In breaking news, asbestos mining to be restarted in Southland. Will create up to 30 jobs says government. Banned decades ago for it’s deadly side affects, the government has said compared to coal the death toll will be statistically insignificant.
Wee comment on some old news/non-news connected to this.
The other night there was a news report on asbestos dumped on DOC land. If disturbed or broken it becomes hazardous.
A quick google search will reveal that entire streets are shut down if a building containing asbestos suffers damage through fire or whatever.
But in Christchurch demolition and clear-up continues as though it is an asbestos free zone. Which it definately isn’t.
Plenty of footage coming from Christchurch showing workers in the vicinity of diggers etc that are throwing up immense quantities of dust. And those workers have no protective clothing. Neither does the public.
But it’s all okay. Because the CERA legislation indemnifies the authorities from consequences flowing from the clean up.
Fucking criminal doesn’t even begin to describe the situation. I cannot for the life of me understand why our media has been so resoundingly silent on the blindingly fucking obvious issue of cancergenic asbestos dust being constantly stirred up and liberated over Christchurch, both during the ‘excavation’/ loading of rubble phase and the transportation phase of that rubble.
I wonder if there hasn’t been a kind of veil thrown over the issue of which buildings are made of materials that contain asbestos.
A building inspector told me that I should be careful because the cladding tiles on my house may contain asbestos. Thing is, this is an ex-state house like thousands of others and you can be bloody sure that someone knows whether all these houses, and probably many other privately built buildings of a similar vintage, are potentially toxic.
But that information could be problematic, so maybe the official word has become ‘may contain asbestos’ to get around the potential consequences.
Just a possibility. Don’t know if this could be a factor in the ChCh situation.
Existing H&S guidelines or directives are that if asbestos is suspected then samples have to be taken. In the absense of sample analysis (due to overload, for example), then it would seem that the precautionary principle would properly apply and full protective measures put in place.
Current legislation has it that only workers registered/ qualified to work around asbestos over see or execute demolition/clear-up.
But as far as I can tell, no samples are being taken, no protective measures are being employed and no qualified oversight is being deployed.
People are going to be contracting cancers in 20 or 30 years time because of how Christchurch is being handled/mishandled and nobody is going to be held to account because of CERA.
There is no register. That’s why sampling and analysis kicks in if there is uncertainty or suspicion over what a material might be. It was used all over the place in a number of different applications over many decades and came in many different froms of manufacture. As such, it simply cannot be reliably identified by sight.
From memory (I wrote a post on this a long time back) there is only one lab in NZ. There is no way it could cope with an inundation of thousands of samples. That should have been tackled as one of the primary problems post quake.
But just look at the TV pictures. No protective suits. No respirators. No negative pressure environment tents.
Age of eligibility for super – the retirement Commissioner (and many other people) are calling for a raise in the age eligibility. What are the party policies on this?
Key says he will resign if it changes.
Labour, Greens, NZ First, Maori and Mana don’t seem to have a policy on it.
United Future has a different proposal and a poll to get public reaction.
Act has detailed super policies which aim at privatisation and personal responsibility.
What did Labour do when in power? Â Well there was the Cullen fund with $16 billion in it, ACC reserves built up to $11 billion (old people have accidents more often) and kiwisaver was also put in place. Â Following their actions the country did have the chance of continuing to fund superannuation at current levels.
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I’m sorry but the Labour Party does not think that satisfying your curiosity is reason for bringing forward the release of its policy but if you think of what it has done in the past you can be assured that there will be a coherent and costed policy.
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You should criticise Key. Â He is cutting the state’s ability to pay super in the future while cynically ruling out increasing the age of retirement. Â His actions mean that an increase will be inevitable.
Iâve researched and collated and posted facts.
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No you have not. You had a quick squizz at the Labour website and went “wah wah wah their policy is not up ergo they have no policy”.
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I am saying to you that if you had a skerrit of knowledge of politics and what has happened even over the past decade you would not diss Labour for not having a position on the issue. Labour and the Greens are the only ones with responsible positions on the issue and they have stuck to these positions consistently.
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Explain this. How can you post on superannuation policy and not mention the Cullen fund at all and only mention Kiwisaver incidentally when cutting and pasting ACT policy?
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I checked all the party websites looking for policy on the age of eligibility. That is what the Retirement Commissioner was referring to, and what I was researching.
If I missed something (on the age specifically) please let me know and I will amend my summary.
SS
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You said
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“Labour … donât seem to have a policy on it.”
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I said
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“You had a quick squizz at the Labour website and went âwah wah wah their policy is not up ergo they have no policyâ.
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I also saidÂ
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“What did Labour do when in power? Â Well there was the Cullen fund with $16 billion in it, ACC reserves built up to $11 billion (old people have accidents more often) and kiwisaver was also put in place. Â Following their actions the country did have the chance of continuing to fund superannuation at current levels.”
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You said
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“If I missed something (on the age specifically) please let me know and I will amend my summary.”
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Well you are missing that Labour wants to keep the age of retirement where it is and pay for increased costs through the Cullen Fund and Kiwisaver. This is clear from the history and Labour’s behaviour. Not putting its policy on the website right now is not an excuse for you to draw the conclusions that you have.
The cost will keep climbing for some time until the current bulge is through (then the cost will be falling falling falling). Unlike the other parties you mention, Labour has actually done something positive about it.
That was what the Cullen fund was for before the Nats gutted conibutions to it to pay for their tax cuts. Kiwi saver was a different form of retirement savings, and the Nats gutted the taxpayers contributions to that as well.
Raising the age is merely one of the alternatives, and more of an emergencyo ne thatn particularly useful. The problem with raising the age is that there are a lot of people who are hanging out for retirement long before age 65 now.
If you have been using your body as a crane throughout your working life doing manual labour, it is frequently broken and unemployable at age 60. They fluently wind up on invalids benefits or ACC. So merely raising the age of retirement isn’t the panacea that your simplistic mind views it as.
I think the Cullen Fund was a good idea. Suspending contributions to it during a severe recession had some merit but it set a bad precendent for ongoing meddling.
I never suggested raising the age is a panacea, I was following up on Diane Crossan’s suggestion.
I think Brash has suggested a variable age allowing for worn out bodies (and minds) who want to retire earlier. United Future have a proposal on a 60/70 option. They’re far from simple to make fair.
