The economy is only temporarily enhanced by oil extraction (ie, in terms of the length of time we'd like Homo Sapiens to be endemic to Aotearoa, the decades of benefit from oil extraction are a brief sugar rush) and "wellbeing of Kiwis" isn't enhanced by causing rapid change in the global climate, which is what burning fossil fuels does.
"It is time to reimagine how we can make a difference. It makes sense economically and strategically, and is expected by all our stakeholders. But most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do."
Velcro doesnt seem to know that Paula Bennett and Simon Bridges – as Climate change ministers went to Paris and signed NZ up to the agreements to reduce greenhouse gases below 2005 levels by 30% by 2030.
Its a financial penalty year by year, when they arent met so it costs , mostly the taxpayer, nearly $1 bill per year every year the numbers are above ,as they still are, the treaty targets.
Its in your interest velcro for OMV not to find anything
There would be something in the argument if NZ retained a substantial proportion of the value of any discovery, but sadly, under the feckless governance of the Key Kleptocracy the NZ share of any discovered petroleum fell to somewhere around 5%.
Sourcing our oil from the middle east causes us ongoing trade deficits and exposes us to price shocks arising from political instability. No meaningful steps have been taken to mitigate this – we are still substantially a full-on petroeconomy.
The Prime Minister says she would never stop people from having their say, expressing their opinions and using their voices, but then came the admonishment. Blocking people from going about their daily business "doesn't necessarily take us any closer to the climate action they're calling for".
Really- does our PM not know our history – 1981 was going beyond her limits. Remember the current govt is progressing an ambitious target of carbon neutral in 2050. Sounds like a Key comment not to hold the govt to account for being ambitions 🤮🤑
"There are 15,473 vehicles in the government fleet and only 78 are electric. When the coalition Government came into power in late 2017, the agreement between Labour and New Zealand First stipulated that the entire fleet would be emissions-free by mid-2025, "where practicable".
Although it was repeated as recently as June, that goal has been quietly revised to a commitment that, after mid-2025, all new vehicles entering the fleet will be emissions-free."
Why the surprise? Can you really picture a situation in which the head of the New Zealand government endorses disrupting the functioning of the government?
It is not as if our PM wasn’t going to be asked questions, and that all those support people could not prepare a better response.
So from inference our PM was against the land matches, bastion pt. And any others that involved say the harbour bridge or queen st being closed? Eg strike marches
P.Milt interesting that we will all claim the advancement that protest action has achieved ; civil rights, vote for woman, 1981 tour yet many including our PM condemn how this was achieved. If it all was nice lovey dovey should serious change occur ?
IMO once power has been achieved don’t rock the boat as you now reap the rewards of being institutionalised.
If the "better" response you're looking for is the head of the NZ government endorsing disruption of government functions, disappointment is guaranteed. The reason why should be obvious.
There is no climate 'crisis' – except in the minds of warmist bedwetters. The relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and atmospheric temperature is logarithmic. The more CO2 there is, the less effective it becomes as a warming agent because the ability of any one CO2 molecule to absorb IR radiation at 14.5 micron wavelength is being shielded by the increasing number of other CO2 molecules.
[I warned you the other day about not running climate denial under posts I put up. You’ve had multiple comments shifted to Open Mike with the off-topic warning, which you seem to be ignoring. You’re now in the banned list for a while until I see you have read this note and responded to it. It won’t show on the front end but I will still see it and make a decision about releasing the ban. I want to see two things. One is that you agree to not run climate denial lines under my posts or posts I put up (err on the side of caution if you can’t tell who put it up). Two, that you will stop treating the site like a spam exercise and pay attention to what happens to your comments – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Remember today is the last day to post your vote in the local government elections. So far turnout in Auckland is low. I am hoping that the one stop enrol and vote stall will help increase turnout. Campaigning in South Auckland I am very aware that high transience means many people do not feel connected to their communities. They also dont receive voting papers in the mail box. The papers in the box are those of previous residents.
I see they are pushing online voting again as we face a democratic crisis in local body elections. Online voting might make voting easier, but IMHO it won't increase voter turnout for local elections by more than a fraction and online voting is a terrible, terrible idea. People need to take their democratic duties more seriously – and be encouraged to do so. So:
Make voting day for local bodies and the general election a compulsory paid public holiday – make it a Wednesday so people can't just skive off for a long weekend – but you only get paid for the day off if you present an official chit or certificate or even an indelible ink hand stamp to your employer saying you voted. Make sure that voting stations has candidate material outlining their policies, and encourage people to study it before they vote with free tea, coffee and biscuits. So if you earn $25 an hour, you are up to lose $200 if you don't bother voting and just sit on your arse at home instead.
On election days fund communities to organise "celebrate democracy" street parties and make election coverage compulsory for free to air media outlets.
IMHO unless they put voting onto a phone with biological i.d., most people under 30 will never vote at all.
So instead of actually voting in a live election – with plenty of rankings about their views on climate change – we get people not voting and instead just sitting on the streets. The Prime Minister is right, but not helpful either.
All of those people sitting o the streets and in the banks have phones, and its the only way they organise their lives now. Not voting by phone is simple disenfranshisement.
Electronic voting is very insecure you must read about the pitfalls there. The “scouce code” is a doggy system that hides the voting electronic returns that are falsified
Electronic voting machines are a replacement for paper ballots. They have nothing whatsoever to do with online voting.
And the heritage foundation as a source on anything electoral? Do fuck off.
New York, N.Y. – The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity relies on a database produced by the Heritage Foundation to justify baseless claims — by President Trump and some of the panel’s members — of rampant voter fraud. But according to an analysis of the database by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the numbers in the database reveal exactly the opposite.
Claims that the database contains almost 1,100 proven instances of voter fraud are grossly exaggerated and devoid of context, according to Heritage Fraud Database: An Assessment. It confirms what numerous studies have consistently shown: Voter fraud is vanishingly rare, and impersonating a voter at the polls is less common a phenomenon than being struck by lightning
I don't know how it could be done satisfactorily, but there needs to be a limit on the number of candidates for each local body position. I am sure many people have been turned off by the huge number of candidates on offer this time around. All it does is add another layer of confusion to an already confusing system.
I know of people who are not going to vote for this particular reason. Keep it simple and people will respond.
It used to be the 'deposits' candidates had to lodge when nominated. You had to get a good proportion of the winning candidates votes to get your money back. Its still applies but has inflation made it meaningless
I'd say it has. I think the mayoralty race has got a big parade of eccentrics and comedians that mock the democratic process and trivialize it. Its attention seeking behaviour. Mind you with a large deposit rich clowns could still participate and poor people whether clowns or or not would be excluded. I wouldn't want the deposit raised.
Half those running for Mayor are only doing it so they get publicity to get a Council position. The real problem with voting is not knowing how to distinguish one candidate from another.
Thanks for the reminder. I admit that I feel very apathetic. However due to your post I'm going to go vote…looking for those from a particular party as I have no idea about most candidates.
If you live in Auckland A "City Vision" are generally centre-left candidates as opposed to C&R (used to be called Citizens and Ratepayers) who are the National Party in drag.
If anyone lives on the Shore please consider "Heart of the Shore" candidates for their local board.
