"Cr Robert Guyton thanked her for not glueing herself to the door, a tactic used by Extinction Rebellion members in other protests.
Council's draft plan was formulated after it committed to applying best practice and best science to its responsibilities and "accords urgency" to developing a climate change action plan in July.
The draft plan, which Guyton praised on Wednesday, worked towards ensuring that council programmes and projects take account of climate change adaptation considerations or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible."
I guess this is a start for Environment Southland after the July 2019 thumbs down on declaring a climate emergency.
The draft plan…worked towards ensuring that council programmes and projects take account of climate change adaptation considerations or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible."
Political parties at present when they get into government, are so risk averse that they delegate all their coalface work to agencies to which they set impossible targets, and rthen efuse to exert control over saying 'It's an operational matter." This means that agencies can treat the people in unsatisfactory ways that are unexpected in a democracy with educated people, and government can stand aloof saying they are following best practice, or some other useful, amorphous phrase. This results in government not having a stain on its hands over the unsatisfactory mess that builds – it's not us they say – it's the individuals working for the agency. If faults occur, managers get fired or shifted sideways, but it's a systemic fault not just an individual one; not an exception to the rule.
People and their needs are being sidelined constantly as the government falls down this systemic fault line. An example is how the police take control, exert their authority over decision-making in the name of safety and preventing deaths. They are risk averse in their own interests. Yet they will act in a way that leads people to die by chasing drivers who refuse a demand to stop, and say they do this to protect others from possible injury or death. Yet their behaviour causes deaths of car stealers and drivers over the speed limit, and other uninvolved people in cars, and also pedestrians.
Now we see them police and their Minister, Stuart Nash, refuse to allow others to recover bodies from this volcanic island, because there is a definite risk of it erupting again explosively and without definite warning signs that would indicate a likely time. There can be no attempt by anyone, because the police have superimposed their own risk averse culture on those members of the public prepared to sacrifice certainty for the sake of others. We cannot allow this to continue. People power is needed in civil situations, and we do step forward and can carry out risky successful operations, and are not just dependent on official provision.
It is part of life, there are different levels of risk to everything we do. We learn to mitigate them, and control the risk, for example in using electricity which is a powerful killer used in the USA as an execution device. Yet electricity powers our technologically modern world.
We need to take calculated risks carefully using the knowledge and experience of practical people. We cannot leave those bodies lying putrefying on the island while we wait for the sign of likely explosion which is forecast as probable. The world is looking at us and we can't do another Pike River, where police prevented experienced mining personnel from making reasoned and informed decisions about taking risk to recover bodies.
People who are dead are still important and need to be honoured in burial by their families or connections. The tourists who come here expect to be respected as important people; they will demand respect and resolve to return their people, particularly while they are still recognisable and in one piece! They will not accept the institutional denial of worth which was meted out to our Kiwi miners as at Pike River.
Yes Ad. "Ministers of Police don't exert influence over Police operations. Full stop. Have far less influence than other Ministers. "
That's the problem, how to keep Ministers from becoming little H…s, and how to drive the prancing ponies without reins. And how to have a police ombudsman that doesn't view them like the Laughing Policeman, and find every reason to give them a soft landing.
So you think likely Royal Commission? If improved, I wonder whether Scandinavian police may do better than the model we follow? How to be tough, wary where necessary but working with community on good terms?
"People power is needed in civil situations, and we do step forward and can carry out risky successful operations, and are not just dependent on official provision."
Can you give a few examples of risky operations carried out by civilians in NZ where it's not about rescuing people at risk of death?
There are good reasons to have people in charge during an emergency like this and afaik agencies have good working relationships in NZ eg LandSAR works with police and CD. One reason is to protect the public. Another is to protect rescue crews from having to put themselves in danger if there is another set of people hurt. The police will also have workplace regs to be working within.
I don't have a good sense of what is going on in Whakatane, but I don't see what the rush is for recovering bodies. You say risk averse, but I'm curious why that is a problem. Why do you think it is appropriate to risk lives to recover bodies within such a short time frame?
Pike River was different because the mines rescue experts believed it was safe to go in right after the initial explosion and the Police stopped them.
None of the expert first responders in this situation are saying that the island is safe enough. Just some armchair warriors.
If you have evidence that the experts believe it is safe to go to Whakaari but are being stopped by police, I'd be interested to see that (I might have missed it). Experts being Geonet/GNS, CD, and the rescue crews on the ground.
While one pilot told media last night it would only take 20 minutes to recover the bodies, Mr Clement says rushing into it would also risk damaging evidence around the body – evidence that will likely be needed to help identify people.
"The more time we can spend with the body when we uplift it from the circumstances in which they've done, the more likelihood that we can preserve that evidence.
"Because we'll get no thanks whatsoever if we reach a situation at the end of this where we're not able to sign off on identity."
sarcasm aside, there's also this thing of what it's actually like to be involved. I think many people lack imagination. I don't, so I can parse from that careful few sentences what might happen to the bodies when removed. Also from listening to the pilot RNZ interviewed who wasn't giving details about injuries. This is fucking grim and traumatic stuff. I know people are upset and triggered, but maybe we need to take a breath and consider what we might be missing. The glaring thing about twitter on the first day was just how many people were jumping to all sorts of conclusions, but in the end it turned out they were just plain wrong.
I see a lot of twitter’s mine re-entry experts have retrained as volcanologists in the intervening years; a testament to our university system that they can churn them out in such numbers
One of many positives of the internet is that it allowed a plethora of polymaths to fully blossom and share their pearls of wisdom with hoi polloi. A polymath without the internet is the same as a falling tree in the forest without witnesses: it doesn’t make a noise.
Jag/landrover changed their supply chain system 2007-2014. So 35yrs at JLR our tweeter must have finished nursing in the 1980s. And is still familiar with ED equipment that probably didn't exist then, lol
That's his solution to catastrophic climate change.
"If we just build a lot of really big fridges, and then live in them, then I'll think you'll find it's not much of a catastrophe at all. On the contrary, it's all rather crisp and invigorating."
Jeremy Corbyn has 24 hours left as leader of the UK Labour Party. I hope he makes the most of it.
I would imagine that the Blairites will have regained full control of the party by this time next year.
Liz Kendall (who is bascially Josie Pagani's UK clone) will be leader, and will be supporting war, privatisation, austerity, deregulation and Isreal's extermination of the Palestinian people.
yep. Things in the public domain (i.e less information than what the police have):
Wikipedia page on Whakaari says there were 3 more explosions after the first one. The reference is a Stuff article but it's a live update on so I can't find the specific bit
"GNS will not send a scientist to the island with a recovery team.
"The level of risk right now is far too high for sending on of our staff out there," volcanologist Nico Fournier said.
"You wouldn't jump in a car that engulfed in flames if you've got nothing in there, if it's your child you would. That acceptability of risk is the important conversation. It's not the same for a scientist as for response agencies."
Police may consult with next of kin when determining whether to make a quick recovery.
A quick uplift strategy, where the recovery team gathers all the bodies as fast as possible, would be the safest option for the recovery team but could degrade the bodies and make identification harder.
However, if families indicate they are willing to take that risk, police may consider it.
Same link. Pertinent point there is that it takes time to work through these issues, there are complexities here. It's less then 70 hours since the first explosion. A lot has happened in that time.
There's a map in this link that shows where lava and rocks landed (and how many) after the 2016 explosion, and the path that tourists normally walk when visiting. That might sharpen some people's minds a bit,
afaik this is exactly what is happening. I'm not sure what you are saying. I thought you were saying that the police are acting in their own interests, and that they're wrong to stop people from doing their own rescues.
Most earthquake experts wouldn't approve of search and rescue teams getting people out of collapsed buildings either with an immediate danger of aftershocks.
We're not talking here about rescuing people, we're talking about recovering dead bodies. Having some appetite for risk is all very well, but there has to be some benefit that's worth running the risk for, and in this case there's none – zip, zero, nada, nix. The people who didn't make it off Whakaari are dead and will remain dead regardless of whether anyone moves their corpses from one place to another. No improvement in their situation is achievable.
It's for the families. So there is a good benefit, although I don't understand the desire to rush.
Have to say that I personally would be ok with the relevant agencies taking their time in this kind of situation were it my relatives or close friends, but then I seem to have a different relationship to death than some. I might feel differently if they were dead as the result of a crime (not sure).
Police are now saying they may liaise with families about going in earlier, but this would mean less time for recovery and the risk that bodies are damaged and making it harder to ID them.
I do understand the pressure from families to rush when another eruption could bury or vaporise their fallen relatives forever. However, for all of human existence not all deaths have resulted in a recoverable body to aid grieving. Sad, but unavoidable sometimes.
it is sad. I'm of the group of people that considers dying in nature an honourable way to go and I would be more than happy to have my body left behind for those reasons. Not sure if my family would, but I suspect so.
Many people in the outdoors take the view that dying doing something you love is acceptable. This raises the issue of what tourists are doing in nature in the first place, but a conversation for another time I think.
and I certainly understand that the families will all have their own processes. My comments here are about the people commenting (i.e. people not directly affected wanting to rush).
It's for the families. So there is a good benefit, although I don't understand the desire to rush.
Exactly. I get that the families want their relatives' bodies back so they can have a tangi/funeral, but society has a much higher obligation to avoid adding to the body count than it does to retrieving the dead bodies. It should be a no-brainer that no-one goes in until it's safe to do so, and yet the news media are talking about the urgent need for "rescue" missions to "retrieve loved ones," as though there were live humans on Whakāri desperately awaiting rescue. There seem to be a lot of people in our society who really can't cope with the idea of death.
I can't find the article now, but a tourist operator bought 12 injured back on helicopters and I think the guy said they were refused permission to go back out again immediately to recover more people.
I agree with what you're saying, but it is different when there's an opportunity to save lives.
there were multiple helicopters that went out and rescued all the people that were alive. Some of those were the tourist operators already in the area, and I think two rescue choppers went out as well. I've not heard anything to suggest that anyone was stopped from rescuing live people.
Listening to the RNZ interview with one of the pilots (it's a really good interview to watch), one of those teams checked the area twice and ascertained that there were no people left alive. They made the decision to leave the bodies of the dead people (an entirely reasonable decision imo given what they were dealing with). My reading of that is that the police knew that afternoon that it was very unlikely that anyone was left alive.
Pilots (and I assume locals with boats) have since been refused permission to go back and recover the bodies.
"Most earthquake experts wouldn't approve of search and rescue teams getting people out of collapsed buildings either with an immediate danger of aftershocks."
Maybe, but they may also say it's not their decision.
Not really relevant to my question. Generally accepted taking higher risk when saving lives, but that's not the case here. Helicopter pilot that did 45min search saw no signs of life.
How many people do you want to put at risk to recover bodies? Especially when the volcanic tremor is going crazy and the chance of another (& possibly larger) eruption is even higher than it was the other day.
Also, there's the nifty new 6 seater electric plane a Canadian airline just flew. Still needs to jump through some hoops but for short distance flights the electric option is orders of magnitude cheaper to run. Over 170 electric plane designs globally that are being worked on as we speak.
Hope people are taking this whole Christmas corporate-money-grab thing in sustainable stride: local business, natural clothing, useful tools, native or fruit trees, predator control, insect housing, tourism experiences… So many things one might think up to gift instead of the usual plastic crap, excessive cheap chocolate and nylon socks. I welcome ideas on this theme.
At this stage, it's unlikely that there's any solid cradle-to-grave studies of emissions from electric aviation. Yet.
