– The Ministry of Works together with the Electricity Corporation was responsible for the wholesale destruction of both the Waikato and Clutha rivers, which are our largest. Try and get the book "Who Killed The Clutha?", which is the history of 100 years of damming on that river.
– The RMA and its replacement due to come into Parliament this week. The last time anyone tried a full-on dam was Ruataniwha. Even Supreme Court action failed to deter the government of the day this was a bad idea. No public agency will try for a new dam within our legislative framework current or future. The Ministry of the Ministry of Works, once you get past glorying in monumental concrete, is a history of environmental destruction on a stupendous scale.
– Agglomerated Ministries and government agencies get to a certain level of scale and fail to deliver benefits. Is anything getting better under health? What about agglomerated water? Or agglomerated Auckland? Or agglomerated public media? Or agglomerated MBIE? Or indeed any of the others coming.
There are a few upgrades to existing dams, such as the Arnold River on the west coast. The last big one was fully completed in the early 1990s. Their social license simply ran out.
But actually it's time some of the older dams were ripped down, like Roxburgh, and let the rivers flow back the way they should.
The one coming up and getting a full Cabinet "go to full plan" decision in December is the NZ Battery Project, which requires raising on an existing dam, with zero Clutha impact. I suspect that will continue into a National government because the Transpower team are fairly smart.
The MoW did a pretty good job of the Waitaki &b Ohau schemes, even if they did neglect to protect eel migration. (On which note Niwa have solved half the great mystery of eel spawning – just haven't got full elver growth yet).
Where they failed the government in power owe the greater part of the responsibility.
When we had a MoW we didn't see pitiful corrupt shit like $50 million being spent on not building a cycle bridge, or 20-30 year talkfests instead of building railway lines.
The self-styled technocracy have not covered themselves in glory.
What the old Ministries did despite their flaws, and what import substitution manufacturing regimes, such as car assembly did, was provide full time work, for thousands of working class people for many decades. As did provincial “County Councils” and City Councils with their own road repair and infrastructure maintenance teams.
A 21st century publicly owned infrastructure and construction Ministry would be a great thing. Fulton Hogan always seem to be at their busiest when there are unused funding allocations…
Rogernomics greatest shame perhaps was that the many thousands discarded with the collapse of manufacturing and flogging off of public sector assets–via macro economic decisions beyond workers immediate ability to influence–were never seriously retrained or catered for. No, they were demonised as dole bludgers, as are their descendants of the permanent underclass, and then ground into the dust with markets rents for state houses, paid tertiary, Police racial profiling, and Richardson’s MOAB.
Got it ..very profound and correctly stating the impact of those times.
Those reforms ripped the guts out of the middle/working classes in many small towns. In some small towns with high Maori populations Maori were hugely affected and probably never recovered.
I know in my PS workplace we had many jobs that catered for less abled workers who became part of our work lives. A permanent head I worked with was profoundly upset when, finally after protecting these workers against all manner of sinking lids, slash 3% off staffing programmes, finally had to let these staff go when SSC, at the Govts behest, came in for reviews of those in support roles. As we kept in touch after our colleagues left we knew many never ever got another job in the whole of their remaining working lives.
Number of my South & West Auckland colleagues never got “proper” jobs again either after Roger’s wrecking ball and the Nats ’91 union busting ECA. Demolition, scavenging, film industry, labour only contracting, service industry, building, move to the provinces–subsistence style etc. was their career path.
I turned previous volunteer cut & paste layout skills into digital publishing when Mac computers and software made it possible, still do it from the Far North.
"Those reforms ripped the guts out of the middle/working classes in many small towns. In some small towns with high Maori populations Maori were hugely affected and probably never recovered."
Its more clear than probably. The costs of longer term unemployment are not only the income lost during the period of unemployment but also the difference in career path due to limited work history. To some extent this will also occur even for people who managed retraining, because they then start again from a similar position as recent entrants into that line of work.
To some extent this will also occur even for people who managed retraining, because they then start again from a similar position as recent entrants into that line of work.
Oh..really? Your example of the Clutha…and the Clyde dam was primarily Muldoons Think Big mistake.
Norm Kirks Labour had originally wanted a low dam….which would have been so much better. And saved not only land, but a huge amount of wasted $millions.
In the old MOW, NZ had a great amount of skilled People, from Trades through to Engineers. We lost all that. Many to…the likes of Downers and other private companies etc….
Dams werent the only Projects MOW did…..you seem hung up on that. Also I dont see the NZ Battery Project as being quite the sure thing you assume. Still many questions to be answered.
Anyway this from 2010..
Coast perfect for hydro generation
Unfortunately hydro- electricity is often associated in New Zealand with the permanent flooding of agricultural or highly scenic river valleys. This need not be so.
In Europe hydro construction has continued and not one major valley has been lost in the last 50 years.
Dozens of schemes exist where water is diverted from a high valley through a tunnel and at the exit point penstocks and a generating station are constructed.
Sorry to hear this … his long essay, Obama at Manassas in the New Left Review (March-April 2009), was a tour de force in popularising & summarising the changing demography & geography of the presidential vote in a highly colourful & highly accessible way.
Here's one vibrant passage I've always remembered:
Psephology—the statistical analysis of elections—is an inscrutably American obsession, like chewing tobacco or varmint hunting. Although Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and Ehud Barak have all toyed with the dark art, and a Brit originally coined the Greek-cognate term in the 1950s, only those native-born in a Louisiana bayou or a Washington law firm are likely to possess the consummate instinct for extracting winning strategies from a few shavings of an electoral vote. Some have compared voting analysis to the subtle skill of a sommelier, but it is actually more akin (to extend the French analogy) to the acute attentiveness of Louis XIV’s physicians to the contents of the royal chamber pot
Some impressive – and highly colourful -analysis of more recent elections too.
Quote attributed to US Airforce General Curtis LeMay
LeMay tried to walk back this brutal quote, saying that he meant that the US had the potential to bomb Vietnam back to the Stone Age, and blamed his ghost writer for the misquote.
…..he reportedly said, in the mid-60s, that, in order to win the Vietnam war (which was dragging endlessly on during that period) the US military should, “bomb the North Vietnamese back into the Stone Age.”
…. “I never said we should bomb them back to the Stone Age. I said we had the capability to do it….
…..LeMay then elaborated on this, saying that he thought the best strategy would be to annihilate North Vietnamese infrastructure,
……he blamed his ghost writer for misunderstanding the subtleties of what he was saying, and putting the emphasis on bombing the North Vietnamese people.
A war strategy so brutal that it's author tried to distance himself from it.
When the US war in Vietnam became bogged down, LeMay said the US's best strategy was to destroy their infrastructure.
No Russian Federation military or political leader has been quoted as saying, 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age'. But they are carrying out General LeMay's policy in practice.
Kyiv prepares for a winter with no heat, water or power
The mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure
BySAM MEDNICK Associated Press
November 7, 2022, 9:16 AM
…mayor of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, is warning residents that they must prepare for the worst this winter if Russia keeps striking the country’s energy infrastructure — and that means having no electricity, water or heat in the freezing cold cannot be ruled out.
