This is a most concerning story and a lot of police time should be put into solving it.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern orders security agencies to look into case of burgled professor
The Prime Minister today weighed in on the mysterious case of the professor and the break-ins, instructing the nation’s intelligence agencies to look into claims made by a Christchurch-based China expert.
Last week the Herald broke news University of Canterbury academic Anne-Marie Brady told an Australian parliamentary committee she linked her work to a spate of recent burglaries and her sources on the Chinese mainland had been interrogated by state security officials.
Brady gained international profile in September after publishing research detailing the extent of China’s influence campaigns in New Zealand focusing on a nexus of political donations, appointment of directorships and information management.
Brady told the Australian parliament her office on campus was broken into in December, and last week her home was burgled – with computers, phones and USB storage devices stolen with other obvious valuables ignored by thieves.
“That Professor Anne-Marie Brady has had her home and office broken into, and her lap-top stolen, is deeply troubling. That the perpetrators were brazen enough to warn her that their attack was imminent, only heightens that concern. The most compelling reason for feeling uneasy about Associate-Professor Brady’s misfortunes, however, is their obvious potential to seriously damage Chinese-New Zealand relations.
Brady is a China specialist who has won international acclaim for her research into the methods used by the Chinese government to monitor and, where possible, influence the conduct and opinions of Chinese nationals living abroad; as well as for describing the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) efforts to build maximum support for the “Motherland” among the world-wide Chinese diaspora.
What has sharpened international interest in Brady’s work is her disclosure of the presence of former Chinese nationals in the caucuses of New Zealand’s two largest political parties; most particularly, the fact that one of those Members of Parliament has historical links with the Chinese intelligence community (if only in a pedagogical capacity).
Trotters article reads like an apology for ‘harmony’.
The most compelling reason for feeling uneasy about Associate-Professor Brady’s misfortunes, however, is their obvious potential to seriously damage Chinese-New Zealand relations.
Wait, what? Brady’s “misfortunes” are the problem?
Large countries should desire to protect and help the people, and small countries should desire to serve others. Both large and small countries benefit greatly from humility.
Lao Tzu. My emphasis.
Whereas the primary impulse in this case looks like fear: fear of being exposed, fear of ideas, of dissent; and of course fear of the economic consequences of upsetting the river crabs.
…..the river was running green with a blanket of white foam caused by the algal bloom.
……there’s masses of dead eels killed by the algae
…..there had been cases of children at Horeke with skin rashes after swimming in recent weeks.
Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) has reported a steadily increasing number of people with the microscopic parasite cryptosporidium, with 53 instances so far in February, compared to 29 in January and 11 in December.
Symptoms of cryptosporidiosis, which is contracted through contact with faeces, include diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, lack of appetite, and a fever, though some people show no symptoms.
During periods of heavy rainfall, an often pungent mixture of sewage and stormwater is pumped out onto the city’s beaches as an emergency measure to prevent it overflowing onto private property.
Following several recent storms, Aucklanders were warned to stay away from more than 30 beaches due to health warnings because of these overflows earlier this month
Residents have been told not to swim, wade or fish the Makino Stream and Oroua River because of the waste contamination.
Manawatu-Whanganui Regional Council staff last night discovered a significant amount of effluent being discharged into the Makino Stream near Rata Street.
The council’s manager for strategy and regulation, Dr Nic Peet, said the discharge most likely came from the yards where sheep and beef sales were held every Friday.
Dead fish and cattle excrement greeted Chrys Berryman on his return to a favourite childhood swimming hole near Waimate. “On arrival I couldn’t believe my eyes, the grass was long and cattle excrement was everywhere, even up to the water’s edge, despite there being an electric fence.
“Dead fish were in the shallows and the final blow was when an Environment Canterbury app said we couldn’t swim there because the E.coli levels were too high.”
Berryman contacted ECan with his concerns
“I have one suggestion that would have an immediate impact, permanently fence off the reserve area and do not run cattle there.
Well, I suppose that the Labour Party honeymoon is still going, albeit at a rather passionless level.
Like all honeymoons after an MMP election however it has been like those of the Praying Mantis. The dominant female has cannibalised her mates. Both the New Zealand First and the Green Parties have had their heads bitten off. The parties are dead. They just don’t know it.
Labour will be rather unhappy that they are only in the high 40’s of course, and that National are still very close.
At this point in the election cycle after the last change of Government the National party were, in the equivalent polls, up in the high 50’s and the Labour Party were down in the high 20’s.
The public can see that the Government parties simply cannot carry out their pre-election promises. New Zealand First simply don’t care very much. Winston has the baubles of office and isn’t much interested in anything else.
The Green Party have been shown up as impotent, bowing down before King Winston on their promises like a Kermadec sanctuary, and The Labour Party are having to admit, at least to themselves, that they simply have no idea on how to carry out their wild promises. Have they, for example, arranged to buy any of the enormous quantities of land they would need to even start on Kiwibuild? How is Robertson going to put together a budget when he simply doesn’t have the money to carry out his parties promises without raising taxes or borrowing enormous amounts.
The honeymoon of sorts will no doubt continue for the rest of the year. The general public really doesn’t pay that much attention and will focus on the baby boom. Staunch Labour voters will however be asking. “Is this really as good as it gets?”
Well, you did get quite a bit of the explanation about the poll correct didn’t you?
I hadn’t seen them till you referenced them here.
I don’t think your description of yourself is totally fair though. You aren’t totally boring, even if you are, rather to often, a sad, droning git.
You are very wise in making your predictions though. If, as you did, you stick to the truth you are much more likely to have people agreeing with you than you are if you simply drift off into fantasy.
Key’s honeymoon went on for 9 years and he chewed the souls out of his coalition partners. It wasn’t a honeymoon, New Zealanders at large dug him. Now we dig Jacinda.
Just wanting to wish those on the West Coast, Golden Bay and Nelson a safe 48hrs. This severe weather system is due to arrive at the top of the South Island today.
Thanks Drum. All quiet so far though very wet and some surface flooding. Completely calm so far – barely a breath of wind. Council has been proactive in getting the flooding signs out early and people do seem to taking notice of the messages to stay home. Most of the schools and many businesses – including the Westpac Bank – are closed for the day or from lunchtime. We are holding tight.
Conversations around the Mike and Kate dinner table usually produce a coordinated National Party line in the following day’s Herald … until today – one fawning over Joyce and the other liking Mitchell.
This might be the perfect week for a thread on the Standard about the ‘security consultant’ and ‘expert hostage negotiator’ Mark Mitchell and the chapter he features in Dirty Politics. It’s unlikely the msm will mention it.
As far as they are concerned, he’s an ex police dog handler and a ‘sharp shooter ‘ who’s been ‘in the line of duty’.
Mitchell: “um, look, when I’m asked this question I always say that in a war, um, there’s always casualties on both sides. I’d prefer to leave it at that, um, but I accept that people will be a bit curious about that”
Garner: “So we can read between the lines is that what you’re saying?”
Mitchell: “Year, well, you know, I operated and worked in a high risk environment”
Disgusting. This meathead shouldn’t even be an MP and definitely shouldnt be the leader of a political party.
