Stop importing pork or any other food we can produce ourselves – and make it compulsory for country of origin to be CLEARLY visible on all food products.
What does conventional farming actually entail? The regenerative movement sees significant differences between what they do and what those who don't label themselves "regenerative", do. It would pay to ask them for the details.
Can we consume pke without messing up tropical forests elsewhere?
Is continuing the use of sow crates fair to kiwi pigs?
The fertiliser thing is the bastard offspring of failing to set limits for nitrates in streams and ground water. You set nitrate levels at 5ppm if you want to contain cancer deaths and allow freshwater species to flourish.
Then, according to nitrate levels, you set local policies for nitrate use. South Canterbury has a long way to go before nitrate use would be sensible, for instance.
But if a farmer or horticulturist, in an area where the groundwater is in good shape, wants to use a bit of nitrate fertiliser, there is no reason why they shouldn't.
Yes, you'd need a regular testing public authority. But surely the lesson from Havelock North is that water must be regularly monitored. With clear limits in place, and a regular testing regime, councils will encounter much less opposition enforcing district regulations consequent upon water quality.
But perhaps the government is waiting for a few nitrate linked infant deaths to force their hand.
That's nonsense, imo and believing that plays into the hands of those who know how to obfuscate endlessly to slow-down or prevent change that doesn't suit.
it's not that measuring isn't needed, it's that land can in fact be managed without it. The reason why measuring is so important at this time is because so many people just don't know how to manage land regeneratively.
They're not reckons though. Experienced gardeners know things that can't be measured. Measuring is a great tool but if civilisation collapsed tomorrow we'd still be able to grow food regeneratively.
Experienced gardeners know things that can't be measured.
No they don't.
What they know has been measured but they haven't written it down making it difficult, if not impossible, to pass on.
Measuring is a great tool but if civilisation collapsed tomorrow we'd still be able to grow food regeneratively.
It's not going to collapse tomorrow and
no we couldn't as there simply isn't the knowledge base needed to roll it out across the country
Time and time again I've heard stories of people saying how they got advice from someone and, after following there advice, it didn't work. This happens so much, in fact, that researchers looked into it.
The research showed that the people passing on their advice were missing a vital piece of information, something that they were doing that was so ingrained in them that they didn't even realise that they were doing it nor, more importantly, that it was a necessary part of what they were doing.
This is why we measure, to find out what actually works and how so that the information can be reliably passed on.
And I've linked before to the fallibility of human memory.
DTB Times are going to be tough in the future without reacting angrily and jailing the recalcitrants. Perhaps put them in stocks where we can all see them and people can come along and heckle them. The Chinese called it re-education. Somehow the responsibles have to check the irresponsibles, there is just so much fluff floating around obscuring the important issues and the methods of improvement.
"Nonsense" was a bit harsh. It's a ploy used by people who immediately recognise that the requirement to measure before acting can be gamed; challenge the measuring methods, the measuring devices, the measures themselves, muddy the waters with other measurements made by industry, cite the changing standards, the results from overseas measurements, the ideologies and methodologies and you can delay action for ever and ever. Amen.
Indeed, who would argue with Science being a way to the understanding the World? If only we didn’t have to rely on those pesky humans with their fallible brains and fragile little egos.
Maybe you’re too rational to have a useful conversation with about Science? Maybe you don’t recognise sarcasm when the tag isn’t there for your convenience? Science is a human endeavour, by humans, for humans. There’s no ‘special magic’ despite the aura that some claim to see there – we have moved on from Alchemy but not that much. For many scientists, it is just another fucking job.
I do think that our punishment of white-collar crime is far below what it needs to be. A murderer only kills people, white-collar crime destroys civilisation.
While your “destroys civilisation” is a little…Errr… overstating things I do agree white collar fraud is something that should be prosecuted a little harder.
But not all of it. Some amounts to simple theft, others – like Enron, is out and out fraud
Its pretty much a slippery slope (which I hate) but the longer we leave it in place the more damage that it does and it escalates. We fail to prosecute the small corruption (such as cash jobs where taxes are avoided) and so those who commit those small corruptions commit bigger (Its just the same as the other action, right?). And eventually the people committing this fraud is too big to adequately prosecute.
Whether it is nonsense or not really depends upon what level of management you're referring to. You can and I'm sure do manage your forest garden in a way that is not damaging to the environment, without recourse to testing.
Councils and central governments however, need some kinds of objective measures of the degree to which agricultural interests are complying with their responsibilities. This is in no small part because not all operators will act in good faith to contain their nitrate and or silt or organic particulate leaching. Those who act in bad faith and fail to contain pollutants need to be charged, and objective evidence will greatly assist the councils if they contest council findings.
If the levels are centrally set as a health policy as they should have been, at the level advised by the WHO for example, then councils can be required to set policy to try to achieve target levels. In areas with significant nitrification that might include a ban on nitrate fertilisers and or requirements to bioremediate or destock.
For farmers to be contesting the levels, as seems to have been the practice during David Parker's roadshow is an impropriety. The safe and appropriate level for nitrates is a matter of fact, not a ball for opinion or financial interest to kick around.
That at least accounts for their legendary economic acumen – their virtues being so advanced in that field that neither universities nor the Nobel committee can even perceive them.
Is banning sow crates fair to kiwi farmers if imported pork comes from sow crate garnering. ?
This is a really good example of why the rules and regulations governing different economies need to be the same. If they're not the same then the one that doesn't have as strict a rules as the other is going to undercut the other. The difference in pricing results in a misallocation of resources away from the more expensive regulations.
The answer is not to dump the regulations (as National/ACT want) but to dump trading with nations that don't have equivalent regulations and enforcement.
Again, we're faced with the fact that free-trade won't bring about equitable or economic results. There only thing that will is well regulated trade.
What does regenerative farming actually entail?
Hopefully, they'll get round to making an official definition that both makes sense but isn't too restrictive on process. All other legislation has such definitions.
When Parliament returns, these careerists will return to business as usual. Politics is the only business that doesn’t suffer in a recession. It’s a system built for failure: failure to deliver results in the public interest and failure to foster policy innovation. Worse still, doesn’t demand accountability for failure to fix these problems. The current Labour Government is the starkest example of this stagnation.
I've been there, done that, and sympathise. Don't vote, it only encourages them! That's been a popular notion for yonks. The worst thing about democracy is the delusional effect on younger generations, who get suckered en masse.
Then there's the other side of the coin. Being proactive is good. Progress comes via convergence on common ground. Consensus politics can be made to work well, if you apply skill to the process. The power of positive thinking.
Having spent most of my life exploring that side, while recalling the alienation phase of my younger self, I reckon muddle through the middle is better than defeatism.
My answer to "don't vote it only encourages them" is to point out that the people who do vote get the political advantage that they know comes from voting- the power, the policies, the control.
Who benefits from saying 'don't vote, it only encourages them?" What is in it for them? Will I be one of the beneficiaries of allowing others to decide, by voting, who is in charge?
And voting is like renewing your registration on your car, sort of.
It says this is my country, and I support it when I vote, I register my ideas as a citizen to be counted along with my fellows. And I will vote along with fellow citizens who I consider are choosing good ways to direct the country. These are the ones trying to guide behaviour and reasonable controls over the country so that we advance together and solve problems and make future plans, in responsible ways for our and the country's mutual good.
That's why I vote, that's what is in my mind, and if any journalist or campaigner, or any of the entitled or sourly cynical are prepared to deny what advantages they have received from the country, and deny that it is a country and system of any worth, then they are feckless, mindless, untrustworthy, and should be watched with suspicion.
