Perhaps when we have govt depts making such announcements as "Total international spend is expected to reach $14.8 billion in 2024, up 40% from 2017." and how well our economy is to benefit from such growth we should now expect to accompany the impact of any govt decision towards GHG, And understand should there be an increase where the offset is to be sourced from ? Otherwise without reporting the "Cost" how can we expect there to be any action to restore our planet ?
Yes, I know it's David Icke BUT he is the first one to gather + comment on a recent case where a teenage girl falsely accused a group of men of a gang rape in the news. Here he is covering the other deeply disturbing side of the story. #boycottcypress
Found a mainstream link buried in the SERPs. The complainant has been trapped in the country for over 5 months now after reporting a gang rape to police.
In a trial that had been repeatedly postponed, proceedings had been dominated by what was described as the court’s predilection for “gender stereotypes, classic rape myths and victim bashing”.
But it was Israeli women, also appalled by the way the Briton had been portrayed at home, who, Cypriot activists say, emboldened them to take risks.
“They were more daring than us,” said Gregoriou. “They were able to say ‘we believe you’ when here we could only talk about the young woman not being given a fair trial. They had a wisdom and dynamism that has proved how important these transnational bonds really are.”
Letter to the editor; The Southland Times 16 Jan 2020
OMV critics use oil too
Does Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton ride a pushbike or walk from his place of abode or, horror of horrors, drive a petrol-tax guzzling motor car, to Environment Southland meetings?
Does he also claim travel allowance from us poor, long-suffering ratepayers?
Len Lind of Stewart Island
Councillor Robert Guyton replied:
Len has spotted my weakness; I'm just like everybody else! I too have to use petroleum products in order to live; it's unavoidable, they are everywhere! Len seems to believe that I should never criticise the activities of the big oil companies; their spills, accidents and massive contribution to climate change, because I drive a car and have plastic lenses in my glasses. We're all in the same boat when it comes to reliance on fossil fuels; we’re all compromised but should that disqualify us from talking about the damage the industry causes? I don’t think Len really wants to silence everybody; he himself feels he has the right to criticise in public. He got me thinking though, about what I have already done to reduce my use of oil and top of that list comes my decision never to fly again in an aircraft; I think that will make at least some difference. And thanks to Len’s reminder, I’ll get my old bicycle back onto the road again; the chain’s a bit rusty but a little oil should fix that.
So when this OZ fire season ends end of this summer (hopefully) how much will be left over of the flaura and fauna of this continent?
And when the fires start again in Sept, will the rest be burned then? And to be honest is that what is wanted by those that call the shots? Allow for such environmental degradation that the Scot Morrisons of this planet can simply throw their hands up and declare that 'nothing much can be done, its to late' and drilling will resume as buisness as usual?
Because really, when these fires are extinct – 180+ currently still burning and mainly not being contained, not much will be left over, those critters that survived will need to be fed, watered if they are to survive. As for the humans, has anyone in OZ yet dared to put a realistic estimate to the damage the fires caused? And i am not looking for another 2000 houses burned 🙂 a proper estimate maybe by a insurance company? And then looking at the article i linked too (yes its huffpost, only read if if it passes the purity test 🙂 ) what about the estimated losses world wide.
the world is burning and all our selected overlords play a fiddle. In the meantime, 'we can't breathe' is a thing now.
There was a link posted on The Standard the other day, the last paragraph of which I found profoundly chilling:
"Millennials and the children we call Generation Z face the horrifying prospect that they will get stuck with the tab for humanity’s centuries-long rape of planet Earth, the mass desecration of which radically accelerated after 1950. There is an intolerably high chance that today’s young people will starve to death, die of thirst, be killed by a superstorm, succumb to a new disease, boil to death, asphyxiate from air pollution, be murdered in a riot or shot or blown up in a war sparked by environmentally related political instability long before they survive to old age."
"how much will be left over of the flaura and fauna of this continent? "
Well, quite a lot actually. Up till now about 63,000 sq kms has been burnt. The area of Australia is 7.7 million hectares so the amount subject to the fires is about 0.8 percent.and more than 99% has not been touched. Now that is a huge amount of land, and a great tragedy, but the answer to "will the rest be burned then?" is NO and to "not much will be left over" the answer is nearly all of it will be untouched.
That would be a fair answer if Australia was all one kind of landscape. But it isn't, at least 80% of it would be fairly barren and open outback, with a sparse vegetation at the best of times. It rarely burns unless a particularly wet spring has allowed a lot of grass species to flourish.
What we have seen burn this year are the eucalypt forests in the alpine and coastal regions, and the fraction of these that have been severely damaged is substantial. Worse still in many places it's old temperate forests that have never burned before which are being destroyed. These eco-niches are not adapted to fire, have a very poor capacity for recovery, once they're lost, they will never return.
Species like the Bogong moth, already under pressure will have a flow on effect to already highly endangered fauna such as the pygmy mountain possum. And places that have been reliably lush for generations, are no longer. As with almost everything to do with climate, the story is more complex than you are implying.
"What we have seen burn this year are the eucalypt forests in the alpine and coastal regions".
I assume you mean that these areas are not usually affected by bush fires. I will have to take your word for it as far as New South Wales. I am not really familiar with that state. However for Victoria the areas that have been burnt out appear to be generally similar to other recent major bush fire seasons such as 2008-9, 2006-7 and 2003-4 when about 500,000 ha, 1,200,000 ha and 1,300,000 ha burned. The latter two years would seem to be of a similar scale to the current season's numbers. 2009 didn't hit the same area of land but it was of course Black Saturday with 173 deaths.
They are also on much the same area as the previous monsters such as 1939-40 (2,000,000 ha) and the daddy of them all in 1851 when 5,000,000 ha went up in flames.All of these fires affected the NE and Gippsland regions of the state, just like the current lot. Thus it doesn't seem to be unusual for the alpine and coastal forests to be badly affected in Victoria.
There have been other major fires than affected the NW of course, which has been pretty well spared this year.
(Luckily) Australia is 7.7 million sq km large, so 100 times larger than 7.7 million hectares. The burnt area was 63,000 sq km or 6.3 million hectares; the latest numbers have been over 10 million hectares burnt or around 100,000 sq km. As a comparison, 100,000 sq km is Canterburry + Otago + Southland!
At the moment Australia is the victim of a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole where the warm water is in the west of the IO and does not produce any rain over Oz. It is like the Pacific's El Nino /La Nina, it slops around every 4 or 5 years or so. The LN/EN is about every 7 years, probably because its a bigger ocean. Sometimes the positive or negative IOD phase coincides with a LN or EN phase and causes even more problems. Both systems are wind driven.
But wait there's more, the Southern Annular Mode of westerly winds that rotate around Antarctica are further north in the current mode stopping the big Aussie summer anti-cyclones from picking up cooler damp air from the Southern Ocean, these are the big highs that eventually drift over us giving us nice warm calm summer weather, but not this year, the SAM is too strong bequeathing us these bloody cold South Westers and Easterlies, and squeezing the central Aussie highs rotating over the desert making them hotter and hotter.
The SAM is probably caused by the wobble in the Earth's rotation which in turn is probably caused by the Earth's molten iron core slopping around. Another bloody thing to worry about. Lets Stop the Slop!
Last years "Beast from the East "in northern Europe is a similar phenomenon.
So its not all Climate Change just weather and it has been doing it for millenia, not Melania, shes just a temporary aberration thank Christ.