You know those branded beer glasses that you get in pubs? The oneâs that advertise which beer you are drinking. Not a bad thing, all in all. Different beers deserve different shaped glassware and bar owners can allay some of the cost by having the brewer provide the breakables.
Watch the size though. I mean that. If, say, a brewer wanted to up its price during the RWC it could shrink the glass, and raise the keg price. The second bit forces the bar owner to use the new smaller glass or wear the cost rise themselves. The punter, if they notice the small serves, will usually put ill feeling on the bar owner.
I donât particularly give a shit about the whole âclean stadiumsâ and all that restriction of advertising thing. Deals are deals. But a WRC sponser that pulled this sort of thing on top of that, one who was already getting the benefits of sponsorship; well, Iâm not going to give much of a damn if ambush marketers hit them hard. or if consumers boycotted their product where anything else was available.
Personnally speaking it is crap beer. There was a beer brewed in the West Coast (for a limited few you can still source beer from there) that was magic – but then they started brewing it in Auckland, this to save costs. Funny how some of these MASSIVE savings were not passed onto the consumer !!!
PB same as you re ambush markering hitting them hard. We can only hope !!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-6-wMKQ_ls
I love the way you can brew your own in this country, I once made an excellent trappist like beer for a fraction of the cost of commercial beer but sooo much better tasting.
Cheers (I wish) ROFL!
Nice beer, Bock beer. By the way my aim was to create a tripple Trappist with the idiotic but legal alcohol content of 9%. The monks in Belgium reckon that if you drink one you’re in heaven.
Why isn’t there any ‘weights and measures’ legislation in NZ? In the case of glasses it is simple to legislate for half pint and pint glasses. Brewers can still have all the vessel shapes and whatever that they wish. But a pint would actually be a pint.
Arbritary ‘handles’ and the like would disappear.
Fuck it. The same should apply to spirits. Those free pour ‘measures’ atop many bottles do not in any way measure the liquid being dispensed. So us punters are paying a set price for wildly varying amounts of alcohol.
There is a minimum alcohol % requirement for something to be considered spirits, I think its 37.5%
Many labels are at that now, when they started off at 45% or more a few years ago (check out the difference in the duty free spirits you buy compared to the adulterated ones in the local stores).
Every time profit margins are squeezed, they water down what they put in the bottle to fractionally avoid excise.
heh. that brought to mind a case from a number of years ago whereby a member of the Salvation Army (temperence soc.) who worked for ICI sold coloured water and industrial alcohol to pubs as whisky.
When the scam was uncovered, he was punished, liscences were lost and excise and duty claimed the unpaid alcohol tax from ICI.
Wonders if somewhere in Remuera Bronagh (rhymes with Mona you know) Key is saying “if all those hungry children cannot have bread why don’t they eat cake?”
Also on this day in 1984 (wet and windy, by all accounts), was the day New Zealand united to vote out Robert Muldoon’s National party and changed the face of New Zealand forever.
the 94.2% turnout remains the highest in the post war period.
1984 was one of the most dramatic times in our history. It would be appropriate for one of our illustrious (older) authors to remind our (younger) contributors what happened. We were on the brink of bankruptcy and we had a PM who was in total denial. He effectively refused to accept he had lost the election. The situation was so dire at one point there was talk of a Constitutional crisis… and a call for the Queen to intervene and sack him.
It was knife edge stuff for about two weeks… and, as we know, provided the perfect background scenario for the introduction of Rogernomics.
Natz are still bucking at a fair backpay settlement for âsleepoverâ carers in the long running PSA/Service & Food Union case.
Minister Ryall is able to regurgitate a script as evidenced on RNZ this morning, sounding like a stuck CD. Simon Mercepâs gentle interviewing style again let a prize prick get away with his âPaid for sleepingâ slurs. A way better line is âpaid for ripping off the taxpayerâ in respect of $1.7 bill to bail out South Canterbury Finance.
Carers are rendered unavailable for a life of their own while on duty. Which is why they deserve recompense as various legal forums have already determined. It looks like this may now be headed to the Supreme Court, if of course the tories donât head âem off at the pass and legislate as they have previously threatened.
What is IT about that man or thing?
I was sitting on the toilet seat before Ryall, the sleeper ripper, came on.
When his voice oozed and excreted over the radio, I felt like I was getting really dirty and I hurriedly reached for generous amounts of the toilet paper to wipe my bottom. I then rushed into the shower to have a good clean.
However … if a carer is employed from 4 pm till 8 am and the law says that person must be paid for all 16 hours I would say that is then 2 jobs and not one and 2 people should be employed for it, and that carer then should not sleep on the job and should be doing something that recovers some of his/her cost of employment.
and that carer then should not sleep on the job and should be doing something that recovers some of his/her cost of employment.
They do, of course! It’s not true that carers do nothing but sleep… I have worked as a carer for IHC and never slept the night through… Breaking up fights between children in the same room, corralling romers and returning them to bed, calling the manager who was the only person able to soothe a frightened and agitated man with manic depression and intellectual disabilities… Even at the most basic, we were there in case of emergency, fire for instance.
A statement I read this morning…The economy is closely linked with the physical resources that underly it. Most economists assume debt can rise endlessly, just as they assume GDP can rise endlessly. But if there really is a limit that prevents oil supply from rising endlessly, it seems to me that there is also a corresponding limit that prevents debt from rising endlessly.
Critique please all market rationalists out there please…LS, rusty et al.
There are now several times more financial obligations existing in the world than the world has the physical resources to pay for. Estimates exist into the tens of trillions of dollars and beyond.
Many of these obligations are “invisible” i.e. not in the form of the Greeks owe the German banks $1B or whatever (that’s quite straight forward after all), but in the form of derivative contracts and multiple interconnected counterparty liabilities that are hidden and almost impossible to collate and assess.
Thanks Lan and CV, been away all day, really thought the usual RWNJ suspects would have had a go here…..useless buggers would not know where to start a critique, the proposition that the economy must be attached to something tangible and real is way beyond them.
Man it is really bleak in the US. It seems like this guy at the ground level gets it. The process happening in the US is extraordinarily destructive at a real economy – main st level.
Yep. Looks like Smith relied on schedule 17 of the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957. Hone was meant to say:
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“I, ……, swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her [or His] Majesty [Specify the name of the reigning Sovereign, as thus: Queen Elizabeth the Second], Her [or His] heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.”