I don’t think that having been in the defence forces and been in an active environment at the coalface is sufficient to say that someone shouldn’t be an MP.
Look for something more against him, he certainly doesn’t impress me.
Mark Mitchell wasn’t in the defence forces. He was a hired gun. This man chose to go there for the money, knowing he may have to kill and it appears he has. That’s disusting and I stand by my statements.
And he isn’t honest.
He won’t answer a straight question.
So that deals with the “he tells the truth” line spouted by Jenna Lynch.
Let’s assume he did kill people in that siege.
Is New Zealand ok with a mercenary killer as their PM?
Is New Zealand ok with someone who will people in their own country for money as their PM?
More journalists must ask Mitchell this.
How many people did you kill in Iraq?
Another possible thin slice of helping to manage CO2 in the atmosphere, as well as improving agriculture. Crushed basaltic rock is somewhat of a fertilizer, as well as a CO2 absorbent as part of its weathering process.
OMG the concept of using expensive CRSPR technology to enable wealthy people to keep replacing spent DNA each day so they can live as long as 500 years.
Science like this is not the friend of ordinary people. Capitalism, self-centredness and greed is rampant, destructive.
If you are going to post something like this can you please post a link to where it is discussed by experts.
You didn’t just make this up without any evidence it is even possible have you?
Why should I do everybody’s work for them particularly trolls who just sit and tap out their disagreeable, sneering, uncaring, unhelpful and wilfully ignorant comments because they don’t give a damn about anyone anyway.
Right having had my rant, I’ll give a clue from now on. The source was on Radionz this morning. But you can search it out, it will give you something to do, and keep your skills of looking for reliable sources and checking facts all brushed up and bright.
I am not going to put so much time into my comments as they don’t get the attention when about something that affects us all and comes laden with sources deserves.
Thank you for your courtesy.
I am pleased to see that you are having a cheerful morning and are in a good mood.
Some of us read your comments you know, and want to follow up on them. They do get attention when they are interesting.
Now, as that dreadful Americanism says.
“Have a nice day, y’all”
Radionz
Plastic bags 100 million in ten months of Foodstuff and Countdown supermarket chain before they withdraw them – in NZ alone. Referred to on news piece on micro particles of plastic found on Raglan beach but also found in some rock salt, honey, yikes.
The spread of toxic growth over a lake and down a river from which farmers draw water was expected by Council’s water tests but not notified to the area so people could take defensive measures.
Just looking at agriculture and whos who and came across this interesting list of movers and shakers, with Jacqueline Rowarth at the top. These are people who have done much in NZ, some of it outright good and some of it not so. It would be a handy reference to the people behind our primary sector. https://idealog.co.nz/venture/2012/03/primary-farm-40
You do that Macro. I just looked up some stuff, didn’t find anything much and put up the klist of 40 I think farming people who gathered together make iinteresting raading as a resource. As I said.
Interesting and scary theory by Martyn about how National could be planning to set up publicity and a win for their own far right party to fake some political friends and win the next election now that they have destroyed their allies.
Why Mark Mitchell’s run at leadership is a scam & is this Tracy Watkin’s worst political column of all time?
More knee trembling news about global finances. How far up can the shonky domino tower go. I think it all could fall really fast if one particular support got knocked over. It’s so hard to say when though, that’s the rub.
With global debt at a record high $US233-trillion and interest rates on the rise, Mr Botherway said a day of reckoning was due.
“Global debt (318 percent of global GDP) is unprecedented, and we don’t know where that will end up. But there is economic precedence that suggests that those scenarios could be very bad.”
Others are sceptical, however, arguing the doom and gloom was overblown.
“The people who are saying these things are the same people who were saying that the global financial crisis was the end of the world, and who fairly regularly predict that really bad times are just around the corner,” Simplicity managing director Sam Stubbs said.
New Zealand was vulnerable on some counts.
Household indebtedness using a debt to income ratio was at a record high 168 percent;
the official cash rate sits at a record low 1.75 percent;
and Auckland’s house prices were considered severely unaffordable at 8.8 times higher than the average income….
BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said New Zealand was in much better shape to cope than most countries if things went wrong, with a growing economy underpinned by robust construction activity, record tourism and rising dairy prices.
Actually Mr Toplis – We have peaked for tourism, which is beginning to poop on itself, construction activity is in the doldrums with Fletchers having shouldered everyone out of the market by undercutting them and so weakening our ability to do things to time and with the proper strength materials and practices, and rising dairy prices just mean that farmers are encouraged in their hell-bent confidence in themselves to be good businesspeople and cream the market.
And milk is a most perishable product, and is using so many precious resources that the leaders may one day have to take defensive disappearing moves when people lose their tempers after they have lost everything else. If something goes wrong with milk exports, there is a fountain of white stuff to get rid of, can’t make it all into milk powder, it will pollute the country and the cows will be in pain if they suddenly can’t be milked. We should be easing down, going out of irrigation for dairy, that water should be charged for, going up each year like cigarettes do for the smoking addicts, the milking addicts should be taken through a slow withdrawal. With free financial advice on how to produce enough with the minimum of water and imported feed. Subsidies to organic producers also to enourage premium produce for specialised markets.
In general, defense force mentoring/training roles help build the stability of a state by assisting in the training (and training the trainers) of its security forces
Secondly, the destruction of the ISIS state in Iraq is largely complete. The next stage is the more complex assymetric war with ISIS in Iraq. No frontline combat, but ambushes and bombings. So they still need decently trained Iraqi army and police.
Make whatever moral judgements about it that you want, but those are reasonable answers to your question.
These cops that are following me wherever I go are a bunch of red neck that’s all I’m saying as I’ll start swearing once a red neck allways a red neck ECO MAORI Says Ka kite ano
Those mokos in America actions makes ECO MAORI proud
for the way they are stepping up to the line and Letting the World know that America gun laws are inhumane and idiocy. The national rifle association need to be neuter.
I Back those mokos grandchildren 100% Kia kaha.
Ka kite ano
Good evening Hillary & Jeremy my wife decided to bring 2 of our mokos home from the farm they are keeping us on our toes lol crusher a Jeremy lol
Ka kite ano
Another reason not to eat meat .
Antibiotics.
And, yes they are heavily used in industrial farming here.
“Nearly three quarters of the total use of antibiotics worldwide is thought to be on animals rather than humans, which raises serious questions over intensive farming and the potential effects on antibiotic resistance, which can easily be spread to people. Once resistance takes hold and drugs become ineffective, treating even common diseases becomes problematic. Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, has warned that antibiotic resistance is one of the most severe threats facing humanity, and if strong action is not taken urgently that even routine operations such as hip replacements may become too dangerous.”
Its a law like gravity: whenever a right-wing government is elected, they start attacking democracy. And now, after talking to their Republican and Tory and Fidesz chums at the International Democracy Union forum in Wellington, National is doing it here, announcing plans to remove election-day enrolment. Or, to put it ...
Yesterday Winston Peters focussed his attention on the important matter at hand. Tweeting. Like the former, and quite possibly next, orange POTUS, from whom he takes much of his political strategy, Winston is an avid X’er.His message didn’t resemble an historic address this time. In fact it was more reminiscent ...