“We are doing everything to avoid this. But let’s be frank, our enemies are doing everything for the city to be without heat, without electricity, without water supply, in general, so we all die…..
Imagine how your family would cope in Auckland without water or power.
Curtis LeMay's brutal policy of destroying Vietnam's infrastructure, didn't save the US imperialists from defeat in Vietnam, it won't save the Russian Federation imperialists from defeat in Ukraine.
David Wallace Wells, who wrote the apocalyptic climate prediction book The Uninhabitable Earth 5 years ago, writes about some stunning turnarounds we've achieved. Obviously not enough, but shows what we can do.
We've cut the prediction of the worst in half, in just 5 years. We know a bit more about what to expect so we can plan. Protest, lobbying and relentless advocacy WORKS! The overton window has shifted significantly. Renewables have drastically declined in price. We might – might – just have a chance, which is better than before.
BTW, it's still pretty grim – just more hopeful by comparison. The point is to show what can be achieved, if/when we rapidly increase efforts. Not the time to kick back.
(From article) The idea that fossil fuels are inherently 'bad' is not as much a thing among the global South and underdeveloped. It's the West's profligate use of them that makes people angry: "climate coloniality". When renewables become economically strong enough, there may well be attacks on fossil nations, and alliances between renewable nations (which will too become stronger).
The danger and effects haven't stopped, they will increase long before the climate even stabilises. Disruption and heartache will continue, but we can limit the worst and prepare. Climate despair is the worst thing next to disdain.
I think Mr Little is busy in a meeting with Health NZ discussing their anti racist programme (sarc) and tonight will be attending the drag kareoke for staff, so the real health system will just have to wait its turn, like the mental health patients in ED……..
However, I don't think that you'd find a health professional who didn't agree that wait times in any hospital are markedly worse than they were 10 years ago. And that the stress on the staff is correspondingly worse.
And, yes, there are lots of reasons for this.
I spent nearly 10 hours with my elderly mother in NS hospital ED a couple of months ago – after a bad fall. Watching the obvious stress on the staff with the ever-increasing numbers coming through the door (this wasn't even a busy time); as well as the distress of unwell people who didn't feel that they were getting the care they needed in a timely fashion (or at all – we watched people walk out the door).
Really, no one is interested in which hospital is 'worst' – what we want to see is a coherent plan for making all of them better. Taskforces won't do it. You need actual staff members, and care beds (whether inside or outside the hospital system).
Belladonna the catastrophe that is the health work force crisis is terrifying and it should have been the very first thing Labour attended to way back in 2017 when Ian Powell told David Clark there was a Health workforce crisis.
Labour have f..ked around with new Health Authorities and getting bureacrats to write long documents on racism in the health force , when even at the end of long documents they have to concede that there is not conclusive evidence that racism leads to poor health outcomes for Maori. I quoted it yesterday on OM I think it was and happy to re-write it on request.
Little can't even resolve a pay dispute with the nurses union (and dissed them). Little should be sacked. While I can't be sure, it is likely Reti will do better. At least he was talking about a third medical school
Stop blaming Little for everything Anker. The health situation in NZ has been steadily deteriorating for at least two decades – probably much longer. Yes, it has now reached a critical point and that in large part has been due to Covid. Placing all the blame on the current government and its minister is unrealistic.
The government is fighting an uphill battle to attract more overseas nurses and doctors but they are having to compete with the rest of the planet in a finite world. We are far from alone in our health sector problems.
As far as the nurses pay battles are concerned. They had an offer of a major pay increase less than two years ago and turned it down did they not? Of course they are worthy of more, but once again this is a finite situation. There are other sectors of society equally deserving of a slice of the ever diminishing size of the cake – and that once again is due to international problems and by no means all the fault of the current government.
“I have to say, as a former union leader involved in negotiating settlements, it is very unusual for a union to re-litigate terms of settlement that they have already signed up to,”
"Little flatly denied there was any promise of back pay. In the end, there’s only one agreement that counts – it’s the one done on December 2021"
Really? Reti is on record as saying that doctors should be able to charge patients whatever they want, which means we will have doctors fees of up to $150-200. Not too sure how people can afford that.
He also despises the concept of public healthcare and looks up to the USA system, where people die if they cannot afford insurance.
Absolutely. Some…(even on the Standard )…have seen him as the kinder, caring face of the nats. Bullshit its just a mask…and if he was kinder and caring he wouldnt be a nat.
nats have always seen Our NZ Health system as something to be reduced..even privatised.
"The Government is rolling out a suite of targeted measures to train more health workers domestically and bring more doctors and nurses into the country to help address immediate workforce pressures"
“On March 31 this year, 1,765 more doctors and 4,277 more nurses were working for Health New Zealand than there were when we came into Government in 2017.
So we've reached 2010 from your initial link from 2009 — anything recent – to match the current reports from Middlemore from this year (linked above) – where people actually have died?
I've (sadly) had a lot of time in and out of NSH over the last 20 years – with a wide range of family and friends. I wouldn't rate it especially poorly. Though it's suffering from the same problems all hospitals are ATM – with understaffing, limited beds (often because it's not possible to discharge people safely), and overwhelmingly increased demand on the ED.
If you're interested in historic trends – here's one saying that the Middlemore issues aren't Covid-caused – but have been imminent for more than a decade.
My three most recent ED experiences, I'd rate as: Starship (best), NS Hospital, Auckland (last, by a long way – largely due to the unmanageably violent/drunk/high people the staff had to cope with).
"the current reports from Middlemore from this year (linked above) – where people actually have died" Are you claiming this has never happened before?
The people I know, including family members have had a different experience from you and do not rate North shore hospital well at all. Hospitals have always had to deal with "violent/drunk/high people" Many of the problems you have listed are not new hence the new health reforms.
The video points out that the main issue with hydrogen production is that it usually involves hydrocarbons to produce it. Hence, until this problem is solved, hydrogen isn't a viable replacement for hydrocarbons in that the hydrogen production process uses more hydrocarbons than hydrogen use can save.
However, the video explains how the Japanese have come up with an intrinsically safe nuclear reactor. The intrinsically safe aspect was vital for them due to recent history that is well known. This reactor is able to economically produce hydrogen as part of its process.
So, if we can all get our heads around intrinsically safe nuclear reactors, it looks like there could be a lot of promise in this concept.
Maybe. How many wonderfully promising potential new cancer cures have you heard about in your lifetime? Not that I'm an out and out techno-sceptic – our reluctance to move away from BAU economics will likely mean we delay and delay until multiple interlocking crises demand miraculous technology solutions. If they exist they will be welcome of course – though if they are not put into the public domain but remain in private ownership, they'll drive inequality to stratospheric levels.
I think this actually a working prototype. They have deliberately set melt-down conditions where the cores get to maximum temperatures. But the composition of the nuclear rods has easily stood up to those conditions.
The Japanese are very cautious with nuclear since their experience with Fukushima. So, they would have to be absolutely about safety certain to use the technology on safety grounds.
