NZTA broke health and safety laws, spent over 200 grand of taxpayers money on lawyers, threatened us if my wife continued her case against them they would ruin her career,
threatened suppliers with loss of work if they employed my wife, using unsigned contracts.
[Snip. Im sorry Gerald but these comments are potentially defamatory and best that they be removed now. The link to the judgement remains and I recommend that people read it to see what has happened – MS]
we have been visited by police several times from false accusations made ba a nzta employee, one accusation was , "she was running around in the paddock doing a chicken dance", when they made this accusation against my wife, she was 600km away. haha. when presented with the evidence they just threw it away and said they didnt believe us.
NZTA legendary status for being able to do this to someone and get away scott free.
Increase their funding i say (sarc)
[lprent: I see that MS has already looked at this.
I have also deleted the names at the top. A brief scan of the judgement showed that one was misspelt and I couldn’t find one of the others. Possibly referred to in the judgement as A or B. Generally if you want to refer to people or events, then use what is already in the public record, or what you can directly and truthfully testify to yourself.
Please remember that if legal action is taken over comments made on this site, then I am also in the legal firing line as well. I will act accordingly to protect my time. ]
"She took NZTA to the Employment Relations Authority which dismissed her claims. Byrne then went to the Employment Court" and "Employment Court rules NZTA breached confidentiality clause".
So the ERA is a bullshit scheme? Or did it lack authority to dispense justice? Definitely indicates something seriously wrong somewhere…
Hi Gerard…I wish I could say i'm surprised, but sadly I'm not. I'm in the centre of an issue currently with Auckland Council that involves behaviour ranging from incompetence to downright nastiness. And all on the ratepayers. I'm glad your wife fought on. Go well.
Crikey that's a long time for Mrs Byrne's name to be cleared. Good to see her reputation clearer and a clear direction for costs for her.
That also names a lot of lower-order names within NZTA.
And a lot of HR processes gone drastically wrong in a lot of detail.
I know a lot about NZTA's internal culture, and concur with the judge.
As we are about to see with the Transmission Gully PPP failure, a government organisation with this amount of power in society truly wrecks things when it goes wrong.
If my experience as an ece teacher (now retired) coming from Auckland to Whangarei is anything to go by this sort of prejudice towards newcomers is all too common in the north
Hi Ad , unfortunately the awarding of costs doesn't cover the expenses incurred while fight the extremely pitbull type nature of the lawyers from NZTA on the taxpayers money
Hey Ad, check this out from the court finding: " [27] NZTA had engaged WSP Opus as principal advisors/consultants of the Northland Bridges Project (the Project).The Project related to three sites where one-lane bridges were to be replaced with two-lane bridges. WSP Opus was responsible for the business case of the Project, procurement of design and construction, and contract management. [28] There was no signed or final contract between those parties, although there was a draft document." https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/2019-NZEmpC-187-Byrne-v-NZ-Transport-Agency-jud-131219.pdf
So the NZTA hired them to build the bridges without signing a contract! That's so dodgy you'd suspect Bridges (Simon) authorised the deal! "They're all hicks from the sticks up there, nobody will notice."
Hard to tell, but from my experience it's not necessarily dodgy for work to commence before a final contract is signed … especially where there is an ongoing professional relationship between the parties.
And both parties might well want to see some preliminary investigation and design work done in order to fully understand the scope and risks before signing the dotted line. Whenever you are dealing with groundworks of any kind, there is real potential for nasty surprises.
I've just finished scanning the judgement. It's clear NZTA have acted very poorly in this matter and thoroughly deserved to lose this case. It reflects very badly on someone's judgement that they allowed a non-work related disagreement between neighbours to escalate into this kind of debacle.
In my 35 yrs in the engineering /tech field I've been close to similar problems of a breakdown in trust between professional colleagues a few times. It's never easy, and rarely ends well. I'm sorry you and your wife have gone through this, because I know exactly how it feels.
Having said that, I note that at least one small part of the story involved you disparaging NZTA on various blogs (sec 136 -138) which probably didn't help matters.
The judge clearly notes (sec 116 and 117) that both parties allowed their judgement to be clouded by personal animosity.
My advice to people caught up in this kind of legal battle is to always keep in mind what their ideal outcome would be once it is all over. You certainly want resolution, but you also need to be able to live life without this becoming a perpetual burden on you and everyone else. You need to get to a redemption of some kind. And you certainly want to do everything in your power to avoid walking into this kind of mess ever again.
there was no civil dispute between the parties until my wife lodged her complaint, then over 130 accusations were made against me and my wife to paint a picture of a certain behaviour.
after two years of being videod by nzta all they have is me giving their employee the fingers once.
you will find that i didnt disparage the nzta in any blogs, as they tried to get an order against me for my comments, but had to withdraw it because no untruths were told.
my advice to people getting into anything with the nzta is expect to be defamed, ridiculed, visited by police on several occasions, laws will be broken to ruin you, they will spy on you , use their employees to threaten your employer,
even after an outcome you will still be spied on and visited by police, which is happening to us even during lockdown!
the nzta employee who we have the civil dispute with is now in another with a 77 yr old man, and has had several disputes with other neighbours.
they just dont like the truth being told about them.
Not a particular problem – just a learning issue for you.
For the moderators, you have to state some facts explicitly if you want to use them and there might potentially be a problem for us. In this case just saying that "these names/events are all in the judgement" or words to that effect would probably have been sufficient. That shifts the liability to you, and if we find them to be incorrect, we will ban you from the site and point the liability to you.
You also need to be accurate when dealing with issues that are potentially legal issues. Imagine if you by accident managed to get the incorrect name – that was in fact correct for some other real person – you effectively just accused someone of a deed that they didn't do.
We don't have much time to read everything and we'll take the approach that if something isn't clear and potentially a legal issue for us – then it gets zapped.
In this case I literally scanned the whole judgment in 10 minutes while eating breakfast. It wouldn't surprise me if I missed a name or two. I'd noted that you'd misspelled a name for one, checked your comment history and found that it was limited. ie we don't have a history for you that leads us to trust what you write based on our experience. That was already way too much time for me to spend on a comment. Re-reading it again would have been a waste of my time.
So separately, MS and I exercised our default moderator option – excise the potentially liable parts of the comment.
Besides it helps you learn good habits about what you can do on the site. BTW: read the policy.
I know exactly what your wife has been through Gerard Byrne.
A long time ago I had similar experiences of spying activity plus serious bullying, intimidation and under-mining tactics by a couple of former senior Public Service managers who were attempting to gather 'evidence' against me for unfounded misdemeanours. They never succeeded because the evidence didn't exist. I took the matter to my superiors and other 'powers that be' but they all chose to believe the perpetrators who naturally denied everything. I resigned from my position – my trust and faith in senior officialdom destroyed forever.
It is sad to see that kind of deplorable behaviour – usually against female colleagues – is still occurring but I'm glad your wife knocked the bastards off their pedestal.
i do sympathise with you as that is ezactly what happened to my wife. unfortunately after she resigned the nzta literally tried to ruin her employment future in nz
unfortunately in NZ there are too many senior females who are only too willing to jump into the old boys club and destroy others careers.
….there are too many senior females who are only too willing to jump into the old boys club and destroy others careers.
Yes that element existed in my case too. The female concerned was not a public servant let alone a senior one. But she had contacts she could use to spread wild claims about individuals she decided she wanted to destroy. Successful women – or reasonably successful as in my case – were her prime targets. I think they call it jealousy. 🙂
The whole ERA is a joke from woo to go – its there to protect the powerful.
By definition -a organisation that punches down.
