I'm not really a rugby fan (or indeed, sports in general) – but from all accounts that was an outstanding win for the Black Ferns in the Women's Rugby World Cup last night.
Family and friends who had tickets are raving about the game – a nail-biter to the finish – and where both sides played their hearts out.
Correct. NZ would probably have lost to a full strength English side. The same goes for their game against France in the semis. A couple of fortuitous calls saw them progress to the finals. That said, luck is always in play regardless of the sport. And lady luck smiled benevolently on our ladies last night. I think to be competitive in the future we will need a new generation of faster and stronger forwards. Women’s rugby is now hardcore. With that goes higher expectations.
Yes, but … they are two dimensional. A dominant forward pack and a very good backline. But they lack the link play that comes with more mobile loose forwards, thus can be taken in a faster pace game. It was a little hidden because they were the first team to go professional and thus were fit. But now France and New Zealand have their measure (as will a professional Canada). They will not get to 30 games again.
Apparently the physical stats of rugby players is important. That's why they are often quoted in media coverage. That's why the pro rugby sites usually carry stats of players on their roster.
Why should the weight of male players be available and the females ones not?
True – however one does have to be careful with celebrity sportspeople. I was one of a busload of Labour people who went down to Wellington to canvass for Chris Laidlaw in the Wellington Central by-election, He won, but by the time the General election rolled around he had alienated almost everyone on his LEC and the Nats put up a smart, liberal woman who ran a good campaign and won the seat. He does seem to have learned from that and has prevailed on the Regional Council, but I have been cautious of the "celebrity" factor ever since.
Laidlaw fell out with the public over a reorganisation of the Wellington bus services while head of the WRC and quit at the 2019 election. He wasn't the favourite Local Body politician in Wellington after the "bustastrophe" as it was labelled.
… new online survey created as part of Auckland Council’s investigation into future options for people wanting to drive, walk, cycle, transport freight, take the bus or travel by light rail across the Waitematā Harbour. [my italics]
Any big project like that is always a partnership of some sort between central and local govt. Brown's recent desperate chestbeating is too insignificant to shape the ongoing governance of the project. The Minister knows that.
They were promoting this down at Smales Farm markets this morning Michael Wood was in attendance with young son.
How many years have governments/councils been talking about an additional harbour crossing and what have seen apart from untold millions spent on consultants ….. nada.
Mt Cook Salmon's construction crew would have a walking cycling bridge across that harbour in six weeks or less – for less than $500k. Folk who get things done.
What is the point of the survey indeed. Mayor Brown will have no say in it other than probably to oppose it in the RLTP due to the massive knock-on spending the tunnel will require of AC in consequent local road and utilities upgrades.
If Labour get back in they will accelerate light rail and make harbour crossing the second cab off the rank.
If National gets it light rail is dead and harbour crossing gets accelerated.
Both jobs require international conglomerates to construct and likely to fund.
Renegotiating the central/local share of the CRL (50/50) to be more like the Let's Get Wellington Moving programme (60/40) would give the Minister more leverage over other projects like this third harbour crossing.
CRL has not released the updated costs of the project to the council or the share holding ministers,the release was delayed till after the elections,and further delays to increases in the cost of money.
Treasury projections (risk models) have increased the cost to over 6b$,which Labour will not want on its balance sheet prior to the elections,along with problematic issues on the length of the debt bonds and cost.
CRL is the problem at the moment with the information constraints.The Treasury financial models for the project includes cost to date,additional work signaled including financials to date (borrowing costs)
The problematic issue is where the costs will lie,fully on the government books,with dual problems from Housing corp ( debt blowout and value depreciation).When AT gets the hit ,it is ACC that sees the full debt costings on their books,over 11.5b$ now and increasing as bonds roll over without additional spending.
Let's see if Mayor Brown can prize open the books of our biggest alliance. Crown still has 51% but much of the asset falls into Auckland Council so the liability is also going to be theirs. I expect this is the very last time Auckland Council does this kind of partnership.
The Auditor generals report did little to provide confidence in that,despite saying nice things about no things with the significant co governance issues.