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Under section 4A of that Act there has to be a Te Reo equivalent described in regulations made under the Act. Looks like there may not have been.
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Not sure but maybe Smith was technically correct although not right …
One law for all? They are so going to regret saying that in the months to come.
Here’s a link to his speech. The one he was going to make after his swearing in that is: Hone’s speech.
And I agree; one law for all so let’s throw the bums who think that lying, rorting and profiting from their “elevated” positions is OK and drag them to court for stealing from “the people”.
And all this on Bastille day too! Well done Hone. You go my man. It’s a great day to start the revolution!!!
Nat P HQ – What can we do to distract the media from Labour’s tax announcements? We tried the boat people and it didn’t last long enough. Let’s manufacture a Hone crisis!
Spot on JS . I have been waiting on edge to try and guess what the Tories would come up with.This is typical Textor/ Crosby dealings. What next I wonder?
No, they didn’t ask him. He was just doing what many other MPs before have done, and probably didn’t expect any reaction. They chose to make a fuss of it.
I seem to recollect a similar thing happened when Sinn Fein won seats in Westminster – they refused to swear allegiance to the crown and were refused entry.
Good to see Helen Clark commenting on the recent boat people episode. As usual sensible and humane. What a loss to NZ she is ,however a big gain to the UN. All NZ should be proud of her . Lets hope that when she returns she will be offered a post that will be of benefit to all NZ. from her talents.
I’m predicting she will be the next Secretary General of the UN, so her return to NZ will be some years away. I agree with you though about it being our loss. I have heard many people (no not Labour members) say they wish Helen Clark was still running the country. I think a lot of NZers didn’t appreciate how good in the job she was.. until after she had gone.
c’mon that could be caused by any number of disasters these days, there’s the 2 Dons, the bait and Switch court cases, the bankrupt politicians (morally), the hardship pleas from millionaires, the RWC, the …list is quite long actually, stick with the Quake. Its safer ground
Lockwood Smith didn’t allow Hone Harawira to swear his oath of allegiance to the crown in Parliament today. Instead the Leader of te Mana party had to make his valedictory speech outside in front of the house of representatives. Lockwood was unhappy that Hone wanted to swear his allegiance to the crown in Maori. Unless I’m mistaken, Lockwood Smith does not speak te Reo, so he had no call to admonish Hone Harawira in such a disrespectful manner and insist that he leave the house…
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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 ...
The allure of sport transcends age, culture, and geographical boundaries. It captivates hearts, ignites passions, and provides unparalleled entertainment. Behind the spectacle, however, lies a fascinating world of financial investment and expenditure. Among the vast array of competitive pursuits, one question looms large: which sport carries the hefty title of ...
Introduction Pickleball, a rapidly growing paddle sport, has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions around the world. Its blend of tennis, badminton, and table tennis elements has made it a favorite among players of all ages and skill levels. As the sport’s popularity continues to surge, the question on ...
Abstract: Soccer, the global phenomenon captivating millions worldwide, has a rich history that spans centuries. Its origins trace back to ancient civilizations, but the modern version we know and love emerged through a complex interplay of cultural influences and innovations. This article delves into the fascinating journey of soccer’s evolution, ...
Tinting car windows offers numerous benefits, including enhanced privacy, reduced glare, UV protection, and a more stylish look for your vehicle. However, the cost of window tinting can vary significantly depending on several factors. This article provides a comprehensive guide to help you understand how much you can expect to ...
The pungent smell of gasoline in your car can be an alarming and potentially dangerous problem. Not only is the odor unpleasant, but it can also indicate a serious issue with your vehicle’s fuel system. In this article, we will explore the various reasons why your car may smell like ...
Tree sap can be a sticky, unsightly mess on your car’s exterior. It can be difficult to remove, but with the right techniques and products, you can restore your car to its former glory. Understanding Tree Sap Tree sap is a thick, viscous liquid produced by trees to seal wounds ...
The amount of paint needed to paint a car depends on a number of factors, including the size of the car, the number of coats you plan to apply, and the type of paint you are using. In general, you will need between 1 and 2 gallons of paint for ...
Jump-starting a car is a common task that can be performed even in adverse weather conditions like rain. However, safety precautions and proper techniques are crucial to avoid potential hazards. This comprehensive guide will provide detailed instructions on how to safely jump a car in the rain, ensuring both your ...
Graham Adams writes about the $55m media fund â When Patrick Gower was asked by Mike Hosking last week what he would say to the many Newstalk ZB callers who allege the Labour government bribed media with $55 million of taxpayersâ money via the Public Interest Journalism Fund â and ...
Note: this blog post has been put together over the course of the week I followed the happenings at the conference virtually. Should recordings of the Great Debates and possibly Union Symposia mentioned below, be released sometime after the conference ends, I'll include links to the ones I participated in. ...
The following was my submission made on the “Fast Track Approvals Bill”. This potential law will give three Ministers unchecked powers, un-paralled since the days of Robert Muldoon’s “Think Big” projects.The submission is written a bit tongue-in-cheek. But it’s irreverent because the FTAB is in itself not worthy of respect. ...
One Could Reduce Child Poverty At No Fiscal CostFollowing the Richardson/Shipley 1990 âredesign of the welfare stateâ â which eliminated the universal Family Benefit and doubled the rate of child poverty â various income supplements for families have been added, the best known being âWorking for Familiesâ, introduced in 2005. ...
Buzz from the Beehive A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing âon why Melissa is muteâ. Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Leeâs ministerial colleagues and we drew ...
1. What was The Curse of Jim Bolger?a. Winston Peters b. Soon after shaking his hand, world leaders would mysteriously lose office or shuffle off this mortal coilc. Could never shake off the Mother of All Budgetsd. Dandruff2. True or false? The Chairman of a Kiwi export business has asked the ...
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 yearâs 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, Labourâs 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 countryâs 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 Governmentâs Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a âget out of jail freeâ 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 Zealandâs good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National governmentâs 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 TÄmaki 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 Governmentâs democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Governmentâs 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 thatâs great for the planet and great for consumers after her memberâs 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 countryâs books after Teanau Tuionoâs membersâ 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 memberâs bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Todayâs 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 Governmentâs newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealandâs 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. ...
