To all the residents of Nelson, and all the brave people fighting the fires, we are thinking of you as you begin another day.
If you live there and participate in the Standard, special thoughts of “Keep safe Keep well.”
Aren’t we glad in Nelson that there are still community-minded volunteers willing to turn out to help the governance and work to keep our community going!
If left to PPP, or contracted out to private enterprise completely, we wouldn’t get the commitment and the systematic organisation; money and profit would get in the way. In the old days before fire insurance and community involvement, individual businesses would have their own coverage for fire, the other buildings nearby were left to burn down. Community is all in life, at the base of it.
Collingwood, small and isolated has had its share and the history of its fires date from early colonial times. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NHSJ06_06-t1-body1-d6.html
Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 6, Issue 6, 2008
Collingwood Fires, 1857 to 2004 authored by Penny Griffith
This was one of the worst: 4 1904: November 7 (Monday)
Fire started in a loft above Stallard’s bakery while the bakers were having supper next door after putting bread in the oven; the alarm was raised at 12.45 am. In very windy (westerly) conditions the fire spread rapidly; buildings were evacuated and people (‘for the most part half clad’) ran into the street, but the fire spread across the road. Cold lashing rain followed but it was calm and fine by 6 am. The fire was so bright it could be seen from Bainham, and it was claimed a newspaper could be read at Kaituna.
No evidence was found to prove how the fire originated but the ‘carelessness’ of Collingwood residents was referred to, ‘as there seems no doubt that a small and regular supply of water would have put the fire out when it first originated’.
All 21 buildings on both sides of Tasman St were destroyed, together with hens. Everything in fire-proof safes was turned to cinders, and gold melted into blobs [see, for example, the postmaster’s watch now in the Collingwood Museum]. The piano from the Public Hall was saved, plus some stock. Because the Post Office was destroyed, news initially had to be sent from Parapara, but by early afternoon a temporary telegraph office had been set up at the Courthouse. The Golden Bay Argus printery was destroyed but the Takaka newspaper office was used (the first issue being delayed by only 12 hours) until the printery was rebuilt and in operation again for the issue of 8 December. John McKinna (73) [spelt as ‘McKenna’ in Nelson papers] died from a heart attack in the afternoon after helping to fight the fire.
Was thinking most kiwis are earthquake and housefire ready etc. A big information campaign about being forest fire ready, how to prevent fires in summer etc would be massively beneficial.
Can only hope the good folk of Nelson and the Tasman area remain safe and well throughout their present predicament, which hopefully will come to an end soon.
Just a suggestion, but it might be a good idea if you gave some proof of what you are accusing me of, so that people can judge for themselves the verity of your accusation. (A smart alec unrelated gif doesen’t count).
Just in case; Tulsi Gabbard met with Assad. Her trip was funded by a fascist group. Assad commits genocide. These are all facts that you can try and disprove if you like. Be my guest.
So what? She has no doubt met with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as well.
Her trip was funded by a fascist group.
U.S. “lawmakers”—and NZ ones as well—are frequently funded by fascist groups to tour Israel. Why do we not see you jumping up and down about that?
Assad commits genocide.
Really? Your argument for this about as rigorous as your insistence yesterday that Bill was a supporter of Assad. I note that assertion collapsed as soon as I challenged it, and you downgraded your accusation to the just as inflammatory charge that he was an “apologist.” You also charged me with the same offence.
Simply ridiculous, Jenny. Your mad accusations carry about as much weight as a Gosman post.
Are you interested in stoushes Morrissey rather than saving this bit of the planet, and its small civil society from growing degradation? Are you Irish Mr Breen? Is it true that Irish are aggressive and like a good punch-up? I would like to be enlightened on these matters if you will.
I think that if you look over this writer’s oeuvre, Mr Shark, you will see that he (i.e., moi) is very opposed to “stoushes”, AKA, unlawful interventions, AKA wars of aggression. I feel nothing but contempt for the people who shout for others to go to war.
Thank you Morrissey for that reply. You like to approach matters in a novel way at times, and I wondered if you were Irish. Often the English seem rather sour and dour, which perhaps explains something of our NZ temperament (and Brexit muddle perhaps). If you don’t want to say for some reason fine.
Sorry, Shark, I wasn’t avoiding your question, I simply forgot to add that, yes, I am indeed Irish. And I must confess that, yes, I do occasionally enjoy a “stoush”, AKA a “barney”, AKA a troid, AKA a “dust-up.”
But that’s just online. I do not support sending other young men and women to kill people in Syria or Afghanistan or Iraq or Venezuela or anywhere else. And I think there’s a special place in Hell for the people who do advocate those things.
Couldn’t help being curious. I’ve got an Irish bloke in my family and I have noticed he is very definite about things, which is better than being like soggy tissue for sure.
And I agree let’s go back to different ways of managing sovereignty and limiting barbarism. Perhaps baring our teeth at one another, desperate singing contests, swearing and punching and wrestling extravaganzas, If there is war, though person to person combat can result in large casualties, you get to be buried in identifiable pieces.
Today you can be blown into smithereens, which sound quite little bits, by something from overhead that you can’t fight or avoid, or it drops chemicals that gas everyone and/or… Just seen Peter Jackson’s WW1 They Shall Never Grow Old. It seems however that war remains forever young and fresh in country’s minds and the young men get sent off to be the pawns.
You see, James has the answer. They don’t have to say anything, he knows they are wrong. Hell he’s clever! Oh, and rational and mature and far-sighted and flexible, and …
Well, political parties have this thing called policy and they like to share it at opportune times so people are reminded of what they are about. There is no need for the Greens to do this currently re CC, everybody knows they are creating a Climate Commission.
And it is great the Nact are reminding people how negligent they are on this issue given how CC IS the news at the mo.
What is this “Climate Commission” going to do?
Spend the next 20 years holding a conversation?
Oh well, I suppose such a group may provide taxpayer paid jobs for their otherwise unemployable members.
Perhaps they will stick Turei onto it.
In that case I reckon you do often observe failure in others and especially in politicians. Failure, it’s everywhere around us because so many fall short of the mark because they aim too high …
Is shit useless when you tell the country there is no housing crisis or being shit useless is when you believe it? Or is it something complicated like there being a housing crisis and you don’t recognise it?
Yes tywford was shit useless at shutting down the bogus meth testing wasn’t he.
James I will tell you what shit useless is. National sitting on their arses for 9 years while the house issues in 2008 became a roaring crisis. And you people come on here and have the Gaul to criticise tywford.
Go away and read up on what happened under National in terms of housing
This one is getting really boring, can you not find something else to moan about? You are starting to look like Ed dumping this in so often at the start of Open Mike.
Jenny etc
Those words from solkta should be absorbed. You are sounding like Ed. It’s getting that you are Chicken Little yelling that The Sky is Falling. Can you try to concentrate on NZ and present us with the facts of your concerns because you care and we should know about them. That would be good. Just make them
as short as possible. And there are plenty of people having a go at the furriners and their doings.
Little NZ gets pushed and pulled by overseas doings, how we manage is our first concern surely. We have a chance of patching the boat and keeping afloat if we look after home affairs, while keeping a weather eye out for storms.
Shipping analogy! I see us as the Dingy Dinghy, but it’s my dingy dinghy, and yours. Let’s keep it seaworthy. LoL
I think it is a reasonable question. The Greens are virtually invisible. Why?
When they have been given so many opportunities to answer their detractors and raise their public profile?
Just as James (who hates the Greens), realises, the Greens silence and public invisibility will ensure their dipping below 5%.
Personally I disagree with James that if the Greens spoke up “it would hurt their polls even more”. Instead it is their silence is that is condemning. Not their message, which is just not being put out there. Meanwhile Todd Muller takes every opportunity to put National’s position.
P.S. (As for being first up on the Open Mike, Open Mike usually opens at 7am my comment appeared at 8.05, hardly first up).
But is it every day you wake with a worried frown. and release it over the blog?
Do you ever feel happy – it’s important to relax occasionally? Do you have a cat or dog I wonder? None of my business of course, but they do seem to provide solace for many.
If the question I raised disturbs you, maybe you should try answering it, instead of casting nasturtiums as to the state of my mental health.
And yes I do have cats, and lots of other animals in my care, all who worship me as some sort of benevolent dictator. One of them has just now climbed into an empty brown paper shopping bag just to amuse me. As I look at it’s cute little face peering out at me, I think of you.
Thanks Jenny tghat’s a kind thought. And the point I am making though you apparently resent it, is that we need to have more kind thoughts in our lives, and pass those on to others. And we need to have positivism not constant negativism; a balance so we can keep our spirits up and mix with others the same, going forward! If we want a chance to have a life that we enjoy that is. Because it could vanish into vicious dictatorship and loss of freedom, albeit with a smooth, smiling face.
Someone gave a link to Chinese moves, to be in by next year, of joining everyone up with an app or something and the populace will get points for behaving correctly according to the dicta from the authorities. And those who don’t get the required points, things will be withdrawn from their life.
Hi Grey I can’t imagine how you see that I am being negative. I am putting up an inspiring positive vision of the way forward, I am calling for leadership, I am providing positive examples, ie Cortez, of the sort of inspiring and positive outspoken leadership that I am calling for the Greens to provide.
And I am positive that they are capable of it.
As for kind thoughts, I have lots of them. For the Greens, for our Prime Minister. I want them to be the very best they can be. The science demands it.
There is nothing negative about my vision.
‘Grandma, what did you do about climate change when you were Prime Minister?’
‘Hello Darling, what a great question’
Way back in 2019, when the Green Party, in response to the climate emergency, banned all internal flights for the their MPs on principle, and as a leading example of the way forward.
As the then leader of the Labour Party and the country, to prevent our parliamentary ally, the Green Party, becoming isolated, or put at a disadvantage compared to the climate change denying parties and MPs. I immediately responded, by supporting a Green Party Bill to extend this ban to all government and opposition MPs. (As part of this package, I also supported our other government ally New Zealand First to begin double tracking the rail connection to Northland).
This became a leading example to the world, and was the beginning of the world wide switch away from commercial aviation, towards surface travel that you see today.
I also supported legislation to move the subsidy for free air travel, into supplying all MPs with the latest video and IT suites, to put them more in touch with their constituents and each other.
Happy birthday darling, I hope you like the mini-AI electric train set I bought you.
I’m sympathetic to your stance, actually. I did criticise it when you applied it to James, but I agree there’s no real reason Marama or any of the others ought to keep quiet.
If I was advising the Green caucus, I’d suggest they brainstorm the looming necessity of positioning themselves for the next election, and as part of that give themselves a mandate for aspirational policy signalling.
They could even discuss who ought to lead that, if putting the onus on Marama is asking too much. Gareth is the only one who has publicly self-identified as leftist. As a centrist I have no problem with him performing such a leadership role. He did stand for the leadership. I expect he could do it on that informal basis. It would probably be prudent for him to run each speech by them before he holds a press conference.
That’s a method likely to work okay in respect of what you feel is missing. Herding is making them into coalition conformists. They can do that still, while repositioning as described. It’s a walk & chew gum simultaneously type of challenge. Multi-tasking.
Obviously the Green Caucus discuss strategy on an ongoing basis. I don’t think it is any secret that Gareth is the Caucus strategist. As for delivering press conferences, obviously these need to be done by the MP who holds the portfolio concerned.
Merely conforming to a prescription induces the herding she is complaining about. Protocols only get you so far. There’s also a time for improvising, and they need to factor that in.
Applying the precautionary principle. Perception that they are allowing themselves to get boxed in by MMP constraints increases the danger of dropping below the threshold. Being imaginative, and enterprising, will impress voters more and build support.
Gareth making press releases beyond his portfolios would simply confuse voters. The whole point is to push forward the person who is actually handling the issue.
One thing that I’m not sure anyone has looked at is how many voters are (for want of a better term) Green “reservists” like me – I prefer Labour, but believe both are essential to be in parliament. So if the Greens look dicey like last time, I’ll vote Green (like last time).
Not to mention how many Greens are staunch – frankly I think they can guarantee 5% unless they suddenly abandon all Green principles. And the Blue-Green wet dream won’t cut it for those guys – we’re talking snails over industry territory.
I was greatly encouraged by the PM’s partial ban on new off shore oil and gas exploration. In my opinion it should have been a ban on all new off shore oil and gas exploration. Still, it was a step in the right direction. This is an example of the sort of positive inspiring lead I am talking about. It captured the world’s imagination. We need more of it.
@28:32 minutes
….. We announced last year, that if we are to be honest with ourselves about our future, we need to transition away from oil and gas and fossil fuels, so we have ceased to offer any more permits for oil and gas exploration in New Zealand, off shore. That was a significant move
Piss off Jenny. That is not the “PM’s partial ban on new off shore oil and gas exploration” but rather a Green Party initiative that from my understanding was hard fought for. You are being slimy to say that you are not being negative towards the Greens while attributing their successes to Labour.
There is only one poll that matters and that is the election. At that time the Greens will be judged on how they have delivered policy objectives. Foremost will be the Carbon Act and the cannabis referendum (and hopefully act).
The fact that Todd Muller has especially targeted Gen. Zero in his public attack, signals to me that the National Party has no intention of honouring any Zero Carbon legislation.
Todd Muller’s repeated demand that New Zealand must not take a lead on climate change, shows that National will do everything in their power to undermine and sabotage this piece of legislation.
Todd Muller’s lack of good faith over the Zero Carbon legislation needs to be answered.
I mean, when is enough, enough?