The historical revisionism around the Cook 250th anniversary is simply outrageous. In particular, I heard on NatRad a highly coloured view of Cook's contact with Poverty Bay Maori presenterd as an unprovoked assault with locals murdered in cold blood (complete with emotional guess work about Maori tearing off their clothes in panic and leaping into the ocean in a frantic attempt to escape the white man's unprovoked and genocidal actions).
As far as I know, only one primary source exists of this encounter – that being Cook's journals. What does the primary source actually say of this encounter?
"…Monday [Tuesday] 10th PM I rowed round the head of the Bay but could find no place to land, on account of the great surf which beat every where upon the shore; seeing two boats or Canoes coming in from Sea, I rowed to one of them in order to seize upon the people, and came so near before they took notice of us that Tobiaupia called to them to come along side and we would not hurt them, but instead of doing that this they endeavoured to get away, upon which I order'd a Musket to be fired over their heads thinking this would either make them surrender or jump over board. But here I was mistaken for they immediately took to their arms and/or and whatever they had in the boat and began to attack us, this obliged us to fire upon them. and unfortunately either two or three was were kill'd, and one wounded, and three jumped over board, these last we took up and brought on board, where they were clothed and treated with all imaginable kindness and to the surprise of every body became at once as cheerful and as merry as if they had been with their own friends; they were all three young, the eldest not above 20 years of age and the youngest about 10 or 12.
I am aware that most humane men who have not experienced things of this nature will censure my conduct in firing upon the people in this boat. Nor do I myself think that the reason I had for seizing upon her will at all justify me . And had I thought that they would have made the least resistance I would not have come near them. But as they did I was not to stand still and suffer either my self or those that were with me to be knocked on the head…"
Note the journal entry I have put in italics – never mentioned by Maori radicals keen on painting Cook in the worse possible light- hardly paint Cook as a cold blooded killer. He clearly bitterly regretted killing anyone.
Cook was by the standards of his time an enlightened and civilised man. He was one of the greatest navigators and explorers who ever lived. Smearing him as part of some sort of a historical revisionist project is regrettable, to say the least.
More to the point, only one account exists. The unchallenged slant put on the account by someone who clearly had an agenda was bad reporting of bad history.
The guy should have challenged on his account. If he claimed it to be from oral tradition, then the reporter has a duty to point out this oral tradition is at significant odds with the contemporary written account of one of the participants in the encounter, and leave it to the listener to judge what weight to give either point of view.
We owe it to ourselves as a people to make sure the historical record is correct.
Reality is, Sanctuary, that any historical record in cases such as this will be unlikely to be correct or accurate. Open-ended discussions without full resolution is the best you can hope for.
Written contemporary documents – while valuable – are not infallible. The interpretation or bias of the writer can make them unreliable, or at least raise areas of contention. It is human nature to view one's actions in the best possible light, especially in an official record such as a logbook, perhaps Cook recorded his journals in such a way.
<i>" We owe it to ourselves as a people to make sure the historical record is correct. "</i>
As 'a' people?
As people, we should be able to acknowledge that there is no hard and fast full and final truth to be pinned down. Everyone who was present at historical events had their own perspective as it took place. Some did not live to pass theirs on, others did so using oral traditions, Cook wrote his down. It does not mean that the written record should take precedence in terms of accuracy. Although this seems to be the standard in history, it is not necessarily the whole truth.
As far as I know, only one primary source exists of this encounter – that being Cook's journals. What does the primary source actually say of this encounter?
At the local commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the NZ wars, we had a history walk through a couple of our local sites of interest.
An event reported as settlers being holed up in the local church, was actually not in response to local iwi hostilities but as a response to local militia grandstanding. In the end, a local battle began against military orders because imported mercenaries were looking for a fight. It was easy to find documentation of all soldiers killed at the battle, because contemporary papers listed them by name, and those records were often repeated throughout the years. The soldiers were also laid out – by the opposing Māori fighters after the battle, so that they could be retrieved and buried, while they carried their own away for burial.
Even contemporary reports did not record the number of Māori killed. A combination of not knowing, and their relevance to readers makes that understandable. The local iwi actually became no more when their land was confiscated, and members left and joined other tribes, and the hapu exists no more. This along with oral histories, and lack of familial connections which repeats oral histories, means iwi recollections are hard, and in many cases, impossible to collate.
Which makes the discussion around the lack of fixed numbers in situations such as this a purely academic exercise, but we just need to admit that the full truth may never be known.
Odds are the SDF, who actually did most of the fighting and dying in the defeat of ISIS, will be so busy fighting Erdogan's neo-ottoman armies they'll just turn loose the 10,000 or so ISIS fighters they're holding prisoner
Meanwhile, there's a few feeble mouse squeaks of minor disapproval, but no doubt a personalised tweet from Darth Hater will send them scurrying back into cowering subservience.
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that US forces were beginning to withdraw from positions in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, after Ankara announced it was planning a military offensive there.
"Despite our efforts to avoid any military escalation with Turkey, the US forces have not fulfilled their obligations and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey," the SDF said in a statement.
"Turkey is now preparing an invasion of northern and eastern Syria," the statement said.
this is so disgusting and will imo lead to massive death and pain for the Kurdish people. The scarlett scumsock with tiny baby-sized hands is a monster.
NZ continuing the direction away from supporting and giving attention to the lives of the young and helping them as they face the future. Instead, the interest is on the middle-aged and older consolidating their wealth and adding wealth creation by any means, and their increase in longevity so they have time to spend their putea on their own enjoyment and wants.
The focus is on maintaining the living standards of the comfortably-off retired, which the poorer ones also benefit from as fringe dwellers of the 'golden aged'. For the rest it's the End of the Golden Weather'.
Brian Fallow: Wealth gap widens as economic growth leaves poorest Kiwis behind [25 January, 2019]
"Many older people have relatively high wealth (often in the form of a mortgage-free home in the main) but low income."
"The survey also gives us information about the distribution of wealth among individuals as distinct from the households they live in.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it found that net worth is strongly correlated with age.
The richest age group is 65- to 74-year-olds, who also enjoyed the strongest rise in net worth: at the median up $110,000 to $416,000 over the past three years."
So according to you, all middle aged and older women are consolidating their wealth, looking for a big spend up in their golden years? Perhaps you'd like to take a poll on here about wealth, or ask around, before you peddle idiotic nonsense as fact. If you're going to throw people under the bus, at least know who it is you're sacrificing first.
It should also be noted the article you've linked to makes no mention of old being treated before the young, no treatment or queue jumping based on an age divide, instead noting multiple dhb's are under stress and only accepting urgent referrals.
Yeah, don't know how age and wealth came into that, other than the health system has been underfunded and monkeywrenched by neoliberals for 30 years. Hard even to separate out whether women are being particularly disadvantaged (although it won't be a surprise if they are). We live in an age of rationing cancer treatment and epilepsy drugs, I think the inequities are grossly across the board.
I also just read how 60% of pensioners rely week to week on their super, so not sure where the idea came from they're living it up large more than the rest of us pay cheque to pay cheque warriors.
Here's Mike Hosking… as he takes several knees to the groin from the Red Princess.