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 Zealandâs hydrogen future, with the opening of the countryâs first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. âI 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 Zealandâs own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealandâs 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. âThe report shows that New Zealandâs emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,â Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where heâll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Governmentâs work to restore law and order. âAttending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealandâs human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the worldâs largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. âThe reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealandâs 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  NgÄ 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. âOur 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 Zealandâs overseas missions.  âOur diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealandâs interests around the world,â Mr Peters says.  âI 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. Â âOver 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. âIt 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. âOur coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
âChina remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,â 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. âRecently 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 Teachersâ 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.  âThe 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. âScience, 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 todayâs 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. âThe Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in TaupĆ as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the TaupĆ International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. âAnticipation for the ITM TaupĆ 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. âThe 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. âThis project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sectorâs productivity,â Mr Jones says. âThe project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Governmentâs plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. âBenefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Governmentâs commitment to doubling New Zealandâs 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 Zealandâs 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. âOur 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. âNew 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 Governmentâs intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. âThe introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Todayâs 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 Governmentâs plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. âInflation 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 sectorâs role in the export-led recovery of the economy. âI 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 Governmentâs support for the revitalisation the sector.  "New Zealandâs 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. âThe 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. âMy 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 Singaporeâs 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 counterpartâs almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
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 whÄnau 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 âoutlook not greatâ 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 Spinoffâs 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, itâs not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also ...
A leaked document shows the Canterbury/Waitaha arm of health agency Te Whatu Ora is scurrying to save $13.3 million by July. The âfinancial sustainability targetâ, which was âallocatedâ to Waitaha, is consistent with whatâs happening in other districts, says Sarah Dalton, executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists. ...
A look at the state of the previous governmentâs affordable housing scheme, and what could come next.Remind me: Whatâs KiwiBuild again?First announced in 2012, KiwiBuild was a flagship policy of the Labour Party heading into both its 2014 and 2017 election campaigns. With Jacinda Ardern as prime minister, ...
Labour in opposition will be shocked to learn which party had six years in power but squandered any chance to make real change. Grant Robertsonâs valedictory speech was a predictably entertaining trip down memory lane. The acid-tongued incoming Otago University chancellor administered a sick burn to the coalition government. He ...
Taiwanâs semiconductor industry is seen some as its ‘silicon shield’ against invasion – but how will overseas expansion affect that protection? The post The state of Taiwan’s silicon shield appeared first on Newsroom. ...
There’s relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules â and costs â that came into force seven years ago. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get ...
Opinion: It has been announced that nine percent of roles at Oranga Tamariki will be disestablished, presumably to help fund the tax cuts promised by the coalition Government. I am reminded of the graphics used to illustrate pandemic events, where five thousand people are standing in a field and then ...
After more than two sleepless days, running through savage terrain, Greig Hamilton didnât know if he was going to finish one of the most gruelling psychological assaults in sport. He was metres away from the finish line, a yellow gate made famous in a Netflix documentary; a race heâd dreamed ...
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The following interview with former Green Party MP Sue Kedgley came about because she features in the new memoir Hine Toa by activist NgÄhuia te AwekĆtuku; the two knew each other at the University of Auckland in the early 70s, when they were both took on leadership roles in the ...
COMMENTARY:By Murray Horton New Zealand needs to get tough with Israel. Itâs not as if we havenât done so before. When NZ authorities busted a Mossad operation in Auckland 20 years ago, the government didnât say: âOh well, Israel has the right to defend itself.â No, it arrested, prosecuted, ...
NEWSMAKERS:By Vijay Narayan, news director of FijiVillage Blessed to be part of the University of Fiji (UniFiji) faculty to continue to teach and mentor those who want to join our noble profession, and to stand for truth and justice for the people of the country. I was privileged to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Lowry, Ice Sheet & Climate Modeller, GNS Science Hugh Chittock/Antarctica New Zealand, CC BY-SA As the climate warms and Antarcticaâs glaciers and ice sheets melt, the resulting rise in sea level has the potential to displace hundreds of millions of ...
The government's plan to reintroduce a three strikes regime is being strongly opposed by lawyers, who argue there is no evidence it reduces crime or helps people rehabilitate. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dan Jerker B. Svantesson, Professor specialising in Internet law, Bond University Do Australian courts have the right to decide what foreign citizens, located overseas, view online on a foreign-owned platform? Anyone inclined to answer âyesâ to this question should perhaps also ask ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Giovanni E Ferreira, NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow, Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, University of Sydney Last week in a post on X, owner of the platform Elon Musk recommended people look into disc replacement if theyâre experiencing severe neck or back pain. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University anek.soowannaphoom/Shutterstock NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey caught the headlines yesterday, courtesy of a blistering speech condemning the latest GST carve-up. New South Wales, he claimed, would be A$11.9 billion worse off over the ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
While police are "broadly in favour", the government's proposed anti-gang laws are facing pushback from lawyers, rights groups and former gang members. ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea. Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Shutterstock An important principle was invoked by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last week in defence of the governmentâs Future Made in Australia industry ...
A poll last August found that just 16% of New Zealanders oppose bringing back the âThree Strikesâ law. The nationwide poll of 1,000 New Zealanders was commissioned by Family First NZ and carried out by Curia Market Research. ...
The solo show from Ana Scotney is both sprawling and intimate, and a must-see, writes Mad Chapman. In the opening moments of Scattergun: After the Death of RĆ«aumoko, writer and performer Ana Scotney lays out the groundwork, literally. Silently moving around the square stage, Scotney is not so much dancing ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Burridge, Professor of Linguistics, Monash University Who makes the words? Why are trees called trees and why are shoes called shoes and who makes the names? – Elliot, age 5, Eltham, Victoria Good question Elliot! Letâs start with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne at amRawpixel.com/Shutterstock Roles of health professionals are still unfortunately often stuck in the past. That is, before the ...
COMMENTARY:By Malcolm Evans Last weekâs leaked New York Times staff directive, as to what words can and cannot be used to describe the carnage Israel is raining on Palestinians, is proof positive, since those reports are published verbatim here in New Zealand, that our understanding of the conflict is ...
In the case of New Zealand, the results confirm that there is no popular support for the vicious austerity program being imposed by the National Party-led government, which is backed in all fundamental respects by the opposition Labour Party. ...
The âVampireâ singer has never visited our part of the world, but that might all be about to change. We assess the evidence.Olivia Rodrigoâs Guts World Tour is pulling in massive crowds as it whips around the US and Europe, even helping to catapult regular supporting act Chappell Roan ...
