This was one of the most difficult to explain UFO incidents ever. The lights were sighted by numerous witnesses and observed on several radar installations, and filmed by a news camera crew. The explanations that were put forward were never convincing in the slightest.
I am a UFO sceptic, in that I don't make the huge leap to assume that any unexplained sighting was aliens from outer space. But this event was fascinating.
Bruce Carey includes the Kaikoura Lights in one of his many folk songs. Great song. The plane involved is now a static display opposite Marlborough Airport.
Human ingenuity can't get us out of suffering from climate change – but preparing fast could seriously limit the damage, says the latest authoritative report on global heating.
“What is startling about this report is that we are already experiencing limits to what we can adapt to and there are very hard limits beyond which it won't be possible,” said Canterbury University political science professor Bronwyn Hayward, a core writer of the report’s summary….
….“Rather than just restoring from the disasters we’ve had, it's thinking about what’s to come,” said Hayward….
….Humanitarian group Oxfam described the report as a “catalogue of pain, loss and suffering”.
New Zealand and Australia are at “very high risk” of serious and unavoidable damages if the heat keeps rising, says the report’s Australasian chapter….
We cannot, simply cannot, continue to expect our economic well-being to be expressed in GDP growth percentages!
If we are to have a snowball’s hope in hell of surviving what’s coming, we need to begin by throwing out the old and tired capitalist notions of a profit-driven way out of this catastrophe.
Put simply, people cannot continue to engage the way they have been – the overseas holiday every year, the multiple (7?) houses, the Sherman tank SUVs deemed necessary to drive the kids to school.
These changes will be forced upon us soon enough and will impact the poor, but also the entitled rich, who will, perhaps naturally, be loth to give up their privileges!
Sustainability necessitates down-sizing everything – from one’s expectations and wants, to the size of houses we build, the vehicles we drive, the things we do in our leisure.
If we don’t begin to adapt quickly (and even if we do) it’s going to be a rocky couple of decades – and we humans may not emerge from the end of them.
The Greens are so right – the ’23 election must be about climate!
Joe 90 trolling his daily dump of anti russian rhetoric for us gee thanks joe !!
What should be obvious to anyone paying attention is that Ukraine is divided into two basic sectors the western part comprising of bandera revering nationalists and the eastern part comprising of russian speaking separatists .They are at war with each other and have been for years !!!!! The people of the donbass voted overwhelmingly to join with the russian federation so why on earth would Russia send at risk or bereaved children back to their oppressors ???
Given that actual war criminals of whom the list is very long walk freely especially in the US and Britain the ICC is a sick joke and these absurd charges brought upon Putin and his childrens commisioner just reinforces to me how easily these institutions can be manipulated .Reminds me of the OPCW !!
Even from the perspective of finding the safest place to put the children sending them to the western part of the country would make no sense whatever as no part of Ukraine is safe it being a war zone !!
Thanks in large part to American interventionalism Ukraine as a whole is now a basket case almost entirely dependent on US and euro funding to function on the most basic level .Its energy systems are in tatters its industry largely destroyed huge numbers of its men dead or wounded millions displaced ironic indeed that that the ICC decides to do this on the 20th anniversary of the destruction of Iraq .!!
What should be obvious to anyone paying attention obtaining their information from Russian propaganda sources is that Ukraine is divided into two basic sectors the western part comprising of bandera revering nationalists and the eastern part comprising of russian speaking separatists .They are at war with each other and have been for years !!!!! The people of the donbass voted overwhelmingly to join with the russian federation so why on earth would Russia send at risk or bereaved children back to their oppressors ???
FIFY
A lot of lies to unpack there. For example, in an actual free referendum on Ukrainian independence (1991), the Donbass region voted overwhelmingly (>80%) for independence from Russia. Only later Russian gunpoint referendums gave the results you point to. Try going to Russian-occupied Ukraine today, walk around with a Ukrainian flag and say you support Ukrainian independence – see how things work out for you.
Lots of video starting to show up of fresh Ukrainian mechanised formations concentrating. A counter-attack is in the offing and the decisive engagement of this war is at hand. Any significant defeat for the Russians means the end for Putin.
Best of luck and God speed to the AFU. May the Russians be routed completely and this tragic and unnecessary war brought to a speedy and victorious conclusion.
I don't know if the Ukrainians can mount a successful offensive, but if this war is to be brought to a decisive and just conclusion that is what is needed. A ceasefire on current positions would simply see round three of this war against Russian imperialism start up again in five years.
Their win over Kherson was pretty amazing. I'm optimistic that the Finland NATO accession and the Moldova accelerated EU membership would give Russia pause.
I often wonder what the pro-Russian fanbois here who want a Russian victory think the Poles plan to do with their brand new, 300,000+ army armed to the teeth with latest and best of everything.
I'll tell them. If the Ukraine loses and becomes a ravanchist state thirsting for revenge against Russia, the inevitable next round of these wars in 2028-30 will feature a formidable Polish army in an alliance with the Ukrainian military attacking Russia. That would be another bloodbath. Honestly, if you want the least amount of killing, you want to see Putin killed and this war end in a defeat for Russia as soon as possible.
Alternatively, what's happening now is Europe slowly sucking the economic life out of Russia over the next decade like a Tarantula with a sparrow. Putin seems even less likely to leave than Erdogan.
No NATO country including Poland is going to start a shooting war with Russia unless they are provoked by attack and trip NATO Article 5. All sides know there's no turning back from that.
round three of this war against Russian imperialism start up again in five years.
Read a piece recently about the lasting peace between long time foes France and Germany being achieved by denazification, food, societal and governance policies and restoration of the West German economy during a ten year occupation.
The author concluded anything less would invite rounds three, four, etc, from Russia.
I wonder what processes are being applied within Cabinet in their decision making ??When we get such crap outcomes. All good for a potential $4b project to now ballon into $15.7b and it is still being considered. Meanwhile in Dunedin the scope of the new hospital (MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE) is reduced due to cost overruns. How some supporters within Labour must be hanging their heads in shame that their party can make so poor a decision !!!!! But some will support no matter what – Any mirrors within their houses or can they not cope looking at themselves in the mirrow???
