across all portfolios. But that’s what happens when you haven’t done an apprenticeship over time. And being ‘briefed’ is not the same as ‘nutting’ through the issues yourself. Fundamentally you need a good grasp of economics (both traditional economics and the latest thinking on environmental economics) to be able to drive a climate change response. I don’t think Shearer is anywhere near that level of understanding. The story doing the rounds in Wellington earlier in the year was Shearer didn’t understand the difference between mico and macro economics. If that is true, deep climate change analysis is beyond him.
From what I get whispered over the years very very few labour MP understand macro at any level and fewer support Keynesian theory, very good on social micro policy in specialised areas but nothing strategic or cross linked. Last convert to Keynesian was benson pope and he got rolled by the MSM., first causality. Mallard to his credit was left once and supported SOE investing outside NZ. Robertson aka H3 is an unknown should be left of centre but IMHO is a long term player an liberal social dem with an agenda.
The story doing the rounds in Wellington earlier in the year was Shearer didn’t understand the difference between mico and macro economics.
Most economists don’t either and that’s why the policies for the macro resemble those for the micro. Policies for infinite competition and international trade rather than taking into account the real available resources.
Most economists don’t either and that’s why the policies for the macro resemble those for the micro
Actually orthodox economics deliberately takes micro-economic theory and by making massive and falsifiable assumptions, pretends that you can derive big picture macro-economic theory from it. Hence their idiotic and incorrect focus on utilisation maximation of individual rational agents, etc.
From what I get whispered over the years very very few labour MP understand macro at any level and fewer support Keynesian theory, very good on social micro policy in specialised areas but nothing strategic or cross linked.
Neoleftie
In my opinion it is a matter of lack of leadership, or more accurately the suppression of leadership.
There was that one MP that talked about climate change. What was his name?
Oh, that’s right, he was banished to the back benches.
True poor cunliffe can’t scare the centre voters now can we we.
Labour election strategy is all about saying little and praying that the election cycle holds true. Two years is a very long time for the suffering people to wait for what….the same with a token smattering of social policy penned in by budgetary constraints.
My line for last 15 years was we need a left block that is prepared to reconnect and reeducate, maybe prepare the public for the new direction.
Time for shearer and co to start the campaign now. The party and public crave direction hope and inclusiveness.
From the *Police/Politicial Archives of shame*, this on I recall causing some serious problems for The Clark govt, meanwhile AK is still pedling her sphere of influence inside the LP.
Its these sort articles illustrate of the types who control NZ, or represent those who do. It illustrates how the cops and politicians were, and thus still are working to cover up serious abuses inside NZ, and give credence to the masses of unsolved murders in NZ which have been linked to all manor of vile institutionalised cover ups.
It also gives an insight into how those charged with protecting and serving NZ society are controlled, which goes a long ways to helping understand by NZ is so broken!
In 2001, Annette King’s daughter Amanda was convicted of dangerous driving causing injury and possession of Ecstasy after she crashed her mother’s ministerial car.
In 2002, the conviction for possession was overturned and the dangerous driving convictions were downgraded to careless driving causing injury.
You just can’t buy that sort of voice inside government….hang on!
Last year, officials surrendered to a revolt by scientists over attempts to purge all mention of climate change and sea level rise from a report on the environment of Galveston Bay. And criticism from climate specialists, North and Nielsen-Gammon among them, led to the 2012 State Water Plan including mentions of “potential” climate impacts, albeit as an “ambiguous” risk.
The use of this sort of “ambiguous” language reminds me strongly of Alex’s weak defence of Russel Norman’s CCI phrasing, “repeatedly” replacing the words climate change with the more vaguely ambiguous phrase, “environmental degradation”;
Yes, the phrase climate change doesn’t appear, but he talks repeatedly about environmental degradation, the need to avoid growth based on wanton resource exploitation and how our environment is crucial to our global brand.
One of the contributors to the report I cited above, Jennifer Walker of the Sierra Club an American environmental organisation, describes the small insertion of the phrase “environmental degradation” in the Galveston report as a “major breakthrough”. Such a phrase would also be seen as a major breakthrough in the Texas inhabited by Shearer and Norman. Just as well Jennifer Walker was not in the NZ Labour Party caucus, or she would have been quickly shown to the backbenches.
Treasury’s spending on consultants is expected to go up tenfold over the past five years.
In 2007-08 it was $1.97 million. In 2012-13 it is expected to be $21.93 million.
The advice being bought is all neoliberal from the likes of Deloittes, KPMG and PWC. This amount of money could restore night classes with change left over.
MS – I suspect if you look at the history there will be a trend which is somewhat consistant, yet agnostic of the government at the time..The articles have been pumped out regulary for as long as I can recall. I see it as the establishment showing off to the public via their media about whats happening, and given nothing has changed, its hard not to consider that!
All this shows is the power of the consultancies (banks) – Just take a look at Auckland to understand the takeover which has been executed by the amount of money Deloitte are taking out of the place. Its not just the obvious amounts of cunsultants directly working through Deloitte, the place is crawling with *independent* ex Deloitte contractors also!
Who ownes the consultancies again, and who owns them!
Don’t get tied down in the unimportant trivia, like which government has racked up the latest massive bill!
However that is not the only thing that smells in Texas, (or New Zealand for that matter).
Climate Change Ignoring is pretty whiffy too.
In keeping with the psychology of CCI, the Texas Chamber of Commerce TXCOC, blatantly ignore this prominent line in their modern rendition of this song.
Trust National? Sure can’t!
From Gordon Campbell at Scoop:-
Gordon Campbell on Tim Groser’s ‘political projectile vomiting’ about the TPPA
December 4th, 2012
“Remember how the Key government has justified being so very, very secretive about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) because goodness me, you don’t negotiate these things in public? Well, guess who has just been negotiating the TPP in public? Trade Minister Tim Groser, that’s who. In an interview published yesterday in the influential Inside US Trade publication, Groser “signalled” to the Americans that he is “willing to be flexible on two key issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations: new disciplines for New Zealand’s pharmaceutical pricing agency and protections for geographical indications (or GIs).” (GIs are a system of quality assurance in dairy products.)
Groser seemed pretty confident in his Inside US Trade interview that he can both please the Americans, and manage any outcry that might break out here at home: “I am confident we can find ways that advance U.S. interests [on these two issues] without causing projectile political vomiting in New Zealand, and many of the other countries of the TPP,” Groser said. Plainly, by being seen to be seeking to “advance US interests” and by casting himself as a deal broker within the TPP, Groser would also be doing no harm at all to his bid to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation. Let’s just hope and pray that Groser’s personal ambition and New Zealand’s best interests manage to intersect at some point.”
There is a headline on the ‘money’ section of stuff that states ‘SCF case lifts fraud to a
record high’ one poster blames labour for introducing the retail deposit scheme,but
obviously you aren’t allowed to correct that belief, by answering that English actually
changed the terms and conditions which allowed SCF into the scheme against treasury
advice.
This denial of retort illustrates what has been going on in the media and press over the last
few years,everything has to be ‘Nact’ friendly.
Sorry i can’t link.
Thanks Karol, i am registered etc, i made two comments defending labour and both
were moderated out, they were both in the vein that english changed the terms and
conditions allowing scf into the scheme, denial of reply irked me.
I just clicked on the link that Karol provided at 10.1 and it still goes through to the Stuff article. Comments are at the bottom of the page and there are two there which could be yours.
