But the National Party is outraged that someone in business might have tried (and failed) to leverage their relationship with politicians for pecuniary interest. Would never happen under their watch eh? They are definitely scavenging around for the opportunity to mount a 2008-style ‘corruption’ attack on NZF.
IMHO, what we are seeing here is institutional racism in action. NZ is a small society which makes it hard for elites to avoid stories like this if the MSM decide to go after you. When you are dealing with the Maori business elite, which is a small part of a minority in an already small population it become almost impossible to do anything and avoid an establishment white media hatchet job around your connections.
The proof of the pudding is whether or not there is any evidence of impropriety – and the behaviour of the minister seems to have been perfectly in order.
Espiner seems to be happy to be a tool of the business/right wing elites these days, as long as he gets any sort of "serious" content for the pearl clutching class. His Pharmac panic mongering seemed to parrot the propaganda put out by PR agencies that push the agenda of big drug companies. Now it seems he is muck raking on behalf of that section of our society that is outraged Shane Jones has a billion dollars to spend and so far he isn't giving the usual suspects their cut.
This arvo I am headed your way for the cider festival. Looking forward to catching up with Alex Peckham. He guided a swag (I need a collective noun for cider enthusiasts) of us through a selection of Peckhams cider.
He generously sent a 20 litre ladder of Black Chisel(?) Apple juice to the Manawatu for me to ferment into cider.
I have had The Free House recommended to me.
If any Standardistas are going, I am the big gallah in the watermelon bucket hat.
This is my problem with the reaction and reporting of climate change or global warming. Everything that happens in the world is leveraged in the context of climate change.
Before a single gallon of oil was taken from the ground my great grandparents were terrified of bushfire in rural Victoria. Drought and bushfires have been a part of Australia for so long that gum trees have had millions of years to adapt to and even require fire to stay healthy as it kills the parasites in the bark.
Whats the problem now? Fucking idiot people ! A large number of these fires have been deliberatly lit by humans, others by discarded bottles and careless smokers, people really are stupid.
These fires used to rage without damage generally to lives and infrastructure because there were none, but if you want to stick a house in what is essentially a forest of petroleum producing trees there is a very good chance that you will lose it one day, a bit the same as building here in the Shakey Isles.
Maybe not as clear as I imagined….the events are greater and more frequent and compounding….there is less and less time/capacity to recover and resources (physical and human) are overwhelmed…this is not as before and it will increase
But Pat, how much of that is due to an expanding population that are increasingly living in vulnerable areas? How much of that is merely your perception due to a far greater reporting of bush fires and such like?
I am not disagreeing regarding climate change, and it seems an inescapable conclusion that much of that is human generated, but really, these doomsday scenarios that link every naturally occurring event to 'climate change' when patently it is not just gives fuel to those who deny human generated climate change.
The doomsday hypocrit Al Gore and his ilk have done immense damage to climate change acceptance.
Yes population larger and more living amongst bush etc but that does not change the cascading effects, it simply means more people impacted and more resources at risk than were in the past…the undelying point is the increased incidence and diminishing ability to cope and that is solely down to CC and with the lag involved in that impact it will increase in effect even if we stopped adding to it at this instant
Pat, I just love this video showing population growth . Near exponential over last two centuries after little more than flat lining for the millennia before.
And some people still say humans are not driving much of the climate change! Hope you enjoy.
ask yourself whether this planet would or could support 8 billion without the emissions of its primary energy source…the answer is quite simply, no it could (and will) not….if we (the human race) are lucky we will adapt and settle into an equilibrium…and it wont be supporting 8 billion
"These fires used to rage without damage generally to lives and infrastructure because there were none, but if you want to stick a house in what is essentially a forest of petroleum producing trees there is a very good chance that you will lose it one day, a bit the same as building here in the Shakey Isles."
Yes, and no. Climate change impacts intersect with other things humans are doing. It might have been reasonable to build houses in fire-prone forests 50 years ago, because the risk was lowish. Climate change is making that risk much much higher. So we have the confluence of three things: building in a fire area; a bigger population in a fire area; many more fires than normal (and of unusual intensity).
There are other factors there, like drought making forest management harder (there is less opportunity to controlled burns at other time).
In all that climate change has to be centred, because the potential for global catastrophe is serious, and because locally, in terms of adaptation, the impacts of AGW matter (drought, frequency, changes to vegetation and ecologies).
Two areas where this happens in NZ. One is we are building in some pretty stupid places (eg among kānuka/mānuka or pine or gums), and planting flammable trees in stupid places too. Still haven't caught up our thinking, and we'd be much better off if CC was centred in all those decisions.
The other is the tenure review process changing land use, so that many of our dry areas now have a lot of flammable vegetation (sans sheep grazing and farmer burnoffs). Farmers are talking about this, but I'm not seeing conservationists having this conversation yet.
I suspect in increasing areas adaptation will be abandoned as an option as there will simply be no capacity (or will) to continue to expend resources needed elsewhere….you can hear the phrasing now
probably. NZ's impending but largely unacknowledged* crisis is around big slips covering roads. Neither our engineering nor economics is designed around the frequency we will experience going forward.
*weird given we should be planning around this for quakes anyway.
"2) Capitalism has reached a dead end. We are entering a period of social revolution because capitalism is exhausted as a social relation: it generates more and more superfluous humanity, it expels living labor from social production, and it consumes energy and raw materials with increasing voracity to try to address with more commodities what it loses by expelling human labor. Its crises are and will be more and more catastrophic."
One of the major problems I have interacting with this style (I'm going to call it vaguely marxist) of writing is interpreting the writers meaning of capitalism. As far as i understand the term capitalism refers to how economic relations are defined by society. But the problem is if thats the case then in a democracy these arrangements are at all times up for change by legitimate democratic process. So there is a continuous 'revolution' going on but the authors picture of where this leads is obscured. Its also unclear which bits of the economic arrangements would be disposed of by a non capitalist alternative.
Revolts caused by weakness in democratic responsiveness included:
– Every single election since 2016 across Europe including Brexit (despite multiple elections in the last 5 year term)
– Every new political party formed in Europe since 2011
– The election of Donald Trump
– The election of the new Brazilian president
– The ejection of the President of Bolivia a few weeks' ago
– The Hong Kong riots this year
– The Indian election this year
It would be just so lovely if class analysis worked at all these days. It very rarely does.
But the revolutions have come from the right, rising to defend the nation-state better than the left have done for 90 years, won repeatedly and for years, and they continue to win.
In a case of egregiously bad timing, the Venice City Council was flooded with the largest flood in 50 years on the same night that the Coucnil voted to reject climate change measures.
"Ironically, the chamber was flooded two minutes after the majority League, Brothers of Italy, and Forza Italia parties rejected our amendments to tackle climate change," Zanoni, who is deputy chairman of the environment committee, said in the post, which also has photographs of the room under water.
Among the rejected amendments were measures to fund renewable sources, to replace diesel buses with "more efficient and less polluting ones," to scrap polluting stoves and reduce the impact of plastics, he said.
Zanoni went on to accuse Veneto regional president Luca Zaia, who is a member of Matteo Salvini's far-right League Party, of presenting a budget "with no concrete actions to combat climate change."
