Bitcoin gets a lot of press. But it appears to be nothing more than than a certificate of gratuitously wasted electricity. That waste of electricity appears inherent to blockchain transactions in general, bitcoin is just the largest at the moment. For instance, one bitcoin transaction apparently uses around the same electricity as one American household for one week.
Just how much electricity is wasted by bitcoin mining? Here’s some comparisons to national electricity consumption. For instance, bitcoin mining worldwide now consumes an amount equivalent to about 3/4 of NZ electricity use.
I need enlightening on this bitcoin biz so thanks for cogent info. I will do some exploring to get my mind round it. Like smart meters and other hype stuff will it be useful or has someone found another portal to suck their money vacuum into and both suck and blow up to a nice bubble.
Unless you feel the urge to make untraceable transactions, you have zero practical need for bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Hence cryptocurrencies popularity for drug and kiddie porn deals.
Unless gambling your money in extremely-high-risk, potential-high-reward-but-maybe-lose-the-lot scenarios appeals to you, you’ve got zero “investment” reason to get involved in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
There’s no such thing as an untraceable transactions in Bitcoin. It is essentially a ledger of account. You can put a bitcoin laundry between you and another party but there will always be a record of a transaction between two addresses.
I agree there is zero investment reason to get involved. I never got into Bitcoin because for me it isn’t tangible enough. And now, at the prices it is at, it looks like a bubble to me, and the fact it has hit the mainstream with all the accompanying PR hype around it means it’s too late for the average Joe to get in.
Seems to me bitcoin is the ultimate example of something that has value only because a bunch of people decided it has value. There’s absolutely nothing to back it.
Hell, even fiat money is ultimately backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion. So it doesn’t become worthless until the issuing government becomes worthless, like say Zimbabwe. And even though gold is relatively useless compared to something genuinely important like platinum, it has some uses to justify some value being placed on it. You could even grow pretty flowers from tulip bulbs. But bitcoin?
Greywarshark…. if you want a good read on what Bitcoin is and how it works, have a look at this series just recently started on Automatic Earth by Dr D:
It’s the first of 5 parts and 2 have been published, so it’s very current. I have some understanding of Bitcoin but this lays it all out, so far, really well.
We saw this used by NZ Power companies as their push was made during the “rollout of smart metering nation wide from 2011 to now, so one wonders now that most regions have had smart meters installed the “wasting of power in NZ has been “arrested”?
At least that is what the Electricty industry tols us would happen after new smart metering was installed.
Maybe that was yet another lie perpurtrated by National and their “corporate raiders and corrupt elite allies.”
Smart metering means no meter readers (outsourcing contract gets canceled) and buckets of data they don’t seem to know what to do with.
As it’s a granular breakdown from what they get out of each sub station throughout already IMO it’s just more of that ‘looking busy’ routine we get from an industry gouging the consumer with such BS as tariffs on people with solar panels (unison) etc
Seems to me smart meters provide some very useful data. I can go to the Genesis website and see a graph of my daily power usage. From this it is easy to estimate what running an electric heater costs me etc.
Yep. Not long ago I noticed the spike of extra power consumption when the hot water timer kicks on at night had got a bit bigger. Turned out to be a leaking pressure relief valve. It would have had to have got a lot worse and wasted a lot more power and water before I would have noticed it in daily or monthly average bills.
That’s interesting on smart meters. It has been hard to get a picture of their worth.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into. Can the pricing system be changed? How easy is it to get a new system that has all the features the consumer wants? How long does it take from ringing or emailing to getting a satisfactory finish? Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Sorry, I don’t know enough about the different company plans or the nitty-gritty of the different smart meter capabilities to give a useful response.
But the smart meters do enable things like Flick Electric’s plans, where they just pass through all of their costs plus either a small per day or per kWhr charge for their costs and profit. If you’re willing and able to manage your electricity use, say by putting hot water, fridge, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc on timers so you don’t use them at peak times, you can save quite a bit on your power bill. Powershop offer a much cruder version, with separate pricing for peak and off-peak use.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
A fully cooperative national grid. Pretty much essential in this day and age but something we won’t get as long as we have privatisation and faux competition in the electricity ‘market’.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into.
The metres don’t do the charging. That’s still done by the retailer entering the info into the computer and if someone’s plan got changed that would be a mistake done by a human.
Can the pricing system be changed?
Of course it can and, if extra has been paid by the customer because of the mistake, a refund organised.
Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Most places have secure websites that people can log into to change account details.
Thanks Andre and DTB. Something to think about when I turn down my next persistent offer of comparing prices with my present provider. What a scam. They can instantly offer a cheaper price for a year or something. I may be paying more but I have a reliable provider and am offered discounts if I pay in time which don’t disappear if it’s a day late. But I could do more perhaps. So now I know a bit more about smart meters workings.
There’s no difference in reliability between providers, they all use the same wires and grid connections. It’s not physically possible for there to actually be a difference in reliability (unless you’re signed up with a provider that’s in the habit of randomly sending someone out disconnect houses). The differences are in the pricing plans, customer service, billing practices etc.
It might not have been the main driver for implementing this technology but that does not mean that the data gathered is not helpful.
Also, gone are the days of estimated power bills where the consumer had to wait until the next actual reading before realising savings from reduced use.
The ” Line charge” for my location is now $2.46 per day including GST, before any power is used, that just happens to round out at $944 annually or $73.8 per month(30Days), again, before any actual power is used, I believe the term “Gouging” of essential services is the correct one, starting to make Solar look like an excellent investment, have lived ion properties with only solar, no problems, except the battery replacement after 10 yrs or so, a 5 kw system is adequate for most if your heating/cooking is gas.
We have previous notified government claiming that the Municipal water supply is taken out of “shallow aquifer bores” while foriegn water bottlers are allowed to sink “deep well extraction” bores hence they get our premium water; while are only left now with the top of aquifer water which is mostly soiled and contaminated from road and land use water runoff.
This ” Dirty NZ drinking water” issue has not even begun to be carefully and properly planned, as we need to stop “deep well ejection” by foriegn ‘free water pirates’ taking our best safe water.
While all NZ households get contaminated water that will be now be “doped” with harsh toxic chemicals including chorine and flouride that will harm weaker older and young almost our society.
This was forced on Municipal authorities who, now will add those chemiicals to kill pathegens and bactaria so our water is now equal to a third world water supply.
[deleted. That was a lot of scrolling to get past on a phone]
[Please don’t post whole tracts or long cut and pastes. You can cut and paste shorter bits to support the point you are trying to make or to give people and idea what the article is about. – weka]
“The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water”
The RMA should be immediately changed to put that as number 1 priority because at the moment ‘The environment court’ is actually ‘the development court’, likewise council consenting. It’s not about proving that new development and consents (aka water extraction) will not impact water and the community – it is about some other person x proving at their own cost that it will NOT impact water and community. That is pretty hard to do.
