“A reminder: from 1939 (and before), the Nazi threat was front-page news in every viewspaper, every day, for years. The threat of near-term climate collapse is an incomparably greater threat. That gives an idea of the awesome bias of corporate media in downplaying this threat.”
“UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. It’s Actually Worse Than That.
Just two years ago, amid global fanfare, the Paris climate accords were signed — initiating what seemed, for a brief moment, like the beginning of a planet-saving movement. But almost immediately, the international goal it established of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius began to seem, to many of the world’s most vulnerable, dramatically inadequate; the Marshall Islands’ representative gave it a blunter name, calling two degrees of warming “genocide.”
The alarming new report you may have read about this week from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — which examines just how much better 1.5 degrees of warming would be than 2 — echoes the charge. “Amplifies” may be the better term. Hundreds of millions of lives are at stake, the report declares, should the world warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which it will do as soon as 2040, if current trends continue. Nearly all coral reefs would die out, wildfires and heat waves would sweep across the planet annually, and the interplay between drought and flooding and temperature would mean that the world’s food supply would become dramatically less secure. Avoiding that scale of suffering, the report says, requires such a thorough transformation of the world’s economy, agriculture, and culture that “there is no documented historical precedent.” The New York Times declared that the report showed a “strong risk” of climate crisis in the coming decades; in Grist, Eric Holthaus wrote that “civilization is at stake.”
If you are alarmed by those sentences, you should be — they are horrifying. But it is, actually, worse than that — considerably worse. That is because the new report’s worst-case scenario is, actually, a best case. In fact, it is a beyond-best-case scenario. What has been called a genocidal level of warming is already our inevitable future. The question is how much worse than that it will get.”
In NZ – government cut benefits in 1991 but introduced grants which could be applied for of about $300 each year, okay for dentists etc.
Now the RW have just turned bennies into a profit centre for loans at high interest – which is appropriate for a business approach.
But people need to have grants available to them from government again. Give the help where it is needed, assist the people that government has impoverished through cutting tariffs so forcing local business to close, and then enforcing a low wage regime and bringing about working poverty.
Aiming too low their Greywarshark, if you wanted millions/billions for a stadium, marina, free or cheap public land and millions of dollars in hand outs to solve some big problem, the government would only be too happy to supply you with the cash.
Try either getting super rich so you can have lobbyists and be feted by government for being a ‘winner’ or set up your own charitable trust for the moneys to be deposited into.
Any ‘charity’ with “affordable” housing, kids, poverty, political or big item infrastructure is popular now. Expect to spend a considerable amount of the money you collect on actually lobbying, marketing and advertising to get the money, then pay your costs of administration, lawyers and accountants, ensure their is enough to cover wages costs of the above (millions is generally required) and anything left can be distributed with a lot of publicity, photo shots etc and a desperate cry, we need more money for this desperate need…
What we need to do is up the basic benefit to a liveable level and get rid of most if not all of the supplementary grants. The housing one for instance has turned out to be a grant for landlords. Respect beneficiaries and encourage rather than punish.
@TFG – Reinvent beneficiaries into professional sports lobbyists who need infrastructure for international events for the .01%, or developers and you will get more attention for your cause.
Look how many councils seem more interested in stadiums than council housing… they also seem happy to take away kids, amateurs and semi professional locals sports fields in the process…
But do agree, it would be easier to have set benefit rather than a complicated smorgasbord of add ons to benefits… but then making it simple and easy would probably make it easier for vulnerable people to get it, and that is not the purpose of welfare these days, it’s to make sure that the least needy get it, and the rest goes to those handy with the paperwork, and government friendly lobby groups to redistribute the rest.
Did you ever tried to get one of those grants greywarshark.?
Its not easy, generally they prefer to wait till your mouth is a seething pit of pain and infection before you can get the grant. Even though that means a more expensive potentially less successful trip to the dentist.
I agree in theory with the idea of government loans, but the application process needs to be handled very carefully, with the cost of NOT giving the loan being taken into account.
And definitely not done through the staff at work and income.
There needs to be a professional setup, maybe through kiwibank, where the applicants are treated like customers not scam artists and bludgers. Where staff are encouraged to give loans, not incentivised to turn people away.
I don’t have the link but popped into my feed the other day, some rich fucks will build a stadium sunk into the Auckland waterfront (with climate change around the corner, so we know that is the wrong location already, something that the IYI class probably did not bother to explore in their million dollar personal study for Phil Goff) and then Auckland council gives them billions in free land in one of the most expensive suburbs from the ratepayers/taxpayers so they can profit off housing…
What a winner – it’s free land for the right deals/people around Auckland these days. And sounds like ChCH is similar.
Phil REALLY wants that stadium.
I’m all for it as long as those involved go to prison for stupidity and fraud for their actions of stealing and misappropriating land from the public.
Why does this pathetic stadium idea keep coming up? We already have one on the Shore and Eden Park, multiple other facilities around Auckland, and rampant poverty and homelessness. Perhaps we could spend this money solving those problems before building a vanity trophy building directly in the path of rising sea levels?
Helen wants Eden Park shut down. It disturbs her beauty sleep on the occasional nights she spends there. Look at her moaning about the possibility of having a concert there.
And, as that song in the musical Damn Yankees says:
“Whatever Helen wants, Helen gets ……”
‘No jerks allowed’: the egalitarianism behind Norway’s winter wonderland
Norway have powered to the top of the Olympics medal table on a budget a 10th of Britain’s thanks to an inclusive approach based on camaraderie and grassroots participation
““Our vision is sport for all,” Tvedt says. “Before you are 12 you should have fun with sport. So we don’t focus on who the winner is before then. Instead we are very focused on getting children into our 11,000 local sports clubs. And we have 93% of children and young people regularly playing sport in these organisations.””
Sound like opposite to NZ neoliberal sports approach then, which is to sell off the schools lands and other public land, make it harder at grass roots level, make families shell out big bucks for uniforms and fees to be on special squads and drive their kids all over the show to play at dwindling sports areas adding to congestion… and winning and being good at sports being a big driver now into sports rather than inclusion (even for the bad kids at sports) and fun…
Nice to go back to sports actually at the schools during the curiculum, no driving around, uniforms or professionalism until they hit 14 years at least…
For a lot of kids sport as part of the school curriculum is a complete waste of time and often counter-productive in that it puts them off exercise, which should actually be fun.
SaveNZ @ 3.1.1.1:”“Before you are 12 you should have fun with sport. So we don’t focus on who the winner is before then.”
Hear. Hear.
Kids who are good at their sport love to rub it in.
Parents who love to win push their kids to win.
Parents and coaches who love to win make their team members feel bad.
Schools use winning as a mark of success.
Coaches who love to win use the best kids to win.
Meanwhile the bulk of “others” loose interest in sport and avoid participation.
@Alwyn – Since Aunty Helen was not that keen on a Macc’ers next to her house, not sure she wants listening high rises with massive price tags (and a few ‘affordable houses’ for the spin doctors to spin) ‘ in a dwindling historic area of Auckland..
Oh but wait rest of Auckland has to pay for that travel and congestion from those houses too… and the waster water, and the pollution… etc etc
It’s win win to be a developer these days when you get the poor to subsidise your luxury offerings and profits.
5 years to get the money together,
3 to get the land and consents,
2 to build it, and
at least a year to demolish Eden Park.
Then a further 3 to redevelop Eden Park.
That group would need either Chinese capital or a sovereign wealth fund to go through that kind of long haul.
Looking abroad, Germany’s largest opposition party, the AfD, calls for the denunciation of teachers who express political views, and Germany’s bourgeois left party, the SPD, traditional voting home of centre-left voters since WWII, falls to 15% in one poll, behind both the populist, right-wing AfD and the Greens. The Liberals and the actual (if very broad-based) left-wing party, “Die Linke”, both sit on 10% (too lazy to find a credible link for that one in English).
Beto O’Rourke gets a full hour on CNN as Cruz pulls out. There’s got to be some luck for a good Democrat who has forsworn all Superpac money and could just maybe take Texas. One day, LBJ, one day.
They call 100,000 phone numbers to get 1000 responses. A lot of people arent registered voters and because its mid terms even less bother to vote than the main election time
Wouldn’t it be Seymour’s Assisted Dying Legislation which was referred to a Select Committee in a Conscience vote back in January?
It might not have reached the third reading but it is certainly underway as a conscience matter.
Bradley Tuhi had monthly power bills of more than $1000, but there was no obvious reason why.
Genesis Energy has admitted a faulty power meter is to blame for a Christchurch man receiving exorbitant electricity bills for 12 months.
Bradley Tuhi’s monthly power bill peaked at $1105 in July, yet at the time Genesis Energy failed to accept it could be at fault.
Tuhi spent months trying to convince Genesis Energy it was not possible for him, his wife and step son to consume that much electricity at their fully-insulated, double-glazed, 10-year-old Governors Bay home that was heated using gas.
I dunno – 1-2 seems to have moved on from Baby’s First Cartesian Doubt (man-in-the-sky bless whoever came up with that line) and have now flicked through Cold-Reading for Dummies.
I reckon they are just incredibly stupid, but are so stupid they think they’re really smart. The sort of person who gets put forward as an example of Dunning-Kreuger and everybody assumes they’re just an extreme hypothetical rather than an actual case study.
I met someone like that in real life – incredibly stupid, but the mouth never stopped. We had about a dozen FB friends in common. There was one memorable party where they said something like “actually, I’m pretty smart”, and the room just stopped dead.
I discovered a few weeks back that I was still FB friends with them. We had no friends in common, even though I was still friends with the others in that crowd. A bit sad, really.
I think they are great. I can go to the website anytime and check a bar graph of how much power i have used each day and how much my bill will be based on an average of what i am using. Really easy to see the cost when i run an electric heater.
I thnk there are different types of meter. It is hard to get an understanding on what you find solkta and what power companies do when the system isn’t working to the best interests of the user.l
Can understand how that would be useful, we don’t use electric heaters, luckily the fire and heat transfer is enough to warm the house and heat the water.
Clothes drier seems to be the major power sucker at ours in the winter.
That poor man being stung by $1k monthly bills.
However it’s encouraging to know that our government is not going to sit on it’s hands while big corp monopolies are ripping off consumers.
I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for the guy. He says that he had a few power bills of $5-600 but didn’t start complaining till he got one of $750. Surely a prudent consumer would complain a lot earlier and change supplier if not resolved promptly long before they had paid more than $4300 too much!?
