TVNZ scoured the country to find a hard done by granny to go on TV and found one in Huntly.
But reunifying families is not primarily what this is about.
This is a return to BAU.
Imagine Incognito, if you will, that the government instead of spending tens of millions subsidising air travel, the government as major shareholder withdrew all support and shut Air NZ down, and instead had put that eye watering amount of money into setting up a high speed ferry service to compete with the air carriers.
A high speed ferry crossing of the Tasman would take roughly 24 hours, compared to the 3 hours by air. Obviously much longer, but no longer than a transcontinental flight to Europe, which Kiwis quite regularly bear. And if the ticket on the ferry was at half the price of an airfare, it could be quite attractive to many cross Tasman families tourists included. Especially as most high speed ocean crossing ferries of the size and power needed to cross the Tasman come with a roll on cargo deck for cars.
Now imagine even further, if all the laid off Air New Zealand staff and facilities were redeployed to set up and run this service.
If not done now. Eventually this measure, or something very close to it, will have to be done by a future generation. By then, it will be too little too late.
We will never Build Back Better, we will continue to miss opportunities like this to do so. The BAU imperitive is why nothing meaningful will ever be done about climate change, condemning the coming generation to a terrible future
If it is not in the media, it doesn’t exist or is only minor!? So Zen, or so ignorant.
Your comment is just one big ‘imagine this, imagine that’, full of irrelevant reckons, but you dodged the very basic question because it didn’t suit your narrative, that much is clear.
we don't need to go back to Bau – we never left it.
cue the election promise to the national voters taht the labour party was courting.
"No increase in benefits".
The Labour Party is Party of business as usual, they are not the solution they are part of the problem, specifically the current one. It is not that they are incompetent, its that they are so full of their own horsemanure they have started to believe the crap they sprout.
And everyone but them carries the risk, loses their jobs, their businesses and their homes, and they are there and will tell you over and over like a mantra, be nice, be kind, be gentle, and above all don't bother me. Waiting for Labour to do something meaningful is like waiting on National to do something meaningful.
It certainly makes a mockery of the government's 'Gen Less' campaign to reduce consumption. I should walk to the supermarket apparently, so a bunch of woskers can fly into Queenstown.
Nope, you should walk to the supermarket because it is good for you and for the environment. Framing it at as a zero sum game and us vs. them is divisive and counter-productive.
It is us against them – thirty years of neoliberal failure sure as hell wasn't in my interests. We're poor because a bunch of totally fith economist wonks and their enabling politicians chose to make it so – and it's about time those worthless mofos were made to pay for it.
you should walk to the supermarket because it is good for you and for the environment
That depends on the geographical features of where one lives. I bet even you would be thinking twice about walking back with a load of groceries up the hill where I live.
I did not suggest it – it is the recommendation of Genless – because over the course of perhaps ten years, these pedestrian journeys will add up to enough to balance out one foreign tourist flying into Queenstown.
But Stuart, if you are REALLY so concerned about ones impact upon climate change, maybe you should practise what you preach and refrain from internet use? As per the attached article (the science on this is very clear), take just one quote:
The carbon footprint of our gadgets, the internet and the systems supporting them account for about 3.7% of global greenhouse emissions, according to some estimates. It is similar to the amount produced by the airline industry globally,
Hmm, the carbon footprint of Greta Thurnberg must be massive. Trouble is, this is all an inconvenient truth to those who preach how the rest of us should live!
It's just a matter of consistency – an overseas flight typically represents one of the largest carbon expenditures ordinary people undertake, and tourism, unlike grocery shopping, is discretionary. 11% of annual totals was the BBC estimate.
practise what you preach and refrain from internet use
I never advocated anything of the kind – but I'm sure that if you do the quality of discourse will be measurably improved.
Stuart, apologies if it seemed like I was preaching or being a smart****.
I guess my point was that tackling climate change is a very complex thing, and at the end of the day it involves many trade offs. I just get very annoyed with the hypocrisy and populist bs on this matter (not referring to you specifically, but the name 'Greta' does loom large).
Yes, tourism is discretionary, but does it add value to the world? I would have thought international tourism has done wonders for breaking down cultural bigotry and racism for example. China is a classic. 40 years ago the Chinese were largely alien to us and us to them. Has tourism not brought the people closer and broken down many barriers? I would have thought so.
I'm sure the argument can be made – though tourism is a heading covering a lot of different activities, some of which might be better avoided.
If we are serious about climate change, longer term moves to reduce the bigger impacts, like air travel, are very desirable. One of the obvious candidates is transtasman passenger shipping. Ferries like the Busan-Shimonoseki run manage a comfortable though not palatial service that is pretty economical of both cash and carbon.
I am less sanguine about tourism as a vehicle for cultural mixing – more because some kinds of tourism don't do it very much – externally hosted coach tours for example, though lots of genuine interactions occur in more backpacker formats.
I expect the govt. is reluctant to see air travel fall off, because highend perishable exports like crayfish and tyee presently depend upon it. It's a relatively poor reason to preserve a sunset industry like mass air travel, when there are other ways to ship such products, which, properly developed, would open the incalculably large Asian markets to our mussel surplus.
That bit about cutting out short car trips has two sides to it. The image shows someone with a skateboard? If these people want to really be green, they could try walking. Oh but the footpaths are full of people on skateboards going faster than walkers which makes walking stressful even hazardous. The footpaths are not places that you can safely take a quiet stroll.
Males are the biggest user of footpaths on skateboards, bikes, battery powered machines of various kinds. Walking is so last century. Now there are skateboards on person power and soon there will be a condition of assymetrical leg muscles, one riding and the other pushing forward. But the smart person just stands on something and whizzes along the footpath. There are also the bikes some as fast as cars, and without registration, and few controls if any.
So to whom it may concern, stick your great ideas up both your nostrils, and don't come up with great schemes that suit the self-involved pushy males and aggressive females in what is supposed to be a society.
Here is a nice interview with Glenn Greenwald, without doubt the most effective journalist in the world today, discussing his new book "Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro’s Brazil," and his leading role in dismantling the Bolsonaro govt and freeing the most important Left wing leader in the World Lula da Silva from prison.
His courage in doing this type of journalism just cannot be understated, he is a shining example of what can be done in journalism when it is pursued with integrity and a high social purpose as its moral guide can achieve.
He also discusses the rise of, and destructive power of the woke liberal movement in the West, which as we know has been having an extremely corrosive effect on free discourse, but is proving to be extremely effective in creating divisiveness across all political/social spectrums.
But the buses spewing black soot, as the electrical buses were exchanged against diesel will be allowed.
Are we then enriching the parking company by having to pay astronomical amounts when leaving the car at the city limits or even parking on the city council lots around train stations when coming to Wellington from areas where a bike ride takes days?
The transport system is absolute terrible, it could well be that you are stuck in town when those unreliable buses and trains are something to go by. Better not to go at all.
Why not address the urgent items first. You know the ones we actually need to pass the test of being a civilization and pay rates that have increased by double digits?
I was extremely unhappy with the replacement of the trolley busses without having the next generation of electric busses in place beforehand. This hopefully gets changed within the next years (as well as the car issue, e-scooter issue…).
Didn't know parking in the CBD is free at the moment. So it will move from within the CBD to the CBD fringe. Taking into account a significant portion of cars simply drives through the CBD instead of doing business within the CBD, parking fees doesn't apply to those cars… maybe the introduction of a congestion charge for vehicles driving through the CBD could cover that?
I would also suggest a very frequent inner CBD free public transport, similar to Melbourne, so people don't require a car in the city at all. Some of the freed road space can be used for bicycle / e-scooter etc. to free up the footpaths for pedestrians, for example in Germany e-scooters are not allowed on footpaths.
As far as I can see there are significantly more bike going into the CBD now compared to 10 years ago, especially e-bikes. So many people moved beyond the "car über alles" sentiment we have here in NZ. Public transport will improve when more people are going to use it and public transport is not stuck within car traffic.
I also strongly believe that the road rules have to be properly enforced here, so pedestrians and bike riders can feel safe. And isn't it time to adjust road fines by at least inflation since they were set last time (late 1990s!)?
Coming from a city where you do not need a car at all – true! – with a population size half of NZ, I know that Wellington is so far behind the 8-ball it isn't funny anymore. But we have wasted so much money on stupid things that one could cry. Besides, who wants to live in a place where sewage can be your morning greeting at any minute and your drinking water is being sold rather then flowing through maintained pipes. I do not harbour any hope that this will see any improvement in the next 20-30 years.
I have moved out of Wellington and so glad I did. Perhaps a visit once or twice a year will do me just fine.
you know they are circleing the plughole when one sad entitled git writing about another sad entitled git from the same organisation is a featured headline. the herald is jumping the shark.
Not the best way to get on side with Kiwis – a Taupo boutique lodge manager complains "sorry to say, Kiwis are tight arses, to be honest" (Stuff 8 April page 13). Perhaps Kiwis are happy spending their money at a nice motel, not a hyper expensive boutique lodges, and spending their money also on experiences etc.
also go's on to say that aussies dont stay their much either. hmmm, great business plan ,if you need people to cross the equator, maybe time to lower your prices.it doesnt sound like a sustainable business, long term.
Grant Robertson really seems to be out of touch with reality and not taking advice from treasury etc. So if landlords raise rents, he said tenants should simply look elsewhere like this tenant.
By the sounds of the article she is doing exactly that and selling all five properties. Seems a bit knee jerk to me as the interest deductibility is being phased in not next tax year will only cost a bit more.
It seems to me interest deductibility is an anomaly in the Income Tax Act, so she cannot complain about its removal. However, had depreciation not become non deductible she would probably have been OK. Depreciation is a legitimate expense and, therefor removing its deductibility was, I believe, a mistake. I suspect though that margins in property investment are so low that wiping out depreciation allowances would wipe out profits altogether.
Perhaps it is time to rationalize the situation and make rental property investment tax free, and all the related expenses non deductible.
How can depreciation be a legitimate expense in this case, when property values increase ?? There is, under housing no loss in value. There are rules that the IRD follow to determine what is valid R&M verse capital cost, and R&M is a deductible expense to reduce tax.
I thought the changes to depreciation for housing was necessary.
"Depreciation is an accounting method of allocating the cost of a tangible or physical asset over its useful life or life expectancy. Depreciation represents how much of an asset's value has been used up."
