Just been having a look at The Working Group from last night.
Fun Fact; Apparently, for the first time, at the last election the average income of the right wing voter was lower than the average income of the left wing voter.
The lower turnout may have contributed to this (a lack of policy from Labour), but still a trend that is occurring overseas.
They probably do it at the electorate level – this electorate voted 85% Labour and has an average income of $50,000 (so 85% of people have an income of $50,000), this electorate voted 23% Labour and had an average income of $30,000 (so 23% had an average income of $30,000). And then totaled up across the electorates according to population size.
If that were the case then I don't know if I would trust the result. Labour and the Greens tend to get more support from young people and females so even in a high income electorate they would be getting votes from the lower end of the income distribution. Although, NZFirst and National get more votes from retirees who have a low income (but are generally better off because of assets).
It would be useful to have a link.
It's probably not the American issue which is the rust belt towns falling apart by economics and the opioid epidemic and people having no means of escape but more that the Boomers are heading into retirement and living off super.
I'd be reluctant to limit it to the census mesh blocks surrounding a particular voting booth. Many people (certainly in suburban areas) vote anywhere in their electorate – not necessarily at the closest booth. Synching with kids sports, or shopping trips, or whatever else they need to do on voting day/s.
Agreed. I voted in a border booth this time between Mt Albert and Epsom because I was taking my niece to her first vote. She was in Parnell, so I voted in Mt Eden (Epsom) where they had a Mt Albert table.
I often I vote at a Auckland Central booth for Mt Albert because Auckland Central booths are just up the road.
But at various times I have voted at the Mt Albert Library (going to St Lukes), Edendale primary (was passing to see a friend in Mt Roskill).
And of course when I have been volunteering for Labour on election day (none of the above), I vote close to wherever I am on the day if I haven't already early-voted.
Doing correlations by polling booths is a bit fraught. Something like 45% of Mt Albert votes happen in just a handful of locations – all of which are schools on main roads.
I have not voted on Election Day for decades. I was either organising Labour volunteers on Election Day, or later as a JP, I was collecting Special Votes from housebound people, and took the opportunity to do an early vote. Last year we were overseas and voted at New Zealand House in London.
I haven't had time to do more than vote since 2014. The unfortunate side effect of always being embedded in work projects is that it is pretty hard to schedule specific days for election day work.
Plus I always seemed to be racing for a release or deployment offshore to do bespoke installations of my work code just months after election day.
Just to give an idea, you just have to look at my holiday. I came out of one job that I started in mid-2014 in 2021 paid out 8 weeks of leave, and came out of the next job paid out for with 6 weeks leave owing in Jan this year.
I wistfully remember the days when I could take use my outstanding leave for a week or anything up to month off to work on elections – which is what I did through most elections after 1990.
Now I'm semi-retired with just a part-time job. There may actually be time to do things like election days once more.
It does resonate though, Labour isn't connecting with working class males. The Greens were a tad too identity and Davidsons unhelpful 'white, cis males cause violence' comments.
The letter gives 30 days for Israel to comply…which happens to be after the Presidential Election. My take is it is a cynical effort–trying to get back democratic muslim voters. The Israeli butchers will likely just go for broke even more now in trying to exterminate Palestinians
It is an indelible stain on Biden's presidency at least as dark as that on Obama's handling of all Arab Spring initiative and the rapid decline of positive US influence in the Middle East, that Biden is sending both humanitarian aid and massive volumes of weapons to Israel in 2024.
Biden started off his first two years of his term with momentum and spectacular redistribution to the poor and to lower-income communities.
It is the saddest moral retreat I've seen in a while.
In years to come, students in university departments around the world will be studying the propaganda embedded in this headline.
As someone who regularly lectures in sociology, journalism and media studies, I could teach an entire lesson on the title alone.
For example:
1. Treating the 4 Israeli soldiers as more important than the 23 Palestinian children (by leading the story with their deaths and just chucking in the others at the end) implies their lives are of higher value.
2. Infantilizing active duty soldiers as "teenagers" while not emphasizing the age of the schoolkids, despite many of them being demonstrably younger.
3. The classic use of the passive voice: Israelis are "killed" while Palestinians merely "die".
4. Putting scare quotes around "23 die" subtly undermines the credibility of that claim. Maybe no one died, and the Palestinians are just lying?
5. Using the word "attack" for Hezbollah actions, but choosing a more neutral, clinical word like "strike" for Israeli aggression.
6. Allowing Israeli sources to dictate the framing of the story ("Israel names teenage soldiers") etc.
7. Actually naming the Israeli soldiers, but not doing the same for the far greater number of Palestinians, again sends the message to the reader that Palestinian lives don't matter nearly as much, if at all.
It's truly incredible how much propaganda has been packed into 16 words. We are swimming in an ocean of propaganda. That's why it is crucial to deconstruct it and critically assess everything you read, see and hear.
The outgoing Democratic POTUS is free to act outside the election cycle (pro Israeli public). Obama did it in Dec 2016 not vetoing UN Resolution 2334 (he and Foggy Bottom were behind it, venting at BN).
Biden has told BN what he would do (and what he decides goes till late January).
Lancet has already outlined the risk of lack of respite from war and move to focus on delivery of aid – and that hits home this winter.
PS. The Democrats have more marginals than Michigan to worry about.
JAG gets it right on Morning Report today in relation to Simeon Brown's anti-democratic comment that he might intervene at Wellington City Council.Worth a listen.
Of course this has nothing to do with the WCC having a Green Mayor and Brown being the most rabidly anti-Green minister in a cabinet that contains many contenders for this title.
More likely to do with the Mayor not being able to read the room and be quiet instead of scaremongering.
Tory Whanau is still commenting to the media and being interviewed. It would have been better, in my view, had she stated something like she accepted the deomcratic vote and councillors were committed to working together to achieve the savings needed to get the LTP underway.
She didn't, she argued the toss instead of keeping her head down.
PS I voted for TW as Mayor, also Nureddin Abdurahman
PPS Although nominally a green/lab/left wing city JAG is not universally beloved in this community.
From someone looking on from outside Wellington, TW does sound like a loose cannon who has no idea about message discipline and so makes herself an easy target for this country's cohesive, well-funded and malevolent right-wing propaganda machine that includes RW politicians, sympathetic private media, business networks and think-tanks. She should know better than to turn up at a gunfight armed only with feelings. That said, Genter was still pretty much spot on – at least in a big picture sense. Both these things can be true simultaneously.
Shanreagh:JAG is not "nominally" anything. She has been an excellent Green MP over many years doing great work particularly in relation to Transport.
I suppose you have bought into the scurrilous nonsense the anti-Green MSM dragged up a few months ago, where an obvious National Party voter attacked JAG because she hated bike lanes, JAG being a key supporter of bike lanes of course.
Tory got ticked off by RNZ this morning for not accepting interviews, to the extent they went through the dates…er…cough cough…anyone remember a certain Sirkey that would not front for a long time, and a certain Auckland Mayor–Brown, and a certain Baldrick and any number of Ministers such as Mrs Costello who refused to put in an appearance on RNZ.
Really all elected politicians should be available to the public as often as possible on media channels, but if the no shows are going to be targeted hit the right as well.
Ardern was a regular on RNZ though unlike the ones I refer to…she symbolically kneed Hosking in the nuts by ditching him, but yes it would have been better perhaps had she stayed at ZB and done the real thing!
It was not for the same reason. Hosking spent entire sessions trying to demean her, talking down to her, talking over the top of her and generally behaving like the misogynistic arsehole that he is. The climate of hatred of Jacinda Ardern was writ large at right-wing ZB Radio. Nobody with a sense of decency and self worth need put up with it.
That is a far cry from politicians who have things to hide or don't wish to publicly discuss certain issues so they avoid turning up to interviews.
Anne's right. Hosking is a shallow-brained early school-leaver who's basically incapable of engaging in civilised debate. Who wants to waste time dealing with his sort?
Thanks Bella…yes I listened to her. She sounded entirely reasonable to me despite some daft questions like (paraphrasing) "do you accept that the WCC is a shambles? and “are you going to resign”?.
This whole thing has been a Coalition of Chaos beat-up.
BTW on an issue we were discussing the other day, the Guardian reported yesterday that 221 out of 1200 drones (18.5%) have got through Israel's various anti-drone and anti-missile systems since the war started. You can read it here-paragraph 6.
So you voted for the Mayor knowing her plan for the Golden Mile and cycle ways?
Tory Whanau is still commenting to the media and being interviewed. It would have been better, in my view, had she stated something like she accepted the deomcratic vote and councillors were committed to working together to achieve the savings needed to get the LTP underway.
You stated this yesterday, comment 9 GD. It is still untrue.
FACT CHECKED
“I’ve accepted the democratic outcome. I think it’s probably the most difficult decision that some of our councillors have had to make but I am going to respect it.”
“It’s been a difficult couple of years but again, for this last year, I’m just going to be super focused, hyper-focused, on delivering a successful Long Term Plan,” she said. “Yes, it’s had a pause and we’ve had to delay it but we can still get there.”
I should add that she is being sought for interviews, not because of the vote, but because of the comments made to media by right wing councillors and their partners in the Beehive.
Today NZ Herald, Richard Prebble thinks he has the solution to the health crisis unfolding on Shane Reti's watch. No surprise, privatise the health system. Apparently he tells us Roger Douglas has written a plan to achieve this. The neo-liberal dinosaurs really are a one trick pony
No, but in the all-seeing mind of Prebs, that's only because none of them have had the courage to do it properly. You know, scorched earth, year zero, raze everything and let the divine God of perfect market competition rise phoenix-like to create heaven on earth. Prebs is rehashing the insane zealotry of the mid-80's to mid-90's all over again. Ignore him – he's barking, just like the publication that stoops to giving him a platform.
Group health insurance refers to a policy offered to a group of people — usually employees who work at the same company. They can choose between individual plans or family plans that cover their immediate family members. In most cases, the employer pays for a portion of the plan, so costs may be lower compared to other options.
Individuals enrolled in group health plans paid an average annual premium of $8,435 in 2023 (about $703 per month), according to data from independent health and medical research firm KFF. For families, the total annual premium averaged at $23,968 — or about $1,997 per month.
Those prices are higher than they were in 2022, with both family and individual group health plan premiums jumping by 7%.
Individual health insurance
[…]
We analyzed nearly 790 Marketplace plans across 33 states to determine average pricing. For overall averages, we looked at age groups that included children and those up to 60 years old. Policy sizes included individuals up to families with three or more children. Premium data does not account for any tax subsidies that might lower the cost of your health care.
Monthly premium costs
For monthly premiums, the overall average cost was $1,178. But that number can change a lot based on age. For instance, a 21-year-old paid a monthly average premium of just $397, while a 50-year-old paid an average of $712.
