In a major crisis defeatism is the opposite of what is needed.
It is not all moot.
We were crushing the virus under level 4.
If the virus threatens to get further out of control the only way, to prevent unnecessary suffering and deaths, is for the government to reimpose a nation wide Level 4 Lockdown to eliminate it.
Allan you HOPE they have "given up" as it suits your narrative?
Rather the Government are admitting this is extremely difficult to do as there is a group of anti vax/ or non compliant/ or travelling dealers who have sick members in their group.
Our Bill of Rights does not allow the Health Department or the Government to force medical treatment on these people, so they have used their Leaders to help… a fortnight ago.
Some are obviously still resistant or hesitant, but the proximity of the disease and its rapid spread is causing many to rethink and they are now getting their vaccinations started.
The spread is so wide they have asked us to up our personal defences by double jabs as soon as possible to assist in containing delta better. The boundaries have been enlarged to indicate areas of higher risk.
They are trialing fast testing and home quarantine to support our current efforts of developing strategies to keep the virus out of the general public. They have found a system to try to help people get home even while battling this. If journalists did more to highlight the positives that might also help confidence in the methods.
After all our deaths at 29 are too many for us, but by world stats bloody amazing.
Allan you HOPE they have "given up" as it suits your narrative?….
It is not Allan's narrative;
That the New Zealand government have given up on their Elimination strategy, is the widely accepted narrative, and general consensus. My hope is that the government can recover their nerve and return to their Elimination Strategy that has served us so well.
New Zealand gives in: How international media sees the Covid-19 strategy
….Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's announcement of a three-stage roadmap to ease level 3 restrictions in Auckland marked a move away from the elimination strategy.
So, having saved us from Covid for 18 months, our government has just surrendered to the virus, announcing a "transition plan" to loosen restrictions while Covid is still spreading in the community. This is exactly the sort of insanity which has led to outbreaks and mass death in the UK and NSW, and there's no reason to think it will end any differently here.
Moving Auckland to Alert Level 3 was not consistent with elimination. It was a gamble that risked the gains from a month at Level 4. The Government continued to speak optimistically about stamping out the virus, even as public health experts and modellers publicly demurred.
……the Government are admitting this is extremely difficult to do as there is a group of anti vax/ or non compliant/ or travelling dealers who have sick members in their group.
"There is no such thing as bad soldiers, only bad generals." Napoleon
Now I am sure, that Napoleon's army had its share of drunkards and deserters and trouble makers, and law breakers, but I never heard of Napoleon blaming those elements for his failures, or the failures of his generals.
Let's be clear this is a failure of our leaders, who gave in to the pressure to abandon their Elimination Policy.
All the blame storming and scape goating of marginal groups like gangs and rough sleepers and others at the bottom of society, is covering up government's loss of nerve.
"….there is a group of anti vax/ or non compliant/ or travelling dealers who have sick members in their group."
This probably is true. But what this narrative doesn't tell us Patricia, is why, despite the activities of these people, before it was lifted early, the Level 4 Lockdown was crushing the virus. If these people were having a big effect as you claim, then the Level 4 would also have failed as well.
They are such a tiny minority of the population their activities had little effect on the Level 4 Lockdown.
Lockdowns work like vaccination, the more people that do it, herd immunity kicks in, and protects even the few who don't.
And if you don't believe the Level 4 Lockdown was working to eliminate the virus, right up until it was abandoned, here are some quotes;
…..Modelling suggests that if New Zealand had not immediately moved into a level 4 lockdown after one case, the daily number of cases at this point would be roughly 550 people a day, Ardern said.
Covid-19 modeller Michael Plank said the large drop in cases does not necessarily mean the outbreak hit its peak on Sunday, because testing and processing slows down over the weekend.
But he said given the trends of the cases over the weekend, it was likely an indication the outbreak is plateauing and the numbers were consistent with modelling projections….
…..it’s possible we could see case numbers down to about 10 a day within the sort of latter part of September, and you know, if we can get down to that level, we’ll be in a really good position to eliminate the outbreak.”
It is quite clear that the activities of gangs and other alleged rule breakers had litte effect on the success of Level 4.
If the government had interned every single gang member and every rough sleeper and every suspected P dealer in the country, it would have had little effect on the success, or failure, of the drop to Alert Level 3. It was the lifting of the Level 4 lockdown that was the key failure.
For the same reason this tiny minority didn't affect of the effectiveness of the Level 4 lockdown, they did not materially or at least not substantially cause the failure of the Level 3 Lockdown.
The economic cost of the elimination strategy and full lockdown, was deemed too expensive to maintain any longer, and so it was lifted earlier than it should have been. (according to the modelers and medicial experts)
Wiles 'gutted' COVID restrictions being eased
Mark Quinlivan – Newshub,
An infectious diseases expert says she's "gutted" COVID-19 restrictions are going to ease, with community transmission still evident in Auckland.
…..suppress the virus rather than get to zero-COVID is disappointing.
If we want to know the cause of the failure of the Level 3 Lockdown, we need to look to the looser rules for the majority, that allowed the virus to spread more widely. And not scapegoat gangs, or other marginal groups on the bottom rungs of society, for what in essence is a failure of nerve from the leadership.
If it appeared I was scapegoating, that was not my intention though in two cases a gang person had been moving over the border and dealing, in another two hid in a car boot to try to deal in drugs. This caused cases outside Auckland. Other cases arose with essential workers crossing the border. Those who are not vaccinated could become disease vectors. Facebook has a case to answer here imo.
The Government has to choose from sometimes conflicting Health advice. I think the failure to bring in the spit test for daily checks has caused some cases, but lawless behaviour has created others. (Not just gangs) Gangs are a measure of social struggle. The government needs to do more there.
The absolute denial Hendy's models were met with, shows the pressure on the Government to lift L4. Level 3+ is still tougher than in other places. The figures tell us what was happening up to ten days earlier. My brother said in NSW they could click and collect most things all the way through.
Naploeon got it wrong in Russia, let's hope we do better, don’t think I am not concerned..I am.
The gangs are not to blame for the failure of the Lockdown.
The rough sleepers, drug users, sex workers, prisoners, the gangs, the lowest and most alienated and marginalised sections of our New Zealand society.
It was always known, (and feared), that if the virus got into these marginalised communities that the virus would spread like wildfire.
I see the infections in the gangs as a symptom of the government's failure to control the virus, not the cause of it, as some are trying to make out.
As I wrote earlier, it is notable that these groups were not singled out for blame and scapegoating, until after the drop in alert level, which just as predicted by some experts, saw infection numbers reverse their decline and start rising again.
During the level 4 lockdown, the Prime Minister and her advisors did single out one sector, as a source of corona virus spread during the Auckland lockdown. And it wasn't the gangs.
Auckland lockdown extended as New Zealand Covid cases drop to 53
This article is more than 1 month old
Experts say this week is ‘crunch’ time as country waits to see whether numbers will continue to fall
Mon 30 Aug 2021 06.00 BST
…..Epidemiologist Prof Michael Baker said he is feeling optimistic about the numbers.
“The best news is there is not an exponential increase in cases,” he said.
The biggest risk now to stamping out the virus was potential spread among workers and between people who are not engaged with the country’s pandemic response, he said.
On Sunday, the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said there had been a small number of workplaces operating under level 4 that had seen transmission within staff – four to date.
“If we need to tighten up our restrictions further we will,” Ardern said.
Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles said the worksite transmission was a worry, because despite the sites not being customer-facing, a spread of infection between staff could result in satellite outbreaks.
I personally know, through friends and extended family, of 3 medium sized workplaces and one large industry that in the first Lockdown closed down, but this time worked right through Level 4.
Unfortunately the Prime Minister didn't tighten up 'our restrictions further' on workplaces, as she said she would, on September 20, she loosened them instead.
On August 30, the Prime Minister said this: "In order for Auckland to move down a level, the country must be confident Delta is not circulating undetected in the community"
On September 20, the PM went back on this statement as well, and moved Auckland down a level despite 6 new cases being found in the community that day, 2 that could not be identified or traced, evidence that covid was circulating undetected in the community.
Sometime between these two dates the PM became convinced that Auckland's Level 4 lockdown could not be sustained any longer, even if covid was still circulating undetected in the community.
But not because of the gangs. But because of the economic cost to business.
We really need to get this straight. If we are going to abandon our elimination strategy, we need to be honest as to the reasons why. And not go searching for scapegoats.
In another time and place, not gangs and rough sleepers, but Jews and Gypsies were the lowest and most despised and feared members of society.
Not to sugar coat the gangs or make apologies for them, But what struck me most forcefully during my recent, admittedly brief, interaction with the gangs, was their poverty.
It is poverty which makes them band together and poverty which makes ilicit sources of income from drugs prostitution extortion burglary and violence part of their lifestyle.
Using the gangs as a repository for all our fears and failings is an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for our own actions.
I agree. Whether the government will do so, is unlikely.
The confusion that arises from different regional lockdowns, and varying changes to what Level restrictions are leads to greater non-compliance and apathy. That's just a human reaction to anxiety and mixed messages. (Our household operates under Level 4 restrictions for the ease of it, but this will change when the students in the household are compelled to return to their tertiary institutions.)
Given my underlying health conditions, they have a high level of anxiety about bringing the virus home despite vaccinations.
The messaging is no longer simple, and that is a problem worth acknowledging and solving.
A good high school friends working as a team psychologist for NSW health workers, said that a large percentage of the anxiety was not directly to to the virus or the restrictions but to the changing and complicated messaging from government.
After such simple messaging – community elimination – it's natural to expect anxiety.
We are both fragile now, but we are able to isolate. It is very hard when people have to come and go from the home.
I remember reading about the spanish doctor who came in the back door went to the utility room stripped off and put everything into the wash, then hopped in the shower and washed her hair, then dressed in clothing she had laid out in the morning. Every day for 6 months at that point.
We do not need that and I hope we never do. Good Health to you and yours.
My sister the CCU nurse and her bloke have bought a caravan and parked it up at home. Should the unit she works at have to treat covid patients she intends cutting herself off from her family and living in it.
"Technically, elimination is still possible. It's just whether there is the political and social will to do it."
Without releasing advice it looks as if the government simply lost their nerve. Even now the messaging is not clear
On Wednesday, Hipkins was clear that something was changing.
"As the Prime Minister said on Monday, getting back to zero cases of Covid-19 in the community is now unlikely. We need to prepare for a gradual transition to the next phase of our Covid-19 response," he said.
Just 45 minutes later, he contradicted himself, saying, "We aren’t moving away from elimination."
It's all a bit of a mess, and we still have no idea how this strategy is going to affect healthcare and the health workforce. The elimination strategy relied on public buy-in. This containment strategy does too, but it seems we don't have buy-in for that either. Without seeing the advice that led to the decision to abandon eliminations (but have they?), it feels a lot like satisfying middle-class focus groups.
New Zealanders who have successfully evaded Covid-19 so far should prepare themselves to encounter the corona virus before Christmas, warned a leading epidemiologist.
Prime Minister Jacinda Arden on Monday announced that the government was abandoning its ambitious zero-Covid strategy, even as a spike in cases was reported due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Instead, the government would focus on bolstering the vaccination process and phasing out restrictions, she said.
To achieve a covid free Christmas we need to eliminate the virus before it gets to the South Island, and before it overloads our health system. To achieve this goal will requirea a Level 4 Lockdown for the whole of the North Island for at least least 5 weeks.
To be able to do this withou ruinin small proprotors and impoverishing house holds will require a full1930s style rent and mortgage moratorium for the period of the lockdown.
A minor note but it might be easier not to mention Alisha Rahaman Sarkar so prominently. She is the journalist who wrote the story, not the expert being quoted. The expert is the familiar Dr Michael Baker of Otago. When I read your comment I was left curious about who this, to me unknown, supposed expert called Sarkar was.
……After a Covid-19 fight lasting more than 12 months, the data show the value of the elimination strategy and contradict the idea, widespread in France, that it was necessary to choose between protecting the economy and protecting public health on the grounds that these two goals were in conflict. At this stage, experience shows the elimination strategy (Zero Covid) to be more effective in both health and economic terms than the mitigation strategy applied in many countries.
For anybody who didn’t believe me when I posted yesterday that my new stream friend, Muscovy Duck (who already seems to respond to his name, “Muscovy”) wags his tail like a happy dog when he gets a bread chunk thrown down to him – this is from 8.30 am today.
You want to be careful with pūkeko around ducks. Had some in a swamp; a good half kilometer down the road from the commune I was then a part of, and they just slaughtered the ducklings in our pond when they got a chance! Also drakes in mating season really aren't the cutest.
I see nature in the raw here, Forget now. Can't ignore it or change it. The male pūkekos will kill ducklings for food. I managed to yell out & stop Bluey once from hunting a separated duckling being carried downstream in the current near him, but I didn't fool myself that he wouldn't do it again.