The onus is on the wrong groups to prove impacts in environment not the one putting in the consents. There no come back or fines if the information in the consents provides to be wrong. It is an incredible dangerous and risky way to be running a consenting process and open to fraud especially with the amount of money involved in these consents.
Are you people losing Mana with the public well its your own fault I tried for negotiation but that’s right you don’t negotiate with a dum broke ass MAORI. KIA KAHA
it’s okay if you are a republican.
you can add Supreme Justice Thomas Clarence to that list have the right to sexually harras women. After all its t he wimminz fault with their poisonous and wily ways raising the lust in their hearts – filthy harlots – even at 14. I mean, really what is a 34 year old man to do when a 14 year old looks at him, or a married man who feels like he has to grab some pussy.
Of course no one’s calling for this pig’s resignation.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, says he promises to pay back taxpayers for funds from a special congressional account he used to pay a harassment settlement back in 2013.
Farenthold told NBC affiliate KRIS6 in Corpus Christi that he “didn’t do anything wrong” but would “do my best” to repay the settlement fee sometime this week, this time taking out a personal loan instead.
[…]
Farenthold is the only sitting House member since 2013 to have used the congressional Office of Compliance account to pay for a sexual harassment claim, in which $84,000 was paid out, CBS News confirmed Friday.
The House Administration Committee revealed Friday that only one sexual harassment claim has been paid through the taxpayer-funded account since 2013. Politico was the first to identify Farenthold as the lawmaker who was accused.
I agree, actually. By all means take their savings, etc, and give them a debt to pay off, but they have 2 children who are innocent and will be the greatest sufferers if they have to give up their home – there are enough families in trouble already without deliberately adding to them
Yes. The article is a bit vague on the house confiscation details but it does appear it’s been taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The Judge has ruled that some illegal income may have paid some of the mortgage and consequently ‘tainted’ the property.
If true then everyone who commits any kind of offence involving financial proceeds could potentially lose their home. So much for the punishment fitting the crime.
Not as I was led to believe the proceeds of crimes act would be utilised. I was of the understanding it was to help stamp out profiteering from drugs. I didn’t think it would take long for the law to start using it in other areas. Non payment of parking tickets next? You may laugh.
It doesn’t say specifically the Act was called on, I just assumed from the inference, but the term ‘tainted’ is used in the Act so it probably was.
I just had a read thru Ads link and it says the Act applies to serious offences which are described “an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more” so I guess parking tickets might not make it (but who knows)
I thought the same, that the act was aimed only at the heavy hitters. Nothing forces them to make these confiscation orders, they don’t have to do it, and I wonder at the thinking & motivations behind them.
Just read the news report on the couple. Admittedly they obtained funds they weren’t entitled to, but the proceeds of crimes act is being stretched to it’s limits confiscating the house. Far exceeds the power. Judge is wrong. As someone else stated, how many white collar criminals have been prosecuted to this degree. No mansions confiscated as far as I’m aware. Most would be in trust though. If they are going to use the POCA for individuals that aren’t big time criminals, there should be no borders, such as trusts, which stop the enacting of the Act against multi-millionaire/dollar fraudsters
Yeah. It looks a bit vigilante-ish. I read the sentencing report Bill linked to below. The judge goes into great detail explaining the penalty he thinks she deserves and proceeds to give it her. And then along come these characters who appear to decide the court ordered sentence isn’t enough so they proceed to take her house as well.
This is bad policy. As JanM says, money should be confiscated and some punishment meted out, and some atonement.
I think there should always be some personal atonement for crime, apart from just handing over money. It could be doing a certain number of hours for the Council on community jobs. As they are done, they would be recorded and if not done, then there is a jail sentence. The life has to be moulded round the reparation time, not the other way round.
But why take away the house while the country is in this situation! What does that help the country and the lawbreaker, her children and partner in the long run. FGS.
You could say that the rich hold the purse, and the purse-lipped among the rich twist the poor for their misdeeds.
I am sure that the Judge regarded this rancid behaviour by a female beneficiary as totally outrageous and went all purse-lipped about it. Hence the serious stripping of all her assets. It is well-known that beneficiaries should not be able to have joy or satisfaction while they are receiving money for their keep from the government or some helping agency. Feckless pleasure and advantages gained are Not Allowed and the highest probity is required from the lowest living.
For you Rod Petricevich had no reparations ordered by the court upon his imprisonment some assets had been forfeited earlier but there was no “he might win lotto order ” or reparations out of his superannuation ordered. He also enjoys significant trust benefits
Is this 1 law for rich criminals and another for poor ones?
It’s a short read. To refer to someone with a gambling addiction as follows kind of beggars belief imo.
The pre-sentence report indicates that there is a significant problem with gambling and poor decision making. That is putting it mildly. Mr Johnson, I think appropriately, lays the genesis of this offending on a gambling problem, although I suspect that there may well have been other issues as well, but this is behaviour that has bedevilled the defendant all of her adult life and she seems to have been a somewhat slow learner as to the undesirability of fuelling this behaviour by access to money which is not hers.
And just to note that the sum she was sentenced on would have been the entire monetary value of her claim and not any proportion deemed to have been gained by dishonesty.
edit – just to note further, that while her face and story is ‘everywhere’, there is nothing bar a side mention of her partner and his tax evasion.
Love the way the crown couldn’t be bothered investigating the complaints against and alleged benefit frauds by Paula B.
I guess the legal and police system is not about innocence or guilt it’s just about having enough power and using the lawyers by the elite so you don’t get investigated properly, let alone caught.
This movement looks like it has a bunch more stamina than Black Lives Matter and Occupy.
Speaking of which, Franken is going to go down now that the Democrat women have pretty much ordered it. Although still looks like Moore will get Alabama.
Speaking of Franken, he had the opportunity to make a difference by resigning when the first allegations came out. He could have made a statement something like “behaviour of the kind I indulged in should be disqualifying for public office. To make that clear, I am now resigning…”.
But if he goes reluctantly as a result of mounting pressure and an increasing list of accusers, he’s just another abuser that still doesn’t get it.
I don’t know about it having more stamina, but it’s absolutely of a different nature.
Black Lives Matter and Occupy challenge structural foundations. ‘Silence breakers” or whatever name is being given to it, is about “bad apples” – at least, that’s the vein in which it’s generally reported.
boys will always be boys no matter how old and how famous, and how rich and how connected and any of the bullshit.
for the women it is
when it bleeds it breeds
beauty must suffer
if you can’t escape it, try to enjoy it
close your eyes and do it for England (insert any other country)
martial duty of the women vs martial right for the man
they are ‘jailbait’
what did she wear
why did she go there
why did she not speak earlier
where was the mother
why did she drink
to the victor go the spoils
she must’ave enticed him
lolita
etc etc etc
btw, the ‘me too’ movement is over ten years old, and was started by a woman of colour.
