Barely a ripple, then, in the NZ media about a massacre bigger than Sharpeville, a mass killing larger than Soweto, a crime as obscene as My Lai.
Our media by its silence is complicit in Israel’s crime.
Here is some detail of the horrific event.
“Laila Anwar al-Ghandour, an eight-month-old baby girl, died of tear-gas inhalation at dawn, Gaza’s Ministry of Health says, highlighting international outrage over the killings by Israeli soldiers of 60 Palestinians who joined in a massive protest against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Laila was the youngest fatality of the demonstrations on Monday, which were held in the run up to the 70th anniversary on Tuesday of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes…..
The Israeli military has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, cutting the Palestinian territory off from the outside world and leaving many of its residents impoverished, including the al-Ghandour family.
For the past seven weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting as part of a campaign demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.
Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 108 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded about 12,000 people.”
No you are wrong, RNZ have not had one story on the massacres since the 14th, yet constant updates on the wedding, and most (not all) of the coverage from other MSM sources have been misleading in their framing of the massacre at best…but really what is the difference between the massacre in Gaza on 14/05/2018 and South Africa Sharpeville 21/03/1960 or Soweto on 16/06/1976?
I second your comments above at 1.1, 1.1.1.1, and 1.1.1.1.1.1.
There has been extensive reports on NZ and overseas media sites, including those you have linked to and many others. But there are none so blind as those who wear blinkers to avoid their ignorance and bias being challenged.
It’s hard to understand how media can’t find it reportable. I find myself speculating about how pressure could be applied to such a large amount of media. Seems impossible, yet it happens. How is this so? 🙁
It’s probably not anti-Semitism but abhorrence at the actions of Israel which is then portrayed as anti-Semitism by those who wish to defend the actions of Israel.
“Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at the Campaign against Antisemitism, said the trust figures were indicative of official 2017 police statistics. “Antisemitic crime has been rising dramatically since 2014 and that rise is not explained by an increase in reporting, and we have seen no noticeable impact from Brexit,” he said.
“We believe that Jews are being singled out disproportionately and with increasing violence due to the spread of antisemitic conspiracy myths originating from Islamists, the far-left and far-right, which society is failing to address, as evidenced by the ongoing disgraceful situation in the Labour party, and because the Crown Prosecution Service declines to prosecute so often that antisemites no longer fear any consequences to their actions.”
I’m saying that there are possible consequences to Israel’s war crimes as well even if the Western governments and other apologists don’t want to do anything about them.
“Malmo’s sole Hasidic rabbi has reported being the victim of more than 100 incidents of hostility ranging from hate speech to physical assault. In response to such attacks, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a travel warning in 2010 advising “extreme caution when visiting southern Sweden” because of officials’ failure to act against the “serial harassment” of Jews in Malmo.
“Henryk Grynfeld, a teacher at a high school in a mostly immigrant neighborhood in Malmo, was told by a student: “We’re going to kill all Jews.” He said other students yell “yahoud,” the Arabic word for Jew, at him.
The fear of being accused of intolerance has paralyzed Sweden’s leaders from properly addressing deep-seated intolerance.
Some of the country’s leaders have even used Israel as a convenient boogeyman to explain violence. After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, explained radicalism among European Muslims with reference to Israel: “Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there isn’t a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.”
Gee using Israel as an excuse for the attacks, who’da thunk it?
“Historically, anti-Semitism in Sweden could mainly be attributed to right-wing extremists. While this problem persists, a study from 2013 showed that 51 percent of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5 percent were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25 percent were perpetrated by left-wing extremists.
Swedish politicians have no problem condemning anti-Semitism carried out by right-wingers. When neo-Nazis planned a march that would go past the Goteborg synagogue on Yom Kippur this September, for example, it stirred up outrage across the political spectrum. A court ruled that the demonstrators had to change their route.”
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People who can’t tell the degrees of difference between fact and supposition/prejudice like RW such as PR don’t throw any light or understanding onto gnarly problems.
who brings a baby to a riot? That is irresponsible parenting.
As for the terrorists killed, good riddance. Unfortunately about 10 civilians were caught in the crossfires.
humma
That is a good question. And can’t be answered with sweeping condemnation. For sure there will be poverty and control in the various threads of the answer.
Humma & Babayoga. The massacre of more than 60 unarmed protesters this week was covered by many cameras for all the world to see. In addition, 2700 people were injured. These figures have been validated by MSF ( doctors without borders).
IDF troops were firing into Gaza from the buffer zone. A fence (not a border) separated protesters, who were fired on from fortified sniper positions and tanks. While some young men approached the fence, most were at least 50 metres away. The baby who died from inhaling teargas was a long way from the action in a tent used by medics & media.
You can minimise or obfuscate this brutality all you like. The cameras of the world showed the truth. More Israeli war crimes.
Mycoplasma bovis is here. It’s what comes next that’s important
by The Listener / 17 May, 2018
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At a time when the link between town and country is weak, our reaction to cow disease Mycoplasma bovis will be a revealing test of national solidarity.
It almost seems like the stuff of science fiction: a debilitating epidemic spreads unseen and stays several steps ahead of efforts to contain it. But the cow disease Mycoplasma bovis is not part of a far-fetched plot in a Hollywood film. For the rural sector, it has become a real-life horror story. Agriculture minister Damien O’Connor bluntly describes it as a disaster.
It’s a crisis with heartbreaking personal consequences as well as serious economic dimensions. Good farmers care deeply for their livestock, and few people would not have been moved by the sight of a Canterbury farmer almost in tears as he talked of his infected herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, having to be slaughtered. This was the human face of an industry often pilloried for greed and environmental vandalism.
This thing MB is not strange and unknown. They have had it in Australia to the extent that they manage it apparently. The uncaring NZ RW governments who want foreign money and goods to come into the country for their benefit are uncaring about protecting and conserving our natural resources, one being that we have been free of many nasties. They make a show of having controls but then the guardians have limited budgets, probably inspect sample numbers, do their virtual kaitiaki from their computers.
A good coverage of the mycoplasma bovis problem from an experienced scientist Keith Woodford comes with a warning that we have to ramp up our controls over health. In 2018 Labour is set to see that NAIT is brought up to speed:
Given the lack of evidence for semen being the source, other possibilities need to be considered.
The normal transmission method for Mycoplasma bovis is from animal to animal. That raises the possibility that the original source is a live import. However, the oral advice from MPI (yet to be confirmed in writing) is that there have been no live cattle imported into New Zealand for the last three years.
Regardless of when animals were last imported into New Zealand, the importer was not the van Leeuwens, and the van Leeuwens have never received live imports on their farms. So once again, if a live import is the source, then the van Leeuwens have been exceedingly unlucky to the recipients of the disease. And what was the path by which it got there?…
If Mycoplasma is found to be endemic in New Zealand, then it will not be the death knell of the industry. But it will be a big nuisance. And we will undoubtedly need to implement some of the dairy hygiene measures that are typically seen overseas but which are largely ignored in New Zealand. In particular, farmers will need to think carefully about sending their young stock off-farm for grazing with young stock from other farms. Feeding raw (non-pasteurised) milk to calves will also need to be eliminated. Purchased bulls are another potential source of disease transfer. https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/90786/keith-woodford-says%C2%A0we-should-not-be-confident-we-have-mycoplasma-bovis-contained
Stuff and NZ Farmer covered it in August 2017 reporting on the experience of a Kiwi in Australia. While the prevalence of the disease in Australian herds was relatively low – about 3.5 per cent – it was spreading, and once a herd was infected, it remained infected at a subclinical level. The key was to be vigilant and quickly isolate any animal suspected of having the disease.
Goold estimated there might be about up to a dozen cases in the state of Victoria, the centre of the Australian dairy industry. Across the Tasman Mycoplasma has a very low profile; he had been farming for 10 years before hearing about it.
(I note the mention of up to a dozen cases in Victoria. We seem to have that number already.)
Then in November 2017 the farming business, the van Leeuwen Dairy Group which reported it initially was featured in Farmers Weekly.
In July one of the group’s farms was identified with the notifiable disease Mycoplasma bovis that initiated a full Ministry for Primary Industries biosecurity response.
While pretty much the rest of the world already had it, it was a first for NZ….
the van Leeuwens harbour much disappointment over how the response was managed.
“It has been horrendous on us, our staff and our contract and sharemilkers.
“The impact has been devastating on all our people and for many it will mean the end forever – their businesses and their reputations have been destroyed.”
The near 90 staff had just had enough and being associated with a group farm had tainted them for the future, van Leeuwen said. https://farmersweekly.co.nz/#
The van Leeuwens noted that after they notified government about the disease, MPI was very slow to respond. “It took them five days to find out where our farms were and 10 days to put their feet on the first infected farm.
“We had the cows well sorted and separated by then – thank God this was not foot and mouth,” he said.
Back in 2017 Guy dithered when the disease was found in a farm owned by rich-listers. I suspect it was all kept secret and quick and decisive action held up while compensation was being negotiated. It is interesting to see how compensation seems to be the only issue over the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak that has taxed the mind of Guy last year when he was minister, and now in Opposition.
“…Just how much damage did the John Key government do? I think we are only just beginning to find out…”
The fact remains that National’s 2009-11 tax cuts were by far the most ideologically driven piece of economic mismanagement of the countries economy so far this century. They were completely unaffordble, and made worse by a promise to return to surplus. These facts were papered over by the Key/English government by borrowing and the fetishisation of cutting government expenditure to the point huge swaths of civil society were trashed and huge areas of the civic governance of the country were defunded to the point of ineffectiveness.
The whole economic story of the Key/English era is basically one of reckless, ideologically driven tax cuts and a promise to return to surplus driving a policy obsession with the impossible task (of their own making) of squaring the resultant economic circle.
The result was the abandonment of governance of large areas of public policy in favour of an unregulated and increasingly corrupt form of crony capitalism and at the same time the running into the ground of the public sector.
yesterday 17/5/18 we presented our NGO teleconference submission to the Select panel on TPP 11 or what it is called now.
We spoke about the environmental issues we felt would be further damaged by entering this restrictive “trade agreement” as it would make it easy for foreign corporations to sue NZ Government or anyone else who attempted to tighten up environmental regulations.
I must say that the chair (National’s Simon O’connor was very receptive and very patient with our verbal submission and he is a pleasant man.
we gave him our full submission and to (Edward Siebert) the Clark of the committee requesting that he also supply it to all other members of the committee receiving all submissions against the trade agreement as it stands today.
So we hope they take note after we warned that any loosening of our environmental regulations now will ultimately destroy NZ if more spread of these imported diseases spread to our farming and destroy our exports.
here is a part of our submission;
Public COMMUNITY SUBMISSION TO; – the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
17th May 2018
Our response following a review of the agreement and media coverage by Government and other parties.
Our teleconference at 10am to 10.15am 17th May 2018 with the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
Our speech will be as follows;
Our concerns with the final draft of “The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
Pros: – Free trade is a good thing in the right situations.
Any of you who’ve taken introductory level Macroeconomics will likely already know this.
But trade between nations allow each country to specialise on producing what they have the comparative advantage in.