I think she forfeits any right to be paid to comment on politics publicly if she can't bring herself to behave like a responsible adult, and worse, encourages others to behave likewise
Democracy would be fine – if we actually had a democracy rather than an elected dictatorship that can, and usually does, ignore the will of the people.
That is what I have felt time and time again in recent years. Too often the will of the people has been deliberately ignored. I would like to see the Swiss system where there are regular referendum – three or four times a year – usually putting up 3 or 4 questions for the public to vote on. The results are binding and must be implemented within 2 years. I would like to have had the opportunity to vote on such things as 1/ course fees and student loans 2/allowing large numbers of overseas students into our schools and universities ( It was supposed to have improved our education system Haha ) 3/ The escalation of immigration 4/ scrapping of the superannuation fund and more….
Perhaps somebody can explain how binding referendums are supposedly instruments or conduits of and for ‘the will of the people’. Aren’t they just a variation on the theme of ‘the majority wins’? In other words, 51% of the people get what they want and ‘the will of the losers’ is basically ignored?
The lowest bar is 51% and demands for expediency and efficiency result in this low bar becoming the aim to strive for (target or threshold). Compromise is a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘need to have’ when trying to reach the bar. These are the pragmatic considerations of the system as it is and I cannot see how binding referendums make a meaningful difference. That is not ‘the will of the people’ but of a self-selecting group of people. This only gets worse when more people disengage from the process altogether. Opinion pieces by Andrea Vance and Luke Malpass today don’t help one bit.
I’ll paraphrase your Q.: Why should the 51% be ignored in favour of the 49%.
I think I have made it clear enough to understand that this question is the wrong one and a mirror of the Q. that I posed, but neither is framing the issue in a way that leads to a meaningful solution. Referendums per se are not the solution and you have only managed to confirm my view, so far. How is compulsory voting changing the bar of 50%?
Sometimes these discussions remind me of a first-year ethics class.
Firstly, if you want referenda to reflect compromises that make 80% of voters happy, make the threshold for adoption 80%, not 50%.
Secondly, even then you have what tories love to call "the tyranny of the majority". Most of the time they're referring to hardships that most people would love to have (like a high marginal tax rate on millionaires, when the median income is ~$50k), but some issues might arise where they have a point. Compulsory euthenasia, maybe? So obviously there would have to be strict constitutional constraints upon governments and the power of a referendum.
Thirdly, there's the question of whether it's even a good way to run a government. Not because the voters are stupid, but because it's chaotic and slow. Small inputs can have significant pseudo-random effects. What about contradictory referenda? UBI referendum followed by a tax cut referendum? Removal of enforcement powers from one body, with another referendum introducing new regulations that need to be enforced?
Fourth, a lot of policy shouldn't be controlled by demagogues. Elected representatives can tweak and change things as they go, based on available information from experts. Binding referenda need to be followed, regardless of whether the available information changes or whether big bucks were spent on targeted advertising for three weeks.
Thirdly, there's the question of whether it's even a good way to run a government.
It's not about running the administration like that but in running the country. A rather important difference.
Not because the voters are stupid, but because it's chaotic and slow.
Slow I would agree with but not chaotic if the right processes are put in place.
Fourth, a lot of policy shouldn't be controlled by demagogues.
That's pretty much what we have now.
Elected representatives can tweak and change things as they go, based on available information from experts.
They can but they don't. If they did then personal cars would have been dropped years ago.
Binding referenda need to be followed, regardless of whether the available information changes or whether big bucks were spent on targeted advertising for three weeks.
Then make it so that:
If new information that comes to light changes then it can be put back to referenda to be changed
Don't allow lies or misinformation in advertising.
Don't allow big money to advertise one way or another for a referenda.
So obviously there would have to be strict constitutional constraints upon governments and the power of a referendum.
Yes but I happen to think that we need that anyway and that constitution needs to be written by the people.
It is the radically participatory nature of the Icelandic process that makes it interesting to anarchists like us. For anarchists, constitutionalising is not about finding one way to manage all social orders but of finding ways to ensure that people can propose radical change that does not lead to the domination of others. This demands active participation in making the rules by which we would like to be governed.
Constitutionalising does not stop after a certain point, but ought to continue as a fundamental part of social and political activity. The problem with the nation state, potentially with the exception of Iceland, is that it has become ossified. So what might an alternative look like?
Referenda are generally over a single issue. They are less susceptible to the kinds of capture that occurs with other parts of the political system. Looking back over the many tragic instances of misgovernance in NZ, it's surprising, for a supposedly democratic state, how few of them enjoyed popular support or even assent. Referenda exist to stiffen the spines of those pasta-like MPs and parties who typically flop whichever way entrenched financial interests prefer.
Poor people have no reason to vote for labour if the point is that national is worse on beneficiaries.
They are both bad, they are both full of contempt. And hiding the shit sandwich served to the poor, the soon to be poor and unemployed in a wrapping of kindness and gentlenessness still leaves it a shit sandwich.
mate, are you mansplaining the right of a women to vote to a women?
Just asking sweety, cause it was not your kind that just 'gave' us that right out of their good heart,.It was earned by the women who came before me, nothing to do with men and certainly nothing to do with white landowning men who think they have eaten wisdom and knowledge with a soup laddle such as yourself. . Non of that however does away with the reality of todays useless eaters that want to be elected to government cause it sure beats getting a job in private industry, and that includes the pretenders in your favorite party.
no, i can't anymore.
I can find no reason to re-elect the Greens, National, Labour or any of the other useless eaters. Not one.
As for 'the environment', that was fucked generally speaking by white stale males a long time ago.
And i have always identified as a female, Sabine being my given name since i first came here to this blog, no matter how much you want to pretend to be 'woke and / or uninformed'.
I don't like to assume. Re: "the environment" being f*cked by the patriarchal hierarchy, I'm totally with you there. Can I do better? It's my life mission to do just that. I apportion a very small part of my efforts to the political "solution", though I will vote; participation is vital, in my opinion. The rest of my energy goes toward reparation, reconciliation, recognition, re-cognition, re-imagining and doing the mahi required. I met a couple today who introduced themselves as (phonetically) toe-nee and pa-ris; can you confidently assign gender to them, Sabine?
I attended an Advance Party meeting in my village yesterday; their candidate believes they'll get 15%, comfortably; "The polls didn't pick Trump's win," he declared, "and look what happened!" They talked about Trump a lot.
The were from outside of the village They received absolute support, no matter what they said. I've been pressing some of the attendees to respond to the article that describes Billy's "epiphany" during lockdown, where he immersed himself in Qanon -studies and "became acutely aware" of the real situation, asking them if they'd feel comfortable if their child was to reverse their ordinary positions on the world, following a weeks-long-soaking in Facebook and the work of American Hard-Right activists, but so far my suggestions have bounced off the hard walls of Blind Devotion and they're beginning to express pity for me.
Around 30? Much the same turnout that any politician event gets here. A high percentage were/looked non-European. I asked if they thought Billy's rapid adoption through Facebook was of any concern to them, but they said no, as that's how they too "woke up".
Do you think the attendees will actually turn up to vote, and / or give financial support to the guy.
I know a couple of people who are well down that rabbit hole, amongst others, and the chances of them fronting up to a polling booth and giving their name and address to get a voting paper, and then filling it out in a valid manner would be pretty close to zero.
I can't decide if it's a serious political vehicle or a con job designed to fleece the vulnerable.