Buzz from the Beehive A significant decline in natural gas production has given Resources Minister Shane Jones an opportunity to reiterate his enthusiasm for the mining and burning of coal. For good measure, he has praised an announcement from Genesis Energy that it will resume importing coal. He and Energy ...
“Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to look at who is funding them. The political parties are legally obliged to make ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Here is my subjective ranking on a “most-left” to “most-right” scale of most of our major NZ Universities, with some anecdotal (and at times amusing) evidence to back up the claim.Extreme Left Auckland University of TechnologyEvidenceThe ...
Eric Crampton writes – I hadn’t thought about this one until a helpful email showed up in my inbox.It’s pretty obvious that income tax thresholds should automatically index with inflation – whether to anchor the thresholds in percentiles of the income distribution, or to anchor against a real ...
Jacqui Van Der Kaay writes – Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National ...
Gary Judd writes – The Dean of the law school at the Auckland University of Technology is someone called Khylee Quince. I have been sent her social media posting in which she has, over the LawNews headline “Senior King’s Counsel files complaint about compulsory tikanga Maori studies for ...
Cleo Paskal writes – WASHINGTON, D.C.: ‘Many of us have received phone calls from [the opposing camp] telling them if they join the camp they will be given projects for their wards and $300,000 [around US$35,000] each’, says former Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani. The elections in Solomon Islands aren’t ...
With hindsight, it was inevitable that (a) Hamas would agree to the ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar and that ( b) Israel would then immediately launch attacks on Rafah, regardless. We might have hoped the concessions made by Hamas would cause Israel to desist from slaughtering thousands more ...
Placards and mourners outside the Kilbirnie Mosque following the Christchurch terror attack: MSD has terminated the Kaiwhakaoranga service, which has been used by 415 families since the attacks. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The Government’s pledge to only cut ‘back office’ staff rather than ‘frontline’ services is on increasingly shaky ground, with ...
There’s been a few smaller public transport announcements over the last week or so that I thought I’d cover in a single post. Fareshare I’ve long called for Auckland Transport to offer a way to enable employer-subsidised public transport options. The need for this took on even more importance ...
Parliament’s speaker had no option but to refer Green MP Julie Anne Genter to the Privileges Committee for her behaviour in the House last Wednesday evening. The incident, in which she crossed the floor to wave a book and yell at National Minister Matt Doocey, reflects poorly on Genter and ...
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 ...
Who likes being sneered at? Nobody. Worse yet, when the sneerer has their facts all wrong, and might well be an idiot.The sneer in question is The adults are in charge now, and it is a sneer offered in retort to criticism of this new Government, no matter how well ...
When in government, Labour pushed to extend the Parliamentary term to four years, to reduce accountability and our ability to vote out a bad government. And now, they're trying to do it through the member's ballot, with a Four-Year Parliamentary Term Legislation Bill. The bill at least requires a referendum ...
A ballot for a single Member's Bill was held today, and the following bill was drawn: Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill (Hūhana Lyndon) The bill would prevent the government from stealing Māori land in breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It ...
Simeon Brown, alongside Wayne Brown, is favouring a political figleaf now in exchange for loading up tens of millions in extra interest costs on Auckland ratepayers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is pushing back hard at suggestions from Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown ...
Buzz from the Beehive One headline-grabber from the Beehive yesterday was the OECD’s advice that the government must bring the Budget deficit under control or face higher interest rates. Another was the announcement of a $1.9 billion “investment” in Corrections over the next four years. In the best interests of ...
Chris Trotter writes – Had Zheng He’s fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. There is little reason to suppose that the sea-going junks of the Ming Dynasty, among the largest and most sophisticated sailing vessels ever constructed, would have failed ...
David Farrar writes – Two articles give a useful contrast in balance. Both seek to be neutral explainer articles. This one in the Herald on Social Investment covers the pros and cons nicely. It links to critical pieces and talks about aspects that failed and aspects that are more ...
The tikanga regulations will compel law students to be taught that a system which does not conform with the rule of law is nevertheless law which should be observed and applied…Gary Judd KC writes – I have made a complaint to Parliament’s Regulation ...
The future of Te Huia, the train between Hamilton and Auckland, has been getting a lot of attention recently as current funding for it is only in place till the end of June. The government initially agreed to a five year trial, through to April 2026, but that was subject ...
TL;DR: Hamas has just agreed to Israel’s ceasefire plan. Nelson hospital’s rebuild has been cut back to save money. The OECD suggests New Zealand break up network monopolies, including in electricity. PM Christopher Luxon’s news conference on a prison expansion announcement last night was his messiest yet.Here’s my top six ...
A homicide in Ponsonby, a manhunt with a killer on the run. The nation’s leader stands before a press conference reassuring a frightened nation that he’ll sort it out, he’ll keep them safe, he’ll build some new prison spaces.Sorry what? There’s a scary dude on the run with a gun ...
Hi,I know it’s been awhile since there’s been any Webworm merch — and today that all changes!Over the last four months, I’ve been working with New Zealand artist Jess Johnson to create a series of t-shirts, caps and stickers that are infused with Webworm DNA — and as of right ...
The OECD’s chief economist yesterday laid it on the line for the new Government: bring the deficit under control or face higher Reserve Bank interest rates for longer. And to bring the deficit under control, she meant not borrowing for tax cuts. But there was more. Without policy changes—introducing a ...
After a hiatus of over four months Selwyn Manning and I finally got it together to re-start the “A View from Afar” podcast series. We shall see how we go but aim to do 2 episodes per month if possible. … Continue reading → ...
In 2008, the UK Parliament passed the Climate Change Act 2008. The law established a system of targets, budgets, and plans, with inbuilt accountability mechanisms; the aim was to break the cycle of empty promises and replace it with actual progress towards emissions reduction. The law was passed with near-universal ...
Buzz from the Beehive Local Water Done Well – let’s be blunt – is a silly name, but the first big initiative to put it into practice has gone done well. This success is reflected in the headline on an RNZ report:District mayors welcome Auckland’s new water deal with ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate ConnectionsA farmworker cleans the solar panels of a solar water pump in the village of Jagadhri, Haryana Country, India. (Photo credit: Prashanth Vishwanathan/ IWMI) Decisions made in India over the next few years will play a key role in global ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – The Children’s Minister, Karen Chhour, intends to repeal Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because it creates conflict between claimed Crown Treaty obligations and the child’s best interests. In her words, “Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles and its act should be colour ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. ...
Brian Easton writes – This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be (I will report on them ...
TL;DR:Winston Peters is reported to have won a budget increase for MFAT. David Seymour wanted his Ministry of Regulation to be three times bigger than the Productivity Commission. Simeon Brown is appointing a Crown Monitor to Watercare to protect the Claytons Crown Guarantee he had to give ratings agencies ...
The gloves are off. That might seem to be the undertone of surprisingly tough talk from New Zealand’s foreign and trade ministers. Winston Peters, the foreign minister, may be facing legal action after making allegations about former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr on Radio New Zealand. Carr had made highly ...