The flooding is not linked to climate change. Venice has been sinking into the mud slowly for centuries, and this was recognised as a major threat as far back as the 18th century.
It's not that sort of question. Every storm is, and every storm isn't. You get a 1 in 50-year event, that's probably just bad luck even though it is part of "climate". You get ten of them in five years, we'd know most of them will be directly attributable to climate change, but we'd never know exactly which one.
But Venice is built on crap ground and has been slowly sinking for centuries, and they keep building up and reclaiming. Fascinating history.
I think given the shit we are in it's reasonable to assume that climate change is affecting everything. It's a bit abstract to think that one storm is caused by CC and another isn't.
Also, the intersection of human activity with CC. Building in South Dunedin seemed reasonable in the 1800s, not so much now, but has our thinking caught up yet? Does it matter what is caused by CC? We can focus on the pumps if we want, but ultimately seeing all the causative factors in the bigger picture will help us more.
Yeah I was only joking ha ha – the response will be funny.
In a telephone interview with the Guardian, in response to a question about whether he was nervous that Trump might “throw him under a bus” in the impeachment crisis, Giuliani said, with a slight laugh: “I’m not, but I do have very, very good insurance, so if he does, all my hospital bills will be paid.”
Giuliani’s lawyer, Robert Costello, who was also on the call, then interjected: “He’s joking.”
No matter what pharmac's budget is, there will always be someone who wants more money spent on a medication that might or might not have any effect. Last time it was herceptin.
We have yet to see whether this latest funding decision reversal is the result of the substitution being a genuine error with clinical consequnces, or another case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease.
Medsafe's advice to Pharmac against making the change makes for deeply uncomfortable reading. Not because of the potential for increased deaths, which Medsafe didn't mention and it has yet to be demonstrated that there actually are increased deaths due to the change, but because of the likelihood of extreme adverse quality of life effects for those do suffer adverse effects from the change.
Yeah – the bit about rejecting studies funded by pharmacorps when they disagree with pharmac's decision even though pharmac as a policy accepts such studies is a suggestion that the move was a done deal before consultation.
There seems to be a theme…patient seizure free for many years, is dispensed generic by pharmacy with sticker reassuring patient that it is the same drug just a different colour. Patient has sudden seizure and dies.
Thing is McFlock…as far as I know one is allowed to criticize a decision made by one of our State's agencies
This is not treason.
Pharmac may be the hard arsed deal-makers needed to drive the bargaining for affordable drugs for all…but when another State agency strongly advises caution against a particular cost saving measure because of, well, lives….
Pharmac forgot the Rule..
First do no harm.
Hope y'all listened to Espiner's interviewing Herr Doktor this evening.
What a warm man. Overflowing with the milk of human kindness. How well we are served. Sarc.
The incidence of SUDEP in New Zealand is not known but using this figure it is estimated that approximately 40 people with epilepsy in New Zealand die from SUDEP every year.
terrible for all users of those drugs and especially for the victims and their families – appears a change happening
In a statement, Pharmac's medical director Dr Ken Clark said "we understand the news of the three deaths of patients taking Lamotrigine will concern people. We don't know if this is linked to the brand change – and we don't want people to stop taking their medication out of fear so we're making it easier for people to stay on their current brand if their doctor believes it is the right thing for them."
Professor Andrew Geddis, an expert on constitutional and electoral law at Otago University, believes the New Zealand First Foundation did not provide the level of transparency the public needed, especially from a party with ministers in government."
It's an odd beast because it's not clear why it exists," he said of the foundation.
He said one possible explanation was the foundation was used "to allow money to be given for the benefit of the New Zealand First party without going through the usual disclosure requirements".
Many authors here over the last 12 years has said that non-transparent funding of political parties is an rort (or words to that effect) at one point or another. If you go back 11-12 years you’ll find that we tried to get this crap closed down over and over again.
The Electoral Finance Act 2008 tightened the rules for anonymous donations. But they are still in my opinion far too lax, inherently undemocratic, and too susceptible to abuse. The voters should know who is funding political parties.
The only real solution for donations are that all donations above a minimal value need to have a single person responsible for and required by law to fully account for the sources of funding – however small. That includes such things as the organisers of raffles and trusts.
Or political parties can only get funded by the state.
I prefer the latter. I’m willing to accept the former.
In the meantime could you suggest a alternate mechanism that would prevent such rorts happening – because when I look at the kinds of corruption that comes with practices like this one https://thestandard.org.nz/ross-resigns-to-lay-corrupt-practices-complain-against-bridges-with-police/ with its allegation of a $100k donation to National being broken down into non-declarable $15k packets – I can’t see one.
All of those were apparently legal at the time (except maybe the last – can’t remember seeing the police response to that). Each change to tighten up has had fatal flaws and more rorts. It seems to be in the nature of politicians that they simply cannot be trusted to write the legislation required to control their own carnal behavior.
But I suspect that you’re going to simply be your dimwitted critical self. Once more tirelessly and fruitlessly simpering on the sidelines criticising those who actually try to do something about such practices. Basically I can’t see you doing anything except for presenting yourself as being hypocritical jerk – as usual.
I'm with you on this one lprent. State funding seems the most logical.
Moreover, campaigns should be simplified. Give all parties some airtime on TV to put forward their policies and allow them all to have a mass debate thereafter. And that's it. No more billboards, ads, etc.
I haven’t since 2012 because the advertising just wastes my time and disrupts the few bits of time that I have to watch TV – I haven’t seen anything on it worth watching in a decade. It isn’t exactly a mass media any more – it only caters to the elderly, the technophobic conservatives, and the idiotic. At least that seems to be who they are catering for – from the ‘news’ to the local content.
I’d personally prefer to pour state money down a sewer rather than spend any more on television, it’d have a better chance of remaining productive and clean (think of MAFS for instance).
As it is I both spend my own money to get something I can be bothered watching, and I pay wasted taxes on the drivel that is free-to-air TV. The RNZ National programme I like, the concert programme is worth supporting, but television as it currently stands isn’t worth wasting money on.
Nationwide, the weekly cumulative audience for RNZ National is 599,800 New Zealanders of the 10 plus population.
Among all radio stations in New Zealand, RNZ National’s station share of 11.1%.
The weekly cumulative audience for RNZ Concert is 165,600 or 3.8% of the 10+ population.
The weekly cumulative audience for RNZ (National and Concert combined) is 669,600 people aged 10+ years or 15.4% of the NZ population. Many Concert listeners also listen to National.
However the usual screw up that I have come to expect from all of the media websites.
The ubuntu system is on the correct timezone, running chrome, and this system is almost direct out to the net. It sits behind a bog standard ethernet router hooked on to a fibre connection. There is a pinhole firewall in there. In other words the default setup for most desktop systems (apart from linux).
I even trapped the transmitted data and the location looked ok in there as well. Just a bug in the TVNZ streaming provider.
Oh well, I’ll have a look around to see if there are other legit sources that are competently run. It may work on android… But basically this is too much trouble already. I was going to look at it on my 4k monitor.
Otherwise there are providers who are actually competent and fast – unlike TVNZ on-demand.
