Oh dear,
This is from our mainstream media Deliberate course set Rena to reef. A sudden deliberate change of course. 33 kph, near top speed to ram it up on the reef.
5 days without intervention, not even the most basic “let’s float some booms around possible leaks” and a massive corexit (8X more toxic than the actual oil dump) on what was a small oil spill at the time.
And the crew flown out of the country “to protect them?”
What is going on here? Here is an interesting 9 minute video explaining the shock doctrine.
John Key’s psychopathy shone through when he made the slash movement and now this?
Apparently, Astrolabe is used as a ‘short-cut’ by many container vessels heading towards Tauranga Port. A forbidden course but one never challenged by authorities. There are rumours currently floating about that Astrolabe is an impediment to the dredging of the harbour floor to allow bigger vessels into the port, and generally as an impediment to the growth of Port business.
If the reef has been significantly compromised by the Rena than the environmental arguments for its ongoing protection as a marine paradise is also significantly compromised.
The whole reason for the transmitting of transponder codes and positions is so that shore authorities know where the ship is. The authorities, who should have been watching, would have been able to pick up the course change, map it onto their own charts, tell that the ship was now headed for a reef and tell the ship to change course. Obviously, this didn’t happen.
Again, this comes down to government not doing enough to ensure the protection of our marine environment.
Good morning. Great to see the Herald articles challenging the pathetic, negligent initial response to the MV Rena disaster… Paul Holmes, John Armstrong and I particularly John Roughan’s take,
as it calls to account the total lack of leadership quality from National’s top politicians. Swift action at the time not explanations and excuses afterwards….shame on you Key, Joyce etc…
The one good thing that may come out of this tragedy is National’s demise.
The simpering Armstrong’s piece needs the common two scans, for it is actually a swingeing defence of ShonKey as per usual with slaps at Labour and Greens. Holmsie can’t resist a swipe at Labour on the way through either. Roughan’s is not bad though.
That these three consistently rat bag journos have given the Nats any stick at all shows what major mismanagement has occured over the Rena disaster.
Then the Herald gets the award for most misleading desperate headline – Key proves popular in Papamoa (actually he gets heckled and grilled by 300 locals)…
Let us hope this is one situation that can’t be sanitised by misleading PR and headlines! Too much in the public eye and hearts? Wonder how the local papers will report it all.
The National Government is enormously popular, partly because Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English are willing to throw money at almost every problem.
The latest $18.4 billion deficit represents 9.2 per cent of gross national product – one of the worst amongst the 30 OECD member countries.
The individual tax take has declined from $27.5 billion in the June 2008 year to $23.1 billion in the latest year.
This is mainly because of the Government’s tax cuts last year.
Corporate tax is down from $10.1 billion to $7.3 billion, but GST revenue has risen from $11.1 billion to $13 billion over the same period.
The moneyshot quote from the usually dry and measured Gaynor has to be:
Right-of-centre governments often run large Budget deficits because they overestimate the positive effect of tax cuts on the economy, and the Key Government is no exception.
Stuff and Yahoo website photos of the Rena this morning all feature the Donkey front and centre. Several of them are presented to look like he is running the show.
As an FYI for the Rena discussion this morning, and for those who didn’t catch Joyce on Campbell Live last night, we have another example of failure in ministerial responsibility
…and those who have studied the detail and understand the economics of why it went bad.
They may be a few people in the world who know why the economics went bad. I doubt if a single one of them is an “economist”. If any economist actually knew then it wouldn’t have happened again.
I want to throw in another thought: it could be worse than the 1930s if we let it happen.
Well, he got that bit right.
…(to give you an idea of how, 40,000 of them were state employed actors and theatre directors).
There’s something wrong with having culture?
Like all commenter’s he misses the obvious: Deficit spending is the actual problem with the finance industry. What actually needs to happen is that all people, including countries, who can’t pay back their loans to declare themselves bankrupt and to state, in no unequivocal terms, that the loans will not be paid back. This will destroy a lot of interest bearing debt (that probably didn’t exist before it got printed by the banks) and allow those people and states to start again. Recapitalisation won’t allow that. In fact, recapitalisation only point seems to be to prevent a few people from losing some money rather than to get the “economy” moving again.
Of course, with Peak Everything here, the financial economy is screwed anyway. Already there isn’t enough “value” left in the real economy to pay the monetary debt never mind the usury the capitalists are demanding.
I think my main criticism was that he thinks bank-nationalisation and government control of credit is the “worst” that could happen, currently. A greater danger would seem to be that when debt repudiation starts to become commonplace (i.e. beyond Iceland), wars of conquest will be launched to offset the losses of state-owned creditor banks.
He didn’t come prepared to shovel oil but people on the beach suggested that he shovel some. What was he going to do? Say fuck off, you’re on your own?
Unlike someone else we could both name, it didn’t involve engineering a photo op. There was no tax-payer funded unnecessary helicopter trip involved.
Perhaps if John Key spent less time attending photo-ops, glad-handing the rich and famous (and only listening to what people tell him is going on in his government) and more time in the office ensuring that his ministers were doing their jobs then perhaps we would have a more efficient government, marine compensation legislation would not be shuffled down the list and he would ensure ministers like Joyce would be making sure Maritime NZ was doing its job and not building holiday highway think-big projects and campaigning to to get his boss elected.
If ever Americans were up for a bit of class warfare, now would seem to be the time. The current financial downturn has led to a $700 billion tax-payer-financed bank bailout and an unemployment rate stuck stubbornly above nine percent. Onto this scene has stepped the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which seeks to bring together a disparate group of protesters united in their belief that the current income distribution is unfair. “The one thing we all have in common is that We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” says their website. In an era of bank bailouts and rising poverty – and where recent data show that the top 1 percent control as much as 35 percent of the total wealth in America – it would appear that the timing of this movement to reconsider the allocation of wealth could not be more perfect.
heh – a wee detail overlooked is that in a world of diminishing returns… standards of living falling in tandem with resource depletion etc…that ‘last place’ might reasonably be concieved as being ahead of the curve 🙂
Nick Smith on The Nation this morning tried very hard to make it look like the government did all that it could from day one of the Rena grounding.
