Open mike 18/11/2020

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, November 18th, 2020 - 99 comments
Categories: open mike - Tags:

Open mike is your post.

For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.

The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).

Step up to the mike …

99 comments on “Open mike 18/11/2020 ”

  1. PsyclingLeft.Always 1

    Sweden. All Not so good.And voices WERE raised…

    On 25 March, as confirmed cases passed 300 per day, about 2000 scientists signed an open letter calling for stricter control measures. It provoked little reaction. But a scathing op-ed, published by the 22 researchers in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter on 14 April, did get noticed. The piece carried the headline “The public health agency has failed. Politicians must intervene.” It noted that from 7 to 9 April, more people per million inhabitants had died in Sweden from COVID-19 than in Italy—and 10 times more than in Finland. FoHM officials “have so far not shown any talent for either predicting or limiting” the epidemic, they wrote.

    https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/it-s-been-so-so-surreal-critics-sweden-s-lax-pandemic-policies-face-fierce-backlash

    Sacked for wanting to wear a mask?….

    latest..

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/430829/sweden-restricts-gatherings-to-stem-second-covid-19-wave

    [when you cut and paste from anywhere (on site or off site), you have to make it clear that it is a cut and paste not your own words. Please compare your comment to my first reply to see the difference. When I say ‘have to’ I mean that the main two mods are so sick of this that we often now just remove the content of a comment, or if in a hurry just delete the whole thing. Which we don’t like doing, but I’m not willing to waste my time on this any more.

    I clarified in this post

    Dealing with this one comment, including time to read the comment, google to see if it’s a quote, writing the edited version, writing this mod note, and finding and linking the TS post about it, took me close to 10 mins. Multiply that by many times over a week and you can see why we have a low tolerance. It’s not just you, and I’m making a long note here so that others can get up to speed too.

    Please reply to this moderation so I know you have seen and understood it, thanks – weka]

    • weka 1.1

      Sweden. All Not so good.And voices WERE raised…

      On 25 March, as confirmed cases passed 300 per day, about 2000 scientists signed an open letter calling for stricter control measures. It provoked little reaction. But a scathing op-ed, published by the 22 researchers in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter on 14 April, did get noticed. The piece carried the headline “The public health agency has failed. Politicians must intervene.” It noted that from 7 to 9 April, more people per million inhabitants had died in Sweden from COVID-19 than in Italy—and 10 times more than in Finland. FoHM officials “have so far not shown any talent for either predicting or limiting” the epidemic, they wrote.

      https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/10/it-s-been-so-so-surreal-critics-sweden-s-lax-pandemic-policies-face-fierce-backlash

      Sacked for wanting to wear a mask?….

      latest..

      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/430829/sweden-restricts-gatherings-to-stem-second-covid-19-wave

      • greywarshark 1.1.1

        I don't want to be guilty of schadenfreude but… If Sweden had taken part in the practical and precautionary planning then implemented it, those who wanted to pooh-pooh the pppi idea wouldn't have had a leg to stand on. Now a lot of people don't, who had years of life ahead and their country's medical response and death cycle services are stressed beyond coping.

        Years ago one USA area contracted out some of its death services to a local man who couldn't cope. He failed to keep up with his duties and started to dump some bodies till he could properly deal with them, and could never manage to cope. It became a private nightmare for him, and when revealed by reports in the media, for his local authority.

        That's why we have authorities in charge of various aspects of our life cycle and activity. Important decisions taken and implemented in a timely fashion for good outcomes desired by the community. They need to accept responsibility and act reasonably in concordance with all thinking members of society. And this applies all over the world, and now is at the front of our minds about almost everything we are seeing and doing, not just Covid-19.

    • weka 1.2

      mod note for you PLA, please respond when you have read it.

      • greywarshark 1.2.1

        Is it suitable to put quoted words in italics with the rest of the comment in normal font? Does that differentiate the cut and paste stuff enough for mods?

        • weka 1.2.1.1

          let's see…

        • Incognito 1.2.1.2

          Why reinvent the wheel? Quote marks were invented by Quotus Maximus in 45 BC as a specific text tool. See what I did there with italics?

          • greywarshark 1.2.1.2.1

            So I take it – use quotes and italics kept for drawing attention to something? Is that what you mean as –

            Why reinvent the wheel? Quote marks were invented by Quotus Maximus in 45 BC as a specific text tool. See what I did there with italics?

            • Incognito 1.2.1.2.1.1

              It is very simple, use quote marks when you want to use someone else’s words in your comment.

              Use block quotes for long(er) quotes. These are separated from the other text by a new line, as in a new paragraph. When you use the Block Quote functionality of the WordPress text editor, you won’t have to lead off with quote marks, as this would be doubling up.