By removing barriers to trade such as tariffs and quotas.
The TPP agreement would allow global businesses to trade profitably in markets they are currently unable to do so in.
For example, Japan has very high tariffs on pork products in order to protect their own pork industry.
If TPP is used with Japan as a member, these tariffs would be done away with and U.S. companies could then compete in Japan on a level playing field.
TPP installs new intellectual property laws in an attempt to protect the original rights holders.
This is obviously a hotly debated topic, and there are costs and benefits on both sides of the issue.
Cons: –
TPP could possibly be very detrimental to the environment.
Under the TPP Environmental chapter, corporations could sue governments should they enact environmental legislation that would hurt their business.
Essentially, TPP asserts to the world that business’s profits are more important than the health of Earth.
This partnership would allow companies to sue countries.
Let that sink in for a moment; – instead of working in the best interest of their people, governments of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
Environment, public health, zoning codes – all are potential vulnerabilities under TPP depending on the wording of the final draft.
Intellectual property law would once again be strengthened.
While some protections are a good thing and help to ensure creators are properly rewarded for their time and effort, if taken too far such legislation can prove detrimental to creativity and innovation.
While the supporters of the TPP believe the provisions contained within are a good thing, the opposition to the TPP believes in the other side of the coin.
Local business will be damaged;
Our business CER Ltd Est’ 2002 is solely involved with monitoring the environment to protect the health and wellbeing of the communities we represent in NZ and will under this TPP agreement be subject to legal threats upon our business instead of working in the best interest of their people, as we are continually working alongside our local and central NZ government to make our environment, and transport systems operate in a safer place to live and encourage our government to introduce new legislation to protect our environment and people.
So Governments such as ours under TPP 11 will become a member with other nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
Environmental NGO’s will be damaged;
Under CEAC a publicly funded Environmental Advocacy NGO would also become legally threatened, instead of working in the best interest of their people, as these Governments in TPP 11 of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
This will damage our environment and our health under the current rules in this trade agreement.
Our resolution;
We request the NZ Government make changes before finally signing up to this restrictive trade agreement.
• To protect all NZ legislation and environmental regulations.
• Protect both current and future introduced new environmental legislation.
• Allow free flowing of all environmental submissions and discussions between all NZ communities, environmental business interests, and their local & Central Government.
• Protect the local & Central Government abilities to freely promote such environmental legislation to protect the environment and the communities they represent in NZ.
• Protect all Government agencies such as ‘The parliamentary commissioner of the Environment’ (see attached “HB Expressway noise & air quality issues”, as one case still under advisory status) and all other similar such environmental agencies advising Government of environmental issues.
Well said. Whole heartily agree. Reckless at best! 2.2.1.2
I’ve lived a good bit of my life in farming communities; farmers who care about their animals is an anomaly. Each animal is a unit, with value; that’s the sum total of their caring.
It’s ridiculous to suggest a farmer cares about every one of his 1500 cows or 4000 sheep.
The consequence of greed and environmental vandalism is Mycoplasma bovis.
The farmer whose herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, which now has to be slaughtered is justifiably saddened, but not because he cares about the animals, but because his life’s work is in ruins.
If he and others like him had put pressure on his fellow farmers to farm with some sort of integrity, he’d still have his herd.
Hi Brigid,
Yes my mini farm is alongside a cattle and sheep farmer who said to me once “dont worry about animals they live and then they die”
My Family came to Wairoa from the Canvas town/Havelock uper south island area after WW1 after one of my grandfathers brothers got injured and disabled in the Western front with “shell shock”.
So Frank was awarded a 300 acre farm in Clyde and was the first farm that produced milk for the Wairoa dairy factory in HB.
I am a survivor of a workplace chemical poisoning accident to and came here in the Gisborne hills to recover from my injuries too.
Today’s farmers do not use their own initiative to clean up their stockyards and use contractors to take the stock to other farms and bring other stock to their farms so any disease can easily be transmitted now by this method.
When rail transported all stock the local farmer had their own truck to transport their stock to market, and had the ability to keep their trucks free of contamination as they didn’t carry other stock all the time as tjey do now so this is why.
We now have a easily transmitted system of contamination now so we are reaping the rewards of lazy multi use of transport sources.
cleangreen
The way that farmers use others to do the transporting of animals over distance, with the likelihood of cross contamination, seems the same as what was reported from the UK as the reason for the spread of their awful disease back a few decades. But efficiency wins over effectiveness when it is neo lib economics and free unregulated markets and PROFIT AND COMPETITION ie a race to cut out all competition until a suitable cartel remains.
A cow with BSE: Infected animals lose the ability to stand. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that may be passed to humans who have eaten infected flesh.
The epidemic in cattle in Britain reached incredible proportions; by 1993 more than 1,000 cases per week were being reported. More than 160,000 infected cows have now been identified, involving more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK. Protein supplements containing sheep and cattle offal were banned in the UK in 1988, but it was not until 1991-1992 that the ban was strictly enforced. Given the long incubation of BSE, the epidemic curve (number of new cases reported per week) didn’t start downward until late 1993. It is now down to about 250 cases per week.. http://mad-cow.org/~tom/vet_interview.html
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/25/mad-cow-disease-british-crisis
Mad cow disease – a very British response to an international crisis It may have started with the death of a cow on a farm in Pitsham, West Sussex, England, in 1984 – two years before “mad cow disease” was officially identified. It ended by changing the way the UK approaches farming, prepares food, conducts surgery and gives blood.
“It’s hard to feel sorry for people who have consistently been destroying our environment for their own enrichment.”
Bloody hard! even as there are some who are desperately trying to give them a break (up against the corporates’ intent on corrupting their co-operative with promises of treats and trinkets, the banks, and others).
What’s worse is that they’ve not only shat on the environment, but also their fellows in the farming community – I often wonder how the hell @ Countryboy puts up with the egg rolls who’re stuck with their selfish blinkers on and their ideology (supposedly gNatsi’s are the farmer’s friend), and we’ll fucking well do what we like……we’re the backbone of the country…..and the city folk just don’t understand how tough it all is. Think of the children!!!
These arsholes are responsible for shitting on every farmer that is trying to do the right thing, and New Zealand. And they’re also riding on the reputation of those that ARE actually making an effort.
Oh you mean like these people taking out 2 acres of shellfish from environmental pollution and all the polluted beaches this year, so they can build multimillion dollar developments with the rest of Auckland having to pick up the infrastructure costs…
11 people trapped in a lift with maximum capacity for 8. Trapped group consisted of mainly of lobbyists, reporters, and political advisors. Fresh air had to be pumped in.
From memory those lifts are really tiny. I’m surprised that they managed to get 11 in. I kinda remember finding it awkward being in there with 6 people.
millsy (4.5) … I got stuck in a lift in Australia with 6 others. It wasn’t so much the lift being stuck that I found frightening, but the reaction of a couple of women, who were (understandably I guess) out of control, screaming, banging, pushing and grabbing those of us who were trying our best to keep calm and reassure them, not wanting to add to the problem!
Fortunately we weren’t stuck long. However that experience of other people’s panicky reactions has given me good reason to avoid lifts, preferring to use stairs whenever possible now.
“Green co-leader Marama Davidson told TV3’s The Hui “there is no Government that the Greens could be part of that would allow this to continue…”
The statement was made in reference to Housing NZ’s refusal to allow a disabled tenant to install a solar power starter package that was going to be provided and installed for free.”
I did watch the clip and can confirm this is what Davidson said.
Perhaps experience will teach her about consistent messaging.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/together/pages/329/attachments/original/1526583055/CTU-Report-on-Budget-2018.pdf?1526583055
From the CTU
I have just been playing with a few numbers here.
Wages from 2018-2021 are forecast to increase by 9%, adding 3.2%,2.7% & 3.1%
yet min wage that is currently $16.50 is set to increase to $20 by 2021 that is 21%.
From these then are we to see that those at the bottom end receive the increase and many e.g. teachers, nurses, police, trades etc are expected to be below the 9% , and great for those at the bottom end But there are many others also struggling just above this min threshold, and this comment on slow wage growth flies in the face of what demands we see from the unions and their deserving members.
“Treasury also forecasts continued relatively slow wage growth with the average hourly wage rising 2.8 percent in the year to June 2019, though rising slightly faster in subsequent years.
The continued rise in immigration and higher Working for Families payments are likely to put downward pressure on wages unless improved employment laws can counter that.”
The terrorists out, the government in: All kinds of repair and maintenance workshops enter the town of #Harbnafseh in #Hama Province to repair the electricity, the water, the roads, the schools and everything damaged by the terrorists
The terrorists out, the government in: All kinds of repair and maintenance workshops enter the town of #Harbnafseh in #Hama Province to repair the electricity, the water, the roads, the schools and everything damaged by the terrorists#FromSyriapic.twitter.com/ou68D1D0XM
This is the first EU-initiated break with U.S. foreign policy in quite some time.
It also make sit more likely that the EU will more assiduously court China as a preferred trading partner with Iran.
With the US now self-excluded from major trade relationships, the isolation from Trump will in time hurt the future growth of the US economy.
Thank God the EU still has the strength to stand up to the US.
Point of Order. I seek your indulgence Mr Speaker. Given the rules and conditions of entry to this interweb site, I wonder whether there might not be some way that I might pay for a motel room, or some other venue where the contributor @ Stunned Mullet, and his or prey @ Ed could get together and either make love or war, or at least resolve the issue of one’s obsession with the other.
Mr Speaker, I understand that WINZ has control over most of the available motel rooms in the region, but I suggest, in light of comments as annotated by heading level 1 and below, a VERY, VERY special case could be made to allow @Stunned Mullet and @Ed to resolve the former’s obsession which is now in danger of affecting the entire @TS community.
Mr Speaker, if there is some way this could be achieved, I’ll get back to teaching woodwork hopeful that counselling services and/or a bloody good root will ensure the TS community is no longer burdened with their fluff and flutter.
Question:
Does @Ed place posts on this blog specifically for the enlightenment of @Stunned Mullet?
If not, why does @Stunned Mullet find it necessary to respond to all of @Ed’s posts?
to the honourable member @Brigid,
That is exactly my concern (going forward).
All the evidence so far, and as the parliamentary record will show, @Stunned Mullet does seem to see it necessary to respond to the most innocuous of @ Ed’s comments that others might simply ignore if it wasn’t of concern. I’m merely trying to assist in the proceedings by proposing that the frustrations that might be apparent could be alleviated by a bloody good root based on the stereotypical idea that a Stunned Mullet is most likely bloke with a brain it considers to be of above average intelligence, or maybe that substantial wanking is at play.
And for more selfish reasons, the scroll down mechanisms on my primitive technology are wearing out (and of course because I’m utterly gorgeous and better than anybody else – which is why I get my jingles from looking at few others on this site.)
Mycobacterium ulcerans causes an infectious disease known internationally as Buruli ulcer, and also as Bairnsdale ulcer or Daintree ulcer in Australia. It causes severe destructive lesions of skin and soft tissue, resulting in significant morbidity, in attributable mortality and often in long term disability and cosmetic deformity.