Testing of drinking water in rural Canterbury over the weekend by Greenpeace revealed that several public town supplies were reaching levels of nitrate above 5 mg/L - the threshold which a growing body of scientific evidence has linked to increased ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rohan Fisher, Information Technology for Development Researcher, Charles Darwin University It may come as a surprise to hear 2023 was Australiaâs biggest bushfire season in more than a decade. Fires burned across an area eight times as big as the 2019â20 Black ...
Responding to the Governmentâs announcement of changes to resource management laws, Taxpayersâ Union Executive Director, Jordan Williams, said: âThese changes are a step in the right direction in terms of removing ideological and unworkable ...
More than two years after the Human Rights Council called for the establishment of a national human rights commission, such a body has yet to be formed. ...
Comment:An emergency management system with wide variations in performance, significant capability gaps, funding shortfalls and above all a setup that is not meeting the needs of New Zealanders at times of crisis. The Governmentâs inquiry into the response to Cyclone Gabrielle and other severe weather events in the North ...
Welcome to the whirring wonders of one brain trying to align its actions with its beliefs within a system it thinks is evil. My brain has been spiralling in a woke conundrum ever since I found out a bookshop Iâve never been to was shutting down. Good Books, a bookshop ...
We repeat our call for criminal justice policy to be based on evidence, something the three strikes regime neglects to recognise â with no evidence that it either reduces crime or assists with rehabilitation. ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor in Honiara With only four more seats in the 50-member Parliament yet to be officially declared, there is no outright winner in the Solomon Islands elections. As of Monday, the two largest blocs in the winnerâs circle, independents and the incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh ...
Two/fiftyseven is a multi-purpose space hidden in the heart of Wellington that is paving a way for sustainable building and responsible landlording in Aotearoa and beyond.By 2060 the world is predicted to double its entire building stock, which equates to building an entire New York City every 34 days, ...
Popstars wasnât just a reality television revolution, it was also a huge moment for Y2K fashion.Itâs 25 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With the first episode on NZ ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Pepping, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Griffith University Marvin / Shutterstock Are all single people insecure? When we think about people who have been single for a long time, we may assume itâs because single people have insecurities that make ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Geary, Lecturer in Quantitative Ecology & Biodiversity Conservation, The University of Melbourne Trismegist san, Shutterstock Landscapes that have escaped fire for decades or centuries tend to harbour vital structures for wildlife, such as tree hollows and large logs. But these ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Gladstone-Gallagher, Lecturer in Marine Science, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Shutterstock/S Curtis Why are we crossing ecological boundaries that affect Earthâs fundamental life-supporting capacity? Is it because we donât have enough information about how ecosystems respond to change? Or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Crocker, PhD Student in Economics, Deakin University Hereâs something for the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia to ponder as it meets next month to set interest rates. It has pushed up rates on 13 occasions since it began its ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a charity director outlines how sheâs saving for retirement and buying secondhand. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 45 Ethnicity: PÄkehÄ Role: Charity director, mum of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sophie Yates, Research Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Many Australians with disability feel on the edge of a precipice right now. Recommendations from the disability royal commission and the NDIS review were released late last year. Now a ...
Itâs been called a failed experiment and a judicial straightjacket but the government says the revised three strikes law will be a more workable regime, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoffâs morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Three ...
New Zealandâs Palestinian community and Palestinian Youth Aotearoa are voicing alarm and disappointment with the lack of factual rigour present during the Israeli Ambassadorâs appearance as a guest on TVNZâs Q+A With Jack Tame Sunday (21/04). ...
Both ACT leader David Seymour, who played a key role in drawing up the assisted dying law, and hospice leaders say it's time the legislation was changed. ...
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Climate activists are setting their sights on an unpopular target, and hoping to bring lots of the public with them. Itâs hard to miss the Majestic Princess: the enormous cruise ship, docked at Aucklandâs Princeâs Wharf, looms over the nearby buildings. The ship, which can fit nearly 6,000 people, ...
The following korero between NgÄhuia te AwekĆtuku, author of the newly published memoir Hine Toa, one of the year’s most important books, and Dale Husband from e-tangata, was first published in October. It traverses her involvement with the activist group NgÄ Tamatoa at Auckland University in the early 1970s, her ...
In the 16 years since it was bought by the government for $690 million, KiwiRail has had several overhauls and turnaround plans worth billions of dollars. Its ambitions as a successful, profitable operator of tourism, freight and ferries have often been derailed by disasters from earthquakes to cyclones, mine explosions ...
In breaking news, asbestos mining to be restarted in Southland. Will create up to 30 jobs says government. Banned decades ago for it’s deadly side affects, the government has said compared to coal the death toll will be statistically insignificant.
Morning Haiku
Coal Kills:
Coal Kills people
Coal Kills planets
Coal kills
Ban it.
batshit crazy Haiku
i luvs it.
I don’t know what it is… but I know what it ain’t, and that’s a haiku.
Just call it a poem and be done with it… đ
Wee comment on some old news/non-news connected to this.
The other night there was a news report on asbestos dumped on DOC land. If disturbed or broken it becomes hazardous.
A quick google search will reveal that entire streets are shut down if a building containing asbestos suffers damage through fire or whatever.
But in Christchurch demolition and clear-up continues as though it is an asbestos free zone. Which it definately isn’t.
Plenty of footage coming from Christchurch showing workers in the vicinity of diggers etc that are throwing up immense quantities of dust. And those workers have no protective clothing. Neither does the public.
But it’s all okay. Because the CERA legislation indemnifies the authorities from consequences flowing from the clean up.
Fucking criminal doesn’t even begin to describe the situation. I cannot for the life of me understand why our media has been so resoundingly silent on the blindingly fucking obvious issue of cancergenic asbestos dust being constantly stirred up and liberated over Christchurch, both during the ‘excavation’/ loading of rubble phase and the transportation phase of that rubble.
Wonder where and how it’s being dumped?
I wonder if there hasn’t been a kind of veil thrown over the issue of which buildings are made of materials that contain asbestos.
A building inspector told me that I should be careful because the cladding tiles on my house may contain asbestos. Thing is, this is an ex-state house like thousands of others and you can be bloody sure that someone knows whether all these houses, and probably many other privately built buildings of a similar vintage, are potentially toxic.
But that information could be problematic, so maybe the official word has become ‘may contain asbestos’ to get around the potential consequences.