That’s true. Interestingly it’s black women that are most likely to prevent #metoo from becoming predominantly a liberal agenda, so I see the success of BLM here too. As you say, one has to look past much of the reporting to see the broader effects of what is going on.
now what we need to see is a detailed plan of how its to be achieved…im hoping James Shaw has been very quiet because hes busy formulating that plan for imminent release.
they are still annoyed that the Green Party did not rubber stamp the ‘majority’ of the National Party. How dare they do as they want to instead of doing as they are ordered too.
This fight to preserve jobs and conditions at the Aquatic Centre in Rotorua is winnable, if people rally aorund behind the workers and put maximum pressure on the mayor, CEO and Council.
@ Philip Ferguson, That’s terrible. I bet they could easily save $700,000+ by cutting the Rotorua CEO and executive team down to minimum wages… Some one should do a tally on how much the executive team is being paid and their wage increases. Should be enlightening.
I really hate all this conversion on NZ to a low wage transient economy. It’s such a race to the bottom and it does not save any money because then taxpayers and ratepayers then pay all the wages in work for dole schemes, more wage subsidies like working for families, the courts when people need to turn to crime, etc etc Nobody saves!!!! Not only does it not save money, it actually horribly reduces peoples quality of life and their mental health and wrecks their kids and dependants lives too!
Yeah, Boag is still there. Seems to be there as a lobbyist and you are right, they should be required to make an appointment which is recorded and verifiable.
God knows why supposes of former MPs are still there.
We commented on this some days ago, that is that no one had looked into what exactly Phil Quin did in Rwanda and for whom. We speculated on the information available which was that he worked as a consultant for the Kagame government and specifically the Rwandan Police at one point.
Now someone on Reddit (thats right, Reddit of all places, not the NZ media) posted about Phin Quin’s past and dear bitter old Phil claims it’s a hatchet job!
He does and apology clip (which I can’t bring myself to watch) and seems very concerned he’s burned some bridges with ‘people he respects’. Read ‘contacts’ with which to attack the Labour party with, and ‘clients’ who pay him for attacks on the Labour party.
Phil Quin has been squashed like a snail, good and proper.
I think Phil Q probably needs some ‘wrap around’ services about now – purely from philanthropic sources of course.
Probably the first wrap around service is to assure him is that his dick size is within the bounds of normality, and anyway (as Ms Muldaur once said to the insecure) – it ain’t the meat but the motion anyway
At the end of the linked article Quin says
“and won’t simply trigger another unhelpful round of substance-free nastiness”.
I think he is talking about you Muttonbird.
I didn’t call anyone a genocide denier in a Twitter rant sparking an epic round of hatred for Ghahraman. Quin needs to have a long hard look in the mirror.
Wet houses – a practical answer to the difficulties for blokes and women living on the streets with a booze problem. In this item hopeful Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says he will have talk with the government to get the first NZ one set up there. I wonder if that is progressing?
Wellington mayoral candidate Justin Lester says his plan for the country’s first wet house would help addicts on the road to becoming more independent.
A wet house is a residential facility where alcoholics can continue to drink, and research from Washington University found most of those people would halve their intake while they were there….
Another FFS moment … Natz gobshite Soper still at it. Today it’s Labour taking advantage of National’s initiatives! Getting more ridiculous now. Time to give it a rest.
Soper has an anology about National spreading hayseeds that the Goverment are reaping, any farmer knows that the only seeds to germinate from hay are weeds.
Petition
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: I ask that you do not approve planned seismic blasting for oil in the newly discovered blue whale habitat off Taranaki, and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment” by ending offshore oil exploration and drilling in NZ waters and the ‘Block Offer’ process.
well I want to tell her that if she’s worried about the planet she should stop mowing her bloody lawn. Bonus, she wouldn’t have to use a sprinkler to water it.
Some fairly salient comments by Ella Henry and Bernard Hickey on the RNZ ZB Hour (aka ‘The Panel’) re our public service. (It’s in the first 15 minutes thank Christ – i.e. before Mora has the opportunity to start exercising his wisdom and ego – so not too much of a burden to listen to).
The good thing is though, that people are starting to take interest and listen – and when they do (whether DHB’s or Water/health, Ed Jikayshun, Seeyoe’s celeries et al), they are starting to think: mmmmm geeeze Wayne – wtf?
Well, on the one hand I subverted the interpretation of the ‘dwarf’ as a label, a mere cypher, an insult to David Farrar, and gave the dwarf a personal voice, but then I placed the dwarf in a potentially compromising position.
The connection between Farrar and princesses should be familiar to any student of Dirty Politics.
Let me deal with the fat phobia first. Fat phobic comments attack a person from a place of prejudice. There are a whole range of political implications that come from that. Do you think it would be ok to make putdown jokes about someone based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation? I don’t. Nor gratuitous digs at someone because of their body shape.
Perhaps it is more correct to say it as ‘Does this tie make my gut look slim.’ I don’t know how we are going to poke fun at each other if Health and Safety get too sterile about it. Instead of poking fun we might have to revert to poking someone in the nose.
National used it successfully for at least god knows how many years…but that was with corrupt media support so I guess your correct (not going to say Right)
I think the depth of the problems left behind cannot be turned around in 6-12 months to a point where the forces of 9 years of National’s abject non-governance no longer have an effect on society.
This government have several terms and more to rightly blame the Nats for the housing crisis, and under-planning for infrastructure. Same goes for improvements in educational achievement. Perhaps 18-36 months to get the health ministry and water infrastructure sorted.
Lets face it. National screwed these things up so bad that even an economy in free teenage party mode couldn’t help them win the 2017 GE.
I don’t think they’ll have too, most voted for the coalition knowing all these problems(fires) existed, the only ones that didn’t was the National supporters who probably didn’t care or weren’t interested.
When I was naive I thought our justice systems were like science and that was it is not a fact till it was proven to be fact but not now our justice system will spread lies about anyone they have a beef with. I can prove that everything I have said to he TRUE. If they had one shred evidence that could stand up in our courts we’ll you no what would happen . My great grandmother died when I was 9 an I ended up living with the worst family of all my whano I had been living with them for a week and after drank for 4 days they took me to the post office and got me to sign a withdrawal slip and drew out all the money my great grandmother had me save at my school savings. I found out later that MAMA MY GGMAM had another account that my fathers maintainec was beeping payed into they spent that to the first account had $300 and the second account had $800 they carried on getting my father maintainec till I turned 18 and I had left at 14 and went to work my dad told me he had carried on paying till I turn 18 and I told all the other family members about this and the people who did this don’t like this fact getting out there. I never got any gifts or new clothing I was the little white slave lite the fire chop the wood milk the cow boil the water for a bath. I was 12 and I fix a mower that someone could not get going he gave it away I was sick of carting water so I setup a syphon system to take the water from the tank to the copper and another from the copper to the bathroom I buried the black plastic pipe and put taps on the ends into the copper and the bathroom he got pissed at someone and picked on me and pulled that out every time he got upset he would call me a white honky bustard everyone called me honky when he tried to hit me I would runaway and hide one time I stayed at the neighbours for 2 weeks when I was 13.One week he took my money from cutting ragwort and used it to go to a funeral and left 2 of us home alone for 5 days no food I went to the neighbours. After watching them catch possum I started catching and skinny and drying them I had about 30 skins he said he would sell them for me i never seen a cent. So what these people are doing to me now is not a new feeling I am use to being intimated and bullied its like water off a ducks back. What I did not like was I was very submissive but not now I will protect my family we made. Kia kaha
Sad to hear of the death of Christine Keeler, one of the victims in the Profumo Scandal, although at least she lived to tell the tale, whereas poor Stephen Ward ended up committing suicide.