All age groups, including young children, are affected, and the emotional and psychological impact on patients and their carers is substantial (Box 1). Although treatment effectiveness has improved in recent years, with cure rates approaching 100% using combination antibiotic regimens such as rifampicin and clarithromycin, these antibiotics are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for this condition and are, therefore, expensive to patients.
Moreover, these antibiotics have severe side effects in up to one-quarter of patients,1 and many people also require reparative plastic surgery, sometimes with prolonged hospital
admissions.
Welcome to Globalisation, lax border control and selfish tourists who can’t be bothered to clean equipment etc that don’t give shit about their or the host country’s environment.
Must be the same selfish tourists that caused the closure of the forested areas of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park to protect against kauri dieback disease. Selfish bastards!
Probably wouldn’t surprise me or a lazy local that clean his or her’s kit after a overseas trip. I’ve come across a few lazy tourists over the last few years.
We’ve found Phytopthora agathadicida has been here for at least hundreds of years, probably part of the landscape. So no, it’s not tourists that is the issue, but whatever has changed since man arrived.
How about massive deforestation, loss of biodiversity, air soil and water pollution…
If it has been here all along my guess is it has a counterpart in nature. A controlling agent which I suspect will be a fungal-pathogenic fungi.
If you want to be angry over this issue by all means be my guest. I’m very angry, they have no plan, I wrote a plan. They asked me about doing a Doctorate I said yes I’ve waited nearly 18 months now for NOTHING.
The only feedback I got on a plan I spent months poring over was from an individual scientist I contacted myself – who said it was a good plan and they want me on board the Kauri Dieback Team. I said OK lets try, heard nothing back since January.
One supervisor wont work with me cos I told him off for handing out advice that led to poisoning of large numbers of mushroom pickers in Taranaki in the 80’s.
Another dropped me immediately after I mentioned one of his colleagues tried to creep on me when I asked for advice – and I left study for a year due to that predator.
Can’t lump em all in the same basket many are amazing hard working people. But….
That was kinda the point I was trying to make but in a slightly more subtle way 😉
In any case, the most pressing problem is slowing/preventing the spread of the disease; it’s here to stay, as you say.
I wish you good luck with sorting out your doctoral research project. In the long term, a scientific approach/solution is the only option. I do find it odd that “they” asked you to do a doctorate and then nothing happened … Has the funding been sorted? A word of advice: don’t let personal ‘politics’ or ‘beliefs’ get in the way of a good science proposal 😉
This pisses me off….. an anti-abortion group are attempting to collect 12,000 pairs of booties to place outside of parliament, not to highlight how many women have gone through the trauma of an abortion, but rather to shame them for not being godfearing enough to not terminate.
Disgusting.
Having a termination is traumatic enough with out strangers heaping guilt upon ones shoulders due to their religious beliefs. I had a termination in my early 20’s, it was not an easy decision, but the lone male elderly anti-abortion protester at the clinic made a horrid day ten times worse for me.
I was happy to give some mandarins a couple of months ago to the counter protesters I saw opposite the termination clinic in Dominion Road Mount Eden – women’s bodies = women’s rights IMO.
Newshub Nation Simon Maori are benefiting from the reforms of the Coalition government.Grant Robertson is a excellent finance minister he learned his trade from the best Michael Cullen . The is no need to waste billions on jails we need to reach and teach people before they get into the system show them there are better choices out there than crime.
The state is run by old white men with a culture of cover there m8 ass at any cost and never admit to being wrong they set there m8 up with all the top jobs to strengthen there hold on the systems. P.S I new crime was dropping it was just a waiting game for the facts to be published Ka kite ano Yes Barnard The Green have received great wins the billion regions fund to plant more trees 1 wealth fare 2 carbon neutral targets
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori gives condolences to the Cuban people who lost whano members in that plane crash .
Every bone in trumps body is raciest I can see every move he makes is to dump on every one that is not ———.
Kate yes I say that Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody will be a awsome move .
It was a good weekend of sports for Eco Maori .
That volcano in Hawaii is still going hard its cold and wet in Rotorua at the minute.
Ka kite ano P.S Aoteroa is such a beautiful country thanks to my Tipunas
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Local body election results were released over the weekend, to joy or despair depending on where you live. In Auckland, Phil Goff trounced John Tamihere, who is muttering darkly about running for Parliament again (but which party would want him?) Wellington is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Weta Workshop, except ...
Two years have now gone by since the Friday afternoon when my university-student son and I headed out of our Barcelona flat to a nearby primary school, designated as a polling station for the vote that was to be held the following Sunday: the referendum on Catalonia’s independence from Spain ...
Overruled: The joint decision of Finance Minister, Grant Robertson (Labour) and his Associate Minister, David Parker (Labour) arguably the two most powerful ministers in Jacinda Ardern’s government, to grant OceanaGold the consents which Land Information Minister, Eugenie Sage (Greens) had earlier denied them, offers bitter proof of how hard fighting ...
More than double the number of people who will vote in this year’s local body elections have tried marijuana or urinated somewhere they shouldn’t have. As local elections look set for the lowest turnout in decades, with many regions falling well short of 40%, the Government is exploring a number ...
A Statement on Abortion Law Reform by the Council of Disobedient Women On the eve of bringing an end to antiquated, anti-women abortion laws Green MP Jan Logie intends to write women out of the Bill. With a stroke of the pen, the woke are aiming for total erasure ...
Musings continue apace about “the experienced businessman!” soon to be taking up a National Party MP position. Or to be more accurate, being parachuted into a seat to shut down their former MP Jamie-Lee Ross, who despite his own shortcomings shed at least some more light on the inner workings ...
The Ugandan government wants to murder gay people:Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The ...
Freedom Of Speech? The Säuberung (cleansing by fire) was the work of the German Student Union which, on 10 May 1933, under the watchful eye of the Nazi Reichminister for Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, consigned 25,000 books to the flames in a ritual exorcism of “un-German thought”. According to the logic of the ...
“There can be no such thing as kaupapa Māori political parties or politics in Aotearoa” (Willie Jackson, Labour Party (2017). Māori TV, General/List Election Special) I begin with that claim because at the time, I was confounded at first that it fell out of Willie Jackson’s mouth, and then ...
New Zealand’s media is doing its part in Japan, reassuring those in the path of the storm that they won’t miss any rugby while away from their flooded homes. New Zealand sports reporters stationed in Japan for the Rugby World Cup have had the rare and heartwarming opportunity to inform ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones is the only Cabinet member in favour of putting it all on green. As Finance Minister Grant Robertson finds himself with an enormous $7.5 billion surplus, the Government has begun intense, at times contentious conversations about whether to put the money on red or black at ...
by Susanne Kemp At the start of September close to 100,000 school teachers went on strike in Jordan. They demanded a 50% pay rise. A pay rise actually agreed to by the regime back in 2014. In early October, however, in the face of government repression and threats, the teachers’ ...
Back in 2011, journalist Nicky Hager published Other People's Wars, an expose on NZDF's activities over the previous decade of the "war on terror". NZDF didn't like this, and especially didn't like the fact that it was base don leaks from their own. So, they had the SIS investigate him ...
The Zero Carbon Bill is due back from select committee in two weeks, and will likely pass its final stages in November. So naturally, farmers are planning a hate-march against it. But they're not just demanding lower methane targets so they can keep on destroying the planet; they're also demanding ...
Last year, California burned. This year, to stop it happening again (or rather, to stop themselves from being found liable if it happens again), Pacific Gas and Electric is cutting power to half the state for a week:Schools are closed. Traffic lights down. Tunnels dark. Businesses unopened. Hospitals running on ...
The Best Way: Missing from the on-line voting debate is any reference to the voting system that produces turn-out figures ranging from 77 to 93 percent of registered voters. The voting system used to collect and count the votes cast in our parliamentary elections. The system that involves citizens making ...
Among the great new bunch of political friends we have been making recently is the excellent Australian-based Marxist gender-critical site, Freer Lives. So we asked the comrade who set up that blog to write something for Redline on the blog, himself, his analysis of the rise of gender politics and ...
by Don Franks The Auckland City Mission is struggling with a 40 percent increase in demand for food parcels this year. A total of 23,020 were needed by June. Last month Missioner Chris Farrelly told the Herald the “cupboards are bare” and without an emergency food drive, he can’t see ...
by The Council of Disobedient Women Massey Wellington Student Association had a sit-in today. Imagine a sit-in. On a campus. Against a women’s rights meeting. Did the ’60s really happen or did we fucking dream it? They gathered in the student square, an echo chamber. Sitting on soft pillows ...
For some reasons, my post about the mystery message from inside the Downing Street bunker seemed to catch people's attention. Quite a lot of hits from NZ (unsurprisingly) and the USA (a bit more puzzlingly, but hi there, USAians!!) and 76 views from the Ukraine.I've celebrated my Ukrainian readers in ...
First, almost a score of Labour MPs seem to have sent a letter to the EU basically begging them to accept a deal - any deal - just so Britain can get the Heck on with Brexiting instead of being trapped in limbo:
by Phil Duncan In 2016 the National-led government suspended the Parent Visa Category, through which migrants were able to bring their parents into New Zealand. Since then over 5,700 people have been in immigration limbo, stuck on the visa wait list. Labour is now bringing back the scheme. Well, sort ...
The following was released yesterday (Tues, October 8) by the women’s liberation organisation Speak Up for Women. On 23 September Speak Up For Women announced that we would be holding an event at the Massey University Theaterette in Wellington. The event is called Feminism 2020. The intention of the event ...
The government is currently consulting on plans to improve freshwater quality. So naturally, farmers oppose it:South Taranaki farmers are preparing to fight proposed national freshwater changes that some fear will bankrupt them. The Government's proposed National Environment Standard on Freshwater Management, released in September, rated the Waingongoro River as one ...
Yesterday was the last day for (reliably) posting your vote away in local body elections. Turnouts are mostly much lower than the equivalent time last year (Palmerston North is down 2.3%), and so naturally people are pushing their online-voting snake oil again. Because the online census worked so well, lets ...
This essay, on the political legacy of the eugenics movement, by Kenan Malik was originally published in the Observer on 6 October 2019, under the headline ‘The spirit of eugenics is still with us, as immigrants know to their cost’. Birth control. Intelligence tests. Town planning. Immigration controls. It’s striking how ...
Another year, and the government has announced another enormous government "surplus". And just like last year, its nothing of the sort. When we have people homeless and sick and hungry, when we have schools and hospitals still falling down, when we have underpaid public servants and infrastucture unmaintained or unbuilt, ...
James Forsyth at The Spectator (I know, I know) has tapped one of his contacts inside Number Ten for an insight into the Johnson administration's thinking and strategy.It is fascinating, unsettling and quite, quite mad. Some key points:Negotiations have stalled and the Johnson administration are keen to blame the EU: ...
Fatal Contact: With the arrival of captain James Cook in October 1769, the islands of what would become New Zealand ceased to be the preserve of Polynesian navigators and settlers and became a part of both the world’s map and the world’s history.THE MAORI NATIONALIST assault upon the historical meaning ...