I could be a florist'Round the corner from Rye LaneI'll be giving daisies to craziesBut, baby, I'll wrap you up real safe Oh, I can give you flowers At the end of every dayFor the center of your table, a rainbowIn case you have people 'round to stay Depending on ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to May 12 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Finance Minister Nicola Willis will give a pre-budget speech on Thursday.Parliament sits from Question Time at 2pm on ...
The price of the foreign affairs “reset” is now becoming apparent, with Defence set to get a funding boost in the Budget. Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that it will be one of the few votes, apart from Health and Education and possibly Police, which will get an increase ...
A listing of 26 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 28, 2024 thru Sat, May 4, 2024. Story of the week "It’s straight out of Big Tobacco’s playbook. In fact, research by John Cook and his colleagues ...
Yesterday I received come lovely feedback following my Star Wars themed newsletter. A few people mentioned they’d enjoyed reading the personal part at the beginning.I often begin newsletters with some memories, or general thoughts, before commencing the main topic. This hopefully sets the mood and provides some context in which ...
April 30 was going to be the day we’d be calling Mum from London to wish her a happy birthday. Then it became the day we would be going to St. Paul's at Evensong to remember her. The aim of the cathedral builders was to find a way to make their ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Can’t remember the last book by a Kiwi author you read? Think the NZ government should spend less on the arts in favor of helping the homeless? If so, as far as Newsroom is concerned, you probably deserve to be called a cultural ignoramus ...
Eric Crampton writes – Grudges are bad. Better to move on. But it can be fun to keep a couple of really trivial ones, so you’re not tempted to have other ones. For example, because of the rootkit fiasco of 2005, no Sony products in our household. ...
A new report warns an estimated third of the adult population have unmet need for health care.Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāHere’s the six key things I learned about Aotaroa’s political economy this week around housing, climate and poverty:Politics - Three opinion polls confirmed support for PM Christopher Luxon ...
Today is May the fourth. Which was just a regular day when my mother took me to see the newly released Star Wars at the Odeon in Rotorua. The queue was right around the corner. Some years later this day became known as Star Wars Day, the date being a ...
Buzz from the Beehive Much more media attention is being paid to something Winston Peters said about former Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr than to a speech he delivered to the New Zealand China Council. One word is missing from the speech: AUKUS. But AUKUS loomed large in his considerations ...
Is the economy in another long stagnation? If so, why?This is about the time that the Treasury will be locking up its economic forecasts to be published in the 2024 Budget Economic and Fiscal Update (BEFU) on budget day, 30 May. I am not privy to what they will be ...
The annual list of who's been bribing our politicians is out, and journalists will no doubt be poring over it to find the juiciest and dirtiest bribes. The government's fast-track invite list is likely to be a particular focus, and we already know of one company on the list which ...
In the weeks after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Southern Israel I wrote about the possible 2nd, 3rd and even 4th order effects of the conflict. These included new fronts being opened in the West Bank (with Hamas), Golan … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – It is one of the oldest truisms that there is never a good time for MPs to get a pay rise. This week’s announcement of pay raises of around 2.8% backdated to last October could hardly have come at a worse time, with the ...
David Farrar writes – Newshub reports: Newshub can reveal a fresh allegation of intimidation against Green MP Julie-Anne Genter. Genter is subject to a disciplinary process for aggressively waving a book in the face of National Minister Matt Doocey in the House – but it’s not the first time ...
The Treasury has published a paper today on the global productivity slowdown and how it is playing out in New Zealand: The productivity slowdown: implications for the Treasury’s forecasts and projections. The Treasury Paper examines recent trends in productivity and the potential drivers of the slowdown. Productivity for the whole economy ...
Winston Peters’ comments about former Australian foreign minister look set to be an ongoing headache for both him and Luxon. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for subscribers features co-hosts and , along with regular guests on Gaza and ...
These puppet strings don't pull themselvesYou're thinking thoughts from someone elseHow much time do you think you have?Are you prepared for what comes next?The debating chamber can be a trying place for an opposition MP. What with the person in charge, the speaker, typically being an MP from the governing ...
The land around Lyme Regis, where Meryl Streep once stood, in a hood, on the Cobb, is falling into the sea.MerylThe land around Lyme Regis, around the Cobb that made it rich, has always been falling slowly but surely into the sea. Read more ...
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
The Green Party is welcoming the announcement by the Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop to approve most of the Wellington City Council’s District Plan recommendations. ...
David Seymour has failed to get the sweeping cuts he wanted to the free and healthy school lunch programme, Labour education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
Hon Willie Jackson has been invited by the Oxford Union to debate the motion “This House Believes British Museums are not Very British’ on May 23rd. ...
Green Party MP Hūhana Lyndon says her Public Works (Prohibition of Compulsory Acquisition of Māori Land) Amendment Bill is an opportunity to right some past wrongs around the alienation of Māori land. ...
A senior, highly respected King’s Counsel with decades of experience in our law courts, Gary Judd KC, has filed a complaint about compulsory tikanga Māori studies for law students - highlighting the utter depths of absurdity this woke cultural madness has taken our society. The tikanga regulations will compel law ...
The Government needs to be clear with the people of the Nelson Marlborough region about the changes it is considering for the Nelson Hospital rebuild, Labour health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said. ...
Ministers must front up about which projects it will push through under its Fast Track Approvals legislation, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop, today released his decision on twenty recommendations referred to him by the Wellington City Council relating to its Intensification Planning Instrument, after the Council rejected those recommendations of the Independent Hearings Panel and made alternative recommendations. “Wellington notified its District Plan on ...
Rape Awareness Week (6-10 May) is an important opportunity to acknowledge the continued effort required by government and communities to ensure that all New Zealanders can live free from violence, say Ministers Karen Chhour and Louise Upston. “With 1 in 3 women and 1 in 8 men experiencing sexual violence ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government will be delivering a more efficient Healthy School Lunches Programme, saving taxpayers approximately $107 million a year compared to how Labour funded it, by embracing innovation and commercial expertise. “We are delivering on our commitment to treat taxpayers’ money ...
New research on the impacts of extreme weather on coastal marine habitats in Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay will help fishery managers plan for and respond to any future events, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. A report released today on research by Niwa on behalf of Fisheries New Zealand ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters will lead a broad political delegation on a five-stop Pacific tour next week to strengthen New Zealand’s engagement with the region. The delegation will visit Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and Tuvalu. “New Zealand has deep and ...
There has been a material decline in gas production according to figures released today by the Gas Industry Co. Figures released by the Gas Industry Company show that there was a 12.5 per cent reduction in gas production during 2023, and a 27.8 per cent reduction in gas production in the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins tonight announced the recipients of the Minister of Defence Awards of Excellence for Industry, saying they all contribute to New Zealanders’ security and wellbeing. “Congratulations to this year’s recipients, whose innovative products and services play a critical role in the delivery of New Zealand’s defence capabilities, ...
Welcome to you all - it is a pleasure to be here this evening.I would like to start by thanking Greg Lowe, Chair of the New Zealand Defence Industry Advisory Council, for co-hosting this reception with me. This evening is about recognising businesses from across New Zealand and overseas who in ...
It is a pleasure to be speaking to you as the Minister for Digitising Government. I would like to thank Akolade for the invitation to address this Summit, and to acknowledge the great effort you are making to grow New Zealand’s digital future. Today, we stand at the cusp of ...