One of the useful spinoffs of having solar power is that I can read my power consumption, as well as production, in 15 minute increments if necessary. A daily report on a graph shows when the power is being used.
It was a digital meter., discs dont spin anymore
By pushing the button it can scroll through the voltage, the amps and the current kW being drawn
A hot water cylinder on draws 3 kW. or test with a bar heater that uses 1kW or 2kW depending on switch.
Out of curiosity what is the economic lifetime of a solar generation system?
Consumer New Zealand had a look at solar power in Auckland, Wellington and Hawkes Bay a little while ago. They seemed to think it was worth it in Hawkes Bay but not in Auckland or Christchurch.
The results will be on consumer.org.nz I don’t know whether they are free to access if you aren’t a subscriber.
Alwyn, the 25 years I’m quoting is what I understand to be the estimated useful life, conservatively assessed. The panels degrade over time.
A factor I did not mention is the increasing cost as electricity inevitably rises in price which will tilt the payback my way.
Funnily enough with the talk of costs, it was not the biggest factor by far. We are making some contribution to conserving power and fossil fuel, as some of the generated power goes into an EV.
“What Is the Lifespan of a Solar Panel? Photovoltaic (PV) modules typically come with 20 year warranties that guarantee that the panels will produce at least 80% of the rated power after 20 years of use. The general rule of thumb is that panels will degrade by about 1% each year.”
Googled from search for ‘ roof panels electricity longevity’.
Factoring that in, after 25 years I would have paid off the installation, recouped any interest I had forgone if I had made a straight investment at 4%, and made a profit of $4000 since I sell some 10% of my annual 2010 kw/hr (the first year’s total production) back to my provider at only 7c per kw/h.
So, it makes a little money, the installation continues to generate after 25 years and hopefully is still worth something at the time of house sale.
Meanwhile at the other end !! a computer is recording how many times you go to the toilet how many loads of washing you do weather you have three pieces of toast or two what time you get up an what time you go to bed how long you watch tv how many computers are switched on at any given time etc etc etc thats the bonus of having a smart meter all the information you can get for free paid for by the guy you did out of a job …in no time !!!
I work for one of the companies that has the contract to install and maintain the smart meters and…
1) There is a lot of trouble with them. We are forever having to get called out for faults such as part power, no hot water, etc. The technicians are put under pressure to install a certain amount of meters each day, and get minimal training, as such, they tend to incorrectly install them.
2) It is not cumpolsory to get the meters installed. You can refuse. They will tell you that they need to be installed by law, but there is no such law.
3) There are many different types of smart meters, some use the Vodafone network, communicating every half hour (they have a regular sim card installed), others have are connected to a mesh network, ie in a valley there may be 5-10 houses in a network and one of then sends the reads to the central server.
4) The old analogue meters lasted 50-60 years. And a lot of them are in pretty good condition. The smart meters are only designed to last 15-25 years and then are replaced. They are also unpredictable, easy to turn off remotely, but when it comes to reconnecting, it doesn’t always work.
We had a problem with our hot water after they installed a smart meter.
It was entirely a fault with the installation.
They were meant to connect it so that we had hot water available 24 hours/day. In fact they connected it through a meter that was intended only for a night store heater and that only heated the water for a limited number of hours/day. We still got charged through the main meter though.
We didn’t realise we had a major problem until we went away on holiday for a couple of weeks. When we got back the water didn’t heat up. It was only doing so in the middle of the night. We had our electrician in because we thought we had a problem with the hot water cylinder.
He told us it was wired wrongly. We had a terrible job getting the lines company to come back and fix it. They claimed that what was happening was impossible. They also said we would have to pay for them to come and look at it.
Finally they came, blushed, fixed it and paid the electricians bill.
Hi Millsy, I recently had a notice from Genesis that they would be installing a smart metre. I don’t want one, but when I read the fine print of the contract, it was specified that I must, under the terms of the contract, have one. Is that legal?
Sorry, there is no government mandate for smart meters as in other countries. You are still bound to have one as per the contract with your retailer. But you can have one without the modem so it is still manually read.
I think it’s high time some scrutiny was applied to the gang of old geezers who make up PTUA and Transport 2050. And why the hell Mike Lee (whom I’ve always respected as a great voice for Auckland) is having anything to do with them.
There is a studied benefit for the people of Onehunga, and along Dominion Road, and they quite rightly state that it is more than a benefit than for airport travellers.
However, those PT travellers already have existing PT, and we should also be looking those who live in parts of Auckland who have abysmal PT, and see whether the social value of investing in that instead of improving existing services would be better served by delivering the HR option in this case.
Greater Auckland collates information that leads to certain outcomes, and does not consider the wider demographics (despite the name) of all Auckland residents.
The high cost of the delivery of LR, when so many of the less financially robust Aucklanders are being hit with higher transport costs because there is no reliable affordable public transport in their areas is a discussion point that is often missed at GA.
fine. but don’t roll a turd in glitter, polish it, then present some sort of botched add on a-la-EA & ubisoft as a PT solution from the CBD to the airport.
Either get trucks off the road round the aiport, get more people PT in more deprived areas so they don’t have to drive to the airport or do a proper job of fast PT from the airport to CBD.
Boosting capacity along Dominion Rd is for the many thousands of extra people who will move there over the next couple of decades. There is no more room in the city centre for buses to go to, let alone cars.
property porn. The best size for suburban apartments is up to 6 stories max not 15 . That would be repeating the failed ‘towers’ for low income residents.
I had this discussion with a Korean friend back in the day. It’s a function of land price. The more expensive the ground, the more sense it makes to build upward.
That said, smaller apartment buildings tended to be four stories over there – achievable on the private means of a family that built to provide retirement income.
In principle I agree with you Dof. Even further the great Jane Jacobs argued persuasively in Death and Life of Great American Cities that 2 storey terrace housing could easily house the same number of people as the post war tower blocks with the added advantage of giving everyone a front door onto their street and the resulting sense of ownership of their neighbourhood.
However some locations in a city suit high rise housing models, the CBD for example and I would argue that the transit park and ride areas mentioned in the article would be suitable areas for that sort of development too.
It started when Mr. Farrar (praise Him!) made the bizarrely untruthful claim that the “Sensible Sentencing” Trust provides “a network of support to families of victims.”
Sadly your dear old mother dropped me a note Moz – what you’ve put her through is quite unacceptable….and I quote.
‘I do apologise for our Morrissey’s behaviour. He really is an utter cunt. Takes after his father unfortunately.
Morrissey’s never been the sharpest tool in the shed. He’s always been what you would call a “problem child” very rude and disobedient from a very young age with a very strange obsession with disabled toilets. He’s never sparkled in the love department either having only one boyfriend as far as I can remember. That was a disaster as well. I remember the first time he brought Benjamin Longhair home and they went straight to Morrissey’s room. I could over hear their love talk quite clearly. Benjamin said “ooh Moz, I want you to show me something 8″ long, rock hard and full of spunk !
So Morrissey pulled a sock out from under his bed. It had been there for fucking months, I should know, its me what has to change his soiled sheets every week.’
I particularly like the part where Louise still thinks National increased benefits for the first time in 40 years. I’ve just fired her off an email (first time in my life I’ve ever knowingly engaged with the enemy) to politely enquire where mine is because I’m still waiting for it. I don’t anticipate a reply but had fun writing and sending it 🙂 Do Nats understand sarcasm?
The survey shows that more than 50% of households that get the Accommodation Supplement pay more than 5O% of their income in housing costs. I don’t see how people are better off?
The accommodation supplement does not increase rents. You could successfully argue it is a Govt funded top-up for employers (paying their employees) but you also need to take into account it is paid out to people on benefits who are not in a state provided house.
Rents are directly linked to supply and demand.
If (and it will not happen due to the political fallout) the accommodation supplement was stopped, then employers would need to step in and make-up at least some if not all of the difference.
The demand for housing will still be there, I see little room for rent reductions with or without the accommodation supplement.
If there were no AC in the 1st place, there would not be the mountain of money available $1.2b+ to fuel increases for rent. As those seeking private accomodation would not have the same ability to pay current prices, tempering rents and reducing the ability to fuel house price increases, as ROI’s wouldn’t be what they currently are.
Once implemented we are now faced with the continuation of AC as it would be impossible to remove this
I may be wrong BUT was not the AC implemented by Nats in the 90’s to allow for tenants to be no worse off should they rent a state house or private rental ?
“The Accommodation Supplement was introduced in July 1993 as a part of radical change in welfare policies announced by then Finance Minister Ruth Richardson in 1991 in her so-called ‘mother of all budgets’.”
“In 2001 the Labour Government reintroduced income related rent subsidies”
“It is sometimes argued that the Accommodation Supplement is a landlords’ subsidy and that as such any increase in the value of the Supplement will simply leak out to landlords in the form of higher rents. Remarkably there has been little analysis undertaken of either the income or price effects of the Accommodation Supplement and the two published studies appear to have been written to order to suit the argument that the payment is not a landlord subsidy17.”
Way to go Simon. Populist action?
“”National has launched a petition to repeal the Government’s new fuel taxes to “relieve some of the financial pressure” on Kiwis, the party’s leader Simon Bridges has said.”
Well I see Russell McVeagh are doing the right thing. http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=113094
When are the Labour Party going to insist on a resignation by Meka Whaitiri?
Or is it OK to bash your staff if you are a Labour Party member?
Its a nonsense. Its not a fine , as its a civil case.
Unenforceable in NZ, mainly as no NZ – Isreal treaty on reciprocal court cases and no NZ court would allow this sort of thing where there is no loss even if there was a treaty
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/368436/universities-face-a-crisis-of-the-humanities …when the university senate [University of Otago] met on 26 September and decided to axe Otago’s art history programme from 2020.
There wasn’t much of a programme left to cut. Through a process of attrition, the department had been whittled down, since 2014, to 19 full-time students, three undergraduate papers and a single full-time lecturer….
Across 25 BA majors that RNZ classified as unambiguously part of the humanities, the number of degree and post-graduate level students actually rose during the global financial crisis, mirroring university enrolment patterns in other countries. From 2010, however, the numbers began to drop away again. There were 1000 fewer humanities students enrolled in 2017 than in 2008, despite an increase of almost 40,000 students across all degrees and subjects….
The current Tertiary Education Strategy, released in 2014, states this in bald terms: “This strategy focuses in particular on the economic benefits that result from tertiary education, and therefore on employment, higher incomes and better access to skilled employees for business as critical outcomes of tertiary education.”