Another round of tactical talks about forming a Government of National Unity have come to nothing with the Liberal Democrats still refusing countenance putting Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street:Opposition talks on Monday made little headway over when to try and vote down Boris Johnson's government and who might succeed him as ...
by Nick Rogers The debate around the meaning of sex and gender made an appearance at this year’s British Labour Party conference in Brighton. Women’s Place UK – an organisation that questions the demand that biological males who self-identify as woman should have access to women’s spaces, to all-women shortlists, ...
Yesterday I went down to Wellington to participate in the Extinction Rebellion protest. Its part of the latest global wave of XR actions, with actions happening all over the world. Some of those protests are massively disruptive: in Canada, XR is blocking major bridges, stopping people from getting to work. ...
The Workshop is a charitable trust for public good. The Workshop undertake research to find ways of communicating that will build support for the solutions that work to solve complex social and environmental problems. See their Report on Talking about Poverty and Welfare Reform below. ...
Being and Being Bought (Spinifex Press, 2013) by Kajsa Ekis Ekman A synopsis and commentary of Chapters 1-2 by Daphna Whitmore Ekman, a Swedish journalist and critic, brings together a Marxist and feminist analysis of prostitution and surrogacy in this groundbreaking book She opens the discussion with a definition of ...
I make no claims to having much legal knowledge, so I defer to those trained in this area.I am very much enjoying this twitter stream from m'learned friend in Edinburgh, deciphering the legal arguments around the Scottish court challenge to Boris Johnson, based on the charmingly obscure principle of Nobile ...
Ivory Folly? The University of Auckland’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, upheld the right of the radical nationalist group, Action Zealandia to exercise their freedom of speech – not matter how distasteful that speech might be. A wiser community of students and scholars would have nodded their agreement and moved on. ...
If you are not convinced terrorist Organisation ‘Extinction Rebellion’ is very, very dangerous – watch this video at one of their recent meetings. Not only is this obviously mentally ill Woman begging the other terrorists to promote killing and “eating” babies and children, if you watch carefully other members nod ...
The Ombudsman has been surveying people about their knowledge of the OIA and the right to information. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that widespread:The Chief Ombudsman says too many New Zealanders were in the dark over their right to access official information. Peter Boshier said an independent survey released yesterday on ...
In the wake of last Friday's climate strike, Peter McKenzie had an article in The Spinoff about protest strategies. The school strike movement is "polite" and cooperates with those in power because that's its kaupapa - its led by schoolkids who understandably don't want to risk arrest. But there's more ...
So, the latest ruminations on the gnews from Westminster (Again, sorry; I'll stop making that pun right now). This follows on from, and likely repeats bits of, my last post, on the suggestion that a Government of National Unity (GNU) should be set up and then oversee a referendum before ...
New Zealand likes to think of itself as not a racist country (despite being founded on the racist dispossession and subjugation of Maori). But for years, we've had a racist refugee policy, which basicly excludes refugees from Africa and the Middle East unless they already have relatives here. Now, the ...
Several people have asked me whether a particular repeat litigant could be declared a vexatious litigant, in light of their recent decision to appeal an adverse High Court ruling. My nascent tweet thread was getting ridiculously long, so it became this blog post instead.The short answer is: no. The particular ...
Appealing To The Past: Action Zealandia, like so many of the organisations springing up on the far-Right, across what they call the “Anglosphere”, is born out of the profound confusion over what a man is supposed to be in the twenty-first century and, more importantly, what he is supposed to do.THE STATUE OF ...
The attempts of anti-democratic transactivists to (often violently) disrupt women’s rights organising is largely ignored by those sections of the left most prone to misogyny and authoritarianism in New Zealand. In Britain, however, scores of trade union and left activists added their names to a letter in July, defending ...
The Justice Committee has reported back on the Criminal Cases Review Commission Bill. The Bill would establish an independent, quasi-judicial body to investigate and review potential miscarriages of justice, and refer them back to the Court of appeal if required. It would be a vital backstop to our judiciary, help ...
by The Spark On September 14, a total of 22 drones and cruise missiles struck two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, the Abqaiq processing facility and the Khurais oil field. Abqaiq is the largest oil production facility in the world. For a few days afterwards, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi national ...
How much will NeoLiberal irregulation of the building sector and subsequent leaky homes crisis cost us? $47 billion, according to a new book:The total cost to fix all of New Zealand's leaky homes would be $47 billion, probably. The estimate comes from a new book, Rottenomics written by journalist Peter ...
Below is the start of another excellent article on the Freer Lives blog. Click onto the link at the end of this extract to read the full article. The punch-a-terf, kill-a-terf message pervades social media, always righteously delivered, chin held high. By contrast, the dehumanised “terfs” themselves, that is gender-critical ...
The Reserve Bank is currently planning tighter banking regulation, requiring banks to hold enough local capital to survive a 1-in-200 year financial crisis in order to protect consumers. The big Aussies banks, those foreign leeches who suck $5 billion in profit out of our economy every year, don't like that, ...
Its the usual story: a police officer beats a handcuffed suspect so hard they break one of their own fingers. The IPCA investigates and concludes that the use of force was unlawful. And the police refuse to do anything about it:A man punched repeatedly in the face by a police ...
From time to time we add links to our blogroll. The latest blog we have added is Freer Lives. This is a Marxist gender-critical blog, based in Melbourne, Australia. On it you will find a bunch of excellent articles which use the tools of Marxist analysis to critique the rise ...
Last Friday say the largest protest in a generation, as 170,000 people joined the school strike and marched to demand real action on climate change. The demands of the school strike were simple and clear: declare a climate emergency, set a climate target of net-zero by 2040, impose a total ...
Labour is a rather middle of the road capitalist party and earlier this year we discussed how far from being ‘transformative’, Ardern’s government is. An article published this week in the Guardian, by Bryce Edwards (political scientist and commentator at Victoria University), looks at Ardern’s business as usual performance. Where ...
In the hours since my last interminable wittering about the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain, there has been a slight maybe development:A Corbyn-led caretaker government could then sit for several months while it enacted and delivered a referendum with the support of smaller parties and ...
Jeremy Clarkson says much like Greta Thunberg, Anne Frank “didn’t like what was going on”, but “she didn’t have a tantrum about it.” Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has offered praise to historical figure Anne Frank, comparing her favourably to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, who he attacked in ...
Press release by Speak Up For Women Lesbians from women’s rights group Speak Up For Women are furious at reports that Rainbow Tick are threatening Massey University with the removal of their ‘tick’ if they let the group’s event go ahead. The group has been under attack from trans ...
By Duncan Garner Before you jump down my throat, nobody cares about the environment more than me. I have a garden, and since my wife and I broke up, I’ve let it grow wildly out of control, so please don’t tell me I’m not doing enough for plants. They’re ten ...
Local government elections are upon us again. It is a fair bet that, when they are over, we will have all the usual complaints that, despite their undoubted importance, the turnout was depressingly low. So, why do local elections attract so little attention and involvement from the general public? I ...
Yesterday the High Court released its decision in Moncrief-Spittle v Regional Facilities Auckland Limited, on the (alleged) decision by the Auckland Council and Mayor Phil Goff to deny use of a public venue to a pair of visiting nazi grifters. Based on the information available back then, I said that ...
Image credit:45 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Blog I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. ...
So, more on the possibility of a Government of National Unity (GNU) in Britain.Two things, first. The numbers in parliament make things very difficult. And anyone who is saying X will happen or Y is impossible is spinning. We can not tell and will not know until votes are actually ...
The government is promising tough action against climate change via the Zero Carbon Bill and a strengthened ETS. Meanwhile, the Overseas investment Office is granting foreign coal companies permission to expand coal mining:Coal Action Network Aotearoa has slammed a decision by the Overseas Investment Office to allow Bathurst Coal to ...
Don't You Dare Let Them Down, Jacinda! Many New Zealanders, especially young New Zealanders, continue to believe that change – real change – is possible. Do we have criticisms about the way in which Jacinda’s government has gone about “transforming” New Zealand? Of course we do. But the very fact ...
. . With some historical and present context, it should become readily apparent to Pakeha that the occupation at Ihumātao is not a free-for-all conflict for any and everyone to become involved in. First, some important dates: . 1840 . The year in which the Treaty of Waitingi was signed. ...
If this is how you propose to defend free speech, then freedom of speech is in grave danger An open letter from James Robb to Jan Thomas, Vice-chancellor of Massey University Massey University in Wellington is the venue for an event on 13 November called Feminism 2020, organised by Speak Up For ...
Forestry Minister Shane Jones is considering reining in on conversions of farmland to forestry, and also issued a warning to foreign-owned forestry companies that make up nearly 75 per cent of the industry. He said too many foreign companies had not provided enough access for domestic processors to get timber. ...
Speaking to Radio NZ, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the tightening of the parental category visa is a direct result of the Party’s coalition negotiations with the Labour Party. He said the new changes switch the financial onus from the parent moving to New Zealand to the child ...
The Coalition Government is set to cut red tape in the building and construction sector in an effort to allow more houses to be built, including prefabricated houses. The changes will enable the mass factory production of "high quality" buildings, slash the likely number of building inspections for factory produced ...
Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to tackle homelessness and make sure everyone has a warm, dry home. And today, on World Homeless Day, we want to report back and update you on our progress so far. ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has hit back at National Party leader Simon Bridges who criticized the Coalition Government’s approach to crime, and said that the latter isn't credible in his attack on the Government over gang recruitment. "We've got as massive drug problem in this country. It is ...
New Zealand Mānuka honey exporters have welcomed an initiative by the Coalition Government to help secure the term “mānuka honey” to be used exclusively by Kiwi exporters, ensuring that our multimillion-dollar industry is protected. Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones had recently announced that a Provincial Growth Funding of $5.7 ...
Political commentator Mike Hosking has labelled New Zealand First leader Winston Peters as “the voice of reason in a government soft on drugs”, for the Party’s stance on drug testing at music festivals. “If common sense is worth a vote, Winston Peters is quids in,” Mr Hosking said. The Labour ...
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau has announced Provincial Growth Funding to ensure work opportunities in Turangi and Whanganui, through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi. A fund of $500,000 will go to Rafting NZ in Turangi for a 16-week river guide training course to train ...
Treasury has shown that the Coalition Government has a $7.5 billion surplus, which is $4 billion higher than what was expected in the 2019 Budget unveiled last May. It is also $2 billion higher than the actual surplus unveiled this time last year, and at a size that has not ...
Official Information Act figures released to NZME show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before. The increase in attacks have sparked calls for more legal protection for first responders to be enacted. The assaults included officers being ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
We're making progress on tackling the long-term challenges: from homelessness, to strengthening border security, to bringing banking back New Zealand's small towns. ...
Associate Transport Minister Shane Jones has backed the ambitious plan to move Auckland’s port to Northport, at Whangarei harbour, which he says will be the “King Kong of infrastructure”. The plan is part of the recommendations of a six-person independent working group, which has recommended the Ports of Auckland be ...
A six-member independent working group selected the option of moving Auckland’s port to Northport, in Whangarei, ahead of other options. In what could be New Zealand’s most ambitious infrastructure project yet, a major expansion of the Marsden Point port could happen within 15 years. The project, officially called the “Upper ...
