Marc Daalder writing for Newsroom has a brilliant fact filled explanation of the energy supply "problems." Brown should be shamed for using his misinformation about gas etc for political gains. (There is still more than enough gas available but usage has dropped.)
Third, exploration is not the barrier to the development of new offshore fields. There are already known reserves that companies can exploit now in up to five fields that have been exempted from the ban covering more than 5400 square kilometres of ocean off the coast of Taranaki and the Waikato.
Actually Newsroom does a much better job than most Media outlets.
I figure if we are at the tipping point, for it to be cost efficient to go all electric domestically, then surely we are there for commercial purposes.
Cold houses to blame for people needing to 'blast the heater' – Green Building Council
"Research from Otago University shows actually if we built to best-practice standards, as the majority of the OECD already are, we could reduce the winter peak by 75 percent. That's huge, and not only takes pressure off the grid, but would be a massive win for New Zealander's health and cost of living."
That’s precisely the situation my 88 year old mother is in. She still lives in the (small) family home we all grew up in in the ‘60’s and 70’s, but with ceiling insulation and a heat pump added. She has fantastic neighbours, and has no desire to move to something new.
I didnt say they did. Also, did you read the link?
"For years we've been calling for [governments] to deal with the terrible state of New Zealand homes. Millions of New Zealanders live in poorly insulated and draughty housing – there's no wonder when the weather gets cold, they need to blast the heater."
He said the government should commit to a major retrofit programme similar to those being done in Ireland, Australia and the US.
And it may be you are the fortunate person who has either their own home and managed to insulate…or fortunate enough to have a Landlord who cares about more than the rental income?
Unlike….
We're still hearing stories of cold, damp, mouldy rentals, four years after the introduction of Healthy Homes standards. What exactly are the rules, and why are so many landlords able to duck them?
It's also difficult for tenants to complain if they have a problem. They can go to the Tenancy Compliance and Investigations Team (TCIT), or the Tenancy Tribunal, but that's not an easy task.
"That's quite a difficult undertaking – and especially if you're not certain of what you're entitled to and how it all works," Bell says.
Bell says only about 18 percent of tenants that have gone to the tribunal with Healthy Homes compliance issues have received some form of remedy.
I actually don't think we are. Most houses have good insulation: top, bottom,sides. double glazing, many have air/heat transfer kits, heat pumps. They don't have forced air mechanical ventilation or automatic temperature control. Still a limiting factor is our prevalent building material of wood
The trouble is that the features that would be the icing on the cake for many such as radiators or whole house heating are beyond the reach of the typical home house builder. We rely on heat pumps on walls rather than harnessing the power of heat pump technology to power whole house heating. (ie a bank of pumps connected to radiators) Solar is not yet mainstream in new builds. Individual wind turbines are not seen much here in the perennially windy city (clue not Chicago!)
But our existing housing stock is fine to be renovated. Many sustainable firms do not offer programmes with loans etc to insulate walls or do double glazing (except the poor people's Dble glazing kits which are great). They are not doing any research into solutions for accessing under floor insulation for home built with no human under floor access.
Our small street though we witnessed tunneling on the scale of Douglas Bader at Stalag Luft III B when a neighbour had tunnelers working to make tracks for humans to install underfloor insulation.
Even though we can do all of these things, some better/more effectively than others, the elephant in the room is always the cost of electricity.
Max Bradford needs to make himself ponder on how difficult his reforms have made it for most to afford even a modest heater to take the chill off. Failing Bradford seeing the light then some sort of review should be done with an aim of winding back the rich boys electricity 'reforms'.
Perhaps Labour could add this to the list, and any other 'state' owned assets that may fall into private hands with this Govt.
Sorry I meant in relation to brick or stone. We have to work with what we have got, stone & brick are so expensive, and so as compared with solid as stone or brick we do have a limitation to start with.
And sure we are good at upping the rating with innovative sheetings/sheathings behind.
Ok, I'll go all hippy on you and mention straw bale, cob, aircrete and rammed earth.
Having said all that we have just redone the lean-to in the west wall hat is part of the master bedroom on our villa. Ready for elderly Mum to occupy.
6×2 framing for the walls and 10×2 rafters for the ceiling for the thicker Batts, expol under floor and heat pump plus radiators.
