Remember the chorus of "Should have been Level 1 weeks ago"? They spoke for just 12% (that's plenty for Winston, who only needs 5%, but it's a disaster for National).
Obviously it would be amazingly stupid for National MPs to keep complaining about Ardern and the Covid response. So that's what they're doing.
Winston is marching into National territory today.
"We won't pander to the woke brigade" said today by Winston Peters re BLM protests is music to the ears of conservative New Zealand.
Muller and Kaye are trying to distance themselves from that sentiment which is giving Winnie an opening.
I thought he was a gonner a month ago, but I am now thinking he will pick up some of National's conservative base and return in September. He's like a fucking cockroach
The drum beat of corporate media stories around opening the border has been a classic example of lobbyist with money who owned journalists like Fran O'Sullivan trying to manufacture consent.
Me watching: The build up to the rugby on Sunday…
Melanie Robinson: "We've seen outstanding leadership from the prime minister in recent months, I expect Beauden will bring outstanding leadership to the Blues"
Me thinking: "I hope Gerry isn't watching."
And the above is the least of it. (because the problem is now so big it can only focus on a couple of examples – e,g, the RSE workers
I L-G: Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb dither dither dither. I have complete faith in my officials (even the ones that have bullshitted to me) Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
INZ: Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb the commodity of people as a human resource all wrapped up in a risk-managed (unofficial) demographic spreadsheet.
Commentariat: Pearl clutch pearl clutch pearl clutch
This has been speculated to result from the 'joys' of coalition government, and the art of the possible. If so, there are less than one hundred days to hopefully fix that and have a consistently kinder government . . ..
Yep. It was those two noble savages Shane and Winston what dunnit.
Even though many/most of those affected by the policies have a closer affinity and understanding of lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight's first people.
S&W are us though eh? and those are them. And its not as though people were warning us all about what has now come to pass 4 years ago.
A possible solution, pay local marae (who often get utilised in emergency situations anyway) to provide board for those stranded, now that the Covid threat has been eliminated.
A double win. These migrants get provided with what they need, for the short term, and local marae get some income to help support them through these times.
A bloody good short term solution @ Molly – as you're more often than not prone to come up with.
In some places, relationships such as you suggest are already happening (without the payments), and long term friendships are in the making
Meanwhile back at the INZ ranch, officials are worrying about how such phenomenon could take hold – it could completely undermine their thinkings going forward (based on learnings from the past)
That would be good short term but air travel is slowly opening up again (Singapore airlines for one is reopening the Singapore hub ) so I do see a need to keep working with the various embassies and Airnz to put on some charter flights to assist some of the larger groups back to where they want to go, or to facilitate an onwards connection.
Charters or even scheduled flights can be one way flights only as we don't have the capacity to quarantine full return planes so would be a more expensive but not ridiculous prices. A lot of the extended one year visa's expire in Sept. Frankly I think I L-G needs to largely bypass his department and get MFAT, AirNZ and the embassies to advertise the charter flights (backed up by onwards travel agreements with maybe Singapore Air) so that we can give some certainty to travellers and move them towards Auckland airport.
Well if you don't like that link @ Anne, I have plenty of others. And as you will know, many of those officials don't have a vindictive bone in their bodies. (/sarc)
I happen to think both JA and H1 will probably go down in history as being two of NZ's best PMs. (Or should that be one of NZs best PMs?)
However IF JA really wants to be kind and transformative, she needs to get herself a decent H2 style shit kicker, otherwise the recent history of the Labour Party will be just one damn thing after another, and a waste of another bloody harsh virus (neo-liberalism being one of the others)
I start to question my sanity when I find myself agreeing with the Taxpayer's Union – (albeit knowing that they are just Government bashing as they do).
"The cost of SkyPath has already blown out multiple times, to $200 for every household in the country.
"Giving this project an RMA exemption doesn't turn it into a good investment. Funding would be better spent on infrastructure that improves productivity for the many, not just a subset of Takapuna-based lycra enthusiasts."
The Skypath proposal is one that could stay shovel-ready and not get done, until other investment in our infrastructure is complete – health and mental health investment for instance. They’ve been ready and waiting for investment for years.
While I disagree on the shape of the reforms to the RMA that they endorse, I do agree that shovel-ready projects, follows the BAU approach to infrastructure investment. And we should be requiring a new perspective before putting such money into "nice to haves" instead of "need to haves" or resilience projects.
The fact that they are "shovel ready" doesn't guarantee good investment outcomes that are shared as equitably as possible. It also doesn't prioritise spending wisely – just spending.
" Very few pt or cycling projects would survive a solid Treasury Value For Money review. "
For a start, including SROI (Social Return on Investment) or an environmental return on investment, should see this change. And if cycling projects still don't meet the value for money review – then they shouldn't happen at present. We have a lot of NZers looking for basic needs and support, look after them first. The Skypath is not a basic need.
Molly – the middle class have decided that cycling is their thing, suits their individualism and is healthy and clean-living,fit, modern people do it.; the very example of 'going forward'. And they tend to ride their bikes fast, and generally behave as they would in a car. But biking being an agreed benefit to all, ticking the above boxes of health etc., it has become a sacred icon for the said m/c.
It also allows them to trespass on public spaces for room to carry out its aggressive side, mountain biking, BMX racing and dirt jumping. There they throw themselves round knowing that they will be fixed by free hospital treatment and helped by ACC. Areas agreed for mountain bike tracks have cleared areas that are treed and were part of the environment enjoyable for walkers in Nelson. But that isn't enough for these bikers – they have cut and cleared illegally to make new tracks to suit themselves. Looked at dispassionately, they are just land clearers repeating the colonial measures of the past but with a greenwash, that of being a healthy sport in the outdoors.
The bike sport fraternity are often destructive and really just a different version of the petrolheads, demolition derby fans, mud plugs and racing car enthusiasts; though most of those are contained to agreed tracks. The advent of 4Wdrives, with tv ads showing them driving in the outdoors like real men, up rivers destroying and polluting them, if they want to go there, have further encouraged this idea of misuse of the countryside for the machine-mad male with no appreciation of nature or being a natural human either.
The problem with the SROI is that typically the cycling calculations assume a slow climb in usage compared to what actually happens. Quite unlike the NZTA or treasury approach to roads with always assumes a exponential car usage growth – that usually doesn’t happen.
If either used realistic analysis based on their continuous past failures, then most of the roads that have done recently it wouldn’t be funded. If they used the actual results from their previous screwups of estimating ROIs from PT or cycle lanes than almost all would be.
The growth in traffic on most installed cycle lanes and effective PT invariably climbs more rapidly than NZTA expectations. Just the same as what happens when the public transport is upgraded – which is why the northern busway now has continuous double decker buses at peak hours – and we don’t need a new uber expensive bridge or tunnel. Similarly the double tracking and electrification of the Auckland has exceeded expectations in almost every year since they were done. The only thing that seems to slow them down is the work being done on the next upgrade.
But it is a chicken and egg as can be easily seen when the cycle lanes are put in. You have to have cycle lanes before you get much cycle traffic on them. You find out the need after you put them in. But typically they are incredibly cheap.
In Auckland, all cyclists and scooter riders are scared shitless of the ignorant dangerous drivers and their parked cars. We’ve all had near death experiences from drivers inadvertently trying to kill us. Put in a cycle way and watch the cyclist traffic increase massively over several years. Try walking on the north western cycle way or even the grafton gully cycleway at 5pm and you’ll see what I mean. I’m looking forward to being able to actually ride down K Rd without the fear of imminent death or injury. Be nice if they did the same thing on Ponsonby Road.
Where there aren’t cycleways, many cyclists and virtually all scooter riders prefer to ride on pedestrian paths – thereby endangering pedestrians. Somehow this social saving isn’t anywhere in the SROI – along with most of the other real social benefits.
Nor a re most of the economic benefits because they are unknowable before the project is put into place. In the case of the SkyPath, it simply means that a whole area who currently have no ability to commute to the north shore by bike (in my case) or from the north shore can now start to do so. Trying to even figure out the effects of that are damn near impossible to figure out in advance. It is simply guesswork. About the only thing that is obvious is that it’d be way cheaper than any possible roading project in Auckland.
In short – your position is just spurious bullshit based on a selective unthinking analysis of how the SROI is currently calculated.
My family are cyclists, not so much commuter cyclists now because of commuting distances, so I agree we have some way to go regarding cyclist safety.
However, I disagree with the method currently used for identifying, prioritising and implementing projects.
This is my objection to this project, and the SROI needs to be applied to others areas of Auckland as well in order to help prioritise. This doesn't happen.
Cycle lanes are the classic example of "if you build it they will come" with the sum being greater than it's parts. Fully connected, separated cycleways that go to useful places see huge growth.
The problem is people see them as a cheap panacea for noisy MAMILs & a recreational frippery rather than an important piece of commuter infrastructure. Yet using an e-bike on a proper cycle way to commute in your work clothes is as different from weaving in and out of traffic, footpaths and bits of cycle way on a racing bike whilst clad in your full lycra panoply as taking a guided the great walk in summer is from hacking your way up to the tops on an unmaintained track in the Kawekas in winter.
Yes, and Parker was certainly emphatic when being interviewed on Natrad both last night and this morning. Seems happy to sudeline climate change issues, and I'm wondering if he is aware that in the Far North there are already rumblings from domestic water users (aka 'the people') that horticulture and agriculture (aka corporate interests)have more right to water.
And along with the water requirements is the very real potential for adverse effects of nutrient runoff and heavy agrochemical use.
As you say Molly, would have been nice to see spending on our tired and dysfunctional health infrastructure prioritised.
Your concern Molly is much appreciated by this resident who lives on a popular by-route which eventually leads to the harbour bridge and is sick and tired of lycra clad enthusiasts who assume they own the road and its up to the rest of us to get out of their way.
Any proposal that is going to increase their numbers in my neck of the woods will not be appreciated by locals trying to go about their daily business without cycling fashionistas strung across the road impeding progress for the rest of us.
That kind of investment warrants better scrutiny at this time, especially as it has been a continually growing budget. The reason it is shovel ready is because there has been a staunch group of supporters continually banging on about it for years. Not because it is an equitable and valuable use of government budget.
(I also note the inclusion of numbers in terms of the pitiful amount of jobs intended to be created, but nothing in terms of the actual spend being reported.)
I call them 'lycra louts'. That generally gets them going.
Not all cyclists belong to this genus. These ones, apart from the skin tight and unfaltering plumage are most often found in inner city Wellington on a Saturday morning crawling 2/3/4 abreast up Raroa Road presumably on a run out to Makara/Ohariu Valley/J'ville. They wiggle slowly up this steep street failing to pull over. On my way to work some times I have counted 14 cars behind me, some at stalling speed.
They are able to multi task, ie give the finger to anyone who wishes to go past them.
They mob cafes to the exclusion of others. Their cry is distinctive too with the sounds of entitlement being the top notes.
Got no problems with unproblematic riders who respect other road users just as I do.
The general way to deal with them is to put in some cheap cycle paths that separate cars from cycles. Or an even simpler method would be just get rid of parked cars on roads.
I know when I am commuting (usually in work jeans) I use the cycle lanes where they are available.
But if I have to cycle on the road, I leave at least a metre from the parked cars. That is because of the idiots who seem to try to open doors on me every day. That provides enough room to avoid the doors that get flung open in front of me by drivers who neither look in their wing mirror nor partially open the door and look back.
These self-entitled idiots are the primary reason why cyclists ride so far out into the lane.
That means that I take up a third of the usual car lane and means that cars going around me and passing at metre put at least half their body into the incoming lane (2/3rds for the SUV trucks).
So i went and googled skypath and ended up with this
"The Northern Pathway project will provide a seamless dedicated walking and cycling link between Auckland’s City Centre and the North Shore which will connect with existing local paths to extend the region’s walking and cycling network."
As far as i am concerned i dont care how much it costs it has to be done and should have been long ago!
To suggest that we should instead put the money into health and mental health shows a complete disconnect from reality
I've been following the Skypath discussion for years, and at no time, does it ever go into the realms of providing an equitable use of transport monies across the region, or seek to justify the spend in terms of social returns. It has always been a case of:
" As far as i am concerned i dont care how much it costs it has to be done and should have been long ago! "
Great justification…
This has been highlighted as shovel-ready projects to be invested in. There are other needs and projects that are awaiting funding, some in health and mental health.
"To suggest that we should instead put the money into health and mental health shows a complete disconnect from reality"
But if you are insistent on keeping the funding sector appropriate – we could instead invest the money into improving the pitiful service and access to public transport and alternative transport infrastructure in other areas of Auckland that exist without the vocal ranting brigade.
The continual rubber-band bounceback to BAU in terms of prioritising infrastructure, is going to continue the path of inequitable access that we were previously on.
10 years of moaning from the small minded objectors to SkyPath. It's painful how obvious the need is to expand the harbour crossing to active modes of transport. Public demand is driving the project, car addicts need to learn to share public space for a change.
The difference with the "Northern Pathway" is that the mode share over the harbour bridge is currently 0% ; you could do lots of other little projects all over Auckland with similar funding but there is still a fundamental disconnect with the North Shore. If it's fairness you're concerned about, the models indicate that the proposed pathway will get even more usage than the Northwestern cycleway. It's the cheapest possible alternative to a new harbour crossing.
After numerous news stories on the National Party donation fraud case not guilty pleas in Feb, & other than a Parliamentary privileged comment by JLR in March that was reported on, there has been no mention of the case due to be in court last week on the 10th June. It's surprising there has been no mention in media of it whatsoever, whether the case has started as intended or not?
Media's very economical when it comes to any untoward news around brand national.
Watching Tova tell Clarke even labour voters don't trust him (another survey) and constantly bleating out the gotcha questions shows where they're heading.
For many years it has been apparent that the NZ Police need a major shakeup. Ever try dealing with them? Lazy and incompetent at best. Lying and deceitful at worst. From the idiot Commissioner Bush who thought the corrupt cops in the Arthur Allen Thomas case had 'integrity beyond reproach' to the blatantly corrupt Doone, the rot clearly starts at the top and trickles down.
The lazy p****s who approved this licence should be in court charged with vicarious liability. But we all know they won't. there will be an internal Police inquiry, which will drag on for two years or so and then be quietly buried.
Just to show that you can get recreational shooting, conservation, national parks, and foodbanks in the one sentence …
…. Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, Game Animal Council, and Department of Conservation (DOC) are partnering to provide 18,000kg of free-range wild Fiordland venison to New Zealand foodbanks and families in need. Each year the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, working with DOC, conducts a deer cull in Fiordland National Park removing up to 1000 animals.
“Weather permitting, by the end of next month, we will have removed 600 deer from Fiordland National Park for processing into 18,000 1kg wild venison mince packets. These are being distributed by a charitable supply chain distributor to foodbanks throughout the country. This will feed thousands of New Zealand families in need,” says Roy Sloan, Fiordland Wapiti Foundation President.