It also explained the odd headless ducking I'd come across down at the Eel Spot.
Unattached / unpartnered mallard drakes are rapists. Pure & simple. They routinely harass & terrify hens who aren't interested in mating with them, even those with ducklings in tow. When you see a female mallard in flight followed closely by a mallard drake, if she's quacking frantically she's desperately trying to avoid getting raped.
“Muscovy”s much too beautiful & personable for me to want to kill & eat him, alwyn.
Looks in some ways like a goose. Perhaps Muscovy Duck tastes similar to goose, but I dunno.
The males are MUCH bigger than the females – which also seem to look different to the males. The females probably taste like mallard or grey or hybrid duck, at a guess.
If you really want to know how they are to eat, you’ll need to google it.
Have used a couple, if you mow regularly at least once per week maybe every 5 days in spring they're great… if it gets a bit long and the mower has to work hard the batteries can run out of juice pretty quick so can make it a stop start affair… mowing on a sunny afternoon also makes it easier.
I have half an acre but all the time more is being planted in natives and food forest. As that establishes i mow less. I don't usually mow it all at once. The food forest area is all in red clover and i mulch mow that at the highest level maybe every four to six weeks or so in spring/autumn and less in winter/summer.
The mower has many driving speeds and if you are mowing regular you will be all good at the fastest which is a fast walking pace.
Note with this model that you need to change to a different blade to do mulch mowing as the regular blade has up pointing fingers that throw the grass into the catcher. This works better than any other mower i have used. The good news is that the catcher still works as good as most even with the mulching blade. Blades are easy to remove also as they have just one bolt with spring washer.
Got a Victa that runs two batteries and it is brilliant once you get the lawn down to required height–it is for lawn maintenance not scrub cutting. Not so good on wet grass, sharpen or replace blade annually.
Would suggest a mid range model, the higher end ones don’t seem to offer much more apart from branding. It is liberating not to use and mix fuel, and a quieter fume free task.
You might also want to consider what other garden tools you might buy in the future so that the batteries are interchangeable. The Husqvarna runs two batteries rather than one big one so that the same batteries can be used with their whole range of electric tools – chain saw, pole pruner, blower, line trimmer etc. I'm hanging out to get the chainsaw but have lots of life still in my petrol Husqvarna.
I have a Husqvarna battery mower and weed- eater. They use the same battery. With two batteries I can trim and mow 1450 sq m lawns.
The beauty is three fold- far less noise, fumes and fossil fuel use since they charge off my solar panels, the motor stops running when I stop to empty the catcher or whatever reason, and it's lighter. I have a stopbank slope to mow and weight is not an issue with the electric. It's able to boost its revs to deal with heavier grass and the pre-run with the trimmer on all the edges and under fences is easy as it, too is light enough to not even need a carry strap.
Lose the lawn. Rewild. Replant with 3-dimensional plants that flower, have edible leaves or fruit. We have no snakes in New Zealand, so there's no good justification for having clipped lawns. We have though, the second most vile creature; the motor mower; they're kept at bay by removing their natural habitat 🙂
I like to have a mown area for playing with the dog and so my daughter can do gymnastics etc. Is liking something not a justification? Also, i wouldn't be able to get my car down my long drive if planted as you suggest. Should i concrete the middle bit and sides?
I would actually love to convert my lawn in natives, I live in South Dunedin, ex wetlands, any advice on what to plant, or web pages or anything, I've been thinking about doing it for years but can't figure out how to even start.
I like red tussock myself; it's a bit taller and clumpier than a lawn, but once it's established is pretty hardy and low maintenance. Though I am up in the hills, rather than down near sea-level. Also, if you want to go super hands-off; just dig over patch of lawn and see what self-seeds – whatever survives is likely to be pretty well adapted for that niche. Just keep an eye out for noxious weeds like dock and thistles and ragwort etc.
But vegetable/ herb gardens for spring onions and other fresh greens can't be beat! Though they're more effort and maintenance if just you want passive ground cover.
Dock is my no3 friendly. Excellent for weed control and puts down a deep tap root. Easy to kill too when you no longer want it by cutting a couple of centimetres below ground level with suitable grubber. The seed stalks can be cut before the seed is wind swept and thrown where you want more.
I let these come up through the red clover and throw the seed stalks around trees etc to save hand weeding. Works particularly well as weed control around miniature flax. Just rip and drop the leaves and then they do weed control at ground level until new leaves grow. The flax is good at growing up through the dock.
There is a book called "The Native Garden: design themes from wild New Zealand" by Isobel Gabites and Rob Lucas that has good suggestions as a starting point. Your local library should have it.
For websites try looking through your local regional council, DOC office or Forest and Bird.
Another option is to make contact with a local community restoration group.
Fire risk is a very good reason to keep the grass mown (and also as a pleasant area for people and animals to use) but I agree that lawns are pretty rubbish for ecological and environmental reasons. I am trialling using a push mower which is indeed a trial if you let the grass get away on you but is ok if you do a bit each day (And good exercise). I use a grass knife at the edges and snip away at the kikuyu just to remind it of it's manners.
I like having a bit of lawn, Robert. My lawns are comparatively small. I've got a lemon tree & a camellia in the back lawn.
I don't lack for natural habitat tho.
Just over the fence & thru my back gate I've got an entire streambank in its natural state, with pittos & various other trees & shrubs, including a few stands of summer lilac that are pretty & bring tons of monarch butterflies when they bloom.
At the moment my very large pittosporum tenuifolium (that needs pruning back) is positively bursting with little dark purply-black flowers that put out a very strong perfume reminiscent of joss sticks. It's full of honeybees, & occasionally bumblebees, busily working the flowers.
And the tuis love the flowers for their nectar. They get into all sorts of contortions, including hanging upside down to get at the nectar. To my great amusement.
Robert. I'm considering planting the 40 metre stopbank to avoid the mowing necessity. At the moment it has a totara, a kowhai, a lancewood, a kauri and a kahikatea growing there along with flaxes, tussocks and irises. These plants are all inundated yearly, as the water level can rise two metres, and then endure a hot dry summer. Any suggestions for riparian planting that stay low?
Low growers such as the "wiry" coprosmas, propinqua etc. would do the trick: they are tough enough to withstand floods and don't mind getting inundated. Any native shrub of that sort would be suitable; perhaps various hebe and korokia as well, would fit in nicely. Sometimes, when flax gets very big, floods tear them out and take a lot of earth with them, creating unstable stop banks.
“So the centre of the garden, which is a circular garden, has what I call a Maramataka compass. It has the 30 lunar houses on the outside, and on the inside it is a typical gregorian calendar one to 31 which you can just turn to whatever phase the moon is in. That will tell you in very very broad terms ‘yes this is a good time to be planting, or this is a good time to harvest or we shouldn't be doing too much in the way of sowing or complex work at this time.’”
The second guiding principle is that Māori believe everything has a spirit – the soil, organisms, the plants. And everything has a family tree or whakapapa. So to honour Papatūānuku (mother earth) and Rongomātāne (deity of agriculture) it’s important to farm organically.
The vegetable garden is now producing over 100 kg of green produce a week. That’s given to the older people of the hapu, and families connected to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. “The kaupapa is to get people eating better and to understand how to be more sustainable in the way they operate.”"
This is an interesting article about an approach to gardens specific to our country :
Yes Frank as someone here said, "if that happens the business and journalists who wanted to open up will not take any responsibility," " human nature you know!!' #@!!!
“Tourism was NZ's biggest foreign exchanger earner before the pandemic”
Tourism is not NZ,s biggest foreign exchange earner – farming is and always has been .
Tourism is a fickle business, always has been, always will be. Those working in tourism will always find jobs on the land ….if they wished. It is ludicrous to be bring in labour from the islands when we have this situation although I understand they are work ready in all ways !
janet, farming only contributes 5% of NZ's GDP. It isn't the behemoth everybody thinks it is.
And we don't actually need foreign exchange to have an economy. Exporting to survive is a myth…
Have think about what would happen if 90% of our farming (the exported component) was stopped… think of all of that hard-working kiwi sweat and effort being pushed into our local economy rather than shipped off overseas where it is of such little use to us…
I know this runs contrary to the capitalist strain of thinking, but you need to keep in mind the sole intent of capitalist thinking…
When your "rick pricks" can no longer have access to the high quality food our farmers provide they will simply buy other food out of the mouths of their "poor pricks" … more than likely starving 100 million of those poor pricks.
It is ALWAYS we poor pricks who suffer any cut back in food supplies.
The other side of 3 Waters – communities either unwilling or unable to afford to replace or upgrade current water systems. There are 7 mayors in that article ("Paula Southgate from Hamilton, Max Baxter from Ōtōrohanga, Don Campbell from Ruapehu, Anita Baker from Porirua, Campbell Barry from Hutt City, Rachel Reese from Nelson, and Jamie Cleine from Buller") who want it to go ahead and be mandated if necessary.
The thing it, this report is nothing new. Everybody has agreed for the past 12 years that Waimangaroa needs a new water supply, but the council and community have spend all that time debating how to pay for the new supply.
"If you've only got 140 connections to a water supply that costs $120,000 a year just to run, in terms of chlorination and power and monitoring and all the rest, the numbers are pretty simple in terms of what it's going to cost those people for compliant water," said Cleine. "And that's just their drinking water.
Yes you do have a point there. You just don't know what you are getting under MMP. I can't even name any Act MP's other than Seymour and Brooke Van ??? Well there you go……one and a half!
The only upside of Covid is that it has finally exposed the huge lie that tourism is so important to the country. The billions of spruiked advantages were merely a chimera.
40 billion dollars a year has been found to be the complete unadulterated bullshit some of us knew it to be.
So now the hired liars have moved into the knee jerk media. A pox on all their houses.
In Key's early reign, 2 university students came round surveying our attitudes to tourism.
They were shocked when I said NO to the many loaded questions.
I was asked to explain. I said "A few will get rich, but 99.9% will work long hours for a pittance now the contracts act is in place."
I was told others were enthusiastic. I asked "Who will pay for the necessary infrastructure?" A startled look was the students reply.
The councils that's who.. through ratepayers, and you should have that question about infrastructure in your survey. Always look at the costs as well as the supposed gains otherwise your conclusions may be flawed."
They thanked me but I think they thought I was a grump.
Good lord! Former transport minister and green transport rep Julie Ann Genter who introduced the drug testing bill storms off and has a meltdown after being asked one question and an easy question about GPs saying it's not a good bill because it'll produce false positives and she just says "I can't do this" it's a bill she introduced…. Good lord… And people actually considered her Green party leadership material. If this was a former minister member of labour or national they'd be getting ripped out to hell but minor party mps seem to get away with flakey behavior , just look at the free pass all act mps get at the moment.
No I wasn't implying any such thing, though it did cross my mind that someone might pipe up along these lines…
Good on her I say… but can be difficult to ignore physiological realities which impact all humans from time to time… that's all…
Do you think this could be the reason she looked a bit flummoxed? There is absolutely nothing wrong with this if so, nothing at all, and in fact it shoudl be celebrated, not used against her..
Looked to me like they jumped out on her while she was transiting through a corridor. She looked like she is close to giving birth and was feeling hot and uncomfortable.
Typical of nasty, entitled journos to do something like that to a heavily pregnant woman.
Have you any proof that JAG was hijacked ? If those here take time and WATCH the full interview then you will see that it was organised. Starts with OK cool we will get going.
That's your interpretation, She was "hijacked". Overly dramatic but we all know Hero-dotus is always right. 🙄
Since they lie in wait for unsuspecting pollies every day of the working week it isn't too hard to assume they did it to JAG. Once she realised what they were up to she walked away and I don't blame her.
Anne, I gather from your response that you did open my link. Can I please implore you to at least review my link to the interview. It should allow you some knowledge to allow you to reconsider your approach 😱
I saw the item both on TV and online last evening. My initial reaction was the same as yours and others. Then I reflected on the fact she was heavily pregnant, and that she had been lured into taking the interview under a false pretense.
It doesn't matter a damn if it was opportunistic or arranged slightly in advance. She was set up. That was obvious.
I'm sick and tired of this puerile form of gotcha politics no matter who commits them. There must be journos from the past who are spinning in their graves over what has happened to their once excellent profession.
I am still unsure have you watched the full 10 minute interview, I would recommend any who want to pass comment on view ? As that gives greater context than the 30 seconds that was dedicated on TV and that most have viewed, and from my reading many are basing their impressions on this abbreviated (Directors cut).
oh come on. JAG said, "I didn't do this interview expecting to be grilled"
She is heavily pregnant and allowed off days, but not knowing why the Royal College of Physicians thought the billed was ill though through and rushed or even that they had said that is inexcusable.
It's JAG's bill, and Maiki Sherman is not a confrontational journalist.