Yeah if you are PatJohn then your comments are there. I think stuff moderates before they show comments (well they used to anyway). So it can sometimes take a while to show, particularly on articles that aren’t attracting a lot of comments.
Hi Starlight and Co. Regarding the Stuff.co.nz comments “forum”. You mentioned your comments were moderated out. I was interested to hear that. I very rarely comment on stuff these days – I just can’t be bothered and you just end up going around in circles with talk back caller types, with no grasp of the topic they are meant to be commenting on. In saying that, in relation to your observation, what I have noticed is that my comments only ever made it about half of the time. They tend to make it if I say something reactive, petty or polarising but when I try to put a reasoned argument forward, using examples in relation to the topic to illustrate a point, they don’t make it.
I’ve often wondered what it would be like if the knowledgable and wise authors of and visitors to this site and others occupied the MSM comments section for a week. It would freak all their regulars out. It would be great. But I don’t think their moderators could handle such a flood of reason and sense and they would stick to their routine which seems to be “Lets have a fight! Yeaaaaahhhh!!”. It seems to be how they roll.
Cyclone Bopha: The biggest Super Storm to ever strike Mindanao hits.
“We have suffered enough,” Felicitas Cabusao said, clutching a Holy Rosary beside her crying 12-year-old daughter.
Cabusao said her daughter survived Typhoon Washi, almost exactly a year ago, after she was washed out to sea when flash floods swept away entire coastal villages…. stuff.co.nz
Mindanao rarely gets hit by typhoons, since the island is too close to the Equator, and the infrastructure of Mindanao is not prepared to handle heavy typhoon rains as well as the more typhoon-prone northern islands. Bopha is potentially a catastrophic storm for Mindanao. The typhoon is following a similar track to last year’s Tropical Storm Washi, which hit Mindanao on December 16, 2011 with 60 mph winds and torrential rains. Washi triggered devastating flooding that killed 1268 people. Washi was merely a tropical storm, and Bopha is likely to hit at Category 4 or 5 strength, making it the strongest typhoon ever recorded in Mindanao. Super Storm Bopha
…..Typhoon Bopha, with wind gusts of up to 195 kph, made landfall at dawn, uprooting trees and tearing off roofs.
About 40 people were killed or missing in flash floods and landslides near a mining area on Mindanao, ABS-CBN television reported, saying waters and soil had swept through an army post.
A television reporter said she saw numerous bodies lined up near the army base. A military spokesman earlier said about 20 people, including six soldiers, were missing.
Disaster official Liza Mazo, said more casualties were expected to be discovered as search and rescue teams fanned out.
Media said dozens of people were injured by flying debris, falling trees and swept away by swollen rivers and flash floods.
But the relatively low death toll was due in part to an early evacuation. More than 155,000 people were in shelters late on Tuesday. stuff.co.nz
Bopha: the 2nd most southerly typhoon on record
Bopha became a tropical depression unusually close to the Equator, at 3.6°N latitude. Tropical cyclones rarely form so close to the Equator, because they cannot leverage the Earth’s rotation to get themselves spinning. According to hurricane expert Dr. Paul Roundy of SUNY Albany, Bopha got its spin from a large-scale atmospheric wave called a mixed Rossby gravity wave. Because of the lack of atmospheric spin so close to the Equator, it took Bopha over four days to intensify into a typhoon, and it stayed a relatively small storm. Bopha became the 2nd most southerly typhoon ever recorded in the Western Pacific at 06 GMT on November 30, when the storm was at 3.8°N latitude. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center lists Typhoon Vamei of 2001 as the most southerly typhoon on record, at 1.5°N. However, other meteorological agencies do not credit Vamei with reaching typhoon strength, so this record is disputed. The previous most southerly typhoon was Typhoon Kate of 14 – 25 October 1970, which reached typhoon intensity at 4.3°N, 137.4°E.
My question is this: Will we have to wait for a superstorm devastates Auckland or Wellington before our political leaders stop ignoring and start addressing climate change.
Climate Change Ignorers like Shearer, and Climate Change Apologists like Key should pray that while they refuse to address the question of climate change, that a superstorm does not strike the already vulnerable population of our second most populous and earthquake damaged city.
He said people should not read too much in to Clarke’s appearance in the Herald last weekend – the same weekend as the Labour Party Conference. “ ” Oh look I think people have got past that, I mean Helen Clark is now firmly ensconced for the last four years as the UNDP Administrator, great job, and she was talking about climate change, which is a hugely significant issue for not only the UN but obviously us. So I think that people have moved on from that.
Just catching up on Yesterdays Question time. How did I know that Parkers Inability to count correctly would come back to bite him, So now the NATS have yet another free target courtesy of the Labour Caucus when are they going to get something / Anything right?
How can the public have faith that Jan Wright is undertaking an unbiased investigation if she doesn’t even mention all the fracking problems in Taranaki that have already occurred?
Well it is very hot here in our region, anecdotally 41 Degrees celsius in Brisbane
That Bel and the Dragon is apocryphal
Yet guess what blew in beside the Nor’Wester
Hyperventilation Syndrome http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hyperventilation-Syndrome-Breathing-Disorders-Overcome/dp/0857830295
my GP who I trust says she is seeing increasing prevalence of people presenting with this disorder
so I read this book this morning and British figures were 40% presenting with symptoms
and quote “a silent epidemic” (nervous system arousal)
to paraphrase, “for better sleep AVOID television news and Talk-Back Radio 🙂
so I’m listening to the radio, Who is The Pilot of The Airwaves? Th ITU want to. Will consider
Political Activity according to an interesting article in the Herald by Chris Barton; interesting article
If you are not sleeping, don’t stay in bed, I’ve read that once before
So it may be a very HOT summer according to the HB Today; the airconditioners block the light
When the power’s off in New York.Breathe Breathe in The Air…don’t be afraid to care
Stand your own ground. In 10 Days Time the Pope will tweet.White dog for God locally.
Milan has an Exorcism HotLine while we fly the unemployed to Australia.Gidday Mate
Nice to see ya; Tiwai Uncertain. Rancid Aluminium not my Pot of Tea,too Violent
so it’s
Breathing retraining
Esteem
Total body relaxation
Talk
Exercise
Rest and Sleep
If we are Mindful we then begin to Remember The Body
Computers are apparently a factor and I can understand that.Take Care out there, it’s not quite
Hill Street Blues. A Rocking Chair is “wooden valium”.To be a “shock jock” you have to Be
Rude and Insensitive; a post-modern Archie Bunker, not alls viewed a Family
Substantively cloudy weather, oh resignation “naughty boy” from the 6 OClock Roundup
Our living word, will film ever be over? Dependent on the “good graces” of NZ film distributors
Media Bites “nine hours of film to do justice to a book”. Stoicism is helpful.Weather the Storm
(it is a Fienne mess we may getting into). Media Media Media.In a safe place now, a man 10 years
older than me said he too had watched the Clampdown of the powers that be
In His lifetime. “Come in he said I’ll give you Shelter from The Storm”
Hi RT. As a quick non political aside: Last year I flicked through the pages of a book of the same topic as you mention above. What a fascinating subject and food for thought for those who are over worked/unrested, have an anxious disposition or have an underperforming nervous system due to excess stressors and illness.