Last time I stopped in Haast, there was a little hamburger stand selling the most awesomest, juiciest, sweetest venison steak hamburgers I've ever had, and they came straight out of the Fiordland culling programme.
Todd made National policy lurch to the left in his Te Puna speech. I do wonder what the likes of Collins and Goldsmith make of this. Should the next poll still show National in the low 30's and Muller below 15, will there be another coup?
Covid 19 would have been an absolute disaster had it not been stopped in its tracks.
National are largely to blame with its sinking lid policies and leaky buildings by way of defunding and wrecking the building codes.
After 9 years we were left with the worst health system in the OECD. National wanted a privatized health system given Woodhouse now a former private hospital middle manager and Coleman another private health hawk.
By running down the health system to push people into buying private health insurance.
Private health insurance is always a bridgehead from which the public system can be attacked. If you don't eradicate it, you will spend a lifetime fighting its incursions. Neither option is pleasant.
It isnt the shake up that it is made out to be. I read the 274 page report. It is bascially just changing a few letterheads and re-writing a few contracts.
It doesnt recommend reducing or scrapping co-payments, for a start, which is one of the big barriers of access to services.
Idiot/Savant is attacking the Greens, saying that they are "footstools", for supporting Labour's draconian 2-year ditching of RMA requirements for major projects, shutting the public out of the process (except for seldom heard submissions to the select committee). David Parker should hang his head in shame-he had a bit of a train-wreck interview on Morning Report trying to justify this today.
In fact the Greens have only supported this to the first reading. It is quite normal to support legislation to the first reading where the details can then be seen as to what is proposed.
I doubt very much they will give it support any further. At least I hope not. It will probably pass with the help of the Nats and NZF, which says it all.
Meanwhile submissions in opposition should be lodged (by those who care about democracy) at the select committee stage.
Palestine Bleeds: Execution of Autistic Man is the Norm, not an Exception
by RAMZY BAROUD, Counterpunch, 12 June 2020
A 32-year-old man with the mental age of an 8-year-old child was executed by Israeli soldiers on May 30, while crouching behind his teacher near his special needs school in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The cold-blooded murder of Iyad al-Hallaq might not have received much attention if it were not for the fact that it took place five days following the similarly heartbreaking murder of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, at the hands of American police.
The two crimes converge, not only in their repugnancy and the moral decadence of their perpetrators, but also because countless American police officers have been trained in Israel, by the very Israeli ‘security forces’ that killed al-Hallaq. The practice of killing civilians, with efficiency and callousness, is now a burgeoning market. Israel is the biggest contributor to this market; the US is the world’s largest client.
When thousands of people rushed to the streets in Palestine, including hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists in Jerusalem, chanting “Justice for Iyad, justice for George”, their cry for justice was a spontaneous and heartfelt reaction to injustice so great, so blatant.
Al-Hallaq’s story might appear particularly unique, as the ‘suspected terrorist’ was killed while merely walking in King Faisal Street in Jerusalem, on his way to take out the trash. He was afraid of soldiers and terrified of blood.
“He was also afraid of the armed police officers who stood along the route to the special needs center he went to, where he participated in a vocational training program,” the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported.
Al-Hallaq’s many fears, which may have appeared exaggerated by his family, turned out to be true. Even an autistic person in Palestine is not safe from the vengeance of soldiers. ….
I wonder if they have considered maybe retraining some of the airline employees in the next couple of months. The cropping season is still a little way away so time to do some workforce planning maybe. Drive a Boeing – maybe they could drive these too
But it does look like we could do with some serious rural workforce planning. In the last few months we have had concerns about a workforce for vineyard machinery, calving and the flush of the dairy season, the harvesting machinery and general overall harvesting workforce. That way these could be end to end jobs and I know soem already do that in the horticultural field.
Also have any of these considered the jobs they are offering. I know that machinery needs to be worked dawn to dusk in season but running the workforce in 40 hour shifts may be more acceptable. Plus looking at providing some half time roles or encouraging more women/ older people into the rural workforce.
Training or retraining people costs more than importing some someone else has trained. If it takes two years to be ready, as they say, then train now and there will be no more problem in two years time. But this problem of 'cant find workers' has persisted for far longer than two years, hence it's safe to conclude that no permanent solution is desired. Just cost cutting.
Some how for this I seriously doubt that it takes two years of training if "some farmer friends can jump in and help". Being able to drive a tractor doubtless helps a lot but a HT licence, good spatial and motor skills and a few brains would go a very long way. A boeing pilot should be very retrainable.
And if it was so skilled then any contingent travelling from country to country would include a fair few NZer's who have been trained here plus a great deal higher wage.
Looks like they are over cooking the skills and training needed coupled with, as McFlock puts it lousy wages, to keep up the cost cutting. Perhaps they could solve their own problem by dealing with the upgraded government training courses and lend their machines for some practice runs
Inevitable I guess, but let's just hope the quarantine procedures are a lot better than was reported on TV1 news last week. Any system is only as good as its weakest link, and clearly the Hotel quarantine was the weak link.
Not sure how else to read that other than TVNZ understands they were given an exemption from isolation to go spread it around at a funeral here. Wait and see what Bloomfield says, I guess.
We had a funeral here yesterday an aussie family member was allowed in , hearsay is they were allowed down here from Auckland and got20 mins with family and to see the coffin closed. Not sure about ppe etc . Apparently the funeral had well in excess of 1000 attending.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield explained in the briefing this afto that people are not given exemptions to go to a funeral.
Dr Bloomfield said they had applied for an exemption on Friday 12 June to visit their dying parent and were allowed to travel to Wellington in a private vehicle to do so the following day, on 13 June. Their parent died that night.
"They were in a managed isolation hotel in Auckland and were permitted on compassionate grounds to leave managed isolation to travel to Wellington via private vehicle."
He said there one only one additional family member who may be at risk, and they were being tested and isolated. Other potential contacts included people on the same flight from Brisbane and people who were in or had been in the same managed isolation facility in Auckland, including staff.
"There was an agreed plan in place as a part of the approval process for the compassionate exemption and that included the travel arrangements."
He said the funeral for the parent would be delayed until family members had completed their next 14-day minimum isolation period.
From watching the briefing the parent died the evening the two arrived in Wellington. I had a similar experience with my mother. I got a call at work that my mum was dying, caught a plane from Auckland to Wellington that afternoon, and was with her for about half an hour before she died.
Hmm that puts a different spin on it. I'm not sure – having listened to Dr Bloomfield's briefing – that that is a fair representation. The RNZ report, I feel, is more accurate.
Dr Bloomfield said they had applied for an exemption on Friday 12 June to visit their dying parent and were allowed to travel to Wellington in a private vehicle to do so the following day, on 13 June. Their parent died that night.
Now it could be argued that the "that night" refers to 12 June, the day they applied for the exemption, to visit a dying parent. But the juxtaposition of the last sentence with the statement that they travelled to Wellington on the 13th strongly implies that the Parent died on the night of the 13th
The media are not above trying to stir up controversy for the sake of it. Especially Stuff.
Peter if you are referring to the Avatar team's arrival at the Quarantine hotel, it would be good to get your facts right. The mixing in the foyer was with an American family staying at the hotel.
The arriving Avatar team were bussed to the hotel. They were taken in small groups through a separate door each wearing face shields into a separate room for debriefing and instruction. They were then taken under escort one at a time in the lift to each individual's room where they stayed for 2 weeks, finishing yesterday. They did not even mix with their colleagues during the time in seclusion or allowed out for a walk anywhere.
Ianmac, how about YOU get YOUR facts right. Just Google it. Absolutely nothing to do with Avatar. It was Kiwis returning to NZ.
They mixed throughout their stay on crowded city streets on guided walks. Newly arrived returnees were mixing with those on their last day or days of quarantine.
Ianmac. All good! And thank you for addressing that, for which I respect you! I was surprised, as I always enjoy your posts which are well thought out. Cheers!
Since we reached zero the media have run various stories about the heartless government not making a quarantine exception (and another, and another exception, and so on). And of course the opposition demands for borders opening ASAP.
But don't worry, nothing bad could happen, job done, blah blah …
Peter Chch (15) … Disappointing to read this news of two new cases of Covid-19.
IMO our borders should be closed … full stop, no exceptions, no negotiation, until there is a means of controlling this paricular virus. These two new cases demonstrate the need for doing so.
Pull yourself together – there are legitimate grounds for compassion – in this case, the exemption conditions may very well have worked as designed – if not, I am sure it will be valuable grist for the mill in reviewing future procedures at our 'bo(a)rders'.
Yes happy to put my hand up on this one that I don't feel a lot of compassion. terrified with good reason about Covid getting a hold here and think everyone will/might have to make scarifices.
Given this situation and the situation with two teenagers given leave to go to a funeral and then absconding time to make it real simple. No exception to isolation.
A funeral is for a dead person. A stiff. Their metabolic processes are history. Shuffled off this mortal coil. 4 million volts isn't enough to create an interaction with them.
Giving people exemptions from isolation to go spread disease in order to go hang out with a corpse is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. To go say their last goodbyes while someone still lives – fair enough. But not once they've already passed.
Apologies Andre – I didn't intend to support your over reaction or wind you up. Nobody has a script for this, not even Jacinda and Ashley, who you appear to have put on a pedestal. This is an error at worst – a learning which will modify the border procedures and compassionate exemption policies.
I'm coming down slowly. Give me a couple days and I should be back on an even keel.
I think Ashley and Jacinda have done an absolutely outstanding job – but this was a really dumb unforced error. I hope the lesson and action taken is to assume everyone arriving is a raging hotbed of maximum infectiousness, until proven otherwise. The common good of 5 million people has to come ahead of compassion for situations that aren't absolutely time-critical. Someone in their last days is time-critical, after they've passed is not.
I have a nephew and sister-in-law in France that got COVID early on. They're still suffering severe aftereffects. I have a cousin in the US that's a doctor in respiratory intensive care, and her husband is a doctor in the emergency department. From what I've heard from them, mainstream reports about COVID seem somewhat sanitised and downplayed.
The elimination we had achieved is immensely valuable, risking it needs to only be done for something equally valuable.
Yes, the lockdown has cost NZ billions, and to throw it away so easily? Kiss of death for this government and Ashley NY honours list. And deservedly so.
Sad as PM did a great job with a hard task, but this is beyond stupidity.
9 days on the loose. How many are now infected? Nz was in the privileged position of having eliminated the virus and being able to control the entry or exclusion of the virus.
From way back in early March, we knew the borders were our vulnerable point, yet, from early March, time and time again we have learned, from th MSM, that what this government says about the borders and what is actually happening is vastly different.
Peter, take a breath. Watch the full press conference with Bloomfield, if you haven't already. Really detailed answers, with a whole range of safeguards in place.
It's not at all surprising that an individual case has happened. It's the policy that matters. Opening up our borders now would be stupid, and so we're not doing it.
I don't get it either. Apparently we have testing to burn so why were we not testing on arrival, 5 days later and then again at 10 days and 14 days. These people were in the managed quarantine between it appears the 5th and the 13th of June so surely they would have been symptomatic? Is quarantine being managed in pods or did they have contact with people between 5th-13th that have been released already? What about the family contact in wellington – who have they had contact with? What about border staff – and quarantine staff and airline staff. And it's taken 16 days to find this out when symptoms can be tested for in the 5-10 day range. And how do we "know" they followed all the rules when they didn't bother to report symptoms- big fail right there. As others say FFS – there are so many obvious gaps in the arrangements..
A similar conversation has gone down in this household.
Apparently there are 2 hour tests available.
A baby with a sniffle, that had barely left it's home environment, no visitors, got swabbed in ED last night because Covid…
And yet…
From what has been said so far, the one that has tested positive, either fibbed when asked the ubiquitous screening questions or answered a different question to that which was asked.
Yes Peter Chch and Andre. It's what you get when you don't have black and white, hard and fast, delineated rules which are meticulously enforced.
When factors to do with 'humanity' and exemptions and judgements and assessments come into it you get problems.
Trouble is numbers in the population screamed about hard and fast rules mitigating against humanitarian factors over months.
If we had hard and fast rules mentality, no weighing up of factors involved, everyone doing 51kph would be fined heavily pro forma, cars would be permanently taken off those doing 10kph over the limit and so on according lists of rules.
The no exemptions thing for those coming into the country would go on at least until a vaccine is developed however long that is.
Of course this shocking turn of events wouldn't have happened under Simon Bridges' watch. (Remember him?)
Andre is right, a funeral is for a dead person, a stiff shuffled off this mortal coil. This situation shows though that it's not the dead that are the worry or whatever their loved ones do but the hysteria about that from deadshits.
The funeral was not for a parrot, but for a fellow human being. I'm not convinced the risk is worth it either, but in your anger, don't lose all your humanity.
During Level 4, people within New Zealand were prohibited from going to say their last goodbyes to loved ones. I count myself very fortunate my dad survived his medical emergency during that time that I was prohibited from travelling to go see him when he was on the edge. FFS, my mother was prohibited from going to see him in the hospital, in a region that had zero cases at that time.
To put us all at risk of having to go back to that for the sake of an already dead body – just plain unacceptable
Yes, you are right, but have faith in our capacities to learn from a mistake. I would far prefer that the error stemmed from having too much compassion than the opposite – otherwise we are no different to the right wingers.
Fair enough but they can’t attend the funeral now anyway so there was no point in releasing them. All it’s done is needlessly expose us. No exemptions from now on, people living here couldn’t get them during lockdown.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield showed why he is a doctor, not a politician or reporter or "commentator". And a good human being.
He calmly explained the details of the case, and refused to throw the two women under the bus. They will be feeling like sh*t right now, and Bloomfield understands that. They did not break the rules, they followed them. If there was a loophole it was in the NZ system. He takes responsibility for that (as he should).
I hope that the focus is now on highlighting the complacency of those who want open borders, not on hounding two victims of the virus, already bereaved.
Well, I won't be casting a stone. I'm sure that hypothetically we all would have acted differently. In reality … when you've crossed the world to see a dying loved one? When the system tells you it's all under control? When you look around and you're the only ones wearing face masks and you're still following the rules?
Observer. You are clearly a better person than me, and that i respect.
Ashley Bloomfield is, as you say, is a doctor and a compassionate person.but right now, maybe we need someone who is also a little bit of a dictator. Level 4 was a dictate. Now I feel what's the point?
The elite say one thing, we are coerced to do another. To say I am disappointed in our PM and Ashley would be an understatement.
I think the key point is that the women were not tested, and they should have been, and that is NZ's fault, not theirs. It is not their job to say to health professionals "hang on, your system isn't good enough". Especially when they are in emotional distress. Now Bloomfield is suggesting that the procedures have been / will be changed. Good.