NZ might be thinking of limiting organic growing methods in Sri Lanka, when we should be copying them, and instead demonstrating better systems for handling the vegetables.
There is talk about the need to grow more food for the world, but we don’t want to regard that as concern, it is talking about markets and money making. When business steps into a people-run economy, it is likely that traditional dealers will be swept aside in the shadow of mechanisation and export of crops for greater return that would normally have been bought by locals paying the local affordable prices.
I am concerned by this upbeat item from Radio nz. We don’t want to export our bizarre culture of destruction of ordinary people’s livelihoods and ability to manage their basic needs, in favour of higher education that produces nothing, with the obvious disconnect in access to a standard of living that is adequate for people living simply.
Most of what was grown in Sri Lanka was largely organic, with apparently minimal use of fertiliser.
“We did ask those questions around sprays, and didn’t see any evidence of it, at all.
“We understand fertiliser is used in rice production, and that’s one of the major crops for the 21 million people, but when the rice is harvested those paddocks are used to grow vegetables.”
Mr Chapman said portions of the fields were hand-tilled for vegetable growing.
He said there were similarities in that a lot of New Zealand growers were also inter-generational, so they’ve been very focused on sustainability of the land.
“As with New Zealand there is also a reducing number of people willing to work in the fields especially, where the work is largely done by hand.”
Mr Chapman said while Sri Lanka could be classed as Third World, it had made incredible advances in education, which was free through to university level, and the literacy rate was now second to Japan among Asian countries.
“We asked for food but you gave us a stone with a certificate of higher learning on it” – that might be the way the land lies in future.
So the protestors broke the law to lie about 1080. If 1080 really killed so gazillions of birds, why couldn’t the protestors at least present actual 1080 victims? Seems legit lol.
You can see the red hands behind that evil spectre John Kerry early in this clip (from the 0:50 mark). There should also have been a whole lot of blood-red hands waving behind the awful BBC woman at about the 8:30 mark…
Can’t buy sex, hang out in bars or afford flowers.
Teeth not the best, clothes from The Warehouse or knock-offs.
No outlook of comfortable security, jewelry or sports cars.
Poor people are the most naturally charming, seductive and sexually satisfying people in the world because we have to be.
There was a reason every Elvis movie started with our hero sporting a skinny wallet. Check them out, even with his awful thesping, Broken arse Elvis is much sexier at the start of his movies than the rich Makegood at the end. If Elvis movies were true to life the final scene would end with the Starlet saying “Frankly, you’ve become a bit boring.”
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After two years of Corona-induced online meetings in 2020 and 2021, this year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) will take place as a hybrid conference in both Vienna and online from May 23 to 27. To take hybrid and necessary hygiene restrictions into account, there (unfortunately) will be no ...
“Māori star lore was, and still remains, a blending together of both astronomy and astrology, and while there is undoubtedly robust science within the Māori study of the night sky, the spiritual component has always been of equal importance” writes Professor Rangi Matamua in his book Matariki – Te whetū tapu ...
The foibles of the Aussie electoral system are pretty well-known. The Lucky Country doesn’t have proportional representation. Voting for everyone over 18 is compulsory, but within a preferential system. This means that in the relatively few key seats that decide the final result, it can be the voters’ second, third ...
Julia Steinberger is an ecological economist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. She first posted this piece at Medium.com, and it was reposted on Yale Climate Connections with her permission. Today I went to give a climate talk at my old high school in Geneva – and was given a ...
A/Prof Ben Gray* Gray B. Government funding of interpreters in Primary Care is needed to ensure quality care. Public Health Expert Blog.17 May 2022. The pandemic has highlighted many problems in the NZ health system. This blog will address the question of availability of interpreters for people with limited English ...
I have suggested previously that sometimes Tolkien’s writer-instincts get the better of him. Sometimes he departs from his own cherished metaphysics, in favour of the demands of story – and I dare say, that is a good thing. Laws and Customs of the Eldar might be an interesting insight ...
One of the key planks of yesterday's Emissions Reduction Plan is a $650 million fund to help decarbonise industry by subsidising replacement of dirty technologies with clean ones. But National leader Chris Luxon derides this as "corporate welfare". Which probably sounds great to the business ideologues in the Koru club. ...
Poisonous! From a very early age New Zealanders are warned to give small black spiders with a red blotch on their abdomens a wide berth. The Katipo, we are told, is venomous: and while its bite may not kill you, it can make you very unwell. That said, isn’t the ...
“The truth prevails, but it’s a chore.” – Jan Masaryk: The intensification of ideological pressures is bearable for only so-long before ordinary men and women reassert the virtues of tolerance and common sense.ON 10 MARCH 1948, Jan Masaryk, the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia, was found dead below his bathroom window. ...
Clearly, the attempt to take the politics out of climate change has itself been a political decision, and one meant to remove much of the heat from the global warming issue before next year’s election. What we got from yesterday’s $2.9 billion Emissions Reduction Plan was a largely aspirational multi-party ...
Michelle Uriarau (Mana Wāhine Kōrero) talks to Dane Giraud of the Free Speech Union LISTEN HERE Michelle Uriarau is a founding member of Mana Wāhine Kōrero – an advocacy group of and for Māori women who took strong positions against the ‘Self ID’ and ‘Conversion Practises Bills’. One of the ...
If we needed any confirmation, we have it in spades in today’s edition of the Herald; our supposedly leading daily newspaper is determined to do what it can to decide the outcome of the next election – to act, that is, not as a newspaper but as the mouthpiece for ...
Sean Plunkett, founding editor of the new media outlet, The Platform, was interviewed on RNZ's highly regarded flagship programme "Mediawatch".Mr Plunkett has made much about "cancel culture" and "de-platforming". On his website promoting The Platform, he outlines his mission statement thusly:The Platform is for everyone; we’re not into cancelling or ...
“That’s a C- for History, Kelvin!”While it is certainly understandable that Māori-Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis was not anxious to castigate every Pakeha member of the House of Representatives for the crimes committed against his people by their ancestors; crimes from which his Labour colleagues continue to draw enormous benefits; the ...
The Government promised a major reform of New Zealand’s immigration system, but when it was announced this week, many asked “is that it?” Over the last two years Covid has turned the immigration tap off, and the Government argued this produced the perfect opportunity to reassess decades of “unbalanced immigration”. ...
While the new fiscal rules may not be contentious, what they mean for macroeconomic management is not explained.In a pre-budget speech on 3 May 2022, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, made some policy announcements which will frame both this budget and future ones. (The Treasury advice underpinning them is ...
Under MMP, Parliament was meant to look like New Zealand. And, in a lot of ways, it does now, with better representation for Māori, tangata moana, women, and the rainbow community replacing the old dictatorship of dead white males. But there's one area where "our" parliament remains completely unrepresentative: housing: ...
Justice Denied: At the heart of the “Pro-Life” cause was something much darker than conservative religious dogma, or even the oppressive designs of “The Patriarchy”. The enduring motivation – which dares not declare itself openly – is the paranoid conviction of male white supremacists that if “their” women are given ...
In case of emergency break glass— but glass can cut Fire extinguishers, safety belts, first aid kits, insurance policies, geoengineering: we never enjoy using them. But given our demonstrated, deep empirical record of proclivity for creating hazards and risk we'd obviously be foolish not to include emergency responses in our inventory. ...
After a brief hiatus, the “A View from Afar” podcast is back on air with Selwyn Manning leading the Q&A with me. This week is a grab bag of topics: Russian V-Day celebrations, Asian and European elections, and the impact of the PRC-Solomon Islands on the regional strategic balance. Plus ...
Last year, Vanuatu passed a "cyber-libel" law. And predictably, its first targets are those trying to hold the government to account: A police crackdown in Vanuatu that has seen people arrested for allegedly posting comments on social media speculating politicians were responsible for the country’s current Covid outbreak has ...
Could it be a case of not appreciating what you’ve got until it’s gone? The National Party lost Simon Bridges last week, which has reinforced the notion that the party still has some serious deficits of talent and diversity. The major factor in Bridges’ decision to leave was his failed ...
Who’s Missing From This Picture? The re-birth of the co-governance concept cannot be attributed to the institutions of Pakeha rule, at least, not in the sense that the massive constitutional revisions it entails have been presented to and endorsed by the House of Representatives, and then ratified by the citizens of New ...
Fiji signed onto China’s Belt and Road initiative in 2018, along with a separate agreement on economic co-operation and aid. Yet it took the recent security deal between China and the Solomon Islands to get the belated attention of the US and its helpmates in Canberra and Wellington, and the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Lexi Smith and Bud Ward “CRA” It’s one of those acronyms even many-a-veteran environmental policy geek may not recognize. Amidst the scores and scores of acronyms in the field – CERCLA, IPCC, SARA, LUST, NPDES, NDCs, FIFRA, NEPA and scores more – ...
In a nice bit of news in a World Gone Mad, I can report that Of Tin and Tintagel, my 5,800-word story about tin (and political scheming), is now out as part of the Spring 2022 edition of New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). As noted previously, this one owes a ...
Dr Jennifer Summers, Professor Michael Baker, Professor Nick Wilson* Summers J, Baker M, Wilson N. Covid-19 Case-Fatality Risk & Infection-Fatality Risk: important measures to help guide the pandemic response. Public Health Expert Blog. 11 May 2022. In this blog we explore two useful mortality indicators: Case-Fatality Risk (CFR) and Infection-Fatality ...
In the depths of winter, most people from southern New Zealand head to warmer climes for a much-needed dose of Vitamin D. Yet during the height of the last Ice Age, one species of moa did just the opposite. I’m reminded of Bill Bailey’s En Route to Normal tour that visited ...
In the lead-up to the Budget, the Government has been on an offensive to promote the efficiency and quality of its $74 billion Covid Response and Recovery Fund -especially the Wage Subsidy Scheme component. This comes after criticisms and concerns from across the political spectrum over poor-quality spending, and suggestions ...
Elizabeth Elliot Noe, Lincoln University, New Zealand; Andrew D. Barnes, University of Waikato; Bruce Clarkson, University of Waikato, and John Innes, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare ResearchUrbanisation, and the destruction of habitat it entails, is a major threat to native bird populations. But as our new research shows, restored ...
Unfinished: Always, gnawing away at this government’s confidence and empathy, is the dictum that seriously challenging the economic and social status-quo is the surest route to electoral death. Labour’s colouring-in book, and National’s, have to look the same. All that matters is which party is better at staying inside the lines.DOES ...