My 1933 bungalow is constructed of kauri weatherboards on the outside and 9 by 1 inch rimu planking on the inside. Add building paper and a lining of Gib to the internal walls, lots of Batts in the attic, and insulation to the underfloor spaces, – it is very snug. I could retrofit double glazing, but for the moment, good curtains will have to do. There is a heat pump in the kitchen/family room and the site is north/west facing so gets good sun.
Nothing wrong with well built and insulated wooden houses.
Quite apart from the privacy aspect every little bit of protection against the cold helps. I suspect that they are related to the ones though who never pull their curtains back to get solar warming during the day or ventilate their houses to change air and prevent mould (and know the best times to do this).
We seem to have lost much of the commonsense about 'driving' a home somewhere along the way.
I really don't get why we have so many damn windows.
Glazing on north-facing walls can be reasonably large. Where there is good solar access and exposed concrete floors to provide thermal mass, north-facing windows should be approximately 10-15% of total floor area. With timber floors, north-facing windows should be closer to 10% of floor area. Where solar access is poor, the north-facing windows should be less than 8% of floor area.
Glazing that is east, west or south-facing should be smaller and designed mainly to meet daylight and view requirements. This glazing is usually a net heat loser in winter, depending on climate and heating.
East-facing windows should be reasonably small – less than 5% of the home's total floor area.
South and west-facing windows should ideally be less than 3% of floor area and be designed for daylight, views and cooling cross-flow breezes in summer.
warmth, light, view. One of the reasons for having decent east facing windows is if you are in a hot climate you can open those windows in the afternoon when it is hottest, and close the curtains on the west and north sides. If there were limited windows on the east, it would be hotter inside and darker.
I do agree that some house builds go completely over board. Also, why did high ceilings come back into style? It’s like the efficiencies gained by insulation and better passive solar were seen as something that could be spent by doing high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and no curtains. That’s not conserving energy, it’s excessive energy use despite the triple glazing and high R value insulation.
Interesting question. And why did high ceilings become 'fashionable' in the first place – a woman's (or man's) home is her/his castle?
Just for info – I don't know the answer, but joe90 is probably on to it.
NZ fashion icon Dame Trelise Cooper selling her luxury apartment – just weeks after moving in [16 April 2024]
He noted that the 275sqm apartment, which has a CV of $10.5 million, was the size of a large family home and the biggest in the Sonata. “The views that captivate you when you walk into the apartment and the sheer volume and the high stud – it’s iconic. The quiet luxury of this apartment will appeal to people who put a premium on privacy,” he said.
How High [20 May 2009]
Are high ceilings a sign of wretched architectural excess or just good taste?
Living and working in older buildings, people discovered that taller rooms simply felt—and looked—better. Builders were happy to oblige since tall ceilings didn’t cost much more, as Stern points out—but you could charge more for them.
High ceilings are best [3 March 2023]
Ideally we want lofty spaces for socialising and smaller ones to retreat to, says Gibberd: “If you look at a Georgian townhouse, the ceiling heights change as you go up,” he says. “On the ground floor, they tend to be high to portray a sense of grandeur. On the upper floors, where bedrooms are, they’re lower.” Large rooms are inevitably more expensive to heat, and the acoustics a challenge, especially if you have hard floors. You don’t need high ceilings for sleeping.
Agree with this. My house has stood the test of time and is as warm and comfy as I want it to be. (I generally function on a lower temperature than many homes are heated to and having opening windows/access to fresh air are key to me. I suffered terribly (like no other time) with sinus and other chest/nasal infections while living in apartments with non opening windows in Europe.
Human-induced effects through increases in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere continue, and warmer oceans and higher sea levels are guaranteed. As we have seen in 2022, whether from drought, heat waves and wildfires, or floods and super storms, there is a cost to not taking action to slow climate change, and we all are experiencing this now.
According to a quote from the late 19th century, often attributed to Mark Twain, ‘Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.’ Now humans are changing the weather, and still nobody does anything about it!
Friends in the South are hoping for aurora views this evening – though may be hampered by cloud-cover (not as cold as last night, but less visually exciting)
Sadly, we're not likely to see them in Auckland; both because we're likely too far north – but also the light pollution would drown it out. Perhaps they could save power by dowsing the street lights to let us see the aurora!
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center
[…]
They paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot.
We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.