              Italics are used for emphasis. This doesn’t work when your whole quote, for example, is in italics. However, when you italicise a word(s) in a quote, you should add something like [my emphasis] or [my italics], in square brackets.

              Bold font is usually reserved for strong emphasis. As you know, here on TS it used to be reserved for moderation, but things have changed somewhat.

              These universally accepted conventions for written text are intended to make things easier for both reader and writer – we all learned these at school. The standardisation helps to avoid confusion. This means we can focus more on actual content and debate 😉

              • RedLogix

                I've been in the long habit of using italics for both emphasis (usually one word or two) or when I'm quoting a sentence or two from another comment in the same thread in reply to someone. I've always figured that if I'm quoting someone else from the same thread, it's pretty obvious where it's come from and I don't bother linking.

                On the other hand if it's from an external source then I will link, and I'll always put the text in blockquotes.

                As you say, things change with time and are you happy for me to continue as I have been?

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 1.2.2

        Yea…I cant fucking be bothered. And I thought trademe O and P was bad…Was it the pseudoscience/alt medicine? Take a jump : )

  2. Ad 2

    I fully support James Shaw's call to put a hard limit on the importing of petrol and diesel cars.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123387955/time-to-consider-petrol-and-diesel-car-import-ban-says-climate-change-minister

    More than 14 countries and 20 cities around the world are already into this.

    https://theclimatecenter.org/actions-by-countries-phase-out-gas/

    Unfortunately our three main sources of vehicles – Japan, Singapore, and Australia – don't have particularly strong programmes against combustion vehicles.

    There's a more detailed discussion on this relationship between the ICE and GHG growth here at GreaterAuckland, who engaged pretty closely at the Business and CLimate Change Conference last week.

    https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2020/11/17/what-the-model-says-about-decarbonising-transport/

    David Parker, Minister for the Environment, was present, and noted:

    as a country we’ve reached the conclusion that decarbonisation of our light vehicle fleet is going to be the biggest opportunity to reduce emissions in the energy sector in the next few years.

    Seriously I just wish Ministers like that would just stop talking and start making some good ol' leadership decisions.

    • Sanctuary 2.1

      I agree. Surely this would be a really easy win – and would potentially even allow us to develop an electric conversion industry for petrol vehicles to accelerate to rollout of electric infrastructure?

      I guess Labour is terrified that it might lose it's new constituency amongst angry sub-contractor autocrats who love their SUVs.

      • RedLogix 2.1.1

        Timing is everything. Remember the 'light bulb' fiasco back in 2008?

        • Ad 2.1.1.1

          We dont have to worry.

          Not with this government.

          All the time in the world.

          • greywarshark 2.1.1.1.1

            Timing is everything. Remember the 'light bulb' fiasco back in 2008?

            The 'light bulb fiasco' is an example of when someone has a 'good' idea 💡 and it provides a quick fix to meet some target, and never mind whether it fits the requirements of all the populace.

          • RedLogix 2.1.1.1.2

            At the very least learn something from that mistake. The correct way to introduce EV's is to promote a timeline over the next decade or so to make the transition.

            There will be early adopters who will be keen to get in, so make sure the infrastructure is put in place for them. Then incentivise the industry to start switching mainstream to EV models as they become more available and technically capable over the next 5 or so years.

            Promote industry training programs aggressively; and realise that a lot of people are going to have their employment heavily impacted by this.

            And then at the back end, make sure there is a plan to manage all the stranded ICE vehicles in manner that doesn't unduly penalise people who make the change later than others. Plus recognise that there will be some applications where EV doesn't work, and some form of liquid fuel infrastructure will probably need to be maintained for perhaps a couple of decades.

            At least put up a decent discussion document and get the industry engaged. By all means put in place some deadlines, but aim to get as many people on board voluntarily as possible. It's going to be a complex transition with many moving parts; govt cannot do this on it's own.

      • RedBaronCV 2.1.2

        Just tell them how much they will save by not buying petrol. Those figures are really great.
        And yes we do need to stop petrol imports – and bridge the gap for the low end buyer to go electric.

        Electric and hybrid are coming to lower priced vehicles.

  3. Sanctuary 3

    Richard Prebble's pieces in the Herald are just sad. Today he starts off talking about measuring the economy via trucks, and ends with a quote from Ludwig von Mises. Can you imagine the Herald ever allowing a doddery, long retired, septuagenarian trade unionist a column where he told us all about his favoured simpleton measure for the economy (IDK, beer sales in working class areas?) and finished his article with a quote from Marx? Not on your Nelly! But the privilege of being an ex-leader of a far right party of economic crackpots is regular opinion pieces in the paper, it seems. Such is the glittering baubles with which the rich reward it's Quislings.

