Open mike 15/01/2020

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 am, January 15th, 2020 - 63 comments
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63 comments on “Open mike 15/01/2020 ”

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  1. Jenny How to get there 1
    15 January 2020 at 7:19 am

    Visit Australia, see the climate destroying politicians. Visit the amazing disappearing Great Barrier Reef, wonder at the world's biggest new coal mine. Join the interactive online campaign to blame the Greens for the bush fires.

    AUSTRALIA WILDFIRES: PM URGES TOURISTS TO KEEP VISITING AMID ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS

    Cathy Adams, The Independent, 8 Jan. 2020

    The Australian prime minister has urged tourists to continue visiting the country despite the deadly wild fires that have so far killed 26 people.

    “Australia is open, Australia is still a wonderful place to come and bring your family and enjoy your holidays,” Scott Morrison told local reporters on Kangaroo Island in the state of South Australia, which has been particularly badly hit by the blazes…..

    https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/australia-wildfires-travel-advice-safe-scott-morrison-state-emergency-a9275291.html

    Be photographed comforting a singed koala.

    Fun for all the family

    • Jenny How to get there 1.1
      15 January 2020 at 7:35 am

      The politics around the Australian bush fires is almost beyond parody.

      The absurdity of extreme Australian bush fire politics is totally out of hand

      Shannon Molloy, NZ Herald, 13 Jan, 2020

      …..I wrote a story on Wednesday about the volume of misinformation and bizarre conspiracies about the bushfires circulating online…..

      …..An academic I spoke to explained how some of these theories begin and spread, but the bulk of the story was devoted to the views of a decorated firefighter named Drew.

      Drew sought to "myth bust" some of the common ones, including environmentalists blocking backburning efforts and that climate change plays no role longer, hotter and more unpredictable seasons.

      For that effort, I was accused by many of inventing the firefighter – that he doesn't exist and is a character in my own warped narrative – because I didn't include his last name.

      I didn't, at his request, because he anticipated a flurry of abuse and trolling from certain groups. He was right…..

      …..My favourite email was from one climate change denier kindly described me as a "soy boy f****t" in bed with environmentalists to push some leftie agenda.

      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12300104

      Add to this the hypocrisy of the right, ‘to not politicise the bush fires’.

    • Ross 1.2
      15 January 2020 at 7:46 am

      There have been worse bushfires in Australia which have usually led to a commission of inquiry. The current bushfires will result in a commission of inquiry but it is not clear what, if anything, will be learnt that was and is not already known.

      http://royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Commission-Reports/Final-Report.html

      • aj 1.2.2
        15 January 2020 at 10:44 am

        There have been worse bushfires in Australia which have usually led to a commission of inquiry.

        There have been bushfires that have resulted in a higher number of fatalities….

        FIFY

        • Ross 1.2.2.1
          15 January 2020 at 1:17 pm

          aj

          Yes, you are correct. I was focused on people. I’m not sure what you’re focused on. Houses, perhaps? 🙂

          • McFlock 1.2.2.1.1
            15 January 2020 at 1:48 pm

            No, you're not actually focused on people. You're focused on immediate mortality in order to minimise the current fires' overall impact on people.

            For example, did the fires you think were "worst" have people collapsing from the smoke 200 miles away?

            • Ross 1.2.2.1.1.1
              15 January 2020 at 2:23 pm

              McFlock

              That was the impressive thing about the devastating 2009 fires. It was the first time in recorded history that such large fires produced absolutely no smoke.

              • McFlock …
                15 January 2020 at 2:56 pm

                you dodged the question:

                For example, did the fires you think were "worst" have people collapsing from the smoke 200 miles away?

                Feel free to say "no". Feel just as free to say that you have no fucking idea – that would be an equally plausible response.

                Or feel free to say "yes" and provide a link to prove it.

                • Alice Tectonite …
                  15 January 2020 at 4:06 pm

                  McF: Ross is "ignoring a few facts", obviously didn't bother with the article I posted up thread that counters the sort of stuff Ross is peddling.

                  Anyway, a summary from that article:

                  Of course, Australia has a long history of bushfires. But several factors make eastern Australia’s recent crisis different to infamous bushfires in the past.

                  First is the enormous geographic spread of this season’s fires, and second, the absence of El Niño conditions typically associated with previous severe fires.

                  Thirdly and most important, these fires were preceded by the hottest and driest conditions in Australian history.

                  (source)

                  Worth a read IMO, written by a couple of ANU scientists (one climate, one bushfire).

                  • McFlock …
                    15 January 2020 at 5:44 pm

                    Yeah, he's interpreting "worst" in pretty much the only possible way (immediate bodycount) that lets him argue that there have been, like, two "worse" fires in 200 years. Both in the last 40 years. So AGW is therefore not a problem. It'd be funny if it weren't so damned tragic.

                    • Ross …
                      15 January 2020 at 6:31 pm

                      AGW is therefore not a problem.