The final Electricity Price Review recommended prohibiting prompt payment discounts but allowing “reasonable” late fees. The findings of this review was welcomed by the Coalition Government, but they hope companies will follow through with its recommendations without regulations needed to be passed. Meridian Energy had already stopped prompt payment discounts, ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF)through its skills and employment programme, Te Ara Mahi,will invest nearly $600,000 to ensure work opportunities for locals in Turangia and Whanganui, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today. “I’m pleased to announce the PGF ...
An export-led economy is one of New Zealand First’s key principles, and our commitment to achieving this is shown by the continuing skyrocketing demand for our beef and sheep meat exports. Beef + Lamb New Zealand's New Season Outlook 2019-20 report forecasts beef, lamb and mutton prices to lift from ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today in Gisborne an investment of $17.27m into bringing “world-leading” food-growing technology and the creation of more than 100 new jobs in the East Coast city. The funding comes from the Provincial Growth Fund, and included a $15 million loan to LeaderBrand, a ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development More than 100 people in Tairāwhiti’s Tolaga Bay will benefit from two employment initiatives supported by the Provincial Growth Fund, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones and Employment Minister Willie Jackson announced today. “Tolaga Bay is an incredibly tight-knit community, but one in ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) is supporting Gisborne business Leaderbrand to produce salad vegetables year round and create more jobs in the Tairāwhiti region, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones announced today. “Our support for Leaderbrand will help them build large greenhouses ...
“Nobody wants to see babies uplifted”, this was the pronouncement of Minister for Children Hon. Tracey Martin as her department, Oranga Tamariki, faces multiple inquiries into the number of babies being taken from their families. “But a baby can die with a single punch, “the Minister continued. “So sometimes, Oranga ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has praised the promise by New Zealand’s biggest banks not to close any provincial branches while the Coalition Government trials regional banking hubs across the country. The Minister said the announce was the “first sign of hope for regional communities”, many of which have ...
Rt Hon Winston Peters, New Zealand First Leader New Zealand First is proud to have delivered an upgrade of the SuperGold Card website and a new smartphone app, which will help unlock the full benefits of the SuperGold Card for 750,000 New Zealand seniors.Party Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters, ...
Delivering a key election campaign promise, New Zealand First is proud to have accomplished a long overdue upgrade of the SuperGold Card today. At an event in Auckland, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters joined Minister for Seniors Hon. Tracey Martin in unveiling the new website and smartphone app which ...
Another busy week, from speaking with world leaders on the world stage about climate change, to equipping our school leavers with everything they need to get ahead in life. ...
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says Air New Zealand has "an obligation to look after Kiwis", and urged the national carrier not to hike up their prices after Jetstar airline announced their withdrawal from regional flights this week. The Provincial Champion also expressed his disappointment at Jetstar’s decision on ...
Fletcher Tabuteau, Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development The Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) will help fund a new dredge for the Port of Greymouth to ensure the regional fishing fleet have a reliable and productive harbour, Parliamentary Undersecretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau announced today “Last year the movements of ...
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said he was "immensely disappointed" at the withdrawal of the Jetstar airline from regional routes. He has also warned national carrier Air New Zealand not to capitalise on the Australian budget airline’s decision by “gouging” regional air travellers. "Air New Zealand has historically challenged ...
International credit ratings agency Moody's gave a glowing assessment of New Zealand’s economy in its latest report, which ranks the country’s economic strength as "very high" while saying growth remains "robust". The report says it's expected New Zealand's economy will grow between 2.5 and 3 percent in the next few ...
The Coalition Government is allocating nearly $6 million to a campaign to stop Australian beekeepers marketing their products as "mānuka" honey. This move comes after Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones accused Australian honey producers of trying to steal what was indigenous to New Zealand. "The Aussies are trying to ...
The Provincial Growth Fund has provided $400,000 to Great South to help the agency drive Southland's regional economic development aspirations. The funding will allow Great South, which is Southland's economic development agency, to appoint a portfolio manager and a project support adviser, who will provide project management expertise and support ...
Hon Shane Jones, Minister of Forestry The One Billion Trees Fund has just hit two significant milestones that will create more than 7,500 hectares of new forest cover, Forestry Minister Shane Jones says. Speaking at a celebratory dinner at Parliament to mark 100 years of the New Zealand Forestry Service, Minister ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has lashed out at the New Zealand Transport Authority board, telling one of its new members to “get on with your job” or else they would get replaced. His comments come in response to a now deleted tweet from board member Patrick Reynolds, which ...
The Government is moving swiftly to change the law to improve the welfare and pastoral care of students living in university halls of residence and other tertiary hostels. Cabinet has agreed to several changes, including creating a new mandatory Code of Practice that sets out the duty of pastoral care ...
The Minister for Conservation Eugenie Sage has launched a new comprehensive trapping guide for community trappers to help them protect our native birds, plants and other wildlife, at Zealandia in Wellington today. ‘A practical guide to trapping’, has been developed by the Department of Conservation (DOC), and was launched during ...
Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter welcomes PHARMAC’s move to improve access to long-acting reversible contraception (LARCs). PHARMAC has today announced it will fund the full cost of Mirena and Jaydess for anyone seeking long term contraception, lifting previous restrictions on access to Mirena. “I welcome women having greater choices ...
The Government has approved the next stage of a major redevelopment of Taranaki Base Hospital, which will deliver new and improved facilities for patients. Health Minister Dr David Clark has announced details of a $300 million dollar project to build a new East Wing at the New Plymouth hospital. It ...
Extra funding will allow Rural Support Trusts to help farming families, says Minister for Rural Communities and Agriculture Damien O’Connor. “I know that rural families are worried about some of the challenges facing them, including the ongoing uncertainty created by the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak. “Those concerns sit alongside ongoing worries ...
Thank you for the opportunity to be here to present certificates to the 16 graduates who have completed a beekeeping course delivered by the Howard League. Let us start by acknowledging Auckland Prison’s Deputy Prison Director Tom Sherlock, and Acting Assistant Regional Commissioner of Corrections Northern Region Scott Walker - ...
Finance Minister Grant Robertson leaves this weekend to attend the APEC Finance Ministers meeting in Santiago, Chile. Discussions between APEC Finance Ministers at the meeting will include the effects of the current global economic uncertainty, risks for APEC economies and sustainable development of the region. While at APEC Grant Robertson ...
The Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says for Pacific people, language can be a source of strength. It can help ground us and give us confidence. When we speak them, our languages provide us with an immediate and intimate access to our identity and our story - and ...
The Coalition Government has announced an action plan to improve the wellbeing of disabled New Zealanders by addressing inequalities in play, active recreation and sport. The initiative includes training to develop a workforce that understands the needs of children and young people with a range of impairments, advocacy for fit ...
The construction sector is being freed up to allow more homes to be built more quickly as the Government cuts through some of the red tape of the Building Act. “Every New Zealander deserves a warm, dry, safe home and old inefficiencies in the Building Act make building slow and ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has welcomed further details on the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall’s visit to New Zealand next month. Their Royal Highnesses will visit New Zealand from 17-23 November – their third joint visit to New Zealand and first in four years. They arrive in Auckland ...
Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth and Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, heads to Thailand today to attend the final Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Ministerial meeting, as negotiations enter their final stages. “The RCEP Agreement would anchor New Zealand in a regional agreement that covers 16 countries, ...
Pacific young people living in the Hawke’s Bay, Southland and Otago regions will have access to support services that have proved successful in helping young people find new earning and learning opportunities. “Tupu Aotearoa is about changing Pacific young peoples’ lives. Our young people are talented, they are smart, they ...
Introduction As the Minister for ACC I thank you all for the work that you do supporting New Zealanders in their literally most vulnerable moments. From those who hold people’s lives in their hands, to the people who research technique, technology and trends, your work is highly valued. A special ...
Notes prepared for speeches in Christchurch – Wednesday 9 October 2019 Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There ...
Minister of Health Dr David Clark and Associate Minister of Health Peeni Henare say this year’s World Mental Health Day theme is a reminder of why the Government’s work on mental health is so important. “This year the World Federation for Mental Health has made suicide prevention the main theme ...
Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Carmel Sepuloni will represent the government at Australia’s Meeting of Cultural Ministers in Adelaide this week. “This year’s meeting is special because New Zealand is expected to become an International Member of the Meeting of Cultural Ministers at this Australian forum,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “The meeting is an opportunity to ...
The Greater Christchurch Claims Resolution Service has resolved 608 insurance and EQC claims in its first year in operation, Minister Megan Woods has announced. The government service, which celebrates its first birthday today, provides a one stop shop to help Cantabrians still battling to get their homes repaired or rebuilt ...
Today’s topic, “trends and opportunities for the New Zealand economy,” is certainly one getting a great deal of commentary at the moment. Looking across the media landscape lately you’ll notice we aren’t the only ones having this discussion. There has been an increasing amount of attention paid to the outlook ...
The Government is acting swiftly to strengthen NZTA’s regulatory role following a review into the Transport Agency, and Ministry of Transport’s performance as its monitor, Transport Minister Phil Twyford said today. An independent review by Martin Jenkins has found NZTA failed to properly regulate the transport sector under the previous ...
The Netherlands and New Zealand have a long-standing and close relationship based on many shared interests and values. We value the rule of law, our democracies, and multilateralism. And we value our environment – at home and globally. Right now there are major global challenges in all of these areas – ...
The Government is putting right a decade’s worth of underpayment to nurses, doctors and other health workers, says Health Minister Dr David Clark. Initial sampling of District Health Boards payroll records has found that around $550-$650 million is owed to DHB staff to comply with the Holidays Act. It’s expected ...
A strong surplus and low debt show the economy is performing well, and means the Government is in a good position to meet the challenges of global economic uncertainty. “The surplus and low levels of debt show the economy is in good shape. This allows the Government to spend more ...
New applications from mining company OceanaGold to purchase land in Waihi for new tailings ponds associated with its gold mines have been approved. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and Associate Minister of Finance David Parker considered the applications under the Overseas Investment Act. Earlier this year, applications from OceanaGold to ...
New Zealanders in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay will witness Māori, Pākehā and Pacific voyaging traditions come together today as the Tuia 250 Voyage flotilla assembles for the first time, Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister Kelvin Davis says. “Tuia 250 is a national commemoration and an opportunity for honest conversations ...
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But he did play a crucial role in helping journeyman Andy Foster knock over Justin Lester. Team Gone By Lunchtime size up the local elections, gaze plaintively at the dramas in the NZ First Party, and ask how bad the new poll is for Jacinda Ardern.Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and ...
In the fifth episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect Artificial Intelligence has on our lives, Russell Brown speaks to Ben Reid, executive director of the AI Forum, about the role of government in embracing and regulating AI.Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below.To ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Local government Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to lose an election: Over-promise or under-deliver Simon Collins ...
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Open Mike 18/05/2018 
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Barely a ripple, then, in the NZ media about a massacre bigger than Sharpeville, a mass killing larger than Soweto, a crime as obscene as My Lai.
Our media by its silence is complicit in Israel’s crime.
Here is some detail of the horrific event.