As well as attacking Gen Zero, and attacking the government “for being blinded by Green ideology”
Conservative politicians have also lashed out at Greenpeace over exposing illegal fishing.
Again not a murmur from the Green Party in response.
The Green Party are burning up their political capital like there is no tomorrow, all so as not to offend the National Party in attempt to get the National Party to sign up to the Zero Carbon Bill.
I have read the proposed Bill* one of the main paragraphs reads in part, “We can get most of the way there using solutions that are already available. Getting there will involve moving towards 100% renewable electricity….” This is something that Todd Muller says National are against, claiming it is too expensive.
“…..with electricity production already at 85 per cent renewable. We can continue to increase this, but as we approach 100 per cent renewable electricity, the last few per cent become very expensive and don’t deliver significant emissions reductions.”
Todd Muller, National Party climate change spokesperson
Getting to 100% renewable would be a milestone achievement, and a leading example to the world, Muller’s quibbles that the last little bit would be to expensive to be worth it, ignores the importance of giving a global lead, which of course is fully in line with National’s anti-leadership ‘Fast Follower’ strategy.
When are these knuckle draggers going to be challenged and exposed?
If Gen Zero thought they were going to get away with a straight out attack on Todd Muller, they should go back to school and do some learning.
They got what they were asking for.
Shaw and the Greens have no choice but to keep their heads down until his bill gets into parliament again. Because unless he keeps Todd Muller and National on side, he is going to get fucked over clause by clause in Cabinet by NZF on the only bill he cares about.
Because unless he keeps Todd Muller and National on side, he is going to get fucked over clause by clause in Cabinet by NZF on the only bill he cares about.
I’m sorry, but I find this sentence ambiguous. Is he going to get fucked over by NZF and therefore needs National’s votes? Why would National not fuck him over, as well? Regardless, does this mean we all are going to get fucked over, euphemistically speaking? Oh boy, it sounds like the Roman orgy in Caligula.
A good question if you are a small animal figuring out how not to die underneath an elephant.
But the answer is:
Because just as National did with the anti-smacking bill in the last gasp of the Clark government, National get to take all the political credit for rescuing the government. Labour and the Greens spend massive amounts of political capital, leading into election year, and National look like the heroes of climate change to middle New Zealand and to their base.
Todd Muller is a fucking tool who is simply handing more ammunition to everyone who thinks he’s a tool.
Why on earth would the Greens get in a stoush with him now? They’re not going to change his mind, and anyone they do persuade will have forgotten by next November. And the more the fool keeps talking, the more any “blue-green” party looks like a shill if they’ll go into government with him.
The Greens know how to campaign, and better than most parties in parliament.
The Greens are active and out & about doing their things. People who are genuinely interested will know and pay attention. People who are less interested in the Greens may be happy to rely on the distorted ‘messaging’ by MSM. Less is more, right now.
Barely dragged over the line at the last election, its worst result at the polls since 2005 ironically gave it the best result it’s had in being part of a government.
There are Green Ministers! And Ministers in areas that are green bread and butter issues: Minister of Climate Change for co-leader James Shaw, Minister of Conservation and Associate Minister of Environment for Eugenie Sage, and Associate Minister of Transport for Julie Anne Genter.
All of these portfolios should have seen the Green Party thrive and constantly be in the spotlight for making great, positive, green change. Instead it’s gone missing…..
David Cormack
Just my point, the Green Party has gone missing. And their disappearance from public life is reflected in their poll results.
Politics is a public affair it is conducted publicly. Todd Muller seems to have taken this mantra to heart with his public attacks on the government and the Green Party and Gen Zero. accusing them of being “blinded by Green Ideology”.
You would have thought that Muller’s public attacks would have been the perfect opportunity for either of the Green Party leaders to deliver a devastating riposte.
As school kids march all around the world for their governments to do something about climate change, the Green Party seems to have made little effort to emulate it here…..
David Cormack
We live in an age when politicians must become activists and activists must become politicians must become activists.
Why didn’t the Green Party show some solidarity to Greenpeace and Gen Zero when they were under attack?
……if the media didn’t want to report on the Very Serious issues that the Green Party talked Very Seriously about then that wasn’t the Green Party’s fault. That was the media’s fault for not taking those Very Serious issues Seriously enough……
David Cormack
The Green Party can’t blame the media this time, because the Green Party haven’t given the media anything to go on.
And then along came Vernon Tava.
He ran for co-leader when Russel Norman stood down and his one platform was that the Green Party should be open to working with National.
Rightfully dismissed, he’s cropped up again as a possible leader of a “blue-green” party. One that is environmentally friendly but would be open to working with National. Vernon doesn’t seem to have a lot of tricks.
This ridiculous idea got a huge amount of coverage and was the perfect opportunity for the Green Party to leap into the conversation. To reassert themselves as the environmental party of New Zealand.
David Cormack
I have mentioned the attack on Greenpeace, I have mentioned the attack on the Government and Gen Zero. Both opportunities for the Green Party to “reassert themselves as the environmental party of New Zealand”. I had forgot to mention this, but yeah. What on earth? Again, why are the Green Party so silent?
Why are the Green Party so absolutely missing from public life?
You are concerned at length about the Greens. Why not write what you have on here first direct to both of the Leaders of the Green Party. Give them something direct under their noses to send a form reply then ignore, or not Jenny…
Instead you are chipping away at them as the Coalition tries to advance in hostile territory where citizens have to be encouraged to make moves that should have been started 20 years ago. You aren’t helping the Greens or the Coalition in government by bad mouthing them so much.
I have written, emailed, texted, phoned, facebook messaged, Green MPs, with zero response. I and other climate activists have requested appointments for discussions with them. It is like sending messages into an empty void.
I have even tried to button hole them at public events, I have traveled across the region to attend such meetings. Questions from the floor are disallowed at stage managed public events.. I have stood patiently with lots of other people in queues to meet with them at the end of the same public meetings only to have time to trade brief pleasantries, before they have to move onto the next person.
And now you say I shouldn’t voice my concerns in this forum either?
It is my honest opinion that the Green Party are headed for electoral oblivion if they don’t break out of their self appointed public silence, on the matters of the day, especially when they or their allies are being attacked. People will think that they have no answers when the Nats publicly attack them and they keep their silence.
I see the meteoric rise of Alexandria Cortez, who never backs down from a fight, and I wonder why we can’t have leaders like that here?
All I can say Ad. It had better be a doozy. If it is not and is just more vague and distant targets, but no agreed action in the here and now. I don’t think it will rescue the Greens.
Go Assange. His greatest problem is that for a while he was a media darling.
“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” is a slogan for today.
The leaders of the world have gone mad under the affects of desiring ever more money and power, so they have turned into sub-Gods. People who disagree are maddened enough to stand against them, giving the sub-Gods the unchallengeable right to destroy them.
And the media raised Assange in public eyes which can for a while strongly idolise someone, then turn around with opposite strong emotions and censure them.
Gilbert & Sullivan illustrates the problem of the exploiter of information or the truth-teller –
A Disagreeable Man, I Can’t Think Why https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql13RNb9OGI
Assange problem started when he became a darling of the left wing, then released more information showing left wing politicians to be as fallible as right wing politicians.
It hurts when someone proves your heroes are as bad as your enemies
[TS: Your comments are being held in moderation until you acknowledge the mod note on your previous contribution here. TRP]
Ah tuppence biscuit, I thought you got away with your comments yesterday & it seemed like the moderator’s threats were nary but a wet bus ticket. But no, TS is appearing to be a little more Putin like with its treatment of you.
Thanks for the news re Swiss support for the narcissist. I’ve been critical of his character defects and reluctance to transcend them, but as an authentic whistleblower I still feel he deserves support.
If they take the load off Ecuador, it will be a good move and I expect it will enhance their global reputation as supporters of natural justice. I hope they succeed in negotiating the transfer. If May refuses to allow it, she will destroy her credibility as a political leader.
Dennis, if you’re searching for a casual descriptor of Julian Assange, “the narcissist” is hardly appropriate. I accept he seems to be narcissistic, but that applies to virtually anyone in the public eye to some degree or other.
Rogue killer regimes in London and Washington are seeking to destroy Assange not because he’s a narcissist, but because he’s a truth-teller.
It’s because of his behaviour. The spoilt-brat syndrome he exhibits so readily. His lack of empathy re inconsiderate attitude to his hosts. Lack of empathy usually signifies narcissism. Telling the truth ought to be a discipline applied to oneself, not merely state misbehaviour. He hasn’t matured sufficiently to become a responsible individual…
Media coverage of what he has said and done in the past couple of years. Alienating his hosts was so unwise it can only have been due to his inability to see things from their point of view. Gratitude for their moral stand on his behalf ought to have been factored in to his view of the situation. Lack of it made it obvious he was being selfish.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903) “Maxims for Revolutionists”
Irish dramatist & socialist (1856 – 1950)
🤩 Could be, eh? Judged by the progress he does actually manage to produce, perhaps. More likely if he grows up a little and develops a better attitude. Adversity brings out character in some folks.
20 minutes and they never mentioned sexual assault once.
And if the Aussies worked hard (won’t happen) and got the UK to ignore the bail-jumping (highly unlikely), why would he need a consular escort to the airport?
I watched the first third of it, don’t have time for more. The arse-licker syndrome, normally prevalent among rightists. He correctly identifies Labour as equally part of the problem, so it makes leftists into fore-lock tuggers performing ritual obeisance to the Americans.
Yeah, I know. Sword of Damocles suspended over her. Will it drop? The EU head has served her mixed messages in recent days. No renegotiation, then possible renegotiation today. Because, if they do reach a compromise, it could save her. She could soldier on, regardless of lowered credibility.
Even if the EU renegotiate, they’re not suddenly going to roll over.
She’s already shat the bed so badly that nobody wants the job. Compared with Brexit, the concomitant Irish border issue, austerity, and everything else, whether Assange changes self-imposed prison under her watch would not even amount to a footnote.
To the British, yes. To folks expecting any political leader to honour a whistle-blower, acting on the basis of public service, it would be terminally discrediting. Even politicians who are conservative ought to balance their desire to serve the elites against a moral duty to serve the public. Can’t discount that necessity.
Labour is (on the face of it) returning to
its basic roots with the well being agenda.
However by meeting with business and farming they are also
adding more substance to the rebuild and broadening appeal
and making it harder for National to label Labour as flaky.
Sound economically + fairer tax system. Responsible immigration.
Compassionate socially eg housing, education, women, Maori.
Keeping the Green ,Women, Young and Maori vote
as independent allies is also very smart.
Just need to work on the Grey vote a bit more.
Labour needs to broaden its media face by not relying on JA.
Steve Joyce was John Keys shield for years.
Jones and Peters do good work but are Mavericks.
Satchi and Satchi would identify and choreograph the suitable lieutenants.
Advantage Labour?.
That mention of Saatchi and Saatchi – does Labour have guidance from the likes of them? Labour has what to balance Cosby Textor? They need to do better than Phil Quin, Josie Pagani, Mike Williams et al. A professional body – do they have one, can they afford one? Can they afford not to?
When you’ve got a PM who’s that good to camera, and who personally made up “Let’s Do This”, the guidance is less necessary. I can’t recall a better political communicator other than Bill Clinton.
Well, so much for Kiwibuild providing housing for people who couldn’t otherwise get a first home. https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110468062/six-wanaka-kiwibuild-houses-on-open-market
Six houses that were built under the Twitford banner that nobody wanted to buy. Now they are being dumped onto the open market. They are too expensive apparently. Why am I not surprised.
I wonder how much he cost to the Country has been so far, and whether they have managed to blow through the whole $2 billion dollars yet?
Why has Twyford still got a position in Cabinet? Is there no display of ineptitude that is sufficient to get sacked by our current lot of idiots in the Government?
You’re correct, that’s how it looks on paper. The increased supply of housing will trickle down and the large profits for the lucky ones already on the property ladder will trickle up. It’s a win-win!
One fly in the ointment could be that the better-off will not release their house on the property market but rent it out or advertise on Airbnb. In fact, that could be a perverse outcome of CGT unless it’s accompanied with a raft of other measures to discourage less helpful kinds of behaviour.
You merely display your ignorance with comments such as this. If you bothered to read the article it quite clearly states:
But now six finished properties are listed for sale. Although buyers will not have to go through a ballot to purchase them, they still must meet KiwiBuild purchase criteria.
But you didn’t read the article, you silly little fellow.
If you did you might, just might, have seen that your comments merely spew forth from a morass of ignorance.
What on earth have you been drinking, smoking or injecting you stupid schmuck?
For further information I would suggest you reference a single statement I have made that could possibly lend any credence to your stupid remark.
Indeed I will wager you cannot find a single statement I have made in todays post on Venezuela.
If I never commented on the subject how does your silly little brain come to any conclusion at all on my views on Venezuela?
Oh that’s right you can’t so you just spew forth your fantasies.
What a dick you are.
People who had never bothered to register for Kiwibuild and now get a chance to buy because no one who registered wanted, or could afford the properties.
What evidence do you think will ever be produced to demonstrate that anyone who does buy one of these places will actually have qualified? Why do I think the Government will refuse to prove they were eligible and that they will say that the privacy of the purchaser is more important than the integrity of the scheme?
What are the chances that the actual purchase price is ever released and that the taxpayer won’t lose a lot of money from the deal?
Why do you seem to consider you should trust the ill conceived scheme promoted by Phool Twyford?
His record certainly doesn’t inspire any confidence does it?
I would suggest that leaving Twyford in these jobs for three terms would destroy both housing and transport.