There you go the state using all its power to try and suppress me I use to be able to find eco Maori by Googleing it not anymore they did the same to a website I found about corruption in the NZ justice systems email the IPCA about it as proof next minute web site vanished they would have paid Google to make it come up in page 1000 in any search. Kia kaha
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It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Ngaio Marsh House is one of Christchurch’s best kept secrets – and contains more than a few mysteries of its own.Trust Ngaio Marsh to leave more than a few mysteries scattered through her house long after her departure. For a start, there’s the curious concrete portal in the garden, ...
Appointment viewing has been lost to the mists of time, but memories of Montana Sunday Theatre can still be conjured by hitting play on a particular piece of classical music. “You’re not going to be able to sell it.” Over 30 years on, Karen Bieleski still recalls how the task ...
Performance Review King Luxon sat behind His massive polished oak desk. It is Performance Review time. There is a knock on the door. “Enter!” says the King. In steps Minister of Disabilities and Carer Pedicures, Penny Simmonds. “I can explain everything …” she begins. “Fine,” says King Luxon, pressing the ...
The pair opened their first fully collaborative exhibition, Nina for Flowers, last Saturday. Gabi Lardies visited their studio to find out who Nina is and what working together was like.‘It didn’t start out like, ‘This is a show about Nina,’” says Josephine Jelicich, gripping a thermos of peppermint tea. ...
Thank you, Dr Maximilian Oskar Bircher-Benner, for your brilliant invention. I’m another mid-20s Kiwi who had an OE last year. I hopped on my bicycle where France meets the Atlantic and cycled east. I pedalled through the Loire Valley, down rivers lined with willows and ancient wisteria-draped chateaus. I relished ...
Asia Pacific Report From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps. And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)New Zealand Government’s Fast Track legislation. Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
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Bitcoin gets a lot of press. But it appears to be nothing more than than a certificate of gratuitously wasted electricity. That waste of electricity appears inherent to blockchain transactions in general, bitcoin is just the largest at the moment. For instance, one bitcoin transaction apparently uses around the same electricity as one American household for one week.
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/12/climatedesk-bitcoin-is-really-bad-for-the-environment/
Just how much electricity is wasted by bitcoin mining? Here’s some comparisons to national electricity consumption. For instance, bitcoin mining worldwide now consumes an amount equivalent to about 3/4 of NZ electricity use.
https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/
I need enlightening on this bitcoin biz so thanks for cogent info. I will do some exploring to get my mind round it. Like smart meters and other hype stuff will it be useful or has someone found another portal to suck their money vacuum into and both suck and blow up to a nice bubble.
Unless you feel the urge to make untraceable transactions, you have zero practical need for bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Hence cryptocurrencies popularity for drug and kiddie porn deals.
Unless gambling your money in extremely-high-risk, potential-high-reward-but-maybe-lose-the-lot scenarios appeals to you, you’ve got zero “investment” reason to get involved in bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency.
There’s no such thing as an untraceable transactions in Bitcoin. It is essentially a ledger of account. You can put a bitcoin laundry between you and another party but there will always be a record of a transaction between two addresses.
I agree there is zero investment reason to get involved. I never got into Bitcoin because for me it isn’t tangible enough. And now, at the prices it is at, it looks like a bubble to me, and the fact it has hit the mainstream with all the accompanying PR hype around it means it’s too late for the average Joe to get in.
Seems to me bitcoin is the ultimate example of something that has value only because a bunch of people decided it has value. There’s absolutely nothing to back it.
Hell, even fiat money is ultimately backed by the issuing state’s powers of compulsion. So it doesn’t become worthless until the issuing government becomes worthless, like say Zimbabwe. And even though gold is relatively useless compared to something genuinely important like platinum, it has some uses to justify some value being placed on it. You could even grow pretty flowers from tulip bulbs. But bitcoin?
It has ‘value’ because the ‘goods’ and services that are traded do.
Kiddie porn? !!
I might be out of date with that comment, there’s a good chance they’ve moved on to something else for their nasty deals.
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/06/blockchain-start-up-elliptic-aims-to-catch-people-using-bitcoin-to-pay-for-child-porn-online.html
Bitcoin – sounds like a teething ring for a rich kid.
Greywarshark…. if you want a good read on what Bitcoin is and how it works, have a look at this series just recently started on Automatic Earth by Dr D:
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2017/12/bitcoin-doesnt-exist-1/
It’s the first of 5 parts and 2 have been published, so it’s very current. I have some understanding of Bitcoin but this lays it all out, so far, really well.
Thanks for this Andre,
We saw this used by NZ Power companies as their push was made during the “rollout of smart metering nation wide from 2011 to now, so one wonders now that most regions have had smart meters installed the “wasting of power in NZ has been “arrested”?
At least that is what the Electricty industry tols us would happen after new smart metering was installed.
Maybe that was yet another lie perpurtrated by National and their “corporate raiders and corrupt elite allies.”
Smart metering means no meter readers (outsourcing contract gets canceled) and buckets of data they don’t seem to know what to do with.
As it’s a granular breakdown from what they get out of each sub station throughout already IMO it’s just more of that ‘looking busy’ routine we get from an industry gouging the consumer with such BS as tariffs on people with solar panels (unison) etc
Seems to me smart meters provide some very useful data. I can go to the Genesis website and see a graph of my daily power usage. From this it is easy to estimate what running an electric heater costs me etc.
Yep. Not long ago I noticed the spike of extra power consumption when the hot water timer kicks on at night had got a bit bigger. Turned out to be a leaking pressure relief valve. It would have had to have got a lot worse and wasted a lot more power and water before I would have noticed it in daily or monthly average bills.
That’s interesting on smart meters. It has been hard to get a picture of their worth.
Some people have had meters installed without their say-so which only charge the basic rates and override agreement pricing plans they have entered into. Can the pricing system be changed? How easy is it to get a new system that has all the features the consumer wants? How long does it take from ringing or emailing to getting a satisfactory finish? Does it have to be done over the phone where the consumer is getting charged per minute?
Sorry, I don’t know enough about the different company plans or the nitty-gritty of the different smart meter capabilities to give a useful response.