Deductibles
The average yearly deductible for an individual was $5,101. That number more than doubles for families, who had an average deductible of $10,310 per year.
Maximum out-of-pocket expenses
The maximum out-of-pocket expense for individual policyholders averaged $8,335. It doubled for families, averaging $16,672 per year
This is so predictable – 3 of the 4 right wing councillors (who voted for the airport sale in 2023 and reversed their position to cause a "crisis") have “admitted” it was just part of their political campaign.
Councillor Diane Calvert, who was among those calling for intervention, said "shambles" applied more to mayor Tory Whanau and her leadership.
She said she felt the mayor was reluctant to receive any help from other councillors, and advice from council staff was not neutral.
Councillor Nicola Young said the government appointing a Crown observer would be a step in the right direction, and criticised the mayor's communication with other councillors.
She said the city was getting further into debt and she was concerned about how unaffordable it was all becoming.
Councillor Ray Chung said he would like the government to call an early election.
Calvert accepted the advice in 2023 voting for sale of shares.
Her lack of trust in council staff is what attracted the attention of Stuart Crosby.
The systemic problems of trust between Wellington City Council's executive and its elected members mean it is "incredibly close" to needing intervention, a former president of Local Government New Zealand says.
He was referring to the councillors not heeding advice from council staff – in line with a report commissioned by council to sell the airport shares – thus regarding Calvert and her 3 right wingers as part of that problem.
But they only did that as a ploy to destroy a council on which they were a minority.
If Ray Chung thinks things are such that elections are needed then he should do the principled thing and resign. A bye election will cost rate payers a whole lot less than a city wide election
As a Wellingtonian, I would say the WCC has had major problems since the Seddon and Kaikoura earthquakes. Andy Foster as mayor came in for enormous criticism too.
Broken buildings, broken pipes, it is all costing a fortune to fix- the library being the latest. The Town Hall is costing a fortune, the MFC needs repairs, the list goes on. There are multiple cultural venues dotted all over the place needing upkeep (Stadium, Opera House, St James, Michael Fowler C, Town Hall, TSB Arena, ), then they stupidly built a Conference Centre.
I would also say the COC's removal of LGWM funding has upset everything too.
I would also say Tory had an enthusiastic demographic of young people voting for her and it pisses me right off that all the old Wellington money is coming out, bleating that they aren't getting their own way. I am so sick of the moaning about cycleways.
The pipes are doing good, wonderful job by all the Wellington Water staff- haven't seen a fountain for months now.
Hi Feijoa, re those Anti Cycle moaners..led by the Anti-Cyclist Kultur Warrior himself : Simeon Brown.
Some links in response
Are New Zealanders 'sick and tired' of spending on cycleways? Not according to this survey
Transport Minister Simeon Brown justified these changes, in part, by claiming "New Zealanders are sick and tired of the amount of money going into cycleways". But the picture of public support for cycleways is much more complex than the minister suggests.
They are actually a Good Thing . (well some of us already knew that : )
Cycle lanes are good for business, actually
Last week, supermarket giant Foodstuffs lost its attempt to block the construction of a cycle lane outside Thorndon New World in Wellington.
Despite keeping people safe and providing more low-carbon transport options, cycle lanes tend to frazzle some who seem particularly wedded to the idea of reserving swathes of precious public space for storing private cars.
Which is understandable if you’re a street-level operation stressed out about competing with malls or retail parks with hundreds of car parks. But these concerns are unfounded. Cyclists and walkers have money to spend too.
What's completely missing are talks from the businesses that support less cars and less car parking (like the ones applying for parklets, where carparks in front of their business are transformed into outside serving areas – cafes, bars, restaurants). Some serious question how much the existing car parking actually benefits the businesses, like on Courtney Place. How many car parks are there compared to number of seats to fill in all the bars, restaurants etc… the people that parked there are just a "drop-in-the-ocean" compared to the numbers required to support all those businesses.
For me it goes a lot further though:
How much do we have to transform our households, our neighbourhood, our city, our country to tackle pollution and greenhouse gas emissions? We have to start somewhere and we have to do it fast.
If Wellington, arguably one of the most compact cities, one with the most "Greenies" in the country, is unable to shift from excessive car usage to more sustainable form of transport, what chance is there to transform Auckland or smaller, more rural areas?
Which leaves only one point: Could the WCC execute the roadworks in a way that it doesn't impact businesses as much? Can it be done cheaper?
How many people did NACT1 slash out of jobs..and consequential spending at businesses ? And…I could parse this link for you? But have a read…Patrick Morgan talks sense…
Swapping car parks for cycleways: Business destroyer or new opportunity?
Morgan said a range of factors contributed to the struggles facing businesses in the capital.
“I understand times are hard for some retailers, but bike lanes are not a cause of that. If you make thousands of people redundant in Wellington, that is bound to have an impact on spending.”
Yeah people shop, not cars. Also people shop not bikes… I have a feeling most people who do the actual shopping, going to restaurants, cafes, bars etc, generally drive or are passengers in a car. Being able to drive into Wellington, park and then do whatever people need to do is important.
The majority of cars in the CBD don't do any business, they simply drive through. Wellington CBD traffic is not much more than a dozen of alternative motorway lanes with some high-rise buildings in between.
The main areas in the CBD, the ones with the highest foot traffic, have hardly any on-street parking; certainly not enough parking to sustain all the businesses on the given roads. See
Lambton Quay (5 carparks between Midland Park and Willis Street)
Willis Street (0 carparks between Lambton Quay and Manners Mall)
Victoria Street (never counted them, maybe 2 dozen)
Manners Mall (0 carparks)
Dixon Street (lots of places are now parklets there, not many carparks left between Taranaki Street and Willis Street)
Cuba Street (not many on lower, none in the middle, some at the upper end)
Courtney Place (the last time I counted – around COVID times – it was around 50?, some time-dependent. Also some parklets there now – maybe Tasting Room was the original parklet?)
So the large majority of those people either didn't use a car to get into the city in the first place or parked somewhere in a distance and walked to those businesses.
I commute into Wellington by car to work, or I work from home. Public transport adds a couple of hours to my work day, is unreliable and expensive.
Whenever I go to Wellington for shopping, or entertainment, I drive, park and then do whatever I’m planning on doing.
Unfortunately the inner city has lost a large number of on street parking spaces over the past few years, this does make finding a parking space harder in the evenings and weekends and discourages people from going into the Wellington central city in the evening for entertainment.
I’m happy to spend my money elsewhere outside of the Wellington central city. Something the Wellington council seems to ignore, is that many of Wellington’s better inner city restaurants, bars and cafes, have relied on well heeled customers from outside the inner city, or from the Hutt or Porirua cities. The same can be said for the inner city “party zone”, fewer punters, means less “buzz” so the punters go elsewhere.
Ok so sometimes you car to work, sometimes you work from home…and you do not like the Welly Public Transport !
Can you let us know…
What distance/where travel from ?
How much your car costs to run to and from? (incl fuel/rego/wof/insurance/wear and tear ie tyres etc….)
Time spent travelling..incl traffic jams ?
If you can find a park (seems to be plenty of, according to links previously provided )…how much that costs?
And..re your :
inner city “party zone”
Are you meaning cars driven to bars? If that means less intoxicated driving around because they cant..park out front ? Then good. Anyway I'm sure most would get an uber or minibus dropoff and safe pickup…
Psycling… Sorry, I am not going to justify my decision/choice of my transport to/from work. As a grown adult I am more than capable of choosing how I live my life, & I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do.
For myself, and many others, it’s extremely difficult to find car parking in the evenings or weekends within the central city. Unfortunately the cycling brigade dismisses out of hand any public dissent that is in any way critical of cycling lanes, and the removal of car parking.
Drink driving is not the issue. Many people are capable of going out for an evening without drinking to excess or even not drinking alcohol.
You are the one that is criticising Public Transport.In particular Wellingtons.
Public transport adds a couple of hours to my work day, is unreliable and expensive.
And yet you dont want to put up your own comparisons ?….So from that ..unsurpringly its just your reckons…and innate dislike of same…and also Cycle Lanes.
I and others have provided Links etc.
As for the "cycling brigade" !? There are many people that would like Children…and Disabled people who also Cycle..to be safe on their travels.
I will leave you to your reckons. Enjoy the Summer of Cycling : )
"I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do."
No consultation is a lie. A complete lie. Just because you didn't get what you want, doesn't mean there was no consultation.
I have been to many community transport meetings regarding Wellington cycleways and parking. And…
“The council thinks they can do whatever they want, simply because they are duly elected representatives with statutory authority over traffic decisions on the local roads and had followed all the legally required processes. It was completely undemocratic,”
From here, which documents one of the ongoing lies from petrol huffers like yourself:
Now, about your little inversion of reality. The statement "I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner"
You're exercising a privilege, not a right. But as a typical NZ motorist, you don't understand that.
Show me the legislation or by-law which grants you the right to leave your pile of rusting debt on public land? Expensive public land in the CBD.
And while we are at it, show me the consultation process for, or rights of, motorists to shorten our lives?
Cinder, You are deliberately being dishonest about what I’ve written, hopefully you spend no more than a couple of minutes writing your comment. I don’t engage with people who do this
"I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do."
The council have had consultation after consultation on all the changes you are whining about:
So unless you have some specific complaint about your personal interactions with the council, you are lying.
Having been in some of these consultations, I have encountered people like yourself who believe that because they have driven for a few decades they are experts in transport policy and planning. You're not.
So while you whinge and whine like a farmer about having to spend minutes trawling around the block, looking for a carpark and then complaining that you had to walk a few hundred metres, here are some things for you to consider:
The people who live in these wards have made their democratic choices and decisions about future transport provisions. You don't even live in those wards. Why do you hate democracy?
There is this amazing facility right by Lambton Quay, you may not have heard of it, its called the train station and there are buses that run from there right along Lambton Quay and Courtney Place, almost every 5 minutes. It was originally built to serve the Hutt because the landed gentry of Wellington had exiled the brown and the poor there and they needed some way to get the labour pool into the city. Do you avoid it because you don't want to mix with the poors?
You pathetic bleating makes me think of my old neighbour in Newtown. Who at the age of 28, suffering from MS and using a walker commuted to Ghuznee Street and Lambton Quay every day using the bus. While negotiating signage and cars littering the footpaths.
And here you are bitching about the restrictions on exercising your privilege to walk as little as possible.
Get a grip. You chose to live where ever it is you live and rely on exercising a privilege which is exercised at the discretion of the state.
Are you a child who cannot take responsibility for their own choices?
I think you need to attend a Civics 101 course. This whole privilege vs rights argument seems to have eluded you.