3.61
CRL Ltd is currently assessing the Covid-19 pandemic's impact on the CRL project's time frame and costs. CRL Ltd has publicly advised that it has a pending claim for additional costs from the Link Alliance for matters related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The claim covers the period from 20 June 2020 to 31 December 2021.
The CRL Ltd Board is accountable for successfully completing the CRL project. However, it does not have authority over all the work needed to achieve this, such as the wider network improvements that Auckland Transport and KiwiRail are responsible for.
In 2019, the Delivery Partner Steering Committee was set up. The Committee is a forum for senior managers from five agencies to co-ordinate the works that the delivery partners (CRL Ltd, Auckland Transport, and KiwiRail) need to complete for the rail system to operate effectively on opening day.
However, I am not yet satisfied that there is an effective forum for the delivery partners' governing Boards to resolve issues that the Delivery Partners Steering Committee cannot.
In my view, as the CRL project moves into its next phase, there needs to be effective and timely processes that enable the delivery partners' governing Boards to help with resolving problems and take the "best for Auckland" approach that the Sponsors require.
Significance suggests that the model does not work,with too many interacting agencies,with their own agendas (KPI controlled) , poor accounting both from the Alliance and from the agencies
Reply to Observer from their comment in ''Equality For The Black Ferns'':
No, we aren't in a better place. Much of this brave new world has a ''forced'' feel about it; egged on by wokey media. Under the surface hate and mistrust boils. That's my opinion. The upcoming election will prove me either right or wrong.
Talking of war, the Taiwanese people are facing the reality of having to fight for their homeland and democracy. We shit over our democracy; both in the past and present. Taiwan holds their democracy dear. They only have to look across the straight to see how a country devoid of democracy functions. We have no such template making us ruminate and appreciate what we have, and what we potentially may lose.
This seems an unbelievable and utterly 'cutting one's nose off to spite ones face' move. Mind you in the South where sheepdogs decked in blue ribbons sit on mailboxes getting all the votes, the home of Groundswell and the lovely placards, it is not perhaps all that amazing.
Until we see the SDC report I guess we won't know what else, other than pure politics, is behind this rejection. It seems fiendishly short sighted to me.
I don't have enough information to form an opinion. I doubt the turbines were rejected for political reasons. So that would leave, for whatever reason, problems with the placement of these turbines. No big loss in my opinion. Having travelled in the Wairarapa recently and seen the visual pollution wind turbines have created, the Islanders may have dodged a bullet.
Most carbon efficient in the world doesn't mean shit if it's not reducing GHGs fast enough. Just because other countries are worse, doesn't mean NZ is good. Your argument is a form of climate denial.
When it comes to farming, we have the one of the lowest emission rates in the world. The law ofdiminishing returns has come into effect. If calling out the stupidity and blinkered reality this government promotes then I'd rather be a denier than a fool.
BTW – looking forward to people trying to charge their EVs with public charging stations over the Xmas break. Another example of a government jumping into something that feels good without considering the Infrastructural realities needed to support their vision.
All this is so sad because with a little less ideology, and a little more fore thought, Labour could have gone into the upcoming election with a fighting chance to retain power.
BTW, with you on "a little less ideology". Selfishly, all that matters is the next 10 – 15 years; after that, improving soil fertility is all I'll be good for.
The future of farming: how global crises are reshaping agriculture [9 Oct 2022]
Like most who are experimenting with regenerative methods, Fiennes has sometimes experienced negative results due to the changes he made: “it’s a learning process”. The timing of planting and applying inputs and the vagaries of the weather are all crucial.
Nevertheless, an increasing number of farmers are receptive to his message — especially once they can see that his farm makes profits. His second year of production at Holkham led to lower input costs as he allowed inefficient parts of the farm to revert to their natural state and increased biodiversity while productivity increased. “We’re in year three so we’ll have more data,” he says.
Some of his conversations with growers through his speaking engagements around the country and visits by farming groups to Holkham have been difficult. But many are persuaded after he demonstrates what can be achieved with changes in farming methods.