Again, he (and his other Nat pollies) are trying to confuse the issues of the initial response (which is of necessity home-grown, using NZ stores and resources according to advanced planning on a wide range of scenarios) and the work of the salvors which will involve international expertise, the salvors appointed by the owners.
Between the grounding and the work of the salvors and the international experts lies the gap in which New Zealand is on its own and should, MUST, e prepared in every possible way.
That responsibility rests with Maritime NZ. Events and prepared reports that have come to light show that they were not prepared.
It is not good enough for the Gvt to say that there was a problem with the pipes and getting oil off a vessel that is only designed to have oil go on. That is not a new issue! Any person worth their salt would know that in the event of a leaking ship (at sea or in port) would need to have some way of unloading any oil remaining in the ship (broken pipes or not).
That means, we scope the issues, research equipment and techniques on the market, design and build our own if they are not available and we store them. It is inexcusable that and agency charged with the initial response was not better prepared. None of the excuses presented by the government were unforeseeable nor insurmountable with proper planning and provisioning nor was the state of the wreck such that they could not enact a pre-prepared plan.
To say that we do not, nor could we be expected have, the expertise resident in NZ and so we had/have to wait until they arrive is again an attempt for National to confuse in the public mind the initial response and the stage when the salvors arrive. As a principle, we have people being trained every day in first response issues that may be either outside their usual job (eg. an office worker trained in first aid or as a fire warden for their floor of the building) to experts who go overseas or attend courses so they are prepared for a disaster.
All over this country we have full-time or volunteer fire officers who prepare for types of fires, spills etc they may never see in their life time. If the expertise is not local to the fire station then the Fire Service builds that capacity, knowledge and training on a regional or national basis and they practice all sorts of scenarios.
To follow the reasoning of Nick Smith et al what if the emergency initial response people at Auckland airport only prepared for a fire in the terminal? or Only prepared for a runway crash and ignored that they were almost surrounded by water?
NZ is surround by water, we have vessels coming and going, we know the types of fuel they have.
The government is wrong, is lying to us, trying to confuse us and is covering their own political future. We need to not be confused by their obfuscation techniques and as NZdrs who love their country we should stick the issue that “we” (really, the people we paid and trusted to protect us) were not prepared and that will cost us in an environmental cost and hit us again in the pocket!
For every dollar it ultimately costs us to clean this up a worker has to trade time and energy to provide that dollar in taxes. National would rather pay for a $5 plan, leave it to invisible market forces, and irrational belief that business will be responsible and take the risk that it will never have to spend $105 – then tell the poor schmucks who have to pay for it that it was unavoidable, they know better, we are irrational and the lock us out of our beaches!
Well it has long been known to union organisers that some workers exhibit exactly this type of ‘ranking’ behaviour.
The right has historically used all manner of perceived differences (e.g. race, religion, region, rural/urban, employed/unemployed/precariously employed, immigrant/indigenous, low/mid/high earners) to create division among those that in left terms have many commonalities and reasons for uniting.
The Occupy movement has attempted to sweep that tendency away with its one take classification of society into 1 or 99%ers.
Re The Rena and agree wth your comments William Joyce. Maritme NZ are the first responders and should be financed to prepare for the various scenarios and should also develop links with local NZ resources both public and private so that they knew who was out there who could help, instead of ignoring viable offers. In an emergency, mobilising local resources is also something politicians can assist with, if they can be bothered, and clearly NACT can’t be.
On another tack altogether, if we can put a tracking beacon on a penguin, is this done to the containers so that if/when they go overboard they can be located? Not necessarily easy among moving container stacks but there was that fine weather.
Wow Redbaron! Tracking beacon? What a great idea! Indeed why haven’t they?
But I suppose there would have to be a Cabinet Meeting some time in the future and Key would say we have done all that we could, and wasn’t the penguin great and maybe next time, and anyway why didn’t Labour think of it when they were in office? Eh? Ha ha!?
Oh great, so instead of making sure there’s no long term issues with the land freed up, like the high ground water level in Marshlands, or transport system issues the presently cause gridlock every weekday rush hour on main routes into the city from the west and north and ye olde environmental issues, instead Czar Brownlee is over-ruling the Environment Court completely and trying to saturate the market with well over 5 times the number of damaged houses. Perhaps a smarter idea would have been to build a research group to focus purely on what was needed, works in the longterm and fits in with the rest of the rebuild with CERA backing to fast track packets of land for housing, commercial and industrial + all the needed social and economic infrastructure?
Instead of potentially creating a mess of future problems by rubber stamping away…
And I so look forward to potentially loosing all the cheap market gardens and fruit orchards north of me :/
Indeed. What goes around…… Appalling examples of Freedom of speech only for those good Arab folk, not Americans.
Connect this with Bomber Bradbury perhaps? (Good column on Brian Edwards Media.)
Brilliant video. Although we didn’t really need any further confirmation that Obama is every bit the empty vessel we suspected during that insulting “Hope and Change” campaign three years ago and Hillary Clinton is just as callous a liar as her husband.
Whats up with Chris Trotter. He seems to be overwhelemd with his own verbosity. Yesterday he seemed to think that John Kesy was blessed with good luck when all he ever really had was a good wigmaker and now its loose. (old jazz joke). Even the Dompost put him down for being a harbinger of bad luck today. they are not always right but on this one they are.
“I think there has been a shift post-earthquake to lifestyle, particularly in the north of Christchurch where they see themselves as being away from what they may call `earthquake zone’, where there is a perception that it’s more stable land and that’s certainly influencing buyers.”
lolwut?
There’s a complex set of fault systems in North Canterbury that generated all those lovely rolling hills and so it’s definitely not “stable” in all but small human time scales, with multiple, rather visible, surface fault traces if you know what to look for.
I have just finished watching an inspirational interview with ex President Jimmy Carter on BBC. The intellect, the vision, the humour… all at 87.
If it is repeated somewhere, don’t miss it.
And isn’t it great where the subject of the interview tells his story rather than being constantly interrupted by the egocentric interviewer, NZ style.
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The Earthquake Commission and Shine Lawyers are delighted to announce that EQC has reached an agreement with the Gibling family, agreeing to cover the cost of repairs of remaining earthquake damage on their property. ...