“Laila Anwar al-Ghandour, an eight-month-old baby girl, died of tear-gas inhalation at dawn, Gaza’s Ministry of Health says, highlighting international outrage over the killings by Israeli soldiers of 60 Palestinians who joined in a massive protest against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Laila was the youngest fatality of the demonstrations on Monday, which were held in the run up to the 70th anniversary on Tuesday of the Nakba, or Catastrophe, the day the state of Israel was established on May 15, 1948, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes…..
The Israeli military has imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the Gaza Strip for more than a decade, cutting the Palestinian territory off from the outside world and leaving many of its residents impoverished, including the al-Ghandour family.
For the past seven weeks, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting as part of a campaign demanding the right of return for Palestinian refugees to the areas they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.
Since the protests began on March 30, Israeli forces have killed at least 108 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded about 12,000 people.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/laila-anwar-al-ghandour-face-gaza-carnage-180515063150518.html
Gaza is the new Soweto.
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/gaza-israel-soweto-180516123628499.html
I thought you didn’t partake of the Msm and preferred to inhabit more fringe type news sources.
Regardless your accusation is incorrect as the item in question has been in the Msm here and overseas on numerous occasions.
It has barely been covered.
More time has been spent discussing Royal weddings and reality TV shows.
Once again you are incorrect – It has been covered extensively both here and overseas.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=gaza
https://www.nytimes.com/search/gaza?action=click&contentCollection®ion=TopBar&WT.nav=searchWidget&module=SearchSubmit&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nzh-search/NZH/gaza/1/
https://www.stuff.co.nz/searchresults?cof=FORID%3A9&cx=006730714154542492986%3Aoh6vl0ybuqy&ie=UTF-8&q=gaza&Search+Site=&siteurl=www.stuff.co.nz%2F&ref=&ss=416j68224j4
No you are wrong, RNZ have not had one story on the massacres since the 14th, yet constant updates on the wedding, and most (not all) of the coverage from other MSM sources have been misleading in their framing of the massacre at best…but really what is the difference between the massacre in Gaza on 14/05/2018 and South Africa Sharpeville 21/03/1960 or Soweto on 16/06/1976?
https://www.radionz.co.nz/search/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=gaza&commit=Search
I note the many stories posted on RNZ since the 14th.
I second your comments above at 1.1, 1.1.1.1, and 1.1.1.1.1.1.
There has been extensive reports on NZ and overseas media sites, including those you have linked to and many others. But there are none so blind as those who wear blinkers to avoid their ignorance and bias being challenged.
It’s hard to understand how media can’t find it reportable. I find myself speculating about how pressure could be applied to such a large amount of media. Seems impossible, yet it happens. How is this so? 🙁
Holocaust hangover. Western people the world over still give Israel a free pass because of what happened in WW2.
Hence all the anti Semite rubbish in the uk directed at Corbyn. Getting him to toe the line and unable to criticise what Israel are up to.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/01/antisemitic-incidents-in-uk-at-all-time-high
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-anti-semitism-adl-20180226-story.html
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-04-20/germany-has-a-new-anti-semitism-problem
http://www.dw.com/en/how-will-france-deal-with-rising-anti-semitism/a-43183365
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/opinion/sweden-antisemitism-jews.html
I’d suggest that anti-semitism is on the rise in the West, especially the UK so maybe a bit more tolerance is actually needed towards Jews
It’s probably not anti-Semitism but abhorrence at the actions of Israel which is then portrayed as anti-Semitism by those who wish to defend the actions of Israel.
Are you really being an apologist for antisemites?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/01/antisemitic-incidents-in-uk-at-all-time-high
“Stephen Silverman, director of investigations and enforcement at the Campaign against Antisemitism, said the trust figures were indicative of official 2017 police statistics. “Antisemitic crime has been rising dramatically since 2014 and that rise is not explained by an increase in reporting, and we have seen no noticeable impact from Brexit,” he said.
“We believe that Jews are being singled out disproportionately and with increasing violence due to the spread of antisemitic conspiracy myths originating from Islamists, the far-left and far-right, which society is failing to address, as evidenced by the ongoing disgraceful situation in the Labour party, and because the Crown Prosecution Service declines to prosecute so often that antisemites no longer fear any consequences to their actions.”
I’m saying that there are possible consequences to Israel’s war crimes as well even if the Western governments and other apologists don’t want to do anything about them.
Keep telling yourself that Draco
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/14/opinion/sweden-antisemitism-jews.html
“Malmo’s sole Hasidic rabbi has reported being the victim of more than 100 incidents of hostility ranging from hate speech to physical assault. In response to such attacks, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a travel warning in 2010 advising “extreme caution when visiting southern Sweden” because of officials’ failure to act against the “serial harassment” of Jews in Malmo.
“Henryk Grynfeld, a teacher at a high school in a mostly immigrant neighborhood in Malmo, was told by a student: “We’re going to kill all Jews.” He said other students yell “yahoud,” the Arabic word for Jew, at him.
The fear of being accused of intolerance has paralyzed Sweden’s leaders from properly addressing deep-seated intolerance.
Some of the country’s leaders have even used Israel as a convenient boogeyman to explain violence. After the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, explained radicalism among European Muslims with reference to Israel: “Here, once again, we are brought back to situations like the one in the Middle East, where not least, the Palestinians see that there isn’t a future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence.”
Gee using Israel as an excuse for the attacks, who’da thunk it?
You don’t bring anything positive by conflating two clearly distinctive streams …
Is it a deliberate tactic?
Are you a ‘semite’, PR?
I wonder how recently Swedish the Swedish antisemites are.
To Gabby:
“Historically, anti-Semitism in Sweden could mainly be attributed to right-wing extremists. While this problem persists, a study from 2013 showed that 51 percent of anti-Semitic incidents in Sweden were attributed to Muslim extremists. Only 5 percent were carried out by right-wing extremists; 25 percent were perpetrated by left-wing extremists.
Swedish politicians have no problem condemning anti-Semitism carried out by right-wingers. When neo-Nazis planned a march that would go past the Goteborg synagogue on Yom Kippur this September, for example, it stirred up outrage across the political spectrum. A court ruled that the demonstrators had to change their route.”
25.30 the anti semite smear ….
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People who can’t tell the degrees of difference between fact and supposition/prejudice like RW such as PR don’t throw any light or understanding onto gnarly problems.
Who are the ‘semites’ …
‘The zionist screams in pain while he stabs you’…
the anti semite smear 37.30
Why is Israel allowed to be the only culture allowed to practice anti semitism, after all Palestinians are a Semitic race.
On being 14
who brings a baby to a riot? That is irresponsible parenting.
As for the terrorists killed, good riddance. Unfortunately about 10 civilians were caught in the crossfires.
More lies from a supporter of Israel’s war crimes.
That’s ugly stuff…
Very ugly…
humma
That is a good question. And can’t be answered with sweeping condemnation. For sure there will be poverty and control in the various threads of the answer.
Have you seen the video of the allegedly dead Palestinian scratching themselves under the white cover? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPaq_TNEYwY.
Humma & Babayoga. The massacre of more than 60 unarmed protesters this week was covered by many cameras for all the world to see. In addition, 2700 people were injured. These figures have been validated by MSF ( doctors without borders).
IDF troops were firing into Gaza from the buffer zone. A fence (not a border) separated protesters, who were fired on from fortified sniper positions and tanks. While some young men approached the fence, most were at least 50 metres away. The baby who died from inhaling teargas was a long way from the action in a tent used by medics & media.
You can minimise or obfuscate this brutality all you like. The cameras of the world showed the truth. More Israeli war crimes.
the root of the problem …. stolen land … territory not terrorism
Occupation and apartheid
The truth … 21 mins
Inspiration … 27.30
Terrorism 43 mins
Mycoplasma bovis is here.
https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/environment/mycoplasma-bovis-is-in-new-zealand-it-s-what-comes-next-that-s-important/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=LISTENER_newsletter_17-05-2018&utm_content=Final&utm_term=list_nzlistener_newsletter
Mycoplasma bovis is here. It’s what comes next that’s important
by The Listener / 17 May, 2018
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At a time when the link between town and country is weak, our reaction to cow disease Mycoplasma bovis will be a revealing test of national solidarity.
It almost seems like the stuff of science fiction: a debilitating epidemic spreads unseen and stays several steps ahead of efforts to contain it. But the cow disease Mycoplasma bovis is not part of a far-fetched plot in a Hollywood film. For the rural sector, it has become a real-life horror story. Agriculture minister Damien O’Connor bluntly describes it as a disaster.
It’s a crisis with heartbreaking personal consequences as well as serious economic dimensions. Good farmers care deeply for their livestock, and few people would not have been moved by the sight of a Canterbury farmer almost in tears as he talked of his infected herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, having to be slaughtered. This was the human face of an industry often pilloried for greed and environmental vandalism.
The fault for this lies squarely at the feet of Nathan Guy and his National government.
Now the taxpayer will have to pick up the cost for something farmers should have been insured for.
Dark times for New Zealand.
This thing MB is not strange and unknown. They have had it in Australia to the extent that they manage it apparently. The uncaring NZ RW governments who want foreign money and goods to come into the country for their benefit are uncaring about protecting and conserving our natural resources, one being that we have been free of many nasties. They make a show of having controls but then the guardians have limited budgets, probably inspect sample numbers, do their virtual kaitiaki from their computers.
A good coverage of the mycoplasma bovis problem from an experienced scientist Keith Woodford comes with a warning that we have to ramp up our controls over health. In 2018 Labour is set to see that NAIT is brought up to speed:
Given the lack of evidence for semen being the source, other possibilities need to be considered.
The normal transmission method for Mycoplasma bovis is from animal to animal. That raises the possibility that the original source is a live import. However, the oral advice from MPI (yet to be confirmed in writing) is that there have been no live cattle imported into New Zealand for the last three years.
Regardless of when animals were last imported into New Zealand, the importer was not the van Leeuwens, and the van Leeuwens have never received live imports on their farms. So once again, if a live import is the source, then the van Leeuwens have been exceedingly unlucky to the recipients of the disease. And what was the path by which it got there?…
If Mycoplasma is found to be endemic in New Zealand, then it will not be the death knell of the industry. But it will be a big nuisance. And we will undoubtedly need to implement some of the dairy hygiene measures that are typically seen overseas but which are largely ignored in New Zealand. In particular, farmers will need to think carefully about sending their young stock off-farm for grazing with young stock from other farms. Feeding raw (non-pasteurised) milk to calves will also need to be eliminated. Purchased bulls are another potential source of disease transfer.
https://www.interest.co.nz/rural-news/90786/keith-woodford-says%C2%A0we-should-not-be-confident-we-have-mycoplasma-bovis-contained
Stuff and NZ Farmer covered it in August 2017 reporting on the experience of a Kiwi in Australia.
While the prevalence of the disease in Australian herds was relatively low – about 3.5 per cent – it was spreading, and once a herd was infected, it remained infected at a subclinical level. The key was to be vigilant and quickly isolate any animal suspected of having the disease.