I don't think anyone there was able to donate much at all. Your point about the fearfulness for being in a place and being noted for being there (polling booth, intending to vote "Billy") is interesting and the "x" factor that will, come the election, expose them all as chumps.; I wonder, though, if it's something else. I wonder if it's simply a pathological "happening" that's attracting a few moths.
Serious, Graeme, as in seriously naive & delusional. I know three, all old friends, two are university grads, all successful professionals now retired.
I seriously pissed off the two males back at the start last summer (before Billy & JLR jumped on) when I pointed out via emails exactly where they were going wrong in their thinking. 😎
I also pulled rank by reminding them I'd been checking out conspiracy theories way longer than either of them. I could've used academic elitism (hard science qualifications always outranked soft science etc) but better to have mercy. Still, testing friendships that have endured 47 & 37 years is unusual.
The cost of bringing busloads/carloads of people from elsewhere will be listed under "unofficial expenses" that will never be seen.
In the second to last photo in the link provided by Dennis Frank @ 2, there is a woman with a placard hanging down the front with the words in upper-casing:
UN MASKED. UN MUZZLED, UN VACCINATED, UN AFRAID.
Someone should have marched behind her holding up a big sign : UN HINGED.
It's a UN conspiracy. One hoarding in my town, New Conservative I think, says "NZ not UN".
Here's an interesting article giving 5 reasons why people buy into conspiracy theories. I have to admit that I had to look up Qanon. The article might help explain what is happening.
Probably the best way to 'cure' these dumb asses is to undermine them with humour.
If all the wits – famous or otherwise – and cartoonists in the world were to make a mass effort to laugh them out of the limelight, then they lose their power and influence and hopefully fade into obscurity.
Especially those of us who wore brown shoes and safari suits.
I wonder what Bob says now about metros with their immaculate short hair and huge beards, men who wear sports coats with ripped jeans, and the cult of shaven heads?
Oh he won't like metros. I remember a few years ago hearing Bob Jones say he absolutely hated people who wore their sunglasses on top of their heads, and he would never employ anyone who did so. Seemed a rather extreme reaction but there you go. At the same time he said he hated having to comply with building regulations for accessibility ramps etc because most people in wheelchairs were 'faking it'.
It seems the cops have become very lenient since we, who were arrested during peace protests against the American war against Vietnam. Why were the leaders of that anti Covid protest not arrested for breaking the law and inciting people to also break that law.
For one thing, there is an election on in NZ and the leaders would likely claim the police were interfering with their political/electioneering rights.This would likely motivate many others to join their cause and to also protest in large groups in the streets.
For another thing, the police did not arrest members of the Mt Roskill church group for alledgedly gathering together in groups larger than the official allowable number. If so, that would likely mean that any law enforcement action against the anti Covid crowd would be dismissed by the courts on the grounds of inconsistent application of the law.
But, on yet another hand, if the government is going to have 'rules' on these matters, it looks impotent and weak if they are not enforced.
Anyone see the Fran on Q+A? She issued a fervent leftist critique at the end that was as acute as it was forthright. Never seen her do that before. Maybe she's between contracts?? 🤔
Could you give me the link to that Q+A. I limit what I take in so that I don't fall out of my tree from being 'stoned' on the drug of political farce but I try to keep up. So if you can please?
I watched it on my flat-screen tv, which gets it via roof aerial carefully pointed at the transmission tower they built on the side of Mt Taranaki to provide line-of-sight to New Plymouth.
I presume TVNZ can give it to you via their on-demand system, which I have never used and expect never will (due to going cold turkey on my prior habit of watching tv for entertainment in 1973). Most of the show was about the euthanasia referendum, which I avoided, but the final segment they discussed Labour's tax policy. The Fran, the Jack, & the Indian economist…
So I would have to stream it or something. I gave tv up when they switched to digital, couldn't be bothered having verbal lashings of Harvey Norman and my repeat programs dumped in favour of sport. Is Q&A on TV1?
Not having it leaves room in my day for reading, listening, and not knowing anything at all about a wide mass of people who appear very vacuous anyway. It does provide a venue for NZ creatives though, and so it helps industry.
Yeah, TV1 @ 9am. I don't normally bother, but the election campaign is likely to induce them to provide something substantial so I check out the intro to see what topics they will cover. Agree that one must be highly selective…
Thanks. I realise why I don't watch. I'm asked to sign up and get an account and then login. I thought it was going to be like public tv and you just watched it when you wanted not having this carry-on. It's not TV on Demand – you have to ask permission.
The idea that she might be enlightened is too strange for me to consider, so no. I agreed with her. I've noticed that happens when she is sensible. However, on this occasion, it was an opinion produced by a value judgment.
I thought that a Forbes report would be factual and well backed and find it was from a 'factoid' bunch. NZ listed as the 2nd best country for coping with Covid-19 isn't a solid fact.
The complicated calculations that spawned the Covid rankings had actually been compiled by an outfit called The Deep Knowledge Group – not exactly a household name. The Group’s website declares that “Deep Knowledge is Transcendent Power.” It says the survey has “140 parameters” and “35,000 data points.” The 36-page methodology document is bewildering.
But none of the news stories published here addressed evident inconsistencies in the findings. The report claimed to have assessed 250 countries. By most measures there are not that many nations in the world.
I see some similarity with Surgisphere, the shady company that provided dubious data to reputable scientific journals on clinical trials with the miracle cure hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19.
One thing I have noticed in NZ (and I won't mention any names) is an unholy alliance between marketers and data analysis. They purchase access to diverse (anonymised) datasets, cherry-pick results they don't actually understand (let alone understand the ethical implications of mashing together correlations between different data sources), and shill them around various sectors that might have an interest.
They're not specialists answering a specific research question with full knowledge of the context, they're data sinks that try to find observations to sell to clients. I am unimpressed.
I agree. Don’t forget the role that some academics play in this. On the one hand, it is great to see input form scientists who do studies and surveys, for example, but the findings are open to debate, or should be. The drip-feeding is not always a good thing and those who control the narrative know how to package something as scientific (read: unbiased and non-partisan) when they ‘sell it’ to the public, literally, in some cases. Making data sets full public is not really a solution because the public lacks the skills and tools to digest the data and extract meaningful information from it. The pseudo-science of the Plan B group is a textbook example of how data and interpretations can mislead if not worse.
I think this person has a case. If the people can work where needed and have a good record, and get housing etc. they are here, free of infection, no expensive border and isolation to do. Let them stay if poss. – be practical and kind. Immigration needs to stop playing with people's lives like some malign god.
IIRC there are about 16000 of them. -and they don't have to do horticultural work they can be doing other stuff.
These work schemes and the student work visa's put our own young people coming onto the job market under huge pressure. Birth cohorts coming on to the labour market are about 50,000 to 60,000.
Student visas were about 70000 plus around 28000 on these tried to stay on the next year. Then there are these work travel visas as well.
So the young person trying to find work here or to finance study is competing with around 2-3 imported work visas for that job.
And for every month those 16000 work – if some one else stays on a benefit – its costing us $16 mil.
Plus these are industries that need a reset for labour and working conditions. Frankly we are better using the actual RSE scheme if needed.
Yup, there's a shed load of money to be made defrauding malcontented fools prepared to swallow all manner of preposterous claptrap.
(Bloomberg) — A popular website for posts about the conspiracy group QAnon abruptly shut down after a fact-checking group identified the developer as a New Jersey man.
Qmap.pub is among the largest websites promoting the QAnon conspiracy, with over 10 million visitors in July, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb Ltd., and served as the primary archive of QAnon’s posts. The website aggregates posts by Q, the anonymous figure behind the QAnon theory, and the creator of the Qmap.pub website is known online only as “QAppAnon.”
