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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“You talking about me?”The neoliberal denigration of the past was nowhere more unrelenting than in its depiction of the public service. The Post Office and the Railways were held up as being both irremediably inefficient and scandalously over-manned. Playwright Roger Hall’s “Glide Time” caricatures were presented as accurate depictions of ...
Roger Partridge writes – When the Coalition Government took office last October, it inherited a country on a precipice. With persistent inflation, decades of insipid productivity growth and crises in healthcare, education, housing and law and order, it is no exaggeration to suggest New Zealand’s first-world status was ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – In 2022, the Curriculum Centre at the Ministry of Education employed 308 staff, according to an Official Information Request. Earlier this week it was announced 202 of those staff were being cut. When you look up “The New Zealand Curriculum” on the Ministry of ...
Chris Bishop’s bill has stirred up a hornets nest of opposition. Photo: Lynn Grieveson for The KākāTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate from the last day included:A crescendo of opposition to the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill is ...
Monday left me brokenTuesday, I was through with hopingWednesday, my empty arms were openThursday, waiting for love, waiting for loveThe end of another week that left many of us asking WTF? What on earth has NZ gotten itself into and how on earth could people have voluntarily signed up for ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.State of humanity, 20242024, it feels, keeps presenting us with ever more challenges, ever more dismay.Do you give up yet? It seems to ask.No? How about this? Or this?How about this?Full story Share ...
Determining the hardest sport in the world is a subjective matter, as the difficulty level can vary depending on individual abilities, physical attributes, and experience. However, based on various factors including physical demands, technical skills, mental fortitude, and overall accomplishment, here is an exploration of some of the most challenging ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
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. ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
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, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In the free-for-all between the Australian government and Big Tech boss Elon Musk this week, the government had to be on a winner. Most people would have little sympathy with Musk’s vociferous opposition to ...
Asia Pacific Report Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to ...
Pacific Media Watch Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders. According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards, Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
ACT's Rural Communities and Veterans spokesman Mark Cameron responds to cancellations and protests of ANZAC Day commemorations in Wellington. He says, "These pitiful attempts to detract from ANZAC Day are not at all indicative of the feelings of mainstream ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Pōneke based peace activists staged a silent protest at the ANZAC day service to highlight New Zealand’s complicity in war and genocide, and urge the government to take concrete steps to stop the genocide in Palestine. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Magdalena M.E. Bunbury, Postdoctoral Researcher, James Cook University Burial with a horse at the Rákóczifalva site, Hungary (8th century AD).Sándor Hegedűs, Hungarian National Museum, CC BY How do we understand past societies? For centuries, our main sources of information have been ...
Amanda Thompson doesn’t really do Anzac Day. But what she does do is remember the people she knew who had a lifetime to remember stuff they didn’t really want to, because of a war they didn’t ask for. And she does make Anzac biscuits.First published in 2021.All my ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathryn Willis, Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Xavier Boulenger/Shutterstock In the two decades to 2019, global plastic production doubled. By 2040, plastic manufacturing and processing could consume as much as 20% of global oil production and use up 15% of the annual carbon ...
With our collective remembrance, and steadfast belief in our common humanity, we strengthen our hope and resolve to do what we can to foster dialogue and understanding, and to heal divisions in our pursuit of peace. ...
Principal reasons for the opposition is the loss of the public’s democratic right to have “a fair say” and the vital need for a government free from corruption, said Casey Cravens of Dunedin, president of the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater ...
Never mind the scoreboard – in the 2000 Bledisloe Cup decider, the real trans-Tasman battle was won before kickoff.First published in 2016. The dawn of the new millennium was a dark time for the All Blacks. Their final game pre-Y2K was a 22-18 loss to South Africa in the ...
I’m on the wrong side of 40, I never pursued creative work and now my job is killing my soul. Help! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzDear Hera,May I start with the least original conversation opener you’re likely to hear around the motu at the moment, particularly in Wellington: ...
“Never again - No AUKUS” was the message of the wreath laid at this morning’s national ANZAC Day commemorative service at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park this morning by the Stop AUKUS group. ...
Until this month, Auckland swimmer Hazel Ouwehand had never met a qualifying time in an Olympic event for a New Zealand team, even as a junior. Now she’s very likely off to the Paris Olympics after swimming well under the qualifying standard in the 100m butterfly twice – both in ...
While Anzac Day has experienced a resurgence in recent years, our other day of remembrance has slowly faded from view.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand. Original illustrations by Hope McConnell.First published in 2022.The high school’s head girl and ...
Australian and New Zealand volunteers fought together in the Waikato War, yet still its place in the Anzac tradition is unacknowledged by our defence forces or Returned Services Association.First published in 2018.When I was a boy cub I attended Anzac Day services in the South Auckland suburb of ...
A poem by Wellington writer Tayi Tibble.Hoki Mai She kisses him goodbye with her eyes still wet and alight from their last swim in the Awatere river. At the train station celebration, she leads the Kapa Haka but her voice keeps breaking under and over itself like waves. ...
A poem from Bill Manhire’s 2017 book of verse Some Things to Place in a Coffin.My World War I Poem Inside each trench, the sound of prayer. Inside each prayer, the sound of digging. Image courtesy of Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...
There are three books I have wolfed down in one sitting over the last two years. Colleen Maria Lenihan’s gorgeous and sad debut Kōhine, Noelle McCarthy’s memoir Grand about becoming her mother and then unbecoming her, and now Hine Toa, a staunch yet gentle self-portrait by living legend Ngāhuia te ...
