How far will the bitter and nasty right wing faction of old white men go in their determination to turn everything into another round of culture war?
Well, in the case of Karl Du Fresne (a creeping Jesus if there ever was one) it runs as far as going into bat for child molesters because, you know, white male.
“…Now, Cardinal Pell. Did he sexually molest two choir boys in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne? A jury decided he did, …”
That is f**king right you pathetic piece of shit Du Fresne. he was convicted. By a jury. After a fair trial. But no, you think you should defend him because you are a screaming emotional cripple who clings to the authoritarian catholic church like dung to a blanket and would prefer kiddy fiddlers walk free to conservative white male clerics in positions of authority being held to account.
They will always be with us, the issue is that they have platforms all over the place. Way out of proportion to their actual numbers. We need a means of de-platforming them.
Agreed. Du Frsne’s misplaced sense of being a victimised white male has landed him in a very bad place with this one. He just can’t see what his own retrograde ideology has done to him.
a racist ageist rant I don’t think ethnicity or race are predeterminstic for kiddy fiddlers I think the last big nz case was a Samoan rugby coach Nor does that suggest such activities a predisposed to Polynesians as you are trying to suggest it is a white, make agre problem, looser
Is Netanyahu really “white”?
What is the definition of “white” these days anyway?
I thought the jewish people came from Arabia and eastern med?
Arabia’s not white is it? Nor eastern med?
It is very confusing
Rubbish. All because one group is acting like kneejerk reactionary schoolchildren doesn’t require the other to respond to those self-indulgent wankers. You are demanding response before the considerations are made.
To me, I see one side going ten rounds before the first bell has been rung. They’ll exhaust themselves dancing and prancing round the canvas then, when the debate actually begins, they’ll have nothing new to say.
And they’ll get crucified as the self-interested tax dodging sacks they are (imo).
I don’t think the public remembers the shit these people sprout for months on end. Another scandal, another news cycle, gone in the hot wind it arrived on.
Let’s wait for the actual debate. We’re not all reeds in this wind.
We the Bleeple, I suspect your argument is fatally flawed.
The “self interested tax dodging sacks” are winning the argument currently, and because of that, Peters and NZF will hang the coalition out to dry on this.
By the time the PM has given the NZF required exemptions to farmers, small businesses and the NZX, the money left in the “fairness payments” bucket will be minimal and the Govt wont have $8b to give as income tax breaks. The working poor will feel let down once again.
And without any real money for the “fairness payments” whats the point of the CGT in the first place?
Then the Cullen Tax Group will be written off as Jacindas very expensive vanity project with no gains for anyone (except those on the committee)
Time will tell if your view is the one that comes to pass, or whether my view is the one which comes to pass
Ad,
What makes you think O’Connor will be advocating CGT for farmers? Given the PM’s statements about her concerns for farmers and small business, it will be much more likely that O’Connor will be singing a duo with Peters.
He was on RNZ this morning trying to defend against Natipnal’s inroads in rural communities on tax issues.
Peters will defend similar rural territory at Cabinet, but more harshly. Tax reform at a sectoral level is lost in the provinces and the remaining ground is in Auckland.
But think about the chidren! It has become a cliche’ because so often they and their parents are passed over as the tax parade goes by. A sick joke that refers to the cry so often heard and so little listened to.
Beneficiaries should not be limited in what they can earn. They should’t be checked every week and their benefit adjusted down. Every month okay and encourage it, adjust a little at the end of six months. Reward effort and determination.
Now they may be left with little for their work to spend after tax and removal of benefits and repayment of grants. How about the equivalent of $2 an hour and then transport and extra child care costs taking care of that.
Stick that in your pipes and smoke it you Taxed with Working Group.
National isn’t winning the debate – far from it. Just look at the comments on any stuff article that is anti the CGT and people are mostly all for the CGT. They’re also saying the stuff Labour would want them to say – that it’s not fair to tax income from work different to income from non-work.
Stuff is a left-wing website.
They’re also desperately hoping the government buys them, which is why there are so many articles promoting Ardern and this Labour government.
The ‘average kiwi’ who owns there own home and is not interested in exploiting those who have no option but to rent is going to be better off with the tax adjustments.
The Government are giving the opposition 2 months of rope, and they are doing a very nice job of hanging themselves.
To not pay something on a fortune is hard to do when the theme is “Fairness”
So ordinary people are going… “Wait up.. I pay on every dollar, and they want to pay nothing? Now that’s not fair”
The Right can’t defend the indefensible, so they are losing friends and support.
The Government can come in and suggest serious change in April, which would have seemed impossible before this.
This woman is remarkable. She has made New Zealanders examine “Fairness”
It has opened minds to what have been accepted patterns of behaviour and helped put a new view and perspective on some accepted forms of greed.
Thank you J A. We are seriously considering how some are taxed and some are not and are ready to change that.
But then you get this quick change of tack from the Hosk today over at the fish wrap:
“The soft bigotry of low expectation.” And that is the aspiration of this government, isn’t it? You don’t want to turn up for a work interview? No problem…………………..”
Kat who do you get that from? No Government website. Just yesterday there were 20 newly employed with training in place to plant manuka for the honey industry. This is full time and leading to qualifications, which will assist the next tranche.
The right have always blamed the unemployed. Don’t help them do it. Cheers
They start these lies and hope they will be repeated.
Patricia, you are correct the “fish wrap” is not a govt website, it is however the conveyor of low brow commentary and political bias on a daily basis.
My comment in reply to yours was to highlight your point that while the opposition and its poodles are busy hanging themselves on the rope from the TWG discussion, a quick change of tack in the media, namely from the “fish wrap” appears necessary as a brief diversion.
Soper, Young, etc etc are all far, far to untypical of average New Zealand to have a clue what the public actually think – they are engaged in a giant confidence trick, where being an old, financially secure, white and old of touch person who are convinced that interviewing each other and establishment vested interests is presented as being in touch with the zeitgeist of the nation.
In fact, they just represent narrow sectional interests – and the decline of MSM makes their views of little importance anyway.
However, many on the right have vested interests and these will be examined as the debate proper starts.
Those on the left with large assets (Jones) will have to declare they are not letting those influence their attitudes.
A problem to consider is the fairness of tax on reparations to Maori, however, they seldom sell, so there should be a way through that.
When the Government produces tables showing how large holders of capital will be affected compared to those with basic or no assets, there will be an epiphany.
We are discussing the % of tax paid on earnings from all sources.
A whole industry has been developed to assist the asset rich to avoid tax.
I know they’re irrelevant, but we’re not all trained to think critically or investigate multiple sources. It would be of use to the public to see just how these Nat mouthpieces have self-interest at heart.
P.S. Whatever happened to Swill-Cone? Surely CGT has caused more neurosis to report on.
Unfortunately in most situations those that do live in places in that state would not welcome an order to vacate. With falling available rentals and masses of applicants “You’ll need to find another place” is bleak news for those previously obliged to settle for sub-standard options of that ilk.
Raising the standards of NZ rentals and tapping into a bit of that cash cow milk are great initiatives. I’m concerned that our government are ill prepared for the equal and opposite forces these initiatives will initiate.
I think a trending increase in the number of people that are eligible for and waiting for Government housing is an indication that my fears are not ill-founded.
There are plans afoot to address your concerns Marty. The govt have employed inspectors, they’ve started with the govt housing stock. I think these people will move on to policing compliance amongst the private sector.
Just as tenants have their tribunal outcomes made public, landlords do too. The bloodsuckers you speak of would hate nothing more than having to pay a tenant and the govt $5000 because the wind whistles through their let. It would be good if via non compliance fines, the dept was almost self funding.
I think the slumlord tally will plummet. These are of course all good things.
But….as I say, there will be repercussions, we could and should be prepared for them.
The scum are upgrading their hovels because they have to.
Thing is, people have been living in these hovels because they can afford them ($200)* but the scum are chucking them out while they do $10/20k worth of work. And when these not quite hovels anymore do come back on the rental market, the scum have jacked the rents ($370)* beyond the former tenant’s means.
I seem to recall that the Government, as landlord (via Housing Corp) also has rented out substandard dwellings to desperate folk.
Maybe the trick would to bring their own properties up to scratch (apparently they had heaps of empty ones too) and rent those out first, before bitching about private landlords.
When pressed on whether he would be open to the use of genetic modification to help combat climate change, Minister Shaw told Corin Dann, “I want to see what the science says about that and what the Science Ethics Committee would say about that. I would be led by the science on it.”
Well, this raises the question as to whether NZ (?) scientists should be funded to undertake scientific research into other uses of GE to tackle other problems such as pest control. Or is it a matter of the end justifies the means? Sounds a bit too much like National to me …
If GE will transform pasture farming, protecting it from the effects of climate change and ensuring farm-resilience and sustainability, surely industry driven by the market and smart farmers, will invest in the technology.
Surely.
Scientific evidence is one main input into a healthy debate that looks at risks, benefits and economic returns as well. In a holistic way that looks at the whole of society and not just at a few fractions with invested interests (!) or ideological agendas.
the trouble being you cannot model the risks ie they are irreducible eg Nalimov
We can say that the nature of change in biology is random, since it is
impossible to find an expression for a sufficiently detailed description
that is considerably shorter than the “most complete” description of the
observed phenomenon. In other words, it is not possible to construct a
model of a generator of mutations in terms of ordinary cause-effect relations,
i.e., it is not possible to find the causes that unambiguously
generate the full diversity of observed mutations. Having found that the
nature of change is random, we are greatly surprised that there does not
exist an ordinary probabilistic description of the observed phenomena.
An ordinary statistical description of phenomena is possible if, on the
basis of the results of observations carried out on a small sample, we can
calculate the distribution parameters which make it possible to obtain an
idea of the behavior of the complete sequence of phenomena. In the case
of biological changes, observations made on a small sequence of
phenomena do not yield information about the subsequent behavior of
the system. In such a case, averaged characteristics have no significance.
The individual manifestations of the phenomena are important, irrespective
of their probability of occurrence.
I liked it for it’s simple format – ask five experts about the health implications compared to conventional diet. No brow beating, no ethical jabs, just a health focus.
I don’t really care what helps people eat less meat, some just get defensive when the ethics arguments are put up – so having health argued by several professionals is very useful.
Nice one Steve Kearney. I ran some of the sideline stuff for the Warriors games once, Steve’s huge!
Thanks for posting this mauī.
Yes, v.g. Stephen Kearney and family!
It is very encouraging seeing how more and more NZers are understanding and experiencing the health and environmental benefits of plant-based whole-food eating and it is attracting less of the knee-jerk fear reaction that it used to from threatened individuals in our mainstream ‘animal-slaughter-dependent’ country.
The knee-jerk fear reaction of the thousand or more households in my burg dependent on the meat industry for their livelihoods will probably be along the lines of WTF are we going eat.
Nice illustration – cheers.
Do you think they are fearing for their livelihoods, or what they are going to eat, or both!?
A little bit of knowledge would help them in either case.
The majority are seasonal workers so they know all about both fearing for their livelihoods and how tough it is to feed themselves during the off-season.
This appears to be going a little off-topic from the thread Joe. To bring it back in: seems then that they would be gainfully employed in plant based food production when the ‘vegan-green-peril’ fully takes over.
By then they will have learnt a full range of tasty vegan recipes, other than ‘lettuce and mayo’. They will be healthier and realise how much more affordable it is to feed themselves and their families on a meat-free, dairy-free diet.
seems then that they would be gainfully employed in plant based food production
I reckon I’ve heard something along those lines before. Oh, that’s right, like Douglass and Prebble before them, Bolger and Richardson assured us that new employment opportunities would abound…and then they proceeded to destroy literally thousands of jobs and tore the heart out of my community. Ain’t gonna happen again.
Yeah good point. The freezing works in several small towns are the major employers.
For myself, I don’t think NZ is going to lose all its dairy/meat production but we’ll have to bring herds down to carrying capacity, and diversify for resilience sake… but ultimately, rotational grazing is the HOW TO of sustainable meat production, with a few tweaks (reduce/remove salts and cides, replant many trees, biodiversity earthworks and water storage, on-site production of feedstock, trees on anything > 15 degrees…) NZ could lead the way in regenerative agriculture.