I thought the changes to depreciation for housing was necessary.
It wasn't really necessary. The book value of a property equals original cost less depreciation allowed prior to sale, though depreciation is not applicable to land, only to the house. When a property is sold one would treat any difference between the sale price and the book value of the house as capital gain. After all, what would one do if the property had been sold for less than book value. Would one continue to regard depreciation as non deductible inf that situation.
In the case quoted above depreciation, being a non cash expense, might have helped to ease Ms Goodman's flow problems until the houses were sold had depreciation been deductible – even if there had been an excess depreciation claw back rule in place.
From what I understand plenty are getting out asap as they feel the market is at a peak.
Im no expert but I'm fairly worried that inflationary pressure is going to arrive and the real effects of what is a global slow down masked by printed money will hit hard.
Or Landlords are rushing to change things out of panic.
How long has she had the properties? She is getting a 12 month lead in and a staggered rate over four years, so her reasons for selling up seem political at this stage. The comment regarding double glazing shows there was no contingency fund.
Would selling 1 home pay the interest on the other homes?
At some point a landlord is going to cash up. Blaming the recent changes for not being a landlord is going to far in this case. Maybe just having the 1 home and paying off the interest on the loan could be to much once the tax deduction on interest is cut for some with a big mortgage on an investment property.
Were the sale price on a rental home start to drop will landlords cash up?
Your blaming Grant R for that? Most “business” owners have some compassion and in a case like this wouldn’t evict a terminally ill person. Shame on the landlord. Shame, shame on him
but then Grant boy will never have to go looking elsewhere should his housing costs go up as the Tax payer is paying him such a good wage that this is not one of his concerns. Like his collegues he too is well fed, well heeled, and well housed, and that is what matters.
So yeah, shame to the greedy landlord, and shame to the Finance Minister who obviously has no idea what he is talking about. But then, its on par with what someone else said a few years ago.
"I don't think the issue of someone living in a homeless situation is new – it's been there for a very long period of time. But we are there to provide support as best we can. All I can say to people if somebody is homeless they should go see Winz."
They are virtually the same comments, one in blue one in red, and both just take the piss at the misery of those that finance their lives. The citizens and taxpayers of this country.
You obviously didn't watch the video. Even the tenants were not blaming the landlord. She owns five properties and rents to low income people with pets, so I would say she's actually a pretty reasonable landlord.
Women’s health is being “held together by fax machine,” with Jacinda Ardern’s Government rejecting three years of funding requests to bring New Zealand’s cervical screening programme into the 21st century.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act reveal the Government has known the nationwide cervical screening programme – that is, cytology testing, or the pap smear test – is not the best way of saving lives since at least May 2016.
Doctors have had the physical ability to carry out a better test, known as the HPV viral DNA test, with at least 15 per cent more effectiveness at detecting cancer and reducing deaths, since 2008.
At least 30 cancers each year could have been prevented with a new programme using this test. A 2019 external review said the risks to women grew greater with each delay. …………………..
The National Cervical Screening Register (NCSR) was built in 1990 to receive results through fax, and doctors still have to call or fax to check on patients. Both the technology and the law currently prohibit GPs from looking up results in a centralised system.
Sources spoken to by Stuff say the ministry’s register is commonly referred to as being “held together by fax machine,” and doctors and district health boards are angry at the programme’s continual delay.
Some DHBs have offered to roll out their own self-testing programmes, recorded on Excel spreadsheets. ………………….
In June 2018, its delay was announced by the ministry’s National Screening Unit director Dr Jane O'Hallahan, who said a “fit-for-purpose IT solution,” was needed.
But sources spoken to by Stuff say attempts to get the programme funded in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020 were rejected, with those close to the process told it was because there was no money left after $197m went into bowel cancer screening.
In early 2018, the ministry told then Associate Minister Julie Anne Genter the new register would take 18 months to develop and implement once it had been funded. It was projected it could be finished by 2021.
It has still not been funded. Sources say projected costs sat between $60-$160m.
good grief. IS this a case of can't or won't?
For people like Kiri who obviously do not like anyone to poke about their business, the ability to perform a self test could have been potentially a deal breaker and rather then undergoing Stage 3 cancer treatment she would have had alternatives that would be less invasive, and lasting.
Robertson also said efforts to get more people to use screening procedures for cervical cancer and HPV were ongoing, but he was non-committal regarding the introduction of self-swabbing tests, which were supposed to be rolled out three years ago.
"I know there is some advice coming through to us on that … and that's all now part of the process that we work through with the budget," he said.
The issue was brought into focus this week with news that Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is battling stage 3 cervical cancer.
Yep, its not that they can't, they simply don't, won't and don't give no dime. Kinder gentler, Yeah, right Labour!
Nope we had no pandemic in 2017 – 2018. The health sector is so underfunded that people will die. And Kiri – who has been open about not liking to go to a OBGYN or a GP for a papsmear could have done it by herself and thus prevented the thousands upon thousands it will now cost in surgery and chemo therapy etc.
And dear Grant still gives no fuck.
It sounds like the Pandemic is to Labour what Helen Clark was to John Key.
Any encouragement to get a cervical test for a cancer or a pre cancer which has a high likely hood of being detected with a do it yourself procedure or the current method used no excuse to not fully fund it.
National are pushing the panic buttons when we need to be patient until we know that vaccines are effective against variants and safe administration is keeping an eye on adverse reactions during administration of vaccines there is no need to rush vaccine roll outs or opening borders.
Especially when countries where vast numbers of people are dying who need the vaccine more urgently reflects on National's selfishness.
Bringing people from the Pacific Islands who could be trapped here vice versa travel opening travel to Pacific islands until they are vaccinated/immunised could devistate indigenous populations who are far more susceptible to c19 as well as not having health systems that barely exist now.NZ 's health system is overloaded now with out an outbreak.
Rory Mac Illroy speaks out about voter suppression in Georgia Lee Travino boycotted the Masters at the height of his career because of the racism at the Masters.
Ah ha. Come in you rich people with great ideas that sound good to greenies, future looking, diversifying, yes you can buy our piece of land to add to your various hideouts around the world. Just get your foot in the door, and NZ will never push you out again, they aren't 'robust' enough (and always looking for a quick buck, don't be fooled by the greenwash.)
I think with cases currently nearing 100 it wont be long until we have to shut down everything again. Then we print some more money and add another 16 billion dollars to the debt mountain. niiice….
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/solar-geoengineering-climate-change_n_605c765dc5b67593e055ff9d …It is, quiteliterally, the stuff of science fiction. But on Thursday the United States inched closer to realizing what, depending on where you fall, could be considered a dream of environmental engineering or a dystopian nightmare: devising a plan to artificially cool the planet if humans fail to cut climate-changing emissions quickly enough.
In a 329-page report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlined its vision for a federal program to study what’s collectively known as solar geoengineering ― a handful of techniques to reflect sunlight back into space or manipulate cloud coverage to temporarily alleviate the effects of pollution-fueled heating.…
Ju-darth's days must be numbered. Dick Prebble the other day, and now National Party embedded journalist, Claire Trevett have both begun the process of leadership change.
If the choice is between Chris Lucks-in and Soimon, or both, as Trevett suggests, then the Nats have a long, long way to go.
They may find she's as hard to be rid of as a cockroach infestation. With no plausible leaders in the offing, and a rank and file so lacking in talent it has room for Smith & Brownlee, the National Party is waiting for Godot – boredom incarnate without the redeeming literary merit.
What i would like to know is if the people that are currently not being allowed to board a plane in India will have some recompensation for their flights, and their booked isolation facilities. Will other people be allowed in on short notice to use the space up? And why are we freaking out because 100 people in isolation have covid. Are we not prepared for that number? Are our hospitals not capable now or are we still worried that our already collapsing health care system would collapse in sight of all and everyone, one year after the closure of the border.
Meh, I feel nothing but pity for the people that shelled out good money to get back here, who waited a month or several for a spot in isolation just to be fobbed of like that.
These are risky times. There’s a global pandemic raging. It is not BAU. Maybe this will act as a warning for wannabe travelers in the Oz-NZ bubble. I feel pity for people who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 but fortunately only 26 so far in NZ.
-are the travelers just to absorb the costs? a wet hand shake? uncertain times?
-will the freed up beds allocated to others who have been on the waiting line?
is our healthcare sector in such bad shape that we close to travelers who have planned this trip for the better part of the last year.
i don't care much about people coming back to the country before full vaccination but these gap stop actions are kind of rude to anyone who has put in the effort of actually getting here. Cause it ain't easy.
As i said, i don't want anyone to come before at least we have had a chances at getting the vaccines to everyone, but i guess that is going to take a bit longer for while. And yes, 2020 was rude for most of us, it helps to keep that in mind when holding awesome powers.
I think that we all have a right to be safe and if it is found that 80% of travelers from a country (any country) are arriving in NZ infected, the NZ population also has the right to say no, you have to be virus free if you come to these shores. If you look at the visitor cards for immigration, any foreign material or organism is not allowed into NZ. A carrier of a virus with such known devastating effect on health, lives and economic impact qualifies. I really don't care who these people are, everybody has a right to have predictable consequences affecting lives avoided at all costs.
I think it is to protect Border workers and quarantine from being swamped. 7×24 in a day might mean 148 in a week, or 296 in a fortnight. That is pushing the envelope. I am pleased they are alert to changes happening overseas. Most airlines are allowing rebooking. This is the new reality. Buyer beware!!
Daily new COVID-19 case numbers in India have surged in the last month (126,315 new cases on 7 April, the highest number ever reported outside the USA). In the last few days the daily new case numbers have been consistently higher than during the mid-Sept peak of India's first wave, and trending sharply upwards.
The travel ban is precautionary – wouldn’t be surprised if it is extended, and of course any disruption and grief it causes is regrettable.
Wouldn't be surprised also if some opposition National party MP pipes up soon and opines that the Government should have put this travel ban in place sooner.
"Wouldn't be surprised also if some opposition National party MP pipes up soon and opines that the Government should have put this travel ban in place sooner."
Gotta say, the opposition are fairly tragic.They make me think of one of the 5000 that were fed with five loaves and two fish that there wasn't a gluten free option.
Daily new covid cases are surging pretty much everywhere as the old variant is being replaced by the new UK variant.
And everyone who got a vaccine so far hopes and prays to any deity that wants to listen that it works.
