Who gives a shit. There was 72 hours of good weather to make it all happen and NZ failed. The people in the Bay of Plenty and Mother Earth pay the price for that failure.
Any “Compensation” in the form of dollar notes is pathetic.
So what would you have done and when? What equipment would you have needed? Where would it have come from and how long would it have taken to get there? How many people would you need and how would you deploy them?
Not interested in your irrelevant hypothesizing now.
Your trick of trying to make ME come up with 101 answers now is a BS deflection from the fact that Joyce and Key dropped the ball for the first 72 hours.
Waiting for a private sector response, setting up little bird rescue stations and dispersing the first few tonnes of oil which spilt were a waste of time and effort during the first 72 hours.
I take that to mean you haven’t got a clue about what was done and what should have been done, and are more interested in chucking around ill informed slogans. Well at least you’ve finally admitted it. There’s hope for you yet.
I would suggest that they should have a number of different plans, and when news of the grounding hit they should have been adapting the most suitable one to the specific circumstances. And shipping equipment for the more serious contingencies on that day, given that the likelihood of the worst case scenario increases exponentially once the ship actually hits rocks or the rig catches fire.
So the plan review should probably have been done on Thursday.
Whether this is a resource issue (govt fault), an department failure (slightly less of a govt fault, dept fault), best practise (communication failure -govt&dept fault), or simply a paradigm shift needed for new circumstances, I guess all that will come out in the wash.
I expect they will have a number of scenarios scoped out. you have your overall strategic response that puts in place all your command tree and your decision making principles, but you can only draw up your specific response plan as you go, because each situation is so different – dealing with a grounded ship leaking oil may be very different from a mobile ship with a similar leak. But the specific plan will be done within the broad principles of a ‘grounded ship leaking oil’ plan linked to you general ‘oil on beach’ plan etc. That’s on the oil pollution side.
The salvage plan is quite different again and it needs a professional salvor, and they have to first be appointed then brought in to examine the vessel and the resources available before they can develop it. ANd it has to complement the MNZ plan – not much point MNZ plan assuming a ship recovery when the salvor says it can’t be done, or the salvor saying offload the containers adn fuel when there is no capacity to do it.
The point being that in any complex plan there are a number of things that can be done while other parts have yet to take affect.
Especially if there are a limited range of options to choose from.
This situation seemed to have been at the mercy of a rather linear thought process.
And the gospel according to DPF in the Granny herald, is that the ship was deliberately steered onto the reef… Jezuz what a Troll he is.
Of course from what we know the Rena was not blown off course, but deliberately steered into a well known and marked reef. The captain and first officer have already been charged with offences.
It was deliberately steered into the reef, only not in the way you are interpreting. The ship was on a deliberate course, and it just so happened that they didn’t know that the reef was there, or knew it was there but forgot to avoid it (i’m tending towards the first option).
so as the captain was in charge of the ship, you can actually say that it was deliberately steered into the reef, as they were steering the ship on a deliberate course at the time it hit.
so as the captain was in charge of the ship, you can actually say that it was deliberately steered into the reef, as they were steering the ship on a deliberate course at the time it hit.
This logic seems like a BS word game.
eg
I’m ‘deliberately’ driving a car around a corner when I accidentally hit and kill a 4 year old standing there on the road in the blind spot.
The courts will recognise that as manslaughter not DELIBERATE murder.
Just because I am ‘deliberately’ cornering at the time, does not then mean I that I ‘deliberately’ killed the kid.
No deliberately means it went where it was DELIBERATELY aimed. There is no interpretation to deliberate. It means it was planned. And I don’t think the Captain and Crew got up that morning and said “I know lets hit a reef”. So Spin that away.
Which is entirely different from Farrars “deliberately steered into a … reef”.
The difference is that “deliberate” conveys intent. It means you’ve thought about what to do, considered your options, and decided what action to take.
In Farrar’s sentence the Captain’s intent is not simply to steer the ship (which was your first interpretation) but to steer the ship into a reef.
The ship is is insured for US 4.2 billion dollars with a sub limit of about US 1 billion dollars for a pollution event , thats a lot of incentive , backhanders anyone ?
With the over supply of container ships and the global down turn in trade means that a lot of ships over 18 years old go to scrap , scrapping prices have been falling as well .
This ship has been insured for 4.2 billion , second hand or as scrap it would fetch no where near this price .
You’ve misread it. That is not what the ship is worth, that is their public liability insurance value. Like you having a $5k car with comp insurance, it will pay out yours up to 5k, but if you hit someone’s Ferrari, it will pay them a lot more.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE OCCUPYING WALL STREET AGAINST THE BANK$TERS!
TOMORROW!
SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER 2011
AUCKLAND
3PM
ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE BRITOMART!
Please ditribute as widely as possible
Please come yourself and bring family, friends and placards. Let’s show that people and the planet must come before corporate greed. Join the march against corporate greed and in solidarity with the thousands who are occupying Wall Street.
Right now the Government and the Rena’s shipping owners need a very loud public message that many NZer’s are very angry about the unnecessary grounding and the subsequent environmental disaster caused by the Rena’s grounding on the Astrolabe Reef. This disaster is the tragic story of corporate greed, and neo-liberal policies that have reduced safety regulation, structures and resources to less than minimal, and the use of cheap workers.
Join the Auckland March
This Saturday 15th October
Assemble 3.00pm
Britomart at the bottom of Queen Street
March to Aotea Square
GPJA #379: SAT OCT 15 – OCCUPY AOTEAROA – “WE ARE THE 99%” – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
by gpjanz
GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 397, October 12, 2011
OCCUPY AOTEAROA SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 – “WE ARE THE 99%” – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
I received this today – anyone able to comment on the authenticity? If this is really happening will the media report it?
Dear Friends,
Urgent — tomorrow at 7 am, the New York City police plan to evict the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
The only way to stop the eviction is a roaring outcry to New York’s billionaire mayor, Mike Bloomberg, and to the owners of the protest park. We must show them that their global reputations are on the line.
Let’s flood their offices with phone calls! Avaaz will tell the media about the numbers of calls made, multiplying their impact on the public image of Bloomberg and Richard B. Clark — the CEO of the company that owns the park. If enough of us call now, we could turn the tide and stop the eviction–but only hours are left!
Call the Mayor and Brookfield Properties Here:
New York mayor Michael Bloomberg: +1-212-NEW-YORK (639-9675)
Brookfield CEO Richard Clark: +1-212-417-7063
Brookfield US headquarters: +1-212-417-7000
Brookfield Canada headquarters: +1-416-369-2300
Brookfield Australia headquarters: +61-2-9322-2000
After calling, post a message about how the call went — to help Avaaz count the number of calls made, and demonstrate the wave of worldwide support for the protesters.
Say that you have a message for Brookfield CEO Richard Clark or NYC Mayor Bloomberg (depending on who you are calling)
Stop the eviction of Zuccotti Park
We have a constitutional right to protest.
This is one of the biggest shows of public outrage in decades and these people represent hundreds of thousands across the world who stand with the protesters and the movement for real democracy.
The protesters are cleaning up the park, keeping it clean and safe
We can help make sure the thousands of protesters rights to freedom of speech and assembly are respected by calling Billionare Bloomberg and Brookfield. Forward to everyone!
Emma, Morgan, Maria Paz, Alice, Ben, Rewan and the whole Avaaz team
“Note that it is not till Saturday that MNZ are reported to be -”reviewing draft salvage plan”.
This despite the Prime Minister telling the pollution affected people of Maketu:
A national plan for such disasters had been put into action the moment the ship hit the reef
John Key
Is this John Key’s most shocking lie yet?
Is John Key talking about some other plan?
If such another (draft, or full) plan does exist, will it be released?”
I think you will find that the national plan is a broad response plan, while the draft which was being reviewed was one specific to the ship as produced by the salver.
I believe the national plan has been insufficient in that there was to little response in the immediate days after the spill to contain any spilt oil or to move to protect environmentally sensitive spots like Maketu estuary. Live capture of endangered doterils (sp)etc should have begun immediately and a beach clean up effort with gear put in place and planned from the get go.
I can understand that pumping the oil off etc isn’t something that can happen straight away as it needed to be heated to allow it to flow. Which you don’t really want to do until you are sure that the tank you are heating isn’t holed as warm fluid oil will flow out much faster than cold Vegemite like stuff. I also understand that some pipes etc need repair to allow this.
Technical work like this is far better left to the experts which in this case are the salvers, than having bureaucrats and politicians putting an oar in.
This is exactly where an potential rescue went wrong at Pike…..
Technical work like this is far better left to the experts which in this case are the salvers…
MNZ should have that expertise and should also be the salvers that go in and start the salvage ASAP rather than waiting for the captain to contact the ships owners, who’ll contact the insurers, who”l then contact some salvers who will then try and decide what to do. That process wastes time.
MSM excels again.
Nothing like a journalist asking patsy questions and “… I expect you are disappointed in the politicising of this, Minister…?
WTF? Good old Geoff. He really should stick to Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Joyce spun like a top this morning, weaving an amazing web and Geoff agreed that they had done all that they could have done.
However, according to the latest despatches, the plan is to pump from tomorrow.
So in 24 hours, under much tougher conditions, they can install external heaters and pumps, and start extraction.
How does that compare with Joyce’s answers this morning.
Well Wednesday at 6 am he receives a call advising of the stranding. He could have requested/directed that they start discharging oil as soon as possible. If the ship responded that their machinery was U/S, then shore based heaters and pumps could have been despatched, and on Thursday they would have been pumping… (24 hours after stranding, just like today’s action)
Oh, and the ugly New Zealander has emerged in Tauranga it seems, with a Filipino shopkeeper being abused and some of the Rena crew being flown out allegedly due to fears for their safety.
Racist targeting by legitimately angry people, but misguided.
Yes I agree it is misguided TM. I initially thought this could be MSM spin to distract from the deeper blame but with the guilty plea of the woman who set her dogs on asian people in christchurch, and the continued racism displayed daily in this country I feel it is probably true. Very sad.