“It’s amazing how enthused they are,” he says. “The next food crisis, if we can have resilience through biodiversity and healthy soils, that will protect us from whatever comes next.”
Comment: "People don't often think beyond today's meal…"
When it comes to farming, we have the one of the lowest emission rates in the world.
I already explained that if the rest of the world isn't dropping GHGs fast, then NZ having 'one of the lowest' is a nonsense. Do you not understand the argument?
The question is – do you understand the argument? Your argument is based on some hypothetical future. My argument is based on the here and now. You do understand that if farming goes under, we go under?
Farming isn't going to go under unless we get runaway climate change and can't grow enough reliable food. Mainstream organisations are talking about this already, we're in the beginning of climate crisis, it's not some vague thing in the future.
Industrial farming causes so many problems, not just climate. I support farmers being financially assisted to transition to sustainable ag. Those that cling to pollution/extraction models I have little sympathy for.
But anyway, I don't argue with climate deniers, because it's just a distraction from what needs to be done. Good to get up to speed with where you are at.
From what I can see the present government has little time for farmers. If farmers weren't the mainstay of our economy, I believe this government would have stomped them into oblivion long ago.
Your second paragraph is what I have a problem with. You can barely disguise your anti-farming meme. If we follow your vein of thought we get the possibility of madness as this post from one, Tony Veitch, testifies to:
Quote:
''Reducing the number of ruminants by at least three quarters.''
Your second paragraph is what I have a problem with. You can barely disguise your anti-farming meme.
Here’s what I said,
Industrial farming causes so many problems, not just climate. I support farmers being financially assisted to transition to sustainable ag. Those that cling to pollution/extraction models I have little sympathy for.
I didn’t diss farming, I dissed industrial farming. Can you not tell the difference? I’ve written about regenerative agriculture as well as the need to support farmers. I also said that I have littel sympathy for the farmers clinging to the pollution/extraction models as we transition. If you think that’s being anti-farming, then I can only assume that you think the pollution/extraction model should be valued and upheld. Which is frankly bizarre.
I didn’t diss farming, I dissed industrial farming.
Yet industrial farming is what feeds 8 billion people. Pre-industrial agriculture absorbed at least 90% of all human labour, fed barely less than a billion people – and famines regularly stalked our history.
We might both agree the regenerative approach has many important and valuable ideas; but in reality the immense productivity of industrial farming cannot be unwound without incurring monstrous risks.
There are any number of good reasons why we would want to evolve our current agricultural systems but selling these ideas and methods to the people who matter – farmers – is careful patient work. And they are by definition careful patient people; which is exactly how we would want them to be.
What can I say? Guilty as charged. Just imagine flying into Steward Island and having the captain say:
''Ladies and Gentleman, below are the two huge turbines that power all of Steward Islands energy needs. The locals call them Rangi and Sally. While they don't really blend in with the landscape, the locals say they have no fear of their Jacuzzis going cold. ''
the most striking thing about that article is that it said this,
However, just 16-months later, in March 2021, it was announced the wind turbine project had been scrapped after agreement could not be reached on a suitable location for the turbines.
But didn't explain what the location issues were. I doubt it's a secret.
The proposal would have meant a two kilometre access road, and then turbine platforms, in a conservation reserve of 800-year-old podocarp forest, Thompson said.
Good stuff. Everyone thought that the Dems would be swept away these mid terms, but they pretty much held on in the face of the most right wing reactionary GOP in decades.
They still have a mathematical chance of holding the House, but we will see how it goes.
So a really interesting question for the United States – by proxy – winning the Ukraine war. When do we start admitting that the United States is not in the least bit declining, and is in fact reinforcing its primacy?
For New Zealanders every time they bought a fridge, a car, a movie ticket, or a computer or radio for 100 years, we've joined the rest of most of the world living through an American era: dominated by US power, wealth, ideas, alliances, entertainment, capital, and more.
But from Noam Chomsky to Chris Hedges, many have been prophesising that this long epoch had been drawing to a close. The old US-led world was giving way to some post-American, post-Western, postliberal anomie marked in no small part by the rise of China. Apparently the US was slowly losing its commanding position in the global distribution of power.