Come to think of it, you might see signs of mild hyperventilation in some of our ministers and our PM as they emerge from a room within parliament and are pounced upon by journalists who are asking them really hard questions and trying to get them admit they are responsible for the cock up of the moment. Shoulders up, inhale and not breathe out. Eyes fixed in fright, that kind of thing.
Yep, so true CV. Key is a classic example but has adapted to hiding his fatigue (except when confronted by balcony jumpers in the house).His remarkable indifference to issues that don’t concern him (ie: everything that matters) does a good job of masking his true state. Seems to need quite a lot of holidays. (A luxury that most overworked workers can only dream of). Holidays required for restoration of well being OR simply because he couldn’t give flying F about his position and needs to maintain a lifestyle. You choose!
David Roberts, policy writer at Grist.org, put emphasis on the fact that Obama could pick up this policy recommendation without any input from Congress, which has repeatedly stalled any and all climate-related legislation in recent years. “This chance to spur decarbonization in the power sector is Obama’s greatest second-term opportunity on climate change,” he said.
“The genius of NRDC’s proposal,” Roberts continues, “is that it solves the most difficult dilemma facing the agency when it comes to stationary-source regulations.”
According the NRDC analysis, which was presented Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, the plan would:
Cut carbon pollution from the nation’s existing power plants 26 percent by 2020 and 34 percent by 2025.
Make large reductions in other dangerous pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, from existing power plants.
At a cost of about $4 billion in 2020, save Americans between $25 billion and $60 billion in lives saved, avoided illnesses and reduced climate change.
Save 3,600 lives, prevent more than 23,000 asthma attacks, avoid more than 2,300 emergency room visits and prevent nearly 1.2 million restricted activity and lost work days.
Stimulate investments of more than $90 billion in energy efficiency and renewable energy sources in the next eight years.
Create thousands of jobs, boost local and state economies, and move America toward a clean energy, clean air future.
And Roberts concludes by asking if President Obama will seize the “extraordinary opportunity” of a simple and flexible plan that “is already in [his regulatory] toolbox; does not require any action by Congress; reduces U.S. emissions by 10 percent by 2020; and has the net effect of stimulating the economy through lower power bills and better health.”
Roberts contends: “Whether he does will determine whether he goes down in history as a climate champion or someone who, despite lofty rhetoric, fiddled at the margins while Rome burned.”
Common Dreams staff Tuesday, December 4, 2012 (Wednesday NZ time)
All that is missing is leadership, will Obama rise up to the challenge?
At a cost of about $4 billion in 2020, save Americans between $25 billion and $60 billion in lives saved, avoided illnesses and reduced climate change.
Saving lives and extending life span worsens energy and resource consumption over the long run. Need fewer people on Earth, surely?
Misanthropic nonsense. When people’s lifestyle improves population increase lessens and even drops. So much so that in some European countries if it wasn’t for immigration population growth would be in negative figures.
Goff nailed McCully, more to come on that (note to Patrick Gower – this is a damn sight more important than some unknown ex-weatherman).
Genter got English all muddled on road numbers.
Key lost the plot at the end – Damien O’Connor wants to kill miners – WTF?
It shows what they can do when they’re not wasting questions, not giving Key a free hit. Shearer wasn’t there, and so the gov’t Ministers were struggling. If only that happened every time.
Definition: The CCDs argue that climate change is not real and is not happening. CCDs explain the controversy as a result of a global conspiracy concocted by scientists politicians and media, unfortunately they have not been able to give any rational explanation of the reasons for this global conspiracy.
Current Status: The CCDs are Pretty much at the fringes of the current debate on climate change
Title: Climate Change Apologists
Definition: CCAs admit that climate change is happening, but say that jobs, profits, the economy and growth, and a myriad other issues are far more important than taking steps to address climate change. The apologists are also adept at blaming or scapegoating others, usually groups that they have already taken a dislike to anyway. This group are quite comfortable with the idea of millions if not billions of human deaths, as well as the destruction of entire eco systems and the resulting mass animal and plant extinctions. Their previously listed preoccupations are considered far more important.
Current status: The most sinister, pernicious, cynical and dangerous of the different Climate Change factions. Currently the CCAs are the main spear carriers for opposing action on climate change.
And now a third category has arisen:
Title: Climate Change Ignorers
Definition: Political leaders and parties who refuse to even mention Climate Change, if they can avoid it. Usually for sectarian political advantage, ie, “not scare the horses”, “not look too radical in the eyes of the voters”, “not offend vested interest”, etc etc.
Rather than alert the electorate and the wider population to the danger, the CCIs put getting bums on seats for their particular sectarian grouping, more important than even alerting their political rivals who would steal a policy march on them if they were made aware of the danger.
The whole topic of Climate Change is a ‘no go area’ for these politicians. They will rarely if ever mention the subject of Climate Change, unless it is pushed right up under their noses, and often not even then. If forced to mention Climate Change CCIs say that one day when they are in complete control of the presidency and the congress, or have the most seats in the house of parliament, then (and only then), will they call for action on Climate Change. CCIs neither deny, or apologise for climate change, they just simply ignore it.
Current Status: The most ridiculous and laughable faction of all, I don’t expect it to last long.
People have been promised a grand lifestyle and consumption pattern; the middle aged middle classes aren’t going to give up their SUVs and overseas holidays, the young need economic growth to pay off their student debt.
The ship’s systems are locked on course for the iceberg and everyone is busy trying to get last drinks from the bar before it hits.
Trees Are beautiful beings. I’ve always loved trees.Sit amongst some old trees. They’re Powerful
Not politicians, so many being publically dishonest. Heard a prophecy thr the grapevine That
Hawkes Bay’s gonna Rock, gently. Ah the virtuosity goes on. Horan again.
Ever dogs gotta earn his keep and you can’t keep a good dog down.Be Thyself. Blog Masters
Many of you are, and very experienced too. It’s not looking too great is it. Teleportation.
The Tomorrow People. They have carried out participant observation random allocation trials
prayer over people works. The Force Is Strong with that one Dr Luke. It could be worse
some reverb going on outback. Tijuana Brass balls. The Big Kahuna. No Men without Hats
in the hot sun, we can dance to the safety dance,many in Hi-Viz now They are growing Hemp
in Canterbury, that idea’s been grown all my life-time. Children of Men. A Complete Circle.
While packing the groceries wrapped in an article yesterdays Dom, yesterdays news once more
about potential Bear slumps in the commodities supercycle covering the ground of the Increased
cost of carbon / fuels. Australia, a country described as ” a credit bubble built on a commodity market built on an even bigger Chinese credit bubble” is the dinner talk over the ditch.Might start
reading online papers more. Make Love not War. Radio Free Europe. Does a person have to be
Job? Volunteer (Jefferson Airplane). Gautama how long need you suffer. Freedom Hallelujah
and the less we eat, the less we eat, interestingly. Auckland “lacking” in rankings for Infrastructure
43rd. The same thing’s witnessed in the States. Sydney to Hobart. The Sound of Wind-Sheet
Clapping. The end of Television? “Calling Mr Lee” Know Thyself; “kiwis are socialists at heart”
Thats the key. Which shepherds saw the star that night;recovering that thread. Is Poltics in NZ
getting worse.I can imagine a JT reality tv show; it wouldn’t be suitable for all families.