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Asia Pacific Report Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States. The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James B. Dorey, Lecturer in Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong Australian teddy bear bees are cute and fluffy, but get a look at that massive (unbarbed) stinger! James Dorey Photography Most of us have been stung by a bee and we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Roberts, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong Aussie~mobs/FlickrVictor Farr, a private in the 1st Infantry Battalion, was among the first to land at Anzac Cove just before dawn on April 25 1915. Victor Farr ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Gregory Moore I had the good fortune to care for the sugar gum at The University of Melbourne’s Burnley Gardens in Victoria where I worked for ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Hawkins, Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra BagzhanSadvakassov/Upsplash, CC BY-SA Australia’s inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and it’s now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Ong ViforJ, ARC Future Fellow & Professor of Economics, Curtin University Just when we think the price of rentals could not get any worse, this week’s Rental Affordability Snapshot by Anglicare has revealed low-income Australians are facing a housing crisis like ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Meighen McCrae, Associate Professor of Strategic & Defence Studies, Australian National University American and Australian stretcher bearers working together near the front line during the Battle of Hamel in 1918.Australian War Memorial While the AUKUS alliance is new, the Australian-American partnership ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tracey Holmes, Professorial Fellow in Sport, University of Canberra When the news broke last weekend that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive to a banned drug in early 2021 and were allowed to compete at the Tokyo Olympic Games six months later ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cally Jetta, Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead; College for First Nations, University of Southern Queensland Australian War MemorialAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names and images of deceased people, as well as sensitive historical information ...
RNZ News Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle. Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet. Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University laurello/Shutterstock Some reports and popular books, such as Bill Gammage’s Biggest Estate on Earth, have argued that extensive areas of Australia’s forests were kept open through frequent burning by ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon framing the demotion of two ministers as the portfolios getting "too complex" is a charitable way of saying they weren't up to the job. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As ...
Analysis: Melissa Lee has lost the media portfolio and her spot in Cabinet after multiple failed attempts to find solutions for a media industry in crisis. On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced Lee would be losing her spot in Cabinet along with her media and communications ministerial portfolio. The job ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Simon Wilmot, Senior Lecturer, Film, Deakin University Among the many Australian who served during the second world war, there is a small group of people whose stories remain largely untold. These are the Muslim men and women who, while small in number, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kelly Saunders, PhD Candidate, University of Canberra There has been much analysis and praise of Justice Michael Lee’s recent judgement in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Channel Ten. Many people were openly relieved to read Lee’s “forensic” and “nuanced” application of law ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kathy Gibbs, Program Director for the Bachelor of Education, Griffith University zEdward_Indy/Shutterstock Around one in 20 people has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It’s one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood and often continues into adulthood. ADHD is diagnosed ...
The Fairer Future coalition of anti-poverty groups say Whaikaha must be properly funded going forward, and that to argue that poor financial management of the new Ministry is a red herring by the Prime Minister. ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is today congratulating Hon. Paul Goldsmith on his appointment as Minister for Media and Communications and urges him to rule out state intervention in the private media sector. ...
Asia Pacific Report The West Papuan resistance OPM leader has condemned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden, accusing their countries of “six decades of treachery” over Papuan independence. The open letter was released today by OPM chairman Jeffrey P Bomanak on the eve of ANZAC Day ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Books Confessional, in which we get to know the reading habits and quirks of New Zealanders at large. This week: writer and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2024, Lauren Groff.The book I wish I’d writtenIf I wish I’d written a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Fechner, Research Fellow, Social Marketing, Griffith University mavo/Shutterstock Imagine having dinner at a restaurant. The menu offers plant-based meat alternatives made mostly from vegetables, mushrooms, legumes and wheat that mimic meat in taste, texture and smell. Despite being given that ...
“Three Strikes is a dead-end policy proposed by a dead-end government. The Three Strikes law ignores the causes of crime, instead just brutalising people already crushed by the cost of living.” ...
By Don Wiseman, RNZ Pacific senior journalist An Australian-born judge in Kiribati could well face deportation later this week after a tribunal ruling that he should be removed from his post. The tribunal’s report has just been tabled in the Kiribati Parliament and is due to be debated by MPs ...
With its clear mandate for police use, political nuances, and nuanced public trust, Denmark's insights provide valuable considerations for Australia and New Zealand. ...
Books editor Claire Mabey reviews poet Louise Wallace’s debut novel. A famous poet once said to me that he’s always suspicious when a poet publishes a novel. I never really understood why but maybe it’s something to do with cheating on your first form. Louise Wallace is a poet. She’s ...
For a few months at the turn of the millennium, TrueBliss burned bright as the biggest pop stars in the country. Alex Casey chats to two superfans who still hold the flame. During a humble backyard wedding in Nelson, 1999, one of the cordially invited guests had to excuse themselves ...
How will the recent wave of job cuts impact ethnic diversity in the media? In November last year, I was working a very busy day in the newsroom of a large online news site, interviewing whānau about their concerns over the imminent closure of one of the few puna reo ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ruth Knight, Researcher, Queensland University of Technology Have you ever felt sick at work? Perhaps you had food poisoning or the flu. Your belly hurt, or you felt tired, making it hard to concentrate and be productive. How likely would you be ...
Despite heavy criticism and an ongoing select committee process, the Police Minister says the Government will forge ahead with a ban on gang patches. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sam Whiting, Lecturer – Creative Industries, University of South Australia Shutterstock Everyone has a favourite band, or a favourite composer, or a favourite song. There is some music which speaks to you, deeply; and other music which might be the current ...
A new survey says ‘outlook not great’ for those charged with building infrastructure, while RMA changes delight farmers and depress environmentalists, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. First RMA changes announced ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olli Hellmann, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Waikato Getty Images When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
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.