Four months into the inquiry, the Royal Commission is gathering significant information and continues to receive valuable submissions from the public, from current and former State servants, experts and community groups. ...
While Fish & Game New Zealand is pleased to see Federated Farmers Environment Spokesperson Chris Allen say that 'we all want good, fresh water', he conveniently overlooks some key facts. ...
What: Wellington demo “Save the Amazon Forest/Salve a Amazônia!” When: Friday, 6 September 2019 from 12:30-13:30 Where: Embassy of Brazil in Wellingtona ...
Rt Hon Trevor Mallard, Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, welcomes the visit of His Excellency Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal. ...
A cross political Mental Health and Addictions Wellbeing group will be launched on Wednesday 28 August hosted by Sir John Kirwan and Moe Milne (ONZM) who have both been at the forefront of our country’s often difficult conversations about mental ...
Confirmation that the government will be progressing an independent Parliamentary Budget Office is great news for democracy and transparency, Federated Farmers says. ...
At first glance, Simon Bridges’ strident opposition to the government’s proposal to establish an independent office to cost political parties’ election spending plans looks childish and petty. ...
Euthanasia-Free NZ is appalled that Parliament spent so little time debating Part 2 of the End of Life Choice Bill and voted to leave it full of holes. ...
Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance and its nationwide sister group the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is slamming Auckland Mayor Phil Goff for his comments today that John Tamihere would need the Government’s support to ...
A ‘one size fits all’, inflexible and punitive regulatory regime for water quality just gets backs - and costs - up and most importantly will not work, Federated Farmers says. ...
Mediation yesterday between secondary principals and the government has resulted in a deal that the principals' negotiating team is recommending to its members. ...
Clubs New Zealand welcomes the decision of Justice Minister Andrew Little to put forward a bill amending the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Act to allow all licensed premises to remain open for Rugby World Cup matches. ...
The Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation has ordered a review looking at labelling of added sugars in food and drinks. An option under investigation is ‘a pictorial approach applied to sugary beverages / sugar-sweetened beverages’ ...
Labour market data released by Statistics New Zealand today indicates that a gender pay gap persists in New Zealand, despite improvement in some areas. ...
In the midst of the 6th Great Extinction Event the coalition, STOP Trashing Our Planet is urging voters to take full responsibility for the legacy we are leaving our children. ...
LGNZ will carefully consider the proposed National Policy Statement on Urban Development (NPS-UD) to assess if it meets the Government’s aim of enabling urban development or simply adds more red tape to the planning process. ...
Statistics out today from the Government show that the gender wage imbalance, or gap, in the average wage is 11.9%, a strong 2 percentage point improvement from 13.9% last year. The gender pay imbalance in the median wage is 9.3%. ...
Newstalk ZB Drive host and Herald on Sunday columnist Heather du Plessis-Allan is taking on the challenge of keeping 2019 Auckland Mayoral contenders Phil Goff and John Tamihere in line and on point in tonight’s live NZ Herald Newstalk ZB debate. ...
After twenty years Napier residents have endured heavy sleep and health disruptive noise and air pollution from freight trucks gridlock operations to and from the Napier port and other regions. ...
The EMA says much is riding on the board and chief executive of the new National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) announced by Infrastructure Minister Hon Shane Jones today, with a difficult task ahead to deliver on its purpose. ...
The Public Service Association welcomes the introduction of workplace standards by the State Services Commission that make it clear public services should expect positive and safe workplaces. ...
The Financial Services Federation (FSF) - the voice of responsible lenders and leasing companies - and FinCap - working with consumers facing financial hardship - are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) this Thursday 22 August in Auckland. It will ...
Wellington, 20 August 2019 — Lawyers for Vulnerable New Zealanders (LVNZ) has lent its support to the amendments proposed by MP Chris Penk to better protect vulnerable people from being coerced to end their lives under the End of Life Choice Bill, currently ...
The Government’s decision to establish and independent Parliamentary Budget Office, outside of Treasury, is a taxpayer victory and will improve democracy, says the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union . Taxpayers' Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's ...
The Taxpayers’ Union can reveal that the cost-benefit analysis prepared by Ministry of Transport and used to advise Ministers on the Government’s Clean Car Standard and ‘Feebate’ policies has serious flaws which undermine justifications for the ...
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) welcomes new proposals for prison reform put forward by the Minister of Corrections and non-government organisations recently. ...
The New Zealand Maori Council has called on the nation to address all forms of racism and not to shy away from an honest conversation about where it’s taking hold. The call comes after the Nelson Club decided to keep a member after his comments became ...
Wellington (20 August 2019): The New Zealand Initiative enthusiastically welcomes the Coalition Government’s announcement of an Independent Parliamentary Budget Office. Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Associate Finance Minister James Shaw ...
Drs Say No agree with Chris Penk’s amendment to protect vulnerable patients from coercion, although the organisation still maintains that no safe euthanasia legislation can ever be drafted and continues to urge MPs to defeat the End of Life Choice Bill. ...
The Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier says the Northland Regional Corrections Facility is persisting with policies that are preventing it from achieving its full potential. ...
The second national hui in the Māori-led Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki concluded yesterday ahead of schedule after a capacity audience formally ratified the terms of reference that determines the scope and purpose of the independent investigation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...
A group of students, including some Youth MPs, have been banned from Parliament for a year, after singing a waiata in the public gallery in support of the Ihumātao hīkoi. ...
National MP Nick Smith has lodged a serious accusation against Parliament's Speaker calling him "biased" after once again being booted out of the debating chamber. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people again took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the government – the 11th straight weekend of demonstrations that began in June over a proposed extradition bill. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target – to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lewis Mitchell, Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics, University of Adelaide I swear by Hypatia, by Lovelace, by Turing, by Fisher (and/or Bayes), and by all the statisticians and data scientists, making them my witnesses, that I will carry out, according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Just when we thought Australia was getting serious about shifting priorities away from the Middle East to its own neighbourhood, the prime minister has announced another Middle East step up. Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Keogh, ARC DECRA Fellow, Queensland University of Technology In the last three months, the Australian Classification Board has “refused classification” for at least four video games – effectively banning them in Australia. The latest is zombie-survival shooter DayZ. Despite being previously ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle The Heart Foundation now recommends full-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt or reduced-fat options as part of its updated dietary advice released yesterday. This moves away from earlier advice that recommended only reduced-fat ...