Radical As: Māori healers recall a time when “words had power”. The words that give substance to ideas, no matter how radical, still do. If our representatives rediscover the courage to speak them out loud.THERE ARE RULES for radicalism. Or, at least, there are rules for the presentation of radical ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters A brutal, record-intensity heat wave that has engulfed much of India and Pakistan since March eased somewhat this week, but is poised to roar back in the coming week with inferno-like temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122°F). The ...
The good people at the Reading Tolkien podcast have put out a new piece, which spends some time comparing the underlying moral positions of George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien: (The relevant discussion starts about twenty-seven minutes in. It’s a long podcast). In the interests of fairness, ...
Crime is becoming a key debate between Labour and National. This week they are both keen to show that they are tough on law and order. It’s an issue that National has a traditional advantage on, and is one that they’re currently getting good traction from. In response, Labour is ...
So far, the excited media response to the spike in “ram-raid” incidents is being countered by evidence that in reality, youth crime is steeply in decline, and has been so for much of the past decade. Who knew? Perhaps that’s the real issue here. Why on earth wasn’t the latest ...
In the past 10 years or so – and that’s how quickly it has happened – all our comfortable convictions about the unassailability of free speech have been turned on their heads. Suddenly we find ourselves fighting again for rights we assumed were settled. Click here to watch the video ...
Enforced Fertility: The imminent overturning of Roe versus Wade by the US Supreme Court is certain to raise echoes here that are no less evocative of the dystopia envisioned by Margaret Atwood in The Handmaid’s Tale. Gilead can happen here.WITH THE UNITED STATES seemingly on the brink of becoming “Gilead”, ...
Not Wanted On Grounds Of Political Rejuvenation: Winston Peters did nothing more than visit the protest encampment erected by anti-vaxxers on the parliamentary lawn. A great many New Zealanders applauded him for meeting with the protesters and wondered why the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition could not do ...
May The Force Be With Us: With New Zealanders under 40, nostalgia for a time when politics worked gains little purchase. Politics hasn’t swerved to any noticeable degree since the 1980s, becoming in the Twenty-First Century a battle between marketing strategies, not ideologies. Young New Zealanders critique political advertisements in ...
Dane Giraud reflects on his working class upbringing and how campaigning for free speech radicalised him Evidence to support censorship as a tool for social cohesion is paltry. I Read the NZ Human Rights Commission website, and 99% of their ‘evidence’ is anecdotal. When asked why we need hate speech ...
As you may have noticed, I have been slowly working my way through the works of Agatha Christie. At the time of writing, I have read some thirty-eight of her books – less than half her total output, but arguably enough to get a reasonable handle on it. It ...
Population growth has some effect on economic growth, but it is complicated especially where infrastructure is involved. We need to think more about it. In an opinion piece in the New Zealand Herald, John Gascoigne claimed that New Zealand was a ‘tragic tale of economic decline’. He gave no evidence ...
The Greens have been almost invisible since the 2020 election. Despite massive crises impacting on people’s lives, such as climate change, housing, inequality, and the cost of living, they’ve had very little to say. On this week’s highly contentious issue of politicians being banned from Parliament by Trevor Mallard, the ...
The government has announced it will be replacing all coal boilers in schools by 2025: All remaining coal boilers in New Zealand schools will be replaced with cleaner wood burners or electric heating by 2025, at a cost of $10 million, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced. The coal ...
Israeli news media and politicians often complain about the activity of neo-Nazis in Ukraine. “Activists and supporters of Ukrainian nationalist parties hold torches as they take part in a rally to mark the 112th birth anniversary of Stepan Bandera, in Kyiv, Ukraine, January 1, 2021. Credit: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters The recent ...
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Mr Speaker, It has taken four-and-a-half years to even start to turn the legacy of inaction and neglect from the last time they were in Government together. And we have a long journey in front of us! ...
Today Greens Te Mātāwaka Chair and Health Spokesperson, Dr Elizabeth Kerekere, said “The Greens have long campaigned for an independent Māori Health Authority and pathways for Takatāpui and Rainbow healthcare. “We welcome the substantial funding going into the new health system, Pae Ora, particularly for the Māori Health Authority, Iwi-Partnership ...
Budget 2022 shows progress on conservation commitments in the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Green Party achievements in the last Government continue to drive investment in nature protection Urgent action needed on nature-based solutions to climate change Future budget decisions must reflect the role nature plays in helping reduce emissions ...
Landmark week for climate action concludes with climate budget Largest ever investment in climate action one of many Green Party wins throughout Budget 2022 Budget 2022 delivers progress on every part of the cooperation agreement with Labour Budget 2022 is a climate budget that caps a landmark week ...
Green Party welcomes extension to half price fares Permanent half price fares for Community Services Card holders includes many students, which helps implement a Green Party policy Work to reduce public transport fares for Community Services Card holders started by Greens in the last Government Budget 2022 should be ...
New cost of living payment closely aligned to Green Party policy to expand the Winter Energy Payment Extension and improvement of Warmer Kiwi Homes builds on Green Party progress in Government Community energy fund welcomed The Green Party welcomes the investment in Budget 2022 to expand Warmer Kiwi ...
Budget 2022 support to reduce homelessness delivers on the Green Party’s cooperation agreement Bespoke support for rangatahi with higher, more complex needs The Green Party welcomes the additional investment in Budget 2022 for kaupapa Māori support services, homelessness outreach services, the expansion of transitional housing, and a new ...
Green Party reaffirms call for liveable incomes and wealth tax Calls on Government to cancel debt owed to MSD for hardship assistance such as benefit advances, and for over-payments The Green Party welcomes the support for people on low incomes Budget 2022 but says more must be done ...
Our Government has just released this year’s Budget, which sets out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. It’s full of initiatives that speed up our economic recovery and ease cost pressures for ...
A stronger democracy is on the horizon, as Golriz Ghahraman’s Electoral (Strengthening Democracy) Amendment Bill was pulled from the biscuit tin today. ...
Tomorrow, the Government will release this year’s Budget, setting out the next steps in our plan to build a high wage, low carbon economy that gives economic security in good times and in bad. While the full details will be kept under wraps until Thursday afternoon, we’ve announced a few ...
As a Government, we made it clear to New Zealanders that we’d take meaningful action on climate change, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. Earlier today, we released our next steps with our Emissions Reduction Plan – which will meet the Climate Commission’s independent science-based emissions reduction targets, and new ...
Emissions Reduction Plan prepares New Zealand for the future, ensuring country is on track to meet first emissions budget, securing jobs, and unlocking new investment ...
The Greens are calling for the Government to reconsider the immigration reset so that it better reflects our relationship with our Pacific neighbours. ...
Hamilton City Council and Whanganui District Council have both joined a growing list of Local Authorities to pass a motion in support of Green Party Drug Reform Spokesperson Chlöe Swarbrick’s Members’ bill to minimise alcohol harm. ...
Today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a major package of reforms to address the immediate skill shortages in New Zealand and speed up our economic growth. These include an early reopening to the world, a major milestone for international education, and a simplification of immigration settings to ensure New Zealand ...
Proposed immigration changes by the Government fail to guarantee pathways to residency to workers in the types of jobs deemed essential throughout the pandemic, by prioritising high income earners - instead of focusing on the wellbeing of workers and enabling migrants to put down roots. ...
Ehara taku toa i te toa takatahi, engari taku toa he toa takimano – my strength is not mine alone but the strength of many (working together to ensure safe, caring respectful responses). We are striving for change. We want all people in Aotearoa New Zealand thriving; their wellbeing enhanced ...
The Green Party is throwing its support behind the 10,000 allied health workers taking work-to-rule industrial action today because of unfair pay and working conditions. ...
Since the day we came into Government, we’ve worked hard to lift wages and reduce cost pressures facing New Zealanders. But we know the rising cost of living, driven by worldwide inflation and the war in Ukraine, is making things particularly tough right now. That’s why we’ve stepped up our ...
An independent review of New Zealand’s detention regime for asylum seekers has found arbitrary and abusive practices in Aotearoa’s immigration law, policy, and practice. ...
Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Tiwhatiwha te pō, tiwhatiwha te ao. Matariki Tapuapua, He roimata ua, he roimata tangata. He roimata e wairurutu nei, e wairurutu nei. Te Māreikura mārohirohi o Ihoa o ngā Mano, takoto Te ringa mākohakoha o Rongo, takoto. Te mātauranga o Tūāhuriri o Ngai Tahu ...
Three core networks within the tourism sector are receiving new investment to gear up for the return of international tourists and business travellers, as the country fully reconnects to the world. “Our wider tourism sector is on the way to recovery. As visitor numbers scale up, our established tourism networks ...
The Government is contributing $100,000 to a Mayoral Relief Fund to help the Levin community following this morning’s tornado, Minister for Emergency Management Kiri Allan says. “My thoughts are with everyone who has been impacted by severe weather events in Levin and across the country. “I know the tornado has ...
The Quintet of Attorneys General have issued the following statement of support for the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and investigations and prosecutions for crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine: “The Attorneys General of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand join in ...
Morena tatou katoa. Kua tae mai i runga i te kaupapa o te rā. Thank you all for being here today. Yesterday my colleague, the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson, delivered the Wellbeing Budget 2022 – for a secure future for New Zealand. I’m the Minister of Health, and this was ...
Urgent Budget night legislation to stop major supermarkets blocking competitors from accessing land for new stores has been introduced today, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The Commerce (Grocery Sector Covenants) Amendment Bill amends the Commerce Act 1986, banning restrictive covenants on land, and exclusive covenants ...
It is a pleasure to speak to this Budget. The 5th we have had the privilege of delivering, and in no less extraordinary circumstances. Mr Speaker, the business and cycle of Government is, in some ways, no different to life itself. Navigating difficult times, while also making necessary progress. Dealing ...
Budget 2022 provides funding to implement the new resource management system, building on progress made since the reform was announced just over a year ago. The inadequate funding for the implementation of the Resource Management Act in 1992 almost guaranteed its failure. There was a lack of national direction about ...
The Government is substantially increasing the amount of funding for public media to ensure New Zealanders can continue to access quality local content and trusted news. “Our decision to create a new independent and future-focused public media entity is about achieving this objective, and we will support it with a ...
$662.5 million to maintain existing defence capabilities NZDF lower-paid staff will receive a salary increase to help meet cost-of living pressures. Budget 2022 sees significant resources made available for the Defence Force to maintain existing defence capabilities as it looks to the future delivery of these new investments. “Since ...