MNZ breached the manufacturers guidelines by spraying a large amount of Corexit close to shore, where it can have an adverse effect on inhabitants. They failed to check if the dispersant would be effective prior to application and have not adequately informed the public of the health risks from Corexit 9500…
What is obvious is that the larget port in New Zealand and probably the second largest port in NZ Auckland does not have a crisis responce plan or adequate large equipment including oil absorbant booms to deal with any reasonabley sizesd oil spill. One would think that it was only a matter of time before a major spill happened. And now it just has.
If ACT Party is National’s bitch, that needed a makeover and stood up to National over
covert surveilance, then what does that make Epson residents who vote ACT?
Just poor management to get into a situation
where someone cries discrimination, even worse
that MSM urges them on by shouting its okay
to discriminate sometimes. Immoral, Unethical
meets poor management, poor leadership, so NZ.
Set the bar low, then lower it, cheer, then stamp
a brand, oh NZ fair and balanced.
“It really is the arrival of Marine Le Pen that convinced me to join the National Front,” Engelmann told Reuters. “She has an economic program that is much more geared to defending the little people, the workers, the popular classes of France.“
Oh dear, this guy really doesn’t understand who the RWNJs work for does he?
Labour’s complaint about the PM hosting a non-political hour of talkback on Radio Live. is rejected on every ground argued and the BSA concludes:
…even if this programme were held to be an election programme, which we do not consider it was, it would not have breached any of the standards raised by the complainant.
One assumes that the next great leap in liberal logic will be to denounce the BSA decision as more evidence of aVast Right Wing and Non-Labour Left Wing conspiracy …
That finding was obvious from the start, but of course that didn’t stop Labour activists from instantly engaging in an exercise of guilt on (their own) accusation – as Eddie’s headline falsely claimed: “Key broke law on radio show“.
Commenting on the BSA, you linked to a post which has nothing to do with the BSA. The allegation of breaking the law relates to … the law. Not broadcasting standards. So your allegation of “falsely claiming” is meaningless, pending a finding on the law.
Read the post you linked to, and the several links within it, from Graeme Edgeler, if you really want to understand the law. But then, that’s not why you’re here, is it?
“It became clear to the authority that the legislation should be interpreted as overt or explicit encouragement or persuasion to vote in a particular way rather than incidentally or consequently amounting to encouragement or persuasion.”
The mere presence of Key did not make it an election programme under current law.
This indicates that there is some room to consider whether the current law is adequate. The law seems to assume that electioneering is a process of explicitly saying “vote for us because”. But it is pretty obvious that National’s main election strategy is to promote brand Key rather than to foreground National’s policy and performance. In fact, National’s strategy is to promote Key through photo ops and positive associations, and to avoid anything too negative associated with Key.
Joe Bloggs needs a great leap in reading comprehension skills:
We can of course see that some political advantage will accrue to the Prime Minister and the party to which he belongs from exposures of this kind. It is not for us to say whether this should or should not be permitted; we are required to deal with the law as it stands.
The word “of course” should have helped you there, Joe. It’s kind of a giveaway.
The BSA confirms that the broadcast was political propaganda, but says their hands are tied.
Yes I do agree. It is exactly what I said the other day.
And it also confirms that Labour made a strategic blunder by filing a hopeless complaint, when what they should have done was lobby for a slot for Phil. Which I also said I supported, and would probably have been advantageous to Phil, who I think would come across well in that sort of setting.
Nope, more of an own goal for National and MW. The finding that the show was political shows that law, as it presently stands, is broken which has now been highlighted by Labours actions. This will reflect badly on Key/National because people will see it as him using his position as PM for political advantage and MW will be seen as politically biased possibly due to National loaning them $43m of our money as it did not offer the same advantage to every other party leader.
Did i hear right on TV3 news last night?
I noted someone with a bulldozer trying to pull containers/stuff up the beach and they where told to stop because they did not have a correct safety plan or something like that.
Could this be government gone mad?
I don’t think it is this govt gone mad – it is the accumulation of generations of H&S regulation and generally that has been a good thing. That said, who knows what was in the container. WHat if they broke it open and it tipped something nasty onto the beach? Would the guy with the bulldozer be willing to pay to clean it up?
logie..you right dude. poor geoff. they talk about bullying but it comes from the top down doesn’t it. Nobody gets a chance till its been through their vetting machine. they self appointed gatekeepers for the tories but they claim to be objective. more malice in blunderland stuff, isnt it. He should retire and get a job on radio skawkback where he would be right at home with the used car salesman types, shouldnt he.
Just to be pedantic…since the Rena grounding I have wondered if all these years I had been mispronouncing ASTROLABE.
Every journo and pollie has been pronouncing it ASTRO LAB.
Today it finally got to me so I checked it on the interweb –
It is pronounced as-truh-leyb.
Just a bit grumpy-old-man but we must have standards! Next people will be parking across two spaces, pulling out of supermarket aisles without looking and overusing the word “ackchully”
Apparantly that is what the locals call it, according to RNZ, so they are following that pronunciation – a bit like Al -b’ney instead of Awl-b’ney.
Course the media are very selective on their application of this rule and are quite happy to impose their centralised view of what is correct when it suits – cf. Wanagnui, Waikouaiti, or Hakatere
Never took you for a post-modern, localist, relativist Insider.
I see you in a whole new way now.
Interesting.
BTW, that’s “apparently” not “apparantly” – or is that the way they spell it round your way?
Suddenly, meeting National Standards gets a whole lot easier. After all, I’m sure it is not intended to “impose their centralised view of what is correct when it suits”.
I’ve always used a short ‘a’ which is the way they call the Auckland suburb and aligned with the Welsh pronunciation of Avon but I’ve noticed in Chch they use the long A which is the English Avon. You’re a cantab, whcih is it?
Down here it’s Aaavandale (yes, van). But I hope any radio announcer uses its correct pronunciation.
Also, did you hear David Farrar and whoever was on the Panel – a couple of nights ago – with him going on about people’s problems with ‘pronOUNCiation’? I love the irony of that.
Just a bit grumpy-old-man but we must have standards! Next people will be parking across two spaces, pulling out of supermarket aisles without looking and overusing the word “ackchully”
And spelling EpsoM as EpsoN as I’ve sen a couple of times lately on The Standard.
I see John Keys showing his true colours in the Dompost this morning, wasnt he. First of all he demeaned Phill goff for rolling up his shirt sleeves and getting stuck in and then he used a dubyaism. i.e. “there are no silver clouds”. what does that mean? The subtext is that he only knows how to count other peoples money and using language that conveys any nuance or recondite meaning is foreign territory for a money manque. He should get a life.
Scientific skepticism is healthy. In fact, science by its very nature is skeptical. Genuine skepticism means considering the full body of evidence before coming to a conclusion. However, when you take a close look at arguments expressing climate ‘skepticism’, what you often observe is cherry picking of pieces of evidence while rejecting any data that don’t fit the desired picture. This isn’t skepticism. It is ignoring facts and the science.
The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism looks at both the evidence that human activity is causing global warming and the ways that climate ‘skeptic’ arguments can mislead by presenting only small pieces of the puzzle rather than the full picture.
Disgraced former Act MP David Garrett has been suspended from practise for a year after swearing a false affidavit to a court while working as a lawyer.
Am I alone in thinking a one year ban is a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket? The bloke is a liar and a criminal!
Just heard Barry Corbett on The Panel. His ‘what am I thinking about’ was a warning to ‘politicians’ not to ‘moan’.
He then detailed two examples of how Labour has been moaning – Darien Fenton’s comment about Peter Leitch on Facebook and Phil Goff (and Labour’s) complaint over the PM’s hour.
Corbett waxed lyrical about Peter Leitch and then said he thought the PMs hour was just an ‘interesting’ bit of radio and not political. He then mentioned how Geoffrey Palmer had hosted an hour of his breakfast show in 1989. When Mora – or maybe Bruce Slane – raised the question of timing, Corbett said it was just before Moore took over. Odd that, I thought Moore took over a matter of weeks before the November (?) election in 1990 (not 1989).
He strongly criticised Labour – Fenton and Goff by name – for moaning – calling them “moaners”. Defamatory?
So far as I could detect there was no ‘balance’ – just a targetted and prolonged attack on Fenton, Goff and Labour in general.
Obviously his days as a guest on The Panel are now numbered.
On Wednesday 12 October, I sent an email to Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) formally requesting under the Official Information Act 1982 a copy of the MV Rena’s inventory. I made my request because of the differing stories authorities had been telling us about what Rena is carrying…
Sorry I put this item first on weekend social. Got the date right but turned up at the wrong place. Woe is me. Perhaps the social post one could be wiped – it’s not the sort of thing to lighten your heart and encourage a smile.
Der Spiegel has a damning report on Austrian poltical and financial bigwigs. Selling off government property and getting kickbacks, etc etc. The right wing free market neo liberals whatever don’t seem to be able to keep their scheming greedy luxury power and money-obssessed brains under control.
They must have voice activated dictation machines by their beds in case they come up with a new idea in their dreams and utter some choice clues as to new ways of wringing the money out of other people’s hands and pockets And where is the payoff for the rest of us whose minds are too pedestrian for such convoluted diabolical schemes?
Wealthy TVNZ execs pay themselves more while firing staff
Stop the 1%.
Television New Zealand top bosses have scored big pay rises while laying off staff and cutting costs.
The company annual report tabled in Parliament this week showed the highest earner – believed to be chief executive Rick Ellis – was paid $910,000 to $920,000 in the year to June 30, compared to $750,000 to $760,000 for the previous year.
The second highest earner – believed to be head of sales and marketing Paul Maher – earned $680,000 to $690,000 up from $560,000-570,000 last year.
Campbell Live have revealed another wrinkle in the Rena debate.
I think the time line goes:
– NZ needed to update it’s legislation based on 1976 arrangements regarding compensation.
– Someone wrote to Annette King about this being over looked.
– A 2008 select committee forwarded the necessary legislation to the house (which I assume to mean Annette King tool heed of the problem).