Of course it is. If as you say "all her energy is being pushed into growing her baby, leaving little for dealing with other matters? … baby first…" are you not saying she may not have enough left to do her job?
Normally would take maternity leave when the baby and the job becomes too much.
better question would be why hasn't parliament adjusted how it operates in order to make it possible for pregnant women to do their jobs? Do we really want parliament to be operating at the level of men?
So women who can't work like men* shouldn't have proper jobs?
At what point should Genter resign as an MP?
*this is the standard you are arguing for. I would say it's actually white, middle class men, because that's who designed most of our institutions. Women work differently. So do other ethnicities. Lots to be gained by having a pluralistic approach rather than a reductionistic one.
If you get an unexpected positive, are you going to have the confidence to then request a blood test and possibly get a criminal conviction? No. You will probably pay the fine.
My partner works in a heavy machinery industry. They have random drug tests (management included) and immediate drug tests when a health and safety incident occurs.
The issue with drug positives (as opposed to alcohol) has always been that the test comes back positive for the presence of drugs, not the level of impairment. Positives can result from a joint taken almost two months ago, but P can be undetectable after two days. Although, P users may be more erractic and dangerous at work as a whole.
Positive saliva tests will result in a fine (similar to speed infringement notices. An instant fine, which is not a criminal conviction).
If you have two positive saliva tests, you can request a blood test. If that test is also positive, then you will get a criminal conviction.
The issue is dangerous driving due to drug impairment.
The only method we have available for drug testing is for drug traces NOT impairment. Some drugs stay in the body for several weeks, others a couple of days. But they don't measure impairment. It is a very difficult problem to solve equitably, and has been an issue for many employers for years.
The presence of drugs in the saliva test will result in an instant fine for Drug-impaired Driving, even if there is no impairment.
The assumption that police bias harm is limited to criminal convictions, and not necessarily the distress of getting a positive result and fined when you are not impaired, – or possibly have no knowledge of the reason for your positive test – is not addressed.
Company policies are different for drug testing. Some will have an immediate dismissal, others will request a blood test. But the issue regarding presence of drugs and the level of impairment, if there is any at all remains.
She did not want to discuss that aspect as.. It was out of left field, she was not prepared she was honest .. It was a closed binary question.. What a shock. She did not waffle lol. She walked away from a journalist…. are they God or something?
It was a poor response from an MP who should have the information to hand..
We don't have to cheerlead this government all the time. If a National or Act MP had done the same they would be criticised, and rightly so. Genter deserves the same censure.
It was a legitimate question, that should have had a prepared answer.
I remain unconvinced. The interview was cut as Gentre was still speaking (umm..) so we don't know if she went on to clarify. Those above swinging-in with their negative criticisms have misread the situation, in my opinion.
Yes I noticed that Robert. First of all they asked her questions on a matter she had not agreed to talk about then they chopped her off as she was about to explain.
Molly, they are people not bloody robots. Were you always perfect at work..? I know i was not I was human and stumbled made mistakes and had doubts.
If I come across as a cheer leader lol perhaps it is to counter some quite partisan stuff here at times. I do not believe Politicians are accountable to the roving reporter lot, and I do not believe one shower makes a storm, except in someone's teacup.
If I recall "you don't have to cheerleader this government" I reacted to that quite within my rights I would think. We all critique each other's take on things. Weka pointed out something I accepted readily.
Further, in her replies Genter says " we have introduced an amendment to the bill" until that goes through…
Medical Council of Physcians are able to make submissions as well. She was asked to talk to their position. Perhaps she should have said "You should ask them" She did return, but I could not find what she said. Just a report of it. I thought it was edited poorly and left questions.
Further, in her replies Genter says " we have introduced an amendment to the bill" until that goes through…
And the amendments are reviews after several years and a sunset clause. Notably used by Bush when excusing the Patriot Act.
I understand that drug-impairment when driving is an issue. I think the problem is a very difficult one to solve. I also think, this solution is a poorly thought out one that will both cause harm in terms of police bias and false positives, and sideline the thorny problem of getting a better solution because it has already been dealt with.
It's terrible when ministers don't have prepared answers in their pockets for any question any reporter might ask at any time.
Then again no doubt some giving Genter a hard time praised the media savvy and forthrightness of one prominent politician who they lauded for 'breaking the mould.' They saw it as taking no crap, calling the shots, the sign of strength. Mind you if a woman had copied Donald Trump …
I believe that Genter should have an answer for this because it is an issue with many company drug testing regimes, so it’s not an unusual or unanticipated question.
You might not have considered it before, but many companies have grappled with this self same issue for years. The question is not new.
It was a poor response from an MP who should have the information to hand..
We don't have to cheerlead this government all the time. If a National or Act MP had done the same they would be criticised, and rightly so. Genter deserves the same censure.
It was a legitimate question, that should have had a prepared answer.
As to why she struggled at that particular point and then walked away for a moment, here's the transcript of what was said in the first video,
TVNZ: The Royal College of GPs today said the bill should be put on hold. Do you you agree with them?
Julie Ann Genter: Um… pause… I think that, um… you know, I actually can’t do this [walks away]… sorry.
TVNZ: Why?
JAG: Um, I wasn’t expecting to be grilled for something the government is doing and that we’ve consistently taken a critical approach.
TVNZ: You helped usher in this Bill, you and Stuart Nash launched it.
JAG: Um.. [gets cut off]
Looks to me like there is a tension between what the Greens wanted and what Labour are doing?
In the full video she goes on to respond. Some bullshit editing there by TVNZ in the shorter video.
I'm curious why she was being interviewed, what role was she there in? Former Associate Transport Minister? Deputy Chair on the Transport and Infrastructure committee looking at the Bill? Green Party spokesperson on Transport?
I'll also note that Genter isn't part of the government. The Greens sit outside of cabinet.
I'll also say that Genter isn't coming across as smooth as one would expect from an MP (and further to my comment elsewhere about parliament and pregnancy why is she having to stand up?), but otoh, she's being transparent. At the end of the ten minute video she says clearly that the GP are critical of the Bill but they also believe that it should go ahead with their amendments because it can then be improved once new evidence is gathered. There's a typical GP nuance there, a both/and approach. The interviewer spent the whole time trying to box JAG into an either/or position. I can understand why Genter would be frustrated by that.
I haven't been following the Bill, there may be other politics going on I am unaware of. I am curious now.
I thought Genter came across very well in the full interview. The Greens are really trying to make this legislation fair and workable, with a sunset clause in 5 years if it doesn't work, and they will not support the bill if their amendments are not included. She was generous with her time-the minor loss of composure should have been taken out.
TVNZ should hang its head in shame in the way it edited the very very very short interview.
Yes, I understand. I found the longer interview interesting because she explained the GP rationale for still supporting the Bill despite that (assuming the amendments go through).
The Bill was introduced before the last election, when she was Associate Transport Minister and more part of the government. Tricky position to be in now.
She totally refused to acknowledge the issue, which is that a positive test gives no indication of impairment.
I didn't see any nuance expressed by her at all. The issue was put to her very directly and repeatedly and she spent the whole interview weaseling about having to have two positive test results instead of one, which is just ignoring the problem twice instead of once.
Very disappointing. Green MPs used to be better than this.
That is correct, weka and not difficult to read, even without the detail, given Genter's past management of issues and her integrity. My frustration was not with her, but with those who leapt in to demean her; primed, they were to take her down.
I saw it that way also, Patricia. My take was the issue was one that has no simple "sound-byte" answer and that the explanation would take a great deal of "back-story" something she wasn't prepared to deliver. I'm interested though, in the keenness of commenters here to attack Julie Ann Genter on this issue, given her intelligent and adroit handling of so many transport issues, over a long period of time, in the face of very hostile politicians: Gerry Brownlee et al.
Watched the whole interview. Reinforced my initial view, thought the reporter was both professional and prepared.
Two issues only touched on.
1. The evidence regarding impairment in the saliva tests is non-conclusive. The focus on criminal conviction not being possible without a blood test, discounts any trepidation or fear people may have when getting a positive saliva test without knowing why – as mentioned marijuana can stay in the blood for up to seven weeks, consumption of poppy seed crackers gives a positive test for the drug testing my partner's company uses, some medications etc. Positive tests here still don't prove impairment,
2. The arrogant reiteration that the bill was evidenced based, but the evidence that it is based on is going to be the data collected from fines, convictions reductions in impairment accidents AFTER the bill is passed. As the journalist pointed out this is a trial-run.
It seems that the bill was introduced because "something had to be done".
So, here is something.
It might not be evidence based (but just you wait), and it might impact more on more on members of the public already dealing with bias from the police, but those will be just fines, only criminal convictions based on blood tests, and even those blood tests won't necessarily determine impairment, but you should have seen what National or the Police Association would have done.
Why aren't you thankful? Didn't you know something had to be done?
It seemed to me that Genter was trying to screw the discussion from whether there was evidence that the tests would be proof of impairment, which the medical science seems to be saying they would not, to whether there is evidence that the legislation would reduce drug impaired driving. It looked dishonest to me.
It has two paragraphs that don't make sense grammatically as they are both lacking main clauses. The meaning is therefore unclear. These two paragraphs relate to reaction from medical authorities.
"What’s more, the criticism by health professionals declaring the testing framework for oral fluid and blood tests is “not supported by reliable scientific evidence”, according to the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists adding “the presence of drugs…does not directly relate to impairment”. It says further research is needed. "
Is the criticism by health professionals not supported by reliable scientific evidence or is it the testing frame work not supported?
How reliable is poorly edited and unclear reporting?
She's normally pretty good at answering questions, but appeared to lose it briefly. But I don't really care for two reasons:
it's a brutal job and I'm surprised it doesn't happen a lot more
I'm satisfied that her intentions are generally good and motivated by a healthy underlying ideology. Therefore 'competence' arguments don't carry much weight unless there's a systematic and repeated pattern of not doing a good job of something. Intentions and values are what matter most – you need a layer of competence on top, but while it's necessary it's not sufficient on its own
As Minister she was proposing a law that would enforce behaviour on footpaths between skateboarders, people, bikes, scooters, and other modes. Unenforceable garbage, quickly shelved.
We could all do with $165k worth of backbencher kindness for being neither in government nor in opposition, but hey unicorn rainbows.
FWIW the legislative effort against drugged driving is totally necessary and I hope the bill makes it into law, in some form. Otherwise employers and insurers will just enforce it by stealth.
I know, right? There's a real community support network among the modern KKK, then there's the services to Broolkyn's Mink population by the Genovese's, the liberation of female sexuality from patriarchal regulation that modern gang management provides, the art bestowed to human society by the Borgia's, essential contributions to epistemology from the Spanish Inquisition, astounding advances in logistics, aircraft technology and human mechanisation from the National Socialists, the beautiful fresh fish that our fishing slaves provide to us, and indeed all the great stories of human redemption that we would never have had if criminals had not given us so much over so many years. With such gratitiude it just makes me want to suck up a line of coke.
The Magdalena River isn't dealing too well with Hippo Escobar's shit. Though unsurprisingly, the local tourist guides don't care if others pay the consequences for their profit (which brings to mind tourism operator attitudes in locations nearer to home). The "unconfirmed reports" of miracle sterilizing dartgun chemicals (at end of video) doesn't mention the price, or dose.
Since being introduced three decades ago by the notorious drug lord, the giant animals have multiplied and are threatening local biodiversity…
Fishermen complain they only catch half as many fish and are sometimes forced to protect their boats from animal attacks. Others say they are polluting water systems with their droppings and hurting biodiversity because many local species can't compete with the large animals.
Tova O'Brien still twisting the knife (so to speak):
"National leader Judith Collins has received a brutal report card from the business sector – the traditional bread and butter backers of the National Party.
In this year's Mood of the Boardroom, the big dogs of the business world, and even farmers, have gone on the record calling for Collins to go.
Collins is described as "hopeless" by Devon Funds Management principal Paul Glass, who said she was 'Labour's best asset.'"
Why not start a war on drugs then make oxycontin freely available. Then set up trusts and shell companies and give the biggest nz player a knighthood while your about it.
I am all for recognizing Māori perspectives in Aotearoan history and technology, but this just strikes me as going out of your way to take offense!
"We measured black carbon or soot in those ice cores – there are six altogether and our objective was to study atmospheric chemistry over the past 2000 years," McConnell said.
"So two of the ice cores are from the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and the other four are from continental Antarctica, maybe 2000 kilometres south of where the ones from the northern tip of the Antarctic are from and we can tell from that array (of cores) – because of atmospheric circulation and using climate models and so forth – that these emissions had to come from poleward or south of 40 degrees south latitude…in New Zealand you don't really have much of a natural fire cycle.
"[The year 1300] is when the Māori arrived and settled New Zealand and started using fire for land clearing and things like that."…
University of Waikato acting dean of the Faculty of Māori and Indigenous Studies associate professor Sandy Morrison said the study was "devoid of context, devoid of cultural understandings and is yet another example of what we have grown to expect from western science".
