And artificial milk will be a huge worry for those dairy farmers who have invested vast amounts of money to make money while destroying water. Where to from there?
What a load of bullshit, the crop is down because of a big frost in Europe, it happens so every year to a greater or lesser extent, the last nasty was 1987 and in the 60s a couple of times and 1945 was every bit as bad, and don’t start me on the ” Little Minimum” of the late 1700s when France didn’t produce a usable crop for 12 years.
I could go back another 700 years or so but records get a bit patchy.
Enjoy your manufactured factory built wine which will require most ingredients to be genetically modified to be cost effective.
Some people will swallow any old shit.
This is my neck of the woods, so to speak, and I was involved with community submissions all the way through the Unitary Process and know a few of the long term growers. It won’t be surprising that the land owners – as opposed to the leasees – have looked on the housing price rise as a capital gains windfall.
Retirement age landowners have processed Private Plan Changes that give them a large capital injection by selling off their productive land. The previous local board – not sure about the current – was very supportive of business and subdivisions, as they considered it brought more people (and money) to the region.
Bill Cashmore, in another article said these are legacy projects from Franklin District Council, but that is not true. One local PPC took 50 acres of Class I soil, and Paerata Rise makes use of the SHA legislation to convert 300 ha. I’m sure there are more cases, these are just down the road so I am aware of them.
There is a degree of lip service paid, but it seems the bigger the development the more likely it is to go ahead. Pressure is brought to bear on the smaller subdivisions of people trying to divide their own properties, although eventually those tend to go through.
I would think that allowing sustainable subdivision of lifestyle properties around community hubs – where they are often located – would be a better approach to increasing housing, rather than taking Class I soils out of food production. But my cynicism of the Unitary Plan process and outcomes is likely colouring my view. Not rosily either.
(Good article about the uplift value of land when it is earmarked for housing and not for production on the Guardian today)
Yes they should. Rampant zone changes are not improving Aucklander’s lives at all. Quite the opposite. Also it’s corporate welfare to big developers making as much profit as possible and loads of charges to someone trying to build their family home. It’s a double standard.
It seems an Absurdism that the government and councils are obsessed with more development when they don’t even have proper public transport or can keep their beaches from being contaminated. Now they are taking Aucklander’s food sources to build more houses for profit that are not only so far away but locals can’t even afford them. Lucky under TPPA foreigners can still speculate on New build houses so that’s ok then. We don’t want the global elite to mis out on a business opportunity while the poor starve. sarc.
Pretty sad some of NZ’s iconic beaches like Kare Kare and Piha are not safe to swim. It’s been like this for years now. When are the council going to do something about it, if they spent less time revenue gathering as their prime motivation for everything, they might actually get somewhere.
You do understand that, under our present system, the council needs revenue to be able to afford to do anything at all don’t you?
And that the scaremongering over the last few decades about rising rates by the RWNJs have limited the ability of councils to raise rates to do what’s needed?
Plenty of Auckland rates money for Westfield developers and feasibility studies for billion dollar stadiums Draco. Plus the 1 billion on wasted IT that nobody cares about. We could have got trains for that!
The budget for running regular IT systems is not the same as wasting money on new development – which is a legitimate problem area with a much smaller cost blowout. The responsible manager was shown the door (though several years too slow).
Would you be happy to pay more when… there are massive salaries… vast contracts given to multinationals in the name of ‘cost saving’ when in reality it hammers workers forces down wages and conditions and indeed kills some of them. (That rubbish truck death in the news this weekend springs to mind) Fuck em they aint having another cent from me unless there are massive changes in the pipeline.
The water is supposed to be improved by a COO – Metrowater. Now Aucklanders have monthly bills increasing rents and cost of living, and glossy pamphlets with the water rates but not much action on pollution. Not sure if Kare Kare is on the grid but Coxes bay is in central Auckland, no excuse there for pollution. Apparently after a deluge of rain and we have poos in the sea, still.
Funny though some so called lefties seem to love less democracy and less community involvement if it suits them. No idea why the left are losing ground in Auckland (sarc) when they consider most people NIMBYS and support rampant development by private providers – the net result to all the zoning is affordable houses being bowled and McMansions being put up at 2 mill + and apartments with expensive Body corporates that less and less (0n NZ wages) can afford. Progress.