We are in pole position to create the best food in the world due to our distance from everything, good soils and high rainfall.
Once we’ve learned to keep and grow soil and capture and slow rain (they’re connected), we will not only be productive, but resilient.
I can’t see veganism as the future. I can see diets altering to encompass more plants both for human and planetary health. The freezing worker will still be here, but maybe not so many. there will be more work with trees, bees, aquaculture, fruits, nuts, medicines…
Its very different isn’t it? People making an informed choice about what they eat may certainly disrupt our ‘all eggs in one basket’ (pun intended) animal slaughter industry to some extent. Its hardly comparable to an ideological elite’s top-down imposition of neoliberalism on our lives.
We do need to ‘de-platform’ the ‘right wing angry middle class’ among us.
They only add anger and absolutely no positive resolution to any issue that we need to discuss with “a cool head”.
If they can’t make ‘constructive comments’ – they should be banned.
This was a very good article over on the Daily Blog that I commented on with constructive ways to “define who best to vote for over one issue we need to discuss.
So with the tax reform issue we need a similar voting platform to make our current leaders and (candidates) to define what they will vote for.
As we are the problem currently, – since we are lazy and just vote for these lazy useless Governments; – who just sit on the fence and do nothing; – all while the planet burns.
I am ashamed as I should be so I am 100% behind our young for standing up to show that we need to also get off our butts and get in the action also.
Vote out any lazy politician and Local Body councillor who refuses to stand up and join the fight to save our planet.
As this year being our ‘Local body Elections time’ we need to hold all those ‘potential Local Body candidates to account on climate change!!!
We need to have them all sign a questionnaire on climate change, and publish their plans to “commit” to vote for climate change!!!!
cleangreen
You are talking about making sure that politicians do what the people and the land need them to. And I think that is what a working democracry should be about.
We thought we had one, that was at least tottering along sometimes, and then making changes and getting better. Then the whole thing was overthrown by cutting government away and its regulations (the fat) and supposedly introducing a lean, fit model. Only it leaned too far and fell over! Hah.
Now we need participatory democracy. The people need to form a group of practical people looking to the future, each one with an interest in one of the major drivers of an
enterprise society perhaps transport, agriculture in general including horticulture, manufacturing in general, employment and understanding thoroughly the way that Stats gathers and presents figures for official is there a Household Labour Survey and why or not? Education and its value today, technology spread smothering traditional writing and communication, also what is driving the politicians, advisors, bureaucrats – who yanks their strings, provides the models they follow?
Then we get a picture of what is happening. You have reliable, informed academics who will give you an ear and perhaps address a meeting of keen learners. Then we can draw up rough plans for what is needed, bring the figures in to fill them out, make reasonable estimates of cost, look at who or what would be affected by it, perhaps that site is environmentally vulnerable, perhaps that local landowner would object even if it is public land, even if it is a necessary step for the good of the community. How can he/she be brought into the loop, be smoozed?
There was an interview this morning with a Mayor on the West Coast. He and one of his cohort organised some work without going through the required steps.l
He said they did it because it looked as if there was going to be a repeat of the flood that washed out their sewage ponds. They managed to avoid this and have done apparently a fairly good job of protection with a stopbank or something.
People have to do this, get full information, and then press hard for necessary steps. You cleangreen appear to be doing this in Gisborne. No doubt you have worked out a case for getting quick address to your problems, with steps that even the most reluctant decision maker must notice are straightforward and cogent.
I was reading a bit from David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.
He starts a new Part with Ecclesiastes 9:11 –
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill;
but time and chance happeneth to them all.
So I guess we just hope our time will last long enough to give us the chance.
Lol. ‘There was blame on both sides’.
To take away their platform in the kindest possible way?
After all it surely isn’t so urgent that we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!
I reckon bugger elections and democracy clean green, you and bunch of teenagers ( preferably suitably left and woke ) just determin the criteria and what constitutes correct thinking and then select who should be in council and in parliament
Thanks mauī, again I appreciate your posts today.
This is fascinating and I hope some of our right wing trolls who are fond of spouting their version of the truth here get an opportunity to watch (and think about) this.
Was rife on the East Coast 1980’s to early 1990’s basically organised crime, some of the Maori Trust Blocks got hammered, one block at Te Arararoa lost 100 x breeding cows and a Station in the Waikura Valley lost 300 x 2 tooth breeding ewes, this ain’t just the odd animal for the freezer.
Truck @ trailers required for these sort of numbers.
I imagine Mr Shaw may be getting a little bit nervous.
After almost a year of the MSM ignoring the total stuff up by his Department in their attempt to hold a Census Stuff is starting to run stories about it. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111052779/365-days-and-still-counting-census-2018-results-nowhere-to-be-seen
Young James has spent all that time with a blindfold on and his hands jammed over his ears while he, ever more desperately, claims that everything will turn out all right, and anyway “it wasn’t my fault”.
Well tough luck James. It was your fault and your refusal to do anything about it should cause you sacking.
Have a look in the linked article. You don’t have to accept my opinion.
As Auckland University Statistician Andrew Sporle says
“”It’s a bit of a disaster, we don’t know how bad, but we know it’s a disaster.”
He said it appeared Stats NZ’s follow through after the initial response, which was adequate, had faltered.”
In other words it was what happened after the Census that has caused the havoc and Shaw is totally responsible for that.
Shaw also claims that it will not be possible to arrange a Census in 2021. What that means is that he, and his Department, have wasted 12 months that could have been put into organizing it.
Economist Brian Easton has also commented on Shaw’s Shambles. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111044133/census-mess-can-be-resolved-with-a-new-one-in-2021
Brian, who certainly doesn’t lean to the right says that the Census is unlikely to be accepted by a Court as meeting the statutory obligations that exist. He is also quite scathing about the argument that it is impossible to run a proper one in 2021.
As he says.
“Stats NZ has claimed that it takes three years (instead of two years and nine months) to run a new census. But I am told that if it uses the existing good parts of the 2018 census with the 2013 enumerator system, it will take 18 months to organise.
So it could start the task as late as this September. All it requires is leadership, although it may be sensible to bring back (sometimes out of retirement) the team that ran the 2013 enumeration.”
Well Mr Shaw is supposedly the leader. Unfortunately he has demonstrated he is anything but a good one.
There is a lovely old US saying about people like James Shaw.
“Piss or get off the pot”.
As most people will recognize it means stop procrastinating an do something.
Mr Shaw appears to be incapable of doing anything. He should resign.
If he won’t then the PM should follow the US idiom. She should sack him.
Now there is a man who isn’t afraid to demonstrate his antipathy to a politician.
You do realize that the delay we “managed to cope with”, and which was 2 years not 5 years by the way, was due to the Christchurch earthquake?
Now you are quite happy to delay the Census by 5 years and happily go from 2013 to 2123 to get any sensible results.
I am not a great enthusiast for Mr Shaw as a Minister of the Crown, as people who read what I say about him here may be aware. To put it briefly I think he has been useless.
However I really wouldn’t go as far as you do and describe his activities as being a great deal more of a disaster than the Earthquake was.
That’s nice dear. I’m sure that you absolutely adore the dishy Mr Shaw.
What do you rate him at on a scale of 0 to 10?
Actually don’t bother. If someone wants to be a Minister of the Crown I don’t care how he is rated by the ladies. I only care about whether he can do the job and Shaw has been an abject failure.
But you know that don’t you?
Shock! – I agree with you about the Census stuff up.
Not ready to blame JS like you have though. Being a Green supporter, I will try very hard to understand what his part in this was – let’s see how he handles it when the results are published.
I fear, like Brian Easton, that any fudged results they manage to cook up will not satisfy a Court that they are of a legally sufficient quality. The thing a true leader would have done was to recognize that possibility immediately after the results were in doubt and start a parallel path of preparing to rerun the exercise in 2021. This could have been done at the same time as they were trying to patch up the data.
They should also have tried to quickly get more people into the field to try and contact the people who were missed. Chase up those people who had done the job in 2013 and recruit as many of them as possible. They at least had once been trained.
It would appear that Shaw, in the time between becoming Minister and the Census didn’t satisfy himself that it was going to be on track on the day. He still seems to be in a complete state of denial even a year after the fiasco. It was his job to ask questions of the Officials and satisfy himself that the answers made sense.
You did notice that MR (or Dr) Sporle said that the problems only occurred after the Census date. Up till then things were going OK. If all the problems started 5 or 6 months after the current lot took office an attempt to blame it all on National is only something a person like you or the current PM would attempt.
The pm doesn’t do that. She always picks up responsibility for her patch.
I didn’t read what your wrote about James Shaw. I will if I have time. I had read that the f ups were down to previous govt, but realize that that may not be the case
Ok alywyn, just read the article. You have selectively used quotes to implicate Shaw. The review of what went wrong is due mid 2019. The follow up you referred to would have been designed under national. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but actually you were spinning.
Hah, bloody hah.
I have been complaining about the stuffed up Census since a few weeks after it took place. The second I saw the percentage of the population that had responded I thought that it couldn’t possibly be rectified.
Lots of people on this site claimed that everything was OK and that of course they would get usable numbers.
Well they were wrong and an awful lot of other people are now saying the same things that I have been saying for the best part of a year.
You may not care about statistics, or the Census.
That is because you are an ignorant fool. Read Easton’s article that I linked to and then ask yourself how they can possibly settle on electorate boundaries, the number of Maori seats, allocations to DHBs or money going to schools without a valid Census? The law requires that they get it right.
Claiming that people, and by implication you, aren’t interested merely demonstrates how stupid you really are. But then your comments show that on almost every occasion you burst into song here.
I think they could make reasonable guesses on DHBs. Maori electorates won’t have changed much because the previous government made sure they couldn’t get ahead. Schools might be an issue. It’s a pity the Nats didn’t collect data on all the money flooding into the country via property investment.
I suppose he is far to busy arranging his next little jaunt to attend a conference on how to fly less which will be held in some exotic far distant place.
Heh Bozo. The only real job you have is Statistics and their major task is the Census. Do your job you lazy sod.
The hard part is going to be generating the political will.
.
“Right now, we have about ninety per cent or ninety-five per cent of the technology we need,” Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, told me. In a series of papers, Jacobson and his colleagues have laid out “roadmaps” to a zero-emissions economy for fifty states, fifty-three towns and cities, and a hundred and thirty-eight other countries, with a completion date of 2050. Just as in the Democrats’ Green New Deal, the central element of these roadmaps (and others) is converting the electric grid to clean energy by shutting down power stations that rely on fossil fuels and making some very large investments in wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal facilities. Jacobson said this could be completed by 2035, which is only five years beyond the target set out in the Green New Deal. At the same time, policymakers would introduce a range of measures to promote energy efficiency, and electrify other sectors of the economy that now rely heavily on burning carbon, such as road and rail transport, home heating, and industrial heating. “We don’t need a technological miracle to solve this problem,” Jacobson reiterated. “‘The bottom line is we just need to deploy, deploy, deploy.”
Convert all land-based energy use to electric. Short flights go to electric, long-haul will need biofuels. There’s a good chance shipping will find small modular nuclear reactors to be the best option.
I can’t think of a better way to boost the economy than doing all the R&D, manufacturing and infrastructure work needed to make that happen.
Reactors for use in shipping are a tenth the size or less of land-based electricity generation reactors. So a Fukushima or Chernobyl or Three Mile Island accident has negligible probability of happening, simply because the thermal runaway issues are exponentially related to reactor size.
In a ship, there’s always coolant available right there. Unlike Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima which all had loss of cooling as a key part of what went wrong.
The radioactive material is always inside a seriously grunty containment vessel, so dropping a steaming pile of uranium on the seabed just aint gonna happen. The worst case scenario is breaking off the coolant lines going in and out of the containment vessel so seawater can go in and out of the containment vessel. Which will release a very small amount of radioactive material with the initial flushing out of the coolant that will very quickly dilute and dissipate.
After that, to release radioactive material, they will need to be dissolved into the seawater. The concentration of uranium in seawater is already quasi-saturated, so it’s going to be just barely above background levels.