Goold estimated there might be about up to a dozen cases in the state of Victoria, the centre of the Australian dairy industry. Across the Tasman Mycoplasma has a very low profile; he had been farming for 10 years before hearing about it.
(I note the mention of up to a dozen cases in Victoria. We seem to have that number already.)
Then in November 2017 the farming business, the van Leeuwen Dairy Group which reported it initially was featured in Farmers Weekly.
In July one of the group’s farms was identified with the notifiable disease Mycoplasma bovis that initiated a full Ministry for Primary Industries biosecurity response.
While pretty much the rest of the world already had it, it was a first for NZ….
the van Leeuwens harbour much disappointment over how the response was managed.
“It has been horrendous on us, our staff and our contract and sharemilkers.
“The impact has been devastating on all our people and for many it will mean the end forever – their businesses and their reputations have been destroyed.”
The near 90 staff had just had enough and being associated with a group farm had tainted them for the future, van Leeuwen said.
https://farmersweekly.co.nz/#
The van Leeuwens noted that after they notified government about the disease, MPI was very slow to respond.
“It took them five days to find out where our farms were and 10 days to put their feet on the first infected farm.
“We had the cows well sorted and separated by then – thank God this was not foot and mouth,” he said.
Absolutely savage takedown of Nathan Guy here.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/05/mitch-mccann-a-tale-of-two-portfolios.html
As always, Guy and his mates in the National party look out, and cover up, for rich listers. Everyone else pays.
Just how much damage did the John Key government do? I think we are only just beginning to find out…
“…Just how much damage did the John Key government do? I think we are only just beginning to find out…”
The fact remains that National’s 2009-11 tax cuts were by far the most ideologically driven piece of economic mismanagement of the countries economy so far this century. They were completely unaffordble, and made worse by a promise to return to surplus. These facts were papered over by the Key/English government by borrowing and the fetishisation of cutting government expenditure to the point huge swaths of civil society were trashed and huge areas of the civic governance of the country were defunded to the point of ineffectiveness.
The whole economic story of the Key/English era is basically one of reckless, ideologically driven tax cuts and a promise to return to surplus driving a policy obsession with the impossible task (of their own making) of squaring the resultant economic circle.
The result was the abandonment of governance of large areas of public policy in favour of an unregulated and increasingly corrupt form of crony capitalism and at the same time the running into the ground of the public sector.
Yes thanks Muttonbird and Sanctuary
yesterday 17/5/18 we presented our NGO teleconference submission to the Select panel on TPP 11 or what it is called now.
We spoke about the environmental issues we felt would be further damaged by entering this restrictive “trade agreement” as it would make it easy for foreign corporations to sue NZ Government or anyone else who attempted to tighten up environmental regulations.
I must say that the chair (National’s Simon O’connor was very receptive and very patient with our verbal submission and he is a pleasant man.
we gave him our full submission and to (Edward Siebert) the Clark of the committee requesting that he also supply it to all other members of the committee receiving all submissions against the trade agreement as it stands today.
So we hope they take note after we warned that any loosening of our environmental regulations now will ultimately destroy NZ if more spread of these imported diseases spread to our farming and destroy our exports.
here is a part of our submission;
Public COMMUNITY SUBMISSION TO; – the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
17th May 2018
Our response following a review of the agreement and media coverage by Government and other parties.
Our teleconference at 10am to 10.15am 17th May 2018 with the panel on the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
Our speech will be as follows;
Our concerns with the final draft of “The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP), also known as TPP11”
Pros: – Free trade is a good thing in the right situations.
Any of you who’ve taken introductory level Macroeconomics will likely already know this.
But trade between nations allow each country to specialise on producing what they have the comparative advantage in.
By removing barriers to trade such as tariffs and quotas.
The TPP agreement would allow global businesses to trade profitably in markets they are currently unable to do so in.
For example, Japan has very high tariffs on pork products in order to protect their own pork industry.
If TPP is used with Japan as a member, these tariffs would be done away with and U.S. companies could then compete in Japan on a level playing field.
TPP installs new intellectual property laws in an attempt to protect the original rights holders.
This is obviously a hotly debated topic, and there are costs and benefits on both sides of the issue.
Cons: –
TPP could possibly be very detrimental to the environment.
Under the TPP Environmental chapter, corporations could sue governments should they enact environmental legislation that would hurt their business.
Essentially, TPP asserts to the world that business’s profits are more important than the health of Earth.
This partnership would allow companies to sue countries.
Let that sink in for a moment; – instead of working in the best interest of their people, governments of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
Environment, public health, zoning codes – all are potential vulnerabilities under TPP depending on the wording of the final draft.
Intellectual property law would once again be strengthened.
While some protections are a good thing and help to ensure creators are properly rewarded for their time and effort, if taken too far such legislation can prove detrimental to creativity and innovation.
While the supporters of the TPP believe the provisions contained within are a good thing, the opposition to the TPP believes in the other side of the coin.
Local business will be damaged;
Our business CER Ltd Est’ 2002 is solely involved with monitoring the environment to protect the health and wellbeing of the communities we represent in NZ and will under this TPP agreement be subject to legal threats upon our business instead of working in the best interest of their people, as we are continually working alongside our local and central NZ government to make our environment, and transport systems operate in a safer place to live and encourage our government to introduce new legislation to protect our environment and people.
So Governments such as ours under TPP 11 will become a member with other nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
Environmental NGO’s will be damaged;
Under CEAC a publicly funded Environmental Advocacy NGO would also become legally threatened, instead of working in the best interest of their people, as these Governments in TPP 11 of member nations would be liable for damages and compensation if they passed legislation that hurt a foreign companies business.
This will damage our environment and our health under the current rules in this trade agreement.
Our resolution;
We request the NZ Government make changes before finally signing up to this restrictive trade agreement.
• To protect all NZ legislation and environmental regulations.
• Protect both current and future introduced new environmental legislation.
• Allow free flowing of all environmental submissions and discussions between all NZ communities, environmental business interests, and their local & Central Government.
• Protect the local & Central Government abilities to freely promote such environmental legislation to protect the environment and the communities they represent in NZ.
• Protect all Government agencies such as ‘The parliamentary commissioner of the Environment’ (see attached “HB Expressway noise & air quality issues”, as one case still under advisory status) and all other similar such environmental agencies advising Government of environmental issues.
Agree whole heartedly. It was reckless at best!
I’ve lived a good bit of my life in farming communities; farmers who care about their animals is an anomaly. Each animal is a unit, with value; that’s the sum total of their caring.
It’s ridiculous to suggest a farmer cares about every one of his 1500 cows or 4000 sheep.
The consequence of greed and environmental vandalism is Mycoplasma bovis.
The farmer whose herd, painstakingly built up over decades of careful breeding, which now has to be slaughtered is justifiably saddened, but not because he cares about the animals, but because his life’s work is in ruins.
If he and others like him had put pressure on his fellow farmers to farm with some sort of integrity, he’d still have his herd.
Hi Brigid,
Yes my mini farm is alongside a cattle and sheep farmer who said to me once “dont worry about animals they live and then they die”
My Family came to Wairoa from the Canvas town/Havelock uper south island area after WW1 after one of my grandfathers brothers got injured and disabled in the Western front with “shell shock”.
So Frank was awarded a 300 acre farm in Clyde and was the first farm that produced milk for the Wairoa dairy factory in HB.
I am a survivor of a workplace chemical poisoning accident to and came here in the Gisborne hills to recover from my injuries too.
Today’s farmers do not use their own initiative to clean up their stockyards and use contractors to take the stock to other farms and bring other stock to their farms so any disease can easily be transmitted now by this method.
When rail transported all stock the local farmer had their own truck to transport their stock to market, and had the ability to keep their trucks free of contamination as they didn’t carry other stock all the time as tjey do now so this is why.
We now have a easily transmitted system of contamination now so we are reaping the rewards of lazy multi use of transport sources.
cleangreen
The way that farmers use others to do the transporting of animals over distance, with the likelihood of cross contamination, seems the same as what was reported from the UK as the reason for the spread of their awful disease back a few decades. But efficiency wins over effectiveness when it is neo lib economics and free unregulated markets and PROFIT AND COMPETITION ie a race to cut out all competition until a suitable cartel remains.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovine_spongiform_encephalopathy
A cow with BSE: Infected animals lose the ability to stand. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy and fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that may be passed to humans who have eaten infected flesh.
The epidemic in cattle in Britain reached incredible proportions; by 1993 more than 1,000 cases per week were being reported. More than 160,000 infected cows have now been identified, involving more than 50% of the dairy herds in the UK. Protein supplements containing sheep and cattle offal were banned in the UK in 1988, but it was not until 1991-1992 that the ban was strictly enforced. Given the long incubation of BSE, the epidemic curve (number of new cases reported per week) didn’t start downward until late 1993. It is now down to about 250 cases per week..
http://mad-cow.org/~tom/vet_interview.html
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/apr/25/mad-cow-disease-british-crisis
Mad cow disease – a very British response to an international crisis
It may have started with the death of a cow on a farm in Pitsham, West Sussex, England, in 1984 – two years before “mad cow disease” was officially identified. It ended by changing the way the UK approaches farming, prepares food, conducts surgery and gives blood.
That probably has something to do with their greed and environmental vandalism.
It’s hard to feel sorry for people who have consistently been destroying our environment for their own enrichment.
“It’s hard to feel sorry for people who have consistently been destroying our environment for their own enrichment.”
Bloody hard! even as there are some who are desperately trying to give them a break (up against the corporates’ intent on corrupting their co-operative with promises of treats and trinkets, the banks, and others).
What’s worse is that they’ve not only shat on the environment, but also their fellows in the farming community – I often wonder how the hell @ Countryboy puts up with the egg rolls who’re stuck with their selfish blinkers on and their ideology (supposedly gNatsi’s are the farmer’s friend), and we’ll fucking well do what we like……we’re the backbone of the country…..and the city folk just don’t understand how tough it all is. Think of the children!!!
These arsholes are responsible for shitting on every farmer that is trying to do the right thing, and New Zealand. And they’re also riding on the reputation of those that ARE actually making an effort.
Oh you mean like these people taking out 2 acres of shellfish from environmental pollution and all the polluted beaches this year, so they can build multimillion dollar developments with the rest of Auckland having to pick up the infrastructure costs…
Israel the New Apartheid Goliath.
19 medics shot with live ammunition by IDF snipers in Gaza…
‘Meet Tarek Loubani, the Canadian Doctor Shot by Israeli Forces Monday While Treating Gaza’s Wounded’
Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians Have the Right to Break Free of the “Unlivable” Cage That Is Gaza
Wow, that Canadian doctor interview. That would make headlines around the world in a sane world.
Tight squeeze at the Beehive
11 people trapped in a lift with maximum capacity for 8. Trapped group consisted of mainly of lobbyists, reporters, and political advisors. Fresh air had to be pumped in.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12053862
No loss then.
“Fresh air had to be pumped in.”
Actually went and checked the link to see if that was real or humour as it works both ways
From memory those lifts are really tiny. I’m surprised that they managed to get 11 in. I kinda remember finding it awkward being in there with 6 people.