The fact-checking site Logically.ai identified Jason Gelinas of New Jersey on Sept. 10 as the “developer and mouthpiece” for the site. New Jersey state records connect QAppAnon to Gelinas’s home address, Bloomberg found.
Reached outside his home, Gelinas declined to comment on the Logically report, saying only that someone had sent it to him on Twitter after it was published.
[…]
A LinkedIn profile for Gelinas says he works as an information security analyst at Citigroup. Citigroup declined to comment.
[…]
QAppAnon, the online name of qmap’s creator, also runs a Patreon account, which receives more than $3,000 a month in donations, according to the Patreon site. In March, QAppAnon announced on Patreon an upcoming Android app named “Armor of God,” a social network for followers of QAnon.
In his new book, The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life, University of Otago professor Richie Poulton and his co-authors set out to determine to what extent our origins shape our later lives. Poulton, who is the leader of the internationally recognised Dunedin Study, joins the show to discuss how childhood experiences impact on our lives…
Second – perhaps we need to smile at ourselves to limit our depressing thoughts.
Moving your facial muscles in a way that mimics a smile can trick your brain into a more positive state, according to a new study by researchers from the University of South Australia. Lead researcher Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos says that even though the smiles are forced, the brain can't tell the difference. He joins the show from Adelaide.
Just evidence of the intellect of Americans you reckon? There is criticism of the yokels and absolutely thick there who do dumbs things and can't see through Trump.
These are their bright young things. America deserves to be doomed.
Now Roger Stone is going on Infowars and openly calling for Emperor PalPutin to declare martial law and calling for open sedition and rebellion from supporters if their attempts to steal the election don't work.
Both men talked of an ongoing “coup” against Trump, and Stone inexplicably claimed that he predicted “almost three decades ago that this moment would come.”
Its easy to predict if it was your game plan all along.
Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean blasted Stone for calling on Trump to “declare himself America’s dictator” — voicing what “many Republicans crave.”
And many Republicans wanting a right-wing dictatorship wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
In the meantime John Campbell reports on two much larger Vitamin D correlation studies. They both conclude that it is an independent variable that has a substantial impact on the clinical progression of COVID.
To paraphrase Campbell, the failure by the medical authorities to properly follow this up is now fast reaching the point of negligence. At the very least Vitamin D supplementation should be standard for all elderly in care and rest homes.
"These trees on Canal Rd, on this small section, are some of the most diverse range of native trees that you will find in Auckland city. I would have to actually say that it is the most diverse range of native trees in the city," Wedding said.
"And since tree protection went away in 2012, basically one in every three trees has been removed and at this site, there are some really precious, rare trees, which for arborists, we've just got to a point where enough is enough and we have to make a stand and we have to put a stop to this."
General tree protection was scrapped in changes to the Resource Management Act in 2012, something which Wedding said had resulted in the loss of one of three trees in Auckland.
This specific property has a range of trees, including black maire, manoao, pōhutukawa, tōtara and pūriri and a kawaka which another arborist has been occupying for the past 20 days.
Laggard NZ, paralysed Auckland, I think it is time to buy up this property. People's property can be taken for nationally important things, these trees are that.
One of the magic moments of my trip through Africa was one morning in a campground getting breakfast sorted, and a serval walks out of the hedge and up to me looking for cuddles just like a super-friendly domestic cat. Except his shoulders and hips were knee-high on me. Then his sister wandered out, just the same. They stuck around for nearly ten minutes being super-friendly and playful, they weren't even mooching for food.
Turns out the rangers had rescued them from a bush fire as tiny kittens and their mum never came back for them, so the rangers raised them They were trying to get them to back to the wild, but they liked the campground life. The regulars there were over them, tho. There was a good fishing lake there, but often someone would be pulling in a fish and one of the servals would jump in the water to grab it. Then they'd have to take it to the vet to get yet another hook out of its mouth.
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
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The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
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The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
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WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300105567/greens-want-to-clean-up-agriculture-with-300m-fund-for-farms–but-theres-a-catch
What does regenerative farming actually entail?
Can we ban pke without messing up trade deals .?
Is banning sow crates fair to kiwi farmers if imported pork comes from sow crate garnering. ?
Stop importing pork or any other food we can produce ourselves – and make it compulsory for country of origin to be CLEARLY visible on all food products.
What does conventional farming actually entail? The regenerative movement sees significant differences between what they do and what those who don't label themselves "regenerative", do. It would pay to ask them for the details.
Can we consume pke without messing up tropical forests elsewhere?
Is continuing the use of sow crates fair to kiwi pigs?
So it's just an eerie airy fluffy wuffy green policy with no actual science or targets to aim for the regenerative claptrap?
Is that how the regenerative farmers describe it?
did you read the policy b?
I made a post, with links and everything
https://thestandard.org.nz/what-is-this-regenerative-agriculture-thing-anyway/
A good place to start looking for an official definition but I still like my short one from a while back:
Farming practices that leave the soil in as good or better condition than before the farming began.
And I'm still of the opinion that the amount of farmland a nation has should only be enough to feed its people and leaving the rest to the wild.
The fertiliser thing is the bastard offspring of failing to set limits for nitrates in streams and ground water. You set nitrate levels at 5ppm if you want to contain cancer deaths and allow freshwater species to flourish.
Then, according to nitrate levels, you set local policies for nitrate use. South Canterbury has a long way to go before nitrate use would be sensible, for instance.
But if a farmer or horticulturist, in an area where the groundwater is in good shape, wants to use a bit of nitrate fertiliser, there is no reason why they shouldn't.
But…but…but…Overseer!
Yes, you'd need a regular testing public authority. But surely the lesson from Havelock North is that water must be regularly monitored. With clear limits in place, and a regular testing regime, councils will encounter much less opposition enforcing district regulations consequent upon water quality.
But perhaps the government is waiting for a few nitrate linked infant deaths to force their hand.
"You can't manage if you don't measure"
That's nonsense, imo and believing that plays into the hands of those who know how to obfuscate endlessly to slow-down or prevent change that doesn't suit.
No, it's not nonsense. Believing that we don't need it is.
Those who are obfuscating when the science is clear need to be jailed and lose everything.
it's not that measuring isn't needed, it's that land can in fact be managed without it. The reason why measuring is so important at this time is because so many people just don't know how to manage land regeneratively.
No it can't because basing actions upon reckons only wrecks things.
They're not reckons though. Experienced gardeners know things that can't be measured. Measuring is a great tool but if civilisation collapsed tomorrow we'd still be able to grow food regeneratively.
No they don't.
What they know has been measured but they haven't written it down making it difficult, if not impossible, to pass on.
Time and time again I've heard stories of people saying how they got advice from someone and, after following there advice, it didn't work. This happens so much, in fact, that researchers looked into it.
The research showed that the people passing on their advice were missing a vital piece of information, something that they were doing that was so ingrained in them that they didn't even realise that they were doing it nor, more importantly, that it was a necessary part of what they were doing.
This is why we measure, to find out what actually works and how so that the information can be reliably passed on.
And I've linked before to the fallibility of human memory.
DTB Times are going to be tough in the future without reacting angrily and jailing the recalcitrants. Perhaps put them in stocks where we can all see them and people can come along and heckle them. The Chinese called it re-education. Somehow the responsibles have to check the irresponsibles, there is just so much fluff floating around obscuring the important issues and the methods of improvement.