Cutting the capacity of the new Dunedin hospital IS underfunding under Labour- Some time in the future we will lament that the hospital was NOT built to original specifications – So tell that to those in Dunedin – Perhaps try to add to the discussion than your crap response- Even better have those labour supporters communicate to the MP's of their short sightedness. Your snide response sums up – That will promote improved decision making ??
And to Peter any project should have contingency items and cost overruns included in the scope – And a Good govt ?? should have in general funds additional $$ to cover such projects – Do other big projects stop short does a road that has cost overruns end short of its intended finish point ?? CRAP DECISION to not build to specs. and this perhaps sums it up and may answer your question"The deep dive revealed projects falling foul of basic skills gaps and rose-tinted expectations.
“The gaps in capability included business case development, defining project budgets, scheduling, and stakeholder management.”
Then there's the very human phenomenon of desiring the absolute maximum features for the budget available, and the expectation that the process will be have an optimistically smooth process. Happens with every human purchasing decision from a toothpick to a nuclear power plant.
No possibility of citations for it is so well hidden that NZ is known to be one of the least corrupt countries! Have been on major projects and seen how much stuff walks off the site to supply the locals ….
So there's a few things that have made costs go up fast in the last 10 years, in no particular order:
– New Zealand has very few design experts who can design new hospitals, underground railway systems, airports, or other major complex infrastructure. They don't happen often enough to have a permanent pool of expertise in country. So consultant designers are imported for the project, and that means they cost a lot.
– New Zealand has 100% employment of those who can work on complex infrastructure. Any specialist position is in hot demand, so they are regularly poached to larger more reliable and better paid projects elsewhere. So constructors are imported for the project, and that means they cost a lot.
– New Zealand has few mines, one aluminium smelter, one steel smelter, near-zero local bitumen, and just a couple of precast concrete pipe and beam manufacturers. So when there's a boom on as there has been since the Christchurch earthquakes, not everyone can get what they want at the price they thought they'd fixed several years back. So materials get hard to find and more expensive.
– China's trade war with the USA. We used to be able to get cheap materials and labour out of China, but it's much harder now. We've seen what China's done to Australian trade and yet we aren't diversifying our supply chain fast enough. So when China-US tensions rise, we struggle to fulfil our orders.
– COVID delays to programme on major infrastructure. You can't get replacement workers, teams stay shut at home, stuff doesn't get built but teams still get paid – which means costs of the project go up.
– Invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Simple materials scarcity in steel, natural gas to make steel, coal to make steel, international shipping redirected. Major supply constraints. Completely a sellers market for key construction commodities.
– Basic NZ isolation from shipping supply chain. We're a tiny, out-of-the-way place with one city of note, reliant on 3 shipping companies, and a stop-start major infrastructure pipeline. Shipping companies will get stuff to us at their convenience not ours, so the local teams wait, and get paid for waiting. So the price of the project goes up.
Believe it or not New Zealand's public sector in major infrastructure has few procurement disasters, is used to being disciplined with little money, and has taken on more massive infrastructure tasks in the last decade than at any time since the early 1980s. We've improved much of NZ's core infrastructure in Christchurch, Auckland, and Hamilton out of sight to what it was 15 years ago.
We are also more adept at using the right procurement model for high risk jobs, which is why we use commercial alliances for the $300m+ jobs.
Just don't expect a fixed price contract for anything over $5m.
STILL no reason for the hospital to have its capabilities fall short of original design and original announcement from the govt – just EXCUSES and we the public will suffer due to shortsighted decision to save a few $$
It's more poor communications from MoH and the commissioning team, than Dunedin having something stolen from their scope. Dunedin has the best institutions, including health institutions, per capital in the entire country. It's going to stay at 130,000 population for as far as the eye can see.
Queenstown-Lakes is on track for 60,000 residents by 2030 plus 100,000 visitors per day. Queenstown-Lakes is a boomtown with health services that are keeping up by no measure – unless you go private.
So the best place for another hospital after the Dunedin one needs to be in Queenstown.
You think the state has a magical Big Rock Candy Mountain stockpile of bridges, bridge designers, roading materials, house materials, electrical substations, transmitters, qualified workers, and fibre optic cable just hanging about on trees? And somethingsomethingcapitalismbad?
If you need a job I've got one for you. Otherwise just dry up.
Q & AS last Sunday had an informative discussion about large project costs which covered many issues.
With Lake Onslow becoming the latest major infrastructure project to see massive cost increases, Q+A asks the Infrastructure Commission's Ross Copland why this keeps happening.
@Ad. An excellent real world insight as to why NZ has geographic and structural issues that will always put us at a disadvantage. We should be more honest about these and confront better ways to manage them.
In my case I found that as an automation engineer it was rare to find continuity of work in a given industry so that I could become really good at it. I was expected to bounce around from infrastructure, to dairy, to wood processing and then food and beverage. I could say it was never boring, but then looking back my productivity was crap.
By contrast I did a sub-sub-contract in 2003 for a large US based sawmilling OEM in Australia commissioning a massive new mill in NSW. The automation team consisted of about 8 engineers. These guys were not just specialised into that industry, but onto specific machines. A couple did the primary breakdown line, another the five saw edgers, another few on the shape sawing line (absolutely amazing machine) and then someone else on the sorter/bin machines at the back-end. They were all incredibly good at what they were doing – but they never crossed over outside of their narrow specialty. Of course this was only possible because they worked within one of the world's larger OEM suppliers and had the continuity of work to support it. It was a great experience working with such highly competent and efficient people.
The shortage of professionally and technically competent people is not going to get better anytime soon. Globally the boomer generation is retiring, while universities seem to be determined to undermine the quality and attractiveness of their STEM courses at every turn. The entire science and engineering enterprise needs to take a long hard look at whether conventional approaches are serving us well – personally I think there is a good deal of room for improvement.