A good doctor does not blame patients. Nor should we.
I suspect they watered the landscape as so many of us have done in past times. The trick is to check the sight lines – thought I had once – then along came the train.
There seems to be far more media interest in women's bladders at Level 1 than in Simon Bridges' bladder at Level 4. I don't know why he got a free piss – er, pass.
I have seen what it's like in Tamiki Makaru a lot of people were looking down on Maor.
Interesting but I have a good idea who has treated all tangata whenua the best and has the best interest for our Mokopuna futures That's who Eco Maori tau toko.
With the National Party this week announcing a new policy of tax cuts to spice up the election campagin. MyThinks went along to the launch and afterwards we spoke to the party’s finance spokesperson Paul “Golden Touch” Goldsmith. MT: Thanks for speaking to us Mr Goldsmith. PG: No. Thank you. ...
Always to islanders danger Is what comes over the seas ‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us. 1. The Diminishing Global Dominance of the US. Since 1941 America has dominated the world economically and politically. Probably it could ...
By Geoffrey Miller New Zealand should continue to champion human rights in Belarus amidst an ongoing crackdown on protests by the country’s regime, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Protests in the country often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections on August 9 ...
Jacqui Maguire, registered clinical psychologistThis podcast episode highlights how difficult it is to have effective conversations about euthanasia due to how polarised people’s views are. I’m a clinical psychologist, with a passion for science communication. In early 2020 I founded the podcast Mind Brew, with an aim to make psychological ...
In case anyone needed further convincing, there's another example today of why we need cameras on fishing boats: reported seabird bycatch doubled during a camera trial: Commercial fishers operating off Auckland's coast around vulnerable seabirds are twice as likely to report accidentally capturing them when cameras are on ...
In the leadup to the euthanasia referendum, an array of conservative Christian political organisations is running an expensive campaign to sow doubt about the safety of assisted dying. Graham Adams argues that these religious forces know that Christian arguments aren’t convincing the public, but that it is in the public ...
Dangerous Times: This will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming. Or, throw your ...
It would be a great time to reform the benefit system, according to former Deputy Chief Economic Advisor at the Treasury, Tony Burton. He argues the complexity of benefit system means that it’s failing to achieve its difficult three core objectives, which form an “iron triangle”.New Zealand’s benefit ...
Tax Justice UK, September 2020 Serious tax reform is on the political agenda for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus crisis. As this debate hots up it is important to understand what people think about public spending, wealth and tax. Tax Justice UK, along with Survation and ...
Not Mucking Around: With upwards of 800 dead from the virus’s resurgence in the Australian state of Victoria, leniency is not on Premier Daniel Andrews’ agenda. The Victorian Police are cracking down hard on the protesters the Australian press has labelled "Covidiots".IMAGES OF POLICE, some in riot gear, others on ...
Although I had the fortune of being a graduate student of some of the foremost US nuclear strategists of the day (1970s) and later rubbed shoulders with Air Force and Naval officers who were entrusted with parts of the US nuclear arsenal, I seldom get to write or speak about ...
News that Zhenhua Data, an arm of China Zhenhua Electronics Group, a subsidiary of the military-connected China Electronic Information Industry Group (CETC), maintains a list of 800 New Zealanders on a “Overseas Key Information Database” that contains personal information on more than 2.4 million foreign individuals, has caused some consternation ...
Marie BecdelievreJanuary 2020. The number of news article mentioning coronavirus exploded and anxious voices whispered about a global pandemic.Whisper? To me, it was only a whisper. I tend to learn about the world through non-fiction books, conferences, and academic research rather than news and social media, so ...
Barbados is planning to remove the queen as head of state and become a republic in time for the 55th anniversary of its independence in 2021: Barbados has announced its intention to remove the Queen as its head of state and become a republic by November 2021. [...] Reading ...
At the 2017 election, the New Zealand Labour Party promised a Fees Free Policy for tertiary students. Basically, it would make the first year of university education free in 2018, with a second year in 2021, and a third in 2024. It also promised to restore Post-Graduate access to the ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzWhat is the impact of temperature increases in the tropics? ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons It felt like 100 degrees in my in-laws’ Grass Valley, California, kitchen, but at least the lights were on and for the moment we were safely “distanced” from the Jones Fire. We’d just finished dessert, after pizza and a movie ...
A key part of our electoral funding regime is a requirement for some transparency around donations, on the basis that if we can find out who has bought our politicians (typically after we have voted for them) then everything is alright. There are a lot of problems with that regime ...
On “In Defense of Looting” Matt Taibibi takes an entertaining look at this generation of woke activists and how they compare with Abbie Hoffman the iconic anti-Vietnam war counter-culture figure of the 1960s On Thursday, August 27th, the same day Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination, National Public Radio ...
When Parliament introduced the Emissions Trading Scheme, it was worried that carbon prices might get too high. So it introduced a "fixed price option", allowing polluters to pay the government $25 in the place of surrendering credits. The result was predictable: after we were thrown out of international carbon markets ...
The government will finally be requiring large New Zealand companies to disclose their climate change risks: New Zealand finance companies will be made to report on climate change risk, Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced. The policy will force around 200 large financial organisations in New Zealand to ...
By Claire Grant, Genomics Aotearoa Communications ManagerCommunity consultation is becoming an increasingly important aspect of research programmes in New Zealand, and with that comes the art of relationship building. Engagement between scientists and user-groups is certainly nothing new. But as stakeholder involvement becomes more of a requirement for science, ...
Rebels In A Wrong Cause: The truly frightening thing about Jami-Lee Ross’s and Billy Te Kahika’s success in persuading thousands of New Zealanders that Covid-19 is just another trick, just another way of stealing away their power, is realising just how many of them once marched at the Left’s side. ...
In a couple of months, the 53rd Parliament will meet in Wellington, and approximately 120 MPs will be sworn in, many of them for the first time.They will all have political goals, some aligning with their party platforms, some not, some complex, and some simple, but they will gain one ...
Media Statement For Immediate Release 10th September 2020 The income and wealth inequality lobby group, “Closing the Gap” thinks the Labour proposal a great start says Peter Malcolm, a spokesperson for the group. But they need to be aware of what many of the rich do and of what do ...
ACT is pushing a "no-nonsense climate change plan". What does it involve? Repealing the Zero Carbon Act and Emissions Trading Scheme, reversing the fossil-fuel exploration ban, and allowing mining on conservation land. In other words, repealing any policy which might actually reduce emissions. Which is the very definition of nonsensical. ...
This blog post is a follow up to my recap of Al Gore's Climate Reality Leadership Training I recently participated in. One of the exercises we were asked to complete was to write about our respective "Climate Story". This is a slightly updated version to the one I had submitted during ...
New Zealand’s media and online politics often reflect the values of liberal and progressive agendas. According to Liam Hehir, the current proposals to lower the voting age to 16 years – which the media overwhelming supports – is indicative of a wider mismatch with society, which is not good for ...
My wife and I, through a combination of good luck and good management, have managed to retire in comfortable circumstances. We celebrate our good fortune by making relatively small but regular donations to a range of good causes – to rescue services like the rescue helicopters, St John’s Ambulance and ...
Jacques Raubenheimer, University of SydneyIf we don’t analyse statistics for a living, it’s easy to be taken in by misinformation about COVID-19 statistics on social media, especially if we don’t have the right context. For instance, we may cherry pick statistics supporting our viewpoint and ignore statistics showing we ...
Over the weekend, Labour released its welfare policy: an increase in benefit abatement thresholds. And that's it. Faced with clear evidence of ongoing hardship among beneficiaries and a call from its on Welfare Expert Advisory Group to raise core benefits by between 12 percent and 47 percent, Labour's response is ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Bogota; 09/11/2020) The murder of Javier Ordoñez in the neighbourhood of Villa Luz in Bogotá, Colombia at the hands of two policemen brings to the fore the issue of police violence and its function in society. First of all we should be clear that we are ...
Story of the Week... La Niña Update... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Humans exploiting and destroying nature on unprecedented scale – reportAnimal populations have plunged an average of 68% ...
Gabrielle Po-Ching In November 1918, the cargo and passenger ship Talune travelled to Apia, Samoa from Auckland, carrying a number of passengers who had pneumonic influenza. From these passengers stemmed the biggest pandemic Samoa had ever seen. With around 8,500 deaths, over 20% of the country’s population at the ...
Prof Nick Wilson*, Prof Michael Baker In this blog the arguments for and against shifting all COVID-19 related isolation/quarantine facilities to a single air force base at Ōhakea are considered. The main advantage would be a reduction in the risk of border control failures, which can potentially involve outbreaks ...
So the Greens co-leader James Shaw recently made a mistake. In his role as Associate Finance Minister approving funding for “shovel-ready” projects, he fought hard for a private “Green school” to get funding to expand their buildings and, therefore, their student capacity. There are many problems with what he did: ...
Over the last three years there have been growing calls for the government to provide dental services under the health system – universal free dental care. This is because at the moment there’s an anomaly in which teeth are regarded as different from the rest of the body which means ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 6, 2020 through Sat, Sep 12, 2020Editor's ChoiceWith California ablaze, Newsom blasts Trump administration for failing to fight climate change Trinity River Conservation Camp crew members drown ...
Dear Sir, As we head into the run up to the upcoming election I feel it is my duty to draw your attention to the lack of fun we are currently forced to ensure by the Adern regime. In their efforts to keep the nation’s essential workers, health compromised people, ...
It finally happened: about 13 years after first watching Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” (AIT) in 2007 when it became available in Germany, I recently completed the Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training! Participating in this particular training had been on my to-do list for quite some time but it ...
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly? The Covid app to register your entering premises can be so clumsy. Sometimes I have signed in, sat down ...
Is the 2020 election result really the foregone conclusion that the polls and commentators are suggesting? Josh Van Veen suggests otherwise, pointing to some of the shortcomings of opinion polling, which could ready some politicians to say “bugger the pollsters” on election night. In November 1993, opinion polls foretold ...
Back in 2019, six select committees of the UK Parliament established a Citizen's Assembly to investigate how to respond to climate change. The Assembly's deliberations were forced online by the pandemic, but it has finally reported back, and overwhelmingly supports strong action: Taxes that increase as people fly further ...
I am feeling a bit impish today and so for no particular reason I thought I would share this thought, which I first posted over on twitter: “Hurricanes, wildfires, floods, heatwaves, street protests, armed vigilante militias, a lethal pandemic and a corrupt authoritarian using the federal government for partisan and ...
Wayne Mapp (Photo: Tsmith.nz via Wikimedia) A former Minister of Defence says the government was too slow to involve the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) in New Zealand’s response to Covid-19. But Wayne Mapp, a National MP from 1996-2011 who served as Minister of Defence for three ...
Transport is our second biggest polluter after agriculture, making up 17% of our national emissions. Cars and trucks emit 15 million tons of CO2 every year. So, if we're serious about tackling climate change, we need to eliminate this entirely. Public transport and better urban design will be a key ...
Five things we’ve learnt 1. We know where the virus ultimately came from We know that the virus originally came from bats, and most probably a species of horseshoe bat in South East Asia. However, the spike protein in SARS-CoV-2, which allows the virus to attach to cells and infect ...
The Greens' greatest disappointment while in government this term has been the failure to implement a ban on mining on conservation land. Promised by Jacinda Ardern immediately after gaining power, it had long been assumed that the problem was NZ First (who have a long history of environmental vandalism). But ...
If they get into Parliament, everyone expects the Greens to form a coalition with Labour. But James Shaw has said that that might not be the case, and that they might instead choose to sit on the cross-benches: The Greens are prepared to forego a coalition or confidence and ...
Chantal Denise Pagel, Auckland University of Technology; Mark Orams, Auckland University of Technology, and Michael Lueck, Auckland University of TechnologyThree people were injured last month in separate humpback whale encounters off the Western Australia coast. The incidents happened during snorkelling tours on Ningaloo Reef when swimmers came too close ...
Den Of Thieves: They describe themselves, and the money-making rackets they dignify with the name of church, “Christian”, but these ravening wolves are no such thing. The essence of the Christian faith is the giving of love – not the taking of money. It is about opening oneself to the ...
David Pomeroy, University of Canterbury; Kay-Lee Jones, University of Canterbury; Mahdis Azarmandi, University of Canterbury, and Sara Tolbert, University of CanterburyAcademic streaming in New Zealand schools is still common, but according to recent reports it is also discriminatory and racist. Also known as tracking, setting and ability grouping, streaming ...
A New Holy-Day: Perhaps, by accepting this gift of Matariki from the first arrivals in Aotearoa, we late arrivals, shorn of our ancestors’ outlandish fleeces, can draw strength from the accumulated human wisdom of our adopted home. Perhaps, by celebrating Matariki, we can learn to take ownership of our colonial ...
If there was any doubt left, we can surely call it now. Time and date. End of. Finito. Perhaps you thought you saw a flickering eyelid or a finger move? You were wrong. Labour has given up on tax reform for the foreseeable future. One of the key remaining left/right ...
Will the rich get richer under Labour’s latest tax policy? Based on the analysis in reaction to yesterday’s announcement, the answer would seem to be yes. The consensus from commentators is that inequality and severe economic problems will remain unchanged or even be made worse by Labour’s new policy. Although ...
Labour has released its energy policy, and its basicly business as usual: bring forward the 100% renewable target to 2030, build pumped storage if the business case stacks up, restore the thermal ban and clean car standard (but not the feebate scheme), and spread a bit of money around to ...
What's wrong with Labour? The end of yesterday's RNZ health debate says it all: Do you have private health insurance? Reti: "I do." Hipkins: "Yes, I do." Hipkins is Minister of Health. But it turns out that he won't be waiting in the queue with the rest ...
McKayla HollowayThe helicopter carries a team of four Lakes380 scientists and me; we hug the Gneiss rock walls that tower over Lake Manapouri. It’s arguably one of New Zealand’s most well-known lakes – made famous by the ‘Save Manapouri’ campaign of the 1970s. My chest is drawn back into ...
Rainy-Day Man: Is Labour’s tax policy a disappointment? Of course it is! But it’s the best the Traditional Left is going to get. Why? because Labour’s pollsters are telling them that upwards of 200,000 women over the age of 45 years have shifted their allegiance from National to Labour. (Where else, ...
When we last left our intrepid Drow Rogue, he was sitting in a tavern with his companions, only for a crazy Paladin to burst in, and start screaming about the Naga. It soon turned out that ...
Slight tweak to New Research Articles in NR are categorized by domain, roughly. This introduces the problem of items that don't neatly fit in one slot, or that have significance in more than one discipline (happily becoming more frequent as the powerful multiplier of interdisciplinary cooperation is tapped more frequently). ...