"Here is the problem for your Government image-wise in that you are pro drugs, you're loose on drugs, you're soft on drugs, you want to vote on drugs," Hosking said.
"You want to drug test at festivals and you want us to legalise cannabis."
Ardern then said, "Mike, do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?
"It's not ridiculous," Hosking replied. "It's all linked."
Prohibition has been tried in NZ all.of my life, and failed all.of my life.
Having said that, there is no question that the current crop of lab produced drugs like Sin and Meth are destroying our society and the lives of so many, both directly and indirectly.
What's the answer? Will legalising soft drugs like marijuana or relegalising party pills make a difference? Probably not, probably not make things worse either. And at least it removes the present hypocrisy.
Ardern then said, "Mike, do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?
That's like asking your cat if it knows how ridiculous it looks right now when its tongue is sticking out – the subject has to have at least some capacity for self-reflection for a question like that to have any point.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400505/fire-rages-through-100-hectares-near-lake-wanaka
This fire is not regarded as suspicious. There was another fire recently arising from a burnoff that got out of hand. The situation seems suspiciously as if it is BAU and the farmers are needing to be put under a permanent ban of burnoffs. They will then likely want to spray herbicides and that will have to be banned as well.
Perhaps aerial seeding and seed or plant balls to start off alternative growth to weeds etc. But fire is our enemy now, far more than before since colonisation when it helped to kill off the huia.
I saw that but think they will have said if it was a farmer burnoff.
When farmers do burn off, they're burning bracken to try and retain pasture. There's really no good way to keep pasture in that kind of hilly country (it's burn or spray regularly). The only sustainable way out is to work with nature and let it reforest. Seedballs would help, but nature is pretty good at restore land like that via bracken then shrubs then trees (assuming destocking and rabbit control).
Sheep farming in bracken prone areas is just badly inappropriate land use. Climate change is going to make this worse, and we need to get those areas reforesting as soon as we can to get them past the bracken, highly flammable stage. There's probably some kind of fire ecology there, but it didn't evolve in bare farmland, it should be surrounded by mature forests that act as buffers, keep things more moist, and provide seed banks.
"The Climate Change Commission will be established if and when Parliament passes the Zero Carbon Bill. The Bill sets out a desire to reduce emissions of all greenhouse gases, aside from biogenic methane, to net zero by 2050. Shaw expects the Bill to pass by Christmas and says the advice the Commission provides to government on future emissions budgets has the potential to shape and reshape industries and communities for decades to come"…….
…..Shaw says he's still considering his preferred candidates for the other six Commissioners and hopes to announce appointments to these roles in coming months."
The Government has unveiled a bumper $7.5 billion surplus and the lowest debt levels in almost a decade, the latest Crown accounts reveal.
Huh? But Simon Says that the present Government is hopeless and managing the economy. All his mates complain about it so how will the Opposition spin that headline?
nor am oI 2 @Anne, but the gNatz are doubling down aye. Pass the popcorn will ya (Love), but be quick will ya, I've got an appointment at the Caci Clinic soon, and then Jen and Burton are due for drinks
I appear to have jumped the gun OWT. It looks like it was an inside job:
Peters tweeted on Tuesday night that the leak was a "deliberate and malicious misappropriation of data by a disgruntled source."
So a disgruntled former member chooses to release personal details of individuals who have nothing to do with the spat (whatever it is) presumably as an act of revenge. Whoever it was, they can do without them.
Presumably that sauce was that frightful man that's just resigned. Just as well darling.
Tols is up from the Bay and Maggers is due in any moment from the Shore and we really really must get that horrid couple Paula and Simon through finishing school before the election and I really am trying to keep it all mum from Jen and B.
The low commentator turnout in relation to that (NZ First) privacy breach may be some indication of the lack of outrage on behalf of such funders and other supporters of the party. It did a few nice things for some people long ago, but it would be reasonable to presume that most people now see it as being close to redundant, despite the Winston Peters sole, “Kingmaker” star turn, post the 2017 election which really wasn’t considered to be a nice situation by many.
Also, if certain within NZ First had seen this breach event as likely, then so as to come out sort of smelling like pansies, they'd have sterilised or cleansed any really damaging material ahead of time, surely?
If so, and I cannot say that it is so, then there would be little doubt that both National and Labour would have also gone through their supporter database by now in order to remove anything and anyone contained on/in it which might be considered more than just a little smelly.
Yes more publicly of local elections will help boost local elections participants. I still say online voting will boost voter turnout numbers. Heaps of people have phones so long as the system is set up wisely easy to use and safely more people will vote online.
Spark getting some of the sports broadcasting rights is good I assume that they will play the matches delayed on free TV I think this will get people to learn how to use our 21 century communication device.
There you go they have to much power to manipulate the people of our country they can do things illegally they don't have to worry because its all a secret they can manipulate every person in Aotearoa.
The Austrian down hill race looks like fun I have similar experiences
I know a couple of rural areas that have had a down turn in their economy's over the last 10 years its not just the West Coast that got that going down
Those Capybara are real beautiful creatures they look like a happy heard.
Kia Ora Here it is facts wealthy big carbon companies distorting the fact on Human Caused Global Warming. They have gone to great lengths to hide their behaviour of suppressing our realities on Global Warming and the damage the Phenomenon will do to the tangata of the Papatuanuku. Hence Eco Maori is like a broke record on the subject of Global warming and our futures rights to a livable environment for all.
How vested interests tried to turn the world against climate science
For decades fossil fuel majors tried to fight the consensus – just as big tobacco once disputed that smoking kills
In 1998 a public relations consultant called Joe Walker Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association representing major fossil fuel companies, with a proposed solution to a big problem.
In December the previous year, the UN had adopted the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty that committed signatory countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert catastrophic climate breakdown.
Reducing emissions represented a direct threat to the profits of fossil fuel companies and the API was working on an industry response.
“As promised, attached is the Global Climate Science Communications Plan that we developed during our workshop last Friday,” Walker wrote. The workshop had involved senior executives from fossil fuel companies, including the oil multinationals Exxon – later part of ExxonMobil – and Chevron, and the gas and coal utility Southern Company, and a handful of rightwing thinktanks
Our Wild birds are like the canary in A mine the lack of birds in country's should be taken as a sign that the environment is in sharp decline. We must look after our Papatuanuku environment and all her wildlife. We must plant billions of trees to protect our futures environment.
Two-thirds of bird species in North America are at risk of extinction because of the climate crisis, according to a new report from researchers at the Audubon Society, a leading US conservation group.
Record numbers of Australia's wildlife species face 'imminent extinction'
The continent could lose 389 of the 604 types of birds studied. The species face threats to their habitats from rising temperatures, higher seas, heavy rains and urbanization.
Those at risk include the wood thrush, a well-known songbird, and the Baltimore oriole, the mascot of Maryland’s baseball team. The recognizable common loon could disappear, as could the vibrant mountain bluebird.
“Birds are indicators of the health of our environment, so if they disappear, we’re certainly going to see a lot of changes in the landscape,” said Brooke Bateman, the senior researcher who wrote the report. “If there are things changing with birds we have to understand that the environment is changing for us as well.”
Bateman said birds are an excellent lens for viewing environmental destruction, because they are visible and respond quickly. In the 1970s, humans realized the pesticide DDT was dangerous when birds were unable to successfully breed, she noted
Everyone was warned that pool games could be cancelled because of bad weather.
