Perhaps an invidious comparison, but the Australian Federal budget will be compared to ours on particular for lines associated with public sector pay, and for major projects, and for speed of economic expansion.
Workers have had mobility constraints for a year, and the $$ signals will count in their future skill and degree location plans.
I wouldnt believe much about the Australian budget spin coming from the federal governments spin doctors.
Even on the local levels , a project before last election for 'car parks' at train stations in Melbourne liberal electorates was 're-announced' this time as costs had risen substantially ( or were more realistically calculated), so some stations were dropped and others changed because the land was earmarked for housing!.
Had my first vaccination yesterday, some observations on the system as I experienced it.
I got notified on Monday evening via text and email that I had been booked for Tuesday late afternoon (one woman behind me in the queue had had just two hours notice of her vaccination, that is quite alarming!). The text message invited me to confirm the booking via a link.
First problem – the link required me to "reset" my password (never having logged in before). The password required characters, upper case & I think a special character. When this was done, it took me to a login page where I was prompted for username and password. Only because I am familiar with technology was I able to work out the ID number quoted in the text message must be username. For those who struggle with technology this would be a bit of a barrier, I bet the call centre gets calls about it all the time!
Second problem – At the moment, there are only two vaccination centres in Auckland, one in Mt. Wellington and one in Elliot street in the CBD on "level 4" of a building there. I chose the CDB location because I live near a railway station. However, the vaccination centre has no street signage in Elliot street indicating which entry to use or how to get to level 4. You have to wander around a bit to find where it is. Obviously, parking in the city is a nightmare if you don't have ready access to PT. If you are disabled getting to the vaccination centre would be a real struggle.
Once there, you have a filtering team who visually sight your phone booking to stop random walk ups.
Then you proceed to a second checkpoint where you are given a consent form to fill out which requires your NHI number. How many people know this? I know mine, but only because I have a big brain 🙂 They check your ID and booking, and bizarrely, ask if you know why you got a booking – no one around me had much of a clue on that one, but they manually wrote down the answers anyway. Who knows what for. Also, this second checkpoint makes the whole confirmation of booking rigmarole questionable, if they check you off in the system manually then why not simply offer a system where you can just turn up with your phone booking, they scan a barcode and away you go? Why the double handling? You are then handed a consent form to fill out.
Then you proceed to checkpoint three, where they check you consent form, explain consent AND MANUALLY RECORD AT LEAST YOUR MOBILE NUMBER INTO A LAPTOP FOR THE FOLLOW UP SHOT NOTIFICATION. I asked about this, since they clearly had my number for the booking. I was told that was the booking system, this is for the vaccination system. Now… words defeat me. Is the DHB really running two booking systems in parallel with no intersections & MANUAL data inputs? REALLY? The odds of error in transcribing information go up exponentially – how many thousands of times will mistakes be made when tired and harassed staff enter wrong numbers?
From there, it was smoothly done, as you would expect from the professionals who actually do (rather than administer) health. The whole experience took around 45 minutes.
My over all impression is it is system designed by health bureaucrats who have only ever designed booking systems to act as part of a suite of tools for rationing access to healthcare. It will be made to work by the informed, motivated and middle class. And the current setup, if my experience is any guide, has bugger all chance of scaling up for the mass rollout successfully.
Personally, I would have put the army in charge. hey took the MIQ system off our utterly useless DHBs and made it work. They are the last mission orientated branch of government. They would have simply said "mission: needles in arms. How do we do it quickly and effectively?" And gone on and done it.
Oh and the sooner the DHBs are gone, the better.
PS – I am so grateful the government has kept us safe and given me a free vaccine, Thank you NZ Government!
In a nutshell, they’re aware of the issues, many of which the general public has no inkling of, and have been working hard on it. This is not straightforward, not the least because of every DHB doing its own thing, as always, but there are significant improvements coming soon. Meanwhile, people can be vaccinated and the vaccination schedule is currently tracking as planned, ahead even. On a personal note, I think they’re doing a marvellous job.
"…Dr Bloomfield acknowledged the programme was huge and ambitious, with the aim of nearly 8,000,000 doses of vaccine to be given before the end of the year.
However, he told Checkpoint, "we are ahead of our scheduled delivery at the moment."
"At the moment" means he has a CYA (Cover Your Ass) way out if the whole thing collapses in a welter of hissing steam, twisted track and recriminations in July/August.
It is what it is and they’re making a big effort and cynicism and sarcasm are not going to change that. Please tell me the Lotto numbers for the next draw, thanks.
"at the moment' can also mean just that. He also said 'currently". What we don't know is the question to which he was giving an answer, as the 10 minute radio excerpt started with an introduction by the interviewer and then launched into a statement by the interviewee, Dr Bloomfield, without any preceding question or conversation starter.
Did the conversation start like this, “Dr Bloomfield, so how are things shaping up at the moment?”
'At the moment' was also used in the context of further 'ramp up of the vaccination programme and if used in that context is also a fair description of progress and intentions.
'At the moment' also gives a factual reference as the facts are known in current time whereas in the future is planned and hoped for but still unknown. It does give the idea that currently there is a plan which is even ahead of its projected path.
I'd not be worrying.
If there was no plan, if currently the projections were behind schedule, if Bloomfield had a history of failure or exaggeration, if indeed the facts were not known, then 'at the moment' I might be worried.
Sanctuary you are looking for all the worst case scenarios yet you have been vaccinated but not for stupidity.
Pfizer is under huge pressure to get vaccines to countries that actually need them because of massive death tolls and over run health systems in countries where variants are mutating and may render your vaccination useless.
Entitled spoiled brat. Every country is vying for enough vaccine just look across the ditch. They had the astra geneca vaccine ready to go and started their program it was cancelled due to 2 younger women suffered blood clots.Now Australia won't be starting vaccinating till December.
We are on a War footing with this Pandemic we all have to make sacrifices.
Sanctuary your abuse of Ashley Bloomfield reflects very badly on you.You are deliberately scaremongering .look at how popular Judith Collins is doing what your doing.
"Now Australia won't be starting vaccinating till December.".
What do you mean by this statement? At the moment Australia has carried out about 3.1 million vaccinations, which is a faster rate than we have achieved. That figure was for 17 May.
I was talking to a friend in Sydney yesterday and she had been vaccinated a couple of weeks ago. Where did you get the information you are quoting?
As this is my curret hobby horse, I am keen to know if these (the booking and vaccination systems described by Sanctuary), are designed in-house or sub contracted.
In a similar vein, the ransom ware issue at Waikato DHB. Is this dealt with in-house or will there be a bill to add insult to injury?
My guess is they are bespoke to each DHB, as would be the method of design delivery (that is, in-house or sub-contracted). The system should have been designed and implemented by the MOH as part of a national coordinated public health response, but we all the the MOH is an eviscerated policy shop these and lacks the capacity to do something like this – hence the government health reforms!
I am probably a bit better qualified than most to comment on this system, since it intersects with my professional skills. The system as I described would be a fine one for the flotsam and jetsam that might slip through the cracks and turn up, or as part of the manual backup for disaster recovery or for people without access to phones or email, etc. But it seems to me there is considerable scope for automation that would reduce error and speed up the process. For example, the text message could contain a QR code. Upon sighting your booking at the first check point you simply scan the code which updates the booking system & sends your phone an update text with another QR code. Once you've done the consent form and been vaccinated, a second scan of the second QR code would update the vaccination system. How hard would that be? A couple of days in a design workshop, roll it out now and iteratively improve it based on feedback/experience.
Some DHBs are using Excel spreadsheets for this. The privacy requirements in health add some complexity but as you say not enough to justify the level of faffing around on display now to the wider public.
Is the DHB really running two booking systems in parallel with no intersections & MANUAL data inputs? REALLY?