    Prebble reveals himself as a rather simple minded fanatic who somehow got to a position where he actually ran our economy for six years.

    • PsyclingLeft.Always 3.1

      aka "maddog" Prebble…him and his fellow neolib act/"labour"screwed NZ for Generations. Scum bag….

      • Tricledrown 3.1.1

        They got very well remunerated for joining the economic colonialists company.

        Dined and wined while the homeless struggle living on the streets.

        Before the wholesale sellouts homelessness didn't exist.

        Changes were needed pulling the rug out of economy in one hit has left widespread poverty a very low median wages high prices for food accommodation medical care etc.

        The Winners take all economic strategy

        Left overs for the peasant's if they are lucky.

    • Ad 3.2

      Plenty of commentators here defend Marxist revolution like they're auditioning for a bit part as a shouty shopsoiled stopwork air-puncher in a Movietone 1946 Communist Party conclave. I forget my keys sometimes but I dont forget a near century of Marxist-led savagery and genocide.

      Having said that, Richard Prebble needs to pour himself his morning double Balbeghie and go back to drooling on his porch armchair.

      • arkie 3.2.1

        I forget my keys sometimes but I dont forget a near century of Marxist-led savagery and genocide.

        hmm.

        But for the right, a revival of interest in Marx’s pre-Stalinist vision of communism is the most striking and chilling example of its own collapsing ideological supremacy: ‘communism’ is synonymous with tens of millions of deaths and nothing else. Capitalism, by contrast, is presented as a largely bloodless, blameless engine of human prosperity.

        The story of capitalism is more complicated than that. If you want to read effusive praise of capitalism, you’ll find it in Marx and Engels’ Communist Manifesto: the revolutionary dynamism of the capitalists, they wrote, had created “wonders far surpassing Egyptian pyramids, Roman aqueducts, and Gothic cathedrals”. But capitalism is an economic system drenched in the blood of countless millions.

        The democratic radical left has long repudiated the totalitarian nightmare, and has reflected at great length as to how it happened. But many of capitalism’s unapologetic defenders have failed to scrutinise its own past: respectable politicians and historians still defend colonialism, despite its grotesque horrors. Diving back into the darkest days of 20th-century totalitarianism is not a fair way to take on 21st-century democratic socialists.

        https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/communists-capitalism-stalinism-economic-model

        • Phillip ure 3.2.1.1

          Wot arkie said..

          • greywarshark 3.2.1.1.1

            I forget my keys sometimes but I dont forget a near century of Marxist-led savagery and genocide.

            Hey you are stuck in your mindset so deep that you don't see that savagery etc is going on all the time. And capitalistic forces are very willing to carry out similar, perhaps dropping two nuclear bombs to quell any more hostility and empire building from the Japanese might be of parallel weight!

            We have nothing to fear, but fear of blinkered mindsets from either side of any mudpie-throwing competition. 'Well, if you knows of a better 'ole, go to it.' the 1915 cartoon from the naturally humanistic cartoonist, Bruce Bairnsfather. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bairnsfather#World_War_I_service

        • RedLogix 3.2.1.2

          And every single one of those causes of death are virtually exclusive to the least developed, the least 'capitalist' places on the planet.

          • arkie 3.2.1.2.1

            Capitalism knows no borders.

            In 2012, the last year of recorded data, developing countries received a total of $1.3tn, including all aid, investment, and income from abroad. But that same year some $3.3tn flowed out of them. In other words, developing countries sent $2tn more to the rest of the world than they received. If we look at all years since 1980, these net outflows add up to an eye-popping total of $16.3tn – that’s how much money has been drained out of the global south over the past few decades. To get a sense for the scale of this, $16.3tn is roughly the GDP of the United States

            What this means is that the usual development narrative has it backwards. Aid is effectively flowing in reverse. Rich countries aren’t developing poor countries; poor countries are developing rich ones.

            We know how to fix the problem. But doing so would run up against the interests of powerful banks and corporations that extract significant material benefit from the existing system. The question is, do we have the courage?

            https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/14/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries

            • RedLogix 3.2.1.2.1.1

              And if you read the article much of that reverse flow is about 'capital flight', mostly companies moving capital illicitly out of the country to somewhere safer. The reasons for this are complex, a fair chunk of it being good old tax avoidance … but none of them a necessarily a feature of capitalism.

              Still the general rule is that as a country develops, it's own internal institutions become stronger, and it's government more capable and trusted, then this flow tends to slow down.

              • arkie

                Capital flight is definitionally a feature of international capitalism. Taxes are the State's attempt at limiting the private accumulation of resources. Tax avoidance extracts resources from the State preventing them from developing/strengthening its' own internal institutions.