So no, there wouldn’t suddenly be three-headed fish on the menu in the BOP. By any rational assessment, the worst-case ecosystem damage done by a hypothetical nuke-powered Rena would be much less than the actual damage done by the actual bunker oil spilled by the actual Rena.
But we’ve had decades of overhyped scare stories about the nuclear boogeyman, so rational assessment probably aint gonna count for squat if we’re ever called on to figure out how we feel about nuke-powered ships in our ports.
edit: Here’s an industry puff-piece on existing marine use of nuclear propulsion. Glossy spin to be sure, but it’s still a useful illustration of the scope of what’s already out there.
Apparently at Chernobyl they were doing some kind of test that involved fucking with the cooling system.
Three Mile Island had sequential failures of cooling components. IIRC, starting with pumps, then a valve stuck open. Shitty operator interface design contributed to operators not correctly understanding what was going wrong and then taking incorrect steps to try to fix it.
I can’t see that we’re ever actually gonna be called on the consider the question.
Oil prices would have to be up over $200/barrel, maybe $300, to make nukes look economically attractive to shipping companies. The only way I see that happening is a worldwide carbon price of at least $300/tonne CO2e that captures shipping as well. Maybe more like $600 or $1000/tonne. On an industry that is remarkably successful at avoiding getting taxed and regulated.
When you consider the Soviet/ Russian Nuclear accidents over the yrs, it’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go pop like Chernobyl or like their Nuke Subs or Ships. Just google earth/ maps of the Northern Fleet dockyards and see all their Nuclear Subs and their Cruisers in various states of this disrepair.
I think even Greenpeace has a piece on this wee monster of ticking time bomb?
Greenpeace’s knee-jerk anti-nuclear-power stance is one of the reasons I’ve gone off them.
To me, closing down an already built running nuclear power station somewhere like Germany, just because nuclear, makes no sense at all. For starters, the big environmental costs have already been incurred, like the original build, irradiation of the guts of it on startup etc. The ongoing marginal environmental cost of continued operation is pretty minimal.
Then there’s the way shortfalls in electricity production from shutting a nuke is likely to be made up by burning coal. Which is vastly more environmentally damaging than nuclear, even counting Fukushima and Chernobyl and TMI and all the others.
Yet Greenpeace is right at the forefront of demanding nuke power plants be shut down. It’s quite the environmental and climate own goal.
I do agree that shutting down the German Nuclear Power plants is just plain crazy and as you said doesn’t make any sense at all. But I do think Greenpeace concerns on this wee ticking time bomb is quite valid, given the track record of the Russians to run a Nuclear Power safety.
BM, did you ever see the footage from the Jap Coast Guard Vessel (about the same size of one of the RNZN OPV’s) riding the Tsunami waves some 50 plus km’s offshore? The ship was lucky to get to the crest of wave and nearly didn’t have a enough herbs to get over the second and third waves.
In the event of an accident, atmospheric dispersal of radioactive debris in a low population area (at sea for instance) might be less harmful to humans, but dispersal by ocean current would be disastrous for marine life and coastal communities, potentially for thousands of kilometres.
True, but if it’s close inshore when a Tsunami hits. I wouldn’t want to be near that thing in a month of Monday’s, even if I had a bucket full of iodine pills while wear a noddy suit at the same time.
I think Andre below, pretty well sums up my thoughts on this.
Fukushima was a fuck up evidently the cooling systems weren’t serviced properly and helped cause the melt down, stupid place to build s Nuclear Plant – Stupid Yanks Again ?
The general concept has some merits. It’s an example of where the rooskies have kept going with reactor developments and may be in a pretty good position if a market for small modular reactors ever develops.
The reactors are essentially the same design the rooskies have successfully used for quite a while in icebreakers. They’re modestly sized (150MW thermal, 35MW electrical compared to Chernobyl reactors being 3200MW thermal 1000MW electrical each), so if shit goes down with them it won’t be much shit.
Things I don’t like about them are: Russian engineering and manufacturing and respect for safety and the environment ain’t the greatest, they’re old design pressurised water reactors that rely on active control systems working at all times, and PWRs produce a lot of radioactive waste relative to power generated.
There are newer reactors designs that respond to complete loss of control and power by depowering using the laws of physics rather than active control, which I find much more comfortable. There’s also newer designs that essentially burn their waste rather than requiring somewhere very secure to store the waste for a very long time (maybe rooskies don’t care about secure storage for the waste).
So I’ve got quite mixed thoughts on that particular application of nuclear tech.
Should add, the cost looks way up there. Wikipedia reckons the project cost will be around USD336 million for a 70MW electricity output. That’s around $5/watt of electrical output. Although since it’s Murmansk, they’re probably taking quite a bit of its output directly as heat.
For comparison, utility-scale wind and solar are on the order of $0.50/watt.
Never ever ever gonna be viable for on-land generation in New Zealand. We’ve got so much wind, geothermal and maybe even solar if needed that we just won’t need something that expensive and politically unpopular on land.
The alien unicorns will have arrived and started excreting working fusion plants out their back ends long before we tap out our renewables potential.
But if the world ever gets serious about eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, we may have a choice of either accepting nuke-powered ships in our ports or shutting ourselves off from the rest of the world.
To be honest BM, I don’t think Nuclear Power would be practical in NZ from a risk, safety and cost POV. A Nuclear Power station would’ve got done in the 50’s-late 60’s if NZ’s history in the Atomic age is anything to by.
but not now as the muppets in Treasury would have a fit, before the anti Nuke mob even got their finger out of their digit to organise any protest. Hell the Treasury Muppets are already having fits over the 20B DCP over 15- 20yrs last announce by the “No Mates Party and reconfirm by the current Government, so you think they will support this?
Complexity of operation and maintenance is a very good argument against quite a few classes of reactor design. Including all the pressurised water and light water reactor designs I’m aware of. Ironically, those designs are also the easiest to get regulatory approval for, since they’re based on legacy designs with long histories. Most expensive to actually build, too, because of the complexity, but the easier approval process counteracts that. That roosky nukes-on-barge thing BM linked to is one of those legacy type PWRs.
Several of the outfits working on newer next-gen reactors are specifically targeting outright eliminating maintenance requirements and simplifying operation to the point of making the reactor itself basically a “big battery” from the users point of view. At least the nuke thermal part, anyway, converting heat to electricity or mechanical power won’t ever be quite that simple. The containment vessel for all the radioactive bits would be all in one unit, fueled at the factory for several years of operation. Then when it’s depleted, the entire unit is pulled out and replaced with a refurbished refuelled unit, and the old one goes back to the factory for refurb and refuel.
If you can be bothered scrolling through the big article linked below you’ll find brief descriptions of several of these efforts. But none of them look anywhere near becoming commercial reality.
Safe, storage of large amounts of hydrogen is an issue, but scientists reckon it is, solvable. Note: The dangers of storing large quantities of gas or petrol.
Making hydrogen, of course requires a large source of sustainable electricity. Which New Zealand has the capability.
Unless we get the Holy Grail, Fusion, which is decades away, if ever. Continued nuclear energy for transport, remains unlikely.
Handling hydrogen is way way more difficult and dangerous than handling liquid fuels. Hydrogen embrittlement of metals, the way seals have to be metal-to-metal contact because hydrogen permeates through and reacts with polymers so quickly, hydrogen’s very wide range of explosive concentrations in air, the way hydrogen fires are nearly invisible to the naked eye (they put out a shitload of UV though)…
The round trip efficiency of using electricity to split water for hydrogen to mechanical work is very low. I don’t see us having enough excess of electricity any time soon to make that route to widespread use of hydrogen viable.
I reckon what might make hydrogen viable is if any of the teams working on photocatalytic hydrogen production has a breakthrough, or one of the lab methods of generating hydrogen from hydrocarbons without releasing CO2 has a breakthrough. One of the most interesting efforts in that area is bubbling methane up through molten metal, which releases nearly pure hydrogen and the carbon becomes a solid floating on top of the molten metal. Presumably like a sooty powder.
In the early noughties when the prospect of a hydrogen economy looked more likely, there was a fluffy of articles talking about risks to the ozone layer from leaked hydrogen. That question seems to have died off, but I haven’t found whether it was shown to be a non-issue, or whether it just reflects an assessed low probability of widespread hydrogen use.
Auckland City Council have Resource Consent to dump toxic sludge out of Auckland Viaduct Harbour into the pristine waters of Great Barrier Island so some rich wankers can have a silly little boat race in Auckland Harbour ?
I see nothing of the sort in the link provided. He said she said – no big deal. But if you need that illusion to help you get chubby by all means who am I to judge.
I just watched the full exchange and the PM clearly owned it.
The only thing I agree with is that yeah, it was funny.
Of course, you and the Herald shills are free to pretend to see it differently.
The acting leader of the nat party should be renamed ‘Slicks’, not for his hair, or love for big oil, but for the fact he get’s no traction when the red rain pours.
Your a funny chap there James, Jacinda neither lost it or Bridges looked in control, but you’re right it was a little funny. The Prime Minister ended still with a smile on her face and the Leader of the National Party looked like he was about to burst into tears. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
I can’t think why National’s only asking questions about the Cullen report. They’ve decided that recommendations in it are exactly what’s going to happen, the Government’s going to do everything suggested.
Surely they have the imagination to work out what’s going to come out of other reviews and can put the heat on the Government about the decisions they’ve already made to instigate all recommendations. You know, make it all up – should be easy from the fantasyland they’re in.
But if you dig deeper (not that I could give a fuck because of gNat and NZTA muppetry, AND if you consider the Levin Mayor’s contributions today to the debate) ….. it all couldn’t have happened to such ideologically driven peeps.
If you go back over the years from the dismantling of MOW, to out-saucing – even where bitumen is available (primarily from a private monopoly), Hark at Thee for trying to scream foul now.
Shudda Cudda Wudda.
I mean!!!!! this same shit happened before FFS on that same route.
Is there anyone among elected government representatives that has yet got past the flagellation phase of pandering to their ‘officials’ (who LEAST OF ALL have your best interests at heart)
As things pan out, I’m actually seriously worried about the Coalition and in particular some with Ministerial responsibilities.
For some, there some really FUCKING EASY gains to be made (e.g. with Immigration, OR with Land Transport, or various other things that could be done via Ministerial regulatory and ‘last chance’ options).
Doesn’t seem to be happening so far (and it’s what????? 12 -15 months)
Are some of them actually masochists do you think?
Why not email or write an actual letter just to show some of us know how* to the various Ministers you would like to test for masochism and see if you can penetrate their defence mechanisms.
(*Our city post office has just been abandoned for no reason except ideology. Here in Nelson it is very busy in the tourist season and we had a nice central location which is all being given over to Kiwi Bank. With a different design we could have given Kiwi bank pride of place and had a simpler post office set up but no it has to go to the back of a nearby private book and stationery shop. Bloody Post Office dimwits and vandals. They have made up their mind that it’s a dying business and are speeding it on its way – just too unimaginative to keep it going with a simpler business model that differs depending on the site and location.)
I’m on the move again @grey, so difficult to give you a full reply atm, but I have done so in the past as have others from various advocacy groups, unions, and so on – AND provided instances (cases) where people have been let down – either through under-resourcing, inexperience, or just sheer muppetry.
What is annoying is that in many many instances, the failings (MBIE, NZTA, Health, DHBs, WINZ, HNZ etc.) is all a matter of record.
And though I don’t necessarily agree with NZ1’s approach to some of our PS (the Senior ranks), I can understand their frustration.
Unless there is some sort of reform of the PS, it is going to be hard for this coalition to be “transformational”.
Immigrant worker exploitation (for example) could AT LEAST be minimised, along with its flow on effects in driving down wages quite easily. I’m wondering whether the only reason a couple of simple steps haven’t been taken is because there is fear that a flood of complaints might overwhelm the Labour Inspectorate – but which to do you more important? I’d suggest trying to minimise the exploitation and eventually holding the exploiters to account trumps anything based on past bad policy advice.
Kia ora The AM Show Its cool that today is international Wahines day for equality its is a cause that Eco Maori champions. They won’t let a truly powerful Artificial Intelligence program to give financial advice to the masses as the billionaire won’t be able to ripp us off.
Its more than just sports that is fixed in our society.