Glad you won, but the fact it was so long and drawn, is just another example of power differentials within the whole structure. And like WINZ a broken system which needs to be radically changed or removed.
There was a piece on the TVNZ news last night about the impact of COVID-19 on Pacific populations in the USA. According to the report, in the US Pacific peoples are dying at twelve times the rate of the general population. They were to polite to say so, but research is now clear that PIs are in general far more vulnerable due to their generally poorer health statistics. Co-morbidities that are lethal in combination with COVID-19 like obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardio-vascular dissease are much more prevalent in poor PI communities.
Twelve times the death rate = around 14-15% based on our current death rate of 1.2%, so if one in three Pasifika got the virus – 100,000 Pacifika infected – the expected death rate (based on this US information) is going to be 14,000-15,000 people.
Simon Bridges has not bothered to summon a single brown face to his committee for advice. He'd rather abuse his position to make unsubstantiated attacks on Ashley Bloomfield. His demands to prematurely reopen the economy is the casual institutional racism of the white settler elite that he represents writ large.
This radionz story about difficulty getting help from a Samoan, partly from their reserve and not being assertive enough illustrates the problem they face with covid-19.
Trotter tries to make binary thinking seem sensible, fails. "If Canberra chooses Washington over Beijing, then the Australian economy will tank. If it chooses Beijing over Washington, then Australia will be plunged into a profound identity crisis." http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
ScoMo will refrain from making either of these unpalatable choices. Trotter thinks the situation in Oz will become critical and force the choice – yet offers no persuasive reason why he believes that.
"In geostrategic terms, a US-aligned Australasia is crucial to Washington’s new “Indo-Pacific” plan for containing China’s ambitious “Belt and Road” project. It has become a matter of some urgency, therefore, to facilitate a decisive shift in New Zealand foreign policy towards Washington and away from Beijing."
Since when has any US Secretary of State fronted as a competent facilitator? Kissinger, perhaps. Dunno why Trotter discounts our post-ANZUS independent foreign policy. You'd think a 35-yr track record of success is sufficiently substantial for expectations of perseverance to be reasonable. Normal, even.
"In conformity with the maxim that it is shameful to let a good crisis go to waste, the pro-Washington faction within New Zealand’s foreign policy establishment has persuaded the University of Canterbury to oversee a “pop-up” think tank dedicated to assisting the New Zealand Government “devise a resilience strategy that will ensure New Zealand’s independence and sovereignty are protected during the Covid-19 pandemic and after.”"
Yeah? As if in response to what threat?? Apparently "our very own Professor Anne-Marie Brady." Gosh. She must be Superwoman.
"Professor Brady is not, however, without powerful friends in high places. Not the least of whom is New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters." Ah, the `enemy within' thesis. Trotter follows up with nothing substantial & his attempt to beat up a molehill into a mountain limps to a lame end.
I agree – Trotter's biggest problem is he has stopped trying to understand the world he lives in. He has retreated to just yearning for one that is gone, and interpreting the world from an armchair there. It doesn't mean sometimes he isn't correct in his observation – but he is more and more just plain out of touch.
If this Transmission Gully project PPP collapses, it will signal the largest commercial failure of the government since the late 1990s. Doesn't matter which team were in power at the time. This is a multi-generational scale work and is now a terminal case:
"Officials acknowledged on Sunday the already-delayed Transmission Gully project would be delayed until 2021. This has the potential to blow out costs by yet-more hundreds of millions of dollars. NZTA said in February the project’s estimated costs would over-run by $190m to $1b and the completion date had been extended from May to December this year.
An NZTA spokesman said on Sunday the project would now not be completed until some time in 2021 and the agency was in urgent negotiations again with the PPP’s contractor CPB HEB about the project. He would not comment on the fears of those close to the project that the contractor was days away from pulling out completely and dumping the project uncompleted back on the taxpayer. The project was suspended during the Level 4 lockdown, but failed to resume with all its workers as expected last week.
Several sources told Newsroom large numbers of subcontractors were permanently let go last week. One source said over 600 people had been cut from the project's workforce and a large amount of construction equipment had been removed from the site."
I thought the way a PPP was supposed to work was the private party secured the funding, then built and operated the asset (while the public retained ownership), in exchange for a set income stream once the asset was complete and operating.
So doesn't that mean we the public should not have yet paid anything for this since it is not yet complete and operating? Doesn't that mean the private part of this is wearing all the sunk costs to date?
If the private party walks away now, wouldn't we the public be able to just pay for what's left to do to complete it, and then we end up with the whole thing on the cheap without having to pay all the future fees we would have had to if the private party had actually completed the job?
Or were the original contract terms dramatically different to what that Treasury document says they should have been for a PPP?
There are more could-as, should-as, and would-as on Transmission Gully's PPP than there are deadweight list MPs.
Since it's not tolled, it's fee-for-access+long term maintenance. NZTA have already paid multiple times to the contractor to the PPP for over-runs.
I don't think anyone yet really knows what would happen with your second question. Plenty of major jobs consulted their insurers after Level 4. NZTA will be fighting hard to keep this one out of court: imagine how such a case would play in the run-up to the election. Even the NZTA Board can figure that one.
I'm not privy to the contractual terms on Transmission Gully, but I suspect a lot of New Zealand will be in the next few months.
NZTA have already paid multiple times to the contractor to the PPP for over-runs.
Looking at how PPPs were sold to us for how they should work, the cost overruns should have been compensated by increased payments after the job was completed and operating. Not by up-front extra payments: those are the old-skool conventional model.
NZTA will be fighting hard to keep this one out of court
Yeah, the firefighters with their high-powered pumping equipment will be getting called into big law firms to clean up all the anticipatory salivation going on over this one. What with the questions around the exact legality of the lockdown orders that massively added increased costs and delays, and all that.
The real concern is why NZTA awarded the Transmission Gully contract to CPB with no experience of New Zealand conditions but very good experience of making sure contract risks were put on the NZ government.
It's less to do with it being a PPP as such, more NZTA's naivety at the time of going for the lowest cost operator regardless of contractual conditions.
Compare with Puhoi to Warkworth where the risk sits with the Fletcher led consortium who are wearing the cost increases.
That's what would have happened under a conventional procurement, yes.
But the selling proposition for a PPP is that the private contractor wears the costs and the risks until the job is done and operating, at which point they start getting paid. Not before.
Yes. Devil meet details. Because if you are right and the private contractor is walking this late in the job, with this much sunk cost, then it's logical to guess they've decided the cost of completing is even greater than anyone wants to talk about in public just yet.
Or the whole PPP thing is just a smoke and mirrors job that really doesn't transfer any extra risks and responsibilities to the contractor in exchange for the extra long term margin they expect to make out of it.
"…NZTA said in February the project’s estimated costs would over-run by $190m to $1b…"
That is a difference of $810 million, which makes that a total wild guess of a number.
It looks to me like CPB massively underbid to get the work and/or underestimated the complexity and are now trying to blackmail the government by threatening to pull the pin. Another legacy of the genius of the minister for everything, Steven Joyce. And National like to go on how they are better managers of the economy!
NZTA are spineless and utterly committed to roads. They’ll want to fold in a jiffy. the question is – will the government take their advice to fold?
It transfers all the risks to the State, while any upsides go to the private contractor, in return for keeping the liability off the Government books. Until it turns to shit, as so many have around the world.
We should have looked at the glaring examples from the UK, in particular.
The other problem is that the expertise to manage, assess and cost projects, has been lost from NZTA, with that being left to private firms.
Rest homes will be the next to come under the spotlight.