For instance the bog standard NZS 39xx contracting model always struck me as based more on a legalistic conflict model rather than good project management principles. A quick search pulled this up:
It is common practice in the Australian construction industry to use conventional contracting models where the client or government entity internally manages or outsources the design, development and project management using a cascade of separate contracts (Love et al., 2010). This often leads to each project participant focusing only on performing the responsibilities to which they are allocated and working separately rather than integrating the project team to work cooperatively (Jefferies et al., 2006). Thereby they offer little in the way of collaboration or active risk management, which are required to deliver best for project outcomes.
Is this new contracting model likely to gain traction – or is it more hopeful than real?
But otherwise everything you say with spades on. Even Australia is not immune to many of these influences.
There's some clients that are in such a hurry at the moment like Auckland Airport that they have to go Cost Plus or worse Measure and Value. That domestic terminal is a disgrace.
Some traditional contracting here and Victoria and NZSW particularly in the big vertical builds is theocratic: the client is the arm, the contractor is the hammer, the subbie is the chisel, and you just keep smashing down as hard as you can until you get the shape you want. It's like contractor capitalism, monarchic rule, patristic families, and theocratic rule were structurally identical.
But what's building up at the moment on the East Coast of New Zealand is one of the largest alliances we will see. I understand it will be run by Crown Infrastructure Partners and will roll transport, broadband, electricity and housing into a single delivery alliance. Not as big as Christchurch's SCIRT but certainly the biggest thig that will ever happen to the East Cost in focus and in the $5-$6b range.
Alliances are good at encompassing risk and quick-changing priorities, should big roadblocks occur in one option. They are thankfully different to the PPP format that did Transmission Gully.
I have had two young people I know well in the last two years go through the mechatronics courses in Canterbury and Auckland Schools of Engineering: both can't wait to get out of New Zealand due to exactly what you describe.
I cannot tell whether to laugh or cry at your third para – it so resonates with my experience across the EPC space. The bigger engineering companies truly operate like dynasties – benign for the most part, but rarely inspired.
I commissioned a major project here in Aus back in 2018 where Bechtel was the prime EPC. Getting onto the job it soon became apparent to me that far too many arse-polishers, none of whom would ever get to site, had created an insanely over-complex system that was a nightmare to work with. If you keep doing big projects eventually your luck runs out – and while nothing terrible happened I was very happy to take my money and finish my last rotation.
Without giving away too much detail – last year I was highly amused to then be dragged into advising to a much smaller, more agile company who had been called in to completely rework that entire system into something sane and maintainable. Which we did very nicely thank you – and at a fraction of the original cost.
Your comment around contracting alliances is encouraging – it feels very much like the right direction and maybe between this post cyclone and SCIRT experience something good will come of it.
cost overuns cannot be avoided. with commodity prices fluid, looking into the future is impossible. heathcare is also one of the fastest changing and most expensive things to build. go into an operating room and guess how much everything costs. by the time you walk out, some of the tech will be out of date, and the price will have increased on others.
I always enjoy the Rod Oram series and this one on "Farming: The next steps" shows just how new directions can solve the problems of the sustainability of farming. Specially re regenerative cropping. Stop moaning farmers and consider your options.
yea..its a DNA thing. Also….their fathers father (and farther back) did the same. So…like dinosaurs, they are not likely to change, until "something" happens. Hope its not an asteroid.
Meanwhile Our Earth heats…and Rivers,Streams,Waterways and WETLANDS die !
A strange silence has gripped Whangamarino. It is a deathly silence.
large populations of Whangamarino's birds have fallen sick with avian botulism, dying a gruesome death after losing the ability to walk and use their wings.
Appalled by the outbreak, Fish & Game New Zealand launched a stinging attack on Waikato Regional Council, accusing the local authority of permitting dairy intensification and failing in its statutory obligation to protect freshwater environments.
farmers aren't genetically programmed to not change. In my own family there were huge changes in farming practices from my grandfather's generation to my uncle's.
It's true that some farmers are just stuck in their thinking and way of farming. But many farmers want to change and are prevented from that because of the banks and farm advisors. Industry orgs are a huge problem too.
In every area of NZ there are farmers trying to do the right things. They deserve our support instead of this constant negativity and prejudice.
Rod Oram found another supportive moaning prophet.
The reason farmers went wholesale into dairy conversions by hundreds of thousands of hectares with few constraints is because of the original Fonterra legislation which required Fonterra to take all milk produced.
Fonterra and its DIRA legislation are mostly to blame for 25 years of accelerated dairy impact, not the farmers themselves. They just reacted to the market set by the legislation.
The dairy industry is our one export mainstay that survived COVID, keeping up our governments' tax intake that then get to redistribute. And did so better than any other industry by a country mile. I'm sure happy to slam them too but Rod Oram should start his first sentence with:
Never underestimate the ability of water fowl to pollute the area they live in – especially when numbers rise due to a very good breeding year – before they are culled by duck shooters in May.
Stagnant, or slow-flowing, water is a breeding ground for algae that use duck poo as fertiliser, and it’s the type of water that ducks tend to be found in. Excessive quantities of duck poo can cause algal overgrowth which starves the water of oxygen, killing off natural food sources for water birds. And it’s algae that is responsible for harbouring the bacteria that cause Avian Botulism.
It is certainly something to be investigated as a contributory factor given the reports of large numbers of dead ducks and reported lack of water through flow.
All very well to “bless” dairy farmers but the effects are often more nuanced.
Lake Waikare suffers regularly from algal blooms, and the trophic state of Lake Waikare has worsened since 1993, with increased N and P and suspended sediment loads and decreased clarity. Chlorophyll A concentrations have remained stable, and this has been attributed to light limitation of algae due to the high suspended sediment concentrations. The high density of koi carp are also contributing to the status of the lake.
I've changed your formatting. Please put quotes from offsite in quotation marks or use the " tag when making the comment, thanks. This is so it’s easy to see what are you words and what are someone else’s.
Lake Waikare is one of the most polluted lakes in the country, and a 2012 study put it at one of the most polluted lakes in the world.
Low-lake levels, surrounding farming practices and infestation of koi carp has led to its degraded state, and it often changes colour throughout the year.
“This is an example of the same thing happening all over New Zealand for a long, long time because there’s no enforcement from regional councils on district councils.”