“1 people trapped in a lift with maximum capacity for 8”
The rules do not apply to us ..
11 occupants can’t read and breach a safety regulation. Says a lot about the folk concerned.
Which is why I always take the stairs if possible. I have a very real fear of getting stuck in a lift.
With good reason:
https://memegenerator.net/instance/60130359/mr-bean-that-face-you-get-when-you-fart-in-an-elevator
millsy (4.5) … I got stuck in a lift in Australia with 6 others. It wasn’t so much the lift being stuck that I found frightening, but the reaction of a couple of women, who were (understandably I guess) out of control, screaming, banging, pushing and grabbing those of us who were trying our best to keep calm and reassure them, not wanting to add to the problem!
Fortunately we weren’t stuck long. However that experience of other people’s panicky reactions has given me good reason to avoid lifts, preferring to use stairs whenever possible now.
11
There is that number again…
It would not have been 11 in the lift…that’s a made up number…
@ AsleepWhileWalking (4) … for a moment there I thought that maybe Gerry had stepped into the lift. He would have taken up the space of three!
I quite liked the text of this speech from Marama Davison of the Greens.
Somehow I think she has a pretty organised speechwriter.
https://www.greens.org.nz/news/speech/what-real-government-looks
Nothing like intelligent passionate dignified rage when you are in government and actually delivering stuff.
Hmmm…a change from her gauntlet throwing from the weekend….
“Green co-leader Marama Davidson told TV3’s The Hui “there is no Government that the Greens could be part of that would allow this to continue…”
The statement was made in reference to Housing NZ’s refusal to allow a disabled tenant to install a solar power starter package that was going to be provided and installed for free.”
I did watch the clip and can confirm this is what Davidson said.
Perhaps experience will teach her about consistent messaging.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/104001295/budget-2018-manawat-teachers-could-walk-principal-warns-following-lukewarm-education-slice
Hard to please all the people all the time
“You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time”
Indeed
Lol
I confess that the Labour 2018 budget was about right.
(fa-KISHHH!)
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/together/pages/329/attachments/original/1526583055/CTU-Report-on-Budget-2018.pdf?1526583055
From the CTU
I have just been playing with a few numbers here.
Wages from 2018-2021 are forecast to increase by 9%, adding 3.2%,2.7% & 3.1%
yet min wage that is currently $16.50 is set to increase to $20 by 2021 that is 21%.
From these then are we to see that those at the bottom end receive the increase and many e.g. teachers, nurses, police, trades etc are expected to be below the 9% , and great for those at the bottom end But there are many others also struggling just above this min threshold, and this comment on slow wage growth flies in the face of what demands we see from the unions and their deserving members.
“Treasury also forecasts continued relatively slow wage growth with the average hourly wage rising 2.8 percent in the year to June 2019, though rising slightly faster in subsequent years.
The continued rise in immigration and higher Working for Families payments are likely to put downward pressure on wages unless improved employment laws can counter that.”
The terrorists out, the government in: All kinds of repair and maintenance workshops enter the town of #Harbnafseh in #Hama Province to repair the electricity, the water, the roads, the schools and everything damaged by the terrorists
NZ Herald discusses NZ’s half-forgotten apartheid past:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12053300
The EU is going to kickstart a law put in place in 1996 prohibiting European companies from complying with US sanctions on Iran:
http://www.dw.com/en/eu-to-reactivate-blocking-statute-against-us-sanctions-on-iran-for-european-firms/a-43826992
This is the first EU-initiated break with U.S. foreign policy in quite some time.
It also make sit more likely that the EU will more assiduously court China as a preferred trading partner with Iran.
With the US now self-excluded from major trade relationships, the isolation from Trump will in time hurt the future growth of the US economy.
Thank God the EU still has the strength to stand up to the US.
Point of Order. I seek your indulgence Mr Speaker. Given the rules and conditions of entry to this interweb site, I wonder whether there might not be some way that I might pay for a motel room, or some other venue where the contributor @ Stunned Mullet, and his or prey @ Ed could get together and either make love or war, or at least resolve the issue of one’s obsession with the other.
Mr Speaker, I understand that WINZ has control over most of the available motel rooms in the region, but I suggest, in light of comments as annotated by heading level 1 and below, a VERY, VERY special case could be made to allow @Stunned Mullet and @Ed to resolve the former’s obsession which is now in danger of affecting the entire @TS community.
Mr Speaker, if there is some way this could be achieved, I’ll get back to teaching woodwork hopeful that counselling services and/or a bloody good root will ensure the TS community is no longer burdened with their fluff and flutter.
Question:
Does @Ed place posts on this blog specifically for the enlightenment of @Stunned Mullet?
If not, why does @Stunned Mullet find it necessary to respond to all of @Ed’s posts?
to the honourable member @Brigid,
That is exactly my concern (going forward).
All the evidence so far, and as the parliamentary record will show, @Stunned Mullet does seem to see it necessary to respond to the most innocuous of @ Ed’s comments that others might simply ignore if it wasn’t of concern. I’m merely trying to assist in the proceedings by proposing that the frustrations that might be apparent could be alleviated by a bloody good root based on the stereotypical idea that a Stunned Mullet is most likely bloke with a brain it considers to be of above average intelligence, or maybe that substantial wanking is at play.
And for more selfish reasons, the scroll down mechanisms on my primitive technology are wearing out (and of course because I’m utterly gorgeous and better than anybody else – which is why I get my jingles from looking at few others on this site.)
While looking up M. bovis I found another nasty that we
have to watch out for – in humans – Mycobacterium ulcerans.
https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2018/208/7/tackling-worsening-epidemic-buruli-ulcer-australia-information-void-time-urgent
published 16 April 2018
Mycobacterium ulcerans causes an infectious disease known internationally as Buruli ulcer, and also as Bairnsdale ulcer or Daintree ulcer in Australia. It causes severe destructive lesions of skin and soft tissue, resulting in significant morbidity, in attributable mortality and often in long term disability and cosmetic deformity.
All age groups, including young children, are affected, and the emotional and psychological impact on patients and their carers is substantial (Box 1). Although treatment effectiveness has improved in recent years, with cure rates approaching 100% using combination antibiotic regimens such as rifampicin and clarithromycin, these antibiotics are not covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for this condition and are, therefore, expensive to patients.
Moreover, these antibiotics have severe side effects in up to one-quarter of patients,1 and many people also require reparative plastic surgery, sometimes with prolonged hospital
admissions.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-22/buruli-ulcer-how-to-avoid-flesh-eating-bacteria-infection/8975080
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/apr/16/tissue-destroying-ulcer-frequently-found-in-africa-spreading-rapidly-in-australia
Welcome to Globalisation, lax border control and selfish tourists who can’t be bothered to clean equipment etc that don’t give shit about their or the host country’s environment.
Must be the same selfish tourists that caused the closure of the forested areas of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park to protect against kauri dieback disease. Selfish bastards!
Probably wouldn’t surprise me or a lazy local that clean his or her’s kit after a overseas trip. I’ve come across a few lazy tourists over the last few years.
That’s some pretty ignorant stuff there.
We’ve found Phytopthora agathadicida has been here for at least hundreds of years, probably part of the landscape. So no, it’s not tourists that is the issue, but whatever has changed since man arrived.
How about massive deforestation, loss of biodiversity, air soil and water pollution…
If it has been here all along my guess is it has a counterpart in nature. A controlling agent which I suspect will be a fungal-pathogenic fungi.
If you want to be angry over this issue by all means be my guest. I’m very angry, they have no plan, I wrote a plan. They asked me about doing a Doctorate I said yes I’ve waited nearly 18 months now for NOTHING.
The only feedback I got on a plan I spent months poring over was from an individual scientist I contacted myself – who said it was a good plan and they want me on board the Kauri Dieback Team. I said OK lets try, heard nothing back since January.
One supervisor wont work with me cos I told him off for handing out advice that led to poisoning of large numbers of mushroom pickers in Taranaki in the 80’s.
Another dropped me immediately after I mentioned one of his colleagues tried to creep on me when I asked for advice – and I left study for a year due to that predator.
Can’t lump em all in the same basket many are amazing hard working people. But….
Fucking disgraceful. Don’t blame the tourists.
That was kinda the point I was trying to make but in a slightly more subtle way 😉
In any case, the most pressing problem is slowing/preventing the spread of the disease; it’s here to stay, as you say.
I wish you good luck with sorting out your doctoral research project. In the long term, a scientific approach/solution is the only option. I do find it odd that “they” asked you to do a doctorate and then nothing happened … Has the funding been sorted? A word of advice: don’t let personal ‘politics’ or ‘beliefs’ get in the way of a good science proposal 😉
I am sure that you are right Exkiwiforces, for some of the spread of organisms etc, but they seem to be coming from everywhere.
This pisses me off….. an anti-abortion group are attempting to collect 12,000 pairs of booties to place outside of parliament, not to highlight how many women have gone through the trauma of an abortion, but rather to shame them for not being godfearing enough to not terminate.
Disgusting.
Having a termination is traumatic enough with out strangers heaping guilt upon ones shoulders due to their religious beliefs. I had a termination in my early 20’s, it was not an easy decision, but the lone male elderly anti-abortion protester at the clinic made a horrid day ten times worse for me.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/104022670/michelle-duff-in-a-dystopian-present-women-are-shamed-for-incorrect-womb-use
I was happy to give some mandarins a couple of months ago to the counter protesters I saw opposite the termination clinic in Dominion Road Mount Eden – women’s bodies = women’s rights IMO.
It’s such a hard emotive and serious subject with strong views on both sides and for good reasons.
This is not something that should be protested about. Every situation is different and complicated.
I am sorry that one sad assed bloke made a traumatic day even worse.
This is not a subject one “side” should be protesting.
I think it’s disgusting that they are.
As for my views – on this subject I really don’t know and try never to comment – but this protest pisses me off more than most.
James…. well said… “This is not something that should be protested about. Every situation is different and complicated.”
I think what really pisses me off is when people use religion in an attempt to control others views etc.
Newshub Nation Simon Maori are benefiting from the reforms of the Coalition government.Grant Robertson is a excellent finance minister he learned his trade from the best Michael Cullen . The is no need to waste billions on jails we need to reach and teach people before they get into the system show them there are better choices out there than crime.
The state is run by old white men with a culture of cover there m8 ass at any cost and never admit to being wrong they set there m8 up with all the top jobs to strengthen there hold on the systems. P.S I new crime was dropping it was just a waiting game for the facts to be published Ka kite ano Yes Barnard The Green have received great wins the billion regions fund to plant more trees 1 wealth fare 2 carbon neutral targets
Good evening Newshub Eco Maori gives condolences to the Cuban people who lost whano members in that plane crash .
Every bone in trumps body is raciest I can see every move he makes is to dump on every one that is not ———.
Kate yes I say that Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody will be a awsome move .
It was a good weekend of sports for Eco Maori .
That volcano in Hawaii is still going hard its cold and wet in Rotorua at the minute.
Ka kite ano P.S Aoteroa is such a beautiful country thanks to my Tipunas
I new start away when Lisa Owen was not on this morning where she would be all the best to the Harry and Megan .Ka kite ano