                      Those are your words.

                      I did make the point that there was a commission of inquiry into the 2009 bushfires. I very much doubt anything new will be learnt from the latest fires that wasn’t already known.

                    • Psycho Milt …
                      15 January 2020 at 6:50 pm

                      Those are your words.

                      It's funny how everyone commenting here who has a few clues comes to the same conclusion about your comments, at which point you disavow any intent of having meant it. I wonder if there's a word to describe what you're doing?

                    • RedLogix …
                      15 January 2020 at 7:18 pm

                      @PM

                      Not necessarily. I've seen this sort of conversation here many times, at least part of it must arise because when conservatives comment here they know they must walk on eggshells. Hence they tend to prevaricate and hedge their bets more than if they felt free to be forthright. It leads to clumsy communication and often comes across as disingenuous. Hell even I laid that exact charge at Wayne the other day.

                      It doesn't help that we tend to automatically assign conservatives the worst of motives without pausing to read them carefully. Done it myself often enough.

                    • Ross []
                      16 January 2020 at 8:21 am

                      I’ve never hedged my bets. Many commenters here have criticised Israel and their occupation of Palestine but funnily enough I’ve never had the urge to label them anti-Semitic.

                    • McFlock …
                      15 January 2020 at 8:52 pm

                      Even if those six words are a scurrilous misinterptretation of your actions, is the rest of the comment fair?

                    • Ross []
                      16 January 2020 at 8:21 am

                      About as unfair as you can get. 🙂

                    • McFlock …
                      16 January 2020 at 2:04 pm

                      so in what ways other than immediate bodycount have previous fires been "worse"?

                    • Alice Tectonite …
                      16 January 2020 at 4:06 pm

                      @McF

                      Bodycount is a particularly poor measure IMO, as the Aussies actually learnt from 2009 fires.

                      Arguably the greatest change to bushfire management since Black Saturday, at least in terms of community preparedness and response, has been the shift in messaging to emphasise that leaving is the safest option.

                      (Whittaker 2019)

                      Suspect that discouraging stay & defend is a significant part of why the number killed by the current fires is much lower than Black Saturday. I wonder if something like number of buildings burned might give a better idea of severity? (Particularly when comparing between fire seasons where evacuate/stay messaging has been different.)

                      @Ross

                      How about explaining your stance on climate change a bit more? You deny that you're a denier while pushing lines/points frequently made by deniers. You then refuse to elaborate, which just invites the obvious conclusion …

                      Ref.: Whittaker, J., 2019. Ten years after the black Saturday fires, what have we learnt from post-fire research?. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 34(2). link

                    • McFlock …
                      16 January 2020 at 4:18 pm

                      yeah, but gotta give Ross a chance to demonstrate he isn't resting his entire case just on bodycount.

                  • weka …
                    16 January 2020 at 5:29 pm

                    thanks for that Alice, I hadn't seen the connection with the absence of El Nino before.

      • Exkiwiforces 1.2.3
        15 January 2020 at 1:26 pm

        The problem is with the Royal Commissions into the Bush Fires over here in Oz, a lot of the recommendations between the States and the Fed's don't get enacted for what ever reason, and some cases the States and local councils don't always enacted some of the recommendations either.

        The big problem we are facing at the moment is the fire season weather you are in the Sth or Eastern parts of Oz or like me in the Nth NT is getting longer, the fire environment/ conditions are getting more extreme aka crown fires hence the poor koala getting smash this fire season, more running fires due to the lack or no moisture in the soil which also effects fire management in cooler seasons aka burn off or traditional fire management practices and the ember attacks are getting more dangerous etc etc.

        With all the above adding in with CC, the current set up of the Rural Fire Services, inaction from the Fed's down the local councils if you have one over CC etc. The whole system of Fire management and Fire Fighting is a train wreck waiting to happen. This being the yr its happen for the Southern, Western and Eastern States on the conditions that we faced last Nth NT fire season and going on current rainfall for our Northern Australia Monsoon Season atm we are going to be up shit creek again this coming fire season.

        I did submit a piece to be posted here on "The Standard" on last yrs Northern NT Fire Season from my POV on the ground as a resident in the Darwin's rural as we come under the townie firies and as a bush firey out at the NT Bush Fires Dundee Brigade.

  2. Herodotus 2
    15 January 2020 at 8:02 am

    Climate Change

    So we have an every increasing NZ population why allow this to continue when we are one of the highest per capita emissions? We have been told by

    In total, these changes are estimated to reduce net migration by 20,000-30,000. Without these changes there would be up to 10,000 more houses needed and up to 20,000 more vehicles on our roads annually.

    so over a 50k increase in immigration in the last year has required an additional 20,000+ houses and added 40,000 more vehicles to the road.

    https://www.labour.org.nz/immigration

    Who is to make the effort to reduce these GHG when we have policies like this Tourism with MBIE forecast an increase of 37.1% from 2017 to 2024.

    https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/5c05b7bfce/nz-tourism-forecasts-2018-2024-report.pdf

    And we wonder why NZ is increasing its GHG emissions. These are not samples of leading the way – Perhaps just a nod and smile to make us feel better as the world turns 😱

    [edited formatting to make it clearer who was saying what – weka]

    • weka 2.1
      15 January 2020 at 10:07 am

      Population is very difficult to talk about on the left, because it's tied to immigration and that debate has often had racism woven through it. Trad lefties also seem to hold the position that perpetual growth is possible (and desirable?). I see that as a consequence of philosophies that are grounded in human justice without being built on ecological justice. This is changing but too slowly imo.