Now check out the side-conversation of Biden and Xi at the G20 tomorrow. Biden will talk Russia, trade, and Taiwan from an entirely different position to 6 months ago. This time Biden brings a very strong hand:
US weapons are defeating Russia and US weapons are in the hands of Taiwan.
US has stopped all computer chips to China, required mass business withdrawals, and it is a further trade dagger straight at Xi that there is no ready answer for.
US and EU sanctions are crippling Russia and we all know how Xi signed up to that eternal friendship.
Sure they both have strong recent political mandates. Only one is in the ascendancy any more.
It's a weird feeling for some I'm sure, but the US is head and shoulders the lead political power on this planet.
It seems odd, that an old man like Biden should be the one to hold back the encroaching night. America has returned to its old role – helping defend against malign aggression. It likes to be popular – and Putin has thoroughly burned the goodwill once extended to him as the inheritor of the post-soviet mess.
The extent of Russian media ops against the West has also been exposed. Some of their more aggressive projects – Trumpism, weaponized migration, and hackmail are facing a higher level of preparedness. Disinformation survives, for the moment, but the proximate demise of Murdoch may even see a resurgence of professional journalism. It would be nice to see.
Likely people on this site are sick of me posting about the Health work force crisis. Everyday our media are reporting on this. I think this not wanting to hear on this site is because in posting this stuff, it is a criticism of Labour.
This is straight from the horses mouth i.e the health workers who sound like they are at breaking point.
I have decided I will keep going. Even if people scroll past.
Its a terrying situation.
A plan to increase the workforce would have been my first job as Min of Health when Labour came into power. They had two years before covid. They knew about it then.
As more staff burn out and student nurses think they don't really want to work in nursing this catastrophe will only get worse.
Importing health care workers? – outcome: downward pressure on wages, and less job oppurtunities for NZ graduates..see below article from 2013, when National was in power and bringing in workers by the plane load:
Or imposing US-style health care. Rationing demand by charging people. They tried that in 1993, it just led to people getting sicker, because they couldnt afford treatment.
Andrew Little is the first health minister in decades that see the value of the public healthcare system.
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I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
I'm not really a rugby fan (or indeed, sports in general) – but from all accounts that was an outstanding win for the Black Ferns in the Women's Rugby World Cup last night.
Family and friends who had tickets are raving about the game – a nail-biter to the finish – and where both sides played their hearts out.
It was a terrific game the woman play at pace and arnt constantly fouling so the games frantic.
That said if England hadn't of had a player red carded early thay would have wiped the floor with our wahine
Correct. NZ would probably have lost to a full strength English side. The same goes for their game against France in the semis. A couple of fortuitous calls saw them progress to the finals. That said, luck is always in play regardless of the sport. And lady luck smiled benevolently on our ladies last night. I think to be competitive in the future we will need a new generation of faster and stronger forwards. Women’s rugby is now hardcore. With that goes higher expectations.
It's impolite to ask a woman her weight but the roses looked a lot bigger.
Yes, but … they are two dimensional. A dominant forward pack and a very good backline. But they lack the link play that comes with more mobile loose forwards, thus can be taken in a faster pace game. It was a little hidden because they were the first team to go professional and thus were fit. But now France and New Zealand have their measure (as will a professional Canada). They will not get to 30 games again.
Apparently the physical stats of rugby players is important. That's why they are often quoted in media coverage. That's why the pro rugby sites usually carry stats of players on their roster.
Why should the weight of male players be available and the females ones not?
Not if all our attempted goal kicks had gone over.
Yes, Patricia. Yes.
Get Ruby Tui on the Labour list next year!
Sanctuary, agreed Tiu is a great motivator. Her final "Let's do this" along with the singalong with the crowd Just wonderful.
True – however one does have to be careful with celebrity sportspeople. I was one of a busload of Labour people who went down to Wellington to canvass for Chris Laidlaw in the Wellington Central by-election, He won, but by the time the General election rolled around he had alienated almost everyone on his LEC and the Nats put up a smart, liberal woman who ran a good campaign and won the seat. He does seem to have learned from that and has prevailed on the Regional Council, but I have been cautious of the "celebrity" factor ever since.