For what its worth, a few hours ago around midday there, SE Australia was cooler and a lot wetter than NZ, Hobart 11Degrees, Melbourne 18, Sydney and Brisbane 22, ( where they are breaking out the jerseys) . Fancy that.
It's just weather and if we didn't have it redistributing warmth and moisture around the globe fuck all of anything could live here.
"7 million hectares". Oh dear, why does that always happen? Yes, square kms. And I read it over a couple of times looking for silly mistakes like that. At least I got the calculation right though.
I'm not saying it isn't a huge amount of land. It is. However when it is compared to the total land area of Australia it doesn't really justify the somewhat hyperbolic questions I highlighted in the final sentence.
The Standing Committee of Correspondents vigorously objects to restrictions being considered on press access during the upcoming Senate trial of President Trump.
The Standing Committee sought to address our concerns with the Sergeant at Arms and with Rules Committee before final decisions were made, but decisions are being made quickly as plans for the trial are completed and we are hearing that nearly every suggestion has been rejected
Our suggestions were rejected without an explanation of how the restrictions contribute to safety rather than simply limit coverage of the trial.
The restrictions that are being considered exceed what occurred during the Clinton trial 20 years ago, with fewer ways for press to speak to senators and even a magnetometer being installed within the Senate Press Gallery to ensure electronics are not brought into the chamber.
The no electronics in the chamber rule has existed for many years, reporters don’t violate it, and we’ve never needed an extra layer of screening to ensure it is followed.
Installing a magnetometer means the Senate trial will have a soundtrack of “beep, beep, beep” as 90+ reporters walk in and out all day. There is no additional safety or security brought by bringing such a device into reporter work space
It also gives the impression that it is being done mostly to protect Senators from the bright light of the public knowing what they are doing in one of the country’s most important moments.
The Standing Committee requested an exemption to the no technology in the chamber rule so that we can provide the public with up to the moment information without having to walk out of the chamber, but we’re hearing that request has been denied.
I grasp that there is precedent, but few things in Washington are more momentous than an impeachment trial and the American public deserves to have eyes in the room.
Reporters will be kept in pens, meaning only senators seeking out press coverage will get covered.
Currently we can walk with Senators as they enter the chamber, wait for them outside of meetings or lunches. It leads to a diversity of voices. Penning us means people across the country might not hear from their senator.
They are not protecting "him" they are protecting themselves.
Trump is now wholesale owned by the Republicans (who will last longer then Trump imo) and he owes them, bigly some people say, super duper bigly.
He is the pen that signs their legislations, Tax cuts for the Ueberrich, gutting of social security, gutting of environmental regulations, their god before government etc etc etc. Essentially the Republicans done a 'back to the past' replaced one old senile man with another old senile man, heck its all the Presidents Man. 🙂
but again, this Kabuki Theatre in the US, or Russia for that matter will have no importance when the world burns and runs out of the stuff that we humans need so deseperatly to live.
Btw, did you hear that the entire Russian parliament 'resigned'? King Putin, long he may live and his future clones.
"Putin announced that he appointed Mikhail Mishustin, the head of Russia's Federal Tax Service, as the new Prime Minister." Just guessing, makes sense that a competent bureaucrat gets jumped up to become top bureaucrat.
Presuming the guy has actually established a system for selective wealth-extraction as required, and enough time has passed for Putin to agree that the system works. He's a systems engineer.
"In 1989, he graduated from the STANKIN, majoring in system engineering, and then in 1992, he completed postgraduate studies at the same Institute. After graduating from graduate school, he began working as a Director of a test laboratory, and later headed the Board of the International Computer Club (ICC), a public non — profit organization."
"In 1998, he joined the state service as an assistant for information systems for accounting and control over the receipt of tax payments to the head of the State tax service of the Russian Federation. Then he worked at the rank of Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for taxes and duties, head of the Federal Agency for Real Estate Cadastre within the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, and head of the Federal Agency for Managing Special Economic Zones."
"In 2008, he left the civil service on his own and returned to business — this time in the field of investment. In February 2009, he joined the personnel reserve of the President of Russia." Putin likes competence.
To get around presidential term limits. Handing presidential powers to parliament makes PM the highest office in the land. Poots snares himself another term as PM and bingo, he's the leader of Russia, again.
In the 80s the ideas of big union and centrally planned economies etc were rejected in favour of letting the market rule (and there actually were good reasons to be unhappy with the way things were). But that change hasn't turned out well either. So what lies beyond?
The Roosevelt Institute examined work from more than 150 thinkers in order to distill a new progressive vision for the United States. There’s no one set answer. But instead of a world where capital returns will always outpace wage gains, the progressive worldview puts in place higher taxation. It focuses on robust antitrust enforcement instead of allowing for corporate concentration, puts power back into the hands of organized labor, and ensures women and people of color are included.
“This isn’t just a flash in the pan — this is really based on a lot of work by a lot of preeminent scholars and thinkers and policy experts,” Wong, who authored the paper outlining the positive vision for a progressive worldview, said.
She identified the various critiques of neoliberalism that are embedded with positive progressive solutions and distilled them into four groups. It’s not a cohesive progressive answer, but instead a set of four broad categories of answers, many of which work in concert.
So "it’s time for a broad-based, democratic effort for the government to shape the economy and foster the public good." True.
"The theory at the center of the “new structuralist” belief system is that government rules structure markets, and a new set of rules is needed to foster more equality and widely shared prosperity. A major plank of this is tied to antitrust enforcement and a government that prevents a wider range of merger types and considers a broader set of stakeholders when deciding whether to approve a deal. It also entails higher taxes on the rich and corporations, and measures such as a potential financial transaction tax; it also puts limits on corporate governance matters, such as stock buybacks."
Increasing stakeholder involvement and financial transaction tax are both essential. Rules operate as guidelines only, however, since lack of effective enforcement has consistently discredited the concept of government regulation. A theory that offers no solution to corporate capture of governance is clearly inadequate.
"The basic theory is that the government can be more efficient at providing certain public goods, not less" but in what way is this not utopian?? Anyone would think it had been written by some Democrat seller of snake oil.
"The paper points to the Green New Deal as a prime example of the approach: a public-investment-led initiative that employs different policy tools to promote innovation, equity, jobs, and decarbonization." Promotion is different to delivery. Since Democrats are famous for non-delivery, this is typical.
"Implementing the types of policies being proposed in progressive circles isn’t going to happen overnight, or without some real electoral and institutional shifts first. That’s where the economic democratists come in. They argue that economic reform hinges on participatory democracy, where unions are strengthened, communities are activated, and public agencies are open and transparent."
That one looks more promising – yet still rendered ineffective by woolly leftist language. Vague intentions won't get them far. Explanations of what is going to change, and how that change will be delivered, remain necessary. Obviously it's wonderful that the liberals have figured out where they went wrong 30 years too late, and I hope they get their act together before we all die.
We've had this stale debate over the relative role of the state and the market since … well Adam Smith. The argument usually degenerates because everyone presumes that somehow if you automatically have more 'state' this means an equal measure of 'market' has been displaced, and vice versa.
Yet obviously the state is not a one for one substitute for markets. As Arnold Nordmeyer acerbically observed "Do we want the state to run corner dairies?". The two forces may overlap to a degree, but their crucial differences complement each other. Specifically the state is good at long term investment, high risk, and wide scope. If politically the state cannot tolerate the failure of an enterprise and therefore implicitly underwrites it, then it probably should be in public hands. By contrast private capital is really good at running business for short term cash flow, low risk, small scope enterprise … the daily stuff of feeding and clothing us for example.