Whoops. I was going to comment on this the day before yesterday when it was first noted, but deleted it because it wasn't too clear to me from the info linked to just how serious the problems were.
I recall debating this project back when Steven Joyce announced it back in 2009. There was considerable opposition at the time, including groups like Option 3 making the case that the whole damned thing wasn't necessary.
Having lived in the immediate area for some years I was always a bit skeptical of the original price, it was always going to be challenging terrain to build a modern road through and the costs were always going to blow out. In the end it was plain that Joyce only sold it on the basis of a lowball bid.
Well I'd like to think all the poor bastards who've had to work on this job did their best, but it looks like they're only going to prove the critics of the project right.
NZTA will see the upside if the Transmission Gully PPP even gets close to failure because they will see it damaging the NZInfra PPP light rail proposal, and in effect supporting their own non-PPP light rail proposal.
Of course it's not the only big roading PPP they've got going at the moment: Puhoi-Warkworth SH1 is still ongoing. I haven't heard any trouble there (other than Covid-19 infections and stoppages).
But for the super-major jobs I could easily foresee NZTA preferring Alliance-type contracts over the fully commercially independent PPP forms.
I'm intrigued by what might be hidden by those big bits of black. Especially since a quick skim of the visible bits didn't catch anything about disengagement before opening the works.
All of that means we wait even longer for the Manawatu Gorge replacement road.
I understand 800 workers will be moving to in and around Palmy for the project. It will be a welcomed boost to the district's involved- Manawatu and Tararua.
At the same time this becomes an obvious task for change in govt – first catch your MOW and then treat it right so it flourishes – find our indigenous ancient govt depts and breed 'em strong and good, check for efficiency and enjoy effectiveness.
Highly doubtful seeing he couldn't even be the best in his chosen field and, unless you count being an insufferable shock jock for effect, fails on tv as the biggest tool on the home renno show, not to mention making cricket unlistenable with pathetic analysis and obnoxious wittering.
There may be a piss up in a brewery he could organise, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Careful, mate. If you carry on like that there'll be a puff piece in Stuff about poor Mark Richardson being bullied by horrible internet trolls and how his kids cry themselves to sleep at night. It's been a while since the last one.
Ah but is he going to put his money where his mouth is? Stand as candidate for the Nats, I mean. Hosking's too scared. Talk is cheap but folks make character judgments on actions, not talk.
So. Under Level 2 those pathetic bastards who have been pining for attention from their hairdresser can be comforted that the Orders from Above have dictated that masks must be worn.
Because, I guess, it's a tad difficult to faff with some narcissist's locks from a safe distance.
Cast your minds back just a wee while to when Uncle Bleeding Ashley was steadfast in his determination that those providing homebased care for frail elderly and disabled need only wear a mask if the person being cared for was a confirmed or probable Covid 19 case.
While I know this suggestion may raise yr hackles…
I would like to see all in-home carers/assistants etc bought back under the DHB umbrella, rather than working for all the various middle-men, ticket clipping parasite companies. Companies that are seeking to make a profit from the allocation of the health budget that provides care for the elderly, disabled etc.
This has been the call for years…those needing support services being caught in the middle of the pissing contests between the MOH, DHBs and ACC and the various contracted providers.
None of that lot ever, ever put the needs of those requiring care to the front.
And it's only very recently that the guidelines for PPE use have been updated.
Healthcare workers at all levels were crying out for masks and 'permission' to use them for weeks. Having some bureaucrat repeatedly state that wearing even the basic surgeons mask was unnecessary unless there was disease present has done real damage to the relationship between frontline healthcare workers and those at the top who set the rules.
I guess it comes down to the personal experience of the politician or bureaucrat (or the science communicator du jour).
Clearly they have a much better understanding of proximity issues for hairdressers than they do of the same for frontline healthcare workers.
Today Grant Robertson said that the government is to walk back its planned 2020 budget focus on redirection of the economy as to global warming because of the extra debt and a priority of focus on economic growth.
He notes the higher debt in Europe and USA and his rationale provides them reason to do little more than they are. It's a blame the GFC, and or the pandemic, for limited goverrnment will/capacity to deal with GW.
Positive – it should provide the oxygen for the Greens to return to parliament.
Negative – the government is wedded to the capitalist debt model and will be complicit in using this as an excuse for continued poverty, homelessness and a second rate health care/welfare/aged care system.
This is exactly the wrong decision. The New Zealand economy (despite reasonable support during lock-down) is going to emerge in a highly depressed (high unemployment) state. In this state there are more real resources available to be put to use implementing the economic redirection (and lower employment in the status quo parts of the economy).
The financing (how you pay the people many who desperately want the work anyway) is particularly irrelevant in this case, it neither restrains the governments ability to employ people towards its initiative or negatively impacts how the economy performs while implementing these reforms.
No doubt Robertson was got to by treasury boffins and its a real shame. He needs to be well enough informed to put them (and their ideology) in their place when this happens rather than undermining the government and their ability to implement public policy.
"The government was focused not only on rebuilding the economy, but on rebuilding it better, he added.
"In the midst of the crisis and our desire to return to a sense of normality, we should all acknowledge that things weren't perfect before Covid-19 hit us.
"There are few times in life when the clock is reset. Now is the time we should address these long-term issues. It is a privilege many countries won't have. It's not one we should squander," he said."
Thank you so much Water Care, our Mayor and council – It is MAY and we are now told there is to be a water restriction put into place. How we are not well served by some of our leaders. Goff is all smile and wave. "We have had a long, hot summer with less than half of our normal rainfall, which means our storage dams have fallen to around 46.5 per cent, well below the 76 per cent average for this time of year." So we act NOW
Did you not know the water restrictions were coming? It’s been signposted for months. We were told weeks ago that restrictions were almost certainly likely but imposition of them had been delayed while the level 4 lockdown was in place in order not to put anyone under extra stress.
Why wasn't this in place in February graduated in implementation e.g. turn of tap when brushing teeth, toilets only flush when its brown, water gardens by hand held hoses, no washing of cars, etc
In August 2019 we had this August Average 89% Aug 19 73%. And then we had "Auckland: Record-breaking low summer rainfall. Depending on which rain gauge you look at, summer 2019/20 was the driest, 2nd-driest or 3rd-driest summer on record." yes with all this preceding our current situation I call it Incompetence some may try to argue with the FACTS.
I think you unreasonably expect perfection…the hoped for summer rain hasnt eventuated and there has been a call to restrict use for a month ..
"Under usual circumstances restrictions would kick in at about 51 per cent during autumn, Jaduram said.
Amid a dry start to the month and on the back of a summer that saw just 35 per cent of average rainfall, the city's storage dams on Thursday dropped to 49.7 per cent – the first time they'd fallen below 50 per cent since the drought of 1993/1994, when storage levels got down to a frightening 36 per cent.
The historical average for this time of year is about 77 per cent."
You could increase storage capacity but I suspect youd object to the rate increase to fund it…..but given CC I expect youll have plenty of opportunity in the not too distant future.
25 Feb "Auckland's longest dry spell on record was finally broken last weekend, with Saturday's rainfall marking the first time there's been more than 1mm of rain in 47 days. " add this to what I liked from August 19 position- So we had a record dry period in Feb and No action from Watercare. I think action was required. And comparing to 1993 Auckland then did not have the Waikato river available as a water source IMO is nothing more than diversion tactics, and that Watercare was nothing more than Hoping the Weather would cover for inaction !!!
Agreed pat. Judging exactly when to bring in water restrictions is a tricky business to get right.