If we are serious about saving the planet, then hydrogen is the logical fuel to replace hydrocarbons for industrial use. If hydrogen can be produced safely and economically with this type of technology, then I think we need to put pragmatics over ideology.
I’m very concerned that your ‘safe’ radioactive waste could lead to mutations in cockroaches creating Cockzilla and then our climate will be truly stuffed
Don't want to add to your vexed state, but I thought I had read that water vapour is one of the worst greenhouse gases. Our planet produces huge amounts already – is it predictably wise for us to entertain the idea burning blistering billions of tons of hydrogen, adding to the total water vapour?
Meanwhile, we can continue to make more efficient use of energy, and even use less energy – we've done it before (Target 10%) and it wasn't the end of the world.
Detransitioners may be a small group—even the highest estimates are in the hundreds, compared with an estimated number of transgender-identified people in the low millions—but they have been influential in pushing their denial that trans identity is real.
Publicly, detransitioners disavow not only their individual transition histories but also the fact that transition helps trans people worldwide to live comfortably in their own skin. Although a few men also identify as detransitioned, most of the community congregates in sex-exclusive online forums for detransitioned women only. They believe gender dysphoria is common among women and disappears when they learn to love and accept their female bodies.
Detransitioned women have gained influence because of strong interest in their stories by both anti-trans activists and some journalists.
Double radical mastectomies on young girls are gender affirming care that will see their healthy boobs amputated and for some detransitioners that will be in issue in the future.
To make it sound nicer and friendlier the gender medical industry that makes top dollar on such people – young and old – call it 'top surgery', or very orwellian as 'chest contouring'. As some ask, why did no one prevent me from having boobs cut off, my uterus removed and my female hormones replaced by synthetic testesterone. And a lot of the destransitioners are young women in their early 20 who were socially transitioned, puberty blocked (some), and on cross hormones by their mid teens with the life saving sexual organ amputation surgeries added quickly there after. And oops, then they wake up and realise that non of that is reversible, and that they will in many cases be lifelong customers to various pharmaceutical companies for testesterone, and other medications.
ditto for the boys that wake up and realise they are on their fifth revision of their sexual re-assignement surgery and they still don't have anything even just loosely resembling a 'vagina'. But they all have issues urinating and such. They too are unhappy, the detransitioners.
But then we don't count the ones that are unhappy, that would be unkind to the happy ones and may make some think a bit harder and further then just 'affirmation is kindness' and YOU want to be KIND!
So if the knee surgeries on old, crunchy, broken knees result in such high regret I suggest that they try having knee surgeries or amputations – leg contouring or limb surgery would be a good term – on healthy knees to see if they have a lesser regret. After all, its all the same, right?
Mind best would be to not compare a surgery such as knee operations to removal of uterueses, breasts, penises and scrotums, as clearly other then they being surgeries they have nothing in common. You can still be somewhat mobile with a bung knee, but you will not have sex or children with missing / cut of sexual / reproductive organs.
But then, i am unkind in my believe that mental illness can not be fixed with amputations and removal of sexual and reproductive organs on children. What adults do with their bits n bobs is their own, and even then the Therapist that sign them off on these surgeries should be making sure that the issue is not other trauma, other mental illness and is indeed a very strong case of Body disphoria / dismorphic disorder to warrant this type of intervention, as adults too experience regret.
Arkie, women with breast cancer in NZ are initially refused a double mastectomy if it is not considered medically warranted. Even the benefit to the patient of improved mental well-being is not considered – given that they already have a diagnosis of a disease that kills 1 in 5 of the 3500 diagnosed every year within five years.
There is a marked difference between a surgery for a medically diagnosed disease, and one that is demanded without diagnosis other than self-declaration.
The cost to the medical system for medical and surgical transition is high, both at initial intervention stage, and later stages. In fact it can be a lifelong requirement for state funded healthcare, for a person who otherwise would not need such care or use of limited resources.
"Autonomy in the context of transgender healthcare involves transgender people being able to able to make informed choices for themselves regarding gender affirming care and being free from experiencing harmful pathologisation and other barriers to accessing this care."
"Historically transgender healthcare has suffered from the pathologising of gender diversity and the inappropriate labelling of gender/cultural identity and expression as a diagnosed mental health illness. The resulting legacy of this pathologisation is a tension in health services between the need to avoid further stigmatisation while simultaneously acknowledging the importance of the wider concept of mental health as part of holistic healthcare delivery. The practice of informed consent in relation to gender affirming healthcare is important because it reaffirms the self-determination of the transgender person and their knowledge of their needs, identities, and self. Informed consent enables the health provider to work alongside the transgender person in a flexible and responsive way."
Post Mastectomy Reconstruction surgery is also a Gender Affirming procedure. One that has far more regret associated with it than GAS for trans people. The focus on trans procedures is disproportionate.
The guidelines you have linked to are for Medical Professionals, the ones who provide the diagnoses and referrals needed so that trans people can access medical procedures.
"Post Mastectomy Reconstruction surgery is also a Gender Affirming procedure. "
No, arkie.
It is – like all non-medically required surgeries – a cosmetic procedure, that follows a clinically indicated mastectomy.
Women with breasts or without them don't need further surgery to affirm their sex.
The fact that you see reconstruction for breast cancer patients as "gender affirming surgery" is indicative of a poor understanding of women.
“The guidelines you have linked to are for Medical Professionals, the ones who provide the diagnoses and referrals needed so that trans people can access medical procedures.”
Those guidelines along with those from the source document from WPATH refer to the professionals following the direction of the patient.
Haven't watched this all the way through, and for those unused to Exulansic – it might be a bit hard going, but the telling part of this video for me is the justifications and equivocating of the medical professionals at Boston Children's Hospital when speaking about transitioning children.
Putting faith in such ideologues to do the right thing for children is why so much damage will be done. And the ones who will pay the price for this type of evangalism, is the children they are entrusted with.
The doctor speaking of the earning and profitability potential in the revisions of sexual re-assignment surgery is simply chilling. They need a 'lot of after care', indeed they do. Jazz Jennings, very famous Transchild/Transwomen of TLC – the learning channel – is a case in point. They had their bottom surgery done about 4 years ago – by Marica Bowers of all surgeons, and i think they are on re-vision four or five of the initial surgery. Jazz went from healthy young and happy to obese, sick and in constant pain with various doctors doctoring. One can only ever hope for the very best outcome of any of these interventions as the other alternative is just too horrible to contemplate.
Pulling his hairline down to his lower jaw was a masterpiece of plastic surgery, but in my mind he’s still the cute adorable and slightly awkward Emo Musk.
The review including literature from transitions made for a completely different demographic than what we are currently seeing, for those who underwent non-affirmation only healthcare. and was limited by the failure of many clinics to do standard follow up of their patients for any extended lengths of time.
With those limitations it is a poor justification for the affirming healthcare model that psychologically, medically and surgically transitions children and young people. (Let's not even get into the dwindling medical resources, that will be further diminished by the production of lifelong medical patients, who seek to change healthy functioning bodies to a medically and surgically modified one).