– Then came the election.
– Steven Joyce takes over as minister.
– The legislation drops down the list of priority and nothing is done, (probably boy racer legislation that has never been used was more important!)
– Rena runs a ground and we lose the opportunity of another $17 mil in compensation.
Another failure of ministerial responsibility?
How much of our money has this government pissed away and sacked people to cover it?
How many other pieces of useless legislation was rushed through in urgency ahead of this one?
On Wednesday 12th October, John Key challenged all of the people who think the Government’s response to the Rena disaster was too slow to put up or shut up.
Phil Heatley, Minister of Fisheries, is not content with just allowing parts of the Ross sea to be fished so he has decided to lift the set net ban in an area at the top of the South Island which is frequented by the endangered Hector’s dolphins.
The Pike mining and the Rena disaster plus the leaky homes are the result of National Party policies.It was the Nats whe deregulated shipping and through the Employment Contract Act decimated Unions thus allowing these rust buckets in to,our ports. It was the Nats who allowed untreated timber and deregulated the building codes and it was the Nats who reduced the number of mining inspectors . The unsafe conditions now being made public in Pike mine would never have happened if we still had strong unions. Now they are spending more time trying to get photo opportunities that trying to clean up this oil polluted beach. As have said before who the hell votes for these bastards
Not entirely fair to characterise the Rena as a ‘rust bucket’. Oddly enough it would appear that the owner and operators of the Rena, Costamare Shipping Company, would seem to be one of the more reputable operators. The ship has visited the Port of Tauranga many times before and has been regularly inspected by MNZ.
Until the exact cause of this grounding is known I’m not sure I’d want to get too high and mighty about the ship itself. What does interest me is the crew operation. Clearly something has gone badly wrong at the command level and there will be a systemic reason for this.
The NZ Maritime Union has already pointed out the dangers inherent in the long hours and poor conditions these Filipino seamen have been forced to work under; conditions that would be entirely unacceptable to any Western crew. It’s my betting this will prove the root cause.
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It seems fair to say that we currently live in a problematic political moment in world history. Democracies are in decline and dictatorships are on the rise. Primordial, sectarian and post-modern divisions have re-emerged, are on the rise or have been accentuated by political evolutions of the moment such as ...
Last month, Greenpeace head Russel Norman surrendered his speaking slot at an EPA conference to student climate activist Sorcha Carr, who told the EPA exactly what she thought of them. It was a bold move, which confronted both regulators and polluters (or, as the EPA calls them, "stakeholders") with the ...
The core principle supposedly underlying New Zealand's electoral finance regime is transparency: parties can accept large donations from rich people wanting to buy policy, but only if they tell the public they've been bought. Most parties abide by this, so we know that TOP was wholly-owned by Gareth Morgan, and ...
Today is a Member's Day, probably the second-to-last one of the year, and its a big one, with the Third Reading of David Seymour's End of Life Choice Bill. last Member's Day it was reported back from committee, after MPs voted narrowly to make it subject to a (rules TBA) ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzThe growth of the human population over the last 70 ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women In her excellent oral submission to the Abortion reform select committee on 31st October on behalf of Otago University’s Department of Public Health, historian and public health researcher Hera Cook stated: “We would ask that the committee not use the term ‘pregnant persons’ and ...
by Don Franks In 1957, E M Forster wrote, of his greatest work: “The India described in ‘A Passage to India’ no longer exists either politically or socially. Change had begun even at the time the book was published ( 1924) and during the following quarter of a century it ...
The Referendums Framework Bill was due back from select committee today. But there's no report on it. Instead, the bill has been bounced back to the House under Standing order 29593) because the Committee didn't bother to produce one. They probably tried. But given the membership of the committee (which ...
Two years into New Zealand’s Labour-led government, the long-delayed Zero Carbon Bill became law on 7 November. Passed essentially unanimously, the lengthy public debates and political manoeuvring faded away until the final passage was even anticlimactic: Flipping through the @nzstuff@DomPost I was starting to wonder if I’d dreamt ...
Now the Zero Carbon Bill is law, what's next? Obviously, the ETS changes currently before select committee are going to be the next battleground. But we're also going to get a good idea of where we're going, and if the progress the Zero Carbon Act promises is good enough, during ...
Grant PearceThe effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only ...
A passing comment in a post the other day about the labour force participation rates of older people prompted me to pull down the fuller data and see what we could see about various participation rates over the decades since the HLFS began in 1986. As it happens, the ...
Distract And Divert: The rise of what we have come to call “Identity Politics” represents the ideological manifestation of the ruling class’s objective need to destroy class politics, and of the middle-class’s subjective need to justify their participation in the process.THE RELIEF of the ruling class can only be imagined. ...
"I saw a newspaper picture,From the political campaignA woman was kissing a child,Who was obviously in pain.She spills with compassion,As that young child'sFace in her hands she gripsCan you imagine all that greed and avariceComing down on that child's lips?" ...
Dr Matt Boyd, Prof Michael Baker, Prof Nick WilsonThe Global Health Security Index which considers pandemic threats has just been published. Unfortunately, NZ scores approximately half marks (54/100), coming in 35th in the world rankings – far behind Australia. This poor result suggests that the NZ Government needs to ...
The Zero Carbon Act is inadequate, with a weak methane target designed to give farmers a free ride. But it turns out it could have been worse: Climate Change Minister James Shaw was so desperate to get National on board, he wanted to gut that target, and leave it in ...
The Herald reprints an Australian story on a couple of tragic deaths in Bali from drinking cocktails that had methanol in them. The story argues that methanol is likely the result of home distillation. But what the young tourists were experiencing was far from a hangover. They’d consumed a toxic cocktail ...
Last month, the police announced a trial of specialist roaming armed units, which would drive round (poor, brown) areas in armoured SUVs, armed to the teeth. When they announced the trial, they told us it was about having armed police "ready to attend major incidents at any time if needed". ...
Spain went to the polls today in the second elections this year, after the Socialists (who had come to power in a confidence vote, then gone to the polls in April) rejected the offer of a coalition with the left-wing PoDemos, and instead decided to gamble n a better outcome ...
A couple of days ago I attended (and spoke at) the University of Waikato’s “LearnFest” event. There were lots of talks and sessions on very diverse aspects of teaching, mostly at tertiary level. One was by Myra Williamson from Te Piringa Faculty of Law here at Waikato, on Contract Cheating ...
There will be a transit of Mercury – the planet Mercury will pass across the face of the Sun – taking place at sunrise in New Zealand on Tuesday, 12th November. It was by observing such an event 250 years ago that James Cook and his scientist colleagues were able ...
Since becoming the world’s first openly transexual mayor and member of parliament, Georgina Beyer has been recognised as a trailblazer for trans rights. Daphna Whitmore talks with her about where she sees the current trans movement We start out talking about legislation the government put on hold that would have ...
If FFNZ really put their faith in “Top Medical Journals” they would now be amending their billboards to recognise new research results. Image from FFNZ but updated to agree with the latest research. ...
National Messiah? Chris Luxon identifies himself as an evangelical Christian. If he is genuine in this self-characterisation, then he will take every opportunity his public office provides to proselytise on behalf of his faith. He will also feel obliged to bear witness against beliefs and practices he believes to be ...
I'm going to make a Reckless Prediction™ that the Tories have 'topped out' in the 'poll of polls' / Britain Elects multipoll tracker at about 38%, and in the next week we will start to see Labour creep up on them.In fact, we might just be seeing the start of ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Lizzie Marvelly: “I may have missed this… has @afterellen gone all terf-y? Or am I reading something incorrectly? “ https://twitter.com/LizzieMarvelly/status/1191840059105742849 After Ellen is a lesbian website that is unashamedly pro-lesbian, as you’d expect. So why is Ms Marvelly so bothered about lesbians having their ...
Did you know there once was a time when it was illegal to be a gypsy (aka Romani) in Britain?That was between 1530, when the Egyptians Act was passed, and 1856, when it was repealed.Amongst other things, the act forbade the entry of 'Egyptians' into England, ordered those already there ...
Some days I sit and think, “what will I write…?” What do you say when you get to 1000 posts? Maybe you just start where you are, diverge to where this all began, then offer a collection of reader’s favourite posts, and a few of your own? (And throw in ...
Counter-Puncher: The “activists” and “radicals” (his own words) from the Indian community who took such strong exception to Shane Jones’ remarks about Immigration NZ’s treatment of arranged marriages, may end up bitterly regretting their intervention. Jones is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to his critics.SHANE ...
In the spirit of Remember, remember the fifth of November, let's keep this in mind FOREVER.
Oh dear. Extraordinary interview on PM with Andrew Bridgen and @EvanHD just now. Bridgen was defending Jacob Rees Mogg’s Grenfell comments. Evan asked him if JRM had meant to say he would have left ...
Collision Course? In conditions of ideological white-out, the international bankers’ “Woop-Woop! Pull Up!” warning may have come too late to save global capitalism.WHAT DOES IT MEAN when international bankers are more willing to embrace radical solutions than our politicians and their electors? At both the International Monetary Fund and the ...
Pertussis (whooping cough) is a conundrum. It is a disease that was described hundreds of years ago and the bacteria that causes it (Bordetella pertussis) isolated in 1906. We have had vaccines for about 80 years but this disease is defiant in the face of human immunity. I wanted to ...
The Zero Carbon Bill has just passed its third reading, uanimously. In the end, National supported it - but we all know they'll turn around and gut it the moment they regain power. Meanwhile, I guess ACT's David Seymour didn't even bother to show up. I am on record as ...
Dr Lindsay Robertson, Dr Jerram Bateman, Professor Janet HoekMembers of the public health community hold divergent views on how access to vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) products should be arranged. Some believe ENDS should be as widely available as smoked tobacco and argue for liberal ...
When the Police were trying to cover up for the National Party over Dirty Politics, they went all-in with their abuses of power. They illegally search Nicky Hager's house, violating his journalistic privilege and invading his privacy. They unlawfully acquired Hager's bank records. They did the same to left-wing blogger ...