                Capital flight and tax avoidance is a problem the world over, remember the Panama Papers?

                From their offshore accounts, [owners of capital] essentially make the same investments they do from banks located in London, New York, or Sydney: they buy financial securities — that is, stocks, bonds, and, above all, shares in mutual funds. The money in tax havens doesn’t sleep. It is invested in international financial markets.

                Zucman conservatively estimates that $7.6 trillion is invested in hidden offshore bank accounts, the equivalent of 8 percent of the world’s total wealth. That translates into at least $200 billion in lost tax revenue every year, according to his estimates.

                https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo20159822.html

                https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/panama-papers-capital-mobility-controls/

                • RedLogix

                  Capital flight is definitionally a feature of international capitalism.

                  You just made that up.

                  And I’m pretty sure tax avoidance is an ancient pastime that pre-dates capitalism by quite a few thousands of years.

              • JeremyB

                Yes, moving Capital has nothing to do with Capitalism, of course. /s

          • McFlock 3.2.1.2.2

            Does Flint have clean water, yet? Nope.

      • Phillip ure 3.2.2

        I actually loathe the old-school left-wing authoritarian mindset as much as I do right-wing fascism ..they are as ignorant as each other ..there really is a 'third-way'…(no..!..not neoliberal-incrementalism ..)

      • AB 3.2.3

        "Plenty"? Maybe a dozen – tops. And they're all safely coralled here in this little corner with no public platform, unlike Prebs.

    • Nic the NZer 3.3

      What are you talking about. We are still being treated to peak Prebble, as on point and relevant as ever.

  4. Phillip ure 4

    Stuart nash on natrad showing the incoherence of his ban-the-van/we-want-rich-tourists flight of fancy ..feckin' idjit..!..

    • xanthe 4.1

      Yeah I also thought Stuart's contribution was ignorant and slightly offensive.

    • Bearded Git 4.2

      Agreed….. Nash's moronic attack on backpackers has been ripped apart by the texters on RNZ….Labour showing themselves to be elitist and authoritarian here…..I guess it's consistent with their lack of action on wealth redistribution.

      • greywarshark 4.2.1

        We need some practicality here about low-income visitors to NZ, not knee-jerk softies who can't look at the real problems we face from their business, in all meanings of the word.

        We have to have high-income longer-staying visitors –

        • to earn income without swamping our tourist assets and our environment (numbers)
        • to earn income yet trying to keep down the amount of bad environmental effects, so we have to prioritise
        • (Nil tourists would bring down our anti-environment carbon footprint, but we want overseas money and tourism ventures have invested a lot and want a return)
        • to keep people in hospitality jobs, one of the shrinking ways of getting a regular income in these halcyon days of the modern capitalist world

        I think the thinkers amongst us recognise that lower-income people should be able to come here. I suggest a group be allowed for by Immigration, one of which would be Woofers (Willing workers on organic farms), and others seasonal workers, from pickers, pruners, ski instructors, big machine drivers etc. Do-ers not just be-ers, would be welcomed. So backpackers would have a place and time to be here. And vans would have to have toilets, and there should be a limit on how many there are under licence in NZ. And that would limit the number clogging our roads, and they should be encouraged to travel by rail and bus with concessionary tickets of the hop-on, hop-off variety at cheap rates.

        Let's not pick on our rightish Labour pollies automatically. They may come up with some useful, practical schemes. We don't want pie-in-the-sky ones (like housing growing like mushrooms) as promised in the past do we? Practical, ticking the important boxes, that's what we need, I suggest.

    • AB 4.3

      Seemed like Nashie has overdosed on the 'high-end tourists only because we are so great" fantasy. The problem is that everywhere is great (and simultaneously terrible too). No acknowledgement of all those small/marginal operators whose livelihoods depends on volume.

      But the bigger problem is that discretionary tourism is doomed and has to pretty much stop soon, or we are hammering our way past 3C degrees of warming – so better to plan for that. And such a bad look – pandering to the rich – when holidays for most kiwis is the summer camp-ground or a week in a motel. Couldn't help feeling that Nashie’s high-end tourism might be a cunning extension of the real estate sector – the tourists get to look around and decide what properties to buy.

      • Graeme 4.3.1

        A higher value inbound industry isn’t necessarily incompatible to a thriving and affordable domestic industry and the pressures that CC and post covid will bring to tourism.
        Very likely that long haul cattle class won’t return, people won’t want to be there and it won’t be cheap any more. The people who will be able to afford long haul travel will want much better than a mud priced NZ motel.

        The pressure on price and capacity in the middle class domestic market doesn’t come from the upper end international but from the bottom and middle, that’s who’s filling the camping grounds and motels. We also spend the same going overseas as international inbound spend here.