However, we can get a reasonable idea from cradle-to-grave emissions from electric road vehicles, and for those the conclusions are pretty clear.
First and foremost, the question really is what are the emissions of the electricity sources the manufacturers use, and what are the emissions of the electricity suppliers used to charge.
For electric vehicles, worst case is if the energy source for manufacture and recharging is coal burnt in a standard thermal plant. then a new battery electric vehicle is better than a new fossil vehicle after about 10 years of average use. But fossil road vehicles have appallingly inefficient engines, can't regeneratively brake, and spend time time idling which burns fuel but does nothing useful. An electric aircraft built and recharged using coal-fired electricity is probably significantly worse than a fossil aircraft. Because an aircraft turbine engine is general more efficient than a road vehicle engine (and is near the efficiency of a coal-fired plant), there's no opportunites for energy recovery from braking, and very little idling.
At the other end of the energy supply emissions spectrum, an electric vehicle built and recharged with zero-carbon electricity is better than a dino-juice vehicle after only a few months of use. And since aircraft emissions footprints are much more associated with the fuel they burn than with energy used to manufacture them, I'd expect electric aircraft to be proportionately that much better than dino-juice aircraft.
R&D and disposal/recycling emissions are such a small part of cradle-to-grave emissions they don't really need to be considered.
I suspect you're looking for grounds to argue that we can't continue to fly even in electric planes because of the emissions involved in their manufacture. But if/when we get to zero-ghg electricity supply, that's going to be a really difficult argument to make. Because the emissions that aren't directly related to where the electricity comes from really are tiny. And will go even smaller if the push to go to zero-ghg gets strong enough to do things like push aluminium smelters into using inert anodes rather than carbon anodes.
"For electric vehicles, worst case is if the energy source for manufacture and recharging is coal burnt in a standard thermal plant. then a new battery electric vehicle is better than a new fossil vehicle after about 10 years of average use."
My problem with your analysis is that it compares EVs with FFVs (manufacture, or usage) as if those are the only two choices. A third comparison should be with not replacing the FFV and using less transport. So manufacture Eplanes, but use them for essential services not shopping trips to Sydney*.
Your argument is green BAU, which sounds goodish in theory but ignores the elephant in the living room: emissions are still going up at the time we need them to be dropping fast.
If we were doing all the right things your analysis would make more sense. But we are so far in overshoot that we're going to need to reduce consumption everywhere we can to stay within the carbon budget.
You also haven't accounted (I think) for the power GHGs from mining, transport and so on in the cradle to grave processes. When we reach some point of all power generation being post-carbon, then the maths you talk about will make sense but only if we didn't use more than our carbon budget in doing do.
Worse case scenario is the one we're already in, but apparently can't accept because of the lag timeframes I guess. We're in the process of blowing the budget on trying to replace FF with green power. That no-one is doing these analyses tells us a lot.
*also, in the meantime, while developing Eplanes, we are stuck in the cycle that means we need more FFplanes flying to keep the economics right, which means building more runways etc (and all the GHGs associated with that), and then all the extra infrastructure associated with the travel (hotels, roads) and so on. The analysis isn't linear, it's a web. Again, all that blows our carbon budget on stupid fucking shit at time when we're not even sure best case actions will prevent catastrophe.
because your denialism stops you from making a coherent response?
The irony is that if we'd paid more attention to the values of the Amish, or say the Luddites, we wouldn't be facing the potential of catastrophic climate change. But some people really do think that flying at will is worth the risk, in part I think because they fear nasty/brutish/short and lack the imagination to see a future where we dial things back, make way better use of the tech we have, and still live really good lives.
I'm fine with departing the thread when it looks like you're getting ready to deliver your usual sermon that regenag and powerdown is the one and only true path and anyone suggesting alternatives is pushing false idols.
We have had a few queries on the Volcanic Alert Level system we use in New Zealand, where a number is used to define its current level of activity. Here is a short video showing our volcanoes at the each of the various levels. https://t.co/heoggGzQ4y
The Volcanic Alert Level does not reflect risk, it indicates current activity at the volcano and Level 2 indicates heightened volcanic unrest with potential for eruption hazards.
Whakaari was a minor eruption with awful consequences, most NZ hospitals that can treat burns are at max capacity, and over ONE MILLION square centimetres of skin required for grafts.
An Auckland eruption would be of unimaginable proportions.
I have often wondered which politician or CEO would be brave enough to give the call to evacuate all or part of Auckland, due to a possible volcanic activity warning. Just imagine the chaos on the motorways.
This is a perennial issue in New Z isn't it. We always react rather than put in place mitigation strategies and plans to deal.
We know where we live. Yet in the aftermath of Whakaari, everything has been ad hoc from woe to no.
A proper functioning country would have plans to deal in the aftermath of an eruption ( did the tour company??) and be able to effect the plan to recover bodies and the like.
Just like post CHCH. Just like post pike river. And now. NZ has been shown to have the affliction of short termism and "she'll be right" in every aspect.
All the plans for the alpine quake will come to nought unless we have concrete abilities to do what needs to be done in the immediate aftermath. So far, I'm not seeing that.
And i say this knowing full well that it can be situational, but let's be honest. Whakaari wasn't an unknown risk. Why was there seemingly no plan to deal with eruptions when tourists were there and how to cope if fatalities were incurred?
I'm not so sure about that level of criticism at the response to Whakaari. It seems to have been pretty solid to me. The letdown has been from BS media demands for action before the volcano has calmed down, and from some of the companies involved.
The difference between pike river and whakaari is at PK the experts identified a window of safety that they wanted to exploit, and the cops overruled them. GNS doesn't want to touch Whakaari with a barge pole at the moment, which should probably tell a bit to the cops and anyone else considering going there.
The emergency response to chch was actually pretty good. The rebuild… not so good.
I would have thought that there's only one plan to follow in an eruption: GTFO and don't come back until it seems to have calmed down.
I think there were some issues about which authority Whakaari falls into geographically and thus planning isn't as advanced as it might have been? Nevertheless I think things went remarkably well on the day, I haven't seen anything that suggests there were fuck ups.
I'm less confident about the South Island's preparedness for a really big quake. Even less confident about how we would manage in a tsunami (the couple of practice things I've seen looked depressingly bad). I'm not sure this is a criticism of CD (I'm guessing they were underfunded in the Key years) so much as it just takes time to make all the things happen and it doesn't appear to have been a priority. I still expect chopper pilots and such to step up and do their thing.
Incident management training is more important than nailing down exactly how many patients go to which hospital – e.g. the DHB folk will be trained to call around for where to escalate specialist-requiring patients at the time, because if you plan down to that level months out, Auckland's unit might be full when you need it for your emergency. And that training will apply to bus crashes and epidemics, as well as eruptions.
I feel way more confident of hospitals' ability to deal with whatever they need to deal with (not least because they've had practice).
I'm thinking more about the general public and knowing what should be happening. Looking at the number of people on Monday (some being outright dicks) about how the police should go to the island to rescue people suggests that too many people don't have a good grasp of what goes on in a situation like that. I'm guessing lots of people will expect to be rescued when the time comes.
Which brings in the general principle that people should have emergency kits.
Not that I do, but I only have a week before the gout meds wear off and I'm immobilised in agony if I don't stroke out after the bp meds go. I'm one of the dead extras in any disaster movie.
eg do you know what to do in Dndn if there's a big quake that could trigger a tsunami? Do you know what to do if you're in a coastal place you don't normally spend time in?
We do have some smaller faultlines and very old buildings, too (there's been a flurry of brick churches being sold or demolished, relatively few being strengthened).
I'm saying if that fault goes off, the most harmful impacts will be further north. Dunners may have some collapsed masonry, as a consolation. Really wouldn't want to be anywhere in Welli though..
I think it depends where the quake is. If the AF shifts nearer Wgtn more of an issue there, but it could go further south, in which case the lower West Coast and southern lakes areas will be hit worst (lots of slips, bridges gone, people cut off. Not that many deaths though, unless the lakes seiche). Sudden loss of the national grid generally and I don’t think that will be back on quickly for the SI. Some of the hydro infrastructure will go too.
The Tsunami risk for Dndn is from faults on the east coast?
It might be too big – like maybe evacuation would only be a small part of CM [if] a little volcano started rumbling there, but north shore would be unaffected. So mention of greater auckland evacuation would most likely kill people by jamming thoroughfares with panicking people, and completely needlessly.
No I meant more no "evacuate greater auckland" plan because if all of Auckland needs evacuation, there probably won't be anywhere to evacuate them to.
Most emergencies, even big ones, will have localised evacuations of greater and lesser radii. If there's a mass evacuation from safer areas, the traffic churn will bugger responses for the people who actually need help or evacuation.
These sorts of instructions usually need to be clear and very simple, and the mention of evacuation in leaflets has been demonstrated to cause more harm than good.
Alternatively, the material was designed by committee rather than professionals and they missed that bit.
One of them Bureaucratic Uncertainty Principle things 🙂
But no say for the millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who can't vote even though almost every aspect of their lives is influenced by Israeli occupation.
BREAKING: Israel headed for 3rd election in 12 months after PM Netanyahu, rivals fail to form a government. https://t.co/zLbxbhpSal
Some interesting thoughts in this piece about the new left vs the old left vs centrists and where the Labour and Democrat parties may go in the future if they lose their upcoming big elections with hard-lefties at the top of the ticket.
To the left of the menorah is Pastor John Hagee, head of CUFI, who called Adolf Hitler "a hunter, sent by God, who was tasked with expediting God’s will of having the Jews re-establish a state of Israel."
If the kids were really worried about Saving The Planet and making a hero of Greta they would get their lazy little bums out of mums SUV and walk or bike to school.
I live in one of the flatest, driest towns in NZ and yesterday I had the misfortune to time one of my rare visits to the town by trying to drive past the local girls high school only to be thwarted by what seemed like hundreds of Urban Assault Vehicles.
"The children are concerned about their future ". Bullshit, not in practice they're not.
Ironicly, the country kids who are bussed to and fro mostly seem to complete the journey home from the bus stop on bikes left in farmers properties next to the stop or walk.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Maybe it is a private school. I think all kids in NZ should normally be able to walk or bus to school. I realise times have changed and time seems to be short and parents want to make sure their kids are at school on time and safely but I can't help wishing that private schools were done away with and all kids had to attend their local school unless there were exceptional cicumstances.
I taught at this Girls' College in the early 70's, There was no issue then with Urban Assault SUV's. Then, no student drove to school. Then cycles were used, girls walked to school and the country girls as they do now were bussed in.
As a boy I rode first a tricycle, then a bicycle to school in ChCh. On rainy days mum drove us to school, sometimes, bike in the boot. At University I rode a bike or took the bus.
no, a big part of the rush hour madness is that pick up school time starting at around 2.30 and finishing an hour later. Depending on where you live it can be utter chaos and madness. Also it seems that there is a bit of a competition going on on who can afford the biggest SUV or Urban Assault Vehicles.
kids could walk or bike, but in many areas they don't – they get chauffeured about by Momma's Taxi Cab.
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Story of the Week... Opinion of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Rising Seas Could Menace Millions Beyond Shorelines, Study FindsAs climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will ...
There's an election next month, so you'd be expecting political parties to be telling us what they stand for and what they'd do if they'd win. But while the Greens have given us a detailed policy platform, and National has talked about roads and austerity, Labour, currently leading the polls ...
"Who's youse accusin' of innference?" Without the timely intervention of a team of top American political consultants and campaign experts, Boris Yeltsin would never have won his second term as President of the Russian Federation. The Russians waited 20 years to return the favour.WHEN IT COMES to the disinformation game, ...