Here's (link below) a bit of background on it. But you may want to read it after you have viewed it. That's, of course, if you can locate a legal site screening it.
I'm guessing the other group that watches free to air is poor people. I don't know what's happening with broadband prices these days, but the whole computer/streaming thing is not cheap if you have no money. One (partial) solution there would be for WINZ to consider internet access as a basic need.
The other problem at the moment is the weird way that the networks manage their streaming and on demand access. I can't figure out how to watch The Nation other than having to turn up right at 9.30am on a Saturday morning (streaming). Which never happens, so I'm out of the #nzpol twitter convos immediately. If you go to their webpage the on demand videos for The Nation are random, the first one I just clicked on is from August.
This may be TV3 cutting costs pre-sale, but I remember it being like that at other times too and I just gave up.
I find the sign-in for general on demand for either network a big cumbersome, which I can resolve if it bothers me. I often it takes time to find what I want to watch, I think because of how the networks are trying to corral viewers (you're supposed to become a loyal viewer I guess then they push stuff at you). Quite often I just give up. I've been thinking I should just get a TV for the 2020 election.
I think there is a case for not putting political content behind a tracking wall though. Mentioning this because the TVNZ/RNZ merger proposal includes paywalls and ads.
Also, rural internet speeds still often suck.
All of that is resolvable, and streaming and broadcast seem the way to go, but I'm not particularly confident that we would get it right.
This popped up in my twitter feed this morning. Free, high speed internet for all Brits via a publicly owned company (tied in with job creation, economy, working from home)
But, in 1990, then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, decided that BT's rapid and extensive rollout of fibre optic broadband was anti-competitive and held a monopoly on a technology and service that no other telecom company could do.
"Unfortunately, the Thatcher government decided that it wanted the American cable companies providing the same service to increase competition. So the decision was made to close down the local loop roll out and in 1991 that roll out was stopped.
I can't figure out how to watch The Nation other than having to turn up right at 9.30am on a Saturday morning (streaming)
It is very easy. Go to: https://www.threenow.co.nz/ Scroll down to: NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS and select it. 41 episodes available there if you feel like a binge.
edit
the first one there is last weeks for me using chrome. sorry should have read that last sentence properly.
yeah, but if I miss the stream (or broadcast) at 9.30am I can't watch it in time to take part in #nzpol convos because they don't put the on demand up until some random time later. It's current affairs, people are talking about it on the day, it's bizarre they're not making that available. I don't know if that's a technical issue, but I had assumed it was how they wanted to do it in terms of controlling how people view their content.
Even more bizarrely, I followed your instructions and there is no sign of the live stream, which should be happening right now. FFS.
I don't know if that's a technical issue, but I had assumed it was how they wanted to do it in terms of controlling how people view their content.
More basic than that: their systems still require humans to make the clips available to view – so it's about paying them on a weekend vs the return on that. Other tasks are more profitable. Civic conversations do not factor into commercial broadcasting.
By comparison, RNZ has a fully-automated post-broadcast publishing pipeline because they had a very smart tech boss years ago when it was created (who also made their site a model of universal accessibility just because it was the right thing to do). I guess you could call that a technical issue.
thanks, re technical, I wasn't sure how easy it was to automate or to enable livestreaming where you can start watching the start half way through the stream (this is possible, just not sure how easy).
And yep, the driving force of profit doesn't serve us.
I find the sign-in for general on demand for either network a big cumbersome
I don't. I create a login with whatever name comes to mind and leave it logged in. I never remember the passwords. TVNZ has logged me out a couple of times over several years but i just create a new login.
edit
I use Chrome for TV and radio and Firefox for internet with Chrome set up so two windows for each TV site and windows for George FM and Ngati Hine FM open automatically.
I don't log out and then both networks log me out at some point (also not a fan of staying logged in because I assume it enhances tracking). I need to write down the login details and make them easily accessible on my desktop. Which I will no doubt do next year for the election to make my life easier, but I think there is a case for actual free to stream for politics during an election year.
Most browsers will offer to store login details for websites on the first sign in, and apart from internet banking, which I decline, there’s no need to write the details down. I always log out after visiting a site I've logged in to and I've never had an issue, and I clear the cache and internet files multiple times a day.
The problem with that approach is that it sort of works when you jump across multiple machines with chrome and firefox – but not quite.
I routinely use at least 5-10 computers during a day. Between work laptops, mobiles and tablets, base systems, and TVs it gets to be a mess trying to have remembered login names and passwords – all of which need to be updated.
But the real issue is that the TV sites want you to jump through their promo pages and ads. So they don’t have good persistent links. I usually can’t have a link direct to what I want to watch. There is always a new hoop to jump through with media sites. I prefer to use the attention time for login hoops like that for things that I work with – like email, messaging, slack, stackoverflow, man pages, language reference sites etc – so I seldom bother.
I’m certainly not going to waste that valuable attention to detail on sites that are basically trying to sell me stuff.
Good point about multiple devices. I only us a desktop for interwebs. TV as a cascaded second screen.
Agree the Three site is a dog with intrusive ads but i find the TVNZ site easy to use with minimal ads and no hoops. I have Crome set to open two windows of the ondemad page on startup. The first two rows with no ads are favourites and new.
I was meaning on the page itself. No ads at all on the ondemand page, not even self-promoting. One small commercial ad on the homepage, and some for shows but you would expect that. The videos themselves have about a third of the ad time of the live stream.
I’m guessing the other group that watches free to air is poor people.
Oh I agree. To a large extent they are catering to that market. It shows in content of the adverts in particular.
It is just that I have zero interest in anything where I can figure out the inevitable ‘story’ pattern within 10 minutes of the first episode. Or in the case of something like MAFS, without even seeing more than a few paragraphs of promotional stories in the NZ Herald. Similarly I don’t find much to be interested in with the slow unrolling of news or current affairs punctuated by inane ads for something that I already read online days or even weeks earlier.
The problem is that there are viable alternatives these days without ads and on-demand. So what is happening is that free-to-air is becoming a broadcast media desolation that is losing the more affluent and time constrained of their audience to anything else. That means that the support for a free-to-air network model is being continuously eroded.
As the number of audience who have the income to be really interesting to advertisers stop watching, the number of and length of ad breaks increases to drop costs – driving more of their audience with choices away. Ads targeting those groups get increasingly concentrated around the things that draw them back – like political debates or current affairs or the news or local content or satire. Driving them away from that as well.
But there is a need as a society to maintain public broadcasting systems for a whole host of reasons that I won’t describe right now. The problem is that when the system is orientated around advertising or even competitive advertorials (advertising upcoming shows etc) when there are viable alternatives without those factors, the public support for maintaining a free-to-air system diminishes as well.
I find the sign-in for general on demand for either network a big cumbersome, which I can resolve if it bothers me. I often it takes time to find what I want to watch,
That is how I find it as well. Apart from anything else they seem to delight in not having persistent links to content. You have to jump through pages and hoops to the point where it is easier to just dig a snippet off youtube (permanent links and no sign ins) to see if it looks interesting – and if it isn’t on one of the existing subscriptions to fire up a torrent. After all I’ll lose interest in most things half way through the first episode if the storyline has been cribbed from shakespeare et al yet again. Or we have ‘celebrity’ fools like Hosking (who I have never seen) posturing that they can moderate political debate.