"Nonsense" was a bit harsh. It's a ploy used by people who immediately recognise that the requirement to measure before acting can be gamed; challenge the measuring methods, the measuring devices, the measures themselves, muddy the waters with other measurements made by industry, cite the changing standards, the results from overseas measurements, the ideologies and methodologies and you can delay action for ever and ever. Amen.
For some which is why I mentioned science.
Except for the fact that they don't if there's been adequate measuring standards put in place first – hence science.
All the arguments against false measures by the climate change deniers were proven to be false and that was done fairly quickly as well.
Indeed, who would argue with Science being a way to the understanding the World? If only we didn’t have to rely on those pesky humans with their fallible brains and fragile little egos.
Got anything better?
Perhaps we should just go on Hoskins reckons?
Maybe you’re too rational to have a useful conversation with about Science? Maybe you don’t recognise sarcasm when the tag isn’t there for your convenience? Science is a human endeavour, by humans, for humans. There’s no ‘special magic’ despite the aura that some claim to see there – we have moved on from Alchemy but not that much. For many scientists, it is just another fucking job.
Science is still the best that we have at finding answers despite the shortcomings of humans.
And the peer-review system is fairly good at catching those as well.
You're really gun-ho for jailing people
Could always shoot them I suppose.
I do think that our punishment of white-collar crime is far below what it needs to be. A murderer only kills people, white-collar crime destroys civilisation.
While your “destroys civilisation” is a little…Errr… overstating things I do agree white collar fraud is something that should be prosecuted a little harder.
But not all of it. Some amounts to simple theft, others – like Enron, is out and out fraud
Nope
Its pretty much a slippery slope (which I hate) but the longer we leave it in place the more damage that it does and it escalates. We fail to prosecute the small corruption (such as cash jobs where taxes are avoided) and so those who commit those small corruptions commit bigger (Its just the same as the other action, right?). And eventually the people committing this fraud is too big to adequately prosecute.
Say, like the banks.
Or farmers.
Whether it is nonsense or not really depends upon what level of management you're referring to. You can and I'm sure do manage your forest garden in a way that is not damaging to the environment, without recourse to testing.
Councils and central governments however, need some kinds of objective measures of the degree to which agricultural interests are complying with their responsibilities. This is in no small part because not all operators will act in good faith to contain their nitrate and or silt or organic particulate leaching. Those who act in bad faith and fail to contain pollutants need to be charged, and objective evidence will greatly assist the councils if they contest council findings.
If the levels are centrally set as a health policy as they should have been, at the level advised by the WHO for example, then councils can be required to set policy to try to achieve target levels. In areas with significant nitrification that might include a ban on nitrate fertilisers and or requirements to bioremediate or destock.
For farmers to be contesting the levels, as seems to have been the practice during David Parker's roadshow is an impropriety. The safe and appropriate level for nitrates is a matter of fact, not a ball for opinion or financial interest to kick around.
"The safe and appropriate level for nitrates is a matter of fact"
Ah, yes indeed, but the John Key's of this world can wheel out several at-variance facts to support the case for BAU.
And if those alternative facts survived peer review we should be delighted to entertain them. Tragically, they have not.
The do their own peer reviews and it's all good!
That at least accounts for their legendary economic acumen – their virtues being so advanced in that field that neither universities nor the Nobel committee can even perceive them.
This is a really good example of why the rules and regulations governing different economies need to be the same. If they're not the same then the one that doesn't have as strict a rules as the other is going to undercut the other. The difference in pricing results in a misallocation of resources away from the more expensive regulations.
The answer is not to dump the regulations (as National/ACT want) but to dump trading with nations that don't have equivalent regulations and enforcement.
Again, we're faced with the fact that free-trade won't bring about equitable or economic results. There only thing that will is well regulated trade.
Hopefully, they'll get round to making an official definition that both makes sense but isn't too restrictive on process. All other legislation has such definitions.
Covid-deniers on their freedom march up Queen St, rage against Big Sister! Drew "a few thousand people": https://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=12364413
Check out the photo of the MAGA poster. MAKE AOTEAROA GREAT AGAIN! Nicely dressed with two iconic images – cool design which ought to get traction.
Who knew?? Govt groggy, struggling to get back off the ropes. "Bugger! That logic sure did come with a wallop." (groan, whimper)
Still, he's teaching Judith how to be an effective opposition leader, eh? Since when has she ever got a few thousand out on a protest march?? Lame as…
Be careful about what you wish for DF or what you goad someone into.
Andrea Vance is with the quarter of the electorate that sees no reason to vote. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/122736201/election-2020-when-these-are-the-options-this-is-why-i-dont-vote
I've been there, done that, and sympathise. Don't vote, it only encourages them! That's been a popular notion for yonks. The worst thing about democracy is the delusional effect on younger generations, who get suckered en masse.
Then there's the other side of the coin. Being proactive is good. Progress comes via convergence on common ground. Consensus politics can be made to work well, if you apply skill to the process. The power of positive thinking.
Having spent most of my life exploring that side, while recalling the alienation phase of my younger self, I reckon muddle through the middle is better than defeatism.
My answer to "don't vote it only encourages them" is to point out that the people who do vote get the political advantage that they know comes from voting- the power, the policies, the control.
Who benefits from saying 'don't vote, it only encourages them?" What is in it for them? Will I be one of the beneficiaries of allowing others to decide, by voting, who is in charge?
And voting is like renewing your registration on your car, sort of.
It says this is my country, and I support it when I vote, I register my ideas as a citizen to be counted along with my fellows. And I will vote along with fellow citizens who I consider are choosing good ways to direct the country. These are the ones trying to guide behaviour and reasonable controls over the country so that we advance together and solve problems and make future plans, in responsible ways for our and the country's mutual good.
That's why I vote, that's what is in my mind, and if any journalist or campaigner, or any of the entitled or sourly cynical are prepared to deny what advantages they have received from the country, and deny that it is a country and system of any worth, then they are feckless, mindless, untrustworthy, and should be watched with suspicion.
I think she forfeits any right to be paid to comment on politics publicly if she can't bring herself to behave like a responsible adult, and worse, encourages others to behave likewise
Democracy would be fine – if we actually had a democracy rather than an elected dictatorship that can, and usually does, ignore the will of the people.
That is what I have felt time and time again in recent years. Too often the will of the people has been deliberately ignored. I would like to see the Swiss system where there are regular referendum – three or four times a year – usually putting up 3 or 4 questions for the public to vote on. The results are binding and must be implemented within 2 years. I would like to have had the opportunity to vote on such things as 1/ course fees and student loans 2/allowing large numbers of overseas students into our schools and universities ( It was supposed to have improved our education system Haha ) 3/ The escalation of immigration 4/ scrapping of the superannuation fund and more….
Perhaps somebody can explain how binding referendums are supposedly instruments or conduits of and for ‘the will of the people’. Aren’t they just a variation on the theme of ‘the majority wins’? In other words, 51% of the people get what they want and ‘the will of the losers’ is basically ignored?
That would be the will of the people wouldn't it?
Or it could be that it's actually a compromise and 80% like it.
Question: Why should the majority be ignored in favour of the minority?
There will never be a time when there is full agreement and waiting for it prevents action.
The lowest bar is 51% and demands for expediency and efficiency result in this low bar becoming the aim to strive for (target or threshold). Compromise is a ‘nice to have’ but a ‘need to have’ when trying to reach the bar. These are the pragmatic considerations of the system as it is and I cannot see how binding referendums make a meaningful difference. That is not ‘the will of the people’ but of a self-selecting group of people. This only gets worse when more people disengage from the process altogether. Opinion pieces by Andrea Vance and Luke Malpass today don’t help one bit.