An Israeli whistleblower recounting his experience at Sde Teiman
According to the accounts,the facility some 18 miles from the Gaza frontier is split into two parts: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gazaare placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapersand fed through straws.
“They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” said one whistleblower, who worked as a medic at the facility’s field hospital.
“(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” said another whistleblower. “It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”
The Carrington Event in early September 1859 was the largest solar storm on record.
Auroras were visible in low latitudes and miners in the Rockies were said to have arisen and breakfasted in the middle of the night thinking dawn was approaching. Induced current in telegraph lines caused fires, ignited batteries, and allowed telegraphs to be sent and received despite batteries being disconnected.
An event of that magnitude today would likely cause hundreds of billion of dollars worth of damage.
Stunning display south of here. Mostly red spreading from the southern horizon to near overhead, looks very like a bushfire sunset, with occasional vertical greens.
Our electromagnetic infrastructure, and indeed life itself as we know it, is possible only because of spaceship Earth's magnetosphere – and it's FREE! "Raise shields!"
The one on the right seems to have a penis on the end of the pointing arm, perhaps mocking the idea that a man can protect a woman's space literally/figuratively while having a penis. Or that anyone with a penis can protect a space designed for women or mocking that women, unless they have lady dick, are not women?
But I don't know…..
So many have got the wrong end of the press release because of the MSM mistake in saying NZ first were refusing access to unisex spaces. Par for the course for MSM in NZ. Wouldn't have a clue about women's issues even if they had said issues piled up in boxes in their lounge.
Hipkins repeated the lie about unisex as well. Totally fucking bizarre.
I usually find Murdoch's cartoons self explanatory, but I really have no idea what she is trying to say with that one. Does 'I trust you do have a women's space' refer to women's vaginas?
The proposed legislation (members bill only – not coalition) requires a minimum of two separate toilets – one for each sex. And legal consequence for those who use one not of their birth sex.
greater interest about who is a women's sex toilet, than the other one.
and who is going to police correct use of toilets and how they are going to do it.
She could have gone further – does one need a "birth certificate" or drivers licence or passport ID to access a public place toilet (all currently issued based on self gender ID). This is like the "phony war", just the beginning.
It applies here because a member proposing legislation about having separate toilets based on sex, will come up against earlier parliamentary legislation to enable gender self ID (as per birth certificate, DL and passport).
To have any meaning, it would have to impact on other legislation.
I don't see how you got those two points from that cartoon.
And I do not know what other conclusions could be drawn.
To have any meaning, it would have to impact on other legislation.
generally yes, that is the norm. However there is legislation that predates self ID eg the right to discriminate on the basis of sex was established in BORA 1990 and HRA 1993
Afaik, the BDMRR amendment was never intended to change the definition of sex, it was simply to make changing the BC easier.
The DIA FAQ page had one thing to say about women,
How will you protect women’s rights to sex segregated spaces if self-identification is introduced?
The sex printed on a birth certificate does not determine someone’s legal sex and any associated rights, and there is no legal provision for definitively determining sex in New Zealand legislation. A self-identification process doesn’t change the protections for sex segregated spaces.
People have been able to change the sex on their birth certificate since the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Act 1995 was first enacted, and to self-identify gender on passports since 2012, and we haven’t seen any evidence of this being abused.
So what we have is protections that allow for single sex spaces, social conventions around that eg that sex refers to biology, and the DIA stating in 2021 that single sex spaces aren't affected by self ID.
We also have a sociopolitical push from gender identity activists to make changes socially eg remove single sex spaces. That is why this Bill exists. That it's being done by Peters/NZF as a form of populism doesn't alter that changes are being made without consultation and that will attract backlash. I'm not convinced that this Bill is necessary, nor that it is well written, but it's what we have in the absence of meaningful debate.
The Post today told an outright lie about the Bill,
one that the leader of the Opposition repeated. It's bizarre beyond belief, but here we are.
Ani did a mega thread,
A THREAD OF EXAMPLES & REASONS WHY SINGLE SEX TOILETS/BATHROOMS ARE IMPORTANT. Plus history & info. These are of course in addition to the fact that women (and most men) want single sex spaces in which to pee & poo.
The meaning is that self ID no more impacted on spaces than the right given since 1995 to identify differently (via a managed process) to birth sex – or the more general point that there was no legal definition of sex identity.