Today AstraZeneca pushed the pause button on its late-stage trials of a COVID-19 vaccine. A clinical trial participant has experienced a serious health event and an investigation is underway to determine the cause. What does it mean? A cautious approach – trials can halt to assess safety data With over ...
Kaya Klop-Toker, University of Newcastle; Alex Callen, University of Newcastle; Andrea Griffin, University of Newcastle; Matt Hayward, University of Newcastle, and Robert Scanlon, University of NewcastleOn an island off the Queensland coast, a battle is brewing over the fate of a small population of goats. The battle positions the ...
Dr Ben Gray* This blog discusses what will be needed to operationalise the End of Life Choice Act in the event that it is approved at referendum. It argues that this will take significant resources. Judging by the experience in Oregon it is likely that this may only benefit ...
Nau mai, haere mai – welcome to our newest addition to Sciblogs: Tuhia ki te rangi. Over the eleven years Sciblogs has been operating, the face of science communication has changed dramatically. Where a decade ago there was a burgeoning number of scientists and other experts looking to stretch their ...
I'm grappling with my sheer fucking anger over Labour's pathetic tax policy. Yes, it utterly contradicts their pretence of being a "centre-left" party and shows that they have no interest whatsoever in fixing any of the problems facing New Zealand. Yes, its self-inflicted helplessness, which will allow them to cry ...
Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández, Queensland University of Technology and D. Bondy Valdovinos Kaye, Queensland University of TechnologyA disturbing video purporting to show a suicide is reportedly doing the rounds on the popular short video app TikTok, reigniting debate about what social media platforms are doing to limit circulation of troubling material. ...
Labour announced its tax policy today: a new top tax rate of 39% on income over $180,000. And that's it. No intermediate rate between the current top rate of 33% at $70,000 and the new one. No land tax. No wealth tax. Nothing (in fact worse than nothing, because they ...
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nzMethane is a shorter-lived greenhouse gas – why do we ...
Most mornings, when we’re at home, my wife and I will have coffee on our deck. I am the barista of the household and I make the coffee, the way we like it, on our espresso machine. This winter we have sat with our coffee, day after day, in glorious ...
It was another busy week out on the campaign trail, with Labour focused on jobs, training, and supporting Kiwi workers. As we continue to roll out our five-point plan for recovery, we’re investing in our people, businesses, communities and vital services, so we can keep our economy moving as we ...
Our regions are a vital part of our economic recovery plan. They’re home to innovative and creative businesses, and the backbone of our export economy - which is why Labour will continue to support our regions to grow as together, we rebuild better. ...
National’s ‘alternative budget’ that includes huge cuts to the government’s operating allowance would risk gutting critical public services, and put health, education and nature at dire risk. ...
Data released this week shows that, while New Zealand is not immune to the economic impacts of the global pandemic, our strong health response has meant we’ve been able to get our economy going faster than many other countries. ...
This year’s election is on 17 October - and it’s coming up fast! With one month to go until Election Day, we’ve come up with 17 ways you, your friends and family can get involved in our campaign and help Labour keep New Zealand moving. ...
PREFU has given a good insight into what was required to ensure New Zealanders were largely supported to continue work and remain healthy during COVID-19, but it is clear we need additional revenue raising measures ongoing, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today. ...
The Green Party is disappointed with the Labour Party’s decision to reverse their three free years education policy and back down on their commitment to postgraduate student allowances. ...
In the first two years of our term in Government, we gave teachers record pay rises as a way of recognising the lack of adequate adjustments over the previous decade and the significant role they play in the lives of children and young people. We also increased the number of ...
Labour has a proud history of supporting working New Zealanders, whether through the implementation of the 40hr work week or the introduction of the Working for Families package. ...
The Green Party welcome Labour’s commitment to extend the living wage to Government contractors, but will push for Fair Pay Agreements across industries in the next Government so more New Zealanders can earn a dignified income. ...
The Green Party is urging the Government to act on its commitment to te reo Māori, by making it a core subject up to year 10, and including te reo courses in the Targeted Training and Apprenticeships scheme. ...
We're officially back to the campaign for the 2020 General Election. The campaign may look a little different this year, but our candidates are still getting out and about in their communities and spreading the word about how another term of Labour will keep New Zealand moving in the right ...
You might have heard a bit of discussion about Government debt lately, as experts weigh in on the COVID-19 economic recovery. If you’re wondering why it’s such a contested topic, or even if you’re unsure of what Government debt actually is, then read on - we’ve got you covered! ...
The Green Party has released its Farming for the Future Plan, including a $297m fund to support farmers and growers to transition to climate-friendly practices. ...
We believe every New Zealander deserves the chance to make an informed decision on Election Day. We’ve answered some of the most common questions on our 2020 tax policy, including how much money will be raised from our new top tax rate, and how this will be used to control ...
The Green Party says Labour’s energy policy is a step in the right direction, but the Greens would go further and faster to meaningfully tackle the climate crisis. ...
All this tax talk leaving you a bit dazed and confused? Read below to find out more about our progressive tax system and what Labour's policy means for you. ...
We’re committed to managing the Government’s books responsibly and keeping debt under control while supporting our people and our economy through the 1-in-100 year shock caused by COVID-19. ...
The Labour Party has moved towards more progressive income tax, but is not addressing the growing wealth gap and inequality in Aotearoa. Labour’s new revenue policy also doesn’t help pay for the necessary response to the COVID-19 crisis, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today. ...
As New Zealanders we are proud of who we are, what we stand for, and the way we weave together different worlds and cultures to create our unique national identity. ...
It is appalling and negligent that landlords are being encouraged to keep their properties cold and damp until after the election, as advised by the NZ Property Investors Federation, Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson said today. ...
The Government will provide up to $1.69 million through the One Billion Trees programme to Māori landowners to make their whenua more productive through the planting of forests, both native and exotic, and improve economic and environmental outcomes, Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Around 1.5 million ha of land ...
People planning to head outdoors now have a resource that lets them know how accessible an area is for people with varying levels of mobility, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced today. The Halberg Foundation, Sensibel, and the Department of Conservation (DOC) have launched Accessibel, a new tool which helps ...
One of the most significant battle sites of the 1860s Land Wars will receive $2.96 million from the Provincial Growth Fund to improve the site and help tell the New Zealand story to visitors, Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones have announced. Nanaia Mahuta ...
The journey towards recognising Māori as an official language and taonga has been captured as a web series and launched today during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, announced Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni. “Te reo Māori is a living language, and understanding its significance, and pathways to ...
Today’s better-than-forecast GDP figures show the expected impact of the decision to act quickly to protect New Zealanders from the global COVID-19 pandemic. GDP fell 12.2% in the June quarter from March, reflecting decisions to close New Zealand’s borders and enter Alert Level 4. “This result was better than the ...
The Government is investing $39.7 Million over four years to support the educational needs of Pacific learners and families in the regions hardest hit by COVID-19, with Auckland getting an immediate boost, Associate Minister of Education Jenny Salesa says. “Like all New Zealanders Pacific families want learners to do well ...
New Zealand’s goal of 100,000 kiwi by 2030 is being helped by an extra $19.7 million in funding to accelerate iwi and community efforts to protect kiwi, Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced. “$19.7 million of Jobs for Nature funding is being invested in kiwi conservation activities including increased predator ...
Ensuring New Zealanders can get the best deal on their electricity takes a step in the right direction today with the South Island launch of the EnergyMate pilot run by the Electricity Retailers’ Association, says Minister of Energy and Resources, Dr Megan Woods. EnergyMate is an industry-led programme providing coaching ...
Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter announced today that the Government has reached its target of 50 percent on women on state sector board and committees – setting a new record level of women on state sector boards. “This Government is committed to having more women in leadership roles - ...
Transport Minister Phil Twyford released today the final Government Policy Statement on land transport (GPS) 2021 which outlines the planned $48 billion investment in services and infrastructure over the next decade. “The final GPS supports our Government’s five-point plan for economic recovery by confirming our record investments in transport infrastructure ...
Three ambitious and cutting-edge research programmes that will lift New Zealand’s advanced energy technology research capability over seven years, have been supported by Government today, says Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods. The projects will each receive a share of $40.7 million investment from the Strategic Science Investment Fund. ...
The critical area for forensic examination known as Pit Bottom in Stone has been reached in what is a major milestone for the Pike River re-entry project, Minister Responsible for Pike River Re-entry Andrew Little announced. “The infrastructure located in Pit Bottom in Stone is of very significant interest in ...
The Government is working on how New Zealand’s retirement income policies and settings can best support Kiwis in light of the COVID-19 economic recovery, with the help of the Retirement Commissioner’s latest review, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi said. “The Retirement Commissioner’s three-yearly review into New Zealand’s retirement ...
A new digital hub and development centre in Murupara will be instrumental in growing the region’s productivity, said Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau at the official opening of two community initiatives today. “I’m pleased to be here celebrating a significant milestone for two projects set to make a ...
PREFU shows economy doing better than forecast Unemployment to peak at 7.8%, down from 9.8% forecast in the Budget Year-to-June accounts show tax revenue, debt and OBEGAL better than forecast Global forecast downgraded as COVID-19 second waves and uncertainty grows Balanced plan to support critical public services, manage debt and ...
The Kāpiti Coast town of Ōtaki will receive $1.4 million in Government funding for two projects providing scores of jobs for locals while improving community facilities, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. The Māoriland Charitable Trust will receive a $900,000 Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) grant to upgrade the ...
The Provincial Growth Fund will provide $11.88 million to fund fencing and waterway projects nationwide that will improve the environment and create jobs in their communities, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. “These projects will create more than 100 jobs nationwide with work starting within the next couple ...
As part of the COVID-19 recovery, the Government has strengthened its procurement rules to ensure its annual $42 billion spend creates more jobs, uses more sustainable construction practices and results in better outcomes for Māori and Pasifika, Government Ministers announced today. Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford says the $42 ...
The Government is supporting a major upgrade of Timaru’s iconic Theatre Royal and the construction of a new connected Heritage Facility museum and exhibition space with $11.6 million from the Government’s Infrastructure Fund, Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We heard the call from the community and the council. The Theatre Royal ...
Chrissy Montague (formerly Armstrong), barrister of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with Family Court jurisdiction to be based in Wellington, Attorney-General David Parker announced today. Ms Montague commenced practice in Auckland in 1987 and went into general practice dealing with Wills, Estates, Trusts, Conveyancing, Relationship Property ...
A Proposal to provide for the development and operation of commercial film and video production facilities in areas of Christchurch has been given the go ahead. Hon Poto Williams, Associate Minister for Greater Christchurch Regeneration, has approved the Proposal, which was prepared and submitted by Regenerate Christchurch. Minister Williams ...
As part of the Government’s focus on building closer partnerships with Māori and enhancing the quality of, and access to, Māori medium education, a payment of $8 million will be made to Te Wānanga o Raukawa in partial recognition of its Waitangi Tribunal claim (WAI 2698), Associate Education Minister Kelvin ...
The Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage has announced a $19 million investment over four years in an important forest restoration project involving a partnership between the Department of Conservation, iwi/hapū, the Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils, community conservation groups and organisations such as Forest and Bird across the ...
New Zealand will be the first country in the world to require the financial sector to report on climate risks, the Minister for Climate Change James Shaw announced today. The changes build on the huge progress this Government has made to tackle the climate crisis. “Today is another step on ...
Economic activity across the Auckland region and the country bounced back to levels experienced under Alert Level 1 following Auckland’s move out of Alert Level 3, analysis in the Treasury’s latest Weekly Economic Update shows. The analysis of economic data since Auckland’s move out of Level 3 shows: Auckland card ...
Takiri mai te ata, ka ao, ka ao, ka awatea, tihei mauriora! Tātou katoa ngā iwi o Aotearoa, tēnā koutou! Tēnā tātou e whakanuia ana i te wiki nei, te wiki o te reo Māori Greeting to you all from Otepoti, Dunedin. This week is the Māori Language week and ...
More mental health and addiction services are available for young New Zealanders in Rotorua and Taupō, Wairarapa, South Canterbury, Dunedin and Southland from next month, Health Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter say. “The Government is serious about making sure New Zealanders struggling with mental health ...
The Manuherekia catchment in Central Otago is the third exemplar catchment to be targeted as part of the Government’s plan to clean up waterways by supporting community-led programmes. Environment Minister David Parker said the Manuherekia catchment is vitally important to the people of Central Otago. “The Manuherekia rises in the ...
The Government has agreed on a preferred design for the new Dunedin Hospital featuring two separate buildings, and has provided funding for the next stages of work. Minister of Health Chris Hipkins says Cabinet has approved in principle the detailed business case for the new hospital, giving people in ...
New Zealanders across the country are set to mark history as part of the Māori Language Week commemorations led by Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori this year. Māori Development Minister, Nanaia Mahuta says the initiative will mark history for all the right reasons including making te reo Māori ...
More than 1000 teachers, support staff and school leaders have graduated from a programme designed to grow their capability to use te reo Māori in their teaching practice, as part of the Government’s plan to integrate te reo Māori into education, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced today. Being trialled ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, says the Toloa Tertiary Scholarships which aims to encourage more Pacific student numbers participating and pursuing STEM-related studies in 2021, are now open. “These tertiary scholarships are administrated by the Ministry for Pacific Peoples (MPP), and are part of MPP’s overall Toloa ...
Four Bay of Plenty timber businesses will receive investments totalling nearly $22 million through the Provincial Growth Fund to boost the local economy and create jobs, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has announced. Rotorua-based sawmill Red Stag Wood Solutions will receive a $15 million loan to develop an engineered ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has announced that New Zealand is exploring the viability of working with partners to conduct a search for the black box on the Gulf Livestock 1. “We know how much it would mean to the families of those on the ship to understand more about ...
Infrastructure Minister Shane Jones has today announced the Government is supporting the creation of new marine infrastructure in northern Te Tairāwhiti on the North Island’s East Coast. The Government has approved in principle an allocation of up to $45 million to support the construction of a marine transport facility at ...
E Epineha. Ka tangi te iwi, ki a koe e ngaro nei i te kitenga kanohi. Kua mokemoke to whānau, to iwi, te motu whanui. Haere ki o matua, tipuna. Haere ki te okiokinga tuturu mo te tangata. Haere i runga i te aroha o ngā reanga kei muri i ...
Catch limits will be increased for 26 fisheries and reduced for three fisheries as part of a regular round of reviews designed to ensure ongoing sustainability of fisheries resources. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash has announced decisions following a review of catch limits and management controls for 29 fish stocks. The ...
The Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson says while it is disappointing the Rugby Championship will not be held in New Zealand, the country will host two Bledisloe Cup games in October and has the capacity in managed isolation facilities to host other international sporting events. “We offered flexible quarantine ...