Just a possibility. Don’t know if this could be a factor in the ChCh situation.
Existing H&S guidelines or directives are that if asbestos is suspected then samples have to be taken. In the absense of sample analysis (due to overload, for example), then it would seem that the precautionary principle would properly apply and full protective measures put in place.
Current legislation has it that only workers registered/ qualified to work around asbestos over see or execute demolition/clear-up.
But as far as I can tell, no samples are being taken, no protective measures are being employed and no qualified oversight is being deployed.
People are going to be contracting cancers in 20 or 30 years time because of how Christchurch is being handled/mishandled and nobody is going to be held to account because of CERA.
A couple of questions could easily be asked in the house:
Is there a register of buildings that may contain asbestos?
Are samples from such buildings being tested before work on them is undertaken?
Seems like the old story with asbestos – mainly poor and powerless affected, so easy to turn a blind eye.
There is no register. That’s why sampling and analysis kicks in if there is uncertainty or suspicion over what a material might be. It was used all over the place in a number of different applications over many decades and came in many different froms of manufacture. As such, it simply cannot be reliably identified by sight.
From memory (I wrote a post on this a long time back) there is only one lab in NZ. There is no way it could cope with an inundation of thousands of samples. That should have been tackled as one of the primary problems post quake.
But just look at the TV pictures. No protective suits. No respirators. No negative pressure environment tents.
Age of eligibility for super – the retirement Commissioner (and many other people) are calling for a raise in the age eligibility. What are the party policies on this?
Key says he will resign if it changes.
Labour, Greens, NZ First, Maori and Mana don’t seem to have a policy on it.
United Future has a different proposal and a poll to get public reaction.
Act has detailed super policies which aim at privatisation and personal responsibility.
Collated details here.
And nothing will change, and the cost will keep climbing, and climbing, and climbing.
Squirrel
Another fact free comment I see.
What did Labour do when in power? Â Well there was the Cullen fund with $16 billion in it, ACC reserves built up to $11 billion (old people have accidents more often) and kiwisaver was also put in place. Â Following their actions the country did have the chance of continuing to fund superannuation at current levels.
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I’m sorry but the Labour Party does not think that satisfying your curiosity is reason for bringing forward the release of its policy but if you think of what it has done in the past you can be assured that there will be a coherent and costed policy.
Â
You should criticise Key. Â He is cutting the state’s ability to pay super in the future while cynically ruling out increasing the age of retirement. Â His actions mean that an increase will be inevitable.
Another fact free comment I see.
From you. You should read and think before posting your daily diss.
FFS, check the details. I’ve researched and collated and posted facts.
Ah, hang on, no, I’ve posted what is on (or not on) party websites. Not facts.
I have and am criticising Key, I don’t agree with his stance on this.
I’m also criticisng the other parties for having soft or no policy on it.
Iâve researched and collated and posted facts.
Â
No you have not. You had a quick squizz at the Labour website and went “wah wah wah their policy is not up ergo they have no policy”.
Â
I am saying to you that if you had a skerrit of knowledge of politics and what has happened even over the past decade you would not diss Labour for not having a position on the issue. Labour and the Greens are the only ones with responsible positions on the issue and they have stuck to these positions consistently.
Â
Explain this. How can you post on superannuation policy and not mention the Cullen fund at all and only mention Kiwisaver incidentally when cutting and pasting ACT policy?
Â
How about turning your brain on before piling in.
I checked all the party websites looking for policy on the age of eligibility. That is what the Retirement Commissioner was referring to, and what I was researching.
If I missed something (on the age specifically) please let me know and I will amend my summary.
SS
Â
You said
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“Labour … donât seem to have a policy on it.”
Â
I said
Â
“You had a quick squizz at the Labour website and went âwah wah wah their policy is not up ergo they have no policyâ.
Â
I also saidÂ
Â
“What did Labour do when in power? Â Well there was the Cullen fund with $16 billion in it, ACC reserves built up to $11 billion (old people have accidents more often) and kiwisaver was also put in place. Â Following their actions the country did have the chance of continuing to fund superannuation at current levels.”
Â
You said
Â
“If I missed something (on the age specifically) please let me know and I will amend my summary.”
Â
Well you are missing that Labour wants to keep the age of retirement where it is and pay for increased costs through the Cullen Fund and Kiwisaver. This is clear from the history and Labour’s behaviour. Not putting its policy on the website right now is not an excuse for you to draw the conclusions that you have.
Not putting its (Labour’s) policy on the website right now is not an excuse for you to draw the conclusions that you have.
The conclusion I drew is that Labour (and others) didn’t mention it in policy on their website.
History and behaviour and what you think is not policy.
“Labour, Greens, NZ First, Maori and Mana donât seem to have a policy on it”
=/=
“[…] Labour (and others) didnât mention it in policy on their website.”
Stop sliding.
The cost will keep climbing for some time until the current bulge is through (then the cost will be falling falling falling). Unlike the other parties you mention, Labour has actually done something positive about it.
That was what the Cullen fund was for before the Nats gutted conibutions to it to pay for their tax cuts. Kiwi saver was a different form of retirement savings, and the Nats gutted the taxpayers contributions to that as well.
Raising the age is merely one of the alternatives, and more of an emergencyo ne thatn particularly useful. The problem with raising the age is that there are a lot of people who are hanging out for retirement long before age 65 now.
If you have been using your body as a crane throughout your working life doing manual labour, it is frequently broken and unemployable at age 60. They fluently wind up on invalids benefits or ACC. So merely raising the age of retirement isn’t the panacea that your simplistic mind views it as.
Also, if the retirement age is raised, there needs to be enough jobs for the older people as well a for all the people below retirement age.
I think the Cullen Fund was a good idea. Suspending contributions to it during a severe recession had some merit but it set a bad precendent for ongoing meddling.
I never suggested raising the age is a panacea, I was following up on Diane Crossan’s suggestion.
I think Brash has suggested a variable age allowing for worn out bodies (and minds) who want to retire earlier. United Future have a proposal on a 60/70 option. They’re far from simple to make fair.
Squirrell,
New Zealand has the lowest rate of senior poverty in the OECD.
I think that alone is why we should NOT change NZ Super.
Hereâs a rumour for you mongers.
You know those branded beer glasses that you get in pubs? The oneâs that advertise which beer you are drinking. Not a bad thing, all in all. Different beers deserve different shaped glassware and bar owners can allay some of the cost by having the brewer provide the breakables.