In the meantime in NZ we still stuck at lockdown mentality cause that is all we got.
So i really hope dear leader will close the borders to Europeans, US America (75% of all cases are now the UK variant) and everywhere else where the virus is on the march again, just to fair. …..and equal, and maybe just to watch that stench of 'racism' and 'panic' of.
Again, a hundered cases in the country, non in our crumbling hospital system and they panic. How bad is our hospital system? Worse then it was before lockdown?
Ardern has just announced that there will be no entry by kiwis from India till the end of the month.
Best to fact-check Chris T's fake news. The travel ban hasn't started yet, and the intention is end the ban on 28 April (although it could be extended if necessary), so initially it’s an 18-day ban, not a 22-day ban (until the end of the month.)
Most NZers will see this as a strategic decision, courtesy of epidemiological analyses, to ensure that our much admired COVID-19 elimination strategy continues to work for the team of nearly five million.
4 pm on 11 April is 3 days on my calendar. You shortened it so much it was grossly misleading but I assume that was entirely unintentional and accidental.
Chris T, imho your sole motive for commenting here is to stir ("This will turn ugly").
You can't count well enough to tell the difference between 22 days ("till the end of the month") and 18 days (11 – 28 April) – why would anyone trust your judgement?
Poor widdle Chris T, earlier in the day he’s been whinging about the PM being too scared and running from tough questions and then our brave PM fronts the country (again) with strong and brave leadership to make an announcement to protect our country. You can't catch a break eh sweetie. She also said the delay will give them time to pass the necessary laws, I assume to cover your fear mongering yadda yadda yadda, but I’m sure you’ll be back here regularly with your Faux outrage and Chicken Little conspiracies.
All your combined comments continue to highlight your outrage my very wise and thoughtful friend. You are quite right I am very simple minded, in fact generally I'm as dumb as a box of rocks, but I know right from wrong and sincere from insincere and that keeps me a very content and happy simpleton.
The man who would be Q is a guy by the name of Ron Watkins. Ron is the son of Jim Watkins, the owner of the imageboard 8chan. They live in the Philipines and have for years. Ron is the administrator of 8kun, the successor to 8chan. Both men have been intimately involved in the spread of QAnon content on boards like 4Chan, 8chan, and 8kun, so much so that for a while the main theory for the identity of Q was one or both of the Watkinses.
The previously camera-shy Watkins — who runs 8kun alongside his father, Jim — has long been the key suspect for the identity of Q. In fact, anybody really paying attention all but knew it.
Oh, I see now, you took 2 days off at the end, not at the beginning, or maybe you did both or would it be pedantic to assume that? Your stirring is starting to waste our time here. Are you going to apologise for that too? I think you should.
I apologise for for not including the time at the beginning.
Now can I please get some apologies from all those that didn't ake into account some travellers from places in India can take over 24 hours and even more if they are travelling by boat, so these places will need to stop people leaving earlier.
Time for reviewing something a bit different. Move over Tolkien adaptations, hello Japanese splatter movie. Specifically, a certain 2009 movie called Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl. I watched this one a few days ago with some acquaintances, never having seen it before, and not being familiar with the manga ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD An above-average Atlantic hurricane season is likely in 2021, the Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane forecasting team says in its latest seasonal forecast issued April 8. Led by Dr. Phil Klotzbach, with coauthors Dr. Michael Bell and Jhordanne Jones, the CSU ...
How seriously does the Māori Party take issues of corruption and the untoward influence of big money in politics? Not very, based on how it’s handling a political finance scandal in which three large donations were kept hidden from the public. The party is currently making excuses, and largely failing ...
The annual inventory report [PDF] of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing a significant increase in emissions: (Note that this is UNFCCC accounting, not the weird fudged figures the Climate Change Commission is using). Emissions increased by almost 2 million tons in 2019, from 80.6 MT ...
The melody from the classic movie Wizard of Oz echoes as Jacinta Ruru explains what inspired her to attend university, and her ambition to help create a more just society in Aotearoa. Jacinta, who affiliates to Raukawa and Ngāti Ranginui, specialises in the research areas of indigenous peoples and the law. ...
Stuff reports that National is refusing to back the Climate Change Commission's recommendations, which is apparently a Bad Thing: The National Party says it can’t support the Climate Change Commission’s draft plan to cut New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions unless changes are made. If National maintains this position when ...
Driven, accountable, unafraid to test limits and connected to the communities she serves are traits that come to mind when thinking about Dr Anne-Marie Jackson. (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu o Whangaroa, Ngāti Wai) She specialises in Māori physical education and health research disciplines while incorporating tikanga Māori and Te ...
This is my first post for a while. I have been a bit overwhelmed by other work in the last several weeks, with teaching and other commitments, and the blog has sadly suffered. But I’m still here. This morning, while sitting in a car in the permanent traffic jam through ...
Predatory Morality: Is geopolitical consultant, Paul Buchanan, right? Does the rest of the world truly monitor New Zealand’s miniscule contribution to the international arms trade so closely? Are foreign chancelleries truly so insensitive to their own governments’ complicity in the world’s horrors that they expect all other sovereign states to ...
Anna Källén, Stockholm University and Daniel Strand, Uppsala University A middle-aged white man raises his sword to the skies and roars to the gods. The results of his genetic ancestry test have just arrived in his suburban mailbox. His eyes fill with tears as he learns that he is “0.012% ...
March 2021 The housing crisis right now in New Zealand is one of our biggest contributors to income and wealth inequality. “With the explosive increase in sales and prices, those with houses have their income and/or wealth rapidly increasing, and those who are not on the property ladder are falling ...
Samoans went to the polls on Friday, and delivered a stinging blow to Prime Minister Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi one-party state. Pre-election Malielegaoi's Human Rights Protection Party had controlled 44 of 49 seats in Parliament, while using restrictive standing orders to prevent there from even being a recognised opposition in ...
Prof Nick Wilson, Dr Jennifer Summers, Prof Michael BakerIn this blog we briefly consider a new Report from a European think tank that aims to identify an optimal COVID-19 response strategy. It considers mortality data, GDP impacts, and mobility data and suggests that COVID-19 elimination appears to be superior ...
Something I missed on Friday: the Māori Party has been referred to police over failure to disclose donations over $30,000. Looking at the updated return of large donations, this is about $320,000 donated to them by three donors - John Tamihere, the National Urban Māori Authority, and Aotearoa Te Kahu ...
Stormy Seas: Will Jacinda Ardern's Labour Government stand behind the revolutionary proposals contained in He Puapua – the 20-year plan devised by a government appointed working group to realise the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand?“GETTING AHEAD of the story” is one of the most ...
We have not been fans of the Climate Change Commission’s draft report. New Zealand has an Emissions Trading Scheme with a binding cap, and a declining path for net emissions in the covered sector. Measures taken within the covered sector cannot reduce net emissions. NZU not purchased by one sector get ...
For several decades under Labour and National-led governments New Zealand has claimed to have an independent (and sometimes autonomous) foreign policy. This foreign policy independence is said to be gained by having a “principled but pragmatic” approach to international relations: principled when possible, pragmatic when necessary. More recently NZ foreign ...
This video produced in Seattle looks at the gender identity curriculum used in schools in the US. A thin veneer of pseudoscience is being used to indoctrinate children with an ideology based on scientific and medical inaccuracies. ...
For once, I have written my submission on a bill with enough time to spare to both enocurage any of you who wants to make a submission to do so as well, and to give you time to spot the typos in mine.Louisa Wall's Harmful Digital Communications (Unauthorised Posting of Intimate ...
A friend found a concerning FB post (see below – this is a public post & so I have not redacted the name) & – as you do – immediately queried it with Southern Cross Life & Health Insurance as well as sending the screenshot to me¹. We both read ...
Judith Collins’ National Party leadership is under more scrutiny, with increased talk in the media of her being replaced by brand new MP Christopher Luxon. For many commentators it’s just a question of “when” rather than “if” Collins is replaced. While others ponder whether Luxon really has what it takes ...
‘Tis the season for unearthing the rarest gems in Tolkien adaptation – which, considering that the fandom has been dominated by Peter Jackson for nigh on two decades, is a positively heart-warming development. It is why I have devoted so much blog space to the obscure and weirdly wonderful ...
Whatever the damage, especially to the British economy, Brexit has done us a service by illustrating the complexity of trade.Brexit is the only example we have of two closely integrated sophisticated economies severing trading ties. The European Union and Britain still do not have tariffs or import quotas between them ...
The Palmerston North City Council has voted for Māori wards: Palmerston North Māori will be guaranteed one or two seats on the city council from 2022, and this time, there is nothing opponents can do about it. The council decided by an 11-5 vote at its monthly meeting this ...
Kids are striking for the climate today, demanding a decent, liveable future. Meanwhile, the National Party, the reliable servant of the farm lobby and other polluting businesses, is calling for action to be delayed: National has written to Climate Change Minister James Shaw calling for him to extend the ...
Today tens of thousands of schoolkids have walked out of school to strike for a future free from climate change. And tens of thousands of older New Zealanders have joined them. Their demands are clear: eliminate fossil fuels, implement 100% renewable energy with a just transition, and support our Pacific ...
The Gods That Failed.We studied the dialecticRead the whole of ‘Capital’So we could follow youSo we could follow youHow we shoutedHow we scrawledPainted slogans on city wallsOn prison wallsProof we had followed youBut, we still didn’t find what we’re looking forAnd we still haven’t found what we’re looking forWhen they ...
Conventional Wisdom? The Republican Right is convinced that to “go woke” is to “go broke”. It simply does not believe sufficient Americans feel strongly enough about social justice to make any kind of boycott remotely effective. Clearly, the Boards of Directors of more and more American corporations disagree. RECENT MOVES by ...
On November 25, 2020 Skeptical Science Inc. became a registered nonprofit organization and on March 17, 2021 our application to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for 501(c)(3) status was approved. In this blog post, we’ll explain why we went down this path and what will come next. Since its ...
Blowing Hot And Cold: Mike Hosking’s bosses should, perhaps, ask themselves what message Newstalk-ZB (and NZME) is sending to the people of New Zealand if Mike Hosking, their self-appointed “People’s Prosecutor”, is accorded bragging rights for “cancelling” the democratically-elected Prime Minister of New Zealand. Especially when said Prime Minister’s only ...
