"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.
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.
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.
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.
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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New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Comment: Almost half the world is voting in national elections this year and artificial intelligence is the elephant in the room. There are genuine fears AI-generated or AI-edited deepfakes will potentially manipulate election outcomes not just in the US and UK, but critically in countries such as India. For that ...
Ahead of the reality franchise’s return to New Zealand, allow us to introduce the eight brides and grooms. Chuck on a veil and tie back your man bun, because it’s time to say “I do” to a new season of Married at First Sight NZ. The reality TV “social experiment” ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National University Every year on June 1, student debt in Australia is indexed to inflation. In 2023, high inflation pushed the indexation rate to 7.1%, the highest since 1990. This ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Changes in the May 14 budget will cut the student debt of more than three million people, wiping more than $3 billion from what people owe. The government will cap the HELP indexation rate ...
Asia Pacific Report The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has appealed for an end to what it calls intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the “administration of justice” by the world’s permanent war crimes court. The Hague-based office of ICC Prosecutor ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk A women’s union in New Caledonia has staged a sit-in protest this week to support senior Kanak indigenous journalist Thérèse Waia, who works for public broadcaster Nouvelle-Calédonie la Première, after a smear attack by critics. The peaceful demonstration was held on ...
New Zealand Food Safety is monitoring overseas recalls of Indian packaged spice products manufactured by MDH and Everest due to concerns over a cancer-causing pesticide. ...
By Stephen Wright and Stefan Armbruster of BenarNews Fiji’s ranking in a global press freedom index has jumped into the top tier of countries with free or mostly free media after its government last year repealed a draconian law that threatened journalists with prison for doing their jobs. Fiji’s improvement ...
We might be in Invercargill but all anyone can talk about is Gore. Specifically, Salford Street. That’s where three-year-old Lachlan Jones lived, south of the centre of town, between the A&P Showgrounds and the Mataura River. Roughly 1.2 km away from the single level home he lived in with his ...
Keen hiker and second-year MSc student Liam Hewson wears two hats when he’s in the great outdoors. “The scientist in me appreciates nature and goes, ‘Oh, there’s that thing and there’s another thing,’ but then the tramper and the outdoorsy person in me thinks, ‘Cool bush.’” Born and bred in ...
MONDAY I lined up the latest round of civil servants from city hall against the wall, and signalled for the firing squad to drop their rifles. I stepped up onto a wooden crate to look at the office workers in the eye. But that didn’t feel right, so I found ...
After a long and illustrious career as a goal kicker, Dan Carter’s favourite way to unwind is… kicking goals. Why can’t he get enough of it? And what it’s like to watch him do it for an hour straight? A semicircle of people wielding cameras and phones has formed in ...
Dame Susan Devoy takes us through her life in television, including late night ER debriefs, her proudest CTI moment and the show she watches in secret. Quite aside from her four world champion squash titles, Dame Susan Devoy will likely go down in history as one of the best Celebrity ...
Hera Lindsay Bird reveals the best places in Ōtepoti to score more for your apocalypse-prep book hoard.Sometimes I get the feeling I’ve been killed in a car crash, and this second half of my life is just the brain unspooling itself, like one of those episodes of a hospital ...
ThreeNow’s new murder mystery series takes us on a dark, damp journey into the Australian wilderness.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. High Country is ThreeNow’s new Australian eight-part crime drama, set in a remote part of the Victorian highlands. It tells ...
Introducing a new way to read The Spinoff every weekend. After nearly 10 years of being an online magazine, we’re finally embracing the weekend liftout. Despite our best efforts to convince you otherwise, writers and editors at The Spinoff don’t work weekend. It is through the sheer power of technology ...
Tip one: let yourself be nurtured by this big old man. Tip two: don’t ask him to adopt you. So, you’ve arrived at your first session with a new therapist. He tells you to make yourself comfortable and you opt for the tweed armchair, hoping it makes you look like ...
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Former Olympic swimmer James Magnussen has already started training for the Enhanced games, though says he won’t start taking performance enhancing substances until about nine months out from the competition. The Australian world champion was the first athlete to be announced by Enhanced, but he says the organisation has had ...
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Council members voted 21 to 4 in favour of Ahluwalia returning to the Laucala campus following a much-awaited meeting in Vanuatu this week. It comes as USP and its two unions — the Association of the University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) and the Administration and Support Staff Union ...
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A Pacific regionalism expert has called out New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters for withholding information from the public on AUKUS military pact. ...
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Pacific Media Watch New Zealand has slumped to an unprecedented 19th place in the annual Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index survey released today on World Press Freedom Day — May 3. This was a drop of six places from 13th last year when it slipped out of its ...
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Bob Carr intends to launch legal action against Winston Peters and Julie Anne Genter is facing a second allegation of bullying. Both sucked the air out of an announcement on education, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
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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..
https://twitter.com/Dean_Nimbly/status/1204691565274206208
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..
https://twitter.com/DarthPutinKGB/status/1204671657622851584
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.
https://twitter.com/geonet/status/1204537634858491910
And this next comment –>
https://twitter.com/geonet/status/1204891984931905536
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.
https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1204890313233457153
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…
/
https://twitter.com/mrotzie/status/1204891464909697024
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.