Joy said wastewater with high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous drive algae blooms and algae flows, which can cause the lake to turn different colours.
Even treated wastewater was not healthy for lake water quality, he said.
Lake Waikare is in an almost constant state of warning for toxic algae blooms, or cyanobacteria, which threatens the health of humans and animals exposed to the water.
Do those giving praise to dairy farmers via a deity…ever pause to consider that fonterra is our number one polluter…and that seven of the other top ten polluters are meat processing companies…?..(stuff published list about 2 wks ago..)
Does that matter..?..d'yareckon..?.
Seeing as we are groping around for ways to lower our very high emissions..?
Seems a bit counterintuitive..eh..?..channeling a deity for that..?
If Labour get turfed this election, current Minister of Revenue Deborah Russel could if she downed 2 shots of vodka and a red cape with a strong following wind and some integration of her Medici political theory and Australian tax law practise, actually work with Genter to turn into an effective anti-bank pro wealth-tax hit squad.
1. an insurance scheme for the lending of money to business by banks/financial institutions.
Business loans are expensive (because of risk), and so people are limited to loans against their property or issuing shares (which have had poor take up). This causes business problems because of the swings between property speculation binges and high OCR/bank interest rates.
2. interest free loans to farmers to ensure improved farm environment standards without higher operating cost.
3. other …
Background
2023 changes to the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme
I just love these background "Downstream" broadcasts by Aaron Bastani.
Here, Roger Hallam – of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil fame – talks of climate change not as a technocratic problem, but as a consequence of the pathology of global capitalism and it's elites.
And when the OT 'care' fails (as it so often does) – I devoutly hope that the blame will be sheeted home to the biased OT staff and the taxpayer funded rort that is the ongoing appeal process. No reason for Moana's 'mother' to stop appealing – since she wasn't paying one cent for the ongoing legal costs. No reason for OT to stop supporting these appeals, since none of the money was coming out of their funding.
Sadly, not one of them will step up and take ownership of their decision and the consequences of it.
Given that there has never been any question at all of Moana returning to her mother (which speaks volumes about the quality of parenting her biological mother is able to provide) – why should she have any rights at all to appeal Moana's placement (given that it was demonstrably safe, and secure)?
End result. A little girl is re-traumatized by the system which is supposed to have her welfare at heart.
In the believe it, or not, category an organisation of independent school providers is suing the government for discrimination.
Apparently they claim that the governments requirement for pay parity for teachers in their schools with those in kindergartens means the government is discriminating against older teachers – because the schools would rather fire them than pay them more money.
The move seems timed with recent release of National Party policy to increase funding to ECE's.
PS a certain family makes a lot of money from the schools and funds right wing radio.
Kim Hill had a long investigation this morning on Morning Report. She had CEO Simon Laub in a tangle. She was in classic mode. Touched on private profit making centres, like the Wrights.
What do highly educated upper-middle-class people know about the life of blue-collar workers? Farah Stockman, a graduate of Harvard, journalist, and member of TheNew York Times editorial board, believes that the answer to that question for most upper-middle-class people, including herself, is not much.
She discovered the experiential chasm that separates the lives of working-class people from the elite who write the laws, run the economy, and produce the culture. Working-class people, she recognized, work and live under constant supervision: watched and controlled by factory bosses, police, social workers and school officials who monitor their children. In the case of Link-Belt, their livelihoods were destroyed by a distant private equity firm that eventually moved the factory to Mexico.
Most of the time they [the workers] felt devalued by the company. The people with college degrees who ran things didn’t think they [workers] had much knowledge and that a monkey could do what they do. They [workers] felt like they were disposable.
A lot of liberal people who care about the working class say we should just pay our taxes and send them money in the mail—a universal basic income. Not a single steel worker I interviewed wanted to live off the government. They didn’t trust the government to help them. That’s part of why the Democratic Party is losing the support of working-class people.
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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 ...
Photo by Jari Hytönen on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
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 ...
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. ...
Your Excellency Ambassador Meredith, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and Ambassadors from European Union Member States, Ministerial colleagues, Members of Parliament, and other distinguished guests, Thank you everyone for joining us. Ladies and gentlemen - In diplomacy, we often speak of ‘close’ and ‘long-standing’ relations. ...
The Therapeutic Products Act (TPA) will be repealed this year so that a better regime can be put in place to provide New Zealanders safe and timely access to medicines, medical devices and health products, Associate Health Minister Casey Costello announced today. “The medicines and products we are talking about ...
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 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Next week the government will again next try to get its legislation through to deal with non-citizens who won’t cooperate with efforts to deport them. The bill, which the opposition and crossbench refused to rush ...
A long-term project that will set out an alternative vision for Aotearoa that looks beyond the narrow confines of the policy straight jacket adopted by successive governments. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bree Hurst, Associate Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, QUT, Queensland University of Technology TK Kurikawa/Shutterstock A much-awaited report into Coles and Woolworths has found what many customers have long believed – Australia’s big supermarkets engage in price gouging. What started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney The Albanese government wanted to avoid an inquiry into its migration amendment bill. The report, handed down yesterday by a senate committee that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joo-Cheong Tham, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Lobbying is at the heart of government. Who has access to and influence over key government officials shapes the decisions governments make – and how they make them. The ability to influence ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Myfany Turpin, Associate Professor, Ethnomusicology, Linguistics and Ethnobiology, University of Sydney The act representing Australia at this year’s Eurovision contest has sadly not qualified for the grand final. Yet for Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross, the duo that makes up Electric Fields, ...
In announcing changes to the school lunches programme, David Seymour said kids would no longer be served ‘woke’ foods. To clear up any confusion, The Spinoff has compiled a guide to the wokeness levels of some common food items. Apple = NOT WOKE Avocado = WOKE Avocado, smashed = EVEN ...
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 ...
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One of the best videos I have seen on the Kaikoura lights phenomena from back in the day.
This was one of the most difficult to explain UFO incidents ever. The lights were sighted by numerous witnesses and observed on several radar installations, and filmed by a news camera crew. The explanations that were put forward were never convincing in the slightest.