Hi Cinder. Sadly some people..you will never reach. Like the fuel they use, they are Dinosaur…minded.
If interested here is a good link to what could be..if we can be Future Thinking. I have many more and , Positive Thinking : )
Who is part of the problem ?
Convenient cities become conspiracy targets
Today, The Detail talks to Auckland University senior lecturer in architecture and planning Bill McKay about the concept, and extremism researcher and author Byron C Clark about the conspiracy.
Cinder, wow that must have taken more than a few minutes to write… You sound like a uppity middle class white woman who gets upset when the “oiks from the Hutt” are disobedient…
[You sound like an uppity middle class white moron who doesn’t explain anything and doesn’t address the arguments against what you did say but rather goes for the personal attack. It’s a Bayly-type of diversion to focus on the word(s) you didn’t use rather than commenting in good faith. Put up or shut up and you’re running out of warnings from me – Incognito]
I’m more than happy to answer questions, when I’m asked politely and respectfully. I felt that both Psycling.. and Cinder were dismissive, disrespectful and condescending with their initial response to me. Therefore any response from me is likely to be dismissed.
However I’m more than happy to discuss this with you. The way I choose to live and organise my life is due to me having to juggle family, community commitments, doing stuff for myself and my health. Time is important to me, I don’t have enough at present, using public transport leaves me with less time and therefore would cause hardship to others who depend on me.
I’ve had previous experiences with both Wellington City and Hutt City officials who have very dismissive of residents views on a number of issues.
It is getting increasingly difficult to find car parking in Wellington city in the evenings and weekends. Sure I can afford an uber, but that comes out of my entertainment budget, so less money spent with local businesses. So my apologies to you for causing you extra work, hope you have a good evening.
Sorry if I have to explain elementary concepts to you using big words and long sentences. But it seems that you dislike the fact that I know what I'm talking about, can cut through your bullshit to the core of the matter and call a spade a spade
I also enjoy exercising my writing skills and I'm a quick typist. I also enjoy mocking people, so you've struck the trifecta you lucky bugger!
Yes, we are dismissive, condescending and disrespectful of your position for one simple reason:
You believe exercising your privilege is more important than respecting our democratic decisions.
Its summed up here by you: "I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner"
That is what the people of Central Wellington have collectively done – told you to leave fewer piles of unsightly, noisy, deadly, rusting debt in our streets. Also – we do not exist just to serve you're bourgeois face artisanal sauerkraut and a sour, we live here, in greater density than whatever hellscape suburb you've condemned yourself to, its our home. And like an "adult", you packed a sad.
You think that there being fewer car parks means people "want me to change how I live my life"…
You couldn't make that up! It's so good that Greater Auckland think you're a prime candidate for this weeks wrap up. Up there with the moron last year complaining about buses being in the "car lane".
But then, you're a special boy, mummies little treasure made of spun sugar. You deserve special treatment because apparently you're time poor and no one else ever is. Seems like you've just made poor decisions about your choices in life. I imagine all that debt on that depreciating asset limits your choices though. Maybe juggle things a bit better, or do less, or get a vehicle that isn't a wankpanzer and can be parked in a smaller space and doesn't hit our trade deficit and ongoing infrastructure needs like a… like a… like a 4WD into a child.
And – Oh No!!!Were public officials dismissive of you? I imagine its probably because you believe you have some non-existent "rights" as a motorist and because of this:
Oh for Gods’s sake. This is a reason why I never apologise or explain my actions
You do realise that you sound like a sociopath right? However, given your love of sniffing tailpipes, it makes perfect sense
"People who cannot apologize often have such deep feelings of low self-worth that their fragile egos cannot absorb the blow of admitting they were wrong
In these situations… they dispute the facts, come up with ridiculous excuses or pivot to petty remarks.
Do tell?
But when someone never takes responsibility and is habitually incapable of apologizing, it’s a sign that they’re a person with a fragile ego and a weak sense of self."
A serious problem with the cycleways is the major disruption to the lives of people with disabilities, especially mobility problems. If all parking in the vicinity of your home has vanished, it's not possible to get picked up by a taxi, or have home help come. And then there's all the visitors that can't come by because they won't (or can't) walk 5+ minutes from the fluke park they found.
There's been several letters to the Post recently about how people with mobility problems can no longer visit the Botanical gardens as the parking is now a cycleway.
Denying people access to public places breaches the human rights act (sorry can't link on my phone) and falls under disability discrimination. So they've broken the law. This was something the council knew about in advance, but chose to throw this group of people under the bus (which not everyone can catch), and are refusing to undertake anything to help mitigate the situation.
WCC can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned. Enough that I might vote right wing for the first time in my life next year.
I walk every morning and most lunchtimes past empty carparks in the Botanical Gardens, including disability carparks.
Of the carparks that were along Glenmore Road, how many were suitable for disabled people or people with mobility problems? From some areas it's relatively steep to get into the Botanical Gardens. There might have been one, maybe two disabled car parks near the Founders Gate (I thought it was an area to drop and pick up people, because it was always empty. Going to check tomorrow for old markings).
The two disabled car parks outside the Founders Gate are still there, plus some space marked like a bus stop and can be used for drop-off and pick-up. There are 3 more disabled car parks next to the Rose Garden / Picnic Cafe and one at the Cricket Clubhouse Anderson Park. I can't remember a day where all those spaces were occupied at once.
One of the car parks (Glenmore Road) was used what appeared to me an abled-body driver (it was tempting to call the Parking Wardens to ensure the driver get the well-deserved $750 fine).
Looks like there are a good number of people still falling for the dirty tricks and misinformation of the biggest, most entitled urban polluter group (car drivers) and their "fake concerns" for disabled people and emergency services.
I walk every morning and most lunchtimes past empty carparks in the Botanical Gardens, including disability carparks.
Cheers for your Local Knowledge : )
And yea with regard to changing the mindset (some in concrete sadly) of people getting the idea of Sustainable transport..let alone Sustainable Towns/Cities..literally a Hard Road.
Na it doesn’t timaru has a far larger population with industrial areas , and many other options to soak up staff, not saying it's good but it's nowhere as bad as ruapehus lose of 2 mills.
Land use is changing in response to climate change. Farm land is becoming forestry. This is a very positive thing….but there is always a cost. In this case its the job of the people who processed the animals from those now former farms.
Russell Brand, remade as a right-wing Christian influencer, is now selling a "magical amulet" that protects you from WiFi signals and other "evil energies." Only $239.99 per amulet.
Olivia and Noah and Hana are going to the library!It is fun to go to the library. It has books and songs and mat time and people who smile at you and say, Hello Olivia, what have you been doing this morning?The library is more fun than the mall. At ...
New World Orders: The challenge facing Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins is how to keep their small and vulnerable nation safe and stable in a world whose economic and political climate the forty-seventh American president is changing so profoundly.IT IS, SURELY, the ultimate Millennial revenge fantasy. Calling senior Baby-Boomer and Gen-X ...
“This might surprise you, Laurie, but I reckon Trump’s putting on a bloody impressive performance.”“GOODNESS ME, HANNAH, just look at all those Valentine’s Day cards!”“Occupational hazard, Laurie, the more beer I serve, the more my customers declare their undying love!”“Crikey! I had no idea business was so good.” Laurie squinted ...
In 2005, Labour repealed the long-standing principle of birthright citizenship in Aotearoa. Why? As with everything else Labour does, it all came down to austerity: "foreign mothers" were supposedly "coming to this country to give birth", and this was "put[ting] pressure on hospitals". Then-Immigration Minister George Hawkins explicitly gave this ...
And I just hope that you can forgive usBut everything must goAnd if you need an explanation, nationThen everything must goSongwriters: James Dean Bradfield / Sean Anthony Moore / Nicholas Allen Jones.Today, I’d like to talk about a couple of things that happened over the weekend:Brian Tamaki’s Library Invasion and ...
New reporting highlights how Brooke van Velden refuses to meet with the CTU but is happy to meet with fringe Australian-based unions. Van Velden is pursuing reckless changes to undermine the personal grievance system against the advice of her own officials. Engineering New Zealand are saying that hundreds of engineers ...
The NZCTU strongly supports the Employment Relations (Employee Remuneration Disclosure) Amendment Bill. This Bill represents a positive step towards addressing serious issues around unlawful disparities in pay by protecting workers’ rights to discuss their pay and conditions. This Bill also provides welcome support for helping tackle the prevalent gender and ...
Years of hard work finally paid off last week as the country’s biggest and most important transport project, the City Rail Link reached a major milestone with the first test train making its way slowly though the tunnels for the first time. This is a fantastic achievement and it is ...
Engineers are pleading for the Government to free up funds to restart stalled projects. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday, February 17 are:Engineering New Zealand CEO Richard Templer said yesterday hundreds of ...
It’s one of New Zealand’s great sustaining myths: the spirit of ANZAC, our mates across the ditch, the spirit of Earl’s Court, Antipodeans united against the world. It is also a myth; it is not reality. That much was clear from a series of speakers, including a former Australian Prime ...
Many people have been unsatisfied for years that things have not improved for them, some as individuals, many more however because their families are clearly putting in more work, for less money – and certainly far less purchase on society. This general discontent has grown exponentially since the GFC. ...
A listing of 34 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 9, 2025 thru Sat, February 15, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report shows worsening food poverty and housing shortages mean more than 400,000 people now need welfare support, the highest level since the 1990s. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in our political economy around housing, climate and ...
You're just too too obscure for meOh you don't really get through to meAnd there's no need for you to talk that wayIs there any less pessimistic things to say?Songwriters: Graeme DownesToday, I thought we’d take a look at some of the most cringe-inducing moments from last week, but don’t ...
Please note: I’ve delayed my “What can we do?” article for this video.The video above shows Destiny Church members assaulting staff and librarians as they pushed through to a room of terrified parents and young children.It was posted to social media last night.But if you read Sinead Boucher’s Stuff, you ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is sea level rise exaggerated? Sea levels are rising at an accelerating rate, not stagnating or decreasing. Warming global temperatures cause land ice ...
Here is a scenario, but first a historical parallel. Hitler and the Nazis could well have accomplished everything that they wanted to do within German borders, including exterminating Jews, so long as they confined their ambitious to Germany itself. After all, the world pretty much sat and watched as the ...
I’ve spent the last couple of days in Hamilton covering Waikato University’s annual NZ Economics Forum, where (arguably) three of the most influential people in our political economy right now laid out their thinking in major speeches about the size and role of Government, their views on for spending, tax ...
Simeon Brown’s Ideology BentSimeon Brown once told Kiwis he tries to represent his deep sense of faith by interacting “with integrity”.“It’s important that there’s Christians in Parliament…and from my perspective, it’s great to be a Christian in Parliament and to bring that perspective to [laws, conversations and policies].”And with ...