Welcome to Health IT. The two systems you mentioned are run by different parts of the system – one by your DHB and one by the Ministry vaccination people.
As you say the potential for mistakes as well as wasted effort is huge. Multiply by the 3000 separate IT systems in the Northern region alone.
That’s a great write up. Not particularly surprising to those of us that have to engage with Health regularly, so many systems are broken now by neoliberalism and the Key government doubling down. Add in the stress of the pandemic year.
also concerns about how much simple fix solutions are being patched on top.
this btw is a big part of the horror at the left wing idea that a UBI should remove WINZ and replace disability income with MoH services.
Just to describe my COVID vaccine experience. Had mine last month – both at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch. Online booking system very easy to use, text and email confirmation of appointment. Lots of free parking, easy to find as signposts all around.
Had the jab 4 minutes after arrival, out of the building 25 minutes after (obligatory 20 minute wait in case of reaction). Staff were cheerful and professional.
Repeat jab – just the same.
My only problem: very sore arm for 24 hours! But, at least in Christchurch, the system worked perfectly.
"Personally, I would have put the army in charge…..
They would have simply said "mission: needles in arms. How do we do it quickly and effectively?" And gone on and done it".
Sanctuary
The army is a great idea. They could set up field hospitals in High School playing fields around the country, like they would do for disaster relief, able to get as many people through them as possible, as quickly as possible.
They have the tents, the medics, the experienced admin. for such undertakings, gained in relief missions in the Pacific.
And I am open to the idea that it is not a good sugggestion.
I would have thought a vaccine roll out mission would be less arduous than a disaster relief mission.
As South Auckland was the site of the last cluster, and as it has been deemed a particularly vulnerable area. I would start with an army field hospital erected on the grounds of Papatotoe High School, and keep it open and lit up 24/7 until community saturation is achieved, from there move it on to other South Auckland High Schools. Then start again for the second dose.vaccination.
If nothing else, such field hospitals set up around the motu on High School playing fields plugged into the schools power and lit up with lights at night, open 24/7 with military personal and vehicles, would be a dramatic visual reminder that this is a serious issue and that maybe we should all rock up at the local high school field hospital to get our jab.
This vaccine rollout is a little more than simply giving a few people one or two jabs. The Budget 2021 should have given you some idea of the scale & scope, but let’s put up a few tents with a few uniformed staff with a laptop and we’re done, yes!? If you wish to make a suggestion, please put some effort into it and try make it a good one. If you don’t believe in your own suggestion, why make it in the first place??
Thanks for that description of your experience. It explains a significant cause of the delays is bureaucracy gone mad. I guess it depends on the individual DHBs and it wouldn't surprise me if Auckland is the worst… too many cooks spoiling the broth.
I'm in the 'old age' category which is supposed to begin at the end of this month. What's the bet it doesn't get properly underway before the end of June by which time they will have (hopefully) ironed out the problems.
Yup and after all that myself and a colleague have been sent an email and text the next day saying we missed our appointment. So I called three times to be told firstly that yes I was there and my second appointment is logged in the system, and I will get an email during the week. After that week lapsed and no appointment arrived I called again to be asked was I certain I had attended the first and did a receive a reminder email for it and I need to call back… and on the third call after another two weeks because I was told to, because the person (s) in the first call had no answer for me, I was told to just go in with my card.
So much for the working booking system. I am wondering how many people are going to be out there with just one dose of the vaccine? Quite a few I think and there's absolutely no record of it.
Well it is working for me, I got my second appointment text message promptly yesterday, and I logged into the booking system and confirmed. But in my view this is at least as likely because I am technologically literate and motivated as anything.
1) Maybe those who designed the system attended our schools before we plummeted in international test rankings. 🙃
2) But if there were to be some problem, health specific or otherwise, somewhere, with one person out of hundreds of thousands, media companies would be fighting each other for the best headlines. The scandal, the shock, the disgust, the disdain, the calling for the Minister to resign, the Government to resign, Bloomfield to resign, the DHB to resign.
We're in a scared shitless environment where accountability rules and doing things for 'just in case' reasons is the rule.
National Party embedded journalist, Thomas Coughlan, duly pimps for his masters, painting them as astute and effective political craftspeople, brimming with competence and kindness.
He seems to say it was Chris Bishop who has saved us from Covid-19, and somehow Simeon Brown is the last line of defence between gangs and your children. He claims Nicola Willis and Erica Stanford are showing the government how compassion is really done.
Coughlan even applauds the National Party's energy in asking 20,000 questions of public servants every week as if it's s new thing, rather than wasting simply what it is, wasting precious resources. Remember in 2017 when Bill English said they were going to be the bestest opposition ever? Flooding ministries with redundant questions is what they did then. How did it help anyone?
Only, after all that, at the end of this puff piece, Thomas Coughlan admits that the only way for the National Party to improve its fortunes is to win Lotto in the form of an Orewa speech or finding Jacinda.
To me, equating Orewa with Ardern is a little bit revolting but par for the course for the National Party and its media handlers.
National no mates ,Collins latest comments are that no one is interested in politics now.
Then says Nationals support has gone up 1 1/2% yeah right what ever ,she doesn't understand she has lost 12% support.The fact is the rights over all support has gone down ACT down NZfirst down,JLR Billy TK party collapsed.National picked up less than Labour of these voters.
A very good piece by a Professor of Philosophy who argues that the use of words in a context (i.e. language) can be helpful or unhelpful in/for public debate and dealing with issues.
So the terms ‘racist’ and ‘racism’ come with a lot of baggage and should not be used lightly.
In my view, this critical thought can be applied to many words such as ‘war crime’ and the many ‘-isms’ that are peppered around in mainstream and, above all, social media.
Over priced rubbish emergency accommodation, a father who beats his child to death with his new lover, Winz paying 1300 a week for a room temporarily but not 350 a week for 6 month, Child services, Social Workers, etc all absent.
One dead child.
Maybe the only department that should suffer teh love of the Labour Party need for reconstruction and reshuffling is not the Health Department (try funding that one for a while and see if it changes anything) but Winz. Just close that inhuman hell hole down, fire anyone who work there – frankly they made enough money of pure misery and start from scratch and maybe find people who are not already dead inside by the daily onslaught of manmade misery.
For a long time I have been concerned about the death of children and the involvement government agencies have with the family.
Housing history is an indicator of how a parent is coping. Living in emergency housing is stressful and it is unsuitable for a struggling parent.
Work and Income need to take some responsibility as Work and Income put the child into emergency accommodation. Work and Income are not social workers BUT they are dealing with complex situations where there are vulnerable children who have a stressed parent/s.
The point is that once these people are in this type of accommodation it seems there is no one ready for them. Not Winz, not Child Youth Services, not social worker, not anything nothing nada. And it is always the weakest that pay.
I do not know how much more serious it can get than a 5 year old boy being murdered. The signs were there that the little boy was being maltreated. He was exposed to arguing, being left on his own, controlling signs from the father, a woman who Winz may not have allowed to be there. Meticulous follow through was not done by MSD.
The Privacy Act is part of the problem when it came to the welfare of the child.
Would it help to tie the child to both the parents Winz or IRD number (a suffix) and MSD could use it when a complaint was taken?
no, what would help is getting people into proper accomodation for at least a year up to two, so that they can sort their mental issues, employment issues, etc and that the kids can go to a preschool or a school where hopefully such issues would be picked up.
instead they got a room, for 1300 a week and a wet handshake. Never mind the dead kid.
Proper affordable and stable accommodation is the answer. It is the children who are falling through the gaps.
A person has a suffix on their bank account to manage their finances. A vulnerable child is being harmed psychologically, emotionally and physically and the state are not keeping track of the child when the state are aware of either or both parents being erratic or an assessment is not asking the right questions.