Luckily I can’t see it happening. He is such a fool that I think Winston will sack him by later in this year. He is the most incompetent Minister in any senior role I have ever seen.
When both Winston First and the Red-Green parties vanish at the next election it won’t matter of course.
I really thought that it was time for a change after 3 terms. National were tired, as all 3 term Governments are. Unfortunately I was right in thinking that the current coalition troika were incapable of forming a competent Government. I only hope that National can come up with a proper competent and fresh team after only one term in Opposition. God knows they will have a lot of cleaning up to do from the activities of loose cannons like Phool..
“destroy both housing and transport”… “Winston will sack him”… “troika were incapable of forming a competent government”… The more snipes and turds you sprinkle through your comments, the more desperate you look.
As for most incompetent minister in any senior position you’ve seen, you do realise that two ministers and an associate minister signed off on Novopay.
Well that at least has given me a good laugh.
You call the total collapse of this Government major policy activity as being in some way comparable to the temporary difficulties with a payroll system for teachers?
The problems with Novopay were of course cured when the last Government took them seriously and put Stephen Joyce in charge of fixing the problem. This he did.
I thought about how I would consider Novopay and Kiwibuild in terms of a comparison with accidents at sea.
Novopay is rather like spilling a full cup of coffee over yourself when travelling on the Cook Strait ferry.
Uncomfortable at the time and a nuisance until you can get at your luggage and change your clothes.
The complete shambles that is Kiwibuild is best compared to the sinking of the Wahine back in 1968. A complete disaster.
A third example would be the mess that is the Census of 12 months ago. That is about like finding that your car on the vehicle deck was smashed into by a truck and is a write-off. It needn’t have been as bad if, shortly after the Census was held, the Government and the Department, had accepted that getting any valid results out of the exercise was impossible and decided to have another Census in 2021 in what would have been the traditional year (ending in 1). They didn’t of course. The Government Statistician and the Minister simply buried their heads in the sand and pretended that everything was just peachy.
Meanwhile we have McFlock saying that Twyford just needs a little more time. What a funny fellow he is.
Thousands of people went underpaid, not paid, and some overpaid for months, missing rent and mortgage payments and having to take out loans. It took Mr Don’t-fix-it over a year to sort out after two ministers signed off without thinking about the words “mission critical”.
And you call that a spilled cup of coffee.
And not building enough houses in the first year is a sign of the most incompetent minister you have ever seen.
Albert Finney, Brit actor has died 82. He was five times Oscar nominee and earlier from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His last film role came in 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, in which he played the irascible gamekeeper Kincaid.
A life-long fan of Manchester United, he declined a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000. “I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery,” he said at the time.
He was also reluctant to discuss his craft. “My job is acting, and that is why I hate interviews or lectures, explaining myself to an audience,” he once said.
Finney was married three times and had one child with his first wife, the actress Jane Wenham.
He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, after which he largely disappeared from public view.
I just looked at a trailer and I don’t think it would the film enabled today. Somehow the funding would dry up or something. It would be inappropriate.
Too much echoing real life happenings.
Yes the nobility is already in the person. Knighthoods are good for a laugh though. I like the Monty Python skit of the Knight Who Never Gives Up.
And in French taunting the castle guard scorns the silly k-nites.
It was being modified for people with disabilities.
It’s a really long process to decide what changes need to be made, get funding, draw up the plans, get quotes, get more funding, get a builder to do it (all bespoke work depending on the disability) etc.
I know someone who has done it once and is about to do it again and she envisioned a 12 month to 18 month time frame.
“I know someone who has done it once and is about to do it again and she envisioned a 12 month to 18 month time frame.”
If that is the case best to leave the job to someone who knows what they are doing.
I have done a few of these jobs for HNZ in the past. They already have plumbers, builders, sparkies etc. Pretty standard stuff. ramps, hand rails, level entry shower,
They vary depending on the house and the clients disability. Nothing difficult about it. Two or three weeks and job done.
Stop being disingenuous, James. Of course this situation does not signal that the housing crisis is over.
First the article says that disability renovations to that house have taken 20 months – which takes the original decisions etc to do so back to about May 2017 ie. in the National Govt era. 20 months does seem to be a long time when it appears that the house already has a lot of disability features, but it does not surprise me given the current state of the building industry.
However, what bemuses me about that article is here is the local Mayor saying he is looking for a home for a family whose current Council-owned house is being put up for sale by his own Council because they no longer want to provide social housing to anyone other than pensioners.
It would appear that the family may qualify for Housing NZ accommodation. If so and the house meets their needs in accord with Housing NZ criteria, why doesn’t the Council offer the Council-owned house to Housing NZ at a reasonable market rate agreed on the basis of market prices for similar house sales and/or say three market price assessments. This would then allow the family to stay in the house they have been living in without incurring moving costs, upheaval etc probably requiring financial assistance from the govt via WINZ etc. Just saying.
Whoever organised a state house to be empty for that long should be given a Knighthood or Damehood for the unique achievement and a Prime Minister’s award for creativity.Such has never happened before.
Then some officials in all sorts of departments should be sacked for not breaking rules and protocols and customary health and safety things and just going ahead and putting a new family in there the day after it was vacated.
Not only did they deny a family a home, they denied fuckwits the opportunity to attack the government for breaking rules and protocols and customary health and safety things by putting a family in it improperly and in less than perfect circumstances.
Anyway, on thinking about it calmly, it probably happened because the Housing NZ people on the Kapiti Coast are still coming to and are slow to process the new mindset after the years of brainwashing: THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS, THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS, THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS …
Nah, he’s not ripping into him, he’s calling him out. I was expecting something more substantial but it’s the usual clickbait by lazy uncreative MSM waiting for snappy little tweets to ‘inspire’ their snappy little headlines.
True to a degree and certainly perception is all important. I actually think that until JLR is back in Parliament (expected there this week) it will be hard to gauge the situation. Did you read JLR’s interview by mental health blogger, Hadley Robinson-Lewis on The Daily Blog last week? Worth the few minutes it takes IMO.
in terms of Bridges keeping quiet, I have my doubts he will be able to sustain that, especially if the leaks from his caucus continue which could be likely. Check out this Newshub report on the Nat gathering in Hamilton on Thurs/Friday. Two carefully worded mentions that indicate they had leaks from a caucus source as to what went on in the closed sessions.
China in direct talks with U.S. army, new sanctions on way
RNZ, 9 February 2019
China is holding direct communications with members of the U.S. military urging them to abandon President Donald Trump and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior Beijing official said.
The Xi Jinping administration expects further military defections from Trump’s side, the official told Xinhua in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Nancy Pelosi declared herself interim president last month, backed by China and dozens of other countries.
“We believe these to be those first couple pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill,” the official said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’re still having conversations with members of the former Trump regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited.”
The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the U.S. fascist leader’s support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power.
With the U.S. military still loyal to Trump, a source in Beijing close to the opposition expressed doubts whether the Xi Jinping administration had laid enough groundwork to spur a wider mutiny in the ranks.
“It depends on what they’re offering,” Hua Chunying, vice president of the Council of the Bo’ao Forum think tank in Beijing, said.
“Are there incentives built into these contacts that will at least cause people to question their loyalty to the regime?” ….
What’s democracy got to do with Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, Pence, and Abrams? This is all about brute power, and demonstrating who’s boss. In motivation and even in modus operandi (terrorizing vassals and little guys into silence or complicity*) it’s little different from a Mafia boss enforcing his will.
They were here to start a culture war, and Charlie Kirk was looking forward to the backlash.
“There will be retaliation, there will be protest,” the 25-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing student organisation with close links to Donald Trump, said in London recently as he described plans for an assault on British university campuses. “You will see that it takes individuals to go straight into the fire to start a movement.”
But already some of the Tory activists Kirk recruited to launch Turning Point in the UK are having second thoughts about its war on “cultural marxism”, according to several people familiar with their internal discussions. Within days of the launch, one of the “influencers” tapped to front the campaign has distanced himself from the group, BuzzFeed News has learned.
“There was a sense of people realising, ‘Who are these cranks?’” one source said.
“These 26 people are so hard-working that each one of them achieves about 146 million times more per day than a person from the lazier parts of the world”
“First, the cameras on boats. The coalition government has completely iced the project. The decision will be delayed till August. This isn’t just a matter of letting things slip – they actually had to unpick existing regulations to make it happen. We’ve just learnt the fishing industry wrote Nash a letter totally opposing cameras in July last year, while hypocritically running TV ads with the memorable line “we have nothing to hide“. Nash’s current line is that he won’t implement the cameras without the “buy-in” of the fishing industry.”
Re the other guy: “he gets campaign money from Talley’s, one of the biggest players in the business. He received ten thousand dollars from the company towards his election campaign.”
“Jones strongly rejects any impropriety in his links with Talley’s, but it’s worth remembering this is also the fishing company that MPI found to be unlawfully under-reporting the weight of their cartons in the hoki fishery and hence under-reporting their catch. This MPI compliance investigation never saw the light of day until Greenpeace leaked it. Predictably Talley’s were not prosecuted because, as MPI’s head of compliance said, “we know from experience that prosecution will achieve behavioural change for maybe four or five years at best.” So they had a quiet chat instead and buried the report.”
“we know from experience that prosecution will achieve behavioural change for maybe four or five years at best.”
That’s like excusing crimes from being prosecuted and paid for with some sort of recompense because it is known that there is recidivism, so ‘What’s the use’ let ’em lie. Trouble is they know we are stupid and con’t care about having good government, and so they don’t feel shy about telling us that we can shut up and get stuffed, when they brazenly admit what they are doing. The right wing attitude that we receive from the RWNJs here, ‘You can fuss, but we have the power, and you are just irritating twerps to be put in their place’.
Another type of flow battery that looks interesting.
It uses a liquid electrolyte solution and a solid sacrificial anode. You fill up with charged electrolyte (and drain your discharged electrolyte) every 500km or so, and get a new anode every 5000km or so. The discharged electrolyte goes back to a solar or wind farm to be recharged (or could be done at the fillup station with a grunty enough grid connection).
Just noticed from the front page photo accompanying the Venezuela piece that our very own Slimin’ Bridges appears to be following the tie-length example set by the short-fingered vulgarian.
Here is further evidence of the consequences of under regulation in the accomodation market.
Putting “hotel guests” in the middle of people’s ordinary lives can cause major disruption.
I do know that some airbnb guests in apartment blocks are asked to lie to residents by saying they are relatives of or house-sitters for the owner. This isn’t secure and it isn’t fair to the residents of apartment blocks with airbnb set up in them.
Great to see the Pride March well attended and on their own terms rather than being further highjacked by corporate PR departments and the Police wishing to promote themselves.
Kia ora R&R The Crown owes Tangata Whenua ART it inclueds Te reo waiata haka carving that is needed to keep our great culture pumping .
They suppressed Tangata Whenua Art for decades.
One just has to check old footage of VIP being welcomed to Powhiri to Aotearoa I just checked out BOb Marleys Poehiri the quality in those days is not as good as today
I BACK the Idear that we NEED to record our Kaumatua knowledge no one is doing that I have heard of at the minute that needs to stepped up.
There is a big surge in the demand for Tangata Whenua Art in the motu and Papatuanuku not just Aotearoa Art all indigenous cultures art is getting a great increase in demand .indigenous cultures respect wild life and our enviroment mother earth more that the west do and we are seeing the mess that is being made of our wildlife and Papatuanuku because of the lack of respect for others
Ka kite ano
We have to forget about the oil barrons distraction’s trump brexit and others and all work together to battle CLIMATE CHANGE everything else will / is irrelevant if we go past the tipping POINT.
The world is in the middle of what is likely to be the warmest 10 years since records began in 1850, says the Met Office.
Will the forecast temperature rises bust the Paris climate agreement?
The Met Office says that 2015 was the first year in which the global annual average surface temperature reached 1C above the pre-industrial level, which is generally taken to mean the temperatures between 1850 and 1900.
Each year since then, the global average has hovered close to or above the 1C mark. Now, the Met Office says that trend is likely to continue or increase over the next five years.
“We’ve just made this year’s forecasts and they go out to 2023 and what they suggest is rapid warming globally,” Prof Adam Scaife, head of long term forecasting at the Met Office, told BBC News.
“By looking at individual years in that forecast we can now see for the first time, there is a risk of a temporary, and I repeat temporary, exceedance of the all-important 1.5C threshold level set out in the Paris climate agreement.”
Last October, UN scientists published a special report on the long-term impacts of a temperature rise of 1.5C.
They concluded that it would take a massive carbon cutting effort to keep the world from tipping over the limit by 2030. The Met Office analysis now says there’s a 10 percent chance of this happening within the next five years.
“It’s the first time the forecasts have shown a significant risk of exceedance – it is only temporary. We are talking about individual years fluctuating above the 1.5 degree level,” said Prof Scaife.
“But the fact that that can happen now due to a combination of general warming and the fluctuations due to things like El Niño events in the next few years does mean we are getting close to that threshold.”
How confident is the Met Office of its prediction?
The Met Office says it has a 90 percent confidence limit in the forecasts for the years ahead.
It says that from 2019 to 2023, we will see temperatures ranging from 1.03C to 1,57C above the 1850-1900 level, with enhanced warming over much of the globe, especially over areas like the Arctic.
The research team says it is pretty certain in its predictions because of its past experience. The team’s previous forecast, made in 2013, predicted the rapid rate of warming that’s been observed over the past five years. It even predicted some of the lesser known details such as the patch of cooling seen in the North Atlantic and the cooler spots in the Southern Ocean.