I am a UFO sceptic, in that I don't make the huge leap to assume that any unexplained sighting was aliens from outer space. But this event was fascinating.
Bruce Carey includes the Kaikoura Lights in one of his many folk songs. Great song. The plane involved is now a static display opposite Marlborough Airport.
2023 New Zealand's first ever climate change election?
"….the 2023 election would be a climate election." The Green Party Co-leader and Climate Change Minister, James Shaw
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/486276/greens-lay-down-climate-change-election-challenge-to-other-parties
Not before time!
We cannot, simply cannot, continue to expect our economic well-being to be expressed in GDP growth percentages!
If we are to have a snowball’s hope in hell of surviving what’s coming, we need to begin by throwing out the old and tired capitalist notions of a profit-driven way out of this catastrophe.
Put simply, people cannot continue to engage the way they have been – the overseas holiday every year, the multiple (7?) houses, the Sherman tank SUVs deemed necessary to drive the kids to school.
These changes will be forced upon us soon enough and will impact the poor, but also the entitled rich, who will, perhaps naturally, be loth to give up their privileges!
Sustainability necessitates down-sizing everything – from one’s expectations and wants, to the size of houses we build, the vehicles we drive, the things we do in our leisure.
If we don’t begin to adapt quickly (and even if we do) it’s going to be a rocky couple of decades – and we humans may not emerge from the end of them.
The Greens are so right – the ’23 election must be about climate!
Children as prizes of war. Nice.
/
https://twitter.com/HeidiReports/status/1637526898963087361
Joe 90 trolling his daily dump of anti russian rhetoric for us gee thanks joe !!
What should be obvious to anyone paying attention is that Ukraine is divided into two basic sectors the western part comprising of bandera revering nationalists and the eastern part comprising of russian speaking separatists .They are at war with each other and have been for years !!!!! The people of the donbass voted overwhelmingly to join with the russian federation so why on earth would Russia send at risk or bereaved children back to their oppressors ???
Given that actual war criminals of whom the list is very long walk freely especially in the US and Britain the ICC is a sick joke and these absurd charges brought upon Putin and his childrens commisioner just reinforces to me how easily these institutions can be manipulated .Reminds me of the OPCW !!
Even from the perspective of finding the safest place to put the children sending them to the western part of the country would make no sense whatever as no part of Ukraine is safe it being a war zone !!
Thanks in large part to American interventionalism Ukraine as a whole is now a basket case almost entirely dependent on US and euro funding to function on the most basic level .Its energy systems are in tatters its industry largely destroyed huge numbers of its men dead or wounded millions displaced ironic indeed that that the ICC decides to do this on the 20th anniversary of the destruction of Iraq .!!
please stop having a go at other commenters. You can make political comment against whatever Joe posts without attacking him.
What should be obvious to anyone
paying attentionobtaining their information from Russian propaganda sources is that Ukraine is divided into two basic sectors the western part comprising of bandera revering nationalists and the eastern part comprising of russian speaking separatists .They are at war with each other and have been for years !!!!! The people of the donbass voted overwhelmingly to join with the russian federation so why on earth would Russia send at risk or bereaved children back to their oppressors ???FIFY
A lot of lies to unpack there. For example, in an actual free referendum on Ukrainian independence (1991), the Donbass region voted overwhelmingly (>80%) for independence from Russia. Only later Russian gunpoint referendums gave the results you point to. Try going to Russian-occupied Ukraine today, walk around with a Ukrainian flag and say you support Ukrainian independence – see how things work out for you.
..so why wouldn’t Russia send at risk or bereaved children back to their families?
Lots of video starting to show up of fresh Ukrainian mechanised formations concentrating. A counter-attack is in the offing and the decisive engagement of this war is at hand. Any significant defeat for the Russians means the end for Putin.
Best of luck and God speed to the AFU. May the Russians be routed completely and this tragic and unnecessary war brought to a speedy and victorious conclusion.
Great optimism. I struggle with being optimistic about Ukraine.
Good to see Finland getting the nod from Turkey for NATO accession.
Also great to see European Parliament pushing for Moldova to to get into the EU.
https://emerging-europe.com/news/eu-again-heaps-praise-on-moldova-but-is-it-any-closer-to-membership/
I don't know if the Ukrainians can mount a successful offensive, but if this war is to be brought to a decisive and just conclusion that is what is needed. A ceasefire on current positions would simply see round three of this war against Russian imperialism start up again in five years.
Their win over Kherson was pretty amazing. I'm optimistic that the Finland NATO accession and the Moldova accelerated EU membership would give Russia pause.
I often wonder what the pro-Russian fanbois here who want a Russian victory think the Poles plan to do with their brand new, 300,000+ army armed to the teeth with latest and best of everything.
I'll tell them. If the Ukraine loses and becomes a ravanchist state thirsting for revenge against Russia, the inevitable next round of these wars in 2028-30 will feature a formidable Polish army in an alliance with the Ukrainian military attacking Russia. That would be another bloodbath. Honestly, if you want the least amount of killing, you want to see Putin killed and this war end in a defeat for Russia as soon as possible.
nailed it sanctuary
Alternatively, what's happening now is Europe slowly sucking the economic life out of Russia over the next decade like a Tarantula with a sparrow. Putin seems even less likely to leave than Erdogan.
No NATO country including Poland is going to start a shooting war with Russia unless they are provoked by attack and trip NATO Article 5. All sides know there's no turning back from that.
Read a piece recently about the lasting peace between long time foes France and Germany being achieved by denazification, food, societal and governance policies and restoration of the West German economy during a ten year occupation.
The author concluded anything less would invite rounds three, four, etc, from Russia.
I wonder what processes are being applied within Cabinet in their decision making ??When we get such crap outcomes. All good for a potential $4b project to now ballon into $15.7b and it is still being considered. Meanwhile in Dunedin the scope of the new hospital (MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE) is reduced due to cost overruns. How some supporters within Labour must be hanging their heads in shame that their party can make so poor a decision !!!!! But some will support no matter what – Any mirrors within their houses or can they not cope looking at themselves in the mirrow???