New Zealand is urging both Israel and Hamas to agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid the further humanitarian catastrophe that military action in Rafah would unleash, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The immense suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to worsen further. Both sides have a responsibility to ...
A new online data dashboard released today as part of the Government’s school attendance action plan makes more timely daily attendance data available to the public and parents, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. The interactive dashboard will be updated once a week to show a national average of how ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced Rosemary Banks will be New Zealand’s next Ambassador to the United States of America. “Our relationship with the United States is crucial for New Zealand in strategic, security and economic terms,” Mr Peters says. “New Zealand and the United States have a ...
The Government is considering creating a new tier of minerals permitting that will make it easier for hobby miners to prospect for gold. “New Zealand was built on gold, it’s in our DNA. Our gold deposits, particularly in regions such as Otago and the West Coast have always attracted fortune-hunters. ...
Minister for Trade Todd McClay today announced that New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will commence negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). Minister McClay met with his counterpart UAE Trade Minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi in Dubai, where they announced the launch of negotiations on a ...
New Zealand Sign Language Week is an excellent opportunity for all Kiwis to give the language a go, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. This week (May 6 to 12) is New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) Week. The theme is “an Aotearoa where anyone can sign anywhere” and aims to ...
Six tertiary students have been selected to work on NASA projects in the US through a New Zealand Space Scholarship, Space Minister Judith Collins announced today. “This is a fantastic opportunity for these talented students. They will undertake internships at NASA’s Ames Research Center or its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where ...
New Zealanders will be safer because of a $1.9 billion investment in more frontline Corrections officers, more support for offenders to turn away from crime, and more prison capacity, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says. “Our Government said we would crack down on crime. We promised to restore law and order, ...
The OECD’s latest report on New Zealand reinforces the importance of bringing Government spending under control, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The OECD conducts country surveys every two years to review its members’ economic policies. The 2024 New Zealand survey was presented in Wellington today by OECD Chief Economist Clare Lombardelli. ...
The Government has delivered on its election promise to provide a financially sustainable model for Auckland under its Local Water Done Well plan. The plan, which has been unanimously endorsed by Auckland Council’s Governing Body, will see Aucklanders avoid the previously projected 25.8 per cent water rates increases while retaining ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters discussed the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and enhanced cooperation in the Pacific with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock during her first official visit to New Zealand today. "New Zealand and Germany enjoy shared interests and values, including the rule of law, democracy, respect for the international system ...
The Minister Responsible for RMA Reform, Chris Bishop today released his decision on four recommendations referred to him by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council, opening the door to housing growth in the area. The Council’s Plan Change 92 allows more homes to be built in existing and new ...
Thank you, John McKinnon and the New Zealand China Council for the invitation to speak to you today. Thank you too, all members of the China Council. Your effort has played an essential role in helping to build, shape, and grow a balanced and resilient relationship between our two ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
The Minister Responsible for GCSB and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security have been notified of this review, and have been provided a finalised Terms of Reference. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Minglu Chen, Senior Lecturer, Government and International Relations, University of Sydney Robert Way/Shutterstock As the past few years have illustrated so clearly, the Australia-China relationship is complicated. As such, it is crucial for Australians to develop a more nuanced understanding of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mariana Campbell, Research Lecturer, Conservation, Charles Darwin University Marilyn Connell Australian freshwater turtles are facing an alarming trend. Almost half of these species are listed as vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. The Mary River turtle (Elusor macrurus) is one of Australia’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Debbie Passey, Digital Health Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Josephine Barbaro, Associate Professor, Principal Research Fellow, Psychologist, La Trobe University Unsplash We’ve come a long way in terms of understanding that everyone thinks, interacts and experiences the world differently. In the past, autistic people, people with attention deficit hyperactive disorder ...
PNG Post-Courier Papua New Guinea’s deputy opposition leader James Nomane has accused the government of “reckless economic management” that has forced devaluation to manage loan repayments in foreign currency and placate the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister James Marape “must stop lying to the people of Papua New Guinea”, ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Jane Arthur, author of Brown Bird, and former bookseller at Good Books.The book I wish I’d writtenI have been working on not comparing myself to others. On accepting that what I can ...
The final decision on the Wellington District Plan makes it official: High-density housing is legal across most of Wellington. Housing minister Chris Bishop has announced his decision on the Wellington District Plan, approving a series of amendments to radically upzone most of Wellington, allowing tens of thousands of new townhouses ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. “Follow the money” is the classic directive to journalists trying to understand where power and influence lie in society. In terms of uncovering who influences various New Zealand political parties and governments, it therefore pays to ...
RNZ News As Israel presses ahead with strikes in Rafah and seizing the Rafah crossing from Egypt, aid agencies are sounding the alarm of a “catastrophic humanitarian situation”. Rafah was “significant” because it was the only part in Gaza that had not been terribly damaged by the conflict, United Nations ...
With funding set to be scrapped for the Hamilton-Auckland commuter train, Te Huia enthusiast Georgie Dansey argues for it to be thrown a lifeline. It’s 5.45am and the chain of my crappy old bike falls off slugging up the one hill in Hamilton. I contemplate yeeting the bike into the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Cooke, Honorary Fellow, School of the Environment, The University of Queensland We feel ecological grief when we lose places, species or ecosystems we value and love. These losses are a growing threat to mental health and wellbeing globally. We all see ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shauna Brail, Associate Professor, Institute for Management & Innovation, University of Toronto A shift to hybrid and remote work continues to affect worker presence in Toronto’s downtown.(Shutterstock) Downtown Toronto, the core of Canada’s largest city, continues to reel from the lingering ...
Responding to an Auditor-General's report slamming failures in the administration of the 2023 General Election, Taxpayers’ Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager, James Ross, said: ...
Productivity apps now make up a big chunk of the software market. But do they work? And why do they all have AI integrations?Despite being firmly on the record as a physical planner fan, I sometimes dream of something better than my pretty diary and its scrawled, ugly, interior ...
The Taxpayers’ Union says the Beehive need to lead by example, following reports of more than $50,000 spent upgrading video conferencing equipment and furniture in the Prime Minister’s office. Taxpayers’ Union Campaign Manager, Connor Molloy, ...
An objective list of the 50 most powerful people in New Zealand, as judged by the Spinoff Editorial Board. It’s power list season, baby, and we want in on the action. Sure, there’s the rich list and the powerful “c-suite” list and the young people with power (hmmm) but here, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney ShutterstockThis article contains information on deaths in custody and the names of deceased people, and describes ongoing colonial violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. First Nations people in Australia ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Simpson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Macquarie University Netflix Baby Reindeer’s phenomenal success has much to do with its writer and lead, Richard Gadd, who plays Donny in a tender semi-autobiographical account of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking. Gadd’s story has ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Collins, Laureate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Newcastle KarolinaGrabowska/Pexels If you didn’t have food allergies as a child, is it possible to develop them as an adult? The short answer is yes. But the reasons why are much ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Moon, Professor of History, Auckland University of Technology Ans Westra, self-portrait, c. 1963. National Library ref AWM-0705-F They try but invariably fail – those writers who believe they are capable of encapsulating in prose or verse the essence of ...