"As a group of psychotherapists working in the area of gender, we have concerns about the arguments and statistics presented in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health's Editorial.1
We believe that using the outdated statistic that 1% of people who transition will regret their decision is highly irresponsible, and lacks the rigour for which the Lancet group of journals is known. This 1% refers primarily to studies of adults who transitioned in an era when medical transition was only taken under strict protocol.2 We now find ourselves in a markedly different era, characterised by a 1727% rise in the numbers of children seeking to transition,3 and a gender-affirmative approach, which has been adopted almost universally, making the proffered 1% statistic anachronistic.4 We do not believe puberty blockers are a safe and appropriate option, as supported by a blog by Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson,5 especially given that the use of this highly experimental treatment path is being reconsidered by progressive countries in Europe. The Karolinska Institute in Sweden, long considered gold-standard in providing transgender health care, no longer uses puberty blockers;6 nor does Finland promote their use.7 Additionally, a judicial review in the UK found puberty blockers to be an inappropriate option for most children younger than 16 years.8
We urge The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health to take this opportunity to engage with this issue, rather than publishing, in our opinion, inaccurate and careless Editorials."
Go on Redit. The numbers are in the tens of thousands there. My understanding is that there is strict criteria there.
Have you read the Cass report Sacha? Have you bothered listen to even one detransitioner story? Seen the women who have had double mastectomies? Are now infertile cause they have had their wombs removed? Did you read the article in Stuff about the Australian woman who is suiong her psychiatrist who pled her having breasts and womb removed?
Transactivists, similarly, believe their right to self-determination is limited only by their imagination — never by anyone else’s rights. Just as Jake Angeli can dress up as a Native American warrior to symbolize the white colonizer’s imaginary right to stolen land, Charlotte Clymer can put on some lipstick and pick up a gold lamé purse in order to lay symbolic claim to a womanhood that exists only in the mind of sexist men. The way to an ‘authentic’ self is not through radical self-acceptance, the rejection of dehumanization, the telling of truth to power, or the building of strong and loving human relationships, but by buying an outside that somehow ‘matches’ your insides.
Breaks your heart. The medical establishment has been wrecked by TRA bullies threatening the livelihoods of doctors who don't submit to the unquestioning affirmation model. Leading to a predictable rise in transition regret.
The entity needed to have a public service mission written into its legislation so it would not pursue the creation of certain genres – for example, cheap, high-rating reality television – to outcompete other media companies for audiences and advertising revenue, said Dr Peter Thompson, a media expert from Victoria University of Wellington.
…
The new entity could be mandated to accept programmes and run them on its platforms, Thompson said. One way to introduce this would be to write in a public service “publisher” role for the entity, in which it would be obliged to distribute its commissioned content.
Nz media organs, sponsored by banks and real estate industry, spreading relentless negative spin. Then pretending butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Tova is throwing rocks at Labour, ignoring all of its hard work, and giving National a free pass.
Sure, criticise the government. But you're fucking delusional if you think sacking them will fix anything. Please show me the National party policy to control banks, implement CGT, stop inflation etc.
Don't just give the Natz a free pass. They are proven liars.
NAct have openly stated their contempt for working people. They only represent the propertied landlord class now.
Multinational corporations are circling Aotearoa like sharks, and National wants to help them suppress wages, inflate prices, snap up all of our public assets. All for the sake of a quick buck for themselves
Absolute agreement on my part, roblogic. My worst fear is that your target audience never read the Standard. Given educational decline, few of them are likely to do any reading at all now..
I ran across a recent essay from The Brothers Krynn, which attempts to map common horror monsters onto the Seven Deadly Sins: https://canadianculturecorner.substack.com/p/horror-monsters-and-vice My interest, however, is not in the meat of the piece, but rather the opening paragraph: It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have ...
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
Oliver Hartwich writes – New Zealanders recently learned about a new feature film. It will be about former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – and taxpayers will subsidise it to the tune of NZ$800,000. Ardern had nothing personally to do with either the film or the subsidy. But her government’s ...
TL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above that was recorded yesterday afternoon above between and The Kākā’s climate correspondent : An independent review panel into the emergency response to Cyclone Gabrielle in Hawkes Bayconcluded “that ...
There are now only a few days left to give feedback on the Draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) on Land Transport 2024-34 (see our earlier post this week on GPS submission guides). As we’ve reported, the GPS is a disaster for Local Government, so we were particularly interested to hear ...
Willis has pledged to go ahead with the debt-funded tax cuts, despite growing opposition from her own supporters worried about appearing fiscally irresponsible. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for ...
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On ...
In 2015, then-Prime Minister John Key announced plans for a huge ocean sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands, banning fishing and mining from 15% of Aotearoa's EEZ. It was bold, it was ambitious, and it suggested that National might actually care about the environment. Except they fucked it up: Key failed ...
1. Who has just been given the accolade New Zealander of the Year?a. The Kokakob. The Cook Strait Ferryc. Fair God. Dr Jim Salinger 2. Which of these is an affront to decent society?a. Dame Edna Everageb. Mrs Doubtfire c. Dr. Frank-N-Furterd. Brian 3. Who is Penny Simmonds?a. The aspiring actress in Big ...
New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure.The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found ...
Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
Look around us…Nicola Willis’ promises of balancing the books, of cutting spending without reducing services, and of delivering game changing tax cuts are disappearing before her eyes.Everyday we see stories of violent crime ending in horrific injuries, or worse. The cost of living worsens, whereas the PM claimed renters would ...
TL;DR: My top six news of note on the morning of Thursday, March 28 include:The Government will have to borrow between $10 billion to $15 billion more than previously expected in order to make up for a slowing economy and to pay for $14.9 billion of tax cuts, according to ...
This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
COMMENTARY:By Ronny Kareni Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding. Nowhere is this more evident ...
Analysis - Nicola Willis is holding firm on tax cuts despite the economic outlook being worse than forecast and critics urging her to wait, writes Peter Wilson for The Week In Politics. ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Hydropower
I think we in NZ have all the ability and expertise to do this.
Would be great if Labour and Greens start a NZ Public Works…akin to the old Ministry of Works. We built so much back in the day. Can do it again !
Cmon Labour. This would work. Public Works NZ again.We can do this . Labour and Greens United ! Fight back against nact.
So many reasons this is a bad idea.
– The Ministry of Works together with the Electricity Corporation was responsible for the wholesale destruction of both the Waikato and Clutha rivers, which are our largest. Try and get the book "Who Killed The Clutha?", which is the history of 100 years of damming on that river.
Hydroelectric power New Zealand | Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)
– The RMA and its replacement due to come into Parliament this week. The last time anyone tried a full-on dam was Ruataniwha. Even Supreme Court action failed to deter the government of the day this was a bad idea. No public agency will try for a new dam within our legislative framework current or future. The Ministry of the Ministry of Works, once you get past glorying in monumental concrete, is a history of environmental destruction on a stupendous scale.