Cotton-wheel tractor with rubber bands and knitting rats-tail; As the mat gets larger the progress
gets slower. What’s The Frequency Kenneth, oh it’s Hauraki. Remember Pirate Rock.Rainbow
Warrior.Another former stomping ground has empty units now.It is quite a process dealing with
HNZ now only two staff Mondays and Tuesdays; helpful staff I found though;Very friendly
and supportive but there is only so much they can do.Lookin for a preachers daughter not a Wino
we might as well whistle Lynard Skynard while Rome Burns or Tuesdays gone with the Wind.
Yesterdays News once more.Wasn’t The Fisher King just fetching, “just a step to the left and
put your knees inside, do the pelvic thrust, it will drive you insaaaane ane.Lets do the Time Warp
Again.Be Thyself. Ramble On.
What did Maggie Barry say that upset Metiria Turei so much in a debate this afternoon? I caught the end, with Barry very dismissively and insincerely withdrawing and apologising, and making derogatory remarks about List MPs along the way.
It’s Hump Day and I’m overtired, but I propose a new drinking game: every time someone leaves successive unthreaded comments about the same issue which they’ve already copy-pasted multiple articles about into Open Mike, take a drink.
Every time they make a snide comment about Standard authors not posting on said issue, take a drink.
When they imply there’s a vast underground conspiracy to hush up the issue, finish your vessel, close the browser window, and find something else to do for the evening.
Tonight, the most staggering argument I’ve heard in the House since…. whenever…
On the Employment Relations (Protection of young workers) amendment Bill – first reading. e.g.s were given of children as young as 9 or 10 years being employed as independent contractors, such as doing deliveries, without supervision – without full protections of an employee.
Nat Adam Bennett attacked it as undemocratic and on the individual’s right to choose – in this case the right of “young people” to choose to be an independent contractor.
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 ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
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 ...
The Government’s decision to reduce access to continuous glucose monitors (CGM) not only threatens the lives of children with type 1 diabetes and increases the potential for ‘Dead in Bed’ syndrome, but also threatens the health of their parents an ...
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 ...
Family violence specialist service Shine is calling on employers to stop asking for proof of domestic violence in order for employees to access domestic violence leave. The call comes five years after the introduction of the Domestic Violence ...
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 ...
Brutal government spending cuts that will see the size of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples slashed by 40% will hit Pasifika communities hard, the PSA says. The Ministry has told staff that it is seeking voluntary redundancies, and to redeploy and reassign ...
I live with five people I mostly love, but our different ideas about generosity are starting to really irk me.Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,This is a bit of a random one but here goes. I’m 22 and work an OK job (OK meaning I get paid ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Maria Nicholas, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, Deakin University Earlier this month, the New South Wales government announced it would roll out programs for gifted students in every public school in the state. This comes amid concerns gifted school ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Rudge, Law lecturer, University of Sydney Massachusetts General Hospital In a world first, we heard last week that US surgeons had transplanted a kidney from a gene-edited pig into a living human. News reports said the procedure was a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Tombs, Howard Paterson Chair of Theology and Public Issues, University of Otago The 5th-century Maskell panel showing Jesus in a loincloth.British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA When Jesus is shown on the cross, he is almost always depicted wearing a loincloth around ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock When you think about a red object, you might picture a red carpet, or the massive ruby in the Queen’s crown. Indeed, Western monarchies and marketing from brands such ...
COMMENTARY:Jewish Voice for Peace The UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza on Monday — and for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli military’s genocide of Palestinians, the United States abstained rather than vetoing it. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, ...
Asia Pacific Report A New Zealand investigative journalist and author says the US spy system hosted by the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) appears to be a controversial intelligence system used in global capture-kill operations. Writing a commentary for RNZ News today, Nicky Hager, author of Secret Power, a 1996 ...
While Nicola Willis wouldn’t give any details on its size, she said a package of tax cuts is definitely still coming in this year’s budget, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming the investigation into the Department of Internal Affairs after it was revealed that the Department’s Chief Executive personally reached out to expedite a DJs passport application. Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns ...
Finance minister Nicola Willis delivers her first budget statement, and unwittingly helps Joel MacManus save his relationship. Nicola Willis strode into the Beehive Theatrette. Around me, on the green foldout seats, were the country’s top business and political journalists. They were all here to see her announce the Budget Policy ...
Twenty years ago today, Māori Television launched after much controversy. Jamie Tahana looks back on its survival and impact across two decades. Chad Chambers stepped onto the stage, the brim of his cap casting a shadow across his face. His smile beamed as bright as his white freezing works gumboots, ...
On a Thursday in February, at Wellington’s Conservation House, the Conservation Authority, a statutory body advising the eponymous department and minister, Tama Potaka, opened its 195th meeting. Under consideration that afternoon was an agenda item written by Tim Bamford, chief advisor in the Department of Conservation’s biodiversity, heritage and visitors ...
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A lengthy response to the recently released draft Government policy statement on transport will soon be delivered from Auckland Council to Minister of Transport Simeon Brown. A submission raising concerns about funding distribution and the plan’s treatment of Auckland passed through the council’s transport committee on Wednesday, despite some councillors ...
Are David Shearer and Russel Norman, Texans?
To understand the sort of Climate Change Ignorer psychology evidenced by both Shearer and Norman you couldn’t go past Texas. The US oil state.
Texas the CCI capital of the world
Marshall Noted that, while he found that there were pockets of extremes of belief in Climate Change, from denial to conviction.
“Generally”, the main response he encountered from Texans, was to, deliberately avoid talking about the issue.
This reluctance to talk about climate change evidenced by the citizens of Texas, is for the same reasons that Shearer and Norman don’t talk about it. Talking about climate change would mean having to agree do something meaningful about it. If it were a country, Texas would be the seventh biggest emitter in the world, so any talk of cutting back, makes for some very unpalatable conversation for Texans.
“Deep in the heart of Texas”
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/deep_tex.mid
Jenny, how about you produce some evidence that Norman is ignoring climate change? Several people pointed out to you the other day that Norman still talks about climate change, and that there are other people in the GP whose job it is to talk about CC and keep it on the agenda (links were provided). Rationales for the strategy were also provided.
It’s fairly ridiculous to say that Norman is ignoring climate change. Just because someone doesn’t dance to your tune doesn’t mean they’re not dancing.
You also stated the other day that the Green Party no longer opposes deep sea oil extraction. I’d like to see some evidence for that too (I provided links to show the opposite)
Telling lies about the GP, or making misleading statements about Norman’s actions and motives, doesn’t help your cause IMO.
Question Time today. Question 1:
‘
Hooray!
Storm’n Norman
Returns to the fray.
I look forward to seeing what answer the Green Party leader receives. And how he responds in turn. (no pressure Russel)
I think the question is a forerunner to Norman’s Climate Change superannuation bill, due to have its first reading today.
weka be careful who you accuse of telling lies.
Otherwise you risk looking foolish.
I did not say that the Greens do not “oppose” deep sea oil extraction. What I am saying is that it is one of the things that the Greens are prepared to negotiate away in a coalition deal with Labour. You can still be opposed to something but agree not to do anything about it.
And nobody has been able to point to any recent speech by Russel Norman where he manages to force the words “climate change” out of his mouth, (or pen).
Of course he talked about it with James Hansen in 2011, but he couldn’t have avoided that one.
I might mention that this was some time ago.