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Paris Georgia co-founders Paris Mitchell Temple and Georgia Cherrie.This week’s podcast features a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, who has died aged 73 of cancer, leaves a political and personal legacy as a man of courage, conviction and congeniality. The support that Fischer as National Party leader ...
One part telenovela, one part family drama, one part addictive love story. Sam Brooks reviews Jane the Virgin, the great show with an unfortunate name that should be your next Netflix binge.The following piece contains very mild spoilers for Jane the Virgin.While watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, ...
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects.Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last. Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ...
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Tara Ward taste-tests the best hot chips in the country. Everyone loves a hot chip because they’re a) hot, and b) a chip, but there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad chip experience. A ...
Sky Network Television has written down the value of large parts of its business and scrapped paying a dividend as it changes direction to counter falling pay TV subscribers. ...
Strict word limits for Māori translations of local body election candidate profiles is a form of "institutional racism" and should be changed, a candidate says. ...
ACT Party leader David Seymour's voluntary euthanasia bill has cleared another stage in Parliament with a suite of changes aimed at securing support. ...
A finalist for New Zealander of the Year for her work with Māori smokers is at war with academics because her research is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris. Guyon Espiner reports. ...
Keith Rankin’s Chart Analysis Auckland Māori exodus after 2014The 2018 census has had such a low compliance rate, that it really acted as a large convenience sample (therefore a biased sample) of the New Zealand population. (See my Census Survey from March 2018.) Despite the assurances we are getting, ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Housing Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Lecturing councils won’t work for Labour either Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Nice pointers, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University As the abortion decriminalisation bill gradually makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation With the advent of online ancestry DNA testing, and advancements in genetic screening for various medical aliments, we’re able to know more than ever about the genes that make us who we are. But is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Galligan, Associate professor, University of Southern Queensland If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au.How was maths discovered? Who made up the numbers and rules? – Bianca, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Borroz, PhD candidate in international business and comparative political economy, University of Auckland India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has settled into lunar orbit, ahead of its scheduled Moon landing on September 7. If it succeeds India will join a very select club, now ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Twyford and Parker propose new urban development policy statement, Tamihere unveils transport plans, and Māori King issues challenge on child abuse.For a lead today, a nudge towards one of those deeply dense announcements that could end up having a huge ...
Just like its National predecessor, this Labour-led Government is trying to lecture councils into growing the 'right' kinds of cities without giving them the funding tools or help to do it. ...
Part three of our debate on the state of New Zealand fiction continues as Chris Else, whose opening essay was strongly rebutted last week by Catherine Robertson, returns to put the boot in once more. ...
This morning the five shortlisted songs for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award were announced. Here, exclusively for The Spinoff, the finalists discuss each other’s nominated songs.Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club on ‘The Barrel’ by Aldous Hardingit’s such a beautiful stunt to witness. breaking just before the cliff edge. the ...
A group is currently holding seminars around NZ which appear to be based on misinformation about vaccines. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris fact checks some of their claims. ...
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads - they need to move on from simply being "competitive" to make a serious impression on the world football stage. ...
Countless stories from women who have a right to be safe on campus still go unanswered, writes Kate Hannah, deputy director equity and inclusion, Te Pūnaha MatatiniDespite the hashtags and the headlines, universities in New Zealand seem to have largely avoided facing up to their own “#MeToo moment”. It is ...
The government’s plan to avoid another ‘fiscal hole’ fiasco has an unlikely fan: the chief economist of the corporate think tank New Zealand Initiative. Eric Crampton explains what else it could do.Have you ever driven past one of those stores that mostly sells blinds but calls itself ‘Not Just Blinds’ ...
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alex Braae casts his eyes over the Otago Regional Council contest.The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The SpinoffMembers. For more about ...
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...
Open mike 15/10/2011 
Spark is bracing for a customer backlash as rugby fans all across the country struggle to get a picture on their wireless router. With the Rugby World Cup fast approaching, an elderly Taranaki couple are furious after being told that they still won’t be able to watch the tournament, even ...4 hours ago
Several explosions have been reported across Auckland, as well-meaning environmentalists have already begun purchasing too much petrol Starting from next week, customers will no longer need a car to purchase petrol directly from the pump, a development that two major fuel providers are billing as an opportunity to help fight ...5 hours ago
A new study claims to find that a mother’s exposure to fluoridated water during pregnancy may decrease the IQ of male children – but is it correct? (Photo: Getty Images) Anti-fluoride campaigners are promoting ... 7 hours ago
Donald Trump seems to be eager to start a war with Iran, and naturally Australia is yapping at its heels like a good little vassal. The UK also asked New Zealand to get involved, but fortunately, we had a good excuse: we simply didn't have the toys available:Britain asked New ...12 hours ago
Television advertising has a huge impact on our lives. Even if we don’t recognise that, we know it has to be true, since otherwise why would advertisers spend so much on it? Its significance, however, is greater than simply the influence it has on what we purchase and consume. It ...2 days ago
by Jan Rivers More than 30 years ago a Commission of Inquiry was held in New Zealand to investigate, amongst other things, whether women with cervical cancer were aware that they had been part of a research project and whether they were properly informed of the treatment options ...2 days ago
Everyone Wants To Be Fuhrer: When fascist groups are discussed, the image conjured-up in the minds of most New Zealanders is one of pathetic misfits. This negative impression is reinforced by the latter’s idiotic embrace of the swastika. Even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, the baleful legacy ...3 days ago
In the previous two posts, I laid out the context and set the theoretical framework to answer a question: whether indigenous economies should take the LEAP. This final part outlines ways to conceive of practicing mana motuhake within the existing legal system by carving out special jurisdictions that enable Indigenous ...4 days ago