Up to 350 more people in regional New Zealand will gain a pathway to trades training through a $14 million government investment in apprenticeships, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. The apprenticeships are part of the $40 million Regional Apprenticeship Initiative (RAI) announced in June. The funding comes ...
A Government brokered solution to the parking woes at Christchurch Hospital will deliver more than 1000 new car parks near the Hospital for staff and visitors while also ensuring the completion of the Metro Sports Facility, say Minister for Christchurch Regeneration, Dr Megan Woods. The new parking package is made ...
Esther Ng is the most successful New Zealand designer you’ve never heard of. Her label, Prix, has been seen on celebrities like Ariana Grande and Kylie Jenner, she has over 150,000 Instagram followers and she’s currently working from her bedroom.On any regular weekday you’d likely find Esther Ng playing games ...
“Labour’s ‘Let’s Get Wellington Moving’ project has so far been a failure. Nothing has been delivered, the funding for the programme is still unclear, and Wellington is drifting while congestion continues to choke the region,” National Spokesperson ...
Winston Peters must have been confused this morning when he made the bizarre claim that tax cuts are a ‘bribe’ and, ironically, criticised another party for promising to scrap his provincial vote fund in the next breath. Taxpayers’ Union spokesman ...
Eamonn Marra has been trying to get help for his mental health problems for two years. It shouldn’t take hitting absolute rock bottom for him to receive it.Content warning: This story contains discussion of mental health issues and suicidal thoughts. Every time mental health is back in the news it comes ...
By RNZ News New Zealand today reported one new community case of covid-19 – the first in five days. There was no media conference today. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the source of the community case was still being investigated. Auckland Regional Public Health Service has identified all ...
Analysis by Dr Paul G Buchanan – 36th Parallel Assessments. News that Zhenhua Data, an arm of China Zhenhua Electronics Group, a subsidiary of the military-connected China Electronic Information Industry Group (CETC), maintains a list of 800 New Zealanders on a “Overseas Key Information Database” that contains personal information on ...
The Green Party’s plan to support community gardens and composting would help promote a stronger understanding of sustainable ecosystems and food production in places like Nelson. “One of our priorities in the next Government is to support ...
Greenpeace is calling the National Party’s newly announced energy policy blatant climate denial and an affront to all the people and communities already suffering the impacts of climate change. It has been reported that the National Party will ...
The Public Service Association says industrial relations policies announced by Labour today will, if implemented by a Labour-led government, make New Zealand a fairer and better place to live. "Under the Labour-led government of the past three ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa is welcoming Labour's announcement today that it would double minimum sick leave entitlements to 10 days per year if returned to Government. President Liam Rutherford says inadequate sick leave is an issue across the education sector, ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa says Kōhanga Reo kaiako can’t afford to be left out in the cold when pay and funding gaps in ECE are addressed. This week Labour joined the Green Party in including pay parity for early childhood teachers in their election pledges. ...
17 registered political parties and 677 candidates will be contesting the 2020 General Election Nominations have now closed and the Electoral Commission has released the electorate and party list candidates for 2020 online at vote.nz . Advance voting ...
Recently I was invited by a friend to watch a three hour YouTube discussion between Joe Rogan of the Joe Rogan Experience and Johann Hari on the topic of drug law reform. I thought it would be very relevant on our referendum issue coming up. After watching ...
The charity running the Māngere Markets makes close to half a million a year from a business centred on a publicly owned carpark, but distributes less than a third of its income in grants. That’s left some locals wondering whether the trust could be doing more to support the community, ...
A new poll shows Green MP Chloe Swarbrick is coming third in the contest for the Auckland Central seat, which could be crucial in ensuring her party stays in Parliament. ...
The Government has made another pitch for the Maori vote (presumably with borrowed money) by dipping into the One Billion Trees trough. It has proclaimed it is backing Maori landowners with this contribution to their wellbeing (and the environment’s) and it is fair to suppose it would appreciate the landowners ...
Apple has finally announced its long-anticipated content bundle Apple One. So what do you get, and for how much?What is Apple One? Apple One is a new content “bundle” that gives you access to the company’s music, TV, games and storage offerings via a single subscription. It was announced this week ...
It’s one of the most high-profile, and marginal, electorates in the country, and is jam-packed with hospitality and retail businesses. So which Auckland Central haunts do the three front-runners like to frequent?This story was originally published by EnsembleWhat do your favourite things say about you? Where you buy your regular ...
Published on the behalf of the Labour Party Union Affiliates The Labour Party Union Affiliates are celebrating today’s release of the party’s 2020 workplace relations policy, which reflects the hard work of the wider labour movement. Highlights of ...
The Labour Party’s Workplace Relations and Safety policy release today will see workers across the country being much better off. Policies announced include doubling minimum sick leave entitlements, continued minimum wage increases, implementing Fair ...
The Council of Trade Unions is applauding today's launch of the Labour Party’s industrial relations 2020 election policy by spokesperson Andrew Little. "Working people in unions have been campaigning for better treatment at work. Labour’s industrial ...
By Zedaiah Kanau in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinean businessman who caused the death of his girlfriend by punching her, forcing her to jump out of the car he was driving, has been jailed for 15 years. Richard Namaliu, 28, of Vunapope village in Kokopo, East New Britain was ...
By France 24 Since coming to power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched an unprecedented crusade against press freedom. Facing censorship, threats from police and sometimes jail, the last few independent reporters – those who do not work for state media serving Communist Party propaganda – are no ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Production of the reality TV show The Masked Singer was shut down last month after several crew members were infected with COVID-19. It’s one of ...
In the latest in our series chronicling the ins and outs of dating in 2020, Alie Benge explains her reliance on the ‘friend committee’ to judge the suitability of every love interest.Abby came to my desk in a panic. She was meeting Sia that weekend. For the first time, she’d ...
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 19, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m ...
In the second of a weekly election diary, Labour MP Deborah Russell eases back into campaign mode after a Covid-enforced break. Tomorrow is National's Chris Bishop. This week the on-again, off-again election campaign is on again. Well, sort of. Politicians are out and about all over the country, suitably bemasked ...
National's surprise tax cut announcement has given the party a burst of relevance, even though it's far from clear how the policy will sit with voters, Sam Sachdeva writes For much of the Covid-interrupted election campaign to date, the National Party has been sleepwalking towards defeat. The party’s plethora of ...
On this week's Extra Time, White Ferns cricketer Suzie Bates reckons the trials and tribulations of quarantine in Brisbane ahead of matches against Australia are all worth it. It may take them an hour a day to get the team up and down the service lift in their hotel, they're only ...
"Coffee plus office equals coffice": a short story set in a deranged New Zealand of stern baristas and rebel forces, by Auckland writer Sharni Wilson “This is not an office.” The barista’s voice was hard and cold with aggression, with a frighteningly wide smile: the kind of smile that you ...
Labour says this will be the Covid election. National says it’s about the economy. There’s something big being missed in the middle, writes Justin Giovannetti.It was the week the economy took centre stage. The scene was set in the pre-election fiscal update, which on Wednesday offered a sobering snapshot of ...
What do a mosque shooting victim in Christchurch and a Hollywood supermodel have in common? Anke Richter looks at the mental health fallout of cult-like conspiracy movements.Three weeks ago, I sat in the High Court in Christchurch for the sentencing of the mosque terrorist and listened to 91 victim impact ...
By RNZ News New Zealand reported no new cases of covid-19 today – for the first time since early August. There was no media conference today. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the number of active cases had dropped to 70, with seven more people now recovered from the ...
By RNZ Pacific Pro-independence advocates in New Caledonia say a vote for full sovereignty next month would allow the country to step up onto the international stage. The next referendum on independence from France will be held on October 4 and determine whether New Caledonia will obtain the powers still ...
With the Māori Party and the Advance Party both vying to push out Labour's Kelvin Davis from the northern-most Māori seat, RNZ asked Te Tai Tokerau voters who they would vote for. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marcus Carter, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, SOAR Fellow., University of Sydney Facebook has announced the latest version of its successful standalone virtual reality (VR) headset, the Oculus Quest 2. The new device packs more computing power and a sharper screen than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hayen, Professor of Biostatistics, University of Technology Sydney A preliminary study, posted online this week by researchers at the Australian National University and elsewhere, estimates 71,000 Australians had COVID-19 by mid-July — 60,000 more than official number of cases diagnosed by ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Israel, Czechia, and French Polynesia. Chart by Keith Rankin. In mid-September, new cases of Covid19 are higher than they have ever been. (See here for previous weekly charts, which included the ‘little’ countries.) While this still-rising incidence is partly due to more testing, ...
News about the Provincial Growth Fund, which often features in our daily Latest from the Beehive reports, typically involve announcements of the latest grants or loans. Today Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta and Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced a battle site of the 1860s Land Wars will receive ...
Labour’s attack on National’s prudent plan to grow the economy, pay down debt faster, and put more money in Kiwis’ pockets shows how clueless they are when it comes to plotting a roadmap out of this economic crisis, National’s Finance spokesperson ...
Netflix drama Ratched aims to rehabilitate the villain from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but would do better in the electric chair.Nurse Ratched is, quite rightly, one of the most famous movie villains of all time. The source of all of McMurphy’s despair and angst in One Flew Over ...
Board chair Simon Gutschlag in a statement said they would contribute "vast, real-world experience to steering New Zealand out of the trouble it's in". ...
Learning Māori is first and foremost about having fun, according to Precious Clark, director of Maurea Consulting LTD, in a Newshub report on learning te reo Maori and embracing tikanga. “It’s about giving people the tools so they can pronounce our words correctly and it’s about giving them the confidence ...
The Fold host Duncan Greive speaks to NZ On Air’s new chief executive Cameron Harland about his first six months in the job and the findings of the recent Where Are the Audiences? report.Cameron Harland started his new job as the chief executive of NZ On Air in March, the ...
New Conservative is incredibly proud to announce its 24-strong party list for the 2020 General Election, and to confirm that the party is standing a candidate in every electorate. This includes candidates in every Maori electorate, at the request of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and University of Canberra Assistant Professor Caroline Fisher discuss the week in politics. This week the pair discuss the numerous energy announcements made by the government, including a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Speck, Professor, Art History, University of Adelaide Review: If the future is to be worth anything, curated by Patrice Sharkey and Rayleen Forester, ACE Open “If the future is to be worth anything” rings true as a question for many in ...
The Forest Owners Association says taxpayers are likely to have to pay billions of dollars for imported carbon credits, if planting production forests is to be restricted with the idea of protecting farming. The Environment Minister, David Parker has said ...
The Electoral Commission has said 2564 voting places will be available for the 17 October general election, though more are being finalised in hopes to get that number above 2800. ...
Analysis: The recession draws strong criticism from opposition parties, Labour dumps its fees-free policy, Jami-Lee Ross decides to try to slip into Parliament as a list MP and National delivers its health policy. ...
Tara Ward chats to Farmer Harry, one of the Australian bachelors looking for love on reality series The Farmer Wants a Wife. All Farmer Harry wants is a woman as reliable as his John Deere tractor, and Farmer Wants a Wife might be the answer to his farmy prayers. A chaotic ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Larisa Labzin, Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland People infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can spread the virus when they speak, sing, cough, sneeze or even just breathe. Scientists think face masks help limit virus ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Louise Uitdenbogerd, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science, RMIT University You might have seen a recent article from The Guardian written by “a robot”. Here’s a sample: I know that my brain is not a “feeling brain”. But it is capable ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is calling out RNZ for not having a single right wing voice amidst its chorus of left wing political commentators announced for its election night coverage . The panellists include: Tau Henare (Independent Maori Statutory ...
Some party leaders are adjusting better than others on a campaign trail troubled by Covid-19 restrictions. RNZ political reporters give a perspective from the campaign trail. ...
Covid-19 and its economic impacts have wreaked havoc on New Zealanders’ mental health – especially in the workplace. But amid all the chaos and noise, there are small ways to keep yourself present and calm.It’s been nearly a year since Covid-19 first emerged into our lives, and the devastating mental ...
By RNZ Pacific Bougainville’s retiring president says some candidates are bullying or offering inducements to buy their way into the new parliament. John Momis first raised his concerns while speaking during Papua New Guinea’s 45th anniversary celebrations on Wednesday. Momis praised the success of PNG’s constitution, and contrasted this with ...
In the first of a weekly column on the campaign trail, James Elliott looks at the art of the slogan during a Covid election, and warns not to count political chickens before they've hatched There’s an election campaign on. Apparently. It’s an election campaign unlike any other. Shopping malls are not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle O’Shea, Senior Lecturer Management, Western Sydney University The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has long tried to insulate itself from politics in society, but wider issues have always been a part of sport – including the Olympics. Sometimes political statements have been ...
More than 2,800 voting places locations have been reconfirmed for the 2020 General Election and referendums. Voting Services National Manager Graeme Astle says reconfirmation of election plans has gone well since the election date was changed and preparations ...
The Ministry of Health’s notification that disability support providers will receive a paltry 1% contract price increase after 3 years of nil increases shows the need for political parties to step up with increased disability funding this election. ...
The former wetland of Cranford Basin was all set to create 400 new properties as part of an exciting, and much needed, regeneration plan in Christchurch. Three years on, the land remains empty. What went wrong?Picture this: it’s the year 2020. In the north of Christchurch, the first of over ...
Temporary tax breaks will put more money back into the economy if people can afford to spend and use the opportunity to invest in their own futures, says Auckland Business Chamber CEO, Michael Barnett, commenting on National’s alternative budget plans. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND 1 Hope in Hell: A Decade to Confront the Climate Emergency by Jonathon Porritt (Simon & Schuster, ...
Responding to the tax cuts in the National Party’s alternative budget , New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Jordan Williams says: “These income tax cuts are big and bold. It’s a welcome and appropriate response to what is likely to be the worst ...
Rural road users are in for a continued bumpy ride with no extra money for local road improvements in the final Government Policy Statement on Land Transport 2021. "The final GPS released this week has investment in local road improvements ...
It defeated US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama but this week Donald Trump did the almost-impossible: bringing two Arab states together with Israel. Since taking office in January 2017, Trump’s foreign policy achievements had counted for zero. Not since the Camp David accords of 1978 and 2000 or the ...