The Hokatika Wild foods festival would be great to go and see there are Alot of bush food that we could harvest that we don’t even know about it would be good for the environment and organic as well
Why is Fonterra selling its silver ware its stupid are some of the people in the know lining Tip top up to buy cheap and than resell making huge profits at the expense of farmers selling is also not logical when interest rates are at historical lows.???????????????????. With the Rugby The people who control the World don’t want a team called the All Blacks domanating World Rugby don’t let the bigots win.
Nice money Phil Goff has good control of Auckland he is doing a great job.
Our return armed forces personnel NZDF do need more care I see all Around the world that they are suffering mental fatigue physically disabled but I would never let my Mokopunas go to war no one wins in war. judy its all very well that you’re child can afford private education but most people can not hence our government invested in our future with the money given to our youths education.
Sir Michael Cullen has more Good knowledge on the tax system than the whole of the national party. There moto is giving more to the wealthy and take more from the poor. Anyperson with a logical brain can work out that is a unsustainable model when money is consentrated in a few hands. Te tangata te tangata te tangata when everyone ha enough KAI all te tangata are healthy and happy when only a few have all the KAI nobody is happy Ka kite ano
Don’t believe the sandflys lieing spinning about what’s going on in my life at the minute. You can not compare my situation with ANYONE else’s it Eco Maori. For one they will and have use everything at their disposal to try and LOCKME UP the power of the states spy’s and NOTHING if they had one shread of evedince they would have locked me up druged me up and carry on shitting on the common people. Ana to kai. Some Eco Maori Music for the minute. https://youtu.be/tgIqecROs5M
I read a bit about this plite happening to Our Native Amercian and Canada Wahine Cousins I could not believe what I had read I waited for some more information on the subject Its SHOCKING that these Wahine from Amercia and Canada are missing and 4 to 5 x as much as whites WTF in a first world country this should not be happening. The aurthoritys could find them or what happened to them but because tangata whenua/ people of the land cultures are being suppressed all around the world they DONT GIVE A SHIT.
REDress exhibit highlights epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women
Haunting outdoor art installation by Canadian artist Jaime Black is on display at Washington DC Museum
The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by Métis artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Photograph: Katherine Fogden/National Museum of the American Indian
T
hirty-five red dresses hung on winter-bare trees lining the Riverwalk along the National Museum of the American Indian. A woman pushing a stroller stopped to watch the garments twist in the wind, staring at the smallest dress in the collection – one that would fit a little girl.
The REDress Project is a haunting outdoor art installation in Washington DC by Canadian artist Jaime Black meant to symbolize the epidemic of violence against indigenous women and girls.
“Every visitor will have a different experience with the dresses,” said Machel Monenerkit, the deputy director of the National Museum of American Indian. “But you cannot walk through this installation and not have some emotional experience.”
For years and at astonishing rates, Native women in the United States, Canada and across the continent have gone missing or been murdered. Native American women are 10 times more likely to be murdered and four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the national average, according to a recent report by the US Commission on Civil Rights.
But in the era of #MeToo and after the first two Native American women were elected to Congress in 2018, there is a renewed effort to account for the disappearances and prevent future tragedies. Ka kite ano links below .
Kia ora Te ao Maori News I say that those youth justice prison are training grounds for our tamariki to learn bad habits off the harden tamariki that are in their it needs to have more than just a Maori name it needs to be run by Maori as we will teach them good principles and love them not loave them and treat them like a treasure not dirt.
Tipuni Kokori is only a shell compare to the Mana funding it once had and Eco Maori says it need more funding to help Maori tangata and businesses.
Sports is a good way for OUR tamariki to climb up to their maximum heights on their ladders of life. I was to busy trying to building my Maunga plus we live in the wopwops to concentrate on my tamariki sport te Wahine was sleeping. That’s good to know to karakia to the Stars
Ka pai Ken the break dancer Tau toko smoke free I hear that the Olympic committee is considering having break danceing in the Olympic. Ka kite ano
Te billionares oil barron climate change suppressors do obey any rules mans or GOD,s keep up the good mahi tamariki /good work children
Student climate change strike: Rules don’t matter when you’re fighting for your future
OPINION: I have a memory of my grandfather saying that, when he was young, children were to be seen and not heard. Reflecting on it now, I suspect that I was being naughty at the time and he was suggesting that I might consider being seen and not heard.
On March 15, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people are intending to walk out of their classrooms. They will take to the streets to protest decades of complacency and inaction on climate change, on the part of the adults whose first responsibility should have been the future these kids will inherit.
Since the “School Strike 4 Climate” was announced, a number of adults have expressed apparent concern for the impact that taking time out of school will have on the education of these young students.
But I don’t remember any concern for the impact on my schooling when I was marshalled out of class for a morning so I could wave to a fast-passing limousine bearing Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their visit to Wellington in 1983.
It wouldn’t have helped bring an end to apartheid if protesters had rented side-line advertising space during half time at the All Blacks v Springboks test matches in 1981.
And homosexual law reform wouldn’t have happened if gay rights activists had stayed in the closet and out of sight.
Should kids be skipping school to shout about inaction on climate change? I wish they didn’t feel they had to. I wish they weren’t left feeling like they have to fight for their futures.
That’s why I, as your Green Party minister in this Government, will make sure we bring the Zero Carbon Bill into law.
That law will establish an important certainty in Aotearoa New Zealand, that we can and must reduce the greenhouse gas pollution which is overheating our planet and threatening the delicate balance that maintains our existence.
There may once have been a time when it was considered right and proper that children should be seen and not heard. But when our children feel like they’re fighting for their future, this is not that time.
James Shaw is the co-leader of the Green Party and the Minister for Climate Change. Ka kite ano links below.
Eco Maori Say Kia Kaha Mana Wahine pay equity Equality will give ladys the power to fight for a good cause Wahines Mana if power is money and the men are given 10 to 100 x more money than Wahine if we do close the wage gap than we will never get EQUALITY for Wahine
United States women’s football team sues for equitable pay
Players for the US women’s national football team have filed a gender discrimination lawsuit seeking pay that is equitable to that of their male counterparts
The action comes just three months before the team will defend its title at the women’s World Cup in France.
The players allege that they have been subject to ongoing “institutionalised gender discrimination,” including unequal pay, despite having the same job responsibilities as players on the men’s national team. The 28 members of the current national team player pool joined in the class-action lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, which was filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The players are seeking equitable pay and treatment, in addition to damages including back pay.
`And hopefully in that way it inspires women everywhere.”
The US Women’s National Team Players Association was not party to the lawsuit, but in a statement said it “supports the plaintiffs’ goal of eliminating gender-based discrimination by USSF.”
The US Soccer Federation didn’t have an immediate comment.
The USSF has maintained in the past that much of the pay disparity between the men’s and women’s teams results from separate collective bargaining agreements.
The women’s team set up its compensation structure, which included a guaranteed salary rather than a pay-for-play model like the men, in the last labor contract. The players also earn salaries – paid by the federation – for playing in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The women receive other benefits, including health care, that the men’s national team players don’t receive, the federation has maintained.
This is not the first time the players have sought equitable compensation and conditions. Ka kite ano links below P.S There was nothing wrong with our best mens sports team so why has it been turned insideout
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
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1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
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TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
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About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
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Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
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I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
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The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
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 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland Mike Lewinski/Flickr, CC BY On any clear night, if you gaze skywards long enough, chances are you’ll see a meteor streaking through the sky. Some nights, however, are better than others. At ...
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How far will the bitter and nasty right wing faction of old white men go in their determination to turn everything into another round of culture war?
Well, in the case of Karl Du Fresne (a creeping Jesus if there ever was one) it runs as far as going into bat for child molesters because, you know, white male.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/111003072/three-white-men-who-dominate-public-conversation
“…Now, Cardinal Pell. Did he sexually molest two choir boys in the sacristy of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne? A jury decided he did, …”
That is f**king right you pathetic piece of shit Du Fresne. he was convicted. By a jury. After a fair trial. But no, you think you should defend him because you are a screaming emotional cripple who clings to the authoritarian catholic church like dung to a blanket and would prefer kiddy fiddlers walk free to conservative white male clerics in positions of authority being held to account.
What a piece of shit .
They will always be with us, the issue is that they have platforms all over the place. Way out of proportion to their actual numbers. We need a means of de-platforming them.
I was just gob smacked that he would defend a convicted child molester purely because of who the molester is.
Agreed. Du Frsne’s misplaced sense of being a victimised white male has landed him in a very bad place with this one. He just can’t see what his own retrograde ideology has done to him.
a racist ageist rant I don’t think ethnicity or race are predeterminstic for kiddy fiddlers I think the last big nz case was a Samoan rugby coach Nor does that suggest such activities a predisposed to Polynesians as you are trying to suggest it is a white, make agre problem, looser
Is Netanyahu really “white”?
What is the definition of “white” these days anyway?
I thought the jewish people came from Arabia and eastern med?
Arabia’s not white is it? Nor eastern med?
It is very confusing
This near-silence from government on tax now looks a deliberate tactic to kill reform.
Looks like the Tax Group dissenting view will win.
Rubbish. All because one group is acting like kneejerk reactionary schoolchildren doesn’t require the other to respond to those self-indulgent wankers. You are demanding response before the considerations are made.
That is National’s tactics. Who the fuck are you.
National is leading the debate in the media and Parliament, and winning.
O’Connor won’t be able to counter Peters in Cabinet, and it will be lost on its impact outside the cities.
Robertson is lifting his bat on this one.
To me, I see one side going ten rounds before the first bell has been rung. They’ll exhaust themselves dancing and prancing round the canvas then, when the debate actually begins, they’ll have nothing new to say.
And they’ll get crucified as the self-interested tax dodging sacks they are (imo).
I don’t think the public remembers the shit these people sprout for months on end. Another scandal, another news cycle, gone in the hot wind it arrived on.
Let’s wait for the actual debate. We’re not all reeds in this wind.
Notice commentary from the Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue, or Prime Minister in this segment last night on the tax proposals?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/consultation-needed-timing-potential-capital-gains-tax-law-change-winston-peters?variant=tb_v_1
Me neither.
This actual debate is now.
We the Bleeple, I suspect your argument is fatally flawed.
The “self interested tax dodging sacks” are winning the argument currently, and because of that, Peters and NZF will hang the coalition out to dry on this.
By the time the PM has given the NZF required exemptions to farmers, small businesses and the NZX, the money left in the “fairness payments” bucket will be minimal and the Govt wont have $8b to give as income tax breaks. The working poor will feel let down once again.
And without any real money for the “fairness payments” whats the point of the CGT in the first place?
Then the Cullen Tax Group will be written off as Jacindas very expensive vanity project with no gains for anyone (except those on the committee)
Time will tell if your view is the one that comes to pass, or whether my view is the one which comes to pass
Ad,
What makes you think O’Connor will be advocating CGT for farmers? Given the PM’s statements about her concerns for farmers and small business, it will be much more likely that O’Connor will be singing a duo with Peters.
He won’t.
He was on RNZ this morning trying to defend against Natipnal’s inroads in rural communities on tax issues.
Peters will defend similar rural territory at Cabinet, but more harshly. Tax reform at a sectoral level is lost in the provinces and the remaining ground is in Auckland.
But think about the chidren! It has become a cliche’ because so often they and their parents are passed over as the tax parade goes by. A sick joke that refers to the cry so often heard and so little listened to.
Beneficiaries should not be limited in what they can earn. They should’t be checked every week and their benefit adjusted down. Every month okay and encourage it, adjust a little at the end of six months. Reward effort and determination.
Now they may be left with little for their work to spend after tax and removal of benefits and repayment of grants. How about the equivalent of $2 an hour and then transport and extra child care costs taking care of that.
Stick that in your pipes and smoke it you Taxed with Working Group.
National isn’t winning the debate – far from it. Just look at the comments on any stuff article that is anti the CGT and people are mostly all for the CGT. They’re also saying the stuff Labour would want them to say – that it’s not fair to tax income from work different to income from non-work.
Stuff is a left-wing website.
They’re also desperately hoping the government buys them, which is why there are so many articles promoting Ardern and this Labour government.
BM = right wing website.
“Stuff is a left-wing website.”
Fuck that’s funny.