Central Auckland has an aging wastewater system where waste water goes down the same pipes as sewerage so when ever it rains there is pollution as the sewerage system can’t handle it. Its got worse because of all the development and no one thought to ask the developers to pay for the infrastructure required. The rwnj controlled Auckland City Council was all into saving money so never did anything about it. Now the Super city is constrained by promises to keep rates down and will also do nothing about it. It is up to the population to get out on the streets and demand to be able to pay more rates. Unfortunately that is just not going to happen.
It is up to the population to get out on the streets and demand to be able to pay more rates. Unfortunately that is just not going to happen.
QFT
Decades of having the RWNJs whinging about paying rates/taxes and telling everyone that it should be cheaper. So we get rates cut and the cut in services to go with them.
Unfortunately, no one seems to be able to connect the dots there.
@AD I would say that the locals lack of support on the septic issues is because septic tanks used to cost $1000 now they cost $13,000 plus. You used to pump them out every 5 years, now you have to pay a private provider $300 to check your septic tank system every 6 months. You have to wonder about progress!
Then people wonder why rents are so out of control and why houses are so expensive compared to other countries. It could be rampant profiteering supported by government’s ideology in this country. If you have a new septic tank why the heck does it need checking every 6 months????
why the heck does it need checking every 6 months????
To remove solids.
btw, twenty five years ago the waste water system I installed coast a damn sight more than a grand. From memory, the concrete products, tank, risers, drainage field and vault slabs alone cost $4 – 5k. Machine hire, labour, pipe and fittings about the same.
wrong again. It’s because all the electronics are so ridiculous that they break down so often that you have to check them. Unless you have a family of 30 you would be hard pressed to fill a septic tank with shit up in 6 months.
Things like $13,000 septic tanks not having surge protectors so that when subjected to the dirty power from Vector not bothering to upgrade the lines etc they blow up is the reason they need checking so often plus money for jam obviously for the firms that make the money off that. It costs $2 for a RCD – apparently now they have worked that one out. But anyone who bought one of the fancy new eco ones would not go back after the hassles the new ones have breaking down.
By the way $13000 does not include installation, drainage etc, add on double for that. Then you can get an inkling why there is no action on affordable housing. If you fixed costs are so high, it is not economic to build small or cheaply.
Well I don’t trust many people just my immediate family my wife sons and daughters and one son in law no one else get my trust unless I have test them with minor issues to show me I can trust them.
I was pretty much only educated till I was 9 the rest of the time I spent at school was eating lunch.
But my wife is highly educated in computers she has studied Alot and I have learned a lot from here but she has some issues sensitive ones that ACC should have payed her out 3000.00 but I no that that dick from Gisborne decide he was going to be judge and jury and interfered in my wife case hence the 20 a week she gets from ACC I want to sue them but she doesn’t want to go through all the bullshit again reliving bad past memories so I don’t push it on her to sue ACC. I take her advice very seriously and my eldest daughters as well because I no that they will have our best outcomes for our future at heart and no other conflict of interest to sway there thoughts of wisdom.
But everyone in my circle doesn’t no about the fight I have with the NZ justice system or the Mana that eco Maori has so my star sign is a Ram a leader but a loaner as I’m fighting these pricks buy myself and I’m going to win PS I Still say OUR Kiwi league team have the skills to win they just needed to all have the will to win. Enough said.
Kia Kaha
PS I don’t believe in star signs well just the caretristics of the Animals I would prefer to use a Octopus really intelligent and resort full and my connection to the sea I have got a cousin working at waitangi restorationing some of the carving there he is going to draw my ta moko on my back I say when I have earned the Mana my brother says I already have but I don’t think so so me and my cousin are going to my Marae to do this I think we will have a hangover or two when this happens I want a Octopus riding a whale on my back he is a great artist so it will be good Ka pai
What happens when a global criminal court takes on the world’s dominant military power? That was the question earlier this month when the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda took a decisive step toward direct confrontation with the U.S government.
The Prosecutor’s brief announcement that she would seek permission to launch a formal investigation into the situation in Afghanistan followed a series of annual reports making clear that this investigation will cover not just the Taliban and Afghan security forces, but also U.S. military and intelligence officers. This is a scenario that both ICC critics and supporters in the U.S. government have fretted about ever since the formation of the court. Yet the official Department of Defense reaction was distinctly muted. Pentagon spokesperson Eric Pahon’s statement to National Public Radio that an ICC investigation with respect to U.S. personnel would be “wholly unwarranted and unjustified” drew in tone and content from U.S. government talking points that have been used for years. Will the government shift to a more aggressive response once senior leadership turns its attention away from the President’s trip to Asia and has a chance to weigh in?