If we were a lot clearer about this distinction we might be able to sell it better.
Also in the bigger picture I would suggest this binary model omits a crucial actor, an omission that explains why the debate has become so stale. The role of community in moderating and regulating the excesses of both state and market has been consistently ignored. Well at least until quite recently, it’s a good sign that many thinkers are now working with this notion.
I would suggest this binary model omits a crucial actor, an omission that explains why the debate has become so stale. The role of community in moderating and regulating the excesses of both state and market has been consistently ignored. Well at least until quite recently, it’s a good sign that many thinkers are now working with this notion.
Yes, I think the binary model had the fatal flaw of tacitly assuming that voters are mere passive recipients of largesse.
If you frame the community as players in the political game, you acknowledge their agency as being proactive. That's where participatory democracy comes in.
A generally good read, but then I stumble over ideology like this:
Recent research by leading thinkers studying racial inequality has exposed the shortcomings of this theory by analyzing data on employment, income, and wealth disparities for people of color. At every level of education, people of color experience higher rates of unemployment, are paid less than their white counterparts, have fewer assets than their white counterparts, and accrue less wealth.
Well for 'leading thinkers' they seem remarkably resistant to actual data. Consistently all the data shows East Asian Americans as substantially the highest income group. (Setting aside 'Australian Americans' as probably an outlier group of academics and/or professionals). Nor does it explain dramatic differences between groups such as Nigerian Americans with household incomes around $60k compared with Somali Americans at a miserable $24k.
Nor are they willing to look at data showing that white working class males are the big group in the USA with a falling life expectancy. For certain some white people are doing exceedingly well, as you might rationally expect in a society where white people remain a numerically dominant group. But to then lazily imply this means all white people are unfairly advantaged across the whole of the USA, just flies in the face of ordinary people's experience.
The white American man who I worked with last year, whose wife was scared of his meth-addicted brother in law running out of control, with him stuck on site thousands of miles away, plus a catalog of other intractable worries … would spit on this article … and vote Trump.
Yes ethnicity plays a role in outcomes, but to grossly simplify it down to a 'white privilege' narrative oversimplifies a complex story.
Great link thank you. I've skimmed through it fast; it seems to capture something very like what my now ex-colleague told me first hand over a beer or two.
“We have to stop being obsessed over impeachment and start actually digging in and solving the problems that got Donald Trump elected in the first place,” Andrew Yang argued in the last Democratic presidential debate. Whatever you think of Yang as a candidate, on this he is dead right: We have to treat America’s cancer.
FWIW in terms of Dem candidates, Bernie had my total support last time, but I think he was mistaken to run a second time. Tulsi Gabbard won my heart with her Joe Rogan podcasts. Andrew Yang won my head with his Universal Income, his backing for next gen nuclear and his clear headed ability to cut to the essence of the big story as above. There is hope, but the Dem machine is doing it's best to crush it.
Bernard Hickey has left out one very important variable, which is how well Bridges and his mates execute a filthy lies campaign leading up to the election and whether the media buys it, i.e. whether what happened to Corbyn and UK Labour will happen to Ardern.
Expect NZ First to swiftboat the Nats on this, and while NZ First and the Nats are slinging mud at each other over funding Labour to pick up votes from disgusted New Zealanders.
According to the Freedom House Financial Statement 2016, Freedom House "was substantially funded by grants from the U.S. Government", with grants from the United States government accounting for approximately 86% of revenue.[5]
Below are the organizations and entities who funded Freedom House in 2016:[5]
Government of the United States – $24,813,164 (85.5%)
International public agencies – 2,266,949 (7.8%)
Corporations and foundations – 1,113,262 (3.8%)
Individual contributions – 1,113,262 (2.8%)
In its 2017 and 2018 financial statements, Freedom House once again disclosed that it "was substantially funded by grants from the U.S. Government." In 2017, the organization received $29,502,776, 90% of its total revenue that year, from the US government.[36] In 2018, the US government gave Freedom House $35,206,355, or 88% of its annual revenue.[37]
So a shot across the bows from Uncle Sam. Must be some really interesting discussion going down in the inner reaches of the National Party right now.
Wonder if a very slickly produced political add pops up just before the election featuring little blue pandas dancing across the bottom of the screen.
Hickey describes how MMP has locked in what public policy was present at its inception. And how Centrists act as a handbrake on major policy changes.
Contrary to what Centrists believe of themselves being pragmatists who generate consensus and "just get shit done", the opposite is true. Centrists are obstacles to both progress from the left and to reaction from the right. Consequently nothing gets done.
Hickey's thoughts on risk-taking and staying safe in the centre echoes the article Sanctuary posted yesterday which was a critique of the roles of Centrists within UK Labour in the spectacular undermining of Jeremy Corbyn.
What confuses me about the replies is the vain belief from Centrists they actually get shit done. They don't get shit done, they just prevent others from getting shit done.
True some of the time. We have a center-left coalition govt. It gets shit done whenever the leftists and centrists within it agree on proposed legislation. Then the agreed proposals get passed into law to prove it.
I realise you're unlikely to claim that they have no such track record of progress made. Perhaps you just don't want to admit to yourself that the three parties have proven themselves to be genuinely progressive by enacting their legislation?
Get real instead. Telling the truth earns respect. Seeking refuge in partisan delusions achieves the opposite.
I think they've tinkered and patched up a few risk-free things but you have to be deluded to believe this is a government of progress. There is nothing "genuinely progressive" about it. The left of centre part has made some noises but as Hickey correctly states it is the centrist part of the government, NZ First, which has acted as a handbrake to progress.
I can only assume that this government's glacially meek movement on social fairness and social infrastructure progress looks positively dynamic – almost dangerous – to a staid Centrist such as yourself!
😎 Oooh, truth hurts (a little). The staid bit comes from putting oneself out to pasture in retirement. However I have actually spent a lifetime watching self-professed radicals drop off the pace.
That learning curve is all about how mass movements actually work. When progressives blame each other for not being radical enough, they focus on division instead of common ground. When the masses divide amongst themselves, the control system doesn't need to do divide and rule against them. They've already disempowered themselves!
Several decades of watching that shit happen imposes a fundamental learning about mass psychology. So you get to appreciate whatever gains result from consensus.
The binary party structure of democracy in the USA was seen as evil by one of the founding fathers. This from a letter written by John Adams in 1780: "There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."
They ignored him and built evil into their system anyway. It's why the Democrats supported slavery during the 19th century. They had to oppose the Republicans, who wanted to free the slaves. It's why the Democrats worked with organised crime in the 20th century – to oppose Republicans who wanted to eliminate it. The American middle class got eliminated via the gfc & predatory lending, authorised by govt regulators appointed by both parties. Their system incorporates the deep state, who eliminate whistle-blowers by whatever means necessary. It's a puppet show that no longer compels collective belief.
"A large majority of the public (67%) says “their side” in politics has been losing more often than winning in recent years on issues that matter to them." Yet losing is good, according to the poll. "About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say democracy is working well in the U.S., though just 18% say it is working very well. At the same time, a majority supports making sweeping changes to the political system: 61% say “significant changes” are needed in the fundamental “design and structure” of the U.S. government to make it work in current times."
So most Americans think the system is working well because it is turning them into losers. Remarkable, eh? Who'da thunk they were that clever?
"Tamarind Taranaki went into receivership just before Christmas after its $300 million offshore drilling campaign at the Tui oil field failed. It owes creditors about $484m. Matt Hareb owns an excavation company which had the contract to transport drilling waste from Tamarind Taranaki's operation. The business, which employs about 10 staff, is owed more than $500,000. Hareb said it would take years for it to recover."
