The Standard: totally not racist and not at all a totally tone-deaf echo chamber of white people
[That’s another silly comment in a series of silly comments and you (should) know better. Your comments got moved to OM but you didn’t get booted off the site. As such, it is just a minor action to keep the flow of comments tidy, relevant and on-topic. My advice is to not read more (too much) into it – Incognito]
The comments got moved from a place where they were relevant to a place where they were not. That’s bad moderation. Do better.
[FYI, I did not move your comments but I fully agree with the move. Secondly, you don’t decide what Moderators here should or shouldn’t do, which means you don’t criticise or litigate moderation; asking for clarification, for example, is generally (but not always!) fine. Thirdly, I care little about the cause of disagreement for want of a better description but I do care about behaviour. That was bad commenting behaviour. Finally, it would be a silly choice IMO if you opt for a ban. Please do better – Incognito]
I've stretched my bubble gum as far as it will go I think, and just puffing a bit – the bubble is getting bigger – wow splatter all over my mouth. Good for another go. Got to keep pushing the envelope, I mean the gummy, and they make the strength and ingredients very long-lasting these days. I haven't anything more important to do than blow bubbles and people get quite amused at my antics.
It is all a delaying tactic I must confess. I actually do have more important things to do but stay on hoping for some advance in the nature of progress, or the progress of nature, whatever.
I didn't move it either but I think the original comment was under one of my posts (wilding pines). It came late in the piece when I tend to let things slide more. It didn't make much sense in context and seemed a jabby, throw away comment that was trying to make a point but doing it badly. Can't really complain about it now being out of context when you didn't bother to make your point clearly*
And yeah, please don't have a go at moderators.
*TS does tend to reflect Pākehā values, but I'm still not sure why the wilding pine post or discussion specifically warranted comment.
Big issues with winter grazing, some practices are just filthy and heartbreaking.
Damien is doing something about it
Images of cows up to their knees in mud, unable to lie down and rest and calving in these conditions is unacceptable to me and I’ve heard loud and clear from the public that it’s unacceptable to them too.
But, but… Kindergartens South website it says "we are fortunate to have land with trees and grassy areas attached to our kindergarten where tamariki / children are able to build strong ecological identities and are able to make connections from home."
Hardly. With 329 million, even a tiny percentage of the population doing crazy stuff would still appear statistically significant to outsiders. Despite how mad it appears to us, I feel revolution is still some way off, and would require a near-total collapse of the financial systems before that was to occur.
I disagree. Firstly, most revolutions and civil wars involve a small percentage of the population only, particularly at the beginning. Secondly, most revolutions and upheavals begin before people notice.
Let's look back in ten years time and see what history has to say about this and when it started..
I would suggest pretty much every crowd at an event and every mall shopper will have this risk in their mind today and tomorrow and onwards… another indicator it is underway… the population is cowering
I saw a graph of mass shootings this year, USA at 400+ at number one, followed by 2 in India, then NZ at number 3 with one mass shooting. I also happened on an American's IG page the other day and it was just pictures upon pictures of guns, even celebrating his kids 5th birthday with guns. They really do have a problem uniquely theirs.
trump…… offers support and condolences in the wake of the latest mass shootings…. meanwhile, elsewhere in the USA, ICE is doing the biggest round up of immigrants in ten years.
Australia when remonstrated with about uplifting of Kiwis from their homes to detention centres brings up the terms of rapist, sex offender etc as if it applied to all, as a justification. We have got Little America right on our doorstep. NZ is going to be the Mexican immigrant wave when it suits the Oz government to go lower.
Couldn't sleep last night following those images of children suddenly bereft of their parents – many of whom had been in the US for many many years working and productive people. Insane and inhumane.
The arrests targeted chicken processing plants operated by Koch Foods, one of the largest poultry producers in the U.S. Last year, Koch Foods paid out $3.75 million to settle an Equal Employment Opportunities Commission class-action suit charging the company with sexual harassment, national origin and race discrimination, and retaliation against Latino workers at one of its Mississippi plants. Labor activists say it’s the latest raid to target factories where immigrant workers have organized unions, fought back against discrimination or challenged unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
ps This is not the infamous Koch Bros – but another group.
That's fkn shameless, brazenly repeating a Queens loofah-faced shitgibbon lie. Google Obama child separation and you'll be deluged with stuff showing how wrong that statement is. Here's just one:
Who gives a fuck? Seriously, you read about kids getting left at school because their parents have been rounded up, and the best response you can come up with is Obama did it too.
And it's obvious that this isn't a continuation of Obama's policies – because if Obama had enthusiastically followed the midnight raid programme, dolt45 would be creating DACA on steroids and naturalising everyone who gets across the border.
infused It seems you are spreading lies. Do you think you are at the right address when you come here? I think that a higher standard of communication is required. Isn't there somewhere you can go who will swallow all your rats?
"Intensive winter grazing is a vital practice used in Clutha-Southland by farmers. Without it, there would be serious repercussions for the area and as a flow-on effect our rural towns, such as Gore, Winton and Lumsden."
Walker said farmers have made dramatic improvements in how they graze stock, including the fencing of waterways, the buffer zones around critical source areas and grazing crops strategically."
"Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker, who is the associate spokesperson for agriculture, said "the protesters at Ihumātao are standing in mud – why is it only farmers being targeted and not them?"
?
"Walker said winter grazing working group was "more money down the drain" and "another orchestrated attack on farmers by this Government".
"In light of the winter grazing photos released, the Government has chosen to establish yet another group to address the issue. Instead of getting around a table and having discussions to see what work is being done, or can still be done, they react as soon as a vegan movement shouts live cattle exports or an environmentalist shouts winter grazing."
Disgraceful thinking – shows the mentality and lack of education about the important matters for the country and ethical standards that all farmers sons should learn about. Their schools are too busy drilling scientific and business-related knowledge into them during formal learning hours and in the rest how to keep fit and be competitive in sports. Nothing about the philosophic understanding that an advanced developed nation would know. All competition and person advancement using the money system, not human collaboration.
I put up the link again about the UK study on the education of the wealthy and aspirational there and how parents don't care and love their children enough to give them the emotional ties that would result in a strong individual who is empathetic and understanding of others.
Britain’s public school system has for generations produced a high proportion of its political leaders, despite the number of children attending these schools representing a tiny fraction of the larger population….
But a British psychotherapist says schools such as Eton produce damaged individuals and very poor leaders suffering a form of “privileged abandonment.”
Dr Nick Duffell is the founder of the boarding school survivors organisation, he himself went to Oxford and taught at a boys’ boarding school, and is the author of The Making of Them: The British Attitude to Children and the Boarding School System, and more recently, Wounded Leaders: British Elitism and the Entitlement Illusion…
"For New Zealanders, one "immediate and striking recommendation" was to alter diets from being high in meat and dairy, to being more balanced with plant-based food choices. This would use less land and water and emit fewer greenhouse gases, Hayward said."
Eat plants to help the climate, IPCC report suggests
The report suggests a lot of other things as well:
"The report makes clear that much of the onus is on industrial, transport and other emitters to urgently cut greenhouse emissions to give food growers the friendly climate they’ll need to feed a growing and increasingly affluent global population.
Agriculture itself is in a tricky position: its existence as an industry is non-negotiable if people are going to continue to eat."
affluent countries need to lower their standard of living. Low hanging fruit: eat seasonally, eat local food. These drop emissions, but also sharpen the mind around what is involved in producing food for everyone, not just the people with the most money.
Considering affluent (OECD) countries are responsible for the bulk of emissions they indeed should be making the most radical lifestyle changes….that involves far more than eating habits
yep, I was just responding to food issue, because it's coming up a lot at the moment, and eating plants from the other side of the world isn't much of an improvement for NZers over eating NZ farmed meat.
Also using that as example of how affluent countries can do something meaningful. Thinking that the whole world can have our lifestyles is a madness, utter madness. We have to give away some of our privilege. It won't hurt us, it might make us a better country.
Meat is not actually mentioned in the report,its land use changes ie deforestation, (south america asia and africa.)
There seems to be a lot of creative reporting in the press (mostly due to the hard reading of the report under a legal framework)
you would struggle to find that land use changes are both a source and a sink (the emission imbalance due to deforestation)
Land is simultaneously a source and a sink of CO2 due to both anthropogenic and natural drivers, making it hard to separate anthropogenic from natural fluxes (very high confidence). Global models estimate net CO2 emissions of 5.2 ± 2.6 GtCO2 yr-1 (likely range) from land use and land-use change during 2007-16. These net emissions are mostly due to deforestation, partly offset by afforestation/reforestation, and emissions and removals by other land use activities (very high confidence) (Table SPM.1)23.There is no clear trend in annual emissions since 1990 (medium confidence) (Figure SPM.1). {1.1, 2.3, Table 2.2, Table 2.3}
The natural response of land to human-induced environmental changes such as increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, nitrogen deposition, and climate change, resulted in global net removals of 11.2 +/– 2.6 Gt CO2 yr–1 (likelyrange) during 2007-2016 (Table SPM.1). The sum of the net removals due to this response and the AFOLU net emissions gives a total net land-atmosphere flux that removed 6.0+/-2.6 GtCO2 yr-1 during 2007-2016 (likely range). Future net increases in CO2 emissions from vegetation and soils due to climate change are projected to counteract increased removals due to CO2 fertilisation and longer growing seasons (high confidence). The balance between these processes is a key source of uncertainty for determining the future of the land carbon sink. Projected thawing of permafrost is expected to increase the loss of soil carbon (high confidence). During the 21st century, vegetation growth in those areas may compensate in part for this loss (low confidence). {Box 2.3, 2.3.1, 2.5.3, 2.7; Table 2.3}
They also want limits on urban expansion ie removal of agriculture land for housing etc.