If the observations over the next five years match the forecasts, then the decade between 2014 and 2023 will be the warmest in more than 150 years of records.
Ka kite ano links below P.S Some neanderthal lie and say its just summer YEA RIGHT.
Kia ora R&R Eco Maori says one is a Kiwi so long as you show respect for people and our enviroment Kiwis those that don’t want to be called a Kiwi don’t get IT .
There you go paul henry disrespecting a fellow kiwi .
United we are strong devided we are weak Kiwi unites the good people of Aotearoa who want and give respect fellow Kiwis in my views
I do beleve Matariki should be celerbrated yes Matariki was delibreately suppressed to stop Matariki giving Maori Mana,
There are chovernistic raciest people in all cultures and Maori is no different .
Ka kite ano
I see this new tech for refrigerator and air conditioning in 2016 scientific mag this story is from 2016 we need to invest in efficencys as this is the low hanging fruit on OUR Worlds journey to becoming Carbon neutral some people dont want effiencys as there profits will fall.
Innovative refrigerator developed using multistage sound wave engine
Shinya Hasegawa and colleagues at Tokai University have developed a refrigerator (107 C) powered only by waste heat that generated sound waves in an innovative multistage traveling wave thermoacoustic engine. The refrigerator produced the gas oscillations and refrigeration at a temperature lower than the boiling point of water and achieved a minimum cold temperature of -107.4 C when the hot temperature was 270 C. The findings are published in the journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, November 2016.
The operation of thermoacoustic (TA) engines is based on the heating, cooling and oscillation of acoustic (sound) waves created by the thermal expansion and contraction of gases such as helium enclosed dedicated cavities. The potential of TA engines for generating clean and renewable energy was demonstrated in seminal reports published in the late 1990s and early 2000s by researchers in the USA. Notably, these reports into the modern implementations of TA engines have led to increased worldwide research on the development of high efficiency TA engines to convert heat into useful power.
Two of the main hurdles to the proliferation of this technology are (1) high efficiency systems operable at less than 300 C as compared to the 400 to 600 C range at the moment; and (2) robust design so that the systems could be used in a wide range of environments such as fishing boats and heavy industries.
Hasegawa and colleagues have designed a high efficiency multistage-type thermoacoustic (MS-TA) engine, without moving parts, that operates at less than 300 C; the temperature of more than 80% of industrial waste heat. The design of the MS-TA engine was based on finite element numerical analysis conducted by Hasegawa and his group.
Background and aims
“TA engines do not have moving parts, are easy to maintain, potentially high efficiency, and low cost,” says Shinya Hasegawa, an associate professor at the Department of Prime Mover Engineering, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan. “My goals in this research are to develop TA engines that operates at less than 300 C with more that 30% efficiency, and also to demonstrate a refrigerator operating at -200 C at these low temperatures.”
This sound waves techology that can be used for fridges sounds interesting. Any tech people who know enough to comment on how viable it is and whether we could use it for lower carbon footprint etc.?
We have to stop buying prouducts that use Palm oil that is produced unsestainable.
We have to stop putting money before the welbeing of our wildlife we are the guardians of MotherEarth & her creatures some people are exployting this all for $$$$$$$$$$$$$ humans are linked to the wildlife .
The main threat to the survival of orangutan populations in the wild is the massive expansion of palm oil plantations in Borneo and Sumatra.
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world, having even surpassed soya in terms of usage. Surging global demand for palm oil has fueled massive forest destruction throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, countries that together account for 85% of the world’s palm oil production. Palm oil is ubiquitous! Half the packaged food (and other) products found on supermarket shelves now contain palm oil. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are found in all manner of baked goods, such as cookies, bread, and potato chips, as well as in chocolate and milk (where it adds Vitamin A). Palm oil has also replaced coconut as the main cooking oil traditionally used in Indonesia as well as replacing peanut oil in Myanmar. Palm oil is also extensively used in cosmetics and toiletries where it adds creaminess and/or foam to the product. Palm oil is an important ingredient in the manufacturing of soaps, shampoos, detergents, and toothpaste. Increasingly, palm oil is used as a biofuel.
Oil palms only grow in the tropics and need much water. Originally native to South America and West Africa, palm oil plantations have now spread throughout the wet tropics to Papua New Guinea, parts of Asia, Kenya, and also back to countries in West Africa and South America where the palms are native. The problem with palm oil is that vast areas of virgin tropical rain forest are clear cut to open up land for cultivation. Palm oil is a huge industry. Palm oil accounts for 11% of Indonesia’s export earnings and is the most valuable agricultural export. Overall, it is Indonesia’s third largest export earner.
The recent expansion of vast monocrop oil palm plantations in Asia, the Neotropics, and Africa threatens large areas of tropical rain forests. The two most affected countries in this expansion are Indonesia and Malaysia, home of the imperiled orangutans. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicated in 2007 that oil palm plantations are the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia. Another study by Princeton and a Swiss institution reported that between 1990 and 2005, up to 60% of palm oil expansion occurred at the expense of primary tropical rain forest. The establishment of palm oil plantations has been a disaster not only for endangered wildlife such as orangutans and tigers (in Sumatra) but has also exacerbated conflict with local communities in Indonesia over traditional land rights. Local people have been evicted from their customary land holdings and local communities impoverished, leading to much conflict with palm oil concession companies. Ka kite ano links below
Kia ora Newshub looks like everyone is having a good time at the Big Gay Out in Auckland today. Te twerker.
Our Australian cousins are getting a bad run from Mother Nature there pollies in power are still deniers.
Its a good day for sports in Waikato today Ka pai
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The AM Show The Chinese Terracotta army is a great view of Chinas long history.
People have to start making choices that include the risk to animals as well as humans when choice are being made the wild fires and flooding forests being cleared choice being made for money over the best choices to save animals and wild life .
Jason I do think it’s a joke that the Australian Army cannot fly stock food in to Townsville to feed the animals that are effected by the floods the roads are stuffed so fodder can’t be trucked in.
What about companies selling alcohol that does more damage to society than most others Substances and its sold in supermarkets go figure.
Rude you made that Wahine feel uncomfortable respect for all is a lesson you need to learn why did the other Mayor not get interview.
Mark I was going to comment on the 10 questions competition I chose not to comment on it.
Internet tech is a dubble edged sword it has its good and bad points it all about have good knowledge on the tech and a ballance. Ain’t nothing wrong with Rugby it’s a game every one can play Ka kite ano.
Putting solar panels on our drinking water reservoir and lakes is cool the solar panels stay cool in summer and prouduce up to 20 more power dosen’t use expencive land slows the growth of alge that is caused by our farms leaching urea it our water a lot of positives get the big tick copying this move.
Putting Solar Panels on Water Is a Great Idea—but Will It Float?
The U.S. has been slow to embrace the technology, even though Japan and China are zooming ahead
Winemaker Greg Allen had a problem. As president of Far Niente Winery in Napa Valley, California, he had done the math on how much land the vineyard could possibly dedicate to solar panels, to offset energy costs. The figure—about two acres—“really hurt,” Allen says. So he compromised: Far Niente completed an array of 2,296 solar panels, 994 of which float on pontoons tethered to the bottom of the winery’s pond. The installation was the world’s first nonexperimental floating solar array.
That was in 2008. Since then floating photovoltaics have proliferated in Asia—yet not so much in the U.S. Japan has more than 60 installations, the most of any country in the world. China, a bourgeoning giant in renewable energy, claims the world’s largest array. That facility, which went online in 2017, floats atop an artificial lake created from a collapsed coal mine near the city of Huainan. The 166,000 panels can produce some 40 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 15,000 homes. A {{2018 World Bank report estimated the global potential for floating solar arrays on artificial water surfaces would exceed 400 gigawatts.}}}
But floating installations also offer several advantages over land-based arrays: Most obvious is they do not take up valuable parcels that could be used for agriculture or development. The technology can be easier to install than land-based or roof-mounted systems; once assembled, crews float them into place and anchor them. The arrays can improve the environment as well; blocking sunlight from penetrating the water can reduce evaporation and inhibit algae blooms. (It is not yet clear how the arrays might affect fish, birds or other wildlife.) And because solar cells become less efficient as they heat up, the water’s cooling effect can{{ increase their conversion ability by as much as 20 percent.}}
Given the benefits, the sluggish pace of adoption in the U.S.—which had just 14 installations at the end of 2018—can be puzzling. Teresa Barnes, who manages the photovoltaic reliability group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says the availability of open land could be one factor. Yet lack of land has often been a driver at the
small number of U.S. sites. That was the case for the Kelseyville County Waterworks District in California, which installed a 720-panel array on its wastewater treatment pond in 2018. Good payback is another incentive; the district anticipates it will recoup installation costs within eight years of operation. Links below ka kite ano
Kia ora Newshub the polls give me hope that we will be able to combat climate changes Ka pai
I seen that scientists review on our insects collapseing they are treasure that we need yes the pesticides that the big companies flog to us lieing that the chemicals have no negative effect on on human and the wildlife YEA RIGHT Organic farming will save our insects and awa rivers and Environment. NZ big companies best start to invest in organic farming products or risk going BROKE.
Times are changing for the better in Aotearoa society Ka pai
Its not on that people import workers and rip them off hope the offenders gets what they deserve.
The Sir Edmund Hillary trust does a good deed with the youth Kayaking and his grandson kayaking trip in Antarctic. Ka kite ano
The Crowd goes Wild sorry Guys I have chosen not to comment on our sports stars as unusual phenomenon happens ECO MAORI enjoys the show heaps Kia kaha Ka kite ano
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Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
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To all the residents of Nelson, and all the brave people fighting the fires, we are thinking of you as you begin another day.
If you live there and participate in the Standard, special thoughts of “Keep safe Keep well.”
+ 1 yep
Aren’t we glad in Nelson that there are still community-minded volunteers willing to turn out to help the governance and work to keep our community going!
If left to PPP, or contracted out to private enterprise completely, we wouldn’t get the commitment and the systematic organisation; money and profit would get in the way. In the old days before fire insurance and community involvement, individual businesses would have their own coverage for fire, the other buildings nearby were left to burn down. Community is all in life, at the base of it.
Collingwood, small and isolated has had its share and the history of its fires date from early colonial times.
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NHSJ06_06-t1-body1-d6.html
Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 6, Issue 6, 2008
Collingwood Fires, 1857 to 2004 authored by Penny Griffith
This was one of the worst:
4 1904: November 7 (Monday)
Fire started in a loft above Stallard’s bakery while the bakers were having supper next door after putting bread in the oven; the alarm was raised at 12.45 am. In very windy (westerly) conditions the fire spread rapidly; buildings were evacuated and people (‘for the most part half clad’) ran into the street, but the fire spread across the road. Cold lashing rain followed but it was calm and fine by 6 am. The fire was so bright it could be seen from Bainham, and it was claimed a newspaper could be read at Kaituna.
No evidence was found to prove how the fire originated but the ‘carelessness’ of Collingwood residents was referred to, ‘as there seems no doubt that a small and regular supply of water would have put the fire out when it first originated’.
All 21 buildings on both sides of Tasman St were destroyed, together with hens. Everything in fire-proof safes was turned to cinders, and gold melted into blobs [see, for example, the postmaster’s watch now in the Collingwood Museum]. The piano from the Public Hall was saved, plus some stock. Because the Post Office was destroyed, news initially had to be sent from Parapara, but by early afternoon a temporary telegraph office had been set up at the Courthouse. The Golden Bay Argus printery was destroyed but the Takaka newspaper office was used (the first issue being delayed by only 12 hours) until the printery was rebuilt and in operation again for the issue of 8 December. John McKinna (73) [spelt as ‘McKenna’ in Nelson papers] died from a heart attack in the afternoon after helping to fight the fire.
+! Patricia
Everyone is working so hard doing what they can, emergency crews etc have been phenomenal.
Perhaps the crows have something to teach us about planning.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/382102/crows-solve-tricky-problem-by-planning-ahead-study-finds
That was a very cool link Grey.
Was thinking most kiwis are earthquake and housefire ready etc. A big information campaign about being forest fire ready, how to prevent fires in summer etc would be massively beneficial.
Thumbs up to that statement Patricia (1).
Can only hope the good folk of Nelson and the Tasman area remain safe and well throughout their present predicament, which hopefully will come to an end soon.
Todd Muller has launched two public attacks on the environmental movement and the government over the past month.
Why have the Greens been silent, with not even a squeak?
Why are the Greens so invisible, when this invisibility is hurting them in the polls?
Because when they talk it hurts them in the polls even more.
I’m looking forward to seeing them under 5%
You wish.
The example of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shows it pays to speak up and fight your corner.
With even the slightest tweet of criticism of her from the Republicans, Cortez hits back, lifting her profile into the stratosphere.
The Green Party’s silence in inexplicable.
Ha! Pretending to support AOC on the one hand, slandering Tulsi Gabbard on the other.
https://i0.wp.com/bobcesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/cant-tell-if-serious.jpg
Hi Morrissey.
Just a suggestion, but it might be a good idea if you gave some proof of what you are accusing me of, so that people can judge for themselves the verity of your accusation. (A smart alec unrelated gif doesen’t count).
Just in case; Tulsi Gabbard met with Assad. Her trip was funded by a fascist group. Assad commits genocide. These are all facts that you can try and disprove if you like. Be my guest.
Tulsi Gabbard met with Assad.
So what? She has no doubt met with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as well.
Her trip was funded by a fascist group.
U.S. “lawmakers”—and NZ ones as well—are frequently funded by fascist groups to tour Israel. Why do we not see you jumping up and down about that?