        • Pat 4.3.1.1

          "We also spend the same going overseas as international inbound spend here."

          Roughly …and if we reduce incoming it will restrict the availability/affordability of outgoing as well….not that I expect that to be a popular outcome

          • Graeme 4.3.1.1.1

            Doubt we will need to restrict anything, just market to those that can afford it.

            Certainly not going to be popular, especially with the industry, Nash just told a lot of them they haven’t got a business any more. Surprised they took it ao well.

            • Pat 4.3.1.1.1.1

              Shouldnt have been news to them

              • greywarshark

                edit
                Pat's point is one that doesn't get mentioned often. Airlines have to have two-way loading to be profitable ie fly in a certain number of passengers (enough to pay for the minimum costs involved), and then fly out, with a minimum number of passengers.

                It costs to keep the plane parked for long. The costs of retaining the crew, must be considered.

                As someone pointed out what we receive here from inbound tourists, may be balanced by our spending overseas, so there may be a net outcome. But at least it will keep our basic transport open, for a while longer, and provide trade and jobs. But all the time we must be considering how to bring our carbon footprint down. That means that government has to ensure that new debts are not being taken on, new planes are not being bought.

                Is someone working on a model for using shipping instead of planes? The weather changes will bring about timetable limitations ie not going through some ocean at such a latitude while the cyclone season is on. We don’t want our goods or ourselves to be travelling cattle class and end up at the bottom of the ocean do we. Perhaps we will have ‘flying ships’ especially designed to carry perishable goods at a high speed and cost.

                Tourists use ships for cruises, they can be used for long-trip travellers as they once were, Fairstar, Fairsky etc. And cruises to the Antartic and so on, when are they going to be stopped. It isn’t a good look in these climate-change times to have people nosy-parkering at things just because they have the money and curiosity. Too like end of Brave New World which resonates muchly these days. It’s a dirty human habit to want to stare at something doomed, so ghoulish. I suggest try looking in the mirror, to all of us as we all have this lurking curiosity.

                Overall I think that sharp minds need to assess any new spending and infrastructure on a basis of – will it cover its costs in returns in the next five years? I don't hear this sort of calculation being considered. The talk is thinking about 2035-2050, and the long-term plan is the wise option still being discussed these days.

                Our local Councils are still working on 10 year plans, and reluctantly giving up expensive options. But the locust-like planning for taking over productive and recreational and/or environmentally important land for housing continues unabated.

            • Phillip ure 4.3.1.1.1.2

              Re equanimity of tourism industry @ nashs’ b.s..That would be because they would recognise him/his words as just another politician flying a kite..talking shite/trying to pretend to be relevant in some way..and failing..he has earned himself a new nickname tho'..stuart 'ban-the-van!' nash..

  5. xanthe 5

    My suggested solution to soaring house prices….. Tax interest received at around 85%

    • mikesh 5.1

      It would be better to make interest non tax deductible.

    • Herodotus 5.2

      The banks already pay less than 1% on deposits and you would be inflicting further pain on retirees who have had their income savaged

      Such measures would incentivise even more to be invested into property and away from other legit means of investment.

      why can not

    • xanthe 5.3

      Also we have a crazy system here where the lenders are protected from any risk. Thats arse about, it should be the lender takes most of the risk .

    • Stuart Munro 5.4

      Another good one would be to cap real estate fees. Make no mistake, the current inflation is not unrelated to energetic promotion by real estate companies, who contribute nothing to the country to justify their extremely high (by international standards) cut.

  6. Macro 6

    SmartSelect_20201117-095419_Facebook

    Stacy Abrams and President Jimmy Carter. Greeting each other in a very Blue Georgia

  7. Pat 7

    Some good analysis…around 50 mins long but theres a particularly succinct 2 mins at 40 min mark

    https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/

    • xanthe 8.1

      cant someone take Jacinda aside and explain to her that private companies lending made up money at interest for profit is the very root of the problem

      • Tricledrown 8.1.1

        Xanthe National would not print money so the economy would tank 45,000 building permits are keeping the economy afloat.

        At the height of the GFC meltdown only 12,000 permits National borrowed money at 5.5% from overseas which the US was only charging •5% interest,padding the likes of Goldman Sachs huge profits.

        Key was those banks lackey refusing to do what all the major trading blocks were doing printing money so we could subsidize these corrupt vulture capitalists who created the problem

        • xanthe 8.1.1.1

          Well i cant see any other solution then to ban private lending at interest both private and public and Govt be the only lender who can make up appropriate money(Just like happens NOW!) and lend it where and only where it is in the public good!

          what I cannot see at all right now is … how to get there?

    • xanthe 9.1

      errm still some deadwood to clear out in the Labour caucus I think

    • Tricledrown 9.2

      Most New Zealanders would agree with Nash .