The foremost take home message is the need to increase the sink capacity.
been reading a new book called "what the fast", by some AUT experts based off south auckland population studies and recent science into "low carb healthy fat" food. lots of healthy recipes
"There are now over 500 million people living in desert areas that would not have been considered deserts before the 1980s. A full quarter of the world's ice-free land mass is subject to land degradation as a result of human activity."
I wonder how they define "land degradation" and whether they consider agriculture to be improving of degrading what was forested land?
"Under this Bill, Parliament will no longer determine the question to be considered, which means there will be no opportunity for any public input through the select committee process. Rather, the referendum question will be set by Order-in-Council, (that means a regulation passed by the Executive Council on the recommendation of the Cabinet, which, in turn, means that the Cabinet will effectively decide the question to be considered, without any external scrutiny)."
I'm agnostic on this. I can see merit in using efficient practical politics to produce a cabinet consensus on the questions to be put in the referenda. Parliament's process could be messier & more time-consuming. But if it turns out to be quicker & gets the result more efficiently, why not run the cabinet decision past parliament anyway? Doing so would flush out any short-comings – which cabinet could consider as amendments – or confirm the merit of their decision.
As we get to Day +4 after the police rarked things up at Ihumatao, Newsroom have done an interview with the Ihumatao camp's liaison with the police who notes that;
"As part of reducing that footprint Tawha asked if mana whenua could move their presence to the Kaitiaki Village – an area for which they’ve been served eviction notices by Fletcher Building.
Many school groups had bookings to do tours of the stone fields in the coming weeks and SOUL was keen to continue the educational kaupapa there, she said.
“He said he’d talk to Fletchers, and I said we’d have to talk to our people – that was it.”
A decision was made to halt the talks for the day until both negotiators could consult their respective parties."
That night the cops flooded the site, presumably because someone high up heard about the request and made a massive assumption about intentions, completely messing it all up in the process.
Obviously District Commander Rogers stands by her statement that kaitiaki had already occupied that space and that they acted on "information" that they were going to retake the village.
Matthew Hooton has it that Julie Ann Genter should resign over her handling of communications to do with the Wellington transport plan."Genter is a disgrace to her party and herself and should either release her letter in full or resign," he says.
Nothing unusual in that, simple politics and perspectives.
Something that puts a perspective on the perspective is his bit, "It has even been reported that Julie Ann Genter and another Green MP threatened to resign if the tunnel went ahead before the tram."
It has been reported? Is that bit added to give substance or merely chucking toys out of the cot because things aren't as he wishes?
It has been reported? If I were to report that Matthew Hooton is a fuckwit with mental health issues someone can pick that up and use that in a headline story in the country's biggest media outlet saying, " It has even been reported that Matthew Hooton is a fuckwit with mental health issues?"
Already today on Newstalkzb news I've heard two politicians reported as saying something was or wasn't a case and then the final word being given to MP Sarah Dowie speaking directly on tape, that what they said couldn't be believed as if hers was the definitive and authoritative version of reality.
I wish these pollies could be allowed to get on with plans that have been thought about and that offer a way forward and improvements without some carping shit coming along and throwing cow pats or other messy missiles at them in an attempt to start a stoush and stop the solution.
Doing the process properly is important though. I expect oppositions to hold governing parties accountable on such stuff. Murky spindoctors, not so much.
How opposition parties choose to hold the governing parties accountable and for what is extremely important. When the opposition acts like a murky spindoctor they are traitors to the citizens of the country. Now that is the sort of emotive term that can bring the termites out of the woodwork!
The artical on spinoff is interesting… tbh I find it a bit disapponting that the new govt is as bad as the old govt when it comes to accountablity and wearing of 'hats'.
Cant understand the secrecy either everyone knows and understands that the Greens are pro public transport and for very good reason. They shouldnt be ashamed of using whatever leverage they have at their disposal to achieve what are very important changes in the NZ transport system.
WTF? How is it that jailhouse snitches can in any way be considered evidence reliable enough to be introduced at a trial without solid corroboration from non-jailhouse evidence?
Frankly, if I were ever on a jury considering uncorroborated jailhouse snitch evidence, I'd view it as evidence the prosecutors were trying to do a frame-up.
Are Regional Councils useful and worth the money to run them or are they majorly a law unto themselves and a millstone to the Councils in their area trying to get stuff done that their constituents expect them to be in charge of?
Arrowtown has a lot of air pollution.
Otago Regional Councillor Michael Laws had himself called it to report burn-offs dropping ash on properties, and said the regulatory committee was ignoring increasing complaints, leading to people being more reckless with burn-offs.
"It gives you an example of the bizarre priorities of the Otago Regional Council and their policy team, that they're trying to stop people burning wood in the dead of night, to stay warm, in their wood burner – but they refuse to do anything about the daytime pollution which is likely to have a more deleterious effect on communities," he said.
Recently we have heard about Wellington buses, largely the work of the regional council there. I see dv is concerned about that.
Numerous problems are arising. Should regional councils go or are they mostly okay, and problems should go to combined committees with a larger group coming from the concerned councils who can push for needed improvements to contested plans and systems?
I was recalling the change over a couple? years ago. Then went with the cheaper option, paid drivers less. Lost drivers etc. Many buses cancelled AND flyer NOT included in metlink software ETC !!!!!!
ORC are having real difficulties. A large part of the problem is that they are Dunedin based and dominated due to population representation of the ward system, when most of the Council's work is in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes which have little representation. ORC didn't have an office in Queenstown for 3 years after the sole staff member here died. It's a hangover from the goldrush days perpetuating Dunedin's economic model of clipping the ticket (raping and pillaging in some cases) of the Central Otago economy.
Now that the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes economy equals, and probably exceeds Dunedin's, especially if activity derived in Central is omitted from Dunedin, maybe it's time for a local government re-organisation around community of interest.
A possible starting point could be DCC becoming a unitary covering the Taieri and Shag catchments, with the remainder of Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes amalgamating and also becoming unitary, or having a seperate Catchment Authority covering the Clutha catchment.
ORC also have a huge problem with water permits that expire in 2021 and have to be renewed. Generally these permits grossly over-allocate the catchments. Since the permit holders (farmers mostly) are reluctant to accept a reduced allocation progress on renewals has been glacial at best to current situation of effectively back to square one. Government intervention is probably inevitable.
That is good backgrounding Graeme thanks. Perhaps there need to be a series of meetings from gummint around the country and some new borders for local authorities drawn up.
There was a strong call I think Nick Smith led, for Nelson and Tasman to amalgamate in a Top of the south grouping but I don't know how the city and country can co-ordinate. We have Nelson – Richmond (Tasman's main town) urban areas separated by playing grounds, settled suburbs and some industrial and farming area. This is a bit like Napier and Hastings.
Richmond is the growing area for housing with quite a big industrial estate. It is the headquarters for Tasman District Council which is a Unitary Authority. It abuts onto the Marlborough District Council and the West Coast District Council and Canterbury.
The Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council was one of 13 regional councils established through the passing of the Local Government Act 1987. The council was established in the 1989 local government reforms, but disestablished only three years later in 1992, when its functions went to the unitary authorities of Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council, and Marlborough District Council.[1] Kaikoura District had belonged to the Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council but with the 1992 reform was transferred to the Canterbury Regional Council.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson-Marlborough_Regional_Council
Central government had a go at having a combined Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council but that was for just a few years. The Marlborough council has plenty to do with the port at Picton within its area, and the unsettling possibility of a new port being established further down the coast which only was abandoned when there were hefty earthquakes in the area. (It being a waste of capital, infrastructure and investment in Picton was not the important point – I think it suited the trucking firms and self-drive tourists mostly.)
In the south the issues are around population shifts, being the rise of the former "hinterland" and the decline of the cities. Dunedin and Invercargill are going backwards and Central Otago forwards rapidly. Where resources should be going into Central and Northern Southland they are increasingly being drawn back into the cities to maintain services there. Lumsden and Wanaka / Central Otago / Queenstown maternity being an illustration of this.
But dramatic changes are happening with the population growth in Queenstown, Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra. The regional airport is now Queenstown with 10 international flights a day to 3 cities, Dunedin has less than 1 to 1 city (Brisbane), and that's marginal. Most of the passengers through Queenstown airport are going to / from somewhere outside Whakatipu, 40% from Wanaka / Central. Southland, Waitaki and South Westland are significant contributors as well. Consequently the shit has hit the fan and QLDC (75.1% shareholder in airport) has put the brakes on the airport's expansion plans as the natives were getting restless, and that's putting it diplomatically, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396263/queenstown-airport-expansion-plans-on-hold-after-public-vitriol
Local and regional government structures tend to be historically based and the entrenched interests don't take kindly to reduced circumstances. Change is inevitable but it could be an interesting ride.
The bullshit maternity "hub" decisions are based on the bullshit "debt" Southern DHB has accrued because of the bullshit funding model over the last couple of decades.
The issue you allude to with QLDC is the permanent population vs the tourist population (and I mean "permanent" not "been there ten weeks and calls themselves 'local'" syndrome) is interesting and needs to be accounted for. But what's basis for elevating Lakes District Hospital into tertiary status?
But what's basis for elevating Lakes District Hospital into tertiary status?
Probably none, but there's a very rapidly developing case for a tertiary hospital to serve the Central Otago / Queenstown region. The time / distance thing becomes crippling, both for the patient, and the provider.