Fully Informed? Labour’s 2017 promises raised expectations that were little short of revolutionary. Unfortunately, they were never adequately shaken through the fiscal sieve. The hard economic work was not done – and it shows. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s critics have long complained that her grasp of the way the New ...5 days ago
You cannot expect to pound communities into the ground day after day, year after year, decade after decade and just expect them to take it lying down. There’s a point at which the place will explode. And we’re faced with some very big ructions on both sides of the Atlantic ...6 days ago
7 days ago
Going Down? Once truth and propaganda become fused in the minds of one’s followers, debate and discussion become redundant. If one’s opponents are all outrageous liars, then engaging with them in any way is pointless. Rather than waste its time, a political party should, instead, target all its messages at ...7 days ago
We need to fundamentally reframe our systems settings to address the drivers causing and underpinning inequality; structural change in systems especially financial. The Equality Network Hui was held in Wellington on 27 June 2019. The hui covered important topics such as child poverty; a living wage; taxation; public health; mental ...1 week ago
The views-per-page for some of my recent postings:Depressing, isn't it? Provide thoughtful and wise commentary on the mainstream of British politics and no-one notices. Make a passing reference to Tommy DICKHEAD Robinson in a thread title and you get hundreds of views. Write something about anti-Semitism and you get another ...1 week ago
The government has announced plans to move the Treaty of Waitangi and other taonga to a new site. Great news! So where are they going? Right next to the old one:The new plan will see a new 22,000-square-metre archive built on the former site of Defence House - the former ...1 week ago
Back in June, StatsNZ went public about a project to track population data on an hourly level by using people's cellphones. It wasn't as bad as it initially looked - they were receiving no individual data, only counts by suburb - but there was still a huge consent problem, so ...1 week ago
I did an interview on the TVNZ Breakfast Show about the situation in Hong Kong. I tried to frame the issue as a collective action problem between two sides with very different end games. The video is here. Because of time constraints we could not discuss the fact that the ...1 week ago
Image Credit: Wild Rose College A new study reporting the ranges of values for kidney and liver parameters in a healthy population is being actively misrepresented by anti-fluoride campaigners. The Fluoride Action Network’s (FAN) latest ... 1 week ago
Alone, Alone. All, All Alone: Will it be a good or a bad thing, when humanity’s bright blue spacecraft is stricken by the civilisation-destroying problem of Climate Change, that no Huston Control will be standing-by to rescue the crew?“WE HAVE A PROBLEM, HUSTON.” These were the words used by the ...1 week ago
Divided Loyalties: Can the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, be relied upon? That’s what the boys and girls at Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon needed to be reassured about. Because, from the perspective of Washington, it’s looking more and more like Jacinda Ardern and her Labour Party comrades are getting ready ...2 weeks ago
This handy Queer Theory Glossary is from thetranswidow.com In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with the spate of new queer theory terms, here’s a handy glossary for your reference. Queer – A straight person with an interesting haircut. Non-binary/genderqueer – A chubby young female, typically 16-28, who has ...2 weeks ago
The winter grazing issue is becoming a highly sensitised one that I hope will not become so politicised that it delays solutions and results in the suicides of some very stressed farmers.Winter grazing has hit the headlines after a determined campaign, including the release of a video of some very ...2 weeks ago
The Green Part has been accused of lack of transparency in two recent situations. The first was the claimed media lockdown during Green's annual conference and the second was Julie Ann Genter's refusal to release a letter she had sent to Phil Twyford.I do get frustrated when journalist's succumb to ...2 weeks ago
Blowing-Up The House: Is Winston Peters planning to put himself at the head of all those New Zealanders who refuse to countenance the Coalition Government caving-in to the Ihumatao protesters? The most effective way of doing this would be to issue Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern with an ultimatum. If she ...2 weeks ago
Opportunities to dodge tax are shrinking with the completion of a new tax agreement with Switzerland, Revenue Minister Stuart Nash announced today. Mr Nash and the Swiss Ambassador David Vogelsanger have today signed documents to update the double tax agreement (DTA). The previous DTA was signed in 1980. “Double tax ...2 weeks ago
The organiser of the annual YWCA Equal Pay Awards has expressed her disappointment with the latest Gender Pay Gap figure for New Zealand workers. The figure rose slightly from 9.2% in 2018 to 9.3% for the quarter ended 30 June 2019. ...6 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Even Scott Morrison, with his abundant self-belief, couldn’t have imagined that on Saturday’s first anniversary of his seizing the prime ministership, he’d be winging his way to France for a G7 meeting, where Australia has ...3 hours ago
By distorting the climate truth Federated Farmers is making its members complacent about their performance and blind to the threats they face. ...4 hours ago
ANALYSIS: By Camellia Webb-Gannon of the University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas to force them out, ...5 hours ago
A group of students, including some Youth MPs, have been banned from Parliament for a year, after singing a waiata in the public gallery in support of the Ihumātao hīkoi. ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sunanda Creagh, Head of Digital Storytelling Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of people again took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest against the government – the 11th straight weekend of demonstrations that began in June over a proposed extradition bill. ...7 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scott Hamilton, Strategic Advisory Panel Member, Australian-German Energy Transition Hub, University of Melbourne Australia’s primary federal renewable energy target – to have 33 terawatts of renewable energy by 2020 – has essentially been achieved. There is much uncertainty as to what is ...8 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendan Keogh, ARC DECRA Fellow, Queensland University of Technology In the last three months, the Australian Classification Board has “refused classification” for at least four video games – effectively banning them in Australia. The latest is zombie-survival shooter DayZ. Despite being previously ...9 hours ago
Government agencies are taking an unconventional approach to family violence solutions. ...9 hours ago
Sky Network Television has bought the rights to put its name on Wellington's Westpac Stadium. ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle The Heart Foundation now recommends full-fat milk, cheese and yoghurt or reduced-fat options as part of its updated dietary advice released yesterday. This moves away from earlier advice that recommended only reduced-fat ...11 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Libby Porter, Professor of Urban Planning, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University The Victorian government has announced it is seeking heritage listing for parts of the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne. We heard this news on Wednesday as we sat under a grandfather ...11 hours ago
A flood and a botched insurance job has left a Howick couple out of their home for almost two years. But it's a story with some strange twists. ...11 hours ago