The ‘average kiwi’ who owns there own home and is not interested in exploiting those who have no option but to rent is going to be better off with the tax adjustments.
Works for me and around 80% of the population.
Yes Kevin I never saw STUFF as left wing. lol lol
We really should be hearing this much more often and loudly.
Stuff’s about as left-wing as the late, not-at-all-lamented Margaret Thatcher.
So I took up your challenge and pulled out the latest Stuff article on the matter.
The comments are thoughtful, but the article makes the same point I am: the Minister responsible is not making any running on this at all.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/111028930/sir-michael-cullen-steps-back-into-politics-with-debatable-claims-about-cgt#comments
Why leave any government-supporting debate to Dr Cullen?
The government will not win this policy issue unless it fights for it.
i checked the latest Stuff article on it.
Featured Cullen, made same points as me.
Comments section was thoughtful but ovrerall v negative.
Maybe. But if so, it’s going to look like a victory for National and the angry, middle-class media.
All of whom vote.
Ardern looks like she prefers two terms ahead of tax reform.
Probably better not to start flinching before you see the enemy’s fire.
If Labour wimp out on the CGT they’ll set us back yet another generation.
Ad I disagree.
I think they knew the right would go OTT.
The Government are giving the opposition 2 months of rope, and they are doing a very nice job of hanging themselves.
To not pay something on a fortune is hard to do when the theme is “Fairness”
So ordinary people are going… “Wait up.. I pay on every dollar, and they want to pay nothing? Now that’s not fair”
The Right can’t defend the indefensible, so they are losing friends and support.
The Government can come in and suggest serious change in April, which would have seemed impossible before this.
This woman is remarkable. She has made New Zealanders examine “Fairness”
It has opened minds to what have been accepted patterns of behaviour and helped put a new view and perspective on some accepted forms of greed.
Thank you J A. We are seriously considering how some are taxed and some are not and are ready to change that.
But then you get this quick change of tack from the Hosk today over at the fish wrap:
“The soft bigotry of low expectation.” And that is the aspiration of this government, isn’t it? You don’t want to turn up for a work interview? No problem…………………..”
Kat who do you get that from? No Government website. Just yesterday there were 20 newly employed with training in place to plant manuka for the honey industry. This is full time and leading to qualifications, which will assist the next tranche.
The right have always blamed the unemployed. Don’t help them do it. Cheers
They start these lies and hope they will be repeated.
Patricia, you are correct the “fish wrap” is not a govt website, it is however the conveyor of low brow commentary and political bias on a daily basis.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12209999
My comment in reply to yours was to highlight your point that while the opposition and its poodles are busy hanging themselves on the rope from the TWG discussion, a quick change of tack in the media, namely from the “fish wrap” appears necessary as a brief diversion.
That is a good reminder Kat. I should read things twice.. I’m getting old!! lol
How can we track the assets of Aunty Young, Hangry Hooten, Bury Souper et al? How vested are these interests. The public has the right to know.
Soper, Young, etc etc are all far, far to untypical of average New Zealand to have a clue what the public actually think – they are engaged in a giant confidence trick, where being an old, financially secure, white and old of touch person who are convinced that interviewing each other and establishment vested interests is presented as being in touch with the zeitgeist of the nation.
In fact, they just represent narrow sectional interests – and the decline of MSM makes their views of little importance anyway.
That is not a mistake anyone in Parliament makes.
Yes Ad parliamentarians do make mistakes.
However, many on the right have vested interests and these will be examined as the debate proper starts.
Those on the left with large assets (Jones) will have to declare they are not letting those influence their attitudes.
A problem to consider is the fairness of tax on reparations to Maori, however, they seldom sell, so there should be a way through that.
When the Government produces tables showing how large holders of capital will be affected compared to those with basic or no assets, there will be an epiphany.
We are discussing the % of tax paid on earnings from all sources.
A whole industry has been developed to assist the asset rich to avoid tax.
The comparisons will galvanize opinion IMO.
I know they’re irrelevant, but we’re not all trained to think critically or investigate multiple sources. It would be of use to the public to see just how these Nat mouthpieces have self-interest at heart.
P.S. Whatever happened to Swill-Cone? Surely CGT has caused more neurosis to report on.
Landlords care – we mean it maaaaaaaan.
“Amid the hype around the unusual ad, what’s been overlooked is that someone is currently paying to rent the property. This is someone’s home.”
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/111051624/heres-the-dirty-secret-lurking-in-that-nasty-house
A rare moment of conscience from Susan Edmunds. Perhaps the industry is finally getting the wake-up all it and the country so desperately needs.
looks to me the industry is advertising the fact that literally they can own a dumb and find someone desperate enough to rent it.
Unfortunately in most situations those that do live in places in that state would not welcome an order to vacate. With falling available rentals and masses of applicants “You’ll need to find another place” is bleak news for those previously obliged to settle for sub-standard options of that ilk.
Raising the standards of NZ rentals and tapping into a bit of that cash cow milk are great initiatives. I’m concerned that our government are ill prepared for the equal and opposite forces these initiatives will initiate.
I think a trending increase in the number of people that are eligible for and waiting for Government housing is an indication that my fears are not ill-founded.
No they won’t want to vacate and the scum bloodsucker leech landlord won’t fix it up to MINIMUM standards. Tough one hmmm
There are plans afoot to address your concerns Marty. The govt have employed inspectors, they’ve started with the govt housing stock. I think these people will move on to policing compliance amongst the private sector.
Just as tenants have their tribunal outcomes made public, landlords do too. The bloodsuckers you speak of would hate nothing more than having to pay a tenant and the govt $5000 because the wind whistles through their let. It would be good if via non compliance fines, the dept was almost self funding.
I think the slumlord tally will plummet. These are of course all good things.
But….as I say, there will be repercussions, we could and should be prepared for them.
The scum are upgrading their hovels because they have to.
Thing is, people have been living in these hovels because they can afford them ($200)* but the scum are chucking them out while they do $10/20k worth of work. And when these not quite hovels anymore do come back on the rental market, the scum have jacked the rents ($370)* beyond the former tenant’s means.
(anecdata)*
I seem to recall that the Government, as landlord (via Housing Corp) also has rented out substandard dwellings to desperate folk.
Maybe the trick would to bring their own properties up to scratch (apparently they had heaps of empty ones too) and rent those out first, before bitching about private landlords.
Maybe they could do both those things Hungry Hangnail.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1903/S00049/student-climate-change-strike-gets-backing-from-gov-minister.htm
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-led-science-genetic-modification-climate-minister?variant=tb_v_1
Well, this raises the question as to whether NZ (?) scientists should be funded to undertake scientific research into other uses of GE to tackle other problems such as pest control. Or is it a matter of the end justifies the means? Sounds a bit too much like National to me …
If GE will transform pasture farming, protecting it from the effects of climate change and ensuring farm-resilience and sustainability, surely industry driven by the market and smart farmers, will invest in the technology.
Surely.
Scientific evidence is one main input into a healthy debate that looks at risks, benefits and economic returns as well. In a holistic way that looks at the whole of society and not just at a few fractions with invested interests (!) or ideological agendas.
the trouble being you cannot model the risks ie they are irreducible eg Nalimov
We can say that the nature of change in biology is random, since it is
impossible to find an expression for a sufficiently detailed description
that is considerably shorter than the “most complete” description of the
observed phenomenon. In other words, it is not possible to construct a
model of a generator of mutations in terms of ordinary cause-effect relations,
i.e., it is not possible to find the causes that unambiguously
generate the full diversity of observed mutations. Having found that the
nature of change is random, we are greatly surprised that there does not
exist an ordinary probabilistic description of the observed phenomena.
An ordinary statistical description of phenomena is possible if, on the
basis of the results of observations carried out on a small sample, we can
calculate the distribution parameters which make it possible to obtain an
idea of the behavior of the complete sequence of phenomena. In the case
of biological changes, observations made on a small sequence of
phenomena do not yield information about the subsequent behavior of
the system. In such a case, averaged characteristics have no significance.
The individual manifestations of the phenomena are important, irrespective
of their probability of occurrence.
Thank you Stephen,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/110982655/stephen-kearney-goes-meet-free-as-warriors-coach-builds-dynasty-at-warriors
Good article on plant-based diet in NZH today:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12209282
I liked it for it’s simple format – ask five experts about the health implications compared to conventional diet. No brow beating, no ethical jabs, just a health focus.
I don’t really care what helps people eat less meat, some just get defensive when the ethics arguments are put up – so having health argued by several professionals is very useful.
Nice one Steve Kearney. I ran some of the sideline stuff for the Warriors games once, Steve’s huge!
Interesting… thanks. Food for thought. No.. plants for thought.
stuffed it up – the headline – didn’t they. Meet-free! Was that a Freudian slip from a meat-eater?
Yes noticed that too grey!
Thanks for posting this mauī.
Yes, v.g. Stephen Kearney and family!
It is very encouraging seeing how more and more NZers are understanding and experiencing the health and environmental benefits of plant-based whole-food eating and it is attracting less of the knee-jerk fear reaction that it used to from threatened individuals in our mainstream ‘animal-slaughter-dependent’ country.
The knee-jerk fear reaction of the thousand or more households in my burg dependent on the meat industry for their livelihoods will probably be along the lines of WTF are we going eat.
Nice illustration – cheers.
Do you think they are fearing for their livelihoods, or what they are going to eat, or both!?
A little bit of knowledge would help them in either case.
The majority are seasonal workers so they know all about both fearing for their livelihoods and how tough it is to feed themselves during the off-season.
This appears to be going a little off-topic from the thread Joe. To bring it back in: seems then that they would be gainfully employed in plant based food production when the ‘vegan-green-peril’ fully takes over.
By then they will have learnt a full range of tasty vegan recipes, other than ‘lettuce and mayo’. They will be healthier and realise how much more affordable it is to feed themselves and their families on a meat-free, dairy-free diet.
I reckon I’ve heard something along those lines before. Oh, that’s right, like Douglass and Prebble before them, Bolger and Richardson assured us that new employment opportunities would abound…and then they proceeded to destroy literally thousands of jobs and tore the heart out of my community. Ain’t gonna happen again.
Yeah good point. The freezing works in several small towns are the major employers.
For myself, I don’t think NZ is going to lose all its dairy/meat production but we’ll have to bring herds down to carrying capacity, and diversify for resilience sake… but ultimately, rotational grazing is the HOW TO of sustainable meat production, with a few tweaks (reduce/remove salts and cides, replant many trees, biodiversity earthworks and water storage, on-site production of feedstock, trees on anything > 15 degrees…) NZ could lead the way in regenerative agriculture.
We are in pole position to create the best food in the world due to our distance from everything, good soils and high rainfall.
Once we’ve learned to keep and grow soil and capture and slow rain (they’re connected), we will not only be productive, but resilient.
I can’t see veganism as the future. I can see diets altering to encompass more plants both for human and planetary health. The freezing worker will still be here, but maybe not so many. there will be more work with trees, bees, aquaculture, fruits, nuts, medicines…
Its very different isn’t it? People making an informed choice about what they eat may certainly disrupt our ‘all eggs in one basket’ (pun intended) animal slaughter industry to some extent. Its hardly comparable to an ideological elite’s top-down imposition of neoliberalism on our lives.
Yes AB
We do need to ‘de-platform’ the ‘right wing angry middle class’ among us.
They only add anger and absolutely no positive resolution to any issue that we need to discuss with “a cool head”.
If they can’t make ‘constructive comments’ – they should be banned.
This was a very good article over on the Daily Blog that I commented on with constructive ways to “define who best to vote for over one issue we need to discuss.
So with the tax reform issue we need a similar voting platform to make our current leaders and (candidates) to define what they will vote for.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/03/06/guest-blog-bryan-bruce-planned-student-protest-gets-my-vote/
We need ‘all of us adults shamed’ into action!!!
As we are the problem currently, – since we are lazy and just vote for these lazy useless Governments; – who just sit on the fence and do nothing; – all while the planet burns.
I am ashamed as I should be so I am 100% behind our young for standing up to show that we need to also get off our butts and get in the action also.
Vote out any lazy politician and Local Body councillor who refuses to stand up and join the fight to save our planet.