Thus sex based identity can be extended (via gender identity) to those not born of that sex, and unless this is seen to be in conflict with the rights of those born of that sex it would not be a breach of human rights.
Not that they are prepared to put it that baldly without a court determination.
Is it then possible to identify the legal circumstance of any bathroom "incident" without court precedent (and after Court of Appeal and Supreme Court also concluded)?
In the meantime, police action launched as a result of managing an incident – without any legal resolution, until a case went to court.
At the moment there is presumably no requirement to have separate male and female sex toilets in new public buildings, but this is common and with unisex areas as well – often with wheel chair access, which "others" can use.
A headline saying that the legislation would ban the provision of just unisex toilets in new buildings would be valid.
The meaning is that self ID no more impacted on spaces than the right given since 1995 to identify differently (via a managed process) to birth sex – or the more general point that there was no legal definition of sex identity.
actually self ID legislation is having a significant impact in that it is affirming social change that is distorted because of No Debate. Consider why there are no posts about this on TS now. Or why there are few left wing voices address the issues for women.
what is sex based identity? Sex isn't an identity, it's a fixed state of being.
If you mean that trans women can self ID into women's toilets even where those toilets are designated female only, then use, this is exactly what the Bill is designed to address.
Consider a pub that has a women's toilet, men's and unisex. The women's toilet is a large room with basins/mirrors and cubicles that don't got floor to ceiling. Under the proposed law, if a man goes into that space, women could go to the owner of the pub and ask them to take action eg evict the man from the pub. If the man refuses to leave, the police can be called. Just like any other barring that happens in a pub.
At the moment, the same pub could take the same actions, because single sex spaces are protected in law. But I think the legislation used in court would be whatever allows pubs to evict patrons. The problem we have at the moment is that self ID is effecting a cultural shift. No Debate means that many places that might want to remove men from women's toilets won't do so for fear of being cancelled. And there are of course many people who are ok with men in women's spaces and they're not going to support women in that situation.
This is a really good example of why the issue isn't about genital inspections or transphobia. Even allowing for Bomber's fairly extreme and nonsensical rant style, it neatly points to the fact that men can just decide to ride roughshod over women's rights and then women have to fight. That's the war.
This is a really good example of why the issue isn't about genital inspections or transphobia. Even allowing for Bomber's fairly extreme and nonsensical rant style, it neatly points to the fact that men can just decide to ride roughshod over women's rights and then women have to fight. That's the war.
Agree Weka. I am concerned that there is so little in the way of widespread support for women from the community of men generally. This is not about being kind or using pronouns.
I think the community of men should step up and say, 'it doesn't matter how you are dressed fellow man you are able to come into the the toilets of your biological sex'.
This would work for all the well intentioned trans 'women'. They would recognise that it doesn't matter how you are dressed you are still a male.
It would not work on the AGP males.
Autogynephilia is defined as a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female. Being frank the ability to do something about being sexually aroused is to masturbate, possibly rape. The numbers of pictures of males masturbating in womens toilets is legion.
I have not got figures but I suspect that in this cohort it is highly unlikely that they would have surgery to create a vagina, that would miss the point. They need male apparatus to do the next step. Sorry for being frank but in the dreamy world of rainbows and so called 'trans rights' this is ignored
Part of 'passing' as a female is to do 'female' things like going to the womens toilets. Of course they look nothing like a female. They are instantly recognisable as male. Many women have an inbuilt/innate sense of being able to recognise males no matter how they dress. This most acute at times when we have to let our guard down eg toiletting, breastfeeding children, tending to childrens' needs generally a fractious child in a stroller will take most of a mother's attention.
If there were unisex toilets then anyone could use them. This of course would not be supported by the AGP men.
The aim and object of these men is to gain access to women's toilets. I suspect this is who the legislation is primarily aimed at. It cannot come soon enough.
I hope that along with it, in the future, we will look at the building regs that seem to have screwball requirements for the proportions of male/female toilets. Many women have found themselves using or guarding men's toilets, at say concert venues, so that other women can use them, while an equal number, and counting, are using and lining up to use the women's toilets.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
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Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
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Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
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https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/nz-news/350269895/tauhara-power-station-turbine-gets-test-drive
The knuckle dragging simian brown must have over looked this little bueaty when ranting about more gas needed for power production.