More than $185 million to help build a resilient cultural sector as it continues to adapt to the challenges coming out of COVID-19. Support cultural sector agencies to continue to offer their important services to New Zealanders. Strengthen support for Māori arts, culture and heritage. The Government is investing in a ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
It is my great pleasure to present New Zealand’s fourth Wellbeing Budget. In each of this Government’s three previous Wellbeing Budgets we have not only considered the performance of our economy and finances, but also the wellbeing of our people, the health of our environment and the strength of our communities. In Budget ...
Four new permanent Coroners to be appointed Seven Coronial Registrar roles and four Clinical Advisor roles are planned to ease workload pressures Budget 2022 delivers a package of investment to improve the coronial system and reduce delays for grieving families and whānau. “Operating funding of $28.5 million over four ...
Establishment of Ministry for Disabled People Progressing the rollout of the Enabling Good Lives approach to Disability Support Services to provide self-determination for disabled people Extra funding for disability support services “Budget 2022 demonstrates the Government’s commitment to deliver change for the disability community with the establishment of a ...
Fairer Equity Funding system to replace school deciles The largest step yet towards Pay Parity in early learning Local support for schools to improve teaching and learning A unified funding system to underpin the Reform of Vocational Education Boost for schools and early learning centres to help with cost ...
$118.4 million for advisory services to support farmers, foresters, growers and whenua Māori owners to accelerate sustainable land use changes and lift productivity $40 million to help transformation in the forestry, wood processing, food and beverage and fisheries sectors $31.6 million to help maintain and lift animal welfare practices across Aotearoa New Zealand A total food and ...
House price caps for First Home Grants increased in many parts of the country House price caps for First Home Loans removed entirely Kāinga Whenua Loan cap will also be increased from $200,000 to $500,000 The Affordable Housing Fund to initially provide support for not-for-profit rental providers Significant additional ...
Child Support rules to be reformed lifting an estimated 6,000 to 14,000 children out of poverty Support for immediate and essential dental care lifted from $300 to $1,000 per year Increased income levels for hardship assistance to extend eligibility Budget 2022 takes further action to reduce child poverty and ...
More support for RNA research through to pilot manufacturing RNA technology platform to be created to facilitate engagement between research and industry partners Researchers and businesses working in the rapidly developing field of RNA technology will benefit from a new research and development platform, funded in Budget 2022. “RNA ...
A new Business Growth Fund to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow Fully funding the Regional Strategic Partnership Fund to unleash regional economic development opportunities Tourism Innovation Programme to promote sustainable recovery Eight Industry Transformation Plans progressed to work with industries, workers and iwi to transition ...
Budget 2022 further strengthens the economic foundations and wellbeing outcomes for Pacific peoples in Aotearoa, as the recovery from COVID-19 continues. “The priorities we set for Budget 2022 will support the continued delivery of our commitments for Pacific peoples through the Pacific Wellbeing Strategy, a 2020 manifesto commitment for Pacific ...
Boost for Māori economic and employment initiatives. More funding for Māori health and wellbeing initiatives Further support towards growing language, culture and identity initiatives to deliver on our commitment to Te Reo Māori in Education Funding for natural environment and climate change initiatives to help farmers, growers and whenua ...
New hospital funding for Whangārei, Nelson and Hillmorton 280 more classrooms over 40 schools, and money for new kura $349 million for more rolling stock and rail network investment The completion of feasibility studies for a Northland dry dock and a new port in the Manukau Harbour Increased infrastructure ...
$168 million to the Māori Health Authority for direct commissioning of services $20.1 million to support Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards $30 million to support Māori primary and community care providers $39 million for Māori health workforce development Budget 2022 invests in resetting our health system and gives economic security in ...
Biggest-ever increase to Pharmac’s medicines budget Provision for 61 new emergency vehicles including 48 ambulances, along with 248 more paramedics and other frontline staff New emergency helicopter and crew, and replacement of some older choppers $100 million investment in specialist mental health and addiction services 195,000 primary and intermediate aged ...
Landmark reform: new multi-year budgets for better planning and more consistent health services Record ongoing annual funding boost for Health NZ to meet cost pressures and start with a clean slate as it replaces fragmented DHB system ($1.8 billion year one, as well as additional $1.3 billion in year ...
Fuel Excise Duty and Road User Charges cut to be extended for two months Half price public transport extended for a further two months New temporary cost of living payment for people earning up to $70,000 who are not eligible to receive the Winter Energy Payment Estimated 2.1 million New ...
A return to surplus in 2024/2025 Unemployment rate projected to remain at record lows Net debt forecast to peak at 19.9 percent of GDP in 2024, lower than Australia, US, UK and Canada Economic growth to hit 4.2 percent in 2023 and average 2.1 percent over the forecast period A ...
Cost of living payment to cushion impact of inflation for 2.1 million Kiwis Record health investment including biggest ever increase to Pharmac’s medicines budget First allocations from Climate Emergency Response Fund contribute to achieving the goals in the first Emissions Reduction Plan Government actions deliver one of the strongest ...
Budget 2022 will help build a high wage, low emissions economy that provides greater economic security, while providing support to households affected by cost of living pressures. Our economy has come through the COVID-19 shock better than almost anywhere else in the world, but other challenges, both long-term and more ...
Health Minister Andrew Little will represent New Zealand at the first in-person World Health Assembly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from Sunday 22 – Wednesday 25 May (New Zealand time). “COVID-19 has affected people all around the world, and health continues to ...
New Zealand is committing to trade only in legally harvested timber with the Forests (Legal Harvest Assurance) Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament today. Under the Bill, timber harvested in New Zealand and overseas, and used in products made here or imported, will have to be verified as being legally harvested. ...
The Government has welcomed the release today of StatsNZ data showing the rate at which New Zealanders died from all causes during the COVID-19 pandemic has been lower than expected. The new StatsNZ figures provide a measure of the overall rate of deaths in New Zealand during the pandemic compared ...
Legislation that will help prevent serious criminal offending at sea, including trafficking of humans, drugs, wildlife and arms, has passed its third reading in Parliament today, Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta announced. “Today is a milestone in allowing us to respond to the increasingly dynamic and complex maritime security environment facing ...
Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor is set to travel to Thailand this week to represent New Zealand at the annual APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT) meeting in Bangkok. “I’m very much looking forward to meeting my trade counterparts at APEC 2022 and building on the achievements we ...
Settlement of the first pay-equity agreement in the health sector is hugely significant, delivering pay rises of thousands of dollars for many hospital administration and clerical workers, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “There is no place in 21st century Aotearoa New Zealand for 1950s attitudes to work predominantly carried out ...
Health Minister Andrew Little opened a new intensive care space for up to 12 ICU-capable beds at Christchurch Hospital today, funded from the Government’s Rapid Hospital Improvement Programme. “I’m pleased to help mark this milestone. This new space will provide additional critical care support for the people of Canterbury and ...
Budget 2022 will continue to deliver on Labour’s commitment to better services and support for mental wellbeing. The upcoming Budget will include a $100-million investment over four years for a specialist mental health and addiction package, including: $27m for community-based crisis services that will deliver a variety of intensive supports ...
Budget 2022 will continue to deliver on Labour’s commitment to better mental wellbeing services and support, with 195,000 primary and intermediate aged children set to benefit from the continuation and expansion of Mana Ake services. “In Budget 2022 Labour will deliver on its manifesto commitment to expand Mana Ake, with ...
Auckland Central Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick has revealed an alarming failure by the Department of Conservation to live up to its name and protect native kororā (penguins) at Pūtiki Bay on Waiheke Island. “DOC was asked to submit on the Kennedy Point ...
Policy failure over the last eight years — including a massive cut to the ABC’s international funding — has weakened Australia’s voice in the Pacific to its lowest ebb since the Menzies government established the first radio shortwave service across the region more than 80 years ago. Now, with China’s ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern early in March insisted there was no cost-of-living “crisis” in New Zealand. Now her right-hand man, Grant Robertson, has presented a budget which he proudly claims deals with that very same “crisis”, giving away $1 billion in an emergency cost-of-living package. About 2.1 million New Zealanders ...
Podcast - This Budget needed to tackle health and climate while delivering cost-of-living relief. Deputy Political Editor Craig McCulloch assesses the implications. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne AAP/Lukas Coch The federal election is on Saturday. Polls close at 6pm local time; that means 6pm AEST in the eastern states, 6:30pm in SA and the ...
Analysis - It was the government's biggest week of the year with the Budget and the Emissions Reduction Plan coming out, and neither was given much of a welcome, Peter Wilson writes. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ataus Samad, Lecturer, Western Sydney University Mick Tsikas/AAP With the election almost upon us, thoughts are more than ever turned to political survival. While getting pre-selected and winning elections are the initial, difficult challenges of a political career, a major ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Chart by Keith Rankin. We know that New Zealand has one of the world’s lowest mortality outcomes, so far, in the Covid19 pandemic. (So has North Korea.) It’s still far too early to access the costs incurred – loss of utility enjoyed by actual and ‘would-have-been’ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liz Giuffre, Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney Lillie Eiger/ Sony You’ve probably heard the name Harry Styles. He is the current “real big thing” in popular music. But how did a former boy band star become ...
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris is advocating for a stamp duty on foreign buyers of residential property. Following yesterday’s Budget 2022 announcement, Harris believes that a stamp duty would help increase the ...
And how did the people react to the boost in spending announced in this year’s Budget to promote our wellbeing? In some cases by pleading for more; in other cases, by grouching they got nothing. But Budget spending is never enough. Two lots of bleating came from the Human Rights ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and Emma La Rouche, from the University of Canberra’s Media and Communications team, look at the last week of the campaign as Australians head to the polls. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Hurlimann, Associate Professor in Urban Planning, The University of Melbourne Shutterstock It will be impossible to tackle climate change unless we transform the way we build and plan cities, which are responsible for a staggering 70% of global emissions. ...
Military spending allocated in the 2022 Wellbeing Budget is $6,077,484,000 - an average of more than $116.8 million every week, and a 10.4% increase on actual spending in 2021. [1] This year’s increase illustrates yet again that the government remains ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Tingay, John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University JIM LO SCALZO/EPA The United States Congress recently held a hearing into US government information pertaining to “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAPs). The last investigation of this kind happened ...
Bank shareholders, speculators, investors, and ticket clippers will be partying for days over the enormous profits they’ll be expecting following Labour’s budget reveal yesterday. After a 48 percent increase in profits in 2021, banks in particular ...