Condolences to Blairs whanau for their loss.
Did you see Tawhirimate crying rents are spiking still he is still trying to make Aotearoa a utopia for his wealth m8. But no Aotearoa has changed for the better.
Awsome that the council concent process is going to be streamline for prefabricated House as I have just said rents are still spiking in 2 years rental av will be $800.00
Every living thing needs a habitatable environment to live in full stop
That's great our government investment of $7 million more help disabled people with sports
Ka pai to Lloyd logging hard mahi is good for the health and wairua.
Kormaru sestanable Maori business is good. Yes Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture Mana is growing Papatuanuku wide.
Kia Kaha to Niue for treasureing their te reo and passing it on to their mokopuna I have seen some cultures that nearly lost their Te Reo. Thanks to our Tipuna our culture is Mana
Aotearoa has quite a few easy changes The low hangingffruit in our cities to lower our carbon footprint it looks like capping Nelson cities rubbish dump captureing the methane gas using it to generate energy will have a major influence on reducing the citys carbon footprint.
A United Nations-accredited climate specialist from Central Otago has been named as the person charged with bringing Nelson City Council up to speed on climate change.
Council spokesperson Paul Shattock said Cameron was a "UN-accredited expert inventory reviewer on greenhouse gas emissions", who was part of New Zealand's delegation to meetings of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Europe and Indonesia in 2007 and 2008.
Cameron led Wellington City Council's climate change office before undertaking a PhD in climate science four years ago.
Council undertook a baseline survey of its greenhouse gas emissions last year, and expected to release a detailed action plan for reducing them next year
Eighty per cent of its emissions were identified as coming from the York Valley landfill, which services both Nelson and Tasman
It was taking an "adaptive pathways" approach to helping communities adapt to climate change, and was due to start engaging with communities to work out which action to take when certain impacts occurred Ka kite Ano link below.
Looks like it's is best to divert organic waste from our rubbish dumps and compost it. Minimise our waste recycling everything we can. This problem is one of the biggest Elephants in the Papatuanuku that no one is really highlighting. Its one of the biggest industries greenhouse gas producers in the Papatuanuku that no one is taking about.
LANDFILLS HAVE A HUGE GREENHOUSE GAS PROBLEM. HERE’S WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
Food and yard waste make trash a prolific producer of methane — but fixes exist
October 25, 2016 — We take out our trash and feel lighter and cleaner. But at the landfill, the food and yard waste that trash contains is decomposing and releasing methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfill gas also contributes to smog, worsening health problems like asthma.
Globally, trash released nearly 800 million metric tons (882 million tons) of CO2 equivalent in 2010 — about 11 percent of all methane generated by humans. The United States had the highest total quantity of methane emissions from landfills in 2010: almost 130 million metric tons (143 million tons) of CO2 equivalent. China was a distant second, with 47 million (52 million), then Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil and India, according to the Global Methane Initiative, an international partnership of government and private groups working to reduce methane emissions.
A more direct — and likely more successful — way to reduce landfill methane would be to reduce the amount of methane-generating materials going into landfills in the first place
With some 40 percent of all food wasted in the United States, reducing food waste offers big opportunities. Last year the EPA and U.S. Department of Agriculture set a target to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030, with programs for public education and commercial policies. “Let’s feed people, not landfills,” said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in announcing the initiative. “By reducing wasted food in landfills, we cut harmful methane emissions that fuel climate change, conserve our natural resources, and protect our planet for future generations.”
After reducing food waste, the next best step is turning what remains, along with yard waste, into compost rather than sending it to landfills, says Neil Seldman, cofounder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that helps communities fight landfills and waste incinerators and institute composting, recycling and zero-waste programs.
If the ruling class oil barons had not covered up the effects of Global Warming in the 50s we could have already had a green Papatuanuku economy and slowed global warming.
I went shopping in Repco I seen some cockroches.
Aotearoa economy will be fine no matter what happens in Britain.
Abiy Ahmed congratulations on the winning of the Noble Peace Prize.
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
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For the sake of the NZ economy, hence the wellbeing of Kiwis, one can only hope OMV are successful in their drilling off the South Island
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
The economy is only temporarily enhanced by oil extraction (ie, in terms of the length of time we'd like Homo Sapiens to be endemic to Aotearoa, the decades of benefit from oil extraction are a brief sugar rush) and "wellbeing of Kiwis" isn't enhanced by causing rapid change in the global climate, which is what burning fossil fuels does.
I hope they do not find a lot of oil because if the do the Americans will want to
bring us democracy.
"It is time to reimagine how we can make a difference. It makes sense economically and strategically, and is expected by all our stakeholders. But most importantly, it is simply the right thing to do."
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/beyond-business-as-usual-addressing-the-climate-change-crisis/
Velcro doesnt seem to know that Paula Bennett and Simon Bridges – as Climate change ministers went to Paris and signed NZ up to the agreements to reduce greenhouse gases below 2005 levels by 30% by 2030.
Its a financial penalty year by year, when they arent met so it costs , mostly the taxpayer, nearly $1 bill per year every year the numbers are above ,as they still are, the treaty targets.
Its in your interest velcro for OMV not to find anything
Exactly
There would be something in the argument if NZ retained a substantial proportion of the value of any discovery, but sadly, under the feckless governance of the Key Kleptocracy the NZ share of any discovered petroleum fell to somewhere around 5%.
Sourcing our oil from the middle east causes us ongoing trade deficits and exposes us to price shocks arising from political instability. No meaningful steps have been taken to mitigate this – we are still substantially a full-on petroeconomy.
The Prime Minister says she would never stop people from having their say, expressing their opinions and using their voices, but then came the admonishment. Blocking people from going about their daily business "doesn't necessarily take us any closer to the climate action they're calling for".
Really- does our PM not know our history – 1981 was going beyond her limits. Remember the current govt is progressing an ambitious target of carbon neutral in 2050. Sounds like a Key comment not to hold the govt to account for being ambitions 🤮🤑
And…
"There are 15,473 vehicles in the government fleet and only 78 are electric. When the coalition Government came into power in late 2017, the agreement between Labour and New Zealand First stipulated that the entire fleet would be emissions-free by mid-2025, "where practicable".
Although it was repeated as recently as June, that goal has been quietly revised to a commitment that, after mid-2025, all new vehicles entering the fleet will be emissions-free."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/10/08/847665/government-quietly-abandons-electric-vehicle-target
2025 is about 6 years away Pat so a bit hard to condemn the result in 2019.
The condemnation is for the winding back (again)…and 6 years is further delay in meaningful action from a timeframe that is already non existent
What hasnt happened is a range of affordable electric vehicles to buy.
They are mostly high end vehicles
and that wasnt known in June when the policy was reaffirmed?
Why the surprise? Can you really picture a situation in which the head of the New Zealand government endorses disrupting the functioning of the government?
Then why enter into the debate then ?
It is not as if our PM wasn’t going to be asked questions, and that all those support people could not prepare a better response.
So from inference our PM was against the land matches, bastion pt. And any others that involved say the harbour bridge or queen st being closed? Eg strike marches
Herodotus,
So right you are,”’ Jacinda is looking more like a paper tiger today doesn’t she just.