      But for the seasonal labour these tourists provide.

      New Zealanders have no reason to uproot their city life to go and work for a few weeks or months on a minimum wage while living in substandard conditions .

      The myth that freedom campers don't contribute is a fallacy ,They don't spend on accommodation but do work in horticulture and tourism which are short term low paid jobs no one else wants to do.

      That money goes back into our economy and keeps industries flourishing many spending big money on adventure tourism.

      The govt should be upgrading infrastructure to cope with this type of tourism before it gets overwhelmed again no doubt in the future when a Covid vaccine is widely available and cheap air flights

      • Graeme 9.2.1

        Everyone is focusing on the backpacker side, but it’s also the bottom / middle of the coach and FIT market that’s not going to be supported. Generally in this market very little is in NZ$ so little loss to most of the country, and the market may not exist any more.

    • Rosemary McDonald 9.3

      And the Fuckwit of the Year Award goes to…

      Poor Stu, he needs to get out more then he'd realise those Young'uns are buying those wee Shitmobiles. There are entire websites and FB pages trading in them.

      But still, the good folk of Napier keep on voting for him despite his thing about fire engines.

      https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/10553595/Stuart-Nash-its-all-about-bloody-hard-work

      Nevermind Stuart….your day will come…

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lIbuQeQzDA

    • tc 9.4

      The ego has landed in tourism for the moment, reminds me of large orgs who put managers where they can do minimal damage as tourism's a tad flat currently.

      He's been shuffled aside after not being up to scratch in his prior portfolios and the eyes are on him now. Methinks Nash's been found out.

    • From now on he will be known as knee-jerk Nash.

      The solution is more public toilets rather than destroying a lucrative part of NZ's tourist industry, and the country's image to boot.

  8. Reality 10

    Like to know the advantage of tourists in their cheap vans travelling round spoiling the environment and making a mess. If they can afford the fare to NZ they should be prepared to pay to behave decently.

    The Greens, who are so passionate about the environment, have been somewhat quiet on this. Do they support the Minister's ideas? They are keen to ban petrol cars and have Kiwis pay high prices for electric cars but I'd like to hear them equally concerned about the pollution and mess caused by these cheap travellers.

    • xanthe 10.1

      eeek Where to start.

      Lots of Low Cost travelers do contribute heaps and behave admirably

      The Greens idea was not to " ban petrol cars and have Kiwis pay high prices for electric cars" But rather to apply duty to petrol cars and use that duty to reduce the cost of electric cars for kiwis.

      There are places in NZ where for whatever reason the litter has not been picked up for a few years. I can assure you the mess left by "low cost tourists" is a tiny grain in the mountain of crap NZs throw out the window.

  9. mango 11

    I know that this will put the cat among the pidgeons but a ban on ICE vehicles would be a pointless waste of time. Despite all the hype 100% electric transport is not and never will be physically possible. I don't blame people for believing the hype because everyone wants it to be true but the laws of physics wont change just because we want them to. A mix of electricity, biofuel and reduced transport demand is what will actually happen.

  10. greywarshark 12

    I've commented on here before that there are reports of CourierPost ()NZ Post) having on-line service down so not being open for business on-line. I expressed my disappointment and fear that the government is prepared to let this important government agency go down the drain by allowing it to fall through the crack of not being wholly government or private and there being plenty of competition willing to take it up.

    I thought I would take a little look at the running, and who on the gummint is likely to have an overview of it. It is a vital communication pipeline, and we damn well better see it maintained and sharp. I support NZ Post and it would pay other NZ-committed to do so as well.

    Some TradeMe conversation about it on Nov.17. These are people at the micro level showing initiative and that should be encouraged, and they try to remain good humoured! Someone has now advised that the site is up, so it is intermittent. Not good for 'productivity' and efficiency of sellers or CourierPost though.

    No PO boxes bookings at the moment as Courierpost is down.
    Message just now when trying to book saying… Sorry, CourierPost's services are currently unavailable but you can still book with Aramex.