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 26 through Sat, Aug 1, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe four types of climate denier, and why you should ignore them allThe shill, the grifter, the egomaniac and the ideological ...
Over the last few days, reports have emerged of people travelling from New Zealand and testing positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at their destination. First in South Korea and now in Australia. What might these positive tests mean?They’re false-positives As Toby Morris and I have explained before, there are ...
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...
So, the Hit and Run inquiry has reported back, and found some appalling shit at NZDF and NZSIS. And while they quibble a few of the details - the name of a dead child - they basicly uphold Hager and Stephenson's version of events. The SAS went to those villages. ...
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...
Michelle Boag - LeakerThe Heron report (PDF) was released yesterday, and it was a bit disappointing to say the least. It correctly found that former National Party president Michelle Boag and National Party MP Hamish Walker were politically motivated in leaking peoples private medical information, but didn’t look further into ...
On different trajectories and from different ends of the political spectrum, last night’s One News/Colmar Brunton poll has the Green Party and ACT converging around the five percent mark. And, as odd as it may sound, they head into the election campaign with a lot in common.Putting the Greens and ...
Janet Stephenson, University of OtagoA proposed multibillion-dollar project to build a pumped hydro storage plant could make New Zealand’s electricity grid 100% renewable, but expensive new infrastructure may not be the best way to achieve this. New Zealand’s electricity generation is already around 80% renewable, with just over half ...
Truth In Advertising: Labour, it would seem, is the party that knows nothing about running the economy right up until the moment that it does. HOW DID LABOUR acquire its reputation for being a poor economic manager? As with most things political and historical, it’s a long story.In the beginning, the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Government rulemakers looking to decide how much money to spend to avoid adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere need a good estimate of what a warming climate will cost in social damages, for example through more extreme weather events. That point makes ...
Fact Check: New Zealand’s own relationship with China might, however, be salvageable if our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was willing to equip its minister, Winston Peters, with a few facts. Legislating for the protection of national security – the very action our Foreign Minister is decrying – ...
I hope we can all agree that charging only certain returning expats for isolation costs is the right call. Instead of a blanket fee, which may have resulted in a small number of Kiwis deciding not to return home because of financial reasons, the Government has chosen to implement a ...
Back at the beginning of this government, the Greens made a foolish decision to support the Electoral Integrity Act - demanded by Winston Peters to keep his own backbench in line as part of his coalition deal with Labour - as an act of good faith within the coalition. It ...
SATURDAY AUGUST 1Artefact (Prime, 7.30pm). The series presented by Dame Anne Salmond screened on Māori Television, but is totally worth revisiting if you saw it the first time. Dame Anne tells the stories of taonga that highlight the history of Aotearoa. Further reading: this 2013 interview with Dame Anne by the lovely ...
Have unions and the Government sold workers short with their attempt at fixing the so-called “Hobbit Law”? Unionist Ian Powell argues that the union movement has been outmanoeuvered, and the Government has agreed to a new piece of anti-worker legislation that retains the principles of the previous National Government’s hated ...
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source:Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ...
An article in the EETimes suggests that advances in autonomous vehicles are not moving as quickly as expected because those working on them have confused complicated problems with complex ones. Engineering can only take you so far in complex worlds. Complicated systems tend to have fairly predictable inputs, processes and outputs. Complex systems (like ...
Last week, after Judith Collins announced that National would be cruel and vicious to kiwis caught overseas by the pandemic, and rob them at the border if they returned home, Labour looked like it was falling all over itself to cry "me too". But now, it looks like kindness has ...
If entry into New Zealand from abroad is safe, it should be allowed. People arriving from places that are Covid-free, or no more risky than New Zealand, and who get here on flights that do not intersect with risky places, should return to normal travel arrangements. Currently, the Cook ...
Liz SlootenScientists from the University of Otago, working with colleagues from around the world, have found that New Zealand right whales are doing much better than right whales in other parts of the world. The research was published as the feature article in the journal Marine Ecology Progress ...
Back in 2019, the government asked for a comprehensive, independent review of the Resource Management Act and associated legislation. That review has now reported back and recommended a complete repeal and re-enactment. Despite the headlines, this is not a "scrapping" - we're still going to have a resource management law, ...
By Associate Professor Mik Black, Department of Biochemistry, University of OtagoThe increased availability of complex biological data sets means that analysis and computation are becoming critically important skills for New Zealand’s future scientists. Because of this, we need to be doing everything we can to help our students develop ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIs humanity doomed? If in 2030 we have not reduced ...
Britain's spy agencies are supposedly overseen by various watchdogs, including the investigatory powers tribunal. But it turns out that MI6 at least has contempt for those watchdogs, and attempted to interfere with the operations of the tribunal by concealing evidence from its judges: MI6 has been accused of “inappropriate interference” ...
Daphna Whitmore So far this year over 7.4 million people have died from preventable communicable diseases. There were 4.3 million children who died under the age of five. Nearly one million people have died of HIV/AIDS in the past six months. A similar number of people have died from malaria ...
Four weeks ago I wrote about the last time a sizable asteroid hit our planet – the ‘Tunguska Event’ of 1908, when an object about 50 metres across exploded above the Siberian taiga – but smaller cosmic rocks shoot close by Earth fairly frequently. In the past 42 hours ...
Last month, China imposed a new "national security law" on Hong Kong. The law imposes a penalty of life imprisonment for secession, subversion, and "colluding with foreign forces" - which basicly means peacefully advocating for democracy or independence. It has been used to crush peaceful protests and interpreted by the ...
Powerful Connection: Neoliberalism is the antithesis of everything that has traditionally been associated with the feminine aspects of human nature. Kindness and compassion, nurturance and inclusiveness: such qualities have no place in the neoliberal order. When Jacinda proclaimed her determination to practice the “politics of kindness”, she was, wittingly or ...
The bad news: Jacinda Ardern still wants to bill exiled kiwis for returning home. The good news: it would require a law change, which the Greens won't back, so she'll need to go grovelling to National. The other good news: she's running out of time to do it. This ...
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...
If you want to understand what is happening in this year’s election campaign, it’s worth looking to the past for guidance. Colin James delves into recent contests and finds some interesting parallels. July 28 is 53 days before the 2020 election. Just 53 days before the 2017 election ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters Wildfires burned much less acreage in the U.S. than average during the first half of the year, but with hot and dry conditions expected over much of the nation in the coming months, fire activity is likely to ramp up. ...
Today a full bench of the High Court is hearing Andrew Borrowdale's challenge to the legality of the COVID-19 lockdown. That lockdown ended two months ago, so the point seems moot - but it was never about ending it. Instead, as Andrew Geddis points out, its about a key principle ...
So far, this has been a relatively policy-free election campaign. The government has been trying to keep a low profile, on the basis that anything they say will only piss someone off, so better to say as little as possible. When its not knifing its leader, National has promised roads, ...
I hardly ever comment on polls, because horse-race politics is superficial and boring and most changes are statistically meaningless and so unworthy of attention (let alone the excitement they provoke amongst mathematically illiterate political journalists desperate to fill airtime). But we've now had two polls in a row showing Labour ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on its inquiry into the operation of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020. As you'd expect, they find that the law was "necessary and appropriate", but would like to see a permanent replacement providing for health emergency powers as the Health ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... John Cook in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Climate Feedback Claim Review... SkS Week in Review... Poster of the Week... Story of the Week... Major new climate study rules out less severe global warming scenariosAn analysis finds the most ...
It hasn’t taken long for the advent of Judith Collins as National party leader to change the tone of the political debate. After several days of headlines and airwaves dominated by reports of a National MP sending pornographic images to young women, the National leader had had enough of that ...
Don Franks An already fired up general election looks like getting even edgier. When final votes have been counted, a rather unlikely coalition government now seems possible As National and Labour implode with sexual proclivities while New Zealand First fling their last toys from the cot, others show more maturity. ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, July 19 through Sat, July 25, 2020Editor's ChoiceThe Climate Expert Who Delivered News No One Wanted to Hear From 2009: How a scientist known as the “father of global ...
There’s ultimately two key narratives overall that are seeking to take front row in order to reshape the world as a whole going forward from the COVID pandemic. The first is a very desperate attempt to reimpose “a return” to what is perceived as “the old normal”, quite impossible. ...
Henry Anderson-Elliott, University of CambridgeOn the morning of August 31 2017, I didn’t meet a remarkable polar bear. It was my third week of fieldwork-based out of Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, studying the conservation of the bears on the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Having spent a few days transcribing interviews in ...
SUNDAY JULY 26Country Calendar (TVNZ 1, 7.00pm). Tonight, kiwifruit growing in the King Country. Crazy!Normal People (TVNZ 1, 10.30pm). Holy cow, if you thought it was slow on a binge-watch, imagine what it's like in weekly doses. Nevertheless, it's like Richard Linklater's Boyhood – you don't really see the scope of ...
. . “The Martians had no resistance to the bacteria in our atmosphere to which we have long since become immune. Once they had breathed our air, germs, which no longer affect us, began to kill them. The end came swiftly. All over the world, their machines began to stop ...
With the June 2020 quarter showing underemployment increasing, the Green Party is calling for a Guaranteed Minimum Income and an increase to the abatement threshold to ensure everyone has a dignified income. ...
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...
Investing in our people, backing businesses, and upgrading infrastructure and housing throughout the country - it's been another week of progress for New Zealanders as we deliver our plan to recover and rebuild. ...
July was another busy month, packed with key investments aimed at progressing our economic recovery as we rebuild New Zealand. We extended support for businesses, helped create jobs through local infrastructure projects, and kept working to clean up our waterways so Kiwis can access safe clean water. Check out the ...
The Green Party is calling for the Defence Force Chiefs in place between 2010-2017 to front up and explain how dishonesty, process and policy failures within the Defence Force led to ‘a series of incorrect statements in briefings to ministers and public releases’ regarding alleged breaches of international torture prevention ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
Thanks to our strong health response, New Zealand’s economy is more open than many other countries. But as COVID continues to surge around the world, the economic consequences of the virus will continue to be a challenge, which is why we have a detailed plan to help New Zealand bounce ...
The Green Party are ensuring that New Zealanders who were overseas when COVID-19 hit will not be charged for the cost of isolation or quarantine if they return home to live. ...
It's been another week of creating jobs, supporting local businesses, and investing in infrastructure up and down the country - all of which are helping to keep our economy moving post-COVID-19. ...
Law changes to end tenure review and provide for better management of Crown pastoral lands in the South Island high country were considered by Parliament today with the first reading of the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill says Minister for Land Information, Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party have secured legislative amendments in a bill expected to pass third reading this week, to ensure better rules for school teachers and staff, so they can de-escalate children with diverse needs and cognitive differences, such as autism, rather than using unnecessary and often traumatising force. ...
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says.Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has ridiculed the National Party "circus", with the politician saying it was in "chaos" after the resignation of another MP.Rangitata MP Andrew Falloon announced on Monday he would retire from politics after he allegedly sent inappropriate pornographic images to a young woman. Following a ...
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters today outlined what he saw as the requirements to re-open New Zealand's borders for tourists and travellers. If New Zealand was dealing solely with an Australian state such as Tasmania, we wouldn't need a vaccine, said Mr Peters, but these moves were complicated by the ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters appears to have prompted last-minute alterations to proposed legislation for commercial landlords and their tenants. Mr Peters told reporters on Wednesday said that he was making sure the proposed bill was in step with what the parties had actually agreed to. He said he ...