By Design – A Brief History of the Public Works Department – Ministry of Works 1870 – 1970 | Noonan, Rosslyn J. | Arty Bee's Books (artybees.co.nz)
– Agglomerated Ministries and government agencies get to a certain level of scale and fail to deliver benefits. Is anything getting better under health? What about agglomerated water? Or agglomerated Auckland? Or agglomerated public media? Or agglomerated MBIE? Or indeed any of the others coming.
There are a few upgrades to existing dams, such as the Arnold River on the west coast. The last big one was fully completed in the early 1990s. Their social license simply ran out.
But actually it's time some of the older dams were ripped down, like Roxburgh, and let the rivers flow back the way they should.
The one coming up and getting a full Cabinet "go to full plan" decision in December is the NZ Battery Project, which requires raising on an existing dam, with zero Clutha impact. I suspect that will continue into a National government because the Transpower team are fairly smart.
Let's not do dumb ideas again.
The MoW did a pretty good job of the Waitaki &b Ohau schemes, even if they did neglect to protect eel migration. (On which note Niwa have solved half the great mystery of eel spawning – just haven't got full elver growth yet).
Where they failed the government in power owe the greater part of the responsibility.
When we had a MoW we didn't see pitiful corrupt shit like $50 million being spent on not building a cycle bridge, or 20-30 year talkfests instead of building railway lines.
The self-styled technocracy have not covered themselves in glory.
What the old Ministries did despite their flaws, and what import substitution manufacturing regimes, such as car assembly did, was provide full time work, for thousands of working class people for many decades. As did provincial “County Councils” and City Councils with their own road repair and infrastructure maintenance teams.
A 21st century publicly owned infrastructure and construction Ministry would be a great thing. Fulton Hogan always seem to be at their busiest when there are unused funding allocations…
Rogernomics greatest shame perhaps was that the many thousands discarded with the collapse of manufacturing and flogging off of public sector assets–via macro economic decisions beyond workers immediate ability to influence–were never seriously retrained or catered for. No, they were demonised as dole bludgers, as are their descendants of the permanent underclass, and then ground into the dust with markets rents for state houses, paid tertiary, Police racial profiling, and Richardson’s MOAB.
Got it ..very profound and correctly stating the impact of those times.
Those reforms ripped the guts out of the middle/working classes in many small towns. In some small towns with high Maori populations Maori were hugely affected and probably never recovered.
I know in my PS workplace we had many jobs that catered for less abled workers who became part of our work lives. A permanent head I worked with was profoundly upset when, finally after protecting these workers against all manner of sinking lids, slash 3% off staffing programmes, finally had to let these staff go when SSC, at the Govts behest, came in for reviews of those in support roles. As we kept in touch after our colleagues left we knew many never ever got another job in the whole of their remaining working lives.
Number of my South & West Auckland colleagues never got “proper” jobs again either after Roger’s wrecking ball and the Nats ’91 union busting ECA. Demolition, scavenging, film industry, labour only contracting, service industry, building, move to the provinces–subsistence style etc. was their career path.
I turned previous volunteer cut & paste layout skills into digital publishing when Mac computers and software made it possible, still do it from the Far North.
"Those reforms ripped the guts out of the middle/working classes in many small towns. In some small towns with high Maori populations Maori were hugely affected and probably never recovered."
Its more clear than probably. The costs of longer term unemployment are not only the income lost during the period of unemployment but also the difference in career path due to limited work history. To some extent this will also occur even for people who managed retraining, because they then start again from a similar position as recent entrants into that line of work.
Yes you are correct re 'probably'.
And correct with this as well.
Oh..really? Your example of the Clutha…and the Clyde dam was primarily Muldoons Think Big mistake.
Norm Kirks Labour had originally wanted a low dam….which would have been so much better. And saved not only land, but a huge amount of wasted $millions.
In the old MOW, NZ had a great amount of skilled People, from Trades through to Engineers. We lost all that. Many to…the likes of Downers and other private companies etc….
Dams werent the only Projects MOW did…..you seem hung up on that. Also I dont see the NZ Battery Project as being quite the sure thing you assume. Still many questions to be answered.
Anyway this from 2010..
IMO this would work.
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Mike Davis who wrote City of Quartz, the best Marxist geography of LA I've ever seen.
Mike Davis' blue-collar odyssey to "City of Quartz": From trucker to legendary leftist writer | Salon.com
One for my retirement list is a Marxist geography of Auckland.
.
Sorry to hear this … his long essay, Obama at Manassas in the New Left Review (March-April 2009), was a tour de force in popularising & summarising the changing demography & geography of the presidential vote in a highly colourful & highly accessible way.
Here's one vibrant passage I've always remembered:
Some impressive – and highly colourful -analysis of more recent elections too.
'
'Bomb them back to the stone age'
Quote attributed to US Airforce General Curtis LeMay
LeMay tried to walk back this brutal quote, saying that he meant that the US had the potential to bomb Vietnam back to the Stone Age, and blamed his ghost writer for the misquote.
A war strategy so brutal that it's author tried to distance himself from it.
When the US war in Vietnam became bogged down, LeMay said the US's best strategy was to destroy their infrastructure.
No Russian Federation military or political leader has been quoted as saying, 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age'. But they are carrying out General LeMay's policy in practice.
Imagine how your family would cope in Auckland without water or power.
Curtis LeMay's brutal policy of destroying Vietnam's infrastructure, didn't save the US imperialists from defeat in Vietnam, it won't save the Russian Federation imperialists from defeat in Ukraine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGl7t1S3F6o&t=2s
In case anyone missed this NYT piece (I think it was posted here recently), it's really worth a read or a listen (article has audio of the text).
David Wallace Wells, who wrote the apocalyptic climate prediction book The Uninhabitable Earth 5 years ago, writes about some stunning turnarounds we've achieved. Obviously not enough, but shows what we can do.
We've cut the prediction of the worst in half, in just 5 years. We know a bit more about what to expect so we can plan. Protest, lobbying and relentless advocacy WORKS! The overton window has shifted significantly. Renewables have drastically declined in price. We might – might – just have a chance, which is better than before.
BTW, it's still pretty grim – just more hopeful by comparison. The point is to show what can be achieved, if/when we rapidly increase efforts. Not the time to kick back.
(From article) The idea that fossil fuels are inherently 'bad' is not as much a thing among the global South and underdeveloped. It's the West's profligate use of them that makes people angry: "climate coloniality". When renewables become economically strong enough, there may well be attacks on fossil nations, and alliances between renewable nations (which will too become stronger).
The danger and effects haven't stopped, they will increase long before the climate even stabilises. Disruption and heartache will continue, but we can limit the worst and prepare. Climate despair is the worst thing next to disdain.
Sorry, it was NRT where I saw the article repost (credit where it's due).
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/staff-make-formal-complaint-about-plight-of-north-shore-hospitals-ed-and-mental-health-patients/WIDMIAPE2RH7PIAQOJ6BVDOD2U/
I think Mr Little is busy in a meeting with Health NZ discussing their anti racist programme (sarc) and tonight will be attending the drag kareoke for staff, so the real health system will just have to wait its turn, like the mental health patients in ED……..