As this year being our ‘Local body Elections time’ we need to hold all those ‘potential Local Body candidates to account on climate change!!!
We need to have them all sign a questionnaire on climate change, and publish their plans to “commit” to vote for climate change!!!!
Or the public should not vote for them.
“self preservation is the strongest principal’ – https://www.icomos.org/venicecharter2004/petzet.pdf
I sit on the Southland Regional Council, clean green 🙂
cleangreen
You are talking about making sure that politicians do what the people and the land need them to. And I think that is what a working democracry should be about.
We thought we had one, that was at least tottering along sometimes, and then making changes and getting better. Then the whole thing was overthrown by cutting government away and its regulations (the fat) and supposedly introducing a lean, fit model. Only it leaned too far and fell over! Hah.
Now we need participatory democracy. The people need to form a group of practical people looking to the future, each one with an interest in one of the major drivers of an
enterprise society perhaps transport, agriculture in general including horticulture, manufacturing in general, employment and understanding thoroughly the way that Stats gathers and presents figures for official is there a Household Labour Survey and why or not? Education and its value today, technology spread smothering traditional writing and communication, also what is driving the politicians, advisors, bureaucrats – who yanks their strings, provides the models they follow?
Then we get a picture of what is happening. You have reliable, informed academics who will give you an ear and perhaps address a meeting of keen learners. Then we can draw up rough plans for what is needed, bring the figures in to fill them out, make reasonable estimates of cost, look at who or what would be affected by it, perhaps that site is environmentally vulnerable, perhaps that local landowner would object even if it is public land, even if it is a necessary step for the good of the community. How can he/she be brought into the loop, be smoozed?
There was an interview this morning with a Mayor on the West Coast. He and one of his cohort organised some work without going through the required steps.l
He said they did it because it looked as if there was going to be a repeat of the flood that washed out their sewage ponds. They managed to avoid this and have done apparently a fairly good job of protection with a stopbank or something.
People have to do this, get full information, and then press hard for necessary steps. You cleangreen appear to be doing this in Gisborne. No doubt you have worked out a case for getting quick address to your problems, with steps that even the most reluctant decision maker must notice are straightforward and cogent.
I was reading a bit from David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.
He starts a new Part with Ecclesiastes 9:11 –
So I guess we just hope our time will last long enough to give us the chance.
De-platforming needs to be non-coercive or else we become the thing we abhor.
Lol. ‘There was blame on both sides’.
To take away their platform in the kindest possible way?
After all it surely isn’t so urgent that we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings!
I’m all for hurting their feelings, their wallets (especially) and anything else that works – short of violence or suspension of the rule of law.
Excellent.
I reckon bugger elections and democracy clean green, you and bunch of teenagers ( preferably suitably left and woke ) just determin the criteria and what constitutes correct thinking and then select who should be in council and in parliament
That, is called the National party!
Nandor Tanczos discusses the permaculture hui coming in April, in our food forest, in Riverton.
https://www.accessradio.org/Player.aspx?eid=64c26ccb-14ee-4074-9ae2-7085737b5109
Well done Robert.
https://twitter.com/tvrain/status/1102958278777102336
Lol. But the same thing would happen in The States. Or here, but with perhaps slightly less force.
More from the Gallow at Oxford. Absolutely superb.
Thanks mauī, again I appreciate your posts today.
This is fascinating and I hope some of our right wing trolls who are fond of spouting their version of the truth here get an opportunity to watch (and think about) this.
Meooow🐈
You knew it didn’t you, that Mike Hosking would go all orgasmic about Paula Bennett?
That it’d be about benefits?
Paula’s gang patch.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D07E3DQU0AAWAy3?format=jpg&name=large
I love lead? I guess working with Simon would make you ask people to shoot you.
🤣🤣🤣
Is that the sartorial equivalent of retweeting yourself?
Farmers need protection from livestock rustling.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1903/S00034/nz-first-pushes-for-tougher-livestock-rustling-measures.htm
Government is looking at it. The miniature horses deaths are an indication of a certain level of callous skulduggery that can exist in rural areas.
Was rife on the East Coast 1980’s to early 1990’s basically organised crime, some of the Maori Trust Blocks got hammered, one block at Te Arararoa lost 100 x breeding cows and a Station in the Waikura Valley lost 300 x 2 tooth breeding ewes, this ain’t just the odd animal for the freezer.
Truck @ trailers required for these sort of numbers.
I imagine Mr Shaw may be getting a little bit nervous.
After almost a year of the MSM ignoring the total stuff up by his Department in their attempt to hold a Census Stuff is starting to run stories about it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111052779/365-days-and-still-counting-census-2018-results-nowhere-to-be-seen
Young James has spent all that time with a blindfold on and his hands jammed over his ears while he, ever more desperately, claims that everything will turn out all right, and anyway “it wasn’t my fault”.
Well tough luck James. It was your fault and your refusal to do anything about it should cause you sacking.
Have a look in the linked article. You don’t have to accept my opinion.
As Auckland University Statistician Andrew Sporle says
“”It’s a bit of a disaster, we don’t know how bad, but we know it’s a disaster.”
He said it appeared Stats NZ’s follow through after the initial response, which was adequate, had faltered.”
In other words it was what happened after the Census that has caused the havoc and Shaw is totally responsible for that.
Shaw also claims that it will not be possible to arrange a Census in 2021. What that means is that he, and his Department, have wasted 12 months that could have been put into organizing it.
Economist Brian Easton has also commented on Shaw’s Shambles.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111044133/census-mess-can-be-resolved-with-a-new-one-in-2021
Brian, who certainly doesn’t lean to the right says that the Census is unlikely to be accepted by a Court as meeting the statutory obligations that exist. He is also quite scathing about the argument that it is impossible to run a proper one in 2021.
As he says.
“Stats NZ has claimed that it takes three years (instead of two years and nine months) to run a new census. But I am told that if it uses the existing good parts of the 2018 census with the 2013 enumerator system, it will take 18 months to organise.
So it could start the task as late as this September. All it requires is leadership, although it may be sensible to bring back (sometimes out of retirement) the team that ran the 2013 enumeration.”
Well Mr Shaw is supposedly the leader. Unfortunately he has demonstrated he is anything but a good one.
There is a lovely old US saying about people like James Shaw.
“Piss or get off the pot”.
As most people will recognize it means stop procrastinating an do something.
Mr Shaw appears to be incapable of doing anything. He should resign.
If he won’t then the PM should follow the US idiom. She should sack him.
SFW, we managed to cope with a five year delay.
Now there is a man who isn’t afraid to demonstrate his antipathy to a politician.
You do realize that the delay we “managed to cope with”, and which was 2 years not 5 years by the way, was due to the Christchurch earthquake?
Now you are quite happy to delay the Census by 5 years and happily go from 2013 to 2123 to get any sensible results.
I am not a great enthusiast for Mr Shaw as a Minister of the Crown, as people who read what I say about him here may be aware. To put it briefly I think he has been useless.
However I really wouldn’t go as far as you do and describe his activities as being a great deal more of a disaster than the Earthquake was.
Alwyn you are all wrong .We actually rate Shaw and don’t rate your opinion.
The organisation was done by National. But you know that and you are redirecting.
That’s nice dear. I’m sure that you absolutely adore the dishy Mr Shaw.
What do you rate him at on a scale of 0 to 10?
Actually don’t bother. If someone wants to be a Minister of the Crown I don’t care how he is rated by the ladies. I only care about whether he can do the job and Shaw has been an abject failure.
But you know that don’t you?
Shock! – I agree with you about the Census stuff up.
Not ready to blame JS like you have though. Being a Green supporter, I will try very hard to understand what his part in this was – let’s see how he handles it when the results are published.
I fear, like Brian Easton, that any fudged results they manage to cook up will not satisfy a Court that they are of a legally sufficient quality. The thing a true leader would have done was to recognize that possibility immediately after the results were in doubt and start a parallel path of preparing to rerun the exercise in 2021. This could have been done at the same time as they were trying to patch up the data.
They should also have tried to quickly get more people into the field to try and contact the people who were missed. Chase up those people who had done the job in 2013 and recruit as many of them as possible. They at least had once been trained.
It would appear that Shaw, in the time between becoming Minister and the Census didn’t satisfy himself that it was going to be on track on the day. He still seems to be in a complete state of denial even a year after the fiasco. It was his job to ask questions of the Officials and satisfy himself that the answers made sense.
Alywin own the census stuff up as the Nats, which it was or f off
You did notice that MR (or Dr) Sporle said that the problems only occurred after the Census date. Up till then things were going OK. If all the problems started 5 or 6 months after the current lot took office an attempt to blame it all on National is only something a person like you or the current PM would attempt.
The pm doesn’t do that. She always picks up responsibility for her patch.
I didn’t read what your wrote about James Shaw. I will if I have time. I had read that the f ups were down to previous govt, but realize that that may not be the case
Ok alywyn, just read the article. You have selectively used quotes to implicate Shaw. The review of what went wrong is due mid 2019. The follow up you referred to would have been designed under national. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but actually you were spinning.
Remember about the boy who cried wolf
Actually Ardern did claim it was all National’s fault.
That was her first reaction. It also ignored the fact that National increased the money to run the Census from about $90 million in 2013 to $120 million in 2018.
Is that really a case of them being cheap skates?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/109424122/prime-minister-blames-national-for-census-debacle-says-stats-nz-warned-them-of-budgetary-constraints
That’s funny. Using the name “Shaw” and “leader” in the same sentence.
He’s got his incompetent predecessor to blame.
I suggest you see my comment at 14.3.1.
I guess I must include you in the foolish little trio rather than only the duo of fools.
Maybe he’s wrong wally. I mean when Pricksmith stuffs things up they stay stuffed up.
Fantastic that alwyn has been reduced to complaining about the census.
Statistically, statistics are not something a lot of people care about.
Hah, bloody hah.
I have been complaining about the stuffed up Census since a few weeks after it took place. The second I saw the percentage of the population that had responded I thought that it couldn’t possibly be rectified.
Lots of people on this site claimed that everything was OK and that of course they would get usable numbers.
Well they were wrong and an awful lot of other people are now saying the same things that I have been saying for the best part of a year.
You may not care about statistics, or the Census.
That is because you are an ignorant fool. Read Easton’s article that I linked to and then ask yourself how they can possibly settle on electorate boundaries, the number of Maori seats, allocations to DHBs or money going to schools without a valid Census? The law requires that they get it right.
Claiming that people, and by implication you, aren’t interested merely demonstrates how stupid you really are. But then your comments show that on almost every occasion you burst into song here.
I think they could make reasonable guesses on DHBs. Maori electorates won’t have changed much because the previous government made sure they couldn’t get ahead. Schools might be an issue. It’s a pity the Nats didn’t collect data on all the money flooding into the country via property investment.
” Maori electorates won’t have changed much”.
Of course not. You aren’t concerned in the slightest that if they use the figures they have there may be one less Maori Electorate?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111003171/mori-electorate-seat-at-risk-due-to-census-2018-debacle?rm=m
And it doesn’t really matter that there are tens of millions of dollars that may be mis-allocated to each of the DHBs.
It is good to see that Jimmy Shaw isn’t concerned though. He apparently prefers to be in a position of “I know nothing”.
It seems to be the case that he hasn’t even shown enough interest to ask for a briefing on the matter.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/111074980/stats-minister-james-shaw-yet-to-take-advice-on-key-census-2018-risks
I suppose he is far to busy arranging his next little jaunt to attend a conference on how to fly less which will be held in some exotic far distant place.
Heh Bozo. The only real job you have is Statistics and their major task is the Census. Do your job you lazy sod.
The hard part is going to be generating the political will.
.
“Right now, we have about ninety per cent or ninety-five per cent of the technology we need,” Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, told me. In a series of papers, Jacobson and his colleagues have laid out “roadmaps” to a zero-emissions economy for fifty states, fifty-three towns and cities, and a hundred and thirty-eight other countries, with a completion date of 2050. Just as in the Democrats’ Green New Deal, the central element of these roadmaps (and others) is converting the electric grid to clean energy by shutting down power stations that rely on fossil fuels and making some very large investments in wind, solar, hydroelectric, and geothermal facilities. Jacobson said this could be completed by 2035, which is only five years beyond the target set out in the Green New Deal. At the same time, policymakers would introduce a range of measures to promote energy efficiency, and electrify other sectors of the economy that now rely heavily on burning carbon, such as road and rail transport, home heating, and industrial heating. “We don’t need a technological miracle to solve this problem,” Jacobson reiterated. “‘The bottom line is we just need to deploy, deploy, deploy.”
http://archive.li/kUiGN
Yup.