I think there is a case for not putting political content behind a tracking wall though. Mentioning this because the TVNZ/RNZ merger proposal includes paywalls and ads.
Yeah. You either have public money funding open political debate or you don’t. None of the political content in NZ runs without large support from state funding. It shouldn’t have either paywalls or adverts. It should just be available online.
Also, rural internet speeds still often suck.
I know. Otherwise I’d have been living in Glenorchy 2 decades ago.
Mostly that is currently an issue of maintaining above ground copper networks. While cell-systems are a viable way to put in network infrastructure, their bandwidth is a direct function of distance and weather (ie it is an issue of attenuation). Thee more bandwidth, the closer the tower have to be together – which is why there will be a lot of infill for 5G in urban areas.
Besides they require a higher speed network to get to cell towers anyway. Basically fibre has few limitations over time and is the approach that needs to be taken (unless quantum entangling becomes more than curiosity).
They have pretty well wired up the urban areas with fiber-optic now – ie max people at least cable length. We need to start biting the bullet and look at a decades long project to persistently (ie underground) keep getting fibre into smaller communities. There really isn’t a good technical way to fibre out to the farms. The lengths are long and the maintenance costs mount up over longer lengths – even underground.
Nancy has quite a lot of mahi on Maori made films she will be missed.
I remember when the reserve in Te Tairawhiti had Kai moana in it before the same as it has now with the reservation. Its great to see Te Kai Moana return to the reservation in great numbers we need reservations like that all around Aotearoa.
Awsome that Ngāti Oneone are planting native trees on their Moanga.
Coal is old dirty technology that needs to be banished to our history books.
Two of America’s biggest coal plants closed this month
First the dirtiest ones began shutting down. Then it was the old ones. Now it’s some of the biggest. America’s coal plants are turning off the boilers, facing brutal economics and customers fleeing for natural gas and renewable energy.
This week, Arizona’s 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search
This week, Arizona’s 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search. Trade publication Utility Dive reports that the fate of the financially ailing plant was sealed after a bid to force an Arizona water agency to buy its electricity failed. The Navajo station emitted about 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to 3.3 million cars. It’s one of the biggest retirements in a year of massive shutdowns.
The second is Pennsylvania’s 2.7-GW Bruce Mansfield unit. The plant’s bankrupt owner began shutdown on Nov. 7, almost two years ahead of schedule. It was the state’s largest coal-fired plant, operating for 40 years.
Together, the two retirements equal all the emission reductions from coal plant shut-downs in 2015, a record year when 15 GW of mostly smaller and older units were shuttered, reports Scientific American. Last year, 14 GW were mothballed. In 2020, more are on the way, including Kentucky’s Paradise plant.
Thanks to The European Investment Bank for their move to protect our mokopuna future from a carbon polluted environment.
The European Investment Bank has agreed to phase out its multibillion-euro financing for fossil fuels within the next two years to become the world’s first ‘“climate bank”.
The bank will end its financing of oil, gas, and coal projects after 2021, a policy that will make the EU’s lending arm the first multilateral lender to rule out financing for projects that contribute to the climate crisis.
The decision to stem the flow of capital into fossil fuel projects has been welcomed by green groups as an important step towards the EU’s aim to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
The EIB, the world’s largest multilateral financial institution, described its decision as a “quantum leap” in ambition. “Climate is the top issue on the political agenda of our time,” said the bank’s president, Werner Hoyer. “We will stop financing fossil fuels and launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere.”
The bank’s vice-president, Andrew McDowell, said the move was “an important first step – not the last step, but probably one of the most difficult.”
Under its new policy, the bank will end all lending to fossil fuels within two years and align all funding decisions with the Paris climate accord. Energy projects applying for EIB funding will have to show they can produce one kilowatt hour of energy while emitting less than 250 grammes of carbon dioxide.
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 → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Wansolwara The news media’s crucial role in climate change and environment journalism was the focus of The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme 2024 World Press Freedom Day celebrations. The European Union Ambassador to the Pacific, Barbara Plinkert, and Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna were the chief ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Adams, Professor of Corporate Law & Academic Director of UNE Sydney campus, University of New England Last August, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against Qantas. The consumer watchdog accused the airline of selling thousands of tickets ...
This episode of A View From Afar was recorded LIVE on May 6, 2024 (NZST) which is Sunday evening, May 5, 2024 at 8:30pm (USEST). In an analytical essay titled ‘A moment of friction’ political scientist Dr Paul Buchanan wrote how we are living within a decisive moment ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alison Taylor, Assistant Professor, Bond University Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures At the crux of the critical response to Luca Guadagnino’s new movie Challengers is one word: “sexy”. The film charts a love triangle between three up-and-coming tennis players: Tashi (Zendaya), ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jenny Stewart, Professor of Public Policy, ADFA Canberra, UNSW Sydney For years, First Nations people have been telling governments they want to be listened to. In particular, they want more ownership of the programs and services that are supposed to help them. ...
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Guyon Espiner has a huge scoop of a minister behaving correctly with a potential conflict of interest.
I guess with all the $$$ spent on work done for a nothing outcome he has to yell fire at any sign of smoke, but honestly.
But the National Party is outraged that someone in business might have tried (and failed) to leverage their relationship with politicians for pecuniary interest. Would never happen under their watch eh? They are definitely scavenging around for the opportunity to mount a 2008-style ‘corruption’ attack on NZF.
IMHO, what we are seeing here is institutional racism in action. NZ is a small society which makes it hard for elites to avoid stories like this if the MSM decide to go after you. When you are dealing with the Maori business elite, which is a small part of a minority in an already small population it become almost impossible to do anything and avoid an establishment white media hatchet job around your connections.
The proof of the pudding is whether or not there is any evidence of impropriety – and the behaviour of the minister seems to have been perfectly in order.
Espiner seems to be happy to be a tool of the business/right wing elites these days, as long as he gets any sort of "serious" content for the pearl clutching class. His Pharmac panic mongering seemed to parrot the propaganda put out by PR agencies that push the agenda of big drug companies. Now it seems he is muck raking on behalf of that section of our society that is outraged Shane Jones has a billion dollars to spend and so far he isn't giving the usual suspects their cut.
Yes very good point – a 'corruption' narrative amplified by an underlying racist sentiment that “Maoris can't be trusted with public money”.
Didn't Bill English brother get a special job in Canterbury?
Didn't the Speaker back then get irrigation benefit for his Hurinui farm while ECan was stripped of its democratic power??
I also had a funny feeling reading the RNZ report that this is a lead in to something else. The return serve could be interesting
On a lighter note: Take Cover Nelson!
This arvo I am headed your way for the cider festival. Looking forward to catching up with Alex Peckham. He guided a swag (I need a collective noun for cider enthusiasts) of us through a selection of Peckhams cider.
He generously sent a 20 litre ladder of Black Chisel(?) Apple juice to the Manawatu for me to ferment into cider.
I have had The Free House recommended to me.