Not new.
2009 North Shore hospitals among worst
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/north-shore-times/47559/North-Shore-hospitals-among-worst
Agree, that it's not new.
However, I don't think that you'd find a health professional who didn't agree that wait times in any hospital are markedly worse than they were 10 years ago. And that the stress on the staff is correspondingly worse.
And, yes, there are lots of reasons for this.
I spent nearly 10 hours with my elderly mother in NS hospital ED a couple of months ago – after a bad fall. Watching the obvious stress on the staff with the ever-increasing numbers coming through the door (this wasn't even a busy time); as well as the distress of unwell people who didn't feel that they were getting the care they needed in a timely fashion (or at all – we watched people walk out the door).
Really, no one is interested in which hospital is 'worst' – what we want to see is a coherent plan for making all of them better. Taskforces won't do it. You need actual staff members, and care beds (whether inside or outside the hospital system).
Belladonna the catastrophe that is the health work force crisis is terrifying and it should have been the very first thing Labour attended to way back in 2017 when Ian Powell told David Clark there was a Health workforce crisis.
Labour have f..ked around with new Health Authorities and getting bureacrats to write long documents on racism in the health force , when even at the end of long documents they have to concede that there is not conclusive evidence that racism leads to poor health outcomes for Maori. I quoted it yesterday on OM I think it was and happy to re-write it on request.
Little can't even resolve a pay dispute with the nurses union (and dissed them). Little should be sacked. While I can't be sure, it is likely Reti will do better. At least he was talking about a third medical school
Stop blaming Little for everything Anker. The health situation in NZ has been steadily deteriorating for at least two decades – probably much longer. Yes, it has now reached a critical point and that in large part has been due to Covid. Placing all the blame on the current government and its minister is unrealistic.
The government is fighting an uphill battle to attract more overseas nurses and doctors but they are having to compete with the rest of the planet in a finite world. We are far from alone in our health sector problems.
As far as the nurses pay battles are concerned. They had an offer of a major pay increase less than two years ago and turned it down did they not? Of course they are worthy of more, but once again this is a finite situation. There are other sectors of society equally deserving of a slice of the ever diminishing size of the cake – and that once again is due to international problems and by no means all the fault of the current government.
"Let me be clear: the proposal was one they put to the Government. The Nurses Organisation rejected their own proposal"
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/health-minister-andrew-little-responding-new-zealand-nurses-organisations-rejection-latest
“I have to say, as a former union leader involved in negotiating settlements, it is very unusual for a union to re-litigate terms of settlement that they have already signed up to,”
"Little flatly denied there was any promise of back pay. In the end, there’s only one agreement that counts – it’s the one done on December 2021"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300569099/nurses-consider-going-to-era-over-broken-promise-in-pay-equity-deal#:~:text=Health%20Minister%20Andrew%20Little%20says,deal%20to%20a%20membership%20vote.
Really? Reti is on record as saying that doctors should be able to charge patients whatever they want, which means we will have doctors fees of up to $150-200. Not too sure how people can afford that.
He also despises the concept of public healthcare and looks up to the USA system, where people die if they cannot afford insurance.
Didn't know that about Reti Cheers Millsy
You didn't know that about Shane Reti because it is nonsense … Millsy is lying.
Yes, Reti would like what is known as a 'wallet biopsy' in this country – if you can afford it, you'll get it.
Thank you, but no.
Absolutely. Some…(even on the Standard )…have seen him as the kinder, caring face of the nats. Bullshit its just a mask…and if he was kinder and caring he wouldnt be a nat.
nats have always seen Our NZ Health system as something to be reduced..even privatised.
Since it's 'on record' I'm sure you'll be able to link to the source.
The post was specifically directed at North Shore Hospital, that doesn't have a good rep.
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand was only implemented on July 1st, the new system is still in the transitional phase.
There is a world wide shortage of health workers.
https://www.healthdata.org/news-release/worldwide-shortage-health-workers-threatens-effective-health-coverage
"The Government is rolling out a suite of targeted measures to train more health workers domestically and bring more doctors and nurses into the country to help address immediate workforce pressures"
“On March 31 this year, 1,765 more doctors and 4,277 more nurses were working for Health New Zealand than there were when we came into Government in 2017.
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-plan-boost-health-workers
"New fund targets 20,000 nurses who have left profession"
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/461463/new-fund-targets-20-000-nurses-who-have-left-profession
Just wondering in what way the NS hospital 'doesn't have a good rep'
In terms of waiting times – Middlemore hospital is widely recognised to have even greater infrastructure issues (staffing, beds, and overwhelmed ED).
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/476824/middlemore-emergency-department-slammed-as-unsafe-for-patients-and-staff
Everyone I know that has gone there wished they had gone somewhere else
"Third World conditions at North Shore Hospital"
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/how-the-hospital-failed-my-daughter/7WO5Q3E7BXFKYUPFGY2NGAFWKI/
So we've reached 2010 from your initial link from 2009 — anything recent – to match the current reports from Middlemore from this year (linked above) – where people actually have died?
I've (sadly) had a lot of time in and out of NSH over the last 20 years – with a wide range of family and friends. I wouldn't rate it especially poorly. Though it's suffering from the same problems all hospitals are ATM – with understaffing, limited beds (often because it's not possible to discharge people safely), and overwhelmingly increased demand on the ED.
If you're interested in historic trends – here's one saying that the Middlemore issues aren't Covid-caused – but have been imminent for more than a decade.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300714777/systemwide-solutions-needed-to-fix-unsafe-middlemore-ed-doctor-says
My three most recent ED experiences, I'd rate as: Starship (best), NS Hospital, Auckland (last, by a long way – largely due to the unmanageably violent/drunk/high people the staff had to cope with).
"the current reports from Middlemore from this year (linked above) – where people actually have died" Are you claiming this has never happened before?
The people I know, including family members have had a different experience from you and do not rate North shore hospital well at all. Hospitals have always had to deal with "violent/drunk/high people" Many of the problems you have listed are not new hence the new health reforms.
Here is an interesting video about economical methods of hydrogen production that have the potential to replace hydrocarbons in industry and transport.
The video points out that the main issue with hydrogen production is that it usually involves hydrocarbons to produce it. Hence, until this problem is solved, hydrogen isn't a viable replacement for hydrocarbons in that the hydrogen production process uses more hydrocarbons than hydrogen use can save.
However, the video explains how the Japanese have come up with an intrinsically safe nuclear reactor. The intrinsically safe aspect was vital for them due to recent history that is well known. This reactor is able to economically produce hydrogen as part of its process.
So, if we can all get our heads around intrinsically safe nuclear reactors, it looks like there could be a lot of promise in this concept.
Maybe. How many wonderfully promising potential new cancer cures have you heard about in your lifetime? Not that I'm an out and out techno-sceptic – our reluctance to move away from BAU economics will likely mean we delay and delay until multiple interlocking crises demand miraculous technology solutions. If they exist they will be welcome of course – though if they are not put into the public domain but remain in private ownership, they'll drive inequality to stratospheric levels.