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RNZ Pacific A total of NZ$196 million has been set aside for Pacific services in Aotearoa New Zealand in this year’s Budget. A big chunk of that — $76 million will go on Pacific health services. Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the cash injection would be used to support Pacific ...
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Media Lens is spot on.
“A reminder: from 1939 (and before), the Nazi threat was front-page news in every viewspaper, every day, for years. The threat of near-term climate collapse is an incomparably greater threat. That gives an idea of the awesome bias of corporate media in downplaying this threat.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/medialens
“UN Says Climate Genocide Is Coming. It’s Actually Worse Than That.
Just two years ago, amid global fanfare, the Paris climate accords were signed — initiating what seemed, for a brief moment, like the beginning of a planet-saving movement. But almost immediately, the international goal it established of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius began to seem, to many of the world’s most vulnerable, dramatically inadequate; the Marshall Islands’ representative gave it a blunter name, calling two degrees of warming “genocide.”
The alarming new report you may have read about this week from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — which examines just how much better 1.5 degrees of warming would be than 2 — echoes the charge. “Amplifies” may be the better term. Hundreds of millions of lives are at stake, the report declares, should the world warm more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which it will do as soon as 2040, if current trends continue. Nearly all coral reefs would die out, wildfires and heat waves would sweep across the planet annually, and the interplay between drought and flooding and temperature would mean that the world’s food supply would become dramatically less secure. Avoiding that scale of suffering, the report says, requires such a thorough transformation of the world’s economy, agriculture, and culture that “there is no documented historical precedent.” The New York Times declared that the report showed a “strong risk” of climate crisis in the coming decades; in Grist, Eric Holthaus wrote that “civilization is at stake.”
If you are alarmed by those sentences, you should be — they are horrifying. But it is, actually, worse than that — considerably worse. That is because the new report’s worst-case scenario is, actually, a best case. In fact, it is a beyond-best-case scenario. What has been called a genocidal level of warming is already our inevitable future. The question is how much worse than that it will get.”
Read the whole article here
https://t.co/KF98AlJgt9?amp=1
In NZ – government cut benefits in 1991 but introduced grants which could be applied for of about $300 each year, okay for dentists etc.
Now the RW have just turned bennies into a profit centre for loans at high interest – which is appropriate for a business approach.
But people need to have grants available to them from government again. Give the help where it is needed, assist the people that government has impoverished through cutting tariffs so forcing local business to close, and then enforcing a low wage regime and bringing about working poverty.
Aiming too low their Greywarshark, if you wanted millions/billions for a stadium, marina, free or cheap public land and millions of dollars in hand outs to solve some big problem, the government would only be too happy to supply you with the cash.
Try either getting super rich so you can have lobbyists and be feted by government for being a ‘winner’ or set up your own charitable trust for the moneys to be deposited into.
Any ‘charity’ with “affordable” housing, kids, poverty, political or big item infrastructure is popular now. Expect to spend a considerable amount of the money you collect on actually lobbying, marketing and advertising to get the money, then pay your costs of administration, lawyers and accountants, ensure their is enough to cover wages costs of the above (millions is generally required) and anything left can be distributed with a lot of publicity, photo shots etc and a desperate cry, we need more money for this desperate need…
What we need to do is up the basic benefit to a liveable level and get rid of most if not all of the supplementary grants. The housing one for instance has turned out to be a grant for landlords. Respect beneficiaries and encourage rather than punish.
@TFG – Reinvent beneficiaries into professional sports lobbyists who need infrastructure for international events for the .01%, or developers and you will get more attention for your cause.
Look how many councils seem more interested in stadiums than council housing… they also seem happy to take away kids, amateurs and semi professional locals sports fields in the process…
But do agree, it would be easier to have set benefit rather than a complicated smorgasbord of add ons to benefits… but then making it simple and easy would probably make it easier for vulnerable people to get it, and that is not the purpose of welfare these days, it’s to make sure that the least needy get it, and the rest goes to those handy with the paperwork, and government friendly lobby groups to redistribute the rest.
Godmother
+100
Did you ever tried to get one of those grants greywarshark.?
Its not easy, generally they prefer to wait till your mouth is a seething pit of pain and infection before you can get the grant. Even though that means a more expensive potentially less successful trip to the dentist.
I agree in theory with the idea of government loans, but the application process needs to be handled very carefully, with the cost of NOT giving the loan being taken into account.
And definitely not done through the staff at work and income.
There needs to be a professional setup, maybe through kiwibank, where the applicants are treated like customers not scam artists and bludgers. Where staff are encouraged to give loans, not incentivised to turn people away.
I don’t have the link but popped into my feed the other day, some rich fucks will build a stadium sunk into the Auckland waterfront (with climate change around the corner, so we know that is the wrong location already, something that the IYI class probably did not bother to explore in their million dollar personal study for Phil Goff) and then Auckland council gives them billions in free land in one of the most expensive suburbs from the ratepayers/taxpayers so they can profit off housing…
What a winner – it’s free land for the right deals/people around Auckland these days. And sounds like ChCH is similar.
Phil REALLY wants that stadium.
I’m all for it as long as those involved go to prison for stupidity and fraud for their actions of stealing and misappropriating land from the public.
Why does this pathetic stadium idea keep coming up? We already have one on the Shore and Eden Park, multiple other facilities around Auckland, and rampant poverty and homelessness. Perhaps we could spend this money solving those problems before building a vanity trophy building directly in the path of rising sea levels?
Helen wants Eden Park shut down. It disturbs her beauty sleep on the occasional nights she spends there. Look at her moaning about the possibility of having a concert there.
And, as that song in the musical Damn Yankees says:
“Whatever Helen wants, Helen gets ……”
‘No jerks allowed’: the egalitarianism behind Norway’s winter wonderland
Norway have powered to the top of the Olympics medal table on a budget a 10th of Britain’s thanks to an inclusive approach based on camaraderie and grassroots participation
““Our vision is sport for all,” Tvedt says. “Before you are 12 you should have fun with sport. So we don’t focus on who the winner is before then. Instead we are very focused on getting children into our 11,000 local sports clubs. And we have 93% of children and young people regularly playing sport in these organisations.””
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/22/norway-winter-olympics-success
Sound like opposite to NZ neoliberal sports approach then, which is to sell off the schools lands and other public land, make it harder at grass roots level, make families shell out big bucks for uniforms and fees to be on special squads and drive their kids all over the show to play at dwindling sports areas adding to congestion… and winning and being good at sports being a big driver now into sports rather than inclusion (even for the bad kids at sports) and fun…
Nice to go back to sports actually at the schools during the curiculum, no driving around, uniforms or professionalism until they hit 14 years at least…
For a lot of kids sport as part of the school curriculum is a complete waste of time and often counter-productive in that it puts them off exercise, which should actually be fun.
SaveNZ @ 3.1.1.1:”“Before you are 12 you should have fun with sport. So we don’t focus on who the winner is before then.”
Hear. Hear.
Kids who are good at their sport love to rub it in.
Parents who love to win push their kids to win.
Parents and coaches who love to win make their team members feel bad.
Schools use winning as a mark of success.
Coaches who love to win use the best kids to win.
Meanwhile the bulk of “others” loose interest in sport and avoid participation.
‘No jerks allowed’
????
What about….us?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2018/09/max-key-launches-instagram-account-documenting-john-key-s-personal-life.html
@Alwyn – Since Aunty Helen was not that keen on a Macc’ers next to her house, not sure she wants listening high rises with massive price tags (and a few ‘affordable houses’ for the spin doctors to spin) ‘ in a dwindling historic area of Auckland..
Oh but wait rest of Auckland has to pay for that travel and congestion from those houses too… and the waster water, and the pollution… etc etc
It’s win win to be a developer these days when you get the poor to subsidise your luxury offerings and profits.
You lie through your teeth which are false you little worm alwyn.
Are you incapable of accepting people making accurate statements about your favourite goddess?
It is you who are lying. My statement was accurate.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/07/former-prime-minister-helen-clark-opposes-eden-park-charity-concert.html
ps. I did not choose the photo of Ms Clark in the article.
That is a lovely photo of Ms Clark.
Here’s a lovely photo of Mrs Shipley.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/107619078/dame-jenny-shipley-prepares-to-give-evidence-in-mainzeal-high-court-trial
It would take:
5 years to get the money together,
3 to get the land and consents,
2 to build it, and
at least a year to demolish Eden Park.
Then a further 3 to redevelop Eden Park.
That group would need either Chinese capital or a sovereign wealth fund to go through that kind of long haul.
But Save NZ climate change is NOT around the corner … IT IS HERE !
Read again from Eds post above :
https://t.co/KF98AlJgt9?amp=1
Looking abroad, Germany’s largest opposition party, the AfD, calls for the denunciation of teachers who express political views, and Germany’s bourgeois left party, the SPD, traditional voting home of centre-left voters since WWII, falls to 15% in one poll, behind both the populist, right-wing AfD and the Greens. The Liberals and the actual (if very broad-based) left-wing party, “Die Linke”, both sit on 10% (too lazy to find a credible link for that one in English).
Beto O’Rourke gets a full hour on CNN as Cruz pulls out. There’s got to be some luck for a good Democrat who has forsworn all Superpac money and could just maybe take Texas. One day, LBJ, one day.
NYTimes is currently polling that Texas Senate race and in that poll at least, Cruz looks comfortable.
Fivethirtyeight tracks a solid 5-8 poll margin.
Aye well, one day……
They call 100,000 phone numbers to get 1000 responses. A lot of people arent registered voters and because its mid terms even less bother to vote than the main election time
I’m sure someone will have posted this before, but Chris Trotter nails it here in regard to why we need the “Waka Jumping” Bill.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-political-amnesia-of-winston-peters.html
I’m a Green voter and have never understood why the Greens can’t get it that this Bill is needed-at least in the end they voted for it.
Thats right . MPs have had to toe the party line …since for ever.
When was the last conscience vote ? The Marrriage equality one ?
Wouldn’t it be Seymour’s Assisted Dying Legislation which was referred to a Select Committee in a Conscience vote back in January?
It might not have reached the third reading but it is certainly underway as a conscience matter.
Yeah but that’s not a confidence and supply issue-should be a free vote.
A Conscience vote on Confidence and Supply?
I really don’t think I am going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen.
Maybe our own electricity meters are being hacked too?
Bloody disgusting this is!!!!!!