And thus why we need voting to be compulsory.
And you didn't answer my question.
Question: Why should the majority be ignored in favour of the minority?
I’ll paraphrase your Q.: Why should the 51% be ignored in favour of the 49%.
I think I have made it clear enough to understand that this question is the wrong one and a mirror of the Q. that I posed, but neither is framing the issue in a way that leads to a meaningful solution. Referendums per se are not the solution and you have only managed to confirm my view, so far. How is compulsory voting changing the bar of 50%?
You've made it clear that you think that the minority should rule the majority.
Why not?
It ensures that everybody votes and removes the self-selecting nature of voluntary voting that you mentioned that you didn't like.
It also, IMO, has a chance to increase peoples engagement in politics.
Sometimes these discussions remind me of a first-year ethics class.
Firstly, if you want referenda to reflect compromises that make 80% of voters happy, make the threshold for adoption 80%, not 50%.
Secondly, even then you have what tories love to call "the tyranny of the majority". Most of the time they're referring to hardships that most people would love to have (like a high marginal tax rate on millionaires, when the median income is ~$50k), but some issues might arise where they have a point. Compulsory euthenasia, maybe? So obviously there would have to be strict constitutional constraints upon governments and the power of a referendum.
Thirdly, there's the question of whether it's even a good way to run a government. Not because the voters are stupid, but because it's chaotic and slow. Small inputs can have significant pseudo-random effects. What about contradictory referenda? UBI referendum followed by a tax cut referendum? Removal of enforcement powers from one body, with another referendum introducing new regulations that need to be enforced?
Fourth, a lot of policy shouldn't be controlled by demagogues. Elected representatives can tweak and change things as they go, based on available information from experts. Binding referenda need to be followed, regardless of whether the available information changes or whether big bucks were spent on targeted advertising for three weeks.
It's not about running the administration like that but in running the country. A rather important difference.
Slow I would agree with but not chaotic if the right processes are put in place.
That's pretty much what we have now.
They can but they don't. If they did then personal cars would have been dropped years ago.
Then make it so that:
Yes but I happen to think that we need that anyway and that constitution needs to be written by the people.
Iceland’s crowd-sourced constitution: hope for disillusioned voters everywhere
When a super intelligent commenter thinks that’s what I think then obviously I fucked up badly in making clear what I think 🙁
I won’t dwell on mandatory voting because obviously my alleged dislike of voluntary voting has pre-empted any useful conversation.
For the record, mandatory voting is not engagement – do you have any good examples? Some seriously misguided thinking there, if you ask me.
Australia.
The proportion of voters they have is greater than ours and the political engagement is also greater.
Ta
Looks like engagement as such was not measured directly but implied, requiring further research.
Referenda are generally over a single issue. They are less susceptible to the kinds of capture that occurs with other parts of the political system. Looking back over the many tragic instances of misgovernance in NZ, it's surprising, for a supposedly democratic state, how few of them enjoyed popular support or even assent. Referenda exist to stiffen the spines of those pasta-like MPs and parties who typically flop whichever way entrenched financial interests prefer.
Or the will of draco is probably more appropriate
You can make your point without making it personal, yes?
No, he can't, because he doesn't have a point.
Ah, I see you like the dictatorship.
Vancy doesn't see any reason for Labour voters to vote.
Poor people have no reason to vote for labour if the point is that national is worse on beneficiaries.
They are both bad, they are both full of contempt. And hiding the shit sandwich served to the poor, the soon to be poor and unemployed in a wrapping of kindness and gentlenessness still leaves it a shit sandwich.
Heck, i vote and i don't see any reason why.
Coz passionate people fought for your right to do so?
mate, are you mansplaining the right of a women to vote to a women?
Just asking sweety, cause it was not your kind that just 'gave' us that right out of their good heart,.It was earned by the women who came before me, nothing to do with men and certainly nothing to do with white landowning men who think they have eaten wisdom and knowledge with a soup laddle such as yourself. . Non of that however does away with the reality of todays useless eaters that want to be elected to government cause it sure beats getting a job in private industry, and that includes the pretenders in your favorite party.
You sure strangled a lot out of, "Coz passionate people fought for your right to do so?"
In any case, mine was not a 'splaining, it was a question.
Can you, male, female, what-ever-you-are, offer a "reason why" vou should vote?
no, i can't anymore.
I can find no reason to re-elect the Greens, National, Labour or any of the other useless eaters. Not one.
As for 'the environment', that was fucked generally speaking by white stale males a long time ago.
And i have always identified as a female, Sabine being my given name since i first came here to this blog, no matter how much you want to pretend to be 'woke and / or uninformed'.
Seriously, can't you do better?
.
I don't like to assume. Re: "the environment" being f*cked by the patriarchal hierarchy, I'm totally with you there. Can I do better? It's my life mission to do just that. I apportion a very small part of my efforts to the political "solution", though I will vote; participation is vital, in my opinion. The rest of my energy goes toward reparation, reconciliation, recognition, re-cognition, re-imagining and doing the mahi required. I met a couple today who introduced themselves as (phonetically) toe-nee and pa-ris; can you confidently assign gender to them, Sabine?
I wonder if the funding for that march comes under campaign expenditure.
I attended an Advance Party meeting in my village yesterday; their candidate believes they'll get 15%, comfortably; "The polls didn't pick Trump's win," he declared, "and look what happened!" They talked about Trump a lot.
Dis his carers in the white coats take him back to his haven when events concluded?
The Pandora Party.
Were they a local? What was the response from attendees?
The were from outside of the village They received absolute support, no matter what they said. I've been pressing some of the attendees to respond to the article that describes Billy's "epiphany" during lockdown, where he immersed himself in Qanon -studies and "became acutely aware" of the real situation, asking them if they'd feel comfortable if their child was to reverse their ordinary positions on the world, following a weeks-long-soaking in Facebook and the work of American Hard-Right activists, but so far my suggestions have bounced off the hard walls of Blind Devotion and they're beginning to express pity for me.
Yikes. How many people attended?
Around 30? Much the same turnout that any politician event gets here. A high percentage were/looked non-European. I asked if they thought Billy's rapid adoption through Facebook was of any concern to them, but they said no, as that's how they too "woke up".
well I've certainly woken up a bit more being in this conversation. An alarm went off.
It's a definite worry. I'm hoping that the number of fringe parties will split the anti-any-government vote, but it's all in the air.
I'm also hoping that if dolt45 loses then the Q-crap will start to fizzle for lack of establishment support.
Do you think the attendees will actually turn up to vote, and / or give financial support to the guy.
I know a couple of people who are well down that rabbit hole, amongst others, and the chances of them fronting up to a polling booth and giving their name and address to get a voting paper, and then filling it out in a valid manner would be pretty close to zero.
I can't decide if it's a serious political vehicle or a con job designed to fleece the vulnerable.
I don't think anyone there was able to donate much at all. Your point about the fearfulness for being in a place and being noted for being there (polling booth, intending to vote "Billy") is interesting and the "x" factor that will, come the election, expose them all as chumps.; I wonder, though, if it's something else. I wonder if it's simply a pathological "happening" that's attracting a few moths.
Well someone, or something is paying for btk jnr's suits.
But it's also about the only performance art going on at any scale right now, especially in the stoner market.
Serious, Graeme, as in seriously naive & delusional. I know three, all old friends, two are university grads, all successful professionals now retired.