The fact that "neither the police nor the Social Development Ministry (MSD) is actively monitoring incidents of crime, violence or family harm in this type of housing, but do encourage people to come forward if they feel at risk.".. would suggest 'We' ,as a society, and a people obsessed with gathering and fussing over statistics around the "Property Ladder" and the "Economy" and so called "Productivity" are a long way from caring.
If its not measured does it even exist?
..oh, and I forgot ..we even measure "Well-Being". ffs.
Unfortunately "Community' is not such a strong concept these days with most renters moving basically every year, even home owners don't hang around long, and for those in areas full of emergency housing it becomes next level; meantime with the online world taking centre stage people no longer interact with others be it at the bank or the library or the supermarket; no night classes encouraging people of different socio economic groups to meet as equals, … just hundreds of facebook friends when we don't even know our neighbor.
I have a pet theory…back when I was small, cars broke down and overheated alot..and people would always help, because there was that sense that you never knew when you might need help yourself …..but these days ..cars are reliable…people all have cellphones..so its everyman for himself…self reliant self contained (and slightly paranoid) units…and that mentality permeates society..
Though in this instance it seems that the point of community intervention had already been passed. There was clearly no way for individuals to offer the smallest degree of help to that poor child without creating an even more fraught situation…meantime the people we pay to protect children seemed to be actively ignoring the situation.
On top of systematic failures no one notified oranga tamariki about the disfunction happening even though several people new it was happening. The owner presented a knife in another incident.
This sort of behaviour is widespread govt agencies don't have the capabilities on any level to deal with these situations to able to provide a safe upbringing for disadvantaged children.
Taxes need to go up to get enough money to provide housing to train specialist caregivers
It's always an band aid to fix a gaping wound.
No one wants to work in child protection because the wages are crap the work load is 3 times the safe amount to prevent worker burn out and good outcomes,
we can either raise taxes on those that can afford it.
we can stop giving money to those that don't need it (cough Bezos, cough Americas Cup etc) and use these few dollars as far as we can.
*we can do nothing, and every other week we find another dead child, or handicapped child (the one little urchin that i know here in Rotorua was beaten into deafness by her father) and bury them as the little unwanted babies they ended up. and every time we do this we short change our society of a potential genius that may would have been responsible for a cancer cure, or something. But hey, right. Money?
It was a national government that created the emergency/transitional housing disaster, but I agree Labour has taken the same unplanned and haphazzard approach to dealing with homelessness. It started when Paula Bennett was the minister responding to the swathes of people sleeping in cars by placing people in motels. The criticisms then started flowing but every response from this point on was simply to deal with those criticisms without considering what those responses were doing to families.
In one sense the problem has come full circle. For example, for many people sleeping in vehicle becomes the only option after other attempts to be somewhere have failed, such as sharing with family or kipping down in a garage. The stresses of overcrowding and not having anywhere to be – a place that a person can call a home, that is secure, warm, gives an opportunity to be alone within etc, are often what's experienced before taking to the streets or sleeping in vehicles.
Then the government's policies around emergency abd tranistional housing kick in which puts the person or family back into circumstances not dissimilar to the situation that created the need for government housing assistance in the first place.
The government needs to wake up and realise that a lot of emergency housing situations, particularly what's called transitional housing, resemble conditions that people need to escape, and are not better than where someone's come from.
You know what it is? A national disgrace, and both parties are at fault for doing nothing much then applying little strips of band aid onto gushing wounds. And society pays the price, and little kids.
The whole emergency/transitional housing "initiative" has been a complete failure. This should'd be surprising because every single step in that process has been completely unplanned and designed solely to avoid criticism and embarrament around the provious step. This all started with the public embarrassment the national government faced over families sleeping in vehicles. Their response: put people into motels at up $2k a week and make the person or family responsible for paying it back. Things went quickly downhill from there.
The message to government, now, should be that their response to homelessness is for many worse than what the response was meant to address.
I know, i have been yelling about this for a while. And while National charged the cost of it to the hapless recipients of this charity, the Labour government is taxing 25% of ones benefit to pay for this largesse. Its fucked up beyond believe, and for those that need help, well, i guess there is none.
Following on from my question the other day about why the CDC was telling people that once they’re fully vaccinated their life can go back to normal.
Yankees confirm 8th positive diagnosis of #covid19 this week, in a player who was fully vaccinated and previously had Covid during the offseason. Yankees: "All of the positives are breakthrough positives, occurring with individuals who were fully vaccinated." (h/t @JGolden5)
ITs testing time now. They have a large part of their population vaccinated and now they need the proof that it works as intended. The last final 'test phase' so to speak. I am a bit cynic that way.
Again, there are political reasons, and for what its worth, Biden on his last visit to a Ford Plant wore a Mask. Go figure.
Important parts of the process are being missed and will be missed until vaccination efficacy is known when it comes to prevention, transmission and fatalities.
What a great idea, why haven't people thought of this before?
How about this; Instead of wage freezes to pay for the covid recovery and fix the housing crisis, – we tax the rich more.
Yeah – I know the naysayers, will say that the rich people will just leave the country.
Really?
Try and find a low tax country that has a neo-lib economy with lax labour and health laws that isn't damaged by covid-19?
To remind them how fortunate they are to be in this country, the government could put a massive exit tax on rich emigres leaving the country. 'We don't care if you leave, just not with all your unearned income.'
If wealthy millionaires are that important to the country’s economy, ,Maybe the organisation of Patriotic Millionaires could be encouraged to come here to replace them?
But probably not, as they are more likely to be loyalto their country that let them become rich
Why can't tenants just grow some veggies to make ends meet, or poor people? Well because the owner can just rip up your award winning veggie garden while you are away without even having to advise one. Cause complaints, and well other bannable words. But then apologizing seems easier to be upfront and work with the Lady and her award winning veggie patch.
Pearce said ŌCHT applied to the council for funding to do the work, but the application process took time and was unsuccessful.
On April 18, the maintenance team advised the tenancy team the work would start in May 2021, but no-one told Wang.
“We should have told our tenant. We didn’t, and for that we are very sorry, and we unreservedly apologise.”
Pearce said ŌCHT was reviewing its approach to communicating with tenants about exterior works.
Once the grass is sowed, Wang will be left with a strip of dirt one metre out from the fence line to grow her vegetables in.
Neighbour Mark Long felt she had been treated unfairly.
He has never complained about the vegetable garden, but was aware that others had.
“I don’t see the reasoning behind it, but I’m not the authority,” he said.
Long was not aware if growing crops was outside the terms of their tenancy.
“The lady is very talented in the garden,” he said. “It’s wrong, she’s lived here 10 years.”
It would be nice if someone could donate portable garden beds. To deprive an 80 year old of her hobby is mean spirited. The small area not destroyed could be used to raise the plants to go into the portable garden beds.
I would like this case go to the Tenancy Tribunal. At one point she had permission from her landlord. Had a date been given that the garden was going to be ruined the outcome would have ensured that plants would have been harvested.
So what can and can't a shared area be used for?
Has it got to the point where everyone needs to have their backyard zoned?
"She received a letter in December 2019 from ŌCHT saying it planned to turn the garden into grass in the “next short while”. It let her keep one area until after the vegetables had been harvested, and"would turn that area into grass in April/May 2020, the letter said."
It seemed as there was a separate communication for her to replant because of delays, which she did but the original plan happened anyway.
This is the reality of renting in NZ – be you never so reasonable, someone can come in and wreck all your work and then use boss logic to "stand by the decision". Shame the lady can't run them through the courts.
it just shows the reality of what a 'tenant' can do or not. And hopefully it shuts those downs that always come up with, but the poor surely they can grow veggies like i do in my own garden. Right right?