Last month, in response to a wave of protests by Extinction Rebellion, the British government purported to ban their protests from the whole of London. It was a significant interference with the freedoms of expression and assembly, and another sign of the country's decline into tyranny. But now, a court ...
Last year, the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security reported on significant problems with the intelligence warrant system. While they were unwilling to declare any warrant "irregular" (meaning unlawful) due to the recent law change, they were also not willing to give the system a clean bill of health. Now, they've ...
The National Party has come out in support of encouraging greater vaccination uptake. But it sure isn’t the way I’d do it. National’s suggested docking the benefits of those on benefit whose kids aren’t keeping up with their vaccinations. Some in National have suggested extending that to payments under Working ...
Feeding The Flames: It is simply not enough to demand an end to “corruption”, or “inequality”, or the overbearing influence of the authorities in Beijing. These are just “lowest common denominator” demands: the sort of slogans that pull people onto the streets. They are not a plan.WHERE’S THE PLAN? Across ...
The labour market statistics have been released, and unemployment has risen to 4.2%. There are 115,000 unemployed - 11,000 fewer than when Labour took office. In that time the minimum wage has gone up by $2 an hour, which shows that the right's fears about increases causing unemployment are simply ...
The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee has called for submissions on Andrew Little's tyrannicalTerrorism Suppression (Control Orders) Bill. Normally I encourage participation in the democratic process. I am not doing so in this case. Instead, I encourage all of you to boycott this submissions process, and to post ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzIf tiny concentrations of carbon dioxide can hold enough heat ...
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and within it, one of the fastest sources is elite travel: billionaires flitting around the world in their private jets, spewing excessive pollution into the atmosphere just so they can avoid mixing with us dirty peasants. But in ...
That's what we face if we don't stop climate change, according to a warning from 11,000 scientists:The world’s people face “untold suffering due to the climate crisis” unless there are major transformations to global society, according to a stark warning from more than 11,000 scientists. “We declare clearly and unequivocally ...
by Phil Duncan Here’s just a few of the kind of threats issued day in and day out against gender-critical women – feminists, marxists, etc – overwhelmingly by MEN (albeit men identifying as women). “Kill all Terfs”. “Shoot a Terf today”. “All terfs deserve to be shot in the head”. ...
This is the third of the synopses of parts of the opening chapter of John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century (New York, Monthly Review Press, 2016). The synopsis and commentary below is written by Phil Duncan. Unlike the humble cup of coffee and t-shirt that we looked at in ...
Tom MooreTraditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as ...
And to think he gave all the potential goodwill away with that moronic, cult-like statement (repeated ad nauseam by many National hardliners) that Key is quite simply “the greatest PM we ever had”…Installation complete: this was nothing ...
The chairman of the Upper North Island Supply Chain Strategy (UNISCS) working group, Wayne Brown, has hit back at critics of his group’s recommendations to relocate the Ports of Auckland cargo operations to Whangarei’s deepwater port of Northport. The working group's recommendation to close Auckland waterfront to all but cruise ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First backs the public to decide on the End of Life Choice Bill via a referendum at the 2020 General Election. The Bill, with New Zealand First’s referendum provision incorporated, passed its final reading in Parliament this evening. New Zealand First Spokesperson for ...
Darroch Ball, Spokesperson for Justice New Zealand First is proud that a key Coalition Agreement commitment which will provide for a more transparent and effective criminal justice system has been realised. Legislation to establish the Criminal Cases Review Commission, an independent body focused on identifying and responding to possible miscarriages of ...
"Today we have made a choice that will leave a legacy... I hope that means that future generations will see that we, in New Zealand, were on the right side of history." - Jacinda Ardern, Third Reading of the Zero Carbon Bill ...
Darroch Ball, New Zealand First List MP A Member’s bill has been proposed that would provide income tax exemptions for all New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) personnel while on operational deployment overseas. The Income Tax (Exemption for Salary or Wages of NZDF Members on Active Deployment) Amendment Bill proposed by New Zealand First ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have brought common sense to the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill, which passed its final reading in Parliament today. Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says months of hard work went into negotiating a balanced ...
Jenny Marcroft MP, Spokesperson for Health New Zealand First has listened to calls to recognise paramedics as registered health professionals under the Health Practitioners’ Competence Assurance Act (the Act).Today, the Coalition Government announced plans for paramedics to be registered as health practitioners under the Act, and the establishment of a ...
We began the week by commemorating the New Zealand Wars and celebrating a major increase in the number of teachers. Then, we were busy supporting offenders into work and getting our rail back on track after years of underinvestment. And that's just the start! ...
In October I was sworn in as the Mayor of Lower Hutt.It’s the privilege of my life to serve Hutt people as their Mayor. There is something really special to be able to serve the community where I was raised, and where I live. ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Racing Racing Minister Winston Peters met with Korea Racing Authority Chairperson Nak Soon Kim in Seoul today to discuss closer cooperation between the New Zealand and Korean horse racing industries. As part of the visit to the Seoul Racecourse, Mr Peters witnessed ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing $10 million to establish Otago as the centre of New Zealand’s creative digital industry over the next ten years, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “The initiative will bring us closer to the vision of ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)’s skills and employment programme will help young Otago people into long-term forestry careers, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. Te Ara Mahi will invest $63,000 in the 2020 school year to support eight 17 and 18 ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will support local plans to revitalise and stimulate economic development opportunities in Otago, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The four Regional Economic Development Ministers have approved an in-principle investment of $19.9 million towards the region’s ...
Mark Patterson, Spokesperson for Primary Industries New Zealand First is pleased to have received the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) report on the Coalition Government’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication efforts, which shows significant progress in the fight against the disease. New Zealand First Spokesperson for Primary Industries, Mark Patterson, says the report’s findings ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development Hon David Parker, Minister for Trade and Export Growth The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is investing to support economic growth opportunities for Otago’s engineering and manufacturing sectors, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Trade and Export Minister David Parker announced today. Almost $20 million ...
Eleven men from a pilot forestry training programme for prisoners in Northland now have full time jobs or job offers upon release, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis and Forestry Minister Shane Jones announced today. The ‘release to work’ programme was a collaboration between Te Uru Rākau and the Department of Corrections, ...
Minister of State Services Chris Hipkins today introduced into Parliament a Bill that will make it easier for the public service to tackle the biggest challenges facing Governments. The Bill represents the most significant change in the public service in 30 years. The State Sector Act 1988 will be repealed ...
The families of more than 416,000 students will be better off next year as their schools have signed up to the Government’s donations scheme, Education Minister Chris Hipkins said today. The scheme will see almost $62.5 million in additional Government funding go to schools nationwide next year. “I’m really pleased ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced further support as the Government of Samoa responds to a serious measles outbreak. “New Zealand will deploy a further 18 vaccination nurses, bringing the total to 30 working in Samoa over the next four weeks,” Mr Peters said. “A New Zealand Medical Assistance ...
Fa’atalofa atu, malo e lelei, Kia ora koutou katoa Thank you to the Child Poverty Action Group for asking me to be here today to provide an update on some of the things that have been happening across my the social development portfolio. Can I firstly acknowledge the vast ...
***Please check against delivery*** Good morning everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning to open this year’s New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Conference and AGM. Firstly, thank you Dr Alan Jackson, NZTR Chair for your introduction. And let us acknowledge also: The NZTR Board; Dean McKenzie, Chair ...
The Government has delivered on its promise to the over one million New Zealanders who now rent to make it fairer and more secure, Associate Minister of Housing (Public Housing) Kris Faafoi has announced today. Both renters and landlords will benefit from the suite of practical changes to the Residential ...
A marine conservation milestone - the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve - is being celebrated today at a community event in Tairāwhiti/East Coast attended by the Minister of Conservation, Eugenie Sage. “The creation of this marine reserve in November 1999 was a game ...
The Government is asking the food industry to step up work to tackle obesity including reducing sugar, fat and salt in their products, better information for consumers, and tighter restrictions on advertising to children. Health Minister David Clark and Food Safety Minister Damien O’Connor have responded to a ...
ew, modern emergency department and outpatient facilities at Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital mean better emergency care for the growing tourist mecca’s visitors and locals, says Health Minister David Clark. Today Dr Clark officially opened the hospital’s redeveloped Emergency Department and Outpatient facilities. The new facilities include: • An extended Emergency Department ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter says today’s release of sexual and reproductive health data reinforces the significance of the Government’s commitment to providing free or very low-cost contraception. The Ministry of Health today published statistics from the Ministry of Health’s 2014/15 Health Survey. “It is important people can make ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced that at the request of the Samoan Government, New Zealand will be providing further support to Samoa as it faces a worsening measles outbreak. “In response to a request from the people of Samoa, New Zealand is providing 3000 measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) ...
“The new Disability Action Plan 2019–2023 moves us towards the inclusive and accessible New Zealand that this government has committed to,” Minister for Disability Issues Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “The Action Plan was designed by disabled people, their family and supporters, the disability sector and government agencies. It will ensure ...
Third Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting 14 November 2019 Joint Statement 1. Defence Ministers Ron Mark and Dr Ng Eng Hen today conducted their third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Singapore. 2. Building on the Enhanced Partnership signed between both countries in May this year, this annual meeting ...
A Bill to improve the court system’s response to sexual violence has passed its first reading in Parliament today. Justice Minister Andrew Little says the Sexual Violence Legislation Bill will reduce the trauma sexual violence complainants experience in court, while maintaining defendants’ fundamental rights and making sure the trial process ...
Streamlined payment practices are a step closer for Kiwi businesses with the formal launch of New Zealand’s e-Invoicing framework. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash says the government has now established the structure to enable automated and direct data exchange between the accounting systems of buyers and sellers. “The move to ...
Another 51 quarantine officers and four new biosecurity detector dog teams will help protect New Zealand from invasive pests and diseases this summer, says Biosecurity Minister Damien O’Connor. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to strengthen New Zealand’s biosecurity system and support our valuable primary sector “New Zealand’s flora, fauna ...