Severe geological and financial earthquakes are inevitable. We just don’t know how soon and how they will play out. Are we putting the right effort into preparing for them?Every decade or so the international economy has a major financial crisis. We cannot predict exactly when or exactly how it will ...
Questions1. How did Old Mate Grabaseat describe his soon-to-be-Deputy-PM’s letter to police advocating for Philip Polkinghorne?a.Ill-advisedb.A perfect letterc.A letter that will live in infamyd.He had me at hello2. What did Seymour say in response?a.What’s ill-advised is commenting when you don’t know all the facts and ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff has called on OJI Fibre Solutions to work with the government, unions, and the community before closing the Kinleith Paper Mill. “OJI has today announced 230 job losses in what will be a devastating blow for the community. OJI needs to work with ...
NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi President Richard Wagstaff is sounding the alarm about the latest attack on workers from Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety Brooke van Velden, who is ignoring her own officials to pursue reckless changes that would completely undermine the personal grievance system. “Brooke van Velden’s changes will ...
Hi,When I started writing Webworm in 2020, I wrote a lot about the conspiracy theories that were suddenly invading our Twitter timelines and Facebook feeds. Four years ago a reader, John, left this feedback under one of my essays:It’s a never ending labyrinth of lunacy which, as you have pointed ...
And if you said this life ain't good enoughI would give my world to lift you upI could change my life to better suit your moodBecause you're so smoothAnd it's just like the ocean under the moonOh, it's the same as the emotion that I get from youYou got the ...
Aotearoa remains the minority’s birthright, New Zealand the majority’s possession. WAITANGI DAY commentary see-saws manically between the warmly positive and the coldly negative. Many New Zealanders consider this a good thing. They point to the unexamined patriotism of July Fourth and Bastille Day celebrations, and applaud the fact that the ...
The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts & talking about the week’s news with regular and special guests, including: and on the week in geopolitics, including the latest from Donald Trump’s administration over Gaza and Ukraine; on the ...
Up until now, the prevailing coalition view of public servants was that there were simply too many of them. But yesterday the new Public Service Commissioner, handpicked by the Luxon Government, said it was not so much numbers but what they did and the value they produced that mattered. Sir ...
In a moment we explore the question: What is Andrew Bayly wanting to tell ACC, and will it involve enjoying a small wine tasting and then telling someone to fuck off? But first, for context, a broader one: What do we look for in a government?Imagine for a moment, you ...
As expected, Donald Trump just threw Ukraine under the bus, demanding that it accept Russia's illegal theft of land, while ruling out any future membership of NATO. Its a colossal betrayal, which effectively legitimises Russia's invasion, while laying the groundwork for the next one. But Trump is apparently fine with ...
A ballot for a single member's bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Employment Relations (Collective Agreements in Triangular Relationships) Amendment Bill (Adrian Rurawhe) The bill would extend union rights to employees in triangular relationships, where they are (nominally) employed by one party, but ...
This is a guest post by George Weeks, reviewing a book called ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin AshtonBook review: ‘How to Fly a Horse’ by Kevin Ashton (2015) – and what it means for Auckland. The title of this article might unnerve any Greater Auckland ...
This story was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Within just a week, the sheer devastation of the Los Angeles wildfires has pushed to the fore fundamental questions about the impact of the climate crisis that have been ...
In this world, it's just usYou know it's not the same as it wasSongwriters: Harry Edward Styles / Thomas Edward Percy Hull / Tyler Sam JohnsonYesterday, I received a lovely message from Caty, a reader of Nick’s Kōrero, that got me thinking. So I thought I’d share it with you, ...
In past times a person was considered “unserious” or “not a serious” person if they failed to grasp, behave and speak according to the solemnity of the context in which they were located. For example a serious person does not audibly pass gas at Church, or yell “gun” at a ...
Long stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, February 13 are:The coalition Government’s early 2024 ‘fiscal emergency’ freeze on funding, planning and building houses, schools, local roads and hospitals helped extend and deepen the economic and jobs recession through calendar ...
For obvious reasons, people feel uneasy when the right to be a citizen is sold off to wealthy foreigners. Even selling the right to residency seems a bit dubious, when so many migrants who are not millionaires get turned away or are made to jump through innumerable hoops – simply ...
A new season of White Lotus is nearly upon us: more murder mystery, more sumptuous surroundings, more rich people behaving badly.Once more we get to identify with the experience of the pampered tourist or perhaps the poorly paid help; there's something in White Lotus for all New Zealanders.And unlike the ...
In 2016, Aotearoa shockingly plunged to fourth place in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index. Nine years later, and we're back there again: New Zealand has seen a further slip in its global ranking in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). [...] In the latest CPI New Zealand's score ...
1. You’ve started ranking your politicians on how much they respect the rule of law2. You’ve stopped paying attention to those news publications3. You’ve developed a sudden interest in a particular period of history4. More and more people are sounding like your racist, conspiracist uncle.5. Someone just pulled a Nazi ...
Transforming New Zealand: Brian EastonBrian Easton will discuss the above topic at 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington at 5:30pm on Tuesday 26 February at 2/57 Willis Street, WellingtonThe sub-title to the above is "Why is the Left failing?" Brian Easton's analysis is based on his view that while the ...
Salvation Army’s State of the Nation 2025 report highlights falling living standards, the highest unemployment rates since the 1990s and half of all Pacific children going without food. There are reports of hundreds if not thousands of people are applying for the same jobs in the wake of last year’s ...
Mountain Tui is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Correction: On the article The Condundrum of David Seymour, Luke Malpass conducted joint reviews with Bryce Wilkinson, the architect of the Regulatory Standards Bill - not Bryce Edwards. The article ...
Tomorrow the council’s Transport, Resilience and Infrastructure Committee meet and agenda has a few interesting papers. Council’s Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport Every year the council provide a Letter of Expectation to Auckland Transport which is part of the process for informing AT of the council’s priorities and ...
All around in my home townThey're trying to track me down, yeahThey say they want to bring me in guiltyFor the killing of a deputyFor the life of a deputySongwriter: Robert Nesta Marley.Support Nick’s Kōrero today with a 20% discount on a paid subscription to receive all my newsletters directly ...
Hi,I think all of us have probably experienced the power of music — that strange, transformative thing that gets under our skin and helps us experience this whole life thing with some kind of sanity.Listening and experiencing music has always been such a huge part of my life, and has ...
Business frustration over the stalled economy is growing, and only 34% of voters are confidentNicola Willis can deliver. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, February 12 are:Business frustration is growing about a ...
I have now lived long enough to see a cabinet minister go both barrels on their Prime Minister and not get sacked.It used to be that the PM would have a drawer full of resignations signed by ministers on the day of their appointment, ready for such an occasion. But ...
This session will feature Simon McCallum, Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Computer Science (VUW) and recent Labour Party candidate in the Southland Electorate talking about some of the issues around AI and how this should inform Labour Party policy. Simon is an excellent speaker with a comprehensive command of AI ...
The proposed Waimate garbage incinerator is dead: The company behind a highly-controversial proposal to build a waste-to-energy plant in the Waimate District no longer has the land. [...] However, SIRRL director Paul Taylor said the sales and purchase agreement to purchase land from Murphy Farms, near Glenavy, lapsed at ...
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has been a vital tool in combatting international corruption. It forbids US companies and citizens from bribing foreign public officials anywhere in the world. And its actually enforced: some of the world's biggest companies - Siemens, Hewlett Packard, and Bristol Myers Squibb - have ...
December 2024 photo - with UK Tory Boris Johnson (Source: Facebook)Those PollsFor hours, political poll results have resounded across political hallways and commentary.According to the 1News Verizon poll, 50% of the country believe we are heading in the “wrong direction”, while 39% believe we are “on the right track”.The left ...
A Tai Rāwhiti mill that ran for 30 years before it was shut down in late 2023 is set to re-open in the coming months, which will eventually see nearly 300 new jobs in the region. A new report from Massey University shows that pensioners are struggling with rising costs. ...
As support continues to fall, Luxon also now faces his biggest internal ructions within the coalition since the election, with David Seymour reacting badly to being criticised by the PM. File photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Not since 1988 when Richard Prebble openly criticised David Lange have we seen such a challenge to a Prime Minister as that of David Seymour to Christopher Luxon last night. Prebble suggested Lange had mental health issues during a TV interview and was almost immediately fired. Seymour hasn’t gone quite ...
Three weeks in, and the 24/7 news cycle is not helping anyone feel calm and informed about the second Trump presidency. One day, the US is threatening 25% trade tariffs on its friends and neighbours. The reasons offered by the White House are absurd, such as stopping fentanyl coming in ...
This video includes personal musings and conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Wherever you look, you'll hear headlines claiming we've passed 1.5 degrees of global warming. And while 2024 saw ...
Photo by Heather M. Edwards on UnsplashHere’s the key news, commentary, reports and debate around Aotearoa’s politics and economy in the week to Feb 10 below. That’s ahead of live chats on the Substack App and The Kākā’s front page on Substack at 5pm with: on his column in The ...
Is there anyone in the world the National Party loves more than a campaign donor? Why yes, there is! They will always have the warmest hello and would you like to slip into something more comfortable for that great god of our age, the High Net Worth Individual.The words the ...
Waste and fraud certainly exist in foreign aid programs, but rightwing celebration of USAID’s dismantling shows profound ignorance of the value of soft power (as opposed to hard power) in projecting US influence and interests abroad by non-military/coercive means (think of “hearts and minds,” “hugs, not bullets,” “honey versus vinegar,” ...
Health New Zealand is proposing to cut almost half of its data and digital positions – more than 1000 of them. The PSA has called on the Privacy Commissioner to urgently investigate the cuts due to the potential for serious consequences for patients. NZNO is calling for an urgent increase ...
We may see a few more luxury cars on Queen Street, but a loosening of rules to entice rich foreigners to invest more here is unlikely to “turbocharge our economic growth”. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāLong stories short, the top six things in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate ...
Let us not dance daintily around the elephant in the room. Our politicians who serve us in the present are not honest, certainly not as honest as they should be, and while the right are taking out most of the trophies for warping narratives and literally redefining “facts”, the kiwi ...
A few weeks ago I took a look at public transport ridership in 2024. In today’s post I’m going to be looking a bit deeper at bus ridership. Buses make up the vast majority of ridership in Auckland with 70 million boardings last year out of a total of 89.4 ...
Oh, you know I did itIt's over and I feel fineNothing you could say is gonna change my mindWaited and I waited the longest nightNothing like the taste of sweet declineSongwriters: Chris Shiflett / David Eric Grohl / Nate Mendel / Taylor Hawkins.Hindsight is good, eh?The clarity when the pieces ...