Marc Daalder writing for Newsroom has a brilliant fact filled explanation of the energy supply "problems." Brown should be shamed for using his misinformation about gas etc for political gains. (There is still more than enough gas available but usage has dropped.)
Actually Newsroom does a much better job than most Media outlets.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/05/10/government-hypes-gas-crisis-ahead-of-restarting-drilling/
Newsroom are well worth supporting with a subscription in my opinion.
Thanks for the link ian.
Informative and balanced, while being critical.
I figure if we are at the tipping point, for it to be cost efficient to go all electric domestically, then surely we are there for commercial purposes.
https://www.rewiring.nz/electric-homes-report
I freed myself from the shackles of the usurious power peddlers…
I have a large solar panel..two smaller panels..rechargable lights..sound system…cook with gas…
= Bye bye power bills…
It's not hard to do..
..imagine…no more power bills… self-sufficiency rules..!
Go you good thing.
When a Key commodity is privatised, shareholders rub their hands in glee when there are shortages.
Bradford's 'reforms' were what pushed me off grid. We are in the process of installing our 3rd and hopefully final system.
Then, commission the biodigester, made out of a 1000litre IBC(s) to get off the bottled gas…
So obvious..and such a no brainer. Sad that the NO brains were elected into, ironically, power .
Fast track coal, scream the shit heads.
As well as new building we also need to learn how to retrofit our existing housing stock and establish best practice for doing this.
Not everyone wants to live in a new house. Plenty still live and are happy in, an older house.
With the long time practice to ensure that older folk can stay in the community rather being warehoused somewhere else this is vital.
Families with children also need access to homes, that need not be new, that have good standards for warmth.
That’s precisely the situation my 88 year old mother is in. She still lives in the (small) family home we all grew up in in the ‘60’s and 70’s, but with ceiling insulation and a heat pump added. She has fantastic neighbours, and has no desire to move to something new.
Oh to be fortunate and wealthy enough to have that choice.
With the cost of new builds, some people have no choice but to stay in their old homes.
I didnt say they did. Also, did you read the link?
And it may be you are the fortunate person who has either their own home and managed to insulate…or fortunate enough to have a Landlord who cares about more than the rental income?
Unlike….
An..example of what the UNfortunate deal with
how far below best practice are we building?
I actually don't think we are. Most houses have good insulation: top, bottom,sides. double glazing, many have air/heat transfer kits, heat pumps. They don't have forced air mechanical ventilation or automatic temperature control. Still a limiting factor is our prevalent building material of wood
The trouble is that the features that would be the icing on the cake for many such as radiators or whole house heating are beyond the reach of the typical home house builder. We rely on heat pumps on walls rather than harnessing the power of heat pump technology to power whole house heating. (ie a bank of pumps connected to radiators) Solar is not yet mainstream in new builds. Individual wind turbines are not seen much here in the perennially windy city (clue not Chicago!)
But our existing housing stock is fine to be renovated. Many sustainable firms do not offer programmes with loans etc to insulate walls or do double glazing (except the poor people's Dble glazing kits which are great). They are not doing any research into solutions for accessing under floor insulation for home built with no human under floor access.
Our small street though we witnessed tunneling on the scale of Douglas Bader at Stalag Luft III B when a neighbour had tunnelers working to make tracks for humans to install underfloor insulation.
Even though we can do all of these things, some better/more effectively than others, the elephant in the room is always the cost of electricity.
Max Bradford needs to make himself ponder on how difficult his reforms have made it for most to afford even a modest heater to take the chill off. Failing Bradford seeing the light then some sort of review should be done with an aim of winding back the rich boys electricity 'reforms'.
Perhaps Labour could add this to the list, and any other 'state' owned assets that may fall into private hands with this Govt.
In a discussion about thermal performance how is timber, around R1.4/25mm, limiting?
Sorry I meant in relation to brick or stone. We have to work with what we have got, stone & brick are so expensive, and so as compared with solid as stone or brick we do have a limitation to start with.
And sure we are good at upping the rating with innovative sheetings/sheathings behind.
The R-value for most cladding is negligible.
Thickness required of various insulation materials to achieve an R-Value of 22.
The most utility method of upping R values is to increase insulation on the house side of the vapour barrier.
Ok, I'll go all hippy on you and mention straw bale, cob, aircrete and rammed earth.