A far cry from the Auckland town hall speech when she was giving her electric speech “climate change is our generations nuclear moment”
Fool me as I believed her sincerity then.
She has been hollowed out by big business now and their legions of corporate lobbyists it seems sadly.
P.Milt interesting that we will all claim the advancement that protest action has achieved ; civil rights, vote for woman, 1981 tour yet many including our PM condemn how this was achieved. If it all was nice lovey dovey should serious change occur ?
IMO once power has been achieved don’t rock the boat as you now reap the rewards of being institutionalised.
If the "better" response you're looking for is the head of the NZ government endorsing disruption of government functions, disappointment is guaranteed. The reason why should be obvious.
There is no climate 'crisis' – except in the minds of warmist bedwetters. The relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration and atmospheric temperature is logarithmic. The more CO2 there is, the less effective it becomes as a warming agent because the ability of any one CO2 molecule to absorb IR radiation at 14.5 micron wavelength is being shielded by the increasing number of other CO2 molecules.
[I warned you the other day about not running climate denial under posts I put up. You’ve had multiple comments shifted to Open Mike with the off-topic warning, which you seem to be ignoring. You’re now in the banned list for a while until I see you have read this note and responded to it. It won’t show on the front end but I will still see it and make a decision about releasing the ban. I want to see two things. One is that you agree to not run climate denial lines under my posts or posts I put up (err on the side of caution if you can’t tell who put it up). Two, that you will stop treating the site like a spam exercise and pay attention to what happens to your comments – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Wow, what amazes me is that the the UN don't employ you as there sole climate scientist.
mod note for you above.
Remember today is the last day to post your vote in the local government elections. So far turnout in Auckland is low. I am hoping that the one stop enrol and vote stall will help increase turnout. Campaigning in South Auckland I am very aware that high transience means many people do not feel connected to their communities. They also dont receive voting papers in the mail box. The papers in the box are those of previous residents.
I see they are pushing online voting again as we face a democratic crisis in local body elections. Online voting might make voting easier, but IMHO it won't increase voter turnout for local elections by more than a fraction and online voting is a terrible, terrible idea. People need to take their democratic duties more seriously – and be encouraged to do so. So:
Make voting day for local bodies and the general election a compulsory paid public holiday – make it a Wednesday so people can't just skive off for a long weekend – but you only get paid for the day off if you present an official chit or certificate or even an indelible ink hand stamp to your employer saying you voted. Make sure that voting stations has candidate material outlining their policies, and encourage people to study it before they vote with free tea, coffee and biscuits. So if you earn $25 an hour, you are up to lose $200 if you don't bother voting and just sit on your arse at home instead.
On election days fund communities to organise "celebrate democracy" street parties and make election coverage compulsory for free to air media outlets.
IMHO unless they put voting onto a phone with biological i.d., most people under 30 will never vote at all.
So instead of actually voting in a live election – with plenty of rankings about their views on climate change – we get people not voting and instead just sitting on the streets. The Prime Minister is right, but not helpful either.
All of those people sitting o the streets and in the banks have phones, and its the only way they organise their lives now. Not voting by phone is simple disenfranshisement.
+100. All excellent ideas.
Sanctuary,
Electronic voting is very insecure you must read about the pitfalls there. The “scouce code” is a doggy system that hides the voting electronic returns that are falsified
VVTIP is safe though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ad7Dqj0MTs
https://www.heritage.org/report/the-dangers-internet-voting
Electronic voting machines are a replacement for paper ballots. They have nothing whatsoever to do with online voting.
And the heritage foundation as a source on anything electoral? Do fuck off.
New York, N.Y. – The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity relies on a database produced by the Heritage Foundation to justify baseless claims — by President Trump and some of the panel’s members — of rampant voter fraud. But according to an analysis of the database by the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the numbers in the database reveal exactly the opposite.
Claims that the database contains almost 1,100 proven instances of voter fraud are grossly exaggerated and devoid of context, according to Heritage Fraud Database: An Assessment. It confirms what numerous studies have consistently shown: Voter fraud is vanishingly rare, and impersonating a voter at the polls is less common a phenomenon than being struck by lightning
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/analysis-heritage-foundations-database-undermines-claims-recent-voter
The scouce code only works in Liverpool cleenee.
And I would add one more proviso:
I don't know how it could be done satisfactorily, but there needs to be a limit on the number of candidates for each local body position. I am sure many people have been turned off by the huge number of candidates on offer this time around. All it does is add another layer of confusion to an already confusing system.
I know of people who are not going to vote for this particular reason. Keep it simple and people will respond.
It used to be the 'deposits' candidates had to lodge when nominated. You had to get a good proportion of the winning candidates votes to get your money back. Its still applies but has inflation made it meaningless
I'd say it has. I think the mayoralty race has got a big parade of eccentrics and comedians that mock the democratic process and trivialize it. Its attention seeking behaviour. Mind you with a large deposit rich clowns could still participate and poor people whether clowns or or not would be excluded. I wouldn't want the deposit raised.
Half those running for Mayor are only doing it so they get publicity to get a Council position. The real problem with voting is not knowing how to distinguish one candidate from another.
Thanks for the reminder. I admit that I feel very apathetic. However due to your post I'm going to go vote…looking for those from a particular party as I have no idea about most candidates.
If you live in Auckland A "City Vision" are generally centre-left candidates as opposed to C&R (used to be called Citizens and Ratepayers) who are the National Party in drag.
If anyone lives on the Shore please consider "Heart of the Shore" candidates for their local board.
The historical revisionism around the Cook 250th anniversary is simply outrageous. In particular, I heard on NatRad a highly coloured view of Cook's contact with Poverty Bay Maori presenterd as an unprovoked assault with locals murdered in cold blood (complete with emotional guess work about Maori tearing off their clothes in panic and leaping into the ocean in a frantic attempt to escape the white man's unprovoked and genocidal actions).
As far as I know, only one primary source exists of this encounter – that being Cook's journals. What does the primary source actually say of this encounter?
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17691010.html – I have edited the account to make it easier to read for a modern reader and correct spelling mistakes, etc.
"…Monday [Tuesday] 10th PM I rowed round the head of the Bay but could find no place to land, on account of the great surf which beat every where upon the shore; seeing two boats or Canoes coming in from Sea, I rowed to one of them in order to seize upon the people, and came so near before they took notice of us that Tobiaupia called to them to come along side and we would not hurt them, but instead of doing that this they endeavoured to get away, upon which I order'd a Musket to be fired over their heads thinking this would either make them surrender or jump over board. But here I was mistaken for they immediately took to their arms and/or and whatever they had in the boat and began to attack us, this obliged us to fire upon them. and unfortunately either two or three was were kill'd, and one wounded, and three jumped over board, these last we took up and brought on board, where they were clothed and treated with all imaginable kindness and to the surprise of every body became at once as cheerful and as merry as if they had been with their own friends; they were all three young, the eldest not above 20 years of age and the youngest about 10 or 12.