A new report has found New Zealand’s space sector contributed $1.69 billion to the economy in the last financial year and employs 12,000 people, Minister for Economic Development Phil Twyford announced today. The report by Deloitte was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and shows New Zealand ...
Judge Coral Shaw has been appointed as the new Chair of the Royal Commission into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. "Judge Shaw, who is currently one of the inquiry commissioners, is extremely well qualified for the ...
The Government has confirmed its third major mental health facility upgrade since the Budget, this time at Palmerston North Hospital. The Prime Minister and Health Minister today visited MidCentral DHB to announce that $30 million has been allocated to upgrade its acute mental health facility. It follows earlier announcements in ...
The roll out of the National Bowel Screening Programme has reached the halfway mark, with 10 out of 20 District Health Boards now part of the programme. MidCentral DHB, which covers Palmerston North, Manawatu and surrounding districts, this week became the latest to DHB to offer free bowel screening to ...
The Government welcomes PHARMAC’s decision to fund a vaccine to protect young people from meningococcal disease from 1 December this year. “Meningococcal disease is a serious threat which people at higher risk should be protected from,” says Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter. “The combined pharmaceutical budget was increased by ...
Groups involved with innovative fisheries research projects are encouraged to apply for government support in the latest funding round from the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures programme. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the SFF Futures funding is designed to be flexible enough to support small or large projects across a ...
The Government has fixed an issue affecting how Immigration New Zealand has processed visa applications for culturally arranged marriages, which will now see a consistent process applied which ensures people with legitimate arranged marriages can visit New Zealand while also preventing any rorting of the system. Earlier this year Immigration ...
The Royal Commission into the Attacks on Christchurch Mosques will report back on 30 April 2020 to give it more time to hear submissions and consider information, Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The Royal Commission was originally scheduled to report back to Government by 10 December 2019. “There has ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Washington DC today to attend a ministerial meeting focused on defeating ISIS, and to continue pursuing New Zealand’s trade opportunities. Mr Peters will participate in a meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers from key countries contributing to the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. ...
The recently crowned Bird of the Year, the hoiho/yellow eyed penguin, is getting a much needed helping hand alongside more than 168 other community conservation projects announced Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage today. 168 community conservation projects throughout New Zealand are benefiting from $8 million in government grants, including $500,000 ...
Controls on assault rifles and semi-automatic firearms are to be broadened to include some types of pistols, under changes to a bill currently making its way through Parliament. Police Minister Stuart Nash has tabled a Supplementary Order Paper to the Arms Legislation Bill, which is currently before a Select Committee ...
Minister of Defence Ron Mark will travel to Singapore today to conduct a counterpart visit and to co-chair the third annual Singapore-New Zealand Defence Ministers’ Meeting with his counterpart, Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen. “Singapore is one of our most important defence partners in the region, and our ...
Nelson’s Salisbury School is to be rebuilt, creating a modern and suitable learning environment for students at the residential special school, Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Tracey Martin announced today. The school for girls aged 8-15, in Richmond, was earmarked for closure by National until the process ...
The panel undertaking a comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act has identified the main issues to be addressed and options for reform and is calling for feedback to inform its final report. In July the Government announced the comprehensive review of the resource management system, including the RMA - ...
An important safety valve has been added to New Zealand’s criminal justice system with the third reading of the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill today. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) will investigate claimed miscarriages of justice. “We’ve seen how our justice system can very occasionally get things spectacularly wrong, ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters welcomes the tabling of the Racing Industry Transition Agency (RITA) 2019 Annual Report in Parliament today. He says the 2019 Annual Report marks the point when New Zealand’s racing industry’s decline was arrested and a turnaround started. RITA’s 2019 Annual Report recorded an industry net profit ...
The New Zealand Government is today sending 21 firefighters to help fight the ongoing catastrophic Australian bushfires. “The fires in Australia are in some of the toughest, most challenging conditions ever,” says Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin. “As of yesterday morning, there were 100 active bushfire-related incidents across Queensland and ...
More frontline support for schools through a new education agency, as part of a redesigned Ministry of Education More support for principals and school boards including through a new centre of leadership and local leadership advisor roles New independent disputes panels for parents and students Management of school property ...
The Government’s reform of the Tomorrow’s Schools system is a watershed moment in education and an opportunity to create meaningful change for ākonga Māori and their whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis said today. “Last year through Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation, Māori teachers, parents, ākonga, whānau, hapū and iwi ...
Infrastructure Minister is welcoming the first of many updated project pipelines from the newly established New Zealand Infrastructure Commission today. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga, has released an expanded pipeline of major capital projects – another crucial step towards delivering better infrastructure outcomes. “The first iteration of the ...
Tougher gun laws designed to improve public safety through firearms prohibition orders are proposed in a new document released for public input. Police Minister Stuart Nash says firearms prohibition orders (FPOs) would give new powers to Police to ensure high-risk individuals come nowhere near firearms. “We have already prohibited the ...
Andy Coupe has been confirmed as TVNZ’s new Board Chair. “Mr Coupe has strong commercial and capital markets experience and TVNZ has benefited from his technical knowledge of business and finance, as well as his extensive governance experience,” the Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media Kris Faafoi said. Andy ...
Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter today officially opened a separated pathway, following the completion of the Kaiwharawhara Stream bridge, which will improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians along Hutt Road. The $6.8m Hutt Road project provides a separated path for cycling and pedestrians, the replacement of informal parking ...
Chlöe Swarbrick’s “OK boomer” retort in Parliament has proved to be the spark that set alight a dry field of latent generational angst. The debate over the remark rolls on and on, revealing that generational warfare is a growing cleavage in New Zealand. Increasingly, political problems of housing, inequality, climate ...
Can the flagship Disney+ show The Mandalorian serve the Star Wars diehards at the same time as the casual viewer, asks Sam Brooks.A quick multiple-choice test to find out if The Mandalorian is for you or not.Q. Does the title The Mandalorian mean anything to you?A) No.B) Kind of? It’s definitely part of ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.NZ First Matt Shand (Stuff): NZ First Foundation dodging electoral rules? Records suggest breaches Matt ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is labelling the Government and Auckland Council cowards, for reportedly giving in to the thugs occupying privately owned Ihumātao and proposing to use taxpayer funds and Auckland Council to buy the land. Radio NZ is reporting ...
Auckland one of the worst cities in the world for public transport, road taxes according to new data; and substantial benefit hikes appear off the Government's agenda. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rochelle Einboden, Lecturer, The Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney In Victoria, 35 young people aged 12-17 years ended their lives by suicide between 2007 and 2019 – all were entangled in the child protection system. This was ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Haslam, Professor of Psychology and ARC Laureate Fellow, The University of Queensland The ABC’s Australia Talks project aims to stimulate a conversation on a broad sweep of topics — from job security and sexual habits to national pride and personal finances. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pep Canadell, Chief research scientist, CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere; and Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Nitrous oxide (N₂O) (more commonly known as laughing gas) is a powerful contributor to global warming. It is 265 times more effective at trapping heat in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hilary Hollingsworth, Principal Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research Australian teachers are in the thick of producing end-of-year reports. In many schools, the report writing process begins several weeks – or even months – before reports are eventually released. This process ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. (attributed to Danish physicist Niels Bohr) The difficulty of making predictions has long been known, but the rise of the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Claire Smith, Professor of Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University The Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory is dotted with around 300 termite mounds, dressed as people. They are reminiscent of giant, ochre coloured “snowmen” in their distinctly ...
Almost half a million dollars in political donations appear to have been hidden inside a secret slush fund controlled by a coterie of Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters’ trusted advisers. ...
Sources tell RNZ the Crown is considering loaning money to the council to buy the disputed land, with Fletcher seeking $40m - more than double what it paid in 2014. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Christchurch stadium funding in the spotlight, more trouble for NZ First, and medical students caught in rort.Construction hasn’t even come close to starting on the new Christchurch stadium and the money is looking shaky. Stuff’s Michael Hayward reports a business case is ...
New rental reforms aren’t about shafting landlords, they’re about requesting that those who built an industry around housing accept that with industry, comes regulation, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell. ...
Severe storm surges will get bigger around parts of the South Island and smaller around the North Island as the climate changes, two studies have now predicted. ...
Bernard Hickey visited E-Go’s electric car factory in Aachen, Germany to find how it used a 5G network to flip car-making on its head, and how it’s an example of what Industry 4.0 could look like in New Zealand. ...
Were Fonterra’s Open Gates events a shallow PR stunt, or was there something deeper going on? Alex Braae went to Mangatawhiri to find out.This feature is made possible thanks to the Spinoff Members Fund. We need your help to make journalism that matters. For more information, click here.Walking into the Fonterra ...
It was meant to ‘draw a line under the whole episode’. So how did it turn into an unmitigated PR disaster, asks former Edelman executive David Brain.The thing about the Royal Family is that everything they do is PR really. I mean in the old sense of image and spin. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University This past weekend, The New York Times’ China correspondents, Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy, published an expose of over 400 internal Chinese government documents relating to Beijing’s mass detentions of Uighurs, Kazakhs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Clarke, Associate Professor, National Security College, Australian National University This past weekend, The New York Times’ China correspondents, Chris Buckley and Austin Ramzy, published an expose of over 400 internal Chinese government documents relating to Beijing’s mass detentions of Uighurs, Kazakhs ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Janet Stanley, Associate professor/Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne It’s hard to comprehend why someone would deliberately light a bushfire. Yet this behaviour regularly occurs in Australia and other countries. We would go a long way to preventing ...
There are 540,000 dwellings in Auckland and 580,000 households. The result is misery no matter how you try to square things through tenancy regulation. ...
The PM says she's set a very clear expectation that the clearing of firing ranges in Afghanistan will be sped up, but says it's not possible to conclude NZ is responsible for civilian deaths. ...
A forestry company with close links to New Zealand First has revealed it applied for a $15 million loan from the Provincial Growth Fund, which is overseen by NZ First minister Shane Jones. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched a scathing attack on the Australian media for its coverage of China, denouncing “the nominally pious belchings of ‘do-gooder’ journalists” who live on leaks from security agencies. Keating ...