"It relies on measurements, modelling and silo thinking and the paper whether intentional or not, posits Māori as the 'naughty' offenders.
Aue! Sure, 1300 may not be the best date for the initial settlement of Aotearoa – which more likely predates that by several centuries. But as a date for when populations had become large enough for their fire use to become recognizably embedded in the polar ice record, that is not unreasonable. I don't feel any outrage myself, because I don't think everything is about me (or my identity) personally.
Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Holly Winton said via the Science Media Centre that "black carbon is important for our climate because it absorbs sunlight warming the planet.
"Due to the very small size of black carbon particles, a few nanometres in diameter, winds can transport black carbon thousands of kilometres from the location of the fire. Black carbon from Southern Hemisphere fires reaches as far as the pristine Antarctic continent. The record of black carbon in Antarctica ice cores provides a history of past fire activity."
Winton said ice core records drilled by the New Zealand ice core program in the Ross Sea region – located directly downwind from New Zealand – would provide additional information about black carbon and help answer some of the questions raised by the study.
"Further geochemical evidence may pinpoint the source of the black carbon by linking the organic chemistry signal in the ice core to specific types of vegetation."
"Goodness knows why Māori are primarily emphasised, and for what purpose this article was written."
Agree with that considering Patagonia and Tasmania were also suggested as sources of the carbon, and that Maori didn't have the resources or tools to fell vast tracts of bush. I can't imagine much NZ native bush will burn without being felled and dried first. The first non Maori settlers proved that.
Reko returned three years later, this time in the company of John Chubbin, John Morrison and Malcom Macfarlane, who were the first European men to finally stand on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Unfortunately, as the men gazed in awe at the beauty that surrounded them, Morrison lit his pipe, threw away the match and unwittingly set alight the area now known as Kingston.
The inferno burned for three hours, but the men and their horses survived by standing neck-deep in the lake until the blaze finally died down. Ironically, this act of destruction created an access way to the district that would later bring many more people and animals.
Thanks for the link; Gypsy (& McFlock). I recalled that as roke was tapu it wasn't able to be used for the noa of fertilization. Thus wood ash, sea weed and food scraps were about the only compost there was for precolonial Māori cultivation.
I should have thought of looking up Te Ara myself, but got distracted by other things.
Yes I think reality has hit and complacency has ended. If soon younger children can have a one third dose, we may have a really good shield Then we must aid our Pacific Neighbours to widen cover.
its seems some countries have only recently started vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds, some still to approve under 17 or 18.The likes of Chile and Cuba are now vaccinating under 12. Whether it's one reduced dose of a vaccine or2 reduced doses for under 12, either will go a long way to helping limit covid circulating.
Our government are enjoying getting all of us bent over and reamed by Rio Tinto, so they're trying to extend that reaming beyond 2024?
That's quite the fkn insult to all of us, coming on top of their planned removal of the low user fixed daily charge, which is going to massively boost electricity bills for those of us that have made the effort to be conservation and emissions-reduction minded and use less electricity.
I'm getting tired and angry about this government failing to harden up and show some spine and stand up to those shitting on the vast majority of us, such as big multinationals, and those among us that refuse to vaccinate. I guess they find it easier to shit on us instead.
fucking call their Bluff [giggle] and charge them through the nose once they've cleaned up their shit.
Thing is, people are now seriously thinking about replacements for it. Diversity in employers, the opportunities of the port and the electricity supply.
You sit under the Sword of Damocles long enough, you start planning for what to do if it falls, and some of those options begin to look better than the thing hanging over your head all the time.
If Minister Woods wanted to do something useful about the electricity market, she could always put the hard word on Meridian to decrease its market share by selling Manapouri … for which Rio Tinto would I am sure be very interested buyer. Then Rio Tinto can figure out an appropriate margin for itself.
However, any more really large un/employment questions the government doesn't have to answer right now, is TBH a good thing.
That grid upgrade is well underway and scheduled to be complete long before 2024. So Meridian will be able to sell that Manapouri power to the rest of the country for a much better price than the guesstimated 3.5cents per kWhr they're just about giving it away to Rio Tinto at.
Just in case you need the reminder, you're probably paying between 25 and 35 cents per kWhr for your power.
Is there some model showing that it would be cheaper across the country if we got access to all that generation?
With our barely-regulated system, I suspect that even if there was, the errant official would be taken out and spaded into the ground together with their report.
Wild-ass guess, I suspect what would happen is most of the time it would indeed be cheaper. But Genesis would likely find some way to keep Huntly ready to pounce whenever there were HVDC link or other grid issues to send the spot price spiking, so on net annual averages it would work out about the same.
I don't believe any cost savings would be passed on. They would just justify it to the EA through their AMP, and it would be very hard to prove otherwise.
The gift to Rio Tinto that Rio Tinto keeps squeezing and squeezing and squeezing. A couple more rounds of this and we'll be paying Rio Tinto to take the power, instead of them still paying a derisory token amount like they do now.
"I'm getting tired and angry about this government".
So, what are you going to do about it? You are going to mutter and moan but then, come the election you are going to vote for them again aren't you?
Why should they care what you say? It's what you do on election day that matters and they have you there. Meanwhile they will probably do exactly what they did before the last election. Promise that they won't give a subsidy in their public statements while promising to provide one in their secret correspondence with Rio Tinto.
As an alternative I suppose you could come to your senses and vote for someone like ACT. They might do exactly what you moan about, and which Labour are going to do anyway, but at least they won't lie about the subject and they will be a great deal more efficient about it than the current lot of drones in the Beehive.
I'm afraid that what you, like most worshippers at the temple of St Jacinda, missed was getting any reasonable quota of brains when they were dished out. Shame for you but they can't provide top up arrangements on those.
I tried to bring this out by holding a candle under the missing writing as we used to do as children when secret writing in lemon juice. . After doing this and reading the now visible invisible writing I also agree.
Water New Zealand CEO, Gillian Blythe says this is a major health risk and shows the need for better septic tank monitoring and risk assessment.
“There are around 270,000 private onsite wastewater management systems and septic tanks throughout the country servicing about 20 percent of the population.”
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Chris Trotter writes – MELISSA LEE should be deprived of her ministerial warrant. Her handling – or non-handling – of the crisis engulfing the New Zealand news media has been woeful. The fate of New Zealand’s two linear television networks, a question which the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications ...
TL;DR: The podcast above features co-hosts and , along with regular guests Robert Patman on Gaza and AUKUS II, and on climate change.The six things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the ...
Policymakers rarely wish to make plain or visible their desire to dismantle environmental policy, least of all to the young. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent ...
I like to keep an eye on what’s happening in places like the UK, the US, and over the ditch with our good mates the Aussies. Let’s call them AUKUS, for want of a better collective term. More on that in a bit.It used to be, not long ago, that ...
TL;DR: The global economy will be one fifth smaller than it would have otherwise been in 2050 as a result of climate damage, according to a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and published in the journal Nature. (See more detail and analysis below, and ...
New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’. The data is from February this ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters is understood to be planning a major speech within the next fortnight to clear up the confusion over whether or not New Zealand might join the AUKUS submarine project. So far, there have been conflicting signals from the Government. RNZ reported the Prime Minister yesterday in ...
Life throws curveballs, and sometimes, those curveballs necessitate wiping your iPhone clean and starting anew. Whether you’re facing persistent software glitches, preparing to sell your device, or simply wanting a fresh start, knowing how to factory reset iPhone without a computer is a valuable skill. While using a computer with ...
Gone are the days when communication was limited to landline phones and physical proximity. Today, computers have become powerful tools for connecting with people across the globe through voice and video calls. But with a plethora of applications and methods available, how to call someone on a computer might seem ...
Open access notables Glacial isostatic adjustment reduces past and future Arctic subsea permafrost, Creel et al., Nature Communications:Sea-level rise submerges terrestrial permafrost in the Arctic, turning it into subsea permafrost. Subsea permafrost underlies ~ 1.8 million km2 of Arctic continental shelf, with thicknesses in places exceeding 700 m. Sea-level variations over glacial-interglacial cycles control ...
The operating system (OS) is the heart and soul of a computer, orchestrating every action and interaction between hardware and software. But have you ever wondered where on a computer is the operating system generally stored? The answer lies in the intricate dance between hardware and software components, particularly within ...
Laptops have become essential tools for work, entertainment, and communication, offering portability and functionality. However, with rising energy costs and growing environmental concerns, understanding a laptop’s power consumption is more important than ever. So, how many watts does a laptop use? The answer, unfortunately, isn’t straightforward. It depends on several ...
Screen recording has become an essential tool for various purposes, such as creating tutorials, capturing gameplay footage, recording online meetings, or sharing information with others. Fortunately, Dell laptops offer several built-in and external options for screen recording, catering to different needs and preferences. This guide will explore various methods on ...
A cracked or damaged laptop screen can be a frustrating experience, impacting productivity and enjoyment. Fortunately, laptop screen repair is a common service offered by various repair shops and technicians. However, the cost of fixing a laptop screen can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article delves into the ...
Gaming laptops represent a significant investment for passionate gamers, offering portability and powerful performance for immersive gaming experiences. However, a common concern among potential buyers is their lifespan. Unlike desktop PCs, which allow for easier component upgrades, gaming laptops have inherent limitations due to their compact and integrated design. This ...
The annual inventory report of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions has been released, showing that gross emissions have dropped for the third year in a row, to 78.4 million tons: All-told gross emissions have decreased by over 6 million tons since the Zero Carbon Act was passed in 2019. ...
Experiencing a locked computer can be frustrating, especially when you need access to your files and applications urgently. The methods to unlock your computer will vary depending on the specific situation and the type of lock you encounter. This guide will explore various scenarios and provide step-by-step instructions on how ...
While the world has largely transitioned to digital communication, faxing still holds relevance in certain industries and situations. Fortunately, gone are the days of bulky fax machines and dedicated phone lines. Today, you can easily send and receive faxes directly from your computer, offering a convenient and efficient way to ...
In our increasingly digital world, home computers have become essential tools for work, communication, entertainment, and more. However, this increased reliance on technology also exposes us to various cyber threats. Understanding these threats and taking proactive steps to protect your home computer is crucial for safeguarding your personal information, finances, ...
In the ever-evolving world of technology, server-based computing has emerged as a cornerstone of modern digital infrastructure. This article delves into the concept of server-based computing, exploring its various forms, benefits, challenges, and its impact on the way we work and interact with technology. Understanding Server-Based Computing: At its core, ...
The absolute brass neck of this guy.We want more medical doctors, not more spin doctors, Luxon was saying a couple of weeks ago, and now we’re told the guy has seven salaried adults on TikTok duty. Sorry, doing social media. The absolute brass neck of it. The irony that the ...
Buzz from the Beehive Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones relishes spatting and eagerly takes issue with environmentalists who criticise his enthusiasm for resource development. He relishes helping the fishing industry too. And so today, while the media are making much of the latest culling in the public service to ...
Having written, taught and worked for the US government on issues involving unconventional warfare and terrorism for 30-odd years, two things irritate me the most when the subject is discussed in public. The first is the Johnny-come-lately academics-turned-media commentators who … Continue reading → ...
Eric Crampton writes – Kainga Ora is the government’s house building agency. It’s been building a lot of social housing. Kainga Ora has its own (but independent) consenting authority, Consentium. It’s a neat idea. Rather than have to deal with building consents across each different territorial authority, Kainga Ora ...
Muriel Newman writes – The Coalition Government says it is moving with speed to deliver campaign promises and reverse the damage done by Labour. One of their key commitments is to “defend the principle that New Zealanders are equal before the law.” To achieve this, they have pledged they “will not advance ...
Chris Trotter writes – The absence of anything resembling a fightback from the public servants currently losing their jobs is interesting. State-sector workers’ collective fatalism in the face of Coalition cutbacks indicates a surprisingly broad acceptance of impermanence in the workplace. Fifty years ago, lay-offs in the thousands ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara Solomon Islands’ incumbent prime minister Manasseh Sogavare has been re-elected in the East Choiseul constituency. It is the opening move in the political chess match to form the country’s next government. Returning officer Christopher Makoni made the declaration late last night after ...
Headline: The moment of friction. – 36th Parallel Assessments In strategic studies “friction” is a term that it is used to describe the moment when military action encounters adversary resistance. “Friction” is one of four (along with an unofficial fifth) “F’s” in military strategy, which includes force (kinetic mass), ...
The Fast-track Bill, if passed, would allow three Ministers, unchallenged and unchecked, to approve the immediate extraction and exhaustion of one-off resources. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
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Zero covid is good for health and the economy
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3171402126427672&set=p.3171402126427672&type=3
'
Living with endemic covid, is bad for health. (and the economy).
this all all moot now, the genie is out of the bottle and there is no putting it back
In a major crisis defeatism is the opposite of what is needed.