If any Standardistas are going, I am the big gallah in the watermelon bucket hat.
Heh shame I am not in Nelson this weekend!
Sounds wonderful gsays!
How much clearer can anyone be?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018722343/australia-enters-era-of-disaster-bushfires-and-drought
This is my problem with the reaction and reporting of climate change or global warming. Everything that happens in the world is leveraged in the context of climate change.
Before a single gallon of oil was taken from the ground my great grandparents were terrified of bushfire in rural Victoria. Drought and bushfires have been a part of Australia for so long that gum trees have had millions of years to adapt to and even require fire to stay healthy as it kills the parasites in the bark.
Whats the problem now? Fucking idiot people ! A large number of these fires have been deliberatly lit by humans, others by discarded bottles and careless smokers, people really are stupid.
These fires used to rage without damage generally to lives and infrastructure because there were none, but if you want to stick a house in what is essentially a forest of petroleum producing trees there is a very good chance that you will lose it one day, a bit the same as building here in the Shakey Isles.
Maybe not as clear as I imagined….the events are greater and more frequent and compounding….there is less and less time/capacity to recover and resources (physical and human) are overwhelmed…this is not as before and it will increase
But Pat, how much of that is due to an expanding population that are increasingly living in vulnerable areas? How much of that is merely your perception due to a far greater reporting of bush fires and such like?
I am not disagreeing regarding climate change, and it seems an inescapable conclusion that much of that is human generated, but really, these doomsday scenarios that link every naturally occurring event to 'climate change' when patently it is not just gives fuel to those who deny human generated climate change.
The doomsday hypocrit Al Gore and his ilk have done immense damage to climate change acceptance.
Yes population larger and more living amongst bush etc but that does not change the cascading effects, it simply means more people impacted and more resources at risk than were in the past…the undelying point is the increased incidence and diminishing ability to cope and that is solely down to CC and with the lag involved in that impact it will increase in effect even if we stopped adding to it at this instant
Pat, I just love this video showing population growth . Near exponential over last two centuries after little more than flat lining for the millennia before.
And some people still say humans are not driving much of the climate change! Hope you enjoy.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DPUwmA3Q0_OE&ved=2ahUKEwj01b2w8OrlAhWWfisKHfsNBZ4Qo7QBMAB6BAgAEAI&usg=AOvVaw14_amXHFfgrw33Iog0P1YK
meanwhile, data, not perception, suggests otherwise.
he is however correct in the link between population growth and climate change.
Population growth causes many ills, but if we'd stuck with a billion people and kept the fossil fuel use, climate change would still be a major issue.
Losing fossil fuel use but still going to 7B people, I suspect climate change would be much less significant.
ask yourself whether this planet would or could support 8 billion without the emissions of its primary energy source…the answer is quite simply, no it could (and will) not….if we (the human race) are lucky we will adapt and settle into an equilibrium…and it wont be supporting 8 billion
No argument there.
Just saying population isn't as much of a problem relating to climate change as the fuel source that sustains us.
unfortunately we have developed said population on that unsustainable fuel source and have created something of a conundrum
If only it were so unsustainable that it had run out around 1960 lol.
yep…that might have been a lifesaver
"These fires used to rage without damage generally to lives and infrastructure because there were none, but if you want to stick a house in what is essentially a forest of petroleum producing trees there is a very good chance that you will lose it one day, a bit the same as building here in the Shakey Isles."
Yes, and no. Climate change impacts intersect with other things humans are doing. It might have been reasonable to build houses in fire-prone forests 50 years ago, because the risk was lowish. Climate change is making that risk much much higher. So we have the confluence of three things: building in a fire area; a bigger population in a fire area; many more fires than normal (and of unusual intensity).
There are other factors there, like drought making forest management harder (there is less opportunity to controlled burns at other time).
In all that climate change has to be centred, because the potential for global catastrophe is serious, and because locally, in terms of adaptation, the impacts of AGW matter (drought, frequency, changes to vegetation and ecologies).
Two areas where this happens in NZ. One is we are building in some pretty stupid places (eg among kānuka/mānuka or pine or gums), and planting flammable trees in stupid places too. Still haven't caught up our thinking, and we'd be much better off if CC was centred in all those decisions.
The other is the tenure review process changing land use, so that many of our dry areas now have a lot of flammable vegetation (sans sheep grazing and farmer burnoffs). Farmers are talking about this, but I'm not seeing conservationists having this conversation yet.
I suspect in increasing areas adaptation will be abandoned as an option as there will simply be no capacity (or will) to continue to expend resources needed elsewhere….you can hear the phrasing now
probably. NZ's impending but largely unacknowledged* crisis is around big slips covering roads. Neither our engineering nor economics is designed around the frequency we will experience going forward.
*weird given we should be planning around this for quakes anyway.
The year in revolt, in review. Well worth the read if your not a beige lefty.
https://libcom.org/news/balance-sheet-perspective-current-proletarian-struggles-all-over-world-14112019
From the article:
"2) Capitalism has reached a dead end. We are entering a period of social revolution because capitalism is exhausted as a social relation: it generates more and more superfluous humanity, it expels living labor from social production, and it consumes energy and raw materials with increasing voracity to try to address with more commodities what it loses by expelling human labor. Its crises are and will be more and more catastrophic."
Capitalism is doing very well.
Democracy is the one retreating fast.
One of the major problems I have interacting with this style (I'm going to call it vaguely marxist) of writing is interpreting the writers meaning of capitalism. As far as i understand the term capitalism refers to how economic relations are defined by society. But the problem is if thats the case then in a democracy these arrangements are at all times up for change by legitimate democratic process. So there is a continuous 'revolution' going on but the authors picture of where this leads is obscured. Its also unclear which bits of the economic arrangements would be disposed of by a non capitalist alternative.
"All right chaps, look this democracy thing is not doing to well – let's revolt"
YEAH RIGHT
OK let me see.
Revolts caused by weakness in democratic responsiveness included:
– Every single election since 2016 across Europe including Brexit (despite multiple elections in the last 5 year term)
– Every new political party formed in Europe since 2011
– The election of Donald Trump
– The election of the new Brazilian president
– The ejection of the President of Bolivia a few weeks' ago
– The Hong Kong riots this year
– The Indian election this year
It would be just so lovely if class analysis worked at all these days. It very rarely does.
But the revolutions have come from the right, rising to defend the nation-state better than the left have done for 90 years, won repeatedly and for years, and they continue to win.
You don't think Bolivia should maybe be called a military coup?
I think you are conflating "caused" with "enabled".
In a case of egregiously bad timing, the Venice City Council was flooded with the largest flood in 50 years on the same night that the Coucnil voted to reject climate change measures.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/11/14/europe/veneto-council-climate-change-floods-trnd-intl-scli/index.html
"Ironically, the chamber was flooded two minutes after the majority League, Brothers of Italy, and Forza Italia parties rejected our amendments to tackle climate change," Zanoni, who is deputy chairman of the environment committee, said in the post, which also has photographs of the room under water.
Among the rejected amendments were measures to fund renewable sources, to replace diesel buses with "more efficient and less polluting ones," to scrap polluting stoves and reduce the impact of plastics, he said.