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Prince Andrew has spoken for the first time in public about his friendship with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. What did he say to create such a media storm, and how did he get into this mess in the first place? First thing’s first: who is Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew, Duke ...
Sam Brooks interviews the three guest curators of the New Zealand Festival of Arts: Bret McKenzie, Laurie Anderson and Lemi Ponifasio.An Oscar-winning Conchord, the world’s most beloved multimedia artist, and a world-renowned director and choreographer with an attitude. Three weeks, three unique visions of what a festival can and should ...
Plans are being put in place to increase methyl bromide monitoring following a theoretical modelling report about how the log fumigant disperses into the environment after use. ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Stokes, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Deakin University “To be dead,” wrote the 20th century French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, “is to be a prey for the living.” Even Sartre, though, would have struggled to imagine casting James Dean in a movie 64 ...
The Good Citizen podcast focuses on the way good design – and good people – can change cities for the better. In this episode, Jeremy Hansen talks to architect Richard Goldie about his bold idea for a partially submerged stadium on Auckland’s waterfront, a project that’s now a finalist in ...
Former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC has published two books with Andrew Butler calling for a written, codified constitution that sets out ‘in an accessible form and a single document the fundamental rules and principles under which New Zealand is to be governed’. A road trip and consultation attracted ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government hikes claims thresholds for bad landlords, increases ...
People with intellectual disabilities and their families are struggling to access support more than ever before, as the disability sector faces a now $574 million annual funding shortfall, says IHC. ...
The Labour-led coalition may have to generate a second wave of Jacindamania if it is to win another term in the Beehive. Re-election is not an impossible dream, despite the failure of Labour to deliver what many of those who voted for it in 2017 expected. Retiring Green MP Gareth Hughes ...
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Armed police represent a serious cause for concern, especially for the most vulnerable, writes the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation.The Mental Health Foundation has publicly condemned the police trial of special armed response teams patrolling three districts around New Zealand. We’re extremely worried these trials will result in ...
International crime rings are increasingly targeting New Zealanders’ bank accounts to launder proceeds from scams and fraud. Bronwyn Groot, Fraud Education Manager at the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) is highlighting the rising incidence ...
A just-released report shows that the food industry wants to stay in a business-as-usual mode with a few minor tweaks around the edges. In response, the New Zealand Government appeared comfortable with that approach, and provided no Government plans for comprehensive ...
New Zealand consumers will be left in the dark about foods grown in Australia that have been created using gene editing techniques. On the 13 November the Australian Senator Rice put up a motion to disallow, or overturn, the recently passed Gene Technology ...
As Aotearoa plans for festive season celebrations, The Salvation Army is preparing to make its house a home to hundreds of men, women and children who have nowhere else to stay. ...
Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants; and skilled immigrants waiting for a residents visa say its unfair officials are fast tracking applications for those on salaries over $105,000. ...
Standing with the farmers, New Conservative is committed to pushing back against the lunacy of the ETS and Carbon Zero commitments by this government. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tomas Trescak, Senior Lecturer in Intelligent Systems, Western Sydney University Just a few years ago, virtual reality (VR) was being showered with very real money. The industry raised an estimated US$900 million in venture capital in 2016, but by 2018 that figure ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rowena Maguire, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Institute for Future Environments, Queensland University of Technology Over the past two weeks, bushfires have raged across New South Wales and Queensland. While the narrative appears focused on potential causes and political point-scoring, what’s lost ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Davis, Chair of Women’s Health, Monash University At menopause, a woman’s ovaries lose their reproductive function. Eggs are no longer released and the production of the hormones oestrogen and progesterone falls. It’s the lowered levels of oestrogen after menopause that gives ...
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Open mike 14/10/2011 
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Time line released.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/rena-crisis/5783000/Funding-freeze-strands-Maritime-NZ
Note that it is not till Saturday that MNZ are reported to be -“reviewing draft salvage plan”.
This despite the Prime Minister telling the pollution affected people of Maketu:
Is this John Key’s most shocking lie yet?
Is John Key talking about some other plan?
If such another (draft, or full) plan does exist, will it be released?
When should the salvage plan have been completed and who should have written it?
Who gives a shit. There was 72 hours of good weather to make it all happen and NZ failed. The people in the Bay of Plenty and Mother Earth pay the price for that failure.
Any “Compensation” in the form of dollar notes is pathetic.
So what would you have done and when? What equipment would you have needed? Where would it have come from and how long would it have taken to get there? How many people would you need and how would you deploy them?
Not interested in your irrelevant hypothesizing now.
Your trick of trying to make ME come up with 101 answers now is a BS deflection from the fact that Joyce and Key dropped the ball for the first 72 hours.
Waiting for a private sector response, setting up little bird rescue stations and dispersing the first few tonnes of oil which spilt were a waste of time and effort during the first 72 hours.
I take that to mean you haven’t got a clue about what was done and what should have been done, and are more interested in chucking around ill informed slogans. Well at least you’ve finally admitted it. There’s hope for you yet.
I would suggest that they should have a number of different plans, and when news of the grounding hit they should have been adapting the most suitable one to the specific circumstances. And shipping equipment for the more serious contingencies on that day, given that the likelihood of the worst case scenario increases exponentially once the ship actually hits rocks or the rig catches fire.
So the plan review should probably have been done on Thursday.
Whether this is a resource issue (govt fault), an department failure (slightly less of a govt fault, dept fault), best practise (communication failure -govt&dept fault), or simply a paradigm shift needed for new circumstances, I guess all that will come out in the wash.
Unlike the oil.
I expect they will have a number of scenarios scoped out. you have your overall strategic response that puts in place all your command tree and your decision making principles, but you can only draw up your specific response plan as you go, because each situation is so different – dealing with a grounded ship leaking oil may be very different from a mobile ship with a similar leak. But the specific plan will be done within the broad principles of a ‘grounded ship leaking oil’ plan linked to you general ‘oil on beach’ plan etc. That’s on the oil pollution side.
The salvage plan is quite different again and it needs a professional salvor, and they have to first be appointed then brought in to examine the vessel and the resources available before they can develop it. ANd it has to complement the MNZ plan – not much point MNZ plan assuming a ship recovery when the salvor says it can’t be done, or the salvor saying offload the containers adn fuel when there is no capacity to do it.
The point being that in any complex plan there are a number of things that can be done while other parts have yet to take affect.
Especially if there are a limited range of options to choose from.
This situation seemed to have been at the mercy of a rather linear thought process.
And the gospel according to DPF in the Granny herald, is that the ship was deliberately steered onto the reef… Jezuz what a Troll he is.
Of course from what we know the Rena was not blown off course, but deliberately steered into a well known and marked reef. The captain and first officer have already been charged with offences.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10758985
It was deliberately steered into the reef, only not in the way you are interpreting. The ship was on a deliberate course, and it just so happened that they didn’t know that the reef was there, or knew it was there but forgot to avoid it (i’m tending towards the first option).
so as the captain was in charge of the ship, you can actually say that it was deliberately steered into the reef, as they were steering the ship on a deliberate course at the time it hit.
This logic seems like a BS word game.
eg
I’m ‘deliberately’ driving a car around a corner when I accidentally hit and kill a 4 year old standing there on the road in the blind spot.
The courts will recognise that as manslaughter not DELIBERATE murder.
Just because I am ‘deliberately’ cornering at the time, does not then mean I that I ‘deliberately’ killed the kid.
No deliberately means it went where it was DELIBERATELY aimed. There is no interpretation to deliberate. It means it was planned. And I don’t think the Captain and Crew got up that morning and said “I know lets hit a reef”. So Spin that away.
OK, I’ll put it another way. It was DELIBERATELY piloted on a course that just happened to put it on an accidental collision course with a reef.
Which is entirely different from Farrars “deliberately steered into a … reef”.
The difference is that “deliberate” conveys intent. It means you’ve thought about what to do, considered your options, and decided what action to take.
In Farrar’s sentence the Captain’s intent is not simply to steer the ship (which was your first interpretation) but to steer the ship into a reef.
He really is a horrible little man.
Yeah and they censored my reply to him, where I said he was Donkeys ass kisser. Which he is.
The ship is is insured for US 4.2 billion dollars with a sub limit of about US 1 billion dollars for a pollution event , thats a lot of incentive , backhanders anyone ?
The ship is worth 4.2 Billion? Must have some pretty nice cabins
With the over supply of container ships and the global down turn in trade means that a lot of ships over 18 years old go to scrap , scrapping prices have been falling as well .
This ship has been insured for 4.2 billion , second hand or as scrap it would fetch no where near this price .
I think you might want to cvhange your billion to a million.
That came from the Herald article this morning
You’ve misread it. That is not what the ship is worth, that is their public liability insurance value. Like you having a $5k car with comp insurance, it will pay out yours up to 5k, but if you hit someone’s Ferrari, it will pay them a lot more.
$4.2M?
That’s the purchase price of 25 Ministerial BMWs. Might need a bit more cover than that.
The insurance guys are going to do a lot of looking around before they cut a cheque for $4B.
I think a 20% Christchurch tax is in order there…
And so they should , meanwhile the bay pays the price
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY WITH THOSE OCCUPYING WALL STREET AGAINST THE BANK$TERS!
TOMORROW!
SATURDAY 15 OCTOBER 2011
AUCKLAND
3PM
ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE BRITOMART!
Please ditribute as widely as possible
Please come yourself and bring family, friends and placards. Let’s show that people and the planet must come before corporate greed. Join the march against corporate greed and in solidarity with the thousands who are occupying Wall Street.
Right now the Government and the Rena’s shipping owners need a very loud public message that many NZer’s are very angry about the unnecessary grounding and the subsequent environmental disaster caused by the Rena’s grounding on the Astrolabe Reef. This disaster is the tragic story of corporate greed, and neo-liberal policies that have reduced safety regulation, structures and resources to less than minimal, and the use of cheap workers.