Associate Minister for State Owned Enterprise and New Zealand First List MP Shane Jones attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the new NZ Post "super depot" in Wellington. The state-owned postal service, which got $280 million from the Coalition Government last month, is expanding its operations to handle surging parcel volumes. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First CHECK AGAINST DELIVERYIntroduction Good afternoon. Welcome to you all here today and party supporters watching from around the country. We appreciate your hard work keeping New Zealand First strong; thank you for keeping the faith. Sixty-three days out from Election Day, ...
The diversity of conservation boards around Aotearoa is increasing with 47 appointments to 14 of the 15 conservation boards across New Zealand announced today by the Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. ...
The Green Party is honoured to be remembering former co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons today at a public memorial service in the heart of Wellington at the Cathedral of St. Paul’s. Following her passing in March, this celebration of her life brings together her friends, family and colleagues to honour her life ...
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced a $2.5 million boost for South Westland to help a regional alliance of local businesses and government agencies provide nature based jobs. ...
Investing in infrastructure is one major way we can create jobs, stimulate the economy, and keep New Zealand moving post COVID-19. That's why this week we rolled out a massive number of infrastructure announcements - in Tairāwhiti, Wairarapa, Otago, Southland and more! ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Leader of New Zealand First New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters says the National Party’s Auckland Transport announcement today is a breath-taking plan on the never never. While it is promising to see that National all of a sudden has rediscovered railways in Auckland, including trains ...
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...
A discriminatory law that has been a symbol of frustration for many people needing and providing care and support, has been scrapped by the Government. “Part 4A of the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Amendment Bill (No 2) was introduced under urgency in 2013 by a National Government,” Associate ...
Kiwi motorists are set to reap the benefits of a more competitive fuel market following the passing of the Fuel Industry Bill tonight, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods says. “This Act is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our response to the recommendations made in the ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to New Zealanders to modernise tenancy laws with the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill 2020 today, says Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing), Kris Faafoi. “The Residential Tenancies Act 1986 was out-dated and the reforms in the RTA modernise our ...
New rules to protect and restore New Zealand’s freshwater passed into law today. Environment Minister David Parker and Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor welcomed the gazetting of the new national direction on freshwater management. “These regulations deliver on the Government’s commitment to stop further degradation, show material improvements within five years and ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced the appointment of Jeremy Clarke-Watson as New Zealand’s new Consul-General in Los Angeles. “New Zealand and the United States share a close and dynamic partnership, based on a long history of shared values and democratic traditions,” Mr Peters said. “Mr Clarke-Watson is a ...
Victims of family violence can end a tenancy with two days’ notice Landlords can terminate tenancies with 14 days’ notice if tenants assault them Timeframe brought forward for limiting rent increases to once every 12 months Extension of time Tenancy Tribunal can hear cases via phone/video conference Reform of New ...
Two employment schemes – one new and one expanded – going live today will help tens of thousands of people continue training on the job and support thousands more into work, the Government has announced. Apprenticeship Boost, a subsidy of up to $12,000 per annum for first year apprentices and ...
The Government is funding a significant infrastructure package at Omokoroa which will create 150 new jobs and help transform the Western Bay of Plenty peninsula, Urban Development Minister Phil Twyford announced today. Phil Twyford says the Government is investing $14 million towards the $28 million roading and water package. This ...
The Bill allowing the Government to recover some costs for managed isolation and quarantine passed its third reading today, with charges coming into force as soon as regulations are finalised. Putting regulations into force is the next step. “The COVID-19 Public Health Response Amendment Bill and its supporting regulations will ...
Today’s unemployment data shows the Government’s plan to protect jobs and cushion the blow for businesses and households against the economic impact of COVID-19 was the right decision, Finance Minister Grant Robertson says. Stats NZ said today that New Zealand’s unemployment rate in the June quarter – which includes the ...
A new role of New Zealand Reading Ambassador for children and young people is being established, Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Internal Affairs and for Children, Tracey Martin announced today. The Reading Ambassador, announced at a Celebration of Reading event at ...
Community Law Centres will receive a funding boost to meet the increased need for free legal services due to COVID-19, Justice Minister Andrew Little said. The $3.5m funding is for the next three financial years and is additional to the almost $8 million for Community Law Centres announced in Budget ...
New Zealand has joined Canada and Chile in a new trade initiative aimed at increasing women’s participation in global trade. Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker, together with Canada’s Minister for Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade Mary Ng, Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrés Allamand, and Chile’s Vice ...
Building owners around New Zealand have benefited from the latest round of Heritage EQUIP funding with grants totalling $2,230,166. “The Heritage EQUIP grants for seismic strengthening assist private building owners to get the professional advice they need to go ahead with their projects or support them to carry out the ...
• New paediatric facilities, including a Special Baby Care Unit • Up to 50 extra inpatient beds • New lab facilities Northland babies and their whānau will soon have access to improved hospital care when they need it with Health Minister Chris Hipkins today confirming new paediatric facilities and more ...
People walking and cycling between Featherston and Greytown, or along Wellington’s Eastern Bays will soon have a safe shared path, as part of a $220 million shovel-ready cycleways package announced by Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter. “During lockdown we saw many more families and kids out on their bikes, ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today extended New Zealand’s condolences following the death of Vanuatu’s High Commissioner to New Zealand, Johnson Naviti, who passed away yesterday afternoon in Wellington. “Our thoughts are with the High Commissioner’s family and colleagues during this difficult time. This is a terrible loss both to ...
The Government has today set out the regional allocations of the $761 million Three Waters stimulus and reform funding for councils announced by Prime Minister Hon Jacinda Ardern this month. "I want to thank Councils around the country for engaging with the Central Local Government Steering Group who have been ...
Students with high and complex learning needs, as well as their teachers and parents, will benefit from a substantial increase to Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding, Associate Education Minister Martin announced today. “Nearly $160 million will go towards helping these students by lifting their base support over the next four ...
Funding for innovative projects to connect Kiwis with affordable, safe and wholesome food, reduce food waste, and help our food producers recover from COVID-19 has been announced today by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor. “COVID-19 has seen an increasing number of families facing unprecedented financial pressure. Foodbanks and community food service ...
Eight shovel-ready projects within Kāinga Ora large-scale developments, and the Unitec residential development in Auckland have been given the go-ahead, Minister for Housing Dr Megan Woods announced today. Megan Woods says these significant infrastructure upgrades will ensure that the provision of homes in Auckland can continue apace. “The funding announced ...
The Government is funding a new separated walking and cycleway path along Napier’s Chambers and Ellison streets to provide safer access for local students and residents across Marine Parade and State Highway 51, Transport Minister Phil Twyford and Police Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Funding of $2.7 million has been ...
More than 13,000 people have been employed so far thanks to the Coalition Government’s Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has today announced. The number of jobs created by Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) investments has outstripped the 10,000 jobs target that the Government and Provincial Development Unit ...
Scientists and innovative fishing operators from Stewart Island and Fiordland to Nelson, Marlborough and Wellington have been honoured in the first ever Seafood Sustainability Awards. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has congratulated the winners of the inaugural Seafood Sustainability Awards held at Parliament. “The awards night honours six winners, from a wide ...
The Government is providing an investment totalling more than $100 million for regions to protect against and mitigate the effects of climate change, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones have announced. Six regions will receive funding from the $3 billion allocated to infrastructure projects from the ...
Three major local projects at Te Kuiti and Otorohanga have been given the money to get moving after the impact of Covid 19, says the Minister of Māori Development Hon Nanaia Mahuta. The projects range from a Sports Centre for Te Kuiti, a redevelopment of the Otorohanga Kiwi House and ...
The Coalition Government has extended three New Zealand Defence Force deployments to the Middle East and Africa by two years, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Ron Mark announced today. “These deployments promote peace in the Middle East and Africa by protecting civilians and countering the spread of ...
The release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment shows that the progress this Government has made to solve the climate crisis is essential to creating cleaner and safer communities across New Zealand. “Because of this report, we can see clearer than ever that the action our Government is taking ...
The second round of the Community Resilience Fund is now open for applications for sport and recreation organisations experiencing financial hardship between 1 July and 30 September 2020. “The fund opens today for five weeks – closing on September 6. The amount awarded will be decided on a case-by-case basis ...
Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today declared Rakitū Island, off the coast of Aotea/Great Barrier Island, predator free. “I’m delighted to announce that with rats now gone, Rakitū is officially predator free. This is a major milestone because Rakitū is the last DOC administered island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine ...
The Provincial Growth Fund is investing $8.75 million to restore significant historic sites at Ōhaeawai in the Far North, upgrade marae and fund fencing and riparian planting. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones made the announcements following a service at the historic St Michael’s Anglican Church at Ōhaeawai today. Just ...
The Chatham Islands will receive close to $40 million for projects that will improve its infrastructure, add to its attraction as a visitor destination, and create jobs through a planned aquaculture venture, Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has announced. “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the islands, first ...
The Government is delivering more initiatives to reduce energy hardship and to give small electricity consumers a voice, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods said today. “In addition to the initiatives we have already delivered to support New Zealand families, we are responding to the Electricity Price Review with further ...
Government, iwi, NGOs and rehabilitation groups are working together to turn around the fortunes of the nationally endangered hoiho/yellow-eyed penguin following a series of terrible breeding seasons. The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage helped launch the Five Year Action Plan at the annual Yellow-Eyed Penguin symposium in Dunedin today. “I ...
The membership of the Tourism Futures Taskforce has now been confirmed, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced at an event at Whakarewarewa in Rotorua today. “The main purpose of the independent Tourism Futures Taskforce is to lead the thinking on the future of tourism in New Zealand,” Kelvin Davis said. Joining ...
More than $300 million in funding has been approved to protect strategic tourism businesses, drive domestic tourism through regional events and lift digital capability in the tourism industry, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. A $400 million Tourism Recovery Package was announced at Budget 2020, and with today’s announcements is ...
From 2021 permits will be required for New Zealanders wanting to export hard-to-recycle plastic waste. The Associate Minister for the Environment, Eugenie Sage, today announced the requirements as part of New Zealand’s commitments to the Basel Convention, an international agreement of more than 180 countries which was amended in May ...
The building and construction sector is still showing strong growth, with the number of new dwellings consented up more than 8 per cent compared to last year, reflecting a welcome confidence in the Government’s COVID-19 response package, Minister for Building and Construction Jenny Salesa says. “While it is still too ...
Government investment of $23 million for Bay of Plenty flood protection will allow local communities to address long-standing flood risks and provide jobs, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced in Rotorua today. These projects are being funded by the Infrastructure Reference Group’s (IRG) shovel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will unveil on Thursday a cyber security package to give greater protection to critical Australian infrastructure and bolster the powers of the Australian Federal Police to pursue criminal networks on the dark web. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra A rumour that Victoria’s high profile chief health officer Brett Sutton was quitting caused a flurry in state government circles on Wednesday afternoon. Sutton has been one of the medical hardliners during the pandemic, at ...
Parliament has just passed a new law that will leave renters with a sense of relief. But many landlords aren’t too pleased. What’s all this then?The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill passed under urgency this evening. It amends existing law around renting to increase rights for tenants. According to associate housing minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Noble, Education Policy Fellow, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University From tomorrow (Thursday, August 6) only children of permitted workers will be able to attend childcare in Melbourne, which is under stage 4 restrictions. Parents and providers have been waiting to understand what ...
Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas denounce new poll results that very slightly contradict their opinions.The height of the summit for the National Party? A poll came out last week with Labour at 53%, and that was considered good news for Judith Collins and the Strong ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Melatos, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Sydney Virgin Australia’s plan to sack about 3,000 of its 9,000 staff, axe its budget brand Tigerair, streamline its fleet to only Boeing 737s and suspend long-haul international flying indefinitely should come as no ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Benjamin Reilly, Professor, University of Western Australia In international affairs, words are bullets, according to an old diplomatic saying. If so, Australia in recent years has begun firing new ammunition. In his address to the Aspen Security Forum today, Prime Minister Scott ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aisling Rayne, PhD candidate, University of Canterbury Whakapapa [genealogy] binds tākata whenua [people of the land] to the mountains, rivers, coasts and other landscapes, linking the health of the people with that of the environment. Like humans, species have whakapapa that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gabriel da Silva, Senior Lecturer in Chemical Engineering, University of Melbourne The Lebanese capital Beirut was rocked on Tuesday evening local time by an explosion that has killed at least 78 people and injured thousands more. The country’s prime minister Hassan Diab ...
The MacDiarmid Institute DiscoveryCamp gives Māori and Pasefika high school students a taste of life as a scientist. Teuila Fuatai finds the experience often leads to much more. Eden Skipper loves eeling. “It is a family tradition,” he says proudly. The 22-year-old of Ngāi Tahu descent grew up on the east ...
Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs, has announced Allot Limited as the new service provider for the Digital Child Exploitation Filter (DCEF) from 1 August 2020. The filter operates as a service provided to most New Zealand Internet ...
In the wake of National’s leadership woes, The Spinoff sat down with the party’s most popular face in recent history to talk Covid-19, Judith Collins – and why he thinks our border should be more ‘flexible’.John Key is confident about our country’s future.In part, that’s because he tunes in each ...
The new National Policy Statement and National Environmental Standard for Freshwater, gazetted by the Government today, is a significant step forward in reducing pollution in our rural and urban waterways caused by intensive farming and through regional ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David McCooey, Professor of Writing and Literature, Deakin University In our series Art for Trying Times, authors nominate a work they turn to for solace or perspective during this pandemic. One day in 1984, a friend and I went to have lunch ...
Data released by Stats NZ today shows the impact of Covid-19 on New Zealand jobs during the June quarter was disproportionately felt by women. Mary Jo Vergara from KiwiEconomics breaks down what it all means.Women have historically fared well in times of war and crisis. During the Second World War, ...
The Sir Julius Vogel Awards last Thursday were meant to be a celebration of some of our best genre writers. It didn’t turn out that way, as Casey Lucas, one of the winners, explains. This is the story of how the nominees and recipients of the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Craig Jeffrey, Director and CEO of the Australia India Institute; Professor of Development Geography, University of Melbourne In recent days, the Indian government approved a new education policy — the first for 34 years. The policy comes after an expert group produced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julian Elliott, Executive Director, National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, and Associate Professor, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University With cases of COVID-19 on the rise, many Australians are asking: what happens if I test positive? With no known cure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Professor Marcia Langton, Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies, University of Melbourne This is an edited transcript of the 2020 Thea Astley Address delivered by Marcia Langton at the Byron Writers Festival. It’s a longer read at 4,500 words. You can listen ...
As Auckland business leaders and the city’s economic development agency hold a day-long summit to thrash out a Covid-19 economic recovery plan, Finance Minister Grant Robertson is singing from a different song- book. He reckons NZ’s economy is doing well and “ … as we look ahead, there are ...
The National Party says it would create a new Auckland Transport-like authority and green-light a second Terrace tunnel National Party leader Judith Collins has announced National would give greater government funding for the Wellington region's existing transport plan and for a new agency to end the region's transport bickering. Collins made ...
Latest from the Beehive – The public debt is among the victims of the Covid-19 epidemic. According to the 2020 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update, in the current year and the next two fiscal years, operating deficits (operating balance before gains and losses) average around $28 billion while net core ...
The latest round of economic data won’t carry Judith Collins and the National Party into the promised land, and she’ll need to come up with something else to save her chances, writes political commentator Ben Thomas.The government has delivered an economic miracle! How else to describe today’s labour market statistics ...
Source: Council on Hemispheric Affairs – Analysis-Reportage John PerryFrom Masaya, Nicaragua An extraordinary leaked document gives a glimpse of the breadth and complexity of the US government’s plan to interfere in Nicaragua’s internal affairs up to and after its presidential election in 2021. The plan,[1] a 14-page extract from a ...
The Cook Islands language video.Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The Cook Islands episode in AUT’s Pacific language video series – “Adapting to a changing world, shaping resilient futures” – is out now. The video is narrated in Cook Islands Māori (with English subtitles) to acknowledge the language being celebrated in ...
Community Law Centres welcome the additional Government funding announced to help address increased demand for free legal services due to COVID-19. Minister of Justice Andrew Little today announced an additional $3.47m over three years for Community ...
New Zealand’s unemployment rate has just fallen, defying experts and flying in the face of everything we expected. But according to Stats NZ, the devil is in the detail.What’s all this then?In a bizarre turn of events, New Zealand’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has actually fallen from 4.2% to 4% ...
The outgoing immigration minister, Iain Lees-Galloway, has told MPs income criteria imposed on residents who want their parents to join them are "far too high". ...
Auckland Action Against Poverty is calling on the Government to increase abatement thresholds and lift benefits to liveable levels to support people affected by the growth of unemployment due to COVID-19. “Unemployment numbers do not tell us whether ...
A national survey of public drinking fountains around Aotearoa, recently undertaken by RefillNZ , has shown that, on average, there is only one drinking fountain for every 3,303 people and as few as one fountain for every 17,000 people in the worst-affected ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Ortmann, Professor, UNSW Sweden has become something of a cautionary tale for what happens when you attempt to tackle coronavirus without lockdowns. In The Conversation last week The Grattan Institute’s Stephen Duckett and Will Mackey said its freer approach caused almost ...
In the June 2020 quarter, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 4.0 percent, down from 4.2 percent last quarter, while underutilisation rose, Stats NZ said today. ...
A conference on Auckland and the Covid-19 crisis hears calls for flexibility from the Government, including a loan to fund big projects and allowing foreign students into university quarantine Former Prime Minister John Key is urging the Government to throw out the rulebook and give Auckland Council a big, interest-free ...
Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk The safe reopening of entry points into six Pacific Islands countries amid the covid-19 pandemic is being discussed at a meeting in Fiji this week. The virtual roundtable is being convened by the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank with representatives from Solomon Islands, Kiribati, ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union is welcoming confirmation from the National Party that income tax bracket indexation remains party policy. However, suggestions that the National Party has no plans to cut income taxes will come as a major disappointment ...
The Executive Director of the New Zealand Maori Council, Matthew Tukaki, has said unemployment in New Zealand will rise significantly over the next quarter and the figures out today are just the tip of a very fast-moving iceberg. Tukaki has said ...
Aggrieved members of the Firearms Community - from all over Canterbury and beyond - will once again take to the streets of Ashburton in good numbers this Saturday, 8th August. They continue to protest against the government’s Firearms Law Firearms ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Hazel, Senior Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide What does a pandemic smell like? If dogs could talk, they might be able to tell us. We’re part of an international research team, led by Dominique Grandjean at ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Smith, Senior Lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney Americans were alarmed last week when their president suggested on Twitter that the November 3 presidential election should be delayed because mail-in ballots would be fraudulent. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Judy Mullan, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of Wollongong According to 2016 Census data, 3.5% of Australians have limited English proficiency. When they’re receiving health care, it’s essential these Australians have access to interpreters. Research has shown professional interpreters facilitate effective ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aliza Werner-Seidler, Senior Research Fellow in Mental Health & Clinical Psychologist, UNSW Access to mental health support has never been more important, as Melburnians are hit with a stage 4 lockdown and much of the rest of Australia braces for a potential ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Osman, Scientist, Energy Efficiency & Renewables, CSIRO Yesterday, Australia’s eastern states felt a vicious cold snap, and these wintry blasts make hunkering down in isolation at home a little easier. But as the temperature rises at home, so does our carbon ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Brent, Professor and Chair in Sustainable Energy Systems, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Prestridge, Senior Lecturer, Griffith University In early July, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced government school students in prep to Year 10 — in Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire —would learn from home for term three. Students in Years 11 and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Georgia Cervin, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Western Australia The new Netflix documentary Athlete A details how Larry Nassar, the US women’s gymnastics team doctor, was brought to justice after sexually abusing hundreds of gymnasts. Since its release, gymnasts around the world ...
Welcome to Election Live for August 5, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other breaking news. For key dates in the election season click here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Get in touch at ...
The Social Services and Community Committee is calling for public submissions on the Oranga Tamariki (Youth Justice Demerit Points) Amendment Bill, which was referred to the committee on 21 July 2020. This Member’s Bill would introduce a youth demerit ...
Ryman Healthcare's plans in Australia's Covid-19 hit state of Victoria prompt a note of caution, plus the Super Fund buys New Zealand's major lab testing company ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: IPCA and police at odds over decision not to charge officer, Canterbury DHB in crisis, and Shane Jones job creation claims disputed.The Independent Police Conduct Authority has issued a call for charges for an officer who used excessive force in ...
Fonterra’s proposed wastewater plant near Cambridge has drawn opposition from locals who say it should take place on industrial-zoned land, not in the middle of farms, lifestyle blocks and retirement homes Residents in a rural area of Cambridge are unhappy about Fonterra’s proposal to put a wastewater treatment plant on ...
Our first world weightlifting gold medallist, Kanah Andrews-Nahu, has struggled coming out of lockdown. But it’s helped her realise that to be great, she must be committed. Not only in sport, but a medical career too. This year’s North and South Island Olympic weightlifting championships were, understandably, like no other. Instead ...
It's time to end to the manipulation of newsfeeds, demand fact-checking and smash our echo chambers, writes Gehan Gunasekara Data privacy has now become a mainstream election issue on par with the likes of health or education. People care deeply how their personal information is managed. This is evidenced by the ...
The market failure imposed by the use of Tiwai Point as an aluminium smelter does not mean that there are no other good options. Nicola Gaston gives explores five of them. So it’s happened. Rio Tinto has announced it is pulling the plug on the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, due to crashing prices ...
An essay by Ruby Solly about whakapapa, resistance, and the markers of history that often go unseen In my dark hair, there is a red fleck. Like Tiger's Eye stone, you see it run when the light hits it. The red fleck of totoweka, the blood in the stone. My ...
Covid-19 has underscored that the Government cannot address issues of magnitude alone. Dawn Freshwater looks at where universities fit into our country's recovery. University researchers have shown remarkable agility in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They have conducted research in new fields, collaborated across traditional disciplinary boundaries and joined forces ...
The first episode of our new podcast series tackles equality and equity and the role of our education system as a solution. Subscribe now to Conversations that Count – Ngā Kōrero Whai Take, for essential insight into the future of Aotearoa. The idea that all New Zealanders should have access to ...
When does advance voting open, when do the results get announced, and when are the TV debates? The essential election calendar.To read our bumper Q&A on the cannabis legalisation referendum see here, on the assisted dying referendum, see here. For all The Spinoff’s Election 2020 coverage go here.This post will ...
Alongside the general election of 2020, New Zealanders will be asked to vote on the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, which legalises restricted access to cannabis. Here’s our bumper question-and-answer special on what it involves.Click here for everything you need to know about the assisted dying referendum. Read more from the ...
Here’s what we have planned for the weeks to come.A month from today, on Saturday September 5, voting begins in the general election of 2020. Election day itself isn’t for another fortnight, on September 19, but if the trends of recent times is a guide, more than half of all ...