Having said all that we have just redone the lean-to in the west wall hat is part of the master bedroom on our villa. Ready for elderly Mum to occupy.
6×2 framing for the walls and 10×2 rafters for the ceiling for the thicker Batts, expol under floor and heat pump plus radiators.
My 1933 bungalow is constructed of kauri weatherboards on the outside and 9 by 1 inch rimu planking on the inside. Add building paper and a lining of Gib to the internal walls, lots of Batts in the attic, and insulation to the underfloor spaces, – it is very snug. I could retrofit double glazing, but for the moment, good curtains will have to do. There is a heat pump in the kitchen/family room and the site is north/west facing so gets good sun.
Nothing wrong with well built and insulated wooden houses.
wall insulation?
I really don't get why people build these insulated houses and don't put up curtains.
I don't either Weka.
Quite apart from the privacy aspect every little bit of protection against the cold helps. I suspect that they are related to the ones though who never pull their curtains back to get solar warming during the day or ventilate their houses to change air and prevent mould (and know the best times to do this).
We seem to have lost much of the commonsense about 'driving' a home somewhere along the way.![sad sad](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png)
I really don't get why we have so many damn windows.
Glazing on north-facing walls can be reasonably large. Where there is good solar access and exposed concrete floors to provide thermal mass, north-facing windows should be approximately 10-15% of total floor area. With timber floors, north-facing windows should be closer to 10% of floor area. Where solar access is poor, the north-facing windows should be less than 8% of floor area.
Glazing that is east, west or south-facing should be smaller and designed mainly to meet daylight and view requirements. This glazing is usually a net heat loser in winter, depending on climate and heating.
East-facing windows should be reasonably small – less than 5% of the home's total floor area.
South and west-facing windows should ideally be less than 3% of floor area and be designed for daylight, views and cooling cross-flow breezes in summer.
https://www.level.org.nz/passive-design/glazing-and-glazing-units/
warmth, light, view. One of the reasons for having decent east facing windows is if you are in a hot climate you can open those windows in the afternoon when it is hottest, and close the curtains on the west and north sides. If there were limited windows on the east, it would be hotter inside and darker.
Yes Weka this is what my sister in inland Otago does in summer. East windows & doors open, west closed and curtained
I do agree that some house builds go completely over board. Also, why did high ceilings come back into style? It’s like the efficiencies gained by insulation and better passive solar were seen as something that could be spent by doing high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows and no curtains. That’s not conserving energy, it’s excessive energy use despite the triple glazing and high R value insulation.
High ceilings have always been a display of wealth.
Interesting question. And why did high ceilings become 'fashionable' in the first place – a woman's (or man's) home is her/his castle?
Just for info – I don't know the answer, but joe90 is probably on to it.
"Adding to the list of the benefits of high ceilings, he gushed …"
Agree with this. My house has stood the test of time and is as warm and comfy as I want it to be. (I generally function on a lower temperature than many homes are heated to and having opening windows/access to fresh air are key to me. I suffered terribly (like no other time) with sinus and other chest/nasal infections while living in apartments with non opening windows in Europe.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350272573/nz-weather-live-power-grid-emergency-due-geomagnetic-storm
Labour and the Greens fault, no doubt.
Thanks for that link to the Stuff article – TS is a great source of news.
Friends in the South are hoping for aurora views this evening – though may be hampered by cloud-cover (not as cold as last night, but less visually exciting)
Sadly, we're not likely to see them in Auckland; both because we're likely too far north – but also the light pollution would drown it out. Perhaps they could save power by dowsing the street lights to let us see the aurora!
"Perhaps they could save power by dowsing the street lights to let us see the aurora!"
They would if they could but wouldn't dare. Some grinch would take them to court. Damn pity.
I've just seen images of the aurora taken in Foxton. Stunning!
I thought it was one of the things that was bragging rights for our southern cousins.
The most moral army in the world…
//
Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center
[…]
They paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot.
According to the accounts, the facility some 18 miles from the Gaza frontier is split into two parts: enclosures where around 70 Palestinian detainees from Gaza are placed under extreme physical restraint, and a field hospital where wounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers and fed through straws.
“They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” said one whistleblower, who worked as a medic at the facility’s field hospital.
“(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” said another whistleblower. “It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/10/middleeast/israel-sde-teiman-detention-whistleblowers-intl-cmd
Test
The Carrington Event in early September 1859 was the largest solar storm on record.