Convert all land-based energy use to electric. Short flights go to electric, long-haul will need biofuels. There’s a good chance shipping will find small modular nuclear reactors to be the best option.
I can’t think of a better way to boost the economy than doing all the R&D, manufacturing and infrastructure work needed to make that happen.
Hear hear!
I wonder how the people of the bay of plenty would have felt if the rena was nuclear powered.
That disaster created my favorite meme (that I made)
Rocks Tar Economy.
I was surprised when it didn’t take off 😀
Reactors for use in shipping are a tenth the size or less of land-based electricity generation reactors. So a Fukushima or Chernobyl or Three Mile Island accident has negligible probability of happening, simply because the thermal runaway issues are exponentially related to reactor size.
In a ship, there’s always coolant available right there. Unlike Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima which all had loss of cooling as a key part of what went wrong.
The radioactive material is always inside a seriously grunty containment vessel, so dropping a steaming pile of uranium on the seabed just aint gonna happen. The worst case scenario is breaking off the coolant lines going in and out of the containment vessel so seawater can go in and out of the containment vessel. Which will release a very small amount of radioactive material with the initial flushing out of the coolant that will very quickly dilute and dissipate.
After that, to release radioactive material, they will need to be dissolved into the seawater. The concentration of uranium in seawater is already quasi-saturated, so it’s going to be just barely above background levels.
So no, there wouldn’t suddenly be three-headed fish on the menu in the BOP. By any rational assessment, the worst-case ecosystem damage done by a hypothetical nuke-powered Rena would be much less than the actual damage done by the actual bunker oil spilled by the actual Rena.
But we’ve had decades of overhyped scare stories about the nuclear boogeyman, so rational assessment probably aint gonna count for squat if we’re ever called on to figure out how we feel about nuke-powered ships in our ports.
edit: Here’s an industry puff-piece on existing marine use of nuclear propulsion. Glossy spin to be sure, but it’s still a useful illustration of the scope of what’s already out there.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/non-power-nuclear-applications/transport/nuclear-powered-ships.aspx
Evidently the servicing on the cooling system had been neglected at Fukushima.
Apparently at Chernobyl they were doing some kind of test that involved fucking with the cooling system.
Three Mile Island had sequential failures of cooling components. IIRC, starting with pumps, then a valve stuck open. Shitty operator interface design contributed to operators not correctly understanding what was going wrong and then taking incorrect steps to try to fix it.
I can’t imagine the servicing of a third world flagged merchant fleet will be anything to write home about.
Or servicing Third World Nuclear Power Plants ?
Thanks
I can’t see that we’re ever actually gonna be called on the consider the question.
Oil prices would have to be up over $200/barrel, maybe $300, to make nukes look economically attractive to shipping companies. The only way I see that happening is a worldwide carbon price of at least $300/tonne CO2e that captures shipping as well. Maybe more like $600 or $1000/tonne. On an industry that is remarkably successful at avoiding getting taxed and regulated.
Sigh. We’re all gonna fry.
What do you reckon of this?
A ticking time bomb?
Seems somewhat risky. 🤣
When you consider the Soviet/ Russian Nuclear accidents over the yrs, it’s a ticking time bomb waiting to go pop like Chernobyl or like their Nuke Subs or Ships. Just google earth/ maps of the Northern Fleet dockyards and see all their Nuclear Subs and their Cruisers in various states of this disrepair.
I think even Greenpeace has a piece on this wee monster of ticking time bomb?
Greenpeace’s knee-jerk anti-nuclear-power stance is one of the reasons I’ve gone off them.
To me, closing down an already built running nuclear power station somewhere like Germany, just because nuclear, makes no sense at all. For starters, the big environmental costs have already been incurred, like the original build, irradiation of the guts of it on startup etc. The ongoing marginal environmental cost of continued operation is pretty minimal.
Then there’s the way shortfalls in electricity production from shutting a nuke is likely to be made up by burning coal. Which is vastly more environmentally damaging than nuclear, even counting Fukushima and Chernobyl and TMI and all the others.
Yet Greenpeace is right at the forefront of demanding nuke power plants be shut down. It’s quite the environmental and climate own goal.
I do agree that shutting down the German Nuclear Power plants is just plain crazy and as you said doesn’t make any sense at all. But I do think Greenpeace concerns on this wee ticking time bomb is quite valid, given the track record of the Russians to run a Nuclear Power safety.
Gets around the earthquake issue.
What about the Tsunami issue?
Wouldn’t even notice it.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/03/11/tsunami.cruise.ships/index.html
But that thing will always be close to shore, won’t it? That’s where the power is needed.
Can’t see it motoring out to open water at the drop of a hat.
You can have it anchored 10k offshore and just run a power cable back.
Treat it like an oil rig, the Taranaki rigs are a long way offshore.
https://teara.govt.nz/en/map/8934/taranaki-oil-and-gas-fields-2006
BM, did you ever see the footage from the Jap Coast Guard Vessel (about the same size of one of the RNZN OPV’s) riding the Tsunami waves some 50 plus km’s offshore? The ship was lucky to get to the crest of wave and nearly didn’t have a enough herbs to get over the second and third waves.
Cables, ok.
In the event of an accident, atmospheric dispersal of radioactive debris in a low population area (at sea for instance) might be less harmful to humans, but dispersal by ocean current would be disastrous for marine life and coastal communities, potentially for thousands of kilometres.
True, but if it’s close inshore when a Tsunami hits. I wouldn’t want to be near that thing in a month of Monday’s, even if I had a bucket full of iodine pills while wear a noddy suit at the same time.
I think Andre below, pretty well sums up my thoughts on this.
Fukushima was a fuck up evidently the cooling systems weren’t serviced properly and helped cause the melt down, stupid place to build s Nuclear Plant – Stupid Yanks Again ?
The cooling systems were taken out by the tsunami …. they were badly / cheaply sited .
The general concept has some merits. It’s an example of where the rooskies have kept going with reactor developments and may be in a pretty good position if a market for small modular reactors ever develops.
The reactors are essentially the same design the rooskies have successfully used for quite a while in icebreakers. They’re modestly sized (150MW thermal, 35MW electrical compared to Chernobyl reactors being 3200MW thermal 1000MW electrical each), so if shit goes down with them it won’t be much shit.
Things I don’t like about them are: Russian engineering and manufacturing and respect for safety and the environment ain’t the greatest, they’re old design pressurised water reactors that rely on active control systems working at all times, and PWRs produce a lot of radioactive waste relative to power generated.
There are newer reactors designs that respond to complete loss of control and power by depowering using the laws of physics rather than active control, which I find much more comfortable. There’s also newer designs that essentially burn their waste rather than requiring somewhere very secure to store the waste for a very long time (maybe rooskies don’t care about secure storage for the waste).
So I’ve got quite mixed thoughts on that particular application of nuclear tech.
Should add, the cost looks way up there. Wikipedia reckons the project cost will be around USD336 million for a 70MW electricity output. That’s around $5/watt of electrical output. Although since it’s Murmansk, they’re probably taking quite a bit of its output directly as heat.
For comparison, utility-scale wind and solar are on the order of $0.50/watt.
Not a viable option then?
Not that I could see Kiwis excepting the concept of a floating nuclear power plant.
Any government that allowed this would be hung drawn and quartered.
Never ever ever gonna be viable for on-land generation in New Zealand. We’ve got so much wind, geothermal and maybe even solar if needed that we just won’t need something that expensive and politically unpopular on land.
The alien unicorns will have arrived and started excreting working fusion plants out their back ends long before we tap out our renewables potential.
But if the world ever gets serious about eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, we may have a choice of either accepting nuke-powered ships in our ports or shutting ourselves off from the rest of the world.
To be honest BM, I don’t think Nuclear Power would be practical in NZ from a risk, safety and cost POV. A Nuclear Power station would’ve got done in the 50’s-late 60’s if NZ’s history in the Atomic age is anything to by.
but not now as the muppets in Treasury would have a fit, before the anti Nuke mob even got their finger out of their digit to organise any protest. Hell the Treasury Muppets are already having fits over the 20B DCP over 15- 20yrs last announce by the “No Mates Party and reconfirm by the current Government, so you think they will support this?
Yeah right mate.
You haven’t seen the state of technical maintenance, on every, FOC ship we have taken over. Except for AHTSV’s.
Sometimes the paintwork looks good, and often the paperwork.
The quality of technical maintenance on the equipment and engines, has been, without exception, abysmal.
Let your average cost cutting “Flag of Convenience” shipping company manage a nuclear plant!
You must be fucking, joking!
Hydrogen is really the only promising technology, at present, for ship fuels.
It has it’s own dangers, however.
Note though, a diesel ship has at least 30 times less emissions per ton.mile, than trucks.
Complexity of operation and maintenance is a very good argument against quite a few classes of reactor design. Including all the pressurised water and light water reactor designs I’m aware of. Ironically, those designs are also the easiest to get regulatory approval for, since they’re based on legacy designs with long histories. Most expensive to actually build, too, because of the complexity, but the easier approval process counteracts that. That roosky nukes-on-barge thing BM linked to is one of those legacy type PWRs.
Several of the outfits working on newer next-gen reactors are specifically targeting outright eliminating maintenance requirements and simplifying operation to the point of making the reactor itself basically a “big battery” from the users point of view. At least the nuke thermal part, anyway, converting heat to electricity or mechanical power won’t ever be quite that simple. The containment vessel for all the radioactive bits would be all in one unit, fueled at the factory for several years of operation. Then when it’s depleted, the entire unit is pulled out and replaced with a refurbished refuelled unit, and the old one goes back to the factory for refurb and refuel.
If you can be bothered scrolling through the big article linked below you’ll find brief descriptions of several of these efforts. But none of them look anywhere near becoming commercial reality.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/small-nuclear-power-reactors.aspx
https://www.ship-technology.com/features/featureis-there-a-future-for-hydrogen-powered-ship-propulsion-5731545/
https://grist.org/article/a-ferry-that-runs-on-hydrogen-fuel-cells-is-coming-to-san-francisco/
Safe, storage of large amounts of hydrogen is an issue, but scientists reckon it is, solvable. Note: The dangers of storing large quantities of gas or petrol.
Making hydrogen, of course requires a large source of sustainable electricity. Which New Zealand has the capability.
Unless we get the Holy Grail, Fusion, which is decades away, if ever. Continued nuclear energy for transport, remains unlikely.
Handling hydrogen is way way more difficult and dangerous than handling liquid fuels. Hydrogen embrittlement of metals, the way seals have to be metal-to-metal contact because hydrogen permeates through and reacts with polymers so quickly, hydrogen’s very wide range of explosive concentrations in air, the way hydrogen fires are nearly invisible to the naked eye (they put out a shitload of UV though)…
The round trip efficiency of using electricity to split water for hydrogen to mechanical work is very low. I don’t see us having enough excess of electricity any time soon to make that route to widespread use of hydrogen viable.
I reckon what might make hydrogen viable is if any of the teams working on photocatalytic hydrogen production has a breakthrough, or one of the lab methods of generating hydrogen from hydrocarbons without releasing CO2 has a breakthrough. One of the most interesting efforts in that area is bubbling methane up through molten metal, which releases nearly pure hydrogen and the carbon becomes a solid floating on top of the molten metal. Presumably like a sooty powder.
In the early noughties when the prospect of a hydrogen economy looked more likely, there was a fluffy of articles talking about risks to the ozone layer from leaked hydrogen. That question seems to have died off, but I haven’t found whether it was shown to be a non-issue, or whether it just reflects an assessed low probability of widespread hydrogen use.
I am aware of the likely costs of new reactor designs, for ships. As well as the PR issues.
I don’t think shipping companies will go there.
Probably a little bit pissed off.