I saw the process happening in Wellington one year, and it was fascinating just how much care and judgement was put into it. In the end we were saved by decent rain that arrived with less than 48hrs to spare.
The big issue is that if Watercare was not pumping Waikato water for all it was worth for the past few months Auckland would be in an absolutely chronic position.
micky, are you privy to information you can share off the top of your head on the status of Watercare's efforts to increase how much it can take from the Waikato at higher flow times?
I haven't found anything definitive online, but I get the impression it's still tied up in the consenting process.
You get some good hints here in the request for Crown intervention in the consenting application process from this Stuff article from February this year:
It's on Parker's desk, and I betcha it's a good case for waiting for the RMA reforms that will enable a whole bunch more major work accelerations.
As well as the majority of Auckland's water already coming from outside the Auckland region, Watercare took over management of the Waikato District water system a couple of years ago.
When the government announces its massive list of the "shovel ready" projects, I have a sneaking suspicion that Watercare will be called upon to be the central procurement agency for the water-focused infrastructure.
Then why as per my above comment was the August 19 storage 73% vs an average of 89%. Not sure how starting with a storage level 16% below the average with what has transpired over this summer is Forward warning of risk ?? that requires urgent action now- To me someone has been missing in action. I understand you are not of recent vintage from reading your contributions but I can recall 1993 and calls such as: placing a 2l bottle of water/brick in the cistern of a toilet to save water and the flush it if its brown, and the need to take action of a leaky tap and more. Such calls have been lacking under the current situation- We have been saved by the Waikato river uptake this time.
And in Feb Watercare requested govt to take more from the Waikato https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/119610027/calls-for-crown-intervention-as-aucklands-waikato-river-water-application-stagnates
Seems like quite a different system to Whangarei. Your "Stage 1" restriction says no domestic hose use. Whangarei went to "Level 2" on February 26 which banned sprinklers and irrigation systems. Then we went to "Level 3" on April 16 which bans hose use, gardens can still be watered with a bucket.
In another move aimed at consolidating control over policy and messaging, the Trump administration is sending a White House loyalist to serve in a key Defense Department policy role that officials are worried is aimed at weeding out civilians not loyal to the president, Foreign Policy has learned.
Michael Cutrone, who has been detailed as Vice President Mike Pence’s top national security aide for South Asia, is set to arrive at the Pentagon to serve in a behind-the-scenes role vetting Defense Department officials for loyalty to the president, according to two current administration officials.
Listening to the National Party over the last two weeks, I was under the impression Australia was almost 'business as usual' and achieving the same results as New Zealand. Not if this report is correct.
The negative impacts of prolonged unemployment on mental and physical health has been long recognised, and unemployment could emerge as the major public health crisis from COVID-19.
Barry Soper’s Shock! Horror! Government Bombshell! ‘They Had No Right To Lock Us Up!’ Column from this arvo has has undergone quite a substantial re-write on the online Herald after the A-G released a statement saying that the so-called leaked advice from Crown Law that Soper received was just a draft report and not the final advice given to the government.
I really can't get excited about this from Soper. So what? Did they want to be right but dead? Or have a loved one die? I'd certainly support some retrospective legislation to stop the money hungry suing the government for money. Other than that yawn!
As Rationalist nation say – we need a UBI and we need to keep a lid on this. Corona ant going away and a mad push to get back to work will undo all we have done.
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The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
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good onya NZTA, give yourself legendary status.
[deleted], all legenday nzta employees who tried to ruin my wifes career.
https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/2019-NZEmpC-187-Byrne-v-NZ-Transport-Agency-jud-131219.pdf
NZTA broke health and safety laws, spent over 200 grand of taxpayers money on lawyers, threatened us if my wife continued her case against them they would ruin her career,
threatened suppliers with loss of work if they employed my wife, using unsigned contracts.
[Snip. Im sorry Gerald but these comments are potentially defamatory and best that they be removed now. The link to the judgement remains and I recommend that people read it to see what has happened – MS]
we have been visited by police several times from false accusations made ba a nzta employee, one accusation was , "she was running around in the paddock doing a chicken dance", when they made this accusation against my wife, she was 600km away. haha. when presented with the evidence they just threw it away and said they didnt believe us.
NZTA legendary status for being able to do this to someone and get away scott free.
Increase their funding i say (sarc)
[lprent: I see that MS has already looked at this.
I have also deleted the names at the top. A brief scan of the judgement showed that one was misspelt and I couldn’t find one of the others. Possibly referred to in the judgement as A or B. Generally if you want to refer to people or events, then use what is already in the public record, or what you can directly and truthfully testify to yourself.
Please remember that if legal action is taken over comments made on this site, then I am also in the legal firing line as well. I will act accordingly to protect my time. ]
sorry forgot the short version
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=12296643
That's gobsmacking.
"She took NZTA to the Employment Relations Authority which dismissed her claims. Byrne then went to the Employment Court" and "Employment Court rules NZTA breached confidentiality clause".
So the ERA is a bullshit scheme? Or did it lack authority to dispense justice? Definitely indicates something seriously wrong somewhere…
Hi Dennis Frank,
thank you for your comment
yes you hit the nail on the head. NZTA made many untrue allegations providing no evidence and all of their witnesses didnt have to appear.
even more the ERA granted nzta extra security for their staff who were afraid of my 5'4" wife.
they also awarded nzta extra costs
Hi Gerard…I wish I could say i'm surprised, but sadly I'm not. I'm in the centre of an issue currently with Auckland Council that involves behaviour ranging from incompetence to downright nastiness. And all on the ratepayers. I'm glad your wife fought on. Go well.
thanks paddington, if you hang in there (its bloody hard) sometimes justice does actually prevail for us plebs
Crikey that's a long time for Mrs Byrne's name to be cleared. Good to see her reputation clearer and a clear direction for costs for her.
That also names a lot of lower-order names within NZTA.
And a lot of HR processes gone drastically wrong in a lot of detail.
I know a lot about NZTA's internal culture, and concur with the judge.
As we are about to see with the Transmission Gully PPP failure, a government organisation with this amount of power in society truly wrecks things when it goes wrong.
If my experience as an ece teacher (now retired) coming from Auckland to Whangarei is anything to go by this sort of prejudice towards newcomers is all too common in the north
A good outcome eventually Gerard. Hope your wife gains peace.
Hi Ianmac,
yes she has thank you and her faith in the NZ Justice system is restored.
bit hard to get peace when nzta employee is still calling the cops on us and videoing us, but meh to them.
Hi Ad , unfortunately the awarding of costs doesn't cover the expenses incurred while fight the extremely pitbull type nature of the lawyers from NZTA on the taxpayers money
True. I won't minimise that straight financial cost.
But the exposure of NZTA's processes and people in the decision is pretty strong in the scales. That looks like it counts for something.
Hey Ad, check this out from the court finding: " [27] NZTA had engaged WSP Opus as principal advisors/consultants of the Northland Bridges Project (the Project).The Project related to three sites where one-lane bridges were to be replaced with two-lane bridges. WSP Opus was responsible for the business case of the Project, procurement of design and construction, and contract management. [28] There was no signed or final contract between those parties, although there was a draft document." https://www.employmentcourt.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Decisions/2019-NZEmpC-187-Byrne-v-NZ-Transport-Agency-jud-131219.pdf
So the NZTA hired them to build the bridges without signing a contract! That's so dodgy you'd suspect Bridges (Simon) authorised the deal! "They're all hicks from the sticks up there, nobody will notice."
Hard to tell, but from my experience it's not necessarily dodgy for work to commence before a final contract is signed … especially where there is an ongoing professional relationship between the parties.