      If we decouple population from immigration for a minute, and just look at population as an ecological issue, then it gets easier to see and talk about. Any given landbase can only sustain so much life. If we want food, water, shelter and modern lifestyle, those all come from what nature provides and this is where the accounting should begin. If we're not growing food and other resources in our local watershed we are expecting to extract them from someone else's. That may be done fairly and sustainably, but not under the perpetual growth economics we currently use. We are depleting most things, but outsourcing that so it is less visible. Looking at what each landbase in NZ could potentially sustain is a useful way to reframe population issues.

      When I bring this up the most common response I get is that we have plenty of land and could easily support far more people. But no-one can produce the actual accounting for that, it's just an assumption people have. I remain unconvinced, because in addition to the food and resources, we also need to do habitat restoration and carbon sequestration to prevent the climate and ecological crises. We also need a buffer for future weather events that will take out sometimes large parts of ecosystems (fire, flood, wind, drought).

      Ditto tourism, which is a huge problem that NZ is likewise not ready to face.

      • Sacha 2.1.1
        15 January 2020 at 11:50 am

        If we stop exporting so much of what we produce from the land, NZ can feed many more people here. But then we need other, more sustainable, forms of foreign-sourced income..

        • weka 2.1.1.1
          15 January 2020 at 12:33 pm

          true, but then if a really large % of land is in dairy and other export livestock, and we convert that to cropping, there are GHG emissions associated with the plough farming, and with the presumed increase in population. Regenag/organics takes more land.

          That freed up land still needs to also be used for reforesting and increasing biodiversity, climate mitigation, and climate buffer, so I'm wary of the idea that it becomes easily available for food growing for lots more people, especially when we take into account climate change affecting the growing of crops. My main point here is that few are looking at the overall picture (from a sustainability pov) and we're basing our political debate on some distinct assumptions rather than data and analysis.

          Do we need as much foreign-sourced income as we currently have?

          • Sacha 2.1.1.1.1
            15 January 2020 at 12:45 pm

            We do not need any more land to grow food for ourselves – much less, if anything. That applies to crops, not just animals.

            And the overall design of the economy is a larger question as you say.

            • weka 2.1.1.1.1.1
              15 January 2020 at 12:59 pm

              I'm talking about how big a population NZ can sustain. Obviously there is an upper limit, but no-one knows what it is. Instead we assume that there is plenty of land, but that assumption is based on information from utterly unsustainable systems.

              I get what you are saying here. If 90% of NZ ag is export, and we freed up that land for our own food production then there'd be heaps of land. But, how many people could be fed, clothed, sheltered and so on, taking all the other ecological issues into account?

              • Sacha …
                15 January 2020 at 2:16 pm

                Yes. Our energy and transport systems would be earlier bottlenecks than food. And I’m saying 90% of crops are already exported as well. Someone may have actual data. 🙂

              • pat …
                15 January 2020 at 8:06 pm

                NZ population in 1800 was estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000….by my calculations (rough) NZ land mass could support just over 4 million at pre industrial revolution stocking rates…it would be reasonable to expect some premium due to technological advance but I'd suggest that premium wouldnt be terribly large so I suspect we are already over carrying capacity at current population of 5 million (and growing)

                • weka …
                  15 January 2020 at 8:35 pm

                  what were you factoring in to your calculations pat? Is that food or all resources (allowing for some imports)?

                  • pat …
                    15 January 2020 at 8:41 pm

                    calculated on world population pre industrial revolution (relatively stable at around 1 billion) and habitable land area…if you apply those factors to NZ we end up with a population of a little over 4 million.

      • McFlock 2.1.2
        15 January 2020 at 1:21 pm

        The reason I think we have plenty of land is because we're the 167/194 lowest population density in the world, almost all our land is highly productive for food (agricultural or pastoral) as opposed to being arid or otherwise inappropriate, and we have the 9th largest EEZ around us.

        I'd even go so far as to say we have such abudance that we have an obligation to help feed the world (just not with dairy).

        That said, the precise "population limit" we have is a sliding function of priorities: what level of pollution are we willing to emit, are we controlling food and (especially) water exports, are we managing stock/crop, arable land, other land use demands, waterways, transport infrastructure towards certain priorities, and so on. So by some models we have already exceeded our limit. By most global models, we're nowhere near.