Auckland City Council have Resource Consent to dump toxic sludge out of Auckland Viaduct Harbour into the pristine waters of Great Barrier Island so some rich wankers can have a silly little boat race in Auckland Harbour ?
Sssh city pollution good . Country pollution bad .
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/03/watch-jacinda-ardern-and-simon-bridges-in-fiery-debate-over-m-ori-capital-gains-tax-exemptions.html
Jacinda losing it in the house today.
Very funny. Bridges looks firmly in control.
I see nothing of the sort in the link provided. He said she said – no big deal. But if you need that illusion to help you get chubby by all means who am I to judge.
Rolling a turd in glitter only works if it’s still moist. The tax debate is as dry as a desert coprolite.
I just watched the full exchange and the PM clearly owned it.
The only thing I agree with is that yeah, it was funny.
Of course, you and the Herald shills are free to pretend to see it differently.
The acting leader of the nat party should be renamed ‘Slicks’, not for his hair, or love for big oil, but for the fact he get’s no traction when the red rain pours.
Your a funny chap there James, Jacinda neither lost it or Bridges looked in control, but you’re right it was a little funny. The Prime Minister ended still with a smile on her face and the Leader of the National Party looked like he was about to burst into tears. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Did Slick get cwoss and cwy jimbo?
Jimmy you have finally arrived we have been waiting all day.
Some of us have things to do.
Glad you have been thinking of me all day – I haven’t given you a second thought.
LOL
I can’t think why National’s only asking questions about the Cullen report. They’ve decided that recommendations in it are exactly what’s going to happen, the Government’s going to do everything suggested.
Surely they have the imagination to work out what’s going to come out of other reviews and can put the heat on the Government about the decisions they’ve already made to instigate all recommendations. You know, make it all up – should be easy from the fantasyland they’re in.
An issue has finally emerged that they care about.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/111065215/kpiti-expressway-needs-25-million-worth-of-repairs-just-two-years-after-opening
tempted to just say “lol”
But if you dig deeper (not that I could give a fuck because of gNat and NZTA muppetry, AND if you consider the Levin Mayor’s contributions today to the debate) ….. it all couldn’t have happened to such ideologically driven peeps.
If you go back over the years from the dismantling of MOW, to out-saucing – even where bitumen is available (primarily from a private monopoly), Hark at Thee for trying to scream foul now.
Shudda Cudda Wudda.
I mean!!!!! this same shit happened before FFS on that same route.
Is there anyone among elected government representatives that has yet got past the flagellation phase of pandering to their ‘officials’ (who LEAST OF ALL have your best interests at heart)
As things pan out, I’m actually seriously worried about the Coalition and in particular some with Ministerial responsibilities.
For some, there some really FUCKING EASY gains to be made (e.g. with Immigration, OR with Land Transport, or various other things that could be done via Ministerial regulatory and ‘last chance’ options).
Doesn’t seem to be happening so far (and it’s what????? 12 -15 months)
Are some of them actually masochists do you think?
Why not email or write an actual letter just to show some of us know how* to the various Ministers you would like to test for masochism and see if you can penetrate their defence mechanisms.
(*Our city post office has just been abandoned for no reason except ideology. Here in Nelson it is very busy in the tourist season and we had a nice central location which is all being given over to Kiwi Bank. With a different design we could have given Kiwi bank pride of place and had a simpler post office set up but no it has to go to the back of a nearby private book and stationery shop. Bloody Post Office dimwits and vandals. They have made up their mind that it’s a dying business and are speeding it on its way – just too unimaginative to keep it going with a simpler business model that differs depending on the site and location.)
I’m on the move again @grey, so difficult to give you a full reply atm, but I have done so in the past as have others from various advocacy groups, unions, and so on – AND provided instances (cases) where people have been let down – either through under-resourcing, inexperience, or just sheer muppetry.
What is annoying is that in many many instances, the failings (MBIE, NZTA, Health, DHBs, WINZ, HNZ etc.) is all a matter of record.
And though I don’t necessarily agree with NZ1’s approach to some of our PS (the Senior ranks), I can understand their frustration.
Unless there is some sort of reform of the PS, it is going to be hard for this coalition to be “transformational”.
Immigrant worker exploitation (for example) could AT LEAST be minimised, along with its flow on effects in driving down wages quite easily. I’m wondering whether the only reason a couple of simple steps haven’t been taken is because there is fear that a flood of complaints might overwhelm the Labour Inspectorate – but which to do you more important? I’d suggest trying to minimise the exploitation and eventually holding the exploiters to account trumps anything based on past bad policy advice.
Kia ora The AM Show Its cool that today is international Wahines day for equality its is a cause that Eco Maori champions. They won’t let a truly powerful Artificial Intelligence program to give financial advice to the masses as the billionaire won’t be able to ripp us off.
Its more than just sports that is fixed in our society.
The Hokatika Wild foods festival would be great to go and see there are Alot of bush food that we could harvest that we don’t even know about it would be good for the environment and organic as well
Why is Fonterra selling its silver ware its stupid are some of the people in the know lining Tip top up to buy cheap and than resell making huge profits at the expense of farmers selling is also not logical when interest rates are at historical lows.???????????????????. With the Rugby The people who control the World don’t want a team called the All Blacks domanating World Rugby don’t let the bigots win.
Nice money Phil Goff has good control of Auckland he is doing a great job.
Our return armed forces personnel NZDF do need more care I see all Around the world that they are suffering mental fatigue physically disabled but I would never let my Mokopunas go to war no one wins in war. judy its all very well that you’re child can afford private education but most people can not hence our government invested in our future with the money given to our youths education.
Sir Michael Cullen has more Good knowledge on the tax system than the whole of the national party. There moto is giving more to the wealthy and take more from the poor. Anyperson with a logical brain can work out that is a unsustainable model when money is consentrated in a few hands. Te tangata te tangata te tangata when everyone ha enough KAI all te tangata are healthy and happy when only a few have all the KAI nobody is happy Ka kite ano
Don’t believe the sandflys lieing spinning about what’s going on in my life at the minute. You can not compare my situation with ANYONE else’s it Eco Maori. For one they will and have use everything at their disposal to try and LOCKME UP the power of the states spy’s and NOTHING if they had one shread of evedince they would have locked me up druged me up and carry on shitting on the common people. Ana to kai. Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/tgIqecROs5M
I read a bit about this plite happening to Our Native Amercian and Canada Wahine Cousins I could not believe what I had read I waited for some more information on the subject Its SHOCKING that these Wahine from Amercia and Canada are missing and 4 to 5 x as much as whites WTF in a first world country this should not be happening. The aurthoritys could find them or what happened to them but because tangata whenua/ people of the land cultures are being suppressed all around the world they DONT GIVE A SHIT.
REDress exhibit highlights epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women
Haunting outdoor art installation by Canadian artist Jaime Black is on display at Washington DC Museum
The REDress Project, an outdoor art installation by Métis artist Jaime Black at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC. Photograph: Katherine Fogden/National Museum of the American Indian
T
hirty-five red dresses hung on winter-bare trees lining the Riverwalk along the National Museum of the American Indian. A woman pushing a stroller stopped to watch the garments twist in the wind, staring at the smallest dress in the collection – one that would fit a little girl.
The REDress Project is a haunting outdoor art installation in Washington DC by Canadian artist Jaime Black meant to symbolize the epidemic of violence against indigenous women and girls.
“Every visitor will have a different experience with the dresses,” said Machel Monenerkit, the deputy director of the National Museum of American Indian. “But you cannot walk through this installation and not have some emotional experience.”
For years and at astonishing rates, Native women in the United States, Canada and across the continent have gone missing or been murdered. Native American women are 10 times more likely to be murdered and four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the national average, according to a recent report by the US Commission on Civil Rights.
But in the era of #MeToo and after the first two Native American women were elected to Congress in 2018, there is a renewed effort to account for the disappearances and prevent future tragedies. Ka kite ano links below .
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/07/redress-exhibit-dc-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women
Some Eco Maori Music for the Minute.
Kia ora Te ao Maori News I say that those youth justice prison are training grounds for our tamariki to learn bad habits off the harden tamariki that are in their it needs to have more than just a Maori name it needs to be run by Maori as we will teach them good principles and love them not loave them and treat them like a treasure not dirt.
Tipuni Kokori is only a shell compare to the Mana funding it once had and Eco Maori says it need more funding to help Maori tangata and businesses.
Sports is a good way for OUR tamariki to climb up to their maximum heights on their ladders of life. I was to busy trying to building my Maunga plus we live in the wopwops to concentrate on my tamariki sport te Wahine was sleeping. That’s good to know to karakia to the Stars
Ka pai Ken the break dancer Tau toko smoke free I hear that the Olympic committee is considering having break danceing in the Olympic. Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
Te billionares oil barron climate change suppressors do obey any rules mans or GOD,s keep up the good mahi tamariki /good work children
Student climate change strike: Rules don’t matter when you’re fighting for your future
OPINION: I have a memory of my grandfather saying that, when he was young, children were to be seen and not heard. Reflecting on it now, I suspect that I was being naughty at the time and he was suggesting that I might consider being seen and not heard.
On March 15, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people are intending to walk out of their classrooms. They will take to the streets to protest decades of complacency and inaction on climate change, on the part of the adults whose first responsibility should have been the future these kids will inherit.
Since the “School Strike 4 Climate” was announced, a number of adults have expressed apparent concern for the impact that taking time out of school will have on the education of these young students.
But I don’t remember any concern for the impact on my schooling when I was marshalled out of class for a morning so I could wave to a fast-passing limousine bearing Prince Charles and Lady Diana on their visit to Wellington in 1983.
It wouldn’t have helped bring an end to apartheid if protesters had rented side-line advertising space during half time at the All Blacks v Springboks test matches in 1981.
And homosexual law reform wouldn’t have happened if gay rights activists had stayed in the closet and out of sight.
Should kids be skipping school to shout about inaction on climate change? I wish they didn’t feel they had to. I wish they weren’t left feeling like they have to fight for their futures.
That’s why I, as your Green Party minister in this Government, will make sure we bring the Zero Carbon Bill into law.
That law will establish an important certainty in Aotearoa New Zealand, that we can and must reduce the greenhouse gas pollution which is overheating our planet and threatening the delicate balance that maintains our existence.
There may once have been a time when it was considered right and proper that children should be seen and not heard. But when our children feel like they’re fighting for their future, this is not that time.
James Shaw is the co-leader of the Green Party and the Minister for Climate Change. Ka kite ano links below.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/111139469/student-climate-strikes-rules-dont-matter-when-youre-fighting-for-your-future
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/LHCob76kigA
Eco Maori Say Kia Kaha Mana Wahine pay equity Equality will give ladys the power to fight for a good cause Wahines Mana if power is money and the men are given 10 to 100 x more money than Wahine if we do close the wage gap than we will never get EQUALITY for Wahine
United States women’s football team sues for equitable pay
Players for the US women’s national football team have filed a gender discrimination lawsuit seeking pay that is equitable to that of their male counterparts
The action comes just three months before the team will defend its title at the women’s World Cup in France.
The players allege that they have been subject to ongoing “institutionalised gender discrimination,” including unequal pay, despite having the same job responsibilities as players on the men’s national team. The 28 members of the current national team player pool joined in the class-action lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, which was filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
The players are seeking equitable pay and treatment, in addition to damages including back pay.
`And hopefully in that way it inspires women everywhere.”
The US Women’s National Team Players Association was not party to the lawsuit, but in a statement said it “supports the plaintiffs’ goal of eliminating gender-based discrimination by USSF.”
The US Soccer Federation didn’t have an immediate comment.
The USSF has maintained in the past that much of the pay disparity between the men’s and women’s teams results from separate collective bargaining agreements.
The women’s team set up its compensation structure, which included a guaranteed salary rather than a pay-for-play model like the men, in the last labor contract. The players also earn salaries – paid by the federation – for playing in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The women receive other benefits, including health care, that the men’s national team players don’t receive, the federation has maintained.
This is not the first time the players have sought equitable compensation and conditions. Ka kite ano links below P.S There was nothing wrong with our best mens sports team so why has it been turned insideout
https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/football/world-game/111154110/united-states-womens-football-team-sues-for-equitable-pay