Ali Boyle, University of CambridgeIf you ask people to list the most intelligent animals, they’ll name a few usual suspects. Chimpanzees, dolphins and elephants are often mentioned, as are crows, dogs and occasionally pigs. Horses don’t usually get a look in. So it might come as a surprise that ...
Selwyn Manning and I dedicated this week’s video podcast to the potential emergence of rival blocs within the transitional process involved in the move from a unipolar to a multipolar international system currently underway. However one characterises the phenomenon–autocracies versus democracies, East versus West, colonial versus post-colonial–the global order is ...
With the rediscovery of the lost Soviet Lord of the Rings, the time has come for the important things in life. Specifically, compiling the Tom Bombadil scenes from the three known screen adaptations that feature him: This is a collection of scenes from:– Sagan om Ringen (1971: ...
Back in February the Climate Change Commission recommended a ban on new coal-fired boilers, and a phase out of existing ones by 2037. And today, the government has said they will implement that policy, and backed it up with funding to help transition some of our large pollution sources: ...
Back in 2014, the police raided and searched journalist Nicky Hager's home over his book Dirty Politics, seizing his journalistic work in an effort to identify his sources to please their political masters in the National party. The raid - and much of the police's related investigative work - was ...
By Professor Tony Blakely, Dr Tim Wilson, Luke Thorburn and Professor Nathan Grills, University of MelbourneA new web tool, COVID-19 Pandemic Trade-offs, allows people to weigh the costs and benefits of different policy responses as Australia rolls out vaccines and considers opening borders.See here for an associated explanatory ...
This evening I was engaging in polite conversation (well, I was polite, anyway) on an RNZ Facebook post about – you guessed it! – the covid19 vaccination program. One of those present offered up a link to a blog post by Joseph Mercola to support a claim he was making ...
by Jordan Levi (Contributed) I don’t remember when I first came across the concept of gender identity, but it was definitely before Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) came out as transgender because I’m sure that would’ve confused me way more if it was my first acquaintance with the phenomenon. The ...
The fact that the much vaunted “most advanced, richest Nation on the planet, ever”, that being America, ran into a brick wall in its responses to the problems across the world of late is because, at its heart, of the economic system that we’ve all been largely forced to ...
The EPA has commenced the 2021 “denewing” of new organisms. Their New Organisms team explain what this means, and ask you to put forward your proposals. The places we inhabit are shared with thousands of different kinds of organisms. They’re in the trees, flying in the sky, in our yoghurt, ...
As we roll out the COVID-19 vaccine across NZ there will inevitably be people who experience adverse events after getting their jab. Here are some super important things to keep in mind about adverse events following immunisation. Terminology – words matter Any event that is undesirable and follows administration of ...
Nature Climate Change celebrates 10 years of obfuscation The Nature Publishing Group is distinguished not only by what we're told (most of us must take somebody's word for it) are exceptionally high quality research publications but also by what some might term an outlier, extremist policy on locked-down content. In many ...
How can we stop the Ministry of Health censoring and sanitising vital mental health statistics to make themselves (and Ministers) look good? Legislate for annual reporting: Green Party mental health spokeswoman Chlöe Swarbrick says the Ministry of Health should be legally required to produce a wide range of mental ...
Here’s a few short interesting developments or discussions I’ve seen recently. Loosely bundled together in a theme of “values.” Irregular labour Is the private sector the best provider and facilitator of “gig work”? That’s challenged in a New Yorker profile of Wingham Rowan, an English social entrepreneur. For many years ...
In 1997 the Law Commission reviewed the OIA. In the process, they identified a problem: decisions to transfer a request could not be investigated by the Ombudsman under the Act. They also identified a workaround: transfer decisions by agencies subject to the Ombudsmen Act could be investigated under that Act, ...
Today is a Member's Day, though with no particularly controversial bills up, it is likely to be a pretty boring one. First up is Maureen Pugh's Adverse Weather-affected Timber Recovery on Conservation Lands Bill, an attempt to sidestep the Forests (West Coast Accord) Act 2000 and allow the effective mining ...
The area of mental health has been a key strength for Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Government over the last few years. They campaigned strongly in 2017 on fixing up the dysfunctional system, and initially they made some vital strides forward in reforming the sector. An in-depth inquiry was instigated ...
By Jamie Stewart, Federated Mountain ClubsFederated Mountain Clubs (FMC), founded in 1931, represents 96 clubs, 22,000 members and 300,000 people that regularly recreate in the New Zealand backcountry. This article first appeared in the June 2020 issue of Backcountry magazine and is reproduced with permission. (Read the original article). ...
Stuff had an appalling story on Sunday about the Ministry of Health's attempts to hide unflattering mental health statistics and sanitise a regular report. The report came out last week, and showed a massive increase in the use of "seclusion", a practice which has been condemned by the UN Committee ...
Another unpleasant surprise at Tiwai Point: in addition to the declared stockpiles of toxic waste, they may have tens of thousands of tons secretly buried in the early 1990's to avoid the RMA: Investigators are looking into claims highly toxic waste has been buried in unmapped sites at Tiwai ...
This morning the government is deciding on the start-date for a trans-Tasman travel bubble. Note the way that that's phrased: the existence of such a bubble is taken as a given, and the only question is how to implement it. Obviously, we're going to have to re-open the borders eventually, ...
Qualified To Give - And Take - Advice: Most Labour MPs are self-conscious members of the meritocracy, meaning they have succeeded where the vast majority of their fellow citizens have failed. The primary political obligation, understood by all members of the First Labour Government, was to listen to the people. ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD A critical global shipping node – Egypt’s Suez Canal – was reopened on Monday, March 29, six days after being shut down when the 400-meter-long container ship Ever Given became lodged in the canal. A statement by the Suez ...
Red, red whines.That’s all you’ll hear.Not like those glory daysWhen we would cheer. Red, red whines.If it were up to us,We'd make a proper jobOf transforming the world. We would beMore than kind.Offer so much more than spin.Makes us sadWhen we findThere’s so much you won’t begin. Red, red whines.Now ...
Worlds Apart: According to the report of the British Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: “family structure and social class had a bigger impact than race on how people’s lives turned out”. These are not the sort of findings that New Zealand fighters against "White Supremacy" and "Colonisation" are eager ...
Caitlin Clark, Colorado State UniversityWhether baked as chips into a cookie, melted into a sweet warm drink or molded into the shape of a smiling bunny, chocolate is one of the world’s most universally consumed foods. Even the biggest chocolate lovers, though, might not recognize what this ancient food ...
Since December 2020, I have been working my way through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s corpus of Sherlock Holmes stories, in order of publication. As of today I have managed to finish this adventure ...
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 28, 2021 through Sat, Apr 3, 2021 The three apparently most popular posts on our Facebook page this week were John Cook's 23 Ways to Mislead (and how to spot them), Stanton Glantz' blog post ...
The Inward Journey: Indeed, this would appear to constitute the essence of the Gospel of Mary. That the teachings of the Christ are not to be read as a promise of victory over Death; but as an invitation to explore ever more fearlessly the manifold mysteries of Life.THE EASTER STORY is ...
It has never ceased to surprise me that those who profit at the expense of others are so unaware of the harm suffered by those they exploit, and are so convinced that they have a right to do the exploiting and that their profit is a proper and justifiable reward ...
The government’s recent housing package may work; will it do enough?Trick Question: Does New Zealand have a capital gains tax on housing? If you ask the Prime Minister she will say not. It is true that her government is increasing the scope of the ‘bright-line test’ on non-family homes to ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Kristen Pope Trees and other plants have been critical in helping to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. But newly published scientific findings suggest the clock may be running on vegetation’s forever continuing at the same carbon sink efficiency rate currently ...
Today is the goodest of Fridays. What better way to celebrate a day off work when everything is closed to honour one of the greatest minds ever to nestle his parliamentary buttocks one of those gigantic green seats in the debating chamber. Ladies and gentlement I give you… Mr David ...
Below, for those interested, I copy my submission on the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification (Urgent Interim Classification of Publications and Prevention of Online Harm) Amendment Bill.This is the government bill aiming to create a mandatory Internet filter. The bill is largely unnecessary, but in parts not as bad as people ...
The Green Party supports the open letter released today by a cross-sector coalition calling for the Government to treat all drug use as a health issue, to repeal and replace the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. ...
Small businesses are not only the heart of our economy – they’re also the heart of our communities. They provide important goods and services, as well as great employment opportunities. They know and love their locals. And after a tough year, they need our support! ...
Green Party spokesperson for Pacific Peoples Teanau Tuiono MP, supports the demand from Pasifika communities fighting for climate action as their homelands are more at risk in the Pacific region. ...
The Green Party supports the six demands for climate action put forward by School Strike for Climate NZ, who are striking across the country today. ...
The Ministry of Justice Māori victimisation report, released today, reinforces what we already know about the impact of systemic racism in Aotearoa and that urgent action is needed. ...
Ricardo Menéndez March’s Members Bill to ensure that disabled New Zealanders do not face discrimination for having a disability assist dog was today pulled from the biscuit tin to be debated in Parliament. ...
More than one million people will be better off from today, thanks to our Government’s changes to the minimum wage, main benefits and superannuation. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to do more for New Zealanders who continue to miss out, as main benefits are set to rise by less than $8 a week tomorrow, Thursday 1 April (at the start of the financial year). ...
Sunday 28th March 70 Rongomaiwahine descendants welcomed members of the Green Party’s Māori Caucus, Te Mātāwaka, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere and Teanau Tuiono, to discuss concerns about RocketLab’s operations on the Mahia Peninsula. ...
The Government has introduced the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill, designed to boost New Zealand's ability to respond to a wider range of terrorist activities. The Bill strengthens New Zealand’s counter-terrorism legislation and ensures that the right legislative tools are available to intervene early and prevent harm. “This is the Government’s first ...
Coal boiler replacements at a further ten schools, saving an estimated 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Fossil fuel boiler replacements at Southern Institute of Technology and Taranaki DHB, saving nearly 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the next ten years Projects to achieve a total ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of Cassie Nicholson as Chief Parliamentary Counsel for a term of five years. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel is the principal advisor and Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO). She is responsible for ensuring PCO, which drafts most of New Zealand’s legislation, provides ...
Every part of Government will need to take urgent action to bring down emissions, the Minister for Climate Change, James Shaw said today in response to the recent rise in New Zealand’s greenhouse emissions. The latest annual inventory of New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions shows that both gross and net ...
Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says Aotearoa New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financial sector to disclose the impacts of climate change on their business and explain how they will manage climate-related risks and opportunities. The Financial ...
Exceptional employment practices in the primary industries have been celebrated at the Good Employer Awards, held this evening at Parliament. “Tonight’s awards provided the opportunity to celebrate and thank those employers in the food and fibres sector who have gone beyond business-as-usual in creating productive, safe, supportive, and healthy work ...
Applications are now invited from all councils for a slice of government funding aimed at improving tourism infrastructure, especially in areas under pressure given the size of their rating bases. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has already signalled that five South Island regions will be given priority to reflect that jobs ...
The Construction Skills Action Plan has delivered early on its overall target of supporting an additional 4,000 people into construction-related education and employment, says Minister for Building and Construction Poto Williams. Since the Plan was launched in 2018, more than 9,300 people have taken up education or employment opportunities in ...
An innovative new Youth Justice residence designed in partnership with Māori will provide prevention, healing, and rehabilitation services for both young people and their whānau, Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Whakatakapokai is located in South Auckland and will provide care and support for up to 15 rangatahi remanded or ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today expressed New Zealand’s sorrow at the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. “Our thoughts are with Her Majesty The Queen at this profoundly sad time. On behalf of the New Zealand people and the Government, I would like to express ...
We, the Home Affairs, Interior, Security and Immigration Ministers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (the ‘Five Countries’) met via video conference on 7/8 April 2021, just over a year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Guided by our shared ...
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni has today announced the opening of the first round of Ngā Puninga Toi ā-Ahurea me ngā Kaupapa Cultural Installations and Events. “Creating jobs and helping the arts sector rebuild and recover continues to be a key part of the Government’s COVID-19 response,” Carmel ...
Interim legislation that is already proving to keep people safer from drugs will be made permanent, Health Minister Andrew Little says. Research by Victoria University, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, shows that the Government’s decision in December to make it legal for drug-checking services to operate at festivals ...
Public consultation launched on ways to improve behaviour and reduce damage Tighter rules proposed for either camping vehicles or camping locations Increased penalties proposed, such as $1,000 fines or vehicle confiscation Rental companies may be required to collect fines from campers who hire vehicles Public feedback is sought on proposals ...
The Government is continuing to support Air New Zealand while aviation markets stabilise and the world moves towards more normal border operations. The Crown loan facility made available to Air New Zealand in March 2020 has been extended to a debt facility of up to $1.5 billion (an additional $600 ...
Christchurch’s Richmond suburb will soon have a new community hub, following the gifting of a red-zoned property by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to the Richmond Community Gardens Trust. The Minister for Land Information, Damien O’Connor said that LINZ, on behalf of the Crown, will gift a Vogel Street house ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the reopening of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ (MPP) Languages Funding in 2021 will make sure there is a future for Pacific languages. “Language is the key to the wellbeing for Pacific people. It affirms our identity as Pasifika and ...
It is a pleasure to be here tonight. Thank you Cameron for the introduction and thank you for ERANZ for also hosting this event. Last week in fact, we had one of the largest gatherings in our sector, Downstream 2021. I have heard from my officials that the discussion on ...
Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has today announced the 16 projects that will together get $3.9 million through the 2021 round of Te Pūnaha Hihiko: Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund, further strengthening the Government’s commitment to Māori knowledge in science and innovation. “We received 78 proposals - the highest ...
The Government is delivering on a key election commitment to tackle climate change, by banning new low and medium temperature coal-fired boilers and partnering with the private sector to help it transition away from fossil fuels. This is the first major announcement to follow the release of the Climate Commission’s ...
Six projects, collectively valued at over $70 million are delivering new schools, classrooms and refurbished buildings across Central Otago and are helping to ease the pressure of growing rolls in the area, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. The National Education Growth Plan is making sure that sufficient capacity in the ...
Two more schools are now complete as part of the Christchurch Schools Rebuild Programme, with work about to get under way on another, says Education Minister Chris Hipkins. Te Ara Koropiko – West Spreydon School will welcome students to their new buildings for the start of Term 2. The newly ...
The Government is acting to ensure decisions on responding to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic are informed by the best available scientific evidence and strategic public health advice. “New Zealand has worked towards an elimination strategy which has been successful in keeping our people safe and our economy ...
Six Māori scholars have been awarded Ngārimu VC and the 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial scholarships for 2021, Associate Education Minister and Ngārimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The prestigious Manakura Award was also presented for the first time since 2018. “These awards are a tribute to the heroes of the 28th ...
New Zealand’s aerospace industry is getting a boost through the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), to grow the capability of the sector and potentially lead to joint space missions, Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has announced. 12 New Zealand organisations have been chosen to work with world-leading experts at ...
The Government is backing more initiatives to boost New Zealand’s food and fibre sector workforce, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor announced today. “The Government and the food and fibres sector have been working hard to fill critical workforce needs. We've committed to getting 10,000 more Kiwis into the sector over the ...
Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni has welcomed the first reading of the Social Security (Subsequent Child Policy Removal) Amendment Bill in the House this evening. “Tonight’s first reading is another step on the way to removing excessive sanctions and obligations for people receiving a Main Benefit,” says ...
The Government has taken a significant step towards delivering on its commitment to improve the legislation around mental health as recommended by He Ara Oranga – the report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction, Health Minister Andrew Little says. The Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Amendment ...
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has welcomed the Local Government (Rating of Whenua Māori) Amendment Bill passing its third reading today. “After nearly 100 years of a system that was not fit for Māori and did not reflect the partnership we have come to expect between Māori and the Crown, ...
New Zealand’s successful management of COVID means quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed the conditions for starting to open up quarantine free travel with Australia have ...
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little welcomed ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi to Parliament today to witness the third reading of their Treaty settlement legislation, the Ngāti Hinerangi Claims Settlement Bill. “I want to acknowledge ngā uri o Ngāti Hinerangi and the Crown negotiations teams for working tirelessly ...
Minister of Police Poto Williams has announced the members of the Ministers Arms Advisory Group, established to ensure balanced advice to Government on firearms that is independent of Police. “The Ministers Arms Advisory Group is an important part of delivering on the Government’s commitment to ensure we maintain the balance ...
Kiri Allan, Minister of Conservation and Emergency Management will undertake a leave of absence while she undergoes medical treatment for cervical cancer, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “I consider Kiri not just a colleague, but a friend. This news has been devastating. But I also know that Kiri is ...
Excellent progress has been made at the new prison development at Waikeria, which will boost mental health services and improve rehabilitation opportunities for people in prison, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. Kelvin Davis was onsite at the new build to meet with staff and see the construction first-hand, following a ...
To reduce the trauma of road crashes caused by drug impaired drivers, an Independent Expert Panel on Drug Driving has proposed criminal limits and blood infringement thresholds for 25 impairing drugs, Minister of Police Poto Williams and Transport Minister Michael Wood announced today. The Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment Bill ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
Temporary COVID-19 immigration powers will be extended to May 2023, providing continued flexibility to support migrants, manage the border, and help industries facing labour shortages, Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi announced today. “Over the past year, we have had to make rapid decisions to vary visa conditions, extend expiry dates, and ...
The Government is expanding its Pregnancy and Parenting Programme so more women and whānau can access specialist support to minimise harm from alcohol and other drugs, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “We know these supports help improve wellbeing and have helped to reduce addiction, reduced risk for children, and helped ...
*** Please check against delivery *** It’s an honour to be here in Rūātoki today, a rohe with such a proud and dynamic history of resilience, excellence and mana. Tūhoe moumou kai, moumou taonga, moumou tangata ki te pō. The Ahuwhenua Trophy competition is the legacy of a seed planted ...
The economic recovery from COVID-19 continues to be reflected in the Government’s books, which are again better than expected. The Crown accounts for the eight months to the end of February 2021 showed both OBEGAL and the operating balance remain better than forecast in the Half Year Economic and Fiscal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will hold twice-weekly meetings of the national cabinet for the “foreseeable future”, as the government battles to get its slow and problem-laden vaccine rollout back on course. The Prime Minister says he has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A wronged woman with a razor-sharp mind and meticulous records is a dangerous creature. Especially when delivering a counter punch to a prime minister who’d denounced her in the bully pit of parliament when he ...
Analysis by Bryce Edwards Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. How seriously does the Māori Party take issues of corruption and the untoward influence of big money in politics? Not very, based on how it’s handling a political finance scandal in which three large donations were kept hidden from the public. ...
Government ministers are confident no taxpayer money was caught up in donations to the Māori Party that have been referred to police for not being declared in time. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Triccas, Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Sydney As AstraZeneca is no longer the preferred vaccine for Australian adults under 50, attention is turning to what other COVID-19 vaccine options are in our arsenal. The federal government has ordered 40 million ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Scully, Senior Meteorologist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Across most of Australia this week, people have woken up and thought “Goodness, it’s cold.” Summer doonas are being changed to winter doonas. Heaters are being switched on. Ugg boots are being dug out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Scully, Senior Meteorologist, Australian Bureau of Meteorology Across most of Australia this week, people have woken up and thought “Goodness, it’s cold.” Summer doonas are being changed to winter doonas. Heaters are being switched on. Ugg boots are being dug out ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Palmer, Professor, RMIT University Review: Small Business, published by M.33, Melbourne, 2021 David Wadelton understands that photography is a form of time travel. Small Business, his new book of photographs, transports us to Melbourne’s vanishing architecture of interior workplaces created by ...
The Council of Trade Unions wants the government to do more to improve working lives for New Zealanders. CTU President Richard Wagstaff will tonight address Minister of Workplace Relations Michael Wood, other Labour and Green Party Members of Parliament, ...
Comedian Janaye Henry is on a theatre tour of Aotearoa teaching teens about sex, and is writing us a non-Tourism NZ-approved diary of her travels. This week she’s in Ōtepoti Dunedin.I arrived in Ōtepoti Dunedin wide-eyed and itching to explore. My roommate was itchy too, although it wasn’t until the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University It’s tempting to think home prices are soaring because there aren’t enough homes. But that can’t explain the sudden takeoff from about the year 2000, the sudden takeoff from about ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael O’Neil, Executive Director, SA Centre for Economic Studies, University of Adelaide Wiping off Whyalla has become something of a macabre sport. All manner of things have been said to be about to destroy the steelworks town, including (briefly) the 2012-2014 carbon ...