We are currently immersed in a situation with a friend who has kidney failure coupled with onset of diabetes. The lady is in her early 70's and has alway lived life at 100 mph. She also is also caregiver to her 86 yo husband who suffered a very serious head injury about 20 years ago. They married when she was 17. His head injury means he cannot drive, and is pretty slow and unsteady at getting around.
She has been in hospital care for two months now, with an in and out bit at the start. Over that time she's had two trips to Dunedin, one down by air and one by road, but both back by road, and one to Invercargill for a test that took 10 minutes, but resulted in a week's stay there until she was able to return to LDH. In the meantime he has soldiered on as best he can, not knowing if he'll ever see his wife again. He's had a few falls and the stress of the situation has knocked him back a lot, and worrying about him isn't helping her recovery either.
While the care she has received is exemplary, along with the support he's getting from agencies, it's difficult to see how this is efficient, and humane, due to the distance and time involved. Multiply this out over probably hundreds of patients in varying circumstances a month along with the socialised costs, and there's got to be a better way of doing it.
Keep regional councils and adjust them to account for geographical spread. Put the main office in Alex if needed. Decentralise the district councils. I'm sure the Upper Clutha would be happy to separate from Queenstown, because of the large difference in communities and needs that QLDC is ignoring.
Amalgamation, along with strong community boards should get the best of both. Right now we need a strong hold on the rapidly changing regional issues, not more parochialism.
The other side of QLDC "ignoring" Wanaka is that Wanaka residents are quite happy to come to Queenstown to use the airport, and contribute a considerable proportion of the considerable aircraft noise issues Whakatipu suffers, but get rather upset at the thought of their share of the noise being created in their own geography.
Cromwell has become the defacto base for infrastructure servicing and is the logical place to base administrative services as well. A regional hospital would fit there as well, unfortunately at the expense of Dunedin and Invercargill.
Tthe noise and other problems with over use of flying are pretty much all on mass tourism. Maybe criticise Upper Clutha and Cromwell people for making a living from tourism.
As I understand the Wanaka/Queenstown issues, it's about voting population and representation. If smaller areas want to stay quieter and have a say in how their communities are run (and this applies to many place in NZ), then that way of structuring councils needs to change to be more democratic.
There's just as strong, maybe stronger, an argument that we are as much 'over localed' as over touristed. Wanaka's 40% share of ZQN passengers is mostly business and locals travel, there's not much tourism there compared to Queenstown, and virtually none in Cromwell or Central. On flights I'm on and in visits to the airport I'd put the passenger mix at around 50%, or maybe more, local or other than tourist.
Our region has experienced massive population growth, both from those that are sleeping in their own bed, and those that are hiring someone else's bed for the short to medium term. This growth is stretching the community and infrastructure and things are starting to give.
Thank you. It would be nice to see these issues getting wider discussion and leadership. There's potential for things to get out of control on multiple fronts resulting in unfortunate outcomes.
Laws is an idiot of epic proportions who somehow now seems to pop up occassionally on the right side of things. In this case, he's wrong. Ill health from woodfires at night in the winter is because of the long term exposure, over months. High country burnoffs last a day. There are really good reasons to not allow farmers to do them, but this isn't one of them (and if it was, farmers can burn when the wind is blowing the other way).
Can't see how we could get rid of regional councils, they do different things than city and district councils and as bad as regional councils can be I'd hate to see them taken over by townies who have a different set of priorities. The big problem with regional councils is that not enough people vote, so farmers get to stack them with people aligned with their values.
Michael Laws is unfortunately only the current iteration of 'different' representative Dunstan has had on ORC, a past example was Jerry Eckoff and there will undoubtedly be many more.
It's hard to say ORC is farmer dominated at a representative level, there's only 5 out of 12 with direct farming connections, most of the rest are technocrats closely related to the functions of the council, and half the councillors represent the Dunedin constituency, not many resource hungry farms there.
However at a submission level rural interests loudly predominate, and pay for the best consultants.
Agricultural burning is a fraught activity 'round these parts. It doesn't matter how careful you are, how well approved you've got the burn (that can involve up to 6 agencies, virtually none of which seem to know what the others are doing) and how well you think you've picked 'the day', it can all turn to custard and you're hosting lots of people in big red trucks with flashing lights, angry ORCs, and if you're really lucky a couple of helicopters.
Mostly it's disposing of development and land clearance waste. Removing D. Fir shelter belts has produced a few good plumes this winter. Our 'turnout' was disposing of the mess from gorse clearance and willow maintenance. We've got about 10 km of deer fence we have to defend from DOC's willows, so there's an ongoing trimming program which generates a lot of slash. And that's just one med – large property, the district's covered in large, elderly and often inappropriate trees. Many of which are downright dangerous. Also just had to deal with about a ha of very large, increasingly leaning silver poplars that were in their third (at least) phase of self coppice. That generated a very large pile of firewood logs and a good sized pile of slash
Slash = lignin habitat and food for fungi, the generators of soil health and wealth; why rob them of the stuff they need and instead, put it up in the air as heat and gas?
Like I said, it's a fraught exercise. The grief from the episode I described has resulted on a marked change in practices from the farm manager and owner concerned, granted we did close the airport for a little while. The remains are now composting well.
Following a "very stressful" night Elliot said he was relieved on Friday morning to find the massive blaze on his land between Kurow and Waimate, which began from a controlled burn, had largely "burnt itself out".
About 50 firefighters, nine appliances and two helicopters were called at the height of the blaze on Thursday, and a two man team monitored the fire throughout the night."
I was thinking farmers dominating regional councils across the country (farmers and allies), but even with the ORC they seem to have a large influence on what the council does (eg water or dairying).
Which is odd on both counts given more people live in cities now. We need more people voting and better support for progressive candidates.
"None of the local candidate nominees were presenting their plans at high schools, where there would be a lot of first time voters, Laker said.
"You only see signs around town and that is only a face and a name. It doesn't tell you what they are running for. "
Well, Ms Laker, your high school admin don't allow local body candidates to speak to students, donchaknow! I tried and had to jump through hoops to get anywhere at all as far as talking to students was concerned.
In any case, were you completely unaware of the efforts to have a climate emergency declared by some of your your regional councillors? It was on the front page of The Southland Times, twice! (The Southland Times is published on-line – you're on-line, right?)
The influence is at the submission and submission support level. I manage a couple or small water schemes and get to observe and engage through a recent consent renewal. It's quite a machine.
I'm not a huge fan of the ORC – even in Dunedin their treatment of public transport is abysmal. Dunno the pros and cons of splitting it or relocating head office, though.
I got no particular prob with councils trying to educate people concerning the desirability of burning well seasoned wood in their woodburners so long as they did so politely but beyond that they can go fuck themselves
Councils had to make changes according to a register of pollution days and how bad. I think there were big changes and much better readings but still there will be obligations to keep to.
Why public systems are better then those in the private sector in the long run. Few can be trusted completely these days, and to the private sector you are just a body to insert the consumer virus into, that they hope will promote a fever to spend on their product.
Don't know if it's confirmation bias on my part, but I'm intrigued by the divergence between different weather models this winter, and the volatility of forecasts, especially MetService's.
I don't think previous winters have have had forecasts and weather patterns as erratic as this winter in the Wakatipu.
They’re called ‘slugs’, and the defaults are always in 8 bit (ie 256 characters) rather than something that is 32 or even 16 bit. It is easier to store, compare and search on for computers.
This column is part one of three on Ihumātao. This part traces the historical injustices behind Ihumātao. Part two outlines the legal progress and rising opposition against the Fletchers Residential development, the contradiction between justice for Māori and preserving Māori as an artefact, and how the Crown has divided mana whenua. Part three examines the political implications of Ihumātao.
Won't happen, and Corbyn's an idiot if he truthfully believes that's going to happen.
If Boris loses a no confidence vote, under the fixed parliament legislation, he faces a second chance ballot a couple of weeks later. Lose that, and it goes to a general election.
The only way Corbyn has a legitimate chance of taking over is, after the first vote, he has the numbers to form a government, which is highly unlikely, even with the cons single, solitary majority.
Whilst conservative members may not want a bar of a no deal brexit, even the most europhile of their numbers won't cross the floor and vote Corbyn's labour in. I can see them wanting a snap election to stop the pm, but never propping up the opposition and certain expulsion, deselection and self inflicted career ending suicide.
“If the PM loses the motion of no-confidence, then under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act he would have another 14 days to win another vote.
If he fails to secure the vote then a general election would be called on a date advised on by the PM.
However, if another candidate can secure the confidence of the Commons then, under cabinet rules, Mr Johnson would be expected to resign and recommend the Queen appoints the other person.”
It depends on the NI MP's backing a Labour led coalition that kept the UK in the customs union and single market and then went to a general election including a referendum on accepting the deal. If the referendum failed and the Tories won they would have a mandate for a no deal Brexit. Or not.
Even with the unionists it would still need a tory to knife their career, and with Corbyn's pro IRA history, the odds on getting the orange order vote is pretty slim.
A couple of errors by me in the exchange above, notably around the second confidence vote and still needing a tory to jump ship in the unlikely event of a unionist shift.
This was on the BBC today, which explains the confidence vote.
There's been studies that we've done in New Zealand and also some work done overseas, especially in the UK, that are coming together to show blackcurrants in New Zealand have some activity around helping exercise recovery and helping your body cope with the stresses of exercise."
He said there were three ways recovery occurred – managing stresses, regulating the inflammatory pathways in the body so that tissue repair was promoted and the boosting of immunity. He said studies suggested New Zealand blackcurrants had higher levels of Polyphenol, which promoted this recovery. But he said more research was needed to scientifically validate the claim New Zealand blackcurrants were superior to other blackcurrants in this respect.