And bang on cue, “The Guardian” sallies forth with MPs defend fees of up to £1,000 an hour to appear on ‘Kremlin propaganda’ channel
And , of course, a mugshot of Nigel Farage is used to highlight the piece. 🙄
The closing para’s are kind of funny. Or maybe a tad scary.
The European Values thinktank, which has received money from the UK and US governments, as well as the European commission, recently published a report that listed more than 2,000 US and European politicians who have appeared on RT.
Monika Richter, the report’s author, said RT’s purpose was “to fundamentally pollute the information space”.
“People who don’t understand this issue very well might think it’s harmless to appear on a satirical show [Sam Delaney’s News Thing?] , but it’s a failure of judgment and a lack of imagination in understanding how insidious the whole machine is,” she said.
edit – have I previously mentioned that Alex Salmond (ex- First Minister of Scotland) is going to be fronting his own show on RT? (The peeps at “The Guardian” are Not Impressed 🙂
I wonder if it’s to scear off intellectuals and leftist from talking out. Or anyone to question liberalism as the end of history – is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth.
Take this for instance, Stuart Ewen peels back the manipulation of our emotions.
I am a parent helping a child going through ncea for the first time.
Maths and sine, cosine and tangent.
This is before we get to parabola, pi and other headache inducing stuff (and I am the mathematician in the family).
I am an engaged parent, dutifully attending every parent teacher evening and am surprised at the holes in the learning.
I am not blaming teachers at all, just realising that a tutor may have been wise and on the eve of the exam is a bit late.
You got it gsays! You are not alone! Hopefully the new government does something about the absolute devastation on our education system at primary and secondary levels. (They apparently plan too, so hopefully good news).
The fundamentals seem to be lacking. What is known as basic facts, or as when I went through, the times table.
I see now, what great benefits knowing instinctively what up to 12 times 12 is.
Patterns emerge, confidence grows, numbers can be held in mind while other sums are done…
Politics wise, my son has been in school for 10 years, so if things arent up to scratch, we can blame the tories. ;-).
Ditto – though Year 9, not NCEA yet. I think we need a club where we can confess our stuff-ups and outbursts of irritation? Not asking for forgiveness, just understanding.
They set up small booths in some Catholic churches for that, I understand.
Or in line with some Asian countries, we could have a day where one goes to a public square where a little metal tree with spiky branches stands, and on each spike each parent sticks a little piece of coloured paper with all their faulty thoughts and actions on it. At a certain time it is set on fire and all the miserable efforts and unfortunate blues turn to ash and float away, gone. Purified, and ready to start on another year’s struggle.
Being an engineer, I can help mine with math and science, although for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone thinks things like properties of geometric shapes is something the general population needs to know.
It’s english that’s the problem for me. All I can say is write lots of stuff that sounds like it’s on the topic and hope like hell the marker likes your flavour of waffle.
I think the waffling part of it applies to most subjects.
If I have said it once today I said it a dozen times, show your working out.
Written ebullience isn’t often a strength of young males.
Sometimes the problem is a child who is afraid to ask questions and/or a teacher who makes it hard to ask. This was the problem with my eldest and I did engage a tutor as year 13 maths was beyond me. Then the second one came along and aced maths so I never had to help the third one
Funny you should say that tfg, his teacher is a big , assertive senior master, who is difficult to approach, and that is me as an adult saying that.
Child, a tad immature and shy to ask, (not afraid of being cheeky, unfortunately).
I hadn’t looked at the post The Yellow Peril and now I have I am shocked that it has fallen so low beneath TS standards, which have been mixed up while this long and wearisome trail of insults and explanations has unravelled.
It was started by Mike Smith 1030 pm on Nov 15 and at this time on the 19th has 325 comments listed. Most appear to have added little information but have given a lead on the sort of crap that occurs when you let people take sallies at each other and needle each other. Take up fencing and go and play outside children.
One sure indication is when slang terms and sexual jibes get used. It seems that the whole thing should have come to a halt mid afternoon on the 17th. There appears to have been some weak-kneed desire to allow free expression or something but when the crudities continue, and the desire to retaliate pervades then any useful point is lost. Can The Yellow Peril be closed for comments now. It would be good if it could be put to bed.
RedLogix talked about people ganging up, I thought that was a good point. I have seen that when it has been other contentious issues. As I indicated in the back-end, I’ve raised this issue of ‘piling on’, or ‘mobbing’ a commenter a number of times in the past and received no support at all. So in this respect I fully welcome this new moderating guideline. https://thestandard.org.nz/the-yellow-peril/#comment-1416017
I don’t see why that can’t be applied earlier to stop the build up of mud throwing and harrassment of each other. Say for some hours.