Zanoni went on to accuse Veneto regional president Luca Zaia, who is a member of Matteo Salvini's far-right League Party, of presenting a budget "with no concrete actions to combat climate change."
The flooding is not linked to climate change. Venice has been sinking into the mud slowly for centuries, and this was recognised as a major threat as far back as the 18th century.
"is not linked" is a stronger claim than "is much less of a factor than Venice sinking".
Either way, it's still pretty funny.
Yep, McFlock. Poor choice of wording on my part and true, is very funny.
how would we know if such a situation was linked to CC or not?
It's not that sort of question. Every storm is, and every storm isn't. You get a 1 in 50-year event, that's probably just bad luck even though it is part of "climate". You get ten of them in five years, we'd know most of them will be directly attributable to climate change, but we'd never know exactly which one.
But Venice is built on crap ground and has been slowly sinking for centuries, and they keep building up and reclaiming. Fascinating history.
I think given the shit we are in it's reasonable to assume that climate change is affecting everything. It's a bit abstract to think that one storm is caused by CC and another isn't.
Also, the intersection of human activity with CC. Building in South Dunedin seemed reasonable in the 1800s, not so much now, but has our thinking caught up yet? Does it matter what is caused by CC? We can focus on the pumps if we want, but ultimately seeing all the causative factors in the bigger picture will help us more.
The fantasy of everything being fine if only we had perfectly regulated markets – Elizabeth Warren sounding surprisingly silly for a very smart person.
The American connection in Bolivia's right wing coup.
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2019/11/14/the-clear-us-role-in-bolivias-tragic-hard-right-coup/
The level playing field of the U.K media campaign.
https://www.thecanary.co/opinion/2019/11/13/we-need-to-have-a-serious-conversation-about-bbc-bias-because-this-really-isnt-on/
Yeah I was only joking ha ha – the response will be funny.
Lol. Nervous.
So. Pharmac. Didn't they do well?
Four deaths now, possibly due to patients having to accept generic epilepsy medication.
Pharmac kind of relaxing its 'exceptional circumstances ' provision but it's too late for the victims.
Ho hum. Those here steadfastly defending Pharmac's determined stance on this despite Medsafe advising caution….how do you feel now?
If it was 400 deaths, it would clearly be a scandal.
4… is the rate any higher than one would expect without med change?
Fairly brutal observation McFlock.
400 is your indication of a scandal. I would suggest that if 4 have died because 'balance sheet' then someone should be facing gaol time.
I suppose with all the euthanasia talk around, life is cheap.
I was pulling a number that would be a demonstrable change in mortality rate.
Life isn't cheap. It can be very expensive. Pharmac's job is to save as many lives as possible for the given $$$.
"..the given $$$."
That's the crux of it there I reckon. Many say Pharmac's budget needs to increase.
In the context of euthanasia, I would speculate that the lack of $ will contribute to some folk being euthanized inappropriately.
Euthanasia is a whole other discussion.
No matter what pharmac's budget is, there will always be someone who wants more money spent on a medication that might or might not have any effect. Last time it was herceptin.
We have yet to see whether this latest funding decision reversal is the result of the substitution being a genuine error with clinical consequnces, or another case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease.
Medsafe's advice to Pharmac against making the change makes for deeply uncomfortable reading. Not because of the potential for increased deaths, which Medsafe didn't mention and it has yet to be demonstrated that there actually are increased deaths due to the change, but because of the likelihood of extreme adverse quality of life effects for those do suffer adverse effects from the change.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6025152-MedSafe-OIA.html
Yeah – the bit about rejecting studies funded by pharmacorps when they disagree with pharmac's decision even though pharmac as a policy accepts such studies is a suggestion that the move was a done deal before consultation.
There seems to be a theme…patient seizure free for many years, is dispensed generic by pharmacy with sticker reassuring patient that it is the same drug just a different colour. Patient has sudden seizure and dies.
Thing is McFlock…as far as I know one is allowed to criticize a decision made by one of our State's agencies
This is not treason.
Pharmac may be the hard arsed deal-makers needed to drive the bargaining for affordable drugs for all…but when another State agency strongly advises caution against a particular cost saving measure because of, well, lives….
Pharmac forgot the Rule..
First do no harm.
Hope y'all listened to Espiner's interviewing Herr Doktor this evening.
What a warm man. Overflowing with the milk of human kindness. How well we are served. Sarc.
To argue "first do no harm" when harm has not been established might not be treason, but it is unreasonable.
The theme you outline happens regularly in NZ, with and without medication changes.
Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)
If a person with epilepsy dies and no other cause of death can be found, this is called SUDEP (sudden unexpected death in epilepsy).
How common is SUDEP?
SUDEP is less common in children than in adults.
Who is at risk of SUDEP?
The cause of SUDEP is unknown but there are some things that can increase the risk of SUDEP:
https://www.healthnavigator.org.nz/health-a-z/e/epilepsy/
http://epilepsy.org.nz/viewobj/abn_poster_sudep1_pb_003_.pdf?objID=363
terrible for all users of those drugs and especially for the victims and their families – appears a change happening
Welcome change. We all make errors of judgement. What matters is what we do about it.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/403141/mysterious-foundation-loaning-new-zealand-first-money
It may be legal, but it shouldn't be.
I'll give you a good deal on your furniture and drive you to the airport as soon as tomorrow. Why on earth do you continue to tolerate this shit-hole?
OK, that's not going to work. You need only respond "None of the people I love will leave the shit-hole with me, they like frolicking in feces."
Many authors here over the last 12 years has said that non-transparent funding of political parties is an rort (or words to that effect) at one point or another. If you go back 11-12 years you’ll find that we tried to get this crap closed down over and over again.
Just for instance consider r0b with https://thestandard.org.nz/what-can-you-buy-with-5×10000/ which looks like exactly the same kind of thing with a slightly different mechanism.
Or Steve P with https://thestandard.org.nz/open-up-the-trusts/
Or me with https://thestandard.org.nz/political-funding-have-your-say/ where i said
The only real solution for donations are that all donations above a minimal value need to have a single person responsible for and required by law to fully account for the sources of funding – however small. That includes such things as the organisers of raffles and trusts.
Or political parties can only get funded by the state.
I prefer the latter. I’m willing to accept the former.
In the meantime could you suggest a alternate mechanism that would prevent such rorts happening – because when I look at the kinds of corruption that comes with practices like this one https://thestandard.org.nz/ross-resigns-to-lay-corrupt-practices-complain-against-bridges-with-police/ with its allegation of a $100k donation to National being broken down into non-declarable $15k packets – I can’t see one.
All of those were apparently legal at the time (except maybe the last – can’t remember seeing the police response to that). Each change to tighten up has had fatal flaws and more rorts. It seems to be in the nature of politicians that they simply cannot be trusted to write the legislation required to control their own carnal behavior.
But I suspect that you’re going to simply be your dimwitted critical self. Once more tirelessly and fruitlessly simpering on the sidelines criticising those who actually try to do something about such practices. Basically I can’t see you doing anything except for presenting yourself as being hypocritical jerk – as usual.
I'm with you on this one lprent. State funding seems the most logical.