Open mike 16/06/2020 
With the National Party this week announcing a new policy of tax cuts to spice up the election campagin. MyThinks went along to the launch and afterwards we spoke to the party’s finance spokesperson Paul “Golden Touch” Goldsmith. MT: Thanks for speaking to us Mr Goldsmith. PG: No. Thank you. ...16 hours ago
Always to islanders danger Is what comes over the seas ‘Landfall in Unknown Seas’ (Allen Curnow)Six economic issues external to New Zealand, which will greatly impact upon us. 1. The Diminishing Global Dominance of the US. Since 1941 America has dominated the world economically and politically. Probably it could ...1 day ago
By Geoffrey Miller New Zealand should continue to champion human rights in Belarus amidst an ongoing crackdown on protests by the country’s regime, former Prime Minister Helen Clark says. Protests in the country often referred to as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections on August 9 ...1 day ago
Jacqui Maguire, registered clinical psychologist This podcast episode highlights how difficult it is to have effective conversations about euthanasia due to how polarised people’s views are. I’m a clinical psychologist, with a passion for science communication. In early 2020 I founded the podcast Mind Brew, with an aim to make psychological ...1 day ago
In case anyone needed further convincing, there's another example today of why we need cameras on fishing boats: reported seabird bycatch doubled during a camera trial: Commercial fishers operating off Auckland's coast around vulnerable seabirds are twice as likely to report accidentally capturing them when cameras are on ...1 day ago
Dangerous Times: This will be the choice confronting those coming of age in the 2020s. Embrace Neoliberalism’s belief in racial and sexual equality; adopt its secular and scientific world view; and cultivate the technocratic, multicultural, global outlook required of those who keep the machinery of hyper-capitalism humming. Or, throw your ...2 days ago
Tax Justice UK, September 2020 Serious tax reform is on the political agenda for the first time in decades due to the coronavirus crisis. As this debate hots up it is important to understand what people think about public spending, wealth and tax. Tax Justice UK, along with Survation and ...2 days ago
Although I had the fortune of being a graduate student of some of the foremost US nuclear strategists of the day (1970s) and later rubbed shoulders with Air Force and Naval officers who were entrusted with parts of the US nuclear arsenal, I seldom get to write or speak about ...2 days ago
2,082,476,000,000,000 Viability of greenhouse gas removal via the artificial addition of volcanic ash to the ocean (not open access, unfortunately) walks us through the numbers on a particular means of CO2 removal, addition of volcanic tephra to the ocean. The mechanism is straight chemistry and the cost is fully an order of ...3 days ago
At the 2017 election, the New Zealand Labour Party promised a Fees Free Policy for tertiary students. Basically, it would make the first year of university education free in 2018, with a second year in 2021, and a third in 2024. It also promised to restore Post-Graduate access to the ...4 days ago
On “In Defense of Looting” Matt Taibibi takes an entertaining look at this generation of woke activists and how they compare with Abbie Hoffman the iconic anti-Vietnam war counter-culture figure of the 1960s On Thursday, August 27th, the same day Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican nomination, National Public Radio ...4 days ago
In a couple of months, the 53rd Parliament will meet in Wellington, and approximately 120 MPs will be sworn in, many of them for the first time.They will all have political goals, some aligning with their party platforms, some not, some complex, and some simple, but they will gain one ...5 days ago
My wife and I, through a combination of good luck and good management, have managed to retire in comfortable circumstances. We celebrate our good fortune by making relatively small but regular donations to a range of good causes – to rescue services like the rescue helicopters, St John’s Ambulance and ...6 days ago
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh (Bogota; 09/11/2020) The murder of Javier Ordoñez in the neighbourhood of Villa Luz in Bogotá, Colombia at the hands of two policemen brings to the fore the issue of police violence and its function in society. First of all we should be clear that we are ...6 days ago
So the Greens co-leader James Shaw recently made a mistake. In his role as Associate Finance Minister approving funding for “shovel-ready” projects, he fought hard for a private “Green school” to get funding to expand their buildings and, therefore, their student capacity. There are many problems with what he did: ...6 days ago-1f82146fa0d95608c5d921931b8dd46e7f0c9b1b/537110292.jpg?format=1500w)
Windows 95 is famous for requiring the shutting down the system by clicking ‘start, like stopping your car by turning the ignition key on. Why are so many interfaces so user-unfriendly? The Covid app to register your entering premises can be so clumsy. Sometimes I have signed in, sat down ...1 week ago
If there was any doubt left, we can surely call it now. Time and date. End of. Finito. Perhaps you thought you saw a flickering eyelid or a finger move? You were wrong. Labour has given up on tax reform for the foreseeable future. One of the key remaining left/right ...1 week ago
When we last left our intrepid Drow Rogue, he was sitting in a tavern with his companions, only for a crazy Paladin to burst in, and start screaming about the Naga. It soon turned out that ... 1 week ago
It was another busy week out on the campaign trail, with Labour focused on jobs, training, and supporting Kiwi workers. As we continue to roll out our five-point plan for recovery, we’re investing in our people, businesses, communities and vital services, so we can keep our economy moving as we ...6 hours ago
National’s ‘alternative budget’ that includes huge cuts to the government’s operating allowance would risk gutting critical public services, and put health, education and nature at dire risk. ...2 days ago
The Government will provide up to $1.69 million through the One Billion Trees programme to Māori landowners to make their whenua more productive through the planting of forests, both native and exotic, and improve economic and environmental outcomes, Forestry Minister Shane Jones has announced. “Around 1.5 million ha of land ...15 hours ago
Esther Ng is the most successful New Zealand designer you’ve never heard of. Her label, Prix, has been seen on celebrities like Ariana Grande and Kylie Jenner, she has over 150,000 Instagram followers and she’s currently working from her bedroom.On any regular weekday you’d likely find Esther Ng playing games ...21 mins ago
“Labour’s ‘Let’s Get Wellington Moving’ project has so far been a failure. Nothing has been delivered, the funding for the programme is still unclear, and Wellington is drifting while congestion continues to choke the region,” National Spokesperson ...7 hours ago
By RNZ News New Zealand today reported one new community case of covid-19 – the first in five days. There was no media conference today. In a statement, the Health Ministry said the source of the community case was still being investigated. Auckland Regional Public Health Service has identified all ...9 hours ago
A new poll shows Green MP Chloe Swarbrick is coming third in the contest for the Auckland Central seat, which could be crucial in ensuring her party stays in Parliament. ...12 hours ago
The Government has made another pitch for the Maori vote (presumably with borrowed money) by dipping into the One Billion Trees trough. It has proclaimed it is backing Maori landowners with this contribution to their wellbeing (and the environment’s) and it is fair to suppose it would appreciate the landowners ...12 hours ago
In the second of a weekly election diary, Labour MP Deborah Russell eases back into campaign mode after a Covid-enforced break. Tomorrow is National's Chris Bishop. This week the on-again, off-again election campaign is on again. Well, sort of. Politicians are out and about all over the country, suitably bemasked ...19 hours ago
National's surprise tax cut announcement has given the party a burst of relevance, even though it's far from clear how the policy will sit with voters, Sam Sachdeva writes For much of the Covid-interrupted election campaign to date, the National Party has been sleepwalking towards defeat. The party’s plethora of ...19 hours ago
On this week's Extra Time, White Ferns cricketer Suzie Bates reckons the trials and tribulations of quarantine in Brisbane ahead of matches against Australia are all worth it. It may take them an hour a day to get the team up and down the service lift in their hotel, they're only ...19 hours ago
"Coffee plus office equals coffice": a short story set in a deranged New Zealand of stern baristas and rebel forces, by Auckland writer Sharni Wilson “This is not an office.” The barista’s voice was hard and cold with aggression, with a frighteningly wide smile: the kind of smile that you ...19 hours ago
Learning Māori is first and foremost about having fun, according to Precious Clark, director of Maurea Consulting LTD, in a Newshub report on learning te reo Maori and embracing tikanga. “It’s about giving people the tools so they can pronounce our words correctly and it’s about giving them the confidence ...1 day ago
In the first of a weekly column on the campaign trail, James Elliott looks at the art of the slogan during a Covid election, and warns not to count political chickens before they've hatched There’s an election campaign on. Apparently. It’s an election campaign unlike any other. Shopping malls are not ...1 day ago
Since March, public support for the government's response to Covid19 has been 80%, 83%, 86%, 84% and today, 84% according to the latest survey (SpinOff site).
We can add to that the TV1 and TV3 polls at 91%.
Remember the chorus of "Should have been Level 1 weeks ago"? They spoke for just 12% (that's plenty for Winston, who only needs 5%, but it's a disaster for National).
Obviously it would be amazingly stupid for National MPs to keep complaining about Ardern and the Covid response. So that's what they're doing.
Winston is marching into National territory today.
"We won't pander to the woke brigade" said today by Winston Peters re BLM protests is music to the ears of conservative New Zealand.
Muller and Kaye are trying to distance themselves from that sentiment which is giving Winnie an opening.
I thought he was a gonner a month ago, but I am now thinking he will pick up some of National's conservative base and return in September. He's like a fucking cockroach
Yet Ron Mark is happy to go soft on Violent gun toting gangs by disarming police.
I am happy with that too.
I reckon there are more than two of us.
The drum beat of corporate media stories around opening the border has been a classic example of lobbyist with money who owned journalists like Fran O'Sullivan trying to manufacture consent.
Me watching: The build up to the rugby on Sunday…
Melanie Robinson: "We've seen outstanding leadership from the prime minister in recent months, I expect Beauden will bring outstanding leadership to the Blues"
Me thinking: "I hope Gerry isn't watching."
Was Rio Tinto really sorry about blowing up a 46,000 year old Aboriginal heritage site to get at a few bucks worth of iron ore? Yeah, nah.
https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/06/mining-company-not-sorry-for-destroying-46000-year-old-aboriginal-site-report/
The sooner these malicious orcs fuck off from Tiwai Point, the happier I'll be.
With aircraft sales dead in the water Aluminium sales will plummet.
Shameful! :
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018750729/trapped-migrant-workers-nz-s-new-underclass
And the above is the least of it. (because the problem is now so big it can only focus on a couple of examples – e,g, the RSE workers
I L-G: Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb dither dither dither. I have complete faith in my officials (even the ones that have bullshitted to me) Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
INZ: Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb the commodity of people as a human resource all wrapped up in a risk-managed (unofficial) demographic spreadsheet.
Commentariat: Pearl clutch pearl clutch pearl clutch
This has been speculated to result from the 'joys' of coalition government, and the art of the possible. If so, there are less than one hundred days to hopefully fix that and have a consistently kinder government . . ..
Yep. It was those two noble savages Shane and Winston what dunnit.
Even though many/most of those affected by the policies have a closer affinity and understanding of lil 'ole NuZull that punches above its weight's first people.
S&W are us though eh? and those are them. And its not as though people were warning us all about what has now come to pass 4 years ago.
A possible solution, pay local marae (who often get utilised in emergency situations anyway) to provide board for those stranded, now that the Covid threat has been eliminated.
A double win. These migrants get provided with what they need, for the short term, and local marae get some income to help support them through these times.
A bloody good short term solution @ Molly – as you're more often than not prone to come up with.
In some places, relationships such as you suggest are already happening (without the payments), and long term friendships are in the making
Meanwhile back at the INZ ranch, officials are worrying about how such phenomenon could take hold – it could completely undermine their thinkings going forward (based on learnings from the past)
That would be good short term but air travel is slowly opening up again (Singapore airlines for one is reopening the Singapore hub ) so I do see a need to keep working with the various embassies and Airnz to put on some charter flights to assist some of the larger groups back to where they want to go, or to facilitate an onwards connection.
Charters or even scheduled flights can be one way flights only as we don't have the capacity to quarantine full return planes so would be a more expensive but not ridiculous prices. A lot of the extended one year visa's expire in Sept. Frankly I think I L-G needs to largely bypass his department and get MFAT, AirNZ and the embassies to advertise the charter flights (backed up by onwards travel agreements with maybe Singapore Air) so that we can give some certainty to travellers and move them towards Auckland airport.
I must say OWT your overall description of the situation came through more succinctly than the link you provided.
Well if you don't like that link @ Anne, I have plenty of others. And as you will know, many of those officials don't have a vindictive bone in their bodies. (/sarc)
I happen to think both JA and H1 will probably go down in history as being two of NZ's best PMs. (Or should that be one of NZs best PMs?)
However IF JA really wants to be kind and transformative, she needs to get herself a decent H2 style shit kicker, otherwise the recent history of the Labour Party will be just one damn thing after another, and a waste of another bloody harsh virus (neo-liberalism being one of the others)
Move those workers to where they are needed ie tourist workers to vineyards and orchards give them a campervan most are sitting idle.
I start to question my sanity when I find myself agreeing with the Taxpayer's Union – (albeit knowing that they are just Government bashing as they do).
Shovel-ready projects get the green light to go ahead under new infrastructure law
The Skypath proposal is one that could stay shovel-ready and not get done, until other investment in our infrastructure is complete – health and mental health investment for instance. They’ve been ready and waiting for investment for years.
While I disagree on the shape of the reforms to the RMA that they endorse, I do agree that shovel-ready projects, follows the BAU approach to infrastructure investment. And we should be requiring a new perspective before putting such money into "nice to haves" instead of "need to haves" or resilience projects.
The fact that they are "shovel ready" doesn't guarantee good investment outcomes that are shared as equitably as possible. It also doesn't prioritise spending wisely – just spending.
What's an investment outcome supposed to look like for a cycling project?
Very few pt or cycling projects would survive a solid Treasury Value For Money review.
" Very few pt or cycling projects would survive a solid Treasury Value For Money review. "
For a start, including SROI (Social Return on Investment) or an environmental return on investment, should see this change. And if cycling projects still don't meet the value for money review – then they shouldn't happen at present. We have a lot of NZers looking for basic needs and support, look after them first. The Skypath is not a basic need.
Molly – the middle class have decided that cycling is their thing, suits their individualism and is healthy and clean-living,fit, modern people do it.; the very example of 'going forward'. And they tend to ride their bikes fast, and generally behave as they would in a car. But biking being an agreed benefit to all, ticking the above boxes of health etc., it has become a sacred icon for the said m/c.
It also allows them to trespass on public spaces for room to carry out its aggressive side, mountain biking, BMX racing and dirt jumping. There they throw themselves round knowing that they will be fixed by free hospital treatment and helped by ACC. Areas agreed for mountain bike tracks have cleared areas that are treed and were part of the environment enjoyable for walkers in Nelson. But that isn't enough for these bikers – they have cut and cleared illegally to make new tracks to suit themselves. Looked at dispassionately, they are just land clearers repeating the colonial measures of the past but with a greenwash, that of being a healthy sport in the outdoors.
The bike sport fraternity are often destructive and really just a different version of the petrolheads, demolition derby fans, mud plugs and racing car enthusiasts; though most of those are contained to agreed tracks. The advent of 4Wdrives, with tv ads showing them driving in the outdoors like real men, up rivers destroying and polluting them, if they want to go there, have further encouraged this idea of misuse of the countryside for the machine-mad male with no appreciation of nature or being a natural human either.
The problem with the SROI is that typically the cycling calculations assume a slow climb in usage compared to what actually happens. Quite unlike the NZTA or treasury approach to roads with always assumes a exponential car usage growth – that usually doesn’t happen.