It is not all moot.
We were crushing the virus under level 4.
If the virus threatens to get further out of control the only way, to prevent unnecessary suffering and deaths, is for the government to reimpose a nation wide Level 4 Lockdown to eliminate it.
you say defeatism, I say the Ardern government has given up on elimination, simple as that
Allan you HOPE they have "given up" as it suits your narrative?
Rather the Government are admitting this is extremely difficult to do as there is a group of anti vax/ or non compliant/ or travelling dealers who have sick members in their group.
Our Bill of Rights does not allow the Health Department or the Government to force medical treatment on these people, so they have used their Leaders to help… a fortnight ago.
Some are obviously still resistant or hesitant, but the proximity of the disease and its rapid spread is causing many to rethink and they are now getting their vaccinations started.
The spread is so wide they have asked us to up our personal defences by double jabs as soon as possible to assist in containing delta better. The boundaries have been enlarged to indicate areas of higher risk.
They are trialing fast testing and home quarantine to support our current efforts of developing strategies to keep the virus out of the general public. They have found a system to try to help people get home even while battling this. If journalists did more to highlight the positives that might also help confidence in the methods.
After all our deaths at 29 are too many for us, but by world stats bloody amazing.
Given all of that.. How is that giving up?
elimination as a strategy is gone, Hipkins said as much this week
He corrected himself later. That doesn't suit your narrative so you left that bit out?
Semantics Patricia, no level four whilst we have community cases equates to abandoning of elimination strategy.
We are in Level 3+ Which is tight by world standards. (Rest in L2)
Hardly semantics, rather the more subtle connotation.
You did ignore Chris’ retraction and self correction… Why? if it wasn't to make your story more believable?
Nope. Not now, not when the levels were introduced.
Every level, including level 1, includes the possibility of local cases. The difference is in how many local cases, the number and diversity of clusters, and so on.
Rumours of surrender are greatly exagerrated.
It is not Allan's narrative;
That the New Zealand government have given up on their Elimination strategy, is the widely accepted narrative, and general consensus. My hope is that the government can recover their nerve and return to their Elimination Strategy that has served us so well.
New Zealand gives in: How international media sees the Covid-19 strategy
….Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's announcement of a three-stage roadmap to ease level 3 restrictions in Auckland marked a move away from the elimination strategy.
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/new-zealand-gives-in-how-international-media-sees-the-covid-19-strategy/ar-AAP8yIs?ocid=msedgntp
Surrendering to the virus
So, having saved us from Covid for 18 months, our government has just surrendered to the virus, announcing a "transition plan" to loosen restrictions while Covid is still spreading in the community. This is exactly the sort of insanity which has led to outbreaks and mass death in the UK and NSW, and there's no reason to think it will end any differently here.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2021/10/surrendering-to-virus.html
Jack Tame's Opinion:
Moving Auckland to Alert Level 3 was not consistent with elimination. It was a gamble that risked the gains from a month at Level 4. The Government continued to speak optimistically about stamping out the virus, even as public health experts and modellers publicly demurred.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/04/jack-tames-opinion-govts-covid-19-strategy-a-roadmap-with-no-signs/
"There is no such thing as bad soldiers, only bad generals." Napoleon
Now I am sure, that Napoleon's army had its share of drunkards and deserters and trouble makers, and law breakers, but I never heard of Napoleon blaming those elements for his failures, or the failures of his generals.
Let's be clear this is a failure of our leaders, who gave in to the pressure to abandon their Elimination Policy.
All the blame storming and scape goating of marginal groups like gangs and rough sleepers and others at the bottom of society, is covering up government's loss of nerve.
"….there is a group of anti vax/ or non compliant/ or travelling dealers who have sick members in their group."
This probably is true. But what this narrative doesn't tell us Patricia, is why, despite the activities of these people, before it was lifted early, the Level 4 Lockdown was crushing the virus. If these people were having a big effect as you claim, then the Level 4 would also have failed as well.
They are such a tiny minority of the population their activities had little effect on the Level 4 Lockdown.
Lockdowns work like vaccination, the more people that do it, herd immunity kicks in, and protects even the few who don't.
And if you don't believe the Level 4 Lockdown was working to eliminate the virus, right up until it was abandoned, here are some quotes;
It is quite clear that the activities of gangs and other alleged rule breakers had litte effect on the success of Level 4.
If the government had interned every single gang member and every rough sleeper and every suspected P dealer in the country, it would have had little effect on the success, or failure, of the drop to Alert Level 3. It was the lifting of the Level 4 lockdown that was the key failure.
For the same reason this tiny minority didn't affect of the effectiveness of the Level 4 lockdown, they did not materially or at least not substantially cause the failure of the Level 3 Lockdown.
The economic cost of the elimination strategy and full lockdown, was deemed too expensive to maintain any longer, and so it was lifted earlier than it should have been. (according to the modelers and medicial experts)
If we want to know the cause of the failure of the Level 3 Lockdown, we need to look to the looser rules for the majority, that allowed the virus to spread more widely. And not scapegoat gangs, or other marginal groups on the bottom rungs of society, for what in essence is a failure of nerve from the leadership.
Jenny thanks for your replies.
If it appeared I was scapegoating, that was not my intention though in two cases a gang person had been moving over the border and dealing, in another two hid in a car boot to try to deal in drugs. This caused cases outside Auckland. Other cases arose with essential workers crossing the border. Those who are not vaccinated could become disease vectors. Facebook has a case to answer here imo.
The Government has to choose from sometimes conflicting Health advice. I think the failure to bring in the spit test for daily checks has caused some cases, but lawless behaviour has created others. (Not just gangs) Gangs are a measure of social struggle. The government needs to do more there.
The absolute denial Hendy's models were met with, shows the pressure on the Government to lift L4. Level 3+ is still tougher than in other places. The figures tell us what was happening up to ten days earlier. My brother said in NSW they could click and collect most things all the way through.
Naploeon got it wrong in Russia, let's hope we do better, don’t think I am not concerned..I am.
The gangs are not to blame for the failure of the Lockdown.
The rough sleepers, drug users, sex workers, prisoners, the gangs, the lowest and most alienated and marginalised sections of our New Zealand society.
It was always known, (and feared), that if the virus got into these marginalised communities that the virus would spread like wildfire.
I see the infections in the gangs as a symptom of the government's failure to control the virus, not the cause of it, as some are trying to make out.
As I wrote earlier, it is notable that these groups were not singled out for blame and scapegoating, until after the drop in alert level, which just as predicted by some experts, saw infection numbers reverse their decline and start rising again.
During the level 4 lockdown, the Prime Minister and her advisors did single out one sector, as a source of corona virus spread during the Auckland lockdown. And it wasn't the gangs.
I personally know, through friends and extended family, of 3 medium sized workplaces and one large industry that in the first Lockdown closed down, but this time worked right through Level 4.
Unfortunately the Prime Minister didn't tighten up 'our restrictions further' on workplaces, as she said she would, on September 20, she loosened them instead.
On August 30, the Prime Minister said this: "In order for Auckland to move down a level, the country must be confident Delta is not circulating undetected in the community"
On September 20, the PM went back on this statement as well, and moved Auckland down a level despite 6 new cases being found in the community that day, 2 that could not be identified or traced, evidence that covid was circulating undetected in the community.
Sometime between these two dates the PM became convinced that Auckland's Level 4 lockdown could not be sustained any longer, even if covid was still circulating undetected in the community.
But not because of the gangs. But because of the economic cost to business.
We really need to get this straight. If we are going to abandon our elimination strategy, we need to be honest as to the reasons why. And not go searching for scapegoats.
In another time and place, not gangs and rough sleepers, but Jews and Gypsies were the lowest and most despised and feared members of society.
Not to sugar coat the gangs or make apologies for them, But what struck me most forcefully during my recent, admittedly brief, interaction with the gangs, was their poverty.
It is poverty which makes them band together and poverty which makes ilicit sources of income from drugs prostitution extortion burglary and violence part of their lifestyle.
Using the gangs as a repository for all our fears and failings is an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for our own actions.
Jenny I wrote in another post, gang people I met when teaching, (both gang leaders) 25 years ago, wanted better for their children.
I think the right wing here and world wide brought pressure to bear as our numbers made them look bad. Politicking in the background?
Funny how all the papers world wide dissed us all at once. Then the boys club left us out..
I may be imagining things but…
I agree. Whether the government will do so, is unlikely.
The confusion that arises from different regional lockdowns, and varying changes to what Level restrictions are leads to greater non-compliance and apathy. That's just a human reaction to anxiety and mixed messages. (Our household operates under Level 4 restrictions for the ease of it, but this will change when the students in the household are compelled to return to their tertiary institutions.)
Given my underlying health conditions, they have a high level of anxiety about bringing the virus home despite vaccinations.
The messaging is no longer simple, and that is a problem worth acknowledging and solving.
Understand your position Molly, that is scary.
A good high school friends working as a team psychologist for NSW health workers, said that a large percentage of the anxiety was not directly to to the virus or the restrictions but to the changing and complicated messaging from government.
After such simple messaging – community elimination – it's natural to expect anxiety.
We are both fragile now, but we are able to isolate. It is very hard when people have to come and go from the home.
I remember reading about the spanish doctor who came in the back door went to the utility room stripped off and put everything into the wash, then hopped in the shower and washed her hair, then dressed in clothing she had laid out in the morning. Every day for 6 months at that point.
We do not need that and I hope we never do. Good Health to you and yours.
My sister the CCU nurse and her bloke have bought a caravan and parked it up at home. Should the unit she works at have to treat covid patients she intends cutting herself off from her family and living in it.
From Newsroom:
Government must release Bloomfield’s elimination advice
Without releasing advice it looks as if the government simply lost their nerve. Even now the messaging is not clear
It's all a bit of a mess, and we still have no idea how this strategy is going to affect healthcare and the health workforce. The elimination strategy relied on public buy-in. This containment strategy does too, but it seems we don't have buy-in for that either. Without seeing the advice that led to the decision to abandon eliminations (but have they?), it feels a lot like satisfying middle-class focus groups.
it's mindblowing really given how close we are with the vaccination programme.
Uh Oh
To achieve a covid free Christmas we need to eliminate the virus before it gets to the South Island, and before it overloads our health system. To achieve this goal will requirea a Level 4 Lockdown for the whole of the North Island for at least least 5 weeks.
To be able to do this withou ruinin small proprotors and impoverishing house holds will require a full1930s style rent and mortgage moratorium for the period of the lockdown.
A minor note but it might be easier not to mention Alisha Rahaman Sarkar so prominently. She is the journalist who wrote the story, not the expert being quoted. The expert is the familiar Dr Michael Baker of Otago. When I read your comment I was left curious about who this, to me unknown, supposed expert called Sarkar was.
Sorry for the confusion. It is my habit to include the biline of the journalist responsible for the report.
Which I did by cut and pasting the headline, with this reporter's name on the next line.
Not making clear the name of the expert, is a result of trying to minimise the amount of text in the quoted link.
Do you have a url for that chart?
I was sent the chart on facebook. It had no URL.
However I see at the bottom it came from the Institut économique Molinari in Belgium.
.
Aspen & the pooklet, Pickles – 7 January 2018
https://i.imgur.com/TCU6Stn.gif
Aspen & Pickles, a month later – 4 February 2018
https://i.imgur.com/SIW7LNr.gif
And…
For anybody who didn’t believe me when I posted yesterday that my new stream friend, Muscovy Duck (who already seems to respond to his name, “Muscovy”) wags his tail like a happy dog when he gets a bread chunk thrown down to him – this is from 8.30 am today.
He’s just gobbled down a bread chunk:
https://i.imgur.com/qTOQO21.gif
You want to be careful with pūkeko around ducks. Had some in a swamp; a good half kilometer down the road from the commune I was then a part of, and they just slaughtered the ducklings in our pond when they got a chance! Also drakes in mating season really aren't the cutest.
I see nature in the raw here, Forget now. Can't ignore it or change it. The male pūkekos will kill ducklings for food. I managed to yell out & stop Bluey once from hunting a separated duckling being carried downstream in the current near him, but I didn't fool myself that he wouldn't do it again.
It also explained the odd headless ducking I'd come across down at the Eel Spot.
Unattached / unpartnered mallard drakes are rapists. Pure & simple. They routinely harass & terrify hens who aren't interested in mating with them, even those with ducklings in tow. When you see a female mallard in flight followed closely by a mallard drake, if she's quacking frantically she's desperately trying to avoid getting raped.
Size comparison – Muscovy drake to Mallard drakes. He's a bigger, bulkier waterbird than the Mallards. About twice their size overall, imo.
https://i.imgur.com/LzgnWUb.gif
No more for today, I promise ☝🏼😇
Watch he doesn't eat the others out of hearth and home!!