Frozen currants were just as good as fresh ones, he said. The study received funding from the government.
This Japanese firm did not require our production in 2018 and so the growers had to hastily look what to do. Why don't NZs make things themselves. If we as a country supported our own growers, they would be sure of a certain level of sales, and then could develop an overseas interest for exporting to increase business. And note that the Wikipedia item says that Suntory changed to artificial sweeteners as a result of a sugar tax in the UK. But people wanting a natural juice that is sweetened may prefer some sugar, or honey, compared to the laboratory equivalents, and may be affected adversely by them.
What makes the New Zealand blackcurrant better than others?
It's the ultra-violet sunlight that really benefits the New Zealand blackcurrant-growing environment, said Ms Cushman. "That stimulates the berry fruit into producing very high concentrations of poly phenols, the bio-actives that give blackcurrants their physiological benefits. "We are also blessed to have good varieties that thrive in the New Zealand conditions," she said.
Curranz launched the New Zealand blackcurrant product as a sports nutrition supplement, first in the UK, but now also in other countries, including New Zealand, Ms Cushman said. The company will be supplying High Performance New Zealand Olympic athletes for the next Olympic cycle.
"It is a big breakthrough for the Kiwis because British athletes have been using the black currant supplements and winning and it was embarrassing that New Zealand sports people were missing out"
We need to protect our own country's business. The idea that we are big world players is quite wrong; No matter how much we make or import we are always small.
Eco Maori has seen a story about the state of Indias Awa it is not good poverty and plastic waste is a big problem there .
Please clean up your rivers to leave the taonga wai treasure water for your mokopuna grandchildren. Aotearoa has banned single use plastic bags it is a minor inconvenience but well worth it not seeing plastic bags blowing all around the country side the effects of the ban on single use plastic bags can already be seen we will eventually ban most plastics in Aotearoa
Plastic, poverty and paradox: experts head to the Ganges to track waste
India’s most sacred river is also its most polluted, with plastic a major culprit. Now moves are afoot to monitor the flow of rubbish and assess its link to poverty
Drop a plastic bottle into the Ganges and where does it end up? An all-female team of engineers, explorers and scientists is about to find out by undertaking the first expedition to measure plastic waste in one of the world’s most polluted waterways
Following the Ganges upstream from where it empties in the Bay of Bengal to its source in the Himalayas, the National Geographic-backed expedition aims to better understand how plastic pollution travels from source to sea and provide solutions for reducing the amount that ends up in the world’s oceans.
The river is, therefore, a perfect starting point for measuring how plastic travels from land into rivers, and from rivers into the ocean, says National Geographic fellow and University of Georgia associate professor Jenna Jambeck, who is co-leading the expedition.
“We know there’s plastic in these river environments and that the plastic is heading into the ocean,” says environmental engineer Jambeck, whose previous research found that 8 metric tons of plastic waste entering the sea every year.
Wow a mean weather system is effecting the South Island lets hope that it doesn't make to big a Mess.
I think the Idea that moving the cars to a different location in the Auckland region if its works and saves money run with it work smarter not harder is one of my philosophys the other is keep it simple it looks like this Idea fits both.
What about the suppression order against Eco Maori what a joke.
Cool teaching tamariki how to eat healthy foods at a kindergarten very good I have dropped sugar our of my diet and I have lost 10 kg and feel much better sugar should be banned too the gasoline tanks of our cars.
Ka pai to the volunteers who have helped clean up the Awa river mess of a old dump down South Island.
Cool Idea including models with access needs in a fashion Show that should help lift there wairua.
A huge power cut in Britain that is not good at all lucky I harvest my power straight from Te Ra.
Thats heaps of Sharks in Australia they are beautiful creatures that need to be treasured and protected from over exploitation by greedy people.
Its not on having tamariki starving when Te Papatuanuku produce enough food and resources for all we have to change so food is not wasted 30% of food is wasted.
The rulers need to learn to share their lollipops sharing will be part of the changes needed to combat Human Caused Climate Change
World hunger on the rise as 820m at risk, UN report finds
Eliminating hunger by 2030 is an immense challenge, say heads of UN agencies
More than 820 million people worldwide are still going hungry, according to a UN report that says reaching the target of zero hunger by 2030 is “an immense challenge”.
The number of people with not enough to eat has risen for the third year in a row as the population increases, after a decade when real progress was made. The underlying trend is stabilisation, when global agencies had hoped it would fall.
Millions of children are not getting the nutrition they need. The UN says the pace of progress in halving child stunting and reducing the number of low birthweight babies is too slow, which jeopardises the chances of achieving another of the sustainable development goals.
Nearly half of all child deaths in Africa stem from hunger, study shows
Read more
The report is from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Meteorological Service has a heavy rain warning still in place for the whole of the country after a weekend of flooding, although some floodwaters have receded. Flood and flash flood warnings and alerts are also in place, including a warning for all flash flood-prone areas, small ...
Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
This is the whitest white-person thread of all time
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
The Standard: totally not racist and not at all a totally tone-deaf echo chamber of white people
[That’s another silly comment in a series of silly comments and you (should) know better. Your comments got moved to OM but you didn’t get booted off the site. As such, it is just a minor action to keep the flow of comments tidy, relevant and on-topic. My advice is to not read more (too much) into it – Incognito]
See my Moderation note @ 3:23 AM.
The comments got moved from a place where they were relevant to a place where they were not. That’s bad moderation. Do better.
[FYI, I did not move your comments but I fully agree with the move. Secondly, you don’t decide what Moderators here should or shouldn’t do, which means you don’t criticise or litigate moderation; asking for clarification, for example, is generally (but not always!) fine. Thirdly, I care little about the cause of disagreement for want of a better description but I do care about behaviour. That was bad commenting behaviour. Finally, it would be a silly choice IMO if you opt for a ban. Please do better – Incognito]
"The bin" would have met general approval, imo.
Racists don’t like being told they’re racists.
So they're not realists then, racists?
I've stretched my bubble gum as far as it will go I think, and just puffing a bit – the bubble is getting bigger – wow splatter all over my mouth. Good for another go. Got to keep pushing the envelope, I mean the gummy, and they make the strength and ingredients very long-lasting these days. I haven't anything more important to do than blow bubbles and people get quite amused at my antics.
It is all a delaying tactic I must confess. I actually do have more important things to do but stay on hoping for some advance in the nature of progress, or the progress of nature, whatever.
See my Moderation note @ 2:09 PM.
I didn't move it either but I think the original comment was under one of my posts (wilding pines). It came late in the piece when I tend to let things slide more. It didn't make much sense in context and seemed a jabby, throw away comment that was trying to make a point but doing it badly. Can't really complain about it now being out of context when you didn't bother to make your point clearly*
And yeah, please don't have a go at moderators.
*TS does tend to reflect Pākehā values, but I'm still not sure why the wilding pine post or discussion specifically warranted comment.
Kindy awash with cow farm muck
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114862464/mud-and-sediment-from-winter-grazing-runoff-closes-rural-southland-kindergarten
Big issues with winter grazing, some practices are just filthy and heartbreaking.
Damien is doing something about it
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/agriculture-minister-establishes-winter-grazing-taskforce
But, but… Kindergartens South website it says "we are fortunate to have land with trees and grassy areas attached to our kindergarten where tamariki / children are able to build strong ecological identities and are able to make connections from home."
In the meantime, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396287/early-childhood-education-standards-too-low-researcher.
Parents cannot trust the early childhood licensing and regulatory system to ensure the quality of their child's centre…
America is clearly in a state of civil war, or revolution, with a mass shooting every day…
Or does everyone keep turning a blind eye and claim it's just a nutters with guns thing ..
it has started. where and when will it end
Hardly. With 329 million, even a tiny percentage of the population doing crazy stuff would still appear statistically significant to outsiders. Despite how mad it appears to us, I feel revolution is still some way off, and would require a near-total collapse of the financial systems before that was to occur.
I disagree. Firstly, most revolutions and civil wars involve a small percentage of the population only, particularly at the beginning. Secondly, most revolutions and upheavals begin before people notice.
Let's look back in ten years time and see what history has to say about this and when it started..
I would suggest pretty much every crowd at an event and every mall shopper will have this risk in their mind today and tomorrow and onwards… another indicator it is underway… the population is cowering
I saw a graph of mass shootings this year, USA at 400+ at number one, followed by 2 in India, then NZ at number 3 with one mass shooting. I also happened on an American's IG page the other day and it was just pictures upon pictures of guns, even celebrating his kids 5th birthday with guns. They really do have a problem uniquely theirs.
trump…… offers support and condolences in the wake of the latest mass shootings…. meanwhile, elsewhere in the USA, ICE is doing the biggest round up of immigrants in ten years.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/hundreds-arrested-largest-immigration-raids-decade-190808014646924.html
He's driving the same narrative as the shooters are using and it's revolting.
Yes he needs to be removed from office… Trump claimed the mexicans were rapists and murderers etc, so some Trump follower went and shot them…
total madness
Australia when remonstrated with about uplifting of Kiwis from their homes to detention centres brings up the terms of rapist, sex offender etc as if it applied to all, as a justification. We have got Little America right on our doorstep. NZ is going to be the Mexican immigrant wave when it suits the Oz government to go lower.
and right on cue… https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/114870450/man-in-us-anthem-attack-on-boy-convinced-trump-ordered-it
I don't think this shit can be ignored anymore
Yes I posted this last night:
Couldn't sleep last night following those images of children suddenly bereft of their parents – many of whom had been in the US for many many years working and productive people. Insane and inhumane.
https://twitter.com/AlexLoveWJTV/status/1159264049105973248
It gets worse!