Yeah, that post isn’t exactly The Standard’s finest moment.
I’m surprised that it went as long as it did, and wasn’t heavily moderated from mid morning on 16th. It was definitely in the gutter by lunchtime that day.
Maybe for a topic that had the potential to be as polarising, and contentious as that one, full moderation from the start, even with a a light and discrete hand, could have facilitated a meaningful and enlightening discussion on a topic that is going to have a huge bearing on our future. Once the insults started all hope of that was lost.
I see Q+A are still using their old anti left ambush tactics even when the Left is now in authority and governing the country.
Phil Twyford had to respond to the story run last week about growers in Pukekohe alarmed at the loss of prime land used for growing our food that is being swallowed up with Aucklands ravenous need for more space to accommodate its huge population.
Their alarm is warranted as their income and these precious soils are being buried under more and more housing developments which will have a direct impact on produce supplied nationwide.
The thing is the last National government never intervened or pressured the council to reconsider these developments on this most precious agricultural land and these new subdivisions have been growing at an alarming rate.
Where were these growers over the last nine years all of which i bet were voting for the National party.
To Phil Twyford’s credit he said he will meet with the growers about their concerns and rightly so but where was this concern over the last nine years and where was the pressure to front up to this for the previous housing minister.
I never remember Q+A ever putting the last National government under the scrutiny they now expect of Mr Twyford it would have been seen as a ambush and would never have been countenanced by TVNZ or the right.
While their is a anti left bias we will never have the balance we should expect in covering these serious issues and informing the public without the usual anti left propaganda.
It is time Clare Curran and this government reviews TVNZ and its role in our media landscape.
“Where were these growers over the last nine years all of which i bet were voting for the National party.”
If you noticed, the growers complaining are leasees. The landholders as you say, are mostly National and are delighted to take the capital uplift value when their lands are rezoned. I can say that because I personally saw a few local owners of market land advocating for rezoning during Unitary Plan submissions.
The Unitary Plan possessed no teeth, in terms of creating new housing models, addressing climate change and ensuring some kind of return to community for uplifted values.
My immediate take-home was that it illustrates just what people risk making complaints against the powerful, the resources that they’re up against.
Then I considered that his list of 91 names was people whom he could remember doing something to that he thought might be perceived as seriously wrong. So people whose names he knew, and incidents he remembered/put in a diary.
Then there’s the entire idiocy of singling out people for specific attention – I’m sure the media that got those names would be looking for people who haven’t yet come forward but had marks by their names.
And then there’s the timeframe – he was in damage control for months before the allegations came out (probably heard about a media investigation).
[edit – took out a comment about being on graham norton – must have been a rerun a few months ago, originally aired in 2015]
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This is a re-post from Andrew Dessler at the Climate Brink blogIn 2023, the Earth reached temperature levels unprecedented in modern times. Given that, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s going on? There’s been lots of discussions by scientists about whether this is just the normal progression of global warming or if something ...
The schools are on holiday and the sun is shining in the seaside village and all day long I have been seeing bunches of bikes; Mums, Dads, teens and toddlers chattering, laughing, happy, having a bloody great time together. Cheers, AT, for the bits of lane you’ve added lately around the ...
Today in our National-led authoritarian nightmare: Shane Jones thinks Ministers should be above the law: New Zealand First MP Shane Jones is accusing the Waitangi Tribunal of over-stepping its mandate by subpoenaing a minister for its urgent hearing on the Oranga Tamariki claim. The tribunal is looking into the ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. ...
Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
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 ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
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. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
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 ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced further New Zealand cooperation with the United States in the Pacific Islands region through $16.4 million in funding for initiatives in digital connectivity and oceans and fisheries research. “New Zealand can achieve more in the Pacific if we work together more urgently and ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
The Tribunal had called on Minister for Children Karen Chhour to provide evidence at an urgent inquiry into the repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Midjourney image by T.J. Thomson As more than half of Australian office workers report using generative artificial intelligence (AI) for work, we’re starting to see this technology affect every ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Nicole Sharwood, Injury epidemiologist | Expert Witness, UNSW Sydney Sergey Novikov/Shutterstock Injuries are the leading cause of disability and death among Australian children and adolescents. At least a quarter of all emergency department presentations during childhood are injury-related. Injuries can ...