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/12/21/major-cuts-to-new-dunedin-hospital-design-as-budget-blows-out/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486111/lake-onslow-pumped-hydro-scheme-cost-estimate-rises-almost-300-percent-to-15-point-7b
Rather Labour with their rebuild of Dunedin hospital, than National with their underfunding of health during their disastrous 9 years!
Cutting the capacity of the new Dunedin hospital IS underfunding under Labour- Some time in the future we will lament that the hospital was NOT built to original specifications – So tell that to those in Dunedin – Perhaps try to add to the discussion than your crap response- Even better have those labour supporters communicate to the MP's of their short sightedness. Your snide response sums up – That will promote improved decision making ??
And to Peter any project should have contingency items and cost overruns included in the scope – And a Good govt ?? should have in general funds additional $$ to cover such projects – Do other big projects stop short does a road that has cost overruns end short of its intended finish point ?? CRAP DECISION to not build to specs. and this perhaps sums it up and may answer your question"The deep dive revealed projects falling foul of basic skills gaps and rose-tinted expectations.
“The gaps in capability included business case development, defining project budgets, scheduling, and stakeholder management.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mental-health-building-projects-delayed-amid-soaring-costs/3WVHD2PLDFF23AL5ABW5WJURVU/
How many years was the Dunedin hospital rebuild talked about under the Natz?
Labour may not be able to afford the provide all the beds planned for, but what they're delivering is light years ahead of the useless National Party!
How’s that for a 'crap response?'
Why do cost overruns happen? How can cost overruns be avoided?
All them Consultants and Bureaucrats gotta be engaged and paid BEFORE a shovel can be put in the ground //
Then there is the health and safety gravy train
… and the backhanders
… and the vested interests
It is a wonder that projects do not cost far more!
Then there's the very human phenomenon of desiring the absolute maximum features for the budget available, and the expectation that the process will be have an optimistically smooth process. Happens with every human purchasing decision from a toothpick to a nuclear power plant.
Citation or link needed!
“Then there is the health and safety gravy train” cue Simeon Brown’s latest tweet!
No possibility of citations for it is so well hidden that NZ is known to be one of the least corrupt countries! Have been on major projects and seen how much stuff walks off the site to supply the locals ….
Bullshit.
So there's a few things that have made costs go up fast in the last 10 years, in no particular order:
– New Zealand has very few design experts who can design new hospitals, underground railway systems, airports, or other major complex infrastructure. They don't happen often enough to have a permanent pool of expertise in country. So consultant designers are imported for the project, and that means they cost a lot.
– New Zealand has 100% employment of those who can work on complex infrastructure. Any specialist position is in hot demand, so they are regularly poached to larger more reliable and better paid projects elsewhere. So constructors are imported for the project, and that means they cost a lot.
– New Zealand has few mines, one aluminium smelter, one steel smelter, near-zero local bitumen, and just a couple of precast concrete pipe and beam manufacturers. So when there's a boom on as there has been since the Christchurch earthquakes, not everyone can get what they want at the price they thought they'd fixed several years back. So materials get hard to find and more expensive.
– China's trade war with the USA. We used to be able to get cheap materials and labour out of China, but it's much harder now. We've seen what China's done to Australian trade and yet we aren't diversifying our supply chain fast enough. So when China-US tensions rise, we struggle to fulfil our orders.
– COVID delays to programme on major infrastructure. You can't get replacement workers, teams stay shut at home, stuff doesn't get built but teams still get paid – which means costs of the project go up.
– Invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Simple materials scarcity in steel, natural gas to make steel, coal to make steel, international shipping redirected. Major supply constraints. Completely a sellers market for key construction commodities.
– Basic NZ isolation from shipping supply chain. We're a tiny, out-of-the-way place with one city of note, reliant on 3 shipping companies, and a stop-start major infrastructure pipeline. Shipping companies will get stuff to us at their convenience not ours, so the local teams wait, and get paid for waiting. So the price of the project goes up.
Believe it or not New Zealand's public sector in major infrastructure has few procurement disasters, is used to being disciplined with little money, and has taken on more massive infrastructure tasks in the last decade than at any time since the early 1980s. We've improved much of NZ's core infrastructure in Christchurch, Auckland, and Hamilton out of sight to what it was 15 years ago.
We are also more adept at using the right procurement model for high risk jobs, which is why we use commercial alliances for the $300m+ jobs.
Just don't expect a fixed price contract for anything over $5m.
Those days are gone.
STILL no reason for the hospital to have its capabilities fall short of original design and original announcement from the govt – just EXCUSES and we the public will suffer due to shortsighted decision to save a few $$
https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/undoctored/new-dunedin-hospital-receives-additional-110-million-funding
It's more poor communications from MoH and the commissioning team, than Dunedin having something stolen from their scope. Dunedin has the best institutions, including health institutions, per capital in the entire country. It's going to stay at 130,000 population for as far as the eye can see.
Queenstown-Lakes is on track for 60,000 residents by 2030 plus 100,000 visitors per day. Queenstown-Lakes is a boomtown with health services that are keeping up by no measure – unless you go private.
So the best place for another hospital after the Dunedin one needs to be in Queenstown.
You missed the most important one: Capitalism 101, Never waste a good crisis to not put your prices up.
You think the state has a magical Big Rock Candy Mountain stockpile of bridges, bridge designers, roading materials, house materials, electrical substations, transmitters, qualified workers, and fibre optic cable just hanging about on trees? And somethingsomethingcapitalismbad?
If you need a job I've got one for you. Otherwise just dry up.
Q & AS last Sunday had an informative discussion about large project costs which covered many issues.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/q-and-a/clips/why-do-infrastructure-budgets-always-blow-out
Yes Ross Copland makes good points there.
@Ad. An excellent real world insight as to why NZ has geographic and structural issues that will always put us at a disadvantage. We should be more honest about these and confront better ways to manage them.
In my case I found that as an automation engineer it was rare to find continuity of work in a given industry so that I could become really good at it. I was expected to bounce around from infrastructure, to dairy, to wood processing and then food and beverage. I could say it was never boring, but then looking back my productivity was crap.