And both parties might well want to see some preliminary investigation and design work done in order to fully understand the scope and risks before signing the dotted line. Whenever you are dealing with groundworks of any kind, there is real potential for nasty surprises.
no signed contract after at least 18 months and then using that to wield the power stick to pursue personal agendas?
dodgy as in any third world country mate, let our 2.9th world here in NZ
I've just finished scanning the judgement. It's clear NZTA have acted very poorly in this matter and thoroughly deserved to lose this case. It reflects very badly on someone's judgement that they allowed a non-work related disagreement between neighbours to escalate into this kind of debacle.
In my 35 yrs in the engineering /tech field I've been close to similar problems of a breakdown in trust between professional colleagues a few times. It's never easy, and rarely ends well. I'm sorry you and your wife have gone through this, because I know exactly how it feels.
Having said that, I note that at least one small part of the story involved you disparaging NZTA on various blogs (sec 136 -138) which probably didn't help matters.
The judge clearly notes (sec 116 and 117) that both parties allowed their judgement to be clouded by personal animosity.
My advice to people caught up in this kind of legal battle is to always keep in mind what their ideal outcome would be once it is all over. You certainly want resolution, but you also need to be able to live life without this becoming a perpetual burden on you and everyone else. You need to get to a redemption of some kind. And you certainly want to do everything in your power to avoid walking into this kind of mess ever again.
Best wishes.
there was no civil dispute between the parties until my wife lodged her complaint, then over 130 accusations were made against me and my wife to paint a picture of a certain behaviour.
after two years of being videod by nzta all they have is me giving their employee the fingers once.
you will find that i didnt disparage the nzta in any blogs, as they tried to get an order against me for my comments, but had to withdraw it because no untruths were told.
my advice to people getting into anything with the nzta is expect to be defamed, ridiculed, visited by police on several occasions, laws will be broken to ruin you, they will spy on you , use their employees to threaten your employer,
even after an outcome you will still be spied on and visited by police, which is happening to us even during lockdown!
the nzta employee who we have the civil dispute with is now in another with a 77 yr old man, and has had several disputes with other neighbours.
they just dont like the truth being told about them.
the team in northland do need to be audited at the very least.
One of them is also involved in the waikato expressway fiasco.
He also has a little black book that was presented in court that has very disturbing observations in it.
Hi lprent and MS,
my apologies but the names mentioned are all named in the document.
witness A and B were not any of them, they are two other nzta employees.
there is nothing untrue in the allegations and can all be proved with evidence
Not a particular problem – just a learning issue for you.
For the moderators, you have to state some facts explicitly if you want to use them and there might potentially be a problem for us. In this case just saying that "these names/events are all in the judgement" or words to that effect would probably have been sufficient. That shifts the liability to you, and if we find them to be incorrect, we will ban you from the site and point the liability to you.
You also need to be accurate when dealing with issues that are potentially legal issues. Imagine if you by accident managed to get the incorrect name – that was in fact correct for some other real person – you effectively just accused someone of a deed that they didn't do.
We don't have much time to read everything and we'll take the approach that if something isn't clear and potentially a legal issue for us – then it gets zapped.
In this case I literally scanned the whole judgment in 10 minutes while eating breakfast. It wouldn't surprise me if I missed a name or two. I'd noted that you'd misspelled a name for one, checked your comment history and found that it was limited. ie we don't have a history for you that leads us to trust what you write based on our experience. That was already way too much time for me to spend on a comment. Re-reading it again would have been a waste of my time.
So separately, MS and I exercised our default moderator option – excise the potentially liable parts of the comment.
Besides it helps you learn good habits about what you can do on the site. BTW: read the policy.
thank you
I know exactly what your wife has been through Gerard Byrne.
A long time ago I had similar experiences of spying activity plus serious bullying, intimidation and under-mining tactics by a couple of former senior Public Service managers who were attempting to gather 'evidence' against me for unfounded misdemeanours. They never succeeded because the evidence didn't exist. I took the matter to my superiors and other 'powers that be' but they all chose to believe the perpetrators who naturally denied everything. I resigned from my position – my trust and faith in senior officialdom destroyed forever.
It is sad to see that kind of deplorable behaviour – usually against female colleagues – is still occurring but I'm glad your wife knocked the bastards off their pedestal.
thank you very much anne for your comments.
i do sympathise with you as that is ezactly what happened to my wife. unfortunately after she resigned the nzta literally tried to ruin her employment future in nz
unfortunately in NZ there are too many senior females who are only too willing to jump into the old boys club and destroy others careers.
Yes that element existed in my case too. The female concerned was not a public servant let alone a senior one. But she had contacts she could use to spread wild claims about individuals she decided she wanted to destroy. Successful women – or reasonably successful as in my case – were her prime targets. I think they call it jealousy. 🙂
The whole ERA is a joke from woo to go – its there to protect the powerful.
By definition -a organisation that punches down.
Glad you won, but the fact it was so long and drawn, is just another example of power differentials within the whole structure. And like WINZ a broken system which needs to be radically changed or removed.
TVNZ breakfast political panel: Shane Jones + Paula Bennett. Must be trying to alienate their audience. 🙄
It is a circuit of the same tired shrieking skulls.
Spinoff has a good report on the downside of public/private partnerships (roadbuilding). I always thought them sensible in principle but the trend seems to be that they play out as a recipe for incompetence. Lack of operational oversight of project management by a suitable govt authority seems evident. https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/07-05-2020/the-transmission-gully-fiasco-should-call-time-on-the-folly-of-ppps/
There was a piece on the TVNZ news last night about the impact of COVID-19 on Pacific populations in the USA. According to the report, in the US Pacific peoples are dying at twelve times the rate of the general population. They were to polite to say so, but research is now clear that PIs are in general far more vulnerable due to their generally poorer health statistics. Co-morbidities that are lethal in combination with COVID-19 like obesity, diabetes, hypertension and cardio-vascular dissease are much more prevalent in poor PI communities.
Twelve times the death rate = around 14-15% based on our current death rate of 1.2%, so if one in three Pasifika got the virus – 100,000 Pacifika infected – the expected death rate (based on this US information) is going to be 14,000-15,000 people.
Simon Bridges has not bothered to summon a single brown face to his committee for advice. He'd rather abuse his position to make unsubstantiated attacks on Ashley Bloomfield. His demands to prematurely reopen the economy is the casual institutional racism of the white settler elite that he represents writ large.
This radionz story about difficulty getting help from a Samoan, partly from their reserve and not being assertive enough illustrates the problem they face with covid-19.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/413980/covid-19-testing-i-was-angry-about-the-process
Trotter tries to make binary thinking seem sensible, fails. "If Canberra chooses Washington over Beijing, then the Australian economy will tank. If it chooses Beijing over Washington, then Australia will be plunged into a profound identity crisis." http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/
ScoMo will refrain from making either of these unpalatable choices. Trotter thinks the situation in Oz will become critical and force the choice – yet offers no persuasive reason why he believes that.
"In geostrategic terms, a US-aligned Australasia is crucial to Washington’s new “Indo-Pacific” plan for containing China’s ambitious “Belt and Road” project. It has become a matter of some urgency, therefore, to facilitate a decisive shift in New Zealand foreign policy towards Washington and away from Beijing."
Since when has any US Secretary of State fronted as a competent facilitator? Kissinger, perhaps. Dunno why Trotter discounts our post-ANZUS independent foreign policy. You'd think a 35-yr track record of success is sufficiently substantial for expectations of perseverance to be reasonable. Normal, even.