One part telenovela, one part family drama, one part addictive love story. Sam Brooks reviews Jane the Virgin, the great show with an unfortunate name that should be your next Netflix binge.The following piece contains very mild spoilers for Jane the Virgin.While watching the last season of Jane the Virgin, ...12 hours ago
Before Zumba, before Just Dance, before it was cool again to move in public group settings, there was Jump Jam. Madeleine Chapman reflects.Jump Jam entered the lives of New Zealand kids in 2001, a year filled with historic cultural movements. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in 2001; ...13 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Jensz, Research associate professor, University of Münster Donald Trump is not the first US President to make an offer of buying Greenland from Denmark – but he might be the last. Home of some 56,000 people and around 80% covered by ...13 hours ago
Live updates: Around 150 are taking part in the hīkoi to the PM's electorate office from Ihumātao in a bid to get her to visit the site. ...13 hours ago
We review the entire country and culture of New Zealand, one thing at a time. Today, Tara Ward taste-tests the best hot chips in the country. Everyone loves a hot chip because they’re a) hot, and b) a chip, but there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad chip experience. A ...14 hours ago
Sky Network Television has written down the value of large parts of its business and scrapped paying a dividend as it changes direction to counter falling pay TV subscribers. ...14 hours ago
A finalist for New Zealander of the Year for her work with Māori smokers is at war with academics because her research is funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris. Guyon Espiner reports. ...16 hours ago
Air New Zealand's full-year profit has hit headwinds as higher fuel costs and slower passenger growth hit its earnings. ...16 hours ago
Keith Rankin’s Chart Analysis
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University As the abortion decriminalisation bill gradually makes its way through the NSW parliament, opponents have been increasingly drawing on their long relationship with the right-to-life movement in ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Hansen, Chief of Staff, The Conversation With the advent of online ancestry DNA testing, and advancements in genetic screening for various medical aliments, we’re able to know more than ever about the genes that make us who we are. But is ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda Galligan, Associate professor, University of Southern Queensland If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au. How was maths discovered? Who made up the numbers and rules? – Bianca, age 12, Strathfield, Sydney. ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Baumann, Casual Academic, School of Social Sciences & Psychology, Western Sydney University Many of us do not need to hear any more warnings from the IPCC, David Attenborough or climate activists like Greta Thunberg. We have seen enough to be convinced ...18 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicholas Borroz, PhD candidate in international business and comparative political economy, University of Auckland India’s Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft has settled into lunar orbit, ahead of its scheduled Moon landing on September 7. If it succeeds India will join a very select club, now ...18 hours ago
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Twyford and Parker propose new urban development policy statement, Tamihere unveils transport plans, and Māori King issues challenge on child abuse.For a lead today, a nudge towards one of those deeply dense announcements that could end up having a huge ...19 hours ago
Just like its National predecessor, this Labour-led Government is trying to lecture councils into growing the 'right' kinds of cities without giving them the funding tools or help to do it. ...20 hours ago
Part three of our debate on the state of New Zealand fiction continues as Chris Else, whose opening essay was strongly rebutted last week by Catherine Robertson, returns to put the boot in once more. ...20 hours ago
This morning the five shortlisted songs for the 2019 Silver Scroll Award were announced. Here, exclusively for The Spinoff, the finalists discuss each other’s nominated songs.Tom Scott of Avantdale Bowling Club on ‘The Barrel’ by Aldous Hardingit’s such a beautiful stunt to witness. breaking just before the cliff edge. the ...20 hours ago
Concerns about the rugby team’s name emerged when it was conceived, Crusaders’ management tells sponsors. ...20 hours ago
Newsroom literary editor Steve Braunias announces the coolest writer's residency in New Zealand. ...20 hours ago
A group is currently holding seminars around NZ which appear to be based on misinformation about vaccines. Dr Helen Petousis-Harris fact checks some of their claims. ...21 hours ago
The Football Ferns are at a crossroads - they need to move on from simply being "competitive" to make a serious impression on the world football stage. ...21 hours ago
Unravelling who's to blame for our rocketing petrol prices. ...21 hours ago
By Michael Andrew Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years. A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his ...1 day ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Camellia Webb-Gannon, Lecturer, University of Wollongong Last weekend, the Indonesian police took 43 West Papuan students into custody for allegedly disrespecting the Indonesian flag during an independence day celebration (an allegation the students deny). Police stormed the students’ dorm and used teargas ...1 day ago
Oh dear,
This is from our mainstream media Deliberate course set Rena to reef. A sudden deliberate change of course. 33 kph, near top speed to ram it up on the reef.
5 days without intervention, not even the most basic “let’s float some booms around possible leaks” and a massive corexit (8X more toxic than the actual oil dump) on what was a small oil spill at the time.
And the crew flown out of the country “to protect them?”
What is going on here? Here is an interesting 9 minute video explaining the shock doctrine.
John Key’s psychopathy shone through when he made the slash movement and now this?
15 October 2011 at 7:23 am
Oh dear,
Do you think the #bryceedwardsconspiracy might be behind it all?
Kia-ora Travellerev
Apparently, Astrolabe is used as a ‘short-cut’ by many container vessels heading towards Tauranga Port. A forbidden course but one never challenged by authorities. There are rumours currently floating about that Astrolabe is an impediment to the dredging of the harbour floor to allow bigger vessels into the port, and generally as an impediment to the growth of Port business.
If the reef has been significantly compromised by the Rena than the environmental arguments for its ongoing protection as a marine paradise is also significantly compromised.
Sounds like a good reason to damage the reef to me!
The whole reason for the transmitting of transponder codes and positions is so that shore authorities know where the ship is. The authorities, who should have been watching, would have been able to pick up the course change, map it onto their own charts, tell that the ship was now headed for a reef and tell the ship to change course. Obviously, this didn’t happen.
Again, this comes down to government not doing enough to ensure the protection of our marine environment.
Or a government needing a pristine reef out of the way for expansion and diversion.
Good morning. Great to see the Herald articles challenging the pathetic, negligent initial response to the MV Rena disaster… Paul Holmes, John Armstrong and I particularly John Roughan’s take,
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10759123
as it calls to account the total lack of leadership quality from National’s top politicians. Swift action at the time not explanations and excuses afterwards….shame on you Key, Joyce etc…
The one good thing that may come out of this tragedy is National’s demise.