Jonthan Cotton speaks to the people behind a programme teaching modern authentic leadership about what makes a great leader in 2021. When it comes to making change, humankind has historically looked to its most exceptional and extroverted people to lead us through its most challenging problems. Plato had a few opinions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Quigley, Associate Professor of Earthquake Science, The University of Melbourne Timor-Leste is reeling after heavy rain caused severe floods and landslides over the Easter weekend, killing at least 42 people. Rates of COVID-19 in Timor-Leste are also on the rise. Together, ...
Whoopee – another first for our nation. According to the headline on a Beehive press statement, NZ becomes first in world for climate reporting. This drew attention to the announcement that New Zealand has become the first country in the world to introduce a law that requires the financial sector ...
Everyone has their own take on the best era for culture. Some think music was better in the ’70s, or theatre was better in the ’90s – but when did gaming peak? Exactly 20 years ago, argues Sam Brooks.Gaming is bigger than it’s ever been right now. Through the device ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor’s fellow, La Trobe University When China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, summoned journalists to the Chinese embassy last week, this was not an occasion for polite exchanges on a troubled relationship between Beijing and Canberra. Cheng was intent on ...
“The Speaker’s attempt to pitch a new Parliamentary palace as a ‘ wooden office block ’ will not fly with taxpayers,” says Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke. “Fundamentally, you can’t trust politicians with property projects. ...
Does New Zealand have a contemporary foreign policy, let alone a defence policy? Some of our nearest and dearest are beginning to wonder. Ambassadors in Wellington are among the world’s most discreet but word is beginning to trickle out. What is the government up to? Why does it move at ...
Six dogs have suffered broken legs at New Zealand greyhound races in the past two weeks. On Sunday, in a video broadcast by the TAB, in Race 3 at Auckland, greyhound All Day Long suffered a harrowing fall and broken leg. On the same day, at the same ...
The latest inventory of New Zealand's climate pollution shows, yet again, that the Government must take urgent action to make farming part of the climate solution, says Greenpeace. The Ministry for the Environment today released its 2019 inventory ...
Māori activist Mike Smith’s chainsaw attack on the lone pine tree atop Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill was one of the most memorable New Zealand news stories of the 1990s. In this episode of The Single Object, he explains why he did it.Late one October night in 1994, nearby residents ...
The latest cohort of school students took to the streets last week to demand climate change action. In Wellington, several thousand strikers marched to Parliament.Izzy Cook, one of the organisers, said they had their own list of demands.“Investing in a just transition to a sustainable future, reducing agricultural ...
In the latest episode of The Spinoff’s media podcast The Fold, Duncan Greive is joined by broadcasting and media minister Kris Fa’afoi to talk about the media transition and what a ‘sexy’ new public media entity might look like. Kris Faafoi is one of those rare ministers who has actually ...
Despite Aotearoa gaining international praise for its COVID-19 response, two independent reports commissioned by Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust have found that Māori vulnerability and resilience to these large-scale crises remain largely unchanged for the past ...
The health minister’s stonewalling of any attempt to fix our woeful drug laws doesn’t only fly in the face of overseas trends, but what’s currently happening in and around our own parliament.Yesterday, more than two dozen health and social service organisations, including the NZMA, the Public Health Association and the ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily. Today’s contentMaori Party referred to Police over donations Henry Cooke (Stuff): Māori Party referred to police over ...
Covid-19 lockdowns resulted in a rise in online gambling. Kiwibank has given customers the option to block gambling transactions if they need help. A year ago, when an entire country went home and stayed home for lockdown, most of us were grappling with some kind of anxiety: about health, money, or ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage Laura IesueFrom Miami, Florida On March 29, 2020, Guatemala’s President Giammattei implemented an eight-day, country-wide curfew to stop the spread of COVID-19.[1] Ultimately, this lockdown would continue until October 1, 2020, as the virus continued to travel across communities.[2] While ...
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Yay the tourists are back.
Burn a ton of jet fuel to see the melting Tasman glaciers.
As are the happily reuniting families. Got a problem with that too?
TVNZ scoured the country to find a hard done by granny to go on TV and found one in Huntly.
But reunifying families is not primarily what this is about.
This is a return to BAU.
Imagine Incognito, if you will, that the government instead of spending tens of millions subsidising air travel, the government as major shareholder withdrew all support and shut Air NZ down, and instead had put that eye watering amount of money into setting up a high speed ferry service to compete with the air carriers.
A high speed ferry crossing of the Tasman would take roughly 24 hours, compared to the 3 hours by air. Obviously much longer, but no longer than a transcontinental flight to Europe, which Kiwis quite regularly bear. And if the ticket on the ferry was at half the price of an airfare, it could be quite attractive to many cross Tasman families tourists included. Especially as most high speed ocean crossing ferries of the size and power needed to cross the Tasman come with a roll on cargo deck for cars.
Now imagine even further, if all the laid off Air New Zealand staff and facilities were redeployed to set up and run this service.
If not done now. Eventually this measure, or something very close to it, will have to be done by a future generation. By then, it will be too little too late.
We will never Build Back Better, we will continue to miss opportunities like this to do so. The BAU imperitive is why nothing meaningful will ever be done about climate change, condemning the coming generation to a terrible future
If it is not in the media, it doesn’t exist or is only minor!? So Zen, or so ignorant.
Your comment is just one big ‘imagine this, imagine that’, full of irrelevant reckons, but you dodged the very basic question because it didn’t suit your narrative, that much is clear.
we don't need to go back to Bau – we never left it.
cue the election promise to the national voters taht the labour party was courting.
"No increase in benefits".
The Labour Party is Party of business as usual, they are not the solution they are part of the problem, specifically the current one. It is not that they are incompetent, its that they are so full of their own horsemanure they have started to believe the crap they sprout.
And everyone but them carries the risk, loses their jobs, their businesses and their homes, and they are there and will tell you over and over like a mantra, be nice, be kind, be gentle, and above all don't bother me. Waiting for Labour to do something meaningful is like waiting on National to do something meaningful.
Meanwhile Savage is spinning in his grave.
It certainly makes a mockery of the government's 'Gen Less' campaign to reduce consumption. I should walk to the supermarket apparently, so a bunch of woskers can fly into Queenstown.
Nope, you should walk to the supermarket because it is good for you and for the environment. Framing it at as a zero sum game and us vs. them is divisive and counter-productive.
It is us against them – thirty years of neoliberal failure sure as hell wasn't in my interests. We're poor because a bunch of totally fith economist wonks and their enabling politicians chose to make it so – and it's about time those worthless mofos were made to pay for it.
\shrug
That depends on the geographical features of where one lives. I bet even you would be thinking twice about walking back with a load of groceries up the hill where I live.
Clearly, it is an option for Stuart Munro otherwise he would not have suggested it, would he?
I did not suggest it – it is the recommendation of Genless – because over the course of perhaps ten years, these pedestrian journeys will add up to enough to balance out one foreign tourist flying into Queenstown.
Yippee!
But Stuart, if you are REALLY so concerned about ones impact upon climate change, maybe you should practise what you preach and refrain from internet use? As per the attached article (the science on this is very clear), take just one quote:
Hmm, the carbon footprint of Greta Thurnberg must be massive. Trouble is, this is all an inconvenient truth to those who preach how the rest of us should live!
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think#:~:text=Those%20scraps%20of%20energy%2C%20and,emissions%2C%20according%20to%20some%20estimates.
It's just a matter of consistency – an overseas flight typically represents one of the largest carbon expenditures ordinary people undertake, and tourism, unlike grocery shopping, is discretionary. 11% of annual totals was the BBC estimate.
practise what you preach and refrain from internet use
I never advocated anything of the kind – but I'm sure that if you do the quality of discourse will be measurably improved.
Stuart, apologies if it seemed like I was preaching or being a smart****.
I guess my point was that tackling climate change is a very complex thing, and at the end of the day it involves many trade offs. I just get very annoyed with the hypocrisy and populist bs on this matter (not referring to you specifically, but the name 'Greta' does loom large).
Yes, tourism is discretionary, but does it add value to the world? I would have thought international tourism has done wonders for breaking down cultural bigotry and racism for example. China is a classic. 40 years ago the Chinese were largely alien to us and us to them. Has tourism not brought the people closer and broken down many barriers? I would have thought so.
I'm sure the argument can be made – though tourism is a heading covering a lot of different activities, some of which might be better avoided.
If we are serious about climate change, longer term moves to reduce the bigger impacts, like air travel, are very desirable. One of the obvious candidates is transtasman passenger shipping. Ferries like the Busan-Shimonoseki run manage a comfortable though not palatial service that is pretty economical of both cash and carbon.
I am less sanguine about tourism as a vehicle for cultural mixing – more because some kinds of tourism don't do it very much – externally hosted coach tours for example, though lots of genuine interactions occur in more backpacker formats.
I expect the govt. is reluctant to see air travel fall off, because highend perishable exports like crayfish and tyee presently depend upon it. It's a relatively poor reason to preserve a sunset industry like mass air travel, when there are other ways to ship such products, which, properly developed, would open the incalculably large Asian markets to our mussel surplus.
Ta
Do you mean this?
https://genless.govt.nz/moving/lower-energy-transport/say-no-to-short-car-trips/
Yes.
Thanks for the tyee link Stuart. I'd missed reports about that. Very interesting.
That bit about cutting out short car trips has two sides to it. The image shows someone with a skateboard? If these people want to really be green, they could try walking. Oh but the footpaths are full of people on skateboards going faster than walkers which makes walking stressful even hazardous. The footpaths are not places that you can safely take a quiet stroll.
Males are the biggest user of footpaths on skateboards, bikes, battery powered machines of various kinds. Walking is so last century. Now there are skateboards on person power and soon there will be a condition of assymetrical leg muscles, one riding and the other pushing forward. But the smart person just stands on something and whizzes along the footpath. There are also the bikes some as fast as cars, and without registration, and few controls if any.
So to whom it may concern, stick your great ideas up both your nostrils, and don't come up with great schemes that suit the self-involved pushy males and aggressive females in what is supposed to be a society.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
Here is a nice interview with Glenn Greenwald, without doubt the most effective journalist in the world today, discussing his new book "Securing Democracy: My Fight for Press Freedom and Justice in Bolsonaro’s Brazil," and his leading role in dismantling the Bolsonaro govt and freeing the most important Left wing leader in the World Lula da Silva from prison.