ICE Raids Targeted Company Whose Workers Won Discrimination Lawsuit
ps This is not the infamous Koch Bros – but another group.
Amoral pricks.
https://twitter.com/nowthisnews/status/1159558146047795200
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/07/iraqi-man-dies-deportation-trump-administration-1643512
Beyond amoral. Knowingly deliberately evil.
Young Heinrich's work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljz8y2qX1f4&feature=youtu.be
This is the sick prick behind it all.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/13/stephen-miller-uncle-david-glosser-immigration-separation
Uncle of Trump adviser Stephen Miller voices 'horror' at immigration policies
This article is more than 11 months old
David Glosser says despite family ties, he cannot justify keeping silent about ‘virtual kidnapping of thousands of children’
Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Tue 14 Aug 2018 00.47 BSTLast modified on Tue 14 Aug 2018 17.21 BST
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Stephen Miller’s uncle, David Glosser, described ‘dismay and increasing horror’ at Trump’s immigration policies. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
The Geheime Staatspolizei at work.
https://twitter.com/JoyceWhiteVance/status/1159480496470089728
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1159522767798013952
You know this happened and started under Obama right?
[Please explain your ambiguous comment and demonstrate it was not deliberately misleading or lying – Incognito]
That's fkn shameless, brazenly repeating a Queens loofah-faced shitgibbon lie. Google Obama child separation and you'll be deluged with stuff showing how wrong that statement is. Here's just one:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/23/trump-falsely-says-obama-started-family-separation/1540733001/
Who gives a fuck? Seriously, you read about kids getting left at school because their parents have been rounded up, and the best response you can come up with is Obama did it too.
And it's obvious that this isn't a continuation of Obama's policies – because if Obama had enthusiastically followed the midnight raid programme, dolt45 would be creating DACA on steroids and naturalising everyone who gets across the border.
BULLSHIT!
This did not happen under Obama.
These ICE raids began under Bush. Obama put a stop to them and these are the first raids of this nature in a DECADE!
Stop spreading bullshit lies!
infused It seems you are spreading lies. Do you think you are at the right address when you come here? I think that a higher standard of communication is required. Isn't there somewhere you can go who will swallow all your rats?
See my Moderation note @ 2:32 PM.
Americans are beginning to ask themselves the same question..
https://twitter.com/roblogic_/status/1159503465665765376?s=21
National's MP Hamish Walker puts his foot in it.
"Intensive winter grazing is a vital practice used in Clutha-Southland by farmers. Without it, there would be serious repercussions for the area and as a flow-on effect our rural towns, such as Gore, Winton and Lumsden."
Walker said farmers have made dramatic improvements in how they graze stock, including the fencing of waterways, the buffer zones around critical source areas and grazing crops strategically."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/108107742/walker-raises-concerns-about-new-farming-rules?rm=a
Yeah hamish… that's why the minister is doing something, because there is no problem…. lolz. I guess hamish doesn't get out much, or he is blind.
https://twitter.com/DamienOConnorMP/status/1158921011892330497
but we need to keep making a mess..
because otherwise the economy will suffer..
brainless
Keep up Mr.Guyton…they have a long term plan.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/ox-rice-field.html
Flow on effect eh Hamey? Hur hur. Liddle kiddies can go get shat on.
"Dramatic" improvements!
"Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker, who is the associate spokesperson for agriculture, said "the protesters at Ihumātao are standing in mud – why is it only farmers being targeted and not them?"
?
"Walker said winter grazing working group was "more money down the drain" and "another orchestrated attack on farmers by this Government".
"In light of the winter grazing photos released, the Government has chosen to establish yet another group to address the issue. Instead of getting around a table and having discussions to see what work is being done, or can still be done, they react as soon as a vegan movement shouts live cattle exports or an environmentalist shouts winter grazing."
?
wow no wonder he's a gnat – he thick bigtime
Disgraceful thinking – shows the mentality and lack of education about the important matters for the country and ethical standards that all farmers sons should learn about. Their schools are too busy drilling scientific and business-related knowledge into them during formal learning hours and in the rest how to keep fit and be competitive in sports. Nothing about the philosophic understanding that an advanced developed nation would know. All competition and person advancement using the money system, not human collaboration.
I put up the link again about the UK study on the education of the wealthy and aspirational there and how parents don't care and love their children enough to give them the emotional ties that would result in a strong individual who is empathetic and understanding of others.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018707127/dr-nick-duffell-why-boarding-schools-produce-bad-leaders
Britain’s public school system has for generations produced a high proportion of its political leaders, despite the number of children attending these schools representing a tiny fraction of the larger population….
But a British psychotherapist says schools such as Eton produce damaged individuals and very poor leaders suffering a form of “privileged abandonment.”
Dr Nick Duffell is the founder of the boarding school survivors organisation, he himself went to Oxford and taught at a boys’ boarding school, and is the author of The Making of Them: The British Attitude to Children and the Boarding School System, and more recently, Wounded Leaders: British Elitism and the Entitlement Illusion…
True New Zealand hero, John Sato
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/08-08-2019/john-sato-i-am-not-a-bleeding-heart-or-a-do-gooder-but-i-can-feel-for-people/?fbclid=IwAR2j9M26l8vHbiUTQdE7CpZvNZS_PuCw6S9C6AyxgkVmVcY8dvvKKkZQ4w8
Thanks for that link Jenny, a real NZ hero alright.
"For New Zealanders, one "immediate and striking recommendation" was to alter diets from being high in meat and dairy, to being more balanced with plant-based food choices. This would use less land and water and emit fewer greenhouse gases, Hayward said."
Eat plants to help the climate, IPCC report suggests
The report suggests a lot of other things as well:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/114866294/everything-we-do-affects-our-climate-experts-react-to-climate-change-report
Somewhat more complicated than that….
"The report makes clear that much of the onus is on industrial, transport and other emitters to urgently cut greenhouse emissions to give food growers the friendly climate they’ll need to feed a growing and increasingly affluent global population.
Agriculture itself is in a tricky position: its existence as an industry is non-negotiable if people are going to continue to eat."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/08/08/746091/waste-less-food-eat-more-plants-defend-soil-ipcc
It's complicated alright. So many things will have to change.
affluent countries need to lower their standard of living. Low hanging fruit: eat seasonally, eat local food. These drop emissions, but also sharpen the mind around what is involved in producing food for everyone, not just the people with the most money.
Considering affluent (OECD) countries are responsible for the bulk of emissions they indeed should be making the most radical lifestyle changes….that involves far more than eating habits
yep, I was just responding to food issue, because it's coming up a lot at the moment, and eating plants from the other side of the world isn't much of an improvement for NZers over eating NZ farmed meat.
Also using that as example of how affluent countries can do something meaningful. Thinking that the whole world can have our lifestyles is a madness, utter madness. We have to give away some of our privilege. It won't hurt us, it might make us a better country.
Given the 80/20 rule it likely would make us a better country but I wouldnt hold my breath waiting for acceptance of such thought
Meat is not actually mentioned in the report,its land use changes ie deforestation, (south america asia and africa.)
There seems to be a lot of creative reporting in the press (mostly due to the hard reading of the report under a legal framework)
you would struggle to find that land use changes are both a source and a sink (the emission imbalance due to deforestation)
Land is simultaneously a source and a sink of CO2 due to both anthropogenic and natural drivers, making it hard to separate anthropogenic from natural fluxes (very high confidence). Global models estimate net CO2 emissions of 5.2 ± 2.6 GtCO2 yr-1 (likely range) from land use and land-use change during 2007-16. These net emissions are mostly due to deforestation, partly offset by afforestation/reforestation, and emissions and removals by other land use activities (very high confidence) (Table SPM.1)23.There is no clear trend in annual emissions since 1990 (medium confidence) (Figure SPM.1). {1.1, 2.3, Table 2.2, Table 2.3}
The natural response of land to human-induced environmental changes such as increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, nitrogen deposition, and climate change, resulted in global net removals of 11.2 +/– 2.6 Gt CO2 yr–1 (likelyrange) during 2007-2016 (Table SPM.1). The sum of the net removals due to this response and the AFOLU net emissions gives a total net land-atmosphere flux that removed 6.0+/-2.6 GtCO2 yr-1 during 2007-2016 (likely range). Future net increases in CO2 emissions from vegetation and soils due to climate change are projected to counteract increased removals due to CO2 fertilisation and longer growing seasons (high confidence). The balance between these processes is a key source of uncertainty for determining the future of the land carbon sink. Projected thawing of permafrost is expected to increase the loss of soil carbon (high confidence). During the 21st century, vegetation growth in those areas may compensate in part for this loss (low confidence). {Box 2.3, 2.3.1, 2.5.3, 2.7; Table 2.3}
They also want limits on urban expansion ie removal of agriculture land for housing etc.
The foremost take home message is the need to increase the sink capacity.
Tree trunks could be sunk in cold lakes.
They could be sunk to create a sink.
The Newsroom story makes that point well
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/08/08/746091/waste-less-food-eat-more-plants-defend-soil-ipcc
Ever increasing humans in ever decreasing circles…
A Standard blast from ~2 years' past – https://thestandard.org.nz/750816-2/
some 70 billion tons of CO2 ago
been reading a new book called "what the fast", by some AUT experts based off south auckland population studies and recent science into "low carb healthy fat" food. lots of healthy recipes
https://whatthefatbook.com/product/what-the-fast/
"There are now over 500 million people living in desert areas that would not have been considered deserts before the 1980s. A full quarter of the world's ice-free land mass is subject to land degradation as a result of human activity."