        Then there is the question of demographics – if we have stable population level, what if we get top heavy in age, like Japan? We'd have to put our foot on the immigration throttle for a bit, just to provide services and food for those less able to supply themselves. Just like at the other end, we need to plan schooling around birth bubbles as they get older.

        Might be interesting to see if there is a government department that integrates all these questions in one place – what population changes do we expect, and what level is sustainable according to different priorities. They all do forward planning on their own patch, but not sure if anyone has the big picture.

        • RedLogix 2.1.2.1
          15 January 2020 at 2:54 pm

          As a footnote to that; interestingly NZ is one of a small handful of developed nations with a flat demographic pyramid.

          Almost all the other more developed regions, with the notable exception of Argentina and a few others, have an inverted pyramid.

          But otherwise yes, most of what your saying here makes good systems sense. My only quibble, and I may be out of date on this, is around the fertility of our soils. We don't have large river basins or loess soil plains with millions of years of accumulated minerals in them … NZ imports much of it. And that's been challenged already IIRC.

        • weka 2.1.2.2
          16 January 2020 at 9:23 am

          Coincidentally I ended up in a convo yesterday about NZ fishing stocks. Looks like we are at our limit already in terms of take.

          Afaik the NZ government bases all its work on the fossil fuelled economy. I'd be incredibly surprised if they were doing work on how much food and other resources we can grow using regenag for NZ use relative to population size.

          Likewise global assessments, although there are better acknowledgements of the value of small, local growers.

          I'm using the term sustainable here in its green sense. Not the sense that's been appropriated into the mainstream. So sustainable is about how a system can by and large keep itself healthy and functional, in perpetuity, without producing pollution and without extracting materials/resources from other systems in ways that deplete those other systems.

          NZ's ecological footprint is something like 2.5x what the planet can sustain. We are a long way off sustainable.

    • bwaghorn 2.2
      15 January 2020 at 11:25 am

      Lowering immigration wont change emmisions you realise ? Sure those people wont show up on our spreadsheet but they'll still be somewhere causing roughly the same emmisions.

      • Sacha 2.2.1
        15 January 2020 at 11:51 am

        We are only responsible for our emissions. Every other nation is the same.

      • Herodotus 2.2.2
        15 January 2020 at 8:02 pm

        We have no control of what other countries do. Someone immigrates here our GHG increase as we now require 0.4 of a house and 0.8 additional cars does the other country have a corresponding reduction ?

        nz has undertaken to reduce in total GHG emissions, not per capita. So we have added GHG outputs where does the corresponding reduction from within NZ come from ?and it has to be within NZ not a corresponding offset from another country

  3. mac1 3
    15 January 2020 at 8:22 am

    Weasel words.

    “I can reveal that I believe it probably would’ve been four embassies,” Trump said.”

    As Washington Post political editor James Downie writes, you can't fact check beliefs.

    "According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, in President Donald Trump's first year, he uttered almost 2,000 "false or misleading" claims. In 2018, he nearly tripled his total from the previous year, adding 5,689 more false or misleading claims. And his 2019 total was more than the two previous years combined – 7,725 as of mid-December."

    He continues. "But now the president has a way around facts: beliefs.

    In an interview with Fox News, Trump-friendly host Laura Ingraham asked the president what attacks Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani had been planning against US citizens and facilities. "I can reveal that I believe it probably would've been four embassies," Trump said."

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/118756206/trump-has-a-new-way-around-facts-in-the-killing-of-iranian-general?cid=edm:stuff:dailyheadlines&bid=1248454770

  4. Sanctuary 4
    15 January 2020 at 10:18 am

    Is magic Radio the new Whaleoil? Every fricken wingnut's sob story or conspiracy theory is laundered through there and into the lazy ass MSM…

  5. Exkiwiforces 5
    15 January 2020 at 10:56 am

    This was on the giggle box last night during the news and was quite interesting.

    https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-15/growing-algae-to-brew-greener-beer/11720484?section=good-news

    • Dennis Frank 5.1
      15 January 2020 at 2:33 pm

      Cool, eh? Early days yet. I don't rate their chances of selling lime-green beer tho. Okay, that's not necessarily implied in the story – probably just me looking at the pictures & jumping the gun, huh? 😎

  7. Sanctuary 7
    15 January 2020 at 11:50 am

    Hui all, for those of you interested in UK politics, this is compulsory reading…

    https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/01/13/the-center-blows-itself-up-care-and-spite-in-the-brexit-election/

    • Dennis Frank 7.1
      15 January 2020 at 1:47 pm

      You're right. It's a superb analysis. Even though I can't accept the primary thesis (equating centrism & neoliberalism) everything else rings true. 👍🏻

      • RedLogix 7.1.1
        15 January 2020 at 3:08 pm

        "Centrist" has become a spit word for some around here, yet in my view it has little to do with specific labels or political ideology. I see it more as an orientation that's primarily interested in negotiating agreements across competing interests and getting shit done.