Electricity Authority heads should now roll over this!!!!!!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/107733440/faulty-smart-meter-to-blame-for-1100-power-bill
Bradley Tuhi had monthly power bills of more than $1000, but there was no obvious reason why.
Genesis Energy has admitted a faulty power meter is to blame for a Christchurch man receiving exorbitant electricity bills for 12 months.
Bradley Tuhi’s monthly power bill peaked at $1105 in July, yet at the time Genesis Energy failed to accept it could be at fault.
Tuhi spent months trying to convince Genesis Energy it was not possible for him, his wife and step son to consume that much electricity at their fully-insulated, double-glazed, 10-year-old Governors Bay home that was heated using gas.
Always been a bit suss on the smart meter, do most households have them now?
We ended up writing on the meter box, ‘if you attempt to install a smart meter you will be prosecuted by the home owner’.
Good on you Cinny. Wise.
That must of had them shivering in their boots.
Got a hug from the meter reader, does that count?
When’s your 49th birthday James ?
what that got to do with the subject in hand?
About as much as your comment to Cinny..
You could be turning 50 this year…
Are you turning 50?
I think you have some mental health issues.
I dunno – 1-2 seems to have moved on from Baby’s First Cartesian Doubt (man-in-the-sky bless whoever came up with that line) and have now flicked through Cold-Reading for Dummies.
I reckon they are just incredibly stupid, but are so stupid they think they’re really smart. The sort of person who gets put forward as an example of Dunning-Kreuger and everybody assumes they’re just an extreme hypothetical rather than an actual case study.
I met someone like that in real life – incredibly stupid, but the mouth never stopped. We had about a dozen FB friends in common. There was one memorable party where they said something like “actually, I’m pretty smart”, and the room just stopped dead.
I discovered a few weeks back that I was still FB friends with them. We had no friends in common, even though I was still friends with the others in that crowd. A bit sad, really.
I think they are great. I can go to the website anytime and check a bar graph of how much power i have used each day and how much my bill will be based on an average of what i am using. Really easy to see the cost when i run an electric heater.
I thnk there are different types of meter. It is hard to get an understanding on what you find solkta and what power companies do when the system isn’t working to the best interests of the user.l
Can understand how that would be useful, we don’t use electric heaters, luckily the fire and heat transfer is enough to warm the house and heat the water.
Clothes drier seems to be the major power sucker at ours in the winter.
That poor man being stung by $1k monthly bills.
However it’s encouraging to know that our government is not going to sit on it’s hands while big corp monopolies are ripping off consumers.
I don’t have a huge amount of sympathy for the guy. He says that he had a few power bills of $5-600 but didn’t start complaining till he got one of $750. Surely a prudent consumer would complain a lot earlier and change supplier if not resolved promptly long before they had paid more than $4300 too much!?
My nephew’s power bill for 4 winter months was $1900. And he has gas water heating and gas stove. He seems to be unconcerned.
Wow, that’s enormous.
You could do that simply by looking at the little disc in your meter. If it was spinning too fast then you were using too much power
Yes if someone really wanted to they could read their analogue meter every day and make their own graphs and estimates.
One of the useful spinoffs of having solar power is that I can read my power consumption, as well as production, in 15 minute increments if necessary. A daily report on a graph shows when the power is being used.
It was a digital meter., discs dont spin anymore
By pushing the button it can scroll through the voltage, the amps and the current kW being drawn
A hot water cylinder on draws 3 kW. or test with a bar heater that uses 1kW or 2kW depending on switch.
So many benefits to solar, hopefully we can afford it one day, that would be awesome.
Dont do it. The cost will outweigh any ‘free power’ . Most of your power drawdown is evening and night when sun doesnt shine ( or low in sky)
Dukeofurl,
I still generate over 2000 kw off a 1.4kw array per year. That’s $600 p.a. The array cost $5500.
I use 90% in my home and sell 10% back to my supplier. That is 1800kw at 30c kw/h or $540 plus 200 kw/h at 7c is $14. Per annum income of $540.
I will recuperate my outlay in ten years.
$5500 at 4% is $220 pa. Over ten years $2200 income. That would take another five years to recuperate.
I will recuperate my money in 15 years.
Ten years free power at least saving $6000.
Out of curiosity what is the economic lifetime of a solar generation system?
Consumer New Zealand had a look at solar power in Auckland, Wellington and Hawkes Bay a little while ago. They seemed to think it was worth it in Hawkes Bay but not in Auckland or Christchurch.
The results will be on consumer.org.nz I don’t know whether they are free to access if you aren’t a subscriber.
Alwyn, the 25 years I’m quoting is what I understand to be the estimated useful life, conservatively assessed. The panels degrade over time.
A factor I did not mention is the increasing cost as electricity inevitably rises in price which will tilt the payback my way.
Funnily enough with the talk of costs, it was not the biggest factor by far. We are making some contribution to conserving power and fossil fuel, as some of the generated power goes into an EV.
I hope that all makes sense.
@mac1.
Thank you. I didn’t realize that the panels lasted that long.
“What Is the Lifespan of a Solar Panel? Photovoltaic (PV) modules typically come with 20 year warranties that guarantee that the panels will produce at least 80% of the rated power after 20 years of use. The general rule of thumb is that panels will degrade by about 1% each year.”
Googled from search for ‘ roof panels electricity longevity’.
Factoring that in, after 25 years I would have paid off the installation, recouped any interest I had forgone if I had made a straight investment at 4%, and made a profit of $4000 since I sell some 10% of my annual 2010 kw/hr (the first year’s total production) back to my provider at only 7c per kw/h.
So, it makes a little money, the installation continues to generate after 25 years and hopefully is still worth something at the time of house sale.
Meanwhile at the other end !! a computer is recording how many times you go to the toilet how many loads of washing you do weather you have three pieces of toast or two what time you get up an what time you go to bed how long you watch tv how many computers are switched on at any given time etc etc etc thats the bonus of having a smart meter all the information you can get for free paid for by the guy you did out of a job …in no time !!!
What complete and utter bollocks. All it does is measure the amount of power coming in.
I work for one of the companies that has the contract to install and maintain the smart meters and…
1) There is a lot of trouble with them. We are forever having to get called out for faults such as part power, no hot water, etc. The technicians are put under pressure to install a certain amount of meters each day, and get minimal training, as such, they tend to incorrectly install them.
2) It is not cumpolsory to get the meters installed. You can refuse. They will tell you that they need to be installed by law, but there is no such law.
3) There are many different types of smart meters, some use the Vodafone network, communicating every half hour (they have a regular sim card installed), others have are connected to a mesh network, ie in a valley there may be 5-10 houses in a network and one of then sends the reads to the central server.
4) The old analogue meters lasted 50-60 years. And a lot of them are in pretty good condition. The smart meters are only designed to last 15-25 years and then are replaced. They are also unpredictable, easy to turn off remotely, but when it comes to reconnecting, it doesn’t always work.
Thanks millsy useful to know, good to have facts re the general use.
No hot water isnt a meter fault. Normally its fault with the water heater itself. You know this Millsy
It can either be an issue with the meter or water heater.
We had a problem with our hot water after they installed a smart meter.
It was entirely a fault with the installation.
They were meant to connect it so that we had hot water available 24 hours/day. In fact they connected it through a meter that was intended only for a night store heater and that only heated the water for a limited number of hours/day. We still got charged through the main meter though.
We didn’t realise we had a major problem until we went away on holiday for a couple of weeks. When we got back the water didn’t heat up. It was only doing so in the middle of the night. We had our electrician in because we thought we had a problem with the hot water cylinder.
He told us it was wired wrongly. We had a terrible job getting the lines company to come back and fix it. They claimed that what was happening was impossible. They also said we would have to pay for them to come and look at it.
Finally they came, blushed, fixed it and paid the electricians bill.
Hi Millsy, I recently had a notice from Genesis that they would be installing a smart metre. I don’t want one, but when I read the fine print of the contract, it was specified that I must, under the terms of the contract, have one. Is that legal?
Sorry, there is no government mandate for smart meters as in other countries. You are still bound to have one as per the contract with your retailer. But you can have one without the modem so it is still manually read.
For those advocating for a HR link from Auckland Airport to Puhunui…
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2018/10/12/over-estimating-the-importance-of-city-airport-trips/
I think it’s high time some scrutiny was applied to the gang of old geezers who make up PTUA and Transport 2050. And why the hell Mike Lee (whom I’ve always respected as a great voice for Auckland) is having anything to do with them.
There is a studied benefit for the people of Onehunga, and along Dominion Road, and they quite rightly state that it is more than a benefit than for airport travellers.
However, those PT travellers already have existing PT, and we should also be looking those who live in parts of Auckland who have abysmal PT, and see whether the social value of investing in that instead of improving existing services would be better served by delivering the HR option in this case.
Greater Auckland collates information that leads to certain outcomes, and does not consider the wider demographics (despite the name) of all Auckland residents.
The high cost of the delivery of LR, when so many of the less financially robust Aucklanders are being hit with higher transport costs because there is no reliable affordable public transport in their areas is a discussion point that is often missed at GA.
fine. but don’t roll a turd in glitter, polish it, then present some sort of botched add on a-la-EA & ubisoft as a PT solution from the CBD to the airport.
Either get trucks off the road round the aiport, get more people PT in more deprived areas so they don’t have to drive to the airport or do a proper job of fast PT from the airport to CBD.
Light rail to the airport. lol.
“those PT travellers already have existing PT”
Boosting capacity along Dominion Rd is for the many thousands of extra people who will move there over the next couple of decades. There is no more room in the city centre for buses to go to, let alone cars.
15 storey apartment buildings. This will send the nimbyists into a frenzy
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/107775894/auckland-park-and-rides-the-1-billion-deal
property porn. The best size for suburban apartments is up to 6 stories max not 15 . That would be repeating the failed ‘towers’ for low income residents.
I had this discussion with a Korean friend back in the day. It’s a function of land price. The more expensive the ground, the more sense it makes to build upward.
That said, smaller apartment buildings tended to be four stories over there – achievable on the private means of a family that built to provide retirement income.
In principle I agree with you Dof. Even further the great Jane Jacobs argued persuasively in Death and Life of Great American Cities that 2 storey terrace housing could easily house the same number of people as the post war tower blocks with the added advantage of giving everyone a front door onto their street and the resulting sense of ownership of their neighbourhood.