Limited liability is part of the design of the capitalist system. Being able to dodge debt is hard-wired. I can't see how the govt can enforce moral culpability.
"Hareb Excavating is one of 82 creditors, of which 72 are unsecured, many of them small Taranaki-based firms." Destroying local small business is a frequent consequence of corporates using smart lawyers. Like big fish eating small fish, it's normal. Social darwinism rules, okay?
"The government is owed between $100m and $155m for Tamarind's share of decommissioning costs for the Tui oil field." So the big fish is gonna rip off the taxpayer too? Whoopee, what fun!
"Other creditors spoken to by RNZ described the Tamarind collapse as tantamount to "daylight robbery" and said a "heck of a lot of people had got done over"." Capitalism divides users into screwers and screwees though, eh? Nobody can claim the system is based on the concept of a fair deal, can they? Exploitation is the entire point.
"The government has an obligation to look at this" reckons my local Nat MP. "Minster of Energy and Resources Megan Woods says Tamarind's acquisition of the Tui permit in 2017 had exposed a gap in the Crown Minerals Act." " "The government has now closed this loophole with an amendment to the Crown Minerals Act," she said. Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted is a good move.
Food waste. Food in held longer for sale to mitigate it being wasted. Supermarket sell stuff they were throwing away. More produce goes off at home, increasing food waste tonnage and carbon credits going more often to supermarkets. Profits for retailers skyrocket as they keep increasing the amount of sub standard produce sitting in shelves waiting to be brought and then throw out as it's gone off by the time it reaches homes. I know this because it keeps happening, bad meat, old carrots, yuck throw out, never used to throw out a onion, potato, used to use them all or nearly. not now. Food waste is a self forefilling prophesy that forts consumers and radically increases supermarket profit. Supermarket go to their suppliers, who know this and start selling their non export food, or returned from china unsold food, in big PR specials. To the point that either you buy for a local producer of buy the imported good if in Auckland before they get shipped to the new food deserts.
The solution is to force a percentage of all local food to be sold locally. Given the bulk deals that should mean cheap good food, that then if not sold be sold even cheaper to restaurants etc way before it goes off. Most food I see is old.
There are already business that already sell cheaper fresher goods and will sell unsold vegies cheaper to save putting them back on the truck. They exist in many places, not enough though. They are call market stalls, and instead of getting old food that's been ship to Auckland, and back, or worse. They sell local food locally. Now some councils did away with them, and so super markets don't need to sell the freshest, selling processed fresh Fox's that are processed to send their nutrients and energy to their skins, and remain attractive for longer shelf life. Foods that once brought go off. I brought a carrot before Christmas, a week later came to roast it, it had gone off. This is my point targeting a negative only rewards more of the same. Target food miles, if my carrot has gone unsold in China then mark it as such so I have informed choice when it's put on nz shelves. Save the planet and sell fresh local goods with simple cloud data.
People need to learn to respect Orca and other creatures of Tangaroa I have a great yarn of A Orca encounter He was a huge Bull.
Its sad that people are drowning because they can't swim.
The only way to fix Manuka harbour is for the city to put money in plant mangroves and clean up their water that goes into the water course I have seen them they are a big mess
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
The pressure is mounting on the Government as it finalises its Budget Policy Statement, but yet more predicted revenue ‘goes missing’. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Climate Commission has delivered another funding blow to the National-ACT-NZ First coalition Government’s tax-cutting plans, potentially carving $1.4 billion off the ‘climate ...
The Government now faces the prospect of having to watch another tax raise the price of petrol when, only six days ago, it abolished the Auckland Regional Fuel tax. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon argued that the regional fuel tax imposed costs on lower-income people with less fuel-efficient vehicles and that ...
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 ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. ...
Today marks a tragic milestone for New Zealanders as the Coalition Government side with big tobacco to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins and Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
This year’s Pacific Language Weeks celebrate regional unity and the contribution of Pacific communities to New Zealand culture, says Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti. Dr Reti announced dates for the 2024 Pacific Language Weeks during a visit to the Pasifika festival in Auckland today and says there’s so ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Tuesday 19 March appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has hosted members of the Green Party Caucus at Tuurangawaewae Marae in Ngaaruawahia. The audience follows the King’s Hui-aa-Motu on 20 January, where more than 10,000 people gathered to discuss national ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dr Rachael Potter, Research Associate and Lecturer in Work and Organisational Psychology, University of South Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Pregnant women and workers with children are often unfairly treated by their bosses and colleagues, despite laws to protect against workplace discrimination ...
Reacting to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s refusal to rule out introducing new taxes at the budget, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “Today’s refusal to rule out new taxes suggests the Government is nothing more ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne Aila Images/Shutterstock Aged-care workers will receive a significant pay increase after the Fair Work Commission ruled they ...
He’s bringing ‘Sophie’ back, yeah. Goodshirt’s ‘Sophie’ music video is one of the most instantly recognisable New Zealand music videos of all time. Featuring a woman listening to the song on headphones while her entire house is burgled behind her, the video won the New Zealand music award for Best ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Blaxland, Professor, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University A year ago, the AUKUS agreement was formally announced between Australian and UK Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden. The agreement mapped out the “optimal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Helwig, Associate Professor, Electro-Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern Queensland SmartS/Shutterstock Steam locomotives clattering along railway tracks. Paddle steamers churning down the Murray. Dreadnought battleships powered by steam engines. Many of us think the age of steam has ended. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carrie Leonetti, Associate Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Victims who experience family violence in Aotearoa New Zealand are treated differently, depending on which part of the justice system they turn to for help. But a new member’s bill ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Tesch, Visiting Fellow at the ANU Centre for European Studies, Australian National University In perhaps the least surprising news of the year, Vladimir Putin has triumphed at the Russian ballot box and been enthroned for the fifth time as president. He ...
The Papua New Guinea Supreme Court has stopped a byelection for the Madang Open seat being held until an appeal filed by former MP Bryan Kramer is concluded. Kramer had appealed to the Supreme Court over a National Court decision not to review his application of the Leadership Tribunal decision ...
By Miriam Zarriga in Port Moresby Despite a “historic” ceasefire agreement in Papua New Guinea between Enga authorities and tribal leaders after months of bitter warfare, a young woman has been found brutally killed near Kaekin village, Wapenamanda. Despite the peace agreement and signing concluded in Port Moresby last Thursday ...
The second season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud is a sadder and slower entry into his canon of true story-telling, leaning heavily on a verdict about the cost of a single work of art. Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Murphy has had a bit of “ick” about him in the last few years. ...
Are you deeply passionate about sharing Māori stories? We’re on the hunt for an experienced writer/editor to lead coverage in our Ātea section.Ātea is a deeply valued section of The Spinoff site, offering Māori perspectives and insights across politics, current affairs and culture. We are thrilled to be looking ...
By Aisha Azeemah in Suva With the lights on one of his sneakers blinking as he ran through the gallery, a little boy looked up at several works of art. One of them was a sculpture of his grandfather: the man who changed how we see the Pacific — Epeli ...
WHAT: Uber drivers are holding a rally outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington tomorrow, as the company begins its appeal against 2022’s Employment Court verdict (in a case taken jointly by FIRST Union and E tū) that four drivers were permanent ...
RNZ Pacific The Fiji Meteorological Service has a heavy rain warning still in place for the whole of the country after a weekend of flooding, although some floodwaters have receded. Flood and flash flood warnings and alerts are also in place, including a warning for all flash flood-prone areas, small ...