I am aware that most humane men who have not experienced things of this nature will censure my conduct in firing upon the people in this boat. Nor do I myself think that the reason I had for seizing upon her will at all justify me . And had I thought that they would have made the least resistance I would not have come near them. But as they did I was not to stand still and suffer either my self or those that were with me to be knocked on the head…"
Note the journal entry I have put in italics – never mentioned by Maori radicals keen on painting Cook in the worse possible light- hardly paint Cook as a cold blooded killer. He clearly bitterly regretted killing anyone.
Cook was by the standards of his time an enlightened and civilised man. He was one of the greatest navigators and explorers who ever lived. Smearing him as part of some sort of a historical revisionist project is regrettable, to say the least.
History is written by the victors?
More to the point, only one account exists. The unchallenged slant put on the account by someone who clearly had an agenda was bad reporting of bad history.
The guy should have challenged on his account. If he claimed it to be from oral tradition, then the reporter has a duty to point out this oral tradition is at significant odds with the contemporary written account of one of the participants in the encounter, and leave it to the listener to judge what weight to give either point of view.
We owe it to ourselves as a people to make sure the historical record is correct.
Reality is, Sanctuary, that any historical record in cases such as this will be unlikely to be correct or accurate. Open-ended discussions without full resolution is the best you can hope for.
Written contemporary documents – while valuable – are not infallible. The interpretation or bias of the writer can make them unreliable, or at least raise areas of contention. It is human nature to view one's actions in the best possible light, especially in an official record such as a logbook, perhaps Cook recorded his journals in such a way.
<i>" We owe it to ourselves as a people to make sure the historical record is correct. "</i>
As 'a' people?
As people, we should be able to acknowledge that there is no hard and fast full and final truth to be pinned down. Everyone who was present at historical events had their own perspective as it took place. Some did not live to pass theirs on, others did so using oral traditions, Cook wrote his down. It does not mean that the written record should take precedence in terms of accuracy. Although this seems to be the standard in history, it is not necessarily the whole truth.
"…. It does not mean that the written record should take precedence in terms of accuracy. Although this seems to be the standard in history…"
Pesky thing, literacy.
Sanctuary. I love reading written historical records, especially when they are written by persons unknown.
I also understand the failings of using written records – solely – as a measure of accuracy.
Do you really not see that there is a problem with keeping to this sole standard, in a vain attempt to determine accuracy?
(NB. Slick use of ellipticals in quoting me to remove context. A good example of written records removing truths – was that your intention?)
ellipticals…. ellipsis.Even the number killed varies between 3 and 9 according to who is reporting.
"…according to who is reporting…."
Are you aware of other contemporary reports?
I meant current radio comment.
I wonder if the current anti-Cook is just a strategy for gaining publicity for the cause. 250 years ago?
There were two parties to the slaughter mate – wise up thicko
While I am pleased that you've demonstrated a previously unsuspected ability to count, I don't believe I questioned the mathematics of the encounter.
no – what did you question again?
hmmm oh dear what a fail by you lol
At the local commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the NZ wars, we had a history walk through a couple of our local sites of interest.
An event reported as settlers being holed up in the local church, was actually not in response to local iwi hostilities but as a response to local militia grandstanding. In the end, a local battle began against military orders because imported mercenaries were looking for a fight. It was easy to find documentation of all soldiers killed at the battle, because contemporary papers listed them by name, and those records were often repeated throughout the years. The soldiers were also laid out – by the opposing Māori fighters after the battle, so that they could be retrieved and buried, while they carried their own away for burial.
Even contemporary reports did not record the number of Māori killed. A combination of not knowing, and their relevance to readers makes that understandable. The local iwi actually became no more when their land was confiscated, and members left and joined other tribes, and the hapu exists no more. This along with oral histories, and lack of familial connections which repeats oral histories, means iwi recollections are hard, and in many cases, impossible to collate.
Which makes the discussion around the lack of fixed numbers in situations such as this a purely academic exercise, but we just need to admit that the full truth may never be known.
An alternative view…
https://youtu.be/JmtytPiTZAo
[no climate denial under my posts – weka]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
mod note for you above.
Amazing ,simply amazing.
Wow this guy is the lowest of the low.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12167698
Odds are the SDF, who actually did most of the fighting and dying in the defeat of ISIS, will be so busy fighting Erdogan's neo-ottoman armies they'll just turn loose the 10,000 or so ISIS fighters they're holding prisoner
https://twitter.com/RichardEngel/status/1181149669017231360
https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1181178139193548800
McGurk was tRump’s envoy to the region.
https://twitter.com/brett_mcgurk/status/1181085818493927425
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1181085818493927425.html
What a surprise – guess who owns property where and (presumably) wants to keep in good with the local capo di capi?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-kurds-turkey-istanbul_n_5d9b82ffe4b03b475f9de498
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/reminder-trump-has-a-massive-conflict-of-interest-in-turkey/
Meanwhile, there's a few feeble mouse squeaks of minor disapproval, but no doubt a personalised tweet from Darth Hater will send them scurrying back into cowering subservience.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-trump-syria-turkey-kurds_n_5d9b7e38e4b0fc935edeabc2
From 2012 but yeah, feathering the family nest.
https://twitter.com/IvankaTrump/status/193337302066540545
tRump up and abandons the Kurds and the tanks roll in.
Crickets from cowards of both stripes.
https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/1181293000133087233
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said on Monday that US forces were beginning to withdraw from positions in northeastern Syria on the border with Turkey, after Ankara announced it was planning a military offensive there.
"Despite our efforts to avoid any military escalation with Turkey, the US forces have not fulfilled their obligations and withdrew their forces from the border areas with Turkey," the SDF said in a statement.
"Turkey is now preparing an invasion of northern and eastern Syria," the statement said.
https://www.dw.com/en/us-begins-troop-withdrawal-from-northeastern-syria-ahead-of-turkish-offensive/a-50719681
edit:
Of course tRump had the Kurds dismantle their own defencive positions before leaving them to the Turks.
https://twitter.com/cmoc_sdf/status/1181047175914110976
this is so disgusting and will imo lead to massive death and pain for the Kurdish people. The scarlett scumsock with tiny baby-sized hands is a monster.
I'm sure that's just a coincidence, but there seems to lots of criminals residing in tRump properties.
https://twitter.com/KlasfeldReports/status/1181252684441178112
Oh I dunno. Like attracts like. 😎
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400491/women-denied-treatment-for-gynaecological-conditions
NZ continuing the direction away from supporting and giving attention to the lives of the young and helping them as they face the future. Instead, the interest is on the middle-aged and older consolidating their wealth and adding wealth creation by any means, and their increase in longevity so they have time to spend their putea on their own enjoyment and wants.
The focus is on maintaining the living standards of the comfortably-off retired, which the poorer ones also benefit from as fringe dwellers of the 'golden aged'. For the rest it's the End of the Golden Weather'.
+100. As waters rise, the 'golden aged' (nice phrase) are buying all the best ‘boats’.
Can’t say I blame them.
So according to you, all middle aged and older women are consolidating their wealth, looking for a big spend up in their golden years? Perhaps you'd like to take a poll on here about wealth, or ask around, before you peddle idiotic nonsense as fact. If you're going to throw people under the bus, at least know who it is you're sacrificing first.
It should also be noted the article you've linked to makes no mention of old being treated before the young, no treatment or queue jumping based on an age divide, instead noting multiple dhb's are under stress and only accepting urgent referrals.
