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.
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Buzz from the BeehiveReporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
Peter Dunne writes – I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos Chris Trotter writes – TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction? Gary Judd writes – Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
Open access notablesA Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future:Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
Alwyn Poole writes – After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
Eric Crampton writes – A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Today New Zealand First will introduce a Member’s Bill that will protect women’s spaces. The ‘Fair Access to Bathrooms Bill’ will require, primarily in the interest and safety of women and girls, that all new non-domestic publicly accessible buildings provide separate, clearly demarcated, unisex and single sex bathrooms. This Bill ...
The Green Party is welcoming Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ continuation of Hon. James Shaw’s cross-party work on climate adaptation, now in the form of a Finance and Expenditure Committee Inquiry. ...
The National Government plans to cut 390 jobs at ACC, including roles in the areas of prevention of sexual violence, road safety and workplace safety. ...
The Government has been caught in opposition to evidence once again as it looks to usher in tried, tested and failed work seminar obligations for job-seeking beneficiaries. ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says. “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with your Board and team, for hosting me. I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
“Instead of following along countries that are investing in death and better ways of killing people faster, we need to invest in life and in making Aotearoa a fair, just and equitable place where everyone has what they need for a dignified life.” ...
MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI, TPM MP FOR TAI TOKERAU This Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori. CHRISTOPHER LUXON Oh well look you know I don’t think that hard-working Kiwis want to hear language like that. It’s just really unhelpful rhetoric. My Government is genuinely committed to advancing outcomes ...
The body positivity movement started with women confronting the unrealistic expectations and unrepresentative portrayals of them in media and advertising. Men weren’t part of it … their bodies hadn’t been sexualised to the same extremes and they didn’t really need it. But now that’s changed. And in a warped sort ...
A banner notification alerts me to the fact that I’ve received an Instagram message from @felicity.loves. She always comments on my posts. I shouldn’t have opened the message, but clicked on the notification before rationalising this. OMG! Are you in Wellys? X I debate not replying, but Instagram will inform ...
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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.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