Moreover, campaigns should be simplified. Give all parties some airtime on TV to put forward their policies and allow them all to have a mass debate thereafter. And that's it. No more billboards, ads, etc.
Who watches ‘free-to-air’ TV any more?
I haven’t since 2012 because the advertising just wastes my time and disrupts the few bits of time that I have to watch TV – I haven’t seen anything on it worth watching in a decade. It isn’t exactly a mass media any more – it only caters to the elderly, the technophobic conservatives, and the idiotic. At least that seems to be who they are catering for – from the ‘news’ to the local content.
Perhaps you should (re-)read my last post on the subject.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-fast-death-of-broadcast-free-to-air-tv/
I’m not exactly a minority in this, especially with the 40 and under age groups
I’d personally prefer to pour state money down a sewer rather than spend any more on television, it’d have a better chance of remaining productive and clean (think of MAFS for instance).
As it is I both spend my own money to get something I can be bothered watching, and I pay wasted taxes on the drivel that is free-to-air TV. The RNZ National programme I like, the concert programme is worth supporting, but television as it currently stands isn’t worth wasting money on.
Perhaps the RNZ non-commercial model should just take over TVNZ? After all it appears to be climbing in audience and not contracting. https://www.rnz.co.nz/about/audience-research
They could also stream it live and have it on demand to better fit in with peoples schedules.
But I hear what you are saying about declining viewership, therefore have no problem with a RNZ non-commercial model take over.
Not to sure about your viewing taste but I found this show (links below) of late to be rather good.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/the-capture/episodes/s1-e1
Went and checked it out. Looks interesting.
However the usual screw up that I have come to expect from all of the media websites.
The ubuntu system is on the correct timezone, running chrome, and this system is almost direct out to the net. It sits behind a bog standard ethernet router hooked on to a fibre connection. There is a pinhole firewall in there. In other words the default setup for most desktop systems (apart from linux).
I even trapped the transmitted data and the location looked ok in there as well. Just a bug in the TVNZ streaming provider.
Oh well, I’ll have a look around to see if there are other legit sources that are competently run. It may work on android… But basically this is too much trouble already. I was going to look at it on my 4k monitor.
Otherwise there are providers who are actually competent and fast – unlike TVNZ on-demand.
Bugger! That's a shame.
It was all the talk in the UK.
Here's (link below) a bit of background on it. But you may want to read it after you have viewed it. That's, of course, if you can locate a legal site screening it.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/aug/31/bbc-the-capture-thriller-fake-news
I'm guessing the other group that watches free to air is poor people. I don't know what's happening with broadband prices these days, but the whole computer/streaming thing is not cheap if you have no money. One (partial) solution there would be for WINZ to consider internet access as a basic need.
The other problem at the moment is the weird way that the networks manage their streaming and on demand access. I can't figure out how to watch The Nation other than having to turn up right at 9.30am on a Saturday morning (streaming). Which never happens, so I'm out of the #nzpol twitter convos immediately. If you go to their webpage the on demand videos for The Nation are random, the first one I just clicked on is from August.
This may be TV3 cutting costs pre-sale, but I remember it being like that at other times too and I just gave up.
I find the sign-in for general on demand for either network a big cumbersome, which I can resolve if it bothers me. I often it takes time to find what I want to watch, I think because of how the networks are trying to corral viewers (you're supposed to become a loyal viewer I guess then they push stuff at you). Quite often I just give up. I've been thinking I should just get a TV for the 2020 election.
I think there is a case for not putting political content behind a tracking wall though. Mentioning this because the TVNZ/RNZ merger proposal includes paywalls and ads.
Also, rural internet speeds still often suck.
All of that is resolvable, and streaming and broadcast seem the way to go, but I'm not particularly confident that we would get it right.
This popped up in my twitter feed this morning. Free, high speed internet for all Brits via a publicly owned company (tied in with job creation, economy, working from home)
https://twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1195250079143223296
The UK is starting a long way behind, thanks to slavish neoliberalism: https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/world-of-tech/how-the-uk-lost-the-broadband-race-in-1990-1224784
I can't figure out how to watch The Nation other than having to turn up right at 9.30am on a Saturday morning (streaming)
It is very easy. Go to: https://www.threenow.co.nz/ Scroll down to: NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS and select it. 41 episodes available there if you feel like a binge.
edit
the first one there is last weeks for me using chrome. sorry should have read that last sentence properly.
edit edit
same with firefox
yeah, but if I miss the stream (or broadcast) at 9.30am I can't watch it in time to take part in #nzpol convos because they don't put the on demand up until some random time later. It's current affairs, people are talking about it on the day, it's bizarre they're not making that available. I don't know if that's a technical issue, but I had assumed it was how they wanted to do it in terms of controlling how people view their content.
Even more bizarrely, I followed your instructions and there is no sign of the live stream, which should be happening right now. FFS.
It shouldn't be this hard.
To get the live stream you need to go via "Live TV and Guide". Watching now. TERF stuff.
Yes it is annoying that stuff comes ondemand at random times after the live stream.
"To get the live stream you need to go via "Live TV and Guide"
Right. It's not like they're going to make it easy, you have to know your way around the website and how they organise content. It's daft.
Imagine you can't remember the name of the show, they don't even have a live stream link on TV3's front page ffs. Compare to RNZ's front page,
https://www.rnz.co.nz/
The thing that annoys me most about the three site is that you need to click into the live stream of each sub-channel just to see the guide.
More basic than that: their systems still require humans to make the clips available to view – so it's about paying them on a weekend vs the return on that. Other tasks are more profitable. Civic conversations do not factor into commercial broadcasting.
By comparison, RNZ has a fully-automated post-broadcast publishing pipeline because they had a very smart tech boss years ago when it was created (who also made their site a model of universal accessibility just because it was the right thing to do). I guess you could call that a technical issue.
thanks, re technical, I wasn't sure how easy it was to automate or to enable livestreaming where you can start watching the start half way through the stream (this is possible, just not sure how easy).
And yep, the driving force of profit doesn't serve us.
I find the sign-in for general on demand for either network a big cumbersome
I don't. I create a login with whatever name comes to mind and leave it logged in. I never remember the passwords. TVNZ has logged me out a couple of times over several years but i just create a new login.
edit
I use Chrome for TV and radio and Firefox for internet with Chrome set up so two windows for each TV site and windows for George FM and Ngati Hine FM open automatically.
I don't log out and then both networks log me out at some point (also not a fan of staying logged in because I assume it enhances tracking). I need to write down the login details and make them easily accessible on my desktop. Which I will no doubt do next year for the election to make my life easier, but I think there is a case for actual free to stream for politics during an election year.
Most browsers will offer to store login details for websites on the first sign in, and apart from internet banking, which I decline, there’s no need to write the details down. I always log out after visiting a site I've logged in to and I've never had an issue, and I clear the cache and internet files multiple times a day.
What browser are you using?
Opera at the moment, but it works in Firefox and Chrome
Firefox
Chrome
The problem with that approach is that it sort of works when you jump across multiple machines with chrome and firefox – but not quite.