But the smart meters do enable things like Flick Electric’s plans, where they just pass through all of their costs plus either a small per day or per kWhr charge for their costs and profit. If you’re willing and able to manage your electricity use, say by putting hot water, fridge, fridge, freezer, dishwasher etc on timers so you don’t use them at peak times, you can save quite a bit on your power bill. Powershop offer a much cruder version, with separate pricing for peak and off-peak use.
When smart meters will really make a difference is when they can communicate with the grid and users to manage the demand and smooth out peaks and troughs.
A fully cooperative national grid. Pretty much essential in this day and age but something we won’t get as long as we have privatisation and faux competition in the electricity ‘market’.
The metres don’t do the charging. That’s still done by the retailer entering the info into the computer and if someone’s plan got changed that would be a mistake done by a human.
Of course it can and, if extra has been paid by the customer because of the mistake, a refund organised.
Thanks Andre and DTB. Something to think about when I turn down my next persistent offer of comparing prices with my present provider. What a scam. They can instantly offer a cheaper price for a year or something. I may be paying more but I have a reliable provider and am offered discounts if I pay in time which don’t disappear if it’s a day late. But I could do more perhaps. So now I know a bit more about smart meters workings.
If you’re interested in comparing price, Consumer have this handy website: https://www.powerswitch.org.nz/
There’s no difference in reliability between providers, they all use the same wires and grid connections. It’s not physically possible for there to actually be a difference in reliability (unless you’re signed up with a provider that’s in the habit of randomly sending someone out disconnect houses). The differences are in the pricing plans, customer service, billing practices etc.
In other words a huge bureaucracy that costs heaps but achieves nothing.
For the convenience and benefit of the consumer…
Is not why smart meters or most any technology is rolled out
High Speed Broadband
Smart Meters
‘Internet of Things’
It might not have been the main driver for implementing this technology but that does not mean that the data gathered is not helpful.
Also, gone are the days of estimated power bills where the consumer had to wait until the next actual reading before realising savings from reduced use.
The ” Line charge” for my location is now $2.46 per day including GST, before any power is used, that just happens to round out at $944 annually or $73.8 per month(30Days), again, before any actual power is used, I believe the term “Gouging” of essential services is the correct one, starting to make Solar look like an excellent investment, have lived ion properties with only solar, no problems, except the battery replacement after 10 yrs or so, a 5 kw system is adequate for most if your heating/cooking is gas.
We have previous notified government claiming that the Municipal water supply is taken out of “shallow aquifer bores” while foriegn water bottlers are allowed to sink “deep well extraction” bores hence they get our premium water; while are only left now with the top of aquifer water which is mostly soiled and contaminated from road and land use water runoff.
This ” Dirty NZ drinking water” issue has not even begun to be carefully and properly planned, as we need to stop “deep well ejection” by foriegn ‘free water pirates’ taking our best safe water.
While all NZ households get contaminated water that will be now be “doped” with harsh toxic chemicals including chorine and flouride that will harm weaker older and young almost our society.
This was forced on Municipal authorities who, now will add those chemiicals to kill pathegens and bactaria so our water is now equal to a third world water supply.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/345570/new-zealand-s-drinking-water-a-mess
[deleted. That was a lot of scrolling to get past on a phone]
[Please don’t post whole tracts or long cut and pastes. You can cut and paste shorter bits to support the point you are trying to make or to give people and idea what the article is about. – weka]
Please do not paste an entire article you have linked to.
moderation note above, please respond so I know you have seen it, thanks.
This is what happens when you put profit above people.
A destroyed environment.
Undrinkable water.
The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water.
Abandon unsustainable dairy farming.
Abandon neoliberalism.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11954491
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/345616/clean-water-it-s-the-communities-that-have-to-pay
Ageed 100%.
When did we learn that term “you cant get blood out of a stone”???
Our Elders knew this would happen that was the reason for the term.
Now we get get back to our former cleangreen country, or something close to representing the words of our dreams and asperations.?
You got it in one ED,
“The solution is not chlorination.
The solution is clean water”
The RMA should be immediately changed to put that as number 1 priority because at the moment ‘The environment court’ is actually ‘the development court’, likewise council consenting. It’s not about proving that new development and consents (aka water extraction) will not impact water and the community – it is about some other person x proving at their own cost that it will NOT impact water and community. That is pretty hard to do.
The onus is on the wrong groups to prove impacts in environment not the one putting in the consents. There no come back or fines if the information in the consents provides to be wrong. It is an incredible dangerous and risky way to be running a consenting process and open to fraud especially with the amount of money involved in these consents.
This disgusting water policy of the National Party and its farmer friends….
https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
Are you people losing Mana with the public well its your own fault I tried for negotiation but that’s right you don’t negotiate with a dum broke ass MAORI. KIA KAHA
Senator Al Franken is officially toast:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/363543-women-in-senate-call-for-franken-to-resign
Toast:
Bill Clinton
Al Franken
John Conyers
Harvey Weinstein
Louis CK
Matt Lauer
Kevin Spacey
Jeremy Piven
Brett Ratner
Not toast:
Roy Moore
Donald Trump
it’s okay if you are a republican.
you can add Supreme Justice Thomas Clarence to that list have the right to sexually harras women. After all its t he wimminz fault with their poisonous and wily ways raising the lust in their hearts – filthy harlots – even at 14. I mean, really what is a 34 year old man to do when a 14 year old looks at him, or a married man who feels like he has to grab some pussy.
Of course no one’s calling for this pig’s resignation.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, says he promises to pay back taxpayers for funds from a special congressional account he used to pay a harassment settlement back in 2013.
Farenthold told NBC affiliate KRIS6 in Corpus Christi that he “didn’t do anything wrong” but would “do my best” to repay the settlement fee sometime this week, this time taking out a personal loan instead.
[…]
Farenthold is the only sitting House member since 2013 to have used the congressional Office of Compliance account to pay for a sexual harassment claim, in which $84,000 was paid out, CBS News confirmed Friday.
The House Administration Committee revealed Friday that only one sexual harassment claim has been paid through the taxpayer-funded account since 2013. Politico was the first to identify Farenthold as the lawmaker who was accused.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rep-blake-farenthold-says-hell-repay-taxpayers-for-harassment-settlement/
# IOIYAR
This is bad…..
“Benefit fraudster Leticia Drake and her partner lose home, savings and insurance payouts ”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/99589505/benefit-fraudster-leticia-drake-and-her-partner-lose-home-savings-and-insurance-payouts
There’s a disturbing vindictiveness from ‘The Crown’ there and the ruling has sinister implications.
I agree, actually. By all means take their savings, etc, and give them a debt to pay off, but they have 2 children who are innocent and will be the greatest sufferers if they have to give up their home – there are enough families in trouble already without deliberately adding to them
Yes. The article is a bit vague on the house confiscation details but it does appear it’s been taken under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The Judge has ruled that some illegal income may have paid some of the mortgage and consequently ‘tainted’ the property.