The simpering Armstrong’s piece needs the common two scans, for it is actually a swingeing defence of ShonKey as per usual with slaps at Labour and Greens. Holmsie can’t resist a swipe at Labour on the way through either. Roughan’s is not bad though.
That these three consistently rat bag journos have given the Nats any stick at all shows what major mismanagement has occured over the Rena disaster.
Also worth a read is today’s editoral titled “Key’s second-hand S&P tattle is not good enough”.
Pleased to see that this serious issue has not been completely consigned to oblivion in the wake of the Rena disaster.
{Note to self: must read the instructions of how to include a link and learn how to do this.]
Then the Herald gets the award for most misleading desperate headline – Key proves popular in Papamoa (actually he gets heckled and grilled by 300 locals)…
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/10472770/key-proves-popular-in-papamoa/
Let us hope this is one situation that can’t be sanitised by misleading PR and headlines! Too much in the public eye and hearts? Wonder how the local papers will report it all.
From domPost
Rena course ‘deliberate’
That could read Key Govt course ‘deliberate’
Gaynor in the Hearld
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=10759132
The National Government is enormously popular, partly because Prime Minister John Key and Finance Minister Bill English are willing to throw money at almost every problem.
The latest $18.4 billion deficit represents 9.2 per cent of gross national product – one of the worst amongst the 30 OECD member countries.
The individual tax take has declined from $27.5 billion in the June 2008 year to $23.1 billion in the latest year.
This is mainly because of the Government’s tax cuts last year.
Corporate tax is down from $10.1 billion to $7.3 billion, but GST revenue has risen from $11.1 billion to $13 billion over the same period.
The Gaynor article is well worth a read.
The moneyshot quote from the usually dry and measured Gaynor has to be:
That’s because the RWNJs always predict the positive effect through ideology rather than reality.
Stuff and Yahoo website photos of the Rena this morning all feature the Donkey front and centre. Several of them are presented to look like he is running the show.
As an FYI for the Rena discussion this morning, and for those who didn’t catch Joyce on Campbell Live last night, we have another example of failure in ministerial responsibility
An interesting article on how the current world financial crisis differs from that of the 1930s.
They may be a few people in the world who know why the economics went bad. I doubt if a single one of them is an “economist”. If any economist actually knew then it wouldn’t have happened again.
Well, he got that bit right.
There’s something wrong with having culture?
Like all commenter’s he misses the obvious: Deficit spending is the actual problem with the finance industry. What actually needs to happen is that all people, including countries, who can’t pay back their loans to declare themselves bankrupt and to state, in no unequivocal terms, that the loans will not be paid back. This will destroy a lot of interest bearing debt (that probably didn’t exist before it got printed by the banks) and allow those people and states to start again. Recapitalisation won’t allow that. In fact, recapitalisation only point seems to be to prevent a few people from losing some money rather than to get the “economy” moving again.
Of course, with Peak Everything here, the financial economy is screwed anyway. Already there isn’t enough “value” left in the real economy to pay the monetary debt never mind the usury the capitalists are demanding.
I think my main criticism was that he thinks bank-nationalisation and government control of credit is the “worst” that could happen, currently. A greater danger would seem to be that when debt repudiation starts to become commonplace (i.e. beyond Iceland), wars of conquest will be launched to offset the losses of state-owned creditor banks.
No comments on Goff wearing shiny shoes and a suit while he is supposedly helping locals to dig out the oil.
Nice photo op for him.
He didn’t come prepared to shovel oil but people on the beach suggested that he shovel some. What was he going to do? Say fuck off, you’re on your own?
Unlike someone else we could both name, it didn’t involve engineering a photo op. There was no tax-payer funded unnecessary helicopter trip involved.
Perhaps if John Key spent less time attending photo-ops, glad-handing the rich and famous (and only listening to what people tell him is going on in his government) and more time in the office ensuring that his ministers were doing their jobs then perhaps we would have a more efficient government, marine compensation legislation would not be shuffled down the list and he would ensure ministers like Joyce would be making sure Maritime NZ was doing its job and not building holiday highway think-big projects and campaigning to to get his boss elected.
Scientific American: The “Last Place Aversion” Paradox
If ever Americans were up for a bit of class warfare, now would seem to be the time. The current financial downturn has led to a $700 billion tax-payer-financed bank bailout and an unemployment rate stuck stubbornly above nine percent. Onto this scene has stepped the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement, which seeks to bring together a disparate group of protesters united in their belief that the current income distribution is unfair. “The one thing we all have in common is that We are the 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%,” says their website. In an era of bank bailouts and rising poverty – and where recent data show that the top 1 percent control as much as 35 percent of the total wealth in America – it would appear that the timing of this movement to reconsider the allocation of wealth could not be more perfect.
Or, maybe not
heh – a wee detail overlooked is that in a world of diminishing returns… standards of living falling in tandem with resource depletion etc…that ‘last place’ might reasonably be concieved as being ahead of the curve 🙂
Interesting! Debatable however, as the first comment shows…
Nick Smith on The Nation this morning tried very hard to make it look like the government did all that it could from day one of the Rena grounding.
Again, he (and his other Nat pollies) are trying to confuse the issues of the initial response (which is of necessity home-grown, using NZ stores and resources according to advanced planning on a wide range of scenarios) and the work of the salvors which will involve international expertise, the salvors appointed by the owners.
Between the grounding and the work of the salvors and the international experts lies the gap in which New Zealand is on its own and should, MUST, e prepared in every possible way.
That responsibility rests with Maritime NZ. Events and prepared reports that have come to light show that they were not prepared.
It is not good enough for the Gvt to say that there was a problem with the pipes and getting oil off a vessel that is only designed to have oil go on. That is not a new issue! Any person worth their salt would know that in the event of a leaking ship (at sea or in port) would need to have some way of unloading any oil remaining in the ship (broken pipes or not).
That means, we scope the issues, research equipment and techniques on the market, design and build our own if they are not available and we store them. It is inexcusable that and agency charged with the initial response was not better prepared. None of the excuses presented by the government were unforeseeable nor insurmountable with proper planning and provisioning nor was the state of the wreck such that they could not enact a pre-prepared plan.