His courage in doing this type of journalism just cannot be understated, he is a shining example of what can be done in journalism when it is pursued with integrity and a high social purpose as its moral guide can achieve.
He also discusses the rise of, and destructive power of the woke liberal movement in the West, which as we know has been having an extremely corrosive effect on free discourse, but is proving to be extremely effective in creating divisiveness across all political/social spectrums.
Glen Greenwald on Syria
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/glenn-greenwald-revving-us-war-machine-wont-help-syrias-suffering-civilians
Fr out this mental health hiding stats from the normal report thing is looking a bit of a joke.
Andrew Little is getting reamed on the AM show and Garner usually spends most of his interviews with this government sucking up.
I haven't seen so many bullshit excuses from a Minister in a long time.
I’m waiting for something like this for a decade now:
Wellington car-free CBD
Naturally, there will be strong opposition to the plans.
And where exactly is every on supposed to go at the end of the Motorway?
lol you're so close to understanding some of the positive flow-on effects.
But the buses spewing black soot, as the electrical buses were exchanged against diesel will be allowed.
Are we then enriching the parking company by having to pay astronomical amounts when leaving the car at the city limits or even parking on the city council lots around train stations when coming to Wellington from areas where a bike ride takes days?
The transport system is absolute terrible, it could well be that you are stuck in town when those unreliable buses and trains are something to go by. Better not to go at all.
Why not address the urgent items first. You know the ones we actually need to pass the test of being a civilization and pay rates that have increased by double digits?
I was extremely unhappy with the replacement of the trolley busses without having the next generation of electric busses in place beforehand. This hopefully gets changed within the next years (as well as the car issue, e-scooter issue…).
Didn't know parking in the CBD is free at the moment. So it will move from within the CBD to the CBD fringe. Taking into account a significant portion of cars simply drives through the CBD instead of doing business within the CBD, parking fees doesn't apply to those cars… maybe the introduction of a congestion charge for vehicles driving through the CBD could cover that?
I would also suggest a very frequent inner CBD free public transport, similar to Melbourne, so people don't require a car in the city at all. Some of the freed road space can be used for bicycle / e-scooter etc. to free up the footpaths for pedestrians, for example in Germany e-scooters are not allowed on footpaths.
As far as I can see there are significantly more bike going into the CBD now compared to 10 years ago, especially e-bikes. So many people moved beyond the "car über alles" sentiment we have here in NZ. Public transport will improve when more people are going to use it and public transport is not stuck within car traffic.
I also strongly believe that the road rules have to be properly enforced here, so pedestrians and bike riders can feel safe. And isn't it time to adjust road fines by at least inflation since they were set last time (late 1990s!)?
Coming from a city where you do not need a car at all – true! – with a population size half of NZ, I know that Wellington is so far behind the 8-ball it isn't funny anymore. But we have wasted so much money on stupid things that one could cry. Besides, who wants to live in a place where sewage can be your morning greeting at any minute and your drinking water is being sold rather then flowing through maintained pipes. I do not harbour any hope that this will see any improvement in the next 20-30 years.
I have moved out of Wellington and so glad I did. Perhaps a visit once or twice a year will do me just fine.
NZME has Soper writing about Hosk in granny.
The NZ media in a nutshell: manufacture content from within your owned media assets.
Yep just posted on it. Clearly they were after clicks.
you know they are circleing the plughole when one sad entitled git writing about another sad entitled git from the same organisation is a featured headline. the herald is jumping the shark.
Not the best way to get on side with Kiwis – a Taupo boutique lodge manager complains "sorry to say, Kiwis are tight arses, to be honest" (Stuff 8 April page 13). Perhaps Kiwis are happy spending their money at a nice motel, not a hyper expensive boutique lodges, and spending their money also on experiences etc.
it is a very rude way of saying that most Kiwis are broke as. 🙂
Agreed Sabine, made the very comment to "him indoors".
also go's on to say that aussies dont stay their much either. hmmm, great business plan ,if you need people to cross the equator, maybe time to lower your prices.it doesnt sound like a sustainable business, long term.
Grant Robertson really seems to be out of touch with reality and not taking advice from treasury etc. So if landlords raise rents, he said tenants should simply look elsewhere like this tenant.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/terminally-ill-woman-winz-families-asked-to-vacate-homes-by-hamilton-landlord-after-government-crackdown-on-property-investors.html
Best Ms Goodwin gets off the pot and gives someone more competent an opportunity to pee.
By the sounds of the article she is doing exactly that and selling all five properties. Seems a bit knee jerk to me as the interest deductibility is being phased in not next tax year will only cost a bit more.
It seems to me interest deductibility is an anomaly in the Income Tax Act, so she cannot complain about its removal. However, had depreciation not become non deductible she would probably have been OK. Depreciation is a legitimate expense and, therefor removing its deductibility was, I believe, a mistake. I suspect though that margins in property investment are so low that wiping out depreciation allowances would wipe out profits altogether.
Perhaps it is time to rationalize the situation and make rental property investment tax free, and all the related expenses non deductible.
How can depreciation be a legitimate expense in this case, when property values increase ?? There is, under housing no loss in value. There are rules that the IRD follow to determine what is valid R&M verse capital cost, and R&M is a deductible expense to reduce tax.
I thought the changes to depreciation for housing was necessary.
"Depreciation is an accounting method of allocating the cost of a tangible or physical asset over its useful life or life expectancy. Depreciation represents how much of an asset's value has been used up."
I thought the changes to depreciation for housing was necessary.
It wasn't really necessary. The book value of a property equals original cost less depreciation allowed prior to sale, though depreciation is not applicable to land, only to the house. When a property is sold one would treat any difference between the sale price and the book value of the house as capital gain. After all, what would one do if the property had been sold for less than book value. Would one continue to regard depreciation as non deductible inf that situation.
In the case quoted above depreciation, being a non cash expense, might have helped to ease Ms Goodman's flow problems until the houses were sold had depreciation been deductible – even if there had been an excess depreciation claw back rule in place.
She owns the houses. She can sell them whenever she likes and can also ask tenants to leave to help with doing that.
It’s been a while since I saw somebody wheel out the ‘pretty legal’ excuse here. Typically, by a simpleton or by a RW stirrer.
A panicking ninny,?
Or a scummy little right wing tool making shit up to try damage the government?
From what I understand plenty are getting out asap as they feel the market is at a peak.
Im no expert but I'm fairly worried that inflationary pressure is going to arrive and the real effects of what is a global slow down masked by printed money will hit hard.
Or Landlords are rushing to change things out of panic.
How long has she had the properties? She is getting a 12 month lead in and a staggered rate over four years, so her reasons for selling up seem political at this stage. The comment regarding double glazing shows there was no contingency fund.
Would selling 1 home pay the interest on the other homes?
At some point a landlord is going to cash up. Blaming the recent changes for not being a landlord is going to far in this case. Maybe just having the 1 home and paying off the interest on the loan could be to much once the tax deduction on interest is cut for some with a big mortgage on an investment property.
Were the sale price on a rental home start to drop will landlords cash up?
Your blaming Grant R for that? Most “business” owners have some compassion and in a case like this wouldn’t evict a terminally ill person. Shame on the landlord. Shame, shame on him
shame on the landlord.
and shame on Grant Robertson to sprout something so profoundly tone deaf and stupid and down right dumb as
but then Grant boy will never have to go looking elsewhere should his housing costs go up as the Tax payer is paying him such a good wage that this is not one of his concerns. Like his collegues he too is well fed, well heeled, and well housed, and that is what matters.
So yeah, shame to the greedy landlord, and shame to the Finance Minister who obviously has no idea what he is talking about. But then, its on par with what someone else said a few years ago.
They are virtually the same comments, one in blue one in red, and both just take the piss at the misery of those that finance their lives. The citizens and taxpayers of this country.
You obviously didn't watch the video. Even the tenants were not blaming the landlord. She owns five properties and rents to low income people with pets, so I would say she's actually a pretty reasonable landlord.
IS there anything this government actually likes to fund? I mean seriously, why is this not funded?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300271227/womens-health-held-together-by-fax-machine-as-ardern-govt-fails-to-fund-modern-hpv-testing
good grief. IS this a case of can't or won't?
For people like Kiri who obviously do not like anyone to poke about their business, the ability to perform a self test could have been potentially a deal breaker and rather then undergoing Stage 3 cancer treatment she would have had alternatives that would be less invasive, and lasting.
yeah, and Grant boy answered the Question, its We Won't.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/woman-battling-cancer-has-to-pay-64k-for-drug-cytoxan-theyre-making-money-out-of-me-dying/LORD6PAJSPWOZKG5RJXOZILSI4/
Yep, its not that they can't, they simply don't, won't and don't give no dime. Kinder gentler, Yeah, right Labour!
They gave an extra 800 000 000 to health.. what have the DHBs done with it? Raised
pay? Hired specialists? Being DHBs your guess is as good as mine.
Could be the little matter of the Pandemic elimination strategy?
Nope we had no pandemic in 2017 – 2018. The health sector is so underfunded that people will die. And Kiri – who has been open about not liking to go to a OBGYN or a GP for a papsmear could have done it by herself and thus prevented the thousands upon thousands it will now cost in surgery and chemo therapy etc.
And dear Grant still gives no fuck.
It sounds like the Pandemic is to Labour what Helen Clark was to John Key.
Is another Cartwright inquiry needed?
Any encouragement to get a cervical test for a cancer or a pre cancer which has a high likely hood of being detected with a do it yourself procedure or the current method used no excuse to not fully fund it.
National are pushing the panic buttons when we need to be patient until we know that vaccines are effective against variants and safe administration is keeping an eye on adverse reactions during administration of vaccines there is no need to rush vaccine roll outs or opening borders.
Especially when countries where vast numbers of people are dying who need the vaccine more urgently reflects on National's selfishness.
Bringing people from the Pacific Islands who could be trapped here vice versa travel opening travel to Pacific islands until they are vaccinated/immunised could devistate indigenous populations who are far more susceptible to c19 as well as not having health systems that barely exist now.NZ 's health system is overloaded now with out an outbreak.