If either used realistic analysis based on their continuous past failures, then most of the roads that have done recently it wouldn’t be funded. If they used the actual results from their previous screwups of estimating ROIs from PT or cycle lanes than almost all would be.
The growth in traffic on most installed cycle lanes and effective PT invariably climbs more rapidly than NZTA expectations. Just the same as what happens when the public transport is upgraded – which is why the northern busway now has continuous double decker buses at peak hours – and we don’t need a new uber expensive bridge or tunnel. Similarly the double tracking and electrification of the Auckland has exceeded expectations in almost every year since they were done. The only thing that seems to slow them down is the work being done on the next upgrade.
But it is a chicken and egg as can be easily seen when the cycle lanes are put in. You have to have cycle lanes before you get much cycle traffic on them. You find out the need after you put them in. But typically they are incredibly cheap.
In Auckland, all cyclists and scooter riders are scared shitless of the ignorant dangerous drivers and their parked cars. We’ve all had near death experiences from drivers inadvertently trying to kill us. Put in a cycle way and watch the cyclist traffic increase massively over several years. Try walking on the north western cycle way or even the grafton gully cycleway at 5pm and you’ll see what I mean. I’m looking forward to being able to actually ride down K Rd without the fear of imminent death or injury. Be nice if they did the same thing on Ponsonby Road.
Where there aren’t cycleways, many cyclists and virtually all scooter riders prefer to ride on pedestrian paths – thereby endangering pedestrians. Somehow this social saving isn’t anywhere in the SROI – along with most of the other real social benefits.
Nor a re most of the economic benefits because they are unknowable before the project is put into place. In the case of the SkyPath, it simply means that a whole area who currently have no ability to commute to the north shore by bike (in my case) or from the north shore can now start to do so. Trying to even figure out the effects of that are damn near impossible to figure out in advance. It is simply guesswork. About the only thing that is obvious is that it’d be way cheaper than any possible roading project in Auckland.
In short – your position is just spurious bullshit based on a selective unthinking analysis of how the SROI is currently calculated.
My family are cyclists, not so much commuter cyclists now because of commuting distances, so I agree we have some way to go regarding cyclist safety.
However, I disagree with the method currently used for identifying, prioritising and implementing projects.
This is my objection to this project, and the SROI needs to be applied to others areas of Auckland as well in order to help prioritise. This doesn't happen.
Cycle lanes are the classic example of "if you build it they will come" with the sum being greater than it's parts. Fully connected, separated cycleways that go to useful places see huge growth.
The problem is people see them as a cheap panacea for noisy MAMILs & a recreational frippery rather than an important piece of commuter infrastructure. Yet using an e-bike on a proper cycle way to commute in your work clothes is as different from weaving in and out of traffic, footpaths and bits of cycle way on a racing bike whilst clad in your full lycra panoply as taking a guided the great walk in summer is from hacking your way up to the tops on an unmaintained track in the Kawekas in winter.
Yes, and Parker was certainly emphatic when being interviewed on Natrad both last night and this morning. Seems happy to sudeline climate change issues, and I'm wondering if he is aware that in the Far North there are already rumblings from domestic water users (aka 'the people') that horticulture and agriculture (aka corporate interests)have more right to water.
And along with the water requirements is the very real potential for adverse effects of nutrient runoff and heavy agrochemical use.
As you say Molly, would have been nice to see spending on our tired and dysfunctional health infrastructure prioritised.
Your concern Molly is much appreciated by this resident who lives on a popular by-route which eventually leads to the harbour bridge and is sick and tired of lycra clad enthusiasts who assume they own the road and its up to the rest of us to get out of their way.
Any proposal that is going to increase their numbers in my neck of the woods will not be appreciated by locals trying to go about their daily business without cycling fashionistas strung across the road impeding progress for the rest of us.
That concern should be increased by the knowledge the current budget is $360 million to provide it.
That kind of investment warrants better scrutiny at this time, especially as it has been a continually growing budget. The reason it is shovel ready is because there has been a staunch group of supporters continually banging on about it for years. Not because it is an equitable and valuable use of government budget.
(I also note the inclusion of numbers in terms of the pitiful amount of jobs intended to be created, but nothing in terms of the actual spend being reported.)
You got my attention with lycra clad.
I think I am old now, as some 'trends' get me all curmudgeonly.
Active wear does it. Especially on waiting staff. I have no desire for a camel-toe with my lasagne nor a broccoli stalk with my coffee.
I call them 'lycra louts'. That generally gets them going.
Not all cyclists belong to this genus. These ones, apart from the skin tight and unfaltering plumage are most often found in inner city Wellington on a Saturday morning crawling 2/3/4 abreast up Raroa Road presumably on a run out to Makara/Ohariu Valley/J'ville. They wiggle slowly up this steep street failing to pull over. On my way to work some times I have counted 14 cars behind me, some at stalling speed.
They are able to multi task, ie give the finger to anyone who wishes to go past them.
They mob cafes to the exclusion of others. Their cry is distinctive too with the sounds of entitlement being the top notes.
Got no problems with unproblematic riders who respect other road users just as I do.
God forbid that you have to share the road.
I do. That is how I know that cyclists riding 4 abreast is not on and is being a menace to other road users.
The general way to deal with them is to put in some cheap cycle paths that separate cars from cycles. Or an even simpler method would be just get rid of parked cars on roads.
I know when I am commuting (usually in work jeans) I use the cycle lanes where they are available.
But if I have to cycle on the road, I leave at least a metre from the parked cars. That is because of the idiots who seem to try to open doors on me every day. That provides enough room to avoid the doors that get flung open in front of me by drivers who neither look in their wing mirror nor partially open the door and look back.
These self-entitled idiots are the primary reason why cyclists ride so far out into the lane.
That means that I take up a third of the usual car lane and means that cars going around me and passing at metre put at least half their body into the incoming lane (2/3rds for the SUV trucks).
So i went and googled skypath and ended up with this
"The Northern Pathway project will provide a seamless dedicated walking and cycling link between Auckland’s City Centre and the North Shore which will connect with existing local paths to extend the region’s walking and cycling network."
As far as i am concerned i dont care how much it costs it has to be done and should have been long ago!
To suggest that we should instead put the money into health and mental health shows a complete disconnect from reality
Oh, you googled Skypath and came up with …. what?
I've been following the Skypath discussion for years, and at no time, does it ever go into the realms of providing an equitable use of transport monies across the region, or seek to justify the spend in terms of social returns. It has always been a case of:
" As far as i am concerned i dont care how much it costs it has to be done and should have been long ago! "
Great justification…
This has been highlighted as shovel-ready projects to be invested in. There are other needs and projects that are awaiting funding, some in health and mental health.
"To suggest that we should instead put the money into health and mental health shows a complete disconnect from reality"
But if you are insistent on keeping the funding sector appropriate – we could instead invest the money into improving the pitiful service and access to public transport and alternative transport infrastructure in other areas of Auckland that exist without the vocal ranting brigade.
The continual rubber-band bounceback to BAU in terms of prioritising infrastructure, is going to continue the path of inequitable access that we were previously on.
I think this should change.
10 years of moaning from the small minded objectors to SkyPath. It's painful how obvious the need is to expand the harbour crossing to active modes of transport. Public demand is driving the project, car addicts need to learn to share public space for a change.
Vocal demand is driving the project.
Equitable access for prioritisation, funding and implementation is not.
That is my primary objection, and remains so.
The difference with the "Northern Pathway" is that the mode share over the harbour bridge is currently 0% ; you could do lots of other little projects all over Auckland with similar funding but there is still a fundamental disconnect with the North Shore. If it's fairness you're concerned about, the models indicate that the proposed pathway will get even more usage than the Northwestern cycleway. It's the cheapest possible alternative to a new harbour crossing.
After numerous news stories on the National Party donation fraud case not guilty pleas in Feb, & other than a Parliamentary privileged comment by JLR in March that was reported on, there has been no mention of the case due to be in court last week on the 10th June. It's surprising there has been no mention in media of it whatsoever, whether the case has started as intended or not?
Media's very economical when it comes to any untoward news around brand national.
Watching Tova tell Clarke even labour voters don't trust him (another survey) and constantly bleating out the gotcha questions shows where they're heading.
TV 3 is a goner $28 million loss no Stephen Joyce to bail them out.
'Mosque gunman wrongly granted firearms licence'.
For many years it has been apparent that the NZ Police need a major shakeup. Ever try dealing with them? Lazy and incompetent at best. Lying and deceitful at worst. From the idiot Commissioner Bush who thought the corrupt cops in the Arthur Allen Thomas case had 'integrity beyond reproach' to the blatantly corrupt Doone, the rot clearly starts at the top and trickles down.
The lazy p****s who approved this licence should be in court charged with vicarious liability. But we all know they won't. there will be an internal Police inquiry, which will drag on for two years or so and then be quietly buried.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-shooting/120285768/mosque-terrorist-was-wrongly-granted-firearms-licence-due-to-police-mistakes-sources-say
I heard on the tranny that the Police Commissioner wants gun licensing to be sub-contracted out.
Possibly making accountability less likely.
[Fixed typo in user handle]
Just to show that you can get recreational shooting, conservation, national parks, and foodbanks in the one sentence …
…. Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, Game Animal Council, and Department of Conservation (DOC) are partnering to provide 18,000kg of free-range wild Fiordland venison to New Zealand foodbanks and families in need. Each year the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation, working with DOC, conducts a deer cull in Fiordland National Park removing up to 1000 animals.
“Weather permitting, by the end of next month, we will have removed 600 deer from Fiordland National Park for processing into 18,000 1kg wild venison mince packets. These are being distributed by a charitable supply chain distributor to foodbanks throughout the country. This will feed thousands of New Zealand families in need,” says Roy Sloan, Fiordland Wapiti Foundation President.
Last time I stopped in Haast, there was a little hamburger stand selling the most awesomest, juiciest, sweetest venison steak hamburgers I've ever had, and they came straight out of the Fiordland culling programme.
Take them all out team.
barbaric.
Better that than 1080ing them out of existence, at least the protein gets recycled.
So what would your alternative solution be?
Good stuff. Wild venison is massive blind spot in nz at present.
The choppers are shooting and leaving them down the rd from home at this very moment to protect the young manuka
Had a guy telling me just recently they shot 40 plus deer to protect their feed crops in the autumn
Almost plaque proportions at work and at home around here
The decimate native regeneration, and must surely be a risk of spreading TB again .
If only idiots in positions of influence with public platforms for their inane mutterings WERE a minority…
'I am a minority': David Seymour criticises Andrew Little's response to Black Lives Matter protesters
Just not quite a small enough minority.
Didn't that moron Jacqui Dean say she was an "ethnic minority" … (because she is a woman).
As for David, he seems to be going after the white supremacist and sympathizers vote.
Todd made National policy lurch to the left in his Te Puna speech. I do wonder what the likes of Collins and Goldsmith make of this. Should the next poll still show National in the low 30's and Muller below 15, will there be another coup?
Health system in for massive shake up.
Long overdue.
Covid 19 would have been an absolute disaster had it not been stopped in its tracks.
National are largely to blame with its sinking lid policies and leaky buildings by way of defunding and wrecking the building codes.
After 9 years we were left with the worst health system in the OECD. National wanted a privatized health system given Woodhouse now a former private hospital middle manager and Coleman another private health hawk.
By running down the health system to push people into buying private health insurance.
Private health insurance is always a bridgehead from which the public system can be attacked. If you don't eradicate it, you will spend a lifetime fighting its incursions. Neither option is pleasant.
It isnt the shake up that it is made out to be. I read the 274 page report. It is bascially just changing a few letterheads and re-writing a few contracts.
It doesnt recommend reducing or scrapping co-payments, for a start, which is one of the big barriers of access to services.
Idiot/Savant is attacking the Greens, saying that they are "footstools", for supporting Labour's draconian 2-year ditching of RMA requirements for major projects, shutting the public out of the process (except for seldom heard submissions to the select committee). David Parker should hang his head in shame-he had a bit of a train-wreck interview on Morning Report trying to justify this today.
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2020/06/steamrolling-democracy.html
In fact the Greens have only supported this to the first reading. It is quite normal to support legislation to the first reading where the details can then be seen as to what is proposed.
I doubt very much they will give it support any further. At least I hope not. It will probably pass with the help of the Nats and NZF, which says it all.
Meanwhile submissions in opposition should be lodged (by those who care about democracy) at the select committee stage.
One of the fast track projects appears to be housing in Queenstown – not sure why?
Low hanging fruit.
Palestine Bleeds: Execution of Autistic Man is the Norm, not an Exception
by RAMZY BAROUD, Counterpunch, 12 June 2020
A 32-year-old man with the mental age of an 8-year-old child was executed by Israeli soldiers on May 30, while crouching behind his teacher near his special needs school in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The cold-blooded murder of Iyad al-Hallaq might not have received much attention if it were not for the fact that it took place five days following the similarly heartbreaking murder of a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, at the hands of American police.
The two crimes converge, not only in their repugnancy and the moral decadence of their perpetrators, but also because countless American police officers have been trained in Israel, by the very Israeli ‘security forces’ that killed al-Hallaq. The practice of killing civilians, with efficiency and callousness, is now a burgeoning market. Israel is the biggest contributor to this market; the US is the world’s largest client.
When thousands of people rushed to the streets in Palestine, including hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli Jewish activists in Jerusalem, chanting “Justice for Iyad, justice for George”, their cry for justice was a spontaneous and heartfelt reaction to injustice so great, so blatant.
Al-Hallaq’s story might appear particularly unique, as the ‘suspected terrorist’ was killed while merely walking in King Faisal Street in Jerusalem, on his way to take out the trash. He was afraid of soldiers and terrified of blood.
“He was also afraid of the armed police officers who stood along the route to the special needs center he went to, where he participated in a vocational training program,” the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reported.
Al-Hallaq’s many fears, which may have appeared exaggerated by his family, turned out to be true. Even an autistic person in Palestine is not safe from the vengeance of soldiers. ….
Read more….
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/06/12/palestine-bleeds-execution-of-autistic-man-is-not-an-exception-but-the-norm/
I wonder if they have considered maybe retraining some of the airline employees in the next couple of months. The cropping season is still a little way away so time to do some workforce planning maybe. Drive a Boeing – maybe they could drive these too
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/121833517/contractors-fear-lack-of-local-workers-to-fill-hundreds-of-harvest-roles
But it does look like we could do with some serious rural workforce planning. In the last few months we have had concerns about a workforce for vineyard machinery, calving and the flush of the dairy season, the harvesting machinery and general overall harvesting workforce. That way these could be end to end jobs and I know soem already do that in the horticultural field.
Also have any of these considered the jobs they are offering. I know that machinery needs to be worked dawn to dusk in season but running the workforce in 40 hour shifts may be more acceptable. Plus looking at providing some half time roles or encouraging more women/ older people into the rural workforce.