Stewart Sowman-Lund looks at the growing concern around the world in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. What’s all this? When Covid-19 arrived on our shores in early 2020, some argued we were too slow, or crucially, ill-prepared for a pandemic. So ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University Water runs into a storm drain in a Los Angeles alley on Aug. 19, 2023, during Tropical Storm Hilary.Citizen of the Planet/Universal Images ...
The inquest into the death of Gore toddler Lachlan Jones has turned up a new witness who says he saw two teenagers and a small child in a high vis vest in the area where the boy’s body was found the day he died. Lachie’s body was discovered face up ...
Stories from the tenancy trenches, featuring spider infestations, cupboard rats and same-sex discrimination. Lucy’s brother was living in a damp 1930s building in Mt Eden where “he had to tie the cupboard doors closed so the rats didn’t get in”. Although he shared custody of his six-year-old son, his property ...
Simeon Brown, Chris Luxon, and Wayne Brown climbed into a hole and announced a plan to solve Auckland’s water woes. This is how it’ll work. New Zealand’s pipes are munted. They’re cracked and leaking, and struggling to handle all the extra poos excreted by our rising population. It’s a big, ...
I knew Taika Waititi quite well when he was a kid. His mother lived in a tall narrow house in Aro St, and my youngest sister had a similar house two doors along. They were both single mums, they each had a son aged seven. Taika and my nephew Stepan ...
Opinion: “As time passes, knowledge of the circumstances of the August 2016 outbreak will fade and its immediate impact will be lost.” This statement is from the 2017 report of the Official Inquiry into the Havelock North campylobacteriosis outbreak. The then National-led government established the inquiry after the outbreak left ...
Opinion: Nicholas Khoo looks at two key points in the high-stakes foreign policy pact debate – and asks if NZ can engage with as little drama as possible. The post Where to next for the Aukus ruckus? appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Wednesday 8 May appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: ‘Reference-class forecasting’ is at the heart of improving pricing a project and identifying the expected timeframe but it doesn’t appear to be in use here The post ‘Think fast and act slowly’ is failing big projects appeared first on Newsroom. ...
What do a sombrero in Argentina and cognitive driving tests have in common? Don’t worry, we’re not setting up a bad joke. Hinengaro Clinic dementia clinician Gregory Winkelman has the answer on today’s episode of The Detail. “We ask a patient’s spouse or son or daughter: If you went to ...
Wellington long jumper Phoebe Edwards is back and she’s having fun again. Until this year, Edwards, a top athlete in her teens, had never competed as a senior athlete in New Zealand. In March, the 26-year-old won a national long jump title in a lifetime best of 6.28m after ...
After replacing a fifth of their caucus in just four months, the Greens’ opportunity to reset, reshuffle and refocus on the Government is quickly slipping away The post Persistent Green Party scandals delay caucus reset appeared first on Newsroom. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
By Robin Martin, RNZ News reporter A New Zealand local authority, Whanganui District Council, has passed a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, condemnation of all acts of violence and terror against civilians on both sides of the conflict and the immediate return of hostages. It comes as ...
Asia Pacific Report The Aotearoa chapter of the Women’s International league for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) has appealed to the New Zealand government to call out Israel over the “cruel and barbaric use of force” in Gaza and demand a permanent ceasefire. The league’s open letter was sent to Prime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will invest $566 million over a decade on data, maps and other tools to promote exploration and development in Australia’s resources industry. The project will fund “the first comprehensive map of what’s ...
Asia Pacific Report Following an open letter by Auckland University academics speaking out in support of their students’ right to protest against the genocidal Israeli war on Gaza, a group of academics at Otago University have today also called on New Zealand academic institutions to “repair colonial violence” and end ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology Ryan Tauss/ Unsplash, CC BY Two male students have been expelled from a Melbourne private school for their involvement in a list ranking female students. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The Reserve Bank is now assuming Australians will see no interest rate cuts this year – and quite possibly none before the next federal election, due next May. That’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hayward, Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University The Victorian budget offered more of the same on Tuesday, with the only change being how the budget papers were packaged. The usual shrink wrap was gone, hinting at savings in the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Coalition is demanding extensive amendments to the government’s legislation targeting non-citizens who refuse to co-operate with their removal. In a dissenting report to the senate inquiry into the legislation, the Coalition says it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vanita Yadav, Senior Research Fellow, Urban Transformations Research Centre, Western Sydney University Brett Boardman/Belvoir The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation ...
Disruption to patient care from a nationwide junior doctors strike is bordering on unsafe, a senior doctor claims, despite what health officials say. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Ground Picture/Shutterstock The anti-cancer drug abemaciclib (also known as Vernezio) has this month been added to the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) to treat certain ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic McAfee, Postdoctoral researcher, marine ecology, University of Adelaide Robbie Porter, OzFish Unlimited Around Australia, hundreds of people are coming together to help a once-prized, but decimated and largely forgotten marine ecosystem. They’re busy restoring Australia’s native oyster and mussel reefs. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Webb, Lecturer, Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology Austin Human/Unsplash How does Earth stop meteors from hitting Earth and hurting people? –Asher, 6 years 11 months, New South Wales Alright, let’s embark on a meteor ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rory Mulcahy, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of the Sunshine Coast Professional sports organisations regularly promote and develop initiatives to support diversity, equity and inclusion. While sport has the power to change attitudes by sparking conversations about political issues and social ...
Comment: The weekly Monday post-Cabinet press conference is a useful forum for observing Christopher Luxon and how he is developing into the job of Prime Minister. He attempts to convey the impression of a man of action, speaking fast, delivering memorised National Party strategies in a connect-the-slogans kind of way, ...
Double votes, missing ballot boxes, tired tech and stressed staff: how tick-tallying went astray at last year’s election. Cast your mind back to November 2023, that bleary-eyed post-election period duringwhichwewaited, andwaited, for a coalition deal to be hammered out. A distraction from the hotel-hopping of our ...
Great to see the PM is investigating this and that Matt Nippert is reporting it.
This is a most concerning story and a lot of police time should be put into solving it.
Chris Trotter also weighs in.
“That Professor Anne-Marie Brady has had her home and office broken into, and her lap-top stolen, is deeply troubling. That the perpetrators were brazen enough to warn her that their attack was imminent, only heightens that concern. The most compelling reason for feeling uneasy about Associate-Professor Brady’s misfortunes, however, is their obvious potential to seriously damage Chinese-New Zealand relations.
Brady is a China specialist who has won international acclaim for her research into the methods used by the Chinese government to monitor and, where possible, influence the conduct and opinions of Chinese nationals living abroad; as well as for describing the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) efforts to build maximum support for the “Motherland” among the world-wide Chinese diaspora.
What has sharpened international interest in Brady’s work is her disclosure of the presence of former Chinese nationals in the caucuses of New Zealand’s two largest political parties; most particularly, the fact that one of those Members of Parliament has historical links with the Chinese intelligence community (if only in a pedagogical capacity).
Trotters article reads like an apology for ‘harmony’.
Wait, what? Brady’s “misfortunes” are the problem?
Chinese money and power and the craven behaviour of our politicians is the problem.
