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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+100DTB
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 https://twitter.com/ahmadalissa/status/997133076974227456
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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Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
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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 ….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_9_5YufbLU
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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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyt1FwIdb-k
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhNf__kYviY
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’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Stml-pTYZak
Norman Finkelstein: Palestinians Have the Right to Break Free of the “Unlivable” Cage That Is Gaza
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhO2FpIrm2g
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2JI0k9HuZk
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….
https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-13-05-2018/#comment-1483373
“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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zagLV7XxfE
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
https://twitter.com/ahmadalissa/status/997133076974227456
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