To say that we do not, nor could we be expected have, the expertise resident in NZ and so we had/have to wait until they arrive is again an attempt for National to confuse in the public mind the initial response and the stage when the salvors arrive. As a principle, we have people being trained every day in first response issues that may be either outside their usual job (eg. an office worker trained in first aid or as a fire warden for their floor of the building) to experts who go overseas or attend courses so they are prepared for a disaster.
All over this country we have full-time or volunteer fire officers who prepare for types of fires, spills etc they may never see in their life time. If the expertise is not local to the fire station then the Fire Service builds that capacity, knowledge and training on a regional or national basis and they practice all sorts of scenarios.
To follow the reasoning of Nick Smith et al what if the emergency initial response people at Auckland airport only prepared for a fire in the terminal? or Only prepared for a runway crash and ignored that they were almost surrounded by water?
NZ is surround by water, we have vessels coming and going, we know the types of fuel they have.
The government is wrong, is lying to us, trying to confuse us and is covering their own political future. We need to not be confused by their obfuscation techniques and as NZdrs who love their country we should stick the issue that “we” (really, the people we paid and trusted to protect us) were not prepared and that will cost us in an environmental cost and hit us again in the pocket!
For every dollar it ultimately costs us to clean this up a worker has to trade time and energy to provide that dollar in taxes. National would rather pay for a $5 plan, leave it to invisible market forces, and irrational belief that business will be responsible and take the risk that it will never have to spend $105 – then tell the poor schmucks who have to pay for it that it was unavoidable, they know better, we are irrational and the lock us out of our beaches!
Well said William!
Now that is one very, very interesting read Joe.
I wonder how long this has been known to the PR/Marketing psychologists who design right-wing spin and propaganda?
Well it has long been known to union organisers that some workers exhibit exactly this type of ‘ranking’ behaviour.
The right has historically used all manner of perceived differences (e.g. race, religion, region, rural/urban, employed/unemployed/precariously employed, immigrant/indigenous, low/mid/high earners) to create division among those that in left terms have many commonalities and reasons for uniting.
The Occupy movement has attempted to sweep that tendency away with its one take classification of society into 1 or 99%ers.
National’s Election Hoardings 2
It is 10-20 per cent less toxic than dishwashing liquid and the ingredients that make up the dispersant are in most shampoos…
Re The Rena and agree wth your comments William Joyce. Maritme NZ are the first responders and should be financed to prepare for the various scenarios and should also develop links with local NZ resources both public and private so that they knew who was out there who could help, instead of ignoring viable offers. In an emergency, mobilising local resources is also something politicians can assist with, if they can be bothered, and clearly NACT can’t be.
On another tack altogether, if we can put a tracking beacon on a penguin, is this done to the containers so that if/when they go overboard they can be located? Not necessarily easy among moving container stacks but there was that fine weather.
Wow Redbaron! Tracking beacon? What a great idea! Indeed why haven’t they?
But I suppose there would have to be a Cabinet Meeting some time in the future and Key would say we have done all that we could, and wasn’t the penguin great and maybe next time, and anyway why didn’t Labour think of it when they were in office? Eh? Ha ha!?
Salsy
I did not see you at John Keys Papamoa meeting. Perhaps you are confused ?
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/push-45-000-new-homes-in-christchurch-4465581
Oh great, so instead of making sure there’s no long term issues with the land freed up, like the high ground water level in Marshlands, or transport system issues the presently cause gridlock every weekday rush hour on main routes into the city from the west and north and ye olde environmental issues, instead Czar Brownlee is over-ruling the Environment Court completely and trying to saturate the market with well over 5 times the number of damaged houses. Perhaps a smarter idea would have been to build a research group to focus purely on what was needed, works in the longterm and fits in with the rest of the rebuild with CERA backing to fast track packets of land for housing, commercial and industrial + all the needed social and economic infrastructure?
Instead of potentially creating a mess of future problems by rubber stamping away…
And I so look forward to potentially loosing all the cheap market gardens and fruit orchards north of me :/
unnamed bank econonist + simon powers new employer + currently pitching for goventments banking = westpac
“Hypocrisy has its own elegant symmetry”
Indeed. What goes around…… Appalling examples of Freedom of speech only for those good Arab folk, not Americans.
Connect this with Bomber Bradbury perhaps? (Good column on Brian Edwards Media.)
Brilliant video. Although we didn’t really need any further confirmation that Obama is every bit the empty vessel we suspected during that insulting “Hope and Change” campaign three years ago and Hillary Clinton is just as callous a liar as her husband.
Whats up with Chris Trotter. He seems to be overwhelemd with his own verbosity. Yesterday he seemed to think that John Kesy was blessed with good luck when all he ever really had was a good wigmaker and now its loose. (old jazz joke). Even the Dompost put him down for being a harbinger of bad luck today. they are not always right but on this one they are.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/rebuilding-christchurch/5788637/Red-zoners-rush-to-buy-lifestyle-blocks
lolwut?
There’s a complex set of fault systems in North Canterbury that generated all those lovely rolling hills and so it’s definitely not “stable” in all but small human time scales, with multiple, rather visible, surface fault traces if you know what to look for.
Isnt that where they plaing to frack?
Looks like a reasonable size crowd as the Occupy Aotea Square begins in Auckland:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Thousands-turn-out-for-Occupy-Queen-Street/tabid/423/articleID/229641/Default.aspx
http://wa1.www.3news.co.nz/Portals/0-Articles/229641/occupy-queen-street-600.jpg?width=300;pv5b15bd9ee6bc68e2
I have just finished watching an inspirational interview with ex President Jimmy Carter on BBC. The intellect, the vision, the humour… all at 87.
If it is repeated somewhere, don’t miss it.
And isn’t it great where the subject of the interview tells his story rather than being constantly interrupted by the egocentric interviewer, NZ style.
Carol
Aotea Square – sure you can count ? – thousands – where did you get that figures from.
Cloca
Carol 20 commet in the second line.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Thousands-turn-out-for-Occupy-Queen-Street/tabid/423/articleID/229641/Default.aspx