God on Ruby though for the "lets do this" .
Laidlaw fell out with the public over a reorganisation of the Wellington bus services while head of the WRC and quit at the 2019 election. He wasn't the favourite Local Body politician in Wellington after the "bustastrophe" as it was labelled.
Louisa Wall; don't do it.
Get her coaching the backs as soon as possible.
Sample from French tv:
https://twitter.com/ek_rugby/status/1591373380980465665
Handy summary here too: https://thespinoff.co.nz/sports/13-11-2022/ten-incredible-moments-from-that-entirely-perfect-rugby-world-cup-final
I have a feeling that Transport Minister Michael Wood is going to make more waves and not just in the Waitematā Harbour.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/300737617/aucklanders-to-have-their-say-on-harbour-crossing-options-including-a-tunnel
Not a peep about Mr Brown and Auckland Council.
Edit:
A swipe at new Mayor, populist Wayne Brown who has been trashing the government at every opportunity for some sort of irrational revenge?
I can’t really tell but it doesn’t come across as bridge building between local and central government.
Any big project like that is always a partnership of some sort between central and local govt. Brown's recent desperate chestbeating is too insignificant to shape the ongoing governance of the project. The Minister knows that.
So, in a subtle way the Auckland Mayor (and Council) was told/put in his place (snubbed)?
Perhaps. The Mayor only gets one vote anyway as we know.
Who is going to be the one who breaks this to Mayor Brown?
We will tell him 8 minutes before he votesShaneagh.
They were promoting this down at Smales Farm markets this morning Michael Wood was in attendance with young son.
How many years have governments/councils been talking about an additional harbour crossing and what have seen apart from untold millions spent on consultants ….. nada.
Mt Cook Salmon's construction crew would have a walking cycling bridge across that harbour in six weeks or less – for less than $500k. Folk who get things done.
Mr Brown seems quite happy:
"Wayne Brown is pleased the Government is asking Aucklanders for their opinion on the Waitematā Harbour crossing. Following the announcement, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown said he is "encouraged" by the Government's decision to seek feedback from Aucklanders on the future crossing. While a third crossing is decades away, with Brown noting the infrastructure is not his priority due to the "public-transport crisis", he said he's pleased the Government is asking Aucklanders for their opinion. "I'm pleased to see Wellington asking Aucklanders what we want in our city rather than the old practice of Wellington imposing its preferred solutions on us," Brown said. "It's the change Aucklanders told me they wanted in the election campaign, which I emphasised to Minister Wood in our recent meeting. He seems to be responding positively." Brown is urging as many Aucklanders as possible to give constructive feedback. "If Wellington finally has the courtesy to genuinely ask Aucklanders what we think, then as many Aucklanders as possible should have the courtesy to share our thoughts at central government's website, or by attending one of the public meetings," he said. "I will certainly be doing so as a private citizen. As Aucklanders, we must then hold Wellington to account by ensuring it listens to what we say and acts upon it over the decades ahead."
NZTA have designed and modelled the tunnel for over a decade now. It's a well rehearsed and quite detailed concept, waiting to go to market.
The Minister isn't promoting authentic public decisionmaking.
And Auckland Council once the CRL debt bomb truly lands are just financially fucked and don't have any say in the outcome either.
Thanks for that useful feedback.
What is the point of that survey?
When do you think it will go to market? Now seems the wrong time, economically/financially.
Will it need overseas investment and literal buy-in? If yes, where does that come from?
What is the point of the survey indeed. Mayor Brown will have no say in it other than probably to oppose it in the RLTP due to the massive knock-on spending the tunnel will require of AC in consequent local road and utilities upgrades.
If Labour get back in they will accelerate light rail and make harbour crossing the second cab off the rank.
If National gets it light rail is dead and harbour crossing gets accelerated.
Both jobs require international conglomerates to construct and likely to fund.
Renegotiating the central/local share of the CRL (50/50) to be more like the Let's Get Wellington Moving programme (60/40) would give the Minister more leverage over other projects like this third harbour crossing.