Absolutely, Sabine. The ability to grow one's own veges demands some basic things. First, time as a tenant long enough to complete a cycle of ground preparation, seed planting, through to harvest. Time as a tenant long enough to consider it worthwhile to invest time and energy into 'building up the soil' with compost bins, soil enhancing crops to be dug in. It requires money for seed, fertiliser even if only lime, tools, watering gear. It requires good neighbours not to trample or steal crops. It requires some security of tenure.
This is all why community gardens and plots are so important. I lease one with a mate. Great craic as we work together, food enough to feed ourselves and give a third away, soil build up from couch infested grass cover to highly enriched ground that bears heavily, water laid on, security against theft and security against landlords ending tenancies or having to move from home.
My understanding of that was that another 'tenant(s)' complaining about access to a washing line.
My heart broke reading that story this morning.
Where I work unreasonable complaints from a small minority seem to carry inordinate weight. I heard a quote from Joseph Needham that authorities like OCHT could use for complaining NIMBYs- 'The dogs may bark the caravan moves on.'
A shortage of beds has forced 41 overnight surgeries to be cancelled at Christchurch Hospital.
The Canterbury District Health Board has confirmed that the pre-booked surgeries had to be rescheduled last week.
Acting executive director, planning, funding and decision support Ralph La Salle said the hospital was swamped with surgeries that did not require an overnight stay.
New York lawyer Steven Donziger represented indigenous people in Ecuador in a landmark case that won them a massive judgment against Chevron Texaco in 2011. Chevron was found responsible for decades of oil pollution in the Amazon.
However, with billions of dollars at their disposal and refusing to accept the verdict, Chevron has worked to have Donziger disbarred, his bank accounts frozen, a lien put on his apartment, exorbitant fines charged to him, and have him prohibited from earning money. As of August 6, 2019, based on criminal contempt charges, a court has seized his passport and put him on house arrest.
This frightening travesty of justice is happening only blocks away from the headquarters of the New York Times, which, as he mentions bitterly in this interview, has steadfastly ignored this case….
Always miss the obvious location , the industrial zone alongside the Steel Mill on the Waiuku tidal river. Has existing rail link and electric grid connections. Road connections are the best of all other options. Depths of channels even at low tide – from marine charts- show 12-14 m almost as far as Clarkes beach . The depth at the heads is 25-40m plus There is the shallow stretch a few km offshore but thats only for 2.5-3km between 12m depths. Most ports including Waitemata have dredged channels leading out to open ocean. Rotterdam thought of as a major deep water port has a dredged channel into North Sea of about 20km for large containerships and for larger oil and bulk carriers it extends to 80km off the coast to 20m plus depth
From a guy who can't manage a water company, or a transport entity, and your Council finances are chaotic, why would you think you can bully the Ports board any more effectively than you've failed to do over the last year?
What strange comments, totally devoid of meaning or relevance .
The weather has caused the shortage in dam storage, but its beside the point as the lowest levels reached are still in the 40% range. Its not a savings bank which is meant to be over 70% at all days , and last 2 years the rainy days didnt come- driest in over a century
The Council owns the shares for the Port company, theres is no bullying involved when you tell them to shape up.
The Waitemata will need a fair bit of work if it is to handle boats of any size – neither the channel nor the beacons are up to much. Last time we used it (in the dark on a little 200t trawler) we were out on the whaleback looking for piles with torches while the skipper was crouched over the sounder watching the water under his keel. He'd've liked a whole lot more.
Might be issues with weather too – the east coast ports don't present the same issues if there's a bit of a blow.
Slight issue that a bar builds up constantly. Not to mention the normal swell in the entrance. And that dredging will need to be constant, and will be closed due to weather, often.
.
The obvious location is around Orere point.
Plenty of water within a mile of the shore. Sheltered and close to transport links, major exporters and importers, and other shipping users..
However we will lose our “hubbing” to OZ, while everyone advocates for their own unsuitable and expensive option.
Of course the Manukau entrance requires dredging along with the final part of the channel to Glenbrook.
As Ive pointed out dredging for their access channels is what most ports have. Dutch have super dredgers 30K to 60k size can handle the soft muds and sands easily.
The design of the entrance channel can be shaped underwater to allow the very strong tidal flow to help keep the depth, which you probably would make maybe 25m at low tide , much deeper than necessary
Also the size of container ship we are talking about means the wave patterns are not of concern. Even Wellington port has much worse , which closes the entrance a handful of times per year.
Orere has no transport links, requires invasive reclamations in a sensitive area. Cant compare to the industrial zone and transport/power links already at Glenbrook
Saves a day travel time on a voyage to Sydney or Melbourne which is what giant container ships like
Average household income in Auckland is higher than the national average -2020- of $107,000. It wont display the detail but would be $125k per household?
Households pay rent, very rarely would individuals be able to afford it
Households pay rent, of course if Mum, dad, and the kids all work and contribute to that. Mind, i think putting under 13th to work might not be quite legal, and some women don’t work for a while once they have kids. Details. Details.
107.000 is that before or after tax? Never mind, taxable amount would be 26.230 so here you are left with 81.000 grand after tax. Mind, i have lived for over two decades in Auckland and the only people that earned that amount did not rent, they paid mortgages. But details, details. 🙂
31.200 annual rent (if no extra increases 600 * 52 weeks) and you are left with 49.800.
Now if you have a stay at home mum, and three kids, that is not that grand?
Now if you are on a median income in AKL so around 48.000 grand per year, you have 40.580 left after paying tax, then minus rent you will have 781 NZD per month for your 'household', if Mum does not work.
And how lovely of you to ignore households that are made up of single parents, single grandparents, carers of people with disabilities etc who are often the only earner and the only payer.
But i guess that is not you?
And i guess you heard of the Accommodation benefits? That little thing you and i finance to help individuals pay these extortion rents? You did hear about them?
Well said Sabine. FFS, rents are obscene, pure and simple.
A friend of mine noticed a squatter on his property (old racing ground, half covered in bush, plenty of room to hide), in an old caravan. He's well away from my mates house, and no bother so mate is letting him stay. But now it's something we're both noticing more & more, caravans & vans with ppl living in them. And this is in Dunedin, there's gotta be a tipping point surely?
On Tuesday the students tucked into a bacon, egg and kumara rosti burger, apple crisps, a mandarin, with 11-year-olds Lara Smith and Liam Hooker praising the meal.
“It's really good,” Lara said, “The best one yet.”
Of course in Japan schools have provided free lunch meals for their pupils, since forever.
Japanese free school lunches are so good, there are special school themed restaurants catering to paying adults who want to recapture their school meal memories.
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
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In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
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 ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
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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. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
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Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
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 ...
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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 ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
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Perhaps an invidious comparison, but the Australian Federal budget will be compared to ours on particular for lines associated with public sector pay, and for major projects, and for speed of economic expansion.
Workers have had mobility constraints for a year, and the $$ signals will count in their future skill and degree location plans.
I wouldnt believe much about the Australian budget spin coming from the federal governments spin doctors.
Even on the local levels , a project before last election for 'car parks' at train stations in Melbourne liberal electorates was 're-announced' this time as costs had risen substantially ( or were more realistically calculated), so some stations were dropped and others changed because the land was earmarked for housing!.
The Defence budget had all sort of headlines about extra spending, but the Australian Strategic Policy Institute , who keep track of such things, said the amounts were only a miniscule increase above last years 2.04% GDP to 2.09%
This is a good little piece on why an elected Wellington Councillor set against Maori wards changed his mind:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/local-government/125137817/city-councillor-why-i-changed-my-mind-about-mori-representation
As of last night, Napier Council has yet again punted the idea down the road.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/125166968/hastings-district-council-vote-to-establish-mori-wards-in-2022
Whereas Hastings, just 15kms away, yesterday voted in favour of Maori wards:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/hawkes-bay/125166968/hastings-district-council-vote-to-establish-mori-wards-in-2022
Great to see Mahuta's legislative changes having a real effect so fast.