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on UnsplashHere’s what we’re watching in the week to February 16 and beyond in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty:Monday, February 10The Kākā’s weekly wrap-up of news about politics and the economy is due at midday, followed by webinar for paying subscribers in Substack’s ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, February 2, 2025 thru Sat, February 8, 2025. This week's roundup is again published soleley by category. We are still interested in feedback to hone the categorization, so if ...
Today, I stumbled across a Twitter Meme: the ending of The Lord of the Rings as a Chess scenario: https://x.com/mellon_heads/status/1887983845917564991 It gets across the basic gist. Aragorn and Gandalf offering up ‘material’ at the Morannon allows Frodo and Samwise to catch Sauron unawares – fair enough. But there are a ...
Last week, Kieran McAnulty called out Chris Bishop and Nicola Willis for their claims that Kāinga Ora’s costs were too high.They had claimed Kāinga Ora’s cost were 12% higher than market i.e. private devlopersBut Kāinga Ora’s Chair had already explained why last year:"We're not building to sell, so we'll be ...
The Government’s newly announced funding for biodiversity and tourism of $30-million over three years is a small fraction of what is required for conservation in this country. ...
The Government's sudden cancellation of the tertiary education funding increase is a reckless move that risks widespread job losses and service reductions across New Zealand's universities. ...
National’s cuts to disability support funding and freezing of new residential placements has resulted in significant mental health decline for intellectually disabled people. ...
The hundreds of jobs lost needlessly as a result of the Kinleith Mill paper production closure will have a devastating impact on the Tokoroa community - something that could have easily been avoided. ...
Today Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, released her members bill that will see the return of tamariki and mokopuna Māori from state care back to te iwi Māori. This bill will establish an independent authority that asserts and protects the rights promised in He Whakaputanga ...
The Whangarei District Council being forced to fluoridate their local water supply is facing a despotic Soviet-era disgrace. This is not a matter of being pro-fluoride or anti-fluoride. It is a matter of what New Zealanders see and value as democracy in our country. Individual democratically elected Councillors are not ...
Nicola Willis’ latest supermarket announcement is painfully weak with no new ideas, no real plan, and no relief for Kiwis struggling with rising grocery costs. ...
Half of Pacific children sometimes going without food is just one of many heartbreaking lowlights in the Salvation Army’s annual State of the Nation report. ...
The Salvation Army’s State of the Nation report is a bleak indictment on the failure of Government to take steps to end poverty, with those on benefits, including their children, hit hardest. ...
New Zealand First has today introduced a Member’s Bill which would restore decision-making power to local communities regarding the fluoridation of drinking water. The ‘Fluoridation (Referendum) Legislation Bill’ seeks to repeal the Health (Fluoridation of Drinking Water) Amendment Act 2021 that granted centralised authority to the Direct General of Health ...
New Zealand First has introduced a Member’s Bill aimed at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses because of the current “Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework”. “This Bill ensures fairness and prevents ESG standards from perpetuating woke ideology in the banking sector being driven by unelected, globalist, climate ...
Erica Stanford has reached peak shortsightedness if today’s announcement is anything to go by, picking apart immigration settings piece by piece to the detriment of the New Zealand economy. ...
Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. The intention was to establish a colony with the cession of sovereignty to the Crown, ...
Te Whatu Ora Chief Executive Margie Apa leaving her job four months early is another symptom of this government’s failure to deliver healthcare for New Zealanders. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Prime Minister to show leadership and be unequivocal about Aotearoa New Zealand’s opposition to a proposal by the US President to remove Palestinians from Gaza. ...
The latest unemployment figures reveal that job losses are hitting Māori and Pacific people especially hard, with Māori unemployment reaching a staggering 9.7% for the December 2024 quarter and Pasifika unemployment reaching 10.5%. ...
Waitangi 2025: Waitangi Day must be community and not politically driven - Shane Jones Our originating document, theTreaty of Waitangi, was signed on February 6, 1840. An agreement between Māori and the British Crown. Initially inked by Ngā Puhi in Waitangi, further signatures were added as it travelled south. ...
Despite being confronted every day with people in genuine need being stopped from accessing emergency housing – National still won’t commit to building more public houses. ...
The Green Party says the Government is giving up on growing the country’s public housing stock, despite overwhelming evidence that we need more affordable houses to solve the housing crisis. ...
Before any thoughts of the New Year and what lies ahead could even be contemplated, New Zealand reeled with the tragedy of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming losing her life. For over 38 years she had faithfully served as a front-line Police officer. Working alongside her was Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson will return to politics at Waitangi on Monday the 3rd of February where she will hold a stand up with fellow co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick. ...
Te Pāti Māori is appalled by the government's blatant mishandling of the school lunch programme. David Seymour’s ‘cost-saving’ measures have left tamariki across Aotearoa with unidentifiable meals, causing distress and outrage among parents and communities alike. “What’s the difference between providing inedible food, and providing no food at all?” Said ...
The Government is doubling down on outdated and volatile fossil fuels, showing how shortsighted and destructive their policies are for working New Zealanders. ...
Green Party MP Steve Abel this morning joined Coromandel locals in Waihi to condemn new mining plans announced by Shane Jones in the pit of the town’s Australian-owned Gold mine. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to strengthen its just-announced 2030-2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement and address its woeful lack of commitment to climate security. ...
Today marks a historic moment for Taranaki iwi with the passing of the Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill in Parliament. "Today, we stand together as descendants of Taranaki, and our tūpuna, Taranaki Maunga, is now formally acknowledged by the law as a living tūpuna. ...
The Government’s commitment to get New Zealand’s roads back on track is delivering strong results, with around 98 per cent of potholes on state highways repaired within 24 hours of identification every month since targets were introduced, Transport Minister Chris Bishop says. “Increasing productivity to help rebuild our economy is ...
The former Cadbury factory will be the site of the Inpatient Building for the new Dunedin Hospital and Health Minister Simeon Brown says actions have been taken to get the cost overruns under control. “Today I am giving the people of Dunedin certainty that we will build the new Dunedin ...
From today, Plunket in Whāngarei will be offering childhood immunisations – the first of up to 27 sites nationwide, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. The investment of $1 million into the pilot, announced in October 2024, was made possible due to the Government’s record $16.68 billion investment in health. It ...
New Zealand’s strong commitment to the rights of disabled people has continued with the response to an important United Nations report, Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston has announced. Of the 63 concluding observations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), 47 will be progressed ...
Resources Minister Shane Jones has launched New Zealand’s national Minerals Strategy and Critical Minerals List, documents that lay a strategic and enduring path for the mineral sector, with the aim of doubling exports to $3 billion by 2035. Mr Jones released the documents, which present the Coalition Government’s transformative vision ...
Firstly I want to thank OceanaGold for hosting our event today. Your operation at Waihi is impressive. I want to acknowledge local MP Scott Simpson, local government dignitaries, community stakeholders and all of you who have gathered here today. It’s a privilege to welcome you to the launch of the ...
Racing Minister, Winston Peters has announced the Government is preparing public consultation on GST policy proposals which would make the New Zealand racing industry more competitive. “The racing industry makes an important economic contribution. New Zealand thoroughbreds are in demand overseas as racehorses and for breeding. The domestic thoroughbred industry ...
Business confidence remains very high and shows the economy is on track to improve, Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says. “The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey, released yesterday, shows business confidence and expected own activity are ‘still both very high’.” The survey reports business confidence fell eight points to +54 ...
Enabling works have begun this week on an expanded radiology unit at Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital which will double CT scanning capacity in Hawke’s Bay to ensure more locals can benefit from access to timely, quality healthcare, Health Minister Simeon Brown says. This investment of $29.3m in the ...
The Government has today announced New Zealand’s second international climate target under the Paris Agreement, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand will reduce emissions by 51 to 55 per cent compared to 2005 levels, by 2035. “We have worked hard to set a target that is both ambitious ...
Nine years of negotiations between the Crown and iwi of Taranaki have concluded following Te Pire Whakatupua mō Te Kāhui Tupua/the Taranaki Maunga Collective Redress Bill passing its third reading in Parliament today, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “This Bill addresses the historical grievances endured by the eight iwi ...
As schools start back for 2025, there will be a relentless focus on teaching the basics brilliantly so all Kiwi kids grow up with the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to grow the New Zealand of the future, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “A world-leading education system is a key ...
Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson have welcomed Kāinga Ora’s decision to re-open its tender for carpets to allow wool carpet suppliers to bid. “In 2024 Kāinga Ora issued requests for tender (RFTs) seeking bids from suppliers to carpet their properties,” Mr Bishop says. “As part ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today visited Otahuhu College where the new school lunch programme has served up healthy lunches to students in the first days of the school year. “As schools open in 2025, the programme will deliver nutritious meals to around 242,000 students, every school day. On ...
Minister for Children Karen Chhour has intervened in Oranga Tamariki’s review of social service provider contracts to ensure Barnardos can continue to deliver its 0800 What’s Up hotline. “When I found out about the potential impact to this service, I asked Oranga Tamariki for an explanation. Based on the information ...
A bill to make revenue collection on imported and exported goods fairer and more effective had its first reading in Parliament, Customs Minister Casey Costello said today. “The Customs (Levies and Other Matters) Amendment Bill modernises the way in which Customs can recover the costs of services that are needed ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Department of Internal Affairs [the Department] has achieved significant progress in completing applications for New Zealand citizenship. “December 2024 saw the Department complete 5,661 citizenship applications, the most for any month in 2024. This is a 54 per cent increase compared ...
Reversals to Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions begin tonight and will be in place by 1 July, says Minister of Transport Chris Bishop. “The previous government was obsessed with slowing New Zealanders down by imposing illogical and untargeted speed limit reductions on state highways and local roads. “National campaigned on ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has announced Budget 2025 – the Growth Budget - will be delivered on Thursday 22 May. “This year’s Budget will drive forward the Government’s plan to grow our economy to improve the incomes of New Zealanders now and in the years ahead. “Budget 2025 will build ...
Asia Pacific Report Two Palestinian resistance groups have condemned “the brutal assault” on prisoners at Ofer Prison, saying it was “barbaric criminal behaviour that reflects the fascist and terrorist nature of” Israel. In the joint statement, Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) called the attack a “miserable attempt” by Israel ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist in Avarua, Rarotonga Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown hopes to have “an opportunity to talk” with the New Zealand government to “heal some of the rift”. Brown returned to Avarua on Sunday afternoon (Cook Islands Time) following his week-long state visit to China, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sonia R. Grover, Clinical Professor of Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne Polina Zimmerman/Pexels Menstruation, or a period, is the bleeding that occurs about monthly in healthy people born with a uterus, from puberty to menopause. This happens when the endometrium, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ella Barclay, Senior Lecturer, School of Art and Design, Australian National University Despite the perceived outrage at Khaled Sabsabi’s depiction of Hassan Nasrallah in his 2007 work You, Australian art has long made subjects of outlaws and questionable figures. And it is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Louise Pryke, Honorary Research Associate, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney Lisa Tomasetti/Opera Australia “It’s an old song”, Hermes (Christine Anu) sings at the opening of Hadestown, but “we’re gonna sing it again and again”. Based on a ...