Surely of much more interest. What are the Muscovy ducks like to eat?
“Muscovy”s much too beautiful & personable for me to want to kill & eat him, alwyn.
Looks in some ways like a goose. Perhaps Muscovy Duck tastes similar to goose, but I dunno.
The males are MUCH bigger than the females – which also seem to look different to the males. The females probably taste like mallard or grey or hybrid duck, at a guess.
If you really want to know how they are to eat, you’ll need to google it.
.
I’m planning to buy a rechargeable battery electric lawnmower.
I’m looking at buying a Swift online.
Does anyone here have a battery electric mower & if so how do you find it?
Have used a couple, if you mow regularly at least once per week maybe every 5 days in spring they're great… if it gets a bit long and the mower has to work hard the batteries can run out of juice pretty quick so can make it a stop start affair… mowing on a sunny afternoon also makes it easier.
I have a Husqvarna self-propelled battery powered mower. It is excellent. There is also a push version.
I’ve had some health issues over the past year & I’m badly out of condition. Need to rebuild my fitness & exercise my lungs carefully.
That Husqvarna self-propelled battery powered mower sounds like it might be a good option for me.
What model is it, solkta? Also, how big’s your lawn &/or how long does it take you to mow it?
https://www.husqvarna.com/nz/products/lawn-mowers/lc-347ivx—skin-only/967862302/
I have half an acre but all the time more is being planted in natives and food forest. As that establishes i mow less. I don't usually mow it all at once. The food forest area is all in red clover and i mulch mow that at the highest level maybe every four to six weeks or so in spring/autumn and less in winter/summer.
The mower has many driving speeds and if you are mowing regular you will be all good at the fastest which is a fast walking pace.
Note with this model that you need to change to a different blade to do mulch mowing as the regular blade has up pointing fingers that throw the grass into the catcher. This works better than any other mower i have used. The good news is that the catcher still works as good as most even with the mulching blade. Blades are easy to remove also as they have just one bolt with spring washer.
Got a Victa that runs two batteries and it is brilliant once you get the lawn down to required height–it is for lawn maintenance not scrub cutting. Not so good on wet grass, sharpen or replace blade annually.
Would suggest a mid range model, the higher end ones don’t seem to offer much more apart from branding. It is liberating not to use and mix fuel, and a quieter fume free task.
My Husqvarna chomps through long grass better than any petrol mower i have had.
You might also want to consider what other garden tools you might buy in the future so that the batteries are interchangeable. The Husqvarna runs two batteries rather than one big one so that the same batteries can be used with their whole range of electric tools – chain saw, pole pruner, blower, line trimmer etc. I'm hanging out to get the chainsaw but have lots of life still in my petrol Husqvarna.
I have a Husqvarna battery mower and weed- eater. They use the same battery. With two batteries I can trim and mow 1450 sq m lawns.
The beauty is three fold- far less noise, fumes and fossil fuel use since they charge off my solar panels, the motor stops running when I stop to empty the catcher or whatever reason, and it's lighter. I have a stopbank slope to mow and weight is not an issue with the electric. It's able to boost its revs to deal with heavier grass and the pre-run with the trimmer on all the edges and under fences is easy as it, too is light enough to not even need a carry strap.
the motor stops running when I stop to empty the catcher or whatever reason
Took me a while to get used to that. Kept thinking "fuck i've stalled it". It good though.
Bosch. Got the mower, blower, weedeater, and hedge-cutter.
recommended.
Lose the lawn. Rewild. Replant with 3-dimensional plants that flower, have edible leaves or fruit. We have no snakes in New Zealand, so there's no good justification for having clipped lawns. We have though, the second most vile creature; the motor mower; they're kept at bay by removing their natural habitat 🙂
Heh, we can all piss off home now because Robert has laid the challenge down…
At least when you get home, you won't have to mow the lawn 🙂
Brilliant…first laugh of day….and I might look at my lawn policy.
I like to have a mown area for playing with the dog and so my daughter can do gymnastics etc. Is liking something not a justification? Also, i wouldn't be able to get my car down my long drive if planted as you suggest. Should i concrete the middle bit and sides?
Car? You have a CAR??
🙂
I would actually love to convert my lawn in natives, I live in South Dunedin, ex wetlands, any advice on what to plant, or web pages or anything, I've been thinking about doing it for years but can't figure out how to even start.
Cool. Are you wanting to recreate a wetland, or a forest? It sounds as though South Dunedin will become wetter underfoot as time goes by…
Wetland would be fantastic as every time it rains the lawn is flooded anyway. I'll check for that book pingao, thanks!
Carex secta is the plant for you!
I like red tussock myself; it's a bit taller and clumpier than a lawn, but once it's established is pretty hardy and low maintenance. Though I am up in the hills, rather than down near sea-level. Also, if you want to go super hands-off; just dig over patch of lawn and see what self-seeds – whatever survives is likely to be pretty well adapted for that niche. Just keep an eye out for noxious weeds like dock and thistles and ragwort etc.
But vegetable/ herb gardens for spring onions and other fresh greens can't be beat! Though they're more effort and maintenance if just you want passive ground cover.
Dock is my no3 friendly. Excellent for weed control and puts down a deep tap root. Easy to kill too when you no longer want it by cutting a couple of centimetres below ground level with suitable grubber. The seed stalks can be cut before the seed is wind swept and thrown where you want more.
I let these come up through the red clover and throw the seed stalks around trees etc to save hand weeding. Works particularly well as weed control around miniature flax. Just rip and drop the leaves and then they do weed control at ground level until new leaves grow. The flax is good at growing up through the dock.
Thanks Rob & FN, good stuff.
South D also has a very high water table and it's salty water.
There is a book called "The Native Garden: design themes from wild New Zealand" by Isobel Gabites and Rob Lucas that has good suggestions as a starting point. Your local library should have it.
For websites try looking through your local regional council, DOC office or Forest and Bird.
Another option is to make contact with a local community restoration group.
Fire risk is a very good reason to keep the grass mown (and also as a pleasant area for people and animals to use) but I agree that lawns are pretty rubbish for ecological and environmental reasons. I am trialling using a push mower which is indeed a trial if you let the grass get away on you but is ok if you do a bit each day (And good exercise). I use a grass knife at the edges and snip away at the kikuyu just to remind it of it's manners.
I like having a bit of lawn, Robert. My lawns are comparatively small. I've got a lemon tree & a camellia in the back lawn.
I don't lack for natural habitat tho.
Just over the fence & thru my back gate I've got an entire streambank in its natural state, with pittos & various other trees & shrubs, including a few stands of summer lilac that are pretty & bring tons of monarch butterflies when they bloom.
At the moment my very large pittosporum tenuifolium (that needs pruning back) is positively bursting with little dark purply-black flowers that put out a very strong perfume reminiscent of joss sticks. It's full of honeybees, & occasionally bumblebees, busily working the flowers.
And the tuis love the flowers for their nectar. They get into all sorts of contortions, including hanging upside down to get at the nectar. To my great amusement.
Robert. I'm considering planting the 40 metre stopbank to avoid the mowing necessity. At the moment it has a totara, a kowhai, a lancewood, a kauri and a kahikatea growing there along with flaxes, tussocks and irises. These plants are all inundated yearly, as the water level can rise two metres, and then endure a hot dry summer. Any suggestions for riparian planting that stay low?
Low growers such as the "wiry" coprosmas, propinqua etc. would do the trick: they are tough enough to withstand floods and don't mind getting inundated. Any native shrub of that sort would be suitable; perhaps various hebe and korokia as well, would fit in nicely. Sometimes, when flax gets very big, floods tear them out and take a lot of earth with them, creating unstable stop banks.
"
“So the centre of the garden, which is a circular garden, has what I call a Maramataka compass. It has the 30 lunar houses on the outside, and on the inside it is a typical gregorian calendar one to 31 which you can just turn to whatever phase the moon is in. That will tell you in very very broad terms ‘yes this is a good time to be planting, or this is a good time to harvest or we shouldn't be doing too much in the way of sowing or complex work at this time.’”
The second guiding principle is that Māori believe everything has a spirit – the soil, organisms, the plants. And everything has a family tree or whakapapa. So to honour Papatūānuku (mother earth) and Rongomātāne (deity of agriculture) it’s important to farm organically.
The vegetable garden is now producing over 100 kg of green produce a week. That’s given to the older people of the hapu, and families connected to Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. “The kaupapa is to get people eating better and to understand how to be more sustainable in the way they operate.”"
This is an interesting article about an approach to gardens specific to our country :
https://www.landscapearchitecture.nz/landscape-architecture-aotearoa/2021/1/11/get4qllep42c5fjvp1s0tlduobo0e1
Yes great!!
Frank Macskasy puts it so well–what happens when NZ business gets the “certainty” it craves…
https://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/open-letter-to-michael-barnett-julie-white-et-al/
Good on Frank for that. He has always been a stalwart. Thanks TM.
Thanks Tiger Mountain. Frank knows what's going down. Us.
Very good letter from Frank.
Hard not to dread what comes next, once we try to "live with SARS Cov2".
Yes Frank as someone here said, "if that happens the business and journalists who wanted to open up will not take any responsibility," " human nature you know!!' #@!!!
Agreed Tiger.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/covid-19-delta-outbreak-tourism-export-council-says-sector-at-tipping-point/HIJJ5JY26BTFNOZ7PFFQ5ZM6JE/
“Tourism was NZ's biggest foreign exchanger earner before the pandemic”
Tourism is not NZ,s biggest foreign exchange earner – farming is and always has been .
Tourism is a fickle business, always has been, always will be. Those working in tourism will always find jobs on the land ….if they wished. It is ludicrous to be bring in labour from the islands when we have this situation although I understand they are work ready in all ways !
janet, farming only contributes 5% of NZ's GDP. It isn't the behemoth everybody thinks it is.
And we don't actually need foreign exchange to have an economy. Exporting to survive is a myth…
Have think about what would happen if 90% of our farming (the exported component) was stopped… think of all of that hard-working kiwi sweat and effort being pushed into our local economy rather than shipped off overseas where it is of such little use to us…
I know this runs contrary to the capitalist strain of thinking, but you need to keep in mind the sole intent of capitalist thinking…
… bit tough on the 40 million people overseas our farmers presently feed though.
40 million rich pricks do you mean Maurice? Don't dare try to kid us that NZ is providing succour and relief to the starving.
When your "rick pricks" can no longer have access to the high quality food our farmers provide they will simply buy other food out of the mouths of their "poor pricks" … more than likely starving 100 million of those poor pricks.
It is ALWAYS we poor pricks who suffer any cut back in food supplies.
vto how ever primary exports make up more than 60% of value. Farming doesn't include the value added from processing.
In Tourism the gains were matched with costs!! The public paid the costs!!
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/three-waters-mayors-pushing-back-a-tide-of-effluent
The other side of 3 Waters – communities either unwilling or unable to afford to replace or upgrade current water systems. There are 7 mayors in that article ("Paula Southgate from Hamilton, Max Baxter from Ōtōrohanga, Don Campbell from Ruapehu, Anita Baker from Porirua, Campbell Barry from Hutt City, Rachel Reese from Nelson, and Jamie Cleine from Buller") who want it to go ahead and be mandated if necessary.
Great interview from JAG the other day! She really needs to lift her game.
See the video from around 1:20. I guess this is the quality of MP we get under MMP.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/07/roadside-drug-testing-given-green-light-despite-evidence-of-being-unreliable/
I'm not sure the quality of MP's under MMP is any worse than under FPP. Mind you, that interview was a doozy.
Yes you do have a point there. You just don't know what you are getting under MMP. I can't even name any Act MP's other than Seymour and Brooke Van ??? Well there you go……one and a half!
The only upside of Covid is that it has finally exposed the huge lie that tourism is so important to the country. The billions of spruiked advantages were merely a chimera.
40 billion dollars a year has been found to be the complete unadulterated bullshit some of us knew it to be.
So now the hired liars have moved into the knee jerk media. A pox on all their houses.
Exactly Adrian, couldn't agree more..
… this exposure has been missed by many people (inobservant)
… the same applies to farming and other "export" sectors, see my comment here https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-08-10-2021/#comment-1822264
In Key's early reign, 2 university students came round surveying our attitudes to tourism.
They were shocked when I said NO to the many loaded questions.
I was asked to explain. I said "A few will get rich, but 99.9% will work long hours for a pittance now the contracts act is in place."
I was told others were enthusiastic. I asked "Who will pay for the necessary infrastructure?" A startled look was the students reply.
The councils that's who.. through ratepayers, and you should have that question about infrastructure in your survey. Always look at the costs as well as the supposed gains otherwise your conclusions may be flawed."
They thanked me but I think they thought I was a grump.