    Yes its very frustrating that courierpost services are down AGAIN. Been trying since mid morning and still not avail. Its all very well Aramex being avail to use at a higher cost, but when you have given cheaper price to buyer after a quote earlier and they've paid you are stuck with covering the cost. Or just try, try, try again to book with courierpost. (Mind you we are all probably doing the same thing and the poor system cant hope haha)

    This is part of what the NZ Post site says about its Governance:

    The Board of the New Zealand Post Group currently comprises of six non-executive Directors. The two Shareholding Ministers – the Minister of Finance and the Minister of State Owned Enterprises, on behalf of the Crown, appoint the Directors considering the balance of competencies and experience on the Board and through consultation with the Chair, Rodger Finlay. https://www.nzpost.co.nz/about-us/investor-centre/leadership

    So how will NZ Post fare under this Labour Government. I looked at the facts about the pollies involved and tried to get a feel of the likely outlook of the Hon Dr David Clark.
    We know the Minister of Finance, Hon. Grant Robertson –
    The Minister of State Owned Enterprises is the Hon. David Clark who also has other important business and organisational responsibilities –

    Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs
    Minister for the Digital Economy and Communications
    Minister for State Owned Enterprises
    Minister of Statistics
    Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission

    https://www.labour.org.nz/news-new-team-ministers-labour-government-2020

    The Hon. Dr David Clark has I think, an unusual background for his present portfolios. Religious ministry – Treasury – Politics. It is possible that his background of theoretical and moralistic thinking, thinly balanced on fact (religion and economics) may be more didactic and moralistic than practical and pragmatic. He does say in his bio that he's 'done a bunch of different things. I've worked on farms and in factories.' So he's been out and about in the wide, wild world a little, has also been strong in cycling, running, which are individualistic sports.
    Early years:
    Advisor, to Hon David Parker 2006 – 2007
    Analyst, Treasury 2003 – 2006
    PhD Student, University of Otago 2000 – 2003
    Presbyterian Minister, Community of St Luke 1997 – 2000
    University Exchange Student, Germany 1997
    Student, University of Otago, BA, BTheol(Hons) 1991 – 1996

    http://www.davidclark.org.nz/about

    • greywarshark 12.1

      Advice for TradeMe users who have seen the above. There is a 'cheat' for getting round the CourierPost on-line program weakness. This is a good example of NZs keeping on buzzing despite difficult times, and helping each other in goodwill. We need lots of this now and going forward.

      One commenter offered this process:

      Often Courierpost goes down,
      OR if the address is not recognised it doesn't show up. Try this.
      When you see the buyers delivery address when booking, just under it click Edit delivery address.
      Put in name
      Start typing address and when it gives you a choice to select, DON'T.
      Click the link below it that says Can't find your address?
      Put in the address
      Leave out suburb ! important
      Put in post code if you know it's correct, else click on the find Post code button to go to the NZPost website and find it there.
      Click the Update address button, and Courierpost should pop up.

      Haven't tried it myself but the experienced usually are spot on with their advice.

    • Stuart Munro 12.2

      He'd be right at home with Treasury – they're a cult.

  11. Reality 13

    Yes, there are low cost travellers who show respect, but equally we have all seen photos of the mess some leave behind. They spoil it for others and all too often get away with it. That behaviour costs the local councils in time and money.

    Is there an undercurrent on this thread of resentment towards wealthy tourists? So many people on the Standard seem constantly disgruntled with people who are better off, government ministers, the world, the cannabis referendum, life in general. And yet there are often articles in the media about people who have to deal with life's challenges but can still show some joy and positivity nevertheless.

    • greywarshark 13.1

      Hit the reality button will you. It is no secret that NZ is one of the most unequal from high income to low, in the developed countries list.

      Of course, like good little economic analysts, we are looking to see if we are getting our moneysworth out of these high paid execs. Does their productivity match up minute by minute. If you work in an accountants or solicitors you may be on a time sheet accounting for every 6 minutes, and we want the same accountability for the fatnecks.

      So as our money flows upwards, and our water flows outwards, we look at what is left in our codpieces, and find the remains small and drying up. As Queen sang 'We will, we will Screw you'. Or was it 'Rock you'. It is time to do something, and we are noting who we are going to pick on for being Mr or Ms Creosote for December 2020. Stick around and we'll get to you sooner rather than later and your reality will change.

    • Sabine 13.2

      So who is responsible for all the roadside rubbish currently?

      • Phillip ure 13.2.1

        Nz has a long history/culture of throwing rubbish out the car window…and it sure as hell isn't the tourists who are fly-tipping all over the country…should we mention those old dump sites that are re-surfacing..?..this targeting/scapegoating of young foreign tourists is sodden with bigotry/ignorance…they stay longer..they work…and every day they are supporting local businesses…I live in raglan and interact with them all the time…invariably they are intelligent/articulate/friendly…also lots of rich tourists pass thru here…with their noses in the air…I know which I prefer ..

    • woodart 13.3

      good post reality. many on the standard seem to get out of bed, looking to be outraged. very tireome. I now only dip into the standard infrequentley. real life is far more stimulating, and forfulling.

  12. Reality 14

    Greywarshark – silly, inane comments that don't make sense. Who is going to "get" me exactly?