Alongside the general election of 2020, New Zealanders will be asked to vote on the End of Life Choice bill, which allows voluntary euthanasia for those suffering terminal illnesses. Here’s our bumper question-and-answer special on what it involves.Click here for everything you need to know about the cannabis referendum. Read ...
After China's succession of food scares, and post-Covid wariness, consumer demands there are changing. New Zealand can take advantage of that, or be left behind Covid-19 has heightened Chinese consumer concerns about food safety, and industry players are warning New Zealand businesses to keep up. Today The Detail looks ...
Our banks are charging retailers hundreds of millions of dollars every year, for electronic payments. While credit card companies cut some fees this week, small Kiwi retailers are still paying too much. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison says the COVID-19 crisis has created new opportunities for “like-minded economies” to work together – but warned against “solely transactional” trade approaches undermining these relationships. In a Wednesday keynote speech to the US ...
A new Twilight book launches today. Its author talked to Catherine Woulfe about gender politics, anxiety, and the challenges of telling the Twilight story from Edward Cullen’s perspective. Midnight Sun is the original Twilight story, except instead of Bella Swan narrating it’s her vampire love, Edward Cullen.It’s a book that ...
Papua New Guinea has one new case of the novel coronavirus covid-19 reported yesterday bringing total cases to 111, reports EMTV News. National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning in a statement late yesterday said the new case was a 27-year-old male of the National Department of Health and was in ...
Open mike 12/12/2019 
After I noticed that my name had been taken yet again in vain by my friendly antagonist Tom Hunter over at No Minister, I went over to see what the fuss was about. Nothing much, but then I discovered a post about the Operation Burnham Inquiry by Psycho Milt. I ...9 hours ago
The COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020 was extended today, until December 1st or the tenth sitting day following the resumption of Parliament after the election. It seems like a necessary extension. While we currently have eradicated the virus in New Zealand, it is still banging at the door, and ...10 hours ago
Judy Kavanagh I’m OK with wearing a CovidCard. But are you? There’s no point me doing it alone.
As many good things come in threes (as the saying goes), we are happy to announce a third partnership between Skeptical Science and other websites. Fakebook.eco in Brazil is joining Klimafakten.de in Germany and Nauka o Klimacie in Poland to leverage translated rebuttal material and to make the information readily available in other ...1 day ago
This interview on RNZ with Ross Tucker, the scientist who headed a review of transgender athletes playing in women’s rugby, discusses the findings of the review and what it means for women in sports. The review that World Rugby undertook had a broad range of independent experts and included a ...1 day ago
Let's Do This Again: What else can Jacinda do in a political environment so bereft of imagination and courage but seek a continuance? If she trades upon the extraordinary personal qualities that she has, miraculously, carried with her into the office of Prime Minister, then I, for one, will offer ...2 days ago
New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to ...2 days ago
As polling day in the American presidential election draws closer, things are looking bad for Donald Trump. The polls show that he is tracking well behind his Democrat rival. Most people assume that the President will be striving might and main to avoid what looks increasingly likely to be a ...3 days ago
Our health professionals do an amazing job. Image credit: Wikipedia – Cardiac surgery. Finally, I have got back to these rankings. A long period in hospital and computer problems meant the June 2020 rankings were abandoned. Now, with a new personal defibrillator implanted in my chest and a new hard ...4 days ago
Former National Minister - Wayne MappYou could tell that the Hit and Run book by investigative journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson was right on the money by the way former National Party Minister of Defence, Wayne Mapp, reacted to its now largely vindicated claims.Even though the recent inquiry into ...4 days ago
We are failing to think though the interdependencies in an economy. We miss economist Bryan Philpott (1921-2000). I miss him personally – we used to have such great discussions – but this column is about how the nation misses his economic experience and wisdom. We tend to ...5 days ago
TUESDAY AUGUST 4Grand Designs UK (Three, 7.30pm). ...7 days ago
Most of the claims made by anti-fluoride propagandists are simply wrong. Image source: Fluoridation and the ‘sciency’ facts of critics Anti-fluoride propagandists continually cite studies from areas of endemic fluorosis in their arguments against ... 1 week ago
. . For the mainstream media, today (22 July) was even a better day than yesterday. More Sex. More Politics. More Sex AND Politics. Yesterday, the msm dealt with Andrew Falloon. The obscure backbench MP had been found to have sent pornographic images to at least four women. The woman’s ...1 week ago
There’s ultimately two key narratives overall that are seeking to take front row in order to reshape the world as a whole going forward from the COVID pandemic. The first is a very desperate attempt to reimpose “a return” to what is perceived as “the old normal”, quite impossible. ...2 weeks ago
The Green Party is celebrating the passing of the Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill, calling it a win for people who rent. ...5 hours ago
We went hard and we went early in our health response to COVID-19, and we did everything we could to cushion the economic impact too. In fact, we can fill every letter of the alphabet with the steps we took to fight COVID-19 and ensure we were in a position ...2 days ago
New Zealand needs to be more aggressive in pursuing economic opportunities and resist the short-term thinking affecting some of its major industry, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says. Mr Peters told Wellington Chamber of Commerce members this morning that the planned closure of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter will have ...2 weeks ago
Landmark legislation passed today puts New Zealand on track to saving thousands of lives and having a smokefree generation sooner rather than later, Associate Health Minister, Jenny Salesa says. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Vaping) Amendment Bill regulates vaping products and heated tobacco devices. “There has long been concern ...2 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison will unveil on Thursday a cyber security package to give greater protection to critical Australian infrastructure and bolster the powers of the Australian Federal Police to pursue criminal networks on the dark web. ...23 mins ago
A bill that increases security and stability for tenants has passed its final reading in Parliament. ...4 hours ago
Parliament has just passed a new law that will leave renters with a sense of relief. But many landlords aren’t too pleased. What’s all this then?The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill passed under urgency this evening. It amends existing law around renting to increase rights for tenants. According to associate housing minister ...5 hours ago
Te Tari Taiwhenua, Department of Internal Affairs, has announced Allot Limited as the new service provider for the Digital Child Exploitation Filter (DCEF) from 1 August 2020. The filter operates as a service provided to most New Zealand Internet ...9 hours ago
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As Auckland business leaders and the city’s economic development agency hold a day-long summit to thrash out a Covid-19 economic recovery plan, Finance Minister Grant Robertson is singing from a different song- book. He reckons NZ’s economy is doing well and “ … as we look ahead, there are ...11 hours ago
The National Party says it would create a new Auckland Transport-like authority and green-light a second Terrace tunnel National Party leader Judith Collins has announced National would give greater government funding for the Wellington region's existing transport plan and for a new agency to end the region's transport bickering. Collins made ...11 hours ago
Latest from the Beehive – The public debt is among the victims of the Covid-19 epidemic. According to the 2020 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update, in the current year and the next two fiscal years, operating deficits (operating balance before gains and losses) average around $28 billion while net core ...11 hours ago
A conference on Auckland and the Covid-19 crisis hears calls for flexibility from the Government, including a loan to fund big projects and allowing foreign students into university quarantine Former Prime Minister John Key is urging the Government to throw out the rulebook and give Auckland Council a big, interest-free ...14 hours ago
Ryman Healthcare's plans in Australia's Covid-19 hit state of Victoria prompt a note of caution, plus the Super Fund buys New Zealand's major lab testing company ...18 hours ago
Fonterra’s proposed wastewater plant near Cambridge has drawn opposition from locals who say it should take place on industrial-zoned land, not in the middle of farms, lifestyle blocks and retirement homes Residents in a rural area of Cambridge are unhappy about Fonterra’s proposal to put a wastewater treatment plant on ...20 hours ago
Our first world weightlifting gold medallist, Kanah Andrews-Nahu, has struggled coming out of lockdown. But it’s helped her realise that to be great, she must be committed. Not only in sport, but a medical career too. This year’s North and South Island Olympic weightlifting championships were, understandably, like no other. Instead ...20 hours ago
It's time to end to the manipulation of newsfeeds, demand fact-checking and smash our echo chambers, writes Gehan Gunasekara Data privacy has now become a mainstream election issue on par with the likes of health or education. People care deeply how their personal information is managed. This is evidenced by the ...20 hours ago
The market failure imposed by the use of Tiwai Point as an aluminium smelter does not mean that there are no other good options. Nicola Gaston gives explores five of them. So it’s happened. Rio Tinto has announced it is pulling the plug on the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, due to crashing prices ...20 hours ago
An essay by Ruby Solly about whakapapa, resistance, and the markers of history that often go unseen In my dark hair, there is a red fleck. Like Tiger's Eye stone, you see it run when the light hits it. The red fleck of totoweka, the blood in the stone. My ...20 hours ago
The Government is claiming that National will have to drastically cut public services to meet its strict debt reduction target. Is that accurate? ...20 hours ago
Covid-19 has underscored that the Government cannot address issues of magnitude alone. Dawn Freshwater looks at where universities fit into our country's recovery. University researchers have shown remarkable agility in their response to the Covid-19 pandemic. They have conducted research in new fields, collaborated across traditional disciplinary boundaries and joined forces ...20 hours ago
After China's succession of food scares, and post-Covid wariness, consumer demands there are changing. New Zealand can take advantage of that, or be left behind Covid-19 has heightened Chinese consumer concerns about food safety, and industry players are warning New Zealand businesses to keep up. Today The Detail looks ...20 hours ago
Our banks are charging retailers hundreds of millions of dollars every year, for electronic payments. While credit card companies cut some fees this week, small Kiwi retailers are still paying too much. ...20 hours ago
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Environment Southland releases draft climate change action plan
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/southland-top-stories/118108332/environment-southland-releases-draft-climate-change-action-plan
"Cr Robert Guyton thanked her for not glueing herself to the door, a tactic used by Extinction Rebellion members in other protests.
Council's draft plan was formulated after it committed to applying best practice and best science to its responsibilities and "accords urgency" to developing a climate change action plan in July.
That was in response to councillor Robert Guyton asking the council to declare a climate change emergency, which councillors voted against, eight votes to four.
The draft plan, which Guyton praised on Wednesday, worked towards ensuring that council programmes and projects take account of climate change adaptation considerations or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible."
I guess this is a start for Environment Southland after the July 2019 thumbs down on declaring a climate emergency.
The draft plan…worked towards ensuring that council programmes and projects take account of climate change adaptation considerations or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions wherever possible."
https://sciblogs.co.nz/climate-explained/2019/12/11/seven-reasons-to-be-wary-of-waste-to-energy-proposals/
I guess also that this link to SciBlogs will be the popular reading with Environment Southland councillors to learn about the climate change scientific findings and what methods are acknowledged as being good and practical to deal with the issues of today thinking of tomorrow also.
Political parties at present when they get into government, are so risk averse that they delegate all their coalface work to agencies to which they set impossible targets, and rthen efuse to exert control over saying 'It's an operational matter." This means that agencies can treat the people in unsatisfactory ways that are unexpected in a democracy with educated people, and government can stand aloof saying they are following best practice, or some other useful, amorphous phrase. This results in government not having a stain on its hands over the unsatisfactory mess that builds – it's not us they say – it's the individuals working for the agency. If faults occur, managers get fired or shifted sideways, but it's a systemic fault not just an individual one; not an exception to the rule.