Watch the size though. I mean that. If, say, a brewer wanted to up its price during the RWC it could shrink the glass, and raise the keg price. The second bit forces the bar owner to use the new smaller glass or wear the cost rise themselves. The punter, if they notice the small serves, will usually put ill feeling on the bar owner.
I donât particularly give a shit about the whole âclean stadiumsâ and all that restriction of advertising thing. Deals are deals. But a WRC sponser that pulled this sort of thing on top of that, one who was already getting the benefits of sponsorship; well, Iâm not going to give much of a damn if ambush marketers hit them hard. or if consumers boycotted their product where anything else was available.
Personnally speaking it is crap beer. There was a beer brewed in the West Coast (for a limited few you can still source beer from there) that was magic – but then they started brewing it in Auckland, this to save costs. Funny how some of these MASSIVE savings were not passed onto the consumer !!!
PB same as you re ambush markering hitting them hard. We can only hope !!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-6-wMKQ_ls
It is indeed crap beer. And there are plenty of really good local beers availaiable such that boycotting this infringer should be a pleasure for most.
I love the way you can brew your own in this country, I once made an excellent trappist like beer for a fraction of the cost of commercial beer but sooo much better tasting.
Got a recipe, travellerev? Especially, what yeast did you use? This from one whose duties today include bottling my latest bock. đ
From what I remember I used a dark Australian commercial kit with extra molasses.
But this conversation just inspired me to try again and I found this link:
http://stoutfellow.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/trappist-technique-belgian-sugar/
I now have a cool store so making wine and beer has become an option again
Thanks, travellerev. A great link and answers some of my questions. Cheers!
Cheers (I wish) ROFL!
Nice beer, Bock beer. By the way my aim was to create a tripple Trappist with the idiotic but legal alcohol content of 9%. The monks in Belgium reckon that if you drink one you’re in heaven.
LOL, so much better to talk about beer making than all the other shit don’t you think? Here is another great link on triple Trappist:
http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2010/09/01/trappist-dubbel-and-tripel-beer-recipes/
Have you tried Moa’s St Joseph Belgian style ale? Lucky me. It’s local!
I can’t say that I did. I’ll have to try one day. Great song by the way!
Why isn’t there any ‘weights and measures’ legislation in NZ? In the case of glasses it is simple to legislate for half pint and pint glasses. Brewers can still have all the vessel shapes and whatever that they wish. But a pint would actually be a pint.
Arbritary ‘handles’ and the like would disappear.
Fuck it. The same should apply to spirits. Those free pour ‘measures’ atop many bottles do not in any way measure the liquid being dispensed. So us punters are paying a set price for wildly varying amounts of alcohol.
There is a minimum alcohol % requirement for something to be considered spirits, I think its 37.5%
Many labels are at that now, when they started off at 45% or more a few years ago (check out the difference in the duty free spirits you buy compared to the adulterated ones in the local stores).
Every time profit margins are squeezed, they water down what they put in the bottle to fractionally avoid excise.
The Man that Waters the Workers’ Beer.
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiWATRBEER;ttSONGAMB.html
heh. that brought to mind a case from a number of years ago whereby a member of the Salvation Army (temperence soc.) who worked for ICI sold coloured water and industrial alcohol to pubs as whisky.
When the scam was uncovered, he was punished, liscences were lost and excise and duty claimed the unpaid alcohol tax from ICI.
Portugal celebrates the success of 10 years drug decriminalisation, NZ fights another losing battle in the War on Drugs. Go figure…
14 July: Don’t forget today is a special day back in 1789 in Paris.
Bastille Day!
Good day for a game changing Labour economic policy release đ
“Allons, Enfants de la patrie, le jour de gloire est arrive.
Contre nous de la tyrannie l’etendard sanglant est leve.”
Time to fertilise the ploughed fields………metaphorically speaking.
Wonders if somewhere in Remuera Bronagh (rhymes with Mona you know) Key is saying “if all those hungry children cannot have bread why don’t they eat cake?”
Also on this day in 1984 (wet and windy, by all accounts), was the day New Zealand united to vote out Robert Muldoon’s National party and changed the face of New Zealand forever.
the 94.2% turnout remains the highest in the post war period.
wet and windy, by all accounts
It was. I was never so glad to get out in lousy weather.
The Bob Jones got 20% (From faulty memory) and no seats.
Thank heaven for small mercies….
1984 was one of the most dramatic times in our history. It would be appropriate for one of our illustrious (older) authors to remind our (younger) contributors what happened. We were on the brink of bankruptcy and we had a PM who was in total denial. He effectively refused to accept he had lost the election. The situation was so dire at one point there was talk of a Constitutional crisis… and a call for the Queen to intervene and sack him.
It was knife edge stuff for about two weeks… and, as we know, provided the perfect background scenario for the introduction of Rogernomics.
So similar to US and EU at the moment, then. Perhaps a little more dire. Give it a couple of weeks and see if the US actually manages to pull finger…
Changed the face all right, wasn’t that the govt that started selling off 100% stakes of NZs silverware?
NZ not for sale (unless Labour are in power)
Natz are still bucking at a fair backpay settlement for âsleepoverâ carers in the long running PSA/Service & Food Union case.
Minister Ryall is able to regurgitate a script as evidenced on RNZ this morning, sounding like a stuck CD. Simon Mercepâs gentle interviewing style again let a prize prick get away with his âPaid for sleepingâ slurs. A way better line is âpaid for ripping off the taxpayerâ in respect of $1.7 bill to bail out South Canterbury Finance.
Carers are rendered unavailable for a life of their own while on duty. Which is why they deserve recompense as various legal forums have already determined. It looks like this may now be headed to the Supreme Court, if of course the tories donât head âem off at the pass and legislate as they have previously threatened.
What is IT about that man or thing?
I was sitting on the toilet seat before Ryall, the sleeper ripper, came on.
When his voice oozed and excreted over the radio, I felt like I was getting really dirty and I hurriedly reached for generous amounts of the toilet paper to wipe my bottom. I then rushed into the shower to have a good clean.
It’s not as if said carers were not on mega salaries too – probably on just above minimum wage.
However … if a carer is employed from 4 pm till 8 am and the law says that person must be paid for all 16 hours I would say that is then 2 jobs and not one and 2 people should be employed for it, and that carer then should not sleep on the job and should be doing something that recovers some of his/her cost of employment.