The Minister won't let AC near it and that's a very good idea.
I agree/hope this will happen Ad. Sharing, apart from throwing the other's child's toys out of the playpen does not seem to be a word known by Wayne.
I posted in the other Brown thread. He's a bit of a moaner too isn't he..old Wayne-baby. Perhaps the best thing would have been to just say thank you.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2022/11/government-calls-on-aucklanders-to-give-feedback-on-waitemat-harbour-crossing.html
CRL has not released the updated costs of the project to the council or the share holding ministers,the release was delayed till after the elections,and further delays to increases in the cost of money.
Treasury projections (risk models) have increased the cost to over 6b$,which Labour will not want on its balance sheet prior to the elections,along with problematic issues on the length of the debt bonds and cost.
If govt want to avoid CRLL affecting their balance sheet, then I guess it gives Ak Council more leverage instead?
Less financial leverage.
I'm talking political.
They are required to open their books prior to the election.
Remember when Treasury were touting 7.8% unempoyment?
NZ Election 2020: Government's opening of the books reveals some surprises | Newshub
CRL is the problem at the moment with the information constraints.The Treasury financial models for the project includes cost to date,additional work signaled including financials to date (borrowing costs)
The problematic issue is where the costs will lie,fully on the government books,with dual problems from Housing corp ( debt blowout and value depreciation).When AT gets the hit ,it is ACC that sees the full debt costings on their books,over 11.5b$ now and increasing as bonds roll over without additional spending.
Let's see if Mayor Brown can prize open the books of our biggest alliance. Crown still has 51% but much of the asset falls into Auckland Council so the liability is also going to be theirs. I expect this is the very last time Auckland Council does this kind of partnership.
The Auditor generals report did little to provide confidence in that,despite saying nice things about no things with the significant co governance issues.
https://oag.parliament.nz/2022/city-rail-link/overview.htm
Significance suggests that the model does not work,with too many interacting agencies,with their own agendas (KPI controlled) , poor accounting both from the Alliance and from the agencies
Lovely quote cheers.
You are nothing if not a forensic observer.
Bernie Sanders being very gracious and thankful after the mid-terms.
(381) Thank You. – YouTube
Take it in proxy.
Beware rich kids playing masters of the universe.
https://twitter.com/jmcrowell/status/1591474302385524737
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6U_fsRgoxgA
https://fortune.com/2022/11/11/sam-bankman-fried-crypto-empire-ftx-alameda-run-gang-kids-bahamas-who-all-dated-each-other/
Reply to Observer from their comment in ''Equality For The Black Ferns'':
No, we aren't in a better place. Much of this brave new world has a ''forced'' feel about it; egged on by wokey media. Under the surface hate and mistrust boils. That's my opinion. The upcoming election will prove me either right or wrong.
Talking of war, the Taiwanese people are facing the reality of having to fight for their homeland and democracy. We shit over our democracy; both in the past and present. Taiwan holds their democracy dear. They only have to look across the straight to see how a country devoid of democracy functions. We have no such template making us ruminate and appreciate what we have, and what we potentially may lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGOpZeU7GA8
I know there is no such things as a free lunch but two free wind turbines?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/130451387/wind-turbines-rejection-lost-opportunity-for-island
This seems an unbelievable and utterly 'cutting one's nose off to spite ones face' move. Mind you in the South where sheepdogs decked in blue ribbons sit on mailboxes getting all the votes, the home of Groundswell and the lovely placards, it is not perhaps all that amazing.
Until we see the SDC report I guess we won't know what else, other than pure politics, is behind this rejection. It seems fiendishly short sighted to me.
Stick a couple on Rangitoto then get back to them.
I don't have enough information to form an opinion. I doubt the turbines were rejected for political reasons. So that would leave, for whatever reason, problems with the placement of these turbines. No big loss in my opinion. Having travelled in the Wairarapa recently and seen the visual pollution wind turbines have created, the Islanders may have dodged a bullet.
"I don't have enough information to form an opinion."
"No big loss in my opinion."
Love your work!