"In conformity with the maxim that it is shameful to let a good crisis go to waste, the pro-Washington faction within New Zealand’s foreign policy establishment has persuaded the University of Canterbury to oversee a “pop-up” think tank dedicated to assisting the New Zealand Government “devise a resilience strategy that will ensure New Zealand’s independence and sovereignty are protected during the Covid-19 pandemic and after.”"
Yeah? As if in response to what threat?? Apparently "our very own Professor Anne-Marie Brady." Gosh. She must be Superwoman.
"Professor Brady is not, however, without powerful friends in high places. Not the least of whom is New Zealand’s Foreign Minister, Winston Peters." Ah, the `enemy within' thesis. Trotter follows up with nothing substantial & his attempt to beat up a molehill into a mountain limps to a lame end.
I agree – Trotter's biggest problem is he has stopped trying to understand the world he lives in. He has retreated to just yearning for one that is gone, and interpreting the world from an armchair there. It doesn't mean sometimes he isn't correct in his observation – but he is more and more just plain out of touch.
If this Transmission Gully project PPP collapses, it will signal the largest commercial failure of the government since the late 1990s. Doesn't matter which team were in power at the time. This is a multi-generational scale work and is now a terminal case:
"Officials acknowledged on Sunday the already-delayed Transmission Gully project would be delayed until 2021. This has the potential to blow out costs by yet-more hundreds of millions of dollars. NZTA said in February the project’s estimated costs would over-run by $190m to $1b and the completion date had been extended from May to December this year.
An NZTA spokesman said on Sunday the project would now not be completed until some time in 2021 and the agency was in urgent negotiations again with the PPP’s contractor CPB HEB about the project. He would not comment on the fears of those close to the project that the contractor was days away from pulling out completely and dumping the project uncompleted back on the taxpayer. The project was suspended during the Level 4 lockdown, but failed to resume with all its workers as expected last week.
Several sources told Newsroom large numbers of subcontractors were permanently let go last week. One source said over 600 people had been cut from the project's workforce and a large amount of construction equipment had been removed from the site."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/economic-recovery/2020/05/03/1155823/unreal-turn-for-transmission-gully
I thought the way a PPP was supposed to work was the private party secured the funding, then built and operated the asset (while the public retained ownership), in exchange for a set income stream once the asset was complete and operating.
So doesn't that mean we the public should not have yet paid anything for this since it is not yet complete and operating? Doesn't that mean the private part of this is wearing all the sunk costs to date?
If the private party walks away now, wouldn't we the public be able to just pay for what's left to do to complete it, and then we end up with the whole thing on the cheap without having to pay all the future fees we would have had to if the private party had actually completed the job?
Or were the original contract terms dramatically different to what that Treasury document says they should have been for a PPP?
There are more could-as, should-as, and would-as on Transmission Gully's PPP than there are deadweight list MPs.
Since it's not tolled, it's fee-for-access+long term maintenance. NZTA have already paid multiple times to the contractor to the PPP for over-runs.
I don't think anyone yet really knows what would happen with your second question. Plenty of major jobs consulted their insurers after Level 4. NZTA will be fighting hard to keep this one out of court: imagine how such a case would play in the run-up to the election. Even the NZTA Board can figure that one.
I'm not privy to the contractual terms on Transmission Gully, but I suspect a lot of New Zealand will be in the next few months.
NZTA have already paid multiple times to the contractor to the PPP for over-runs.
Looking at how PPPs were sold to us for how they should work, the cost overruns should have been compensated by increased payments after the job was completed and operating. Not by up-front extra payments: those are the old-skool conventional model.
NZTA will be fighting hard to keep this one out of court
Yeah, the firefighters with their high-powered pumping equipment will be getting called into big law firms to clean up all the anticipatory salivation going on over this one. What with the questions around the exact legality of the lockdown orders that massively added increased costs and delays, and all that.
The real concern is why NZTA awarded the Transmission Gully contract to CPB with no experience of New Zealand conditions but very good experience of making sure contract risks were put on the NZ government.
It's less to do with it being a PPP as such, more NZTA's naivety at the time of going for the lowest cost operator regardless of contractual conditions.
Compare with Puhoi to Warkworth where the risk sits with the Fletcher led consortium who are wearing the cost increases.
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2020/05/06/times-up-for-ppps/
And the twist: who was Minister of Transport at the time this went through Cabinet? Was it Simon Bridges by chance?
I'd assume the private contractor has been paid out on progress so far.
I hope they release the Treasury Gateway Reviews for this one.
That's what would have happened under a conventional procurement, yes.
But the selling proposition for a PPP is that the private contractor wears the costs and the risks until the job is done and operating, at which point they start getting paid. Not before.
Yes. Devil meet details. Because if you are right and the private contractor is walking this late in the job, with this much sunk cost, then it's logical to guess they've decided the cost of completing is even greater than anyone wants to talk about in public just yet.
Or the whole PPP thing is just a smoke and mirrors job that really doesn't transfer any extra risks and responsibilities to the contractor in exchange for the extra long term margin they expect to make out of it.
If you pop over to Greater Auckland you will see that they fully agree with you.
Whoa,
"…NZTA said in February the project’s estimated costs would over-run by $190m to $1b…"
That is a difference of $810 million, which makes that a total wild guess of a number.
It looks to me like CPB massively underbid to get the work and/or underestimated the complexity and are now trying to blackmail the government by threatening to pull the pin. Another legacy of the genius of the minister for everything, Steven Joyce. And National like to go on how they are better managers of the economy!
NZTA are spineless and utterly committed to roads. They’ll want to fold in a jiffy. the question is – will the government take their advice to fold?
The previous government was happy to knowingly accept woefully underbid tenders. Then construction companies started going under.
If I'm correct, it's one of the things this government has changed.
This government must make sure the blame is sheeted home to where it belongs. In Simon Bridges' lap.
"…This government must make sure the blame is sheeted home to where it belongs. In Simon Bridges' lap…"
Just as long as once they've drawn the picture, they don't give the crayons to Simon. He'll probably just try and eat them.
I've never liked the PPP model.
It transfers all the risks to the State, while any upsides go to the private contractor, in return for keeping the liability off the Government books. Until it turns to shit, as so many have around the world.
We should have looked at the glaring examples from the UK, in particular.
The other problem is that the expertise to manage, assess and cost projects, has been lost from NZTA, with that being left to private firms.
Rest homes will be the next to come under the spotlight.
Whoops. I was going to comment on this the day before yesterday when it was first noted, but deleted it because it wasn't too clear to me from the info linked to just how serious the problems were.
I recall debating this project back when Steven Joyce announced it back in 2009. There was considerable opposition at the time, including groups like Option 3 making the case that the whole damned thing wasn't necessary.
Having lived in the immediate area for some years I was always a bit skeptical of the original price, it was always going to be challenging terrain to build a modern road through and the costs were always going to blow out. In the end it was plain that Joyce only sold it on the basis of a lowball bid.
Well I'd like to think all the poor bastards who've had to work on this job did their best, but it looks like they're only going to prove the critics of the project right.
And slam one big nail into the PPP concept.
NZTA will see the upside if the Transmission Gully PPP even gets close to failure because they will see it damaging the NZInfra PPP light rail proposal, and in effect supporting their own non-PPP light rail proposal.
Of course it's not the only big roading PPP they've got going at the moment: Puhoi-Warkworth SH1 is still ongoing. I haven't heard any trouble there (other than Covid-19 infections and stoppages).
But for the super-major jobs I could easily foresee NZTA preferring Alliance-type contracts over the fully commercially independent PPP forms.
The stakes are now in the multiple billions.