Hastings may be just down the road from Napier, but Hastings District covers all of Hawke's Bay proper and Napier is only the urban enclave .
Had my first vaccination yesterday, some observations on the system as I experienced it.
I got notified on Monday evening via text and email that I had been booked for Tuesday late afternoon (one woman behind me in the queue had had just two hours notice of her vaccination, that is quite alarming!). The text message invited me to confirm the booking via a link.
First problem – the link required me to "reset" my password (never having logged in before). The password required characters, upper case & I think a special character. When this was done, it took me to a login page where I was prompted for username and password. Only because I am familiar with technology was I able to work out the ID number quoted in the text message must be username. For those who struggle with technology this would be a bit of a barrier, I bet the call centre gets calls about it all the time!
Second problem – At the moment, there are only two vaccination centres in Auckland, one in Mt. Wellington and one in Elliot street in the CBD on "level 4" of a building there. I chose the CDB location because I live near a railway station. However, the vaccination centre has no street signage in Elliot street indicating which entry to use or how to get to level 4. You have to wander around a bit to find where it is. Obviously, parking in the city is a nightmare if you don't have ready access to PT. If you are disabled getting to the vaccination centre would be a real struggle.
Once there, you have a filtering team who visually sight your phone booking to stop random walk ups.
Then you proceed to a second checkpoint where you are given a consent form to fill out which requires your NHI number. How many people know this? I know mine, but only because I have a big brain 🙂 They check your ID and booking, and bizarrely, ask if you know why you got a booking – no one around me had much of a clue on that one, but they manually wrote down the answers anyway. Who knows what for. Also, this second checkpoint makes the whole confirmation of booking rigmarole questionable, if they check you off in the system manually then why not simply offer a system where you can just turn up with your phone booking, they scan a barcode and away you go? Why the double handling? You are then handed a consent form to fill out.
Then you proceed to checkpoint three, where they check you consent form, explain consent AND MANUALLY RECORD AT LEAST YOUR MOBILE NUMBER INTO A LAPTOP FOR THE FOLLOW UP SHOT NOTIFICATION. I asked about this, since they clearly had my number for the booking. I was told that was the booking system, this is for the vaccination system. Now… words defeat me. Is the DHB really running two booking systems in parallel with no intersections & MANUAL data inputs? REALLY? The odds of error in transcribing information go up exponentially – how many thousands of times will mistakes be made when tired and harassed staff enter wrong numbers?
From there, it was smoothly done, as you would expect from the professionals who actually do (rather than administer) health. The whole experience took around 45 minutes.
My over all impression is it is system designed by health bureaucrats who have only ever designed booking systems to act as part of a suite of tools for rationing access to healthcare. It will be made to work by the informed, motivated and middle class. And the current setup, if my experience is any guide, has bugger all chance of scaling up for the mass rollout successfully.
Personally, I would have put the army in charge. hey took the MIQ system off our utterly useless DHBs and made it work. They are the last mission orientated branch of government. They would have simply said "mission: needles in arms. How do we do it quickly and effectively?" And gone on and done it.
Oh and the sooner the DHBs are gone, the better.
PS – I am so grateful the government has kept us safe and given me a free vaccine, Thank you NZ Government!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018795974/dr-ashley-bloomfield-responds-to-critical-report-on-covid-19-vaccine-rollout
You should add commentary if you are going to put a link up.
Fair enough.
In a nutshell, they’re aware of the issues, many of which the general public has no inkling of, and have been working hard on it. This is not straightforward, not the least because of every DHB doing its own thing, as always, but there are significant improvements coming soon. Meanwhile, people can be vaccinated and the vaccination schedule is currently tracking as planned, ahead even. On a personal note, I think they’re doing a marvellous job.
A national booking system will be handy. Who knew that integrating separate components would make things harder and slower to deliver..
Thank you.
Bloomfield’s comment has the worrying out –
"…Dr Bloomfield acknowledged the programme was huge and ambitious, with the aim of nearly 8,000,000 doses of vaccine to be given before the end of the year.
However, he told Checkpoint, "we are ahead of our scheduled delivery at the moment."
"At the moment" means he has a CYA (Cover Your Ass) way out if the whole thing collapses in a welter of hissing steam, twisted track and recriminations in July/August.
It is what it is and they’re making a big effort and cynicism and sarcasm are not going to change that. Please tell me the Lotto numbers for the next draw, thanks.
"at the moment' can also mean just that. He also said 'currently". What we don't know is the question to which he was giving an answer, as the 10 minute radio excerpt started with an introduction by the interviewer and then launched into a statement by the interviewee, Dr Bloomfield, without any preceding question or conversation starter.
Did the conversation start like this, “Dr Bloomfield, so how are things shaping up at the moment?”
'At the moment' was also used in the context of further 'ramp up of the vaccination programme and if used in that context is also a fair description of progress and intentions.
'At the moment' also gives a factual reference as the facts are known in current time whereas in the future is planned and hoped for but still unknown. It does give the idea that currently there is a plan which is even ahead of its projected path.
I'd not be worrying.
If there was no plan, if currently the projections were behind schedule, if Bloomfield had a history of failure or exaggeration, if indeed the facts were not known, then 'at the moment' I might be worried.
Sanctuary you are looking for all the worst case scenarios yet you have been vaccinated but not for stupidity.
Pfizer is under huge pressure to get vaccines to countries that actually need them because of massive death tolls and over run health systems in countries where variants are mutating and may render your vaccination useless.
Entitled spoiled brat. Every country is vying for enough vaccine just look across the ditch. They had the astra geneca vaccine ready to go and started their program it was cancelled due to 2 younger women suffered blood clots.Now Australia won't be starting vaccinating till December.
We are on a War footing with this Pandemic we all have to make sacrifices.
Sanctuary your abuse of Ashley Bloomfield reflects very badly on you.You are deliberately scaremongering .look at how popular Judith Collins is doing what your doing.
Ummmm… OK.
No they were allpractical logistical concerns.
"Now Australia won't be starting vaccinating till December.".
What do you mean by this statement? At the moment Australia has carried out about 3.1 million vaccinations, which is a faster rate than we have achieved. That figure was for 17 May.
I was talking to a friend in Sydney yesterday and she had been vaccinated a couple of weeks ago. Where did you get the information you are quoting?
As this is my curret hobby horse, I am keen to know if these (the booking and vaccination systems described by Sanctuary), are designed in-house or sub contracted.
In a similar vein, the ransom ware issue at Waikato DHB. Is this dealt with in-house or will there be a bill to add insult to injury?
My guess is they are bespoke to each DHB, as would be the method of design delivery (that is, in-house or sub-contracted). The system should have been designed and implemented by the MOH as part of a national coordinated public health response, but we all the the MOH is an eviscerated policy shop these and lacks the capacity to do something like this – hence the government health reforms!
I am probably a bit better qualified than most to comment on this system, since it intersects with my professional skills. The system as I described would be a fine one for the flotsam and jetsam that might slip through the cracks and turn up, or as part of the manual backup for disaster recovery or for people without access to phones or email, etc. But it seems to me there is considerable scope for automation that would reduce error and speed up the process. For example, the text message could contain a QR code. Upon sighting your booking at the first check point you simply scan the code which updates the booking system & sends your phone an update text with another QR code. Once you've done the consent form and been vaccinated, a second scan of the second QR code would update the vaccination system. How hard would that be? A couple of days in a design workshop, roll it out now and iteratively improve it based on feedback/experience.
Some DHBs are using Excel spreadsheets for this. The privacy requirements in health add some complexity but as you say not enough to justify the level of faffing around on display now to the wider public.
Welcome to Health IT. The two systems you mentioned are run by different parts of the system – one by your DHB and one by the Ministry vaccination people.