If true then everyone who commits any kind of offence involving financial proceeds could potentially lose their home. So much for the punishment fitting the crime.
Funny enough they don’t seem to take the houses/assets of larger white collar criminals or corporate criminals like Banks.
Exactly! Mind you they will have all their assets tied up in trusts and have expensive lawyers
If they are having a crack under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the Court can grant relief to a third party:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1991/0120/latest/whole.html#DLM251081
Not as I was led to believe the proceeds of crimes act would be utilised. I was of the understanding it was to help stamp out profiteering from drugs. I didn’t think it would take long for the law to start using it in other areas. Non payment of parking tickets next? You may laugh.
It doesn’t say specifically the Act was called on, I just assumed from the inference, but the term ‘tainted’ is used in the Act so it probably was.
I just had a read thru Ads link and it says the Act applies to serious offences which are described “an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more” so I guess parking tickets might not make it (but who knows)
I thought the same, that the act was aimed only at the heavy hitters. Nothing forces them to make these confiscation orders, they don’t have to do it, and I wonder at the thinking & motivations behind them.
Just read the news report on the couple. Admittedly they obtained funds they weren’t entitled to, but the proceeds of crimes act is being stretched to it’s limits confiscating the house. Far exceeds the power. Judge is wrong. As someone else stated, how many white collar criminals have been prosecuted to this degree. No mansions confiscated as far as I’m aware. Most would be in trust though. If they are going to use the POCA for individuals that aren’t big time criminals, there should be no borders, such as trusts, which stop the enacting of the Act against multi-millionaire/dollar fraudsters
Yeah. It looks a bit vigilante-ish. I read the sentencing report Bill linked to below. The judge goes into great detail explaining the penalty he thinks she deserves and proceeds to give it her. And then along come these characters who appear to decide the court ordered sentence isn’t enough so they proceed to take her house as well.
This is bad policy. As JanM says, money should be confiscated and some punishment meted out, and some atonement.
I think there should always be some personal atonement for crime, apart from just handing over money. It could be doing a certain number of hours for the Council on community jobs. As they are done, they would be recorded and if not done, then there is a jail sentence. The life has to be moulded round the reparation time, not the other way round.
But why take away the house while the country is in this situation! What does that help the country and the lawbreaker, her children and partner in the long run. FGS.
Law grinds the poor, and rich men rule the law. Oliver Goldsmith
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/oliver_goldsmith_403444
You could say that the rich hold the purse, and the purse-lipped among the rich twist the poor for their misdeeds.
I am sure that the Judge regarded this rancid behaviour by a female beneficiary as totally outrageous and went all purse-lipped about it. Hence the serious stripping of all her assets. It is well-known that beneficiaries should not be able to have joy or satisfaction while they are receiving money for their keep from the government or some helping agency. Feckless pleasure and advantages gained are Not Allowed and the highest probity is required from the lowest living.
Great job – the tax payer will be getting their stolen money back.
I have no issue with this – or any other criminals having assets sold to pay back stolen money.
So you’d kick a person when they’re down huh James. Why does that not surprise me.
“So you’d kick a person when they’re down huh James”
They are not “down” they were “caught”.
@ James
What if the value of the house (or other assets) taken far exceed the amount stolen and fine (if any) given?
They should sell all the items until the money is re-paid and give back the remaining items to the fraudster.
“I have no issue with this”
James declares his position and it’s that of a pretzel.
I agree with you James, they did the crime, time to pay the consequences.
James
For you Rod Petricevich had no reparations ordered by the court upon his imprisonment some assets had been forfeited earlier but there was no “he might win lotto order ” or reparations out of his superannuation ordered. He also enjoys significant trust benefits
Is this 1 law for rich criminals and another for poor ones?
Do you have any input on this?
Cheers Barfly
Gone quiet so apparently not. James probably has a headache from trying to formulate a response.
Nothing if not consistent.
Erm. Here’s the sentencing document. Note the date? The judgement was on the 16th of May last year – 18 months ago.
It’s a short read. To refer to someone with a gambling addiction as follows kind of beggars belief imo.
And just to note that the sum she was sentenced on would have been the entire monetary value of her claim and not any proportion deemed to have been gained by dishonesty.
edit – just to note further, that while her face and story is ‘everywhere’, there is nothing bar a side mention of her partner and his tax evasion.
Love the way the crown couldn’t be bothered investigating the complaints against and alleged benefit frauds by Paula B.
I guess the legal and police system is not about innocence or guilt it’s just about having enough power and using the lawyers by the elite so you don’t get investigated properly, let alone caught.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year goes to ….
Silence-breakers against sexual harrassment:
http://time.com/
http://www.dw.com/en/time-names-the-silence-breakers-person-of-the-year/a-41675559
This movement looks like it has a bunch more stamina than Black Lives Matter and Occupy.
Speaking of which, Franken is going to go down now that the Democrat women have pretty much ordered it. Although still looks like Moore will get Alabama.
Speaking of Franken, he had the opportunity to make a difference by resigning when the first allegations came out. He could have made a statement something like “behaviour of the kind I indulged in should be disqualifying for public office. To make that clear, I am now resigning…”.
But if he goes reluctantly as a result of mounting pressure and an increasing list of accusers, he’s just another abuser that still doesn’t get it.
So when is Trump going to resign?
And why did Nancy Pelosi, that great defender of civil rights, not say a word about Bill Clinton?
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/nancy-pelosi-nobody-was-proud-of-president-clinton-s-behavior-at-the-time-1103782467514
Republicans are immune from any of this.
It’s in the law.
I don’t know about it having more stamina, but it’s absolutely of a different nature.
Black Lives Matter and Occupy challenge structural foundations. ‘Silence breakers” or whatever name is being given to it, is about “bad apples” – at least, that’s the vein in which it’s generally reported.
boys will always be boys no matter how old and how famous, and how rich and how connected and any of the bullshit.
for the women it is
when it bleeds it breeds
beauty must suffer
if you can’t escape it, try to enjoy it
close your eyes and do it for England (insert any other country)
martial duty of the women vs martial right for the man
they are ‘jailbait’
what did she wear
why did she go there
why did she not speak earlier
where was the mother
why did she drink
to the victor go the spoils
she must’ave enticed him
lolita
etc etc etc
btw, the ‘me too’ movement is over ten years old, and was started by a woman of colour.
Pretty sure if you relied on reporting for an understanding of BLM and Occupy you wouldn’t get the challenge to structural foundations either 😉
That’s true. And my comment was badly worded.
What I was trying to get at is that some stuff just doesn’t get reported on and some other stuff gets reported in a way that renders it “safe.
That’s true. Interestingly it’s black women that are most likely to prevent #metoo from becoming predominantly a liberal agenda, so I see the success of BLM here too. As you say, one has to look past much of the reporting to see the broader effects of what is going on.