Join the Auckland March
This Saturday 15th October
Assemble 3.00pm
Britomart at the bottom of Queen Street
March to Aotea Square
GPJA #379: SAT OCT 15 – OCCUPY AOTEAROA – “WE ARE THE 99%” – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
by gpjanz
GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND NEWSLETTER No. 397, October 12, 2011
OCCUPY AOTEAROA SATURDAY OCTOBER 15 – “WE ARE THE 99%” – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
The time has come to show your support for injustices against the New Zealand people and the crimes of the Government! Let us unite and stand as one and show the world what we can do! We stand in solidarity with the Wall St Protesters and the many other protesters standing around the world that say 1% will not continue to steal from the 99%, which is happening right now. NZ is being stripped NOW! EMPOWER YOURSELF! You are the one you have been waiting for! There will be change. There will be justice! Inspired by Occupy Wall Street http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution
AUCKLAND https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=200962876639610
WELLINGTON http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Wellington-Nz/253279161382607
CHRISTCHURCH https://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Christchurch/122557837848947
DUNEDIN http://www.facebook.com/pages/Occupy-Dunedin/141220149310691
_______________________________________________________________________
Forwarded by Penny Bright
Independent Public Watchdog
Candidate for Epsom
Why they are angry:
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1
I received this today – anyone able to comment on the authenticity? If this is really happening will the media report it?
“Note that it is not till Saturday that MNZ are reported to be -”reviewing draft salvage plan”.
This despite the Prime Minister telling the pollution affected people of Maketu:
A national plan for such disasters had been put into action the moment the ship hit the reef
John Key
Is this John Key’s most shocking lie yet?
Is John Key talking about some other plan?
If such another (draft, or full) plan does exist, will it be released?”
I think you will find that the national plan is a broad response plan, while the draft which was being reviewed was one specific to the ship as produced by the salver.
I believe the national plan has been insufficient in that there was to little response in the immediate days after the spill to contain any spilt oil or to move to protect environmentally sensitive spots like Maketu estuary. Live capture of endangered doterils (sp)etc should have begun immediately and a beach clean up effort with gear put in place and planned from the get go.
I can understand that pumping the oil off etc isn’t something that can happen straight away as it needed to be heated to allow it to flow. Which you don’t really want to do until you are sure that the tank you are heating isn’t holed as warm fluid oil will flow out much faster than cold Vegemite like stuff. I also understand that some pipes etc need repair to allow this.
Technical work like this is far better left to the experts which in this case are the salvers, than having bureaucrats and politicians putting an oar in.
This is exactly where an potential rescue went wrong at Pike…..
MNZ should have that expertise and should also be the salvers that go in and start the salvage ASAP rather than waiting for the captain to contact the ships owners, who’ll contact the insurers, who”l then contact some salvers who will then try and decide what to do. That process wastes time.
Herald cartoon Nails it today!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/news-cartoons/news/article.cfm?c_id=500814&objectid=10758879
MSM excels again.
Nothing like a journalist asking patsy questions and “… I expect you are disappointed in the politicising of this, Minister…?
WTF? Good old Geoff. He really should stick to Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Joyce spun like a top this morning, weaving an amazing web and Geoff agreed that they had done all that they could have done.
However, according to the latest despatches, the plan is to pump from tomorrow.
So in 24 hours, under much tougher conditions, they can install external heaters and pumps, and start extraction.
How does that compare with Joyce’s answers this morning.
Well Wednesday at 6 am he receives a call advising of the stranding. He could have requested/directed that they start discharging oil as soon as possible. If the ship responded that their machinery was U/S, then shore based heaters and pumps could have been despatched, and on Thursday they would have been pumping… (24 hours after stranding, just like today’s action)
Yeah it is getting to the stage where they just need a few ads for panel beaters and some Taylor Swift songs.
Oh, and the ugly New Zealander has emerged in Tauranga it seems, with a Filipino shopkeeper being abused and some of the Rena crew being flown out allegedly due to fears for their safety.
Racist targeting by legitimately angry people, but misguided.
Yes I agree it is misguided TM. I initially thought this could be MSM spin to distract from the deeper blame but with the guilty plea of the woman who set her dogs on asian people in christchurch, and the continued racism displayed daily in this country I feel it is probably true. Very sad.
The nationality of the crew should not have been made public as it has nothing to do with the wreck.
MNZ Misinformed on Corexit
MNZ breached the manufacturers guidelines by spraying a large amount of Corexit close to shore, where it can have an adverse effect on inhabitants. They failed to check if the dispersant would be effective prior to application and have not adequately informed the public of the health risks from Corexit 9500…
What is obvious is that the larget port in New Zealand and probably the second largest port in NZ Auckland does not have a crisis responce plan or adequate large equipment including oil absorbant booms to deal with any reasonabley sizesd oil spill. One would think that it was only a matter of time before a major spill happened. And now it just has.
Some “billboards” you can send to friends and foes
If ACT Party is National’s bitch, that needed a makeover and stood up to National over
covert surveilance, then what does that make Epson residents who vote ACT?
Just poor management to get into a situation
where someone cries discrimination, even worse
that MSM urges them on by shouting its okay
to discriminate sometimes. Immoral, Unethical
meets poor management, poor leadership, so NZ.
Set the bar low, then lower it, cheer, then stamp
a brand, oh NZ fair and balanced.
France: Far right capitalises on euro crisis.
Quoting article:
Oh dear, this guy really doesn’t understand who the RWNJs work for does he?
.
Radio Works decision reveals …
… a big fat zero
Labour’s complaint about the PM hosting a non-political hour of talkback on Radio Live. is rejected on every ground argued and the BSA concludes:
…even if this programme were held to be an election programme, which we do not consider it was, it would not have breached any of the standards raised by the complainant.
One assumes that the next great leap in liberal logic will be to denounce the BSA decision as more evidence of aVast Right Wing and Non-Labour Left Wing conspiracy …
That finding was obvious from the start, but of course that didn’t stop Labour activists from instantly engaging in an exercise of guilt on (their own) accusation – as Eddie’s headline falsely claimed: “Key broke law on radio show“.
The Electoral Commission is not the BSA.
Find out what each is responsible for, if you want to stop looking foolish.
Who said it wasn’t? You seem to think being right is foolish.
Commenting on the BSA, you linked to a post which has nothing to do with the BSA. The allegation of breaking the law relates to … the law. Not broadcasting standards. So your allegation of “falsely claiming” is meaningless, pending a finding on the law.
Read the post you linked to, and the several links within it, from Graeme Edgeler, if you really want to understand the law. But then, that’s not why you’re here, is it?
Ok let’s take this nice & slow.
1. You will find that Eddie’s post quotes the definition of “election programme” from the Broadcasting Act.
2. Eddie’s post links to Graeme’s post, also on the Broadcasting Act and the definition of “election programme”.
3. If you then look at the BSA decision, you will see under the heading “Findings”, it says:
Any questions?
Key would never have gotten an invite if he wasn’t PM, who wants
to talk to some snide yuppy who made it big in counting numbers.
The BSA also said:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5784939/DJ-Key-is-OK-says-BSA
“It became clear to the authority that the legislation should be interpreted as overt or explicit encouragement or persuasion to vote in a particular way rather than incidentally or consequently amounting to encouragement or persuasion.”
The mere presence of Key did not make it an election programme under current law.
This indicates that there is some room to consider whether the current law is adequate. The law seems to assume that electioneering is a process of explicitly saying “vote for us because”. But it is pretty obvious that National’s main election strategy is to promote brand Key rather than to foreground National’s policy and performance. In fact, National’s strategy is to promote Key through photo ops and positive associations, and to avoid anything too negative associated with Key.
Joe Bloggs needs a great leap in reading comprehension skills:
We can of course see that some political advantage will accrue to the Prime Minister and the party to which he belongs from exposures of this kind. It is not for us to say whether this should or should not be permitted; we are required to deal with the law as it stands.
The word “of course” should have helped you there, Joe. It’s kind of a giveaway.
The BSA confirms that the broadcast was political propaganda, but says their hands are tied.
Yeah, damn that thing called “the law” that “ties the hands” of the BSA from just going around making up rulings against people.
I note you do not dispute the BSA finding, that Key’s programme was about “political advantage”. I agree.
Yes I do agree. It is exactly what I said the other day.
And it also confirms that Labour made a strategic blunder by filing a hopeless complaint, when what they should have done was lobby for a slot for Phil. Which I also said I supported, and would probably have been advantageous to Phil, who I think would come across well in that sort of setting.
But as I said, it’s an own-goal by Labour here.
No, filing a complaint has drawn to public/media attention that the law is inadequate and that Key gained some advantage from the broadcast
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/88274/bsa-clears-prime-minister's-radio-show
Nope, more of an own goal for National and MW. The finding that the show was political shows that law, as it presently stands, is broken which has now been highlighted by Labours actions. This will reflect badly on Key/National because people will see it as him using his position as PM for political advantage and MW will be seen as politically biased possibly due to National loaning them $43m of our money as it did not offer the same advantage to every other party leader.
A republican monarchy ?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/tom-nairn/republican-monarchy-england-and-revolution?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=201210&utm_campaign=0
[Bunji: off-topic, moved to OpenMike]
Did i hear right on TV3 news last night?
I noted someone with a bulldozer trying to pull containers/stuff up the beach and they where told to stop because they did not have a correct safety plan or something like that.
Could this be government gone mad?
Yes I heard that too. Bizarre.
I don’t think it is this govt gone mad – it is the accumulation of generations of H&S regulation and generally that has been a good thing. That said, who knows what was in the container. WHat if they broke it open and it tipped something nasty onto the beach? Would the guy with the bulldozer be willing to pay to clean it up?
To anyone with experience as a rigger hauling a container with a bulldozer without a safety plan sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Citing an old riggers adage, the biggest strop may not be the best simply because it may not be big enough.
logie..you right dude. poor geoff. they talk about bullying but it comes from the top down doesn’t it. Nobody gets a chance till its been through their vetting machine. they self appointed gatekeepers for the tories but they claim to be objective. more malice in blunderland stuff, isnt it. He should retire and get a job on radio skawkback where he would be right at home with the used car salesman types, shouldnt he.