That problem is as old as the hills.
Lao Tzu. My emphasis.
Whereas the primary impulse in this case looks like fear: fear of being exposed, fear of ideas, of dissent; and of course fear of the economic consequences of upsetting the river crabs.
You got the blockquote on the first quote so why didn’t you use it on the second?
Proper formatting makes things so much easier to read.
‘Clean Green NZ.’
Another 4 examples of what a sham this is.
We so need to clean up our act.
And stop lying and denying the state of our environment.
Anger over lack of warning for algal bloom
Influx of stomach bugs as Auckland’s water quality drops
Animal effluent warning for popular swimming river
Grave concerns for well-known swimming hole
Oooooo, a ‘moral majority’. Can’t wait to read comments on Stuff later 🙂
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101581173/labour-and-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-take-the-lead-in-new-poll
Well, I suppose that the Labour Party honeymoon is still going, albeit at a rather passionless level.
Like all honeymoons after an MMP election however it has been like those of the Praying Mantis. The dominant female has cannibalised her mates. Both the New Zealand First and the Green Parties have had their heads bitten off. The parties are dead. They just don’t know it.
Labour will be rather unhappy that they are only in the high 40’s of course, and that National are still very close.
At this point in the election cycle after the last change of Government the National party were, in the equivalent polls, up in the high 50’s and the Labour Party were down in the high 20’s.
The public can see that the Government parties simply cannot carry out their pre-election promises. New Zealand First simply don’t care very much. Winston has the baubles of office and isn’t much interested in anything else.
The Green Party have been shown up as impotent, bowing down before King Winston on their promises like a Kermadec sanctuary, and The Labour Party are having to admit, at least to themselves, that they simply have no idea on how to carry out their wild promises. Have they, for example, arranged to buy any of the enormous quantities of land they would need to even start on Kiwibuild? How is Robertson going to put together a budget when he simply doesn’t have the money to carry out his parties promises without raising taxes or borrowing enormous amounts.
The honeymoon of sorts will no doubt continue for the rest of the year. The general public really doesn’t pay that much attention and will focus on the baby boom. Staunch Labour voters will however be asking. “Is this really as good as it gets?”
I ma trying to work out who is more delusional, you or Tanz…
Tanz by a whisker
I think I predicted a number of these responses in my comment yesterday but attributed them to DPF rather than Alwyn.
Well, you did get quite a bit of the explanation about the poll correct didn’t you?
I hadn’t seen them till you referenced them here.
I don’t think your description of yourself is totally fair though. You aren’t totally boring, even if you are, rather to often, a sad, droning git.
You are very wise in making your predictions though. If, as you did, you stick to the truth you are much more likely to have people agreeing with you than you are if you simply drift off into fantasy.
Key’s honeymoon went on for 9 years and he chewed the souls out of his coalition partners. It wasn’t a honeymoon, New Zealanders at large dug him. Now we dig Jacinda.
Just wanting to wish those on the West Coast, Golden Bay and Nelson a safe 48hrs. This severe weather system is due to arrive at the top of the South Island today.
Thanks Drum. All quiet so far though very wet and some surface flooding. Completely calm so far – barely a breath of wind. Council has been proactive in getting the flooding signs out early and people do seem to taking notice of the messages to stay home. Most of the schools and many businesses – including the Westpac Bank – are closed for the day or from lunchtime. We are holding tight.
And then there were 5.
Joyce joins the race.
Conversations around the Mike and Kate dinner table usually produce a coordinated National Party line in the following day’s Herald … until today – one fawning over Joyce and the other liking Mitchell.
This might be the perfect week for a thread on the Standard about the ‘security consultant’ and ‘expert hostage negotiator’ Mark Mitchell and the chapter he features in Dirty Politics. It’s unlikely the msm will mention it.
As far as they are concerned, he’s an ex police dog handler and a ‘sharp shooter ‘ who’s been ‘in the line of duty’.
Mark Mitchell on the AM Show.
Garner: “Have you killed anyone?”
Mitchell: “um, look, when I’m asked this question I always say that in a war, um, there’s always casualties on both sides. I’d prefer to leave it at that, um, but I accept that people will be a bit curious about that”
Garner: “So we can read between the lines is that what you’re saying?”
Mitchell: “Year, well, you know, I operated and worked in a high risk environment”
Disgusting. This meathead shouldn’t even be an MP and definitely shouldnt be the leader of a political party.
I don’t think that having been in the defence forces and been in an active environment at the coalface is sufficient to say that someone shouldn’t be an MP.
Look for something more against him, he certainly doesn’t impress me.
Mark Mitchell wasn’t in the defence forces. He was a hired gun. This man chose to go there for the money, knowing he may have to kill and it appears he has. That’s disusting and I stand by my statements.
So a mercenary working for the USA warmongers?
Even the Natz elite are scared of the lengths this ex dog handling mercenary will go to to seize power.
I think it’s a perfect qualification for leader of the national party.
And he isn’t honest.
He won’t answer a straight question.
So that deals with the “he tells the truth” line spouted by Jenna Lynch.
Let’s assume he did kill people in that siege.
Is New Zealand ok with a mercenary killer as their PM?
Is New Zealand ok with someone who will people in their own country for money as their PM?
More journalists must ask Mitchell this.
How many people did you kill in Iraq?
Another possible thin slice of helping to manage CO2 in the atmosphere, as well as improving agriculture. Crushed basaltic rock is somewhat of a fertilizer, as well as a CO2 absorbent as part of its weathering process.
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/transforming-agriculture-using-crushed-rock-can-slash-pesticide-use-increase-yields-promote-carbon-capture/
OMG the concept of using expensive CRSPR technology to enable wealthy people to keep replacing spent DNA each day so they can live as long as 500 years.
Science like this is not the friend of ordinary people. Capitalism, self-centredness and greed is rampant, destructive.
If you are going to post something like this can you please post a link to where it is discussed by experts.
You didn’t just make this up without any evidence it is even possible have you?
Why should I do everybody’s work for them particularly trolls who just sit and tap out their disagreeable, sneering, uncaring, unhelpful and wilfully ignorant comments because they don’t give a damn about anyone anyway.
Right having had my rant, I’ll give a clue from now on. The source was on Radionz this morning. But you can search it out, it will give you something to do, and keep your skills of looking for reliable sources and checking facts all brushed up and bright.
I am not going to put so much time into my comments as they don’t get the attention when about something that affects us all and comes laden with sources deserves.
Thank you for your courtesy.
I am pleased to see that you are having a cheerful morning and are in a good mood.
Some of us read your comments you know, and want to follow up on them. They do get attention when they are interesting.
Now, as that dreadful Americanism says.
“Have a nice day, y’all”
Alwyn, you got the courtesy you have earned.
Radionz
Plastic bags 100 million in ten months of Foodstuff and Countdown supermarket chain before they withdraw them – in NZ alone. Referred to on news piece on micro particles of plastic found on Raglan beach but also found in some rock salt, honey, yikes.
The spread of toxic growth over a lake and down a river from which farmers draw water was expected by Council’s water tests but not notified to the area so people could take defensive measures.
In “The Salt Fix” the author talks about nano-plastic particles in sea salt, and additives in table salt. Pink Himalayan salt OK.