I also might mention that since then we have had a National election in which the Greens deliberately decided not campaign on climate change, and barely even mention it . (If they mentioned it at all). I am told this was decided, “so as not to scare the horses”.
(The same sort of CCI strategy was also agreed in the US presidential elections.
Unfortunately for Obama and Romney an unprecedented superstorm disrupted this CCI election campaign making them both look like idiots.)
In your opinion weka. Will the Greens in a continuation of the policy of 2011 continue with their decision to Ignore Climate Change in the 2014 election campaign?
In my opinion the horses need to be scared.
Your actual words from a few days ago –
“Already the Greens have agreed not to challenge Deep Sea Oil drilling”
I think this might be the fourth time in the last few days that I have asked you for a citation for that statement. If you can’t produce one, then I am going to assume you made it up (hence I used the word ‘lie’). I see in other comments you have responded, but again without any evidence. It is of course entirely fine that you personally believe that the Greens will badly compromise on this issue, but personal belief is a completely different thing than the Greens having already agreed not to challenge Deep Sea Oil drilling, which is what you have said they did.
In fact, google “deep sea oil” and the “green party” news for the past few days and you will have examples of them challenging deep sea oil 🙄
The Green Party are not ignoring CC. Multiple links have been provided to you in the past few days that prove this. I can’t predict what will happen in 2014, but in general I support the Greens’ approach of focussing on what will win them the most seats at the next election. I don’t think CC is the most pressing issue for them to focus on if it means that they have less MPs as a result. A Labour/GP coalition with less MPs will be far less effective for the environment, including CC issues, than one where the GP is strong.
btw, comparing the Green Party’s approach to the US elections and Obama/Romney would have to be one of the stupider things I’ve seen lately. There is an obvious difference between a party that has worked hard to combat climate change, including spending years getting and keeping it on the public agenda, and US centrist parties who haven’t really taken any real action on CC at all. The GP can spend less time on CC now, to their advantage, because they’ve put so much time and effort into it. And it’s not like they’ve stopped everything on CC, which what you keep implying.
“In my opinion the horses need to be scared.”
On this we are agreed. I just don’t think it’s the job or responsibility of the GP to do this at this point. Time for others to step up.
your reply in another thread –
There is no evidence Jenny, you are expression a belief about something in the future, but that belief is not based on anything concrete. I and others have repeatedly asked you to post something that supports your statement that the GP have already agreed to not challenge deep sea oil as a way of gaining cabinet seats. You haven’t, because you can’t. You made shit up about the GP, you lied.
I have no idea what the GP will do once part of govt, maybe they will compromise some things around CC as part of the bigger picture. We know that has already happened and the reasons why. Here is Toad’s comment yesterday –
http://thestandard.org.nz/taking-the-gap/comment-page-1/#comment-558202
But your argument is getting tedious. Really, what you are doing is using the GP in a reality-manipulative way, as a way of pushing your agenda that CC (as you define it) is the most important issue we face and that we should all be following your lead. Those of us that don’t are Climate Change Ignorers according to you. You see the world in black and white – people who think CC is the most important thing and those that think it’s unimportant. There are other credible and useful ways of understanding the world.
Pascal’s bookie said it in the other thread: “what mandate do you have to claim to speak on behalf of everyone who cares about climate change?”
As an aside, I think the GP and its policies and directions should be open to critique. I just think it needs to be done with intelligence and using facts that are real not made up.
Who?
Toad is a long serving Green activist who blogs at g.blog about various environmental and social issues. Toad is also vocal on Frogblog and here at The Standard, which makes your claim that you’ve not heard of him/her rather silly.
I often struggle to find anything I disagree with what Toad writes.
Although I agree that Climate Change is the most pressing issue facing the world, weka is right that the Green party and its policies and directions should be open to critique. That critique should be based in reality and use verifiable facts. Unfortunately your argument does neither of these things Jenny.
This just makes you look foolish and ignorant! Try not to do that Jenny, it doesn’t make for good reading.
Russel Norman could be finance minister
Hansard: Greenhouse Gas Emissions—Rate of Change and Current International Ranking
Q+A: Transcript of Gareth Morgan and Russel Norman interview
‘
My apologies. I was going by the Russel Norman speeches put up on the Green Party website. Presumably the ones that the Green Party want us to see.
http://www.greens.org.nz/advancedsearch?tid_1=174
After poring through as many of these speeches as I could and not finding any mention of climate change by Russel Norman.
I challenged anyone to find where Russel Norman had mentioned the phrase climate change in any of these speeches.
No one could.
Though alex did make a rather brave attempt.
As a result of this disappointing result I admit I may have got a bit cocky and supposed that Norman had made no such mentions, anywhere.
Again I apologise, one of the examples you gave was not too bad either.
http://m.nbr.co.nz/article/russel-norman-could-be-finance-minister-ck-131342
It might have been the headline that made me miss it.
In some ways you remind me of those people who say the Greens don’t want marijuana to be decriminalized because they aren’t in the news every other day saying as much.
I think the Greens will push hard to have climate change legislation written into various acts and policy to ensure New Zealand once again starts to lead the world on environmental issues not to mention actually doing our part to avert climate catastrophe.
Russel Norman might not raise the issue in every speech he makes, but there’s no question that he’s as dedicated as they come to reducing GHG emissions. In fact his ability in the house to show National up for their environmental failures is second to none as far as I’m concerned.
Just today, Stuff reported that Russel Norman had tabled a tweet from the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, who wrote:
And none of those dimwitted National sycophants objected… Excellent!
Jackal, energy depletion is.
Energy depletion at a time the world is making inroads into renewable energy hardly seems comparable to Climate Change that threatens billions of peoples lives.
There’s enough oil and coal in the ground to easily cook the world, that makes climate change a more serious issue.
But please, entertain me with an argument instead of just these grandiose statements of yours Colonial Viper, that seem to be without a modicum of evidence to back them up?
Nah you’re the smart one you win.
BTW the global economy has been suffering from peak oil for almost 10 years now. Another 10 years and it’ll be obvious to even the self-smug like you.
BTW energy depletion also threatens billions of peoples lives. You just haven’t thought it through yet.
You’re right but here’s why you’re wrong… Contradict yourself much CV?
Climate change is already contributing to the deaths of nearly 400,000 people a year, and has been estimated to kill around 1 million per year by 2030. In comparison I cannot find any deaths associated with peak oil.
So why don’t you put up or shut up Colonial Viper?
OK Fair enough Jenny, but what about the rest of my comment?
What part in particular?
You and I both know you’ve already responded Jenny.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/04/justice-peace-and-the-israeli-state/
Justice, Peace and the Israeli State
by WILLIAM A. COOK
“As for the rights of Jewish people in this land, I have a simple message for those people gathered in the General Assembly today, no decision by the U.N. can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel.”
– Ron Prosor, United Nations Ambassador from Israel, November 29, 2012
In today’s world a tragic hero is a representative figure who stands before us as one speaking for his people, an Ambassador if you will, addressing the citizens of the world at the United Nations, enunciating the beliefs and demands of his nation as they must confront an event of great magnitude that appears to represent a reversal of their fortunes. Such a figure was Ronald Prosor, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations on November 29th, 2012, as he addressed the assembled delegates before their vote on the recognition of the state of Palestine. “No decision by the UN can break the 4,000-year-old bond between the people of Israel and the land of Israel, “he arrogantly proclaimed, thereby determining that no decision by the UN can alter the absolute dictates of the state of Israel as they have impacted the desires and hopes and dreams of the citizens of the world regarding peace and justice in the land of Palestine.