It’s the usual for this Govt all chiefs and NO indians.
Just to be pedantic…since the Rena grounding I have wondered if all these years I had been mispronouncing ASTROLABE.
Every journo and pollie has been pronouncing it ASTRO LAB.
Today it finally got to me so I checked it on the interweb –
It is pronounced as-truh-leyb.
Just a bit grumpy-old-man but we must have standards! Next people will be parking across two spaces, pulling out of supermarket aisles without looking and overusing the word “ackchully”
Apparantly that is what the locals call it, according to RNZ, so they are following that pronunciation – a bit like Al -b’ney instead of Awl-b’ney.
Course the media are very selective on their application of this rule and are quite happy to impose their centralised view of what is correct when it suits – cf. Wanagnui, Waikouaiti, or Hakatere
Never took you for a post-modern, localist, relativist Insider.
I see you in a whole new way now.
Interesting.
BTW, that’s “apparently” not “apparantly” – or is that the way they spell it round your way?
Suddenly, meeting National Standards gets a whole lot easier. After all, I’m sure it is not intended to “impose their centralised view of what is correct when it suits”.
It was just my lazy fingers PG. PS, you missed Wanagnui..
As an aside, Aaaavondale or Avondale? 😉
Avonda-lé. More classier. 😀
“PS, you missed Wanagnui..”
And, on World Standards Day too … even the pedants (like me – that’s ‘ped – ants‘ not ‘pee dance‘) are getting sloppy.
At this rate I’ll start thinking that I understand John Key’s statements … 🙂
“As an aside, Aaaavondale or Avondale?”
Apparently, it’s ‘a-van-dal’ – and it has to be said with an American accent
P.S. – I couldn’t find how to put in the ‘long a’ symbol in ‘dal’
I’ve always used a short ‘a’ which is the way they call the Auckland suburb and aligned with the Welsh pronunciation of Avon but I’ve noticed in Chch they use the long A which is the English Avon. You’re a cantab, whcih is it?
Down here it’s Aaavandale (yes, van). But I hope any radio announcer uses its correct pronunciation.
Also, did you hear David Farrar and whoever was on the Panel – a couple of nights ago – with him going on about people’s problems with ‘pronOUNCiation’? I love the irony of that.
Verbal equivalent of Muphrey’s Law.
I think that’s ‘Muphry’s Law’.
But, then, you’re clever enough to mean your misspelling 🙂
Haha! Not in this case, quite wonderfully.
🙂
Even better
Just a bit grumpy-old-man but we must have standards! Next people will be parking across two spaces, pulling out of supermarket aisles without looking and overusing the word “ackchully”
And spelling EpsoM as EpsoN as I’ve sen a couple of times lately on The Standard.
I see John Keys showing his true colours in the Dompost this morning, wasnt he. First of all he demeaned Phill goff for rolling up his shirt sleeves and getting stuck in and then he used a dubyaism. i.e. “there are no silver clouds”. what does that mean? The subtext is that he only knows how to count other peoples money and using language that conveys any nuance or recondite meaning is foreign territory for a money manque. He should get a life.
The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism
Scientific skepticism is healthy. In fact, science by its very nature is skeptical. Genuine skepticism means considering the full body of evidence before coming to a conclusion. However, when you take a close look at arguments expressing climate ‘skepticism’, what you often observe is cherry picking of pieces of evidence while rejecting any data that don’t fit the desired picture. This isn’t skepticism. It is ignoring facts and the science.
The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism looks at both the evidence that human activity is causing global warming and the ways that climate ‘skeptic’ arguments can mislead by presenting only small pieces of the puzzle rather than the full picture.
Yeah, we’ve been trying to tell the climate change “skeptics” that for awhile now.
Surprised no-ones posted this yet:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5775355/Govt-confirms-ACC-levy-cuts-to-go-ahead
So what was that about ACC being in a crisis again?…
I think you’ll find it has experienced a miraculous recovery due to National’s magical management of the economy.
*head explodes*
The contradictions inherent in that truly art a Lovecroftian mind destroy horror…
Yeah, it was noticed. Doesn’t seem to have made a big splash though probably because of the RWC and then the Rena shambles.
Nats promise wholesale ACC privatisation
Definition of madness no?
Might have to jump into that comment thread actually (after sleep/coffee), for the stupid burning bright is such an attractive delight.
For cluebat practice that is.
As In Vino Veritas is truly full of shit on the 12B liabilities issue.
Just in http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10758841
Am I alone in thinking a one year ban is a slap on the wrist with a wet bus ticket? The bloke is a liar and a criminal!
Still no news on Goffs Christmas undertaking to buy a gem. Hope that this was not another example of hollow utterings from a leader of a political party. All promises but no delivery.
Especially as there are now few unblemished areas within the east coast of the coromandel this becomes even more valuable to NZ inc.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/politics/government-must-preserve-new-chums-beach-labour/5/76271
http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/01/04/preserve-new-chum-wainuiototo-beach-for-everyone/
Just heard Barry Corbett on The Panel. His ‘what am I thinking about’ was a warning to ‘politicians’ not to ‘moan’.
He then detailed two examples of how Labour has been moaning – Darien Fenton’s comment about Peter Leitch on Facebook and Phil Goff (and Labour’s) complaint over the PM’s hour.
Corbett waxed lyrical about Peter Leitch and then said he thought the PMs hour was just an ‘interesting’ bit of radio and not political. He then mentioned how Geoffrey Palmer had hosted an hour of his breakfast show in 1989. When Mora – or maybe Bruce Slane – raised the question of timing, Corbett said it was just before Moore took over. Odd that, I thought Moore took over a matter of weeks before the November (?) election in 1990 (not 1989).
He strongly criticised Labour – Fenton and Goff by name – for moaning – calling them “moaners”. Defamatory?
So far as I could detect there was no ‘balance’ – just a targetted and prolonged attack on Fenton, Goff and Labour in general.
Obviously his days as a guest on The Panel are now numbered.
Don’t be holding your breath on that one PG.
I never hold my breath when I’m waiting for consistent responses.
The audio is here here
Starts about 3min29s in. He tries to dress it up as ‘advice to politicians’.
Here we go. League tables for Early Childhood.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/5786367/More-childcare-centre-information-for-parents-Nats
Rena’s Inventory Request
On Wednesday 12 October, I sent an email to Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) formally requesting under the Official Information Act 1982 a copy of the MV Rena’s inventory. I made my request because of the differing stories authorities had been telling us about what Rena is carrying…
Sorry I put this item first on weekend social. Got the date right but turned up at the wrong place. Woe is me. Perhaps the social post one could be wiped – it’s not the sort of thing to lighten your heart and encourage a smile.
Der Spiegel has a damning report on Austrian poltical and financial bigwigs. Selling off government property and getting kickbacks, etc etc. The right wing free market neo liberals whatever don’t seem to be able to keep their scheming greedy luxury power and money-obssessed brains under control.
They must have voice activated dictation machines by their beds in case they come up with a new idea in their dreams and utter some choice clues as to new ways of wringing the money out of other people’s hands and pockets And where is the payoff for the rest of us whose minds are too pedestrian for such convoluted diabolical schemes?
Wealthy TVNZ execs pay themselves more while firing staff
Stop the 1%.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10758828
Campbell Live have revealed another wrinkle in the Rena debate.
I think the time line goes:
– NZ needed to update it’s legislation based on 1976 arrangements regarding compensation.
– Someone wrote to Annette King about this being over looked.
– A 2008 select committee forwarded the necessary legislation to the house (which I assume to mean Annette King tool heed of the problem).
– Then came the election.
– Steven Joyce takes over as minister.
– The legislation drops down the list of priority and nothing is done, (probably boy racer legislation that has never been used was more important!)
– Rena runs a ground and we lose the opportunity of another $17 mil in compensation.
Another failure of ministerial responsibility?
How much of our money has this government pissed away and sacked people to cover it?
How many other pieces of useless legislation was rushed through in urgency ahead of this one?
VSM and three strikes were clearly more important.
John Key’s Challenge
On Wednesday 12th October, John Key challenged all of the people who think the Government’s response to the Rena disaster was too slow to put up or shut up.
What does that even mean?
Phil Heatley, Minister of Fisheries, is not content with just allowing parts of the Ross sea to be fished so he has decided to lift the set net ban in an area at the top of the South Island which is frequented by the endangered Hector’s dolphins.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5787628/Lifting-of-set-net-ban-endangers-dolphin
I have just written my second email to him this week. ( p.heatley@ministers.govt.nz )
The Pike mining and the Rena disaster plus the leaky homes are the result of National Party policies.It was the Nats whe deregulated shipping and through the Employment Contract Act decimated Unions thus allowing these rust buckets in to,our ports. It was the Nats who allowed untreated timber and deregulated the building codes and it was the Nats who reduced the number of mining inspectors . The unsafe conditions now being made public in Pike mine would never have happened if we still had strong unions. Now they are spending more time trying to get photo opportunities that trying to clean up this oil polluted beach. As have said before who the hell votes for these bastards
allowing these rust buckets in to,our ports.
Not entirely fair to characterise the Rena as a ‘rust bucket’. Oddly enough it would appear that the owner and operators of the Rena, Costamare Shipping Company, would seem to be one of the more reputable operators. The ship has visited the Port of Tauranga many times before and has been regularly inspected by MNZ.
Until the exact cause of this grounding is known I’m not sure I’d want to get too high and mighty about the ship itself. What does interest me is the crew operation. Clearly something has gone badly wrong at the command level and there will be a systemic reason for this.
The NZ Maritime Union has already pointed out the dangers inherent in the long hours and poor conditions these Filipino seamen have been forced to work under; conditions that would be entirely unacceptable to any Western crew. It’s my betting this will prove the root cause.
Desprate people, unpaid, take bribes allegdely to scuttle businesses. In the finance
industy those bribe might be known as bonuses.