Auroras were visible in low latitudes and miners in the Rockies were said to have arisen and breakfasted in the middle of the night thinking dawn was approaching. Induced current in telegraph lines caused fires, ignited batteries, and allowed telegraphs to be sent and received despite batteries being disconnected.
An event of that magnitude today would likely cause hundreds of billion of dollars worth of damage.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350275087/rare-geomagnetic-storm-sparks-power-grid-alerts-around-world-stunning-auroras
Stunning photos of the Aurora including one from Blockhouse Bay Auckland. Can't see it from my place on the Shore. 🙁
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/stunning-aurora-lights-continue-for-nz-tonight-clear-skies-make-for-better-viewing-conditions/TDUYASBJBJDJ7AONV37Q75HRQE/
Stunning display south of here. Mostly red spreading from the southern horizon to near overhead, looks very like a bushfire sunset, with occasional vertical greens.
AJ.. heh heh. Waiting for the t-shirts. ..LABOUR DID THIS! Totally responsible for LARGEST SOLAR STORM ON RECORD!.
I might have believed you if you had claimed "Labour are planning to turn on the largest Solar Storm on Record"
Labour actually doing it? Who are you trying to kid? They never in actually succeeding with anything significant.
Alwyn’s more garbled than usual. Blame the aurora – it helps put things in perspective.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/05/11/awe-inspiring-aurorae-amaze-over-south-island-more-expected/
Our electromagnetic infrastructure, and indeed life itself as we know it, is possible only because of spaceship Earth's magnetosphere – and it's FREE! "Raise shields!"
https://scied.ucar.edu/learning-zone/sun-space-weather/earth-magnetosphere
Does anyone understand this Sharon Murdoch cartoon and can explain it?
https://twitter.com/domesticanimal/status/1789386842078380240
Women only so best I check.
The one on the right seems to have a penis on the end of the pointing arm, perhaps mocking the idea that a man can protect a woman's space literally/figuratively while having a penis. Or that anyone with a penis can protect a space designed for women or mocking that women, unless they have lady dick, are not women?
But I don't know…..
So many have got the wrong end of the press release because of the MSM mistake in saying NZ first were refusing access to unisex spaces. Par for the course for MSM in NZ. Wouldn't have a clue about women's issues even if they had said issues piled up in boxes in their lounge.
Hipkins repeated the lie about unisex as well. Totally fucking bizarre.
I usually find Murdoch's cartoons self explanatory, but I really have no idea what she is trying to say with that one. Does 'I trust you do have a women's space' refer to women's vaginas?
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2405/S00077/new-zealand-first-members-bill-to-protect-womens-spaces.htm
The proposed legislation (members bill only – not coalition) requires a minimum of two separate toilets – one for each sex. And legal consequence for those who use one not of their birth sex.
yes, I know, but I don't understand what Murdoch is saying with the cartoon.
She is inferring
She could have gone further – does one need a "birth certificate" or drivers licence or passport ID to access a public place toilet (all currently issued based on self gender ID). This is like the "phony war", just the beginning.
I don't see how you got those two points from that cartoon.
the problem isn't having ID or not, it's that sex isn't formally defined in NZ law.
Not sure what you mean by phoney war. There are coherent reasons for having single sex toilets.
The term phony war comes from a period in WW2.
It applies here because a member proposing legislation about having separate toilets based on sex, will come up against earlier parliamentary legislation to enable gender self ID (as per birth certificate, DL and passport).
To have any meaning, it would have to impact on other legislation.
And I do not know what other conclusions could be drawn.
generally yes, that is the norm. However there is legislation that predates self ID eg the right to discriminate on the basis of sex was established in BORA 1990 and HRA 1993
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/whole.html#DLM225519
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/DLM304617.html
Afaik, the BDMRR amendment was never intended to change the definition of sex, it was simply to make changing the BC easier.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-problems-for-women-with-sex-self-id-in-law-and-society/
So what we have is protections that allow for single sex spaces, social conventions around that eg that sex refers to biology, and the DIA stating in 2021 that single sex spaces aren't affected by self ID.