I wonder how they define "land degradation" and whether they consider agriculture to be improving of degrading what was forested land?
Is the coalition govt really Putinesque? Dunne thinks so. Yet his reasoning actually reads better than one might expect. https://www.newsroom.co.nz/@politics/2019/08/09/743756/rewrite-this-putin-esque-referenda-bill
"Under this Bill, Parliament will no longer determine the question to be considered, which means there will be no opportunity for any public input through the select committee process. Rather, the referendum question will be set by Order-in-Council, (that means a regulation passed by the Executive Council on the recommendation of the Cabinet, which, in turn, means that the Cabinet will effectively decide the question to be considered, without any external scrutiny)."
I'm agnostic on this. I can see merit in using efficient practical politics to produce a cabinet consensus on the questions to be put in the referenda. Parliament's process could be messier & more time-consuming. But if it turns out to be quicker & gets the result more efficiently, why not run the cabinet decision past parliament anyway? Doing so would flush out any short-comings – which cabinet could consider as amendments – or confirm the merit of their decision.
The wording on the canabus (sp?) referendum is Yes or No. Accept or not the Bill.
Only works if you have the bill ready.
But he retired didn't he?
Dunger wouldn't know a Pootin if he got shot in the face by one franko.
As we get to Day +4 after the police rarked things up at Ihumatao, Newsroom have done an interview with the Ihumatao camp's liaison with the police who notes that;
That night the cops flooded the site, presumably because someone high up heard about the request and made a massive assumption about intentions, completely messing it all up in the process.
Obviously District Commander Rogers stands by her statement that kaitiaki had already occupied that space and that they acted on "information" that they were going to retake the village.
Matthew Hooton has it that Julie Ann Genter should resign over her handling of communications to do with the Wellington transport plan."Genter is a disgrace to her party and herself and should either release her letter in full or resign," he says.
Nothing unusual in that, simple politics and perspectives.
Something that puts a perspective on the perspective is his bit, "It has even been reported that Julie Ann Genter and another Green MP threatened to resign if the tunnel went ahead before the tram."
It has been reported? Is that bit added to give substance or merely chucking toys out of the cot because things aren't as he wishes?
It has been reported? If I were to report that Matthew Hooton is a fuckwit with mental health issues someone can pick that up and use that in a headline story in the country's biggest media outlet saying, " It has even been reported that Matthew Hooton is a fuckwit with mental health issues?"
Already today on Newstalkzb news I've heard two politicians reported as saying something was or wasn't a case and then the final word being given to MP Sarah Dowie speaking directly on tape, that what they said couldn't be believed as if hers was the definitive and authoritative version of reality.
Just another day of media with shit standards.
This seems to be the basis of the claim: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/114828737/city-councillors-claim-green-party-agreement-used-as-leverage-to-get-agreement-on-lets-get-wellington-moving
I wish these pollies could be allowed to get on with plans that have been thought about and that offer a way forward and improvements without some carping shit coming along and throwing cow pats or other messy missiles at them in an attempt to start a stoush and stop the solution.
Doing the process properly is important though. I expect oppositions to hold governing parties accountable on such stuff. Murky spindoctors, not so much.
How opposition parties choose to hold the governing parties accountable and for what is extremely important. When the opposition acts like a murky spindoctor they are traitors to the citizens of the country. Now that is the sort of emotive term that can bring the termites out of the woodwork!
Someone needed to sort the Wtn transport mess.
Fortunately its paywalled so most people won't be able to read it.
The artical on spinoff is interesting… tbh I find it a bit disapponting that the new govt is as bad as the old govt when it comes to accountablity and wearing of 'hats'.
Cant understand the secrecy either everyone knows and understands that the Greens are pro public transport and for very good reason. They shouldnt be ashamed of using whatever leverage they have at their disposal to achieve what are very important changes in the NZ transport system.
WTF? How is it that jailhouse snitches can in any way be considered evidence reliable enough to be introduced at a trial without solid corroboration from non-jailhouse evidence?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/114434812/jailhouse-snitches-the-crowns-high-dependency-on-low-credibility-witnesses
https://www.innocenceproject.org/safeguarding-against-unreliable-jailhouse-informant-testimony/
Frankly, if I were ever on a jury considering uncorroborated jailhouse snitch evidence, I'd view it as evidence the prosecutors were trying to do a frame-up.
Are Regional Councils useful and worth the money to run them or are they majorly a law unto themselves and a millstone to the Councils in their area trying to get stuff done that their constituents expect them to be in charge of?
Arrowtown has a lot of air pollution.
Otago Regional Councillor Michael Laws had himself called it to report burn-offs dropping ash on properties, and said the regulatory committee was ignoring increasing complaints, leading to people being more reckless with burn-offs.
"It gives you an example of the bizarre priorities of the Otago Regional Council and their policy team, that they're trying to stop people burning wood in the dead of night, to stay warm, in their wood burner – but they refuse to do anything about the daytime pollution which is likely to have a more deleterious effect on communities," he said.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396307/smokey-burn-offs-add-fuel-to-fire-over-air-pollution-issue
Recently we have heard about Wellington buses, largely the work of the regional council there. I see dv is concerned about that.
Numerous problems are arising. Should regional councils go or are they mostly okay, and problems should go to combined committees with a larger group coming from the concerned councils who can push for needed improvements to contested plans and systems?
dv You may have been thinking of this that has come out today 9/8 in the Scoop.
Regional Council seeks $415m for “essential” new trains to carry more people
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=121184
I was recalling the change over a couple? years ago. Then went with the cheaper option, paid drivers less. Lost drivers etc. Many buses cancelled AND flyer NOT included in metlink software ETC !!!!!!
That was decided by the previous regional council to the current one under the national governments edict that lowest tender MUST win.
Yep, and surprise there have been problems.
ORC are having real difficulties. A large part of the problem is that they are Dunedin based and dominated due to population representation of the ward system, when most of the Council's work is in Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes which have little representation. ORC didn't have an office in Queenstown for 3 years after the sole staff member here died. It's a hangover from the goldrush days perpetuating Dunedin's economic model of clipping the ticket (raping and pillaging in some cases) of the Central Otago economy.
Now that the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes economy equals, and probably exceeds Dunedin's, especially if activity derived in Central is omitted from Dunedin, maybe it's time for a local government re-organisation around community of interest.
A possible starting point could be DCC becoming a unitary covering the Taieri and Shag catchments, with the remainder of Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes amalgamating and also becoming unitary, or having a seperate Catchment Authority covering the Clutha catchment.
ORC also have a huge problem with water permits that expire in 2021 and have to be renewed. Generally these permits grossly over-allocate the catchments. Since the permit holders (farmers mostly) are reluctant to accept a reduced allocation progress on renewals has been glacial at best to current situation of effectively back to square one. Government intervention is probably inevitable.
That is good backgrounding Graeme thanks. Perhaps there need to be a series of meetings from gummint around the country and some new borders for local authorities drawn up.
There was a strong call I think Nick Smith led, for Nelson and Tasman to amalgamate in a Top of the south grouping but I don't know how the city and country can co-ordinate. We have Nelson – Richmond (Tasman's main town) urban areas separated by playing grounds, settled suburbs and some industrial and farming area. This is a bit like Napier and Hastings.
Nelson is a character town that is a Unitary Authority.
http://www.nelson.govt.nz/council/council-structure/unitary-authority/
Richmond is the growing area for housing with quite a big industrial estate. It is the headquarters for Tasman District Council which is a Unitary Authority. It abuts onto the Marlborough District Council and the West Coast District Council and Canterbury.
The Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council was one of 13 regional councils established through the passing of the Local Government Act 1987. The council was established in the 1989 local government reforms, but disestablished only three years later in 1992, when its functions went to the unitary authorities of Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council, and Marlborough District Council.[1] Kaikoura District had belonged to the Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council but with the 1992 reform was transferred to the Canterbury Regional Council.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson-Marlborough_Regional_Council
Central government had a go at having a combined Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council but that was for just a few years. The Marlborough council has plenty to do with the port at Picton within its area, and the unsettling possibility of a new port being established further down the coast which only was abandoned when there were hefty earthquakes in the area. (It being a waste of capital, infrastructure and investment in Picton was not the important point – I think it suited the trucking firms and self-drive tourists mostly.)
In the south the issues are around population shifts, being the rise of the former "hinterland" and the decline of the cities. Dunedin and Invercargill are going backwards and Central Otago forwards rapidly. Where resources should be going into Central and Northern Southland they are increasingly being drawn back into the cities to maintain services there. Lumsden and Wanaka / Central Otago / Queenstown maternity being an illustration of this.
But dramatic changes are happening with the population growth in Queenstown, Wanaka, Cromwell and Alexandra. The regional airport is now Queenstown with 10 international flights a day to 3 cities, Dunedin has less than 1 to 1 city (Brisbane), and that's marginal. Most of the passengers through Queenstown airport are going to / from somewhere outside Whakatipu, 40% from Wanaka / Central. Southland, Waitaki and South Westland are significant contributors as well. Consequently the shit has hit the fan and QLDC (75.1% shareholder in airport) has put the brakes on the airport's expansion plans as the natives were getting restless, and that's putting it diplomatically, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396263/queenstown-airport-expansion-plans-on-hold-after-public-vitriol
Local and regional government structures tend to be historically based and the entrenched interests don't take kindly to reduced circumstances. Change is inevitable but it could be an interesting ride.
The bullshit maternity "hub" decisions are based on the bullshit "debt" Southern DHB has accrued because of the bullshit funding model over the last couple of decades.