People and their needs are being sidelined constantly as the government falls down this systemic fault line. An example is how the police take control, exert their authority over decision-making in the name of safety and preventing deaths. They are risk averse in their own interests. Yet they will act in a way that leads people to die by chasing drivers who refuse a demand to stop, and say they do this to protect others from possible injury or death. Yet their behaviour causes deaths of car stealers and drivers over the speed limit, and other uninvolved people in cars, and also pedestrians.
Now we see them police and their Minister, Stuart Nash, refuse to allow others to recover bodies from this volcanic island, because there is a definite risk of it erupting again explosively and without definite warning signs that would indicate a likely time. There can be no attempt by anyone, because the police have superimposed their own risk averse culture on those members of the public prepared to sacrifice certainty for the sake of others. We cannot allow this to continue. People power is needed in civil situations, and we do step forward and can carry out risky successful operations, and are not just dependent on official provision.
It is part of life, there are different levels of risk to everything we do. We learn to mitigate them, and control the risk, for example in using electricity which is a powerful killer used in the USA as an execution device. Yet electricity powers our technologically modern world.
We need to take calculated risks carefully using the knowledge and experience of practical people. We cannot leave those bodies lying putrefying on the island while we wait for the sign of likely explosion which is forecast as probable. The world is looking at us and we can't do another Pike River, where police prevented experienced mining personnel from making reasoned and informed decisions about taking risk to recover bodies.
People who are dead are still important and need to be honoured in burial by their families or connections. The tourists who come here expect to be respected as important people; they will demand respect and resolve to return their people, particularly while they are still recognisable and in one piece! They will not accept the institutional denial of worth which was meted out to our Kiwi miners as at Pike River.
Ministers of Police don't exert influence over Police operations. Full stop. Have far less influence than other Ministers.
Expect a Royal Commission next – everyone can see Pike River over this.
Yes Ad. "Ministers of Police don't exert influence over Police operations. Full stop. Have far less influence than other Ministers. "
That's the problem, how to keep Ministers from becoming little H…s, and how to drive the prancing ponies without reins. And how to have a police ombudsman that doesn't view them like the Laughing Policeman, and find every reason to give them a soft landing.
So you think likely Royal Commission? If improved, I wonder whether Scandinavian police may do better than the model we follow? How to be tough, wary where necessary but working with community on good terms?
We can take Scandinavian Police advice on White Island as soon as they grow a volcano.
Iceland will be taking advice from us.
More a Cave Creek than a Pike River, I suspect.
"People power is needed in civil situations, and we do step forward and can carry out risky successful operations, and are not just dependent on official provision."
Can you give a few examples of risky operations carried out by civilians in NZ where it's not about rescuing people at risk of death?
There are good reasons to have people in charge during an emergency like this and afaik agencies have good working relationships in NZ eg LandSAR works with police and CD. One reason is to protect the public. Another is to protect rescue crews from having to put themselves in danger if there is another set of people hurt. The police will also have workplace regs to be working within.
I don't have a good sense of what is going on in Whakatane, but I don't see what the rush is for recovering bodies. You say risk averse, but I'm curious why that is a problem. Why do you think it is appropriate to risk lives to recover bodies within such a short time frame?
Sacha said this yesterday,
If you have evidence that the experts believe it is safe to go to Whakaari but are being stopped by police, I'd be interested to see that (I might have missed it). Experts being Geonet/GNS, CD, and the rescue crews on the ground.
Police boss adds another reason not to do a rush job: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/hasty-body-recovery-could-compromise-white-island-victim-identification-police-say
it's almost like the people with expertise know things we don't.
sarcasm aside, there's also this thing of what it's actually like to be involved. I think many people lack imagination. I don't, so I can parse from that careful few sentences what might happen to the bodies when removed. Also from listening to the pilot RNZ interviewed who wasn't giving details about injuries. This is fucking grim and traumatic stuff. I know people are upset and triggered, but maybe we need to take a breath and consider what we might be missing. The glaring thing about twitter on the first day was just how many people were jumping to all sorts of conclusions, but in the end it turned out they were just plain wrong.
Sorry I see you had already mentioned that aspect below. Busy day at the office.
Polishing the armchairs..
One of many positives of the internet is that it allowed a plethora of polymaths to fully blossom and share their pearls of wisdom with hoi polloi. A polymath without the internet is the same as a falling tree in the forest without witnesses: it doesn’t make a noise.
So many polymaths..
Q: what’s the name of a polymath without internet access?
A: Joe Blogs
bugger polymaths, try time lord:
Jag/landrover changed their supply chain system 2007-2014. So 35yrs at JLR our tweeter must have finished nursing in the 1980s. And is still familiar with ED equipment that probably didn't exist then, lol
How cool is this!
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/dec/11/boris-johnson-hides-in-fridge-to-avoid-piers-morgan-interview
😂
That's his solution to catastrophic climate change.
"If we just build a lot of really big fridges, and then live in them, then I'll think you'll find it's not much of a catastrophe at all. On the contrary, it's all rather crisp and invigorating."
ice cold
https://twitter.com/supermathskid/status/1204804513879724032
Jeremy Corbyn has 24 hours left as leader of the UK Labour Party. I hope he makes the most of it.
I would imagine that the Blairites will have regained full control of the party by this time next year.
Liz Kendall (who is bascially Josie Pagani's UK clone) will be leader, and will be supporting war, privatisation, austerity, deregulation and Isreal's extermination of the Palestinian people.
I HOPE you are wrong!!! Fingers and toes crossed.
But the only hope is if young voters who have recently registered come out in force – to a degree not seen in recent history.
And you hope that they vote labour. Plenty won’t.
But most will.
Jeremy Corbyn has 24 hours left as leader of the Opposition! 🙂
Which experts on volcanic hazard/risk have been saying it is safe to go anywhere near the vent?
Actual experts i.e. volcanologists (local chopper pilots are not experts in this field).
Edit: meant to be reply to greywarshark, threading has screwed up
yep. Things in the public domain (i.e less information than what the police have):
Wikipedia page on Whakaari says there were 3 more explosions after the first one. The reference is a Stuff article but it's a live update on so I can't find the specific bit
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/118058738/live-white-island-erupts
Same link. Pertinent point there is that it takes time to work through these issues, there are complexities here. It's less then 70 hours since the first explosion. A lot has happened in that time.
There's a map in this link that shows where lava and rocks landed (and how many) after the 2016 explosion, and the path that tourists normally walk when visiting. That might sharpen some people's minds a bit,
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/118073305/whakaariwhite-island-eruption-why-were-tours-still-operating
I do make the point that police and all involved should be working together with people experienced and practical.
afaik this is exactly what is happening. I'm not sure what you are saying. I thought you were saying that the police are acting in their own interests, and that they're wrong to stop people from doing their own rescues.
I am sorry that i wrote such a long piece without making a clear point.
I'd say Weka summarised what you said pretty well. If that's not what you meant to say, then don't.
yeah, I thought I got the gist of the long piece, it was the later comment that didn't make much sense in light of that.
Most earthquake experts wouldn't approve of search and rescue teams getting people out of collapsed buildings either with an immediate danger of aftershocks.
We're not talking here about rescuing people, we're talking about recovering dead bodies. Having some appetite for risk is all very well, but there has to be some benefit that's worth running the risk for, and in this case there's none – zip, zero, nada, nix. The people who didn't make it off Whakaari are dead and will remain dead regardless of whether anyone moves their corpses from one place to another. No improvement in their situation is achievable.
It's for the families. So there is a good benefit, although I don't understand the desire to rush.
Have to say that I personally would be ok with the relevant agencies taking their time in this kind of situation were it my relatives or close friends, but then I seem to have a different relationship to death than some. I might feel differently if they were dead as the result of a crime (not sure).
Police are now saying they may liaise with families about going in earlier, but this would mean less time for recovery and the risk that bodies are damaged and making it harder to ID them.
I do understand the pressure from families to rush when another eruption could bury or vaporise their fallen relatives forever. However, for all of human existence not all deaths have resulted in a recoverable body to aid grieving. Sad, but unavoidable sometimes.
it is sad. I'm of the group of people that considers dying in nature an honourable way to go and I would be more than happy to have my body left behind for those reasons. Not sure if my family would, but I suspect so.
Many people in the outdoors take the view that dying doing something you love is acceptable. This raises the issue of what tourists are doing in nature in the first place, but a conversation for another time I think.
and I certainly understand that the families will all have their own processes. My comments here are about the people commenting (i.e. people not directly affected wanting to rush).
Exactly. I get that the families want their relatives' bodies back so they can have a tangi/funeral, but society has a much higher obligation to avoid adding to the body count than it does to retrieving the dead bodies. It should be a no-brainer that no-one goes in until it's safe to do so, and yet the news media are talking about the urgent need for "rescue" missions to "retrieve loved ones," as though there were live humans on Whakāri desperately awaiting rescue. There seem to be a lot of people in our society who really can't cope with the idea of death.
I can't find the article now, but a tourist operator bought 12 injured back on helicopters and I think the guy said they were refused permission to go back out again immediately to recover more people.
I agree with what you're saying, but it is different when there's an opportunity to save lives.
there were multiple helicopters that went out and rescued all the people that were alive. Some of those were the tourist operators already in the area, and I think two rescue choppers went out as well. I've not heard anything to suggest that anyone was stopped from rescuing live people.
Listening to the RNZ interview with one of the pilots (it's a really good interview to watch), one of those teams checked the area twice and ascertained that there were no people left alive. They made the decision to leave the bodies of the dead people (an entirely reasonable decision imo given what they were dealing with). My reading of that is that the police knew that afternoon that it was very unlikely that anyone was left alive.
Pilots (and I assume locals with boats) have since been refused permission to go back and recover the bodies.
"Most earthquake experts wouldn't approve of search and rescue teams getting people out of collapsed buildings either with an immediate danger of aftershocks."
Maybe, but they may also say it's not their decision.
Not really relevant to my question. Generally accepted taking higher risk when saving lives, but that's not the case here. Helicopter pilot that did 45min search saw no signs of life.
How many people do you want to put at risk to recover bodies? Especially when the volcanic tremor is going crazy and the chance of another (& possibly larger) eruption is even higher than it was the other day.
Go Greta! Person of the year. Most excellent.
Also, there's the nifty new 6 seater electric plane a Canadian airline just flew. Still needs to jump through some hoops but for short distance flights the electric option is orders of magnitude cheaper to run. Over 170 electric plane designs globally that are being worked on as we speak.
Hope people are taking this whole Christmas corporate-money-grab thing in sustainable stride: local business, natural clothing, useful tools, native or fruit trees, predator control, insect housing, tourism experiences… So many things one might think up to gift instead of the usual plastic crap, excessive cheap chocolate and nylon socks. I welcome ideas on this theme.
tis very good news about GT.
Electric planes, what's the GHG cost of the research, and then eventual production (cradle to grave)?
At this stage, it's unlikely that there's any solid cradle-to-grave studies of emissions from electric aviation. Yet.
However, we can get a reasonable idea from cradle-to-grave emissions from electric road vehicles, and for those the conclusions are pretty clear.
First and foremost, the question really is what are the emissions of the electricity sources the manufacturers use, and what are the emissions of the electricity suppliers used to charge.
For electric vehicles, worst case is if the energy source for manufacture and recharging is coal burnt in a standard thermal plant. then a new battery electric vehicle is better than a new fossil vehicle after about 10 years of average use. But fossil road vehicles have appallingly inefficient engines, can't regeneratively brake, and spend time time idling which burns fuel but does nothing useful. An electric aircraft built and recharged using coal-fired electricity is probably significantly worse than a fossil aircraft. Because an aircraft turbine engine is general more efficient than a road vehicle engine (and is near the efficiency of a coal-fired plant), there's no opportunites for energy recovery from braking, and very little idling.