An additional $13 million will be invested in tourism infrastructure, including upgrading huts and resolving the backlog in Milford Sound concessions. ...
The reality is that we have no obligation to tolerate the intolerant. They are using violence to shut down and silence others. The result of tolerating intolerant views is the loss of everyone’s freedom of speech except for the one who most effectively ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Davis, Associate Professor in Conservation, Edith Cowan University Adwo/Shutterstock Humans have been poisoning rodents for centuries. But fast-breeding rats and mice have evolved resistance to earlier poisons. In response, manufacturers have produced second generation anticoagulant rodenticides such as bromadiolone, widely ...
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Just been having a look at The Working Group from last night.
Fun Fact; Apparently, for the first time, at the last election the average income of the right wing voter was lower than the average income of the left wing voter.
The lower turnout may have contributed to this (a lack of policy from Labour), but still a trend that is occurring overseas.
As our votes or ballots are confidential, how would anyone determine the income level of any given voter?
They probably do it at the electorate level – this electorate voted 85% Labour and has an average income of $50,000 (so 85% of people have an income of $50,000), this electorate voted 23% Labour and had an average income of $30,000 (so 23% had an average income of $30,000). And then totaled up across the electorates according to population size.
If that were the case then I don't know if I would trust the result. Labour and the Greens tend to get more support from young people and females so even in a high income electorate they would be getting votes from the lower end of the income distribution. Although, NZFirst and National get more votes from retirees who have a low income (but are generally better off because of assets).
It would be useful to have a link.
It's probably not the American issue which is the rust belt towns falling apart by economics and the opioid epidemic and people having no means of escape but more that the Boomers are heading into retirement and living off super.
Vote % per voting booth would give an indication if you matched ot to census data on income
I'd be reluctant to limit it to the census mesh blocks surrounding a particular voting booth. Many people (certainly in suburban areas) vote anywhere in their electorate – not necessarily at the closest booth. Synching with kids sports, or shopping trips, or whatever else they need to do on voting day/s.
Agreed. I voted in a border booth this time between Mt Albert and Epsom because I was taking my niece to her first vote. She was in Parnell, so I voted in Mt Eden (Epsom) where they had a Mt Albert table.
I often I vote at a Auckland Central booth for Mt Albert because Auckland Central booths are just up the road.
But at various times I have voted at the Mt Albert Library (going to St Lukes), Edendale primary (was passing to see a friend in Mt Roskill).
And of course when I have been volunteering for Labour on election day (none of the above), I vote close to wherever I am on the day if I haven't already early-voted.
Doing correlations by polling booths is a bit fraught. Something like 45% of Mt Albert votes happen in just a handful of locations – all of which are schools on main roads.
I have not voted on Election Day for decades. I was either organising Labour volunteers on Election Day, or later as a JP, I was collecting Special Votes from housebound people, and took the opportunity to do an early vote. Last year we were overseas and voted at New Zealand House in London.
I haven't had time to do more than vote since 2014. The unfortunate side effect of always being embedded in work projects is that it is pretty hard to schedule specific days for election day work.
Plus I always seemed to be racing for a release or deployment offshore to do bespoke installations of my work code just months after election day.
Just to give an idea, you just have to look at my holiday. I came out of one job that I started in mid-2014 in 2021 paid out 8 weeks of leave, and came out of the next job paid out for with 6 weeks leave owing in Jan this year.
I wistfully remember the days when I could take use my outstanding leave for a week or anything up to month off to work on elections – which is what I did through most elections after 1990.
Now I'm semi-retired with just a part-time job. There may actually be time to do things like election days once more.
Yeah I also think the figures don't mean all that much, except to people that love statistics.
People move around so much these days and with so much early voting makes accurate comparisons difficult.
Was but a guess
Yep sorry, no link.
It does resonate though, Labour isn't connecting with working class males. The Greens were a tad too identity and Davidsons unhelpful 'white, cis males cause violence' comments.
For a given voter, it's hard. The 2023 Election | New Zealand Election Study (nzes.net) would usually be how trends are identified but the data isn't out yet (although maybe someone had early access).
US puts weak pressure on Israel to allow aid into Gaza…or arms supplies will be at risk of being suspended.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-warns-israel-boost-humanitarian-aid-gaza-risk-114821525
The letter gives 30 days for Israel to comply…which happens to be after the Presidential Election. My take is it is a cynical effort–trying to get back democratic muslim voters. The Israeli butchers will likely just go for broke even more now in trying to exterminate Palestinians
It should be aid in today.
It is an indelible stain on Biden's presidency at least as dark as that on Obama's handling of all Arab Spring initiative and the rapid decline of positive US influence in the Middle East, that Biden is sending both humanitarian aid and massive volumes of weapons to Israel in 2024.
Biden started off his first two years of his term with momentum and spectacular redistribution to the poor and to lower-income communities.
It is the saddest moral retreat I've seen in a while.
To me your two examples are light years apart?
Giving Christian Amercans a hand up while oppressing Muslims in the ME
is no moral retreat it is totally consistent with long standing American values.
“Israel names teenage soldiers killed in Hezbollah drone attack – as ’23 die’ in Gaza school strike”
(Screenshot of headline)
https://x.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1845804207867056271/photo/1
https://x.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1845804207867056271
Why the presumption the people killed in the at the school were children?
https://news.sky.com/story/israel-names-teenage-soldiers-killed-in-hezbollah-drone-attack-as-23-die-in-gaza-school-strike-13233221
The article says children, and others.
The story says at least 23, including children. He could be exaggerating, or the story minimising. The fog of war.
They had a point, but if making it … be better.
For those without an X account
https://xcancel.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1845804207867056271
https://xcancel.com/
The outgoing Democratic POTUS is free to act outside the election cycle (pro Israeli public). Obama did it in Dec 2016 not vetoing UN Resolution 2334 (he and Foggy Bottom were behind it, venting at BN).
Biden has told BN what he would do (and what he decides goes till late January).
Lancet has already outlined the risk of lack of respite from war and move to focus on delivery of aid – and that hits home this winter.
PS. The Democrats have more marginals than Michigan to worry about.
A lot of people, mostly innocent people, will die from IDF butchery in those 30 days.
JAG gets it right on Morning Report today in relation to Simeon Brown's anti-democratic comment that he might intervene at Wellington City Council.Worth a listen.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018959977/rongotai-mp-on-govt-intervention-at-wellington-city-council
Of course this has nothing to do with the WCC having a Green Mayor and Brown being the most rabidly anti-Green minister in a cabinet that contains many contenders for this title.
More likely to do with the Mayor not being able to read the room and be quiet instead of scaremongering.
Tory Whanau is still commenting to the media and being interviewed. It would have been better, in my view, had she stated something like she accepted the deomcratic vote and councillors were committed to working together to achieve the savings needed to get the LTP underway.
She didn't, she argued the toss instead of keeping her head down.
PS I voted for TW as Mayor, also Nureddin Abdurahman
PPS Although nominally a green/lab/left wing city JAG is not universally beloved in this community.
From someone looking on from outside Wellington, TW does sound like a loose cannon who has no idea about message discipline and so makes herself an easy target for this country's cohesive, well-funded and malevolent right-wing propaganda machine that includes RW politicians, sympathetic private media, business networks and think-tanks. She should know better than to turn up at a gunfight armed only with feelings. That said, Genter was still pretty much spot on – at least in a big picture sense. Both these things can be true simultaneously.
Shanreagh:JAG is not "nominally" anything. She has been an excellent Green MP over many years doing great work particularly in relation to Transport.
I suppose you have bought into the scurrilous nonsense the anti-Green MSM dragged up a few months ago, where an obvious National Party voter attacked JAG because she hated bike lanes, JAG being a key supporter of bike lanes of course.
He didn't seem to be classing JAG as being "nominally" anything.
He was talking about the City of Wellington.
True Alwyn…..my mistake….I should have read the comment a little more closely.
But you will see that, despite this, most of my comment is still valid, though I doubt you will agree with it.
Tory got ticked off by RNZ this morning for not accepting interviews, to the extent they went through the dates…er…cough cough…anyone remember a certain Sirkey that would not front for a long time, and a certain Auckland Mayor–Brown, and a certain Baldrick and any number of Ministers such as Mrs Costello who refused to put in an appearance on RNZ.
Really all elected politicians should be available to the public as often as possible on media channels, but if the no shows are going to be targeted hit the right as well.
While we are clearing our throat and giving examples, add Ardern and ZB to the list.
For the same reason, I suppose, not liking the nature of the questions.
Ardern was a regular on RNZ though unlike the ones I refer to…she symbolically kneed Hosking in the nuts by ditching him, but yes it would have been better perhaps had she stayed at ZB and done the real thing!
It was not for the same reason. Hosking spent entire sessions trying to demean her, talking down to her, talking over the top of her and generally behaving like the misogynistic arsehole that he is. The climate of hatred of Jacinda Ardern was writ large at right-wing ZB Radio. Nobody with a sense of decency and self worth need put up with it.
That is a far cry from politicians who have things to hide or don't wish to publicly discuss certain issues so they avoid turning up to interviews.
Anne's right. Hosking is a shallow-brained early school-leaver who's basically incapable of engaging in civilised debate. Who wants to waste time dealing with his sort?
So.. Ardern stopped appearing because she didn't like the nature of the questions.
What you and Anne think of Hoskings has little to do with it.
Hosking didnt allow Jacinda Adern to answer questions.
Inserting his own opinion talking over her for the whole, so called, interviews.
Absolutely pointless attending the farce.
Hosking reminds me of the saying.
"Only the truely ignorant can be so confident".
Total contrast to his cringe inducing butt licking servitude, when “interviewing” the likes of Key.
Absolutely. Why the fark would anyone bother with that shit ? Akin to a Sean Platform Plunkett interview.
The man is a narcissist, pure an simple.
I just heard that she (Tory Whanau) is coming on RadioNZ's Midday Report soon.
Link
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/middayreport/audio/2018960018/wellington-mayor-tory-whanau-on-calls-for-govt-intervention
Live blog, here:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/530938/wellington-city-council-urgent-meeting-to-be-held-following-intervention-threat
Thanks Bella…yes I listened to her. She sounded entirely reasonable to me despite some daft questions like (paraphrasing) "do you accept that the WCC is a shambles? and “are you going to resign”?.