DFTT
Everybody wants to get into heaven, but no one wants to die.
It's that old conundrum, reality v blind faith.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/renault-is-betting-the-market-for-gasoline-cars-will-continue-to-grow.html
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/india-sees-no-transition-away-coal-foreseeable-future-2022-11-09/
Meanwhile in Aotearoa:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/new-zealand-beef-and-lamb-among-the-most-carbon-efficient-in-world-research/QLNBGJHVWBER7AYFIFLUID5LWA/
Will the government give our cocky’s a break?
Hell, no. CC is their vanity project regardless of the cost to farmers and New Zealand.
Most carbon efficient in the world doesn't mean shit if it's not reducing GHGs fast enough. Just because other countries are worse, doesn't mean NZ is good. Your argument is a form of climate denial.
When it comes to farming, we have the one of the lowest emission rates in the world. The law of diminishing returns has come into effect. If calling out the stupidity and blinkered reality this government promotes then I'd rather be a denier than a fool.
BTW – looking forward to people trying to charge their EVs with public charging stations over the Xmas break. Another example of a government jumping into something that feels good without considering the Infrastructural realities needed to support their vision.
All this is so sad because with a little less ideology, and a little more fore thought, Labour could have gone into the upcoming election with a fighting chance to retain power.
No need to choose
BTW, with you on "a little less ideology". Selfishly, all that matters is the next 10 – 15 years; after that, improving soil fertility is all I'll be good for.
"Secrets of the Soil Sociobiome" with Dr Christine Jones [30 March 2021]
"Variety is the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor." – Cowper [1785]
"Kiss the Ground" – "From Dirt to Soil"
I already explained that if the rest of the world isn't dropping GHGs fast, then NZ having 'one of the lowest' is a nonsense. Do you not understand the argument?
The question is – do you understand the argument? Your argument is based on some hypothetical future. My argument is based on the here and now. You do understand that if farming goes under, we go under?
Farming isn't going to go under unless we get runaway climate change and can't grow enough reliable food. Mainstream organisations are talking about this already, we're in the beginning of climate crisis, it's not some vague thing in the future.
Industrial farming causes so many problems, not just climate. I support farmers being financially assisted to transition to sustainable ag. Those that cling to pollution/extraction models I have little sympathy for.
But anyway, I don't argue with climate deniers, because it's just a distraction from what needs to be done. Good to get up to speed with where you are at.
From what I can see the present government has little time for farmers. If farmers weren't the mainstay of our economy, I believe this government would have stomped them into oblivion long ago.
Your second paragraph is what I have a problem with. You can barely disguise your anti-farming meme. If we follow your vein of thought we get the possibility of madness as this post from one, Tony Veitch, testifies to:
Quote:
''Reducing the number of ruminants by at least three quarters.''
https://thestandard.org.nz/holy-sht-overshoot-dont-dither-do/#comment-1918741
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/sustainable-future/nz-absent-on-cop27-agriculture-day
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/sustainable-future/the-fixation-on-a-pms-cop-out
Here’s what I said,
I didn’t diss farming, I dissed industrial farming. Can you not tell the difference? I’ve written about regenerative agriculture as well as the need to support farmers. I also said that I have littel sympathy for the farmers clinging to the pollution/extraction models as we transition. If you think that’s being anti-farming, then I can only assume that you think the pollution/extraction model should be valued and upheld. Which is frankly bizarre.
Yet industrial farming is what feeds 8 billion people. Pre-industrial agriculture absorbed at least 90% of all human labour, fed barely less than a billion people – and famines regularly stalked our history.
We might both agree the regenerative approach has many important and valuable ideas; but in reality the immense productivity of industrial farming cannot be unwound without incurring monstrous risks.
There are any number of good reasons why we would want to evolve our current agricultural systems but selling these ideas and methods to the people who matter – farmers – is careful patient work. And they are by definition careful patient people; which is exactly how we would want them to be.
Do you understand that if farming doesn't change, we go under?
Visual pollution? Nimby?