Good lord! Former transport minister and green transport rep Julie Ann Genter who introduced the drug testing bill storms off and has a meltdown after being asked one question and an easy question about GPs saying it's not a good bill because it'll produce false positives and she just says "I can't do this" it's a bill she introduced…. Good lord… And people actually considered her Green party leadership material. If this was a former minister member of labour or national they'd be getting ripped out to hell but minor party mps seem to get away with flakey behavior , just look at the free pass all act mps get at the moment.
This is embarrassing
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/07/roadside-drug-testing-given-green-light-despite-evidence-of-being-unreliable/
Is it possible that all her energy is being pushed into growing her baby, leaving little for dealing with other matters? … baby first…
Women do undergo massive physiological change while undertaking this most amazing feat…
Maybe the expecting birthing parent should take leave and some male should take the space and job?
After all birthing parents can be unprepared to do their job and deal with questions while giving an interview..
/s
No I wasn't implying any such thing, though it did cross my mind that someone might pipe up along these lines…
Good on her I say… but can be difficult to ignore physiological realities which impact all humans from time to time… that's all…
Do you think this could be the reason she looked a bit flummoxed? There is absolutely nothing wrong with this if so, nothing at all, and in fact it shoudl be celebrated, not used against her..
Looked to me like they jumped out on her while she was transiting through a corridor. She looked like she is close to giving birth and was feeling hot and uncomfortable.
Typical of nasty, entitled journos to do something like that to a heavily pregnant woman.
Have you any proof that JAG was hijacked ? If those here take time and WATCH the full interview then you will see that it was organised. Starts with OK cool we will get going.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/07/full-video-green-mp-on-unreliable-roadside-drug-testing/
That's your interpretation, She was "hijacked". Overly dramatic but we all know Hero-dotus is always right. 🙄
Since they lie in wait for unsuspecting pollies every day of the working week it isn't too hard to assume they did it to JAG. Once she realised what they were up to she walked away and I don't blame her.
Anne, I gather from your response that you did open my link. Can I please implore you to at least review my link to the interview. It should allow you some knowledge to allow you to reconsider your approach 😱
I saw the item both on TV and online last evening. My initial reaction was the same as yours and others. Then I reflected on the fact she was heavily pregnant, and that she had been lured into taking the interview under a false pretense.
It doesn't matter a damn if it was opportunistic or arranged slightly in advance. She was set up. That was obvious.
I'm sick and tired of this puerile form of gotcha politics no matter who commits them. There must be journos from the past who are spinning in their graves over what has happened to their once excellent profession.
I am still unsure have you watched the full 10 minute interview, I would recommend any who want to pass comment on view ? As that gives greater context than the 30 seconds that was dedicated on TV and that most have viewed, and from my reading many are basing their impressions on this abbreviated (Directors cut).
oh come on. JAG said, "I didn't do this interview expecting to be grilled"
She is heavily pregnant and allowed off days, but not knowing why the Royal College of Physicians thought the billed was ill though through and rushed or even that they had said that is inexcusable.
It's JAG's bill, and Maiki Sherman is not a confrontational journalist.
If that's the case, why is she still in Parliament drawing a huge salary if she is unable to do her job? Perhaps she should take leave.
I think you will find many other women who are pregnant manage to carry on working (in fact we had a PM that did pretty well while pregnant).
dont think it is as simple as you state Jimmy..
Of course it is. If as you say "all her energy is being pushed into growing her baby, leaving little for dealing with other matters? … baby first…" are you not saying she may not have enough left to do her job?
Normally would take maternity leave when the baby and the job becomes too much.
Mansplaining 101 Jimmy every pregnancy is different.
Being a bloke you'd know!! Right Jimmy?
better question would be why hasn't parliament adjusted how it operates in order to make it possible for pregnant women to do their jobs? Do we really want parliament to be operating at the level of men?
Thanks Weka Correct.
Jacinda managed while she was pregnant to do her job and arguably did it pretty well.
So?
So? It goes to show that one of these women was able to multi task and one (Genter) not so much.
So women who can't work like men* shouldn't have proper jobs?
At what point should Genter resign as an MP?
*this is the standard you are arguing for. I would say it's actually white, middle class men, because that's who designed most of our institutions. Women work differently. So do other ethnicities. Lots to be gained by having a pluralistic approach rather than a reductionistic one.
Anyone who is unable to preform their job should resign….man or women.
in other words, ignore the fact that parliament is designed for men, and expect women to resign if they can't be like men.
When you demand affirmation only, that is what you get. People who can't cope with questions.
actually this sounds like a very messy attempt to make bank via fines.
If you get an unexpected positive, are you going to have the confidence to then request a blood test and possibly get a criminal conviction? No. You will probably pay the fine.
My partner works in a heavy machinery industry. They have random drug tests (management included) and immediate drug tests when a health and safety incident occurs.
The issue with drug positives (as opposed to alcohol) has always been that the test comes back positive for the presence of drugs, not the level of impairment. Positives can result from a joint taken almost two months ago, but P can be undetectable after two days. Although, P users may be more erractic and dangerous at work as a whole.
so a positive drug test leads to a conviction for using an illegal drug?
If you challenge the road side tests validity it could
As far as I understand from what Genter said:
Positive saliva tests will result in a fine (similar to speed infringement notices. An instant fine, which is not a criminal conviction).
If you have two positive saliva tests, you can request a blood test. If that test is also positive, then you will get a criminal conviction.
The issue is dangerous driving due to drug impairment.
The only method we have available for drug testing is for drug traces NOT impairment. Some drugs stay in the body for several weeks, others a couple of days. But they don't measure impairment. It is a very difficult problem to solve equitably, and has been an issue for many employers for years.
The presence of drugs in the saliva test will result in an instant fine for Drug-impaired Driving, even if there is no impairment.
The assumption that police bias harm is limited to criminal convictions, and not necessarily the distress of getting a positive result and fined when you are not impaired, – or possibly have no knowledge of the reason for your positive test – is not addressed.
Company policies are different for drug testing. Some will have an immediate dismissal, others will request a blood test. But the issue regarding presence of drugs and the level of impairment, if there is any at all remains.
She did not want to discuss that aspect as.. It was out of left field, she was not prepared she was honest .. It was a closed binary question.. What a shock. She did not waffle lol. She walked away from a journalist…. are they God or something?
It was a poor response from an MP who should have the information to hand..
We don't have to cheerlead this government all the time. If a National or Act MP had done the same they would be criticised, and rightly so. Genter deserves the same censure.
It was a legitimate question, that should have had a prepared answer.
I remain unconvinced. The interview was cut as Gentre was still speaking (umm..) so we don't know if she went on to clarify. Those above swinging-in with their negative criticisms have misread the situation, in my opinion.
Yes I noticed that Robert. First of all they asked her questions on a matter she had not agreed to talk about then they chopped her off as she was about to explain.
The full interview.
The question she was asked was entirely reasonable and relevant to the subject. No-one 'chopped' her off, she stormed off.
Molly, they are people not bloody robots. Were you always perfect at work..? I know i was not I was human and stumbled made mistakes and had doubts.
If I come across as a cheer leader lol perhaps it is to counter some quite partisan stuff here at times. I do not believe Politicians are accountable to the roving reporter lot, and I do not believe one shower makes a storm, except in someone's teacup.
I don't need anybody to be a robot. But I do expect honest and warranted critiques to be taken in stride, and used to improve.
As Herodotus has posted below, the interview was not a roving reporter, and Genter was given a chance to regroup and return.
Stop critiquing my criticism, and ask if Genter could have done better. She is the MP who introduced the bill, she should have the answer.
If I recall "you don't have to cheerleader this government" I reacted to that quite within my rights I would think. We all critique each other's take on things. Weka pointed out something I accepted readily.
Further, in her replies Genter says " we have introduced an amendment to the bill" until that goes through…
Medical Council of Physcians are able to make submissions as well. She was asked to talk to their position. Perhaps she should have said "You should ask them" She did return, but I could not find what she said. Just a report of it. I thought it was edited poorly and left questions.
Further, in her replies Genter says " we have introduced an amendment to the bill" until that goes through…
And the amendments are reviews after several years and a sunset clause. Notably used by Bush when excusing the Patriot Act.
I understand that drug-impairment when driving is an issue. I think the problem is a very difficult one to solve. I also think, this solution is a poorly thought out one that will both cause harm in terms of police bias and false positives, and sideline the thorny problem of getting a better solution because it has already been dealt with.
It's terrible when ministers don't have prepared answers in their pockets for any question any reporter might ask at any time.
Then again no doubt some giving Genter a hard time praised the media savvy and forthrightness of one prominent politician who they lauded for 'breaking the mould.' They saw it as taking no crap, calling the shots, the sign of strength. Mind you if a woman had copied Donald Trump …
I believe that Genter should have an answer for this because it is an issue with many company drug testing regimes, so it’s not an unusual or unanticipated question.
You might not have considered it before, but many companies have grappled with this self same issue for years. The question is not new.
These laws are used in many countries.
That is an excuse, unless followed up with evidence.
She did answer. Full video is here,
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/07/full-video-green-mp-on-unreliable-roadside-drug-testing/
As to why she struggled at that particular point and then walked away for a moment, here's the transcript of what was said in the first video,
Looks to me like there is a tension between what the Greens wanted and what Labour are doing?
In the full video she goes on to respond. Some bullshit editing there by TVNZ in the shorter video.
I'm curious why she was being interviewed, what role was she there in? Former Associate Transport Minister? Deputy Chair on the Transport and Infrastructure committee looking at the Bill? Green Party spokesperson on Transport?
I'll also note that Genter isn't part of the government. The Greens sit outside of cabinet.
I'll also say that Genter isn't coming across as smooth as one would expect from an MP (and further to my comment elsewhere about parliament and pregnancy why is she having to stand up?), but otoh, she's being transparent. At the end of the ten minute video she says clearly that the GP are critical of the Bill but they also believe that it should go ahead with their amendments because it can then be improved once new evidence is gathered. There's a typical GP nuance there, a both/and approach. The interviewer spent the whole time trying to box JAG into an either/or position. I can understand why Genter would be frustrated by that.
I haven't been following the Bill, there may be other politics going on I am unaware of. I am curious now.
I thought Genter came across very well in the full interview. The Greens are really trying to make this legislation fair and workable, with a sunset clause in 5 years if it doesn't work, and they will not support the bill if their amendments are not included. She was generous with her time-the minor loss of composure should have been taken out.
TVNZ should hang its head in shame in the way it edited the very very very short interview.
Legislation that fines unimpaired drivers for drug impaired driving can never be considered fair.
Apparently she introduced the Bill with Stuart Nash.
The issue of poistive results not indicative of impairment in drug testing is a lon-standing one.
Yes, I understand. I found the longer interview interesting because she explained the GP rationale for still supporting the Bill despite that (assuming the amendments go through).
The Bill was introduced before the last election, when she was Associate Transport Minister and more part of the government. Tricky position to be in now.
sorry, just seen you've seen the full vid and commented below.
She totally refused to acknowledge the issue, which is that a positive test gives no indication of impairment.
I didn't see any nuance expressed by her at all. The issue was put to her very directly and repeatedly and she spent the whole interview weaseling about having to have two positive test results instead of one, which is just ignoring the problem twice instead of once.
Very disappointing. Green MPs used to be better than this.
That is correct, weka and not difficult to read, even without the detail, given Genter's past management of issues and her integrity. My frustration was not with her, but with those who leapt in to demean her; primed, they were to take her down.
I saw it that way also, Patricia. My take was the issue was one that has no simple "sound-byte" answer and that the explanation would take a great deal of "back-story" something she wasn't prepared to deliver. I'm interested though, in the keenness of commenters here to attack Julie Ann Genter on this issue, given her intelligent and adroit handling of so many transport issues, over a long period of time, in the face of very hostile politicians: Gerry Brownlee et al.
She was ill prepared for an ORGANISED interview – Watch and be educated. The interview was on the topic no hijack by the reporter.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/10/07/full-video-green-mp-on-unreliable-roadside-drug-testing/
Watched the whole interview. Reinforced my initial view, thought the reporter was both professional and prepared.
Two issues only touched on.
1. The evidence regarding impairment in the saliva tests is non-conclusive. The focus on criminal conviction not being possible without a blood test, discounts any trepidation or fear people may have when getting a positive saliva test without knowing why – as mentioned marijuana can stay in the blood for up to seven weeks, consumption of poppy seed crackers gives a positive test for the drug testing my partner's company uses, some medications etc. Positive tests here still don't prove impairment,
2. The arrogant reiteration that the bill was evidenced based, but the evidence that it is based on is going to be the data collected from fines, convictions reductions in impairment accidents AFTER the bill is passed. As the journalist pointed out this is a trial-run.
It seems that the bill was introduced because "something had to be done".
So, here is something.
It might not be evidence based (but just you wait), and it might impact more on more on members of the public already dealing with bias from the police, but those will be just fines, only criminal convictions based on blood tests, and even those blood tests won't necessarily determine impairment, but you should have seen what National or the Police Association would have done.