They do, of course! It’s not true that carers do nothing but sleep… I have worked as a carer for IHC and never slept the night through… Breaking up fights between children in the same room, corralling romers and returning them to bed, calling the manager who was the only person able to soothe a frightened and agitated man with manic depression and intellectual disabilities… Even at the most basic, we were there in case of emergency, fire for instance.
A statement I read this morning…The economy is closely linked with the physical resources that underly it. Most economists assume debt can rise endlessly, just as they assume GDP can rise endlessly. But if there really is a limit that prevents oil supply from rising endlessly, it seems to me that there is also a corresponding limit that prevents debt from rising endlessly.
Critique please all market rationalists out there please…LS, rusty et al.
There are now several times more financial obligations existing in the world than the world has the physical resources to pay for. Estimates exist into the tens of trillions of dollars and beyond.
Many of these obligations are “invisible” i.e. not in the form of the Greeks owe the German banks $1B or whatever (that’s quite straight forward after all), but in the form of derivative contracts and multiple interconnected counterparty liabilities that are hidden and almost impossible to collate and assess.
These derivatives seem like a gamble, really.
When the economy starts crashing, if your derivatives cash out first, you win. Everyone else is left holding the empty bag.
Thanks Lan and CV, been away all day, really thought the usual RWNJ suspects would have had a go here…..useless buggers would not know where to start a critique, the proposition that the economy must be attached to something tangible and real is way beyond them.
“Consultant” is another word for unemployed
Man it is really bleak in the US. It seems like this guy at the ground level gets it. The process happening in the US is extraordinarily destructive at a real economy – main st level.
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly11/why-smallbiz-not-hiring-6-11.html
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogjuly11/smallbiz-not-hiringII-6-11.html
Jump You F$%^K’ers
Harsh language in this music video, but makes a point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yge311sFhC8
ah yes the linky thing
Magic CV, am forwarding to like minded contacts.
From Stuff….
“Parliament’s Speaker, Lockwood Smith, has refused to swear controversial MP Hone Harawira in. “
Yep. Looks like Smith relied on schedule 17 of the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957. Hone was meant to say:
Â
“I, ……, swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her [or His] Majesty [Specify the name of the reigning Sovereign, as thus: Queen Elizabeth the Second], Her [or His] heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.”
Â
Under section 4A of that Act there has to be a Te Reo equivalent described in regulations made under the Act. Looks like there may not have been.
Â
Not sure but maybe Smith was technically correct although not right …
Further comment. Section 4A does not appear to allow a te reo version of the oath from being used. Strange.
Â
Hone tricks = boring.
there are more important things …..
Don’t forget to say why! I disagree, MS, he was (for perhaps the first time in his life) right.
Hone was sh*t stirring, and that was all…
hey MR Speaker if the rule of law is so important how come Blinglish is still there after lying to the House this week?
if lying got a politician binned the place would be empty!
One law for all? They are so going to regret saying that in the months to come.
Here’s a link to his speech. The one he was going to make after his swearing in that is: Hone’s speech.
And I agree; one law for all so let’s throw the bums who think that lying, rorting and profiting from their “elevated” positions is OK and drag them to court for stealing from “the people”.
And all this on Bastille day too! Well done Hone. You go my man. It’s a great day to start the revolution!!!
Nat P HQ – What can we do to distract the media from Labour’s tax announcements? We tried the boat people and it didn’t last long enough. Let’s manufacture a Hone crisis!
This is just Hone drumming up some free publicity.
Spot on JS . I have been waiting on edge to try and guess what the Tories would come up with.This is typical Textor/ Crosby dealings. What next I wonder?
The Nats asked Hone to do this? you guys really do now how to make me laugh!
“It wasn’t that he was speaking Maori, he wanted to swear allegiance to the Treaty of Waitangi rather than the Queen.”
No, they didn’t ask him. He was just doing what many other MPs before have done, and probably didn’t expect any reaction. They chose to make a fuss of it.
I seem to recollect a similar thing happened when Sinn Fein won seats in Westminster – they refused to swear allegiance to the crown and were refused entry.
Good to see Helen Clark commenting on the recent boat people episode. As usual sensible and humane. What a loss to NZ she is ,however a big gain to the UN. All NZ should be proud of her . Lets hope that when she returns she will be offered a post that will be of benefit to all NZ. from her talents.
I’m predicting she will be the next Secretary General of the UN, so her return to NZ will be some years away. I agree with you though about it being our loss. I have heard many people (no not Labour members) say they wish Helen Clark was still running the country. I think a lot of NZers didn’t appreciate how good in the job she was.. until after she had gone.
Rachel Maddow on the lunacy gripping the US.
Unexpected Earthquake Observation #1,251;
Increased blood pressure.
c’mon that could be caused by any number of disasters these days, there’s the 2 Dons, the bait and Switch court cases, the bankrupt politicians (morally), the hardship pleas from millionaires, the RWC, the …list is quite long actually, stick with the Quake. Its safer ground
This is brilliant!
đ
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2011/jul/14/cartoon-steve-bell-murdoch-bskyb
1. Labour says they won’t work with MANA.
2. Labour announce BIG TAX PLAN on same day that Hone Harawria is being sworn in.
3. Oops. Hone just stole the limelight.
Shouldn’t try play hardball Labour, most the true lefties have given up on your bullshit.
Wrong, NAct manufactured a crises to try to steal Labours thunder. There was no reason for the Speaker to stop Hone from being sworn in.
Except that if he read the text that he wanted to he wouldnt have actually been sworn in according to the law. Moron.
I love how those here that want to make this the Speakers “fault” ignore all the facts.
Yes jackal I am looking at you.
Enjoy your damp squib tax policy.
Asshole of the Week Award – Lockwood Smith
Lockwood Smith didn’t allow Hone Harawira to swear his oath of allegiance to the crown in Parliament today. Instead the Leader of te Mana party had to make his valedictory speech outside in front of the house of representatives. Lockwood was unhappy that Hone wanted to swear his allegiance to the crown in Maori. Unless I’m mistaken, Lockwood Smith does not speak te Reo, so he had no call to admonish Hone Harawira in such a disrespectful manner and insist that he leave the house…
So Hone Harawera is not officially an MP but he can officially draw a party leader’s salary…
I’d love to climb on that gravy train!!