Some background as to the parties involved and in particular section 19 "Disengagement".
Wellington Gateway Partnership
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/projects/wellington-northern-corridor/transmission-gully-motorway/partnerships/#wgp
https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/projects/transmission-gully/docs/schedule-19.pdf
I'm intrigued by what might be hidden by those big bits of black. Especially since a quick skim of the visible bits didn't catch anything about disengagement before opening the works.
All of that means we wait even longer for the Manawatu Gorge replacement road.
I understand 800 workers will be moving to in and around Palmy for the project. It will be a welcomed boost to the district's involved- Manawatu and Tararua.
At the same time this becomes an obvious task for change in govt – first catch your MOW and then treat it right so it flourishes – find our indigenous ancient govt depts and breed 'em strong and good, check for efficiency and enjoy effectiveness.
I'm all for a reboot of MOW. Even with those accusations of inefficiency. benean
There is a lot to be said for a state agency that does trades training.
Farrar watch:
Dutifully, and following on from Simon's attack on Ashley Bloomfield yesterday, David has begun his attack on the DG of Health.
What one does the other does. It's a two pronged attack.
Scary times in Russia, especially for medicos. I'spose defenestration is easier and quicker than polonium tea.
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/6/21248553/coronavirus-russia-doctors-windows-death
Gosh Andre !
Thats shocking .I have no doubt Putin is behind it all, and most probably thosw US medics who commit suicide every year
Even before the pandemic, about 60% of emergency physicians experienced burnout in their career, according to the American College of Emergency Physicians. About 400 physicians commit suicide each year.
He's highly likely to be involved in these European nurses deaths too
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/31/trez-m31.html
And in NY
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-pandemic-doctor-ambulance-worker-suicides-how-to-help-2020-4?r=US&IR=T
Ya reckon Pootee dunnit? Wow, he's got his pedipalps everywhere!
Maybe they were part time journalists and/or opposition politicians.
Plenty more where they came from.
/
https://twitter.com/MoscowTimes/status/1255829254878576643
Should have asked the Cubans
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/cuban-doctors-battling-covid-19-around-the-globe/12217896
So apparently the knobhead on the tv3 breakfast show thinks he'd do a better job at running the country than the much vaunted JA
Mark Richardson slams Government, says he'd do a better job as Prime Minister
Highly doubtful seeing he couldn't even be the best in his chosen field and, unless you count being an insufferable shock jock for effect, fails on tv as the biggest tool on the home renno show, not to mention making cricket unlistenable with pathetic analysis and obnoxious wittering.
There may be a piss up in a brewery he could organise, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
Maybe he's angry because The Block just got canned for this year.
The worth of TV3's schedule has grown exponentially.
The rampant egotism of these media morons is incredible.
Careful, mate. If you carry on like that there'll be a puff piece in Stuff about poor Mark Richardson being bullied by horrible internet trolls and how his kids cry themselves to sleep at night. It's been a while since the last one.
Ah but is he going to put his money where his mouth is? Stand as candidate for the Nats, I mean. Hosking's too scared. Talk is cheap but folks make character judgments on actions, not talk.
Talk is cheap? I suspect he's paid many times the income of an essential worker.
Murica
https://www.tiktok.com/@shawn_quinn/video/6821873859562605830
So. Under Level 2 those pathetic bastards who have been pining for attention from their hairdresser can be comforted that the Orders from Above have dictated that masks must be worn.
Because, I guess, it's a tad difficult to faff with some narcissist's locks from a safe distance.
Cast your minds back just a wee while to when Uncle Bleeding Ashley was steadfast in his determination that those providing homebased care for frail elderly and disabled need only wear a mask if the person being cared for was a confirmed or probable Covid 19 case.
What the fucking fuck?
Good point, Rosemary.
While I know this suggestion may raise yr hackles…
I would like to see all in-home carers/assistants etc bought back under the DHB umbrella, rather than working for all the various middle-men, ticket clipping parasite companies. Companies that are seeking to make a profit from the allocation of the health budget that provides care for the elderly, disabled etc.
Everything under the DHB is a profoundly depressing thought, although I agree about the ticket clippers.
Maybe a compromise is non-profit NGOs?
Non profit NGOs could work. Anything to get away from the race-to-the-bottom/tiered essential services.
This has been the call for years…those needing support services being caught in the middle of the pissing contests between the MOH, DHBs and ACC and the various contracted providers.
None of that lot ever, ever put the needs of those requiring care to the front.
The commodification of the sick, elderly and disabled has be a utter disaster.
There was a reason social democracy created and used the social model in the area of health care.
Because the monetary model has never worked in health. Only dullards and ideological purists think their business model in health works.
jesus fucking christ.
Did they say if it's workers only or customers as well? (it's not clear from the MSM).
"Jesus fucking christ"
Yep..and a few more expletive.
It was Ardern. She said…'….masks, masks for the hairdressers '. At the one pm stand up.
I went a bit apoplectic.
I hope her ears caught fire.
Metaphorically speaking that is.
And it's only very recently that the guidelines for PPE use have been updated.
Healthcare workers at all levels were crying out for masks and 'permission' to use them for weeks. Having some bureaucrat repeatedly state that wearing even the basic surgeons mask was unnecessary unless there was disease present has done real damage to the relationship between frontline healthcare workers and those at the top who set the rules.
I guess it comes down to the personal experience of the politician or bureaucrat (or the science communicator du jour).
Clearly they have a much better understanding of proximity issues for hairdressers than they do of the same for frontline healthcare workers.
Did a report on the problems with homecare and PPEs come out today? (haven't caught up yet).
I am just loving this Lincoln Project work against Trump.
This time they undo the Trump family relationship with China:
They aren't just going after the Fourth Dorkman of the Shitpocalypse, they're going after his remoras too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5JYjrKeHLY
Today Grant Robertson said that the government is to walk back its planned 2020 budget focus on redirection of the economy as to global warming because of the extra debt and a priority of focus on economic growth.
He notes the higher debt in Europe and USA and his rationale provides them reason to do little more than they are. It's a blame the GFC, and or the pandemic, for limited goverrnment will/capacity to deal with GW.
Positive – it should provide the oxygen for the Greens to return to parliament.
Negative – the government is wedded to the capitalist debt model and will be complicit in using this as an excuse for continued poverty, homelessness and a second rate health care/welfare/aged care system.
This is exactly the wrong decision. The New Zealand economy (despite reasonable support during lock-down) is going to emerge in a highly depressed (high unemployment) state. In this state there are more real resources available to be put to use implementing the economic redirection (and lower employment in the status quo parts of the economy).
The financing (how you pay the people many who desperately want the work anyway) is particularly irrelevant in this case, it neither restrains the governments ability to employ people towards its initiative or negatively impacts how the economy performs while implementing these reforms.
No doubt Robertson was got to by treasury boffins and its a real shame. He needs to be well enough informed to put them (and their ideology) in their place when this happens rather than undermining the government and their ability to implement public policy.
"The government was focused not only on rebuilding the economy, but on rebuilding it better, he added.
"In the midst of the crisis and our desire to return to a sense of normality, we should all acknowledge that things weren't perfect before Covid-19 hit us.
"There are few times in life when the clock is reset. Now is the time we should address these long-term issues. It is a privilege many countries won't have. It's not one we should squander," he said."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/416076/grant-robertson-budget-2020-will-be-far-from-business-as-usual
Not sure where you draw that conclusion from….might pay to wait until next week.
Looks like most of the restrictions in the first 10 Days of Level 4 lockdown were not legal. Oops!