By contrast I did a sub-sub-contract in 2003 for a large US based sawmilling OEM in Australia commissioning a massive new mill in NSW. The automation team consisted of about 8 engineers. These guys were not just specialised into that industry, but onto specific machines. A couple did the primary breakdown line, another the five saw edgers, another few on the shape sawing line (absolutely amazing machine) and then someone else on the sorter/bin machines at the back-end. They were all incredibly good at what they were doing – but they never crossed over outside of their narrow specialty. Of course this was only possible because they worked within one of the world's larger OEM suppliers and had the continuity of work to support it. It was a great experience working with such highly competent and efficient people.
The shortage of professionally and technically competent people is not going to get better anytime soon. Globally the boomer generation is retiring, while universities seem to be determined to undermine the quality and attractiveness of their STEM courses at every turn. The entire science and engineering enterprise needs to take a long hard look at whether conventional approaches are serving us well – personally I think there is a good deal of room for improvement.
For instance the bog standard NZS 39xx contracting model always struck me as based more on a legalistic conflict model rather than good project management principles. A quick search pulled this up:
Is this new contracting model likely to gain traction – or is it more hopeful than real?
But otherwise everything you say with spades on. Even Australia is not immune to many of these influences.
You did well to get out.
There's some clients that are in such a hurry at the moment like Auckland Airport that they have to go Cost Plus or worse Measure and Value. That domestic terminal is a disgrace.
Some traditional contracting here and Victoria and NZSW particularly in the big vertical builds is theocratic: the client is the arm, the contractor is the hammer, the subbie is the chisel, and you just keep smashing down as hard as you can until you get the shape you want. It's like contractor capitalism, monarchic rule, patristic families, and theocratic rule were structurally identical.
But what's building up at the moment on the East Coast of New Zealand is one of the largest alliances we will see. I understand it will be run by Crown Infrastructure Partners and will roll transport, broadband, electricity and housing into a single delivery alliance. Not as big as Christchurch's SCIRT but certainly the biggest thig that will ever happen to the East Cost in focus and in the $5-$6b range.
Alliances are good at encompassing risk and quick-changing priorities, should big roadblocks occur in one option. They are thankfully different to the PPP format that did Transmission Gully.
I have had two young people I know well in the last two years go through the mechatronics courses in Canterbury and Auckland Schools of Engineering: both can't wait to get out of New Zealand due to exactly what you describe.
I cannot tell whether to laugh or cry at your third para – it so resonates with my experience across the EPC space. The bigger engineering companies truly operate like dynasties – benign for the most part, but rarely inspired.
I commissioned a major project here in Aus back in 2018 where Bechtel was the prime EPC. Getting onto the job it soon became apparent to me that far too many arse-polishers, none of whom would ever get to site, had created an insanely over-complex system that was a nightmare to work with. If you keep doing big projects eventually your luck runs out – and while nothing terrible happened I was very happy to take my money and finish my last rotation.
Without giving away too much detail – last year I was highly amused to then be dragged into advising to a much smaller, more agile company who had been called in to completely rework that entire system into something sane and maintainable. Which we did very nicely thank you – and at a fraction of the original cost.
Your comment around contracting alliances is encouraging – it feels very much like the right direction and maybe between this post cyclone and SCIRT experience something good will come of it.
cost overuns cannot be avoided. with commodity prices fluid, looking into the future is impossible. heathcare is also one of the fastest changing and most expensive things to build. go into an operating room and guess how much everything costs. by the time you walk out, some of the tech will be out of date, and the price will have increased on others.
I always enjoy the Rod Oram series and this one on "Farming: The next steps" shows just how new directions can solve the problems of the sustainability of farming. Specially re regenerative cropping. Stop moaning farmers and consider your options.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/farming-the-next-steps?utm_source=Newsroom&utm_campaign=d2862a8bdd-Daily_Briefing+20.03.2023&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_71de5c4b35-d2862a8bdd-95522477
yea..its a DNA thing. Also….their fathers father (and farther back) did the same. So…like dinosaurs, they are not likely to change, until "something" happens. Hope its not an asteroid.
Meanwhile Our Earth heats…and Rivers,Streams,Waterways and WETLANDS die !
farmers aren't genetically programmed to not change. In my own family there were huge changes in farming practices from my grandfather's generation to my uncle's.
It's true that some farmers are just stuck in their thinking and way of farming. But many farmers want to change and are prevented from that because of the banks and farm advisors. Industry orgs are a huge problem too.
In every area of NZ there are farmers trying to do the right things. They deserve our support instead of this constant negativity and prejudice.
And go for it !
Rod Oram found another supportive moaning prophet.
The reason farmers went wholesale into dairy conversions by hundreds of thousands of hectares with few constraints is because of the original Fonterra legislation which required Fonterra to take all milk produced.
Fonterra and its DIRA legislation are mostly to blame for 25 years of accelerated dairy impact, not the farmers themselves. They just reacted to the market set by the legislation.
The dairy industry is our one export mainstay that survived COVID, keeping up our governments' tax intake that then get to redistribute. And did so better than any other industry by a country mile. I'm sure happy to slam them too but Rod Oram should start his first sentence with:
Thank God for the dairy farmers.
god bless the dairy farmers.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/131519960/thousands-of-birds-die-at-important-wetland-from-deadly-disease-caused-by-pollution
Never underestimate the ability of water fowl to pollute the area they live in – especially when numbers rise due to a very good breeding year – before they are culled by duck shooters in May.
Stagnant, or slow-flowing, water is a breeding ground for algae that use duck poo as fertiliser, and it’s the type of water that ducks tend to be found in. Excessive quantities of duck poo can cause algal overgrowth which starves the water of oxygen, killing off natural food sources for water birds. And it’s algae that is responsible for harbouring the bacteria that cause Avian Botulism.
Are you suggesting that water fowl are a significant factor in the collapse of the Whangamarino ecosystem?
It is certainly something to be investigated as a contributory factor given the reports of large numbers of dead ducks and reported lack of water through flow.