As you say the potential for mistakes as well as wasted effort is huge. Multiply by the 3000 separate IT systems in the Northern region alone.
That’s a great write up. Not particularly surprising to those of us that have to engage with Health regularly, so many systems are broken now by neoliberalism and the Key government doubling down. Add in the stress of the pandemic year.
also concerns about how much simple fix solutions are being patched on top.
this btw is a big part of the horror at the left wing idea that a UBI should remove WINZ and replace disability income with MoH services.
My Wife has had both shots now no problems what so ever other than a sore bruise from the intra muscular jab.
Given the breakdown in Waikato DHB IT system I am glad they are keeping hard copy.
No doubt other questions will be for statistical reasons.
Hi – your experience sounds like a hassle.
Just to describe my COVID vaccine experience. Had mine last month – both at Burwood Hospital in Christchurch. Online booking system very easy to use, text and email confirmation of appointment. Lots of free parking, easy to find as signposts all around.
Had the jab 4 minutes after arrival, out of the building 25 minutes after (obligatory 20 minute wait in case of reaction). Staff were cheerful and professional.
Repeat jab – just the same.
My only problem: very sore arm for 24 hours! But, at least in Christchurch, the system worked perfectly.
The army is a great idea. They could set up field hospitals in High School playing fields around the country, like they would do for disaster relief, able to get as many people through them as possible, as quickly as possible.
They have the tents, the medics, the experienced admin. for such undertakings, gained in relief missions in the Pacific.
Let's do this.
The mission: Herd Immunity post haste.
Operation: Kiwi Freedom
The army would still need systems for tracking and inviting people.
I wouldn't think this would be problem.
NZDF admin. armed with field laptops have performed admirably in co-ordinating disaster relief operations in much more arduous situations.
Disaster relief is not the same as coordinating vaccination for millions of people. But keep believing whatever you want to.
It is not what I believe, it is a suggestion.
And I am open to the idea that it is not a good sugggestion.
I would have thought a vaccine roll out mission would be less arduous than a disaster relief mission.
As South Auckland was the site of the last cluster, and as it has been deemed a particularly vulnerable area. I would start with an army field hospital erected on the grounds of Papatotoe High School, and keep it open and lit up 24/7 until community saturation is achieved, from there move it on to other South Auckland High Schools. Then start again for the second dose.vaccination.
If nothing else, such field hospitals set up around the motu on High School playing fields plugged into the schools power and lit up with lights at night, open 24/7 with military personal and vehicles, would be a dramatic visual reminder that this is a serious issue and that maybe we should all rock up at the local high school field hospital to get our jab.
This vaccine rollout is a little more than simply giving a few people one or two jabs. The Budget 2021 should have given you some idea of the scale & scope, but let’s put up a few tents with a few uniformed staff with a laptop and we’re done, yes!? If you wish to make a suggestion, please put some effort into it and try make it a good one. If you don’t believe in your own suggestion, why make it in the first place??
Sanctuary @ 3.
Thanks for that description of your experience. It explains a significant cause of the delays is bureaucracy gone mad. I guess it depends on the individual DHBs and it wouldn't surprise me if Auckland is the worst… too many cooks spoiling the broth.
I'm in the 'old age' category which is supposed to begin at the end of this month. What's the bet it doesn't get properly underway before the end of June by which time they will have (hopefully) ironed out the problems.
Yup and after all that myself and a colleague have been sent an email and text the next day saying we missed our appointment. So I called three times to be told firstly that yes I was there and my second appointment is logged in the system, and I will get an email during the week. After that week lapsed and no appointment arrived I called again to be asked was I certain I had attended the first and did a receive a reminder email for it and I need to call back… and on the third call after another two weeks because I was told to, because the person (s) in the first call had no answer for me, I was told to just go in with my card.
So much for the working booking system. I am wondering how many people are going to be out there with just one dose of the vaccine? Quite a few I think and there's absolutely no record of it.
Well it is working for me, I got my second appointment text message promptly yesterday, and I logged into the booking system and confirmed. But in my view this is at least as likely because I am technologically literate and motivated as anything.
1) Maybe those who designed the system attended our schools before we plummeted in international test rankings. 🙃
2) But if there were to be some problem, health specific or otherwise, somewhere, with one person out of hundreds of thousands, media companies would be fighting each other for the best headlines. The scandal, the shock, the disgust, the disdain, the calling for the Minister to resign, the Government to resign, Bloomfield to resign, the DHB to resign.
We're in a scared shitless environment where accountability rules and doing things for 'just in case' reasons is the rule.
National Party embedded journalist, Thomas Coughlan, duly pimps for his masters, painting them as astute and effective political craftspeople, brimming with competence and kindness.
He seems to say it was Chris Bishop who has saved us from Covid-19, and somehow Simeon Brown is the last line of defence between gangs and your children. He claims Nicola Willis and Erica Stanford are showing the government how compassion is really done.
Coughlan even applauds the National Party's energy in asking 20,000 questions of public servants every week as if it's s new thing, rather than wasting simply what it is, wasting precious resources. Remember in 2017 when Bill English said they were going to be the bestest opposition ever? Flooding ministries with redundant questions is what they did then. How did it help anyone?
Only, after all that, at the end of this puff piece, Thomas Coughlan admits that the only way for the National Party to improve its fortunes is to win Lotto in the form of an Orewa speech or finding Jacinda.
To me, equating Orewa with Ardern is a little bit revolting but par for the course for the National Party and its media handlers.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300310699/live-judith-collins-on-the-state-of-the-national-party
National no mates ,Collins latest comments are that no one is interested in politics now.
Then says Nationals support has gone up 1 1/2% yeah right what ever ,she doesn't understand she has lost 12% support.The fact is the rights over all support has gone down ACT down NZfirst down,JLR Billy TK party collapsed.National picked up less than Labour of these voters.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/take-care-with-the-term-racist
A very good piece by a Professor of Philosophy who argues that the use of words in a context (i.e. language) can be helpful or unhelpful in/for public debate and dealing with issues.
In my view, this critical thought can be applied to many words such as ‘war crime’ and the many ‘-isms’ that are peppered around in mainstream and, above all, social media.
NZ at its finest.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/125098964/the-state-paid-1300-a-week-for-a-room-in-emergency-housing-where-a-boy-was-murdered-but-what-did-it-do-to-keep-him-safe
Over priced rubbish emergency accommodation, a father who beats his child to death with his new lover, Winz paying 1300 a week for a room temporarily but not 350 a week for 6 month, Child services, Social Workers, etc all absent.
One dead child.
Maybe the only department that should suffer teh love of the Labour Party need for reconstruction and reshuffling is not the Health Department (try funding that one for a while and see if it changes anything) but Winz. Just close that inhuman hell hole down, fire anyone who work there – frankly they made enough money of pure misery and start from scratch and maybe find people who are not already dead inside by the daily onslaught of manmade misery.
Just another dead child.
Do we care?
For a long time I have been concerned about the death of children and the involvement government agencies have with the family.
Housing history is an indicator of how a parent is coping. Living in emergency housing is stressful and it is unsuitable for a struggling parent.
Work and Income need to take some responsibility as Work and Income put the child into emergency accommodation. Work and Income are not social workers BUT they are dealing with complex situations where there are vulnerable children who have a stressed parent/s.
The point is that once these people are in this type of accommodation it seems there is no one ready for them. Not Winz, not Child Youth Services, not social worker, not anything nothing nada. And it is always the weakest that pay.
I do not know how much more serious it can get than a 5 year old boy being murdered. The signs were there that the little boy was being maltreated. He was exposed to arguing, being left on his own, controlling signs from the father, a woman who Winz may not have allowed to be there. Meticulous follow through was not done by MSD.
The Privacy Act is part of the problem when it came to the welfare of the child.