        But yes I agree at first glance the analysis is pretty compelling; the breakdown of centrist consensus, the weakening of national identity and the impact of uncontrolled globalisation has seen a fracturing of our societies in ways we never quite expected.

        It also neglects a rather salient point, that while people tend to vote progressive in their 20's and 30's … accumulated life experience tends to shift them as they get older. If we imagine that all we need for a truly utopian liberal society to emerge is to wait for the bastard boomers to all die off … we're in for a disappointment.

      • Ad 7.1.2
        15 January 2020 at 3:41 pm

        We've always had internal conflicts between the equivalents of "carers" and "administrators" in Labour.

        Now we can stop with all this endless Why Labour Lost wank and get to the business of winning government in one of the last social democrat governments in the world.

        • RedLogix 7.1.2.1
          15 January 2020 at 4:28 pm

          Yup. 'Caring and fairing' are perfectly fine as personalised goals; but operating (administering) complex moderns societies demands a lot broader competency than this, and voters damn well know it at a gut level.

    • Ad 7.2
      15 January 2020 at 3:05 pm

      Sanctuary, before you do any more commentary on why any party of the left loses, do yourself a favour and join one, and fight to win the 2020 election.

      The experience will do you a lot of good.

  8. joe90 8
    15 January 2020 at 1:51 pm

    Fucking nazis aren't even trying to hide their herrenrasse goals.

    https://twitter.com/MichaelEHayden/status/1217104704032911365

  9. joe90 9
    15 January 2020 at 2:14 pm

    Any apologies from the morons who swallowed republican ratfucker's lies and then regurgitated them in their entirety?

    While it is true that the former secretary of state’s emails garnered the most attention thanks to James Comey, the Berkman Klein Center devoted an entire section of their report to an exposé titled, “Dynamics of Network Propaganda: Clinton Foundation Case Study.” They documented how the false allegations in Peter Schweizer’s book, Clinton Cash, were legitimated, not just by right-wing media, but by the New York Times and later by major outlets like the Associated Press and the Washington Post.

    Even after Trump won the election, he and his enablers in right-wing media wouldn’t let the story go. In an obvious attempt to win the president’s favor after recusing himself from the Russia investigation, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed U.S. Attorney John Huber to look into the allegations about the Clinton Foundation.

    According to the Washington Post, Huber found nothing.

    A Justice Department inquiry launched more than two years ago to mollify conservatives clamoring for more investigations of Hillary Clinton has effectively ended with no tangible results, and current and former law enforcement officials said they never expected the effort to produce much of anything.

    John Huber, the U.S. attorney in Utah, was tapped in November 2017 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look intoconcerns raised by President Trump and his allies in Congress that the FBI had not fully pursued cases of possible corruption at the Clinton Foundation and during Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when the U.S. government decided not to block the sale of a company called Uranium One.

    As a part of his review, Huber examined documents and conferred with federal law enforcement officials in Little Rock who were handling a meandering probe into the Clinton Foundation, people familiar with the matter said. Current and former officials said that Huber has largely finished and found nothing worth pursuing.

    [,,,]

    Beyond getting the story wrong so many times, it is important for those who colluded to be held accountable because we are now witnessing the same group of people spread conspiracy theories about other Democrats. Peter Schweizer is the one who initiated the whole Biden/Burisma lie in his book, Secret Empires. Just in case Biden isn’t the Democratic nominee, he is about to publish a book this month titled, Profiles in Corruption, that will attempt to smear the rest of the 2020 presidential candidates.

    Keep in mind that Schweizer is president of the Government Accountability Institute, which was founded by Steve Bannon and is funded by the Mercer family. He is also senior editor-at-large for Breitbart News. Jane Mayer summarizes what we learned about the Bannon-Schweizer method of collusion from Joshua Green’s book, Devil’s Bargain.

    Bannon designed the [Government Accountability Institute] as a means of transmitting partisan dirt-digging to the mainstream media. He realized that, though mainstream reporters were suspicious of partisan opinion, they were open to damning facts about public figures, regardless of the sourcing. He set out, with Schweizer, to produce material that would generate mainstream coverage, and right-wing outrage.

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/01/13/hillary-clinton-has-been-exonerated-again/

  10. sumsuch 10
    15 January 2020 at 11:20 pm

    I expect no one will respond at this late hour. Mike Williams blowing like a bull on RNZ's holiday conversation at 4 concentrated on Law and Order. It quickly came clear it was down to poverty, which the convict advocate had helped produce as the chief promoter of Labour in a previous career. 84: War on Maori.

    Not an election winner. Despicable.

    But this is the age of the talkers (Sanders, Trump), despite the NZ political scene. If it isn't a Savage it'll be a fascist.