I routinely use at least 5-10 computers during a day. Between work laptops, mobiles and tablets, base systems, and TVs it gets to be a mess trying to have remembered login names and passwords – all of which need to be updated.
But the real issue is that the TV sites want you to jump through their promo pages and ads. So they don’t have good persistent links. I usually can’t have a link direct to what I want to watch. There is always a new hoop to jump through with media sites. I prefer to use the attention time for login hoops like that for things that I work with – like email, messaging, slack, stackoverflow, man pages, language reference sites etc – so I seldom bother.
I’m certainly not going to waste that valuable attention to detail on sites that are basically trying to sell me stuff.
Good point about multiple devices. I only us a desktop for interwebs. TV as a cascaded second screen.
Agree the Three site is a dog with intrusive ads but i find the TVNZ site easy to use with minimal ads and no hoops. I have Crome set to open two windows of the ondemad page on startup. The first two rows with no ads are favourites and new.
do you mean they don't play ads on those videos?
I was meaning on the page itself. No ads at all on the ondemand page, not even self-promoting. One small commercial ad on the homepage, and some for shows but you would expect that. The videos themselves have about a third of the ad time of the live stream.
Oh I agree. To a large extent they are catering to that market. It shows in content of the adverts in particular.
It is just that I have zero interest in anything where I can figure out the inevitable ‘story’ pattern within 10 minutes of the first episode. Or in the case of something like MAFS, without even seeing more than a few paragraphs of promotional stories in the NZ Herald. Similarly I don’t find much to be interested in with the slow unrolling of news or current affairs punctuated by inane ads for something that I already read online days or even weeks earlier.
The problem is that there are viable alternatives these days without ads and on-demand. So what is happening is that free-to-air is becoming a broadcast media desolation that is losing the more affluent and time constrained of their audience to anything else. That means that the support for a free-to-air network model is being continuously eroded.
As the number of audience who have the income to be really interesting to advertisers stop watching, the number of and length of ad breaks increases to drop costs – driving more of their audience with choices away. Ads targeting those groups get increasingly concentrated around the things that draw them back – like political debates or current affairs or the news or local content or satire. Driving them away from that as well.
But there is a need as a society to maintain public broadcasting systems for a whole host of reasons that I won’t describe right now. The problem is that when the system is orientated around advertising or even competitive advertorials (advertising upcoming shows etc) when there are viable alternatives without those factors, the public support for maintaining a free-to-air system diminishes as well.
That is how I find it as well. Apart from anything else they seem to delight in not having persistent links to content. You have to jump through pages and hoops to the point where it is easier to just dig a snippet off youtube (permanent links and no sign ins) to see if it looks interesting – and if it isn’t on one of the existing subscriptions to fire up a torrent. After all I’ll lose interest in most things half way through the first episode if the storyline has been cribbed from shakespeare et al yet again. Or we have ‘celebrity’ fools like Hosking (who I have never seen) posturing that they can moderate political debate.
Yeah. You either have public money funding open political debate or you don’t. None of the political content in NZ runs without large support from state funding. It shouldn’t have either paywalls or adverts. It should just be available online.
I know. Otherwise I’d have been living in Glenorchy 2 decades ago.
Mostly that is currently an issue of maintaining above ground copper networks. While cell-systems are a viable way to put in network infrastructure, their bandwidth is a direct function of distance and weather (ie it is an issue of attenuation). Thee more bandwidth, the closer the tower have to be together – which is why there will be a lot of infill for 5G in urban areas.
Besides they require a higher speed network to get to cell towers anyway. Basically fibre has few limitations over time and is the approach that needs to be taken (unless quantum entangling becomes more than curiosity).
They have pretty well wired up the urban areas with fiber-optic now – ie max people at least cable length. We need to start biting the bullet and look at a decades long project to persistently (ie underground) keep getting fibre into smaller communities. There really isn’t a good technical way to fibre out to the farms. The lengths are long and the maintenance costs mount up over longer lengths – even underground.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Kia Ora 1 News.
Condolences to Nancy Brunning Whanau.
The Auckland City rail link will save Aotearoa burning a lot of carbon.
All the best on your new journey Gareth.
I think that DIY cervical smears will improve the diagnosis of Wahine cervical cancer.
That's awesome Paris highlighting our Ocean problems with their Christmas parades.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Nancy has quite a lot of mahi on Maori made films she will be missed.
I remember when the reserve in Te Tairawhiti had Kai moana in it before the same as it has now with the reservation. Its great to see Te Kai Moana return to the reservation in great numbers we need reservations like that all around Aotearoa.
Awsome that Ngāti Oneone are planting native trees on their Moanga.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora 1 News.
Ka pai to the Champion Chest playing tamariki.
Ka kite Ano
Coal is old dirty technology that needs to be banished to our history books.
Two of America’s biggest coal plants closed this month
First the dirtiest ones began shutting down. Then it was the old ones. Now it’s some of the biggest. America’s coal plants are turning off the boilers, facing brutal economics and customers fleeing for natural gas and renewable energy.
This week, Arizona’s 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search
This week, Arizona’s 2.25-GW Navajo Generating Station burned its last load of coal after no buyers turned up during a two-year search. Trade publication Utility Dive reports that the fate of the financially ailing plant was sealed after a bid to force an Arizona water agency to buy its electricity failed. The Navajo station emitted about 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, equivalent to 3.3 million cars. It’s one of the biggest retirements in a year of massive shutdowns.
The second is Pennsylvania’s 2.7-GW Bruce Mansfield unit. The plant’s bankrupt owner began shutdown on Nov. 7, almost two years ahead of schedule. It was the state’s largest coal-fired plant, operating for 40 years.
Together, the two retirements equal all the emission reductions from coal plant shut-downs in 2015, a record year when 15 GW of mostly smaller and older units were shuttered, reports Scientific American. Last year, 14 GW were mothballed. In 2020, more are on the way, including Kentucky’s Paradise plant.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://qz.com/1749023/two-of-americas-biggest-coal-plants-closed-this-month/amp/
Thanks to The European Investment Bank for their move to protect our mokopuna future from a carbon polluted environment.
The European Investment Bank has agreed to phase out its multibillion-euro financing for fossil fuels within the next two years to become the world’s first ‘“climate bank”.
The bank will end its financing of oil, gas, and coal projects after 2021, a policy that will make the EU’s lending arm the first multilateral lender to rule out financing for projects that contribute to the climate crisis.
The decision to stem the flow of capital into fossil fuel projects has been welcomed by green groups as an important step towards the EU’s aim to be carbon-neutral by 2050.
The EIB, the world’s largest multilateral financial institution, described its decision as a “quantum leap” in ambition. “Climate is the top issue on the political agenda of our time,” said the bank’s president, Werner Hoyer. “We will stop financing fossil fuels and launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere.”
The bank’s vice-president, Andrew McDowell, said the move was “an important first step – not the last step, but probably one of the most difficult.”
Under its new policy, the bank will end all lending to fossil fuels within two years and align all funding decisions with the Paris climate accord. Energy projects applying for EIB funding will have to show they can produce one kilowatt hour of energy while emitting less than 250 grammes of carbon dioxide.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/15/european-investment-bank-to-phase-out-fossil-fuels-financing