The next agricultural industry that should start worrying about synthetics – wine.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/11/ava_winery_s_new_synthetic_wine_doesn_t_taste_half_bad.html
And artificial milk will be a huge worry for those dairy farmers who have invested vast amounts of money to make money while destroying water. Where to from there?
They’ll walk away like all polluters, toxic industrial sites etc do and let the taxpayer live with the consequences and try and clean up after them.
What a load of bullshit, the crop is down because of a big frost in Europe, it happens so every year to a greater or lesser extent, the last nasty was 1987 and in the 60s a couple of times and 1945 was every bit as bad, and don’t start me on the ” Little Minimum” of the late 1700s when France didn’t produce a usable crop for 12 years.
I could go back another 700 years or so but records get a bit patchy.
Enjoy your manufactured factory built wine which will require most ingredients to be genetically modified to be cost effective.
Some people will swallow any old shit.
What about the other half?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11944763
labours housing team should read this
This is my neck of the woods, so to speak, and I was involved with community submissions all the way through the Unitary Process and know a few of the long term growers. It won’t be surprising that the land owners – as opposed to the leasees – have looked on the housing price rise as a capital gains windfall.
Retirement age landowners have processed Private Plan Changes that give them a large capital injection by selling off their productive land. The previous local board – not sure about the current – was very supportive of business and subdivisions, as they considered it brought more people (and money) to the region.
Bill Cashmore, in another article said these are legacy projects from Franklin District Council, but that is not true. One local PPC took 50 acres of Class I soil, and Paerata Rise makes use of the SHA legislation to convert 300 ha. I’m sure there are more cases, these are just down the road so I am aware of them.
There is a degree of lip service paid, but it seems the bigger the development the more likely it is to go ahead. Pressure is brought to bear on the smaller subdivisions of people trying to divide their own properties, although eventually those tend to go through.
I would think that allowing sustainable subdivision of lifestyle properties around community hubs – where they are often located – would be a better approach to increasing housing, rather than taking Class I soils out of food production. But my cynicism of the Unitary Plan process and outcomes is likely colouring my view. Not rosily either.
(Good article about the uplift value of land when it is earmarked for housing and not for production on the Guardian today)
Yes they should. Rampant zone changes are not improving Aucklander’s lives at all. Quite the opposite. Also it’s corporate welfare to big developers making as much profit as possible and loads of charges to someone trying to build their family home. It’s a double standard.
It seems an Absurdism that the government and councils are obsessed with more development when they don’t even have proper public transport or can keep their beaches from being contaminated. Now they are taking Aucklander’s food sources to build more houses for profit that are not only so far away but locals can’t even afford them. Lucky under TPPA foreigners can still speculate on New build houses so that’s ok then. We don’t want the global elite to mis out on a business opportunity while the poor starve. sarc.
Pretty sad some of NZ’s iconic beaches like Kare Kare and Piha are not safe to swim. It’s been like this for years now. When are the council going to do something about it, if they spent less time revenue gathering as their prime motivation for everything, they might actually get somewhere.
16 Auckland beaches closed due to water contamination
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/some-auckland-beaches-closed-because-water-is-too-dirty/
You do understand that, under our present system, the council needs revenue to be able to afford to do anything at all don’t you?
And that the scaremongering over the last few decades about rising rates by the RWNJs have limited the ability of councils to raise rates to do what’s needed?
Plenty of Auckland rates money for Westfield developers and feasibility studies for billion dollar stadiums Draco. Plus the 1 billion on wasted IT that nobody cares about. We could have got trains for that!
The IT thing is a fake story pushed by the Act party’s Auckland wing via useful idiots like Orsman in the Herald. No evidence whatsoever.
??????? – it’s in the council accounts how much they are spending! The council IT is a train wreck. Zero accountability.
It was the supercity integration that never worked, that blew the money advocated by ACT!
The budget for running regular IT systems is not the same as wasting money on new development – which is a legitimate problem area with a much smaller cost blowout. The responsible manager was shown the door (though several years too slow).
Would you be happy to pay more when… there are massive salaries… vast contracts given to multinationals in the name of ‘cost saving’ when in reality it hammers workers forces down wages and conditions and indeed kills some of them. (That rubbish truck death in the news this weekend springs to mind) Fuck em they aint having another cent from me unless there are massive changes in the pipeline.
Do I think that people at the top of the council are paid too much? Yes I do.
Do I think that the people ate the bottom are paid too little? Yes I do.
Do you have any fucken idea as to what would happen if we changed so that the people at the top got less while the people at the bottom got more?