Lovely article on New Zealand emissions, a proper plan for reducing them, and some hope that the Green Party will start to re-address this issue:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1712/S00054/a-fresh-start-for-climate-change-mitigation-in-new-zealand.htm
now what we need to see is a detailed plan of how its to be achieved…im hoping James Shaw has been very quiet because hes busy formulating that plan for imminent release.
Why do you always come out with lies about the Green party?
As you well know, climate change and emissions have always been part of the Greens policies.
The Green Party are in charge of actual implementation. as per their agreement with Labour. “Re-address” is covered in the article cited.
Waiting for Shaw to show he will hold up his part of the 100-day plan. It’s their only action.
they are still annoyed that the Green Party did not rubber stamp the ‘majority’ of the National Party. How dare they do as they want to instead of doing as they are ordered too.
Farrar’s lost his keys to parliament.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99552731/speaker-reviews-list-of-approved-visitors-with-access-to-parliament-for-the-first-time
That on its own will go a long way to cleaning up the place.
This fight to preserve jobs and conditions at the Aquatic Centre in Rotorua is winnable, if people rally aorund behind the workers and put maximum pressure on the mayor, CEO and Council.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/workers-resist-redundancies-outsourcing-and-cuts-at-rotorua-aquatic-centre/
@ Philip Ferguson, That’s terrible. I bet they could easily save $700,000+ by cutting the Rotorua CEO and executive team down to minimum wages… Some one should do a tally on how much the executive team is being paid and their wage increases. Should be enlightening.
I really hate all this conversion on NZ to a low wage transient economy. It’s such a race to the bottom and it does not save any money because then taxpayers and ratepayers then pay all the wages in work for dole schemes, more wage subsidies like working for families, the courts when people need to turn to crime, etc etc Nobody saves!!!! Not only does it not save money, it actually horribly reduces peoples quality of life and their mental health and wrecks their kids and dependants lives too!
https://www.facebook.com/Rotorua-Aquatics-SOS-Save-Our-Staff-136776193653037/
“I should have shut my fat face”
Hit that nail right on the head, Mr Quin.
Where’d he say that?
http://www.philquin.com/blog/2017/12/6/on-opining
He’s no longer going to do revenge porn on the Labour party. Thank god for that.
Farrar has been locked out of parliament and Quin has had an epiphany. What a great day!
An epiphany. Sounds serious. Is it a heart condition? Does it require surgery?
It’s when he suddenly realised his pay checks have dried up.
“Farrar has been locked out of parliament”
Wait, what?
He’s had his swipe card taken off him. He was on this list yesterday, but not today.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/99552731/speaker-reviews-list-of-approved-visitors-with-access-to-parliament-for-the-first-time
thanks, that was interesting.
How did you know about Farrar? (not in the link)
His name isn’t on the list of approved visitors to parliament.
where is the list?
Mid-page in Muttonbird’s stuff link.
https://screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0559d7eb-1ba8-41d4-bd0e-b38458ee082f.png
https://screenshots.firefoxusercontent.com/images/0dbcebae-3312-4350-8560-b149b957e53c.png
I remembered this story from a few weeks ago when there were 93 on the access list and you can see Farrar, David Curia Market Research Ltd is there.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/98473124/list-of-lobbyists-with-access-to-parliament-to-be-reviewed-by-new-speaker
On today’s list he’s not there. He’ll be devastated as it’s a status thing for him.
Interesting there were 15 on the list when it was first made public in 2012 climbing to 93 by 2017. Carter just handed them out to anyone it seems.
Morticia is still on it though. And what’s with spouses of former MPs?
Lobbyists (and Morticia) should have to make an appointment like anyone else.
Yeah, Boag is still there. Seems to be there as a lobbyist and you are right, they should be required to make an appointment which is recorded and verifiable.
God knows why supposes of former MPs are still there.
Spouses.
And now this.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2017/12/ghahraman-accuser-phil-quin-denies-he-was-part-of-the-rwandan-government-pr-machine.html
We commented on this some days ago, that is that no one had looked into what exactly Phil Quin did in Rwanda and for whom. We speculated on the information available which was that he worked as a consultant for the Kagame government and specifically the Rwandan Police at one point.
Now someone on Reddit (thats right, Reddit of all places, not the NZ media) posted about Phin Quin’s past and dear bitter old Phil claims it’s a hatchet job!
He does and apology clip (which I can’t bring myself to watch) and seems very concerned he’s burned some bridges with ‘people he respects’. Read ‘contacts’ with which to attack the Labour party with, and ‘clients’ who pay him for attacks on the Labour party.
Phil Quin has been squashed like a snail, good and proper.
Had to laugh.
I think Phil Q probably needs some ‘wrap around’ services about now – purely from philanthropic sources of course.
Probably the first wrap around service is to assure him is that his dick size is within the bounds of normality, and anyway (as Ms Muldaur once said to the insecure) – it ain’t the meat but the motion anyway
Its a good backgrounder.
It’s a shame Garner and other msm oiks are shit useless at research and instead parrot reckons from the dwarf at kiwiblog
https://www.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/7hmhgt/dirty_politics_the_disturbing_context_behind_phil/
At the end of the linked article Quin says
“and won’t simply trigger another unhelpful round of substance-free nastiness”.
I think he is talking about you Muttonbird.
I didn’t call anyone a genocide denier in a Twitter rant sparking an epic round of hatred for Ghahraman. Quin needs to have a long hard look in the mirror.
Quin should be looking to himself, first.
Last week he was pegged on TS as an apologist for the current regime.
https://thestandard.org.nz/phil-quin-our-medias-goto-dogwhistling-aussie/#comment-1420543
Wet houses – a practical answer to the difficulties for blokes and women living on the streets with a booze problem. In this item hopeful Wellington Mayor Justin Lester says he will have talk with the government to get the first NZ one set up there. I wonder if that is progressing?
Wellington mayoral candidate Justin Lester says his plan for the country’s first wet house would help addicts on the road to becoming more independent.
A wet house is a residential facility where alcoholics can continue to drink, and research from Washington University found most of those people would halve their intake while they were there….
If he were to become mayor, he said the council would lobby the government more strongly to solve homelessness, and would also push for tenants in council housing to be eligible for the Income-Related Rent Subsidy.
5/9/2016 https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/312534/%27wet-house%27-plan-to-tackle-wellington-homelessness @m_cropp michael.cropp@notrnz.com
https://www.rehabs.com/are-wet-house-facilities-really-helping-alcoholics/
More on progress for the Wet House in Wellington after talks with Phil Twyford.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/99529102/government-backs-wellington-city-councils-plans-for-a-capital-housing-strategy
And it got great support from a group of musicians.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/99065678/wellington-musicians-highlight-frontline-services-for-the-homeless
And this housing initiative. I hadn’t got wind of it. Sounds like a good start.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/98664506/first-prisonerbuilt-house-for-rimutaka-earns-inmates-skills
A useful discussion around uncertainties and transparency in science, and how vested interests and politicians misuse them to further their agendas.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-easiest-way-to-dismiss-good-science-demand-sound-science/
And if you followed that link, here is a link where you can down-load the vaccine for your new virus: http://www.go-read-a-book.com
Another FFS moment … Natz gobshite Soper still at it. Today it’s Labour taking advantage of National’s initiatives! Getting more ridiculous now. Time to give it a rest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11954555
Stop reading that drivel Mary_a! It just keeps their ratings up! Boycott them!