Responding to Grant Robertson’s recent admission on a Q+A with Jack Tame that his only regret from his time in office was that he didn’t take on more debt, Taxpayers’ Union spokesperson, Alex Murphy, said: “Grant Robertson has now admitted that he ...
Comment: Re-elected Russian President Vladimir President has declared victory ahead of a fifth term in power, after an election that offered no credible alternative candidates. Following the death of his main opponent Alexei Navalny in a Russian prison last month, thousands of Russians followed Navalny’s plea to cast a symbolic ...
Every week that passes seems to tighten the fiscal noose for Christopher Luxon and co – a noose, moreover, of their own making.“Don’t tell me what you value: show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” This phrase, a favourite of US president Joe Biden’s, resonates ...
Analysis by Geoffrey Miller – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Geoffrey Miller. Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are ...
Auckland may be the largest city in Aotearoa, but it’s the small community-led organisations within it that make the city thrive. The Spinoff spoke to two council-funded organisations who are doing their bit.“Torrent.” That’s the word one 40-year resident of Dundale Avenue used to describe what became of the ...
Commenting on the introduction of the living wage for all employees and contractors at Kāpiti Coast District Council, Taxpayers’ Union Campaigns Manager, Connor Molloy, said: “The problem with blanket living-wage policies is that they ...
With the upcoming SailGP event in Ōtautahi/Christchurch looming, there is mounting apprehension regarding the safety of Hector's dolphins, an endangered species unique to New Zealand waters. The event, scheduled to take place in an area frequented by ...
Perhaps when we have govt depts making such announcements as "Total international spend is expected to reach $14.8 billion in 2024, up 40% from 2017." and how well our economy is to benefit from such growth we should now expect to accompany the impact of any govt decision towards GHG, And understand should there be an increase where the offset is to be sourced from ? Otherwise without reporting the "Cost" how can we expect there to be any action to restore our planet ?
https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/5c05b7bfce/nz-tourism-forecasts-2018-2024-report.pdf
Yes, I know it's David Icke BUT he is the first one to gather + comment on a recent case where a teenage girl falsely accused a group of men of a gang rape in the news. Here he is covering the other deeply disturbing side of the story. #boycottcypress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTuX1mJ2icE
Found a mainstream link buried in the SERPs. The complainant has been trapped in the country for over 5 months now after reporting a gang rape to police.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/07/a-defining-moment-teenagers-fight-for-justice-galvanises-cypruss-feminists
Letter to the editor; The Southland Times 16 Jan 2020
OMV critics use oil too
Does Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton ride a pushbike or walk from his place of abode or, horror of horrors, drive a petrol-tax guzzling motor car, to Environment Southland meetings?
Does he also claim travel allowance from us poor, long-suffering ratepayers?
Len Lind of Stewart Island
Councillor Robert Guyton replied:
Len has spotted my weakness; I'm just like everybody else! I too have to use petroleum products in order to live; it's unavoidable, they are everywhere! Len seems to believe that I should never criticise the activities of the big oil companies; their spills, accidents and massive contribution to climate change, because I drive a car and have plastic lenses in my glasses. We're all in the same boat when it comes to reliance on fossil fuels; we’re all compromised but should that disqualify us from talking about the damage the industry causes? I don’t think Len really wants to silence everybody; he himself feels he has the right to criticise in public. He got me thinking though, about what I have already done to reduce my use of oil and top of that list comes my decision never to fly again in an aircraft; I think that will make at least some difference. And thanks to Len’s reminder, I’ll get my old bicycle back onto the road again; the chain’s a bit rusty but a little oil should fix that.
Much as I'm not necessarily a fan of the Eagles – though possibly your detractors are …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-bwXhts8Zg
Btw – you don't have a mullet do you?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/wildfires-california-amazon-indonesia-climate-change_n_5dcd3f4ee4b0d43931d01baf
So when this OZ fire season ends end of this summer (hopefully) how much will be left over of the flaura and fauna of this continent?
And when the fires start again in Sept, will the rest be burned then? And to be honest is that what is wanted by those that call the shots? Allow for such environmental degradation that the Scot Morrisons of this planet can simply throw their hands up and declare that 'nothing much can be done, its to late' and drilling will resume as buisness as usual?
Because really, when these fires are extinct – 180+ currently still burning and mainly not being contained, not much will be left over, those critters that survived will need to be fed, watered if they are to survive. As for the humans, has anyone in OZ yet dared to put a realistic estimate to the damage the fires caused? And i am not looking for another 2000 houses burned 🙂 a proper estimate maybe by a insurance company? And then looking at the article i linked too (yes its huffpost, only read if if it passes the purity test 🙂 ) what about the estimated losses world wide.
the world is burning and all our selected overlords play a fiddle. In the meantime, 'we can't breathe' is a thing now.
I couldn't agree more, Sabine.
There was a link posted on The Standard the other day, the last paragraph of which I found profoundly chilling:
"Millennials and the children we call Generation Z face the horrifying prospect that they will get stuck with the tab for humanity’s centuries-long rape of planet Earth, the mass desecration of which radically accelerated after 1950. There is an intolerably high chance that today’s young people will starve to death, die of thirst, be killed by a superstorm, succumb to a new disease, boil to death, asphyxiate from air pollution, be murdered in a riot or shot or blown up in a war sparked by environmentally related political instability long before they survive to old age."
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/1/13/1909613/-Climate-models-suggest-global-food-system-crisis-at-hand-dust-bowl-scenarios-now-locked-in?utm_campaign=trending
"how much will be left over of the flaura and fauna of this continent? "
Well, quite a lot actually. Up till now about 63,000 sq kms has been burnt. The area of Australia is 7.7 million hectares so the amount subject to the fires is about 0.8 percent.and more than 99% has not been touched. Now that is a huge amount of land, and a great tragedy, but the answer to "will the rest be burned then?" is NO and to "not much will be left over" the answer is nearly all of it will be untouched.
That would be a fair answer if Australia was all one kind of landscape. But it isn't, at least 80% of it would be fairly barren and open outback, with a sparse vegetation at the best of times. It rarely burns unless a particularly wet spring has allowed a lot of grass species to flourish.
What we have seen burn this year are the eucalypt forests in the alpine and coastal regions, and the fraction of these that have been severely damaged is substantial. Worse still in many places it's old temperate forests that have never burned before which are being destroyed. These eco-niches are not adapted to fire, have a very poor capacity for recovery, once they're lost, they will never return.
Species like the Bogong moth, already under pressure will have a flow on effect to already highly endangered fauna such as the pygmy mountain possum. And places that have been reliably lush for generations, are no longer. As with almost everything to do with climate, the story is more complex than you are implying.
"What we have seen burn this year are the eucalypt forests in the alpine and coastal regions".
I assume you mean that these areas are not usually affected by bush fires. I will have to take your word for it as far as New South Wales. I am not really familiar with that state. However for Victoria the areas that have been burnt out appear to be generally similar to other recent major bush fire seasons such as 2008-9, 2006-7 and 2003-4 when about 500,000 ha, 1,200,000 ha and 1,300,000 ha burned. The latter two years would seem to be of a similar scale to the current season's numbers. 2009 didn't hit the same area of land but it was of course Black Saturday with 173 deaths.
They are also on much the same area as the previous monsters such as 1939-40 (2,000,000 ha) and the daddy of them all in 1851 when 5,000,000 ha went up in flames.All of these fires affected the NE and Gippsland regions of the state, just like the current lot. Thus it doesn't seem to be unusual for the alpine and coastal forests to be badly affected in Victoria.