However some locations in a city suit high rise housing models, the CBD for example and I would argue that the transit park and ride areas mentioned in the article would be suitable areas for that sort of development too.
dukeofurl
+1000
Major storm brewing up on Kiwiblog
It started when Mr. Farrar (praise Him!) made the bizarrely untruthful claim that the “Sensible Sentencing” Trust provides “a network of support to families of victims.”
Let the fireworks begin….
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2018/10/lovely_libby.html/comment-page-1#comment-2331165
Crikey!
Speaking of fireworks, William Shatner and Jacinda are about to open Rocket Labs new factory.
Any Trekkies on the kb?
Link for livestream, which starts soon apparently.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12141427
The only storm brewing up is the one between your ears Morrissey.
You do know the difference between the SST and SSGT?
SST – PO Box 701 Napier
SSTG – PO Box 701 Napier both at 32 Hastings St Napier, a small office bloc.
Who knew that they are using ‘catfishing’ techniques
What storm?
A storm of abuse, Jimmy.
http://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/10/absurd-ss-supporting-victims-families.html
What a pathetic trolling little creep you are Moz.
My friend, could you please expand on that interesting observation?
Sadly your dear old mother dropped me a note Moz – what you’ve put her through is quite unacceptable….and I quote.
‘I do apologise for our Morrissey’s behaviour. He really is an utter cunt. Takes after his father unfortunately.
Morrissey’s never been the sharpest tool in the shed. He’s always been what you would call a “problem child” very rude and disobedient from a very young age with a very strange obsession with disabled toilets. He’s never sparkled in the love department either having only one boyfriend as far as I can remember. That was a disaster as well. I remember the first time he brought Benjamin Longhair home and they went straight to Morrissey’s room. I could over hear their love talk quite clearly. Benjamin said “ooh Moz, I want you to show me something 8″ long, rock hard and full of spunk !
So Morrissey pulled a sock out from under his bed. It had been there for fucking months, I should know, its me what has to change his soiled sheets every week.’
Oooooohhh, Mullet, you are AWFUL.
But I like you!
Let’s be frank Moz, you have an EQ/IQ which would worry a moron.
Sad, pathetic and forever alone, poor Moz is doomed and destined to forever inhabit the disabled toilet of his tortured and diseased mind. Arse.
Let’s be frank Moz, you have an EQ/IQ which would worry a moron.
Do morons worry about such things? Maybe they have a dim apprehension there’s something wrong, but…. Anyway, it’s an interesting point you make.
Sad, pathetic and forever alone, poor Moz is doomed and destined to forever inhabit the disabled toilet of his tortured and diseased mind.
Yes, I guess I’m kind of an Aaron Smith in some ways.
Arse.
Indeed.
Still delusional.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1810/S00105/kiwis-better-off-under-the-national-government.htm
I particularly like the part where Louise still thinks National increased benefits for the first time in 40 years. I’ve just fired her off an email (first time in my life I’ve ever knowingly engaged with the enemy) to politely enquire where mine is because I’m still waiting for it. I don’t anticipate a reply but had fun writing and sending it 🙂 Do Nats understand sarcasm?
The survey shows that more than 50% of households that get the Accommodation Supplement pay more than 5O% of their income in housing costs. I don’t see how people are better off?
The accomodation supplement has fast become a means to increase rents, with a hefty subsidy by the tax payer. The calculation is like watching a cat chase it’s tail.
The supplement is increased to cover past rent increases only to fuel current and future increases.
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/57062/accommodation-supplement-landlord-subsidy-punching-big-hole-govt-books-due
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei attacked the Accommodation Supplement in Parliament last year, saying it was merely a subsidy for landlords
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/331777/govt-pulled-u-turn-on-accommodation-supplement
Millsy, landlords are ok 👌
The accommodation supplement does not increase rents. You could successfully argue it is a Govt funded top-up for employers (paying their employees) but you also need to take into account it is paid out to people on benefits who are not in a state provided house.
Rents are directly linked to supply and demand.
If (and it will not happen due to the political fallout) the accommodation supplement was stopped, then employers would need to step in and make-up at least some if not all of the difference.
The demand for housing will still be there, I see little room for rent reductions with or without the accommodation supplement.
If there were no AC in the 1st place, there would not be the mountain of money available $1.2b+ to fuel increases for rent. As those seeking private accomodation would not have the same ability to pay current prices, tempering rents and reducing the ability to fuel house price increases, as ROI’s wouldn’t be what they currently are.
Once implemented we are now faced with the continuation of AC as it would be impossible to remove this
I may be wrong BUT was not the AC implemented by Nats in the 90’s to allow for tenants to be no worse off should they rent a state house or private rental ?
“The Accommodation Supplement was introduced in July 1993 as a part of radical change in welfare policies announced by then Finance Minister Ruth Richardson in 1991 in her so-called ‘mother of all budgets’.”
“In 2001 the Labour Government reintroduced income related rent subsidies”
“It is sometimes argued that the Accommodation Supplement is a landlords’ subsidy and that as such any increase in the value of the Supplement will simply leak out to landlords in the form of higher rents. Remarkably there has been little analysis undertaken of either the income or price effects of the Accommodation Supplement and the two published studies appear to have been written to order to suit the argument that the payment is not a landlord subsidy17.”
https://www.cpag.org.nz/assets/A%20Policy%20of%20Cynical%20Neglect%20-%20%28Final%29.pdf
I guess the jury is out Herodotus…I concede there may be some correlation but not to any significant degree.
Way to go Simon. Populist action?
“”National has launched a petition to repeal the Government’s new fuel taxes to “relieve some of the financial pressure” on Kiwis, the party’s leader Simon Bridges has said.”
Well I see Russell McVeagh are doing the right thing.
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=113094
When are the Labour Party going to insist on a resignation by Meka Whaitiri?
Or is it OK to bash your staff if you are a Labour Party member?
Liar ! You get booted off for such falsehoods you know.
She grabbed her by the arm as she came from behind her.
By your standard grabbing a ponytail from behind is ‘bashing’
It’s ok to lie if you’re a nat. They do it all the time.
When’s wally going to let that teat go?
New Zealand
12:46 pm today
NZ activists fined nearly $19k by Israeli court over Lorde’s concert cancellation
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/349388/nz-activists-sued-over-lorde-concert-cancellations
Its a nonsense. Its not a fine , as its a civil case.
Unenforceable in NZ, mainly as no NZ – Isreal treaty on reciprocal court cases and no NZ court would allow this sort of thing where there is no loss even if there was a treaty
Geddes pulls it all apart and throws it in the bin.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/12-10-2018/can-an-israeli-court-really-make-nzers-pay-19000-for-an-open-letter-to-lorde/
well she cant sing!
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/368436/universities-face-a-crisis-of-the-humanities
…when the university senate [University of Otago] met on 26 September and decided to axe Otago’s art history programme from 2020.
There wasn’t much of a programme left to cut. Through a process of attrition, the department had been whittled down, since 2014, to 19 full-time students, three undergraduate papers and a single full-time lecturer….
Across 25 BA majors that RNZ classified as unambiguously part of the humanities, the number of degree and post-graduate level students actually rose during the global financial crisis, mirroring university enrolment patterns in other countries. From 2010, however, the numbers began to drop away again. There were 1000 fewer humanities students enrolled in 2017 than in 2008, despite an increase of almost 40,000 students across all degrees and subjects….
The current Tertiary Education Strategy, released in 2014, states this in bald terms: “This strategy focuses in particular on the economic benefits that result from tertiary education, and therefore on employment, higher incomes and better access to skilled employees for business as critical outcomes of tertiary education.”
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/365540/why-being-made-redundant-in-nz-is-so-tough
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/in-depth/366084/the-reality-of-life-on-the-minimum-wage-in-nz
NZ might be thinking of limiting organic growing methods in Sri Lanka, when we should be copying them, and instead demonstrating better systems for handling the vegetables.
There is talk about the need to grow more food for the world, but we don’t want to regard that as concern, it is talking about markets and money making. When business steps into a people-run economy, it is likely that traditional dealers will be swept aside in the shadow of mechanisation and export of crops for greater return that would normally have been bought by locals paying the local affordable prices.
I am concerned by this upbeat item from Radio nz. We don’t want to export our bizarre culture of destruction of ordinary people’s livelihoods and ability to manage their basic needs, in favour of higher education that produces nothing, with the obvious disconnect in access to a standard of living that is adequate for people living simply.
Most of what was grown in Sri Lanka was largely organic, with apparently minimal use of fertiliser.
“We did ask those questions around sprays, and didn’t see any evidence of it, at all.
“We understand fertiliser is used in rice production, and that’s one of the major crops for the 21 million people, but when the rice is harvested those paddocks are used to grow vegetables.”
Mr Chapman said portions of the fields were hand-tilled for vegetable growing.
He said there were similarities in that a lot of New Zealand growers were also inter-generational, so they’ve been very focused on sustainability of the land.
“As with New Zealand there is also a reducing number of people willing to work in the fields especially, where the work is largely done by hand.”
Mr Chapman said while Sri Lanka could be classed as Third World, it had made incredible advances in education, which was free through to university level, and the literacy rate was now second to Japan among Asian countries.
“We asked for food but you gave us a stone with a certificate of higher learning on it” – that might be the way the land lies in future.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/country/368530/sri-lanka-an-example-for-plant-based-diet-horticulture-nz
Protected birds left at parliament by anti-1080 protestors were completely unrelated to 1080.
So the protestors broke the law to lie about 1080. If 1080 really killed so gazillions of birds, why couldn’t the protestors at least present actual 1080 victims? Seems legit lol.
A powerful symbolic protest:
Red hands wave behind blood-stained U.S. Secretary of State
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-redhands/red-stained-hands-wave-in-protest-at-u-s-hearing-on-syria-idUSBRE98319L20130904
You can see the red hands behind that evil spectre John Kerry early in this clip (from the 0:50 mark). There should also have been a whole lot of blood-red hands waving behind the awful BBC woman at about the 8:30 mark…
Poor people are naturally sexy.
Can’t buy sex, hang out in bars or afford flowers.
Teeth not the best, clothes from The Warehouse or knock-offs.
No outlook of comfortable security, jewelry or sports cars.
Poor people are the most naturally charming, seductive and sexually satisfying people in the world because we have to be.
There was a reason every Elvis movie started with our hero sporting a skinny wallet. Check them out, even with his awful thesping, Broken arse Elvis is much sexier at the start of his movies than the rich Makegood at the end. If Elvis movies were true to life the final scene would end with the Starlet saying “Frankly, you’ve become a bit boring.”