That statement must stand as an articulated hamartia, a mistake of moral blindness, capturing in its hubris the downfall of a noble nation. Before the citizens of the world, Prosor demanded that Israel alone must determine what peace and justice will be, knowing beforehand that the UN, in General Assembly, would momentarily act to question the legitimacy of Israel’s unilateral defiance of its decrees. The vote to recognize the rights of the people of Palestine, by electing it to the forum of nation states, proclaims to all that they are equal to all assembled and can use the powers vested in the UN to bring their oppressors and occupiers before the International Courts of Justice and to seek redress for the rights denied them under its charters. No longer can they be shackled to the demands of either the United States or Israel. Now they can address the UN as victims of an aggressive nation that has defied more than 160 of its Resolutions since 1948 by imposing with force conditions inimical to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which it is a signatory. …..
Read more….
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/12/04/justice-peace-and-the-israeli-state/
Jenny, climate change is a really hard problem. For a politician to engage effectively on it they have to have thought deeply about the many connective issues that span just about every portfolio. I am sure the Greens have done that thinking because it is core to what they are about. But it takes two to create meaningful dialogue, and there is not much point in Norman going there unless Shearer is prepared. Can anyone point to one deep analysis and exposition of an issue by Shearer this year? Harsh perhaps, as he’s been trying to get briefed across all portfolios. But that’s what happens when you haven’t done an apprenticeship over time. And being ‘briefed’ is not the same as ‘nutting’ through the issues yourself. Fundamentally you need a good grasp of economics (both traditional economics and the latest thinking on environmental economics) to be able to drive a climate change response. I don’t think Shearer is anywhere near that level of understanding. The story doing the rounds in Wellington earlier in the year was Shearer didn’t understand the difference between mico and macro economics. If that is true, deep climate change analysis is beyond him.
From what I get whispered over the years very very few labour MP understand macro at any level and fewer support Keynesian theory, very good on social micro policy in specialised areas but nothing strategic or cross linked. Last convert to Keynesian was benson pope and he got rolled by the MSM., first causality. Mallard to his credit was left once and supported SOE investing outside NZ. Robertson aka H3 is an unknown should be left of centre but IMHO is a long term player an liberal social dem with an agenda.
Benghazi would you mind using some paragraphs please?
It’s all wonderfully penetrating, but for us of advancing years a certain syntactical flow would assist.
Sorry foibles of a mobile phone post!
Most economists don’t either and that’s why the policies for the macro resemble those for the micro. Policies for infinite competition and international trade rather than taking into account the real available resources.
Actually orthodox economics deliberately takes micro-economic theory and by making massive and falsifiable assumptions, pretends that you can derive big picture macro-economic theory from it. Hence their idiotic and incorrect focus on utilisation maximation of individual rational agents, etc.
In my opinion it is a matter of lack of leadership, or more accurately the suppression of leadership.
There was that one MP that talked about climate change. What was his name?
Oh, that’s right, he was banished to the back benches.
True poor cunliffe can’t scare the centre voters now can we we.
Labour election strategy is all about saying little and praying that the election cycle holds true. Two years is a very long time for the suffering people to wait for what….the same with a token smattering of social policy penned in by budgetary constraints.
My line for last 15 years was we need a left block that is prepared to reconnect and reeducate, maybe prepare the public for the new direction.
Time for shearer and co to start the campaign now. The party and public crave direction hope and inclusiveness.
But Shearer won’t. He’s too connected to the old neo-liberal way of doing things.
Ex-cop denies having supplied porn movie
From the *Police/Politicial Archives of shame*, this on I recall causing some serious problems for The Clark govt, meanwhile AK is still pedling her sphere of influence inside the LP.
Its these sort articles illustrate of the types who control NZ, or represent those who do. It illustrates how the cops and politicians were, and thus still are working to cover up serious abuses inside NZ, and give credence to the masses of unsolved murders in NZ which have been linked to all manor of vile institutionalised cover ups.
It also gives an insight into how those charged with protecting and serving NZ society are controlled, which goes a long ways to helping understand by NZ is so broken!
More arm twisting resulting, and why are ministers offspring involved with the gear….
You just can’t buy that sort of voice inside government….hang on!
Meanwhile back In Texas
The use of this sort of “ambiguous” language reminds me strongly of Alex’s weak defence of Russel Norman’s CCI phrasing, “repeatedly” replacing the words climate change with the more vaguely ambiguous phrase, “environmental degradation”;
One of the contributors to the report I cited above, Jennifer Walker of the Sierra Club an American environmental organisation, describes the small insertion of the phrase “environmental degradation” in the Galveston report as a “major breakthrough”. Such a phrase would also be seen as a major breakthrough in the Texas inhabited by Shearer and Norman. Just as well Jennifer Walker was not in the NZ Labour Party caucus, or she would have been quickly shown to the backbenches.
Wow.
Treasury’s spending on consultants is expected to go up tenfold over the past five years.
In 2007-08 it was $1.97 million. In 2012-13 it is expected to be $21.93 million.
The advice being bought is all neoliberal from the likes of Deloittes, KPMG and PWC. This amount of money could restore night classes with change left over.
Just goes to show this Government’s priorities.
The link is at http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8036074/Rise-in-consultant-costs-gob-smacking
MS – I suspect if you look at the history there will be a trend which is somewhat consistant, yet agnostic of the government at the time..The articles have been pumped out regulary for as long as I can recall. I see it as the establishment showing off to the public via their media about whats happening, and given nothing has changed, its hard not to consider that!
All this shows is the power of the consultancies (banks) – Just take a look at Auckland to understand the takeover which has been executed by the amount of money Deloitte are taking out of the place. Its not just the obvious amounts of cunsultants directly working through Deloitte, the place is crawling with *independent* ex Deloitte contractors also!
Who ownes the consultancies again, and who owns them!
Don’t get tied down in the unimportant trivia, like which government has racked up the latest massive bill!
Deloitte, PWC, KPMG all robbers…
A more pertinent question which may pique the public’s conscious more on these rorts is not the total sum spent but the hourly rate charged.
Get hold of some details around this becuase it is obscene.
While at it, try asking Deloitte what they charge to wind up finance companies. The investors are getting fleeced again.
“The oil wells are full of smells
Deep in the heart of Texas”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXEZuAfxT3I
As the original lyrics go.
However that is not the only thing that smells in Texas, (or New Zealand for that matter).
Climate Change Ignoring is pretty whiffy too.
In keeping with the psychology of CCI, the Texas Chamber of Commerce TXCOC, blatantly ignore this prominent line in their modern rendition of this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGF4ibgcHQE
I don’t think spamming Open Mike helps your cause either.
Yes. Silence is golden.
http://www.janbrett.com/piggybacks/deep_tex.mid
Trust National? Sure can’t!
From Gordon Campbell at Scoop:-
Gordon Campbell on Tim Groser’s ‘political projectile vomiting’ about the TPPA
December 4th, 2012
“Remember how the Key government has justified being so very, very secretive about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) because goodness me, you don’t negotiate these things in public? Well, guess who has just been negotiating the TPP in public? Trade Minister Tim Groser, that’s who. In an interview published yesterday in the influential Inside US Trade publication, Groser “signalled” to the Americans that he is “willing to be flexible on two key issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations: new disciplines for New Zealand’s pharmaceutical pricing agency and protections for geographical indications (or GIs).” (GIs are a system of quality assurance in dairy products.)