There have been other major fires than affected the NW of course, which has been pretty well spared this year.
https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/history-and-incidents/past-bushfires
(Luckily) Australia is 7.7 million sq km large, so 100 times larger than 7.7 million hectares. The burnt area was 63,000 sq km or 6.3 million hectares; the latest numbers have been over 10 million hectares burnt or around 100,000 sq km. As a comparison, 100,000 sq km is Canterburry + Otago + Southland!
Apparently the burnt area is the size of Ireland!!!
At the moment Australia is the victim of a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole where the warm water is in the west of the IO and does not produce any rain over Oz. It is like the Pacific's El Nino /La Nina, it slops around every 4 or 5 years or so. The LN/EN is about every 7 years, probably because its a bigger ocean. Sometimes the positive or negative IOD phase coincides with a LN or EN phase and causes even more problems. Both systems are wind driven.
But wait there's more, the Southern Annular Mode of westerly winds that rotate around Antarctica are further north in the current mode stopping the big Aussie summer anti-cyclones from picking up cooler damp air from the Southern Ocean, these are the big highs that eventually drift over us giving us nice warm calm summer weather, but not this year, the SAM is too strong bequeathing us these bloody cold South Westers and Easterlies, and squeezing the central Aussie highs rotating over the desert making them hotter and hotter.
The SAM is probably caused by the wobble in the Earth's rotation which in turn is probably caused by the Earth's molten iron core slopping around. Another bloody thing to worry about. Lets Stop the Slop!
Last years "Beast from the East "in northern Europe is a similar phenomenon.
So its not all Climate Change just weather and it has been doing it for millenia, not Melania, shes just a temporary aberration thank Christ.
For what its worth, a few hours ago around midday there, SE Australia was cooler and a lot wetter than NZ, Hobart 11Degrees, Melbourne 18, Sydney and Brisbane 22, ( where they are breaking out the jerseys) . Fancy that.
It's just weather and if we didn't have it redistributing warmth and moisture around the globe fuck all of anything could live here.
Look up bom.govt.au for much better explanations than mine. And pretty diagrams.
"7 million hectares". Oh dear, why does that always happen? Yes, square kms. And I read it over a couple of times looking for silly mistakes like that. At least I got the calculation right though.
I'm not saying it isn't a huge amount of land. It is. However when it is compared to the total land area of Australia it doesn't really justify the somewhat hyperbolic questions I highlighted in the final sentence.
GOP cockroaches plan to scuttle around in the dark..
https://twitter.com/sarahdwire/status/1217202438031257602
The Standing Committee of Correspondents vigorously objects to restrictions being considered on press access during the upcoming Senate trial of President Trump.
The Standing Committee sought to address our concerns with the Sergeant at Arms and with Rules Committee before final decisions were made, but decisions are being made quickly as plans for the trial are completed and we are hearing that nearly every suggestion has been rejected
Our suggestions were rejected without an explanation of how the restrictions contribute to safety rather than simply limit coverage of the trial.
The restrictions that are being considered exceed what occurred during the Clinton trial 20 years ago, with fewer ways for press to speak to senators and even a magnetometer being installed within the Senate Press Gallery to ensure electronics are not brought into the chamber.
The no electronics in the chamber rule has existed for many years, reporters don’t violate it, and we’ve never needed an extra layer of screening to ensure it is followed.
Installing a magnetometer means the Senate trial will have a soundtrack of “beep, beep, beep” as 90+ reporters walk in and out all day. There is no additional safety or security brought by bringing such a device into reporter work space
It also gives the impression that it is being done mostly to protect Senators from the bright light of the public knowing what they are doing in one of the country’s most important moments.
The Standing Committee requested an exemption to the no technology in the chamber rule so that we can provide the public with up to the moment information without having to walk out of the chamber, but we’re hearing that request has been denied.
I grasp that there is precedent, but few things in Washington are more momentous than an impeachment trial and the American public deserves to have eyes in the room.
Reporters will be kept in pens, meaning only senators seeking out press coverage will get covered.
Currently we can walk with Senators as they enter the chamber, wait for them outside of meetings or lunches. It leads to a diversity of voices. Penning us means people across the country might not hear from their senator.
https://twitter.com/sarahdwire/status/1217204300260216835
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1217202438031257602.html
They seem to be going to extraordinary lengths to protect someone who has done nothing wrong… /s
They are not protecting "him" they are protecting themselves.
Trump is now wholesale owned by the Republicans (who will last longer then Trump imo) and he owes them, bigly some people say, super duper bigly.
He is the pen that signs their legislations, Tax cuts for the Ueberrich, gutting of social security, gutting of environmental regulations, their god before government etc etc etc. Essentially the Republicans done a 'back to the past' replaced one old senile man with another old senile man, heck its all the Presidents Man. 🙂
but again, this Kabuki Theatre in the US, or Russia for that matter will have no importance when the world burns and runs out of the stuff that we humans need so deseperatly to live.
Btw, did you hear that the entire Russian parliament 'resigned'? King Putin, long he may live and his future clones.
A rather more nuanced article than your comment
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2020/01/the-russian-prime-minister-resigns-and-no-one-knows-why.html#more
Or to put it more accurately, an article that expands on your comment
"Putin announced that he appointed Mikhail Mishustin, the head of Russia's Federal Tax Service, as the new Prime Minister." Just guessing, makes sense that a competent bureaucrat gets jumped up to become top bureaucrat.
Presuming the guy has actually established a system for selective wealth-extraction as required, and enough time has passed for Putin to agree that the system works. He's a systems engineer.
"In 1989, he graduated from the STANKIN, majoring in system engineering, and then in 1992, he completed postgraduate studies at the same Institute. After graduating from graduate school, he began working as a Director of a test laboratory, and later headed the Board of the International Computer Club (ICC), a public non — profit organization."
"In 1998, he joined the state service as an assistant for information systems for accounting and control over the receipt of tax payments to the head of the State tax service of the Russian Federation. Then he worked at the rank of Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for taxes and duties, head of the Federal Agency for Real Estate Cadastre within the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, and head of the Federal Agency for Managing Special Economic Zones."
"In 2008, he left the civil service on his own and returned to business — this time in the field of investment. In February 2009, he joined the personnel reserve of the President of Russia." Putin likes competence.
As usual AlJazeera provides a measured view on Putin's plan.
The Russian national game is chess, and Putin has just transitioned to his end-game.
To get around presidential term limits. Handing presidential powers to parliament makes PM the highest office in the land. Poots snares himself another term as PM and bingo, he's the leader of Russia, again.
nah, you are not nuanced enough Joe.
Hey but he's KingPooty
He's a dictator,he's the autocratic boss he's a thug a clown a mafia don doncha know
Why bother with the constitution?
Seems a bit wussy
Heh
The nod to technicalities keeps fools on his side.
In the 80s the ideas of big union and centrally planned economies etc were rejected in favour of letting the market rule (and there actually were good reasons to be unhappy with the way things were). But that change hasn't turned out well either. So what lies beyond?
So "it’s time for a broad-based, democratic effort for the government to shape the economy and foster the public good." True.
"The theory at the center of the “new structuralist” belief system is that government rules structure markets, and a new set of rules is needed to foster more equality and widely shared prosperity. A major plank of this is tied to antitrust enforcement and a government that prevents a wider range of merger types and considers a broader set of stakeholders when deciding whether to approve a deal. It also entails higher taxes on the rich and corporations, and measures such as a potential financial transaction tax; it also puts limits on corporate governance matters, such as stock buybacks."