All very well to “bless” dairy farmers but the effects are often more nuanced.
ok, so that's you making shit up again.
There are also large numbers of Coi Carp there which have a hand in increase of algal blooms.
https://www.tekauwhatavillage.co.nz/555-2/
I've changed your formatting. Please put quotes from offsite in quotation marks or use the " tag when making the comment, thanks. This is so it’s easy to see what are you words and what are someone else’s.
The algal blooms are long term and caused by a range of other factors and then there is the sewage. The Lake drains into the wetlands.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/125527768/councils-three-years-of-discharge-into-one-of-nations-most-polluted-lakes
Yeah! The birds dun it to themselves! Shitting in their own nests! Stupid birds!
Flying cows, but you can't even eat them.
Bit like humans?
Do those giving praise to dairy farmers via a deity…ever pause to consider that fonterra is our number one polluter…and that seven of the other top ten polluters are meat processing companies…?..(stuff published list about 2 wks ago..)
Does that matter..?..d'yareckon..?.
Seeing as we are groping around for ways to lower our very high emissions..?
Seems a bit counterintuitive..eh..?..channeling a deity for that..?
Probably coincidence…
As the old saying goes:
Unless you are your own farmer – and grow everything you eat ….
… and use deities a bit sparingly … say once a day – or once a week?
Lordie I just love Elizabeth Warren.
It would be so good if we had any politician in NZ who would hold our own banks to account like she does.
https://www.politico.com/video/2023/03/19/elizabeth-warrens-media-blitz-on-svb-in-60-seconds-860987
If Labour get turfed this election, current Minister of Revenue Deborah Russel could if she downed 2 shots of vodka and a red cape with a strong following wind and some integration of her Medici political theory and Australian tax law practise, actually work with Genter to turn into an effective anti-bank pro wealth-tax hit squad.
Granted that's a few caveats.
Windfall profits tax funding an insurance scheme for loans to business (permanent and larger scale than the pandemic era scheme).
Spell your idea out more.
A windfall profits tax on banks to fund
1. an insurance scheme for the lending of money to business by banks/financial institutions.
Business loans are expensive (because of risk), and so people are limited to loans against their property or issuing shares (which have had poor take up). This causes business problems because of the swings between property speculation binges and high OCR/bank interest rates.
2. interest free loans to farmers to ensure improved farm environment standards without higher operating cost.
3. other …
Background
2023 changes to the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme
https://www.wk.co.nz/blog/new-zealand-government-announces-small-business-cashflow-scheme-and-business-finance-guarantee-scheme-bfgs/
https://www.wk.co.nz/blog/big-changes-to-the-new-zealand-business-finance-guarantee-scheme/
Original foundation in 2020 as part of the COVID response
https://www2.deloitte.com/nz/en/pages/tax/articles/business-finance-guarantee-scheme-launched.html
https://www.bdo.nz/en-nz/covid-19/business-finance-guarantee-scheme
The use of windfall profits to fund the scheme takes it out of the category of something to be afforded out of budget revenues.
And it is related to financing business development (investment to improve productivity) and farm environment upgrade.
I just love these background "Downstream" broadcasts by Aaron Bastani.
Here, Roger Hallam – of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil fame – talks of climate change not as a technocratic problem, but as a consequence of the pathology of global capitalism and it's elites.
Jon Stewart does an excellent segment on the SVB collapse and its causes.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/131476321/hardest-decision-of-our-lives-foster-parents-return-moana-to-state-care
The usless racist mother wins.
Just had the link to post Bwagon.
This will be devastating for Moana and for the Smiths as well.
OT should be ashamed of themselves. As you said the useless racist mother wins
Can you imagine if a white child abuser want there children removed from a loving Maori family,because culture!!??
And when the OT 'care' fails (as it so often does) – I devoutly hope that the blame will be sheeted home to the biased OT staff and the taxpayer funded rort that is the ongoing appeal process. No reason for Moana's 'mother' to stop appealing – since she wasn't paying one cent for the ongoing legal costs. No reason for OT to stop supporting these appeals, since none of the money was coming out of their funding.
Sadly, not one of them will step up and take ownership of their decision and the consequences of it.
Given that there has never been any question at all of Moana returning to her mother (which speaks volumes about the quality of parenting her biological mother is able to provide) – why should she have any rights at all to appeal Moana's placement (given that it was demonstrably safe, and secure)?
End result. A little girl is re-traumatized by the system which is supposed to have her welfare at heart.
Yes..it is hard for all..but she will be living with her brother..
Surely that has to count..?..for both of them..?
She would be fully bonded to her foster parents , the scarring caused by ripping her away will not be healed by be with her brother
I agree re bonding etc..
I just see the brother as being a factor that a lot of weight was put upon to reach that conclusion…
But hard for everyone…
It won't be asking for bail that worries him. It’ll be the DNA sample.
https://twitter.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1637469490282917889
In the believe it, or not, category an organisation of independent school providers is suing the government for discrimination.
Apparently they claim that the governments requirement for pay parity for teachers in their schools with those in kindergartens means the government is discriminating against older teachers – because the schools would rather fire them than pay them more money.
The move seems timed with recent release of National Party policy to increase funding to ECE's.
PS a certain family makes a lot of money from the schools and funds right wing radio.
Kim Hill had a long investigation this morning on Morning Report. She had CEO Simon Laub in a tangle. She was in classic mode. Touched on private profit making centres, like the Wrights.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018882478
A very good point that is obscured by gender and race debates: Solidarity
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/17/2158617/-Struggling-to-build-solidarity-across-lines-of-race-class-and-gender
Simon O'Connor must be a bit slutted that Ginny Anderson got Minister of Police.
But she's a fluent Te Reo speaker and neck deep in Treaty settlements and meth issues, plus 9 years with Police itself. Good choice PM Hipkins.
Why would a Nat MP be "slutted" at a Labour appointment?
Greg might be pissed off tho
A cool moment in the protest at Orewa last weekend
https://twitter.com/aotearoalib/status/1637205984635682816?s=61&t=4nyjBVbo16PbRZPJZdlgag