This whole thing has been a Coalition of Chaos beat-up.
BTW on an issue we were discussing the other day, the Guardian reported yesterday that 221 out of 1200 drones (18.5%) have got through Israel's various anti-drone and anti-missile systems since the war started. You can read it here-paragraph 6.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/14/attacks-by-hezbollah-and-iran-showed-a-degree-of-israeli-vulnerability-what-now
So you voted for the Mayor knowing her plan for the Golden Mile and cycle ways?
You stated this yesterday, comment 9 GD. It is still untrue.
FACT CHECKED
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/wellington-mayor-tory-whanau-discusses-aftermath-of-airport-shares-sale-on-the-tiles-local-edition/JJOY7YX6KZD5XDEV27P2ZK6DZM/
I should add that she is being sought for interviews, not because of the vote, but because of the comments made to media by right wing councillors and their partners in the Beehive.
Spending over $300m up from $187m on the old Town Hall didn't help Mayor Whanau's budget.
2023.
It was a project supported by former mayor Prendergast.
One issue as to cost was on preserving the old style veneer (some architects noted it was never that "special").
The future users of the building would not care about that.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/500972/wellington-city-councillors-vote-for-town-hall-redevelopment-project-to-continue
Today NZ Herald, Richard Prebble thinks he has the solution to the health crisis unfolding on Shane Reti's watch. No surprise, privatise the health system. Apparently he tells us Roger Douglas has written a plan to achieve this. The neo-liberal dinosaurs really are a one trick pony
Could he point to any country anywhere that had privatized health with a healthy population as the out come
No, but in the all-seeing mind of Prebs, that's only because none of them have had the courage to do it properly. You know, scorched earth, year zero, raze everything and let the divine God of perfect market competition rise phoenix-like to create heaven on earth. Prebs is rehashing the insane zealotry of the mid-80's to mid-90's all over again. Ignore him – he's barking, just like the publication that stoops to giving him a platform.
barking or maybe stuck in 1987. the extreme new righters have not moved on
Oh dear, has Prebs been thinking again.
Well..I would not like to be inside the thought processes of Richard maddog Prebble…..
Found it!
/
Group health insurance
Group health insurance refers to a policy offered to a group of people — usually employees who work at the same company. They can choose between individual plans or family plans that cover their immediate family members. In most cases, the employer pays for a portion of the plan, so costs may be lower compared to other options.
Individuals enrolled in group health plans paid an average annual premium of $8,435 in 2023 (about $703 per month), according to data from independent health and medical research firm KFF. For families, the total annual premium averaged at $23,968 — or about $1,997 per month.
Those prices are higher than they were in 2022, with both family and individual group health plan premiums jumping by 7%.
Individual health insurance
[…]
We analyzed nearly 790 Marketplace plans across 33 states to determine average pricing. For overall averages, we looked at age groups that included children and those up to 60 years old. Policy sizes included individuals up to families with three or more children. Premium data does not account for any tax subsidies that might lower the cost of your health care.
Monthly premium costs
For monthly premiums, the overall average cost was $1,178. But that number can change a lot based on age. For instance, a 21-year-old paid a monthly average premium of just $397, while a 50-year-old paid an average of $712.
Deductibles
The average yearly deductible for an individual was $5,101. That number more than doubles for families, who had an average deductible of $10,310 per year.
Maximum out-of-pocket expenses
The maximum out-of-pocket expense for individual policyholders averaged $8,335. It doubled for families, averaging $16,672 per year
https://edition.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/how-much-is-health-insurance
Just like a MECA then Mr Prebble.
I see douglases plans on a roll whenever i take a seat on the can. Both of equal value in my opinion
The price of allowing profit in health care.
It is of course a way to take the progressive tax system out of providing for health.
It is trickle up to the rich and in a nation with no CGT or estate tax.
Back in 1983 Roger Douglas argued an assets tax was better than a CGT (this was when we had an estate tax).
This is so predictable – 3 of the 4 right wing councillors (who voted for the airport sale in 2023 and reversed their position to cause a "crisis") have “admitted” it was just part of their political campaign.
Calvert accepted the advice in 2023 voting for sale of shares.
Her lack of trust in council staff is what attracted the attention of Stuart Crosby.
He was referring to the councillors not heeding advice from council staff – in line with a report commissioned by council to sell the airport shares – thus regarding Calvert and her 3 right wingers as part of that problem.
But they only did that as a ploy to destroy a council on which they were a minority.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/530935/wellington-city-council-incredibly-close-to-needing-government-intervention-former-lgnz-president
A full booklet of political suicide notes.
Can anyone recall Peters v Shipley and the Wellington Airport shares? It demolished the government.
If Ray Chung thinks things are such that elections are needed then he should do the principled thing and resign. A bye election will cost rate payers a whole lot less than a city wide election
He wants to be mayor.
As a Wellingtonian, I would say the WCC has had major problems since the Seddon and Kaikoura earthquakes. Andy Foster as mayor came in for enormous criticism too.
Broken buildings, broken pipes, it is all costing a fortune to fix- the library being the latest. The Town Hall is costing a fortune, the MFC needs repairs, the list goes on. There are multiple cultural venues dotted all over the place needing upkeep (Stadium, Opera House, St James, Michael Fowler C, Town Hall, TSB Arena, ), then they stupidly built a Conference Centre.
I would also say the COC's removal of LGWM funding has upset everything too.
I would also say Tory had an enthusiastic demographic of young people voting for her and it pisses me right off that all the old Wellington money is coming out, bleating that they aren't getting their own way. I am so sick of the moaning about cycleways.
The pipes are doing good, wonderful job by all the Wellington Water staff- haven't seen a fountain for months now.
Hi Feijoa, re those Anti Cycle moaners..led by the Anti-Cyclist Kultur Warrior himself : Simeon Brown.
Some links in response
They are actually a Good Thing . (well some of us already knew that : )
And a humorous take on it….For those with a sense of : )
Good to hear from someone in Welly about situation.
What's completely missing are talks from the businesses that support less cars and less car parking (like the ones applying for parklets, where carparks in front of their business are transformed into outside serving areas – cafes, bars, restaurants). Some serious question how much the existing car parking actually benefits the businesses, like on Courtney Place. How many car parks are there compared to number of seats to fill in all the bars, restaurants etc… the people that parked there are just a "drop-in-the-ocean" compared to the numbers required to support all those businesses.
For me it goes a lot further though:
How much do we have to transform our households, our neighbourhood, our city, our country to tackle pollution and greenhouse gas emissions? We have to start somewhere and we have to do it fast.
If Wellington, arguably one of the most compact cities, one with the most "Greenies" in the country, is unable to shift from excessive car usage to more sustainable form of transport, what chance is there to transform Auckland or smaller, more rural areas?
Which leaves only one point: Could the WCC execute the roadworks in a way that it doesn't impact businesses as much? Can it be done cheaper?
How many people did NACT1 slash out of jobs..and consequential spending at businesses ? And…I could parse this link for you? But have a read…Patrick Morgan talks sense…
Yeah people shop, not cars. Also people shop not bikes… I have a feeling most people who do the actual shopping, going to restaurants, cafes, bars etc, generally drive or are passengers in a car. Being able to drive into Wellington, park and then do whatever people need to do is important.
My observations are:
The majority of cars in the CBD don't do any business, they simply drive through. Wellington CBD traffic is not much more than a dozen of alternative motorway lanes with some high-rise buildings in between.
The main areas in the CBD, the ones with the highest foot traffic, have hardly any on-street parking; certainly not enough parking to sustain all the businesses on the given roads. See
So the large majority of those people either didn't use a car to get into the city in the first place or parked somewhere in a distance and walked to those businesses.
I commute into Wellington by car to work, or I work from home. Public transport adds a couple of hours to my work day, is unreliable and expensive.
Whenever I go to Wellington for shopping, or entertainment, I drive, park and then do whatever I’m planning on doing.
Unfortunately the inner city has lost a large number of on street parking spaces over the past few years, this does make finding a parking space harder in the evenings and weekends and discourages people from going into the Wellington central city in the evening for entertainment.
I’m happy to spend my money elsewhere outside of the Wellington central city. Something the Wellington council seems to ignore, is that many of Wellington’s better inner city restaurants, bars and cafes, have relied on well heeled customers from outside the inner city, or from the Hutt or Porirua cities. The same can be said for the inner city “party zone”, fewer punters, means less “buzz” so the punters go elsewhere.
Ok so sometimes you car to work, sometimes you work from home…and you do not like the Welly Public Transport !
Can you let us know…
What distance/where travel from ?
How much your car costs to run to and from? (incl fuel/rego/wof/insurance/wear and tear ie tyres etc….)
Time spent travelling..incl traffic jams ?
If you can find a park (seems to be plenty of, according to links previously provided )…how much that costs?
And..re your :
Are you meaning cars driven to bars? If that means less intoxicated driving around because they cant..park out front ? Then good. Anyway I'm sure most would get an uber or minibus dropoff and safe pickup…
Psycling… Sorry, I am not going to justify my decision/choice of my transport to/from work. As a grown adult I am more than capable of choosing how I live my life, & I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do.
For myself, and many others, it’s extremely difficult to find car parking in the evenings or weekends within the central city. Unfortunately the cycling brigade dismisses out of hand any public dissent that is in any way critical of cycling lanes, and the removal of car parking.
Drink driving is not the issue. Many people are capable of going out for an evening without drinking to excess or even not drinking alcohol.
You are the one that is criticising Public Transport.In particular Wellingtons.
And yet you dont want to put up your own comparisons ?….So from that ..unsurpringly its just your reckons…and innate dislike of same…and also Cycle Lanes.
I and others have provided Links etc.
As for the "cycling brigade" !? There are many people that would like Children…and Disabled people who also Cycle..to be safe on their travels.
I will leave you to your reckons. Enjoy the Summer of Cycling : )
"I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do."
No consultation is a lie. A complete lie. Just because you didn't get what you want, doesn't mean there was no consultation.
I have been to many community transport meetings regarding Wellington cycleways and parking. And…
“The council thinks they can do whatever they want, simply because they are duly elected representatives with statutory authority over traffic decisions on the local roads and had followed all the legally required processes. It was completely undemocratic,”
From here, which documents one of the ongoing lies from petrol huffers like yourself:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/07-05-2024/plucky-foodstuffs-crushed-by-the-iron-fist-of-big-bicycle
Now, about your little inversion of reality. The statement "I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner"
You're exercising a privilege, not a right. But as a typical NZ motorist, you don't understand that.