HINT: Everybody would be whinging about rates going up.
Sewerage and stormwater reform at those beaches has been consistently opposed by privileged locals. Many of whom are strong left activists.
[citation needed]
Yes. My reaction too DTB. Lefties care about the environment so to suggest some are opposed to environmental remedies is suspect indeed.
The water is supposed to be improved by a COO – Metrowater. Now Aucklanders have monthly bills increasing rents and cost of living, and glossy pamphlets with the water rates but not much action on pollution. Not sure if Kare Kare is on the grid but Coxes bay is in central Auckland, no excuse there for pollution. Apparently after a deluge of rain and we have poos in the sea, still.
Funny though some so called lefties seem to love less democracy and less community involvement if it suits them. No idea why the left are losing ground in Auckland (sarc) when they consider most people NIMBYS and support rampant development by private providers – the net result to all the zoning is affordable houses being bowled and McMansions being put up at 2 mill + and apartments with expensive Body corporates that less and less (0n NZ wages) can afford. Progress.
Central Auckland has an aging wastewater system where waste water goes down the same pipes as sewerage so when ever it rains there is pollution as the sewerage system can’t handle it. Its got worse because of all the development and no one thought to ask the developers to pay for the infrastructure required. The rwnj controlled Auckland City Council was all into saving money so never did anything about it. Now the Super city is constrained by promises to keep rates down and will also do nothing about it. It is up to the population to get out on the streets and demand to be able to pay more rates. Unfortunately that is just not going to happen.
QFT
Decades of having the RWNJs whinging about paying rates/taxes and telling everyone that it should be cheaper. So we get rates cut and the cut in services to go with them.
Unfortunately, no one seems to be able to connect the dots there.
@AD I would say that the locals lack of support on the septic issues is because septic tanks used to cost $1000 now they cost $13,000 plus. You used to pump them out every 5 years, now you have to pay a private provider $300 to check your septic tank system every 6 months. You have to wonder about progress!
Then people wonder why rents are so out of control and why houses are so expensive compared to other countries. It could be rampant profiteering supported by government’s ideology in this country. If you have a new septic tank why the heck does it need checking every 6 months????
To remove solids.
btw, twenty five years ago the waste water system I installed coast a damn sight more than a grand. From memory, the concrete products, tank, risers, drainage field and vault slabs alone cost $4 – 5k. Machine hire, labour, pipe and fittings about the same.
wrong again. It’s because all the electronics are so ridiculous that they break down so often that you have to check them. Unless you have a family of 30 you would be hard pressed to fill a septic tank with shit up in 6 months.
Things like $13,000 septic tanks not having surge protectors so that when subjected to the dirty power from Vector not bothering to upgrade the lines etc they blow up is the reason they need checking so often plus money for jam obviously for the firms that make the money off that. It costs $2 for a RCD – apparently now they have worked that one out. But anyone who bought one of the fancy new eco ones would not go back after the hassles the new ones have breaking down.
By the way $13000 does not include installation, drainage etc, add on double for that. Then you can get an inkling why there is no action on affordable housing. If you fixed costs are so high, it is not economic to build small or cheaply.
Dirty power….do tell?
Which probably explains why they over-flow and pollute Piha.
The problem is that NZers tend to be too cheap for their own good and then whinge when the council needs to put up rates to pay for them being cheap.
Really? It was lefties that got a SHA approval for Clarks Beach – you know affordable housing – and then took the capital gains without building anything and selling the lots?
Well I don’t trust many people just my immediate family my wife sons and daughters and one son in law no one else get my trust unless I have test them with minor issues to show me I can trust them.
I was pretty much only educated till I was 9 the rest of the time I spent at school was eating lunch.
But my wife is highly educated in computers she has studied Alot and I have learned a lot from here but she has some issues sensitive ones that ACC should have payed her out 3000.00 but I no that that dick from Gisborne decide he was going to be judge and jury and interfered in my wife case hence the 20 a week she gets from ACC I want to sue them but she doesn’t want to go through all the bullshit again reliving bad past memories so I don’t push it on her to sue ACC. I take her advice very seriously and my eldest daughters as well because I no that they will have our best outcomes for our future at heart and no other conflict of interest to sway there thoughts of wisdom.
But everyone in my circle doesn’t no about the fight I have with the NZ justice system or the Mana that eco Maori has so my star sign is a Ram a leader but a loaner as I’m fighting these pricks buy myself and I’m going to win PS I Still say OUR Kiwi league team have the skills to win they just needed to all have the will to win. Enough said.