The issue you allude to with QLDC is the permanent population vs the tourist population (and I mean "permanent" not "been there ten weeks and calls themselves 'local'" syndrome) is interesting and needs to be accounted for. But what's basis for elevating Lakes District Hospital into tertiary status?
Probably none, but there's a very rapidly developing case for a tertiary hospital to serve the Central Otago / Queenstown region. The time / distance thing becomes crippling, both for the patient, and the provider.
We are currently immersed in a situation with a friend who has kidney failure coupled with onset of diabetes. The lady is in her early 70's and has alway lived life at 100 mph. She also is also caregiver to her 86 yo husband who suffered a very serious head injury about 20 years ago. They married when she was 17. His head injury means he cannot drive, and is pretty slow and unsteady at getting around.
She has been in hospital care for two months now, with an in and out bit at the start. Over that time she's had two trips to Dunedin, one down by air and one by road, but both back by road, and one to Invercargill for a test that took 10 minutes, but resulted in a week's stay there until she was able to return to LDH. In the meantime he has soldiered on as best he can, not knowing if he'll ever see his wife again. He's had a few falls and the stress of the situation has knocked him back a lot, and worrying about him isn't helping her recovery either.
While the care she has received is exemplary, along with the support he's getting from agencies, it's difficult to see how this is efficient, and humane, due to the distance and time involved. Multiply this out over probably hundreds of patients in varying circumstances a month along with the socialised costs, and there's got to be a better way of doing it.
Keep regional councils and adjust them to account for geographical spread. Put the main office in Alex if needed. Decentralise the district councils. I'm sure the Upper Clutha would be happy to separate from Queenstown, because of the large difference in communities and needs that QLDC is ignoring.
Alexandra is outside QLDC area
Central Otago District Councils towns are Alexandra,Cromwell Roxburgh and Ranfurly
The lakes part of QLDC is Hawea and Wanaka areas but quickly following the Clutha gets into Cromwell and Central Otago
I meant move ORC main office to Alex.
Amalgamation, along with strong community boards should get the best of both. Right now we need a strong hold on the rapidly changing regional issues, not more parochialism.
The other side of QLDC "ignoring" Wanaka is that Wanaka residents are quite happy to come to Queenstown to use the airport, and contribute a considerable proportion of the considerable aircraft noise issues Whakatipu suffers, but get rather upset at the thought of their share of the noise being created in their own geography.
Cromwell has become the defacto base for infrastructure servicing and is the logical place to base administrative services as well. A regional hospital would fit there as well, unfortunately at the expense of Dunedin and Invercargill.
Tthe noise and other problems with over use of flying are pretty much all on mass tourism. Maybe criticise Upper Clutha and Cromwell people for making a living from tourism.
As I understand the Wanaka/Queenstown issues, it's about voting population and representation. If smaller areas want to stay quieter and have a say in how their communities are run (and this applies to many place in NZ), then that way of structuring councils needs to change to be more democratic.
There's just as strong, maybe stronger, an argument that we are as much 'over localed' as over touristed. Wanaka's 40% share of ZQN passengers is mostly business and locals travel, there's not much tourism there compared to Queenstown, and virtually none in Cromwell or Central. On flights I'm on and in visits to the airport I'd put the passenger mix at around 50%, or maybe more, local or other than tourist.
Our region has experienced massive population growth, both from those that are sleeping in their own bed, and those that are hiring someone else's bed for the short to medium term. This growth is stretching the community and infrastructure and things are starting to give.
Nice work there
Thank you. It would be nice to see these issues getting wider discussion and leadership. There's potential for things to get out of control on multiple fronts resulting in unfortunate outcomes.
Stretch your legs and write a Standard post on QLDC/ORC election issues.
Go on.
Laws is an idiot of epic proportions who somehow now seems to pop up occassionally on the right side of things. In this case, he's wrong. Ill health from woodfires at night in the winter is because of the long term exposure, over months. High country burnoffs last a day. There are really good reasons to not allow farmers to do them, but this isn't one of them (and if it was, farmers can burn when the wind is blowing the other way).
Can't see how we could get rid of regional councils, they do different things than city and district councils and as bad as regional councils can be I'd hate to see them taken over by townies who have a different set of priorities. The big problem with regional councils is that not enough people vote, so farmers get to stack them with people aligned with their values.
Michael Laws is unfortunately only the current iteration of 'different' representative Dunstan has had on ORC, a past example was Jerry Eckoff and there will undoubtedly be many more.
It's hard to say ORC is farmer dominated at a representative level, there's only 5 out of 12 with direct farming connections, most of the rest are technocrats closely related to the functions of the council, and half the councillors represent the Dunedin constituency, not many resource hungry farms there.
However at a submission level rural interests loudly predominate, and pay for the best consultants.
Agricultural burning is a fraught activity 'round these parts. It doesn't matter how careful you are, how well approved you've got the burn (that can involve up to 6 agencies, virtually none of which seem to know what the others are doing) and how well you think you've picked 'the day', it can all turn to custard and you're hosting lots of people in big red trucks with flashing lights, angry ORCs, and if you're really lucky a couple of helicopters.
Why are people lighting fires in arid Central Otago?
Because they don't know how to farm any other way (or are willfully ignorant on it).
Mostly it's disposing of development and land clearance waste. Removing D. Fir shelter belts has produced a few good plumes this winter. Our 'turnout' was disposing of the mess from gorse clearance and willow maintenance. We've got about 10 km of deer fence we have to defend from DOC's willows, so there's an ongoing trimming program which generates a lot of slash. And that's just one med – large property, the district's covered in large, elderly and often inappropriate trees. Many of which are downright dangerous. Also just had to deal with about a ha of very large, increasingly leaning silver poplars that were in their third (at least) phase of self coppice. That generated a very large pile of firewood logs and a good sized pile of slash
Slash = lignin habitat and food for fungi, the generators of soil health and wealth; why rob them of the stuff they need and instead, put it up in the air as heat and gas?
Like I said, it's a fraught exercise. The grief from the episode I described has resulted on a marked change in practices from the farm manager and owner concerned, granted we did close the airport for a little while. The remains are now composting well.
"
Following a "very stressful" night Elliot said he was relieved on Friday morning to find the massive blaze on his land between Kurow and Waimate, which began from a controlled burn, had largely "burnt itself out".
About 50 firefighters, nine appliances and two helicopters were called at the height of the blaze on Thursday, and a two man team monitored the fire throughout the night."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/114870627/firefighters-battle-night-long-blaze-in-meyers-pass-near-kurow
I was thinking farmers dominating regional councils across the country (farmers and allies), but even with the ORC they seem to have a large influence on what the council does (eg water or dairying).
Which is odd on both counts given more people live in cities now. We need more people voting and better support for progressive candidates.
"We need more people voting and better support for progressive candidates."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/114576077/young-voters-in-the-south-show-lack-of-interest-in-local-government-elections
"None of the local candidate nominees were presenting their plans at high schools, where there would be a lot of first time voters, Laker said.
"You only see signs around town and that is only a face and a name. It doesn't tell you what they are running for. "
Well, Ms Laker, your high school admin don't allow local body candidates to speak to students, donchaknow! I tried and had to jump through hoops to get anywhere at all as far as talking to students was concerned.
In any case, were you completely unaware of the efforts to have a climate emergency declared by some of your your regional councillors? It was on the front page of The Southland Times, twice! (The Southland Times is published on-line – you're on-line, right?)
"Well, Ms Laker, your high school admin don't allow local body candidates to speak to students, donchaknow!"
What?!? Is that all high schools?
The one's I approached in Invercargill.
The influence is at the submission and submission support level. I manage a couple or small water schemes and get to observe and engage through a recent consent renewal. It's quite a machine.
Lhaws is an arse.
I'm not a huge fan of the ORC – even in Dunedin their treatment of public transport is abysmal. Dunno the pros and cons of splitting it or relocating head office, though.
I got no particular prob with councils trying to educate people concerning the desirability of burning well seasoned wood in their woodburners so long as they did so politely but beyond that they can go fuck themselves
Councils had to make changes according to a register of pollution days and how bad. I think there were big changes and much better readings but still there will be obligations to keep to.
Why public systems are better then those in the private sector in the long run. Few can be trusted completely these days, and to the private sector you are just a body to insert the consumer virus into, that they hope will promote a fever to spend on their product.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/396251/australian-medical-app-faces-fines-for-selling-patient-data
Weather wars,initial conditions and analysis from the same models.
https://www.odt.co.nz/regions/storm-brews-forecasters-disagree
https://www.weatherwatch.co.nz/content/after-attacking-us-metservice-now-agrees-with-us
https://twitter.com/MetService?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Don't know if it's confirmation bias on my part, but I'm intrigued by the divergence between different weather models this winter, and the volatility of forecasts, especially MetService's.
I don't think previous winters have have had forecasts and weather patterns as erratic as this winter in the Wakatipu.
Storm in a teacup possy.
Ahh you have read Einstein teacup .
https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.3393055
w00t lol 😝 … whaleoil.co.nz now redirects to Matt Blomfield’s site
https://twitter.com/jonogaluszka/status/1159643968574857216?s=21
Check out this dude! 8 years old and looking after everyone. Awww.. ❥
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/114883701/ihumtaos-8yearold-mori-warden
Side note: What are Stuff doing with spelling “mori” like that? Surely they can afford software to spell Maori correctly.
I think the macrons are the culprit
Yeah that would be it. They'd have an autogenerated address from the headline that trims address-breaking characters, e.g. the headline "Ihumātao: Why Ardern and the Government couldn't order police out" goes to the address https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/114786683/ihumtao-why-ardern-and-the-government-couldnt-order-police-out. Note the missing "ā, "'", and ":" in the address.