I think this actually a working prototype. They have deliberately set melt-down conditions where the cores get to maximum temperatures. But the composition of the nuclear rods has easily stood up to those conditions.
Does it produce intrinsically safe radioactive waste?
Yup, if you’re a cockroach 😉
The Japanese are very cautious with nuclear since their experience with Fukushima. So, they would have to be absolutely about safety certain to use the technology on safety grounds.
If we are serious about saving the planet, then hydrogen is the logical fuel to replace hydrocarbons for industrial use. If hydrogen can be produced safely and economically with this type of technology, then I think we need to put pragmatics over ideology.
You should have left it at your answer @ 6.2.2 to Sacha.
I have a big ideological problem with cockroaches because they have a large carbon footprint, amongst other issues.
https://www.rentokil.co.uk/blog/flatulent-cockroaches-adapt-climate-change
https://www.cockroachzone.com/how-often-does-a-cockroach-fart/
I’m very concerned that your ‘safe’ radioactive waste could lead to mutations in cockroaches creating Cockzilla and then our climate will be truly stuffed
Don't want to add to your vexed state, but I thought I had read that water vapour is one of the worst greenhouse gases. Our planet produces huge amounts already – is it predictably wise for us to entertain the idea burning blistering billions of tons of hydrogen, adding to the total water vapour?
Yes, very good point, which is why we’d need efficient condensers & traps to recycle the water back. Water is a precious commodity too.
“Does it produce intrinsically safe radioactive waste?”
In the video they say that is still an issue to be overcome. So, no, it looks like waste is still a problem.
I have a surefire world-beating business idea, but funding is still an issue to be overcome.
Fusion reactors are also proving a tough nut to crack, but there was something…
I just hope that human behaviour doesn't get in the way of making wise use of all that surplus energy – whenever it becomes available.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-energy-use
Meanwhile, we can continue to make more efficient use of energy, and even use less energy – we've done it before (Target 10%) and it wasn't the end of the world.
Worth reading up about this much less widely known mess.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/18/hanford-is-ripe-for-a-radioactive-explosion/
Scaremongering about nuclear waste is a mind virus that ignores a massive potential energy source that can help us to fight CC and move away from oil.
Aiming for perfection is the enemy of "good enough" solutions that offer real progress.
https://twitter.com/jrmygrdn/status/1582354314957578240?s=20&t=OMGBdzIKKzzC9VaRbSbDxQ
https://twitter.com/NuclearHazelnut/status/1537888635667611656?s=20&t=OMGBdzIKKzzC9VaRbSbDxQ
Perfection is the minimal standard for things that are likely to cause mass destruction. See other comments above.
"likely to cause mass destruction"… like hydroelectric dam failures?
https://twitter.com/Quantling/status/1587998853910786049?s=20&t=X7VZXkT9cuTDPxFgff3Xog
Stumbled on this story over the weekend and judging by ongoing comments here some may find it interesting. https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/02/detransition-movement-star-ex-gay-explained.html
Regret rates regarding gender confirmation surgery are 1-2%: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8099405/
Regret rates regarding knee surgery are 10%: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4779800/
maybe if they had their knees amputated – their healthy knees that is – the regret rates for knee surgery would be lower.
Eh?
Haven’t you got it backwards? Or have I?
Double radical mastectomies on young girls are gender affirming care that will see their healthy boobs amputated and for some detransitioners that will be in issue in the future.
To make it sound nicer and friendlier the gender medical industry that makes top dollar on such people – young and old – call it 'top surgery', or very orwellian as 'chest contouring'. As some ask, why did no one prevent me from having boobs cut off, my uterus removed and my female hormones replaced by synthetic testesterone. And a lot of the destransitioners are young women in their early 20 who were socially transitioned, puberty blocked (some), and on cross hormones by their mid teens with the life saving sexual organ amputation surgeries added quickly there after. And oops, then they wake up and realise that non of that is reversible, and that they will in many cases be lifelong customers to various pharmaceutical companies for testesterone, and other medications.
ditto for the boys that wake up and realise they are on their fifth revision of their sexual re-assignement surgery and they still don't have anything even just loosely resembling a 'vagina'. But they all have issues urinating and such. They too are unhappy, the detransitioners.
But then we don't count the ones that are unhappy, that would be unkind to the happy ones and may make some think a bit harder and further then just 'affirmation is kindness' and YOU want to be KIND!
So if the knee surgeries on old, crunchy, broken knees result in such high regret I suggest that they try having knee surgeries or amputations – leg contouring or limb surgery would be a good term – on healthy knees to see if they have a lesser regret. After all, its all the same, right?
Mind best would be to not compare a surgery such as knee operations to removal of uterueses, breasts, penises and scrotums, as clearly other then they being surgeries they have nothing in common. You can still be somewhat mobile with a bung knee, but you will not have sex or children with missing / cut of sexual / reproductive organs.
But then, i am unkind in my believe that mental illness can not be fixed with amputations and removal of sexual and reproductive organs on children. What adults do with their bits n bobs is their own, and even then the Therapist that sign them off on these surgeries should be making sure that the issue is not other trauma, other mental illness and is indeed a very strong case of Body disphoria / dismorphic disorder to warrant this type of intervention, as adults too experience regret.
Women who have had breast cancer and Post Mastectomy Reconstruction Surgery have a surgery regret rate of 47%: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14768320601124899
Arkie, women with breast cancer in NZ are initially refused a double mastectomy if it is not considered medically warranted. Even the benefit to the patient of improved mental well-being is not considered – given that they already have a diagnosis of a disease that kills 1 in 5 of the 3500 diagnosed every year within five years.
There is a marked difference between a surgery for a medically diagnosed disease, and one that is demanded without diagnosis other than self-declaration.
The cost to the medical system for medical and surgical transition is high, both at initial intervention stage, and later stages. In fact it can be a lifelong requirement for state funded healthcare, for a person who otherwise would not need such care or use of limited resources.
The study I linked to includes full and partial mastectomy patients.
The claim that trans individuals get surgical intervention without a diagnosis is incorrect.
Everyone needs state funded healthcare, access to it shouldn't be restricted under any circumstance.
"The claim that trans individuals get surgical intervention without a diagnosis is incorrect."
Gender affirming healthcare guidelines by PATHA:
https://patha.nz/Guidelines
"Autonomy in the context of transgender healthcare involves transgender people being able to able to make informed choices for themselves regarding gender affirming care and being free from experiencing harmful pathologisation and other barriers to accessing this care."
"Historically transgender healthcare has suffered from the pathologising of gender diversity and the inappropriate labelling of gender/cultural identity and expression as a diagnosed mental health illness. The resulting legacy of this pathologisation is a tension in health services between the need to avoid further stigmatisation while simultaneously acknowledging the importance of the wider concept of mental health as part of holistic healthcare delivery. The practice of informed consent in relation to gender affirming healthcare is important because it reaffirms the self-determination of the transgender person and their knowledge of their needs, identities, and self. Informed consent enables the health provider to work alongside the transgender person in a flexible and responsive way."