Assad commits genocide.
Really? Your argument for this about as rigorous as your insistence yesterday that Bill was a supporter of Assad. I note that assertion collapsed as soon as I challenged it, and you downgraded your accusation to the just as inflammatory charge that he was an “apologist.” You also charged me with the same offence.
Simply ridiculous, Jenny. Your mad accusations carry about as much weight as a Gosman post.
Are you interested in stoushes Morrissey rather than saving this bit of the planet, and its small civil society from growing degradation? Are you Irish Mr Breen? Is it true that Irish are aggressive and like a good punch-up? I would like to be enlightened on these matters if you will.
I think that if you look over this writer’s oeuvre, Mr Shark, you will see that he (i.e., moi) is very opposed to “stoushes”, AKA, unlawful interventions, AKA wars of aggression. I feel nothing but contempt for the people who shout for others to go to war.
Thank you Morrissey for that reply. You like to approach matters in a novel way at times, and I wondered if you were Irish. Often the English seem rather sour and dour, which perhaps explains something of our NZ temperament (and Brexit muddle perhaps). If you don’t want to say for some reason fine.
Sorry, Shark, I wasn’t avoiding your question, I simply forgot to add that, yes, I am indeed Irish. And I must confess that, yes, I do occasionally enjoy a “stoush”, AKA a “barney”, AKA a troid, AKA a “dust-up.”
But that’s just online. I do not support sending other young men and women to kill people in Syria or Afghanistan or Iraq or Venezuela or anywhere else. And I think there’s a special place in Hell for the people who do advocate those things.
Couldn’t help being curious. I’ve got an Irish bloke in my family and I have noticed he is very definite about things, which is better than being like soggy tissue for sure.
And I agree let’s go back to different ways of managing sovereignty and limiting barbarism. Perhaps baring our teeth at one another, desperate singing contests, swearing and punching and wrestling extravaganzas, If there is war, though person to person combat can result in large casualties, you get to be buried in identifiable pieces.
Today you can be blown into smithereens, which sound quite little bits, by something from overhead that you can’t fight or avoid, or it drops chemicals that gas everyone and/or… Just seen Peter Jackson’s WW1 They Shall Never Grow Old. It seems however that war remains forever young and fresh in country’s minds and the young men get sent off to be the pawns.
You see, James has the answer. They don’t have to say anything, he knows they are wrong. Hell he’s clever! Oh, and rational and mature and far-sighted and flexible, and …
I didn’t say they were wrong. I just inferred they lost more votes talking than being quite.
Last thing I can remember them doing was reclaiming the word cunt.
They are useless
Did you mean ‘implied’ when you wrote ‘inferred’?
Some might infer bitterness from you that they reclaimed the word cunt and you want it back. And some might conclude it never left.
Dream on troll…they have a solid 7-8 per cent base
And yet the poll lower than that. Must be losing it huh?
Well, political parties have this thing called policy and they like to share it at opportune times so people are reminded of what they are about. There is no need for the Greens to do this currently re CC, everybody knows they are creating a Climate Commission.
And it is great the Nact are reminding people how negligent they are on this issue given how CC IS the news at the mo.
What is this “Climate Commission” going to do?
Spend the next 20 years holding a conversation?
Oh well, I suppose such a group may provide taxpayer paid jobs for their otherwise unemployable members.
Perhaps they will stick Turei onto it.
I pick it will be less successful than kiwi build
Of course, you would, but it depends on how you define “success”, doesn’t it?
Actually delivering what they say they will.
In that case I reckon you do often observe failure in others and especially in politicians. Failure, it’s everywhere around us because so many fall short of the mark because they aim too high …
And others are just shit at their jobs. Twyford would be an amazing example of shit useless.
Is shit useless when you tell the country there is no housing crisis or being shit useless is when you believe it? Or is it something complicated like there being a housing crisis and you don’t recognise it?
Shit useless is whoever taught James to read and write.🤣
I believe he’s a home-schooled autodidact.
Lol. A product of the UK, apparently.
Yes tywford was shit useless at shutting down the bogus meth testing wasn’t he.
James I will tell you what shit useless is. National sitting on their arses for 9 years while the house issues in 2008 became a roaring crisis. And you people come on here and have the Gaul to criticise tywford.
Go away and read up on what happened under National in terms of housing
James; you’re such a wet blanket. Or soggy tissue. Can’t decide which is the best descriptor.
Sticky tissue?
Ffs kiwi build is a 10 year programme. It is ridiculous to judge it so soon.
I remind people how the building of the Sydney opera house unfolded…..how the architect was slated etc. it is of course an absolute master piece
Better than ignoring the issue, supressing debate or piling on the Greenwash that we had for the last 9 years
ps
This one is getting really boring, can you not find something else to moan about? You are starting to look like Ed dumping this in so often at the start of Open Mike.
Jenny etc
Those words from solkta should be absorbed. You are sounding like Ed. It’s getting that you are Chicken Little yelling that The Sky is Falling. Can you try to concentrate on NZ and present us with the facts of your concerns because you care and we should know about them. That would be good. Just make them
as short as possible. And there are plenty of people having a go at the furriners and their doings.
Little NZ gets pushed and pulled by overseas doings, how we manage is our first concern surely. We have a chance of patching the boat and keeping afloat if we look after home affairs, while keeping a weather eye out for storms.
Shipping analogy! I see us as the Dingy Dinghy, but it’s my dingy dinghy, and yours. Let’s keep it seaworthy. LoL
I think it is a reasonable question. The Greens are virtually invisible. Why?
When they have been given so many opportunities to answer their detractors and raise their public profile?
Just as James (who hates the Greens), realises, the Greens silence and public invisibility will ensure their dipping below 5%.
Personally I disagree with James that if the Greens spoke up “it would hurt their polls even more”. Instead it is their silence is that is condemning. Not their message, which is just not being put out there. Meanwhile Todd Muller takes every opportunity to put National’s position.
P.S. (As for being first up on the Open Mike, Open Mike usually opens at 7am my comment appeared at 8.05, hardly first up).
But is it every day you wake with a worried frown. and release it over the blog?
Do you ever feel happy – it’s important to relax occasionally? Do you have a cat or dog I wonder? None of my business of course, but they do seem to provide solace for many.
The political becomes personal.
Really Grey?
If the question I raised disturbs you, maybe you should try answering it, instead of casting nasturtiums as to the state of my mental health.
And yes I do have cats, and lots of other animals in my care, all who worship me as some sort of benevolent dictator. One of them has just now climbed into an empty brown paper shopping bag just to amuse me. As I look at it’s cute little face peering out at me, I think of you.
Thanks Jenny tghat’s a kind thought. And the point I am making though you apparently resent it, is that we need to have more kind thoughts in our lives, and pass those on to others. And we need to have positivism not constant negativism; a balance so we can keep our spirits up and mix with others the same, going forward! If we want a chance to have a life that we enjoy that is. Because it could vanish into vicious dictatorship and loss of freedom, albeit with a smooth, smiling face.
Someone gave a link to Chinese moves, to be in by next year, of joining everyone up with an app or something and the populace will get points for behaving correctly according to the dicta from the authorities. And those who don’t get the required points, things will be withdrawn from their life.
Hi Grey I can’t imagine how you see that I am being negative. I am putting up an inspiring positive vision of the way forward, I am calling for leadership, I am providing positive examples, ie Cortez, of the sort of inspiring and positive outspoken leadership that I am calling for the Greens to provide.
And I am positive that they are capable of it.
As for kind thoughts, I have lots of them. For the Greens, for our Prime Minister. I want them to be the very best they can be. The science demands it.
There is nothing negative about my vision.
I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t think calling the Greens “invisible” isn’t negative. They’re politicians, not stealth bombers.
I’m sympathetic to your stance, actually. I did criticise it when you applied it to James, but I agree there’s no real reason Marama or any of the others ought to keep quiet.
If I was advising the Green caucus, I’d suggest they brainstorm the looming necessity of positioning themselves for the next election, and as part of that give themselves a mandate for aspirational policy signalling.
They could even discuss who ought to lead that, if putting the onus on Marama is asking too much. Gareth is the only one who has publicly self-identified as leftist. As a centrist I have no problem with him performing such a leadership role. He did stand for the leadership. I expect he could do it on that informal basis. It would probably be prudent for him to run each speech by them before he holds a press conference.
That’s a method likely to work okay in respect of what you feel is missing. Herding is making them into coalition conformists. They can do that still, while repositioning as described. It’s a walk & chew gum simultaneously type of challenge. Multi-tasking.
Obviously the Green Caucus discuss strategy on an ongoing basis. I don’t think it is any secret that Gareth is the Caucus strategist. As for delivering press conferences, obviously these need to be done by the MP who holds the portfolio concerned.
Merely conforming to a prescription induces the herding she is complaining about. Protocols only get you so far. There’s also a time for improvising, and they need to factor that in.
Applying the precautionary principle. Perception that they are allowing themselves to get boxed in by MMP constraints increases the danger of dropping below the threshold. Being imaginative, and enterprising, will impress voters more and build support.
Gareth making press releases beyond his portfolios would simply confuse voters. The whole point is to push forward the person who is actually handling the issue.
One thing that I’m not sure anyone has looked at is how many voters are (for want of a better term) Green “reservists” like me – I prefer Labour, but believe both are essential to be in parliament. So if the Greens look dicey like last time, I’ll vote Green (like last time).
Not to mention how many Greens are staunch – frankly I think they can guarantee 5% unless they suddenly abandon all Green principles. And the Blue-Green wet dream won’t cut it for those guys – we’re talking snails over industry territory.
Hi Grey,
I was greatly encouraged by the PM’s partial ban on new off shore oil and gas exploration. In my opinion it should have been a ban on all new off shore oil and gas exploration. Still, it was a step in the right direction. This is an example of the sort of positive inspiring lead I am talking about. It captured the world’s imagination. We need more of it.
@28:32 minutes
Piss off Jenny. That is not the “PM’s partial ban on new off shore oil and gas exploration” but rather a Green Party initiative that from my understanding was hard fought for. You are being slimy to say that you are not being negative towards the Greens while attributing their successes to Labour.
There is only one poll that matters and that is the election. At that time the Greens will be judged on how they have delivered policy objectives. Foremost will be the Carbon Act and the cannabis referendum (and hopefully act).
One of the targets of Todd Muller’s public attack has been Generation Zero.
James Shaw has said, that the Zero Carbon legislation is “directly the brainchild” of Generation Zero.
The fact that Todd Muller has especially targeted Gen. Zero in his public attack, signals to me that the National Party has no intention of honouring any Zero Carbon legislation.
Todd Muller’s repeated demand that New Zealand must not take a lead on climate change, shows that National will do everything in their power to undermine and sabotage this piece of legislation.
Todd Muller’s lack of good faith over the Zero Carbon legislation needs to be answered.
I mean, when is enough, enough?
As well as attacking Gen Zero, and attacking the government “for being blinded by Green ideology”
Conservative politicians have also lashed out at Greenpeace over exposing illegal fishing.
Again not a murmur from the Green Party in response.
The Green Party are burning up their political capital like there is no tomorrow, all so as not to offend the National Party in attempt to get the National Party to sign up to the Zero Carbon Bill.
I have read the proposed Bill* one of the main paragraphs reads in part, “We can get most of the way there using solutions that are already available. Getting there will involve moving towards 100% renewable electricity….” This is something that Todd Muller says National are against, claiming it is too expensive.
Getting to 100% renewable would be a milestone achievement, and a leading example to the world, Muller’s quibbles that the last little bit would be to expensive to be worth it, ignores the importance of giving a global lead, which of course is fully in line with National’s anti-leadership ‘Fast Follower’ strategy.
When are these knuckle draggers going to be challenged and exposed?
*https://zerocarbonact.nz/
If Gen Zero thought they were going to get away with a straight out attack on Todd Muller, they should go back to school and do some learning.
They got what they were asking for.
Shaw and the Greens have no choice but to keep their heads down until his bill gets into parliament again. Because unless he keeps Todd Muller and National on side, he is going to get fucked over clause by clause in Cabinet by NZF on the only bill he cares about.
I’m sorry, but I find this sentence ambiguous. Is he going to get fucked over by NZF and therefore needs National’s votes? Why would National not fuck him over, as well? Regardless, does this mean we all are going to get fucked over, euphemistically speaking? Oh boy, it sounds like the Roman orgy in Caligula.
“Why would National not fuck him over as well?”
A good question if you are a small animal figuring out how not to die underneath an elephant.
But the answer is:
Because just as National did with the anti-smacking bill in the last gasp of the Clark government, National get to take all the political credit for rescuing the government. Labour and the Greens spend massive amounts of political capital, leading into election year, and National look like the heroes of climate change to middle New Zealand and to their base.
Todd Muller is a fucking tool who is simply handing more ammunition to everyone who thinks he’s a tool.
Why on earth would the Greens get in a stoush with him now? They’re not going to change his mind, and anyone they do persuade will have forgotten by next November. And the more the fool keeps talking, the more any “blue-green” party looks like a shill if they’ll go into government with him.
The Greens know how to campaign, and better than most parties in parliament.
Jenny I get regular Green Party messages on fbook detailing policies…things they are doing
Hi Bearded Git, Could let us lay people know what the Green Party are doing.
https://www.facebook.com/nzgreenparty/
You seem to be on the same page as David Cormack: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200816
The Greens are active and out & about doing their things. People who are genuinely interested will know and pay attention. People who are less interested in the Greens may be happy to rely on the distorted ‘messaging’ by MSM. Less is more, right now.