Kia Kaha
PS I don’t believe in star signs well just the caretristics of the Animals I would prefer to use a Octopus really intelligent and resort full and my connection to the sea I have got a cousin working at waitangi restorationing some of the carving there he is going to draw my ta moko on my back I say when I have earned the Mana my brother says I already have but I don’t think so so me and my cousin are going to my Marae to do this I think we will have a hangover or two when this happens I want a Octopus riding a whale on my back he is a great artist so it will be good Ka pai
Today is the 7th anniversary of the first explosion at Pike River.
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/pike-river-tragedy-without-end/
Looks like the ICC may be taking the US to court for war crimes:
Stinking Foreign Agent desperately trying to defend itself from the corporations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_YLPUvBcDM&ab_channel=RedactedTonight
And bang on cue, “The Guardian” sallies forth with MPs defend fees of up to £1,000 an hour to appear on ‘Kremlin propaganda’ channel
And , of course, a mugshot of Nigel Farage is used to highlight the piece. 🙄
The closing para’s are kind of funny. Or maybe a tad scary.
The European Values thinktank, which has received money from the UK and US governments, as well as the European commission, recently published a report that listed more than 2,000 US and European politicians who have appeared on RT.
Monika Richter, the report’s author, said RT’s purpose was “to fundamentally pollute the information space”.
“People who don’t understand this issue very well might think it’s harmless to appear on a satirical show [Sam Delaney’s News Thing?] , but it’s a failure of judgment and a lack of imagination in understanding how insidious the whole machine is,” she said.
edit – have I previously mentioned that Alex Salmond (ex- First Minister of Scotland) is going to be fronting his own show on RT? (The peeps at “The Guardian” are Not Impressed 🙂
I wonder if it’s to scear off intellectuals and leftist from talking out. Or anyone to question liberalism as the end of history – is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing about the truth.
Take this for instance, Stuart Ewen peels back the manipulation of our emotions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_0vrFwaT2Y&ab_channel=RTAmerica
Damn Native Americans proven right again.
https://news.vice.com/story/keystone-pipeline-oil-spill-could-be-worse-than-we-thought
https://www.popsci.com/keystone-pipeline-leak
I am a parent helping a child going through ncea for the first time.
Maths and sine, cosine and tangent.
This is before we get to parabola, pi and other headache inducing stuff (and I am the mathematician in the family).
I am an engaged parent, dutifully attending every parent teacher evening and am surprised at the holes in the learning.
I am not blaming teachers at all, just realising that a tutor may have been wise and on the eve of the exam is a bit late.
You got it gsays! You are not alone! Hopefully the new government does something about the absolute devastation on our education system at primary and secondary levels. (They apparently plan too, so hopefully good news).
The fundamentals seem to be lacking. What is known as basic facts, or as when I went through, the times table.
I see now, what great benefits knowing instinctively what up to 12 times 12 is.
Patterns emerge, confidence grows, numbers can be held in mind while other sums are done…
Politics wise, my son has been in school for 10 years, so if things arent up to scratch, we can blame the tories. ;-).
Ditto – though Year 9, not NCEA yet. I think we need a club where we can confess our stuff-ups and outbursts of irritation? Not asking for forgiveness, just understanding.
They set up small booths in some Catholic churches for that, I understand.
Or in line with some Asian countries, we could have a day where one goes to a public square where a little metal tree with spiky branches stands, and on each spike each parent sticks a little piece of coloured paper with all their faulty thoughts and actions on it. At a certain time it is set on fire and all the miserable efforts and unfortunate blues turn to ash and float away, gone. Purified, and ready to start on another year’s struggle.
Being an engineer, I can help mine with math and science, although for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone thinks things like properties of geometric shapes is something the general population needs to know.
It’s english that’s the problem for me. All I can say is write lots of stuff that sounds like it’s on the topic and hope like hell the marker likes your flavour of waffle.
I think the waffling part of it applies to most subjects.
If I have said it once today I said it a dozen times, show your working out.
Written ebullience isn’t often a strength of young males.
Sometimes the problem is a child who is afraid to ask questions and/or a teacher who makes it hard to ask. This was the problem with my eldest and I did engage a tutor as year 13 maths was beyond me. Then the second one came along and aced maths so I never had to help the third one
Funny you should say that tfg, his teacher is a big , assertive senior master, who is difficult to approach, and that is me as an adult saying that.