They’re called ‘slugs’, and the defaults are always in 8 bit (ie 256 characters) rather than something that is 32 or even 16 bit. It is easier to store, compare and search on for computers.
ah cheers.
Very interesting
Recommended reading thankyou Marty
There's still fight in the UK against Boris and the Cons.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/jeremy-corbyn-will-tell-the-queen-were-taking-over-if-boris-johnson-loses-a-vote-of-no-confidence/08/08/
Tell the Queen ?
hehehe too funny. The system means its the Queen who asks – on the advice of the existing PM.
Won't happen, and Corbyn's an idiot if he truthfully believes that's going to happen.
If Boris loses a no confidence vote, under the fixed parliament legislation, he faces a second chance ballot a couple of weeks later. Lose that, and it goes to a general election.
The only way Corbyn has a legitimate chance of taking over is, after the first vote, he has the numbers to form a government, which is highly unlikely, even with the cons single, solitary majority.
Whilst conservative members may not want a bar of a no deal brexit, even the most europhile of their numbers won't cross the floor and vote Corbyn's labour in. I can see them wanting a snap election to stop the pm, but never propping up the opposition and certain expulsion, deselection and self inflicted career ending suicide.
Edit:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49285670
“If the PM loses the motion of no-confidence, then under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act he would have another 14 days to win another vote.
If he fails to secure the vote then a general election would be called on a date advised on by the PM.
However, if another candidate can secure the confidence of the Commons then, under cabinet rules, Mr Johnson would be expected to resign and recommend the Queen appoints the other person.”
It depends on the NI MP's backing a Labour led coalition that kept the UK in the customs union and single market and then went to a general election including a referendum on accepting the deal. If the referendum failed and the Tories won they would have a mandate for a no deal Brexit. Or not.
Even with the unionists it would still need a tory to knife their career, and with Corbyn's pro IRA history, the odds on getting the orange order vote is pretty slim.
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/corbyns-links-to-proira-group-were-investigated-by-the-police-37230971.html
Most likely outcome will be a general election if enough tory worms turn.
There will be a few Tories who will not seek re-election under BJ and who could choose to leave having made a difference/blocking Brexit.
Still a lot of ducks to line up in a row.
There is a quote Churchill made about taking anyone as an ally against Hitler that the Unionist could make to justify using Corbyn to block Brexit.
A couple of errors by me in the exchange above, notably around the second confidence vote and still needing a tory to jump ship in the unlikely event of a unionist shift.
This was on the BBC today, which explains the confidence vote.
What is a vote of no confidence?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-46890481
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/396328/blackcurrants-benefit-exercise-mood-and-recovery-study 9 August 2019
There's been studies that we've done in New Zealand and also some work done overseas, especially in the UK, that are coming together to show blackcurrants in New Zealand have some activity around helping exercise recovery and helping your body cope with the stresses of exercise."
He said there were three ways recovery occurred – managing stresses, regulating the inflammatory pathways in the body so that tissue repair was promoted and the boosting of immunity.
He said studies suggested New Zealand blackcurrants had higher levels of Polyphenol, which promoted this recovery. But he said more research was needed to scientifically validate the claim New Zealand blackcurrants were superior to other blackcurrants in this respect.
Frozen currants were just as good as fresh ones, he said. The study received funding from the government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribena 2 Feb 2018 Major blackcurrant buyer Ribena cuts NZ contracts
This Japanese firm did not require our production in 2018 and so the growers had to hastily look what to do. Why don't NZs make things themselves. If we as a country supported our own growers, they would be sure of a certain level of sales, and then could develop an overseas interest for exporting to increase business. And note that the Wikipedia item says that Suntory changed to artificial sweeteners as a result of a sugar tax in the UK. But people wanting a natural juice that is sweetened may prefer some sugar, or honey, compared to the laboratory equivalents, and may be affected adversely by them.
But note: 6/2/2018 https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/349725/health-benefits-of-nz-blackcurrants-tapped-into
What makes the New Zealand blackcurrant better than others?
It's the ultra-violet sunlight that really benefits the New Zealand blackcurrant-growing environment, said Ms Cushman.
"That stimulates the berry fruit into producing very high concentrations of poly phenols, the bio-actives that give blackcurrants their physiological benefits.
"We are also blessed to have good varieties that thrive in the New Zealand conditions," she said.
Curranz launched the New Zealand blackcurrant product as a sports nutrition supplement, first in the UK, but now also in other countries, including New Zealand, Ms Cushman said.
The company will be supplying High Performance New Zealand Olympic athletes for the next Olympic cycle.
"It is a big breakthrough for the Kiwis because British athletes have been using the black currant supplements and winning and it was embarrassing that New Zealand sports people were missing out"
We need to protect our own country's business. The idea that we are big world players is quite wrong; No matter how much we make or import we are always small.
It has been
0
days without an incident of John Key Derangement Syndrome
[lprent: And
0
hours since the occurrence of Jacinda Ardern Derangement Syndrome (also known as ‘good ole misogynist itch’)
If you want to make a point, then perhaps you could play with your teeny dick off my post…]
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
What's SirPonyboy been up to now shggy?
Amazing how moving a reply out from under the post that’s being replied to changes the context, geniuses.
So there was a context. Thanks for explaining something that was of no importance to anyone with even half a brain.
https://youtu.be/QAB6aXOfUmU
More rats rats being thrown at Eco Maori.
Some Eco Maori music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/tgIqecROs5M
Eco Maori has seen a story about the state of Indias Awa it is not good poverty and plastic waste is a big problem there .
Please clean up your rivers to leave the taonga wai treasure water for your mokopuna grandchildren. Aotearoa has banned single use plastic bags it is a minor inconvenience but well worth it not seeing plastic bags blowing all around the country side the effects of the ban on single use plastic bags can already be seen we will eventually ban most plastics in Aotearoa
Plastic, poverty and paradox: experts head to the Ganges to track waste
India’s most sacred river is also its most polluted, with plastic a major culprit. Now moves are afoot to monitor the flow of rubbish and assess its link to poverty
Drop a plastic bottle into the Ganges and where does it end up? An all-female team of engineers, explorers and scientists is about to find out by undertaking the first expedition to measure plastic waste in one of the world’s most polluted waterways
Following the Ganges upstream from where it empties in the Bay of Bengal to its source in the Himalayas, the National Geographic-backed expedition aims to better understand how plastic pollution travels from source to sea and provide solutions for reducing the amount that ends up in the world’s oceans.
The 2,525 km-long Ganges is a river of extreme paradox: though worshipped by 1 billion Hindus and relied on as a water source for roughly 400 million people, it is contaminated with industrial runoff, untreated sewage and household waste. It is also one of 10 rivers responsible for 90% of the plastic that ends up at sea.
The river is, therefore, a perfect starting point for measuring how plastic travels from land into rivers, and from rivers into the ocean, says National Geographic fellow and University of Georgia associate professor Jenna Jambeck, who is co-leading the expedition.
“We know there’s plastic in these river environments and that the plastic is heading into the ocean,” says environmental engineer Jambeck, whose previous research found that 8 metric tons of plastic waste entering the sea every year.
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/05/plastic-poverty-and-paradox-experts-head-to-the-ganges-to-track-waste
Kia Ora Newshub.
Wow a mean weather system is effecting the South Island lets hope that it doesn't make to big a Mess.
I think the Idea that moving the cars to a different location in the Auckland region if its works and saves money run with it work smarter not harder is one of my philosophys the other is keep it simple it looks like this Idea fits both.
What about the suppression order against Eco Maori what a joke.
Cool teaching tamariki how to eat healthy foods at a kindergarten very good I have dropped sugar our of my diet and I have lost 10 kg and feel much better sugar should be banned too the gasoline tanks of our cars.
Ka pai to the volunteers who have helped clean up the Awa river mess of a old dump down South Island.
Cool Idea including models with access needs in a fashion Show that should help lift there wairua.
A huge power cut in Britain that is not good at all lucky I harvest my power straight from Te Ra.
Thats heaps of Sharks in Australia they are beautiful creatures that need to be treasured and protected from over exploitation by greedy people.
Ka kite ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
It's sad that the Kua is closing after 15 years of teaching Te reo Maori Eco Maori hopes that their is plans to fill the void of this Kua closure
The final 33 students finished today Eco Maori hopes that they can climb up to greater hights on their ladders of LIFE.
There are 2 sides to a story the Ihumatao issue with tangata being called racist.
It's awesome to see Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa in Australia tau toko te tangata at Ihumatao.
The Australian Tangata Whenua have been treated very badly by the Australian government. Ka kite ano
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Some Eco Maori Music for the Minute.
https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4
Its not on having tamariki starving when Te Papatuanuku produce enough food and resources for all we have to change so food is not wasted 30% of food is wasted.
The rulers need to learn to share their lollipops sharing will be part of the changes needed to combat Human Caused Climate Change
World hunger on the rise as 820m at risk, UN report finds
Eliminating hunger by 2030 is an immense challenge, say heads of UN agencies
More than 820 million people worldwide are still going hungry, according to a UN report that says reaching the target of zero hunger by 2030 is “an immense challenge”.
The number of people with not enough to eat has risen for the third year in a row as the population increases, after a decade when real progress was made. The underlying trend is stabilisation, when global agencies had hoped it would fall.
Millions of children are not getting the nutrition they need. The UN says the pace of progress in halving child stunting and reducing the number of low birthweight babies is too slow, which jeopardises the chances of achieving another of the sustainable development goals.
Nearly half of all child deaths in Africa stem from hunger, study shows
Read more
The report is from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef), the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization
Ka kite ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/15/world-hunger-un-report