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.
[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.
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]
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.
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.
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?
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.
Great ta. There is so much to discuss and hash over I don't want to make life hard for mods especially if they cut us a bit of slack at times. The blog seems to go forward well and probably is a bellwether for the rest, without being sheepish!
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 😉
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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 ..)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 –
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
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.
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.
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.
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 ..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
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 ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
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Everyone thinks he’s dead. Every day they expect his body to be washed up along the coast. Most likely up Karitane way, the way the tide’s running. But nobody’ll be too surprised if his body’s never found. Even in death he wouldn’t have wished for such attention. He would have ...
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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]
Sweden. All Not so good.And voices WERE raised…
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
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.
mod note for you PLA, please respond when you have read it.
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?
let's see…
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
So long as the relevant link immediately follows the italics, that works for me.
Great ta. There is so much to discuss and hash over I don't want to make life hard for mods especially if they cut us a bit of slack at times. The blog seems to go forward well and probably is a bellwether for the rest, without being sheepish!
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?
So I take it – use quotes and italics kept for drawing attention to something? Is that what you mean as –
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 😉
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?
Yea…I cant fucking be bothered. And I thought trademe O and P was bad…Was it the pseudoscience/alt medicine? Take a jump : )
cool, now we both know where we stand.
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:
Seriously I just wish Ministers like that would just stop talking and start making some good ol' leadership decisions.
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.
Timing is everything. Remember the 'light bulb' fiasco back in 2008?
We dont have to worry.
Not with this government.
All the time in the world.
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.
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.
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.
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.
aka "maddog" Prebble…him and his fellow neolib act/"labour"screwed NZ for Generations. Scum bag….
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.
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.
hmm.
…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/communists-capitalism-stalinism-economic-model
Wot arkie said..
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
And every single one of those causes of death are virtually exclusive to the least developed, the least 'capitalist' places on the planet.
Capitalism knows no borders.
…
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jan/14/aid-in-reverse-how-poor-countries-develop-rich-countries
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.
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?
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo20159822.html
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/panama-papers-capital-mobility-controls/
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.
Yes, moving Capital has nothing to do with Capitalism, of course. /s
Does Flint have clean water, yet? Nope.
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 ..)
"Plenty"? Maybe a dozen – tops. And they're all safely coralled here in this little corner with no public platform, unlike Prebs.
What are you talking about. We are still being treated to peak Prebble, as on point and relevant as ever.
Stuart nash on natrad showing the incoherence of his ban-the-van/we-want-rich-tourists flight of fancy ..feckin' idjit..!..
Yeah I also thought Stuart's contribution was ignorant and slightly offensive.
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.
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 –
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.
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.
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.
"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
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.
Shouldnt have been news to them
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.
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..
Seeing as Women generally need to urinate more frequently than men due to having smaller bladders. criticising Nash for wanting to ban tourist vans without toilets, must be anti feminist.
Or we could invest in public, roadside toilet blocks for anyone ? Oh, that would be socialistic or something and thus nah, nah, can't be done?
We could, and should, but free loader campers wouldn’t need to crap where they wanted if they stayed at holiday parks or serviced DOC sites.
I see what u tried to do there…
Tried and succeeded, but fortunately you're coherent enough at the moment not to need the sarc tag I neglected to add.
My suggested solution to soaring house prices….. Tax interest received at around 85%
It would be better to make interest non tax deductible.
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
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 .
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.
Stacy Abrams and President Jimmy Carter. Greeting each other in a very Blue Georgia
+1000
Shot of the day.
I respect carter…one of the 'best' presidents america has had in eons..
very cool.
Great shot…Carter has been unfairly much-maligned.
He was unlucky with the Iran hostage raid that destroyed his chance of a second term.
Some good analysis…around 50 mins long but theres a particularly succinct 2 mins at 40 min mark
https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/
eeeeeck now Judith Collins is talking some sense. our world is upside down
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/430866/no-controls-on-how-trading-banks-use-funding-recipe-for-disaster-collins
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
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
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?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/300161375/tourism-minister-to-ban-tourists-from-hiring-vans-that-are-not-selfcontained
And the Fuckwit of the Year Award goes to…
errm still some deadwood to clear out in the Labour caucus I think
Hopefully he's setting fire to himself.
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
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.
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…
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.
Yes. Or how about Nat Nash?
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
He'd be right at home with Treasury – they're a cult.
I had a feeling about his train tracks and the passengers he would meet.
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.
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.
So who is responsible for all the roadside rubbish currently?
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 ..
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.
Greywarshark – silly, inane comments that don't make sense. Who is going to "get" me exactly?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
'blanket fort'…heh..!
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.