Soper has an anology about National spreading hayseeds that the Goverment are reaping, any farmer knows that the only seeds to germinate from hay are weeds.
Yes I purposely avoid reading anything from soper and his missus.
Petition
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: I ask that you do not approve planned seismic blasting for oil in the newly discovered blue whale habitat off Taranaki, and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment” by ending offshore oil exploration and drilling in NZ waters and the ‘Block Offer’ process.
https://act.greenpeace.org/page/15809/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=facebook_promotion&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=climate&utm_term=seismicwhalesfb003&utm_content=paid_promo
and that you make climate change your “nuclear free moment”
You didn’t actually believe that bullshit. she only said because Labour wanted to get back all those ex-labour voters who moved over to the greens.
Psychic now are you BM ?
If your traveling SH1 south of AKL, warning, “don’t look up”.
Persistent condensation trails again.
pfft..sprinklers are the new contrail…
/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c6HsiixFS8
only made the first 45 secs, but please tell me that’s satire.
Isn’t it scary that nobody will ever know…
well I want to tell her that if she’s worried about the planet she should stop mowing her bloody lawn. Bonus, she wouldn’t have to use a sprinkler to water it.
Having debunked the God conspiracy, the good young Bolshevik was confident he would never need to look upward ever again.
“Rainbows – this can not be natural.”
That’s some pretty good shit.
Loath as I am to endorse right wing policy, it has to be said: the National Party threw money at a problem and there was a slight improvement.
It’s definitely worth trying this National Party policy some more.
Some fairly salient comments by Ella Henry and Bernard Hickey on the RNZ ZB Hour (aka ‘The Panel’) re our public service. (It’s in the first 15 minutes thank Christ – i.e. before Mora has the opportunity to start exercising his wisdom and ego – so not too much of a burden to listen to).
The good thing is though, that people are starting to take interest and listen – and when they do (whether DHB’s or Water/health, Ed Jikayshun, Seeyoe’s celeries et al), they are starting to think: mmmmm geeeze Wayne – wtf?
“Does this tie make my gut look fat?”
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
[no fat phobia please – weka]
Aw come on you let me get away with a dwarfist jibe
Which I hope I redeemed, and not in a good way.
not quite getting that (was there a particular meaning in princess?)
Well, on the one hand I subverted the interpretation of the ‘dwarf’ as a label, a mere cypher, an insult to David Farrar, and gave the dwarf a personal voice, but then I placed the dwarf in a potentially compromising position.
The connection between Farrar and princesses should be familiar to any student of Dirty Politics.
Ah. I thought the off camera bit was funny. Missed the princess bit, I’ll blame the hot weather.
Let me deal with the fat phobia first. Fat phobic comments attack a person from a place of prejudice. There are a whole range of political implications that come from that. Do you think it would be ok to make putdown jokes about someone based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation? I don’t. Nor gratuitous digs at someone because of their body shape.
Perhaps it is more correct to say it as ‘Does this tie make my gut look slim.’ I don’t know how we are going to poke fun at each other if Health and Safety get too sterile about it. Instead of poking fun we might have to revert to poking someone in the nose.
Jeez, there’s some nasty surprises left by National under the rocks overturned today with the Minister briefings release.
Housing, water, health, education. All the things we’ve known about for some years but denied by National and their greedy RWNJ hangers-on.
beware of the it’s nationals fault cry , its valid for 6 months or a year tops.
National used it successfully for at least god knows how many years…but that was with corrupt media support so I guess your correct (not going to say Right)
I think the depth of the problems left behind cannot be turned around in 6-12 months to a point where the forces of 9 years of National’s abject non-governance no longer have an effect on society.
This government have several terms and more to rightly blame the Nats for the housing crisis, and under-planning for infrastructure. Same goes for improvements in educational achievement. Perhaps 18-36 months to get the health ministry and water infrastructure sorted.
Lets face it. National screwed these things up so bad that even an economy in free teenage party mode couldn’t help them win the 2017 GE.
I don’t think they’ll have too, most voted for the coalition knowing all these problems(fires) existed, the only ones that didn’t was the National supporters who probably didn’t care or weren’t interested.
When I was naive I thought our justice systems were like science and that was it is not a fact till it was proven to be fact but not now our justice system will spread lies about anyone they have a beef with. I can prove that everything I have said to he TRUE. If they had one shred evidence that could stand up in our courts we’ll you no what would happen . My great grandmother died when I was 9 an I ended up living with the worst family of all my whano I had been living with them for a week and after drank for 4 days they took me to the post office and got me to sign a withdrawal slip and drew out all the money my great grandmother had me save at my school savings. I found out later that MAMA MY GGMAM had another account that my fathers maintainec was beeping payed into they spent that to the first account had $300 and the second account had $800 they carried on getting my father maintainec till I turned 18 and I had left at 14 and went to work my dad told me he had carried on paying till I turn 18 and I told all the other family members about this and the people who did this don’t like this fact getting out there. I never got any gifts or new clothing I was the little white slave lite the fire chop the wood milk the cow boil the water for a bath. I was 12 and I fix a mower that someone could not get going he gave it away I was sick of carting water so I setup a syphon system to take the water from the tank to the copper and another from the copper to the bathroom I buried the black plastic pipe and put taps on the ends into the copper and the bathroom he got pissed at someone and picked on me and pulled that out every time he got upset he would call me a white honky bustard everyone called me honky when he tried to hit me I would runaway and hide one time I stayed at the neighbours for 2 weeks when I was 13.One week he took my money from cutting ragwort and used it to go to a funeral and left 2 of us home alone for 5 days no food I went to the neighbours. After watching them catch possum I started catching and skinny and drying them I had about 30 skins he said he would sell them for me i never seen a cent. So what these people are doing to me now is not a new feeling I am use to being intimated and bullied its like water off a ducks back. What I did not like was I was very submissive but not now I will protect my family we made. Kia kaha
I had been shown how to smoke tabbco in 2 weeks WTF
Sad to hear of the death of Christine Keeler, one of the victims in the Profumo Scandal, although at least she lived to tell the tale, whereas poor Stephen Ward ended up committing suicide.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/the-profumo-affair-a-moral-panic-between-austerity-britain-and-the-swinging-sixties/
There you go the state using all its power to try and suppress me I use to be able to find eco Maori by Googleing it not anymore they did the same to a website I found about corruption in the NZ justice systems email the IPCA about it as proof next minute web site vanished they would have paid Google to make it come up in page 1000 in any search. Kia kaha