Groser seemed pretty confident in his Inside US Trade interview that he can both please the Americans, and manage any outcry that might break out here at home: “I am confident we can find ways that advance U.S. interests [on these two issues] without causing projectile political vomiting in New Zealand, and many of the other countries of the TPP,” Groser said. Plainly, by being seen to be seeking to “advance US interests” and by casting himself as a deal broker within the TPP, Groser would also be doing no harm at all to his bid to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation. Let’s just hope and pray that Groser’s personal ambition and New Zealand’s best interests manage to intersect at some point.”
http://gordoncampbell.scoop.co.nz/2012/12/04/gordon-campbell-on-tim-grosers-political-projectile-vomiting-about-the-tppa/
There is a headline on the ‘money’ section of stuff that states ‘SCF case lifts fraud to a
record high’ one poster blames labour for introducing the retail deposit scheme,but
obviously you aren’t allowed to correct that belief, by answering that English actually
changed the terms and conditions which allowed SCF into the scheme against treasury
advice.
This denial of retort illustrates what has been going on in the media and press over the last
few years,everything has to be ‘Nact’ friendly.
Sorry i can’t link.
Thanks for the heads-up, starlight. Link. I think you can reply to comments below the article if you register first.
Thanks Karol, i am registered etc, i made two comments defending labour and both
were moderated out, they were both in the vein that english changed the terms and
conditions allowing scf into the scheme, denial of reply irked me.
Is there a delay before comments are posted, starlight? Are your comments up there now?
The headline has now gone into a black hole, thanks for your attention on the matter.:)
Hi starlight.
I just clicked on the link that Karol provided at 10.1 and it still goes through to the Stuff article. Comments are at the bottom of the page and there are two there which could be yours.
Yeah if you are PatJohn then your comments are there. I think stuff moderates before they show comments (well they used to anyway). So it can sometimes take a while to show, particularly on articles that aren’t attracting a lot of comments.
Hi to all, yes they are my comments, i clicked on Karol’s link and got it, blushing a bit
though, so thanks for your help,have a nice day 🙂
Hi Starlight and Co. Regarding the Stuff.co.nz comments “forum”. You mentioned your comments were moderated out. I was interested to hear that. I very rarely comment on stuff these days – I just can’t be bothered and you just end up going around in circles with talk back caller types, with no grasp of the topic they are meant to be commenting on. In saying that, in relation to your observation, what I have noticed is that my comments only ever made it about half of the time. They tend to make it if I say something reactive, petty or polarising but when I try to put a reasoned argument forward, using examples in relation to the topic to illustrate a point, they don’t make it.
I’ve often wondered what it would be like if the knowledgable and wise authors of and visitors to this site and others occupied the MSM comments section for a week. It would freak all their regulars out. It would be great. But I don’t think their moderators could handle such a flood of reason and sense and they would stick to their routine which seems to be “Lets have a fight! Yeaaaaahhhh!!”. It seems to be how they roll.
“We have suffered enough”
Cyclone Bopha: The biggest Super Storm to ever strike Mindanao hits.
My question is this: Will we have to wait for a superstorm devastates Auckland or Wellington before our political leaders stop ignoring and start addressing climate change.
Climate Change Ignorers like Shearer, and Climate Change Apologists like Key should pray that while they refuse to address the question of climate change, that a superstorm does not strike the already vulnerable population of our second most populous and earthquake damaged city.
Climate Change Ignorers like Shearer? You’re so full of it Jenny it’s not funny.
David Shearer not looking for Helen Clark’s endorsement
Emphasis mine.
One swallow does not a summer make.
P.S. My sympathies on translating Shearer.
Just catching up on Yesterdays Question time. How did I know that Parkers Inability to count correctly would come back to bite him, So now the NATS have yet another free target courtesy of the Labour Caucus when are they going to get something / Anything right?
Jan Wright’s fracking publicity stunt
How can the public have faith that Jan Wright is undertaking an unbiased investigation if she doesn’t even mention all the fracking problems in Taranaki that have already occurred?
Is Bill English a drinker?
That’s exactly what I was thinking.
Well it is very hot here in our region, anecdotally 41 Degrees celsius in Brisbane
That Bel and the Dragon is apocryphal
Yet guess what blew in beside the Nor’Wester
Hyperventilation Syndrome
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hyperventilation-Syndrome-Breathing-Disorders-Overcome/dp/0857830295
my GP who I trust says she is seeing increasing prevalence of people presenting with this disorder
so I read this book this morning and British figures were 40% presenting with symptoms
and quote “a silent epidemic” (nervous system arousal)
to paraphrase, “for better sleep AVOID television news and Talk-Back Radio 🙂
so I’m listening to the radio, Who is The Pilot of The Airwaves? Th ITU want to. Will consider
Political Activity according to an interesting article in the Herald by Chris Barton; interesting article
If you are not sleeping, don’t stay in bed, I’ve read that once before
So it may be a very HOT summer according to the HB Today; the airconditioners block the light
When the power’s off in New York.Breathe Breathe in The Air…don’t be afraid to care
Stand your own ground. In 10 Days Time the Pope will tweet.White dog for God locally.
Milan has an Exorcism HotLine while we fly the unemployed to Australia.Gidday Mate
Nice to see ya; Tiwai Uncertain. Rancid Aluminium not my Pot of Tea,too Violent
so it’s
Breathing retraining
Esteem
Total body relaxation
Talk
Exercise
Rest and Sleep
If we are Mindful we then begin to Remember The Body
Computers are apparently a factor and I can understand that.Take Care out there, it’s not quite
Hill Street Blues. A Rocking Chair is “wooden valium”.To be a “shock jock” you have to Be
Rude and Insensitive; a post-modern Archie Bunker, not alls viewed a Family
Substantively cloudy weather, oh resignation “naughty boy” from the 6 OClock Roundup
Our living word, will film ever be over? Dependent on the “good graces” of NZ film distributors
Media Bites “nine hours of film to do justice to a book”. Stoicism is helpful.Weather the Storm
(it is a Fienne mess we may getting into). Media Media Media.In a safe place now, a man 10 years
older than me said he too had watched the Clampdown of the powers that be
In His lifetime. “Come in he said I’ll give you Shelter from The Storm”
Hi RT. As a quick non political aside: Last year I flicked through the pages of a book of the same topic as you mention above. What a fascinating subject and food for thought for those who are over worked/unrested, have an anxious disposition or have an underperforming nervous system due to excess stressors and illness.
Come to think of it, you might see signs of mild hyperventilation in some of our ministers and our PM as they emerge from a room within parliament and are pounced upon by journalists who are asking them really hard questions and trying to get them admit they are responsible for the cock up of the moment. Shoulders up, inhale and not breathe out. Eyes fixed in fright, that kind of thing.
Yep classic fight or flight response, but chronically induced, and supported by coffee/alcohol/over eating/stimulants/…
Interesting thing is that short term memory, concentration, communication skills etc. all end up in the toilet under these conditions.
Yep, so true CV. Key is a classic example but has adapted to hiding his fatigue (except when confronted by balcony jumpers in the house).His remarkable indifference to issues that don’t concern him (ie: everything that matters) does a good job of masking his true state. Seems to need quite a lot of holidays. (A luxury that most overworked workers can only dream of). Holidays required for restoration of well being OR simply because he couldn’t give flying F about his position and needs to maintain a lifestyle. You choose!