I seriously pissed off the two males back at the start last summer (before Billy & JLR jumped on) when I pointed out via emails exactly where they were going wrong in their thinking. 😎
I also pulled rank by reminding them I'd been checking out conspiracy theories way longer than either of them. I could've used academic elitism (hard science qualifications always outranked soft science etc) but better to have mercy. Still, testing friendships that have endured 47 & 37 years is unusual.
Did you ask the candidate where in the head the horse kicked him?
No need. It was apparent. Same place as it got those listening to him. (Unkind, I know. Jut joshing’) there were no hoof-prints to be seen.
The cost of bringing busloads/carloads of people from elsewhere will be listed under "unofficial expenses" that will never be seen.
In the second to last photo in the link provided by Dennis Frank @ 2, there is a woman with a placard hanging down the front with the words in upper-casing:
UN MASKED. UN MUZZLED, UN VACCINATED, UN AFRAID.
Someone should have marched behind her holding up a big sign : UN HINGED.
It's a UN conspiracy. One hoarding in my town, New Conservative I think, says "NZ not UN".
Here's an interesting article giving 5 reasons why people buy into conspiracy theories. I have to admit that I had to look up Qanon. The article might help explain what is happening.
https://www.cracked.com/article_28514_5-ways-dumb-conspiracies-suck-in-normal-people
Probably the best way to 'cure' these dumb asses is to undermine them with humour.
If all the wits – famous or otherwise – and cartoonists in the world were to make a mass effort to laugh them out of the limelight, then they lose their power and influence and hopefully fade into obscurity.
That would just confirm them in their beliefs, as being mocked for their truth; refer point number three in the article.
Anne, you realise of course that us lefties don't have a sense of humour. That's what Bob Jones reckoned, anyway.
haven't we humoured Bob for years ?
Especially those of us who wore brown shoes and safari suits.
I wonder what Bob says now about metros with their immaculate short hair and huge beards, men who wear sports coats with ripped jeans, and the cult of shaven heads?
Don't tell me you wore brown shoes and a safari suit. 😮
Wonder what he thought of the hot pants era. I had two – lime green and red with matching thigh length knickerbockers edged with black lace. 😎
Oh he won't like metros. I remember a few years ago hearing Bob Jones say he absolutely hated people who wore their sunglasses on top of their heads, and he would never employ anyone who did so. Seemed a rather extreme reaction but there you go. At the same time he said he hated having to comply with building regulations for accessibility ramps etc because most people in wheelchairs were 'faking it'.
Brown shoes, yes. Never a safari suit. Walk shorts and long socks, yes. And corduroy trousers and shirts, jacket and shoes, with suede tie…….
Those skinny ties. I used to knit ties for my first boyfriend. Not sure he ever wore them.
I've remembered now, the 'knickerbockers' went under our incredibly skimpy skirts and they were actually called witches-britches.
Those were the days. 😉
Yeah, but we'd have a lot of fun in the process.
Anne et al
why would it?
It seems the cops have become very lenient since we, who were arrested during peace protests against the American war against Vietnam. Why were the leaders of that anti Covid protest not arrested for breaking the law and inciting people to also break that law.
BydOnz
It would open up a can of worms.
For one thing, there is an election on in NZ and the leaders would likely claim the police were interfering with their political/electioneering rights.This would likely motivate many others to join their cause and to also protest in large groups in the streets.
For another thing, the police did not arrest members of the Mt Roskill church group for alledgedly gathering together in groups larger than the official allowable number. If so, that would likely mean that any law enforcement action against the anti Covid crowd would be dismissed by the courts on the grounds of inconsistent application of the law.
But, on yet another hand, if the government is going to have 'rules' on these matters, it looks impotent and weak if they are not enforced.
Pointless debate on Q n A about euthanasia. It's not like it will be compulsary.
Anyone see the Fran on Q+A? She issued a fervent leftist critique at the end that was as acute as it was forthright. Never seen her do that before. Maybe she's between contracts?? 🤔
Could you give me the link to that Q+A. I limit what I take in so that I don't fall out of my tree from being 'stoned' on the drug of political farce but I try to keep up. So if you can please?
I watched it on my flat-screen tv, which gets it via roof aerial carefully pointed at the transmission tower they built on the side of Mt Taranaki to provide line-of-sight to New Plymouth.
I presume TVNZ can give it to you via their on-demand system, which I have never used and expect never will (due to going cold turkey on my prior habit of watching tv for entertainment in 1973). Most of the show was about the euthanasia referendum, which I avoided, but the final segment they discussed Labour's tax policy. The Fran, the Jack, & the Indian economist…
So I would have to stream it or something. I gave tv up when they switched to digital, couldn't be bothered having verbal lashings of Harvey Norman and my repeat programs dumped in favour of sport. Is Q&A on TV1?
Not having it leaves room in my day for reading, listening, and not knowing anything at all about a wide mass of people who appear very vacuous anyway. It does provide a venue for NZ creatives though, and so it helps industry.
Yeah, TV1 @ 9am. I don't normally bother, but the election campaign is likely to induce them to provide something substantial so I check out the intro to see what topics they will cover. Agree that one must be highly selective…
In case you have not found it yet 🙂
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/episodes/s2020-e30
Thanks. I realise why I don't watch. I'm asked to sign up and get an account and then login. I thought it was going to be like public tv and you just watched it when you wanted not having this carry-on. It's not TV on Demand – you have to ask permission.
Click on this link and no questions asked 🙂
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/clips/q-a-panel-lack-of-courage-from-main-political-parties
Are you using 'leftist' there to mean 'something Enlightened I disagree with'?
The idea that she might be enlightened is too strange for me to consider, so no. I agreed with her. I've noticed that happens when she is sensible. However, on this occasion, it was an opinion produced by a value judgment.
I thought that a Forbes report would be factual and well backed and find it was from a 'factoid' bunch. NZ listed as the 2nd best country for coping with Covid-19 isn't a solid fact.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2018763421/a-closer-look-at-a-good-news-survey
…But – as the Herald and Newshub had pointed out – it was not Forbes that did the survey. ..
The complicated calculations that spawned the Covid rankings had actually been compiled by an outfit called The Deep Knowledge Group – not exactly a household name.
The Group’s website declares that “Deep Knowledge is Transcendent Power.” It says the survey has “140 parameters” and “35,000 data points.” The 36-page methodology document is bewildering.
But none of the news stories published here addressed evident inconsistencies in the findings.
The report claimed to have assessed 250 countries. By most measures there are not that many nations in the world.
Just to refresh our info: https://www.worldometers.info/geography/how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world/ Not included in this total count of 195 countries are: Taiwan – the United Nations considers it represented by the People's Republic of China; The Cook Islands and …
I see some similarity with Surgisphere, the shady company that provided dubious data to reputable scientific journals on clinical trials with the miracle cure hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19.
Yeah I note if there is money in it, someone will find a way. Can you monetise being a mod? You mods ought to be rich by now.
Being a Moderator has been enriching in so many ways and the pay is just a bonus 😉
One thing I have noticed in NZ (and I won't mention any names) is an unholy alliance between marketers and data analysis. They purchase access to diverse (anonymised) datasets, cherry-pick results they don't actually understand (let alone understand the ethical implications of mashing together correlations between different data sources), and shill them around various sectors that might have an interest.
They're not specialists answering a specific research question with full knowledge of the context, they're data sinks that try to find observations to sell to clients. I am unimpressed.