Child, a tad immature and shy to ask, (not afraid of being cheeky, unfortunately).
Funny/sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXVVCT4Jcs8&feature=youtu.be
Thanks Joe90 even a child of five could understand that. Me I’m much older but am trying to keep up with the young.
I hadn’t looked at the post The Yellow Peril and now I have I am shocked that it has fallen so low beneath TS standards, which have been mixed up while this long and wearisome trail of insults and explanations has unravelled.
It was started by Mike Smith 1030 pm on Nov 15 and at this time on the 19th has 325 comments listed. Most appear to have added little information but have given a lead on the sort of crap that occurs when you let people take sallies at each other and needle each other. Take up fencing and go and play outside children.
One sure indication is when slang terms and sexual jibes get used. It seems that the whole thing should have come to a halt mid afternoon on the 17th. There appears to have been some weak-kneed desire to allow free expression or something but when the crudities continue, and the desire to retaliate pervades then any useful point is lost. Can The Yellow Peril be closed for comments now. It would be good if it could be put to bed.
RedLogix talked about people ganging up, I thought that was a good point. I have seen that when it has been other contentious issues.
As I indicated in the back-end, I’ve raised this issue of ‘piling on’, or ‘mobbing’ a commenter a number of times in the past and received no support at all. So in this respect I fully welcome this new moderating guideline.
https://thestandard.org.nz/the-yellow-peril/#comment-1416017
I don’t see why that can’t be applied earlier to stop the build up of mud throwing and harrassment of each other. Say for some hours.
Yeah, that post isn’t exactly The Standard’s finest moment.
I’m surprised that it went as long as it did, and wasn’t heavily moderated from mid morning on 16th. It was definitely in the gutter by lunchtime that day.
Maybe for a topic that had the potential to be as polarising, and contentious as that one, full moderation from the start, even with a a light and discrete hand, could have facilitated a meaningful and enlightening discussion on a topic that is going to have a huge bearing on our future. Once the insults started all hope of that was lost.
I see Q+A are still using their old anti left ambush tactics even when the Left is now in authority and governing the country.
Phil Twyford had to respond to the story run last week about growers in Pukekohe alarmed at the loss of prime land used for growing our food that is being swallowed up with Aucklands ravenous need for more space to accommodate its huge population.
Their alarm is warranted as their income and these precious soils are being buried under more and more housing developments which will have a direct impact on produce supplied nationwide.
The thing is the last National government never intervened or pressured the council to reconsider these developments on this most precious agricultural land and these new subdivisions have been growing at an alarming rate.
Where were these growers over the last nine years all of which i bet were voting for the National party.
To Phil Twyford’s credit he said he will meet with the growers about their concerns and rightly so but where was this concern over the last nine years and where was the pressure to front up to this for the previous housing minister.
I never remember Q+A ever putting the last National government under the scrutiny they now expect of Mr Twyford it would have been seen as a ambush and would never have been countenanced by TVNZ or the right.
While their is a anti left bias we will never have the balance we should expect in covering these serious issues and informing the public without the usual anti left propaganda.
It is time Clare Curran and this government reviews TVNZ and its role in our media landscape.
“Where were these growers over the last nine years all of which i bet were voting for the National party.”
If you noticed, the growers complaining are leasees. The landholders as you say, are mostly National and are delighted to take the capital uplift value when their lands are rezoned. I can say that because I personally saw a few local owners of market land advocating for rezoning during Unitary Plan submissions.
The Unitary Plan possessed no teeth, in terms of creating new housing models, addressing climate change and ensuring some kind of return to community for uplifted values.
@14.00, they’re cowered
https://crooked.com/podcast/what-is-the-medias-bias/
More on Harvey Weinstein.
My immediate take-home was that it illustrates just what people risk making complaints against the powerful, the resources that they’re up against.
Then I considered that his list of 91 names was people whom he could remember doing something to that he thought might be perceived as seriously wrong. So people whose names he knew, and incidents he remembered/put in a diary.
Then there’s the entire idiocy of singling out people for specific attention – I’m sure the media that got those names would be looking for people who haven’t yet come forward but had marks by their names.
And then there’s the timeframe – he was in damage control for months before the allegations came out (probably heard about a media investigation).
[edit – took out a comment about being on graham norton – must have been a rerun a few months ago, originally aired in 2015]
My God. The latest Fonterra ads (wiv Wichie or wivout) are even more nauseous than their previous ones, which were pretty bad.
A sad commentary when the general public drink in such obvious excrement.
Haven’t seen them….