All that is missing is leadership
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/12/04-11
All that is missing is leadership, will Obama rise up to the challenge?
Saving lives and extending life span worsens energy and resource consumption over the long run. Need fewer people on Earth, surely?
Misanthropic nonsense. When people’s lifestyle improves population increase lessens and even drops. So much so that in some European countries if it wasn’t for immigration population growth would be in negative figures.
Opposition had a good session at Question Time.
Goff nailed McCully, more to come on that (note to Patrick Gower – this is a damn sight more important than some unknown ex-weatherman).
Genter got English all muddled on road numbers.
Key lost the plot at the end – Damien O’Connor wants to kill miners – WTF?
It shows what they can do when they’re not wasting questions, not giving Key a free hit. Shearer wasn’t there, and so the gov’t Ministers were struggling. If only that happened every time.
yes, I noticed that Goff and Genter did a great job – Ardern not so much.
Question Time Genter question video.
That was extraordinary Key really did lose it there.
Title: Climate Change Deniers
Definition: The CCDs argue that climate change is not real and is not happening. CCDs explain the controversy as a result of a global conspiracy concocted by scientists politicians and media, unfortunately they have not been able to give any rational explanation of the reasons for this global conspiracy.
Current Status: The CCDs are Pretty much at the fringes of the current debate on climate change
Title: Climate Change Apologists
Definition: CCAs admit that climate change is happening, but say that jobs, profits, the economy and growth, and a myriad other issues are far more important than taking steps to address climate change. The apologists are also adept at blaming or scapegoating others, usually groups that they have already taken a dislike to anyway. This group are quite comfortable with the idea of millions if not billions of human deaths, as well as the destruction of entire eco systems and the resulting mass animal and plant extinctions. Their previously listed preoccupations are considered far more important.
Current status: The most sinister, pernicious, cynical and dangerous of the different Climate Change factions. Currently the CCAs are the main spear carriers for opposing action on climate change.
And now a third category has arisen:
Title: Climate Change Ignorers
Definition: Political leaders and parties who refuse to even mention Climate Change, if they can avoid it. Usually for sectarian political advantage, ie, “not scare the horses”, “not look too radical in the eyes of the voters”, “not offend vested interest”, etc etc.
Rather than alert the electorate and the wider population to the danger, the CCIs put getting bums on seats for their particular sectarian grouping, more important than even alerting their political rivals who would steal a policy march on them if they were made aware of the danger.
The whole topic of Climate Change is a ‘no go area’ for these politicians. They will rarely if ever mention the subject of Climate Change, unless it is pushed right up under their noses, and often not even then. If forced to mention Climate Change CCIs say that one day when they are in complete control of the presidency and the congress, or have the most seats in the house of parliament, then (and only then), will they call for action on Climate Change. CCIs neither deny, or apologise for climate change, they just simply ignore it.
Current Status: The most ridiculous and laughable faction of all, I don’t expect it to last long.
People have been promised a grand lifestyle and consumption pattern; the middle aged middle classes aren’t going to give up their SUVs and overseas holidays, the young need economic growth to pay off their student debt.
The ship’s systems are locked on course for the iceberg and everyone is busy trying to get last drinks from the bar before it hits.
I would add another lot.
The ones who say we are stuffed whatever we do.
Equally as bad as deniers because the logical response to that is to give up and party.
Which suits the deniers as well.Yet another reason to do nothing.
What would you call this faction KJT?
Trees Are beautiful beings. I’ve always loved trees.Sit amongst some old trees. They’re Powerful
Not politicians, so many being publically dishonest. Heard a prophecy thr the grapevine That
Hawkes Bay’s gonna Rock, gently. Ah the virtuosity goes on. Horan again.
Ever dogs gotta earn his keep and you can’t keep a good dog down.Be Thyself. Blog Masters
Many of you are, and very experienced too. It’s not looking too great is it. Teleportation.
The Tomorrow People. They have carried out participant observation random allocation trials
prayer over people works. The Force Is Strong with that one Dr Luke. It could be worse
some reverb going on outback. Tijuana Brass balls. The Big Kahuna. No Men without Hats
in the hot sun, we can dance to the safety dance,many in Hi-Viz now They are growing Hemp
in Canterbury, that idea’s been grown all my life-time. Children of Men. A Complete Circle.
While packing the groceries wrapped in an article yesterdays Dom, yesterdays news once more
about potential Bear slumps in the commodities supercycle covering the ground of the Increased
cost of carbon / fuels. Australia, a country described as ” a credit bubble built on a commodity market built on an even bigger Chinese credit bubble” is the dinner talk over the ditch.Might start
reading online papers more. Make Love not War. Radio Free Europe. Does a person have to be
Job? Volunteer (Jefferson Airplane). Gautama how long need you suffer. Freedom Hallelujah
and the less we eat, the less we eat, interestingly. Auckland “lacking” in rankings for Infrastructure
43rd. The same thing’s witnessed in the States. Sydney to Hobart. The Sound of Wind-Sheet
Clapping. The end of Television? “Calling Mr Lee” Know Thyself; “kiwis are socialists at heart”
Thats the key. Which shepherds saw the star that night;recovering that thread. Is Poltics in NZ
getting worse.I can imagine a JT reality tv show; it wouldn’t be suitable for all families.
Cotton-wheel tractor with rubber bands and knitting rats-tail; As the mat gets larger the progress
gets slower. What’s The Frequency Kenneth, oh it’s Hauraki. Remember Pirate Rock.Rainbow
Warrior.Another former stomping ground has empty units now.It is quite a process dealing with
HNZ now only two staff Mondays and Tuesdays; helpful staff I found though;Very friendly
and supportive but there is only so much they can do.Lookin for a preachers daughter not a Wino
we might as well whistle Lynard Skynard while Rome Burns or Tuesdays gone with the Wind.
Yesterdays News once more.Wasn’t The Fisher King just fetching, “just a step to the left and
put your knees inside, do the pelvic thrust, it will drive you insaaaane ane.Lets do the Time Warp
Again.Be Thyself. Ramble On.
Nice poem?
What did Maggie Barry say that upset Metiria Turei so much in a debate this afternoon? I caught the end, with Barry very dismissively and insincerely withdrawing and apologising, and making derogatory remarks about List MPs along the way.
It’s Hump Day and I’m overtired, but I propose a new drinking game: every time someone leaves successive unthreaded comments about the same issue which they’ve already copy-pasted multiple articles about into Open Mike, take a drink.
Every time they make a snide comment about Standard authors not posting on said issue, take a drink.
When they imply there’s a vast underground conspiracy to hush up the issue, finish your vessel, close the browser window, and find something else to do for the evening.
Growth is apparent in many areas but not in the ones that really count. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/new-zealand-is-high-growth-economy.html
Tonight, the most staggering argument I’ve heard in the House since…. whenever…
On the Employment Relations (Protection of young workers) amendment Bill – first reading. e.g.s were given of children as young as 9 or 10 years being employed as independent contractors, such as doing deliveries, without supervision – without full protections of an employee.
Nat Adam Bennett attacked it as undemocratic and on the individual’s right to choose – in this case the right of “young people” to choose to be an independent contractor.