Rory Mac Illroy speaks out about voter suppression in Georgia Lee Travino boycotted the Masters at the height of his career because of the racism at the Masters.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440003/hollywood-director-james-cameron-s-enviro-farm-turns-to-dairy-cow-grazing
Ah ha. Come in you rich people with great ideas that sound good to greenies, future looking, diversifying, yes you can buy our piece of land to add to your various hideouts around the world. Just get your foot in the door, and NZ will never push you out again, they aren't 'robust' enough (and always looking for a quick buck, don't be fooled by the greenwash.)
My pick is hes tired of topping up his project with his movie money and has decided to be economic he needs to go conventional.
Yes I'll bet he had that up his sleeve. Organic (enviro?) farming isn't exciting enough for a movie man.
Pop
Oh dear, here we go again. So this is what we learn from the 1pm press conference
1. the border work was not vaccinated
2. they didn’t refuse the vaccine but
3. there were “logistical” issues.
Where have we heard this before? Maybe the PPE saga, the we’re doing weekly tests / no we’re not saga, the MIQ escape saga …
MOH makes the policy,the DHB implements the policy.
Ask the DHB why not.
I think with cases currently nearing 100 it wont be long until we have to shut down everything again. Then we print some more money and add another 16 billion dollars to the debt mountain. niiice….
Paul Crutzen – one of today's great people. Now RIP though – since 28 January 2021.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-29/the-scientist-who-warned-of-ozone-hole-then-named-our-climate-age
https://www.mpg.de/16360356/obituary-paul-j-crutzen –
.
(Max Planck Institute – https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bpplan.html)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/solar-geoengineering-climate-change_n_605c765dc5b67593e055ff9d
…It is, quite literally, the stuff of science fiction. But on Thursday the United States inched closer to realizing what, depending on where you fall, could be considered a dream of environmental engineering or a dystopian nightmare: devising a plan to artificially cool the planet if humans fail to cut climate-changing emissions quickly enough.
In a 329-page report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlined its vision for a federal program to study what’s collectively known as solar geoengineering ― a handful of techniques to reflect sunlight back into space or manipulate cloud coverage to temporarily alleviate the effects of pollution-fueled heating.…
Ju-darth's days must be numbered. Dick Prebble the other day, and now National Party embedded journalist, Claire Trevett have both begun the process of leadership change.
If the choice is between Chris Lucks-in and Soimon, or both, as Trevett suggests, then the Nats have a long, long way to go.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/claire-trevett-is-a-simon-bridges-christopher-luxon-leadership-ticket-on-the-cards/DSCBWYHFH2CGYCA3ONHAFOMDHE/
They may find she's as hard to be rid of as a cockroach infestation. With no plausible leaders in the offing, and a rank and file so lacking in talent it has room for Smith & Brownlee, the National Party is waiting for Godot – boredom incarnate without the redeeming literary merit.
Ardern has just announced that there will be no entry by kiwis from India till the end of the month.
This will turn ugly
In what way do you mean 'will turn ugly'?
It will start arguments about it being against international law……yadda yadda yadda.
At leat she was at pains to highlight the “temporarily” bit, so may not be that bad.
That and they look a bit stupid given Megan Woods comments the other day when Hamish Walker moaned about Indians going into MIQ down south.
"“I think it’s disgraceful and reprehensible. It’s scaremongering and frankly it’s racist,”"
Lol
You seem to be having a great time!?
What international laws are you talking about? Sounds like you’re making it up as you go, which wouldn’t be the first time. Therefore, I add this:
[link required]
there is a right to return in NZ, but as expected this can be stopped or amended to protect the people here. From AUT here https://news.aut.ac.nz/news/the-legal-rights-of-kiwis-coming-home
What i would like to know is if the people that are currently not being allowed to board a plane in India will have some recompensation for their flights, and their booked isolation facilities. Will other people be allowed in on short notice to use the space up? And why are we freaking out because 100 people in isolation have covid. Are we not prepared for that number? Are our hospitals not capable now or are we still worried that our already collapsing health care system would collapse in sight of all and everyone, one year after the closure of the border.
Meh, I feel nothing but pity for the people that shelled out good money to get back here, who waited a month or several for a spot in isolation just to be fobbed of like that.
These are risky times. There’s a global pandemic raging. It is not BAU. Maybe this will act as a warning for wannabe travelers in the Oz-NZ bubble. I feel pity for people who have lost loved ones to Covid-19 but fortunately only 26 so far in NZ.
the questions raised still stand tho.
-are the travelers just to absorb the costs? a wet hand shake? uncertain times?
-will the freed up beds allocated to others who have been on the waiting line?
i don't care much about people coming back to the country before full vaccination but these gap stop actions are kind of rude to anyone who has put in the effort of actually getting here. Cause it ain't easy.
"-are the travelers just to absorb the costs? a wet hand shake? uncertain times?"
They could start by talking to their travel insurance company.
"-will the freed up beds allocated to others who have been on the waiting line?"
Maybe the beds stay empty and the workers can have a break.
I think it’ll depend on insurance and refund policies of airlines, et cetera.
I’d assume any freed-up empty beds will be put to good use.
The temporary measures are to protect both travellers and MIQ facilities.
Is it considered rude to protect people and others from catching Covid-19? If so, 2020 was the ‘rudest’ year on record.
Nobody has said it is easy!
As i said, i don't want anyone to come before at least we have had a chances at getting the vaccines to everyone, but i guess that is going to take a bit longer for while. And yes, 2020 was rude for most of us, it helps to keep that in mind when holding awesome powers.
Somehow, I don’t think “rude’ is the word you’re looking for.
I think that we all have a right to be safe and if it is found that 80% of travelers from a country (any country) are arriving in NZ infected, the NZ population also has the right to say no, you have to be virus free if you come to these shores. If you look at the visitor cards for immigration, any foreign material or organism is not allowed into NZ. A carrier of a virus with such known devastating effect on health, lives and economic impact qualifies. I really don't care who these people are, everybody has a right to have predictable consequences affecting lives avoided at all costs.
They gave an extra 800 000 000 to health.. what have the DHBs done with it? Raised
pay? Hired specialists? Being DHBs your guess is as good as mine.
Could be the little matter of the Pandemic elimination strategy?
I think it is to protect Border workers and quarantine from being swamped. 7×24 in a day might mean 148 in a week, or 296 in a fortnight. That is pushing the envelope. I am pleased they are alert to changes happening overseas. Most airlines are allowing rebooking. This is the new reality. Buyer beware!!
Daily new COVID-19 case numbers in India have surged in the last month (126,315 new cases on 7 April, the highest number ever reported outside the USA). In the last few days the daily new case numbers have been consistently higher than during the mid-Sept peak of India's first wave, and trending sharply upwards.
The travel ban is precautionary – wouldn’t be surprised if it is extended, and of course any disruption and grief it causes is regrettable.
Wouldn't be surprised also if some opposition National party MP pipes up soon and opines that the Government should have put this travel ban in place sooner.
"Wouldn't be surprised also if some opposition National party MP pipes up soon and opines that the Government should have put this travel ban in place sooner."
Gotta say, the opposition are fairly tragic.They make me think of one of the 5000 that were fed with five loaves and two fish that there wasn't a gluten free option.
Daily new covid cases are surging pretty much everywhere as the old variant is being replaced by the new UK variant.
And everyone who got a vaccine so far hopes and prays to any deity that wants to listen that it works.
In the meantime in NZ we still stuck at lockdown mentality cause that is all we got.
So i really hope dear leader will close the borders to Europeans, US America (75% of all cases are now the UK variant) and everywhere else where the virus is on the march again, just to fair. …..and equal, and maybe just to watch that stench of 'racism' and 'panic' of.
Again, a hundered cases in the country, non in our crumbling hospital system and they panic. How bad is our hospital system? Worse then it was before lockdown?
Please inform yourself before you comment here, thanks.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/124786540/covid19-what-the-numbers-say-about-the-india-travel-ban
Best to fact-check Chris T's fake news. The travel ban hasn't started yet, and the intention is end the ban on 28 April (although it could be extended if necessary), so initially it’s an 18-day ban, not a 22-day ban (until the end of the month.)
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440052/new-zealand-temporarily-suspending-travel-from-india-pm-jacinda-ardern
Collins can only hope.
Most NZers will see this as a strategic decision, courtesy of epidemiological analyses, to ensure that our much admired COVID-19 elimination strategy continues to work for the team of nearly five million.
Oh my god! I shorten it by 2 days to make it easier to write!
4 pm on 11 April is 3 days on my calendar. You shortened it so much it was grossly misleading but I assume that was entirely unintentional and accidental.
Chris T, imho your sole motive for commenting here is to stir ("This will turn ugly").
You can't count well enough to tell the difference between 22 days ("till the end of the month") and 18 days (11 – 28 April) – why would anyone trust your judgement?
Poor widdle Chris T, earlier in the day he’s been whinging about the PM being too scared and running from tough questions and then our brave PM fronts the country (again) with strong and brave leadership to make an announcement to protect our country. You can't catch a break eh sweetie. She also said the delay will give them time to pass the necessary laws, I assume to cover your fear mongering yadda yadda yadda, but I’m sure you’ll be back here regularly with your Faux outrage and Chicken Little conspiracies.
Where have I been outraged over it my simple minded friend?
I agree with doing it.
All your combined comments continue to highlight your outrage my very wise and thoughtful friend. You are quite right I am very simple minded, in fact generally I'm as dumb as a box of rocks, but I know right from wrong and sincere from insincere and that keeps me a very content and happy simpleton.
Just don't mention Greta.
Or the mental health report on here and expect justification for it's "tinkering"
https://www.themarysue.com/did-q-really-out-himself-we-investigate/
https://mashable.com/article/q-identity-revealed-hbo-documentary/
I deeply apologise for any offence I may have caused by saying end of month and not 2 days before the end of the month.
But if we are going to get pedantic about it, some flights from India take 24 hours, so presumably they will stop them going 24 hours before
Oh, I see now, you took 2 days off at the end, not at the beginning, or maybe you did both or would it be pedantic to assume that? Your stirring is starting to waste our time here. Are you going to apologise for that too? I think you should.
Of course.
I apologise for for not including the time at the beginning.
Now can I please get some apologies from all those that didn't ake into account some travellers from places in India can take over 24 hours and even more if they are travelling by boat, so these places will need to stop people leaving earlier.
Thanks in advance
Fact is, people traveling from India are not doing enough to protect New Zealand from Covid.
This is one of the best things JA has done all year. Sends a message.