Would it help to tie the child to both the parents Winz or IRD number (a suffix) and MSD could use it when a complaint was taken?
no, what would help is getting people into proper accomodation for at least a year up to two, so that they can sort their mental issues, employment issues, etc and that the kids can go to a preschool or a school where hopefully such issues would be picked up.
instead they got a room, for 1300 a week and a wet handshake. Never mind the dead kid.
Proper affordable and stable accommodation is the answer. It is the children who are falling through the gaps.
A person has a suffix on their bank account to manage their finances. A vulnerable child is being harmed psychologically, emotionally and physically and the state are not keeping track of the child when the state are aware of either or both parents being erratic or an assessment is not asking the right questions.
The fact that "neither the police nor the Social Development Ministry (MSD) is actively monitoring incidents of crime, violence or family harm in this type of housing, but do encourage people to come forward if they feel at risk.".. would suggest 'We' ,as a society, and a people obsessed with gathering and fussing over statistics around the "Property Ladder" and the "Economy" and so called "Productivity" are a long way from caring.
If its not measured does it even exist?
..oh, and I forgot ..we even measure "Well-Being". ffs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101066981/nz-government-to-lead-world-in-measuring-success-with-wellbeing-measures
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-msd-collecting-no-data-on-crime-at-emergency-housing/A65IS67WBGZK4IF5RH4VCXNYYE/
Just not good enough that stats are not being kept.
The well being of children is also the responsibility of the community to intervene anonymously so the child’s care can be checked out.
Ideally …yes ..people should intervene.
Unfortunately "Community' is not such a strong concept these days with most renters moving basically every year, even home owners don't hang around long, and for those in areas full of emergency housing it becomes next level; meantime with the online world taking centre stage people no longer interact with others be it at the bank or the library or the supermarket; no night classes encouraging people of different socio economic groups to meet as equals, … just hundreds of facebook friends when we don't even know our neighbor.
I have a pet theory…back when I was small, cars broke down and overheated alot..and people would always help, because there was that sense that you never knew when you might need help yourself …..but these days ..cars are reliable…people all have cellphones..so its everyman for himself…self reliant self contained (and slightly paranoid) units…and that mentality permeates society..
Though in this instance it seems that the point of community intervention had already been passed. There was clearly no way for individuals to offer the smallest degree of help to that poor child without creating an even more fraught situation…meantime the people we pay to protect children seemed to be actively ignoring the situation.
On top of systematic failures no one notified oranga tamariki about the disfunction happening even though several people new it was happening. The owner presented a knife in another incident.
This sort of behaviour is widespread govt agencies don't have the capabilities on any level to deal with these situations to able to provide a safe upbringing for disadvantaged children.
Taxes need to go up to get enough money to provide housing to train specialist caregivers
It's always an band aid to fix a gaping wound.
No one wants to work in child protection because the wages are crap the work load is 3 times the safe amount to prevent worker burn out and good outcomes,
*we can do nothing, and every other week we find another dead child, or handicapped child (the one little urchin that i know here in Rotorua was beaten into deafness by her father) and bury them as the little unwanted babies they ended up. and every time we do this we short change our society of a potential genius that may would have been responsible for a cancer cure, or something. But hey, right. Money?
It was a national government that created the emergency/transitional housing disaster, but I agree Labour has taken the same unplanned and haphazzard approach to dealing with homelessness. It started when Paula Bennett was the minister responding to the swathes of people sleeping in cars by placing people in motels. The criticisms then started flowing but every response from this point on was simply to deal with those criticisms without considering what those responses were doing to families.
In one sense the problem has come full circle. For example, for many people sleeping in vehicle becomes the only option after other attempts to be somewhere have failed, such as sharing with family or kipping down in a garage. The stresses of overcrowding and not having anywhere to be – a place that a person can call a home, that is secure, warm, gives an opportunity to be alone within etc, are often what's experienced before taking to the streets or sleeping in vehicles.
Then the government's policies around emergency abd tranistional housing kick in which puts the person or family back into circumstances not dissimilar to the situation that created the need for government housing assistance in the first place.
The government needs to wake up and realise that a lot of emergency housing situations, particularly what's called transitional housing, resemble conditions that people need to escape, and are not better than where someone's come from.
This problem is government made and bipartisan .
You know what it is? A national disgrace, and both parties are at fault for doing nothing much then applying little strips of band aid onto gushing wounds. And society pays the price, and little kids.
The whole emergency/transitional housing "initiative" has been a complete failure. This should'd be surprising because every single step in that process has been completely unplanned and designed solely to avoid criticism and embarrament around the provious step. This all started with the public embarrassment the national government faced over families sleeping in vehicles. Their response: put people into motels at up $2k a week and make the person or family responsible for paying it back. Things went quickly downhill from there.
The message to government, now, should be that their response to homelessness is for many worse than what the response was meant to address.
I know, i have been yelling about this for a while. And while National charged the cost of it to the hapless recipients of this charity, the Labour government is taxing 25% of ones benefit to pay for this largesse. Its fucked up beyond believe, and for those that need help, well, i guess there is none.
Following on from my question the other day about why the CDC was telling people that once they’re fully vaccinated their life can go back to normal.
https://twitter.com/megtirrell/status/1392945389846863874?s=21
so much we still don’t know. I get the pressure to rush but can’t help but feel we’re missing important parts of the process.
ITs testing time now. They have a large part of their population vaccinated and now they need the proof that it works as intended. The last final 'test phase' so to speak. I am a bit cynic that way.
Again, there are political reasons, and for what its worth, Biden on his last visit to a Ford Plant wore a Mask. Go figure.
Important parts of the process are being missed and will be missed until vaccination efficacy is known when it comes to prevention, transmission and fatalities.
Like Sabine said a “final test phase.”
On news of some US millionaires protesting that themselves, and all other less selfless millionaires to be taxed more.
What a great idea, why haven't people thought of this before?
How about this; Instead of wage freezes to pay for the covid recovery and fix the housing crisis, – we tax the rich more.
Yeah – I know the naysayers, will say that the rich people will just leave the country.
Really?
Try and find a low tax country that has a neo-lib economy with lax labour and health laws that isn't damaged by covid-19?
To remind them how fortunate they are to be in this country, the government could put a massive exit tax on rich emigres leaving the country. 'We don't care if you leave, just not with all your unearned income.'
If wealthy millionaires are that important to the country’s economy, ,Maybe the organisation of Patriotic Millionaires could be encouraged to come here to replace them?
But probably not, as they are more likely to be loyalto their country that let them become rich
millionaires saying billionaires should pay more tax? Or local tories would still call it the politics of envy lol
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/125163632/christchurch-social-housing-tenants-awardwinning-vegetable-garden-ripped-up
Why can't tenants just grow some veggies to make ends meet, or poor people? Well because the owner can just rip up your award winning veggie garden while you are away without even having to advise one. Cause complaints, and well other bannable words. But then apologizing seems easier to be upfront and work with the Lady and her award winning veggie patch.
It would be nice if someone could donate portable garden beds. To deprive an 80 year old of her hobby is mean spirited. The small area not destroyed could be used to raise the plants to go into the portable garden beds.
Was wilful damage done to her garden?
it was scrapped of the face of the earth. She will be provided with a strip of a meter alongside a fence.
I would like this case go to the Tenancy Tribunal. At one point she had permission from her landlord. Had a date been given that the garden was going to be ruined the outcome would have ensured that plants would have been harvested.
So what can and can't a shared area be used for?
Has it got to the point where everyone needs to have their backyard zoned?
She was not told. Treetop, she came home and her garden was gone.
Yes, everything now needs to be zoned, written down, signed off, three copies, etc etc.
"She received a letter in December 2019 from ŌCHT saying it planned to turn the garden into grass in the “next short while”. It let her keep one area until after the vegetables had been harvested, and"would turn that area into grass in April/May 2020, the letter said."