Yeah, don't know how age and wealth came into that, other than the health system has been underfunded and monkeywrenched by neoliberals for 30 years. Hard even to separate out whether women are being particularly disadvantaged (although it won't be a surprise if they are). We live in an age of rationing cancer treatment and epilepsy drugs, I think the inequities are grossly across the board.
I also just read how 60% of pensioners rely week to week on their super, so not sure where the idea came from they're living it up large more than the rest of us pay cheque to pay cheque warriors.
yep. It's a myth from the whole boomer vs millennial hate fest.
The housing crisis must be hitting pensioners with rent or mortgages hard.
Any seniors who depend on investment returns for income will be suffering with low interest rates. Of course people with mortgages love those.
Any lower income/asset seniors. The higher ones won't be suffering 😉
Here's Mike Hosking… as he takes several knees to the groin from the Red Princess.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12274484
Prohibition has been tried in NZ all.of my life, and failed all.of my life.
Having said that, there is no question that the current crop of lab produced drugs like Sin and Meth are destroying our society and the lives of so many, both directly and indirectly.
What's the answer? Will legalising soft drugs like marijuana or relegalising party pills make a difference? Probably not, probably not make things worse either. And at least it removes the present hypocrisy.
Ardern made a big mistake, she added right now
I was disappointed in Hosking. I expected him to have said somewhere in his thing with the PM this morning, "I in my great and unmatched wisdom …"
Isn't that the current signature of f'wits?
Ardern then said, "Mike, do you know how ridiculous you sound right now?
That's like asking your cat if it knows how ridiculous it looks right now when its tongue is sticking out – the subject has to have at least some capacity for self-reflection for a question like that to have any point.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/400505/fire-rages-through-100-hectares-near-lake-wanaka
This fire is not regarded as suspicious. There was another fire recently arising from a burnoff that got out of hand. The situation seems suspiciously as if it is BAU and the farmers are needing to be put under a permanent ban of burnoffs. They will then likely want to spray herbicides and that will have to be banned as well.
Perhaps aerial seeding and seed or plant balls to start off alternative growth to weeds etc. But fire is our enemy now, far more than before since colonisation when it helped to kill off the huia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_ball
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/11/drones-plant-trees-deforestation-environment/
Necessity is the mother of invention, to those who are open to practical sustainable ideas.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z28screy0Mg
Could this be good? Is anyone looking and picking up the findings?
https://projects.sare.org/sare_project/fnc13-916/
https://forestsnews.cifor.org/41242/switching-swidden-to-agroforestry-a-small-intervention-with-big-potential-in-west-java?fnl=en
Indonesia – Farming trees and crops together could be a win-win solution for rural farmers in West Java, a study has found – increasing incomes, enhancing land tenure security and reducing deforestation and forest degradation.
Subterranean clover in NZ stands dry conditions.
https://beeflambnz.com/news-views/sub-clover-valuable-tool-dryland-farm-systems
I saw that but think they will have said if it was a farmer burnoff.
When farmers do burn off, they're burning bracken to try and retain pasture. There's really no good way to keep pasture in that kind of hilly country (it's burn or spray regularly). The only sustainable way out is to work with nature and let it reforest. Seedballs would help, but nature is pretty good at restore land like that via bracken then shrubs then trees (assuming destocking and rabbit control).
Sheep farming in bracken prone areas is just badly inappropriate land use. Climate change is going to make this worse, and we need to get those areas reforesting as soon as we can to get them past the bracken, highly flammable stage. There's probably some kind of fire ecology there, but it didn't evolve in bare farmland, it should be surrounded by mature forests that act as buffers, keep things more moist, and provide seed banks.
"The Climate Change Commission will be established if and when Parliament passes the Zero Carbon Bill. The Bill sets out a desire to reduce emissions of all greenhouse gases, aside from biogenic methane, to net zero by 2050. Shaw expects the Bill to pass by Christmas and says the advice the Commission provides to government on future emissions budgets has the potential to shape and reshape industries and communities for decades to come"…….
…..Shaw says he's still considering his preferred candidates for the other six Commissioners and hopes to announce appointments to these roles in coming months."
https://www.interest.co.nz/news/102030/climate-change-minister-james-shaw-names-rod-carr-chairman-climate-change-commission
The Chairman choice shows signs of being a good one but if hes as good as his word I hope frustration isnt a condition he suffers from
Huh? But Simon Says that the present Government is hopeless and managing the economy. All his mates complain about it so how will the Opposition spin that headline?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12274510
I'm not a NZ First voter but Dirty Politic is in full force!
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116409225/major-leak-of-nz-first-membership-database-exposes-personal-details
Interesting that the only major party who doesn't get hit by these capers is National.
nor am oI 2 @Anne, but the gNatz are doubling down aye. Pass the popcorn will ya (Love), but be quick will ya, I've got an appointment at the Caci Clinic soon, and then Jen and Burton are due for drinks
I appear to have jumped the gun OWT. It looks like it was an inside job:
So a disgruntled former member chooses to release personal details of individuals who have nothing to do with the spat (whatever it is) presumably as an act of revenge. Whoever it was, they can do without them.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/116409225/major-leak-of-nz-first-membership-database-exposes-personal-details
Presumably that sauce was that frightful man that's just resigned. Just as well darling.
Tols is up from the Bay and Maggers is due in any moment from the Shore and we really really must get that horrid couple Paula and Simon through finishing school before the election and I really am trying to keep it all mum from Jen and B.
I've been all a fluster I can tell you!
The low commentator turnout in relation to that (NZ First) privacy breach may be some indication of the lack of outrage on behalf of such funders and other supporters of the party. It did a few nice things for some people long ago, but it would be reasonable to presume that most people now see it as being close to redundant, despite the Winston Peters sole, “Kingmaker” star turn, post the 2017 election which really wasn’t considered to be a nice situation by many.
Also, if certain within NZ First had seen this breach event as likely, then so as to come out sort of smelling like pansies, they'd have sterilised or cleansed any really damaging material ahead of time, surely?
If so, and I cannot say that it is so, then there would be little doubt that both National and Labour would have also gone through their supporter database by now in order to remove anything and anyone contained on/in it which might be considered more than just a little smelly.
Kia Ora Breakfast.
Yes more publicly of local elections will help boost local elections participants. I still say online voting will boost voter turnout numbers. Heaps of people have phones so long as the system is set up wisely easy to use and safely more people will vote online.
Spark getting some of the sports broadcasting rights is good I assume that they will play the matches delayed on free TV I think this will get people to learn how to use our 21 century communication device.
There you go they have to much power to manipulate the people of our country they can do things illegally they don't have to worry because its all a secret they can manipulate every person in Aotearoa.
The Austrian down hill race looks like fun I have similar experiences
I know a couple of rural areas that have had a down turn in their economy's over the last 10 years its not just the West Coast that got that going down
Those Capybara are real beautiful creatures they look like a happy heard.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Here it is facts wealthy big carbon companies distorting the fact on Human Caused Global Warming. They have gone to great lengths to hide their behaviour of suppressing our realities on Global Warming and the damage the Phenomenon will do to the tangata of the Papatuanuku. Hence Eco Maori is like a broke record on the subject of Global warming and our futures rights to a livable environment for all.