We also have a sociopolitical push from gender identity activists to make changes socially eg remove single sex spaces. That is why this Bill exists. That it's being done by Peters/NZF as a form of populism doesn't alter that changes are being made without consultation and that will attract backlash. I'm not convinced that this Bill is necessary, nor that it is well written, but it's what we have in the absence of meaningful debate.
The Post today told an outright lie about the Bill,
https://twitter.com/aniobrien/status/1789117790034772361
one that the leader of the Opposition repeated. It's bizarre beyond belief, but here we are.
Ani did a mega thread,
https://twitter.com/aniobrien/status/1789133707619836231
The meaning is that self ID no more impacted on spaces than the right given since 1995 to identify differently (via a managed process) to birth sex – or the more general point that there was no legal definition of sex identity.
Thus sex based identity can be extended (via gender identity) to those not born of that sex, and unless this is seen to be in conflict with the rights of those born of that sex it would not be a breach of human rights.
Not that they are prepared to put it that baldly without a court determination.
Is it then possible to identify the legal circumstance of any bathroom "incident" without court precedent (and after Court of Appeal and Supreme Court also concluded)?
In the meantime, police action launched as a result of managing an incident – without any legal resolution, until a case went to court.
At the moment there is presumably no requirement to have separate male and female sex toilets in new public buildings, but this is common and with unisex areas as well – often with wheel chair access, which "others" can use.
A headline saying that the legislation would ban the provision of just unisex toilets in new buildings would be valid.
actually self ID legislation is having a significant impact in that it is affirming social change that is distorted because of No Debate. Consider why there are no posts about this on TS now. Or why there are few left wing voices address the issues for women.
what is sex based identity? Sex isn't an identity, it's a fixed state of being.
If you mean that trans women can self ID into women's toilets even where those toilets are designated female only, then use, this is exactly what the Bill is designed to address.
Consider a pub that has a women's toilet, men's and unisex. The women's toilet is a large room with basins/mirrors and cubicles that don't got floor to ceiling. Under the proposed law, if a man goes into that space, women could go to the owner of the pub and ask them to take action eg evict the man from the pub. If the man refuses to leave, the police can be called. Just like any other barring that happens in a pub.
At the moment, the same pub could take the same actions, because single sex spaces are protected in law. But I think the legislation used in court would be whatever allows pubs to evict patrons. The problem we have at the moment is that self ID is effecting a cultural shift. No Debate means that many places that might want to remove men from women's toilets won't do so for fear of being cancelled. And there are of course many people who are ok with men in women's spaces and they're not going to support women in that situation.
This is a really good example of why the issue isn't about genital inspections or transphobia. Even allowing for Bomber's fairly extreme and nonsensical rant style, it neatly points to the fact that men can just decide to ride roughshod over women's rights and then women have to fight. That's the war.
Agree Weka. I am concerned that there is so little in the way of widespread support for women from the community of men generally. This is not about being kind or using pronouns.
I think the community of men should step up and say, 'it doesn't matter how you are dressed fellow man you are able to come into the the toilets of your biological sex'.
This would work for all the well intentioned trans 'women'. They would recognise that it doesn't matter how you are dressed you are still a male.
It would not work on the AGP males.
Autogynephilia is defined as a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female. Being frank the ability to do something about being sexually aroused is to masturbate, possibly rape. The numbers of pictures of males masturbating in womens toilets is legion.
I have not got figures but I suspect that in this cohort it is highly unlikely that they would have surgery to create a vagina, that would miss the point. They need male apparatus to do the next step. Sorry for being frank but in the dreamy world of rainbows and so called 'trans rights' this is ignored
Part of 'passing' as a female is to do 'female' things like going to the womens toilets. Of course they look nothing like a female. They are instantly recognisable as male. Many women have an inbuilt/innate sense of being able to recognise males no matter how they dress. This most acute at times when we have to let our guard down eg toiletting, breastfeeding children, tending to childrens' needs generally a fractious child in a stroller will take most of a mother's attention.
If there were unisex toilets then anyone could use them. This of course would not be supported by the AGP men.
The aim and object of these men is to gain access to women's toilets. I suspect this is who the legislation is primarily aimed at. It cannot come soon enough.
I hope that along with it, in the future, we will look at the building regs that seem to have screwball requirements for the proportions of male/female toilets. Many women have found themselves using or guarding men's toilets, at say concert venues, so that other women can use them, while an equal number, and counting, are using and lining up to use the women's toilets.