Show me the legislation or by-law which grants you the right to leave your pile of rusting debt on public land? Expensive public land in the CBD.
And while we are at it, show me the consultation process for, or rights of, motorists to shorten our lives?
https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/news/fuming-about-toxins-traffic-air-pollution-shortens-lives-and-puts-kiwis-hospital
Cinder, You are deliberately being dishonest about what I’ve written, hopefully you spend no more than a couple of minutes writing your comment. I don’t engage with people who do this
You disagree with simple statements of fact?!?
And don't engage with people who state them?
May I suggest that you check that your vehicles exhaust is not entering the passenger cabin.
You’re being dishonest, I pointed that out, and yet you continue to be dishonest. Here’s a suggestion, don’t say I wrote something, when I did not…
So you didn't state this?
"I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner. This is something Wellington city council employees refuse to do."
The council have had consultation after consultation on all the changes you are whining about:
So unless you have some specific complaint about your personal interactions with the council, you are lying.
The Golden Mile consultation began 5 years ago
https://www.letstalk.wellington.govt.nz/golden-mile
Having been in some of these consultations, I have encountered people like yourself who believe that because they have driven for a few decades they are experts in transport policy and planning. You're not.
So while you whinge and whine like a farmer about having to spend minutes trawling around the block, looking for a carpark and then complaining that you had to walk a few hundred metres, here are some things for you to consider:
The people who live in these wards have made their democratic choices and decisions about future transport provisions. You don't even live in those wards. Why do you hate democracy?
There is this amazing facility right by Lambton Quay, you may not have heard of it, its called the train station and there are buses that run from there right along Lambton Quay and Courtney Place, almost every 5 minutes. It was originally built to serve the Hutt because the landed gentry of Wellington had exiled the brown and the poor there and they needed some way to get the labour pool into the city. Do you avoid it because you don't want to mix with the poors?
You pathetic bleating makes me think of my old neighbour in Newtown. Who at the age of 28, suffering from MS and using a walker commuted to Ghuznee Street and Lambton Quay every day using the bus. While negotiating signage and cars littering the footpaths.
And here you are bitching about the restrictions on exercising your privilege to walk as little as possible.
Get a grip. You chose to live where ever it is you live and rely on exercising a privilege which is exercised at the discretion of the state.
Are you a child who cannot take responsibility for their own choices?
I think you need to attend a Civics 101 course. This whole privilege vs rights argument seems to have eluded you.
Hi Cinder. Sadly some people..you will never reach. Like the fuel they use, they are Dinosaur…minded.
If interested here is a good link to what could be..if we can be Future Thinking. I have many more and , Positive Thinking : )
Who is part of the problem ?
NZ love of The Car
Take care. Sustainable City..and Planet : )
Cinder, wow that must have taken more than a few minutes to write… You sound like a uppity middle class white woman who gets upset when the “oiks from the Hutt” are disobedient…
[You sound like an uppity middle class white moron who doesn’t explain anything and doesn’t address the arguments against what you did say but rather goes for the personal attack. It’s a Bayly-type of diversion to focus on the word(s) you didn’t use rather than commenting in good faith. Put up or shut up and you’re running out of warnings from me – Incognito]
Mod note
Incognito, if Im a moron I'm way above average.
I’m more than happy to answer questions, when I’m asked politely and respectfully. I felt that both Psycling.. and Cinder were dismissive, disrespectful and condescending with their initial response to me. Therefore any response from me is likely to be dismissed.
However I’m more than happy to discuss this with you. The way I choose to live and organise my life is due to me having to juggle family, community commitments, doing stuff for myself and my health. Time is important to me, I don’t have enough at present, using public transport leaves me with less time and therefore would cause hardship to others who depend on me.
I’ve had previous experiences with both Wellington City and Hutt City officials who have very dismissive of residents views on a number of issues.
It is getting increasingly difficult to find car parking in Wellington city in the evenings and weekends. Sure I can afford an uber, but that comes out of my entertainment budget, so less money spent with local businesses. So my apologies to you for causing you extra work, hope you have a good evening.
Sorry if I have to explain elementary concepts to you using big words and long sentences. But it seems that you dislike the fact that I know what I'm talking about, can cut through your bullshit to the core of the matter and call a spade a spade
I also enjoy exercising my writing skills and I'm a quick typist. I also enjoy mocking people, so you've struck the trifecta you lucky bugger!
Yes, we are dismissive, condescending and disrespectful of your position for one simple reason:
You believe exercising your privilege is more important than respecting our democratic decisions.
Its summed up here by you: "I do have an expectation that others who may want me to change how I live my life, listen to my concerns and respond to me in an appropriate adult manner"
That is what the people of Central Wellington have collectively done – told you to leave fewer piles of unsightly, noisy, deadly, rusting debt in our streets. Also – we do not exist just to serve you're bourgeois face artisanal sauerkraut and a sour, we live here, in greater density than whatever hellscape suburb you've condemned yourself to, its our home. And like an "adult", you packed a sad.
You think that there being fewer car parks means people "want me to change how I live my life"…
You couldn't make that up! It's so good that Greater Auckland think you're a prime candidate for this weeks wrap up. Up there with the moron last year complaining about buses being in the "car lane".
But then, you're a special boy, mummies little treasure made of spun sugar. You deserve special treatment because apparently you're time poor and no one else ever is. Seems like you've just made poor decisions about your choices in life. I imagine all that debt on that depreciating asset limits your choices though. Maybe juggle things a bit better, or do less, or get a vehicle that isn't a wankpanzer and can be parked in a smaller space and doesn't hit our trade deficit and ongoing infrastructure needs like a… like a… like a 4WD into a child.
And – Oh No!!!Were public officials dismissive of you? I imagine its probably because you believe you have some non-existent "rights" as a motorist and because of this:
Oh for Gods’s sake. This is a reason why I never apologise or explain my actions
https://thestandard.org.nz/luxon-tells-the-world-andrew-bayly-lied/#comment-2014944
You do realise that you sound like a sociopath right? However, given your love of sniffing tailpipes, it makes perfect sense
"People who cannot apologize often have such deep feelings of low self-worth that their fragile egos cannot absorb the blow of admitting they were wrong
In these situations… they dispute the facts, come up with ridiculous excuses or pivot to petty remarks.
Do tell?
But when someone never takes responsibility and is habitually incapable of apologizing, it’s a sign that they’re a person with a fragile ego and a weak sense of self."
https://ideas.ted.com/why-some-people-cant-apologize/
Boy! Am I surprised…
By the way, I think I heard Farrar calling for you. run along…
A serious problem with the cycleways is the major disruption to the lives of people with disabilities, especially mobility problems. If all parking in the vicinity of your home has vanished, it's not possible to get picked up by a taxi, or have home help come. And then there's all the visitors that can't come by because they won't (or can't) walk 5+ minutes from the fluke park they found.
There's been several letters to the Post recently about how people with mobility problems can no longer visit the Botanical gardens as the parking is now a cycleway.
Denying people access to public places breaches the human rights act (sorry can't link on my phone) and falls under disability discrimination. So they've broken the law. This was something the council knew about in advance, but chose to throw this group of people under the bus (which not everyone can catch), and are refusing to undertake anything to help mitigate the situation.
WCC can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned. Enough that I might vote right wing for the first time in my life next year.
Are these 2 mobility places still there?
Type in Glenmore Street.
https://wellington.govt.nz/parking-roads-and-transport/parking/mobility-parking/mobility-parking-spaces
And mobility vehicle available for use at BG.
https://wellington.govt.nz/community-support-and-resources/community-support/accessibility-services/mobility-transport
I walk every morning and most lunchtimes past empty carparks in the Botanical Gardens, including disability carparks.
Of the carparks that were along Glenmore Road, how many were suitable for disabled people or people with mobility problems? From some areas it's relatively steep to get into the Botanical Gardens. There might have been one, maybe two disabled car parks near the Founders Gate (I thought it was an area to drop and pick up people, because it was always empty. Going to check tomorrow for old markings).
There were two disability car parks outside the Founders Gate where the bus stop was.
One presumes these are now moved elsewhere, inside the BG area?
Not being from Welly..I can only go by what I searched..and as yourself did.
Seems its maybe all..some other problem ?
Good Morning.
Okay, I did my morning tour…
The two disabled car parks outside the Founders Gate are still there, plus some space marked like a bus stop and can be used for drop-off and pick-up. There are 3 more disabled car parks next to the Rose Garden / Picnic Cafe and one at the Cricket Clubhouse Anderson Park. I can't remember a day where all those spaces were occupied at once.
One of the car parks (Glenmore Road) was used what appeared to me an abled-body driver (it was tempting to call the Parking Wardens to ensure the driver get the well-deserved $750 fine).
Looks like there are a good number of people still falling for the dirty tricks and misinformation of the biggest, most entitled urban polluter group (car drivers) and their "fake concerns" for disabled people and emergency services.
I will also personally say..onya for going to look ! And your other comments : )
Cheers for your Local Knowledge : )
And yea with regard to changing the mindset (some in concrete sadly) of people getting the idea of Sustainable transport..let alone Sustainable Towns/Cities..literally a Hard Road.
Ah well, keep trying. I do : )
I have previously tried to engage with you regarding Access and proactive action links. No reply ?
However when I read that you…
Ok. Leave you to that then….
This Smithfield AFFCO Timaru closure will kill the livelihoods of over 600 people directly and many more indirectly.
This is a massive blow to those families, to E Tu, and to Timaru as a whole.
Makes the Ruapehu mill closures look very small.
Na it doesn’t timaru has a far larger population with industrial areas , and many other options to soak up staff, not saying it's good but it's nowhere as bad as ruapehus lose of 2 mills.
There will be more of this pain unfortunately.
Land use is changing in response to climate change. Farm land is becoming forestry. This is a very positive thing….but there is always a cost. In this case its the job of the people who processed the animals from those now former farms.
I doubt it's pines in south Canterbury, it's dairy, and making milk powder is a lot less labour intensive than processing sheep.
Yeah I was more referring to future closures, or at least job losses. I am thinking areas like Northland, Gisborne and Hawkes Bay
The new Mayor of Tauranga says he would be comfortable with the council operating outside the law of the land.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/530931/tauranga-will-fluoridate-its-water-despite-mayor-s-no-vote
From conscience to cooker.
/
@willsommer
Russell Brand, remade as a right-wing Christian influencer, is now selling a "magical amulet" that protects you from WiFi signals and other "evil energies." Only $239.99 per amulet.
https://xcancel.com/willsommer/status/1846024507758162396
That old religion, mammon.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13945227/Russell-Brand-says-hes-God-Hurricane-Milton-Comic-shares-bizarre-video-Miami-almighty-power-control.html