  13. Koff 15

    Full lockdown in South Australia. Similar origin and situation to the August Auckland cluster. Hopefully they have acted faster than Victoria.

    https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/coronavirus/circuit-breaker-sa-in-full-lockdown/news-story/0a167b4e08e2f6ff4b38895e7a400dcf

    • Drowsy M. Kram 15.1

      Hope so too. With effective COVID-19 vaccine(s) in 2021 looking more likely, the common sense of:

      (i) strict border controls,
      (ii) good testing/tracking/tracing,
      (iii) timely lockdowns, and
      (iv) good personal and community hygiene practices

      in the interim is evident.

      We don't know how lucky we are. In some countries the COVID horse has well and truly bolted. For example, in the USA ~3.5% of the population has been infected (so far), with an overall case fatality rate of ~2.2%. In French Polynesia ~4.4% of the population has been infected.

      Stamp it out, keep it out.

  14. greywarshark 16

    Why we should not do anything – because it would hurt the interests of the business leaders who oriented towards their interests, which is getting not only low interest, but high interest and payouts, and no interest in the rest of the country.

    But before government does nothing it should tell the Reserve Bank what is wanted, and thus show the Governor how to make everybody (who counts) happy. I think that it's one of those operational matters that government is not supposed to direct but…. Reserve Bank independence, well Transparency International don't have to know exactly how that works.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/430854/business-leaders-against-national-s-idea-of-imposing-conditions-on-funding-for-lending

    Business NZ (Roundtable) Kirk Hope. What a good name for a moneyman with probity. Kirk is Scots for Church and Hope has a nice positive religious tone to it. Names like this and Steadfast Virtue as in the Gloriavale type of virtue-signalling inspire a deep feeling of… something.

    And cleancut Andrew Bayly who is captioned as Shadow Treasurer which of course means Opposition – National says" "All I'm suggesting is that if the government is clear that we do not want to see rapid escalation of house prices, the Reserve Bank is smart enough to be able to work out the best policies to implement to make sure that doesn't continue to occur," he said.

    Hope wants banks to be the arbiters of lending, government stay out. (In other words, keep us in the driving seat which is speaking Business NZ style and also its cohort.) He was not worried that the lion's share might end up in the pockets of property investors.

  15. Ad 17

    Well, Nelson Council just generated a really noisy and risky way to open up a public discussion about climate change in Nelson.

    About 4500 property owners in Nelson are being told their land is at risk of potential inundation from sea level rise and other coastal hazards.

    Nelson City Council is sending letters to landowners on the back of new coastal inundation maps, which show that swathes of central Nelson and coastal suburbs stand to be flooded under the worst case scenarios.

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/123427369/maps-forecast-large-areas-of-nelson-underwater-from-sealevel-rise

    They ain't going to get Christmas cards for sending that one out.

    • WeTheBleeple 17.1

      Much better than pretending it's not an issue. We can't sleepwalk our way into disaster the writing's been on the wall for some time.

      Even my blanket fort feels a tad unsafe in these times.

    • Koff 17.2

      20 years down the track, the councillors of the day ain't going to get Christmas cards for keeping mum about the danger of inundation if they have that evidence at hand, now.

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

  • At a glance – Does CO2 always correlate with temperature?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    7 mins ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 hours ago
  • Relentlessly negative
    Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 hours ago
  • Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 hours ago
  • Promiscuous Empathy: Chris Trotter Replies To His Critics.
    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 ...
    3 hours ago
  • Don’t run your business like a criminal enterprise
    The Detail this morning highlights the police's asset forfeiture case against convicted business criminal Ron Salter, who stands to have his business confiscated for systemic violations of health and safety law. Business are crying foul - but not for the reason you'd think. Instead of opposing the post-conviction punishment and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 hours ago
  • Misremembering Justinian’s Taxes.
    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 ...
    4 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Scoring 4.6 out of 10, the new Government is struggling in the polls
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 hours ago
  • Bishop scores headlines with crackdown on unwelcome tenants – but Peters scores, too, as tub-thump...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 hours ago
  • Will it make the boat go faster?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 Kotahi The fact that a ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    9 hours ago
  • Is Simon Bridges’ NZTA appointment a conflict of interest?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    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 Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    11 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    11 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    14 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    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 ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    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 ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    2 days ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    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; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    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 ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    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 ...
    2 days ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    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, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$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 ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    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. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    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 ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    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 Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    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 ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    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 ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    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 ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    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. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    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 ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    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 ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter 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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    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 ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    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 ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    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, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    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 ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    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 ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    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 ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    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 ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    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 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    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, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Government moves to quickly ratify the NZ-EU FTA
    "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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 hours ago
  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    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.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    9 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    10 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    23 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    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, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    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,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    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. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    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 ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
    Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister to attend World Anti-Doping Agency Symposium
    Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

Page generated in The Standard by Wordpress at 2024-03-19T06:29:56+00:00