Yes you are right. David Cormack seems to be referencing similar themes and more that I have mentioned here. Thanks for this Incog.
From the link supplied by Incognito
Just my point, the Green Party has gone missing. And their disappearance from public life is reflected in their poll results.
Politics is a public affair it is conducted publicly. Todd Muller seems to have taken this mantra to heart with his public attacks on the government and the Green Party and Gen Zero. accusing them of being “blinded by Green Ideology”.
You would have thought that Muller’s public attacks would have been the perfect opportunity for either of the Green Party leaders to deliver a devastating riposte.
We live in an age when politicians must become activists and activists must become politicians must become activists.
Why didn’t the Green Party show some solidarity to Greenpeace and Gen Zero when they were under attack?
The Green Party can’t blame the media this time, because the Green Party haven’t given the media anything to go on.
I have mentioned the attack on Greenpeace, I have mentioned the attack on the Government and Gen Zero. Both opportunities for the Green Party to “reassert themselves as the environmental party of New Zealand”. I had forgot to mention this, but yeah. What on earth? Again, why are the Green Party so silent?
Why are the Green Party so absolutely missing from public life?
Do they want to be irrelevant?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12200816
You are concerned at length about the Greens. Why not write what you have on here first direct to both of the Leaders of the Green Party. Give them something direct under their noses to send a form reply then ignore, or not Jenny…
Instead you are chipping away at them as the Coalition tries to advance in hostile territory where citizens have to be encouraged to make moves that should have been started 20 years ago. You aren’t helping the Greens or the Coalition in government by bad mouthing them so much.
I have written, emailed, texted, phoned, facebook messaged, Green MPs, with zero response. I and other climate activists have requested appointments for discussions with them. It is like sending messages into an empty void.
I have even tried to button hole them at public events, I have traveled across the region to attend such meetings. Questions from the floor are disallowed at stage managed public events.. I have stood patiently with lots of other people in queues to meet with them at the end of the same public meetings only to have time to trade brief pleasantries, before they have to move onto the next person.
And now you say I shouldn’t voice my concerns in this forum either?
It is my honest opinion that the Green Party are headed for electoral oblivion if they don’t break out of their self appointed public silence, on the matters of the day, especially when they or their allies are being attacked. People will think that they have no answers when the Nats publicly attack them and they keep their silence.
I see the meteoric rise of Alexandria Cortez, who never backs down from a fight, and I wonder why we can’t have leaders like that here?
Maybe the Greens like a little too much of the “herbal jazz cigarettes”. A good reason for their relaxed stance re answering questions.
You won’t see them back until they have something delivered into law in Parliament. And there’s only one bill of any note that’s theirs coming up.
Only once that is through will they be able to campaign.
All I can say Ad. It had better be a doozy. If it is not and is just more vague and distant targets, but no agreed action in the here and now. I don’t think it will rescue the Greens.
Maybe the Greens don’t want to be rescued.
Maybe Shaw’s got the more audacious goal in mind:
Cross Parliamentary agreement on climate change mitigation for New Zealand.
It may well come at the expense of the Green Party, but it may not.
I mean if they can survive nut jobs like Metiria Turei self-immolating 4 weeks out from election, maybe the Green base is still good for 5%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa8rSc2dung&ab_channel=thejuicemedia
They just following what our shitty little lap dog mp’s did years ago. Ahh Australia, so slow on nasty hard right ideological B.S.
Here’s at least one Aussie who shows some backbone
Former Aus. diplomat Tony Kevin and his plan to save Assange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjqsbyGGUIE
On that topic, news from Switzerland
https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/wikileaks_geneva-politicians-vote-to-propose-julian-assange-asylum/44740406
Strangely, not reported elsewhere as yet
Go Assange. His greatest problem is that for a while he was a media darling.
“Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad” is a slogan for today.
The leaders of the world have gone mad under the affects of desiring ever more money and power, so they have turned into sub-Gods. People who disagree are maddened enough to stand against them, giving the sub-Gods the unchallengeable right to destroy them.
And the media raised Assange in public eyes which can for a while strongly idolise someone, then turn around with opposite strong emotions and censure them.
Gilbert & Sullivan illustrates the problem of the exploiter of information or the truth-teller –
A Disagreeable Man, I Can’t Think Why
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql13RNb9OGI
and a parody on He is a very model of a modern major-general
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svCpEIRAkjM
Assange problem started when he became a darling of the left wing, then released more information showing left wing politicians to be as fallible as right wing politicians.
It hurts when someone proves your heroes are as bad as your enemies
[TS: Your comments are being held in moderation until you acknowledge the mod note on your previous contribution here. TRP]
Ah tuppence biscuit, I thought you got away with your comments yesterday & it seemed like the moderator’s threats were nary but a wet bus ticket. But no, TS is appearing to be a little more Putin like with its treatment of you.
Thanks for the news re Swiss support for the narcissist. I’ve been critical of his character defects and reluctance to transcend them, but as an authentic whistleblower I still feel he deserves support.
If they take the load off Ecuador, it will be a good move and I expect it will enhance their global reputation as supporters of natural justice. I hope they succeed in negotiating the transfer. If May refuses to allow it, she will destroy her credibility as a political leader.
Dennis, if you’re searching for a casual descriptor of Julian Assange, “the narcissist” is hardly appropriate. I accept he seems to be narcissistic, but that applies to virtually anyone in the public eye to some degree or other.
Rogue killer regimes in London and Washington are seeking to destroy Assange not because he’s a narcissist, but because he’s a truth-teller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rXPrfnU3G0&t=466s
It’s because of his behaviour. The spoilt-brat syndrome he exhibits so readily. His lack of empathy re inconsiderate attitude to his hosts. Lack of empathy usually signifies narcissism. Telling the truth ought to be a discipline applied to oneself, not merely state misbehaviour. He hasn’t matured sufficiently to become a responsible individual…
Fair comment, Dennis. But let’s face it, he’s a choirboy compared to the people trying to destroy him.
That is your opinion of him Dennis. What do you base this on?
Media coverage of what he has said and done in the past couple of years. Alienating his hosts was so unwise it can only have been due to his inability to see things from their point of view. Gratitude for their moral stand on his behalf ought to have been factored in to his view of the situation. Lack of it made it obvious he was being selfish.
Is he an example of the quote –
🤩 Could be, eh? Judged by the progress he does actually manage to produce, perhaps. More likely if he grows up a little and develops a better attitude. Adversity brings out character in some folks.
All interesting thinking. What did you think of the comments from past diplomat Kevin that Fransesca put up at 3.1.1. Seems a sound man in his views.
20 minutes and they never mentioned sexual assault once.
And if the Aussies worked hard (won’t happen) and got the UK to ignore the bail-jumping (highly unlikely), why would he need a consular escort to the airport?
I watched the first third of it, don’t have time for more. The arse-licker syndrome, normally prevalent among rightists. He correctly identifies Labour as equally part of the problem, so it makes leftists into fore-lock tuggers performing ritual obeisance to the Americans.
Brexit.
Yeah, I know. Sword of Damocles suspended over her. Will it drop? The EU head has served her mixed messages in recent days. No renegotiation, then possible renegotiation today. Because, if they do reach a compromise, it could save her. She could soldier on, regardless of lowered credibility.
Even if the EU renegotiate, they’re not suddenly going to roll over.
She’s already shat the bed so badly that nobody wants the job. Compared with Brexit, the concomitant Irish border issue, austerity, and everything else, whether Assange changes self-imposed prison under her watch would not even amount to a footnote.
To the British, yes. To folks expecting any political leader to honour a whistle-blower, acting on the basis of public service, it would be terminally discrediting. Even politicians who are conservative ought to balance their desire to serve the elites against a moral duty to serve the public. Can’t discount that necessity.
Labour is (on the face of it) returning to
its basic roots with the well being agenda.
However by meeting with business and farming they are also
adding more substance to the rebuild and broadening appeal
and making it harder for National to label Labour as flaky.
Sound economically + fairer tax system. Responsible immigration.
Compassionate socially eg housing, education, women, Maori.
Keeping the Green ,Women, Young and Maori vote
as independent allies is also very smart.
Just need to work on the Grey vote a bit more.
Labour needs to broaden its media face by not relying on JA.
Steve Joyce was John Keys shield for years.
Jones and Peters do good work but are Mavericks.
Satchi and Satchi would identify and choreograph the suitable lieutenants.
Advantage Labour?.
Rata’s in bloom. It’s going to be a mast year.
Not until budget 2019 lands well.
If it doesn’t land well in the public, Labour know they have simply pushed almost all the hard political work out to the 2020 election.
That mention of Saatchi and Saatchi – does Labour have guidance from the likes of them? Labour has what to balance Cosby Textor? They need to do better than Phil Quin, Josie Pagani, Mike Williams et al. A professional body – do they have one, can they afford one? Can they afford not to?
When you’ve got a PM who’s that good to camera, and who personally made up “Let’s Do This”, the guidance is less necessary. I can’t recall a better political communicator other than Bill Clinton.
Well, so much for Kiwibuild providing housing for people who couldn’t otherwise get a first home.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110468062/six-wanaka-kiwibuild-houses-on-open-market
Six houses that were built under the Twitford banner that nobody wanted to buy. Now they are being dumped onto the open market. They are too expensive apparently. Why am I not surprised.
I wonder how much he cost to the Country has been so far, and whether they have managed to blow through the whole $2 billion dollars yet?
Why has Twyford still got a position in Cabinet? Is there no display of ineptitude that is sufficient to get sacked by our current lot of idiots in the Government?
If more houses get built then more people have homes – it’s as simple as that.
The people who buy expensive homes release less expensive homes giving opportunity for people in a different price bracket.
Sounds an awful lot like trickle down housing supply to me 😉
You’re correct, that’s how it looks on paper. The increased supply of housing will trickle down and the large profits for the lucky ones already on the property ladder will trickle up. It’s a win-win!
One fly in the ointment could be that the better-off will not release their house on the property market but rent it out or advertise on Airbnb. In fact, that could be a perverse outcome of CGT unless it’s accompanied with a raft of other measures to discourage less helpful kinds of behaviour.
You merely display your ignorance with comments such as this. If you bothered to read the article it quite clearly states:
But you didn’t read the article, you silly little fellow.
If you did you might, just might, have seen that your comments merely spew forth from a morass of ignorance.
Alwyn is almighty concerned that Phil Twyford is going to Venezuelanise NZH. For further information, I refer to today’s other post on this topic.
What on earth have you been drinking, smoking or injecting you stupid schmuck?
For further information I would suggest you reference a single statement I have made that could possibly lend any credence to your stupid remark.
Indeed I will wager you cannot find a single statement I have made in todays post on Venezuela.
If I never commented on the subject how does your silly little brain come to any conclusion at all on my views on Venezuela?
Oh that’s right you can’t so you just spew forth your fantasies.
What a dick you are.
Are you morrie in disguise wally?
Apologies, Alwyn, I hope to get back to you tomorrow.
I did read it you little diesel soaked seagull.
People who had never bothered to register for Kiwibuild and now get a chance to buy because no one who registered wanted, or could afford the properties.
What evidence do you think will ever be produced to demonstrate that anyone who does buy one of these places will actually have qualified? Why do I think the Government will refuse to prove they were eligible and that they will say that the privacy of the purchaser is more important than the integrity of the scheme?
What are the chances that the actual purchase price is ever released and that the taxpayer won’t lose a lot of money from the deal?
Why do you seem to consider you should trust the ill conceived scheme promoted by Phool Twyford?
His record certainly doesn’t inspire any confidence does it?
Twyford needs three terms.
In both transport and housing.
In housing the institutions both public and private are taking too long to gear up.
In transport the institution is in a leadership-led cataclysm and it is crippling delivery in his key policies.
Both will now take years to fix.
I would suggest that leaving Twyford in these jobs for three terms would destroy both housing and transport.
Luckily I can’t see it happening. He is such a fool that I think Winston will sack him by later in this year. He is the most incompetent Minister in any senior role I have ever seen.
When both Winston First and the Red-Green parties vanish at the next election it won’t matter of course.
I really thought that it was time for a change after 3 terms. National were tired, as all 3 term Governments are. Unfortunately I was right in thinking that the current coalition troika were incapable of forming a competent Government. I only hope that National can come up with a proper competent and fresh team after only one term in Opposition. God knows they will have a lot of cleaning up to do from the activities of loose cannons like Phool..
“destroy both housing and transport”… “Winston will sack him”… “troika were incapable of forming a competent government”… The more snipes and turds you sprinkle through your comments, the more desperate you look.
As for most incompetent minister in any senior position you’ve seen, you do realise that two ministers and an associate minister signed off on Novopay.
Well that at least has given me a good laugh.
You call the total collapse of this Government major policy activity as being in some way comparable to the temporary difficulties with a payroll system for teachers?
The problems with Novopay were of course cured when the last Government took them seriously and put Stephen Joyce in charge of fixing the problem. This he did.
I thought about how I would consider Novopay and Kiwibuild in terms of a comparison with accidents at sea.
Novopay is rather like spilling a full cup of coffee over yourself when travelling on the Cook Strait ferry.
Uncomfortable at the time and a nuisance until you can get at your luggage and change your clothes.
The complete shambles that is Kiwibuild is best compared to the sinking of the Wahine back in 1968. A complete disaster.
A third example would be the mess that is the Census of 12 months ago. That is about like finding that your car on the vehicle deck was smashed into by a truck and is a write-off. It needn’t have been as bad if, shortly after the Census was held, the Government and the Department, had accepted that getting any valid results out of the exercise was impossible and decided to have another Census in 2021 in what would have been the traditional year (ending in 1). They didn’t of course. The Government Statistician and the Minister simply buried their heads in the sand and pretended that everything was just peachy.