Post Mastectomy Reconstruction surgery is also a Gender Affirming procedure. One that has far more regret associated with it than GAS for trans people. The focus on trans procedures is disproportionate.
The guidelines you have linked to are for Medical Professionals, the ones who provide the diagnoses and referrals needed so that trans people can access medical procedures.
@arkie.
"Post Mastectomy Reconstruction surgery is also a Gender Affirming procedure. "
No, arkie.
It is – like all non-medically required surgeries – a cosmetic procedure, that follows a clinically indicated mastectomy.
Women with breasts or without them don't need further surgery to affirm their sex.
The fact that you see reconstruction for breast cancer patients as "gender affirming surgery" is indicative of a poor understanding of women.
“The guidelines you have linked to are for Medical Professionals, the ones who provide the diagnoses and referrals needed so that trans people can access medical procedures.”
Those guidelines along with those from the source document from WPATH refer to the professionals following the direction of the patient.
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it.
But it isn't shared by many breast cancer survivors and medical professionals.
@arkie.
"That's your opinion and you're entitled to it.
But it isn't shared by many breast cancer survivors and medical professionals."
You are still conflating the two to support your poor comparison. Not because it is true.
Women don't require "gender affirming surgery", in the same way they don't need "gender affirming hair-extensions", "gender affirming lipstick" etc.
They are – and remain – women.
Haven't watched this all the way through, and for those unused to Exulansic – it might be a bit hard going, but the telling part of this video for me is the justifications and equivocating of the medical professionals at Boston Children's Hospital when speaking about transitioning children.
Putting faith in such ideologues to do the right thing for children is why so much damage will be done. And the ones who will pay the price for this type of evangalism, is the children they are entrusted with.
https://youtu.be/0JGgxkveUmg
The doctor speaking of the earning and profitability potential in the revisions of sexual re-assignment surgery is simply chilling. They need a 'lot of after care', indeed they do. Jazz Jennings, very famous Transchild/Transwomen of TLC – the learning channel – is a case in point. They had their bottom surgery done about 4 years ago – by Marica Bowers of all surgeons, and i think they are on re-vision four or five of the initial surgery. Jazz went from healthy young and happy to obese, sick and in constant pain with various doctors doctoring. One can only ever hope for the very best outcome of any of these interventions as the other alternative is just too horrible to contemplate.
Amputation between C2 and C3 has the lowest documented regret rate and highest undocumented patient satisfaction
And it's interesting what can be considered gender-affirming surgery if you really think about it.
https://twitter.com/kaceytron/status/1587454693709602816
Pulling his hairline down to his lower jaw was a masterpiece of plastic surgery, but in my mind he’s still the cute adorable and slightly awkward Emo Musk.
Yes, it's unnecessary cosmetic surgery.
The review including literature from transitions made for a completely different demographic than what we are currently seeing, for those who underwent non-affirmation only healthcare. and was limited by the failure of many clinics to do standard follow up of their patients for any extended lengths of time.
With those limitations it is a poor justification for the affirming healthcare model that psychologically, medically and surgically transitions children and young people. (Let's not even get into the dwindling medical resources, that will be further diminished by the production of lifelong medical patients, who seek to change healthy functioning bodies to a medically and surgically modified one).
https://www.ebswa.org/post/title-the-communication-of-evidence-to-inform-trans-youth-health-care
"As a group of psychotherapists working in the area of gender, we have concerns about the arguments and statistics presented in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health's Editorial.1
We believe that using the outdated statistic that 1% of people who transition will regret their decision is highly irresponsible, and lacks the rigour for which the Lancet group of journals is known. This 1% refers primarily to studies of adults who transitioned in an era when medical transition was only taken under strict protocol.2 We now find ourselves in a markedly different era, characterised by a 1727% rise in the numbers of children seeking to transition,3 and a gender-affirmative approach, which has been adopted almost universally, making the proffered 1% statistic anachronistic.4 We do not believe puberty blockers are a safe and appropriate option, as supported by a blog by Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson,5 especially given that the use of this highly experimental treatment path is being reconsidered by progressive countries in Europe. The Karolinska Institute in Sweden, long considered gold-standard in providing transgender health care, no longer uses puberty blockers;6 nor does Finland promote their use.7 Additionally, a judicial review in the UK found puberty blockers to be an inappropriate option for most children younger than 16 years.8
We urge The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health to take this opportunity to engage with this issue, rather than publishing, in our opinion, inaccurate and careless Editorials."
Have you read the Cass report Sacha? Have you bothered listen to even one detransitioner story? Seen the women who have had double mastectomies? Are now infertile cause they have had their wombs removed? Did you read the article in Stuff about the Australian woman who is suiong her psychiatrist who pled her having breasts and womb removed?
Of course he didn't. Ideological Totalism Left and Right – The Radical Notion
That is a really brilliant quote Roblogic
Breaks your heart. The medical establishment has been wrecked by TRA bullies threatening the livelihoods of doctors who don't submit to the unquestioning affirmation model. Leading to a predictable rise in transition regret.
The Victims of Wicked Lies – Public Discourse (thepublicdiscourse.com)
MPI won't do anything real to protect fisheries – but small fishermen can do it without them.
Western Australia's oil-soaked govt gets the Juice Media treatment (4m):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Key8y1yg2yQ
Govt's public media changes are not enough yet: https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/130377959/rnztvnz-bill-does-not-do-enough-to-specify-how-public-funding-is-spent–academic
Nz media organs, sponsored by banks and real estate industry, spreading relentless negative spin. Then pretending butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Tova is throwing rocks at Labour, ignoring all of its hard work, and giving National a free pass.
https://twitter.com/TodayFM_nz/status/1589450632515432448?s=20&t=Dx5m6tP620Y83GVfQ2U_uA
The banks, oil co's, supermarket cartels are taking the piss. And the media has everyone blaming the Govt.
https://twitter.com/MusicalChairs14/status/1589477213531156480?s=20&t=Dx5m6tP620Y83GVfQ2U_uA
More media bias. The bullshit is depressingly obvious to me, but it works on the low information voter who thinks these reporters are their mates.
https://twitter.com/rugbyintel/status/1589446912503328768?s=20&t=H5zPvTNsx2JU5Ebg5R2umw
Masterful self-control by Jacinda there – keeping or feigning good humour in the face of a lazy, ignorant, cynical and wrong fake journalist.
Sure, criticise the government. But you're fucking delusional if you think sacking them will fix anything. Please show me the National party policy to control banks, implement CGT, stop inflation etc.
Don't just give the Natz a free pass. They are proven liars.
NAct have openly stated their contempt for working people. They only represent the propertied landlord class now.
Multinational corporations are circling Aotearoa like sharks, and National wants to help them suppress wages, inflate prices, snap up all of our public assets. All for the sake of a quick buck for themselves
Absolute agreement on my part, roblogic. My worst fear is that your target audience never read the Standard. Given educational decline, few of them are likely to do any reading at all now..