At the other end of the energy supply emissions spectrum, an electric vehicle built and recharged with zero-carbon electricity is better than a dino-juice vehicle after only a few months of use. And since aircraft emissions footprints are much more associated with the fuel they burn than with energy used to manufacture them, I'd expect electric aircraft to be proportionately that much better than dino-juice aircraft.
R&D and disposal/recycling emissions are such a small part of cradle-to-grave emissions they don't really need to be considered.
I suspect you're looking for grounds to argue that we can't continue to fly even in electric planes because of the emissions involved in their manufacture. But if/when we get to zero-ghg electricity supply, that's going to be a really difficult argument to make. Because the emissions that aren't directly related to where the electricity comes from really are tiny. And will go even smaller if the push to go to zero-ghg gets strong enough to do things like push aluminium smelters into using inert anodes rather than carbon anodes.
thanks Andre.
"For electric vehicles, worst case is if the energy source for manufacture and recharging is coal burnt in a standard thermal plant. then a new battery electric vehicle is better than a new fossil vehicle after about 10 years of average use."
My problem with your analysis is that it compares EVs with FFVs (manufacture, or usage) as if those are the only two choices. A third comparison should be with not replacing the FFV and using less transport. So manufacture Eplanes, but use them for essential services not shopping trips to Sydney*.
Your argument is green BAU, which sounds goodish in theory but ignores the elephant in the living room: emissions are still going up at the time we need them to be dropping fast.
If we were doing all the right things your analysis would make more sense. But we are so far in overshoot that we're going to need to reduce consumption everywhere we can to stay within the carbon budget.
You also haven't accounted (I think) for the power GHGs from mining, transport and so on in the cradle to grave processes. When we reach some point of all power generation being post-carbon, then the maths you talk about will make sense but only if we didn't use more than our carbon budget in doing do.
Worse case scenario is the one we're already in, but apparently can't accept because of the lag timeframes I guess. We're in the process of blowing the budget on trying to replace FF with green power. That no-one is doing these analyses tells us a lot.
*also, in the meantime, while developing Eplanes, we are stuck in the cycle that means we need more FFplanes flying to keep the economics right, which means building more runways etc (and all the GHGs associated with that), and then all the extra infrastructure associated with the travel (hotels, roads) and so on. The analysis isn't linear, it's a web. Again, all that blows our carbon budget on stupid fucking shit at time when we're not even sure best case actions will prevent catastrophe.
Somehow, this came to mind. Dunno why …
because your denialism stops you from making a coherent response?
The irony is that if we'd paid more attention to the values of the Amish, or say the Luddites, we wouldn't be facing the potential of catastrophic climate change. But some people really do think that flying at will is worth the risk, in part I think because they fear nasty/brutish/short and lack the imagination to see a future where we dial things back, make way better use of the tech we have, and still live really good lives.
I'm fine with departing the thread when it looks like you're getting ready to deliver your usual sermon that regenag and powerdown is the one and only true path and anyone suggesting alternatives is pushing false idols.
Merry Christmas WtB
I can recommend socks with possum fur. Soft mmmm.
And this next comment –>
How to depress Auckland house prices!
Whakaari was a minor eruption with awful consequences, most NZ hospitals that can treat burns are at max capacity, and over ONE MILLION square centimetres of skin required for grafts.
An Auckland eruption would be of unimaginable proportions.
Fortunately Auckland's vocanoes give a few days warning. But it would be catastrophic, yes.
I have often wondered which politician or CEO would be brave enough to give the call to evacuate all or part of Auckland, due to a possible volcanic activity warning. Just imagine the chaos on the motorways.
It will be car-nage.
be nice to think they have an actual plan.
This is a perennial issue in New Z isn't it. We always react rather than put in place mitigation strategies and plans to deal.
We know where we live. Yet in the aftermath of Whakaari, everything has been ad hoc from woe to no.
A proper functioning country would have plans to deal in the aftermath of an eruption ( did the tour company??) and be able to effect the plan to recover bodies and the like.
Just like post CHCH. Just like post pike river. And now. NZ has been shown to have the affliction of short termism and "she'll be right" in every aspect.
All the plans for the alpine quake will come to nought unless we have concrete abilities to do what needs to be done in the immediate aftermath. So far, I'm not seeing that.
And i say this knowing full well that it can be situational, but let's be honest. Whakaari wasn't an unknown risk. Why was there seemingly no plan to deal with eruptions when tourists were there and how to cope if fatalities were incurred?
I'm not so sure about that level of criticism at the response to Whakaari. It seems to have been pretty solid to me. The letdown has been from BS media demands for action before the volcano has calmed down, and from some of the companies involved.
The difference between pike river and whakaari is at PK the experts identified a window of safety that they wanted to exploit, and the cops overruled them. GNS doesn't want to touch Whakaari with a barge pole at the moment, which should probably tell a bit to the cops and anyone else considering going there.
The emergency response to chch was actually pretty good. The rebuild… not so good.
I would have thought that there's only one plan to follow in an eruption: GTFO and don't come back until it seems to have calmed down.
I think there were some issues about which authority Whakaari falls into geographically and thus planning isn't as advanced as it might have been? Nevertheless I think things went remarkably well on the day, I haven't seen anything that suggests there were fuck ups.
I'm less confident about the South Island's preparedness for a really big quake. Even less confident about how we would manage in a tsunami (the couple of practice things I've seen looked depressingly bad). I'm not sure this is a criticism of CD (I'm guessing they were underfunded in the Key years) so much as it just takes time to make all the things happen and it doesn't appear to have been a priority. I still expect chopper pilots and such to step up and do their thing.
There's also such a thing as overplanning.
Incident management training is more important than nailing down exactly how many patients go to which hospital – e.g. the DHB folk will be trained to call around for where to escalate specialist-requiring patients at the time, because if you plan down to that level months out, Auckland's unit might be full when you need it for your emergency. And that training will apply to bus crashes and epidemics, as well as eruptions.
I feel way more confident of hospitals' ability to deal with whatever they need to deal with (not least because they've had practice).
I'm thinking more about the general public and knowing what should be happening. Looking at the number of people on Monday (some being outright dicks) about how the police should go to the island to rescue people suggests that too many people don't have a good grasp of what goes on in a situation like that. I'm guessing lots of people will expect to be rescued when the time comes.
Which brings in the general principle that people should have emergency kits.
Not that I do, but I only have a week before the gout meds wear off and I'm immobilised in agony if I don't stroke out after the bp meds go. I'm one of the dead extras in any disaster movie.
eg do you know what to do in Dndn if there's a big quake that could trigger a tsunami? Do you know what to do if you're in a coastal place you don't normally spend time in?
Dunedin has hills and I have a moped, lol
moped sounds ideal 😆
Wouldn't a quake in Dunedin be from the Alpine Fault, in which case that city would be the least of our worries?
dude! "The least"? Ouch lol
We do have some smaller faultlines and very old buildings, too (there's been a flurry of brick churches being sold or demolished, relatively few being strengthened).
I'm saying if that fault goes off, the most harmful impacts will be further north. Dunners may have some collapsed masonry, as a consolation. Really wouldn't want to be anywhere in Welli though..
I think it depends where the quake is. If the AF shifts nearer Wgtn more of an issue there, but it could go further south, in which case the lower West Coast and southern lakes areas will be hit worst (lots of slips, bridges gone, people cut off. Not that many deaths though, unless the lakes seiche). Sudden loss of the national grid generally and I don’t think that will be back on quickly for the SI. Some of the hydro infrastructure will go too.
The Tsunami risk for Dndn is from faults on the east coast?
There's a chunky fault near Taieri that's given a couple of decent shakes over the past few years, too. It's not just the alpine fault.
It was after reading about that some time past that I decided the only safe place to live in NZ is Lumsden.
they seem to.
Damned if I can understand it, though.
interesting, they're not suggesting people evacuate.
It might be too big – like maybe evacuation would only be a small part of CM [if] a little volcano started rumbling there, but north shore would be unaffected. So mention of greater auckland evacuation would most likely kill people by jamming thoroughfares with panicking people, and completely needlessly.
didn't quite follow that. No localised evacuation because the panic would cause wider mobilisation that could kill people?
Someone said earlier that Ak volcanoes give a few days warning so there is technically time to evacuate.
The fact that we don't know says a lot though.
No I meant more no "evacuate greater auckland" plan because if all of Auckland needs evacuation, there probably won't be anywhere to evacuate them to.
Most emergencies, even big ones, will have localised evacuations of greater and lesser radii. If there's a mass evacuation from safer areas, the traffic churn will bugger responses for the people who actually need help or evacuation.
They're not telling people there will be localised evacs though, they're telling them to go inside and close the windows and doors.
And if an evacuation is needed, civil defence will knock on windows and doors in the area requiring evacuation. Just like they do with bushfires.
seems odd not to say that on the website.
These sorts of instructions usually need to be clear and very simple, and the mention of evacuation in leaflets has been demonstrated to cause more harm than good.
Alternatively, the material was designed by committee rather than professionals and they missed that bit.
One of them Bureaucratic Uncertainty Principle things 🙂
But no say for the millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank who can't vote even though almost every aspect of their lives is influenced by Israeli occupation.
Some interesting thoughts in this piece about the new left vs the old left vs centrists and where the Labour and Democrat parties may go in the future if they lose their upcoming big elections with hard-lefties at the top of the ticket.
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/11/britains-big-election-and-ours-david-kogan-on-a-critical-turning-point-in-left-history/
But Corbyn…
/
If the kids were really worried about Saving The Planet and making a hero of Greta they would get their lazy little bums out of mums SUV and walk or bike to school.
I live in one of the flatest, driest towns in NZ and yesterday I had the misfortune to time one of my rare visits to the town by trying to drive past the local girls high school only to be thwarted by what seemed like hundreds of Urban Assault Vehicles.
"The children are concerned about their future ". Bullshit, not in practice they're not.
Ironicly, the country kids who are bussed to and fro mostly seem to complete the journey home from the bus stop on bikes left in farmers properties next to the stop or walk.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Maybe it is a private school. I think all kids in NZ should normally be able to walk or bus to school. I realise times have changed and time seems to be short and parents want to make sure their kids are at school on time and safely but I can't help wishing that private schools were done away with and all kids had to attend their local school unless there were exceptional cicumstances.
Nope. Only girls high school in town. 1200 students, seemed like 900 UAVs. Buses only for country kids more than 8kms or so from town.
I know what you mean re the SUVs and schools. Not sure you should blame the kids though.
I taught at this Girls' College in the early 70's, There was no issue then with Urban Assault SUV's. Then, no student drove to school. Then cycles were used, girls walked to school and the country girls as they do now were bussed in.
As a boy I rode first a tricycle, then a bicycle to school in ChCh. On rainy days mum drove us to school, sometimes, bike in the boot. At University I rode a bike or took the bus.
At Training College I rode a motor-bike.
Something changed. I don't know why……..
no, a big part of the rush hour madness is that pick up school time starting at around 2.30 and finishing an hour later. Depending on where you live it can be utter chaos and madness. Also it seems that there is a bit of a competition going on on who can afford the biggest SUV or Urban Assault Vehicles.
kids could walk or bike, but in many areas they don't – they get chauffeured about by Momma's Taxi Cab.
Aww, guys! That's the spirit
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/christmas/118137763/rotorua-family-of-eight-gives-up-christmas-presents-for-charity
What ever happened to the anti-imperialist left?
Feels like you’all got punked.