Increasing stakeholder involvement and financial transaction tax are both essential. Rules operate as guidelines only, however, since lack of effective enforcement has consistently discredited the concept of government regulation. A theory that offers no solution to corporate capture of governance is clearly inadequate.
"The basic theory is that the government can be more efficient at providing certain public goods, not less" but in what way is this not utopian?? Anyone would think it had been written by some Democrat seller of snake oil.
"The paper points to the Green New Deal as a prime example of the approach: a public-investment-led initiative that employs different policy tools to promote innovation, equity, jobs, and decarbonization." Promotion is different to delivery. Since Democrats are famous for non-delivery, this is typical.
"Implementing the types of policies being proposed in progressive circles isn’t going to happen overnight, or without some real electoral and institutional shifts first. That’s where the economic democratists come in. They argue that economic reform hinges on participatory democracy, where unions are strengthened, communities are activated, and public agencies are open and transparent."
That one looks more promising – yet still rendered ineffective by woolly leftist language. Vague intentions won't get them far. Explanations of what is going to change, and how that change will be delivered, remain necessary. Obviously it's wonderful that the liberals have figured out where they went wrong 30 years too late, and I hope they get their act together before we all die.
We've had this stale debate over the relative role of the state and the market since … well Adam Smith. The argument usually degenerates because everyone presumes that somehow if you automatically have more 'state' this means an equal measure of 'market' has been displaced, and vice versa.
Yet obviously the state is not a one for one substitute for markets. As Arnold Nordmeyer acerbically observed "Do we want the state to run corner dairies?". The two forces may overlap to a degree, but their crucial differences complement each other. Specifically the state is good at long term investment, high risk, and wide scope. If politically the state cannot tolerate the failure of an enterprise and therefore implicitly underwrites it, then it probably should be in public hands. By contrast private capital is really good at running business for short term cash flow, low risk, small scope enterprise … the daily stuff of feeding and clothing us for example.
If we were a lot clearer about this distinction we might be able to sell it better.
Also in the bigger picture I would suggest this binary model omits a crucial actor, an omission that explains why the debate has become so stale. The role of community in moderating and regulating the excesses of both state and market has been consistently ignored. Well at least until quite recently, it’s a good sign that many thinkers are now working with this notion.
I would suggest this binary model omits a crucial actor, an omission that explains why the debate has become so stale. The role of community in moderating and regulating the excesses of both state and market has been consistently ignored. Well at least until quite recently, it’s a good sign that many thinkers are now working with this notion.
Yes, I think the binary model had the fatal flaw of tacitly assuming that voters are mere passive recipients of largesse.
If you frame the community as players in the political game, you acknowledge their agency as being proactive. That's where participatory democracy comes in.
A generally good read, but then I stumble over ideology like this:
Well for 'leading thinkers' they seem remarkably resistant to actual data. Consistently all the data shows East Asian Americans as substantially the highest income group. (Setting aside 'Australian Americans' as probably an outlier group of academics and/or professionals). Nor does it explain dramatic differences between groups such as Nigerian Americans with household incomes around $60k compared with Somali Americans at a miserable $24k.
Nor are they willing to look at data showing that white working class males are the big group in the USA with a falling life expectancy. For certain some white people are doing exceedingly well, as you might rationally expect in a society where white people remain a numerically dominant group. But to then lazily imply this means all white people are unfairly advantaged across the whole of the USA, just flies in the face of ordinary people's experience.
The white American man who I worked with last year, whose wife was scared of his meth-addicted brother in law running out of control, with him stuck on site thousands of miles away, plus a catalog of other intractable worries … would spit on this article … and vote Trump.
Yes ethnicity plays a role in outcomes, but to grossly simplify it down to a 'white privilege' narrative oversimplifies a complex story.
Actors 🙂
LOL … that's probably not too far off the truth.
and US Soldiers.
Who killed the Knapp family?
http://archive.li/iVmzL
Great link thank you. I've skimmed through it fast; it seems to capture something very like what my now ex-colleague told me first hand over a beer or two.
FWIW in terms of Dem candidates, Bernie had my total support last time, but I think he was mistaken to run a second time. Tulsi Gabbard won my heart with her Joe Rogan podcasts. Andrew Yang won my head with his Universal Income, his backing for next gen nuclear and his clear headed ability to cut to the essence of the big story as above. There is hope, but the Dem machine is doing it's best to crush it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/118823041/whether-and-how-labour-might-win-a-second-term
Bernard Hickey has left out one very important variable, which is how well Bridges and his mates execute a filthy lies campaign leading up to the election and whether the media buys it, i.e. whether what happened to Corbyn and UK Labour will happen to Ardern.
The sleeper issue for this election campaign is going to be the links between the National Party and the Chinese Communist Party – https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/01/us-democracy-watchdog-freedom-house-accuses-mp-todd-mcclay-of-echoing-china-to-justify-mass-detentions-in-xinjiang.html
Expect NZ First to swiftboat the Nats on this, and while NZ First and the Nats are slinging mud at each other over funding Labour to pick up votes from disgusted New Zealanders.
Gets even murkier when you look at who made the criticism reported in the Newshub piece.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House
So a shot across the bows from Uncle Sam. Must be some really interesting discussion going down in the inner reaches of the National Party right now.
Wonder if a very slickly produced political add pops up just before the election featuring little blue pandas dancing across the bottom of the screen.
Hickey describes how MMP has locked in what public policy was present at its inception. And how Centrists act as a handbrake on major policy changes.
Contrary to what Centrists believe of themselves being pragmatists who generate consensus and "just get shit done", the opposite is true. Centrists are obstacles to both progress from the left and to reaction from the right. Consequently nothing gets done.
Hickey's thoughts on risk-taking and staying safe in the centre echoes the article Sanctuary posted yesterday which was a critique of the roles of Centrists within UK Labour in the spectacular undermining of Jeremy Corbyn.
What confuses me about the replies is the vain belief from Centrists they actually get shit done. They don't get shit done, they just prevent others from getting shit done.
True some of the time. We have a center-left coalition govt. It gets shit done whenever the leftists and centrists within it agree on proposed legislation. Then the agreed proposals get passed into law to prove it.
I realise you're unlikely to claim that they have no such track record of progress made. Perhaps you just don't want to admit to yourself that the three parties have proven themselves to be genuinely progressive by enacting their legislation?
Get real instead. Telling the truth earns respect. Seeking refuge in partisan delusions achieves the opposite.
I think they've tinkered and patched up a few risk-free things but you have to be deluded to believe this is a government of progress. There is nothing "genuinely progressive" about it. The left of centre part has made some noises but as Hickey correctly states it is the centrist part of the government, NZ First, which has acted as a handbrake to progress.
I can only assume that this government's glacially meek movement on social fairness and social infrastructure progress looks positively dynamic – almost dangerous – to a staid Centrist such as yourself!
😎 Oooh, truth hurts (a little). The staid bit comes from putting oneself out to pasture in retirement. However I have actually spent a lifetime watching self-professed radicals drop off the pace.
That learning curve is all about how mass movements actually work. When progressives blame each other for not being radical enough, they focus on division instead of common ground. When the masses divide amongst themselves, the control system doesn't need to do divide and rule against them. They've already disempowered themselves!
Several decades of watching that shit happen imposes a fundamental learning about mass psychology. So you get to appreciate whatever gains result from consensus.