It seemed as there was a separate communication for her to replant because of delays, which she did but the original plan happened anyway.
This is the reality of renting in NZ – be you never so reasonable, someone can come in and wreck all your work and then use boss logic to "stand by the decision". Shame the lady can't run them through the courts.
it just shows the reality of what a 'tenant' can do or not. And hopefully it shuts those downs that always come up with, but the poor surely they can grow veggies like i do in my own garden. Right right?
Absolutely, Sabine. The ability to grow one's own veges demands some basic things. First, time as a tenant long enough to complete a cycle of ground preparation, seed planting, through to harvest. Time as a tenant long enough to consider it worthwhile to invest time and energy into 'building up the soil' with compost bins, soil enhancing crops to be dug in. It requires money for seed, fertiliser even if only lime, tools, watering gear. It requires good neighbours not to trample or steal crops. It requires some security of tenure.
This is all why community gardens and plots are so important. I lease one with a mate. Great craic as we work together, food enough to feed ourselves and give a third away, soil build up from couch infested grass cover to highly enriched ground that bears heavily, water laid on, security against theft and security against landlords ending tenancies or having to move from home.
My understanding of that was that another 'tenant(s)' complaining about access to a washing line.
My heart broke reading that story this morning.
Where I work unreasonable complaints from a small minority seem to carry inordinate weight. I heard a quote from Joseph Needham that authorities like OCHT could use for complaining NIMBYs- 'The dogs may bark the caravan moves on.'
Unfortunately is anyone surprised by this? It is after all Christchurch and her garden was obviously not Anglo enough.
If there were concerns about the space the garden was taking why did the landlord not help by putting in some garden bordering. Arseholes
What sort of arsehole complains about a neighbour's vege grden.
that was my first question.
no matter what you do, don't get sick, and don't get sick enough to need surgery, here its christchurch, but it could be anywhere.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/41-surgeries-at-christchurch-hospital-cancelled-after-surge-of-acutely-unwell-people/2R4ZCG4OASMMTZJEPGSNLTERRY/
Steven Donziger
New York lawyer Steven Donziger represented indigenous people in Ecuador in a landmark case that won them a massive judgment against Chevron Texaco in 2011. Chevron was found responsible for decades of oil pollution in the Amazon.
However, with billions of dollars at their disposal and refusing to accept the verdict, Chevron has worked to have Donziger disbarred, his bank accounts frozen, a lien put on his apartment, exorbitant fines charged to him, and have him prohibited from earning money. As of August 6, 2019, based on criminal contempt charges, a court has seized his passport and put him on house arrest.
This frightening travesty of justice is happening only blocks away from the headquarters of the New York Times, which, as he mentions bitterly in this interview, has steadfastly ignored this case….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ntqSR6z814
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/18/nobel-laureates-condemn-judicial-harassment-of-environmental-lawyer
Talk of Auckland Port moving again.
Always miss the obvious location , the industrial zone alongside the Steel Mill on the Waiuku tidal river. Has existing rail link and electric grid connections. Road connections are the best of all other options. Depths of channels even at low tide – from marine charts- show 12-14 m almost as far as Clarkes beach . The depth at the heads is 25-40m plus There is the shallow stretch a few km offshore but thats only for 2.5-3km between 12m depths. Most ports including Waitemata have dredged channels leading out to open ocean. Rotterdam thought of as a major deep water port has a dredged channel into North Sea of about 20km for large containerships and for larger oil and bulk carriers it extends to 80km off the coast to 20m plus depth
Best of luck Mr Mayor.
From a guy who can't manage a water company, or a transport entity, and your Council finances are chaotic, why would you think you can bully the Ports board any more effectively than you've failed to do over the last year?
What strange comments, totally devoid of meaning or relevance .
The weather has caused the shortage in dam storage, but its beside the point as the lowest levels reached are still in the 40% range. Its not a savings bank which is meant to be over 70% at all days , and last 2 years the rainy days didnt come- driest in over a century
The Council owns the shares for the Port company, theres is no bullying involved when you tell them to shape up.
The Waitemata will need a fair bit of work if it is to handle boats of any size – neither the channel nor the beacons are up to much. Last time we used it (in the dark on a little 200t trawler) we were out on the whaleback looking for piles with torches while the skipper was crouched over the sounder watching the water under his keel. He'd've liked a whole lot more.
Might be issues with weather too – the east coast ports don't present the same issues if there's a bit of a blow.
Manukau
True – not my home port 😉
Slight issue that a bar builds up constantly. Not to mention the normal swell in the entrance. And that dredging will need to be constant, and will be closed due to weather, often.
.
The obvious location is around Orere point.
Plenty of water within a mile of the shore. Sheltered and close to transport links, major exporters and importers, and other shipping users..
However we will lose our “hubbing” to OZ, while everyone advocates for their own unsuitable and expensive option.
Of course the Manukau entrance requires dredging along with the final part of the channel to Glenbrook.
As Ive pointed out dredging for their access channels is what most ports have. Dutch have super dredgers 30K to 60k size can handle the soft muds and sands easily.
The design of the entrance channel can be shaped underwater to allow the very strong tidal flow to help keep the depth, which you probably would make maybe 25m at low tide , much deeper than necessary
Also the size of container ship we are talking about means the wave patterns are not of concern. Even Wellington port has much worse , which closes the entrance a handful of times per year.
Orere has no transport links, requires invasive reclamations in a sensitive area. Cant compare to the industrial zone and transport/power links already at Glenbrook
Saves a day travel time on a voyage to Sydney or Melbourne which is what giant container ships like
Well, surely everyone is able to afford 600 per week for a three bedroom a week. Right?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/auckland-rents-barfoot-thompson-data-shows-weekly-cost-exceeds-600/O2OICHODTJUMDNTKSR5UNRH6TE/
Average household income in Auckland is higher than the national average -2020- of $107,000. It wont display the detail but would be $125k per household?
Households pay rent, very rarely would individuals be able to afford it
Households pay rent, of course if Mum, dad, and the kids all work and contribute to that. Mind, i think putting under 13th to work might not be quite legal, and some women don’t work for a while once they have kids. Details. Details.
107.000 is that before or after tax? Never mind, taxable amount would be 26.230 so here you are left with 81.000 grand after tax. Mind, i have lived for over two decades in Auckland and the only people that earned that amount did not rent, they paid mortgages. But details, details. 🙂
31.200 annual rent (if no extra increases 600 * 52 weeks) and you are left with 49.800.
Now if you have a stay at home mum, and three kids, that is not that grand?
Now if you are on a median income in AKL so around 48.000 grand per year, you have 40.580 left after paying tax, then minus rent you will have 781 NZD per month for your 'household', if Mum does not work.
And how lovely of you to ignore households that are made up of single parents, single grandparents, carers of people with disabilities etc who are often the only earner and the only payer.
But i guess that is not you?
And i guess you heard of the Accommodation benefits? That little thing you and i finance to help individuals pay these extortion rents? You did hear about them?
You asked who can afford $600 pw. Dont blame me if it isnt the answer you wanted
Well said Sabine. FFS, rents are obscene, pure and simple.
A friend of mine noticed a squatter on his property (old racing ground, half covered in bush, plenty of room to hide), in an old caravan. He's well away from my mates house, and no bother so mate is letting him stay. But now it's something we're both noticing more & more, caravans & vans with ppl living in them. And this is in Dunedin, there's gotta be a tipping point surely?
The average may be $107,000 but the median is only $86,000
Yum, Yum.
About time.
Of course in Japan schools have provided free lunch meals for their pupils, since forever.
Japanese free school lunches are so good, there are special school themed restaurants catering to paying adults who want to recapture their school meal memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jyw1yaV4Hg&t=1s