Meanwhile we have McFlock saying that Twyford just needs a little more time. What a funny fellow he is.
Thousands of people went underpaid, not paid, and some overpaid for months, missing rent and mortgage payments and having to take out loans. It took Mr Don’t-fix-it over a year to sort out after two ministers signed off without thinking about the words “mission critical”.
And you call that a spilled cup of coffee.
And not building enough houses in the first year is a sign of the most incompetent minister you have ever seen.
Says it all, really.
Your mask has slipped, alwyn.
Normally restrained, tonight you are lashing out and indulging in conspiracy theories and name-calling.
Is it because you had your own words read back to you?
For reference, alwyn, this is the statement you made which you need to retract, and apologise to the forum for.
I await your fulsome and sincere apology.🤣
Albert Finney, Brit actor has died 82. He was five times Oscar nominee and earlier from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His last film role came in 2012 James Bond film Skyfall, in which he played the irascible gamekeeper Kincaid.
A life-long fan of Manchester United, he declined a CBE in 1980 and a knighthood in 2000.
“I think the Sir thing slightly perpetuates one of our diseases in England, which is snobbery,” he said at the time.
He was also reluctant to discuss his craft. “My job is acting, and that is why I hate interviews or lectures, explaining myself to an audience,” he once said.
Finney was married three times and had one child with his first wife, the actress Jane Wenham.
He was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2007, after which he largely disappeared from public view.
Finney also backed the epic fulm “If” an all time favourite of mine.
I just looked at a trailer and I don’t think it would the film enabled today. Somehow the funding would dry up or something. It would be inappropriate.
Too much echoing real life happenings.
Someone who turns down knighthoods is of noble character.
Yes the nobility is already in the person. Knighthoods are good for a laugh though. I like the Monty Python skit of the Knight Who Never Gives Up.
And in French taunting the castle guard scorns the silly k-nites.
The Knights who say “Ni!”.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/110418610/700000-state-home-on-kpiti-coast-sits-empty-for-20-months
Beautiful 700k family state house left empty.
I guess the homeless crisis is officially over then.
It was being modified for people with disabilities.
It’s a really long process to decide what changes need to be made, get funding, draw up the plans, get quotes, get more funding, get a builder to do it (all bespoke work depending on the disability) etc.
I know someone who has done it once and is about to do it again and she envisioned a 12 month to 18 month time frame.
Specific actual people or just in case?
“I know someone who has done it once and is about to do it again and she envisioned a 12 month to 18 month time frame.”
If that is the case best to leave the job to someone who knows what they are doing.
I have done a few of these jobs for HNZ in the past. They already have plumbers, builders, sparkies etc. Pretty standard stuff. ramps, hand rails, level entry shower,
They vary depending on the house and the clients disability. Nothing difficult about it. Two or three weeks and job done.
It is the palaver around the highly-rationed funding that slows things down. Paying a whole lot of people to say ‘no’.
Stop being disingenuous, James. Of course this situation does not signal that the housing crisis is over.
First the article says that disability renovations to that house have taken 20 months – which takes the original decisions etc to do so back to about May 2017 ie. in the National Govt era. 20 months does seem to be a long time when it appears that the house already has a lot of disability features, but it does not surprise me given the current state of the building industry.
However, what bemuses me about that article is here is the local Mayor saying he is looking for a home for a family whose current Council-owned house is being put up for sale by his own Council because they no longer want to provide social housing to anyone other than pensioners.
It would appear that the family may qualify for Housing NZ accommodation. If so and the house meets their needs in accord with Housing NZ criteria, why doesn’t the Council offer the Council-owned house to Housing NZ at a reasonable market rate agreed on the basis of market prices for similar house sales and/or say three market price assessments. This would then allow the family to stay in the house they have been living in without incurring moving costs, upheaval etc probably requiring financial assistance from the govt via WINZ etc. Just saying.
Whoever organised a state house to be empty for that long should be given a Knighthood or Damehood for the unique achievement and a Prime Minister’s award for creativity.Such has never happened before.
Then some officials in all sorts of departments should be sacked for not breaking rules and protocols and customary health and safety things and just going ahead and putting a new family in there the day after it was vacated.
Not only did they deny a family a home, they denied fuckwits the opportunity to attack the government for breaking rules and protocols and customary health and safety things by putting a family in it improperly and in less than perfect circumstances.
Anyway, on thinking about it calmly, it probably happened because the Housing NZ people on the Kapiti Coast are still coming to and are slow to process the new mindset after the years of brainwashing: THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS, THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS, THERE IS NO HOUSING CRISIS …
James…That comment is so stupid it should be worth a ban…arguments based on real facts please troll.
Jami-Lee Ross rips into Simon Bridges in mental health tweet.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/jami-lee-ross-rips-into-simon-bridges-in-mental-health-tweet.html
Nah, he’s not ripping into him, he’s calling him out. I was expecting something more substantial but it’s the usual clickbait by lazy uncreative MSM waiting for snappy little tweets to ‘inspire’ their snappy little headlines.
Yes it’s clickbait and the media love it. Ross will be the go-to guy for gossip on Simon.
I think JLR is losing the PR battle on this
Losing to who, and who has more to lose?
Losing to Bridges and this might actually help Bridges, in the long run
How?
The longer it goes on the more it looks like JLR is being vindictive especially if Bridges keeps quiet
Not saying that’s how the situation is but instead how it looks
Mind you I’ve occasionally (albeit extremely rarely) been wrong in the past before and I may well be wrong here
True to a degree and certainly perception is all important. I actually think that until JLR is back in Parliament (expected there this week) it will be hard to gauge the situation. Did you read JLR’s interview by mental health blogger, Hadley Robinson-Lewis on The Daily Blog last week? Worth the few minutes it takes IMO.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/02/04/exclusive-tdb-interview-with-jami-lee-ross/
in terms of Bridges keeping quiet, I have my doubts he will be able to sustain that, especially if the leaks from his caucus continue which could be likely. Check out this Newshub report on the Nat gathering in Hamilton on Thurs/Friday. Two carefully worded mentions that indicate they had leaks from a caucus source as to what went on in the closed sessions.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/02/national-discusses-sinking-winston-peters-vote-at-caucus-retreat.amp.html
Didn’t Weewoss reply to Slick’s dopey pronouncement puckers?
Something about ‘battles and wars’; something…
At least we know who has more to lose.
JLR is a gift to the Coalition that just keeps on giving.
Fireblade (8) … Parliament resumes next week. Could be an interesting year.
JLR might be about to fire off on all cylinders very soon. He seemed pretty sharp at responding to SB’s recent tweet re mental health!
Might not be such a smooth ride for Simon after all this term!
Have the popcorn ready.
One of the wealthiest men in the world with unlimited resources and a score to settle.
This should be fun.
https://twitter.com/KimZetter/status/1093725317535956992
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/08/did-national-enquirer-blackmail-amazons-jeff-bezos-protect-saudi-crown-prince
And I thought it was going to be about tax evasion. Disappointing.
Seems about right.
https://twitter.com/F24Debate/status/1093960768872161281
China in direct talks with U.S. army, new sanctions on way
RNZ, 9 February 2019
China is holding direct communications with members of the U.S. military urging them to abandon President Donald Trump and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior Beijing official said.
The Xi Jinping administration expects further military defections from Trump’s side, the official told Xinhua in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Nancy Pelosi declared herself interim president last month, backed by China and dozens of other countries.
“We believe these to be those first couple pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill,” the official said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’re still having conversations with members of the former Trump regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited.”
The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the U.S. fascist leader’s support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power.
With the U.S. military still loyal to Trump, a source in Beijing close to the opposition expressed doubts whether the Xi Jinping administration had laid enough groundwork to spur a wider mutiny in the ranks.
“It depends on what they’re offering,” Hua Chunying, vice president of the Council of the Bo’ao Forum think tank in Beijing, said.
“Are there incentives built into these contacts that will at least cause people to question their loyalty to the regime?” ….
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/382103/us-in-direct-talks-with-venezuelan-army-new-sanctions-on-way
Analogy doesn’t work.
Why not? Apart from the fact that it’s an insult to Venezuela to compare it to the U.S.
There’s a few.
China is close to the military equal of the United States.
China and the United States are negotiating substantially already.
No one from the United States military has ever defected to China.
China is not a democracy.
If you ran the allegory from Cuba to Venezuela you’d get a better result I’m sure.
China is not a democracy.
What’s democracy got to do with Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, Pence, and Abrams? This is all about brute power, and demonstrating who’s boss. In motivation and even in modus operandi (terrorizing vassals and little guys into silence or complicity*) it’s little different from a Mafia boss enforcing his will.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3qjZnEiOCc
tl:dr – millennial conservative wunderkinder are malignant know-nothings who grew up on a diet of Info Wars and YouTube conspiracy videos.
https://twitter.com/TP_Ambridge/status/1093202249998831616
They were here to start a culture war, and Charlie Kirk was looking forward to the backlash.
“There will be retaliation, there will be protest,” the 25-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing student organisation with close links to Donald Trump, said in London recently as he described plans for an assault on British university campuses. “You will see that it takes individuals to go straight into the fire to start a movement.”
But already some of the Tory activists Kirk recruited to launch Turning Point in the UK are having second thoughts about its war on “cultural marxism”, according to several people familiar with their internal discussions. Within days of the launch, one of the “influencers” tapped to front the campaign has distanced himself from the group, BuzzFeed News has learned.
“There was a sense of people realising, ‘Who are these cranks?’” one source said.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexspence/pro-trump-turning-point-loses-star-activists
a new avatar that looks like a bendy swastika …jeez Wayne
Turning Point Ambridge, dude.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNEawM6vZf4
Exposing the lie of the meritocracy bullshit of the right!
26 most hard-working people as rich as 3.8 billion laziest people combined
“These 26 people are so hard-working that each one of them achieves about 146 million times more per day than a person from the lazier parts of the world”
um, its about working smart and hard, some people have that combination of talents and do very well, good on them, I salute their success.
Can I sell you a bridge?
why?
Because you might want to put a toll booth on it – a nice little earner.
Um Alan it’s about you popping up like burnt toast, with some overdone, tasteless, useless remark.
Ha! Not heard that one before. Love it.
Alan – are you being satirical?
If not, your daft comment is exactly the point…
Russel Norman is gunning for two coalition ministers: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/08-02-2019/russel-norman-nash-and-jones-are-leading-nz-fishing-into-rotten-waters/
“First, the cameras on boats. The coalition government has completely iced the project. The decision will be delayed till August. This isn’t just a matter of letting things slip – they actually had to unpick existing regulations to make it happen. We’ve just learnt the fishing industry wrote Nash a letter totally opposing cameras in July last year, while hypocritically running TV ads with the memorable line “we have nothing to hide“. Nash’s current line is that he won’t implement the cameras without the “buy-in” of the fishing industry.”
Re the other guy: “he gets campaign money from Talley’s, one of the biggest players in the business. He received ten thousand dollars from the company towards his election campaign.”
“Jones strongly rejects any impropriety in his links with Talley’s, but it’s worth remembering this is also the fishing company that MPI found to be unlawfully under-reporting the weight of their cartons in the hoki fishery and hence under-reporting their catch. This MPI compliance investigation never saw the light of day until Greenpeace leaked it. Predictably Talley’s were not prosecuted because, as MPI’s head of compliance said, “we know from experience that prosecution will achieve behavioural change for maybe four or five years at best.” So they had a quiet chat instead and buried the report.”
“we know from experience that prosecution will achieve behavioural change for maybe four or five years at best.”
That’s like excusing crimes from being prosecuted and paid for with some sort of recompense because it is known that there is recidivism, so ‘What’s the use’ let ’em lie. Trouble is they know we are stupid and con’t care about having good government, and so they don’t feel shy about telling us that we can shut up and get stuffed, when they brazenly admit what they are doing. The right wing attitude that we receive from the RWNJs here, ‘You can fuss, but we have the power, and you are just irritating twerps to be put in their place’.
Does Gnashy sympathise ideologically or is he bought and paid for?
The Pompous Prince of Provincial Pukupatting would see no impropriety in a well feathered nest.
Another type of flow battery that looks interesting.
It uses a liquid electrolyte solution and a solid sacrificial anode. You fill up with charged electrolyte (and drain your discharged electrolyte) every 500km or so, and get a new anode every 5000km or so. The discharged electrolyte goes back to a solar or wind farm to be recharged (or could be done at the fillup station with a grunty enough grid connection).
https://phys.org/news/2019-02-refillable-technology-energy-electric-car.html
lprent
Twice now I have had this line come at the bottom of a comment that has time left for editing –
‘You can no longer edit this comment’.
Just noticed from the front page photo accompanying the Venezuela piece that our very own Slimin’ Bridges appears to be following the tie-length example set by the short-fingered vulgarian.
Reckon it’s for the same reasons?
Here is further evidence of the consequences of under regulation in the accomodation market.
Putting “hotel guests” in the middle of people’s ordinary lives can cause major disruption.
I do know that some airbnb guests in apartment blocks are asked to lie to residents by saying they are relatives of or house-sitters for the owner. This isn’t secure and it isn’t fair to the residents of apartment blocks with airbnb set up in them.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/110453472/tenants-forced-to-move-out-because-of-drunken-airbnb-guests-next-door
Brexit and Northern Ireland all explained!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cfI5on5n84
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/firefighters-lament-winds-preventing-them-putting-tasman-fire-in-days
The thing is, to get the containment/firebreak lines done & in conjunction with the winds whatever the directions are to those.