The binary party structure of democracy in the USA was seen as evil by one of the founding fathers. This from a letter written by John Adams in 1780: "There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."
They ignored him and built evil into their system anyway. It's why the Democrats supported slavery during the 19th century. They had to oppose the Republicans, who wanted to free the slaves. It's why the Democrats worked with organised crime in the 20th century – to oppose Republicans who wanted to eliminate it. The American middle class got eliminated via the gfc & predatory lending, authorised by govt regulators appointed by both parties. Their system incorporates the deep state, who eliminate whistle-blowers by whatever means necessary. It's a puppet show that no longer compels collective belief.
To gauge the extent of alienation, we need suitable research. "Carroll Doherty is director of political research at Pew Research Center." He presents some here: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/26/key-findings-on-americans-views-of-the-u-s-political-system-and-democracy/
"A large majority of the public (67%) says “their side” in politics has been losing more often than winning in recent years on issues that matter to them." Yet losing is good, according to the poll. "About six-in-ten Americans (58%) say democracy is working well in the U.S., though just 18% say it is working very well. At the same time, a majority supports making sweeping changes to the political system: 61% say “significant changes” are needed in the fundamental “design and structure” of the U.S. government to make it work in current times."
So most Americans think the system is working well because it is turning them into losers. Remarkable, eh? Who'da thunk they were that clever?
'The blob', a huge marine heatwave, killed nearly a million seabirds in the biggest known die-off of its kind
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-01-16/blob-seabird-murre-die-off-climate-change-marine-heatwave/11867264
So much winning…
https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1217510680170876928
a very stable genuis.
however what is not mentioned is how much money the orange hairball made of all this misery.
"A New Plymouth business owed hundreds of thousands of dollars by a failed oil and gas company is calling on the government to force the parent company to sell its remaining New Zealand assets to help repay creditors." https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/407474/creditor-calls-for-government-to-step-in-over-tamarind-taranaki-collapse
Can the govt actually do that??
"Tamarind Taranaki went into receivership just before Christmas after its $300 million offshore drilling campaign at the Tui oil field failed. It owes creditors about $484m. Matt Hareb owns an excavation company which had the contract to transport drilling waste from Tamarind Taranaki's operation. The business, which employs about 10 staff, is owed more than $500,000. Hareb said it would take years for it to recover."
Limited liability is part of the design of the capitalist system. Being able to dodge debt is hard-wired. I can't see how the govt can enforce moral culpability.
"Hareb Excavating is one of 82 creditors, of which 72 are unsecured, many of them small Taranaki-based firms." Destroying local small business is a frequent consequence of corporates using smart lawyers. Like big fish eating small fish, it's normal. Social darwinism rules, okay?
"The government is owed between $100m and $155m for Tamarind's share of decommissioning costs for the Tui oil field." So the big fish is gonna rip off the taxpayer too? Whoopee, what fun!
"Other creditors spoken to by RNZ described the Tamarind collapse as tantamount to "daylight robbery" and said a "heck of a lot of people had got done over"." Capitalism divides users into screwers and screwees though, eh? Nobody can claim the system is based on the concept of a fair deal, can they? Exploitation is the entire point.
"The government has an obligation to look at this" reckons my local Nat MP. "Minster of Energy and Resources Megan Woods says Tamarind's acquisition of the Tui permit in 2017 had exposed a gap in the Crown Minerals Act." " "The government has now closed this loophole with an amendment to the Crown Minerals Act," she said. Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted is a good move.
Food waste. Food in held longer for sale to mitigate it being wasted. Supermarket sell stuff they were throwing away. More produce goes off at home, increasing food waste tonnage and carbon credits going more often to supermarkets. Profits for retailers skyrocket as they keep increasing the amount of sub standard produce sitting in shelves waiting to be brought and then throw out as it's gone off by the time it reaches homes. I know this because it keeps happening, bad meat, old carrots, yuck throw out, never used to throw out a onion, potato, used to use them all or nearly. not now. Food waste is a self forefilling prophesy that forts consumers and radically increases supermarket profit. Supermarket go to their suppliers, who know this and start selling their non export food, or returned from china unsold food, in big PR specials. To the point that either you buy for a local producer of buy the imported good if in Auckland before they get shipped to the new food deserts.
The solution is to force a percentage of all local food to be sold locally. Given the bulk deals that should mean cheap good food, that then if not sold be sold even cheaper to restaurants etc way before it goes off. Most food I see is old.
https://imgur.com/gallery/m4XY1Cz
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/business/food-waste-climate-change.html
There are already business that already sell cheaper fresher goods and will sell unsold vegies cheaper to save putting them back on the truck. They exist in many places, not enough though. They are call market stalls, and instead of getting old food that's been ship to Auckland, and back, or worse. They sell local food locally. Now some councils did away with them, and so super markets don't need to sell the freshest, selling processed fresh Fox's that are processed to send their nutrients and energy to their skins, and remain attractive for longer shelf life. Foods that once brought go off. I brought a carrot before Christmas, a week later came to roast it, it had gone off. This is my point targeting a negative only rewards more of the same. Target food miles, if my carrot has gone unsold in China then mark it as such so I have informed choice when it's put on nz shelves. Save the planet and sell fresh local goods with simple cloud data.
maybe if all the food would be a bit cheaper people would actually buy a bit more.
there is quite a bit of 'food insecurity' aka 'hunger' in the developed world, and a lot of it is to do with the fact that it is too expensive.
maybe we could remove GST from food. All of the food.
Or we could make sure incomes are high enough to pay for it.
Alas, we don't do socialism in New Zealand, at least not for the hoi-polloi
A high-wage economy isn't even reserved for lefties..
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/YgFyi74DVjc
Kia Ora Newshub. .
A photo speaks a thousand words.
Suborbital flights from Dunedin that will be great for the economy.
Kaikoura getting putea from the Provincial growth fund they will be happy.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Pangawerewere tukutuku.
Kai pai for Rugby league setting up training for the tamariki there is a lot of talent Rangatahi in Aotearoa that just need a bit of guidance.
Football is a good game for the Rangatahi to get into.
Ka kite Ano
Some Eco Maori Music For The Minute.
https://youtu.be/94dBVPpymac
Kia Ora Newshub.
People need to learn to respect Orca and other creatures of Tangaroa I have a great yarn of A Orca encounter He was a huge Bull.
Its sad that people are drowning because they can't swim.
The only way to fix Manuka harbour is for the city to put money in plant mangroves and clean up their water that goes into the water course I have seen them they are a big mess
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Condolences to Piri Whanau.
There should be respect given to Te uri taniwha wanting to protect their old cultural sights.
It would be sad to lose a mokopuna lets hope the Authorities carry on doing their mahi and find Jamie Kaiwai.
The Pacific Island are suffering from the effects of Global Warming sea-level rise.
I think the government should respect Ngapuhi opinion and wishes.
Ka kite Ano.
https://youtu.be/qQfetkoGrpU
Kia Ora Newshub.
Yes the housing short will effect the students and poor badly. The students will have to have 2 unrelated per room.
That's is cool carers get more money for looking after there challenged love ones.
Mana Wahine that's A great reason to march for Wahine equality.
The oil barons.
That's swam of locus looks huge can cause havoc in Africa.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Piri will have a huge hakari.
I,,, we need Maori to look after Maori tamariki wellbeing aroha and understanding is needed for the correct care of our mokopuna.
Mana Wahine.
Ka pai for your Wakarma journey in Tamiki Makaru.
Ka kite Ano