Why aren't you thankful? Didn't you know something had to be done?
It seemed to me that Genter was trying to screw the discussion from whether there was evidence that the tests would be proof of impairment, which the medical science seems to be saying they would not, to whether there is evidence that the legislation would reduce drug impaired driving. It looked dishonest to me.
I read the article.
It has two paragraphs that don't make sense grammatically as they are both lacking main clauses. The meaning is therefore unclear. These two paragraphs relate to reaction from medical authorities.
"What’s more, the criticism by health professionals declaring the testing framework for oral fluid and blood tests is “not supported by reliable scientific evidence”, according to the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists adding “the presence of drugs…does not directly relate to impairment”. It says further research is needed. "
Is the criticism by health professionals not supported by reliable scientific evidence or is it the testing frame work not supported?
How reliable is poorly edited and unclear reporting?
Alcohol testing can determine the presence of alcohol in the breath and blood, which is useful to determine impairment at the same time.
Drug testing can be positive when the person is no longer impaired.
eg. Presence of marijuana up to seven weeks after use,
Narcotic positives if you have consumed poppy seed crackers,
Positives from some over the counter and prescribed medications etc.
It's the assumption of impairment that is different when it comes to immediate alcohol test results, and certain drug test results.
Genter should have an answer for this because it is an issue with many company drug testing regimes, so it’s not an unusual or unanticipated question.
She's normally pretty good at answering questions, but appeared to lose it briefly. But I don't really care for two reasons:
Yeah, it just looks like a bad day at the office. Especially if she wasn't aware of the RCGP announcement that had just happened.
Could she have handled it better? Sure. Is this typical of her ability/behaviour in interviews? Not from what I've seen, by any stretch.
JAG on an off day is still better than Collins on a good day.
Looked more like deliberate dishonesty than incompetence to me. The only incompetence displayed was her inability to get away with it.
As Minister she was proposing a law that would enforce behaviour on footpaths between skateboarders, people, bikes, scooters, and other modes. Unenforceable garbage, quickly shelved.
Are you saying more of the same?
Transport should have been a gift portfolio for the Greens, but Genter just wasn't up to it.
Genter is simply past her use-by date.
Disagree – 'be kind' appeals to me. The times they are a-changing, and I'm enjoying having a few more MPs with a Gentler political style in the mix.
Not every voter is a fan of dull punch-drunk pugilistic politics and all the wasted emissions that go with it. Peace, and love.
We could all do with $165k worth of backbencher kindness for being neither in government nor in opposition, but hey unicorn rainbows.
FWIW the legislative effort against drugged driving is totally necessary and I hope the bill makes it into law, in some form. Otherwise employers and insurers will just enforce it by stealth.
Unicorn rainbows, stardust sparkle ponies, and babies indeed.
Irritating and confusing for some, and a revelation to me – more please
1838 cases in Victoria today. Pro-rata for NZ that would be 1399 cases.
I just hope "suppression" ends up as elimination in NZ, at least until some time next year, otherwise this could be a rough ride.
If we can suppress covid till 5 to 12 yr olds get vaccinated then we can breathe a little easier.
Chris Bishop saying gangs are certainly not your local rotary clubs .After being confronted by TV1 reporter saying gangs handing out food parcels.
From the tobacco merchant of death, 5,000 deaths a year no gang comes near that toll.Chris Bishop tobacco spin doctor.
Pablo Escobar did alot for his local community, just saying
I know, right? There's a real community support network among the modern KKK, then there's the services to Broolkyn's Mink population by the Genovese's, the liberation of female sexuality from patriarchal regulation that modern gang management provides, the art bestowed to human society by the Borgia's, essential contributions to epistemology from the Spanish Inquisition, astounding advances in logistics, aircraft technology and human mechanisation from the National Socialists, the beautiful fresh fish that our fishing slaves provide to us, and indeed all the great stories of human redemption that we would never have had if criminals had not given us so much over so many years. With such gratitiude it just makes me want to suck up a line of coke.
The Magdalena River isn't dealing too well with Hippo Escobar's shit. Though unsurprisingly, the local tourist guides don't care if others pay the consequences for their profit (which brings to mind tourism operator attitudes in locations nearer to home). The "unconfirmed reports" of miracle sterilizing dartgun chemicals (at end of video) doesn't mention the price, or dose.
https://www.dw.com/en/pablo-escobars-hippos-wreak-havoc-on-colombian-wildlife/a-59098386
Panama and pandora papers show where I'll gotten gains are laundered.
The British worked with the Russians to defeat the Germans. Then when that crisis was past…
Tricledown Chris not suitable for leadership then?
Tova O'Brien still twisting the knife (so to speak):
"National leader Judith Collins has received a brutal report card from the business sector – the traditional bread and butter backers of the National Party.
In this year's Mood of the Boardroom, the big dogs of the business world, and even farmers, have gone on the record calling for Collins to go.
Collins is described as "hopeless" by Devon Funds Management principal Paul Glass, who said she was 'Labour's best asset.'"
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/10/national-leader-judith-collins-receives-brutal-report-card-from-business-sector-in-mood-of-the-boardroom.html
Why not start a war on drugs then make oxycontin freely available. Then set up trusts and shell companies and give the biggest nz player a knighthood while your about it.
Big tobacco has killed more people than wars.
I am all for recognizing Māori perspectives in Aotearoan history and technology, but this just strikes me as going out of your way to take offense!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/453171/researchers-link-700-year-old-soot-found-in-antarctica-to-fires-set-by-early-maori
Aue! Sure, 1300 may not be the best date for the initial settlement of Aotearoa – which more likely predates that by several centuries. But as a date for when populations had become large enough for their fire use to become recognizably embedded in the polar ice record, that is not unreasonable. I don't feel any outrage myself, because I don't think everything is about me (or my identity) personally.
"Goodness knows why Māori are primarily emphasised, and for what purpose this article was written."
Agree with that considering Patagonia and Tasmania were also suggested as sources of the carbon, and that Maori didn't have the resources or tools to fell vast tracts of bush. I can't imagine much NZ native bush will burn without being felled and dried first. The first non Maori settlers proved that.
John Morrison demonstrated the opposite could occur:
There's an analogy in that story, somewhere…
"When Māori first settled in New Zealand, around 1250–1300 AD, most of the land was covered in forest. They burned large areas, to make hunting birds such as moa easier."
Thanks for the link; Gypsy (& McFlock). I recalled that as roke was tapu it wasn't able to be used for the noa of fertilization. Thus wood ash, sea weed and food scraps were about the only compost there was for precolonial Māori cultivation.
I should have thought of looking up Te Ara myself, but got distracted by other things.
" I don't feel any outrage myself"
I do. At Sandy Morrison's comments. Science should never bend or sway to offence.
todays vaccination rates are good reading.
60,000 second dosers – 1.5% of eligible population
20,000 first doses – 0.5% of eligible population, that is a significant lift from last weeks trends
Yes I think reality has hit and complacency has ended. If soon younger children can have a one third dose, we may have a really good shield Then we must aid our Pacific Neighbours to widen cover.
its seems some countries have only recently started vaccinating 12 to 15 year olds, some still to approve under 17 or 18.The likes of Chile and Cuba are now vaccinating under 12. Whether it's one reduced dose of a vaccine or2 reduced doses for under 12, either will go a long way to helping limit covid circulating.
What the actual fuck??!!??
Our government are enjoying getting all of us bent over and reamed by Rio Tinto, so they're trying to extend that reaming beyond 2024?
That's quite the fkn insult to all of us, coming on top of their planned removal of the low user fixed daily charge, which is going to massively boost electricity bills for those of us that have made the effort to be conservation and emissions-reduction minded and use less electricity.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/126621768/aluminium-smelter-may-not-close-in-2024-briefing-prepared-for-ardern-shows
I'm getting tired and angry about this government failing to harden up and show some spine and stand up to those shitting on the vast majority of us, such as big multinationals, and those among us that refuse to vaccinate. I guess they find it easier to shit on us instead.
fucking call their Bluff [giggle] and charge them through the nose once they've cleaned up their shit.
Thing is, people are now seriously thinking about replacements for it. Diversity in employers, the opportunities of the port and the electricity supply.
You sit under the Sword of Damocles long enough, you start planning for what to do if it falls, and some of those options begin to look better than the thing hanging over your head all the time.
If Minister Woods wanted to do something useful about the electricity market, she could always put the hard word on Meridian to decrease its market share by selling Manapouri … for which Rio Tinto would I am sure be very interested buyer. Then Rio Tinto can figure out an appropriate margin for itself.
However, any more really large un/employment questions the government doesn't have to answer right now, is TBH a good thing.
We are in economic shock as it is.
Ad the National grid needed upgrading to transmit the amount of power manapouri produces so it makes sense to keep Tiwai going in the meantime.
That grid upgrade is well underway and scheduled to be complete long before 2024. So Meridian will be able to sell that Manapouri power to the rest of the country for a much better price than the guesstimated 3.5cents per kWhr they're just about giving it away to Rio Tinto at.
Just in case you need the reminder, you're probably paying between 25 and 35 cents per kWhr for your power.
Is there some model showing that it would be cheaper across the country if we got access to all that generation?
With our barely-regulated system, I suspect that even if there was, the errant official would be taken out and spaded into the ground together with their report.
I haven't seen any such modelling.
Wild-ass guess, I suspect what would happen is most of the time it would indeed be cheaper. But Genesis would likely find some way to keep Huntly ready to pounce whenever there were HVDC link or other grid issues to send the spot price spiking, so on net annual averages it would work out about the same.
I don't believe any cost savings would be passed on. They would just justify it to the EA through their AMP, and it would be very hard to prove otherwise.
Remember Max Bradford.
Andre fact check winter of 2023 before the upgrade is finished. Not what your claiming.
Transpower run those lines. That has little impact on the price Genesis sells its Tiwai Point power for.
But agree. It took 10 years for the Tiwai Point deal to get the go-ahead and more to get the industry going.
No-one's even shaking the tin for a big on-site replacement. It's just concepts.
Yah, jobs hostages.
The gift to Rio Tinto that Rio Tinto keeps squeezing and squeezing and squeezing. A couple more rounds of this and we'll be paying Rio Tinto to take the power, instead of them still paying a derisory token amount like they do now.
We're all subsidised up the wazoo, and looks like we will be for a while.
Government don't appear to have any economic development strategy at all.
"I'm getting tired and angry about this government".
So, what are you going to do about it? You are going to mutter and moan but then, come the election you are going to vote for them again aren't you?
Why should they care what you say? It's what you do on election day that matters and they have you there. Meanwhile they will probably do exactly what they did before the last election. Promise that they won't give a subsidy in their public statements while promising to provide one in their secret correspondence with Rio Tinto.
Remember this story?
https://www.odt.co.nz/business/documents-reveal-government-offered-pay-millions-rio-tinto
As an alternative I suppose you could come to your senses and vote for someone like ACT. They might do exactly what you moan about, and which Labour are going to do anyway, but at least they won't lie about the subject and they will be a great deal more efficient about it than the current lot of drones in the Beehive.
ACT!
” but at least they won’t lie about the subject and they will be a great deal more efficient about it than the current lot of drones in the Beehive.”
ACT supporters. Always good for a laugh.
Maybe it’s the 5G nano particles?
Or. Did I miss a sarc. tag?
"Or. Did I miss a sarc. tag?"
I'm afraid that what you, like most worshippers at the temple of St Jacinda, missed was getting any reasonable quota of brains when they were dished out. Shame for you but they can't provide top up arrangements on those.
Stop making me spray my coffee all over the computer.
I'm sure I can rely on you to supply regular reminders of what an act of monumental moronism it would be to vote for ACT.
Others that aren’t regular readers of your offerings might not be so lucky, however.
Te Pati Māori haven't had a misstep yet. I think I'd rather my vote went that way than to libertarian gun nuts.
BG @19
I agree. 😉
After a great deal of serious consideration I will go along with your judgement Anne.
I also agree.
I tried to bring this out by holding a candle under the missing writing as we used to do as children when secret writing in lemon juice. . After doing this and reading the now visible invisible writing I also agree.
My laptop is burnt though…why did this happen?
This is the best comment yet.
Waste Water testing for traces of Covid.
I wonder what percentage of non-urbanised communities have their own septic tanks rather than being connected to a mains sewer system. Just a thought.
Lots.
Tuesday, 28 July 2020, 2:54 pm
Press Release: Water New Zealand
[…]
Water New Zealand CEO, Gillian Blythe says this is a major health risk and shows the need for better septic tank monitoring and risk assessment.
“There are around 270,000 private onsite wastewater management systems and septic tanks throughout the country servicing about 20 percent of the population.”
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU2007/S00458/flood-prone-septic-tanks-pose-significant-health-risks.htm