How vested interests tried to turn the world against climate science
For decades fossil fuel majors tried to fight the consensus – just as big tobacco once disputed that smoking kills
Felicity Lawrence, David Pegg and Rob Evans
In 1998 a public relations consultant called Joe Walker Petroleum Institute (API), a trade association representing major fossil fuel companies, with a proposed solution to a big problem.
In December the previous year, the UN had adopted the Kyoto protocol, an international treaty that committed signatory countries to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions in order to avert catastrophic climate breakdown.
Reducing emissions represented a direct threat to the profits of fossil fuel companies and the API was working on an industry response.
“As promised, attached is the Global Climate Science Communications Plan that we developed during our workshop last Friday,” Walker wrote. The workshop had involved senior executives from fossil fuel companies, including the oil multinationals Exxon – later part of ExxonMobil – and Chevron, and the gas and coal utility Southern Company, and a handful of rightwing thinktanks
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/vested-interests-public-against-climate-science-fossil-fuel-lobby
Our Wild birds are like the canary in A mine the lack of birds in country's should be taken as a sign that the environment is in sharp decline. We must look after our Papatuanuku environment and all her wildlife. We must plant billions of trees to protect our futures environment.
Two-thirds of bird species in North America are at risk of extinction because of the climate crisis, according to a new report from researchers at the Audubon Society, a leading US conservation group.
Record numbers of Australia's wildlife species face 'imminent extinction'
The continent could lose 389 of the 604 types of birds studied. The species face threats to their habitats from rising temperatures, higher seas, heavy rains and urbanization.
Those at risk include the wood thrush, a well-known songbird, and the Baltimore oriole, the mascot of Maryland’s baseball team. The recognizable common loon could disappear, as could the vibrant mountain bluebird.
“Birds are indicators of the health of our environment, so if they disappear, we’re certainly going to see a lot of changes in the landscape,” said Brooke Bateman, the senior researcher who wrote the report. “If there are things changing with birds we have to understand that the environment is changing for us as well.”
Bateman said birds are an excellent lens for viewing environmental destruction, because they are visible and respond quickly. In the 1970s, humans realized the pesticide DDT was dangerous when birds were unable to successfully breed, she noted
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/10/bird-species-extinction-north-america-climate-crisis
Kia Ora 1 News.
Everyone was warned that pool games could be cancelled because of bad weather.
Condolences to Blairs whanau for their loss.
Did you see Tawhirimate crying rents are spiking still he is still trying to make Aotearoa a utopia for his wealth m8. But no Aotearoa has changed for the better.
Awsome that the council concent process is going to be streamline for prefabricated House as I have just said rents are still spiking in 2 years rental av will be $800.00
Every living thing needs a habitatable environment to live in full stop
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
That's great our government investment of $7 million more help disabled people with sports
Ka pai to Lloyd logging hard mahi is good for the health and wairua.
Kormaru sestanable Maori business is good. Yes Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Culture Mana is growing Papatuanuku wide.
Kia Kaha to Niue for treasureing their te reo and passing it on to their mokopuna I have seen some cultures that nearly lost their Te Reo. Thanks to our Tipuna our culture is Mana
Ka kite Ano
Aotearoa has quite a few easy changes The low hangingffruit in our cities to lower our carbon footprint it looks like capping Nelson cities rubbish dump captureing the methane gas using it to generate energy will have a major influence on reducing the citys carbon footprint.
A United Nations-accredited climate specialist from Central Otago has been named as the person charged with bringing Nelson City Council up to speed on climate change.
Chris Cameron will take up the role of "climate change champion", a position established four months ago after the council declared a climate emergency.
Council spokesperson Paul Shattock said Cameron was a "UN-accredited expert inventory reviewer on greenhouse gas emissions", who was part of New Zealand's delegation to meetings of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) in Europe and Indonesia in 2007 and 2008.
Cameron led Wellington City Council's climate change office before undertaking a PhD in climate science four years ago.
Council undertook a baseline survey of its greenhouse gas emissions last year, and expected to release a detailed action plan for reducing them next year
Eighty per cent of its emissions were identified as coming from the York Valley landfill, which services both Nelson and Tasman
It was taking an "adaptive pathways" approach to helping communities adapt to climate change, and was due to start engaging with communities to work out which action to take when certain impacts occurred Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/116426907/nelson-names-champion-to-get-council-up-to-speed-on-climate-action
Looks like it's is best to divert organic waste from our rubbish dumps and compost it. Minimise our waste recycling everything we can. This problem is one of the biggest Elephants in the Papatuanuku that no one is really highlighting. Its one of the biggest industries greenhouse gas producers in the Papatuanuku that no one is taking about.
LANDFILLS HAVE A HUGE GREENHOUSE GAS PROBLEM. HERE’S WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT.
Food and yard waste make trash a prolific producer of methane — but fixes exist
October 25, 2016 — We take out our trash and feel lighter and cleaner. But at the landfill, the food and yard waste that trash contains is decomposing and releasing methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfill gas also contributes to smog, worsening health problems like asthma.
Globally, trash released nearly 800 million metric tons (882 million tons) of CO2 equivalent in 2010 — about 11 percent of all methane generated by humans. The United States had the highest total quantity of methane emissions from landfills in 2010: almost 130 million metric tons (143 million tons) of CO2 equivalent. China was a distant second, with 47 million (52 million), then Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil and India, according to the Global Methane Initiative, an international partnership of government and private groups working to reduce methane emissions.
A more direct — and likely more successful — way to reduce landfill methane would be to reduce the amount of methane-generating materials going into landfills in the first place
With some 40 percent of all food wasted in the United States, reducing food waste offers big opportunities. Last year the EPA and U.S. Department of Agriculture set a target to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030, with programs for public education and commercial policies. “Let’s feed people, not landfills,” said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy in announcing the initiative. “By reducing wasted food in landfills, we cut harmful methane emissions that fuel climate change, conserve our natural resources, and protect our planet for future generations.”
Composting can help reduce the landfill methane problem by keeping some organic material out of the trash. Photo © iStockphoto.com/cjp
After reducing food waste, the next best step is turning what remains, along with yard waste, into compost rather than sending it to landfills, says Neil Seldman, cofounder of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that helps communities fight landfills and waste incinerators and institute composting, recycling and zero-waste programs.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://ensia.com/features/methane-landfills/
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/hmu4wR1bTYE
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/YgFyi74DVjc
Kia Ora TV 1 News
If the ruling class oil barons had not covered up the effects of Global Warming in the 50s we could have already had a green Papatuanuku economy and slowed global warming.
I went shopping in Repco I seen some cockroches.
Aotearoa economy will be fine no matter what happens in Britain.
Abiy Ahmed congratulations on the winning of the Noble Peace Prize.
Billy is a funny bugger kia kaha.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Kia Pai to Robert Bongillies being honoured for your mahi when you were young fella your mahi made Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa famous.
That's how Te Maori of old are respectful humble and taonga Maori.
Ma Te Wa Hone Tamahiri green is the way to go.
Tennis is a great game for Maori tamariki to join one can see other minority cultures climbing up to the top rungs in that sport.
Ka kite Ano