Paying a decent wage might help, too.
Training or retraining people costs more than importing some someone else has trained. If it takes two years to be ready, as they say, then train now and there will be no more problem in two years time. But this problem of 'cant find workers' has persisted for far longer than two years, hence it's safe to conclude that no permanent solution is desired. Just cost cutting.
Some how for this I seriously doubt that it takes two years of training if "some farmer friends can jump in and help". Being able to drive a tractor doubtless helps a lot but a HT licence, good spatial and motor skills and a few brains would go a very long way. A boeing pilot should be very retrainable.
And if it was so skilled then any contingent travelling from country to country would include a fair few NZer's who have been trained here plus a great deal higher wage.
Looks like they are over cooking the skills and training needed coupled with, as McFlock puts it lousy wages, to keep up the cost cutting. Perhaps they could solve their own problem by dealing with the upgraded government training courses and lend their machines for some practice runs
Two new covid 19 cases in NZ.
Inevitable I guess, but let's just hope the quarantine procedures are a lot better than was reported on TV1 news last week. Any system is only as good as its weakest link, and clearly the Hotel quarantine was the weak link.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12340250
I'm going to be particularly interested in what Bloomfield has to say at 3:00 today about this little wrinkle:
If they were let out before their two weeks to spread it in public here, Imma gonna be pissed.
[headdesk]
what the fuck is the point of isolation if there are exemptions.
ah, misread – thought they'd been given an exemption from isolation – that is so far not addressed.
What TVNZ says is:
Not sure how else to read that other than TVNZ understands they were given an exemption from isolation to go spread it around at a funeral here. Wait and see what Bloomfield says, I guess.
We had a funeral here yesterday an aussie family member was allowed in , hearsay is they were allowed down here from Auckland and got20 mins with family and to see the coffin closed. Not sure about ppe etc . Apparently the funeral had well in excess of 1000 attending.
I guess the next funeral cluster will sort out the "exemptions".
Dr Ashley Bloomfield explained in the briefing this afto that people are not given exemptions to go to a funeral.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/419134/two-new-covid-19-cases-in-nz-visited-dying-parent-bloomfield
Ah, ok – fair call then. Not ideal, but human.
The wording is a little ambiguous as to when they traveled and when their parent died.
If they left to drive to Wellington before their parent died, then I withdraw and apologise for my comments today.
If their parent died before they started their drive, I stand by my comments because the exemption should have been withdrawn.
From watching the briefing the parent died the evening the two arrived in Wellington. I had a similar experience with my mother. I got a call at work that my mum was dying, caught a plane from Auckland to Wellington that afternoon, and was with her for about half an hour before she died.
Stuff is reporting a different timeline:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/121851190/coronavirus-our-expectations-have-not-been-met-says-pm
Hmm that puts a different spin on it. I'm not sure – having listened to Dr Bloomfield's briefing – that that is a fair representation. The RNZ report, I feel, is more accurate.
Now it could be argued that the "that night" refers to 12 June, the day they applied for the exemption, to visit a dying parent. But the juxtaposition of the last sentence with the statement that they travelled to Wellington on the 13th strongly implies that the Parent died on the night of the 13th
The media are not above trying to stir up controversy for the sake of it. Especially Stuff.
I really really hope that the rumour is not true.
Peter if you are referring to the Avatar team's arrival at the Quarantine hotel, it would be good to get your facts right. The mixing in the foyer was with an American family staying at the hotel.
The arriving Avatar team were bussed to the hotel. They were taken in small groups through a separate door each wearing face shields into a separate room for debriefing and instruction. They were then taken under escort one at a time in the lift to each individual's room where they stayed for 2 weeks, finishing yesterday. They did not even mix with their colleagues during the time in seclusion or allowed out for a walk anywhere.
Read the linked article. It's not paywalled. Stuff says the same things. Doesn't look like anything to do with Avatar.
The TV1 news report Peter refers to showed how loose the quarantine was.
That was the initial story.
Apparently, though, they fucked it up and there was indeed a <2M contact.
Ianmac, how about YOU get YOUR facts right. Just Google it. Absolutely nothing to do with Avatar. It was Kiwis returning to NZ.
They mixed throughout their stay on crowded city streets on guided walks. Newly arrived returnees were mixing with those on their last day or days of quarantine.
OK Peter. I assumed wrongly though the Avatar story was published wrongly. Sorry.
Seems as though they were taking all the precautions in today's pair. Hope so.
Ianmac. All good! And thank you for addressing that, for which I respect you! I was surprised, as I always enjoy your posts which are well thought out. Cheers!
Since we reached zero the media have run various stories about the heartless government not making a quarantine exception (and another, and another exception, and so on). And of course the opposition demands for borders opening ASAP.
But don't worry, nothing bad could happen, job done, blah blah …
Idiots.
+100 – hopefully that bleating will stop now.
And given the clusterfuck the UK and USA is, lets just throw into the sea anyone who arrive from there.
Watch all the various 'giants' of the NZ media swing from previously saying the restrictions were too harsh, to now saying they are too loose.
Peter Chch (15) … Disappointing to read this news of two new cases of Covid-19.
IMO our borders should be closed … full stop, no exceptions, no negotiation, until there is a means of controlling this paricular virus. These two new cases demonstrate the need for doing so.
Agree mary about the boarders.
during lockdown so furious with selfish people who bleated on about attending funerals or visiting sick and dying loved ones. And now this
"bleated on…" – not very compassionate Anker.
Pull yourself together – there are legitimate grounds for compassion – in this case, the exemption conditions may very well have worked as designed – if not, I am sure it will be valuable grist for the mill in reviewing future procedures at our 'bo(a)rders'.
Yes happy to put my hand up on this one that I don't feel a lot of compassion. terrified with good reason about Covid getting a hold here and think everyone will/might have to make scarifices.
Given this situation and the situation with two teenagers given leave to go to a funeral and then absconding time to make it real simple. No exception to isolation.
One of the new C19 patients said that in retrospect, they displayed symptoms. But they're allowed to self isolate.
FFS.
What the ACTUAL FUCK, Jacinda and Ashley??!!???
A funeral is for a dead person. A stiff. Their metabolic processes are history. Shuffled off this mortal coil. 4 million volts isn't enough to create an interaction with them.
Giving people exemptions from isolation to go spread disease in order to go hang out with a corpse is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. To go say their last goodbyes while someone still lives – fair enough. But not once they've already passed.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300036071/covid19-directorgeneral-of-health-gives-detail-on-two-new-cases
Not very impressed, I must say.
I'm fkn furious. Just as well I'm not voting today or tomorrow.
What you would vote for National? They would have gotten these difficult calls right wouldn't they!
You're not helping.
Apologies Andre – I didn't intend to support your over reaction or wind you up. Nobody has a script for this, not even Jacinda and Ashley, who you appear to have put on a pedestal. This is an error at worst – a learning which will modify the border procedures and compassionate exemption policies.
I'm coming down slowly. Give me a couple days and I should be back on an even keel.
I think Ashley and Jacinda have done an absolutely outstanding job – but this was a really dumb unforced error. I hope the lesson and action taken is to assume everyone arriving is a raging hotbed of maximum infectiousness, until proven otherwise. The common good of 5 million people has to come ahead of compassion for situations that aren't absolutely time-critical. Someone in their last days is time-critical, after they've passed is not.
I have a nephew and sister-in-law in France that got COVID early on. They're still suffering severe aftereffects. I have a cousin in the US that's a doctor in respiratory intensive care, and her husband is a doctor in the emergency department. From what I've heard from them, mainstream reports about COVID seem somewhat sanitised and downplayed.
The elimination we had achieved is immensely valuable, risking it needs to only be done for something equally valuable.
Yes, the lockdown has cost NZ billions, and to throw it away so easily? Kiss of death for this government and Ashley NY honours list. And deservedly so.
Sad as PM did a great job with a hard task, but this is beyond stupidity.
9 days on the loose. How many are now infected? Nz was in the privileged position of having eliminated the virus and being able to control the entry or exclusion of the virus.
From way back in early March, we knew the borders were our vulnerable point, yet, from early March, time and time again we have learned, from th MSM, that what this government says about the borders and what is actually happening is vastly different.
Move over Jacinda, your time is up.
Peter, take a breath. Watch the full press conference with Bloomfield, if you haven't already. Really detailed answers, with a whole range of safeguards in place.
It's not at all surprising that an individual case has happened. It's the policy that matters. Opening up our borders now would be stupid, and so we're not doing it.
Observer. Will do. I not in a position to do that at moment, but, in face value, I am angry. But will watch an hope safeguards are all good!
But yes, expected more cases, just hope process is good.
I don't get it either. Apparently we have testing to burn so why were we not testing on arrival, 5 days later and then again at 10 days and 14 days. These people were in the managed quarantine between it appears the 5th and the 13th of June so surely they would have been symptomatic? Is quarantine being managed in pods or did they have contact with people between 5th-13th that have been released already? What about the family contact in wellington – who have they had contact with? What about border staff – and quarantine staff and airline staff. And it's taken 16 days to find this out when symptoms can be tested for in the 5-10 day range. And how do we "know" they followed all the rules when they didn't bother to report symptoms- big fail right there. As others say FFS – there are so many obvious gaps in the arrangements..
A similar conversation has gone down in this household.
Apparently there are 2 hour tests available.
A baby with a sniffle, that had barely left it's home environment, no visitors, got swabbed in ED last night because Covid…
And yet…
From what has been said so far, the one that has tested positive, either fibbed when asked the ubiquitous screening questions or answered a different question to that which was asked.
Yes Peter Chch and Andre. It's what you get when you don't have black and white, hard and fast, delineated rules which are meticulously enforced.
When factors to do with 'humanity' and exemptions and judgements and assessments come into it you get problems.
Trouble is numbers in the population screamed about hard and fast rules mitigating against humanitarian factors over months.
If we had hard and fast rules mentality, no weighing up of factors involved, everyone doing 51kph would be fined heavily pro forma, cars would be permanently taken off those doing 10kph over the limit and so on according lists of rules.
The no exemptions thing for those coming into the country would go on at least until a vaccine is developed however long that is.
Of course this shocking turn of events wouldn't have happened under Simon Bridges' watch. (Remember him?)
Andre is right, a funeral is for a dead person, a stiff shuffled off this mortal coil. This situation shows though that it's not the dead that are the worry or whatever their loved ones do but the hysteria about that from deadshits.
The funeral was not for a parrot, but for a fellow human being. I'm not convinced the risk is worth it either, but in your anger, don't lose all your humanity.
During Level 4, people within New Zealand were prohibited from going to say their last goodbyes to loved ones. I count myself very fortunate my dad survived his medical emergency during that time that I was prohibited from travelling to go see him when he was on the edge. FFS, my mother was prohibited from going to see him in the hospital, in a region that had zero cases at that time.
To put us all at risk of having to go back to that for the sake of an already dead body – just plain unacceptable
Yes, you are right, but have faith in our capacities to learn from a mistake. I would far prefer that the error stemmed from having too much compassion than the opposite – otherwise we are no different to the right wingers.
Being absolutely filthy because someone's feelz about a piece of dead meat likely put multiple lives at risk isn't losing losing your humanity.
Cheers Joe – referring to a human corpse as dead meat is indeed akin to losing your humanity.
Odious comment from Joe there.
Hilarity from someone with a boner for murderous, totalitarian thugs.
Fair enough but they can’t attend the funeral now anyway so there was no point in releasing them. All it’s done is needlessly expose us. No exemptions from now on, people living here couldn’t get them during lockdown.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield showed why he is a doctor, not a politician or reporter or "commentator". And a good human being.
He calmly explained the details of the case, and refused to throw the two women under the bus. They will be feeling like sh*t right now, and Bloomfield understands that. They did not break the rules, they followed them. If there was a loophole it was in the NZ system. He takes responsibility for that (as he should).
I hope that the focus is now on highlighting the complacency of those who want open borders, not on hounding two victims of the virus, already bereaved.
One patient admitted to in retrospect feeling symptoms, yet decided to wing it.
They're to blame.
Well, I won't be casting a stone. I'm sure that hypothetically we all would have acted differently. In reality … when you've crossed the world to see a dying loved one? When the system tells you it's all under control? When you look around and you're the only ones wearing face masks and you're still following the rules?
Let's hope none of us ever find out what we do.
They knew they were symptomatic. Bury them.
Bury them?
In quarantine.
Observer. You are clearly a better person than me, and that i respect.
Ashley Bloomfield is, as you say, is a doctor and a compassionate person.but right now, maybe we need someone who is also a little bit of a dictator. Level 4 was a dictate. Now I feel what's the point?
The elite say one thing, we are coerced to do another. To say I am disappointed in our PM and Ashley would be an understatement.
I think the key point is that the women were not tested, and they should have been, and that is NZ's fault, not theirs. It is not their job to say to health professionals "hang on, your system isn't good enough". Especially when they are in emotional distress. Now Bloomfield is suggesting that the procedures have been / will be changed. Good.
A good doctor does not blame patients. Nor should we.
Here is the Ministry of Health media release about the two new cases reported today.
https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/two-new-cases-covid-19-0
Strange visitors from another country, who came to Aoteoroa with powers and abilities far beyond those of mere mortals!
Akl – Well on a single tank! Cast iron bladders!
They are women.. of course they have cast iron bladders.
I suspect they watered the landscape as so many of us have done in past times. The trick is to check the sight lines – thought I had once – then along came the train.
There seems to be far more media interest in women's bladders at Level 1 than in Simon Bridges' bladder at Level 4. I don't know why he got a free piss – er, pass.
I honestly thought this was an "Onion"-type satire.
National MP defends Confederate Flag
What is wrong with these people?
Kia Ora
Newshub.
The apprentice program is good Aotearoa needs to keep training our youth to have a bright future.
That's the way using the Internet for new mahi.
It is quite warm for this time of the year and location
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
You see what I have previously said about the system$ .
The positive thing about the tiki tour Wahine with the virus is there will better management off the virus quarantine facility's.
The hinaki sound like a good place for the person who let that happen.
Aroha is the correct way for the future.
PEE destroys tangata Mana.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
The Am Show.
Its good to see more plastic being made biodegradable
Volunteers do good work in Aotearoa.
Wow 4 baby's at once looks like she has it sorted.
The in Australian dinosaur shows that humanity is a mire minute in time and we are making a huge mess of our environment.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora
Newshub.
With some of the problems being flushed out for virus isolation I think that they will get it correct.
That's is cool video games helping Rangatahi with ADHD
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora
Te Ao Maori Marama.
I have seen what it's like in Tamiki Makaru a lot of people were looking down on Maor.
Interesting but I have a good idea who has treated all tangata whenua the best and has the best interest for our Mokopuna futures That's who Eco Maori tau toko.
Ka kite Ano