I agree. Don’t forget the role that some academics play in this. On the one hand, it is great to see input form scientists who do studies and surveys, for example, but the findings are open to debate, or should be. The drip-feeding is not always a good thing and those who control the narrative know how to package something as scientific (read: unbiased and non-partisan) when they ‘sell it’ to the public, literally, in some cases. Making data sets full public is not really a solution because the public lacks the skills and tools to digest the data and extract meaningful information from it. The pseudo-science of the Plan B group is a textbook example of how data and interpretations can mislead if not worse.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/425918/german-backpacker-upset-petition-has-fallen-on-deaf-ears
I think this person has a case. If the people can work where needed and have a good record, and get housing etc. they are here, free of infection, no expensive border and isolation to do. Let them stay if poss. – be practical and kind. Immigration needs to stop playing with people's lives like some malign god.
IIRC there are about 16000 of them. -and they don't have to do horticultural work they can be doing other stuff.
These work schemes and the student work visa's put our own young people coming onto the job market under huge pressure. Birth cohorts coming on to the labour market are about 50,000 to 60,000.
Student visas were about 70000 plus around 28000 on these tried to stay on the next year. Then there are these work travel visas as well.
So the young person trying to find work here or to finance study is competing with around 2-3 imported work visas for that job.
And for every month those 16000 work – if some one else stays on a benefit – its costing us $16 mil.
Plus these are industries that need a reset for labour and working conditions. Frankly we are better using the actual RSE scheme if needed.
Yup, there's a shed load of money to be made defrauding malcontented fools prepared to swallow all manner of preposterous claptrap.
(Bloomberg) — A popular website for posts about the conspiracy group QAnon abruptly shut down after a fact-checking group identified the developer as a New Jersey man.
Qmap.pub is among the largest websites promoting the QAnon conspiracy, with over 10 million visitors in July, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb Ltd., and served as the primary archive of QAnon’s posts. The website aggregates posts by Q, the anonymous figure behind the QAnon theory, and the creator of the Qmap.pub website is known online only as “QAppAnon.”
The fact-checking site Logically.ai identified Jason Gelinas of New Jersey on Sept. 10 as the “developer and mouthpiece” for the site. New Jersey state records connect QAppAnon to Gelinas’s home address, Bloomberg found.
Reached outside his home, Gelinas declined to comment on the Logically report, saying only that someone had sent it to him on Twitter after it was published.
[…]
A LinkedIn profile for Gelinas says he works as an information security analyst at Citigroup. Citigroup declined to comment.
[…]
QAppAnon, the online name of qmap’s creator, also runs a Patreon account, which receives more than $3,000 a month in donations, according to the Patreon site. In March, QAppAnon announced on Patreon an upcoming Android app named “Armor of God,” a social network for followers of QAnon.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/qanon-website-shuts-down-n-185548744.html
Interesting stuff about us humans this morning on Radionz.
First about childhood to adulthood and our great long study of human growth.
11:05 New book examines how childhood shapes later life
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018763801/new-book-examines-how-childhood-shapes-later-life
In his new book, The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life, University of Otago professor Richie Poulton and his co-authors set out to determine to what extent our origins shape our later lives. Poulton, who is the leader of the internationally recognised Dunedin Study, joins the show to discuss how childhood experiences impact on our lives…
Second – perhaps we need to smile at ourselves to limit our depressing thoughts.
11:40 How forcing a smile can help improve your mood
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018763802/how-forcing-a-smile-can-help-improve-your-mood
Moving your facial muscles in a way that mimics a smile can trick your brain into a more positive state, according to a new study by researchers from the University of South Australia. Lead researcher Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos says that even though the smiles are forced, the brain can't tell the difference. He joins the show from Adelaide.
RIP Toots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmNJvSyWyQM
I loved what they did with this usually downbeat Radiohead song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfYg1ZJfEWY
It’s on!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300106152/election-2020-governorgeneral-signs-writ-triggering-next-step-on-road-to-election
They're past just being in trouble.
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1304760445975302144
https://twitter.com/Amy_Siskind/status/1304940692683329537
Old guy in the first video paraphrased:
Doesn't seem to be concerned with the tens/hundreds/thousands of others that he could take with him because of his stupidity.
Covidity is endemic.
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1304913243324977152
https://twitter.com/reeseg_3/status/1304884155889717249
ffs
https://twitter.com/peterbakernyt/status/1304907317968855047
https://twitter.com/FirenzeMike/status/1304918815311106048
Just evidence of the intellect of Americans you reckon? There is criticism of the yokels and absolutely thick there who do dumbs things and can't see through Trump.
These are their bright young things. America deserves to be doomed.
Just selfish to the core, born selfish, raised selfish, worship at the altar of self. Can't comprehend any criticism of it.
Now Roger Stone is going on Infowars and openly calling for Emperor PalPutin to declare martial law and calling for open sedition and rebellion from supporters if their attempts to steal the election don't work.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roger-stone-martial-law-donald-trump-election_n_5f5d3e28c5b62874bc1dd6d2
Its easy to predict if it was your game plan all along.
And many Republicans wanting a right-wing dictatorship wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.
In the meantime John Campbell reports on two much larger Vitamin D correlation studies. They both conclude that it is an independent variable that has a substantial impact on the clinical progression of COVID.
To paraphrase Campbell, the failure by the medical authorities to properly follow this up is now fast reaching the point of negligence. At the very least Vitamin D supplementation should be standard for all elderly in care and rest homes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNji13yoW9g
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/2018762927/saving-100-year-old-native-trees-in-canal-road-avondale
"These trees on Canal Rd, on this small section, are some of the most diverse range of native trees that you will find in Auckland city. I would have to actually say that it is the most diverse range of native trees in the city," Wedding said.
"And since tree protection went away in 2012, basically one in every three trees has been removed and at this site, there are some really precious, rare trees, which for arborists, we've just got to a point where enough is enough and we have to make a stand and we have to put a stop to this."
General tree protection was scrapped in changes to the Resource Management Act in 2012, something which Wedding said had resulted in the loss of one of three trees in Auckland.
This specific property has a range of trees, including black maire, manoao, pōhutukawa, tōtara and pūriri and a kawaka which another arborist has been occupying for the past 20 days.
Laggard NZ, paralysed Auckland, I think it is time to buy up this property. People's property can be taken for nationally important things, these trees are that.
Getting crazier by the minute!
"The long-running debate over the presence of big cats in the South Island has been reignited after two new sightings."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122751025/new-south-island-big-cat-sightings-the-latest-in-a-50year-mystery
Send in Mr Green.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-13/kangaroo-island-species-under-threat-by-cats-after-bushfires/12651772
Well, maybe the wild domestic cats are already evolving to hunt goat.
Spartacus is home.
edit: a cat weighing the same as the long lean heading/ huntaway girl I got from the pound? nope!
https://twitter.com/BostonDotCom/status/1304823866066456577
One of the magic moments of my trip through Africa was one morning in a campground getting breakfast sorted, and a serval walks out of the hedge and up to me looking for cuddles just like a super-friendly domestic cat. Except his shoulders and hips were knee-high on me. Then his sister wandered out, just the same. They stuck around for nearly ten minutes being super-friendly and playful, they weren't even mooching for food.
Turns out the rangers had rescued them from a bush fire as tiny kittens and their mum never came back for them, so the rangers raised them They were trying to get them to back to the wild, but they liked the campground life. The regulars there were over them, tho. There was a good fishing lake there, but often someone would be pulling in a fish and one of the servals would jump in the water to grab it. Then they'd have to take it to the vet to get yet another hook out of its mouth.
this is just a very pretty and cute specimen of murder paws
UFO's – Unidentified Feline Ocelot
https://youtu.be/WpYeekQkAdc