IF the effort goes into that, AT some point the fire has to start turning on itself.
Great to see the Pride March well attended and on their own terms rather than being further highjacked by corporate PR departments and the Police wishing to promote themselves.
A good reset by the community.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/02/thousands-turn-out-for-new-auckland-pride-march-up-queen-street.html
Kia ora R&R The Crown owes Tangata Whenua ART it inclueds Te reo waiata haka carving that is needed to keep our great culture pumping .
They suppressed Tangata Whenua Art for decades.
One just has to check old footage of VIP being welcomed to Powhiri to Aotearoa I just checked out BOb Marleys Poehiri the quality in those days is not as good as today
I BACK the Idear that we NEED to record our Kaumatua knowledge no one is doing that I have heard of at the minute that needs to stepped up.
There is a big surge in the demand for Tangata Whenua Art in the motu and Papatuanuku not just Aotearoa Art all indigenous cultures art is getting a great increase in demand .indigenous cultures respect wild life and our enviroment mother earth more that the west do and we are seeing the mess that is being made of our wildlife and Papatuanuku because of the lack of respect for others
Ka kite ano
We have to forget about the oil barrons distraction’s trump brexit and others and all work together to battle CLIMATE CHANGE everything else will / is irrelevant if we go past the tipping POINT.
The world is in the middle of what is likely to be the warmest 10 years since records began in 1850, says the Met Office.
Will the forecast temperature rises bust the Paris climate agreement?
The Met Office says that 2015 was the first year in which the global annual average surface temperature reached 1C above the pre-industrial level, which is generally taken to mean the temperatures between 1850 and 1900.
Each year since then, the global average has hovered close to or above the 1C mark. Now, the Met Office says that trend is likely to continue or increase over the next five years.
“We’ve just made this year’s forecasts and they go out to 2023 and what they suggest is rapid warming globally,” Prof Adam Scaife, head of long term forecasting at the Met Office, told BBC News.
“By looking at individual years in that forecast we can now see for the first time, there is a risk of a temporary, and I repeat temporary, exceedance of the all-important 1.5C threshold level set out in the Paris climate agreement.”
Last October, UN scientists published a special report on the long-term impacts of a temperature rise of 1.5C.
They concluded that it would take a massive carbon cutting effort to keep the world from tipping over the limit by 2030. The Met Office analysis now says there’s a 10 percent chance of this happening within the next five years.
“It’s the first time the forecasts have shown a significant risk of exceedance – it is only temporary. We are talking about individual years fluctuating above the 1.5 degree level,” said Prof Scaife.
“But the fact that that can happen now due to a combination of general warming and the fluctuations due to things like El Niño events in the next few years does mean we are getting close to that threshold.”
How confident is the Met Office of its prediction?
The Met Office says it has a 90 percent confidence limit in the forecasts for the years ahead.
It says that from 2019 to 2023, we will see temperatures ranging from 1.03C to 1,57C above the 1850-1900 level, with enhanced warming over much of the globe, especially over areas like the Arctic.
The research team says it is pretty certain in its predictions because of its past experience. The team’s previous forecast, made in 2013, predicted the rapid rate of warming that’s been observed over the past five years. It even predicted some of the lesser known details such as the patch of cooling seen in the North Atlantic and the cooler spots in the Southern Ocean.
If the observations over the next five years match the forecasts, then the decade between 2014 and 2023 will be the warmest in more than 150 years of records.
Ka kite ano links below P.S Some neanderthal lie and say its just summer YEA RIGHT.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/environment/381910/world-headed-for-warmest-period-on-record
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zPd8YoC1ak
Kia ora R&R Eco Maori says one is a Kiwi so long as you show respect for people and our enviroment Kiwis those that don’t want to be called a Kiwi don’t get IT .
There you go paul henry disrespecting a fellow kiwi .
United we are strong devided we are weak Kiwi unites the good people of Aotearoa who want and give respect fellow Kiwis in my views
I do beleve Matariki should be celerbrated yes Matariki was delibreately suppressed to stop Matariki giving Maori Mana,
There are chovernistic raciest people in all cultures and Maori is no different .
Ka kite ano
I see this new tech for refrigerator and air conditioning in 2016 scientific mag this story is from 2016 we need to invest in efficencys as this is the low hanging fruit on OUR Worlds journey to becoming Carbon neutral some people dont want effiencys as there profits will fall.
Innovative refrigerator developed using multistage sound wave engine
Shinya Hasegawa and colleagues at Tokai University have developed a refrigerator (107 C) powered only by waste heat that generated sound waves in an innovative multistage traveling wave thermoacoustic engine. The refrigerator produced the gas oscillations and refrigeration at a temperature lower than the boiling point of water and achieved a minimum cold temperature of -107.4 C when the hot temperature was 270 C. The findings are published in the journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, November 2016.
The operation of thermoacoustic (TA) engines is based on the heating, cooling and oscillation of acoustic (sound) waves created by the thermal expansion and contraction of gases such as helium enclosed dedicated cavities. The potential of TA engines for generating clean and renewable energy was demonstrated in seminal reports published in the late 1990s and early 2000s by researchers in the USA. Notably, these reports into the modern implementations of TA engines have led to increased worldwide research on the development of high efficiency TA engines to convert heat into useful power.
Two of the main hurdles to the proliferation of this technology are (1) high efficiency systems operable at less than 300 C as compared to the 400 to 600 C range at the moment; and (2) robust design so that the systems could be used in a wide range of environments such as fishing boats and heavy industries.
Hasegawa and colleagues have designed a high efficiency multistage-type thermoacoustic (MS-TA) engine, without moving parts, that operates at less than 300 C; the temperature of more than 80% of industrial waste heat. The design of the MS-TA engine was based on finite element numerical analysis conducted by Hasegawa and his group.
Background and aims
“TA engines do not have moving parts, are easy to maintain, potentially high efficiency, and low cost,” says Shinya Hasegawa, an associate professor at the Department of Prime Mover Engineering, Tokai University, Hiratsuka, Japan. “My goals in this research are to develop TA engines that operates at less than 300 C with more that 30% efficiency, and also to demonstrate a refrigerator operating at -200 C at these low temperatures.”
Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-12-refrigerator-multistage.html#jCp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwV4GkniFNo
https://phys.org/news/2016-12-refrigerator-multistage.html
This sound waves techology that can be used for fridges sounds interesting. Any tech people who know enough to comment on how viable it is and whether we could use it for lower carbon footprint etc.?
We have to stop buying prouducts that use Palm oil that is produced unsestainable.
We have to stop putting money before the welbeing of our wildlife we are the guardians of MotherEarth & her creatures some people are exployting this all for $$$$$$$$$$$$$ humans are linked to the wildlife .
The main threat to the survival of orangutan populations in the wild is the massive expansion of palm oil plantations in Borneo and Sumatra.
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in the world, having even surpassed soya in terms of usage. Surging global demand for palm oil has fueled massive forest destruction throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, countries that together account for 85% of the world’s palm oil production. Palm oil is ubiquitous! Half the packaged food (and other) products found on supermarket shelves now contain palm oil. Palm oil and palm kernel oil are found in all manner of baked goods, such as cookies, bread, and potato chips, as well as in chocolate and milk (where it adds Vitamin A). Palm oil has also replaced coconut as the main cooking oil traditionally used in Indonesia as well as replacing peanut oil in Myanmar. Palm oil is also extensively used in cosmetics and toiletries where it adds creaminess and/or foam to the product. Palm oil is an important ingredient in the manufacturing of soaps, shampoos, detergents, and toothpaste. Increasingly, palm oil is used as a biofuel.
Oil palms only grow in the tropics and need much water. Originally native to South America and West Africa, palm oil plantations have now spread throughout the wet tropics to Papua New Guinea, parts of Asia, Kenya, and also back to countries in West Africa and South America where the palms are native. The problem with palm oil is that vast areas of virgin tropical rain forest are clear cut to open up land for cultivation. Palm oil is a huge industry. Palm oil accounts for 11% of Indonesia’s export earnings and is the most valuable agricultural export. Overall, it is Indonesia’s third largest export earner.
The recent expansion of vast monocrop oil palm plantations in Asia, the Neotropics, and Africa threatens large areas of tropical rain forests. The two most affected countries in this expansion are Indonesia and Malaysia, home of the imperiled orangutans. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) indicated in 2007 that oil palm plantations are the leading cause of rainforest destruction in Malaysia and Indonesia. Another study by Princeton and a Swiss institution reported that between 1990 and 2005, up to 60% of palm oil expansion occurred at the expense of primary tropical rain forest. The establishment of palm oil plantations has been a disaster not only for endangered wildlife such as orangutans and tigers (in Sumatra) but has also exacerbated conflict with local communities in Indonesia over traditional land rights. Local people have been evicted from their customary land holdings and local communities impoverished, leading to much conflict with palm oil concession companies. Ka kite ano links below
https://orangutan.org/rainforest/the-effects-of-palm-oil/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTZ6sFW7kCg
Kia ora Newshub looks like everyone is having a good time at the Big Gay Out in Auckland today. Te twerker.
Our Australian cousins are getting a bad run from Mother Nature there pollies in power are still deniers.
Its a good day for sports in Waikato today Ka pai
Ka kite ano
Kia ora The AM Show The Chinese Terracotta army is a great view of Chinas long history.
People have to start making choices that include the risk to animals as well as humans when choice are being made the wild fires and flooding forests being cleared choice being made for money over the best choices to save animals and wild life .
Jason I do think it’s a joke that the Australian Army cannot fly stock food in to Townsville to feed the animals that are effected by the floods the roads are stuffed so fodder can’t be trucked in.
What about companies selling alcohol that does more damage to society than most others Substances and its sold in supermarkets go figure.
Rude you made that Wahine feel uncomfortable respect for all is a lesson you need to learn why did the other Mayor not get interview.
Mark I was going to comment on the 10 questions competition I chose not to comment on it.
Internet tech is a dubble edged sword it has its good and bad points it all about have good knowledge on the tech and a ballance. Ain’t nothing wrong with Rugby it’s a game every one can play Ka kite ano.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXhZ8PwM-Y
Putting solar panels on our drinking water reservoir and lakes is cool the solar panels stay cool in summer and prouduce up to 20 more power dosen’t use expencive land slows the growth of alge that is caused by our farms leaching urea it our water a lot of positives get the big tick copying this move.
Putting Solar Panels on Water Is a Great Idea—but Will It Float?
The U.S. has been slow to embrace the technology, even though Japan and China are zooming ahead
Winemaker Greg Allen had a problem. As president of Far Niente Winery in Napa Valley, California, he had done the math on how much land the vineyard could possibly dedicate to solar panels, to offset energy costs. The figure—about two acres—“really hurt,” Allen says. So he compromised: Far Niente completed an array of 2,296 solar panels, 994 of which float on pontoons tethered to the bottom of the winery’s pond. The installation was the world’s first nonexperimental floating solar array.
That was in 2008. Since then floating photovoltaics have proliferated in Asia—yet not so much in the U.S. Japan has more than 60 installations, the most of any country in the world. China, a bourgeoning giant in renewable energy, claims the world’s largest array. That facility, which went online in 2017, floats atop an artificial lake created from a collapsed coal mine near the city of Huainan. The 166,000 panels can produce some 40 megawatts, or enough electricity to power about 15,000 homes. A {{2018 World Bank report estimated the global potential for floating solar arrays on artificial water surfaces would exceed 400 gigawatts.}}}
But floating installations also offer several advantages over land-based arrays: Most obvious is they do not take up valuable parcels that could be used for agriculture or development. The technology can be easier to install than land-based or roof-mounted systems; once assembled, crews float them into place and anchor them. The arrays can improve the environment as well; blocking sunlight from penetrating the water can reduce evaporation and inhibit algae blooms. (It is not yet clear how the arrays might affect fish, birds or other wildlife.) And because solar cells become less efficient as they heat up, the water’s cooling effect can{{ increase their conversion ability by as much as 20 percent.}}
Given the benefits, the sluggish pace of adoption in the U.S.—which had just 14 installations at the end of 2018—can be puzzling. Teresa Barnes, who manages the photovoltaic reliability group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), says the availability of open land could be one factor. Yet lack of land has often been a driver at the
small number of U.S. sites. That was the case for the Kelseyville County Waterworks District in California, which installed a 720-panel array on its wastewater treatment pond in 2018. Good payback is another incentive; the district anticipates it will recoup installation costs within eight years of operation. Links below ka kite ano
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/putting-solar-panels-on-water-is-a-great-idea-mdash-but-will-it-float/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6KNJ39DNkI
Kia ora Newshub the polls give me hope that we will be able to combat climate changes Ka pai
I seen that scientists review on our insects collapseing they are treasure that we need yes the pesticides that the big companies flog to us lieing that the chemicals have no negative effect on on human and the wildlife YEA RIGHT Organic farming will save our insects and awa rivers and Environment. NZ big companies best start to invest in organic farming products or risk going BROKE.
Times are changing for the better in Aotearoa society Ka pai
Its not on that people import workers and rip them off hope the offenders gets what they deserve.
The Sir Edmund Hillary trust does a good deed with the youth Kayaking and his grandson kayaking trip in Antarctic. Ka kite ano
The Crowd goes Wild sorry Guys I have chosen not to comment on our sports stars as unusual phenomenon happens ECO MAORI enjoys the show heaps Kia kaha Ka kite ano