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    1 day ago

  • The Gods Must Be Woke.
    Last night the largest solar storm in decades resulted in Aurorae being seen across Aotearoa, causing many to ask why?Why was the sky pink? What was all this stuff about the power grid? Have we, as so many have wondered since the election, reached the end of days?I had a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • More road
    We have been on the road in England, squeezing down narrow lanes, flying up the M6, loving hedgerows and villages and cathedrals, liking the 21st century less.There have been moments when it’s felt like a movie trope. The pub in Exford, lovely seventeenth century bar, almost more dogs than people, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • Seeing the Aurora Australis
    There’s a solar-storm on at the moment, and since the South Island is having a day and night with clear skies, that means Aurorae. I have just got back from a midnight visit to Tunnel Beach – southwards-looking over the Sea, and without the light pollution. Quite a few others ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • Welcome to the current welfare mess
    Michael Bassett writes – I’m not sure that it’s much comfort to anyone to know that the post-Covid surge in violent crimes, gang activity, ram raids, random shootings, thuggery and stabbings is occurring in other countries as well as New Zealand. These days, wagging school, out-of-control welfare and ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • A shovel-ready autopsy
    Oliver Hartwich writes –  Cast your mind back to mid-December. A new Prime Minister had just been sworn in, the new Government started its 100-day programme, and Christmas was only days away.Amid all the haste, a report landed that would have deserved our attention.I am talking about the ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Why we almost blacked out and how to fix it
    TL;DR: An unseasonally early icy blast at the same time as some long-overdue maintenance almost caused Aotearoa-NZ’s electricity system to black out this week. That’s because a quadropoly of gentailers1 have prioritised paying dividends from their rising profits and adding debt over investing in 1.5 GigaWatts of new wind farms ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • What Is Instagram Trying To Sell Us?
    Hi,Before we crack into today’s Webworm, I wanted to acknowledge the fact that Israel is pushing into Rafah. Over 100,000 Palestinians are now attempting to flee the one place that was deemed “safe”.Trouble is, the place they’re fleeing to is already destroyed. Total annihilation is the end goal here.“Israel is ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • Precious Little Excitement: Warner Brothers, Peter Jackson, and Gollum
    Back in February 2023, I made the cardinal mistake of getting my hopes up. Warner Brothers declared that fresh Middle-earth movies were in the works: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/it-never-rains-but-it-pours-warner-brothers-and-impending-tolkien-adaptations/ My assumption, based on which rights were available, and what had already been done, was that this was a stab at either the Angmar ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 days ago

  • Do We Need a Population Census?
    ‘It has been said that figures rule the world. Maybe. I am quite sure that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.’ GoetheI was struck at a recent conference on equity for the elderly, how many presenters implicitly relied upon Statistics New Zealand. ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • No, the govt will not be cutting back on every budget – and the Defence vote is among those to be ...
    Buzz from the Beehive Reporting on defence spending late last year, RNZ said the coalition government will have to make some tough calls this term to help the force address staff shortages and ageing infrastructure. “These are huge, huge amounts of government spending. It’s a significant proportion of the government’s ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • The Treasury and productivity
    Late last week The Treasury released a new 40 page report on “The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections” (productivity forecasts and projections that is, rather than any possible fiscal implications – the latter will, I guess, be articulated in the Budget documents). In short, if (as it has) ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • The Controller and Auditor-General’s role
    Peter Dunne writes –  I am always wary when I hear that the Controller and Auditor-General has commented on or made recommendations to the government about an issue of public policy that does not relate strictly to public expenditure. According to the legislation, the role of the Controller ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • More harm than good
    How Labour’s and National’s failure to move beyond neoliberalism has brought NZ to the brink of economic and cultural chaos   Chris Trotter writes –  TO START LOSING, so soon after you won, requires a special kind of political incompetence. At the heart of this Coalition ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Real reason Waitangi Tribunal could not summons Chhour
    And why did the Crown not challenge the Tribunal’s jurisdiction?   Gary Judd writes –  Retired District Court Judge, David Harvey, has posted on his A Halflings View Substack an excellent summary of Justice Isacs’ judgment declining to uphold the witness summons issued by the Waitangi Tribunal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Losing confidence in the integrity of NZ elections
    Bryce Edwards writes – Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result?As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Macklemore's Pro-Palestinian Protest.
    Macklemore isn’t someone I’d usually think about. Sure I liked his big hit from a few years back, everybody did it was catchy and cool with some memorable lines. But if I was going to think of artists who might speak out on political matters or world events, he wouldn’t ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on miserly school lunches, and the banning of TikTok’s Gaza coverage
    Another week goes by in the Luxon government’s efforts to roll back the past 70 years of social progress. The school lunches programme is to be downgraded by $107 million, and women need bother their heads no longer about pay equity, let alone expect ACC to provide adequate sexual violence ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 10-May-2024
    Brrr, the first cold snap of the year. Hope you’re rugged up nice and warm. Here are some stories that caught our eye this week… This Week on Greater Auckland On Monday, we had a post from a new contributor, Connor Sharp, who dug into the public feedback ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to May 10
    Almost all of the Wellington City Council’s recommended zoning changes to allow many more apartments and townhouses in its inner-suburbs have been approved.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guest on geopolitics, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #19 2024
    Open access notables A Global Increase in Nearshore Tropical Cyclone Intensification, Balaguru et al., Earth's Future: Tropical Cyclones (TCs) inflict substantial coastal damages, making it pertinent to understand changing storm characteristics in the important nearshore region. Past work examined several aspects of TCs relevant for impacts in coastal regions. However, ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Losing confidence in the integrity of NZ elections
    Do you believe New Zealand runs its general elections fairly and competently? As a voter, can you be confident that the votes on your ballot will be counted towards the final result? As a political scientist, I’ve been asked these questions many times and always answered “yes”, with very few ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago

  • The Song of Saqua: Volume VIII
    Thus far May has followed on from a quiet April in the blogging department, but in fairness, it has been another case of doing what I am supposed to be doing, namely writing original fiction. Plus reading. So don’t worry – I have been productive. But in order to reassure ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • Pretending to talk other people’s languages
    Fakes can come in many forms.A Rolex, for instance.A tan can be fake. Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • What’s new? A social agency with an emphasis on “investment” instead of “wellbeing” – b...
    Buzz from the Beehive A new government agency will open for business on July 1 – the Social Investment Agency. As a new standalone central agency effective from 1 July, it will lead the development of social investment across Government, helping ministers understand who they need to invest in, what ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • Following the political money
    Bryce Edwards writes –    “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Hipkins would rather no one remember that he was Minister of Education
    Alwyn Poole writes –  After being elected to Parliament in 2008 the maiden speech of Hipkins was substantially around education policy. He was Labour’s spokesperson for education 2011 – 2017. He was Minister for Education from 2017 until February 2023. This is approximately 88% of the time Labour ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Fashionable follies
    Eric Crampton writes –  A fashion industry group is lobbying for protections. They make the usual arguments and a newer one. None of it makes sense. An industry group says it pumped $7.8 billion into the economy last year – that’s 1.9 percent of New Zealand’s GDP. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Justice for Bainimarama!
    In December 2006, Fiji's military leader Voreqe Bainimarama overthrew the elected government in a coup. He ruled Fiji for the next 16 years, first as dictator, then as "elected" Prime Minister. But now, he's finally been sent to jail where he belongs. Sadly, this isn't for his real crime of ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • March for Nature in June
    Don't like National's corrupt Muldoonist "fast-track" law? Aotearoa's environmental NGO's - Greenpeace, Forest & Bird, WWF, Coromandel Watchdog, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Kiwis Against Seabed Mining, and others - have announced a joint march against it in Auckland in June: When: 13:00, 8 June, 2024 Where: Aotea Square, Auckland You ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago

  • Bernard’ s Dawn Chorus & Pick ‘n’ Mix for Thursday May 9
    Seymour describes sushi as too woke for school meals. There are no fish sushi meals recommended by the School Lunches programme. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Government will swap out hot meals for packaged sandwiches to save $107 million on school lunches for poor kids. MSD has pulled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago

  • The non-woke $3 Lunch.
    I don't mind stealin' bread from the mouths of decadenceBut I can't feed on the powerless when my cup's already overfilled, yeahBut it's on the table, the fire's cookin'And they're farmin' babies, while slaves are workin'The blood is on the table and the mouths are chokin'But I'm goin' hungry, yeahSome ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • Labour’s chickens come home to roost
    The Ardern Government’s chickens came home to roost yesterday with the news that the country is short of natural gas. In 2018, Labour banned offshore petroleum exploration, and industry executives say that the attendant loss of confidence by the industry impacted overall investment in onshore gas fields. Energy Resources Minister ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago

  • Calvin Reviews Lord of The Rings
    Hi,If you’ve been digging through the newly launched Webworm store (orders are being dispatched worldwide as I type!) you’ll have noticed the best model we had was Calvin.This is Calvin.Calvin.Calvin is 7, and is the son of my producer over on Flightless Bird, Rob — aka “Wobby Wob”. Rob also ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago

  • Climate Adam: How to visualise Climate Change (ft. Katharine Hayhoe)
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Climate change is everywhere. And when something's everywhere it can feel like it's nowhere. So how do we get our heads ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • The wrong direction
    Some good news on climate change today: the energy transition away from fossil fuels is picking up speed, and renewables now make up 30% of global electricity supply. Meanwhile, in Aotearoa, we're moving in the opposite direction, with Genesis Energy announcing that it will resume importing Indonesian coal. Their official ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • National hates democracy
    Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • No Tikanga Please, We're Lawyers.
    Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Member’s Day
    Today is a Member's Day, and it seems we've entered the slowdown as things emerge from select committee. First up is the committee stage of Greg O'Connor's Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) (Overseas Travel Reporting) Amendment Bill, which will be followed by the second readings of Stuart ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • Hurrah for coal – Shane Jones welcomes Genesis Energy’s import plans as natural gas production s...
    Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Following the political money
    “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • A Left-Right ranking of universities in NZ: a practical guide for students and parents
    Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim. Extreme Left   Auckland University of Technology Evidence The ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  •  Inflation and GST thresholds
    Eric Crampton writes –  I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Green Party grapples with persistent scandals
    Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes –  Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • A law school to be avoided – Auckland University of Technology
    Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • 17 people in Malaita stand in way of China’s takeover of the Solomons
    Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the Hamas Ceasefire Offer, and Mark Mitchell’s Incompetence
    With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Bernard’ s Dawn Chorus & Pick ‘n’ Mix for Wednesday May 8
    Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • A few PT announcements
    There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago

  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Green Party grapples with persistent scandals
    Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • At a glance – Tree ring proxies and the divergence problem
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • Nothing to sneer at
    Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • Still on their bullshit
    When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Drawn
    A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • A nod and a wink that will unnecessarily cost Aucklanders tens of millions per year
    Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Correcting the Corrections announcement – a fiscal farce that should bother the OECD
     Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  •  Like it or not, the Kiwis are either going into ‘Pillar 2’ – or they are going to China
    Chris Trotter writes –  Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • A balanced and an unbalanced article
    David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Deeply unserious country
    Every bit of this seems insane. And people wonder why productivity is falling through the floor. Energy News reports that the Environment Court finally threw out Allan Crafar’s appeal against a solar farm. From the story: Consent was granted in 2022. Crafar appealed November 2022. On what grounds? That ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students
    The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…  Gary Judd KC writes –  I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/?p=77196
    The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, May 7
    TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • HM Prison Aotearoa.
    A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Get Your Webworm Merch!
    Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago

  • Top OECD economist puts Willis between a rock and a hard place
    The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Media Link: “A View from Afar” on the moment of friction, and more.
    After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    1 week ago

  • NZ and Papua New Guinea to work more closely together
    Health, infrastructure, renewable energy, and stability are among the themes of the current visit to Papua New Guinea by a New Zealand political delegation, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.   “Papua New Guinea carries serious weight in the Pacific, and New Zealand deeply values our relationship with it,” Mr Peters ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    27 mins ago

  • Driving ahead with Roads of Regional Significance
    The coalition Government is launching Roads of Regional Significance to sit alongside Roads of National Significance as part of its plan to deliver priority roading projects across the country, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.  “The Roads of National Significance (RoNS) built by the previous National Government are some of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago

  • New Zealand congratulates new Solomon Islands government
    A high-level New Zealand political delegation in Honiara today congratulated the new Government of Solomon Islands, led by Jeremiah Manele, on taking office.    “We are privileged to meet the new Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet during his government’s first ten days in office,” Deputy Prime Minister and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago

  • New Zealand supports UN Palestine resolution
    New Zealand voted in favour of a resolution broadening Palestine’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly overnight, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says.    “The resolution enhances the rights of Palestine to participate in the work of the UN General Assembly while stopping short of admitting Palestine as a full ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Speech to the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium
    Introduction Good morning. It’s a great privilege to be here at the 2024 Infrastructure Symposium. I was extremely happy when the Prime Minister asked me to be his Minister for Infrastructure. It is one of the great barriers holding the New Zealand economy back from achieving its potential. Building high ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • $571 million for Defence pay and projects
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced the upcoming Budget will include new funding of $571 million for Defence Force pay and projects. “Our servicemen and women do New Zealand proud throughout the world and this funding will help ensure we retain their services and expertise as we navigate an increasingly ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Climate change – mitigating the risks and costs
    New Zealand’s ability to cope with climate change will be strengthened as part of the Government’s focus to build resilience as we rebuild the economy, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “An enduring and long-term approach is needed to provide New Zealanders and the economy with certainty as the climate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Getting new job seekers on the pathway to work
    Jobseeker beneficiaries who have work obligations must now meet with MSD within two weeks of their benefit starting to determine their next step towards finding a job, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “A key part of the coalition Government’s plan to have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Accelerating Social Investment
    A new standalone Social Investment Agency will power-up the social investment approach, driving positive change for our most vulnerable New Zealanders, Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis says.  “Despite the Government currently investing more than $70 billion every year into social services, we are not seeing the outcomes we want for ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Getting Back on Track
    Check against delivery Good morning. It is a pleasure to be with you to outline the Coalition Government’s approach to our first Budget. Thank you Mark Skelly, President of the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, together with  your Board and team, for hosting me.   I’d like to acknowledge His Worship ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • NZ – European Union ties more critical than ever
    Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith,   Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States,   Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us.   Ladies and gentlemen -    In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations.   ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Therapeutic Products Act to be repealed
    The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Decisions on Wellington City Council’s District Plan
    The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Rape Awareness Week: Government committed to action on sexual violence
    Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston.  “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Smarter lunch programme feeds more, costs less
    Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Report provides insights into marine recovery
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  • Streamlining Building Consent Changes
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