Demystifying bitcoin, another of those weird products of late capitalism:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/bitcoin-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-why-its-not-the-future/
Jacqueline Rowarth has resigned position as EPA chief Scientist – at last! RNZ National Midday news.
Just looking at agriculture and whos who and came across this interesting list of movers and shakers, with Jacqueline Rowarth at the top. These are people who have done much in NZ, some of it outright good and some of it not so. It would be a handy reference to the people behind our primary sector.
https://idealog.co.nz/venture/2012/03/primary-farm-40
Can you link to something that Rowarth has done that is good for NZ other than enriching farmers?
You do that Macro. I just looked up some stuff, didn’t find anything much and put up the klist of 40 I think farming people who gathered together make iinteresting raading as a resource. As I said.
Interesting and scary theory by Martyn about how National could be planning to set up publicity and a win for their own far right party to fake some political friends and win the next election now that they have destroyed their allies.
Why Mark Mitchell’s run at leadership is a scam & is this Tracy Watkin’s worst political column of all time?
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/02/19/why-mark-mitchells-run-at-leadership-is-a-scam-is-this-tracy-watkins-worst-political-column-of-all-time/#comment-417735
Yes, seen that the other day. And now he has entered the race, this post has become far more interesting.
More knee trembling news about global finances. How far up can the shonky domino tower go. I think it all could fall really fast if one particular support got knocked over. It’s so hard to say when though, that’s the rub.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/business/350776/is-the-global-economy-facing-a-financial-armageddon
With global debt at a record high $US233-trillion and interest rates on the rise, Mr Botherway said a day of reckoning was due.
“Global debt (318 percent of global GDP) is unprecedented, and we don’t know where that will end up. But there is economic precedence that suggests that those scenarios could be very bad.”
Others are sceptical, however, arguing the doom and gloom was overblown.
“The people who are saying these things are the same people who were saying that the global financial crisis was the end of the world, and who fairly regularly predict that really bad times are just around the corner,” Simplicity managing director Sam Stubbs said.
New Zealand was vulnerable on some counts.
Household indebtedness using a debt to income ratio was at a record high 168 percent;
the official cash rate sits at a record low 1.75 percent;
and Auckland’s house prices were considered severely unaffordable at 8.8 times higher than the average income….
BNZ head of research Stephen Toplis said New Zealand was in much better shape to cope than most countries if things went wrong, with a growing economy underpinned by robust construction activity, record tourism and rising dairy prices.
Actually Mr Toplis – We have peaked for tourism, which is beginning to poop on itself, construction activity is in the doldrums with Fletchers having shouldered everyone out of the market by undercutting them and so weakening our ability to do things to time and with the proper strength materials and practices, and rising dairy prices just mean that farmers are encouraged in their hell-bent confidence in themselves to be good businesspeople and cream the market.
And milk is a most perishable product, and is using so many precious resources that the leaders may one day have to take defensive disappearing moves when people lose their tempers after they have lost everything else. If something goes wrong with milk exports, there is a fountain of white stuff to get rid of, can’t make it all into milk powder, it will pollute the country and the cows will be in pain if they suddenly can’t be milked. We should be easing down, going out of irrigation for dairy, that water should be charged for, going up each year like cigarettes do for the smoking addicts, the milking addicts should be taken through a slow withdrawal. With free financial advice on how to produce enough with the minimum of water and imported feed. Subsidies to organic producers also to enourage premium produce for specialised markets.
Silly questions…
If we pulled out of Afghanistan why are we still there, and how paternalistic is it to to call it mentoring?
If ISIS has been destroyed in Iraq, why are we still there?
http://www.army.mil.nz/about-us/what-we-do/deployments/current-deployments.htm
http://www.nzdf.mil.nz/operations/
Bring them home.
Both links broken at the moment. Have you checked Hansard for the official reasons?
I doubt they make sense, but it makes sense to know what it is you’re trying to make sense of.
Links work fine, not sure what you’re trying to say.
“This site can’t be reached”
Chrome and IE.
Send them to rebuild Tonga.
Two issues:
In general, defense force mentoring/training roles help build the stability of a state by assisting in the training (and training the trainers) of its security forces
Secondly, the destruction of the ISIS state in Iraq is largely complete. The next stage is the more complex assymetric war with ISIS in Iraq. No frontline combat, but ambushes and bombings. So they still need decently trained Iraqi army and police.
Make whatever moral judgements about it that you want, but those are reasonable answers to your question.
Like the qualification about being reasonable, as you somehow need to justify killing.
If that’s what you read into it, you’re a fucking obsessive.
But, But Hilary!
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/12/trump-budget-calls-for-renewed-effort-to-gut-obamacare.html
There is no h.r.c. she lost, get over it.
There is only terrible policy, and broken election promises. And this along with many other issues, is another example of terrible policy
These cops that are following me wherever I go are a bunch of red neck that’s all I’m saying as I’ll start swearing once a red neck allways a red neck ECO MAORI Says Ka kite ano
Keep it up mate. The more resources they put on you the easier it is for the rest of us.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NthtQO4b4HZD61R3lKYow_b9T61jbVWr/view?usp=drives here’s a photo of that amazing picture on Pitau Road of a Maori Chief right behind one of my clients Ka pai Ka kite ano
TVNZ 1 NEWS great coverage of the human influence globe warming. Have we ever had a cyclone like Gita I think not Ka pai.
Ka kite ano
I see the ECO MAORI effect everywhere TVNZ 1 NEWS the kumara never tells how sweet it is Ka pai
TV NZ 1 news that’s awesome graphics Dan
Those mokos in America actions makes ECO MAORI proud
for the way they are stepping up to the line and Letting the World know that America gun laws are inhumane and idiocy. The national rifle association need to be neuter.
I Back those mokos grandchildren 100% Kia kaha.
Ka kite ano
Good evening Hillary & Jeremy my wife decided to bring 2 of our mokos home from the farm they are keeping us on our toes lol crusher a Jeremy lol
Ka kite ano
The new season of John Oliver’s show has started on HBO and show 1 is a ripper. John’s take on the Parkland School shootings.
Great link. Heartening to see the kids demanding to be heard on this issue and calling out the BS.
Yeah, The Andy Griffith Show insight is gold. I liked the young woman’s quote too “I’m too young to vote, I am old enough to purchase a war weapon.”
Another reason not to eat meat .
Antibiotics.
And, yes they are heavily used in industrial farming here.
“Nearly three quarters of the total use of antibiotics worldwide is thought to be on animals rather than humans, which raises serious questions over intensive farming and the potential effects on antibiotic resistance, which can easily be spread to people. Once resistance takes hold and drugs become ineffective, treating even common diseases becomes problematic. Dame Sally Davies, England’s chief medical officer, has warned that antibiotic resistance is one of the most severe threats facing humanity, and if strong action is not taken urgently that even routine operations such as hip replacements may become too dangerous.”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/08/huge-levels-of-antibiotic-use-in-us-farming-revealed
Reduce the dairy herd.
Rachel Stewart says by 80%.
Or keep watching the slow death of our once amazing environment.
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018632639/too-late-for-world-renowned-fresh-water-springs