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12330349
Why does it matter. All but a few idiots complied with them voluntarily, because they made sense.
Thank you so much Water Care, our Mayor and council – It is MAY and we are now told there is to be a water restriction put into place. How we are not well served by some of our leaders. Goff is all smile and wave. "We have had a long, hot summer with less than half of our normal rainfall, which means our storage dams have fallen to around 46.5 per cent, well below the 76 per cent average for this time of year." So we act NOW
TOTAL INCOMPETENCE
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12330268
Did you not know the water restrictions were coming? It’s been signposted for months. We were told weeks ago that restrictions were almost certainly likely but imposition of them had been delayed while the level 4 lockdown was in place in order not to put anyone under extra stress.
Why wasn't this in place in February graduated in implementation e.g. turn of tap when brushing teeth, toilets only flush when its brown, water gardens by hand held hoses, no washing of cars, etc
In August 2019 we had this August Average 89% Aug 19 73%. And then we had "Auckland: Record-breaking low summer rainfall. Depending on which rain gauge you look at, summer 2019/20 was the driest, 2nd-driest or 3rd-driest summer on record." yes with all this preceding our current situation I call it Incompetence some may try to argue with the FACTS.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/119936610/northland-drought-whangrei-records-driest-summer-since-wwii
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/115144382/auckland-water-shortage-storage-dams-remain-lower-than-last-year
so you are now demanding water restrictions from when exactly?….mid 2019?
January, with increasing severity of restrictions, as the drough continued Is that good enough for you !!
Another who challenges others, OK then what about your thoughts/contribution then ?? was Mat the correct time then ??
I think you unreasonably expect perfection…the hoped for summer rain hasnt eventuated and there has been a call to restrict use for a month ..
"Under usual circumstances restrictions would kick in at about 51 per cent during autumn, Jaduram said.
Amid a dry start to the month and on the back of a summer that saw just 35 per cent of average rainfall, the city's storage dams on Thursday dropped to 49.7 per cent – the first time they'd fallen below 50 per cent since the drought of 1993/1994, when storage levels got down to a frightening 36 per cent.
The historical average for this time of year is about 77 per cent."
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/auckland/auckland-under-voluntary-water-restrictions-as-dam-levels-sink-below-50-per-cent/
You could increase storage capacity but I suspect youd object to the rate increase to fund it…..but given CC I expect youll have plenty of opportunity in the not too distant future.
25 Feb "Auckland's longest dry spell on record was finally broken last weekend, with Saturday's rainfall marking the first time there's been more than 1mm of rain in 47 days. " add this to what I liked from August 19 position- So we had a record dry period in Feb and No action from Watercare. I think action was required. And comparing to 1993 Auckland then did not have the Waikato river available as a water source IMO is nothing more than diversion tactics, and that Watercare was nothing more than Hoping the Weather would cover for inaction !!!
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/02/weather-new-zealand-s-drought-set-to-be-broken-as-march-spells-increased-rain.html
Agreed pat. Judging exactly when to bring in water restrictions is a tricky business to get right.
I saw the process happening in Wellington one year, and it was fascinating just how much care and judgement was put into it. In the end we were saved by decent rain that arrived with less than 48hrs to spare.
Forward planning is incompetence now??
The nil rainfall is the lowest for 4 months ever recorded for Auckland.
It is not the current low water level so much as the forward warnings that Auckland's summer supply is at risk.
So said the Head of Watercare.
The big issue is that if Watercare was not pumping Waikato water for all it was worth for the past few months Auckland would be in an absolutely chronic position.
micky, are you privy to information you can share off the top of your head on the status of Watercare's efforts to increase how much it can take from the Waikato at higher flow times?
I haven't found anything definitive online, but I get the impression it's still tied up in the consenting process.
You get some good hints here in the request for Crown intervention in the consenting application process from this Stuff article from February this year:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/119610027/calls-for-crown-intervention-as-aucklands-waikato-river-water-application-stagnates
It's on Parker's desk, and I betcha it's a good case for waiting for the RMA reforms that will enable a whole bunch more major work accelerations.
As well as the majority of Auckland's water already coming from outside the Auckland region, Watercare took over management of the Waikato District water system a couple of years ago.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/112886576/aucklands-watercare-to-take-over-waikato-district-services
When the government announces its massive list of the "shovel ready" projects, I have a sneaking suspicion that Watercare will be called upon to be the central procurement agency for the water-focused infrastructure.
Then why as per my above comment was the August 19 storage 73% vs an average of 89%. Not sure how starting with a storage level 16% below the average with what has transpired over this summer is Forward warning of risk ?? that requires urgent action now- To me someone has been missing in action. I understand you are not of recent vintage from reading your contributions but I can recall 1993 and calls such as: placing a 2l bottle of water/brick in the cistern of a toilet to save water and the flush it if its brown, and the need to take action of a leaky tap and more. Such calls have been lacking under the current situation- We have been saved by the Waikato river uptake this time.
And in Feb Watercare requested govt to take more from the Waikato
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/119610027/calls-for-crown-intervention-as-aucklands-waikato-river-water-application-stagnates
They put that application in to the Waikato Regional Council 7 years ago.
The request in February was for direct call-in from the Minister since they'd been dicked around for so long.
Seems like quite a different system to Whangarei. Your "Stage 1" restriction says no domestic hose use. Whangarei went to "Level 2" on February 26 which banned sprinklers and irrigation systems. Then we went to "Level 3" on April 16 which bans hose use, gardens can still be watered with a bucket.
He’s dead set on starting a war.
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1258144806028685318
In another move aimed at consolidating control over policy and messaging, the Trump administration is sending a White House loyalist to serve in a key Defense Department policy role that officials are worried is aimed at weeding out civilians not loyal to the president, Foreign Policy has learned.
Michael Cutrone, who has been detailed as Vice President Mike Pence’s top national security aide for South Asia, is set to arrive at the Pentagon to serve in a behind-the-scenes role vetting Defense Department officials for loyalty to the president, according to two current administration officials.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/06/trump-pence-pentagon-point-man-disloyal/
'It's fantastic': MP thrilled flights to Queenstown resuming"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/416104/it-s-fantastic-mp-thrilled-flights-to-queenstown-resuming
Yep…might be when the taxpayer is paying for your ticket….there might be a different response from the public when the fares are released
Listening to the National Party over the last two weeks, I was under the impression Australia was almost 'business as usual' and achieving the same results as New Zealand. Not if this report is correct.
Scott Morrison wants Australia to get back on the job. But what does a Covid-safe workplace look like?
I'd already thought it must be closer to us, if this was true
Barry Soper’s Shock! Horror! Government Bombshell! ‘They Had No Right To Lock Us Up!’ Column from this arvo has has undergone quite a substantial re-write on the online Herald after the A-G released a statement saying that the so-called leaked advice from Crown Law that Soper received was just a draft report and not the final advice given to the government.
I really can't get excited about this from Soper. So what? Did they want to be right but dead? Or have a loved one die? I'd certainly support some retrospective legislation to stop the money hungry suing the government for money. Other than that yawn!
Latest Stunt:
David Parker is going to ask the Speaker to refer Simon Bridges to the privileges committee:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121452782/coronavirus-government-escalates-stoush-over-lockdown-legal-advice-refers-national-leader-simon-bridges-to-the-privileges-committee
A left wing solution to a mutation. Those who know more than me can explain the findings from the report in this LA Times piece.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-05/mutant-coronavirus-has-emerged-more-contagious-than-original
As Rationalist nation say – we need a UBI and we need to keep a lid on this. Corona ant going away and a mad push to get back to work will undo all we have done.