What can I say? Guilty as charged. Just imagine flying into Steward Island and having the captain say:
''Ladies and Gentleman, below are the two huge turbines that power all of Steward Islands energy needs. The locals call them Rangi and Sally. While they don't really blend in with the landscape, the locals say they have no fear of their Jacuzzis going cold. ''
the most striking thing about that article is that it said this,
But didn't explain what the location issues were. I doubt it's a secret.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/123607996/land-access-a-problem-for-wind-turbines-on-stewart-island?rm=a&cx_rmv3=true
Two more years.
https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1591616353471168514
Voting Warnock to make Manwithchin irreverant.
They will need to because he is not likely to hold the seat in 2024.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/29/politics/joe-manchin-reelection/index.html
Good stuff. Everyone thought that the Dems would be swept away these mid terms, but they pretty much held on in the face of the most right wing reactionary GOP in decades.
They still have a mathematical chance of holding the House, but we will see how it goes.
GOP leads in 221 Dem in 214, but trends in vote counts could take it as close as 219-216. A narrow GOP win either way.
That's a great Sunday.
Oh, yes!
So a really interesting question for the United States – by proxy – winning the Ukraine war. When do we start admitting that the United States is not in the least bit declining, and is in fact reinforcing its primacy?
For New Zealanders every time they bought a fridge, a car, a movie ticket, or a computer or radio for 100 years, we've joined the rest of most of the world living through an American era: dominated by US power, wealth, ideas, alliances, entertainment, capital, and more.
But from Noam Chomsky to Chris Hedges, many have been prophesising that this long epoch had been drawing to a close. The old US-led world was giving way to some post-American, post-Western, postliberal anomie marked in no small part by the rise of China. Apparently the US was slowly losing its commanding position in the global distribution of power.
Now check out the side-conversation of Biden and Xi at the G20 tomorrow. Biden will talk Russia, trade, and Taiwan from an entirely different position to 6 months ago. This time Biden brings a very strong hand:
US weapons are defeating Russia and US weapons are in the hands of Taiwan.
US has stopped all computer chips to China, required mass business withdrawals, and it is a further trade dagger straight at Xi that there is no ready answer for.
US and EU sanctions are crippling Russia and we all know how Xi signed up to that eternal friendship.
Sure they both have strong recent political mandates. Only one is in the ascendancy any more.
It's a weird feeling for some I'm sure, but the US is head and shoulders the lead political power on this planet.
It seems odd, that an old man like Biden should be the one to hold back the encroaching night. America has returned to its old role – helping defend against malign aggression. It likes to be popular – and Putin has thoroughly burned the goodwill once extended to him as the inheritor of the post-soviet mess.
The extent of Russian media ops against the West has also been exposed. Some of their more aggressive projects – Trumpism, weaponized migration, and hackmail are facing a higher level of preparedness. Disinformation survives, for the moment, but the proximate demise of Murdoch may even see a resurgence of professional journalism. It would be nice to see.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/300736858/exhausted-and-demoralised-healthcare-workers-plead-for-help-amid-burnout-crisis
Likely people on this site are sick of me posting about the Health work force crisis. Everyday our media are reporting on this. I think this not wanting to hear on this site is because in posting this stuff, it is a criticism of Labour.
This is straight from the horses mouth i.e the health workers who sound like they are at breaking point.
You keep going its good.
Anker, it's good to be kept informed.
Like you, I think this issue is ongoing and causing great harm.
Cheers Ad.
I have decided I will keep going. Even if people scroll past.
Its a terrying situation.
A plan to increase the workforce would have been my first job as Min of Health when Labour came into power. They had two years before covid. They knew about it then.
As more staff burn out and student nurses think they don't really want to work in nursing this catastrophe will only get worse.
And what is your solution Anker?
Importing health care workers? – outcome: downward pressure on wages, and less job oppurtunities for NZ graduates..see below article from 2013, when National was in power and bringing in workers by the plane load:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9110729/Graduates-frustrated-at-lack-of-jobs
Or imposing US-style health care. Rationing demand by charging people. They tried that in 1993, it just led to people getting sicker, because they couldnt afford treatment.
Andrew Little is the first health minister in decades that see the value of the public healthcare system.